The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 157

157. Highway (2)

City Bank CEO Moses Mount and his executives stared, wide-eyed, at the final offer presented by Jung Hyun-woo.

“Is it really okay to do this?”

His surprise stemmed from the fact that the terms matched those of Bank of America.

Jung Hyun-woo nodded in response to Moses Mount’s question.

“I couldn’t possibly treat such esteemed guests poorly, could I?”

He had prepared the same terms as Bank of America to give preferential treatment to City Bank.

Moses Mount didn’t entirely believe this answer.

“Hmm, esteemed guests, you say.”

Jung Hyun-woo’s proposal was too good to be true.

‘He’s completely captivating them. But JP Morgan must be behind him.’

Moses Mount knew that JP Morgan and Bank of America each held a 10% stake in Victoria Corporation.

‘Perhaps it wasn’t JP Morgan, but Bank of America that suggested these terms.’

Why would they offer such favorable conditions to them?

The answer to this question didn’t come easily.

Was it poisoned bait?

Or a promotion to expand the market?

He turned his head back and called out to someone.

“Pierre.”

A middle-aged man with a neat appearance approached Moses Mount.

“Yes, sir.”

“Check if there are any legal issues with these terms.”

Pierre bowed as he received the document from Jung Hyun-woo.

“I will review it as quickly as possible.”

Jung Hyun-woo smiled gently.

“You can take your time to check it.”

Moses Mount shook his head slightly.

“No, we should seize such good terms immediately.”

“Then…….”

Moses Mount cut him off, raising his voice slightly at the end.

“Mr. Jung, if there are no legal problems, how about signing right away?”

He wanted to proceed with this negotiation with lightning speed.

‘Even if it’s poisoned bait, it’s worth swallowing at this level.’

Jung Hyun-woo replied in a soft voice.

“We have no reason to object.”

Moses Mount laughed loudly.

“Hahaha, this negotiation is pleasingly fast.”

Anne frowned slightly as she watched the proceedings move forward so smoothly.

‘Things are going too well.’

She had seen Jung Hyun-woo negotiate many times as his secretary.

But never had things gone so easily. Even during negotiations with Michael Dell, something always happened.

‘Something’s strange…….’

Unlike her, Jung Hyun-woo’s voice was bright.

“I’m glad Mr. Mount is pleased.”

“If only other friends would offer terms as decisively as Mr. Jung. But they don’t.”

Moses Mount wondered what it would have been like if he had dealt with Jung Hyun-woo from the start.

‘If so, we wouldn’t be behind Bank of America, even if we couldn’t surpass JP Morgan.’

Of course, the best thing would be to build an independent system.

“Mr. Jung, shall we talk separately while the legal review is underway?”

He was suggesting a private conversation away from the City Bank executives.

“I’m fine with that. However, there is one favor I would like to ask.”

Moses Mount smiled broadly and raised both hands.

“What is it?”

“If we sign the contract, I would like to invite reporters.”

“Are you planning to promote this deal to the press?”

“We are preparing for an IPO [Initial Public Offering – the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance].”

Moses Mount nodded in understanding.

“Sam!”

He raised his voice, and a lean man approached and bowed slightly.

“You called?”

“Contact the public relations department and invite reporters.”

“Reporters?”

“We are planning to formally contract with Victoria Corporation.”

The man named Sam looked surprised for a moment but nodded.

“Understood. I will call the media. What time would be good?”

“In about two hours?”

Sam checked the watch on his wrist and said.

“Then I will inform them that there will be an interview at 4 PM.”

“Do that.”

While the two were talking, Anne said to Jung Hyun-woo in a small voice.

“Charlie, the negotiation speed is too fast.”

She was worried that the negotiation was progressing too quickly.

“Anne, we can still control things.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought that as long as he wasn’t swayed by Moses Mount, it would be fine.

‘Even if the opponent rushes like a storm, as long as we don’t lose sight of the essence of the negotiation, it’s enough.’

It was when he lightly clenched his fist.

Moses Mount turned to him after giving his instructions.

“Shall we go to my office? Or the lounge?”

“The lounge would be better.”

