CHAPTER 173: CHAPTER 172. HUMAN GREED DOES NOT DESERVE PITY

CEO Jacob Oh walked briskly through the quiet hallway of an expensive traditional restaurant on the other side of the city, away from the company. Back in the day, he also came to this kind of place to meet a client or feel good about his status, but...how long had it been since his money was used for anything but gambling?

A little voice in the corner of his mind told him that it was enough; that he should stop wasting money. But...but what if he won big next time? How long would it take for him to go back to his old lifestyle if he earned money normally? Years? Decades? He could turn everything back with just one big win--or several, like Mr. Ahn from the corner who managed to buy a luxury condo overlooking the Han River.

Besides...it wasn’t like what he did before--working for Joseph’s scheme--was any good either; always making him feel like a lackey. Wasn’t it normal for an endeavor to see several failures first before reaching success? It was normal while building a company.

Yeah...doing business was not much different than gambling. He just needed a big capital to start again--it didn’t matter how he chose to start.

With that conviction, he opened the door to a certain private room with a bamboo plate hanging beside it. A bright young woman and two other men were already there, along with a table full of delicacies.

"You’re here, Uncle!" Sarah waved cheerfully, a pair of chopsticks already between her fingers.

Jacob was annoyed that she didn’t even bother to wait for him, who was way older, but he had no leeway to express his bitterness since he was the one who needed her.

He hurriedly closed the door because her greeting was loud enough to be heard from the outside, and he didn’t want to be accidentally found out by anyone. "G-good day, Miss."

"Why do you look so nervous, Uncle?" Sarah laughed when the CEO stumbled slightly as he took off his shoes and climbed to the elevated platform. "Isn’t this a good day?"

"Ah, yes..." the CEO nodded. Because it was a good day, he was able to be patient when facing this rude girl. Sitting down on the side facing Sarah, the CEO glanced at the man on the other side of the table--a new face he had never seen before. "Uhh...this is?"

"This is my personal lawyer to take care of the contract," Sarah gestured toward the man with neatly combed hair and a dry gaze behind a pair of metal-rimmed glasses.

The lawyer, who looked like he was born to be one, bowed his head slightly and spoke in a low, dry tone. "Logan Park."

The CEO blinked his slightly widened eyes. "Contract?"

"Well, of course. Aren’t we here for that?" Sarah tilted her head.

Jacob pressed his lips tightly. He thought she would just give him the money and use this place because that kind of transaction could look shady. It was a large amount of money, enough to buy out a house in the middle of the city. Also, he asked for it to be given in cash--to avoid the bank’s scrutiny and because this time, he planned to go to a physical casino.

Seeing the man’s guarded expression, Sarah waved her chopsticks to the lawyer. "Umm...oh, you explain for me, Logan."

Without missing a breath, Logan started to talk. "Mister Oh, this is the contract we would sign today," he took out a large envelope and placing it beside the CEO. "Rather than a loan, you had agreed to sell fifty percent shares of OJ Consultant and two percent of HS Stone’s shares for the price stated in the contract."

The CEO--at least he was still that--took the contract and perused it, making sure the stated number was what he needed. Well, it was what he needed to pay the loan shark, but he had already decided to use it for another purpose.

"With this, the exchange would be a legal transaction protected by law," the lawyer continued.

"O-oh, yes..."

"If you could see in the back, there is a clause about buying back the shares from Young Miss at the same agreed price. This means, even if the shares increase in valuation, there will be no need to buy them back at a higher price."

"Oh," the CEO perked up.

It would also mean he had to pay the same price if the shares became nothing more than garbage, but it didn’t seem like the CEO thought about that. Not that it matters since there was no way he could buy it back after Sarah’s plan ended.

That was only if he managed to get away from the loan shark in the first place. She wasn’t a gambler, but Sarah could see the greed inside Jacob’s eyes that told her the man would never use the money to clear his debt.

