Chapter 53 – Deception is the Basics

[In Front of the Auction Courtroom of the Seoul District Court Annex]

Seo Ki-ryong nodded to someone near the court annex where the auction was taking place.

Wearing ordinary clothes with their hats pulled down, the two middle-aged men received the signal and slowly entered the court.

[We will now begin the bidding.]

The announcement rang out, and the date bidding forms were distributed. People received the papers, and the hall was busy.

Sitting at a table on one side, Geum Nae-yeong was recalculating something while looking at his notebook.

He seemed to be rethinking the amount he had written on the date bidding form.

Someone suddenly spoke to Geum Nae-yeong from his side.

“You… You’re that lawyer, right? The one on TV?”

As one of the actors cast by Seo Ki-ryong, he naturally began to strike up a conversation with Geum Nae-yeong.

“You go on quiz shows… and even do auctions? Seriously, you’ve really gone mad for money, haven’t you? You should do your job properly. A lawyer, that is.”

At the sound of the man’s sarcastic voice, Geum Nae-yeong turned his head and looked at him.

“You are that person.”

“That person? Do you know me??”

‘Huh… Did he notice… that I’m an actor?’

The man froze for a moment.

At Geum Nae-yeong’s words, which sounded as if he had recognized someone who wasn’t even a famous actor, his pupils trembled.

“Yes. I know you well. The kind of person who speaks informally and talks abusively upon meeting for the first time.”

“W-What did you say? Abusive talk?”

“In English, it’s called an ‘anti’. A-N-T-I.”

As Geum Nae-yeong spoke back clearly, a few people around them began to giggle.

The male actor hesitated for a moment, but he forced himself to continue his prepared lines.

“I’m telling you! I absolutely hate you appearing on TV! I can’t stand the sight of that slick-looking face of yours!”

Geum Nae-yeong blinked for a moment and then answered.

“If you hate it, you don’t have to watch it. Your face is not my type either.”

A brief silence. The man’s face flushed red.

‘W-What… Is this acting? If it’s acting, he’s too good at it.

His eyes aren’t shaking either. And his skill at deflecting the lines I prepared…

He’s a strange guy. But money is on the line, isn’t it? Get a grip, Park Jin-seok.’

“Why shouldn’t I watch it! I need to see how the world is turning through it and all! Who are you to tell me to watch or not?”

Geum Nae-yeong tilted his head slightly.

“Hmm. In that case, there is another way.”

“What? A way?”

“The time I appear is between 10:20 and 10:30 AM, so don’t watch it then.”

The man froze for a moment at Geum Nae-yeong’s informal speech, then raised his voice as if even angrier.

“Don’t watch only then! You appear in the middle too. Your face keeps getting captured whenever other people speak!”

Without making eye contact, Geum Nae-yeong briefly replied while doing his own work.

“Then close your eyes every time. You shouldn’t try to get everything easily without any effort. Especially when you’re a fully grown adult.”

At that moment, someone nearby couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

The man’s face flushed red again.

“W-What?”

The man’s voice trembled.

Geum Nae-yeong in front of him still had no expression. That expressionless face felt rather terrifying, and his prepared lines tangled in his head.

‘Damn it… He’s a tough opponent. Even if they are minor roles, I’ve been acting for over 10 years…

Why is it getting so tangled?’

He tried to avoid eye contact and signaled his colleague next to him. He conveyed his intention just with his mouth shape, saying ‘switch’.

The second man quickly approached Geum Nae-yeong and suddenly thrust the paper in his hand forward.

“Excuse me… Um… Are you a lawyer? This is my first time doing an auction, so I don’t know much… What do I write here?”

Looking at the document the man handed him, Geum Nae-yeong pointed out the wrong part with his hand.

“You must write the road name address here. And you stamped it incorrectly. You need to stamp it here, like I did.”

The moment Geum Nae-yeong showed it to him while looking at his own document, the man next to him tilted his head slightly.

His gaze stopped at the amount written on Geum Nae-yeong’s bid form.

After confirming the amount, the man soon pulled out his phone, pretended to make a call, and left his seat.

A moment later, Geum Nae-yeong pressed a stapler onto the bidding envelope with a click to seal it and submitted it as it was.

