1953 Bare-handed Tycoon - Chapter 365



Only Noblemtl

365 – Each person’s dream

Upon arriving at the Central Intelligence Agency in Namsan, Kijo met with President Jang Gi-yeong in the office on the fourth floor.

The sunny office was furnished with a desk and a cot, as well as an electric kettle with clean water and tea.

There were also plenty of cigarettes piled up in the ashtray, indicating that smoking was allowed.

I was taken to Namsan, so I expected to be in an underground interrogation room wearing a military uniform without a rank or name tag, but I was treated completely differently.

I asked Kiyoung, who looked like a guest staying at a hotel.

“Brother, are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

Jang Gi-yeong said calmly.

There was absolutely no sign of being beaten or tortured.

Although he looked a little older than expected from the mental anguish he had endured over the past few days, his complexion was not gloomy.

Kijo first confirmed the facts with Jang Gi-yeong.

“Is it true that you are stepping down from management of the Hankook Ilbo?”

“That’s right. I decided to do that. So you run the Hankook Ilbo instead.”

Kijo just looked at Jang Gi-yeong and didn’t say anything. Then Jang Gi-yeong said.

“Please do so.”

“What did you hear that made you say that? I run the Hankook Ilbo… .”

“I said I would do it. I asked you not to shut down the Hankook Ilbo, so I would leave it to you. Isn’t that better than the Hankook Ilbo being shut down? And I also said I would hand over my stake in DBC to you… … .”

Kijo handed Jang Gi-yeong a cigarette.

Jang Gi-yeong picked up a cigarette and inhaled the smoke deeply as Gi-jo lit it for him.

“I should have taken action right away when you called. I was too complacent… .”

Jang Ki-young smiled slightly bitterly.

Kijo said to Kiyoung like that.

“If the decision was made because of the threat of closure, I will not take on the job.”

“No, that’s not it. It’s not just because I’m scared. The intelligence people didn’t treat me roughly. Rather, the intelligence chief came to me and listened to my story.”

The keynote speech focused on the fact that Kim Jong-pil met Jang Ki-young and spoke directly with him.

“After hearing that person’s story, I think I was too reckless. And from their perspective, it seems like they suffered serious and unfair damage.”

Jang Ki-young blew out smoke from his cigarette.

“I said I would apologize and take responsibility. Then they asked me to step down from management of the Hankook Ilbo until the general elections were over.”

The keynote was that Kim Jong-pil and Jang Gi-yeong made a deal and reported the results to Chairman Park. I could tell.

“But isn’t it true that you were threatened with closure?”

“Closure. Didn’t it happen during the Liberal Party government? Threats of closure are a common occurrence for newspapers. Didn’t the Kyunghyang Shinmun gain fame after being closed down and then being revived? From the perspective of the press, government suppression is a medal. The Hankook Ilbo also received a medal. Just think about it.”

Jang Ki-young smiled slightly awkwardly.

Kijo put his hand on his forehead and collected his thoughts.

In the original history, Jang Gi-yeong resigned as president of the Hankook Ilbo and returned less than two months later.

In the meantime, the person who temporarily took over as president of the Hankook Ilbo was Namgung Ryun (南宮鍊) of Far East Shipping, who was also close to Kijo.

“Brother, what if I asked Namgung Ryun to take over the position of president instead?”

“No, I want you to take charge. Aren’t you a fairly neutral person? I feel better when someone moderate like you takes charge. Namgung Ryun is a good person, but doesn’t he have no choice but to support Chairman Park?”

Namgung Ryun was a businessman who was almost punished along with Lee Byung-chul for accumulating wealth illegally, but was released after promising the government that he would revive the economy.

So, Jang Ki-young’s words that he was a person who had no choice but to take Chairman Park’s side were not wrong.

“Will the reporters listen to me? My academic background is low, and even if I become the president of the Hankook Ilbo, it will be of no use if the reporters do not follow me.”

Jang Gi-yeong laughed heartily at the keynote speech.

“Hey, Kijo. Reporters aren’t special people. If you treat them like the employees of Cheongsan Group, they’ll follow suit.”

“If journalists write articles with a conscience, I don’t think I can stop them.”

