Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 534

“Jung Tae-soo? Isn’t he the chairman of the Hanbo Group? Why are you suddenly bringing him up?”

Moon Hee-yeol tilted his head, asking the question. He couldn’t understand why that name, of all people, would come up in their conversation.

Hyun-sung responded.

“It’s not about him, but about the Hanbo Group he used to run.”

“Hanbo? Didn’t it already go bankrupt in January?”

“Exactly. What did you say a little while ago? That the settlement of promissory notes increased starting in February?”

“Of course, I did, but what’s the connection?”

Moon Hee-yeol tilted his head again, still unable to see how the increased settlement of promissory notes related to Hanbo’s bankruptcy.

Hyun-sung emptied his soju glass and spoke again.

“Do you happen to know when Hanbo Steel went bankrupt?”

“Well, I don’t know the exact date….”

“It was January 23rd. And a week later, on the 30th, the entire Hanbo Group went bankrupt.”

“Now that you mention it, I think that’s right. But what does that have to do with our promissory note settlements?”

“Of course, it’s not directly related to your factory. But when Hanbo collapsed, the repercussions started spreading throughout South Korea.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly a small company….”

Moon Hee-yeol nodded, acknowledging the point.

Hyun-sung continued.

“Hyung [older brother or close male friend], do you know what Hanbo’s ranking was in the Korean business world?”

“I think I heard it was 14th?”

“Yes, that’s right. The 14th largest company collapsed. That’s huge. So, what do you think will happen from now on?”

“Huh? Well….”

Moon Hee-yeol scratched his head, taken aback by the sudden question, and then continued.

“The aftermath will be significant, but I think the government will step in to prevent the worst, right?”

“No!”

Hyun-sung shook his head firmly. He knew exactly what the government did back then.

The government had been confidently claiming there was no foreign exchange crisis until they applied for a bailout from the IMF [International Monetary Fund, an organization that provides financial assistance to countries in economic crisis].

Hyun-sung continued.

“That will never happen.”

“Then what will happen?”

“You know the domino effect, right?”

“Domino? Does that mean….”

“Yes, a chain of bankruptcies will begin. Thirteen of the top 30 companies will collapse. And it won’t end there. Their subcontractors, as well as other small and medium-sized enterprises, will also collapse in succession. The number will be over 3,000.”

“What? 3,000?”

Moon Hee-yeol’s jaw dropped; he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Hyun-sung’s words were incredibly shocking and unbelievable to him.

He shook his head to clear his mind and asked again.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about what’s going to happen. Even today, two companies went bankrupt, according to the news. This will be on TV news like an everyday occurrence for the next year.”

Hyun-sung looked at the calendar on the wall and picked up the soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] bottle in front of him. He poured soju into Moon Hee-yeol’s glass and then his own, shaking the bottle as he spoke.

“Hyung, this one will also collapse tomorrow.”

“Collapse? Does that mean…?”

“Yes, it will go bankrupt.”

“……”

Instead of answering, Moon Hee-yeol stared at the soju bottle Hyun-sung was holding. The words ‘Jinro’ were clearly written on the bottle.

That meant Jinro would go bankrupt tomorrow.

Moon Hee-yeol was silent for a moment, as if trying to think.

After a while.

Moon Hee-yeol, having emptied his soju glass, looked at Hyun-sung and asked.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Why?”

“Yeah, why are you telling me this today?”

Moon Hee-yeol’s voice was heavy with seriousness.

How could it not be?

Hyun-sung had just said that over 3,000 companies would go bankrupt. He knew all too well that his factory might be among those 3,000.

Hyun-sung replied.

“After saying all this, do you really need more explanation?”

“Does that mean our factory too….”

Moon Hee-yeol had to stop himself mid-sentence. He couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘bankruptcy’.

Hyun-sung quietly picked up his glass, emptied it, and then spoke again.

“I’m telling you to prepare in advance. There’s not much time left.”

Moon Hee-yeol’s factory would go bankrupt in January of next year. He would have to close the factory doors when it was coldest. Hyun-sung still vividly remembered his crying and despairing 모습 [Korean word for ‘appearance’ or ‘figure’] then. He had felt sorry for his pain.

But back then, there was nothing he could do for him. He was too preoccupied with his own troubles with Cinema Mind.

