Chapter 36: A Tense Breakfast

The atmosphere at breakfast was heavy, chilled by Grandfather’s booming voice. Everyone was on edge, trying their best to appease him.

My father and mother, the ones directly involved in the situation, excused themselves as soon as the meal ended, claiming they needed to check on the theaters. My uncle, citing urgent business, was the first to leave.

To thwart Grandfather’s plans, I needed to know the specifics.

The report I’d glimpsed on his study desk kept nagging at me. It was likely the plan to swallow Ajin Automobile whole.

With everyone gathered in the living room around Chairman Jin, I could buy myself some time.

Quietly, I slipped into Grandfather’s study, grabbed the thick report from his desk, and sat on the floor, quickly scanning the pages.

The table of contents gave me an uneasy feeling, and as I flipped through the pages, I understood why.

Reading just the beginning of each chapter, I grasped the report’s overall content and closed it.

I was completely wrong.

This report wasn’t Soonyang’s strategy for absorbing Ajin Automobile.

It detailed the necessity of consolidating the automobile industry, the government’s policies regarding it, and support measures. In short, it laid out the justification and rationale for Soonyang to absorb Ajin. If the government announced it according to this report, Ajin Automobile would be incorporated into Soonyang’s group.

If Daehyun Automobile absorbed Ajin, there were concerns about a monopoly in the car market. Woosung Automobile had a significant stake held by GM, which would give the impression of selling out to a foreign automaker.

Ultimately, the report concluded that Soonyang Automobile was the most suitable acquirer.

Once again, I was amazed by the power of Soonyang—no, the power of the chaebols.

Chaebols crafted the policies they wanted, presented them to the government, and the government acted on them. Finally, the National Assembly members, the legislative branch, dutifully played their role as rubber stamps.

This combination made it possible to devour a perfectly healthy company without even peeling its skin.

This report was evidence of the clandestine relationship between the Soonyang Group and the government.

If this were leaked, it would become a cronyism scandal.

Damn it.

The impact would be too significant. I didn’t care about the current administration taking a hit, but Soonyang couldn’t suffer.

I couldn’t have Grandfather wheeled into the prosecutor’s office, could I?

I needed to find something that could reverse the current situation.

I picked up the weekly intelligence report sitting on the corner of the desk.

I occasionally sneaked peeks when Grandfather wasn’t in the study.

As of yet, there wasn’t any particularly useful information for me. I’d only browsed the celebrity scandal sections for amusement.

This report was similar in nature to stock market gossip sheets or X-files.

A comprehensive report covering politics, economics, society, and even the entertainment industry. However, the volume, depth, and reliability of the information were on a different level compared to mere gossip.

Soonyang’s informants, spread across various sectors, provided the information, which was then rigorously verified by the Soonyang Group’s intelligence team.

I flipped through the file, looking for anything useful.

But there wasn’t a single lead that could make Grandfather withdraw his hand from Ajin Automobile.

I let out a long sigh as I closed the intelligence report file.

I needed to stop the government from announcing the restructuring of the automotive industry, but right now, I felt helpless.

That’s when a completely different thought occurred to me. Or rather, a different way of looking at the situation.

Instead of stopping Grandfather, I could stop the government. What if I could distract the government so thoroughly that they wouldn’t even glance at the automotive industry?

In the intelligence report I’d just read, there was a perfectly suitable piece of information.

Information that other chaebols had overlooked because they weren’t interested in others making money.

It was about…

[Hanbo Group – Case of Rezoning for Suseo District Land Development]

This is very useful.

The media’s favorite and most beloved prey is the government.

No matter how much they tear into it, the public won’t criticize them. The more the media attacks the government, the better they’re seen as fulfilling their role.

This also directly translates into money.

The more the public likes the media, the greater the value of every single word they print.

If the current government’s morality suffers a fatal blow, the automotive industry report created by the Soonyang Group will become a worthless piece of paper.

If a government with severely damaged ethics tries to push forward with the automotive industry restructuring, it will become another scandal. They definitely won’t dare to mention automotive restructuring.

