Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 228

64th. Last All-in (5)

A few hours later.

After drafting the contract, we reviewed the finalized agreement on the spot.

“Satisfactory, indeed,” I said.

“I can’t say I’m quite as satisfied, Johnny,” Jackson retorted, turning to me with a question.

“Why are you so fixated on Shinseong Group? With your current assets and enterprises, there shouldn’t be any need.”

“Think of it as the same reason you’re trying to pass Shinseong Group bonds to me while keeping Morgan Stanley for yourself, Jackson.”

“Hmm…”

Jackson hummed, a peculiar smile forming on his face.

“You’re no different from Louis XIV.”

To someone who doesn’t know me, that might sound like nonsense, but I understand perfectly well what he means.

Louis XIV, famously known as the Sun King, [a French monarch known for his absolutist rule and lavish lifestyle].

He argued that the clause stipulating Maria Theresa of Spain’s renunciation of the Spanish throne was invalid because her dowry was not fully paid when she married him. Eventually, he occupied parts of Belgium, which was then Spanish territory.

‘Looks like he still hasn’t sized me up properly. That’s why he got burned during the IT bubble and is getting burned by me again now.’

With Isaac watching Jackson and me with worried eyes, knowing me all too well, I spoke with a stern expression.

“Listen, Jackson. Do you think I married my woman just to take over Shinseong Group?”

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant. I just meant you’re like Louis XIV…”

Jackson quickly erased his smile and tried to make excuses, but it was too late.

“Shut your mouth. Do you not realize the contract hasn’t been signed yet? Should I tear it up right now and end this?”

My eyes filled with murderous intent as I growled lowly, causing Jackson’s eyes to widen.

“Jo-Johnny?”

“Don’t call me Johnny, you big-nosed bastard. Do you think you have the right to call me that?”

I felt sorry for Isaac, who had worked hard to mediate our deal, but was it such a big deal to curse at someone old enough to be my father? You have to act your age to be treated with respect.

“Money is just a means to an end for me. I’m not some moron like you Morgan bastards who just laugh gleefully at the sight of money piling up. Should I tear this up and tell the Morgan family that the deal fell through because of your big mouth?”

With a murderous expression, I mockingly grabbed the top of the contract with both hands, gesturing as if to tear it apart. Jackson frantically waved his hands.

“N-No, Mr. Lee! I was being careless!”

“If you knew you were being careless, you should apologize, right?”

“A-Apologize?”

“In the East, when you’re really sorry, you bow 90 degrees. If you’re really sorry, stand up and bow 90 degrees in front of me right now.”

The apology I was demanding now was an apology that Isaac, sitting next to me, would also receive. Wasn’t he the head of the Rockefeller family, who had suffered under the Morgans? I smiled at Isaac and glared at Jackson, who was trembling all over.

“Did you get wax in your ears? Or do you still have some pride left to uphold?”

Seeing the tension in Jackson’s jaw muscles, I slammed the table with my palm.

“Answer me! Now!”

Only then did Jackson place his hands on the armrests and stand up. I smirked at Jackson.

“Keep your arms straight at your sides and bow 90 degrees. Only then will I sign the contract.”

Jackson’s face was redder than ever, but his arms were glued to his sides. Jackson, clenching his fists tightly, slowly bent over.

“Now, just say, ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Lee. I’m sorry, Mr. Rockefeller.’ Then I’ll sign right away, hehe.”

I could never forgive that bastard Jackson. Wasn’t he the one who made me resort to drastic measures when I was trying to slowly dry up my in-laws and naturally take over Shinseong Group?

As Isaac stared at me with terrified eyes, a loud voice erupted from Jackson’s mouth as he bowed 90 degrees.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Lee! I’m sorry, Mr. Rockefeller!”

It was an apology filled with rage, but only then did I feel relieved.

“Okay. Let’s sign, Mr. Morgan.”

As soon as those words were spoken, Jackson wiped away the tears that had flowed out of him, unable to contain his anger, and signed the contract with me. After exchanging the contracts again and signing one more time, I exclaimed as I looked at Jackson.

“Ah! Your apology in front of us has been recorded. If you try anything funny, you won’t be able to show your face on Wall Street, hehe.”

It seemed he couldn’t abandon the pride of the Morgan family. I grinned at Jackson’s pale face.

***

After completing the contract, we went to Henry’s mansion. Henry burst into laughter as he watched the large TV in the drawing room, showing Jackson bowing respectfully to us.

“Hahaha! I never knew you were such a ruthless person, Johnny!”

“It’s not something to laugh about, Uncle. How terrified do you think I was watching from the side? Hehe.”

