## Chapter 252 – 26. Incheon
26. Incheon
Incheon, the advanced isolated city.
Incheon is one of the countless cities within the vast nation of South Korea, but it differs from ordinary cities in several significant ways.
The most notable of these are:
1. The only city in the Korean Peninsula where mainlanders (Chinese) reside and can participate in local elections.
2. A de facto city-state with its own administration, legislature, judiciary, and even military.
3. An excessively large population of 30 million for a city (according to official statistics).
These are the three main distinctions.
Of course, being a city-state doesn’t mean it exists as an entity completely separate from South Korea. It’s more like being guided by the South Korean government within a larger framework, while enjoying a certain degree of autonomy within that framework.
Politically, Incheon is strongly affiliated with South Korea. The current mayor of Incheon, Choi Cheol-gyu, belongs to the Equality and Freedom Constitution Party, which is also the ruling party of South Korea. Other parties in Incheon generally share party affiliations with South Korea or are satellite parties.
Naturally, the perspectives of the South Korean president and parliament on Incheon are directly reflected in Incheon’s politics.
There are several reasons why Incheon was made a self-governing city despite its similarities to the rest of the country, the biggest being the voting rights of mainlanders.
Despite South Korea’s blatant discrimination against mainlanders, North Koreans, and South Koreans, it couldn’t indefinitely deny mainlanders’ demands for voting rights.
There was a need to accommodate their demands to some extent, so Incheon was granted local election rights under certain conditions.
However, the South Korean government, extremely wary of this leading to an increase in cities or cases where mainlanders could vote, separated Incheon with the logic that “Incheon is special. Because it’s special, mainlanders can vote. It’s separate from South Korea.”
That’s how the Incheon of today was born.
.
.
A man with a physique resembling a mountain was smoking three cigarettes simultaneously. Behind him, two framed flags—the Korean flag and the flag symbolizing Incheon—hung on the wall, with two large flags on either side.
On the left wall, a large screen displayed real-time graphs of various Incheon indicators.
Gross municipal product: approximately 5,000 trillion won.
Gross municipal product per capita: approximately 170 million won.
These figures far exceed the South Korean average, but, unsurprisingly, the “average trap” is strongly in effect. When considering the median value instead of the average, the actual income of an ordinary person is around 40 million won per year. Even then, nearly 30-40% of that income is deducted as taxes, including basic income tax, mandatory basic insurance, national and municipal pensions, city defense tax, and technology and science development tax. The only silver lining (?) is that health insurance, once a mandatory insurance, was abolished due to financial problems.
Instead, you go bankrupt if you get hurt or sick, but it’s fine if you stay healthy.
Other indicators showed that the city’s wealth was extremely concentrated among a select few, a very unfavorable outcome, but the man wasn’t particularly interested in such things.
“Is this… really an invitation to come?”
Choi Cheol-gyu frowned, exhaling cigarette smoke. He had received an invitation, but it felt different from the ones he usually got.
“The guy who’s inviting me as a guest has so many unnecessary footnotes, like ‘Don’t touch the staff,’ ‘Don’t flirt with the secretary.’ What’s with all this?”
It was an invitation to a party for the mayor of Incheon. Yet, the “do not do these things” prohibitions nearly filled the back of the invitation. The situation was absurd.
However, he couldn’t ignore it because the inviter was the hot young master in Incheon these days.
The spoiled young master of the Korea Group. He was said to be wielding immense power, favored by the chairman and vice-chairmen.
Born a spoiled brat and a drug addict, now with power to boot, what else would he do? He was spreading terrible influences throughout the city with his outrageous abuse of power, possessiveness bordering on obsession, and making people furious.
It would be somewhat better if it stopped there, but he openly assaulted a district head, crossed the line, made a city council member his woman, stirred up the police and prosecutors, and was even trying to create a bizarre group called the Standing Special Prosecutor’s Office.
In other words, he was trying to gain a foothold in Incheon’s legislature and judiciary. Judging by the party invitation to Mayor Choi Cheol-gyu, it seemed he was also trying to extend his reach into the administration.
“I didn’t like him from the start when he was making a fuss about eradicating sexual favors. It’s ridiculous.”
He had caused no small amount of damage.
