Chapter 66: Jin Dong-ki’s Gamble

Oh Se-hyun sent out a few emails. Checking the trends of short-term overseas investors would provide data to predict whether the exchange rate surge was a temporary phenomenon or not.

“Do-jun, what if the exchange rate keeps rising? Are you planning to pay the acquisition price in dollars?”

“We’ll have to negotiate.”

“What kind of negotiation?”

“I’m going to drastically lower the acquisition price for Ajin Group by offering to pay in dollars.”

Oh Se-hyun slapped his forehead and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! That’s it! What good is holding gold when you’re about to drown? You have to throw the gold and grab a life jacket.”

The key currency, the dollar, is like blood to a person. If blood doesn’t circulate, a person will die.

The one holding the blood transfusion can freely take the gold from the pockets of the fallen.

Oh Se-hyun, who deals with money, couldn’t possibly be unaware of this.

“When the country’s foreign exchange reserves are running low, Do-jun, you’ll be like a savior, won’t you?”

“Not me. It’s my uncle, the CEO of Miracle Investment.”

I expected surprise, but instead, he smiled calmly.

“Why? Is it because you’re still young and don’t want to step forward? Or do you have a hidden agenda and are reluctant to reveal your existence?”

His words, implying he already suspected much, made me uneasy.

“If I hold trillions of won, what would the world say? Illegal gifting, illicit inheritance, and so on. The world will become noisy.”

“And you won’t be able to avoid the many watchful eyes on you.”

“There’s that aspect too.”

Even without exchanging explicit words, we understood each other’s intentions.

I waited for Oh Se-hyun’s reply with a composed gaze, and he grinned, nodding his head.

“For now, I’ll be your Red Hare. Pull the reins and wield the whip as you wish. But time is limited. I’m fifty. Five years at most. After that, you’ll have to run yourself or find a horse to replace me.”

“What are you saying? Are you planning to retire at fifty-five? You’re in your prime! That’s too early!”

“Fifty-five is just right. It’s a bit early to retire… but I have too much money to keep working. Wouldn’t it be unfair if I didn’t have enough time to spend it? Haha.”

Five years.

It’s definitely not a long time. How much can I seize in that short period?

Should I let the old horse rest in the pasture and find a new one?

“It’s five years because you’re more like a nephew to me than my own. If I had my way, I’d retire right now and go to a secluded island.”

He’s driving the point home.

There will be no extension of the Red Hare’s role.

* * *

“Is it true?”

“Yes. Do-jun saw it himself.”

Hearing the information his son provided, Vice-chairman Jin Young-ki felt his blood rush to his head.

Hadn’t his father patted his shoulder and promised him the study chair?

And yet, he was trying to change the group’s governance structure?

His father, who was proceeding with this while keeping it secret from even the eldest son and whispering sweet words in his ear.

Vice-chairman Jin Young-ki trembled with betrayal.

But his son was watching. It was a reason to regain his composure.

Jin Young-ki said nonchalantly.

“Well, when the automobile division is spun off, it’s a rite of passage we have to go through once. The overall framework will be shaken, but it’s nothing to worry about.”

“But Father, if the shares held by the automobile division move….”

“Enough! I said it’s alright. I’ll take care of it. You just focus on normalizing Hando Steel… no, Soonyang Steel. Don’t miss this opportunity to show your abilities to your grandfather.”

“Understood.”

As his son bowed and left, Jin Young-ki quickly took out his phone.

“Get everyone from the planning department to the conference room.”

He had to move quickly before Chairman Jin made a strange decision.

* * *

“Oh dear, I hope I’m not bothering someone busy like you.”

“Not at all. I think I’ll be busy from now on, but I can still make time to have a meal with you, President. Haha.”

President Jin Dong-ki greeted President Jo Dae-ho with a bright smile as he opened the side room door and entered.

“But I’m still confused. When Ajin and Soonyang merge, who benefits more… of course, Father knows what he’s doing.”

“Indeed. I’m also a bit dazed because it’s happening so suddenly.”

Jin Dong-ki strained every nerve, trying not to miss a single expression or word from President Jo Dae-ho.

“If the divisions are separated, President Jo, your ties with Soonyang will be gone. You must be sad.”

President Jo Dae-ho’s lips slightly curved up as he looked at Jin Dong-ki speaking with a smile.

“Are you being sincere? Or are you trying to test me? If it’s the former, I’m very disappointed.”

As expected. His prediction was correct. Soonyang was swallowing Ajin.

“What are you talking about? Testing you? I just said it on a whim.”

“President Jin.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve served the Chairman for over 30 years. There’s only been one time during that long period that I went against the Chairman’s wishes. Do you know what it was?”

Jin Dong-ki swallowed hard as the smile completely vanished from President Jo Dae-ho’s face.

“It was when we first started the oil refining business. The Jung-dong was in constant turmoil with wars breaking out almost daily, and the supply of crude oil was an emergency. The Chairman and I flew to Texas. We were there to urgently contract Texas crude oil.”

Suddenly bringing up old hardships was a sign of revealing his true feelings. By the end of this story, President Jo Dae-ho would make a cold assessment of Jin Dong-ki.

“We drove down endless highways and went into a steakhouse. It was hot, and we were exhausted, so we didn’t have much of an appetite. The Chairman suggested we order just one steak and share it. The smallest steak there was a whopping 600g.”

“Southern US steaks are about quantity, right? Haha.”

“I objected. I said we should each have a plate.”

