Reform Party leader Choi Moon-gil held an emergency press conference.
“I declare my candidacy for president here today, supported by the wishes of the citizens hoping for reform.”
The sudden announcement startled the reporters.
Although it was the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly, the Reform Party had only nine members. Moreover, Choi was not particularly well-known enough to run for president.
Well, there are always people running for office without a chance of winning.
“What made you decide to run?”
“What do you think about your chances of winning?”
Choi Moon-gil confidently answered the reporters’ questions.
“Many citizens are fed up with the entrenched two-party politics. I will definitely become president and reform the nation, creating a South Korea where justice flows like a river.”
I watched on TV and couldn’t help but exclaim,
“Impressive.”
In this election, Lee Jeong-hye presented security and economic issues, while Heo Chang-min focused on punishing the regime. Suddenly, Lee Jeong-hye began calling for a renewal of the party, shifting the mood significantly.
She stated her commitment to becoming a new party for the people and took a stand against Park Si-hyeong. Clearly, it was shaping into a narrative of regime change and accountability.
Now, even Choi Moon-gil from the Reform Party announced his candidacy. This changed the landscape from one with one conservative and one progressive candidate to a three-way race with one conservative and two progressive candidates.
While Choi Moon-gil claims to advocate for radical reform, his appeal may be limited, but he has a small group of passionate supporters. If they vote for him, progressive votes will be dispersed.
Taek-gyu asked with curiosity,
“What kind of maneuvering is this?”
“It seems he’s got some dirt and is blackmailing them.”
As Chairman Im Jin-yong said, it seems they are not willing to peacefully hand over power. After all he had done during his presidency, is he now desperately trying to secure his own position until the end?
I recalled the incident with Park Si-hyeong.
Taek-gyu and I were arrested in turn, the staff suffered from inspections, and the company was raided. Every day, conservative groups flocked to the company to protest, and Senior Ki-hong was hospitalized after being assaulted by a mob. Protesters even surrounded my mother’s house, forcing her to flee as if she were being chased out.
I can endure everything else, but I can’t let that last incident go. I have no intention of letting this slide.
I need to figure something out…
While Park Si-hyeong mobilized the authorities against us, we also used every means to bring him down. Unfortunately, we found nothing decisive.
Taek-gyu nodded.
“The President is very meticulous.”
Those engaged in illegal activities tend to be the most diligent.
There were suspicions piled up like a truckload, and countless minor irregularities. Yet, most were never even investigated, and those that were managed to be attributed to personal misconduct of acquaintances.
As for the protest incident, they claimed it was not a corruption issue at the regime level, but rather a personal misstep by a secretary from the Chief of Staff’s office at the Blue House.
For reference, right after the incident broke, Secretary Lee Il-seon went on vacation and has been missing. He cut off contact with his family, and his phone has been off, leading to jokes that the National Intelligence Service must have sent a red Matiz loaded with emergency supplies.
Could a change in administration truly reveal Park Si-hyeong’s corruption?
When the regime changes, the Korean Democratic Party… no, the Free Citizens’ Party may shift from ruling to opposition, but it still remains the dominant party.
Naturally, they wouldn’t agree to investigations exposing the previous regime’s faults, likely spinning it as political revenge instead.
Investigation into a former president carries immense political weight. Moreover, judging by Park Si-hyeong’s character, he would have thoroughly destroyed evidence and silenced those involved.
“Right now, while the lower-level guys are loyal, it’ll all end once he steps down, right?”
“Park Si-hyeong has money.”
In modern society, money is a powerful weapon in itself.
The reason I could remain safe despite being targeted by the regime was because I had money. Otherwise, I might have been arrested again by now, possibly over baseless sex scandal allegations.
Park Si-hyeong clearly recognized that the presidency was a temporary position. Thus, throughout his term, he focused on converting power into wealth.
The result is PAS.
Even after retirement, Park Si-hyeong still has PAS. And PAS will serve as his shield until he dies.
“In the end, it’s PAS…”
It’s an unlisted company, but considering its sales and operating profit, its corporate value is estimated to exceed 1 trillion won. At this point, it rivals major corporations.
Officially, PAS has no connection to President Park Si-hyeong; it’s just his brother Park Si-han who is the representative. However, Park Si-han is seen as a figurehead, with suspicions that the true owner is Park Si-hyeong, as the privileges received over the years seem unreasonable otherwise.
The issue of the true ownership of PAS has been controversial since Park Si-hyeong announced his candidacy for the presidency.
On paper, Park Si-hyeong owns no shares in PAS, so Park Si-han seems to be the true owner.
However…
Until earlier this year, Park Hyoung-dong, Park Si-han’s son, was the representative of six overseas PAS corporations, but now it has changed to Park Myung-hoon, Park Si-hyeong’s son. Park Si-han is transferring management rights not to his own son but to his brother’s son.
Does this even make sense?
Given various circumstances, it’s likely that the true owner of PAS is Park Si-hyeong. He just can’t put his name on the paperwork, so he intends for his son to inherit the company.
If Park Myung-hoon can smoothly succeed in management rights, everything will be complete.
