Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 83

83. 25th. Precariously, Dizzily

Aside from the Jang Yong-jae and Panama deal situation, December 1995 was an exciting month. I attended the premiere of *Toy Story* with an invitation Jobs sent to Standard Capital.

“How was it, Johnny?”

“Do I need to say more? Wonderful!”

After the movie, Jobs and I lightly clinked our champagne glasses at the reception. I sipped champagne, while Jobs cheerfully drank his clear apple juice.

“It’s all thanks to you. I might have really sold Pixar if it weren’t for you.”

“I appreciate you recognizing that, Steve.”

Jobs lowered his glass and looked at me with eyes that seemed to regard me as a savior. Wasn’t I the benefactor who helped him avoid selling Pixar as a last resort?

“What are you going to do with the next project? Keep going as is?”

“Never! I absolutely have to renegotiate. Jeffrey [Katzenberg] has been kicked out, so I can handle Michael [Eisner] well enough, haha.”

That was just like Jobs. With Jeffrey Katzenberg ousted by Michael Eisner, the chairman of Disney, after an internal power struggle, it seemed the unfair deal between Disney and Pixar would be resolved as history dictated.

Jobs, laughing heartily at the thought, took a sip of apple juice and asked cautiously,

“By the way, is it true that you’re working with Triumph and throwing money around in Hollywood?”

“Yes. I’m spreading it around for image management after what happened earlier this year. If the returns are good, I plan to keep investing.”

I was nervous he might think negatively about it because of currency speculation, but Jobs wore a pleased smile.

“You thought well. I was worried about my friend only being obsessed with making money, but I’m glad you’re handling it well on your own, haha.”

“Even if you earn like a dog, you have to spend like a nobleman, haha.”

Jobs, still laughing, said with a smile,

“Invest in us later too. As soon as the negotiations are over, we’re going to make *Toy Story 2*, and I want to attract 35 percent of the production costs from Standard. The same goes for other projects.”

“Pardon?”

I was surprised. Pixar would never lose money on any project it put on the screen from now on, yet he was going to give me a 35 percent investment quota?

Seeing my widened eyes, Jobs’ expression hardened.

“Why? Are you worried?”

“Ah, no! I’m just so happy to think about our name being in the end credits… haha.”

“Johnny, you have a good feeling, so I think it’ll go well. Let’s make what we talked about now into a contract.”

I was speechless at Jobs’ answer. Was he saying he would nail it down completely?

“S, Steve?”

“I don’t like the Japan thing, but that must have been luck too. You made money and came back safely. It seems like the goddess of fortune is helping everything you touch, so that contract will be a lucky charm, haha.”

Come to think of it, Jobs was deeply into Orientalism. I wondered if the yen appreciation speculation coinciding with the Kobe earthquake stimulated that, but I couldn’t miss this good opportunity, so I quickly grabbed his hand.

“Thank you, Steve.”

“I think it’ll go well in the future because you like it, haha.”

“I appreciate you thinking that way. The listing next week will also go well, haha.”

We couldn’t help but laugh at each other. Jobs had a reliable sponsor, and I had a goose that would lay golden eggs, so wasn’t it a mutually satisfactory deal?

A week later.

Pixar was listed on the stock market at $22 per share. As trading volume exploded, the stock price on the first day of listing was $39, and the market capitalization was $1.2 billion.

Thanks to that, my investment of $25 million grew to $400 million. Even if I don’t buy more, it will easily exceed six times that by the time it is merged with Disney.

After watching Pixar’s splendid debut, I returned to Korea around Christmas while taking care of company matters, and the new year began as I spent the end of the year with Jang Ha-yeon and my family.

One year before the winter storm with the cold wave hits.

From now on, I have to be very careful. I have to start a precarious and dizzying tightrope walk.

***

The founding celebration party for Standard Capital’s Korean branch, which opened on the second day of the new year, was held at the Itaewon house.

“Whew, if I eat all this, I’ll have to skip breakfast tomorrow.”

“Johnny, did you and Tae-jin do all this together?”

Seon Hae-cheol and Claire, who came in from the United States together, apparently having spent the end of the year together, were surprised to see the food laid out abundantly on the table.

“We have to make it feel like a party, even if it’s just among us. Right, hyung?”

“Of course, *doryeonnim* [young master]. I don’t know if you’ll like it, haha.”

The two of us couldn’t leave the kitchen and dining room from this morning until now, preparing food. Thanks to that, we laid out caprese salad, biscuits, caviar, tuna cube salad, and other appetizers on the table.

And that’s not all. In the three-tiered oven, roast beef, chicken barbecue, and apple pie were browning on each layer, and a spicy soup using *yukgaejang* [spicy beef soup] was boiling on the gas stove, all of which came from our hands.

