Chapter 204: Necessary, But Not Now. It’s Still Too Early.
by xennovel“It’s necessary, but not this time. It’s still too early.”
“What’s too early?”
“Forming close ties with politicians. Since even my uncle was forced out of his mayoral position, we don’t know any active politicians anymore. I’ll meet with them when we need political influence, not just money.”
“Tsk, tsk, are you still thinking of yourself as a child?”
Grandfather clicked his tongue, his expression displeased.
“No matter how much you try to deny it, you’ve already shed the label of a third-generation heir. You’re a full-fledged successor in charge of Soonyang’s finances. No one who’s seen you in the news so many times will see you as a child.”
That’s not the reason at all; you’ve misunderstood….
“Even companies at the bottom of the business rankings are discreetly trying to get in touch with election campaigns. You being the only one not doing so… it’s not about trying to gain something. Shouldn’t we avoid losing out?”
Unable to explain in detail, I nodded.
“Yes, my thinking was short-sighted. I’ll try to meet with people from both campaigns.”
“Stepping into the muck has just come sooner, that’s all. Be moderately polite and get your face known.”
“Understood. But I didn’t come here to talk about this today. I came to greet you and see how you’re doing….”
“You’re greedy, aren’t you? Haha.”
“Pardon?”
“Did you think we could have a normal conversation between a grandfather and grandson? A grandson worrying about his grandfather’s health, and a grandfather fretting over whether his grandson is doing well… You should give up on things like that early on. We just worry about the company every time we meet. Haha.”
Looking at his expression, I knew he wasn’t joking.
The way to be filial to my grandfather wasn’t by asking about his well-being and health. It was by talking about work and letting him feel that he still had the vigor of a manager.
“Then shall we talk about something else?”
“Huh? What…?”
“Daewoo Motors seems to be determined. I’ve obtained information that they plan to counter our new car with their own when it’s released. It seems like we’ll have a real showdown.”
“You’ll lose.”
He stated it definitively without the slightest hesitation.
“Is that so?”
“You probably expected it to some extent, didn’t you? How can a niche sports model beat a mainstream four-seater?”
“Even so, I suddenly have the urge to come out on top. Is there no way?”
“Are you trying to keep me from getting bored?”
This old man has sharp wits….
“No, sir. Why else would I be doing this?”
“Enough. Do you think I’ve forgotten what you said? My memory might be getting worse, but I don’t forget company matters. Not just a car that sells well, but a proper car, a car you want to have the moment you see it. Wasn’t that the goal? Taking it one step at a time with a long-term view?”
Seeing him remember even what I had forgotten, I wondered if my worries about his health were unnecessary.
“We can’t win in terms of sales figures anyway. But….”
“We can’t afford to lose in terms of buzz, right?”
“That’s right. Neither Daehyun nor our Soonyang makes money from compact cars anyway.”
I wanted to correct him to HW, but I held back. Since he gifted me the company, it should remain an affiliate of Soonyang forever in his eyes.
“For Daehyun, a compact car is just to fill out their lineup. You see it as more than that, don’t you?”
“Yes. I see it as the first step in establishing Soonyang Automobile’s identity.”
“Good. Then that compact car isn’t the main player, but a supporting role… or those guys called the Red Devils or something from this year’s World Cup? Foreign press even reported on them.”
“Yes.”
“Try making it like that. The World Cup is over, but those red t-shirts are still selling.”
It aligns perfectly with my thoughts.
Even though he’s well over eighty, his sense is as sharp as a young marketer. Was I worrying for nothing?
* * *
“Is 2 billion won a burden?”
“It’s a burden, but what choice do I have? I have to meet the quota.”
“Alright. We’ve decided to hand over 15 billion won in the first round. I set your share at 2 billion won because that seems about right.”
I think I know where the roughly 2 billion won quota came from.
It’s equivalent to my 10% stake in Soonyang Group.
“But, Uncle, as I mentioned before, I don’t know how to create slush funds within the company….”
“The rich get richer, and you’re exactly like that. Haha.”
Vice-chairman Jin Dong-gi let out a dumbfounded laugh.
“You found a trillion won in Indonesia, didn’t you? 2 billion won is just 2% of that. You can’t even take that out?”
“Ah, I was told that money needs to circulate once more. It should be somewhere in South America by now.”
“Oh Se-hyun said that?”
“Yes.”
“Oh dear, the money we need to give to the other side is urgent….”
There must be no trace of my money being delivered. These illegal election funds will be exposed someday, and someone will have to take responsibility.
Surely, my two uncles will choose one of the executives to pin the blame on.
But I can’t do that.
It’s only been about two years since I took over the affiliate. There’s more dissatisfaction about having to work under a young guy than loyalty. I haven’t had enough time to build the kind of loyalty that would make someone appear at the Prosecutor’s Office on my behalf.
I still need to protect myself. I can’t afford even the slightest blemish.
“If you work on it for two or three days at Soonyang Securities, you can easily gather about 2 billion won. Would you like to try?”
Right before the market closes, you place a large number of buy orders at a few percent higher than the current price to drive up the closing price. For some reason, when the stock price goes up, retail investors jump in, and then you pocket the profit.
If you do this for just a month, you can easily make tens of billions of won, and the retail investors will bear all the losses.
Working on it for two or three days refers to this.
Seeing the unusually gleaming eyes of Vice-chairman Jin Dong-gi sent a chill down my spine.
“Ah, right. I understand what you mean. I’ll prepare it that way.”
Election funds are illegal, but the source of those funds is an even bigger problem. Like the saying goes, the rich get richer; even though he has hundreds of billions of won in personal assets, he never reaches into his own pockets. He always takes the money from the company to deliver it.
