Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 207

207. 59th. New Game (2)

“I’m glad there are no customers. Make yourself comfortable, honey.”

“Thank you, honey.”

After a light hug and a quick brush of cheeks with Jang Ha-yeon, I sat down on the living room sofa in the presidential suite with Park Tae-gon as soon as she left.

“I apologize, President Park. My wife and I are still very affectionate, haha.”

“Not at all, Chairman. It’s a good thing to have a good relationship, haha.”

“Now that we’re here, let’s have a quiet drink together.”

I retrieved a 3 million won bottle of high-end cognac from Hennessy and two cognac glasses from the mini-bar. I placed the glasses on the table, filled them with liquor, and lightly tapped my glass against Park Tae-gon’s before we both took a sip.

“I never thought I’d enjoy such luxury with you, Chairman, haha.”

“It’s all thanks to President Park for holding my hand and working so hard, haha.”

After exchanging pleasantries and laughing, I took another sip of cognac, exhaled lightly, and asked,

“But… what did you want to see me about?”

“That’s…”

Park Tae-gon, who had been hesitant, emptied his glass in one gulp after resting his elbows on his knees and swirling the cognac. Only then did he open his mouth.

“While investigating delinquent loan repayments among individual customers, I discovered some strange signs.”

‘Individual customers? Delinquent loan repayments?’

A thought flashed through my mind, and my eyes narrowed involuntarily. Seeing Park Tae-gon’s embarrassment, I relaxed my gaze.

“Speak freely. I’m not going to blame President Park at all, haha. What kind of signs are they?”

Park Tae-gon composed himself after seeing me laugh it off and began to speak.

“Credit card delinquency.”

“Credit card delinquency?”

“Yes. As you know, the government encouraged the use of credit cards to overcome the foreign exchange crisis [the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis], right?”

No matter how much money I, we, poured into Korea, it wasn’t enough to revive domestic demand. In the end, the government resorted to the drastic measure of encouraging people to use credit cards to save the economy.

“That’s right. But what does that have to do with us? We don’t have a credit card company in our group.”

I feigned ignorance about the looming credit card crisis, and Park Tae-gon continued his explanation.

“Our collection department’s investigators have found that a considerable number of customers with delinquent loan repayments also have delinquent credit card payments. It’s not a big problem yet, but considering the rate and scale of the increase, a major accident seems likely to occur within two or three years.”

‘This is why I brought this man in.’

The effect of bringing in Park Tae-gon, who is excellent at risk management – like spotting ant holes in a dam – was certain. Originally, Park Tae-gon would have discovered the signs six months before the credit card crisis, but this time, perhaps because he was playing in a bigger pond, the pace was faster.

“Does Chairman Cho Young-chan know about this?”

“Yes. As soon as I reported it a few days ago, he told me not to take any action other than quietly informing you at the chairman’s retirement party. He said you would know why.”

‘Chairman Cho still hasn’t let go of that grudge.’

Our family and our group have a deep-seated resentment towards Shinseong Group. Didn’t Jang Byung-ho, who founded Shinseong, turn our family’s astronomical funds into scraps of paper during the August 3rd Private Loan Freeze [a government measure in 1972 that froze private loans, causing significant financial losses for many]?

The day I revealed that I was the owner of Standard Capital, the executives present shared their thoughts and future plans.

[We must destroy the Jang family of Shinseong Group, no matter what.]

[We forgave Taehyun Group because Chairman Myung Jin-ho apologized to you, but your in-laws are playing dumb, so we can never forgive them.]

[Director Lee, I’m sorry to your wife, but we can’t just let this go.]

[We can’t bankrupt Shinseong, but we have to make your in-laws beggars by any means possible, nephew.]

[Ousting the Jang family of Shinseong Group from the business world is our group’s destiny, Sung-min.]

The expressions of the group’s executives at the time conveyed their determination as much as their words. Until now, they had been preoccupied with the expansion of Haedong Group, but they had expanded enough and had enough ammunition, so it seemed they were trying to repay a 30-year-old debt.

Recalling the situation at the time, I smiled and said to Park Tae-gon with a calm expression,

“It seems they want to push everyone else, especially my in-laws, into the mud, hehe.”

“Excuse me?”

Park Tae-gon’s eyes widened at my blunt words, but I gave him a grin.

“Haedong Group has maintained its financial soundness even during the repeated mergers and acquisitions of recent years. You know that, right?”

“I know. The Chairman and the advisor have always been earning money from somewhere, right?”

Park Tae-gon was well aware that the endless source of wealth for Haedong Group was my grandfather and me. I nodded and continued.

“So, the superficial reason is that we can endure it. When all the existing credit card companies go bankrupt, we can step in and take them over at a bargain price. The other reason is…”

I paused, fixed my gaze on Park Tae-gon, and stared intently.

