Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 104

Woo-jin was a whirlwind these days. Always on the phone, rushing to meetings, his desk piled high with papers. It was a good kind of chaos, though. It meant WJ Studio was booming.

Jin-tae burst into Woo-jin’s office, the door swinging wide. “Woo-jin, look at this!” he exclaimed, waving a report in the air. His face was split by a huge grin. “Last month’s sales… almost a billion won!”

A billion won. Jin-tae meant a *real* billion won. The sales report for September was finally done, and the numbers were incredible.

WJ Studio’s sales had more than doubled compared to August, exceeding one billion won in September.

And October’s sales were expected to be even higher, about 1.5 times more than September, if the trend continued.

“Good, good.”

Jin-tae was a little surprised by Woo-jin’s calm reaction. “What? You don’t seem too thrilled?” he asked.

“It’s not that I’m not thrilled,” Woo-jin replied, “but it’s about what I expected.”

“Ah.”

“I’ve been keeping track of the money, since I need to make sure it keeps coming in.”

Jin-tae chuckled and sat down at the conference table in front of Woo-jin’s desk. Woo-jin seemed like a seasoned businessman at times like this.

‘He looks young, but he’s probably got the mind of a fifty-year-old,’ Jin-tae thought to himself.

Jin-tae, jokingly imagining Woo-jin was older than he looked, reviewed the company’s financial statements. “Sales are great,” he said, “but September’s profit margin is incredibly high.”

“You mean the operating profit?” Woo-jin asked.

“Yeah.”

“That makes sense. We had a lot of expenses in August because the company grew so much, so there wasn’t much left over. But September’s costs didn’t increase as much, right?”

“True,” Jin-tae agreed.

“And we didn’t have big expenses like office renovations this month.”

WJ Studio’s August sales were higher than June and July. July’s sales were just over 200 million won, but August’s were about 450 million won.

However, even though sales more than doubled, August’s operating profit was lower than July’s. About 400 million won of August’s sales went to expenses, leaving a profit of less than 30 million won.

September was different. Sales doubled again, but expenses only increased by about 20 percent.

So, WJ Studio’s net profit for September was about 400 million won.

Big construction companies are happy with a 5% profit. But WJ Studio’s profit margin was almost 40%! That’s amazing.

WJ Studio did a lot of model-making, interior design, and architectural design, so it wasn’t exactly a construction company. Also, smaller companies usually have higher profit margins, so it was hard to compare.

Woo-jin looked at the financial statements Jin-tae gave him and checked the company account balance. There was about 600 million won in the account.

It felt like they were saving enough money to try something bigger. ‘If we get another 200-300 million won, we can make a big move,’ he thought.

Woo-jin closed the financial statements and spoke to Jin-tae. Once October’s sales were settled, they would have at least a billion won in the account.

It was time to start putting his plans into action. “Jin-tae,” Woo-jin said.

“Yeah?”

“I need you to look into something next week.”

“Hmm. What is it?” Jin-tae asked, sensing something important.

Woo-jin leaned forward and said, “Jin-tae, do you know anything about company mergers and acquisitions?”

Jin-tae’s eyes widened at the unexpected question.

To be in the construction business, you need a license. If just anyone could get construction permits, there would be a lot of fraud, since construction contracts involve so much money.

Even the interior construction Woo-jin was doing needed a license. If the project cost more than 15 million won, it was illegal to do the work without one.

But getting a general construction business license, which Woo-jin needed, was much harder than getting an interior construction license.

You needed a lot of money, and you had to invest some of it to get a guarantee from the Construction Mutual Aid Association. You also had to have experts in different construction technologies working for you full-time.

The rules were strict, and it took a long time to get the license. Woo-jin wanted to get all the licenses at once, so he decided to merge with a company that already had them.

If he bought another company, he could get their licenses. ‘It’s the easiest way,’ he thought.

Buying another company might sound complicated, but it was really just like a normal business deal. You pay money to buy the company’s value.

That’s why he was talking to Jin-tae about it. “Hey, how would a carpenter know about mergers and acquisitions?” Jin-tae asked.