Jung Hyun-woo left the conference room with Moses Mount.

* * *

Smooth and easy negotiations.

It wasn’t possible to say that such negotiations didn’t exist.

If each other’s interests aligned, negotiations could flow smoothly without conflict.

However, Anne didn’t think this was such a negotiation.

‘Charlie is conceding too much.’

She stood in front of the lounge, waiting for him.

“Haa…….”

It was when Anne sighed deeply.

A middle-aged woman approached her and asked.

“Would you like some coffee?”

She was the secretary of City Bank CEO Moses Mount.

“I’m okay.”

“He won’t be out right away.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s Mr. Mount’s habit.”

Anne thought she had been with Moses Mount for a long time.

‘Perhaps she has been with him since she was young.’

The CEO and his secretary may have aged together.

“Actually, I had coffee with Charlie before coming into the conference room.”

“Does calling the CEO by his first name mean you are close?”

“No. Our company is quite liberal in that regard…….”

In any country, calling someone by their first name meant they were close.

“IT companies are certainly different.”

“Our CEO is very approachable.”

The middle-aged secretary nodded and agreed with Anne.

“To be honest, it’s the first time I’ve seen such a young CEO.”

“Do you think it’s strange?”

“It feels natural because he’s a genius.”

The middle-aged secretary seemed to think of Jung Hyun-woo as a computer genius. In fact, her thoughts weren’t much different from the reality of Jung Hyun-woo.

‘If it weren’t for Charlie, JP Services wouldn’t exist.’

Anne had seen Jung Hyun-woo solve problems that the development team couldn’t solve on several occasions.

‘Besides, Charlie isn’t just good at computers.’

She knew that Jung Hyun-woo was also a first-class CEO.

“Are we going to keep waiting here?”

Anne answered the middle-aged secretary’s question.

“I’m fine.”

“Have you served the CEO for a long time?”

“About two years.”

“Two years isn’t very long.”

“Still, I’ve served the CEO since the first year of the company’s founding.”

The middle-aged secretary was slightly surprised by her words.

“I heard it wasn’t a very old company, but I didn’t know it was that young.”

“Most IT companies have a short history.”

“Companies here, on the other hand, have a long history.”

On Wall Street, there were companies that had been around for over 50 years, and even some with over 100 years of history.

Anne asked her.

“City Bank has a very long history, right?”

The middle-aged secretary smiled and replied.

“City Bank’s history is over 170 years.”

City Bank boasted the longest history among the three major banks in the United States.

Founded in 1812.

As she said, City Bank was a long-standing company that had well surpassed 170 years as of 1985.

“Employees who join City Bank have to learn that long history.”

“It must feel like entering high school again.”

“It’s not that extreme.”

The moment the middle-aged secretary waved her hand.

The air inside the lounge turned cold.

City Bank CEO Moses Mount said in a low voice.

“Mr. Jung, are you saying we can’t start the service on the date we want?”

Jung Hyun-woo put his hands together and replied.

“Building City Service is not an easy task.”

“Still, a year is too much.”

Jung Hyun-woo had told Moses Mount that it would take a year to open the service.

This was even longer than the time it took to open Bank of America’s American Service.

In other words, he was offering City Bank different terms than Bank of America in terms of the period.

“We are building a new system, so it will inevitably take more time.”

This was not a lie. He wanted to apply the newly created modular system to City Service.

‘Even a year is actually pulled forward [accelerated].’

However, Moses Mount frowned.

“A year? We might as well develop it ourselves.”

A harsh remark.

Jung Hyun-woo clenched his fist slightly and suppressed the rising emotions.

“Mr. Mount, I’m sorry if you’re disappointed. But in order to provide a stable service, that much time is necessary.”

Moses Mount’s face gradually hardened.

“You don’t get anything cheap and good, and it’s the same this time.”

He thought he now knew why Victoria Corporation had offered such good terms.

“Can’t you reduce it to six months?”

Jung Hyun-woo took a deep breath and answered his question.

“I’ll try to reduce it by two months.”

Reducing 2 months from 12 months would make it 10 months.

10 months and 6 months.

