My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 492 First Meeting
In the executive lounge on the top floor of the Shilla Hotel, An Rusong, dressed in a light blue shirt, stood quietly in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the brightly lit city below through the rain-streaked glass.

Swish!
A thick bolt of lightning ripped across the night sky to the left, followed by a deafening rumble of thunder. An Rusong could faintly feel the French windows in front of him vibrating and humming.

The cigarette tucked between the fingers of my right hand still had a bit of ash left, and the newspaper I was holding between my thumb and ring finger was also covered in ash.

As the thunder rolled past, a series of scattered footsteps came from the direction of the lounge entrance. An Rusong pulled his scattered thoughts back, composed himself, and then turned to look in the direction from which the footsteps came.

Almost the instant he turned around, a slightly short figure appeared from outside the screen wall. The figure belonged to a woman, a woman with a slightly plump figure and obvious Latin American features. She had long hair, and although her figure was not good and her appearance was not good, the confidence that almost overflowed from her seemed to have added a halo to her, making it impossible for others to ignore her presence even if she stood there smiling and silent.

"Good evening, Ms. Susan," An Rusong said with a broad smile the moment he saw the woman. He walked toward her, casually placing the newspaper he was holding on the long table as he passed it, and then stubbed out his cigarette before greeting her.

"Good evening, President An Rusong," the woman was Susan, the leader of BlackRock's negotiation team, and also one of the few senior decision-makers at BlackRock.

Tonight was An Rusong's first meeting with the woman. Beforehand, he had specifically investigated her personal information, but unfortunately, he couldn't find much online; it was all superficial. However, he did glean some slightly useful information from the "speculation buddies" group, learning that this woman was leading BlackRock's liquidation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's assets.

This alone shows how much BlackRock values ​​its investment in NGN; otherwise, they wouldn't have set such high standards for negotiations.

Behind Susan followed four or five people, men and women, presumably members of the negotiation team or her assistants. However, tonight was not a formal negotiation between the two sides, but rather the establishment of initial contact. Therefore, An Rusong did not arrange any corresponding negotiation personnel, and he did not even bring a lawyer.

After a brief greeting, Susan introduced the people following her to An Rusong, and then the two took their seats at the long table.

Earlier, the newspaper that An Rusong had placed on the table was not far from Susan's seat. The woman glanced at the newspaper, then actually reached out and picked it up, and started flipping through it right in front of An Rusong.

The newspaper was today's edition of the JoongAng Ilbo, a completely Korean-language newspaper. Judging from how engrossed the woman was in reading it, she clearly understood Korean. Moreover, she had also been speaking Korean fluently when she was exchanging pleasantries with An Rusong.

In today's international arena, Korean is hardly a widely spoken language; it's at best a minor language. The fact that this woman can speak Korean is perhaps one of the reasons why she led the team here for negotiations.

“Your political struggles in South Korea are ruthless,” Susan said with a smile, after quickly glancing at the front page of the newspaper, folding it up and setting it aside. “The previous President Kim did everything in his power to try and kill his two predecessors, and then President Roh did his best to send President Kim to prison. As for now, the incumbent President Lee has turned his attention to President Roh.”

She paused, then shook her head and laughed, "Is the Blue House haunted by the practice of successors purging their predecessors?"

An Rusong smiled slightly but did not respond to the other party's question.

Today's JoongAng Ilbo featured a front-page headline reporting on the prosecution's investigation into Taekwang Industrial. According to undisclosed sources, Park Yeon-cha, the head of Taekwang Industrial, has been allegedly providing substantial bribes to a number of government officials over the past few years, thereby gaining significant illicit commercial benefits.

According to the newspaper, the prosecution's investigation into Park Yeon-cha has not yet yielded any official results. However, according to reliable sources, former President Roh, his wife, nephew-in-law, and others were among those who accepted bribes. Among them, Park Yeon-cha gave President Roh two matching watches worth over $18 two years ago on his birthday. President Roh had previously worn the men's version of the watch.

