I'll Tell You the Exact Bid Price (1)
Lee Jaseung had completely ruined the press conference.
Yuseong Group's public apology to the nation failed to generate even a single line of news.
Instead, every outlet was plastered with the slush-fund allegations.
In particular, the footage of Lee Jaseung being dragged out became the highlight clip across countless news segments.
It was only a brief incident, yet it contained an entire drama.
The pitiable sight of a man dragged away before he could even finish two sentences. The ruthless founding family mercilessly crushing a conscientious whistleblower. Condemnation of the Yuseong family rose from every quarter, and the most heated voices of all came from the victims’ emergency committee.
“Those sons of bitches! I knew something was off. Since when does some Hong Kong fund just swoop in out of nowhere?”
“At least that family still had one guy with a working brain.”
Every possible curse flew through the air, and the phones rang nonstop. Victims whose rage buttons had been slammed by the slush-fund revelation poured into the class-action lawsuit.
The victims’ representative shouted an SOS to his daughter.
“Cho Miyeon! Answer that phone over there!”
Reporter Cho Miyeon, stationed at the office, never took her eyes off her laptop.
“I’m busy! Drop even one second behind and the clicks vanish!”
“This click-obsessed little—”
Whatever he muttered, she ignored it. Cho Miyeon hammered the keyboard like a woman possessed.
Come on, aren’t we on the same side with the class action? If you’re going to drop a scoop like this, give me a heads-up! If I’d broken it myself I could’ve vacuumed up every single click. I’d be sitting on the portal main page by now!!!
The internet flooded with stories about Lee Jaseung. Justice this, conscience that. She dashed off roughly the same line of copy, then remembered the last time she had met him.
Justice, my ass.
The same bastard who had coldly railroaded them into the class-action lawsuit was now the man tearfully exposing slush funds. The cognitive dissonance was almost enough to make her dizzy.
……With that face and that acting ability, shouldn’t he have become an actor?
How could a person switch masks so completely? Of course, the work he had accomplished with that outstanding performance deserved every bit of praise.
If Yuseong Steel had actually fallen into that Hong Kong fund’s hands……
Yuseong Group would have been dismantled and every effort the victims had made would have ended in hollow futility. Just thinking about it made her chest drop. Who would they have even claimed compensation from then? The dissolved Yuseong Group? Or the Hong Kong fund? Liability would have turned murky and the legal battle would have dragged on forever.
The compensation would have fizzled out.
But Lee Jaseung had exposed the true identity of the Hong Kong fund. The office atmosphere flipped one hundred eighty degrees. Everyone bustled about as if victory were already within reach. Class-action applicants had already smashed past three hundred, and some were pushing to file the suit that very day.
Cho Miyeon grinned emptily while surveying the room, then locked eyes with her father.
Ah—right, the article!
She whipped the piece she had been writing into finished form and sent it to the desk, then immediately began sketching the next one. Staring at the blank screen, she sank into thought.
The slush-fund revelation had put the class action in a favorable position. But class actions were originally a business of rolling around in the mud—endless fighting over who would take and who would keep, until everyone grew exhausted and settled for something halfway.
How long will the Yuseong Steel sale take? And how much compensation can the victims actually expect?
Maybe she should write something along those lines.
[Yuseong Steel Becomes a Slush-Fund Laundry…… Where Does That Leave Victim Compensation?]
She was tapping out the headline when her father called again.
“Cho Miyeon!”
“Yeah, yeah, just a second. Let me finish this piece—”
“We’ve got a visitor!”
“Huh?”
Cho Miyeon turned toward the office entrance. Seo Minjae, the creditors’ representative and the solid ally Lee Jaseung had linked them with, had arrived.
Seo Minjae looked around. The office resembled a black market. Desks were crammed side by side in the narrow space, and banners reading “Condemn Yuseong Group” and “Full Compensation for Victims” hung in chaotic disarray along the walls. By now the scene felt familiar; after all, he was the one who had taken charge of uniting the creditors and preparing the class action.
Even the class action was part of the consulting package.
Play up the advantages of being an illegitimate son and half-chaebol, Lee Jaseung had told him.
— A big securities firm doesn’t care about individual investors’ circumstances. But if you stand on their side? That makes for a great story.
“Oh my, Director! Welcome!”