There was still a 4-month difference.

Moses Mount relaxed his hardened face a little and said.

“Let’s do 8 months. I can’t go any further.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought this was close to a final warning.

‘If I don’t accept these terms, they won’t do business with us.’

He clearly realized what City Bank wanted.

‘They came to us to provide the same services as their competitors as quickly as possible.’

In a way, it could be said that they recognized Victoria Corporation’s capabilities.

‘They can’t succeed in the IPO without their help.’

Jung Hyun-woo sighed deeply.

“Hoo…….”

Moses Mount asked when he sighed deeply without answering.

“Are you not confident?”

Jung Hyun-woo closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, saying.

“I’ll do it in six months. Instead, I’ll attach a condition.”

Moses Mount raised his right hand at the words that he would make the service possible within six months.

“What condition?”

He was willing to pay the cost, even if it was somewhat excessive, if he could shorten the time.

“I want to directly connect to City Bank’s network system.”

“Direct system connection?”

“If I can get data from the bank’s data system in real time, the work will be faster.”

Moses Mount didn’t know the technical details. However, he could tell what Jung Hyun-woo was asking for.

“You’re saying you want to receive our City Bank’s data as is. But what if your company damages our company’s system or causes a hacking incident?”

Jung Hyun-woo hardened his voice and replied.

“I will compensate for the full amount.”

“Full compensation?”

“I will compensate with my own money, not Victoria Corporation’s.”

Moses Mount gave a cold smile at his answer.

“I’ve heard that you have quite a bit of assets. But if an accident happens, that money won’t be enough.”

“Are you saying that even 10 billion dollars won’t be enough to stop it?”

Moses Mount erased his smile at the mention of 10 billion dollars. Then, he looked straight at Jung Hyun-woo and asked.

“Are you serious?”

“I’m serious.”

Jung Hyun-woo made a gamble.

‘I’ll give up modularization in this City Service. Instead, I’ll extract the data needed for modularization.’

He wanted to obtain more in-depth data than the data he could obtain from JP Morgan and Bank of America.

“Think again. Accidents happen in unexpected places in life.”

Jung Hyun-woo put his hands together.

‘I agree that accidents happen in unexpected places. But you can’t move forward if you’re afraid of those accidents.’

He said, putting strength into his voice.

“I’m not afraid of accidents.”

“Is it youthful vigor?”

“I’ll answer that it’s the courage of a pioneer.”

Moses Mount nodded twice.

“Good. I acknowledge that courage. It’s a decisive choice I can’t make.”

He didn’t believe the 10 billion dollars that Jung Hyun-woo mentioned. However, he knew that his assets already amounted to billions of dollars.

‘If he takes all the risks himself, there’s no reason not to allow it.’

Since there were no additional costs, Moses Mount thought there was no reason to reject this deal.

“Is this an agreement on all terms?”

“I think so, what about you?”

He was saying to speak up if there were any disagreements.

Jung Hyun-woo shook his head.

“No.”

Moses Mount crossed his legs and asked.

“Did you persuade JP Morgan in this way too?”

The Jung Hyun-woo he saw was a man who took all the risks himself.

“I used a different method when persuading them.”

“A different method?”

“I promised success.”

Moses Mount frowned.

“Promised success. Hmm, Mr. Morgan isn’t an easy person, so that’s impressive.”

He was about the same age as Neil Hamilton, so he thought of Arthur Morgan before Henri Arnault.

“Didn’t Mr. Mount also recognize our skills, so you agreed to this deal?”

“You’re saying that JP Morgan and we are the same.”

Moses Mount read ambition in Jung Hyun-woo’s eyes.

‘What he’s aiming for is probably Wall Street.’

He knew how difficult it was to conquer Wall Street.

‘So far, many have tried, but no one has succeeded.’

City Bank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Jefferies, Rothschild, Macquarie…….

None of the companies mentioned above conquered Wall Street as J.P. Morgan had done in the past.

Moses Mount thought the same of Jung Hyun-woo.

‘But just having his name on the list of challengers is a worthwhile thing.’

It was a reckless challenge, but not a worthless one.