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[Translator - Night]
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Chapter 450: Lord Jeong Yeongwoo07 (3)
Yeongwoo could instinctively sense it.
If the "predicted future" written in the records included an 84% fatality rate ending in prison, it would undoubtedly be due to bribing the National Tax Service.
—Bribe the National Tax Service? Are you crazy?
As expected, even Jiseon, a former businesswoman, gaped in disbelief.
From her perspective, this was an absurd tax-saving strategy.
So Yeongwoo asked Kubu again,
"You're recommending this to me because it's at least possible, right? But is it even possible not to get caught doing that?"
Kubu blinked and replied,
—Sometimes, people do get caught.
"What?"
—In such cases, there's also the method of bribing the audit officer.
"...Excuse me?"
His mind reeled.
So if you get caught bribing the tax authorities, you just bribe the audit team too?
"No, but what if that audit officer is too honest and won't accept a bribe?"
Yeongwoo thought of someone like Prince Aldo, the second son of the Shelbir royal family.
Not only would he not need the money, but even if he were born penniless, he was the kind of person who’d never accept a bribe.
But astonishingly, there was a contingency plan for that too.
—Internal audits within the Tax Service are divided by jurisdiction.
"Jurisdiction...?"
He could guess what this was leading to.
—So, among the bribe recipients, those under the jurisdiction of a malicious-natured audit team have the highest price.
"...Ugh."
Simply put, if you're going to bribe the Tax Service, you need to budget for double bribes to be safe.
"What do you mean, internal audits have jurisdictions? And shouldn't people with high 'bad karma scores' not even be allowed on audit teams?"
Thinking the universe was seriously messed up, the karmic wrongdoer Yeongwoo shouted in frustration.
Kubu rolled its eyeballs around.
—There are surprise audits, but they usually happen every 20 years, and jurisdictional changes in internal audit teams occur every 100 years without prior notice.
"Twenty years? A hundred years...?"
—That’s quite a short cycle in the universe.
True enough.
Considering how planets live for what feels like eternity, the time perception of universal agencies would obviously differ from that of humans.
Humans, after all, barely live a century.
"So you're telling me to rely on those short cycles and plan for double bribery in order to evade taxes?"
—As an administrative officer, my official stance is that it’s tax saving.
"Ah... Yes, that tax saving."
—For you as a human head of household, the time frame should be sufficient. However, in the unlikely event...
Kubu once again suspiciously rolled its eyeballs.
Yeongwoo mirrored it.
"In the unlikely event of what?"
—If a successor to the family lineage appears, then a different contingency plan may be necessary.
"A successor? You mean my child?"
Then, almost simultaneously, Jeonggu and Jiseon exclaimed,
"No way, a gra—"
—Grandchild? Are we talking about a grandchild here?
But Yeongwoo frowned and shook his head.
"That's ridiculous. I might not even live another 100 days, let alone 100 years, and you’re talking about a child? With who, even?"
Having a child with Princess Parina of the Sun?
That was beyond imagination.
And having an illegitimate child?
‘Shit, that’s just as ridiculous. Even if that somehow happened, all three of us would end up dead under Parina’s monstrous claws.’
That would include Yeongwoo, the mysterious partner, and the child.
Besides, as someone born out of wedlock himself, creating another illegitimate child was something he could never allow.
‘Not a chance. Why would I even have kids?’
In any case, the important thing was that if the House of Renaissance wanted to thrive for a long time, it would need a long-term vision—not just for a century, but for a millennium and beyond.
"Then looking at the long run, bribing the Tax Service sounds incredibly risky."
—It does pass risk onto future generations, but if tax-saving through bribery enables faster growth, the burden may not be significant.
"Hmm."
This actually fit quite well with Yeongwoo’s nature.
Sure, bribery-based tax-saving would eventually be discovered, but if dazzling growth could be achieved within the 20-year audit cycle and the 100-year jurisdiction shuffle, things could be different.
‘Yeah, and by then, I could bribe again with a much bigger offering… or just crush the Tax Service altogether.’
Take Chairman Dogo, for example.
Would his life be ruined over one bribery charge?
If Jeong Yeongwoo07 built a Dogo-level company in 100 years, then retroactive punishment for tax evasion from a century ago wouldn’t be a real problem.
"For now... let's look for a civil servant to bribe. We’ll decide on aggressive tax-saving after that."
When Yeongwoo finally left the door open for the bribery strategy, Jiseon squeezed her eyes shut.
But then she suddenly opened them wide and asked Kubu,
—Wait, Administrator? What's the second method? You said bribery was the first.
Kubu rolled its eyeballs toward Jiseon.
—Yes. There is a second method for aggressive tax-saving.
—And what is it?
—Disguised charitable activities.
—What?
"Nothing about this sounds legal..."
Yeongwoo chuckled in disbelief, and Kubu quickly jumped to defend itself.
—Strictly speaking, this falls under tax avoidance, which is within legal bounds. Bribing tax officers, however, is illegal.
"Oh, really?"
