Hanyeong Auto — Han Juhyeong (5)
All weekend long, Lee Jaseung stayed glued to Han Juhyeong’s side and kept the coaching going.
As if he were drilling a college-entrance exam candidate, he forced every fine-grained step of the plan into him, built the presentation materials, and prepared answers for every anticipated question.
“You said there’s a regular TF meeting on Monday?”
Lee Jaseung asked, taking a sip of coffee. Han Juhyeong answered without lifting his eyes from the laptop screen.
“Yeah. Once that wraps up, the Chairman and the team leader usually sit down for a follow-up.”
“Then we hit that window. When both of them are together.”
Han Juhyeong raised his head.
“Father’s the decision-maker, so that part makes sense—but why the team leader?”
“If we run this strategy, every plan the TF team has already built gets overturned. The team leader loses his authority as well. How do you think he’ll feel?”
“Not great?”
“Exactly. Without the support of the team leader who actually runs the work, even the best strategy will be impossible to execute.”
Convinced, Han Juhyeong put it into practice.
“Chairman, do you have a moment?”
The two men had just finished talking and were gathering papers. The timing was perfect.
“All right. The meeting’s nearly over—wait a little.”
“Actually, there’s something I’d like to discuss with both of you regarding the acquisition.”
“The acquisition?”
Suspicious looks from both men landed on him at once.
Under ordinary circumstances Han Juhyeong would have shrunk a little, but today was different.
So warm!
Remembering Lee Jaseung, who had spent the entire weekend trampling him under merciless barbs, his father’s suspicion felt like boundless affection by comparison.
“Yes. As you know, Chairman, I’ve been watching this deal since before the TF team was even formed. I’ve been thinking it through on my own.”
Chairman Han rubbed his chin, deliberating.
Normally he would have had no desire to listen to his son’s clumsy proposal in front of the team leader, but…
This brat needs to learn that the reality of management is not so soft. This is a good chance to give him a proper education.
“Then let’s hear it.”
“The acquisition fight is getting far too complicated.”
“Complicated.”
“Yes. The creditors will try to recover every last claim, the union will demand employment succession, and inside Yuseong Group there will be every shade of opinion. Meanwhile we still have to compete with rival bidders.”
He paused for breath and recalled Lee Jaseung’s words.
— This is the Gordian Knot. You can’t untie it. You cut it.
“This is the Gordian Knot. So many stakeholders are tangled together that it can never be untied. The only method is to cut it.”
For an instant the Chairman and the team leader locked eyes.
…There are moments when something halfway plausible actually comes out of that mouth?
Feeling strangely drawn in, Chairman Han asked,
“So you’re saying there’s a way to cut the knot?”
“Yes. We induce Yuseong Steel to file for court receivership.”
The team leader choked on a cough and then shouted in shock.
“What? Court receivership?! That’s far too extreme! It completely… runs against every acquisition strategy we’ve prepared so far—”
His voice was nearly a scream.
Of course it was.
The proposal reset weeks of work back to zero.
But Chairman Han raised a hand and stopped him. His eyes had already gone sharp.
“Continue.”
Han Juhyeong swallowed hard.
It had landed!
His father was taking him seriously.
“If we create the extreme situation of court receivership, we no longer need to persuade Yuseong Steel, the creditors, and the union one by one.”
“Because we only have to deal with the court?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Hmm…”
Chairman Han glanced at the team leader.
The man’s face still looked confused, yet his upper body had unconsciously leaned forward. The argument was persuasive enough that even he reacted that way.
“Good. All of that is fine—except every bit of it rests on one premise. How do you make Yuseong Steel file for court receivership?”
Han Juhyeong’s heart hammered.
The exact question he had once asked Lee Jaseung had just come out of his father’s mouth.
“We pressure Yuseong Steel. With public opinion.”
“Well. Public opinion… Easy to say. Even a top-tier PR strategist would struggle. How do you intend to do it?”
The skeptical question was also written into the prepared script.
He laid down his final card.
“There are tens of thousands of victims right now, but their firepower is scattered.”
“Scattered firepower?”
“Institutional investors have large losses but are few in number. Individual investors have smaller losses but there are many of them. So we will fuse the firepower of both groups into one.”