Hearing this, Taek-gyu said, “You love money, don’t you? How about ruining PAS?”
“That’s a good idea.”
People get hurt when they lose something precious. There’s no better revenge than taking money from someone who values it the most.
PAS relies on Eunsung Motors for over 90% of its revenue. Just like the saying goes, “If you cook the head, the ears will naturally get cooked,” if Eunsung Motors collapses, PAS will also fall.
But who knows how many years it will take until then? And in reality, Eunsung Motors, essentially a domestic monopoly, won’t collapse easily.
Isn’t there a good way to deliver a decisive blow?
After pondering for a moment, I looked up to see Taek-gyu staring at me intently.
“What did you see this time?”
“What do you mean?”
“Wasn’t it Oracle?”
I shook my head.
“I was just thinking. It’s not something that’s so easily visible… Huh?”
In that moment, something came to mind.
-Eunsung Car Airbag Recall-
Since I hadn’t seen it in a while, it felt somewhat familiar.
After a moment, I realized that Taekgyu was staring at me again.
“Is it right this time?”
I nodded absentmindedly.
“Yeah.”
Taekgyu grabbed my shoulder and shook me while saying,
“Why do you look like that? It’s not another major earthquake, right? Or a cosmic collision or the end of the world?”
“…Thankfully, no.”
I’m really tired of natural disasters.
“They say Eunsung Car will recall because of an airbag issue.”
“Recall?”
Safety is the most important thing for cars on the road. Therefore, if a significant defect is discovered, a recall must happen.
Recalls can be done voluntarily by manufacturers or mandated by the government.
The most famous incident was the Toyota recall in 2009. Due to issues with mats and accelerator pedals, a family driving a Lexus in the U.S. tragically died, leading Toyota to recall over 10 million vehicles and face massive fines.
“Did Eunsung Car make the airbags?”
“No.”
Cars are made up of tens of thousands of parts. Among these, there are components directly manufactured by car manufacturers, like engines, but most are supplied by partners.
For airbags, a handful of leading companies dominate about 80% of the global market with standardized products.
I recalled some information I had seen before.
“We used to get supplies from a German company, but switched to PAS a few years ago.”
At that, Taekgyu’s eyes widened.
“Wait, are you saying the issue is with what PAS supplied?”
“That seems likely.”
I searched for “Eunsung car airbags defect” on a portal site. Dozens of articles and posts appeared.
Most discussed serious accidents where the airbags failed to deploy.
“Eunsung car airbags are famous for not deploying. They say they need to be precisely angled to work, right?”
“Well, I don’t really like Eunsung cars, but there is some unfairness in this issue.”
It’s a problem when airbags fail to deploy in serious accidents, but it’s also troubling when they often deploy in minor accidents. In most accidents, airbags function normally, with failure being extremely rare. However, for those who find themselves in that rare group, dissatisfaction is inevitable.
The perception that Eunsung car airbags rarely deploy is a misunderstanding stemming from their overwhelming domestic sales. Airbags failing to deploy due to collision angles occurs at similar rates in companies like BMW and Toyota.
But can a recall happen simply because airbags don’t deploy often?
Could there be another reason?
“What other reason?”
“Maybe the airbags themselves are defective.”
Taekgyu asked, clearly confused.
“Then why haven’t there been any issues until now?”
“You can’t know if an airbag is functioning correctly until it deploys.”
Driving often involves minor accidents, but it’s extremely rare to experience a significant crash that deploys airbags.
Out of 100 cars, only one might have airbags deploy within ten years.
In such severe accidents, serious injuries or fatalities aren’t surprising, making it difficult to notice issues with airbags.
While the specific defect is unknown, the cause must be one of two things: a production issue or a design flaw.
“If it’s a production issue, we can recall just the vehicles from that specific period, but if it’s a design flaw, we’ll need to recall all cars equipped with PAS airbags.”
“How many cars would that involve?”
Eunsung Motors sells over 8 million cars worldwide in a year. PAS has been supplying airbags for over six years…
“Probably around 50 million.”
Saying it’s 50 million sounds nice, but that’s more than the total number of cars in South Korea.
“So, what would the cost be?”
“Even estimating 100,000 won per car, for 50 million cars, that’s 5 trillion won.”
“What?”
Taekgyu was stunned, his mouth agape.
In recent times, we might have been making good money, but 5 trillion is an amount even major corporations struggle to handle. How many large companies in Korea have 5 trillion won in cash?
This would result in damages comparable to the L6 explosion disaster!
Seosung Electronics is a leading global corporation, so they could withstand it, but PAS is just a mid-sized company.
Naturally, they can’t handle such a loss.
If a full recall of airbags ever becomes necessary, it would guarantee bankruptcy.
The primary liability lies with PAS for supplying defective products, but if PAS goes bankrupt and can’t compensate, then Eunsung Motors would be responsible.
On top of that, problems arising during the recall process, along with damage to company image and decreased sales, add to the burden.
I muttered while watching President Park Si-hyeong’s figure on the news.
“If this goes well, I might be able to take it out in one shot.”
