The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 214

214. The World’s Crack (3)

The Soviet government acknowledged the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident two days after the explosion.

However, because the Soviet government did not disclose detailed figures or the extent of the damage, various rumors circulated in the Western world.

“Two thousand deaths? Has the nuclear power plant been completely destroyed?”

“The article I read said 3,000 people died in the explosion.”

“There are articles that say even more people died.”

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident ultimately resulted in tens of thousands of casualties, but that was in the future; on the day of the accident, the immediate death toll wasn’t nearly as high.

However, the rumors continued to spread.

Sarah also easily encountered such rumors. She asked Jung Hyun-woo with a worried face,

“What will happen in the future?”

Jung Hyun-woo had a general understanding of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

‘The Soviet Union deployed miners and soldiers to prevent the worst-case scenario. But the land became an uninhabitable no-man’s land.’

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident greatly impacted the Soviet economy, contributing to the reform and opening-up policies [Perestroika and Glasnost], the collapse of the communist bloc, and the reunification of Germany.

“We have no choice but to trust the Soviet Union’s response.”

“Trust the Soviet Union?”

“It’s not that I trust the country itself. It’s just that the Soviet Union is the only country that can stand up to the United States, so I think they will be able to handle it to some extent, given their resources and capabilities.”

Despite Jung Hyun-woo’s words, Sarah couldn’t shake her worried expression.

“I heard there are other reactors next to the exploded reactor. If they all explode, a crisis could come to the world……”

Jung Hyun-woo sighed briefly and cut her off.

“That’s just a rumor.”

“Huh? A rumor?”

“It’s true that the Soviet Union’s nuclear power plants aren’t as safe as those in the West. But they aren’t so unstable that all the plants will explode at the same time.”

Jung Hyun-woo didn’t know it, but the Chernobyl nuclear power plant continued to produce electricity even after the accident.

This was unheard of by Western standards, but because of the power shortage, some reactors had to be operated until the 2000s.

“Then are the articles in magazines and newspapers all lies?”

“Rather than lies, they are speculations based on insufficient evidence.”

“Hmm.”

“We can’t blame the reporters since the Soviet Union is refusing to grant interviews.”

The Soviet Union officially acknowledged the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident but did not accept requests for interviews from Western media.

As a result, Western reporters could only write countless speculative articles.

Toc. Toc.

Jung Hyun-woo was tapping the desk with a pen.

“What are you pondering so deeply?”

At Sarah’s question, Jung Hyun-woo looked up.

“JP Service subscribers are decreasing.”

Sarah couldn’t help but tilt her head.

“JP Service subscribers are decreasing?”

The new version of JP Service had been well-received.

“The number of subscribers to America Service and City Service has increased, so the total number of service subscribers has increased overall. But the decrease in JP Service subscribers is bothering me.”

Sarah thought for a moment and then said,

“Could it be that JP Securities’ growth has reached its limit?”

“Are you saying it’s a problem with JP Securities, not with us?”

“We are only providing real-time services. The commission fees and customer service are not related to us.”

It was possible that the number of customers using JP Securities for reasons other than JP Service had decreased.

“That could be the case.”

Sarah asked him,

“How many subscribers have decreased?”

“Two thousand.”

“Phew, that’s not much.”

“It’s two thousand this month, but it could be twenty thousand next month.”

Jung Hyun-woo was focusing on the fact that JP Service’s growth had stalled.

“Are you thinking of having a meeting with Mr. Arnaud?”

Jung Hyun-woo shook his head.

“No, I’m not going that far yet. But if the decline continues, I’ll have to talk to him.”

He was planning to monitor the situation for another month or two.

Sarah held up a document and tapped it to align the pages.

“What’s that?”

When Jung Hyun-woo asked, she stopped and replied,

“April accounting report.”

“Isn’t Anne handling that?”

The CFO of Victoria Corporation was Anne, Jung Hyun-woo’s former secretary.

