The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 24

24. Becoming a Villain in a Chaebol Family – Invitation from the Hilton Family 01 –

– Invitation from the Hilton Family –

Choi Kyung-min’s answer was no.

‘Was I bad at persuading people?’

He had never truly won anyone over.

‘I should have been in a position of authority to know how.’

At best, he had been a squad leader as a non-commissioned officer in the military.

‘It worked out well with Sarah, though.’

In Sarah’s case, they became close due to mutual needs, so it was different from Choi Kyung-min’s situation.

Was it because he was disappointed?

Jung Hyun-woo sighed deeply inside.

‘Hoo… Would it have been a little better if I had been a team leader?’

In his previous life, he had been a deputy team leader, but he had no experience managing an entire project as a team leader.

‘Tsk, just being a development team leader at a game company wouldn’t be enough to handle this kind of thing.’

He decided to let go of his lingering feelings.

“Is that choice the result of your consideration?”

Choi Kyung-min lowered his head, his hands at his sides.

“I have thought it through and made a decision.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded calmly.

“I understand. I will respect Secretary Choi’s decision.”

Choi Kyung-min expected Jung Hyun-woo to get angry or try to persuade him again.

But he didn’t. He cleanly withdrew the offer he had extended.

‘It’s a little disappointing, but this is the best.’

Choi Kyung-min concluded that it was not appropriate for him to get involved in the chaebol [a large South Korean business conglomerate] family’s fight.

‘Chief Hong used to say that we just need to support the higher-ups.’

Fighting with them is not our job.

It is the job of someone else with greater ambition than us.

“Until when are you scheduled to work as my secretary?”

Choi Kyung-min answered honestly.

“I promised Chief Hong to work until the end of the year.”

“The end of the year, huh? So you’ll be with me no matter what happens in 1982.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jung Hyun-woo turned his body and said.

“What is there to be sorry about? Secretary Choi is an employee of Daeun Group, not an employee I hired.”

The only thing Choi Kyung-min could say was.

“I’m sorry.”

Jung Hyun-woo waved his right hand and headed to his room. After he went up to the second floor, Choi Kyung-min let out a long sigh.

“Hoo…”

He felt completely drained.

‘To think I would be nervous around a sixteen-year-old boy.’

Jung Hyun-woo had become more gentle than before, but he was still a difficult person to read.

‘Even Chief Hong sometimes struggles.’

He remembered the conversation in the car heading to Pyeongchang-dong [an affluent neighborhood in Seoul].

Perhaps that day’s conversation was why he hesitated to take Jung Hyun-woo’s hand.

‘A chaebol is different from ordinary people like us, even if they are young.’

Jung Hyun-woo wasn’t rough, rude, or out of line.

He was a boy who could show completely different faces depending on the person.

Choi Kyung-min thought that he was not capable enough to handle Jung Hyun-woo.

‘The reason Sarah gets along with him is probably because she is capable enough to handle the young master.’

Chaebols understand each other.

That was the conclusion he had come to.

***

“Complete failure, huh?”

Sarah tilted her head to the side.

“Is there a problem with the new game development?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“Tom.”

Sarah had heard the story from Jung Hyun-woo last time.

“You were rejected.”

“It wasn’t easy.”

“I told you last time. Their intentions might be different.”

Jung Hyun-woo put his hands behind his head to support it.

“I don’t have anyone on my side in Korea.”

“Come to think of it, did you find out who the culprit is?”

Sarah speculated that someone from the Jung family was targeting Jung Hyun-woo.

“No. I didn’t have time for that.”

“You need to know who your enemy is.”

“I’ll know if the same thing happens again.”

Sarah frowned slightly.

“Aren’t you being too laid-back?”

“We don’t shoot each other in our family.”

“That might have been the case in Korea, but this is America.”

She was implying that assassinations disguised as gun accidents could be attempted.

“Sarah, even if I prepare, can I stop a sniper from afar?”

Jung Hyun-woo was from the Special Forces, so he knew how skilled snipers were.

‘Even the president can be taken down by a sniper.’

1982 was only about 20 years after the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

Sarah raised her eyebrows at the word sniper.

“I didn’t mean to go that far.”

Jung Hyun-woo lowered his voice, knowing that she was angry.

“I apologize if I was too harsh. But I have a lot of work to do right now.”

He was saying that he didn’t have time to worry about the Jung family’s plot.

Sarah decided to drop the topic of the Jung family at this point.