“Even if you don’t know, you can learn,” Woo-jin said.

“What are you planning this time?”

“I’m going to buy a company.”

“What company are you going to buy?”

Even though mergers and acquisitions weren’t too difficult, choosing the right company to buy was important. The hardest part was figuring out how much the company was really worth.

‘I need to choose a good company that won’t cause problems after we buy it,’ Woo-jin thought.

Construction companies are usually bought and sold through law firms or consulting firms that specialize in construction. Experts can carefully check the company’s finances and legal situation to find out its true value and any problems.

But Woo-jin had an even better idea: buy a company he knew really well. He wanted to buy a company whose finances and management he knew inside and out.

That way, he could figure out exactly what it was worth, cut out the bad parts, and take over the good parts cheaply and easily. Buying a company like that was the safest and best option.

‘I can get the construction license and all their past projects at once. It’s the best way to make our company bigger,’ he thought.

Of course, it was almost impossible to buy a company you knew that well. You usually had to be an insider to know all the details.

But Woo-jin had a special advantage. He knew one company that was perfect for his plan. He knew it very well, even better than an insider. “Jin-tae, have you heard of Sungjin Construction?” he asked.

“Sungjin Construction?” Jin-tae repeated.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“I’m thinking of taking it over around the end of this year or early next year.”

“What? You already have a plan?”

“Well, not really a concrete plan… Anyway, keep this a secret.”

“But why all of a sudden?”

“It’ll kill two birds with one stone,” Woo-jin said.

“Um…?”

“It’ll make the company bigger, get us a construction license, and give us the experience and staff we need.”

“…!” Jin-tae was confused. It was all happening so fast, and he had never thought about anything like this before.

Woo-jin added, “Even if it’s not Sungjin Construction, I’m going to try to buy a good construction company.”

“Is that even possible with our money?” Jin-tae asked.

“Definitely. We can also buy just the parts we need.”

“Umm…” Jin-tae trailed off, lost in thought.

He only understood half of what Woo-jin was saying. He knew that companies sometimes bought other construction companies to get their licenses, but he had never done it himself.

And Woo-jin’s plan seemed bigger than just getting a license. Jin-tae had a lot to think about. ‘Things are getting bigger and bigger,’ he thought.

But even in his confusion, he wasn’t worried. Even though WJ Studio was only six months old, he didn’t think it was impossible to merge with another construction company.

WJ Studio had grown a lot, and its sales were already impressive. But the main reason Jin-tae wasn’t worried was Woo-jin.

Woo-jin’s ability and attention to detail gave Jin-tae complete trust in him. “Okay, I’ll look into it,” Jin-tae said.

“Okay. There’s no rush, so take your time,” Woo-jin replied.

“Should I contact the law firm now?”

“I’ll do that,” Woo-jin said.

“Okay.”

Since he started working with Woo-jin, Jin-tae was realizing ambitions he didn’t know he had. He couldn’t feel them when he was a freelancer. It was only now that he saw endless possibilities.

So, whenever Woo-jin told him about a new business plan, Jin-tae felt excited rather than scared. And he knew that this was a good thing. ‘It’s better than just doing the same thing forever, right?’ he thought.

WJ Studio’s amazing growth was thanks to Woo-jin, who was living his second life. But Jin-tae didn’t know that, or didn’t need to know.

All he knew was that Woo-jin was a great leader who inspired him to dream big. “So, can we start working on this at the beginning of next year?” Jin-tae asked.

Woo-jin nodded. “That’s right. As early as spring, but no later than summer. I’ll get everything done by then.”

Jin-tae smiled. “Okay, I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

“What?” Woo-jin asked.

“Our company. I’m excited to see what it will be like next year.”

Woo-jin smiled back. Jin-tae was now in charge of a big part of WJ Studio. Woo-jin was happy that Jin-tae was so loyal to the company. ‘Hehe,’ Woo-jin thought.

So, Woo-jin said, “Don’t worry, Jin-tae.”

“About what?”

“No matter how much you expect, it will be even better than that.”

Woo-jin believed that his job as the owner was to show the right path and give people confidence in it.