“Anne handles the processing, but I have to review it.”

Sarah wanted to support Anne until she gained enough experience.

“April wasn’t bad, right?”

“Not bad. The game division and G Shop are doing well.”

“Are there any problems?”

“Victoria Fund is the problem.”

Jung Hyun-woo’s eyes widened at her answer.

“Has a problem occurred with Victoria Fund?”

He worried that an unexpected issue had arisen with Victoria Fund.

However, Sarah’s answer was completely different from what he had expected.

“The problem is that Victoria Fund’s profits and asset size are so large that Victoria Corporation feels like an appendix.”

Victoria Fund’s profits were on a completely different scale than Victoria Corporation’s profits.

“We’ve just been lucky recently. We could have losses as early as next month.”

The rise of the yen had recently slowed down.

“How is this month?”

Time had passed, and it was now May.

“According to John’s report, real estate contracts worth about $1 billion will be signed this month.”

“Even combined with last month, that’s only 10%?”

“It’s hard to deploy all $15 billion at once.”

John Pierre was planning to invest slightly less than half of the $15 billion, about $7 billion, in Japanese real estate this year.

“How are the real estate prices in Japan?”

“They have been rising continuously since the interest rate cut.”

Interest rate cuts inevitably affect the real estate market.

“So you made money again?”

“We only invested $500 million, so the profit isn’t that big.”

“Still, 10% is $50 million.”

Jung Hyun-woo tilted his head at Sarah’s words.

“Did you receive a separate report from John?”

“Um, a report?”

“You matched the 10% profit exactly.”

The real estate purchased by Victoria Fund was primarily located near train stations, so the increase in value was greater than in other areas.

In the areas with the highest increase, some buildings had risen by more than 20% in just two months.

“If we had invested all $15 billion, this quarter’s profit would have been $1.5 billion. What a waste.”

Jung Hyun-woo shook his head.

“Sarah, that’s greed.”

He thought they had already made a significant profit from exchange rate gains alone.

‘We can be satisfied with this level of profit this year.’

Victoria Fund’s profit target for this year was $5 billion, and thanks to exchange rate gains, it had already achieved 60% of its target profit in the first quarter.

‘Even if we make modest profits in the second, third, and fourth quarters, we can still achieve this year’s goal.’

Thanks to this, not only Jung Hyun-woo but also John Pierre were relaxed.

* * *

In May, Jung Hyun-woo sighed briefly at the issuance of a summons from the IRS [Internal Revenue Service].

“Hoo……. This is the second time.”

“This time, you can send a legal representative.”

This meant that Jung Hyun-woo didn’t have to go in person.

The first time he received a summons, he had flown to Washington with Sarah.

“Is that okay?”

“It’s not a congressional hearing, just a short investigation. Of course, we have to submit the data and documents they want.”

“Hmm, I don’t know what the problem is.”

Sarah said in a calm tone,

“Victoria Fund’s profits are so large that other funds may have put pressure on them.”

She just said it casually, but Jung Hyun-woo thought it could very well be the case.

“We made a lot of profit, but we neglected lobbying.”

Sarah stopped and looked up.

“Is that what it sounded like?”

“Sarah is right.”

Jung Hyun-woo added, holding up two fingers.

“I think we should spend this much on lobbying.”

Sarah narrowed her eyes at the two fingers he held up.

“Wouldn’t $2 million be a little short?”

“Wouldn’t $20 million be better than $2 million?”

Sarah put a stop to the idea of using $20 million for lobbying funds.

“No way.”

“Is it not possible?”

“Politicians are above us, but if we move too much money, they’ll think, ‘There’s really something shady going on.’”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded at Sarah’s answer.

“I understand. If we lobby beyond the expectations of politicians, it will appear that there is a problem on our side, and they will make more demands on our company, right?”

Sarah replied in a soft voice,

“That’s right.”

Thanks to her father, she was familiar with lobbying in the political world.