“Are you saying that was the only time you went against him…?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…. Are you kidding me right now… Ah!”

President Jo Dae-ho spoke of past memories as if joking, but Jin Dong-ki fully understood what President Jo was implying.

He opposes sharing. He dislikes sharing even a piece of meat, so he wouldn’t agree to splitting the group.

“President Jo, you dislike sharing, but I dislike wasting things. If there’s too much to eat, won’t it end up being thrown away?”

Jin Dong-ki didn’t lose his smile. Even if he couldn’t persuade him, even if he wouldn’t accept it, he had to make him understand.

“It seems the father who ordered only what he could eat was wiser?”

“President Jin.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t ask about the result.”

“What…?”

“In the end, the Chairman and I forced ourselves to eat it all. It seemed like a lot, but we managed to finish it. You never know until you try. 600g… wasn’t as much as I thought.”

Jin Dong-ki bit his lip without realizing it.

Old-fashioned founding contributors. They’re just wage earners, yet they cherish the Soonyang Group as if it were a family heirloom.

They know that when the owner of the carriage changes, you also change the coachman and the horses, but they are constantly worried about the carriage getting damaged—people who are coachmen by nature.

But to take ownership of the carriage, a coachman is desperately needed.

“President Jo, you have a good appetite.”

“I can’t eat that much anymore. As I get older, my appetite has decreased a lot.”

“I see. Looking at how my appetite hasn’t decreased, I guess I’m not that old yet. I can finish a 600g steak without leftovers. Rare.”

Jo Dae-ho, who fully understood Jin Dong-ki’s intention to take everything without sharing, let out a short sigh and slowly opened his mouth.

“Dong-ki.”

Jin Dong-ki felt a chill down his spine as he called him by his given name without honorifics.

“Yes, Hyung-nim.”

Before Jin Dong-ki started working for the company, Chairman Jin’s trusted aides frequently visited their house. Some he called uncle, and others he called old man.

But Jo Dae-ho was the one who always told him to call him ‘hyung’ and generously gave him pocket money.

“Vice-chairman Jin Young-ki is your older brother. And he’s the eldest son. You can’t have it.”

“Hyung-nim, Young-ki hyung is incompetent. Don’t you know that?”

“If you, who are capable, help him, wouldn’t that work?”

“Why can’t Young-ki hyung help me, who is capable?”

“A capable person can’t be helped by an incompetent one. It’s useless.”

“Hyung-nim!”

“The picture doesn’t look right. An older brother attending to his younger brother? It’s impossible. He’ll get pushed out.”

“I’ll liquidate a few subsidiaries and give them to Young-ki hyung. And I’ll take care of him in other ways.”

He hadn’t intended to go this far. It was just a meeting to gauge the direction of Soonyang Automobile, but the die was cast.

Now that they had revealed their true intentions, they had to see it through.

“Daejin Group, Cheongma Group, and Jaseong Group. They’re all gone without a trace. It’s all because brothers fought, split, and divided. If the eldest son monopolizes everything, they survive, but if the younger brothers start scrambling to take, they only bleed and disappear.”

“There are many eldest sons who ruined their families.”

His voice was filled with desperation, but Jo Dae-ho only gave a bitter smile.

“I’m just a tenant farmer of the Soonyang Group, but I’m proud to say my contribution to making Soonyang fertile is significant. I don’t want to see that land torn to shreds.”

“I can make it more fertile. I have the confidence to cultivate barren land and turn it into a wider and grander plain. Isn’t this the sight you want to see, Hyung-nim?”

Jo Dae-ho silently stared at Jin Dong-ki’s confident demeanor for a moment.

When Jo Dae-ho spoke again, his tone had returned to the initial politeness.

“President Jin. How well do you know your father, Chairman Jin?”

“Yes?”

“The Chairman is not the type to decide on a successor in advance and nurture them. Don’t even dream about it.”

Jin Dong-ki felt like he had been hit in the head with a hammer upon hearing this for the first time.

No successor?

“He’s probably the type who will endlessly score and compare until the day before he dies. Maybe he’ll announce the successor to take over the Soonyang Group in his last will.”

“Surely not? If succession isn’t prepared in advance, astronomical taxes will have to be paid. He’s not the type to forget that.”

Jin Dong-ki knew very well that his father was the most notorious penny-pincher.

“He’s more worried about Soonyang’s future than taxes.”

Listening to Jo Dae-ho’s words, Jin Dong-ki felt anger rising.

“Then what are you saying, President Jo? It sounded like Young-ki hyung would inherit everything….”

“That’s my thought and feeling. You asked for my opinion, not the Chairman’s intentions, didn’t you?”

He had no reply. And he had to calm his anger.

Because the opinions of veterans like Jo Dae-ho greatly influence the father’s final will and decision.

Jin Dong-ki forced a smile and raised his glass.

“I’ll take your words to heart that the game hasn’t even started yet.”

Jo Dae-ho also smiled and raised his glass.

He had been a tenant farmer his whole life and had only sat in the coachman’s seat of the carriage called Soonyang.

He had never seen the inside of the carriage, but he was the one holding the reins.

He only spoke vaguely, but the perceptive Jin Dong-ki would have understood.

A warning not to disregard the power of the coachman holding the reins.

A warning not to even dream of replacing the coachman when the owner of the carriage changes.

Chairman Jin’s children also needed to know how formidable the united power of the coachmen could be when deciding the owner of the carriage.