“He wrote down 4.248 billion won.”

The actor told Seo Ki-ryong with confidence.

“Are you sure? He wrote down too much.”

“I saw it clearly with my own two eyes. I even confirmed him submitting it.”

The corners of Seo Ki-ryong’s mouth curled up.

“Good. Perfect.”

He pulled an envelope out from the inside of his suit and handed it to the men.

“Good work.”

‘Geum Nae-yeong, this bastard. He wrote down 1 billion won more than expected.’

He muttered and grinned.

“Did he think I wouldn’t anticipate something like this? Like him, he intends to buy it on the first try.

Since the appraised value is in the 3 billion won range, he expected us to write down about that much…

He must have set his stakes high and included the winning fee he would earn in the future in the building price.”

Seo Ki-ryong tapped his mental calculator and, on the other hand, recalled the board resolution.

“Company funds are up to 3.5 billion won. The remaining 1 billion won is lacking…”

‘Hmm… Considering the money I’ll make in the future, this is not even big money. If it’s the cost to completely neutralize Teum and Geum Nae-yeong… it is fully worth it.

I can invest about 1 billion won of my own, and just take my share of the shares after acquiring the building.

Later, I could use that as a justification to ask for a co-representative position…

Yes, that’s much better.’

As the bidding deadline approached, he immediately pressed down and wrote the amount on the bid form.

4.25 billion won.

A few hours later, the voice of the court enforcement officer echoed.

“20** Takeong 1233…”

“The winning bidder is…”

“Law Firm Gangyeok.”

A smile spread across Seo Ki-ryong’s lips.

“Really. He is nothing special, yet the lawyers have been struggling so much until now? Haha… I should have dealt with him sooner.”

After winning the bid for the building, Seo Ki-ryong returned to the office and confidently handed the bid confirmation and related documents to the employee.

“Handle this on your own now, and just let me know when it’s time to pay the balance. I’ll pay the lacking portion.”

Seo Ki-ryong deliberately raised his voice.

He seemed to want to imprint on everyone that he was the first lawyer at Gangyeok to defeat Geum Nae-yeong.

***

Some time later.

Bang bang bang!

A flashy new sign reading [Law Firm Gangyeok Branch] was hung on the Teum building, and from the 4th floor up, the entire building turned into a construction site.

Kweeeeeng-!

A loud drilling noise vibrated through the entire building.

“No, construction as soon as they move in? They must be tearing down the entire upper section.”

Manager Yeom blocked his ears and frowned.

“Not only did they buy it at a high price, but even interior design…? They’re really making a fuss.”

Click.

At that moment, Geum Nae-yeong opened his office door and stepped out, and at the same time, Lawyer Gil Man-uk also burst open his door and walked out.

A toy pistol was held in one of Gil Man-uk’s hands.

With his shirt sleeves rolled up, annoyance was written all over his brow.

“Geez! I can’t even play the game.”

He muttered lowly and turned his gaze, and at that moment, his eyes met Geum Nae-yeong’s.

Gil Man-uk’s expression stiffened subtly, and the tip of his nose twitched.

“Hmph… Just wait, Geum Nae-yeong. I will show you a screen where the rankings have swapped soon…”

After uttering a vow that sounded like talking to himself, he glanced up at the thumping upper floors of the building and left a word.

“Game skills are one thing, but… for a young lawyer with little experience, his brain is extraordinary.”

Gil Man-uk twirled the pistol with his finger on the trigger, walked straight back into his room, and shut the door.

Geum Nae-yeong glanced once in Lawyer Gil’s direction and then immediately looked for Ju Yong-hae.

“Manager Ju. Please start preparing.”

“Pardon? Preparing what?”

Ju Yong-hae tilted his head.

“We are moving.”

“What?? Moving? How can we leave without getting our deposit? For now, we should occupy this place and try to sound out some methods.”

“We will get the deposit. So we must leave.”

“Pardon??”

“The procedures up to the payment of the balance have been completed.”

“No, I mean. What do you mean by that?”

“If we had left it alone, the building would have been bid at around 3 billion won after a few failed auctions. In that case, we couldn’t have recovered our 1 billion won deposit.

