Reboot the heyday

That was a semi-forced introduction when Lee Jae-yeol was still alive.

He remembered meeting Zhao Gongzi, the most favored son of the Zhao family of the Hanjin Group, in an extremely private and extravagant setting. (Part 2, Volume 1, Chapter 172)
Wang Taika clearly remembers that Lee Jae-yeol even played cards with Young Master Zhao to get everyone talking. But the stakes were rather high.
"Today's bet is interesting. Mr. Wang has brought a female trainee from his own company, while Young Master Zhao has brought a flight attendant from Korean Air. Whoever loses will lose a woman to the other."

Young Master Zhao laughed heartily: "That's great! That's exciting! Let's do it that way!"

But in the end, Young Master Zhao lost more than he won. In the end, all he could do was wave to the last flight attendant beside him and say, "Go on."

The flight attendant seemed reluctant and kept fidgeting.

Young Master Zhao glanced at the flight attendant and immediately became furious, feeling that she had embarrassed him. So he picked up a wine bottle from the table and smashed it hard against the flight attendant's head.

"Bang!" The woman fell to the ground, clutching her head, blood flowing continuously.

"You bitch, are you trying to embarrass me?" Young Master Zhao continued hitting her, even stuffing banknotes into the flight attendant's clothes, shouting, "Is that enough? Is that enough!"

Wang Taika was startled. He didn't expect that Young Master Zhao would be so violent and turn on him so quickly, showing no humanity whatsoever.

Looking back now, isn't Lee Jae-yeol's original plan exactly the same as his current one? Did Lee Jae-yeol already foresee the conflict between Cornerstone Industries' development of the logistics industry and Hanjin Group back then?
So was this a coincidence, or was it a plan Lee Jae-yeol had in the making all along, but who secretly exerted influence from certain angles?

Even after being dead for so long, is there still this layer of scheming?

If that's really the case, then Lee Jae-yeol's initiative to introduce Young Master Zhao to Wang Tai-ka back then carries a different meaning.

Wang Taika began brainstorming, carefully recalling what else Lee Jae-yeol had said to him that day.

Gradually, I actually started to remember some things.

"In this country, which is neither too big nor too small, there are quite a few conglomerates. But the most arrogant, domineering, and volatile conglomerate should be the Zhao family of the Hanjin Group. Moreover, their arrogance and volatileness are not hidden or secretive, but are well-known and open. You could say that the whole family is scum."

"The founder of Hanjin Group was Cho Chung-hoon, and things were actually fine back then. Later, Cho Chung-hoon passed away, and his eldest son, Cho Yang-ho, succeeded him after a struggle, taking the helm of Hanjin Group. The problem was that none of Cho Yang-hoon's family members were normal people."

"Zhao Yanghao's wife is named Li Mingji, their eldest daughter is Zhao Xian'a, their second daughter is Zhao Xianmin, and their son is Zhao Yuantai. Zhao Yanghao is not very capable, but he is very good at messing with people. After his family moved to Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu, Zhao Yanghao made his employees from Jingshi Company work as free labor for his private residence, installing surveillance cameras, repairing the wine warehouse, painting the walls, installing flower bed railings, and repairing the underfloor heating system. Basically, they did hard labor without pay. This was considered company-sponsored labor."

"On another occasion, Cho Yang-ho ordered employees of Jungseok Company to build a playground for his grandson at his private residence in Pyeongchang-dong and to carry out construction in the courtyard. In addition, walking dogs, cleaning up pet feces, watering trees, and sorting garbage were all part of the Jungseok Company employees' job duties, and they did not receive any wages. If they did not agree, they would immediately lose their jobs."

"His wife, Li Mingji, not only tormented people, but also frequently beat them. She would spit at her employees and throw metal shears at them. Once, when she saw an employee working on a three-meter-high ladder, she deliberately kicked the ladder over. Another time, Li Mingji threw a ceramic vase that was nearly a meter long at an employee. The vase didn't break at the time, but she started cursing at the employee, 'You bastards, pick it up and give it to me right now!' After the two employees handed her the vase, she threw it at them again."

“No one in the Zhao family is normal. Employees who forget to buy something are beaten and forced to kneel by Li Mingji. Employees who are late are kicked and spat on. Drivers who drive too slowly are splashed with water. In addition, she will beat people for no reason, hitting employees on the forehead with a mop handle. In short, in her eyes, employees are not human beings, but livestock that she can beat and scold at will. Whenever she is unhappy, Li Mingji will pick up whatever is around her and throw it at them, and slap employees in the face. All of this has been reported in the news. Even after the media exposed her frequent and unprovoked beatings of drivers and employees, Li Mingji remains unrepentant.”