Isaac, who had been frozen on the spot, now smiled with a relaxed expression.

“The Chairman is originally like that, Mr. Rockefeller.”

“Taejin is right, Mr. Rockefeller. Once he bares his fangs, there’s no one as ruthless as Johnny, hehe.”

As Seon Haecheol chimed in, chuckling, Claire asked me.

“Will it be over once you exchange the Morgan Stanley shares for the Shinseong Group bonds?”

“No. We’ve included the right to repurchase them within five years, so that’s when it will really be over, hehe.”

The contract Jackson and I signed included the right for me to acquire Morgan Stanley shares at market price within five years. When the subprime mortgage crisis hits, the Morgan bastards will be fooled once again.

“Well, now that we’ve overcome all the hurdles, we should have a celebratory toast. Butler!”

At Henry’s spirited cry, the butler smiled.

“Yes, Master.”

“Prepare a banquet immediately. It’s only right to enjoy a day like today, haha!”

***

A few days later.

A bolt from the blue struck Shinseong Group’s Seonguiwon [the executive office of Shinseong Group].

“What are you saying? You’ve disposed of our bonds?”

[If you hadn’t been so clumsy with your Shinseong Card or whatever that money game was, we wouldn’t have had to sell the bonds. Shinseong Group looks like it’s going to go under any day now, turning the bonds into worthless paper. It’s only natural to sell to the place that offers the best price, isn’t it?]

Jang Hogun’s expression hardened at Jackson’s brazen reply. He knew this was coming, but he didn’t want to suffer the humiliation more than twice.

[Standard Capital is now the largest bondholder of Shinseong Group, so be aware of that. Goodbye.]

As the call ended, Jang Hogun slammed the receiver down roughly. Seeing this, Lee Suhan spoke urgently.

“What… what should we do, Chairman?”

“What else can we do? We can’t let those foreign bastards take over the company, can we?”

There was no way Lee Suhan didn’t know that those foreign bastards were Standard Capital, but there was no way out. With the shares and bonds they held, they could extract Shinseong Electronics from Shinseong Group and still have plenty left over.

“Th-Then…”

As Lee Suhan hesitated, the office became noisy outside.

[You can’t do this! Those without appointments…]

[I’ve come as the largest bondholder of Shinseong Group and the largest shareholder of Shinseong Electronics. Seonguiwon is also Shinseong Group property, so why can’t I come?]

Hearing the noise outside, Jang Hogun sighed and pressed the intercom button.

“Let him in.”

As soon as Jang Hogun’s instructions were given, the door opened and Seon Haecheol entered.

“Long time no see, Chairman Jang.”

“Welcome, Representative Seon. I knew you, the person I least wanted to see, would come. Here, bring three cups of tea.”

At Jang Hogun’s instruction, the secretary went out to get tea, and Seon Haecheol swaggered in, sitting comfortably on the sofa as if it were his own.

“As you already know, our Standard has become the largest shareholder and largest bondholder of Shinseong Electronics.”

“I know. You paid hundreds of billions in fines due to stock trading, but you quickly got rid of them.”

“Hundreds of billions is less than 1 percent of Standard Capital’s total assets. Isn’t hundreds of billions a cheap price to pay to take over Shinseong Electronics as quickly as possible? Hehe.”

Seeing Seon Haecheol grinning, Lee Suhan shouted.

“You! Who do you think you’re talking to…!”

“The steward should keep his mouth shut, Mr. Lee Suhan. Well, I’m also a steward, but you’re the steward of a collapsing house, and I’m the steward of a house that will continue to grow, so wouldn’t the status be different? Hehe.”

Lee Suhan wanted to punch that arrogant Seon Haecheol in the face. But even if he punched him, it wouldn’t solve the current situation, would it?

Seon Haecheol, as if he didn’t care about Lee Suhan grinding his teeth, unfolded his crossed legs and took a sip of the tea the secretary had brought.

“The tea here doesn’t taste very good.”

“Because it’s not Golden Tips [a type of high-quality tea]. So, what do you want from us?”

Seon Haecheol, who had put down his teacup, leaned comfortably against the back of the sofa and said.

“I don’t want anything from you. I’ve only come to give you notice.”

“Notice?”

“From this moment on, I will convene a meeting of creditors. The agenda is to incinerate all the shares of the owner family who ruined the management of Shinseong Group and contribute all the bonds we hold as in-kind investment.”

“What’s next?”

“We will take over Shinseong Holdings and Shinseong Financial Holdings. I think there should only be two people here to say more…”

Seon Haecheol trailed off, looking at Lee Suhan, and Jang Hogun said to Lee Suhan.

