Chapter 224: What Do You Think?

“What do you think?”

“About what?”

“Chairman Joo Kwang-shik.”

“Huh? Chairman Joo? What about him?”

“Uncle!”

I finally yelled at Oh Se-hyun, who kept pretending not to hear me.

“Come on, you should’ve caught on by now. Why are you acting so slow-witted?”

Such a sudden disengagement? How could he do this?

Just a month ago, no, even two weeks ago, he was glued to three or four monitors, checking the financial markets daily, and meticulously reviewing dozens of reports from HW Group.

But after sending out that company-wide email, he became more listless than a discharged soldier on his last leave.

The email announced a long-term leave of absence under the ridiculous pretense of mental and physical exhaustion, stipulating that executives of each department would be responsible for investments, but daily reports should be sent to me.

Acting CEO—that was the tag attached to me.

“Just be grateful I’m using a loophole to avoid a formal retirement for your sake. If you keep bothering me, I’ll call a board meeting to vote on a new CEO.”

“Wouldn’t it be good to meet Chairman Joo Kwang-shik as your last meeting before leaving your current role?”

“No way. What good is networking now? I’ll be making connections with the locals at my resort. You handle it.”

I couldn’t push him any further.

At this point, it was as good as retirement.

“Then just give me a hint. Why does Chairman Joo Kwang-shik want to meet the CEO of Miracle?”

“Isn’t it because he wants to discuss the acquisition of Daehyun Card?”

“What if it’s not that?”

“Then isn’t he just trying to use Miracle?”

“What do you think he wants to use us for?”

“How would I know?”

This was no different from a senior soldier teasing a fresh recruit.

“Putting aside everything else, the fact that he insists on meeting me even though we have no intention of selling suggests he needs a certain image.”

“An image? Ah! An image of him having an important discussion with you, Uncle?”

“Maybe?”

The problem was why he needed such an image, and I had no idea. While I was racking my brain, Oh Se-hyun said with a smile,

“Alright, I’m feeling generous. Put a call through to Chairman Joo Kwang-shik.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hurry before I change my mind.”

I was a little uneasy not knowing what he was going to say, but I figured someone with his experience wouldn’t make a mistake.

“Just a moment.”

I took out my phone and quickly connected the call.

“Chairman, this is Jin Do-jun.”

After a brief greeting, I handed the phone over.

“I apologize for having to greet you over the phone, Chairman.”

Oh Se-hyun started the call with a genial tone. He exchanged a few pleasantries before getting to the point.

“Chairman, if you have anything to discuss regarding the acquisition of Daehyun Card, you can talk to Chief of Staff Jin Do-jun. I will entrust the decision to Chief Jin and abide by his conclusion. So, please finalize this matter with Chief of Staff Jin Do-jun. Well then….”

Oh Se-hyun abruptly ended the call and tossed the phone back to me.

“There, all done? Now you handle it.”

He turned his gaze back to the monitor.

“Don’t bother me anymore and get out. I have a lot of emails to send.”

* * *

“Chief of Staff, no matter how I look at it, it’s an exaggeration. The urgent funds Daehyun Card needs don’t even reach 200 billion won. And yet, a sale…?”

Vice President Jang Do-hyung placed a rather thick file folder on the desk.

Judging by the black smudges from fingerprints, he must have analyzed it thoroughly.

“What about the money borrowed from affiliates?”

“I haven’t been able to ascertain the exact amount. However, those affiliates are also companies under Chairman Joo Kwang-shik. There’s no urgent reason for repayment either.”

Vice President Jang Do-hyung stated his opinion with a confident voice.

“As I mentioned in the last report, the government is also viewing it favorably. In other words, there’s no external pressure.”

Jang Do-hyung cautiously spoke, subtly observing my reaction.

“On the surface, it doesn’t seem like there are any significant problems, but if they’re so eager to sell, it either means there’s an internal ticking time bomb, or they have ulterior motives. I hope we don’t get caught up in it.”

There’s no reason for me to go on a layoff frenzy because of Chairman Joo’s hidden agenda. It’s time to let go of this desire and look at the company from a different perspective.

“Vice President.”

“Yes?”

“Formulate a strategy to target Daehyun Card.”

“Pardon?”

“We need to take away Daehyun Card’s main customer base. We need a blatant strategy that Daehyun can’t ignore.”

“Ah…!”

“I want to take a peek at their insides. If there aren’t any major issues, they’ll hold out for a long time, but if they’re riddled with problems, their true colors will surface quickly. We’ll decide on the acquisition then.”

“We can either launch a new card with services similar to Daehyun Card or add those services to our existing cards and run some advertisements.”

Vice President Jang Do-hyung also had the spirit of a fighter.

He immediately got fired up at the suggestion of a fight.

“Yes. But before the advertisements, we should leak some rumors, right? So that Chairman Joo Kwang-shik hears about the details of Soonyang Card’s new services first.”

“Of course. I’ll start by having meetings with the financial sector about this. That information will reach Daehyun’s ears soon enough.”

I waited, fully prepared for the storm that was about to rage. While others were swept away by the storm, I was the only one succeeding, and I fell into arrogance, beyond simple self-confidence.

I need to break free from the illusion that everything around me is my loot. There’s no need to take things that aren’t necessary, and I mustn’t lose the clear-headedness to distinguish the genuine from the fake in my pursuit of external expansion.

