The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 25
Only Noblemtl
25. Red Mafia (3)
Dokkaebi F&B’s head of headquarters is a financial expert who has worked only at our food company since graduating from Yonsei University’s Department of Business Administration.
People around him tried to discourage him from joining our food company after graduating from college.
At that time, there were many places to go if you graduated from a prestigious university.
It wasn’t difficult to get into large corporations or even banks if you just applied.
It was because of his younger brother that he joined our food business, which was stuck in the small and medium-sized business framework, instead of going to a bigger company.
My younger brother had a weak heart since he was young. He had to have surgery, but it was a very expensive surgery, so it was difficult for our family to afford it.
The place that helped at that time was our foundation.
People around us tried to stop Chief Do from going in, but my parents didn’t say anything as if it was natural.
The head of the department, who was arriving at work early as usual, was worried about his belly, which was starting to protrude due to his age.
Because of his appearance that made him look like a country bumpkin, his nickname as a child was “Madangsoe”.
The only consolation was his strong and sturdy body, but that body is no longer what it used to be due to his age.
I was starting my day like any other day, reading the morning paper, when Manager Jeong from the finance team came up to me.
“Do you have something urgent to pay in the morning?”
“Chief, something really bothers me. A claim was filed in Russia yesterday.”
A deep wrinkle naturally formed on Chief Do’s forehead.
Claim, it was a scary word to even hear.
“What is the claim? I don’t think there is anything wrong with the product, but is there a problem with storage?”
The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed. The toad was responsible for loading it onto the ship.
“The quantity of soju disappeared from the ship that arrived in Vladivostok.”
When I heard about it, it was nothing. It was a common delivery accident in Russia. The toad was not responsible for it.
Literally zero responsibility.
The very idea of making a claim about something that had nothing to do with toads was nonsense.
“It’s not an easy matter. The reason Georgi is acting on our side even though he knows he has no legal responsibility is because he’s a mafia guy.”
“Ugh, we’re not the type of people you can communicate with through words, right?”
“Yes, I think that’s also why the stuff disappeared. Who would dare touch the mafia’s stuff? I think the Irkutsk region’s mafia is jealous of the money Georgi, the St. Petersburg mafia, is making. Georgi is planning to take advantage of us to get a lot of stuff.”
In short, it was said that the toad was involved in a dispute between mafias.
“Is it because you didn’t give me the quantity I wanted?”
“you’re right.”
“What’s the problem? Even if we go to court, we won’t be responsible. We can just ignore it.”
“That is true, though.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Manager Jeong mumbled and couldn’t speak.
“And this should go to the sales headquarters. Why did it come up to me? Isn’t Director Park not in his office?”
“I went to Tokyo because of a problem with the Japanese branch.”
Only then did the passerby realize why Manager Jeong had been running to him all morning.
“When you were promoted to manager, you were scheduled to be transferred to the Moscow branch manager position, right? Did you receive a personnel order?”
“Yes, I heard that the approval from the boss came through yesterday. I’m leaving for Russia next month.”
“You must be scared since you got into a fight with the mafia. The security situation is already bad.”
“I heard that things are better in Moscow.”
It was an unusual case where I was transferred from sales to the finance team.
The liquor business tends to overlap with the dark side of society. Because of his large size and outgoing personality, he was assigned to the domestic sales department when he first joined the company.
Interestingly, this was a case where the department was changed to the finance team after it was later revealed that he had majored in accounting in college and even had an accountant license.
“Don’t be too scared, I won’t start shooting indiscriminately.”
“What a horrible thing to say. I’m still contemplating whether I should withdraw my application.”
“Where did that big, distracted person die?”
“It’s not like size can stop bullets. It’s already like this, and it’s horrible to think that I’ll be harassed by Georgi’s gang when I go to Moscow. Dmitry is always calling me and whining for supplies.”
“I guess you became close friends when Dmitry came to Korea last time. You two really get along well.”
Dmitry Belikov was a Russian importer of toad spirits and a middle boss of the Georgi mafia.
He has a rather vicious appearance, befitting a mafia member, that anyone can tell his occupation at a glance.
“If you say that, I’ll be disappointed. I think you’d be a better fit for me than me. That guy is from the Spetsnaz, so he’s a perfect fit for you. You’re from the 1st Airborne Division, aren’t you?”
Chief Do groaned at Manager Jeong’s words.
“Ugh, that 1st airborne assault is honestly a past I want to erase from my memory.”
My memories of that time when I was drafted as a soldier and mobilized for the coup d’état were not very good. I was mobilized to occupy the Ministry of National Defense in my later years because of the brigade commander who joined Jeon Du-gwang’s coup d’état.
