Chapter 162: Who Is This Person?

“Chairman Seo has entered the Blue House?”

For several days, I met with the heads of media outlets with connections, instructing them not to publish any articles, even if Ilseong gave the order.

I convinced the heads of these outlets by promising to push more significant advertisements if Ilseong threatened them with ads.

But while I was dealing with the media, I received reports that Chairman Seo Yong-geon had entered the Blue House.

“He probably won’t launch a direct attack…”

Having been badly burned before, Kim Hak-gwon wouldn’t act rashly.

In the race to escape the IMF regime as quickly as possible, Kim Hak-gwon’s government was all in.

At this rate, it seemed likely we could shake off IMF interference by next year.

At a time like this, everyone knew what would happen if I became a target. There was no way Kim Hak-gwon would oppose me.

“For now, let’s wait and see how things unfold.”

But it was still necessary to keep an eye on things.

I had given instructions to Manager Ma.

A few days passed without any significant incidents.

I received a call from Hyeon-woo in the Prosecutor’s Office.

“There’s going to be a massive investigation into Geukseong Group soon. The target is Chairman Lee Sang-geun.”

An unexpected name came up from Hyeon-woo’s lips.

Chairman Seo Yong-geon’s actions surprised me.

“Manager, contact this chairman and let him know that the prosecution and police may be raiding soon. He needs to prepare to hide anything suspicious.”

Is he strategizing to hit the periphery instead of directly attacking me?

But no matter how much they investigate, linking Geukseong Group to me would be tough.

Then why exactly are they so keen on investigating Geukseong Group?

I was bewildered but couldn’t find answers for now.

“And please contact Yun & Jang to assemble a legal team.”

“Yes, Boss. I’ll reach out immediately.”

Not long after Manager Ma left, I heard about a search warrant being issued for Geukseong Group.

The heads of Geukseong Construction and Geukseong Cement were summoned to the prosecutors’ office.

Articles related to this were pouring out from Asung Ilbo.

Asung Ilbo was a newspaper founded by Ilseong, but due to government policy, it had handed over management rights to his in-laws.

Before the investigation had even officially begun, they had articles ready to go as if it had been planned ahead.

[Geukseong Group, an Organized Crime Syndicate in Disguise]

[The True Nature of Cheon Tae-san, the Usury King in ng-dong]

Asung Ilbo… No, Ilseong Group was creating an isssue by tying Geukseong Group and my grandfather together.

I slammed the newspaper down forcefully.

“Hah.”

These people are crossing the line hard.

“Manager, pull all ads related to Jungwoo Group from Asung Ilbo and also contact Hyeonhwa Group to remove their ads”

“Understood.”

Manager Ma exited my study.

I took a deep breath to calm my anger.

The more furious I got, the cooler my head had to be.

Even if the situation for my grandfather was dire, this was clearly a declaration of war against me.

In Myeong-dong, one couldn’t avoid engaging in illegal activities.

No, I’d say there were many more illegal activities than legal ones.

There were already news articles detailing what my grandfather had done since he entered the loan shark market.

Of course, I never thought Seo Yong-geon would play fair.

‘This is getting interesting.’

I stood up from my chair and headed outside.

“Let’s go to the Myeong-dong office and have Chairman Lee come in.”

“Yes.”

We arrived at the Myeong-dong office.

I sat on the sofa and waited for Lee Sang-geun to arrive.

“Boss, Chairman Lee has arrived.”

“Let him in.”

Moments later, Lee Sang-geun walked in with a stern expression.

“Chairman Lee, it’s been a while.”

“Yes, it’s been a while since we last met.”

“Please sit down. I apologize for summoning you at such a hectic time.”

Instead of chatting idly, I got straight to the point once we were seated.

“How did the search go?”

“They took most of the computer data, accounting ledgers, and more. I didn’t expect it to be this severe.”

“There must have been an order from the Blue House. Were there any incriminating materials?”

“I’ve kept things tidy, but if the prosecution is determined, they can dig deep.”

Lee Sang-geun added with a worried expression.

“For construction alone, there are many instances of bribery towards public officials, and traces of huge amounts of money given to reconstruction association leaders remain. We also sent threats to them.”

“Do you think they’ll come after you?”