“What are you?”

Clang!

Moon Hee-yeol put down his empty glass and asked. But his eyes showed that he didn’t trust Hyun-sung.

Perhaps it was a natural reaction.

He was talking as if things that hadn’t even happened yet were actually happening, so it would be difficult for him to believe right away.

Hyun-sung asked directly.

“Why? Don’t you believe me? Or don’t you want to believe me?”

“Both. I don’t believe you, and I don’t want to believe you. But what doesn’t make sense is how you can know these huge things in advance. It doesn’t make sense, does it? Just now, on the evening news, Deputy Prime Minister Kang Kyung-shik said that our economy is strong….”

Moon Hee-yeol began to recount the news at length, as if unable to believe it.

But what was the point? It was all due to the government’s misguided response, and eventually, they would apply for a bailout from the IMF.

When Moon Hee-yeol finished speaking, Hyun-sung said immediately.

“Those guys are all lying.”

“What? Lying?”

“Yes, they’re lying. They’re heading down the road to bankruptcy.”

“Wait!”

Moon Hee-yeol was silent for a moment, as if thinking about something.

He seemed to have sorted out his thoughts and continued.

“You said we’re heading down the road to bankruptcy?”

“Yes, even at this moment.”

“That bankruptcy… is it South Korea?”

Instead of answering, Hyun-sung slowly nodded. Moon Hee-yeol’s eyes sparkled, and he immediately spoke again.

“Is that real?”

“Yes, it’s true. But we won’t go all the way to bankruptcy. We’ll reach out for help right before bankruptcy.”

“Reach out for help? To whom?”

“You’ve probably heard of it, the IMF. The International Monetary Fund.”

“So, you’re saying South Korea will enter the IMF system?”

“Yes, unfortunately, we’ll be entering the tiger’s mouth. As a result, many companies will undergo forced restructuring and go bankrupt. It’s like a nuclear bomb has been dropped on the South Korean economy.”

“……”

Moon Hee-yeol couldn’t say anything more. Instead, he closed his eyes tightly and bit his lower lip, as if lost in thought. Hyun-sung could see that he was caught in an internal conflict.

Whether to believe it or not.

The silence stretched on for quite a while, as if he was deep in thought.

After a while.

Moon Hee-yeol opened his eyes, looked at Hyun-sung, and slowly spoke.

“I can’t believe it.”

“I understand. It won’t be easy.”

“This doesn’t make sense. How can South Korea go bankrupt….”

Moon Hee-yeol shook his head violently from side to side, unable to believe it.

But Hyun-sung couldn’t just stand by. He had to persuade him to avoid repeating the mistakes of his past life.

Hyun-sung brought up something else.

“Hyung, you invest in stocks, right?”

“Huh? Yeah….”

“Talk to your father about the factory operations and liquidate your stocks first.”

“Liquidate my stocks?”

“Yes, if you want to salvage what you have, liquidate them all tomorrow. They won’t go up for the next year. Moreover, in three months, in July, the foreign exchange crisis in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, will begin to occur in succession. Then it will be too late. They’ll become scraps of paper, not securities.”

“……”

Moon Hee-yeol had to close his mouth again. He was hearing unbelievable and absurd things. Moreover, he was now mentioning Southeast Asia, beyond just Korea. How could he not be dumbfounded?

And there was another thing he didn’t understand. It was the information about the stocks he owned.

He had never told anyone around him that he owned stocks. But how did Hyun-sung know about it?

He had only known Hyun-sung for less than a month. Of course, he had become close to him because he went to the video store almost every day, but he had never talked about stocks even once.

But how did he know he was investing in stocks?

Aside from the other content, he was more curious about how Hyun-sung knew he was investing in stocks.

Curious, Moon Hee-yeol asked directly.

“How did you know I was investing in stocks?”

“Isn’t that not important right now? Don’t you think? Isn’t it important to survive somehow?”

He knew that Moon Hee-yeol invested in stocks from his past life. He also knew that they had already become scraps of paper. So, Hyun-sung didn’t have a way to explain it.

But now there wasn’t much time left, so he just skipped the process and spoke directly. After all, the most important thing was to prevent him from repeating the same mistakes as in his past life.

