LIGHTNOVELSTORY Episode 176 - The Fantasy Building
“It’s finally over. Good job.”
Even after the Lunar New Year holiday, whenever there was a gap in the schedule, they made time to contact all six people on the list with Han Hae-woon.
– Still, we managed to get three.
Two special agents who had connections with Yeon-woo in the past, and one special forces soldier who was a colleague of Han Hae-woon in a previous life.
A total of three people accepted the proposal, while the other three refused to even listen, saying they wanted to live ordinary lives like regular people.
“Three is enough. Too many would be difficult to control.”
– True, both the team leader and I have our main jobs.
Not only Yeon-woo but also Han Hae-woon is busy with his duties as a prosecutor, so most agents need to be assigned long-term missions and operate independently.
And the agents who accepted were talents capable of fulfilling that role sufficiently.
“Kim Su-hyeok, Lee Gyu-jin, Park Jung-hyun. All of them have specs that wouldn’t lose to any active agent.”
– That’s right.
“For now, give them the first order to warm up and stand by. We’ll need time to launder money and make preparations before we can start moving in earnest.”
– Yes, understood.
Soon, the profits from “White Blood” will be distributed.
The expected revenue for “White Blood,” which had a total production cost of 30 billion won, was approaching 600 million dollars.
600 million dollars is an amount exceeding 700 billion won in Korean currency.
With a return on investment of over 20 times the input amount, it was an unprecedented blockbuster.
It’s an amount unheard of in the entire domestic film or drama market.
It was a natural figure, considering it had achieved and maintained global number one status while servicing 190 countries worldwide.
There are even reports saying that 600 million dollars is too conservative an estimate.
‘Of course, it’s not all ours, but…’
Of course, 700 billion is the expected future revenue, and the first settlement amount will be less than half of that.
Fortunately, since CEO Kim Joo-seong made a contract with Netflix while LN Entertainment fully owned the IP rights without receiving outside investment, the fees taken out were not as large compared to other works.
The guaranteed payment distributed to Yeon-woo would probably exceed 10 billion won.
Yeon-woo recalled the time when he made the contract.
In fact, he hadn’t signed the running guarantee contract expecting such a large amount of sales.
‘I just wanted to lower the production cost by postponing the payment of my appearance fee.’
After all, if the lead actor Yeon-woo signs a running guarantee contract and doesn’t receive an appearance fee, the production cost decreases that much, lowering the break-even point.
At the time of production, it was an experimental genre and the success was uncertain, so it was a choice made to reduce the production burden.
“As a result, we’ve been able to secure enough war funds to deal with Baek Sol.”
Modern espionage is all about equipment.
Even after excluding taxes from the revenue, this amount was sufficient in terms of financial power.
“We’ll have time to go shopping soon.”
Yeon-woo smirked, thinking that Han Hae-woon would probably be more excited than himself.
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The timing came sooner than expected.
A few days later, Yeon-woo’s allocated profits amounted to 15 billion won, even after excluding taxes.
Yeon-woo handed over most of the profits to Han Hae-woon and instructed him to launder the money.
The funds initially laundered through Han Hae-woon were entrusted to Baek No-ya, and after being laundered a second time through various channels, they were deposited into a corporate account under the name of Terrence Williams.
Terrence Williams is a fake Canadian identity that Yeon-woo had given to Han Hae-woon.
CEO of a corporation headquartered in the Virgin Islands and Barbados.
Of course, it’s just a paper company that exists only on documents for tax evasion purposes.
“How does it feel to own over 10 billion won?”
– It’s the largest operation fund I’ve ever handled. But the real owner is you, Team Leader, isn’t it?
Yeon-woo smiled upon hearing Han Hae-woon’s words.
“First, we need to buy a building with that amount. Have you perfectly prepared for the source of funds investigation?”
– Yes. In fact, it’s more advantageous for the verification of the funding plan when a foreigner proceeds through an overseas bank. When we operated overseas, it was actually more difficult than domestically, even though everything was prepared…
“That’s fortunate for us in the current situation.”
In the screen Yeon-woo was watching, Han Hae-woon was driving, disguised, to meet a real estate agent.
“Your skin must be irritated from disguising so often these days, right?”
– I’m glad at least you understand, Team Leader.
When you disguise frequently, your skin becomes red and eventually peels off.
How could I not know? I’ve lived like that my whole life.
– Is the real estate agent we’re meeting now competent?
“Hmm, their work is quite neat.”
Yeon-woo passed on the contact information of the high-end property specialist who had handled the purchase of his house to Han Hae-woon.
– I’ve arrived at the meeting place. I’ll refrain from speaking once I get out.
“Understood.”
Han Hae-woon soon got out of the car and conversed with the real estate agent he had met before.
Then, he immediately got into the agent’s car to start checking the prepared properties.
Yeon-woo’s voice was heard in Han Hae-woon’s ear.
– The most important aspect we need to look at is the structure. It should be easy to monitor the surrounding movements, and there shouldn’t be any points nearby where sniping or surveillance is possible. Also, a building that allows for easy counterattack and evasion in case of emergencies.
Han Hae-woon tapped the microphone connected to his tie twice to indicate he understood.
Han Hae-woon got out of the real estate agent’s car in front of a building.
As he looked up at the building, the agent immediately came to his side and started explaining.
“The total area of this building is 257 square meters, with a gross floor area of 1,320 square meters. It has 7 floors above ground and 2 basement levels. The vacancy rate is low, so the return on investment is quite good in this area. The property price is 14.3 billion won.”
Listening to the agent’s words, Han Hae-woon adjusted his sunglasses and looked around the building.
The return on investment wasn’t important.