Of course, without Lee Sang-geun spilling anything, they wouldn’t find a link to me.

While I was the majority shareholder of Geukseong Group, it would be difficult to tie me to it purely based on that.

Thus, Ilseong aimed to link my grandfather to create a frame that portrayed Geukseong Group as a crime organization built on my grandfather’s funds.

“If we set our minds to it, there’s nothing we can’t do. Prosecuting attorneys don’t treat the likes of us as humans. They’ll find a way to link us, even if it means dredging up old cases.”

Seeing Lee Sang-geun shake his head made me uneasy.

“This time, it’ll be hard for me to personally help you. I’ll leave the defense to Yun & Jang, but any pressure from me would show my weakness. I can do it if I must…”

“No, I’ll figure something out no matter what.”

Lee Sang-geun said calmly, but the situation was not good.

He must know it’s dangerous to reveal connections personally.

“Yun & Jang will buy us time. When the moment comes, they’ll clean it up for us, so hang in there a little longer.”

“Understood. Is there anything else you need me to do?”

I handed Lee Sang-geun the Asung Ilbo I had been reading just moments before.

Lee Sang-geun briefly looked at the newspaper, then turned to me again.

“Handle that journalist who wrote this, please.”

There were too many eyes on me to send Manager Ma to handle this.

But now that they had published an article attacking Geukseong Group, I had enough justification to retaliate.

“Dealing with a journalist directly is…”

“Would that be difficult?”

Lee Sang-geun shook his head upon meeting my gaze.

“Not at all. I’ll take care of it myself.”

“You may leave now.”

Lee Sang-geun stood, bowing politely before exiting.

Just as I was starting to gather my thoughts, Eva walked in as if she were replacing Lee Sang-geun.

“Eva, welcome back.”

Having worked, Eva, with her long hair twisted up and high heels on, took a seat with a puzzled expression.

“Boss, why does your face look so grim?”

“I have a bit of a headache.”

Eva nodded knowingly.

“Then I have some good news to share. I’ve cleared about half of it. I’m being careful not to flood the market, as it may affect the stock prices. So I’m only releasing enough to maintain equilibrium.”

“What’s the expected return?”

The fluctuations in the KOSDAQ index were significantly higher than prior times.

Originally, it was expected to peak at the KOSDAQ index of 2834 around March next year, but it has already surpassed 3000.

“Saerom Tech has almost reached 16,000%, and most other stocks are above 1000%. Have I really witnessed a feverish stock market like this again?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Eva’s exclamation.

“I think we won’t have another surge like this. Everyone’s caught up in a frenzy, trapped by this illusion called the Internet. Regardless of how investing is about looking to the future, it’s become more of a speculative game than anything else now.”

“I’m scared it might all crash at once.”

“The madness numbs reason.”

Stocks related to IT, especially NASDAQ, have been skyrocketing.

Even our country, which has some limits on gains and losses, is going insane like this. What about the U.S. stock market, where there are no limits on fluctuations? It’s truly a spectacle.

“Can I leave it to the employees?”

“Yeah, unless a sudden drop occurs, the returns shouldn’t differ much.”

“You’re still buying Ilseong Group stocks, right?””

Eva shook her head.

“We’re out of supplies. It seems like Chairman Seo is purchasing stocks on his side. There’s no availability anymore.”

“Try to buy as much as possible, even if it’s tough.”

“Okay, I will.”

“We said we would target Ilseong Materials, right?”

Eva nodded and pulled out documents from the envelope she had brought.

“There are the most stocks available in the market. The biggest shareholder is Ilseong Life, holding 20% as the primary shareholder. A few other subsidiaries also hold stakes, but combined they only account for about 5%. As for the share owned by Chairman Seo, it’s only 1%.”

“Who’s the second-largest shareholder?”

“That would be JC Foods, with 12%.”

JC Group had broken away from Ilseong.

“Do you think we can persuade them?”

“Is persuasion even necessary? JC Foods could easily take over management if they wanted to. Their share structure is weak. They’re in the middle of revamping their governance structure, so it’ll take some time.”

“Really?”

Eva rummaged through the documents and handed me a page.

“Here’s the share structure for JC Foods. Do you see potential targets?”

