Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 150

150. 44th. Domination Game part.1 (4)

After sending Lee Sung-min away,

Tae Jae-ho, who remained in his office, let out a hollow laugh.

“Haha… Just like the eldest grandson of the eldest brother.”

Lee Sung-min, whom Tae Jae-ho had encountered, was no different from Lee Dae-soo in his younger days.

###

47 years ago. One day in April 1950.

“Hyung [older brother], are you crazy? We’re doing good business, what are you talking about? Are you out of your mind?”

Tae Jae-ho, who was organizing ledgers at the Haedong Corporation’s Yeongdeungpo headquarters, raised his voice at Lee Dae-soo’s order to prepare to send all documents, cash, and goods from all stores in Seoul to Busan.

“Just do as I say, you idiot. Why are you so scared when you’re so big?”

“Th, that’s not it…”

Seeing Tae Jae-ho stammer, Lee Dae-soo composed himself and whispered.

“It’s what came out of the meeting with Father, the Vice President, the Executive Director, and the Managing Director. The atmosphere around the 38th parallel is unsettling. So, they’re going to move the store’s assets, from the Yeongdeungpo textile factory’s equipment to Busan’s Seomyeon. They said they’re going to send all the company people too.”

“The uncles and Father said that too?”

Tae Jae-ho’s eyes widened instantly.

There was no room for doubt, as Lee Dae-soo, who recorded the minutes of every meeting between his father, the Executive Director of Haedong Corporation, Bae Jae-hoon’s father, the Vice President, and Cho Young-chan’s father, the Managing Director, had spoken.

“Yeah. I don’t know when we’re leaving, but we need to prepare the Seoul stores first so we can prepare Incheon and other places, right? Arrange trucks and organize the items and quantities in the warehouse.”

“Yes…”

###

Thanks to completing the preparations for the withdrawal of the largest stores in the Seoul metropolitan area in advance, Haedong Corporation sent all documents, assets, and people from about 30 stores nationwide and the textile factory to Busan before the outbreak of the Korean War. To Tae Jae-ho, Lee Dae-soo back then and Lee Sung-min now were no different.

“He really has a broad perspective…”

The Lee Sung-min that Tae Jae-ho saw had as much insight as Lee Dae-soo, whether it was space or time.

He made money through currency speculation in Mexico and Japan twice, and he led all the work as if he was preparing for the foreign exchange crisis that would hit this country, didn’t he?

There was something about what that guy said in front of him that gave him a sense of trust. Eyes full of conviction and a confident voice… It felt like he was going to see what Lee Dae-soo had shown him in the old days again.

“And it’s not like he’s just full of enthusiasm…”

Every word had its own rationale. Although detailed numbers were missing, even Tae Jae-ho, who had spent more than half his life in the group, couldn’t deny that he only said things that intuitively gave him the feeling of ‘this is it!’

“I’m going to be busy until I retire.”

Tae Jae-ho, with a satisfied expression, sat in front of his desk, turned on the computer, and began to write a document. Although he was slow because he had learned it late in life, Tae Jae-ho tapped on the keyboard with a smile on his face.

***

6 a.m. the next morning.

“Sung-min, why are you so strong?”

“I don’t think you’re the one to talk?”

I and Jang Ha-yeon, who were having a meal across the table, chuckled as we looked at the dark circles under each other’s eyes. We did it three times last night alone, didn’t we? Very intensely, very intimately, and very long.

“Who are you meeting today?”

“Vice President Bae Jae-hoon. I have a meeting at the company in the morning, and from this afternoon to tomorrow afternoon, I have to go through Seosan and visit the Jeonju factory.”

Jang Ha-yeon’s face showed disappointment when I told her the schedule.

“Do I have to sleep alone tonight?”

“I’m sorry, Noona [older sister/term of endearment for an older woman].”

Due to the nature of Bae Jae-hoon’s business, I had to visit Seosan and Jeonju, and Lee Myung-jin’s Dangjin Steel Mill was next to Seosan, so I had to check as much as possible by the end of the year. Isn’t it all our family business?