But since someone appeared willing to buy it from the very first auction, it is a very good thing.

If they buy it a bit more expensively… it’s even better.”

Geum Nae-yeong calmly continued speaking.

“We get our deposit back, and they buy a uselessly old building.”

After reflecting deeply on Geum Nae-yeong’s words, the manager’s eyes suddenly flew open.

“Ah, ah!!!”

He smacked his forehead with his palm.

“Did Gangyeok buy this building for over 4 billion won instead of in the 3 billion won range?”

“Yes, that’s right. Why would we buy this old and subpar building? We can go to a better place with that money.

However, since our 1 billion won deposit was tied up, resolving that was all.”

“Ah…!”

Ju Yong-hae nodded as if in admiration.

“So I resolved it. By pretending to participate in the auction and raising the auction bid, it’s done.

Since an auction ultimately belongs to the person who pays the most, we just had to make them buy it expensively.”

Geum Nae-yeong finished speaking with an expressionless face, and goosebumps broke out all over Ju Yong-hae’s arms.

“When capable, feign incapacity (*Neung-i-si-ji-bul-neung*). In battle, deception is basic.

Even if you have the ability, you must appear as if you don’t. And you encourage the enemy’s greed with a profitable bait.

It appears in Chapter 1: Laying Plans (*Sigye*) of *Sun Tzu’s Art of War*.”

Geum Nae-yeong was not smiling at all, but to Ju Yong-hae, that face looked just like a triumphant smile he would wear when a strategy he set up worked perfectly.

‘Then, the reason he didn’t say anything at the firm for a month was also…

Because he was worried the information might leak, and Gangyeok would realize and not pay the balance?’

He tried to sort out his thoughts, but instead, it felt even less organized.

‘Then, did he calculate everything from the beginning? He told us on purpose that he would buy the building too.

If so, how did he drive up the price high enough to get the deposit back and make them win the bid?

Sigh… He is on our side, but he is truly terrifying.’

The next day. Gangyeok.

Seo Ki-ryong was arguing with the representative lawyer, raising his voice.

“No, so you’re saying you bought a useless building that is over 30 years old for 4.2 billion won?

I could understand up to the 3 billion won range, but what on earth is this?”

“…..I was backstabbed as well, so I have nothing to say… But 1 billion won of that is my own money. So please give me the shares in the registration.”

“Look, Lawyer Seo. We didn’t approve it, so why should we give you those shares? You should take care of that yourself, Lawyer Seo.”

“What? Are you saying you won’t give it to me? I did that to catch Geum Nae-yeong because he keeps interfering with our lawsuits. Did I do that out of my own greed?”

The representative lawyer said coldly, without backing down a single inch.

“That is your own situation, Lawyer Seo. If you feel bad about it, go ahead and sue us!”

“What? A lawsuit??”

“Why should we take responsibility together for what Lawyer Seo did arbitrarily?

Upon looking into it, they say absolutely no one would buy that crumbling building for 4.2 billion won.

And I heard Teum is receiving their full deposit and moving to a new building!

Then the purpose of that building itself is meaningless now, isn’t it?

In any case, we don’t know anything about it.

Besides, I heard interior construction is also underway? How much is that again!

We cannot approve that part either.”

Slam-

In that way, the representative lawyer left Seo Ki-ryong’s room in a fit of rage.

Left behind, Seo Ki-ryong’s silence was long.

“Could it be… Did he calculate that I would use actors too…?

Is that why he showed me the amount on purpose? To raise the auction price?”

A brief silence. The veins on Seo Ki-ryong’s forehead bulged.

“Geum Nae-yeong, this bastard… is saying he tossed the 1 billion won they got scammed out of to me right now?”

Seo Ki-ryong had been blinded by the thought of defeating Geum Nae-yeong.

Therefore, he didn’t even expect that Geum Nae-yeong might deliberately leak the amount to the actor to raise the auction price.

Furthermore, he had even forgotten the fact that the higher the winning bid, the more likely Teum was to receive their deposit in full.

Smash!!! Crash!

The cell phone thrown by Seo Ki-ryong hit the floor and shattered completely.

“This son of a bitch…!!! Ah… My 1 billion won!!! Aaaargh!”