Well, didn’t matter as long as the shares were in Sarah’s hand. Those shares weren’t exactly his in the first place.

And that was his concern. "Umm...Miss..." he looked at Sarah sheepishly. "About this..."

"Hmm?" Sarah swallowed the food in her mouth and looked at the CEO’s wry smile. "Ah--you want me to keep it a secret from Uncle Joseph, right?"

"Yes, yes!" the CEO nodded hurriedly.

Sarah laughed and waved her hand nonchalantly. "Don’t worry--I’ll also keep you as the CEO for a while, Uncle."

The CEO nodded again in relief. "Yes, thank you, Miss."

How easy; she didn’t even need to persuade this man to keep anything a secret. Sarah had no idea how long Jacob would be able to survive before the loan shark came to him, but until then, Joseph would be served with an illusion that his pawn was still in its place.

"In that case, would you like to have an NDA drafted?" Logan asked.

"How about it, Uncle?"

"Yes, of course, Miss! But..." the CEO glanced around and rubbed his fingers slightly. "When...do you think I can have the money?"

Sarah smiled and snapped her fingers. "Puppy!"

The bodyguard grabbed a box of red ginseng extract behind him and handed it to the excited CEO. The man couldn’t even hold back from opening the box, eyes sparkling as he saw neatly piled banknotes.

"Oh..." he almost sighed at the beautiful sight.

"Kyaah! I always wanted to do this!" Sarah clapped and giggled in glee, laughing above the headache Austin had to go through to get the cash untraceable. "We have ones with a box of apples and a fruit basket too for the rest, but those are too heavy, so we left them inside the car."

"Ah...haha! Is that so?" the CEO laughed awkwardly.

"And your part, Uncle?"

"I have it here."

The CEO held out the suitcase he brought, and Hajin took it immediately. Rather than handing it over to Sarah, however, the bodyguard gave it to the lawyer.

"Okaay, please check everything, Logan," Sarah said before continuing to eat her lunch.

As the lawyer checked all the paperwork carefully, Sarah offered the food to the CEO. The old man, however, was too tense to stomach anything but a warm tea, his eyes kept on glancing at the ginseng box. If it weren’t for the rest of the money still sitting in Sarah’s car, he would probably run away with the box without caring for the contract.

Not that Sarah would mind. The contract was just a little additional trick for her battle against Joseph.

"If there is nothing you’d like to negotiate more, please proceed with the contract," Logan said after perusing the documents, nodding at Sarah to tell her everything was in order.

"Ah, yes!"

The CEO was so eager that he already fished out his own pen to sign the contract. His steps were almost giddy and impatient when they headed to the parking lot, and he was practically a rocket after all the money was loaded into his car, barely even giving Sarah any goodbyes.

"What a funny guy," Sarah chuckled. Pitiful too, tumbling into a flame of addiction just like Jasper.

Sarah didn’t want to guilt herself into thinking they were victims, however. Being pitiful didn’t mean he wasn’t an awful human being.

She smiled and shifted her gaze to the lawyer. "Thank you, Logan."

"It’s my pleasure," the man bowed politely, but still as dry as ever.

"I’m sorry about this, but you’ll have to get busy right after," Sarah said, smiling wryly.

The lawyer merely pushed his glasses. "As long as the pay reflects the workload."

"Well..." Sarah chuckled as she opened the news portal on her phone, reading one of the newly uploaded news stories.

An investigative journalist had uploaded a story about a problematic project backed by two companies, which was digging a hill with historical value. Detailed cross-references and interviews with the local residents drove the journalist to the conclusion that beneath the hill, lay dozens of tombs for soldiers during the war. The article even included some pictures of the dig up soldier paraphernalia and human skulls.

It wasn’t a named journalist, so not many people were immediately interested in the article. The article itself would possibly get buried and deleted after a while, but it didn’t matter.

It wasn’t that hard to circulate something once it was out there. Besides, it was only the first step.

Sarah curled her lips. "Let’s build a case, shall we?"