The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 43

43. Becoming a Villain in a Chaebol Family – Victoria Corporation 01 –

– Victoria Corporation –

After all the interviews were over, Sarah let out a long sigh.

“Hah… That wasn’t easy.”

Jung Hyun-woo had only approved two people: Lee and John River.

The rest, whether by choice or not, had no connection to them.

“It’s fortunate we got even two people.”

Sarah narrowed her brows slightly.

“Can we proceed with the JPMorgan project with just these two?”

She thought it was impossible with this amount of manpower.

‘I’ve heard that making games and building systems are completely different things. We’ll need more engineers to push hard with JPMorgan.’

Jung Hyun-woo was even more pessimistic than Sarah.

“Sarah, it might not be two people.”

“You don’t mean Charlie…”

“That’s right. We have to consider that John’s skills might be fake.”

If John River was also eliminated, the only remaining person would be Lee-Nuzz Korhonen.

“Then today’s interview was a failure.”

Unlike her, Jung Hyun-woo didn’t waver.

“It’s okay.”

Sarah couldn’t help but tilt her head at the word ‘okay.’

“Okay?”

“I found a clue on how to proceed in the future.”

Sarah couldn’t understand at all.

‘A clue on how to proceed in the future? You don’t think it was wrong to hold the interview in this old warehouse, do you?’

She thought that wouldn’t be the answer.

“What clue?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“Hmm, are you hiding something from me?”

“Just wait a little. I need to meet John and hear his story.”

That evening.

Jung Hyun-woo visited Lee-Nuzz Korhonen as planned. He took the floppy disk that Jung Hyun-woo handed him and tilted his head.

“What’s this?”

“It’s work.”

“Work?”

Jung Hyun-woo put it in the drive.

“Have you ever played video games?”

Lee nodded his head vigorously and replied.

“Of course.”

“This is Zero Space 3, which I recently developed.”

Lee asked, greatly surprised.

“Is this a new version of Zero Space?”

“It’s not a version, it’s a sequel.”

John River’s words, ‘a game to make money,’ lingered in Jung Hyun-woo’s mind.

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“It’s completely different.”

Jung Hyun-woo turned his gaze to the screen.

“What Lee has to do is play Zero Space 3 and find bugs [software errors].”

“Is quality testing the first task?”

“Can you do it?”

Playing the game and finding bugs.

It wasn’t about fixing bugs, but finding them, so it wouldn’t be difficult.

“Of course. Charlie, if I find a bug, can I fix it?”

“If you report it to me first.”

Jung Hyun-woo knew that he preferred Lee to eliminate bugs rather than fix them.

‘I acknowledge Lee’s skills, but his fixing method is a bit…’

Lee didn’t like the idea of reporting first and then taking action, but it was work, so he accepted his offer.

“Okay. I’ll report to Charlie and then fix it.”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and then asked Lee.

“By the way, how is Yuka?”

He saw Lee and Yuka as a couple or a set. But Lee’s answer was completely different from his expectations.

“Yuka doesn’t need a part-time job because her family is well-off.”

“Her family is well-off?”

“Yuka is an aristocrat.”

Aristocrat.

Jung Hyun-woo’s thoughts briefly stopped at the unexpected word.

‘An aristocrat in the 1980s?’

He knew that there were aristocrats in Sweden and England. But Finland…

“Yuka’s family received a title from Sweden.”

That meant she was a Finnish person of Swedish descent. Anyway, she was a real aristocrat.

“I see.”

“That’s why she doesn’t need to work part-time like me.”

In simple terms, Yuka was born with a silver spoon, and Lee was born with a dirt spoon [idiom for being born into wealth vs. poverty].

“That’s a shame.”

“What is?”

“I thought Yuka could work with us too.”

Jung Hyun-woo was planning to entrust Zero Space 3 to Yuka and Lee.

‘If it’s just Lee, I’m uneasy, but if Yuka is with him, I can trust them to some extent.’