“I think I need to tell President Park a little bit about my family’s secret.”

“A secret?”

“If you hear the secret, you must work for Haedong Group forever. Would you still like to hear it?”

Park Tae-gon’s eyes, which had been wavering for a moment, became firm.

“The day I drank with you at your house three years ago, I decided to dedicate my life to Haedong Group. Please tell me.”

“Alright. It happened almost 30 years ago…”

As I told him about how my family lost money because of Jang Byung-ho during the August 3rd Private Loan Freeze, Park Tae-gon’s eyes widened.

“…So that’s why the advisor dislikes your in-laws.”

I nodded at Park Tae-gon’s response.

“Yes. Still, both my wife and I have shown our abilities, and my wife has clearly defined her position, so they allowed the marriage. But until my in-laws go bankrupt, the resentment of the honorary chairman and the three elder chairmen will not be erased.”

After I told him the reason why I had to destroy my in-laws, Park Tae-gon opened his mouth with a determined expression.

“I understand, Chairman. Now, as before, I will not say anything even if people from Shinseong Group approach me. The same goes for your family’s secrets.”

With this, Park Tae-gon swore before me that he would become a member of our family. I smiled at him.

“Good. Let’s gradually reveal the other secrets one by one…”

Park Tae-gon flinched when I hinted that there were other secrets, but now was not the time. More than anything, there was something I wanted to give him.

“I will give President Park stock options for 2% of Haedong Merchant Bank and Haedong Securities shares, including all the money to pay for taxes.”

“Excuse me?”

Stock options in the two leading companies in the country are worth hundreds of billions of won. How surprised would he be?

“Please consider this a sign that President Park is truly one of my people from now on, haha.”

I grinned as I watched Park Tae-gon’s mouth drop open.

###

After promising the stock options and instructing Park Tae-gon to submit related reports, I sent him away and drank cognac alone in the room.

The credit card crisis.

A massive financial accident that will cause a huge liquidity crunch in Korea.

Haedong Group will be able to overcome it easily with the money that I and the elders of the family have accumulated, but other groups, conglomerates with credit card companies, and banks will inevitably falter. Among them…

‘Shinseong will inevitably falter. Because I stole Park Tae-gon.’

Since I brought Park Tae-gon over to my side, neither Jang Ho-geon nor Lee Soo-han will be able to sense the danger. Furthermore…

‘Shinsegi is the same. Even though it’s made up of industries sensitive to consumption, Jang Ho-kyung will ignore it because of his greed.’

Jang Ho-kyung is a person who boasts excellent abilities in food and distribution, which are sensitive to domestic demand. However, his desire to be number one is driving him to focus on attracting customers to Shinsegi Card. Not only that…

‘Shinsegi Retail is pushing ahead, relying on the cash flow of Cheil Jedang, but… it won’t be easy?’

No matter how good the cash flow of Shinsegi Retail and Cheil Jedang, the two main pillars of Shinsegi Group, is, they cannot stop the failures that will erupt due to the credit card crisis. Rather, consumption will decrease due to the aftermath of the credit card crisis, so Shinsegi Retail, a distribution company that relies on consumption, is in a perfect position to collapse.

‘Shinsegi Group will be in my hands in two years. Jang Ho-min in ten years, and finally…’

I took a sip of cognac in one gulp with a sinister smile. Was it because my revenge was going smoothly and becoming a sweetener? The taste of the cognac was sweeter than usual today.

***

While Lee Sung-min was celebrating his successful revenge, Jang Ho-geon was planning a scheme with Jang Ho-kyung and Jang Ho-min that would make that celebration meaningless, and only then did he return home.

“Ah, Father?”

Jang Ho-geon, who had called his children to his study, told them about the plan, and Jang Yong-jae, Jang Soo-yeon, and Jang Min-jae all called out for their father in unison. Jang Ho-geon opened his mouth with a calm expression as if he had expected it.

“It’s all for you. Do you think you can stand up to Standard Capital or that Lee fellow in your current state?”

“Still, you gave up your shares to your aunt and uncle…”

Jang Yong-jae’s grumbling was immediately cut off by Jang Ho-geon.

“One arrow is easily broken, but a bundle of arrows is hard to break. From now on, whether you can command the executives and employees as the successors of Shinseong Group depends on how well you perform.”

Jang Yong-jae, Jang Soo-yeon, and Jang Min-jae’s expressions turned sour. Instead of helping his children, he was pushing them onto a difficult path!

Jang Ho-geon glared at such children with a stern look.

“How much more do I have to push you? Ha-yeon and that Lee fellow are doing well on their own, aren’t they?”

That Jang Ha-yeon! That Lee Sung-min!