Confidence entered Han Juhyeong’s voice. He recalled what Lee Jaseung had told him.
— File a class-action lawsuit.
“With a class-action lawsuit.”
“What do you think?”
At Chairman Han’s question, the team leader still remaining in the conference room sank into thought for a moment.
“To be honest, I never saw it coming.”
His first reaction was pure astonishment. But soon his expression turned serious and a calm appraisal followed.
“Yet it was persuasive. He’s saying we should drag them onto a stage that favors us, isn’t he? I see this as a strategic approach that goes beyond a simple M&A.”
Chairman Han nodded deeply. Both men already knew the truth.
Yuseong Steel was almost certainly considering a court-receivership strategy internally as well.
With four affiliates already under court receivership, adding one more in Yuseong Steel would not be a hard decision for them.
“If we pressure them with public opinion… even if I were chairman of Yuseong Group, I would file for court receivership in that situation. And from our side, isn’t this a card that doesn’t matter even if it fails?”
Chairman Han nodded.
“That’s true. If it fails we simply proceed with the original plan. But if it works, we might secure a quick solution.”
“Then will you entrust it to Managing Director Han for once?”
“Hmm.”
Chairman Han made a thoughtful sound in his throat.
The team leader already looked completely sold, but Chairman Han knew his son well.
There’s no way that brat is this meticulous…
All sorts of strategies had been discussed, yet the core was singular.
Simplification strategy.
Collapse every decision channel into the court alone, and bind the victims into a single body through a class-action suit.
No matter how he turned it over, it was not a plan that would have come from his son’s head.
It stood on an entirely different level from the decision-making patterns the boy had shown until now.
Someone had helped him. Yet that was not a bad thing either.
Whoever had helped, the result was good.
Hmm. Should I give him a team?
There was a backup plan, so it seemed safe enough to hand him the reins once.
He was also curious what kind of leadership his son would display when he had to pull a team along.
“Let’s do that. However, as I said, a backup plan is necessary, so keep your team running as well.”
“Of course.”
Nodding, the team leader smiled and slipped in a compliment.
“Chairman. You must feel secure. Managing Director Han really pulled one off.”
“Ahem.”
Embarrassed, Chairman Han cleared his throat while thinking,
I should find out who that Ju-hyeong has attached himself to.
The penthouse.
Into Lee Jaseung’s once empty, desolate penthouse, clients began to arrive.
“My old man keeps pretending otherwise, but he totally bought it. The team-leader side went over smoothly too!”
Looking at Han Juhyeong, who had boldly claimed the living-room sofa, Lee Jaseung let out a sigh.
I hope the office interior finishes soon.
Around the time Yuseong Group was dismantled, the office might open as well.
Not much time left.
The plan was progressing steadily.
Hanyeong Auto Group had already decided as the buyer; now it was only a matter of forcing the seller onto the table.
Han Juhyeong asked,
“So now I just go after the court?”
“That’s right. Your role is important. The working-level people will draft the acquisition plan, but ultimately you have to set the board for that plan to land.”
“Attack the decision-makers so the working-level staff can move, right?”
Lee Jaseung’s lips curved slightly upward.
There were still frustrating corners, yet the man was no longer completely impossible to talk to. He was finally starting to learn a little.
“Correct. And take this chance to inherit the Chairman’s network.”
“……!”
Han Juhyeong stared at Lee Jaseung with startled eyes.
He had just put his finger on the decisive element of succession.
Network succession.
It was the most important yet most frequently overlooked part of corporate succession—the invisible core hidden behind flashy credentials and management results.
Trust relationships built over long years are the real engine that moves a company.
And this particular situation was an excellent opportunity to inherit that network.
Legal circles, creditors, the financial sector—while advancing the project, Han Juhyeong would naturally take over the connections Chairman Han had spent years building.
Then, abruptly, Han Juhyeong thought it would be a waste to end the consulting after only this acquisition project.
Personality aside, Lee Jaseung was unmistakably capable.
Han Juhyeong spoke with honest admiration.
“Hey, but you really do seem good at consulting.”
“I know.”
“……”
What an asshole.
Han Juhyeong grumbled as he asked,
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Pressure Yuseong Steel until they file for court receivership.”