However, Yuka was a young lady from an aristocratic family.

“Does Charlie like Yuka?”

Jung Hyun-woo couldn’t help but pause at the sudden question.

“Like Yuka?”

“Or not?”

Yuka had pale skin and blonde hair that was brighter than Sarah’s.

In a word, her appearance was similar to an elf in mythology. But she wasn’t his type.

‘She was taller than this one.’

As a native of Northern Europe, Yuka was tall, over 175cm.

“I’m sorry to Yuka, but no.”

Lee recalled Sarah next to Jung Hyun-woo and nodded.

‘If not Yuka, then that one.’

Like a man in his early 20s, he was very interested in women’s appearances.

“That’s a relief then.”

Jung Hyun-woo tilted his head.

“Because you’re a couple with Lee?”

“With me? Are you kidding?”

“Why?”

Jung Hyun-woo thought they looked good together. But Lee shook his head from side to side.

“We live in different worlds.”

They were at the same MIT, but Lee seemed to think that his status and hers were different.

‘I thought Finland was an extremely egalitarian country, but was I wrong?’

Finland’s inheritance tax was up to 19%, which meant that the transfer of wealth was more severe than in South Korea.

Of course, that wasn’t the reason he thought their status was different.

“She’s an aristocrat.”

“She’s a Swedish aristocrat, right? There are no aristocrats in Finland, are there?”

Lee’s eyes widened like full moons at his question.

“Charlie, there are thousands of aristocrats in Finland.”

As of 1983.

In Finland, which seemed to be moving towards perfect equality, there was actually an aristocratic society.

Most of them were of Swedish descent like Yuka, and there were counts, barons, and even untitled common nobles.

“There are aristocrats?”

“Didn’t you know?”

“I had no idea. We don’t have aristocrats in our country.”

In fact, there were thousands of aristocratic societies in Finland, and their rights were legally guaranteed in 1919. And their minor privileges still remained.

It would be later that these privileges completely disappeared from the statute books.

Lee nodded as if he understood Jung Hyun-woo’s reaction.

“People from countries without aristocrats often don’t understand countries with aristocrats.”

He thought that Americans were a prime example.

‘There are prestigious families that lead the upper class, but there are no real aristocrats.’

In fact, the power held by American prestigious families was greater than that of Finnish aristocrats.

But aristocrats were aristocrats, and prestigious families were prestigious families.

***

Sunday.

Jung Hyun-woo faced Sarah before meeting John River.

“Let’s not sell this house and leave it as it is.”

The house where the two were sitting was not owned by Jung Hyun-woo but by the Daewoon Group’s US branch.

‘Using the group’s assets privately could be embezzlement or misappropriation.’

But it was a common occurrence in developing countries.

“It’s not my house.”

“Then just buy it.”

“Excuse me?”

“Charlie is rich, isn’t he?”

Jung Hyun-woo didn’t feel the word ‘rich.’

“Rich?”

“Charlie is a big rich man even in America.”

He had earned enough money to acquire a major league team, so he was naturally rich.

But Jung Hyun-woo only felt that his wealth was like cyber money.

‘Is it because I’ve never really used it?’

As Jung Hyun-woo tilted his head, Sarah let out a short sigh.

“Ha, Charlie seems to be Charlie after all.”

“Yes?”

“You only think about work.”

She thought Jung Hyun-woo was a workaholic.

‘That’s why I need to be by his side even more.’

She was the only one who could set him straight. That’s what she was thinking.

“Surely not.”

“You even spent your last vacation at CES [Consumer Electronics Show].”

Sarah had never seen Jung Hyun-woo play like other kids his age.

‘He didn’t even touch obscene magazines.’

The teens were a time of great curiosity about sex.

For American teenagers, Playboy was a more widely read book than textbooks.

But Playboy couldn’t be found anywhere on Jung Hyun-woo’s bed or desk.

“I’ll think about it when Victoria Corporation is on track.”