I quickly copied the information about the Suseo land development using the fax machine.

* * *

“This has become too big… I wonder if it’ll be okay.”

Right after the Lunar New Year holiday, I compiled the intelligence files and mailed them to every media outlet in the country. For days, there was no response, and I wondered if they were wary of the Hanbo Group, but perhaps they were taking their time to verify my tip.

A few days later, Segye Ilbo fired the first shot, and soon, every media company focused their firepower on this incident. Not a single article about Ajin Automobile was published.

Newspapers and broadcasts were daily filled with main articles demanding an investigation into the Suseo preferential treatment scandal.

Even as March was ending, the protests hadn’t stopped for nearly a month.

In 1988, Hanbo Group Chairman Chung Tae-soo acquired all 35,000 pyeong of land in the Suseo area, which was merely a green belt, after the government announced plans to build apartments there.

Seoul City’s initial plan was to build apartments and sell them to low-income, non-homeowning citizens, but due to Chairman Chung Tae-soo’s extensive lobbying, they overturned the ‘no preferential treatment for specific associations’ policy within five months and decided to supply the land.

Seoul City confessed that they changed their policy due to pressure from Jang Byung-jo, the Blue House Secretary for Culture and Sports, but that wasn’t all.

It was even revealed that National Assembly members from both the ruling and opposition parties had received kickbacks from Hanbo to pressure Seoul City.

Although the Blue House secretary was identified as the mastermind, it was obvious he was just a pawn.

The media and the protesters demanding the truth were targeting the Blue House, and it was growing into the biggest scandal of the Sixth Republic.

“At this point, they probably don’t have the mental capacity to think about automobiles…”

As I expected, the Blue House was focusing all its energy on managing this crisis, and the Roh Tae-woo administration’s lame duck period had begun.

***

“It seems we should refrain from contacting the Blue House for the time being. And we’ve also put the stock acquisition on hold.”

Lee Hak-jae frowned, glancing at Chairman Jin, who was tapping his desk. They had prepared so thoroughly, but it was completely unexpected that the sparks would fly from such an unforeseen place.

“Hak-jae.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“This isn’t a fire that will easily die down, is it?”

“It seems so. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Central Investigation Department has launched a full-scale investigation. Starting with six assemblymen in Yeouido, they’ve requested the presence of officials from Seoul City and Blue House secretaries.”

“What about Chairman Chung of Hanbo?”

“He’s already under a travel ban. The group is scrambling to assemble a team of lawyers.”

“Probably trying to hire someone with prosecutor-general level connections.”

Chairman Jin shook his head in disbelief.

There’s a saying that a president’s term is 24 months. The first two years are when they have the power to push through anything, but the remaining three years are a steady decline.

With only two years left in his term, a scandal of this magnitude meant the president had lost all his power.

Power would now rapidly shift to the ruling party’s leader. The next general election was just a year away. With the party leader holding the power of nomination, it was obvious the Blue House would become a lame-duck administration.

Such a Blue House couldn’t, and wouldn’t, promote reform the automotive industry.

“I told them so many times not to speculate in land during this administration… Tsk tsk.”

“Chairman Chung’s greed is well-known. But we didn’t expect his greed to ruin our plans…”

“Inform the current prosecutors. Warn them that if they resign to defend Chung Tae-soo, Soonyang will sever all ties with them.”

“Understood.”

Lee Hak-jae shared Chairman Jin’s desire to vent his frustration. If he could, he would have grabbed Chairman Chung by the collar and shaken him.

Chairman Jin looked at President Jo Dae-ho, who was sitting quietly beside him, and said,

“How is Chairman Song? Hasn’t he been celebrating?”

“Similar. He informed me of my rejection with a smile.”

“You’ve worked hard, President Jo.”

“No, sir. I’m sorry that I couldn’t do anything.”

President Jo Dae-ho lowered his head.

“Return to the automotive division during the April reshuffle. We need to prepare for the new car development without any setbacks.”

“Thank you, Chairman.”

President Jo’s face was bright as he lifted his head.