“Give us some space.”

“…Yes, Chairman.”

After hesitating for a moment, Lee Suhan answered, glaring at Seon Haecheol as if to kill him, and left the office. Once they were alone in the office, Seon Haecheol sighed.

“Now it seems like we can talk comfortably.”

“What more is there to say?”

“As Chairman Jang also knows, a significant portion of the funds managed by our Standard are from the Seongmin family and Haedong Group funds. Right?”

Jang Hogun couldn’t possibly not know that Haedong Group and the Lee family’s money had been invested in Standard Capital, although he didn’t know the exact amount. Seeing Jang Hogun nodding, Seon Haecheol said.

“When we take over Shinseong Group, we will sell all of Shinseong Holdings’ construction and heavy industry affiliates to Haedong Heavy Industries Group. After contributing all of Shinseong Electronics’ shares as in-kind investment to Shinseong Holdings, which will control the remaining affiliates, we will transfer half of Shinseong Holdings’ shares to your niece-in-law, and Shinseong Financial Holdings will be delisted and handed over to Seongmin.”

“The banking sector will bring up the Shinseong Card issue. How will you handle that? If you can’t solve that problem, it will be difficult to rebuild Shinseong Group.”

To worry about the company’s reconstruction when he’s about to be ruined and kicked out… Seon Haecheol let out a burst of laughter as he looked at Jang Hogun, then composed himself. After all, wasn’t he the father-in-law of his beloved nephew?

“We will sell all of Shinseong Card’s non-performing loans to external parties. Standard will buy 30-year bonds with an annual interest rate of 2 percent to cover the losses that the banks will bear in the process. Of course, we have also agreed to cover the losses that the banks will bear due to their subsidiaries’ card companies.”

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to receive support from the banks and political circles to drive the Jang family out of Shinseong Group. Wasn’t this a matter of investing nearly 100 trillion won?

Seeing Seon Haecheol’s calm expression, Jang Hogun also nodded with a calm expression.

“It seems that only Lee has passed the test I gave.”

“What are you talking about?”

As Seon Haecheol looked at him with a puzzled expression, Jang Hogun gave a bitter smile.

“The reason I created the holding company system, even while taking risks, was a test I gave to my children. Of course, that test was also open to Hayeon and Lee.”

Seon Haecheol’s eyes widened at Jang Hogun’s quiet murmur.

“Th-Then this is all…?”

“Frankly, I’ve always thought that only those two children were qualified to inherit Shinseong. What do you think, Representative Seon?”

As Jang Hogun said, Seon Haecheol also knew that among the children who inherited Jang Hogun’s blood and their spouses, only Lee Seongmin and his wife had the capabilities to properly lead Shinseong Group. Amidst his bewilderment, Seon Haecheol nodded, and Jang Hogun continued.

“But to get the children who remain in my arms to agree, I had to give them an even bigger test. If they passed that test, I wanted to hand over this office to anyone, but I wanted Hayeon and Lee to pass the test.”

“Chairman Jang?”

“From what I can see, this operation also seems to have been possible thanks to the trust Lee has built up at Standard over the years. As soon as you get back, tell Lee. Tell him to come here with Hayeon.”

Seon Haecheol couldn’t say anything to Jang Hogun, who had finished his request and was drinking tea with a detached expression.

***

“I-Is that true?”

“That’s what I’m saying? It seems like he planned it from the beginning, trusting you two.”

I couldn’t hide my shock after hearing everything from Seon Haecheol, who had returned to the company. He had created the holding company system, even while taking on hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, and brought it to this point just to legitimately hand over the company to Jang Hayeon and me?

‘Why?’

Jang Hogun was someone who always thought that Shinseong Group belonged to the Jang family. Why would such a person set up a plan to hand over the company to Jang Hayeon and me?

As I was blankly staring, Seon Haecheol said.

“Hurry up and go to Seonguiwon with your wife. It seems like he has a lot to talk about.”

“Yes, Uncle. Hyung, go to headquarters right now and inform the chairmen. Call Uncle too.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

After taking the elevator with Park Taejin and going down to the underground parking lot, I ignored the speed limit and arrived at the Goryeo Hotel in a daze. After entering Jang Hayeon’s office, I told Jang Hayeon everything I had heard from Seon Haecheol without leaving anything out.

“I-Is it true?”

“Uncle heard it directly, so it must be true. Let’s go quickly.”

“Okay…”

Thanks to Jang Hogun, my secret was kept, but I didn’t know whether to be happy or not. Jang Hayeon and I hurriedly got into the car parked outside the hotel and headed to Seonguiwon.