We Do Business In Full Auto [EN]: Chapter 131

131

Spy (1)

The die is cast [a point of no return].

The Dummy, disguised as an android, was originally created for sale.

Of course, when I first thought about making it, it was for business purposes, not sales. Now, it could be said that I was pursuing both.

When the Dummy was first produced, it was sold to each country for a whopping $200 million. The condition was that they could buy three units for $200 million and research them as they pleased.

About a month and a half later, the United States moved first.

The United States, with its enormous talent pool, decided that it could not decipher the android technology through science and pre-ordered as many as 10,000 units.

The production period takes about 10 days. Then it is sent directly to the United States.

The money received from this was a whopping 60 trillion won [approximately $45 billion USD].

I earned more money this time than I had struggled to earn so far.

I even wondered if I deserved to receive this much money.

As the United States moved, so did Korea.

“Nice to meet you, Chairman Lee.”

Lee Seul-gi was startled and greeted him.

“Hello, Minister! I’m Lee Seul-gi, head of the Restructuring Headquarters.”

“Hahaha! I’ve heard that a beautiful woman is the second-in-command of the Soo Group.”

It was Minister of National Defense, Oh Dal-seong.

Why the Ministry of National Defense of all places?

As I was thinking about that, the Minister approached.

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Ah, yes! It’s an honor to meet you, Minister.”

For the Minister of a country to be interested in this.

Well, Katherine, the director of the US intelligence agency, is not in a low position either.

“Chairman Lee, can I have a word with you for a moment?”

“Of course.”

The Minister of National Defense was not appointed by just anyone.

The Minister, with the aura of a seasoned leader, had naturally gone through the ranks of a four-star general. And this time, he was appointed as Minister.

I offered the Minister the seat of honor in the reception room.

In a way, the Minister’s visit was unexpected, as I had only just started the business.

“I never imagined that the Minister would come.”

“It was the order of His Excellency [the President].”

“The President?”

“That’s right. What else could I do when he was displeased? The order was to secure it at all costs.”

“Is it for military use?”

“Hoo. As Chairman Lee knows, isn’t Korea a divided country? If we deploy them to the front lines, it will reduce the burden on our soldiers and ensure security. In addition, it will reduce casualties.”

“Hmm. I agree with that.”

“We are planning to deploy an android army to the front lines.”

“Well, go ahead.”

Since I was selling them anyway, I knew that they would be used for military purposes. The United States did, and countries all over the world would be making such plans.

In particular, Korea was a divided country, and the Minister’s statement that he would deploy androids to the front lines to reduce casualties seemed reasonable.

I was not in a position to refuse if they asked me to sell them.

“Minister, we have agreed to produce 10,000 units for the United States.”

“I heard.”

“Then you must have heard the price too?”

“Hmm. Can’t you do something about it?”

As expected.

He came to negotiate the price, even if it was just a little.

It seemed that the Minister of a country had judged that cutting even a few trillion won would benefit the country.

I didn’t intend to receive all the money in Korea either.

“I can’t cut it by much.”

“Then…?”

“I’ll take off 10%.”

“10%!”

“Are you satisfied with this much?”

“Hahaha! Thank you!”

The Minister grabbed my hand.

I had agreed to cut 10%, but I felt a little guilty. The androids I was selling now had a considerable markup.

“Then let’s draw up a contract. Are you buying 10,000 units?”

“We have decided to deploy them this time, even if it means stretching ourselves a little. I hope we can receive them as soon as possible.”

“It will take 20 days.”

“Oh, that’s fast.”

It takes 10 days to produce 10,000 units.

Since the United States had placed a prior order, Korea’s supply had to be taken out after that.

“The deposit is 10%.”

“Don’t worry about that. It will be deposited immediately.”

“Thank you.”

“Hahaha! Thanks to you, the national treasury will be filled. It is possible to predict that foreign exchange reserves will be enormous.”

“I’m glad it’s helping the economy.”

I didn’t need dollars right now anyway.

Then, I would receive dollars from abroad and bring them into Korea, and the won would definitely continue to strengthen.

‘Should I invest overseas?’

However, if the value of the won rises too much, the government will likely intervene, and exports will be disadvantaged. It would be advantageous for imports, though.

I decided to think about that problem later.

After seeing off the Minister, I returned to the chairman’s office.

Lee Seul-gi and Han Yu-ram rushed in.

“Congratulations!”

“You’ve made a really huge deal!”

Their eyes were shining.

Since money had started to circulate, it was only natural to expand the scale of the business.

“You’ve already earned about 110 trillion won?”

“About 100 trillion won after taxes?”

“Wow! How much money is that? I can’t even imagine it.”

The android business is successful.

It was such a hit that I didn’t know how much money would come in.

Of course, over time, this kind of gouging would disappear. Countries would competitively introduce androids, and additional orders could come in depending on their national power.