Sarah didn’t think Jung Hyun-woo would rest even if Victoria Corporation was on track.

“Just interview John today and rest.”

As Sarah raised her right index finger, Jung Hyun-woo shook his head.

“That’s difficult.”

“Charlie.”

“I have an assignment.”

Jung Hyun-woo was the CEO of Victoria Corporation and a student at MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology].

“Hmm.”

Sarah sighed because she couldn’t do his assignment for him.

“I’ll find a way.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Sarah nodded and said.

“The reason I came to see Charlie today is that I want to buy back the shares that were shorted next week.”

She wanted to end the short selling.

Jung Hyun-woo put his hands together.

“It will fall further, though?”

In the case of some companies, it was certain that they would go bankrupt like John River’s company.

“Even if the company that was shorted goes bankrupt, the profit will only increase by about 300% at this point.”

Jung Hyun-woo shrugged his shoulders at her answer.

“Isn’t that huge?”

“That’s if it goes bankrupt. There’s no guarantee that it will go bankrupt. And how big would the impact on society be if that company went bankrupt?”

Sarah’s words were right.

“That’s true.”

“So let’s pull out at this point.”

Jung Hyun-woo agreed with her opinion.

‘It’s time to move on to the next investment.’

He had already decided where to invest next.

“Okay. Then buy it back next week.”

“I’ll liquidate the shares that have been held for a year, in order.”

The reason she emphasized one year was because the capital gains tax varied depending on the timing of the repurchase.

‘Taxes are unavoidable, but it’s better to reduce them if possible.’

Jung Hyun-woo nodded at her words.

“I trust Sarah.”

Sarah knew that Jung Hyun-woo sincerely trusted her.

‘I appreciate the trust, but…’

She let out a long sigh without realizing it.

“Hoo…”

Jung Hyun-woo was slightly surprised and raised his eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?”

“It still doesn’t feel real.”

“Doesn’t feel real?”

Sarah nodded and replied.

“Even if we sell it now, the return on investment is a whopping 730%.”

The short selling amount of Victoria Corporation was about 5 million dollars.

At a return of 730%, Victoria Corporation’s profit was 36.5 million dollars.

Adding the principal and existing assets, Victoria Corporation’s assets increased to 43 million dollars.

With this amount, it was possible to acquire an unpopular major league team as well as a decent company.

However, Sarah, like Jung Hyun-woo, didn’t feel like she was rich.

‘Is it because I can’t see it with my eyes?’

Just as she was about to sigh again.

Jung Hyun-woo lightly tapped the back of her hand and said.

“Sarah, it will get better if we put up the company sign.”

Currently, Victoria Corporation was a company that only existed on paper.

Of course, there was an address. But that address was just a borrowed address of a small Soho office that wasn’t even half a pyeong [a Korean unit of area, approximately 3.3 square meters] for the establishment of the company.

Sarah raised her head at his words.

“You mean it only becomes real when you can see it?”

Jung Hyun-woo nodded and added.

“A lottery ticket is just a lottery ticket until you receive the winnings.”

Even a winning lottery ticket is just a lottery ticket until you receive the winnings.

It was a different word, but Sarah regained some vitality at that word.

She got up from her seat and said.

“Charlie, the interior work will be finished in two weeks. Please bear with it until then, even if it’s uncomfortable.”

“What’s uncomfortable about it?”

Jung Hyun-woo completed the Zero Space series in this house.

“I’m talking about employing other people.”

Her words were referring to John River and Lee-Nuzz Korhonen, not Jung Hyun-woo.

Jung Hyun-woo scratched his head.

“Increasing the number of employees would be like that.”

“I’ll set up plenty of desks.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Victoria Corporation is my company too.”

Just as Sarah turned around to leave, Jung Hyun-woo raised his right hand.

“Sarah?”

“Why?”

“How much should I offer for this house?”

Jung Hyun-woo sincerely wanted to buy this house.

───────────

───────────