“Hak-jae, acquiring Ajin Automobile’s stock cost us a bit, didn’t it?”

“It’s alright. The stock price plummeted when Chairman Song of Ajin was being pressured, didn’t it? We averaged down our purchase price with the volume we bought then. If we sell now, we won’t incur any losses.”

“Alright. Get out of it.”

With a bitter expression, Chairman Jin threw the strategic report created by the Soonyang Economic Research Institute into the trash.

* * *

After 1991, the year Freddie Mercury, the vocalist of the British band Queen, passed away from AIDS, Seo Taiji swept through 1992.

Furthermore, Kim Young-sam, who would become even more popular than Seo Taiji, was elected as the 14th president, and as if foreshadowing the end of the Two Kims era, Kim Dae-jung announced his retirement from politics as 1992 drew to a close.

Watching this on TV, Oh Se-hyun turned it off and let out a long sigh, seemingly filled with regret.

“One steps down, and another begins. Truly remarkable.”

“We should begin as well.”

“Begin what?”

Oh Se-hyun’s gaze turned suspicious. It wasn’t the first time he’d been surprised by me, but he still didn’t seem to get used to it.

“I’m thinking of moving some of the hidden money next year.”

“Money? The money at Miracle?”

“Yes.”

“Where? How?”

I raised my hand to stop Oh Se-hyun from speaking and carefully laid out the plan I had in mind.

“Uncle, let’s be partners.”

“What?”

“Quit PowerShares and go all-in on Miracle Investment. You’re already a 2% shareholder, and we’ve made a lot of money, so we can definitely afford a high annual salary, right?”

I expected shock at first, then contemplation, but his reaction was completely different. He shook his head as soon as I finished my proposal.

“I don’t want to.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“The holder of 98% of the shares makes unilateral investment decisions, and the results are always successful. What would I even do? Don’t you think?”

He wasn’t using the well-worn negotiation tactic of ‘reject the first offer no matter what.’ It was a complete rejection.

If that was the case, I had to make another offer to scout him.

“I’m going to create a branch office in Korea. I’m planning to keep some of the funds in Korea and manage them there. Also… there’s Grandfather’s slush fund, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll only manage the money invested in Dell Computer, so you can manage Grandfather’s slush fund and the rest. I have no intention of making you a figurehead.”

Oh Se-hyun reacted more strongly to the mention of managing the money invested in Dell Computer than my offer itself.

“What? You’re planning to withdraw that money?”

“Yes. I’m planning to withdraw it early next year.”

“Are you crazy? Dell is a golden goose that’s breaking its own profit records every day. Why would you do that?”

“We can talk about that later. What do you think about what I mentioned? And please, don’t misunderstand. I’m not proposing, I’m asking.”

Perhaps it was because of my calm tone, but Oh Se-hyun got up and walked to the window to calm down.

After staring out the window in silence for a few minutes, he turned back, adopting the posture of a negotiator.

“Let me organize what I need and tell you again. Let’s talk again while looking at that.”

I was prepared to agree to anything. What I needed right now was an adult like Oh Se-hyun.

Someone who wouldn’t treat me like a child anymore, but was also smart, experienced, and, crucially, had a career that wouldn’t be out of place anywhere in the world.

Someone to replace me until I became an adult.

But I didn’t say these things.

The negotiation process itself is important. I had to pretend to consider his demands and then accept them for him to feel satisfied. In negotiations, the feeling of getting everything you wanted takes precedence over the actual conditions.

“Do-jun, what on earth are you planning to do with the funds from Dell Computer?”

“I’m thinking of investing in Japan.”

As soon as the word ‘Japan’ came out, he vigorously shook his head.

“No way! Don’t you know? The Japanese economy is sinking right now. You read the newspapers, don’t you? Japan is facing its biggest crisis as the bubble bursts.”

I shook my head just as vehemently.

“Uncle, the best opportunities always lie within the biggest crises. You know that…”

“That’s what people who succeeded say! Only one in a million people seize opportunities in a crisis. Everyone else perishes in it.”

“Uncle, don’t you think I could be that one in a million?”