“Okay. I’ve already applied for the company name change.”

Jung Hyun-woo wanted to change Victoria Fund to Victoria Corporation.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“And I took care of the arcade port of Zero Space.”

The arcade version of Zero Space was not as good as “As Much As You,” but it was showing steady sales.

Jung Hyun-woo asked as if to confirm.

“What are the sales like?”

“Similar to last month.”

“It’s not selling as well as the console version.”

The reason people were enthusiastic about the Atari 2600 was that they could enjoy games that were only available in game centers at home.

In other words, moving games that can be played at home to game centers is not very attractive.

“How much is our short selling amount?”

The biggest reason Jung Hyun-woo established Victoria Fund was to short sell the game industry.

“It’s 5 million dollars. In the case of Warner, which has the most short selling, the average price is $67, and the stock price is now around $73.”

Warner Group’s stock has risen by about 10%, so if you cover the short selling at the current price, 5 million dollars will disappear.

‘Did I go too risky?’

Jung Hyun-woo was slightly worried about the soaring stock price, but he asked in a calm voice.

“Sarah, what is your target profit margin?”

Asking about profits from short selling when Warner Group is rising means that he is confident.

This was also a question to reassure Sarah.

“$30? I’m thinking below that too.”

She had been having sleepless nights due to Warner Group’s recent surge.

But she was also working hard to maintain her composure like Jung Hyun-woo.

‘It would be a problem if I wavered when even young Charlie is so calm.’

Jung Hyun-woo said as if to comfort her.

“Sarah, please be patient a little longer.”

“I know.”

Whenever doubts arose in her heart, Sarah would visit game shops to check inventory and discount rates. And each time, she concluded that Jung Hyun-woo and her thoughts were not wrong.

‘As the inventory in the shops increases, the discount rate is also increasing. This is a sign of the collapse that Charlie talked about.’

If the bubble burst that Jung Hyun-woo talked about didn’t happen, she and Victoria Fund would be finished.

“Has Peter said anything more?”

Before he left for Korea, Peter Lynch had given him negative news about Atari.

“I haven’t heard from him since.”

“He must be busy.”

“There are rumors that he has been investing in bonds recently.”

Early 1980s.

Inflation lowered stock prices and increased the value of bonds.

‘Even a legendary investor like Peter Lynch is chasing bonds, so the situation is not good.’

In this situation, Warner Group’s soaring stock price stimulated people’s investment sentiment.

“Which school would you like me to go to, Sarah?”

This question was unexpected for Sarah.

“Isn’t that something Charlie should decide?”

“It doesn’t really matter to me which one I go to.”

Jung Hyun-woo was already a developer who had a huge hit with Zero Space. It would not be an exaggeration to say that there was no professor at the university who could teach him.

“Still, there must be a school you want to go to?”

“A prestigious university like Harvard or Yale?”

Sarah nodded.

“With Charlie’s resume, that might be possible.”

A genius developer was welcome at any school.

“I’m not interested in that kind of thing.”

“So you’re going to go to the school I want you to go to? That’s not like Charlie.”

The Jung Hyun-woo that Sarah knew was someone who led everything.

“To be exact, I want to go to a school that is advantageous for Victoria’s operation. What do you think, Sarah?”

Sarah thought for a moment and then answered.

“Since Victoria’s address is in the East, a school in Boston would be good. Um, and if you want to build connections, it’s Harvard. But it won’t be easy. It’s a bit difficult to challenge with just Activision’s recommendation.”

The snobby Harvard.

This was a fact that even Americans acknowledged.

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and asked again.

“If not connections?”

“You can consider MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology].”

MIT, which is considered the best engineering university in the United States along with Caltech [California Institute of Technology].

Jung Hyun-woo was well aware of MIT’s reputation.

‘I remember Sang-woo excitedly saying that there was an MIT executive at N Corporation.’

Both Harvard and MIT were very close to Boston, so it was as if they were in Boston.

“That won’t be easy either?”

“But it’ll be more doable than Harvard.”

Sarah thought that MIT was more likely to recognize Jung Hyun-woo’s achievements.

‘MIT is a practical school.’

In fact, American universities favored genius boys who had made groundbreaking achievements over school grades.

Austin Russell, who was accepted to Stanford in the distant future, was a prime example. He was a genius boy who founded Luminar at the age of 17.

Of course, Russell only attended for three months before dropping out of Stanford to run Luminar.

She saw Jung Hyun-woo as the same case as Russell.

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