Jang Ha-yeon, seeing my apologetic expression, put down her spoon and got up from her chair. She came to my side and took my hand.

“Give me what you can’t give me today, now.”

“Noona?”

I wondered if I had misheard. Do it from the morning?

###

Uh, uh, I was dragged to the bed and had my energy sucked out by Jang Ha-yeon three times in a row from 6 a.m. Bae Jae-hoon, who greeted me when I arrived at the company, looked at my even more haggard face with a worried expression.

“Director Lee, are you okay? Aren’t you overdoing it since you’re newly married?”

“Yes? …Yes. I’m sorry, Vice President.”

They say women are at their best from thirty, and Jang Ha-yeon was exactly that type. I had to take herbal medicine from the new year. Definitely!

Bae Jae-hoon chuckled as he looked at me answering weakly.

“It must be hard. You have to come to the company in the morning and work with us, and you have to take care of your wife at night… You’re being squeezed day and night, huh, hehe.”

“Ahahaha…”

I felt strange as I laughed awkwardly.

“Huh?”

I wiped under my nose with my hand and blood came out. Damn it!

“Euhahahaha! Our Director Lee is in big trouble! You’re already running out of energy when you’re still in the middle of your honeymoon? Huh? Euhahahaha!”

Seeing Bae Jae-hoon laughing heartily, I quickly pulled out a tissue and blocked my nose. Bae Jae-hoon looked at me, got up from the sofa, opened the desk drawer, took something out, and handed it to me.

“This is…?”

“Gongjin-dan [a type of traditional Korean medicine]. I’ve been taking one pill a day since I turned thirty, so I still have energy. Take it quickly. I don’t give it to just anyone, euhaha.”

He was saying he was worried about me, but he was clearly mocking me. What else could it be if he was laughing while handing me the medicine? Still…

‘I have to eat to survive. I feel like I’m really going to die from having my energy sucked out like this…’

I politely received the Gongjin-dan, tore open the package, put it in my mouth, and chewed it carefully. I frowned without realizing it at the terribly bitter taste, and Bae Jae-hoon, who was watching me like he was watching his grandson, laughed heartily and brought me water.

“Thank you, Vice President.”

I took the water and drank it, and a sigh came out of me. Lee Sung-min, the great, already has to rely on medicine. Bae Jae-hoon looked at me intently and said.

“I’m not kidding, I’m seriously advising you… Take herbal medicine regularly. If you can’t replenish the energy you’re losing inside and out, your body will break down quickly. You need to be healthy to work, Director Lee.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Vice President.”

Looking at Bae Jae-hoon’s eyes filled with worry, it seemed like he was giving me advice as a senior in life. I should accept the advice from someone who has experienced it first.

After finishing the honeymoon initiation ceremony, Bae Jae-hoon put down the tea he was drinking with me.

“Now, then, we’ve had our energy recovery drink, so we should start? What do you think about resource development?”

“We can’t develop mines right now, Vice President. We clearly increased our funds during this foreign exchange crisis, but it’s too early until the exchange rate stabilizes.”

I was planning to promote mine development in line with the beginning of the commodity supercycle. I couldn’t tell him that even if we developed it now, the profitability wouldn’t match and we would only be eating away at the recoverable reserves, but Bae Jae-hoon nodded readily.

“We should keep the Australian iron ore mines untouched until at least the spring of 2001.”

“Yes. It will be enough to promote it then.”

Bae Jae-hoon, who was nodding, asked me.

“Then what about the development of the Irkutsk natural gas field? I’m talking about Hango Energy, which we acquired last time.”

After pretending to think for a moment, I shook my head.

“That’s not a project to be promoted right now either. We’re an exception, but because of this foreign exchange crisis, domestic merchant banks have dumped Russian bonds, so the Russian government won’t look kindly on us.”

There is no business as tied to international politics as resource development. Russia would not look kindly on Korea, which lowered the value of the Russian ruble by dumping its own bonds.

Bae Jae-hoon nodded with a stiff expression.

“I see. Then… let’s talk while looking at this.”