However, if someone tries to use me, I must make sure they never even think of it again.

* * *

“Oh my, my dear nephew. Are you upset with me? Why are you avoiding me so coldly?”

“It’s nothing like that. I’ve been so busy lately with things to handle. I apologize.”

“No, no. There’s no need to apologize. The one who needs something has to dig the well. I was just trying to get your attention. Haha.”

Chairman Joo Kwang-shik laughed heartily, but couldn’t hide the wavering in his eyes.

“By the way, I heard some rumors. Representative Oh Se-hyun is taking a break?”

“Yes. It’s like a sabbatical. He said he ran himself too hard and depleted his energy. He’s going to rest and recharge for about a year.”

“He’s living the good life. Taking a year off in these difficult times? Impressive.”

Speaking of living the good life, who is better off than you, born into a chaebol family? Just because you were born as the founder’s son, you get the titles of CEO and chairman as you get older without any real effort.

On the other hand, people like Oh Se-hyun earn those titles by grinding their bones and carving out their flesh. For those words ‘living the good life’ to come from your mouth is an insult to such people.

I wanted to snap back like that, but I kept it to myself.

“The doctor’s diagnosis was absolute. He warned that going on like this would ruin his health.”

“Come on, tsk tsk. How can you believe the doctors one hundred percent? Their job is to say you’re sick. Who would go to a doctor if they said you were fine?”

“Either way, he’s made his decision, so he won’t go back on it.”

“Then is our nephew filling his spot?”

“Not completely. Regarding investments, I’ll filter out what I can, and anything difficult to decide will need Representative Oh’s confirmation.”

“I see. But I heard the decision on the acquisition of the card company has also been entrusted to you… That’s not an easy decision, is it? Don’t you think?”

He clearly still wanted to meet Representative Oh Se-hyun. I would have to shatter that hope.

“You’re quite oblivious sometimes, Uncle.”

“What? Me?”

“Yes. Would he entrust such a major matter to me? That was just a polite way of saying no.”

Chairman Joo Kwang-shik bit his lip.

“A refusal… Then the rumors going around are true.”

“What rumors are you talking about?”

“The rumor that Soonyang Card is preparing for an all-out war with us. You don’t know about it?”

“I wouldn’t know about such significant matters.”

Joo Kwang-shik glared at my face for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Hahaha, this… I have no chance against your combined efforts. Amazing. Haha.”

Pretending not to know anything, I stared blankly at his face, and he reverted to his usual sly demeanor.

“Why are you doing this? It seems like you’re trying to take down Daehyun Card since it’s wobbly… If you come at me like that, I’ll be scared. Let’s stop here. We don’t need to be pointing knives at each other, do we?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about….”

As I feigned ignorance again, the smile vanished from his voice.

“Stop it. You two are practically one entity when it comes to running the company, so don’t pretend you don’t know. Let’s stop with the probing.”

As his voice lost its amusement, mine also became dry.

“You’re the one showing weakness, Uncle. This isn’t about individuals, it’s about companies. A weakened competitor is trying to get back on its feet, are we supposed to just watch?”

As I revealed my true intentions, Chairman Joo’s eyes narrowed.

“Isn’t the nature of this business to take down even healthy companies if they’re tempting enough? How much more so when a fallen company is trying to rise again? If we don’t trip it up, is it even a company? It’s a rehabilitation center.”

“What are you saying? We’re offering to give it to you. Just pay a reasonable price and take it. Why trip up a company that has already surrendered?”

Good. That’s the response I wanted.

“Excellent. Then I’ll send a truckload each of Miracle’s audit team and accounting team. Show us the company’s true colors. Only then can we decide whether to acquire it, and if so, for how much. If you accept this offer, the all-out war will be off.”

As expected, he couldn’t answer. Of course, showing all the accounting ledgers isn’t easy, but if the company is in such dire straits that it needs to be sold, there’s nothing that can’t be shown.

He clearly had other intentions.

“It sounds like you’re planning to understand our company’s situation inside and out and then exploit our weaknesses.”

“Asking us to buy without properly showing us the merchandise sounds like you don’t want to sell.”

There was no need to argue further.

There was no need to figure out what Chairman Joo’s ulterior motive was.

I just needed to attack until he screamed and threw up his hands. I needed to put him in real danger, not just pretend, and ensure he couldn’t recover.

“Well, I’ve conveyed Representative Oh’s opinion, so I’ll be going now.”

“Wait, hold on. Let me finish what I was saying. Actually….”

“Uncle… no, Chairman Joo.”

I brushed off his hand that reached out desperately.

“I don’t know what your circumstances are, but it’s too late. I don’t even want to know. Soonyang Card is sharpening its knives and preparing its bullets. Stopping now would demoralize our fighting force. I can’t do that.”

Chairman Joo Kwang-shik was sweating on his forehead as he tried to grab me, but I steeled my heart.

“Did you mistake Miracle, and me, for tools in your pocket? Did you think you could just take us out, use us as you please, and then put us back?”

“No, that’s a misunderstanding. I just need a little help….”

“Why would I? Who would help whom? Nephew, uncle… these should just be titles. Our true nature is to eat or be eaten.”

A predator with prey in sight.

I showed him that true nature and turned away.