What mattered was whether surveillance or sniping was possible from surrounding buildings, and how the escape routes were laid out.
– This building won’t do. The surrounding view isn’t secured, and the rooftop of the building in front is a potential sniping point for all floors.
Hearing Yeon-woo’s voice, Han Hae-woon nodded.
“Hmm, I don’t like this building. Let’s move on to another property.”
“Alright. Please get in the car, sir.”
At Han Hae-woon’s words, the agent immediately bowed his head and opened the car door.
As someone who only deals with high-end properties, he didn’t add unnecessary comments when a client expressed dislike.
Once in the car, Han Hae-woon told the agent his conditions again.
“Do you have any properties with a more open view of the surroundings? The vacancy rate or profitability isn’t important.”
Buying a building without considering the vacancy rate and profitability.
One might think it strange, but in fact, it wasn’t.
These days, most rich people buying buildings in Seoul were looking for capital gains, and in such cases, they often used the buildings directly.
“Um, are you thinking of running a cafe or something in the building yourself? Or is it for office use…?”
“It would be closer to office use.”
“Then I’ll show you a few more properties that meet your conditions right away.”
They looked at a few more properties after that.
However, each had some shortcomings.
If it were just about buying a building, the agent’s recommendations were excellent.
But since they planned to use it for a special purpose that couldn’t be disclosed in detail, it was difficult to find the perfect property.
At that moment, the agent, who had been pondering, seemed to remember something and looked at Han Hae-woon.
“Mr. Terren. I just remembered a property that meets all your conditions, but I had forgotten about it because it has some issues.”
“Issues, you say?”
“It would be better if we go see it first and then you can make a judgment.”
Han Hae-woon nodded at the agent’s words.
“Let’s go then.”
“Yes, understood. Mr. Kim, let’s head to the Mokhwa Building.”
The agent’s car drove down the main road towards Gwanak-gu.
After driving for quite a while, they arrived at a building that was completely vacant except for a small bakery on the first floor.
Han Hae-woon tilted his head, looking at the building that was completely vacant as if abandoned, despite being in a fairly good location.
“Why is there nothing occupying this place?”
There was a small park in front, and the surrounding commercial area didn’t look too bad.
Although it wasn’t on the main street, there seemed to be no reason for it to be completely vacant like this.
“Well, this building was seized and put up for auction after being caught operating an illegal gambling den. When no one came forward to acquire it, I purchased it at a low price.”
At that moment, Yeon-woo’s voice came through to Han Hae-woon’s ear.
– Didn’t they say earlier that this building was called the Mokhwa Building?
Han Hae-woon asked the agent.
“Is this building called the Mokhwa Building?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The agent, after answering, took out his phone to check his notes and continued speaking.
“The total land area is 303 square meters, and the gross floor area is 716 square meters. It has 5 floors above ground and 1 basement level for parking.”
After hearing the agent’s words, Yeon-woo’s voice came through to Han Hae-woon’s ear.
– 303 and 716, you say?
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Yeon-woo, who was investigating the building while looking at the screen, spoke to Han Hae-woon after finding information by searching the internet.
“Go up to the 5th floor alone, without the agent.”
Then, Han Hae-woon, who tapped his tie twice in the screen, opened his mouth.
– This building looks quite good from the outside. Since it’s vacant anyway, I’d like to go up to the top floor and take a look around.
– Yes, I’ll guide you right away. Let’s go.
Han Hae-woon shook his head in response.
– No, I’d like to look around quietly by myself.
– Ah, yes. Then I’ll wait on the first floor. Please contact me if you need any explanations. I’ll come up right away, sir.
Han Hae-woon nodded and entered the building, taking the elevator up to the 5th floor.
– Team leader, I’ve come up. The interior is narrower than I thought, but the view of surrounding buildings and visibility is quite good. However, the entrance is narrow and there’s only one, so the entry and exit routes don’t look too favorable.
Hearing Han Hae-woon’s voice, Yeon-woo looked at the monitor.
The monitor displayed the blueprint of the building where Han Hae-woon was currently located and an aerial view from a portal site map.
“Hae-woon, go to the left end of the building’s wall.”
– The left end of the wall? Understood.
As Han Hae-woon stood at the left end of the wall as instructed, Yeon-woo spoke again.
“Knock on the wall.”
Thump thump─.
– Huh? The sound…
The sound was so hollow that it was clearly noticeable even through the speaker.
“Knock on the other side of the wall too.”
– Yes, understood.
Tap tap─.
It was clearly a different sound from the wall at the left end.
A sound of a fully filled interior. This was the correct sound for a normal building’s exterior wall.
– If this isn’t shoddy construction…
“That’s right. I’ve compared the building’s blueprint with the aerial view, and this building, well, they’ve played some tricks.”
– I did think the floor area ratio seemed lower than it looks from the outside.
Yeon-woo smiled as he looked at the monitor and said.
“Looking at the records now, the original building owner had been using it continuously since its completion in ’96, and it’s only now come on the market for the first time. And they’ve never once rented out the 4th and 5th floors.”
– The more I hear, the more suspicious it sounds.
“Remember they said it was seized for operating an illegal gambling den? Doesn’t that remind you of something?”
– It reeks strongly of those Tehran gamblers, doesn’t it?
Floors that have never been rented out since the building was erected.
A history of being used as an illegal gambling den.
Interior area surveyed to be smaller than the land area calculated from the aerial view.
A wall that sounds hollow when knocked.
It might be a troublesome headache for someone else, but for Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon, these were ideal conditions.
“Buy this building.”
Han Hae-woon had seen countless such buildings in his previous life when stationed overseas.
It was a structure that always existed in buildings designed for setting up gambling dens.
Namely, a secret escape route for gamblers.