“The shares held by JC Holdings are less than I expected?”

“Yeah, including related parties, it’s only about 30%. While friendly shares exceed 20%, that’s negotiable.”

The paper Eva handed me detailed the shareholder structure.

‘Our shares add up to about 12.3%, and foreign investment firms hold about 20%. If we could acquire all of them, that would be significant!’

While studying the share structure, I noticed a particularly memorable name.

“Who is this person? Jang Dae-ho?”

“Um… I couldn’t find out much. It seems like you’ll need to check that personally. I tried searching but found nothing.”

I vaguely recall seeing that name somewhere.

I furrowed my brows, then stood up to find the file concerning Ilseong Electronics’ share structure.

Indeed, the name Jang Dae-ho was also noted here.

“Eva, do you have the equity charts of the Ilseong conglomerates, including Ilseong?”

“Huh? Yeah, it’s at the office.”

“I’ll send someone over, so call and prepare it to be fetched right away.”

While Eva called the company, I summoned Manager Ma.

“Yes, Boss.”

“Manager, please send someone to pick up some documents from Eva’s company.”

Eva also seemed to have finished her call and hung up her phone.

Things were flowing interestingly.

“Jang Dae-ho, I was uncertain why that name sounded familiar, but he holds 3% of Ilseong Electronics as well.”

Eva’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Really? How could someone like that go unnoticed?”

“I’m not sure. For now, let’s check the shares of other companies within the Ilseong conglomerate. This person could be a crucial variable.”

I spent about an hour discussing potential scenarios with Eva.

At that moment, Manager Ma entered.

“Boss, I’ve brought it.”

“Thanks for your hard work.”

I opened the briefcase handed to Manager Ma and pulled out a thick stack of documents.

“Let’s check these.”

Together, we searched for the name Jang Dae-ho.

As time passed and all checks were complete, Eva gasped and looked up.

“Boss, this guy is no joke!”

“I know.”

He held stakes not only in Ilseong Group subsidiaries but allso in JC Group, along with ownership in the World Group and Solhan Group. All this from one person named Jang Dae-ho.

It was shocking to see one individual hold between 1% to over 5% in every subsidiary related to the Ilseong conglomerate.

I was taken aback.

“Boss, what could the connection be?”

“He must be related to Seo Il-seong, the founder. Otherwise, the shares in unlisted subsidiaries wouldn’t make sense. There’s no record of him owning any of the recently acquired companies, which means he must have held onto them for a long time.”

Seo Il-seong, the founder of Ilseong Group, designated Chairmaan Seo Yong-geon as his successor before he passed, distributing shares to his other children and making them independent.

Initially, the share relationships were complicated and intertwined, but after Seo Il-seong’s death, most of the intricate share connections were untangled.

However, some companies maintaining complex shareholding structures were still holding on tightly.

For instance, Seo Mang-geon’s JC Group still he a considerable amount of shares in subsidiaries related to Ilseong.

But Jang Dae-ho, remarkably, remained unknown.

“First, let’s prioritize finding this person. Eva, you keep collecting Ilseong Group stocks while discreeetly acquiring JC Foods stocks. Use various channels to prevent any rumors from surfacing.”

“Okay.”

“If you need money, just say the word. Feel free to exhaust every penny in the Virgin Islands if necessary. This time, we have to win, no matter what.”

Eva winked as if to say not to worry.

“With the money earned from the KOSDAQ, I should have enough ammo. If it falls short, I’ll let you know.”

“This is a situation where losses are acceptable. Even if I lose all the money spent on this venture, all that matters is winning. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I understand, Boss.”

“I’ll look into Jang Dae-ho myself.”

With a nod, Eva stood up and added, “I’ll be on my way now. By the way, Boss, what are your plans for year-end?”

“Nothing much different. I’m considering heading down to Busan.”

Eva pouted, seemingly disappointed, but I chose to ignore it.

Instead, I turned to Manager Ma standing nearby.

“Manager Ma, gather everything you can find about Jang Dae-ho, including his personal information, current address, and his history.”

“Understood.”

“Please find out as quickly as possible. There won’t be a separate report, right?”

“No, none at all.”

I nodded and stood up.

“Let’s get moving now.”