When political funds become the subject of an investigation, the prosecution subtly conceals words like politics or presidential election and focuses on embezzlement and breach of trust.
And it concludes with a suitable lackey from a major conglomerate voluntarily appearing.
Does Vice-chairman Jin Dong-gi want to see my fingernails covered in indelible grime as soon as possible?
“Once the funds are prepared, how should I deliver them?”
He wrote a phone number on a memo pad and slid it over to me.
“Just contact this friend. I’ll take care of the rest.”
As I got up from my seat, he smiled slyly.
“Do-jun.”
“Yes.”
“Welcome to this world. Or should I say, I pity you? Haha.”
Not yet. I need to postpone getting covered in muck until later.
* * *
“It needs to be completely untraceable. Absolutely no one should be able to track it back to me.”
Executive Director Woo Byung-joon, having received the memo pad with the phone number, looked back and forth between the sports bag full of ten thousand won bills and me.
“Is this all money?”
“Yes, it’s 2 billion won.”
“If the prosecution starts an investigation, they don’t track the deliverer. They track the flow of money. They’ll thoroughly investigate the company’s accounts and your personal accounts to find the 2 billion won. Any errand boy will do.”
“They won’t be able to trace this money that way. It’s money that’s gone through several shell corporations from a US account. There won’t be any trace of me.”
“Ah….”
Just like I don’t know much about this man, Executive Director Woo Byung-joon doesn’t seem to know much about me either. It seems Grandfather didn’t give him a detailed explanation.
“So, it’s personal money?”
“Yes. You shouldn’t touch company funds. It’s not an urgent matter, and it’s not a huge sum of money.”
“2 billion won isn’t a huge sum of money…? It seems you have far more money than I imagined.”
“Are you curious?”
I asked with a smile, and he also smiled faintly.
“No, sir. I’m just relieved that I won’t have to worry about getting my salary.”
Is he getting more comfortable with me, even making jokes like this?
“Don’t worry about the person. The deliveryman will think it’s money from a completely different source. And….”
Woo Byung-joon subtly gauged my reaction.
“Go ahead and speak. Is there something wrong?”
“Who delivered this money to your studio apartment?”
He’s meticulous. He even checked that.
“Someone trustworthy sent it. It’s alright.”
“Was it the trustworthy person themselves who brought it?”
“No.”
“In the future, have our people handle things like this. There’s a difference between a trustworthy person and their employee. They can open their mouths at any time.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Where does this caution come from? Is this man exceptionally cautious? Or is this level of prudence standard for the Soonyang Security employees working alongside my uncles?
I was curious, but I didn’t voice it.
Executive Director Woo called the staff to move the bag.
“I’ll contact you when it’s done.”
As Executive Director Woo Byung-joon left, the tension suddenly drained away.
He’s reliable, but somehow he’s a little uncomfortable.
I’ll have to set aside a day to get him drunk. I can’t call him my man while a wall is still standing between us.
* * *
A chilly wind had begun to blow, but the fervor in our country hadn’t cooled down yet.
This presidential election is truly heated.
The polls were neck and neck, and all sorts of issues were erupting, shaking both camps.
Exemptions from military service for children, the emergence of a dark horse riding the wave of the World Cup’s semi-final success, the still prevalent color-based arguments, and even ruling party members starting to sway their support away from their own candidate.
Even President Jo Dae-ho was shaken as the official release of the new car approached.
“The news is all about politics. I wonder if anyone will even care if we advertise our car.”
“It’s a good thing our target audience is the younger generation, who aren’t interested in politics.”
“Politics is a problem, but Daehyun is also a problem. I’m hearing they’re determined to crush us completely.”
“I heard they’re releasing a compact car too?”
“Yes. It’s called
“Three million?”
That means the release price will be in the late 6 million won range. What do they gain from selling it at that price when there’s barely any profit margin for a compact car? They’re launching it with the intention of taking a loss.
President Jo Dae-ho’s claim that they’re trying to crush us isn’t an exaggeration.
I was briefly shaken, but I regained my composure.
“President, let’s abandon the competitive mindset.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“This car wasn’t made to sell a lot, and it wasn’t developed to make money, was it? Let’s just focus on our initial goal of selling 7,000 units by next year.”
“The people on the ground are complaining that even that will be difficult to achieve. If a competitor’s model undercuts us like that, we’re bound to lose ground. And….”
Judging by his hardened expression, there’s another weakness.
“I hear the performance isn’t what we expected.”
“To the point where it’s a problem?”
“No. It’s just not meeting consumer expectations.”
President Jo sighed.
“It looks like it’ll zoom around with insane power, but it’s still a compact car, isn’t it? Consumers keep forgetting about the ‘sports look’.”
“That also means the design is excellent.”
“Yes. Performance that doesn’t live up to the design. That might be forgivable in our country, but it’s going to be a problem overseas. There are many strong competitors out there.”
Ultimately, it’s a problem of technological prowess.
It’s impossible for a company with a short history to stand shoulder to shoulder with established giants. But foreign consumers, with a wider range of choices, won’t consider our short history.
Looking at President Jo Dae-ho’s worried expression, I made a decision. If our history is short, couldn’t we bridge the gap by getting some special tutoring?
“President, shall we just buy a company?”
“Huh? Buy a company?”
“A European or Japanese company. We’ll buy a company that makes supercars and make their technology our own.”
“Is a supercar manufacturer a toy company? You can just buy it if you feel like it?”
President Jo, who was about to wave his hand dismissively, looked at my face intently, his mouth hanging open.
“You’re not joking! You’re really going to buy one?”