The ugly side of the once-successful Ganghwa entertainment industry was exposed to the world, and it was ruined, causing a massive economic shock. The near-complete cessation of celebrity sex bribery was a bonus.
In addition, he had built a massive artificial island in front of the harbor without permission, causing a flood of complaints. There were even reports that Incheon Port’s cargo volume had decreased by about 2.1% due to this artificial island.
Besides these, there were countless other annoying things that could be talked about for not just a day, but a whole month. All those inconveniences and nuisances were flying at him, the mayor, in various forms.
“Please remove that artificial island. It’s too dangerous every time we navigate.” “Do something about that bastard. You’re the mayor.” “Why can’t the mayor, who commands 300,000 troops and controls all of Incheon’s administration, do anything about that guy?” “At least negotiate.” and so on.
He received such messages several times a day through various channels, and in the midst of all that, the person responsible was sending him this arrogant invitation, making him furious.
If you want to invite someone, shouldn’t you provide appropriate hospitality?
“It seems our young master is thinking too lightly of the world.”
He was at the height of his youth and wielding his dick as he pleased, so he thought everything would go his way.
Of course not.
Even Chairman Go Young-man couldn’t do everything he wanted.
South Korea was a place where over 400 million people coexisted.
Moreover, Incheon was, in any case, a city with permitted autonomy.
As long as Choi Cheol-gyu was the mayor, this city would not be run according to the whims of a thoughtless young master.
“But I can’t just ignore him completely…”
Choi Cheol-gyu first communicated with the party.
The ruling party of South Korea, the “Equality and Freedom Constitution Party,” respected Mayor Choi Cheol-gyu’s intentions.
However, they cautioned him not to excessively antagonize the Korea Group.
Of course, Choi Cheol-gyu had no intention of deliberately provoking them.
Rather, he was even considering cooperating with Go Mu-yeol to a certain extent.
However, he would not be unilaterally led.
The same was true this time.
He had no intention of doing anything crazy like openly criticizing or insulting him.
He would simply provide a reasonable excuse and politely decline Go Mu-yeol’s invitation.
Along with fellow city council members from the same party.
He couldn’t go because he was busy, so what could they say?
In any case, the by-election for the Namdong-gu district head was coming up soon.
There was information that Kim Eun-ji, a member of the opposing “Better Future Party” and a member of the National Assembly for Namdong-gu A, would resign from her position and run for district head.
Go Mu-yeol, who had gained considerable popularity by pushing to demolish the Namdong Industrial Complex, was openly supporting her, so if he wasn’t careful, he could lose a district head to the opposing party.
Of course, the Namdong-gu district head wasn’t originally from the “Equality and Freedom Constitution Party” anyway.
But it was a world of difference between the progressive Innovation Party, which only a few lunatics supported, taking it and the opposing Better Future Party taking it.
Even if she was a candidate supported by Go Mu-yeol, he couldn’t just hand it over without a fight.
In other words, it was actually a very busy season.
It was the perfect excuse.
“Life is a series of negotiations. You can’t talk with ultimatums.”
+++
The so-called “Incheon Grand Banquet,” a lavish party to which influential figures from Incheon were invited, was just a few days away.
Invitations had already been sent out in all directions, and rumors had spread quite a bit.
Naturally, preparations were being made thoroughly.
The secretaries were groaning as they practically tore apart the entire super yacht and rebuilt it.
In the midst of all that, my family members, having heard the news, responded in various ways without me even saying anything.
– I wish I could go myself, but I don’t think I can.
– But always remember.
– I’m always thinking of you…
– I’ll send Hye-young instead, as a consolation.
– You can treat her as if she were me.
– Thank you, Min-young.
First, Go Min-young.
She decided to send Kang Hye-young, her chief of staff.
It might not seem like much because it’s just Kang Hye-young, but she’s the chief of staff.
Soo-ah is also a chief of staff, but you can’t compare her to this. I, whom Soo-ah serves, am just a young master from the owner’s family, a person with no position in the Korea Group.
To exaggerate a bit, I’m a nobody.
But Go Min-young is the vice-chairman of the Korea Group.
Being the chief of staff of such a woman is on a completely different level.
Of course, I’ve enjoyed such a woman many times…