They were tiresome names. Wouldn’t it be better to just say that he didn’t want to hand over Shinseong Group to them?

However.

The moment those words came out of their mouths, they would lose almost everything they could enjoy under the name of a chaebol [a large South Korean business conglomerate]. Unable to endure the worst, Jang Yong-jae, Jang Soo-yeon, and Jang Min-jae shut their mouths.

“This is all your father can do. From now on, whether you combine your strengths or do it on your own, compete with your cousins with your skills.”

‘If it were that Lee fellow or Ha-yeon, they would have at least said they would try…’

Jang Ho-geon felt a sense of self-disgust because of his pathetic children, who couldn’t say anything even though he had created a new game while taking losses.

***

In the new year of 2001, I was fulfilling my official duties as the third-generation owner of Haedong Group. I had been responding to interviews from various magazines, newspapers, and broadcasting programs almost every day. At 3 p.m. in early March, after the stock market closed, I gathered several reporters and was conducting an interview according to a prearranged schedule.

“Everyone is probably wondering why I, a liberal arts graduate, am running an electronics business. But I will compete with results.”

Among the reporters who were taking notes, a reporter from Dongyang Ilbo asked a question.

“I heard that Haedong Electronics will soon sign a consignment production contract with Apple in the United States and produce iMacs at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex [a special economic zone in North Korea]. Is that true?”

“Yes. I was connected with Apple on the condition of Standard Capital’s capital increase in Haedong Electronics. We plan to produce iMacs by receiving memory semiconductors from GSMC here.”

Jobs kept his promise to me and entrusted us with consignment production and parts supply. With this, my ecosystem within the electronics industry was putting the pieces of the puzzle together one by one.

As I answered lightly as if it were nothing special, even though it was almost impossible for others, a reporter from Joguk Ilbo, who was taking notes together, made a sullen expression.

“But isn’t that excessively giving to North Korea? Do you have any business plans in Korea?”

The cold gazes of the other reporters, containing the message ‘You idiot, don’t you have any tact?’, were pouring down on him, but if he yielded to such gazes, would he be a reporter for Joguk Ilbo, Korea’s largest newspaper?

In addition, since his master’s in-laws were Shinseong Group, he seemed eager to get me in trouble somehow, but I also had a trump card.

“We have a project in preparation internally. Once development is complete, we plan to launch it worldwide at the same time as domestic production.”

After finishing the interview, I sent the reporters back and returned to my office.

“Hoo, I’m exhausted.”

“Stop exaggerating, hehe.”

Sun Hae-cheol chuckled as he looked at me, but it wasn’t an exaggeration.

I was constantly going home late because I had to check Standard Capital’s investment projects, strategic consulting work, Haedong Electronics’ ‘Aqua Wave,’ and Haedong Motors’ new car development.

“But I didn’t know you would prepare Aqua Wave during the IT bubble burst.”

“If you want to make a living, you have to move diligently, hehe.”

Aqua Wave is a product that was planned during the IT bubble burst and is currently being developed by Haedong Electronics.

‘I even acquired Digital Cast while bursting the IT bubble and went to NYU to make this.’

I acquired Digital Cast, which has MP3 source technology, through Haedong Electronics, and secured basic technology by recruiting Dr. Jeff Han, who was researching capacitive touchscreen technology at NYU [New York University]. I immediately started hardware development for Aqua Wave.

It was designed to enable games, music, movies, novels, memos, and photography with capacitive touchscreens developed by providing technology to GK Display, digital camera modules based on image sensors developed during the Taehyun Electronics era, and wireless internet access.

‘The next Aqua Wave to be released will be made smaller and will include a call function. After that, it will be made to allow internet searches, hehe.’

The people of this era only say that the Aqua Wave to be released this time will be a rival to Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox, and no one knows that it is an intermediate bridge to smartphones. As I enjoyed the moment and drank tea, I had to watch the door open violently after 4 p.m.

“I, it’s a disaster, President!”

“What’s wrong?”

Sun Hae-cheol narrowed his eyes and asked, but the employee showed no signs of calming down. Park Tae-jin’s expression also hardened, but I didn’t show any displeasure and filled a glass of cold water and approached the employee.

“Drink this and tell me.”

The employee, who received the glass, closed his eyes tightly and emptied all the cold water filled in the cup. Perhaps because of the coldness spreading through his neck, the employee frowned and finally calmed down, and I asked the employee.

“What’s wrong?”

“S, Shinseong Group and Shinsegi Group issued corporate bonds and transferred shares of affiliates through after-hours trading!”

My eyes, Park Tae-jin’s, and Sun Hae-cheol’s widened at the bomb the employee dropped. My in-laws borrowed money and transferred shares?