The victims’ representative approached with open delight. It hadn’t always been like this. When Seo Minjae first visited, the victims’ attitude had been distinctly defensive. Institutional investors belonged to a privileged class that normally shared no common ground with them; they had simply ended up in the same boat by coincidence. On top of that, the man who arrived as their representative belonged to Seoseong Group—a chaebol affiliate. Suspicion was only natural.
Yet Seo Minjae had seeped into their circle with his naturally easygoing manner. His status as a chaebol outsider and illegitimate son had helped. Before long the victims’ representative was addressing him with genuine warmth.
“Please wait here just a moment. We’ll clear you a seat. Hey, move those documents! We have a guest!”
While Seo Minjae sat blankly, Cho Miyeon sidled over and casually parked herself beside him.
“Well, well, Director! Seeing you quite often these days, aren’t we?”
“Looks like Reporter Cho has something new she’s curious about.”
Seo Minjae answered with a smile. Officially a journalist covering the case, privately a victim’s family member, Reporter Cho was always hunting ferociously for the next scoop.
“Heh. When you cut straight to the heart of it like that I can only be grateful. That’s why I like you, Director.”
She laughed with shameless good humor and asked,
“So, about Lee Jaseung. Does he have some kind of grudge against Yuseong Group?”
“A grudge?”
“I mean, he’s throwing himself into this like it’s personal. Without some private motive, would anyone run around this hard? Maybe a chaebol power struggle? A grudge against his uncle? Or…… compassion for the victims?”
At the last suggestion he could only laugh, and Cho Miyeon smiled sheepishly.
“Yeah, compassion doesn’t suit him, does it?”
“No. A grudge actually sounds more plausible.”
“Truth is, a grudge doesn’t fit either. That’s too intense for him.”
An accurate observation. Even after flipping the press conference upside down and walking out, the guy had remained perfectly calm. Who would have expected to see the vibe of an office worker simply checking off a to-do list in a moment like that?
It’s just his business, nothing more.
The slush-fund investigation, the dismantling of Yuseong Group, the rescue of the victims—all of it was merely by-product carelessly spilled while he walked his own path.
“So then, what’s Lee Jaseung’s real motive?”
“Ask him yourself.”
“Tch. With his personality, like he’d ever tell me.”
Cho Miyeon looked disappointed, yet she hadn’t truly expected an answer; she moved straight to the next topic.
“Shall we talk about something else? The victims’ total damages come to one trillion won, right?”
“That’s right.”
“What recovery rate do you expect?”
Her eyes grew serious. This was no mere interview. Her own father was a victim; he had lost the entire five hundred million won he had saved for retirement. How much of that money could they actually get back?
“We’re aiming for one hundred percent.”
“……?”
Cho Miyeon’s eyes went round. After a brief silence she blurted in a flustered voice,
“Huh? The whole trillion? For real?”
“If it weren’t, why would we even be running the class action as one team? You know how it is. Creditors and individual investors—honestly, joining forces isn’t easy.”
Creditors and individual investors had fundamentally different interests. The priority of claims differed. Secured claims of institutional investors came first, followed by unsecured general claims. They were destined to become competitors fighting over a small pie.
“Right? Sometimes they even turn into enemies, so normally everyone files separately. But this time it’s different?”
“Yes, different. The pie to be divided is more than big enough.”
Suddenly he remembered what Lee Jaseung had said.
— If we sell the entire group, the money will come out.
“Because we’re going to sell the whole group.”
Chairman Lee Jeonghwan had stuffed every valuable asset into Yuseong Steel. And with a single slush-fund revelation, Lee Jaseung had brought that entire prize back intact.
He said he’d sell the group off. I thought it was a metaphor, but he’s actually doing it.
Somehow it was so outrageous that Seo Minjae let out a hollow laugh. At the same time his voice gained real confidence.
“Once Yuseong Steel is sold, there’ll be more than enough left after both of us eat our fill.”
“So the key is getting a good price for Yuseong Steel.”
“Actually, who’s going to step up is already decided.”
“Al—already?!”
At that moment Cho Miyeon’s nostrils flared. Scoop! The smell of a scoop!
“Who? Who are you selling Yuseong Steel to?”
Seo Minjae grinned.
“Hanyeong Auto.”
Cho Miyeon shot to her feet and lunged for her laptop.
“Hanyeong Auto is going to acquire Yuseong Steel. That’s confirmed, right?”
Unfortunately for Cho Miyeon, the answer to her question came from the commotion outside. On the television hanging in the corner of the office, a breaking-news banner flashed.
“Aaaargh! Seriously!”
Cho Miyeon screamed and buried her face in her laptop.