After sitting at the table and enjoying the appetizers and soup, we set out the food that was fully cooked in the oven, filled the glasses with wine with the corks removed, and shouted loudly.

“The Way!”

“Standard!”

We shouted the toast we had shouted at the first company dinner and drank the wine.

“Kyaa, good! Congratulations, Owner!”

“Thank you, Uncle.”

While Seon Hae-cheol and I exchanged congratulations, Claire offered congratulations to Park Tae-jin.

“Congratulations on your promotion, Mr. Park.”

“Thank you, Miss Lawrence.”

We took a slice of thickly sliced roast beef on a plate, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and ate it, then clinked glasses once more. Seon Hae-cheol drank the wine, looked at the bottle, and nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Henry sent this liquor, right?”

“Of course. How can I buy this expensive liquor with my own money? Hehe.”

The liquor we were drinking was Romanée-Conti sent by Henry. It was our own party, but it was the perfect liquor to commemorate today, when we started a new history, so we chose this one as the first bottle.

“You son of a gun, you have a lot of money, but are you still trembling?”

“I can’t bring money from the United States carelessly. If I bring it, the National Tax Service will rummage through it… It’s terrible just thinking about it.”

It was so terrible that my body trembled while I was talking. Aren’t the National Tax Service officials the people we rich people don’t want to meet even in hell?

Seon Hae-cheol looked at me and smiled.

“Are you exaggerating? You can bring it through Triumph, right? Henry will help you too.”

“Still, I’m worried. I feel like Mr. Hogan is looking at me. There’s no harm in being careful.”

I might be overthinking it, but I don’t feel refreshed. Even when I stormed into Sunguiwon with Jang Ha-yeon in the lead, and when I came to Hi-Mart and looked around the store, Jang Ho-geon treated me kindly like his own son.

If that prickly and fiery man treats me like that, I can’t rule out the possibility that he’s observing me at the level of *Misery* or *Somers* [references to stories about obsessive observation]. Even if I think of it as the price for building a good relationship with Jang Ha-yeon, it was nothing but annoying.

Only then did Seon Hae-cheol take the smile off his face.

“Well… that man can’t leave you alone, haha.”

“What… what?”

Inadvertently, I felt a strange nuance in Seon Hae-cheol’s voice. He was saying it as if it were natural…

“What do you mean, Uncle? Why doesn’t Mr. Jang leave me alone?”

Seon Hae-cheol asked me back without changing his expression.

“Why? You’re next to the daughter that man cherishes the most. Wouldn’t he be worried?”

“Ah…”

Listening to him, it seemed plausible. It was said that Jang Ha-yeon and I were playing the role of key men on both sides, cooperating in the business of the two families and the two groups.

Seon Hae-cheol looked at me and said as if throwing it out there,

“Anyway, it’s uncomfortable. Anyway, if it’s as you say, it’s forbidden to bring in dollars now and exchange it for poop, so take care of it, haha.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

It’s a good day, but I think I was too sensitive. It’s a good day, so it wouldn’t be bad to get drunk on a good mood for today.

***

After emptying a bottle of Romanée-Conti, Seon Hae-cheol and Park Tae-jin said they would go out for a cigarette and came out to the garden covered with snow.

“Whew, I almost had a big problem. Finding and hiding the engagement oath was almost in vain.”

“How could I have seen it? It’s not until the time comes, Hyung [older brother/friend].”

Seon Hae-cheol, exhaling cigarette smoke, stroked his chest, and Park Tae-jin, smoking a cigarette, also had a stiff face.

He’s like a nephew and a younger brother, but that child is the next head of the Haedong Group Lee family, their benefactor, and he’s a guy who can prosper the family. I couldn’t bear to see such a guy being swayed by the Shinseong Group, so I had no choice but to lie.

“Chairman, you still haven’t told him? The engagement oath.”

“Yes. I don’t think it’s time yet.”

Park Tae-jin finished answering and took a sip of cigarette with a stiff expression. He seemed more uncomfortable because he had always taken care of Lee Seong-min like his own brother since he came into this family.

“Seong-min told me that he would marry Ha-yeon within three years.”

“Really?”

“Yes. He said he was worried that I couldn’t get married and was taking care of him by his side.”

Seon Hae-cheol, whose eyes widened, looked at Park Tae-jin and nodded.

“Well, in a few years, you’ll be forty, so it’s worth worrying about.”

“Yes. I want to tell you the truth and push for the marriage of the two, but I can’t help it because the chairman’s will is like that.”

“Are you saying that you’ll reveal it when Seong-min grows up enough to devour the Jang family?”