"If even the parents are like this, then what about the three children? The eldest and second daughters are exactly like Li Mingji. And the young master Zhao Yuantai we're meeting today is even more outrageous; he's just an incompetent troublemaker. He once hit and injured a policeman and fled the scene, only managing to settle things with connections and money. Because he thought an elderly woman crossing the zebra crossing was too slow, Zhao Yuantai pushed her down. Another time, Zhao Yuantai hit and injured an old man, and instead of apologizing, he cursed at him."

"The most outrageous thing is that once, over a trivial matter, Zhao Yuantai actually got into a fight with his mother, Li Mingji, smashing an antique vase and cutting Li Mingji's hand. Korean Air even created a 70-page reception manual specifically for this family. If this family boards the plane, the crew members have to start work four hours earlier than usual. After the family disembarks, the purser must carefully record their comments and submit a report. If you are a Korean Air employee, the company will tell you that if this family hits you, you should pretend that nothing happened."

"Although the Zhao family is a wealthy family, it is really too shameful for them to do such a disgraceful thing."

"I think Zhao Yuantai is a target that can be used." My thoughts return to the present.

"A usable target?"

Thinking back to what Lee Jae-yeol had said, Wang Taika realized that all of this might not have been an accident.

The person is dead, and he's still scheming about these things. Does he really think he's Zhuge Liang? Wang Taika was speechless.

However, Lee Jae-yeol's insight was indeed sharp. The Zhao family was a group of rotten people who had been soaked in money and power and whose bones had become weak. They regarded the people around them as nothing and showed the utmost contempt for the lives and dignity of ordinary people in their words. Their hobbies were low-class and cruel.

This is the inevitable poisonous fruit nurtured by family education and environment; human nature has long since rotted away amidst the rapid expansion of wealth and the unchecked power.

“This is the flaw.” Wang Taika walked to his desk, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the smooth surface.

A clear and ruthless plan took shape in Wang Taika's mind. It would be foolish to confront Hanjin Group head-on with its business scale and political and business connections, but what if he started from within and undermined the decay of its family's foundation?

Unexpectedly, the final solution relied on the deceased's plan.

“Duck King!” Wang Taika raised his head, his gaze sharp. “Right now, don’t directly touch the Zhao family’s core businesses, and don’t target that member of the Zhao family. Use all the resources we have to investigate, investigate the key members of the Zhao family, especially those who have a certain status but are not in the core decision-making level, yet they act recklessly because of their family’s power. Whatever the information, the more detailed the better. The key is their hobbies, their troubles, and the festering sores they think they’ve covered up well, which may burst at the slightest touch.”

The Duck King immediately understood: "You want to find their Achilles' heel? Create cracks from within, or at least make them too busy to focus on suppressing us?"

“More than that.” Wang Taika’s eyes were deep. “Sometimes, dealing with a rotten behemoth doesn’t require you to push it down yourself. You just need to find the weakest crack in its load-bearing wall, and then gently hammer in a nail. Naturally, other forces that also covet it, or have been oppressed by it for a long time, will pry along the crack, or even amplify it. What we need to do is find the crack, make the nail, and then hand it to the right person.”

The professional term is "matching teammates"!

Wang Taika added, "Of course, we can't let our guard down in terms of business. We should maneuver where necessary, and consider conceding some interests to gain breathing room. Sometimes, showing weakness is to better see who is kicking us when we're down and who is watching from the sidelines. As for Samsung's Shin Moon-sung, we'll keep track of that for now. Our primary goal is to break the short-lived alliance between Hanjin and Samsung against us. After all, Samsung and Hanjin are not without competition in many areas."

Duck King nodded, a look of excitement and cruelty on his face: "Understood. Digging up graves and sowing discord, that's my old profession. I'll go arrange it right away and make sure to strip those masters, young masters and young ladies of the Zhao family bare."

After dealing with all that, Wang Taika turned around and found that Eun-jung, who had followed him back from the restaurant, was still there; she hadn't left. She had only hidden in the office cubicle because the Duck King was there.

Wang Taika got busy and forgot about it. Only after Duck King left did Eun-jung come out, staring blankly at him.

Eun-jung must have heard everything. Wang Tai-ka didn't want to reveal this side of himself, that he was too cunning. But since Eun-jung knew, there was nothing he could do.

Wang Taika shrugged: "As you can see, this is my true nature. Some things can't be judged by right or wrong, only by advantages and disadvantages. Isn't that a bit despicable?"

Eun-jung shook her head and said, "How can we be soft-hearted when dealing with the enemy? I just feel..."

He paused, calmed his racing heart, and swallowed nervously.

"Oppa, you were so cool just now!" (End of Chapter)