But that was just Hyun-sung’s opinion, and it didn’t seem to be the case for Moon Hee-yeol.

“No, it’s important to me. I’ve never told my younger brother that I invest in stocks. But how did you know?”

“Is that more important than you ending up with nothing?”

“Huh? That’s….”

Moon Hee-yeol couldn’t answer easily. Honestly, if he compared the two, the latter was more important.

Hyun-sung continued.

“Hyung, let’s live first!”

There was a sense of urgency in Hyun-sung’s words. He knew there wasn’t much time left, so he was desperate.

But that seemed to be only from Hyun-sung’s perspective, who knew the future.

Moon Hee-yeol wanted to satisfy his curiosity first and asked the same question again.

“Of course, we have to live, but how did you know I was investing in stocks?”

“I can’t tell you now. I’ll tell you later.”

“Later?”

“Yes, I have my reasons right now. So, let’s postpone that for now. What’s urgent now is for you to live first. Okay? Hyung?”

Hyun-sung spoke urgently again.

Perhaps his sincerity was conveyed.

Moon Hee-yeol’s expression seemed to change as he thought for a moment, and he nodded slightly and said briefly.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, but give me some time. I need to look into it myself.”

“No, Hyung… Okay, I understand.”

Hyun-sung stopped himself from saying anything more and nodded. He thought that if he spoke too strongly here, it would only backfire.

Then Moon Hee-yeol quietly asked again.

“Do you invest in stocks too?”

“I used to.”

“Used to? Does that mean you don’t do it now?”

“I liquidated everything and switched to something else before Hanbo went bankrupt earlier this year.”

“Switched? To what?”

“Dollars.”

He had already liquidated all his stocks in early January and converted them into dollars. After all, the value of the dollar would continue to rise for at least a year.

At first, he had a lot of 고민 [Korean word for ‘worry’ or ‘concern’]. About making money by taking advantage of the country’s 망하는 [Korean word for ‘failing’ or ‘collapsing’] situation.

But that 고민 didn’t last long.

After all, an individual couldn’t change the fate of the country.

So, he chose dollars. After all, the country would need dollars later anyway.

Moon Hee-yeol looked at Hyun-sung with an unbelievable expression and spoke again.

“So, you’re saying you predicted Hanbo’s bankruptcy?”

“I didn’t predict it; I knew it.”

“Knew it? What does that mean?”

“What I’ve been saying so far are not predictions, but things that will actually happen in the future. So, don’t ask me why, and Hyung….”

“Wait!”

Moon Hee-yeol suddenly raised his hand to interrupt Hyun-sung. Then he immediately continued.

“If what you’re saying is true, shouldn’t we go to the Blue House [the executive office and official residence of the President of South Korea] tomorrow?”

Smirk.

Hyun-sung couldn’t help but smile. He knew what Moon Hee-yeol meant by that.

He was talking about the country’s bankruptcy.

When Hyun-sung smiled instead of answering, Moon Hee-yeol asked again.

“What? What’s with that smile?”

“Do you think you can even meet him if you go to the Blue House?”

“Of course, the country is on the verge of bankruptcy….”

“They’ll think you’re crazy and arrest you right away. As you said a little while ago, the Deputy Prime Minister said there’s nothing wrong, so would they listen to me?”

“Oh? Now that you mention it….”

Moon Hee-yeol had to admit it. The Deputy Prime Minister himself was saying that there was nothing wrong. That meant the government had already set its direction in that way.

Hyun-sung continued.

“How about you, Hyung? Can you believe it?”

“Oh? That’s….”

Moon Hee-yeol couldn’t confidently continue his answer. Honestly, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t believe it.

Then Hyun-sung said again.

“That’s all I have to say. From now on, it’s up to you.”

“Huh? Me?”

“It’s your freedom to believe it or not. But you’re responsible for what happens to you from now on. I’ve clearly told you.”

With those words, Hyun-sung picked up the bottle of soju. He looked at the bottle for a moment and then said to Moon Hee-yeol again.

“Hyung, this guy is also finished today. Here, have a drink.”

Pour, pour~~~!!!

Hyun-sung began to pour soju into Moon Hee-yeol’s glass. Perhaps it was just his feeling, but the sound of the soju falling into the glass sounded somewhat sad.