Perhaps because I said to postpone all the projects for which we had secured development rights, Bae Jae-hoon got up from the sofa with a stiff expression, opened the bookshelf like a door, and brought a box of A4 paper from the built-in safe.

“…Vice President?”

“It seems difficult to develop mines right now due to the exchange rate problem, so it would be good to just secure development rights or acquire shares. All the documents are in here.”

A firm will was revealed in Bae Jae-hoon’s eyes. I looked at the list for each project at the top of the box.

‘Could it be?’

It was consistent with the business plan I had prepared in broad terms. I knew that general trading companies had good information, but I didn’t know it would be this much…

“What’s wrong, Director Lee?”

“I would like you to look at what I have prepared. No, before that, how about we write down the two core codes of the resource development business grand strategy that the Vice President and I are thinking of on a piece of paper and exchange them?”

Bae Jae-hoon chuckled as he looked at me asking with a playful expression.

“It’s like Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu before the Battle of Red Cliffs [a famous historical analogy for strategic alignment]. Good.”

Bae Jae-hoon and I wrote down the words we were thinking of on a piece of paper and handed them to each other.

“Euhahahaha!”

“Hahahahaha!”

Bae Jae-hoon and I looked at each other and laughed heartily after looking at the notes.

The paper we wrote and gave to each other had the words ‘6 Strategic Mineral Species’ and ‘Rare Earth Elements’ written on them.

“There’s no telepathy like this! It was a plan that our kids worked hard to come up with since last year!”

“Ahahahaha…”

Suddenly, our company’s overseas staff became pitiful. How much would he have pushed them with that fiery personality? I just gave an awkward smile, stopped laughing, handed the documents I had brought to Bae Jae-hoon, and started talking about the business in earnest.

“It’s a relief that both the Vice President and I have the same grand strategy of focusing on the 6 strategic mineral species (bituminous coal, uranium, iron, copper, zinc, nickel) and rare earth elements.”

I responded happily, looking at Bae Jae-hoon laughing heartily.

“Who wouldn’t? It may be difficult to develop uranium because of politics or radioactivity, but we must secure the other five mineral species and rare earth elements unconditionally.”

“That’s right, Vice President. The foundation of the economy is manufacturing, and raw materials are essential for that manufacturing, aren’t they? Considering the reality of Korea, which has no natural resources, we need to secure as many mines as possible.”

The problem of decarbonization and nuclear phase-out is a matter for later, and there is no time when the value of raw materials is as low as it is now, so we must sweep them up as much as possible. I couldn’t tell him about these circumstances, but Bae Jae-hoon nodded.

“It’s a road that no one goes down, but if we have to go, we have to go. If we bring back the dollars that go out for raw material imports, that’s our own way of being patriotic.”

“That’s right. I wonder if Dangun Wanggeom [the legendary founder of Korea] was scammed in real estate, how much are the dollars we pay overseas because we don’t have raw materials? Cement and tungsten are okay, but…”

I couldn’t continue speaking and just gave a bitter smile. In South Korea, where the current Republic of Korea government has effective control south of the armistice line, those two are the only ones that are not extremely profitable, right?

“The most useful Musan Iron Mine on the Korean Peninsula is in North Korea, so that’s all I need to say. Those commies can’t be trusted. It’s better to invest in Australia, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, or Africa.”

I nodded and began to look at the data on each region’s mineral species business, recalling my memories.

###

Ambatovy Mine in Madagascar.

It is an open-pit mine called one of the world’s three largest nickel mines, with an estimated ore deposit of about 140 million tons to 190 million tons, a nickel content of 0.94 percent, and a cobalt content of about 0.09 percent.

In my previous life, this mine was the only unfair project among the resource development projects of Lee Young-baek, who would later become the mayor of Seoul and then the president. Wasn’t it a project that was disgraced because the investment cost increased due to the coup in Madagascar when the nickel price was at its all-time high?

All other projects were garbage projects that were quietly passed over even in the business world.

Anyway.

The current situation is that Phelps Dodge, an American company that held the development rights around this time – later merged with Freeport-McMoRan – was considering transferring the business rights for $300 million.

###

Oyu Tolgoi Mine in Mongolia.