To verify this claim, the newspaper also published a picture showing President Lu wearing a watch on his wrist. Whether it was the expensive watch or not, An Rusong couldn't tell because the picture was rather blurry. In fact, besides the news in the newspapers, news about this story was everywhere all day—on television, radio, and even the internet. An Rusong himself had been commissioned by Bai Jinjun to use NGN's news pop-ups to spread the news.

Therefore, whether the news of Park Yeon-cha bribing President Roh is accurate or true is no longer important. What is important is that Lee Min-bo is clearly making a move against his predecessor.

Interestingly, this extremely unfavorable news for President Lu has been making headlines all day, yet neither the New Millennium Democratic Party, to which President Lu once belonged, nor the Open National Party, which he later founded and subsequently withdrew from, has spoken out in his defense. This reality highlights the ultimate fate of those who betray their own political parties; to say they are utterly abandoned and alienated would be an understatement.

This morning, NGN conducted a poll in its news pop-up window, essentially asking netizens to vote on whether they supported launching an investigation into President Lu and whether they supported temporarily detaining him. An Rusong conducted this poll as a trial for establishing a polling agency affiliated with NGN.

The results showed that 270,000 people participated in the vote throughout the day. Among them, 70 percent supported launching an investigation into President Roh, but at the same time, 70 percent opposed the temporary arrest of President Roh.

This result shows that President Lu's image of integrity still exists in the minds of the people, but this incident has also affected the public's psychology; at least his image of integrity is not as solid as it used to be.

As a contemporary of someone who was relatively close to the core of South Korean politics, Ahn Yeo-song finally understood that in his previous life, President Roh Deok-kwong, despite not deserving the death penalty, chose to end his life hastily by committing suicide.

The harsh reality is that in today's South Korean political arena, both progressives and conservatives dislike this former president. The progressives dislike him because he is considered foolish, acts impulsively, and prone to betraying his allies; his past actions, such as forcing Kim Dae-jung to issue a public apology, are clear evidence of this.

The conservatives targeted him because, although he was regarded as a leading figure of the progressives, he was in a state of being abandoned by everyone. Therefore, it would not only be easy to get rid of him, but also to gain a lot of "experience points". Why not?
Therefore, President Lu is now in a situation where both the left and right sides of the Han regime want to get rid of him. If he doesn't do something, then once he is taken down by the conservatives, not only himself, but also his family, subordinates, and even relatives and friends may suffer as well.

So, all things considered, what option would be more suitable for President Lu at this moment than to end his life?
Although it sounds cruel, the reality is that as soon as he dies, those progressives who originally disliked him will immediately swarm around him, elevate him to a pedestal, and portray him as an honest, commoner president who was persecuted to death by conservatives. They will do everything in their power to prevent the prosecution from launching any form of investigation against President Roh.

For no other reason than that as long as Mr. Lu remains on his pedestal, the progressives can use his influence to attack the conservatives. Moreover, the very act of driving a former president to suicide will push the current Blue House occupant, Lee Min-pak, into a vortex of trouble, one in which he cannot even clear his name despite his guilt.

What is political wisdom? To be honest, in An Rusong's opinion, President Roh was foolish his whole life, but his final choice was truly politically wise. It is no exaggeration to say that his leap influenced the political direction of South Korea for more than a decade.

“The political environment in South Korea is very detrimental to the development of emerging companies,” Susan said, shrugging her shoulders as she saw An Rusong remain silent. “The antagonism between the ruling and opposition parties is too severe. You can lobby one side, but you will inevitably miss the other side. This means that you can gain profits for five years, but at the same time, you must be prepared to be purged after five years.”

She shook her head and clicked her tongue, saying, "This is too cruel."

“So,” An Rusong said with a smile.

“So, Chairman An, you really need to consider moving NGN’s core business, as well as your long-term residence, to the United States of America,” Susan said with a smile. “You should know that for wealthy people like you and me, the United States of America is a true paradise. There, you can get everything you want.”

(End of this chapter)