When Gijo hinted that he might not be able to run the Hankook Ilbo in a way that would please the government, Jang Ki-young burst out laughing.

“Reporters are simpler than you think. The more stubborn and ignorant a reporter is, the weaker he is when it comes to human feelings. Even if he insists on publishing the article he wrote and acts like he’s going to quit the company right away, if you say, ‘Please look at me just once,’ or ‘Hey, Inma. How can you do this to me after all I did for you?’, he pretends not to like it and gives in. Hehe.”

Jang Gi-yeong encouraged Ki-jo.

However, Kijo was concerned about taking Jang Gi-young’s DBC shares.

“Brother, please keep your DBC shares.”

“Is it really necessary to do that?”

Jang Gi-yeong also tried to completely give up his DBC shares.

“Operating a TV station was not as fun as I thought. I had no authority to report the news, and it seemed like people wanted simple entertainment from TV. And you could easily run it by yourself, couldn’t you?”

Ki-young stubbornly refused, saying that if he did not give up his DBC shares, he would be disadvantaged by the government as he would have to compete with KBS.

The keynote speech confirmed that Jang Gi-yeong’s will was firm.

“I will always keep your seat empty, brother. Whenever you want to come back, whether it be to the Hankook Ilbo or DBC, please come back.”

“Okay. I fully understand how you feel.”

It was strange that Kijo was more calm than Jang Gi-yeong expected.

The Hankook Ilbo was everything to him, and no matter how much he trusted himself, it would not be easy to hand over management rights.

“What do you plan to do if you let go of Hankook Ilbo and DBC?”

“Well… I want to study economics, which is my major, more. I want to learn the latest economic theories and study public administration.”

The moment he heard Jang Gi-yeong’s answer, Ki-jo got a feeling.

‘Jang Ki-young was invited to join the party by Kim Jong-pil…’

The keynote speech recalled that Jang Gi-yeong had entered office as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Planning of the Third Republic in 1964.

He was a person who had favorable views of the Park Chung-hee government.

I wondered if it was Kim Jong-pil who brought him to the Central Intelligence Agency and persuaded him to join the Democratic Republican Party.

It was quite possible.

Although Jang Gi-yeong interfered with the founding of the Democratic Republican Party, Kim Jong-pil may have viewed him as a talented person because he was an economic expert who had also worked at the Bank of Korea.

It would have been possible for Kim Jong-pil, who showed tremendous tolerance at the time, to just dismiss the wrongdoings he had committed by stepping down from his position as president for a few months and bring them over to his side.

And it was natural for Jang Ki-young, who had achieved a certain level of success in the media and broadcasting industry, to become interested in politics and administration.

He was very interested in politics, to the point of running for National Assembly and Seoul mayor in the Won history.

Suddenly, everything became clear and Kijo no longer refused to accept the position of president of Hankook Ilbo.

From Jang Gi-yeong’s perspective, he would have had to step down from his position as president of a media outlet or broadcasting station in order to run in the general election.

And I didn’t even know he was thinking of running for election with the money from selling his DBC shares.

I felt like I had no choice but to take charge of the Hankook Ilbo.

“Please take good care of Hankook Ilbo and DBC.”

“Okay, brother.”

Kijo accepted Jang Gi-yeong’s request.

I had to return to the Blue House, take charge of the Hankook Ilbo, and release Jang Ki-young and other Hankook Ilbo executives.

Kijo, who returned to the Blue House, met with Chairman Park.

“Did your conversation with Jang Gi-yeong go well?”

“Yes, I have decided to take charge of the Hankook Ilbo.”

Chairman Park nodded with a faint smile. Then he took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, struck a match, and lit it.

Chairman Park blew out the lit match.

The matches placed in Chairman Park’s office were also cyanide matches.

“The Kyunghyang Shinmun will side with the Democratic Party as it always has, and the Dong-A Ilbo will criticize both sides, because the Dong-A Ilbo is always the type of people who think they are better than others and are always right…”

Chairman Park exhaled the smoke from his cigarette with a sigh.

“I’m not asking the Hankook Ilbo to unconditionally take my side. Just make sure I’m not being treated unfairly.”

“I will make sure that no one is treated unfairly.”

“okay….”

Chairman Park spoke as he quietly smoked a cigarette and picked up an unlit match from the ashtray.