It is a super-large open-pit mine with an ore deposit of about 3.1 billion tons, a copper content of 0.7 percent, and a gold deposit of 0.35 grams per ton.

In my previous life, Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines operated the mine and recorded annual sales of $1 billion and net profit of $200 million as of 2019, so the business was sufficiently guaranteed.

Currently, BHP of Australia has the development rights, but it has been revealed that it is considering a phased withdrawal under the pretext of finding a joint venture partner.

###

Tavan Tolgoi Mine in Mongolia.

It is a super-large open-pit coal mine with a total deposit of 5 billion tons, and the Tsankhi coal field 1 in it is a place where 1.2 billion tons of coking coal for steelmaking is deposited.

The current situation is that BHP has given up due to profitability issues. If we negotiate with the Mongolian government, acquiring the business rights was not a difficult problem.

###

I looked at the data on the other mines in addition to the data on the three mines and recalled my memories, then put down the documents.

“Even if profitability is low now, we must secure Ambatovy, Oyu Tolgoi, and Tavan Tolgoi as shown in the data the Vice President showed me. We also need to prepare for the problems that will occur locally.”

“Don’t worry about the profit distribution problem with the local government. Isn’t it all about everyone eating well and living well together?”

“What I’m thinking about is more than that, Vice President.”

I told Bae Jae-hoon what I knew, but also what Bae Jae-hoon might not have seen.

“For example, if we open a mine in Mongolia, miners will flock from all over Mongolia, right?”

“Why are you asking something obvious? When Sangdong Mine was at its peak, men with some strength flocked from all over the country and it was a mess.”

Bae Jae-hoon retorted in a bland tone. Then how about this?

“Then there’s no way that women’s problems won’t break out in the mining village where only those strong men are swarming, right?”

“Women’s problems?”

Bae Jae-hoon’s eyes changed sharply. Seeing Bae Jae-hoon’s face gradually stiffening, I pointed out the exact problem.

“It’s the problem of sexually transmitted diseases spreading due to the red-light district. Syphilis, gonorrhea, AIDS… Considering the local situation, it will definitely break out.”

“Oh… I almost missed that.”

Both I and Bae Jae-hoon know very well that Mongolia is not good just because it is Mongolia. The population density of the country itself is sparse and the medical welfare system is not dense, so can sexually transmitted disease patients be managed?

‘Rio Tinto guys also had a headache because of that. We will try as much as we can.’

I said calmly to Bae Jae-hoon with a crumpled expression.

“If you receive cash every month in a mining village where only energetic men gather, it will break out 100 percent. If we acquire the mine development rights, we need to take measures, Vice President.”

You shouldn’t ignore human sexuality, whether love comes and goes or money comes and goes. I alone had my energy sucked out by Jang Ha-yeon this morning and barely recovered after eating the Gongjin-dan given by Bae Jae-hoon, didn’t I?

“That’s right. If we had developed it without any preparation and it had broken out, it would have turned into an international disgrace and a diplomatic issue between the two countries. And we would have both been hit by lightning from the Chairman. Just thinking about it is terrible.”

Bae Jae-hoon shook his head as if he hated even thinking about it and shuddered.

He is a grandfather who generously takes care of the salaries and welfare of his employees to avoid causing trouble with group affairs. But sexually transmitted diseases break out at the group’s business site? The Samcheong-dong study [likely referring to the Chairman’s office or a place of important meetings] would be turned upside down.

“That’s right, Vice President. So, the Mongolian mine project must check the health status of workers and hire them. In addition, condom distribution, regular free checkups for men and women in mining villages… We must try as much as we can so that the Chairman and both Korea and Mongolia will recognize it.”

For us, who are digging up other people’s land and doing business, it is best to treat the locals as well as possible and show efforts to prevent the worst situation. Bae Jae-hoon, who was silent for a moment, said.

“It would be good to operate a hospital in line with the mine operation. It seems like it would have a good effect in terms of enhancing the group’s image.”

I also thought that operating a hospital locally would be a good promotional tool from a business perspective. I should tell you one more thing.