“How much would be good?”

“Let’s do $5 million.”

“Isn’t that a little too little?”

“It’s not good to bow our heads too much to politicians. Let’s just do that much.”

Jung Hyun-woo asked again,

“What about social organizations?”

American companies often donate to local communities and various volunteer organizations.

“The fund can’t really be called a local company yet, so I think it’s too early for that.”

Victoria Fund had been established for less than a year. Thinking about the local community was premature.

“It’s a relief to have Sarah.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not just saying that. All I can do is start businesses.”

Sarah was better at supporting businesses than Jung Hyun-woo.

“One person can’t be good at everything.”

Even people called geniuses only showed outstanding talent in their own fields.

Toc. Toc.

At that moment, Jung Hyun-woo’s secretary, Luna, knocked on the door. She had a habit of not using the intercom when Jung Hyun-woo and Sarah were talking.

“Come in.”

Luna opened the door halfway and said,

“There’s a call from Seoul.”

Jung Hyun-woo reached for the receiver and took her words.

“Connect to line 1.”

A call from Seoul.

Jung Hyun-woo frowned slightly.

‘It’s dawn in Seoul now. Who could be calling?’

He thought it might be Choi Kyung-min.

But the person who called him was an unexpected figure.

“Hyun-woo, how have you been?”

Jung Hyun-woo knew the owner of this voice.

“Uncle, you’re calling me at dawn.”

The person who called him was Daewoon Construction President Jung Min-seok.

“I wake up at this time every day.”

Jung Hyun-woo didn’t ask him how he got his phone number.

‘He can find out that much if he has people in the secretary’s office.’

In fact, the phone number of Victoria Corporation could be found out without going through the secretary’s office.

Victoria Corporation was a listed company and was actively doing business in the United States, so it was easy to find the phone number if one was determined.

Of course, finding the direct phone number to the president’s office was a different story.

“You’re diligent.”

Jung Hyun-woo tried to exclude as much emotion as possible from his voice.

‘My uncle isn’t on friendly terms with this side, but there’s no concrete evidence that he directly attacked me.’

He had heard bad rumors about Jung Min-seok through various channels.

“You’re cold.”

“I just took a call during work.”

“I see. I didn’t think about that.”

He wasn’t calling after deep thought.

‘So he called spontaneously, but is there a problem?’

Jung Hyun-woo hadn’t been paying attention to the Daewoon Group for a while. He only received reports from Choi Kyung-min once or twice a month.

“It doesn’t seem like a simple greeting call. Is there a problem?”

The two had met briefly in Japan earlier this year.

“I want to get some help from you.”

Jung Min-seok was asking Jung Hyun-woo for help.

It was unimaginable a few years ago.

“Is it a personal matter?”

“It’s a company matter.”

It was about Daewoon Construction.

“I can help if it’s simple, but I can’t do anything unreasonable given my circumstances.”

Jung Min-seok said in a dry voice,

“Hyun-woo, could you buy some Daewoon Construction corporate bonds?”

Asking to buy Daewoon Construction corporate bonds meant that Daewoon Construction’s situation was not good.

‘Daewoon Construction is in trouble? Something must be going on.’

Jung Hyun-woo frowned and asked,

“Isn’t the construction industry booming because of the Asian Games?”

“The domestic economy is good, but the overseas economy is not good.”

Jung Min-seok had focused on overseas orders to win the succession battle.

He had not yet won orders in the United Arab Emirates or Qatar, but he had won several high-rise building orders in Southeast Asia.

“We don’t have enough money either, so we can’t buy much.”

“1 billion won is enough.”

1 billion won was not a lot of money for Jung Hyun-woo.

‘Is that about $1.3 million?’

He was dealing with tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. But he didn’t make a decision easily.

“I think it would be better to talk face to face.”

“Are you saying I have to go all the way to America?”

“If you can wait until September, I will go to Korea.”

September 1986.