Yeongwoo’s eyes sparkled at the glimpse of a strategy worth 150 million won per week.
If it’s legal tax-saving, there’s no reason to refuse.
"How does pretending to do charity help with tax-saving?"
—Charitable organizations pay almost no tax on donations, and the Tax Service tends to be lenient when it comes to expense processing.
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In other words, if you become a charity operator, you can aggressively list expenses to reduce the calculated tax.
At that point, Jiseon interjected.
—Wait. You’re saying they pay almost no tax on donation income? Then if you just turn business income into donations, isn’t that basically tax-free?
Kubu replied with a surprised look.
—That’s correct. That’s the core of charity fraud. You receive payments for services under the guise of donations to enjoy tax exemption, while also giving tax deduction benefits to the business partner making the donation.
It was possible precisely because those giving the donations also received tax deductions.
“So this is... like being a dark-side charity operator?”
Yeongwoo nodded as he grasped the scheme.
It was a fairly convincing tax avoidance structure.
“But it can’t be that easy, right? The tax authorities aren’t stupid. If you falsely report business profits as donations, they won’t just exempt the tax.”
—That’s why you need to combine it with the first method: bribery.
“Ahh.”
In short, double tax avoidance.
Which ultimately means it's illegal.
—For example, if you claim that you bought new naval guns for a charitable purpose… you can report the full amount as an essential business expense and exclude it from income.
“And you just come up with some plausible reason for why a charitable act needed naval guns?”
—Exactly. But even if you bribe an official, they’re not omnipotent, so there needs to be at least some minimal logic behind it.
“So the important thing is—it can be done.”
The future began to come into view.
After tomorrow’s formal greeting with the star systems, the Earthship would depart—under the guise of a galaxy-spanning charitable organization.
“Then I definitely have to meet Chancellor Herisa tomorrow… She’s a charity operator too, right?”
Whether this would someday come back as karmic retribution, or become the foundation of Renaissance’s prosperity, no one could tell.
But one thing was certain: if you’re going to do something, do it thoroughly.
‘If you’re going to cross the line, cross it all the way. Otherwise, stick to the path of righteousness!’
Especially since Earthlings and the Solar System had already boarded the planetary ship to escape orbit.
Having already transcended the limits of birth, what was left to stop them from transcending the limits of taxation?
“Administrator, proceed with both plans.”
Whoosh!
With his decision made, Yeongwoo gestured toward Kubu.
Then, looking up at the sky, he shouted proudly:
“From now on, we will be free not only from the predetermined future, but from predetermined taxes too!”
* * *
10:54 PM.
As extreme weather was about to hit, Jiseon, Jeonggu, Yechan, and Suna each returned to their lodgings.
And Yeongwoo—
“Finally, some peace.”
He was enjoying a rare moment of calm as he looked over the now-deserted Gwangjin District.
Waiting, of course, for the nighttime dungeon that would open at 11 PM.
“There’s no planetary promotion battle today… so what kind of dungeon will appear?”
To this, Negwig beside him quietly lifted his head.
Meanwhile, the Golden Goblin and Pofu Tenta looked up at the sky with worried expressions.
They were already dreading the extreme weather that would soon hit them.
“This time, we’re waiting right at the dungeon site, so the burn will only last a moment.”
Then Yeongwoo turned his eyes to the sky as well.
Unlike the two slaves, though, he was simply gazing into the dark sky.
Thinking about where the Sun and Princess Parina might be right now.
‘No matter how I look at it, it feels like the Sun is moving—but in reality, we’re orbiting the Sun… It’s truly fascinating.’
As he thought this and touched the ground with his hand, an alert buzzed near his wrist.
Beep-beep!
“Ah.”
It was now 11 PM.
At the same time, the extreme weather warning appeared.
「As of now, [Extreme Weather] Lava Eruption is occurring.」
Lava eruption.
True to its name, the ground under Yeongwoo’s feet began to glow red.
Whooosh!
“Throw it over there!”
Yeongwoo quickly instructed the Goblin to throw the golden orb and dodged the heat.
Whoosh!
A red-hot pillar of lava shot up from the ground, and while that happened, the golden orb rolled away and turned black—signaling that dungeon summoning was now possible.
“What’s with this weather today? Something’s off.”
Seeing the ground glow red all around him, Yeongwoo quickly touched the black orb.
Tock!
As always, the surroundings turned ashen gray and the extreme weather subsided completely.
Then—
Rumble…!
He could feel the same sensation as the ground below began to rise—like the first nighttime dungeon.
‘A tower type?’
Since the first night dungeon also rose from below, Yeongwoo calmly stepped away from the orb.
But then something unexpected happened.
CRACK!
“What the—”
Suddenly, the sky split open, and a massive presence—clearly dungeon-related—emerged from above as well.
—Kiit?
Sensing something wrong, the Golden Goblin raised its head, and then, from underground, a massive white tower rose—while in the sky, a black, thorn-like structure tore through the air.
“What the heck—are there two dungeons!?”
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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