Park Tae-jin nodded slightly and opened his mouth.

“Chairman Jang Ho-geon is by no means an easy person. Seong-min’s claws and fangs have become strong, but if he becomes the son-in-law of the Jang family, he may become a big cat.”

“Whew, when I saw it, it looked like he was going to tear up all the Jang family things if he just stayed like this. Well, I understand because the chairman and others don’t know that Standard is Seong-min’s personal safe…”

Seon Hae-cheol sighed with a pitiful expression, but Park Tae-jin still opened his mouth with a stiff face.

“That’s also true, but Chairman Jang Ho-geon will tell you the engagement oath when it’s hard for him to swallow our group whole. It’s not just us who have grown over the past few years, is it?”

“That’s right. Even if the stock price has fallen, the Jang Ho-geon affiliates alone are more than five times the size of the Haedong Group in terms of assets.”

“Yes. So, if Seong-min gets married and the two groups merge later, all of our group members may be pushed out.”

Park Tae-jin’s guess was extreme, but Seon Hae-cheol bit his lip and nodded. Even though the Haedong Group has grown thanks to Lee Seong-min, it was still not easy to catch up with the Shinseong Group.

Seon Hae-cheol, who was smoking silently, opened his mouth a little as if he had remembered something he had forgotten.

“You’re not going to use the Myeongdong funds, are you?”

“You will. Since we started paying in cash last year, the transaction between the group and Myeongdong has been cut off.”

“That’s good. All the other guys will believe that the chairman’s private loan organization has scattered.”

“That’s right. The group has both appearance and substance, so now each can survive on its own.”

As Park Tae-jin said, both the Haedong Group and the private loan organization were able to stand alone. Since the financial real-name system three years ago, the private loan organization under Lee Dae-soo has been doing business regardless of the Haedong Group, and its size has grown, so the connection between the two was rather toxic to both sides.

“That’s right. Still, tell Hyung to save as many dollars as possible.”

“Is it because of the reverse Plaza Accord?”

At Park Tae-jin’s cautious question, Seon Hae-cheol nodded with a stiff face.

“That’s right. Wall Street expects Korea’s deficit to worsen next year. Last year, Korea’s trade balance was a negative $6 billion. Henry also received the data and said Seong-min was scary.”

Even when Lee Seong-min returned to the United States after the Kobe earthquake, as he said in front of Henry Royce, the US trade competition between Japan and Korea was leaning towards Japan. Park Tae-jin, recalling that incident at that time, straightened his body, which had been flinching for a while, and said to Seon Hae-cheol.

“I also heard from Seung-joo Hyung. Dollars were flowing out because Haedong Securities was increasing its S&P 500 ratio, but if it weren’t for us, Shinseong, Taehyun, and GK earning dollars, it would have been over $10 billion. They say they’re keeping it quiet within the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.”

The topic of conversation between the two people who came out to talk because of Lee Seong-min has now shifted to the Korean economy.

Even if it looks like a stream of consciousness, it was a natural flow. It’s not an ordinary family wedding, but a wedding between *chaebol* [conglomerate] groups, isn’t it? If you make a mistake, one side may be eaten by the other, so you had to check it to prepare thoroughly so that you would not be eaten.

“Damn bastards. If there’s a problem, you have to come up with a solution, but you’re going to cover it up and move on? That’s why I didn’t take the civil service exam and went to Wall Street.”

Park Tae-jin looked at Seon Hae-cheol, who frowned, with a bitter expression.

“Anyway, because of that, everyone from the chairman to Seung-joo Hyung, the CEOs, and the vice chairman are not free. Everyone is on a tightrope.”

Since the second half of last year, the Haedong Group and the private loan organization have been walking on a tightrope as precarious and dizzying as walking on a string connecting skyscrapers. Aren’t they increasing their dollar holdings or reducing their financial debt behind the scenes while spending money in front to deceive other groups?

After that, Seon Hae-cheol listened to the group situation through Park Tae-jin and sighed in relief.

“Still, it’s a relief. If we just handle the acquisition of North Limited in June, we’ll be completely careless, haha.”

“That’s right. Seong-min planned it, and Hyung, Miss Lawrence, and Lord Royce refined it, so they’ll be completely careless, haha.”

Seon Hae-cheol, smiling grimly while facing Park Tae-jin, took a breath.

“Shall we go in? Let’s forget everything and drink today.”

“Let’s do that. I’m worried that Seong-min will be upset if the chairman tells him about the engagement oath later, haha.”

Seon Hae-cheol laughed with Park Tae-jin and went into the house. Hoping that the young owner of this house, who seems to be carrying all the burdens of the world, will forget his worries today.