“Can you please tell me about scoops like this in advance?!”
Han Juhyeong hummed as he checked his phone. Logging onto the portal, he found his name topping the news, exactly as expected.
Han Juhyeong clicked the top article.
The victims’ rage had exploded. Their demand was singular: that Yuseong Steel be sold for fair value to a sound company so their damages could be compensated. That spotlight was pouring first and foremost onto Hanyeong Auto, the company that had announced its acquisition intent earliest.
Han Juhyeong smiled in satisfaction.
Wow, so this is how it all falls into place.
Once the slush-fund investigation began, a court-appointed administrator could no longer be drawn from the existing management. A third-party administrator recruited from outside had been appointed, and at the strong request of the creditors, Yuseong Steel entered sale proceedings.
And so Lee Jaseung had finally forced a seller to sit at the table—exactly as planned. Thanks to that, Hanyeong Auto occupied the high ground. While other companies wasted time trying to grasp the situation, Hanyeong Auto had already finished preparations and announced its plan to acquire Yuseong Steel.
Chairman Han, sitting with him, chuckled and spoke.
“The other guys must be shitting themselves right about now. Nobody expected Yuseong Steel to go up for sale this fast. Juhyeong, you suggested we announce the acquisition the moment the slush funds blew up, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know in advance?”
Han Juhyeong nodded without hesitation. Denying it would have looked even stranger.
“Yes. Jaseung told me.”
“That friend who exposed the slush funds, I see.”
Chairman Han’s eyes gleamed. He had already been nearly certain someone was helping his son.
So it could be Lee Jaseung.
A member of Yuseong Group’s founding family, and the man who had denounced the slush funds at the press conference. A strong candidate. He filed the name Lee Jaseung away in his mind and moved to the main point.
“I just spoke with the court-appointed administrator. All that effort you put into negotiating with the creditors has paid off.”
Han Juhyeong’s heart gave a heavy thump. The work of the past weeks flashed through his mind. Even if he had received consulting from Lee Jaseung, meeting every single creditor in person, persuading them, and aligning the conditions had been the fruit of his own footwork.
“Then……”
“Yes. They’ve agreed to tailor the bidding qualifications and conditions to us.”
Color rushed back into Han Juhyeong’s face. A court-supervised sale was fundamentally a competitive bid. But even when the competitive-bid format was followed, the creditors’ preferences inevitably shaped the reality—adjusting the bid deadline, requiring a certain equity ratio, and so on. That was why Han Juhyeong had already contacted the creditors and fine-tuned each condition in advance.
Chairman Han praised his son in a satisfied voice.
“You handled this extremely well. In the end a manager must know how to draw the big picture so the staff’s work can succeed, and how to create a favorable environment. Exactly as you showed this time.”
“Yes. I learned a great deal myself.”
He meant it. Lee Jaseung’s perspective and the way he moved the board operated on an entirely different level. That was why another thought rose unbidden.
Maybe I should keep receiving the consulting?
Remembering the executives who had rattled off every methodology under the sun as “management lessons,” and the elders who had piled on self-praise while insisting management must be done their way, he suddenly felt the tuition he had poured out until now was a waste.
Lee Jaseung is better than those old geezers. He’s expensive, but he delivers exactly what you pay for.
Of course, the acquisition had to be finished first. And the acquisition now stood just one step away.
“Only the final gate remains.”
“The competitive bid.”
“You’re preparing the bid price carefully, I trust?”
“Yes. The M&A team and I are analyzing the expected bid price together.”
“Good. Word is that Hanyeong Heavy Industries has teamed up with a private-equity fund. The name was…… Chae Partners, I think?”
“……Yes.”
Han Juhyeong tensed. Ever since the spin-off, Hanyeong Heavy Industries had been needling Chairman Han for a long time. And this time they had even formed a consortium with a private-equity fund!
Chairman Han placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. The weight felt heavy.
“Juhyeong, you cannot lose.”
Han Juhyeong swallowed hard. Pressure tightened around his throat.
I have to win. Absolutely, no matter what!
“Ah, of course! Leave it to me!”
He answered stoutly and left the chairman’s office. Whipping his head left and right to confirm no one was nearby, he immediately placed a call.
“Jaseung, what should we do about the bid price?”
This work is a work of fiction. All persons, groups, place names, and events appearing in the work are fictitious and have no connection to any real entities. Specialized knowledge described herein has also been restructured and adapted to fit the story and may differ from actual information.