“With the class-action lawsuit, right? But is that even possible? Ultimately the institutional investors and the individual investors have to stand together, and the two groups are completely different animals. Is there a way?”
Lee Jaseung raised his wrist and checked his watch.
“Even a temporary alliance is enough. It’s about time…”
“Who’s coming?”
“The institutional-investor representative.”
Right on cue the doorbell rang. When the front door opened, Seo Minjae walked in.
Han Juhyeong’s eyes widened.
“Seo Minjae?”
“Long time no see, Han Juhyeong. Last time we ran into each other was at the hotel, wasn’t it?”
“Huh? Come to think of it…”
The day Lee Jaseung had summoned people to the hotel, the two of them had been there together as well.
The person who had called Han Juhyeong that day had been none other than Seo Minjae.
Han Juhyeong looked back and forth between the two.
Lee Jaseung and Seo Minjae.
Seo Minjae and Lee Jaseung.
An illegitimate son of Seoseong Securities, pushed out of succession, conveniently sitting as the creditors’ representative?
Somehow a familiar scent…
“Hey—you too?”
Seo Minjae grinned.
Lee Jaseung assigned clear roles to everyone involved in the strategy.
Han Juhyeong was the buyer, Seo Minjae the seller’s agent, and the product was Yuseong Group.
In this elaborate game of house, the part Lee Jaseung took was the broker—the one who linked every stakeholder.
“Han Juhyeong, you handle the court. Coordinate the conditions so the receivership process tilts in Hanyeong Auto’s favor. Seo Minjae, you persuade the creditors’ group to stand with the individual investors. I’ll go find the individual investors myself.”
At the last sentence both men flinched.
“Individual investors meaning the victims?”
“You’re not seriously planning to go meet the victims yourself, are you?”
“That’s right. Why?”
His attitude was brazen, as if asking what the problem could possibly be.
The two cursed him with their eyes.
He’s asking the obvious!
That mouth of his is going to turn the victims’ insides out!
Han Juhyeong pointed out the obvious.
“Your group is the one that scammed them. If a Yuseong family member shows up, they’ll get thrown out on the spot.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going.”
“……Why the hell are you trying to start by pissing them off?”
Fierce opposition.
But it did not even register with Lee Jaseung.
This is the right way.
Precisely because he was of the Yuseong family, he intended to go find the victims.
He still carried a debt.
Fifty billion won.
After everything had been settled, the remaining assets came to fifty billion won.
And those fifty billion won had not been earned by his own effort; they were a privilege bestowed by Yuseong Group.
Lee Jaseung recognized that fact with perfect clarity.
Therefore, regarding the damages Yuseong Group had caused, a corresponding debt arose in proportion to the benefits he had received.
If only for the sake of his pride, Lee Jaseung could not simply let it pass.
He calculated the appropriate scope of recompense.
I only need to shoulder responsibility for about fifty billion won.
That amount lay well within his capability.
If he sold off Yuseong Steel and dismantled the group, the compensation that would flow to individual investors would naturally increase as well.
One more reason to sell Yuseong Steel had been added.
Lee Jaseung opened his laptop and typed “Yuseong Securities victims” into the search bar.
Posts denouncing Yuseong Securities flooded the screen.
He clicked the one at the very top.
I had a fund I wanted to cancel so I called, and they told me it wasn’t a fund—I’d invested in corporate bonds… and that company turned out to be the Yuseong Group corporate bonds that have been protesting lately.
I clearly heard the employee say it was a fund. What’s going on here.
It’s over ten million won… what am I supposed to do.
With an expressionless face Lee Jaseung scrolled through the posts, then accessed the café address he found in the comments and dialed the contact number listed on the board.
Rrring.
The call connected after a single ring.
“Hello?”
“Hello. I saw the Yuseong Securities victims’ café and called.”
“Ah! Yes, yes. Thank you for calling. Are you a victim?”
Lee Jaseung paused a moment before answering.
“No. I’m the perpetrator.”
“……What?”
※ This work is a work of fiction. All persons, groups, place names, and events appearing in the story are entirely fictional and have no connection to any real-world counterparts. Professional knowledge described herein has also been restructured and adapted for the narrative and may differ from actual information.