Jung Hyun-woo was scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the 1986 Seoul Asian Games.

“I can’t wait that long. I’ll go.”

Jung Hyun-woo could tell that Jung Min-seok was in a desperate situation.

“I understand. Please leave a message with the secretary’s office when the schedule is set.”

When he hung up, Sarah asked,

“Is it a family matter?”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and replied,

“It’s my uncle, after a long time.”

Sarah recalled Jung Min-seok, whom she had met in Japan, and frowned.

“Did you get threatened?”

“Not like that, he just asked for a little help.”

“Don’t help him.”

Sarah thought it was important to distinguish between enemies and allies.

“Still, I think I should hear the story.”

“Hoo……. Charlie is too nice; that’s the problem.”

Jung Hyun-woo’s decision to meet Jung Min-seok wasn’t just because he was nice. He thought the more cards he had, the better.

‘Grandfather might change his mind and give the eldest son inheritance to my uncle.’

If Jung Min-young couldn’t overwhelm Jung Min-seok, the position of chairman of the Daewoon Group would likely go to Jung Min-seok. He wanted to consider that situation as well.

That evening.

Jung Hyun-woo spoke with Choi Kyung-min.

“Secretary Choi, is there something going on with Daewoon Construction?”

He still called Choi Kyung-min a secretary.

“Young master, there are rumors circulating within the group.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“There are rumors that Daewoon Construction’s Middle East orders will be difficult.”

Daewoon Construction was betting everything on Middle East orders. If this fell through, Jung Min-seok’s dream would be shattered.

‘Hmm, Middle East orders are difficult. This isn’t a problem that can be solved with 1 billion won.’

He felt that Jung Min-seok’s call and Choi Kyung-min’s answer were inconsistent.

“Are there any other rumors?”

Choi Kyung-min hesitated and replied,

“According to a friend in the secretary’s office, President Jung Min-seok’s expression hasn’t been good for the past few days.”

Not good for the past few days.

That meant the reason he called was a new financial problem, not the Middle East orders.

‘Hmm, Choi Kyung-min alone won’t be enough.’

He finished talking to Choi Kyung-min and called Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik.

“Chief Secretary, it’s me.”

Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik could no longer treat Jung Hyun-woo as lightly as before.

“Hyun-woo, what’s going on? You’re calling first.”

His voice was bright.

“I have a question about Daewoon Construction.”

Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik trailed off when he mentioned Daewoon Construction.

“Not Daewoon Trading, but Daewoon Construction?”

Jung Hyun-woo told him about Jung Min-seok’s request.

Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik groaned softly at the mention of being asked to buy corporate bonds.

“Ugh, I didn’t know Daewoon Construction’s situation was that bad.”

Jung Hyun-woo asked him,

“Chief Secretary, do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“There’s only one thing I can think of.”

Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik definitely knew more than Choi Kyung-min.

“It seems there’s a problem.”

Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik said in a low voice,

“It seems that the situation in Indonesia has become difficult due to the recent drop in oil prices.”

One of the buildings Daewoon Construction had won was in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

“So, did Indonesia ask for a negotiation?”

Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik answered Jung Hyun-woo’s question.

“I think it’s more likely due to exchange rate losses than negotiation.”

“Exchange rate losses? Aren’t international transactions done in dollars?”

“That’s……. It seems they signed a contract in Indonesian currency instead of dollars to beat the competition.”

“You signed a contract in rupiah?”

Chief Secretary Hong Won-ik nodded and replied,

“Daewoon Construction was planning to receive it in rupiah first and then convert it to dollars.”

Jung Hyun-woo thought he knew why Daewoon Construction was in trouble.

‘The break-even point, which was already tight, turned into a deficit because the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate fell.’

Perhaps they had won the order knowing they would have a deficit from the beginning.

‘In this case, the acceptable deficit may have turned into an unacceptable deficit.’

The wave of falling oil prices was shaking even Daewoon Construction.