Even though I protested against the mobilization order back then, I could not disobey the order.
The atmosphere was such that if you didn’t listen to orders, you would be summarily executed.
Because of that, the brigade commander rose through the ranks in the military, even becoming the Chief of Staff, but the mobilized soldiers had to go somewhere and be ashamed of having been from the airborne unit.
When Chief Do’s expression turned unpleasant, Jeong Gwa-jeong quietly changed the subject.
“Anyway, Dmitry keeps picking a fight. I think it’ll be noisy if I go.”
“Have you found an office in Moscow?”
“Manager Cho, who was dispatched, found a place near the Moscow St. Petersburg Hotel. He said it was quite expensive. Even though it was a small office, the monthly rent was over 50,000 dollars. I will submit the payment as soon as the fax arrives.”
“I don’t know much about it, but I think rent in Moscow is not cheap. Still, it would be better to settle in the city center for various reasons, such as safety and work efficiency.”
Manager Jeong also felt relieved at the positive attitude of Chief Do, who was in charge of the money issue. He had been worried that he would be criticized because the rent was more expensive than expected.
“I heard that rent was expensive, but I didn’t know it was that expensive. After all, it’s Russia.”
“Hey, how much money do you make in Russia that you can’t even give me that much? Do your best when you get there. It’s not important to increase sales, it’s important to maintain them as much as possible.”
“I know that too. Production is lagging behind, so I can’t give you more even if I wanted to.”
In Russia, there is a formidable enemy called vodka.
Although the toad expanded the Russian export market by offering a price between cheap and high-end alcohol, its limitations were clear.
Moreover, Russia has a reputation for its volatile government policies.
In many ways, the future was uncertain.
As soon as Director Jeong Ho-in took office as the Moscow branch manager, he contacted me.
“Georgi wants to visit Korea? What’s the matter?”
– I won’t go into detail, but they’ll probably ask for the missing supplies from Vladivostok. They say that before I came here, the mafia kids were fighting each other for a while. Moscow was relatively quiet, but other areas were quite noisy. After the disappearance of the toad soju and the Georgi family attacked the Irkutsk mafia, fierce fighting broke out all over Russia.
I’ve heard that Russian nights have been noisy lately, but I had no idea that the cause was toad liquor.
Georgi is from the Russian State Security Committee, known to the world as the KGB. He rose to prominence by dominating the underworld during the turbulent times following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It boasted the second largest power among the currently disintegrated Red Mafia. The traditional mafia was the Viktor family that controlled Moscow.
“Let’s meet up when you come. Just tell him to come.”
As soon as I hung up the phone, Ariel said.
[Master, the Viktor family has fallen. The biggest red mafia in Russia now is the Georgi family.]
“The Victor family has fallen?”
[This time, we carried out a large-scale nationwide crackdown on the Red Mafia. It was supposedly to maintain public order, but in reality, it was an operation to eliminate Viktor. The Federal Security Service (FSB) was involved.]
As the KGB was split into different departments, the agency in charge of domestic affairs was the FSB.
“Why would you catch Viktor? He wasn’t on bad terms with Putin, was he?”
[The problem is that he is closer to the oligarchs.]
Oligarchs are a new group of Russian conglomerates that emerged in the process of privatizing state-owned enterprises. Putin, who came to power with the support of Berezovsky, a representative oligarch, has been steadily working to purge the oligarchs since taking power.
Berezovsky, who was the sponsor, was no exception.
“Putin, that guy seems to have decided to prey on the back alleys too.”
Georgi had a close relationship with Putin, having worked with him in the KGB. He was a well-behaved force that purged the old guard.
[We are already working on a long-term plan for the future.]
“He’s a great guy.”
It was no easy feat to rise to power at a young age and then devise a long-term plan.
[Putin seems to be eyeing the profits from the sale of soju. It is a good way to create slush funds without revealing any traces.]
“This guy and that guy are causing a fuss.”
In China, the Shanghai faction and the Crown Prince’s Party rushed in, and in Russia, the president himself rushed in.
After leaving the KGB, Putin built his career in St. Petersburg. After his mentor and protégé Anatoly Sobchak lost in the mayoral election, he moved to Moscow and rose to power, starting as first deputy head of Yeltsin’s presidential administration, then chairman of the presidential property management control committee, and then head of the Federal Security Service.
In 1997 and 1998, Putin emerged as the most powerful figure in the administration and ran without hesitation to become prime minister and president, opening a dazzling era of success.
On the contrary, because he rose to power too quickly, the roots of his direct power were not yet deep.
As part of the process of gradually expanding his direct power and preparing for long-term rule, work was carried out to eliminate the Red Mafia.