In particular, looking at the United States, which invests a thousand trillion won in defense spending, I couldn’t even guess how many tens of thousands of units they would order.

Compared to the money I was earning, the scale of the business now felt almost insignificant.

However, that didn’t mean I could get involved in just any business.

Han Yu-ram made a suggestion.

“Chairman, how about acquiring the number one delivery company while we’re at it?”

“The number one delivery company?”

“Yes! You can acquire it with about 1 trillion won.”

“Does Daesung Transportation have any intention of selling?”

“Daesung Group has recently been focusing its investment on the energy business. In particular, they are investing in the eco-friendly energy business. Accordingly, they are expressing their willingness to sell.”

“That would be a big deal.”

“Yes!”

“And Chairman!”

This time it was Lee Seul-gi.

Her expression was calm.

She spoke calmly without getting excited.

“How about acquiring a construction company at this opportunity?”

“A construction company?”

“It can be linked to trading companies, and I thought we would need a construction company to expand our business in the future.”

She was right.

I couldn’t even predict how much the company would expand in the future.

Instead of expanding recklessly, we would expand mainly in businesses that are linked to each other. And since there would be additional companies to be built, acquiring a construction company was not a bad choice.

Above all, since we were trading and distributing, we would be able to bring in raw materials at a lower price.

“What are the candidate companies?”

“S Group is securing funds to jump into the new energy competition.”

“Huh! S Group?”

It was a group that formed a duopoly with H Group in Korea [referring to a situation where two companies dominate a market].

S Construction was a company that exerted its power in the world and led numerous constructions. Its technology is also highly regarded.

As expected, its competitor is H Construction.

S Construction was not at all insolvent. What is the reason for selling it?

“Really because of the new energy competition?”

“Recently, S Construction has been facing some challenges. This is because the energy market is becoming increasingly competitive. Instead, they say they will invest in future industries.”

“They want a big win too. But if it’s S Construction, it could cost a lot of money?”

“For management rights, it’s about 1 trillion won. If you buy as many shares as possible here, you can secure more than 50% of the shares for about 1.5 trillion won.”

“If I secure the bonds by issuing BW shares [Bond with Warrants, a type of bond that gives the holder the right to purchase shares in the issuing company at a fixed price]…”

“You can build a solid system.”

Most of the large corporations have been operating somewhat poorly due to excessive diversification.

In particular, there were many cases where the structure of shares was linked to a circular cross-shareholding structure and only the management rights were barely maintained.

I didn’t want to run a company with that kind of structure.

I operate with as many shares as possible. As long as I have the Undead, I was confident that I would not fail in management.

If the mutant vampires are produced and immediately trained and placed in key positions, there is no need to worry about betrayal, and it becomes possible to delegate an enormous amount of work.

If you extract only the key points and submit them for approval, you will approve them while listening to the explanation.

This is possible because the vampire is structured in such a way that it cannot betray me.

After finishing my thoughts, I gave the order.

“Then let’s acquire Daesung Transportation and S Construction through a major deal.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll do my best!”

It seems that they are excited only after my instructions are given.

Now is the time for the company to expand.

An enormous amount of money was circulating, and now that the aftermath of Brexit [British exit from the European Union] has not completely subsided, we need to sweep up the struggling mid-sized companies.

It was approaching the end of the day.

Mutant vampire Luna was assisting me with my work by my side.

If it weren’t for Luna, I wouldn’t have been able to check all these documents one by one.

First of all, to acquire a company, you need to investigate its feasibility.

We investigate how much synergy it will create when linked to the businesses I have, and whether the company can be revived sufficiently if we invest funds.

After that, we need to conduct due diligence [a comprehensive appraisal of a business undertaken by a prospective buyer], and several experts review the accounting.

If it is found that there are no problems, the working-level staff negotiates to adjust the approximate price, and finally the CEOs negotiate.

Of course, in some cases, M&A [Mergers and Acquisitions] is concluded at the working-level staff level.

Now is the basic stage.

Even though it was basic, I had to review the documents sent from there, so I had a lot of work to do.

Even if M&A looks simple, I couldn’t acquire an insolvent company.

There is no reason to gamble like that anymore.

“Master, this is the last document.”

“Ah, okay.”

I thought the synergy effect would be greater than I thought.

At this point, I think I can just acquire it, but it would be better to acquire it after the working-level staff deeply understands it.

I was slowly getting ready to leave work when Lee Tae-jin came to visit.

“Chairman!”

“Welcome.”

Unlike him, his voice was quite anxious.

“Our intelligence department has detected circumstances that industrial spies are moving!”

“Industrial spies. They’re probably going to Soo Science.”

“That’s right! I think we need to do something right away…”

The company values technology as its greatest asset.

If industrial spies are visible, it means that more than one or two people have been dispatched.

I thought that they were probably sent by foreign governments or the military, not by a rival company.

“Well, I expected it. Just leave them alone.”

“Yes!?”

“We can sweep them all up, so don’t worry.”