“The matches you made don’t break easily and they light well even on wet, rainy days.”

“thank you.”

“I wish all media were fair like a match. Your match lights fairly regardless of whether it rains, snows, or is windy. The flame is big and bright.”

Chairman Park looked at Kijo with a sly smile. Kijo couldn’t help but smile as well.

“Why are you laughing? Do you find what I’m saying funny?”

Chairman Park looked at him with a puzzled look.

Kijo said, holding back laughter.

“I laughed because what the chairman said was exactly like the radio commercial song for Cheongsan Match.”

“Really? That’s not what I was thinking? I guess I just unknowingly listened to the CM song and followed along. Yes, I remember…”

“I hum it sometimes too.”

The keynote is the melody and lyrics of the song , which Seol Woon-do recorded in 1983, used in the Cheongsan match advertisement.

It was originally written as the theme song for the KBS special broadcast , but the melody of “Rain, snow, wind~” was so strong that it was used in a match commercial.

“Who wrote and composed that song?”

“I… did it.”

The keynote speech had no choice but to answer like that.

Originally, it was a song written by Jeong Eun and composed by Nam Guk-in, a married musician couple, but there was nothing they could do since it would be released decades later.

“Were you also talented in composing? I heard that you were the one who composed the song for Kim Du-han when he ran for election….”

It was all plagiarism, but it was something that could not be denied.

“The composer made the melody I was humming into a proper tune.”

“Really? You’re very talented.”

Chairman Park’s eyes sparkled.

“This coming May 16th, we are holding a national arts festival at Jangchung Gymnasium to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the revolution. I would like to have a big song that many people can sing together. You try making one.”

Chairman Park instructed Kijo to compose a song.

Kijo held back a sigh.

Every time I met Chairman Park, I felt a heavy burden on my shoulders, wondering why he trusted me so much and entrusted me with so many things.

The keynote speaker asked Chairman Park to resolve his request immediately.

“What do you want the song to mean?”

“It is my wish that our people live well. I hope that it will be a bright, hopeful, and energetic song.”

‘I hope you live well…’

If that’s the case, then there was no other song than that.

Kijo pretended to think for a while and then wrote the lyrics on a notepad on the table.

『Let’s live well. Let’s live well. Let’s live well too. A beautiful country with beasts and rivers. If we cultivate it with one heart, the fun of thrifty living will come naturally. Wealth and honor will also be ours.』

When Kijo delivered the lyrics that he had written in one stroke of a pen, Chairman Park read them and slapped his knee in delight.

“This is it! Can you make a song with it?”

The keynote was to sing along to the melody of the song , which I was familiar with.

“Let’s live well~ Let’s live well~ Let’s live well too~ How about a song like this?”

Kijo’s face turned red.

Chairman Park, who heard the song, laughed heartily and liked it.

“Wait a minute. I’ll call the band leader.”

Chairman Park called in the military band leader who plays the national anthem morning and evening at the Blue House and had them sing the keynote song.

He followed the sheet music and completed the song in no time.

When the score was completed, Chairman Park went out to the front yard of the Blue House and had the military band play the song.

And he himself sang along while looking at the memo.

“Let’s live well. Let’s live well. Let’s live well too.”

I silently watched the side profile of Chairman Park, who was singing the song with all his heart, although his singing was awkward.

The passion that Chairman Park displayed in the early days of his administration was clearly evident.

Chairman Park, who had been singing, turned his head to Kijo and said.

“Let’s call the owner too.”

The keynote speaker sang ‘Let’s Live Well’ with Chairman Park.

Kijo thought while singing the song.

The barley drought that plagues Korea every year was approaching.

Every year from May to June, it was a terrifying spring famine when people would starve to death.

The difficulty of Barley Pass was so great that a poem called “Barley Pass” was created.

The poem said that Korea’s Borigogae Pass was difficult to overcome, like a nine thousand meter high peak.

It was a time when life and death were at stake for ordinary people, as in the poem, ‘It was so high that many people cried as they passed. They went over it while starving. Some people died and could not cross it.’

later became a song that became old-fashioned and boring, but now it has enough parts to move people’s hearts.

Because it was a time when the biggest wish of Koreans was to live well.