The Hitex Acquisition Battle (4)

Money News.

Reporter Cho Miyeon shot her hand into the air and shouted.

"We've got them!!"

The Money News editor-in-chief threw his hand up right along with her.

"We've got theeeeeem!!! Reporter Cho! I believed in you!"

Five employees total. Of those, only three actually worked the field as reporters. An internet paper that small—and Cho Miyeon had just punched through to a portal's main page.

The article itself never named the Seonkang Group chairman, never named the minority shareholders, never even used the word gambling—but so what?

Life was all about the aggro, after all!

Cho Miyeon screenshotted her glorious piece and said, "Ahh, without our chairman, how would we ever have made it this far."

"What are you talking about?"

"He blocked the major outlets from running follow-ups. That's the only reason my piece stayed exclusive, isn't it?"

"……."

On any ordinary day it would have stalled out in the "Trending Now" sidebar. With every competing story scrubbed clean, though, it had somehow clawed its way onto the main page.

Chairman who buried the competition—thank you. And Mr. Lee Jaseung, who handed over the precious source material—infinite thanks. Thanks to both of you, we hit the portal main.

Cho Miyeon stuck her hand out toward the editor-in-chief.

"What?"

"Meat! Meat!"

"Tch. The ad money hasn't even come in yet."

He grumbled, but he still pulled out the corporate card.

"How did you even know? That was internal Seonkang intel. Who's your source?"

"Don't ask. I got tangled up in a terrifying power struggle."

"Watch yourself."

"Eh, it's not that serious. Worst case, I'll sell you out, boss."

"You little—!"

Cho Miyeon grinned and waved the corporate card. Back at her desk in a flash, she opened Google Analytics.

The traffic graph was spiking like a skyscraper.

A site that normally scraped together a thousand daily visitors had just drawn a hundred thousand.

Still, a week from now we'll be back at zero, right?

A few ad calls had already come in, but a one-off hit never held a sponsor. Steady content, steady traffic—that was the only real money.

"So what do I write next……."

She skimmed the recent business news. The issue exploding with buzz was, without question, the Hitex acquisition. Every outlet was busy elevating Gil Donggyu.

Maybe take a different angle?

Cho Miyeon had witnessed what happened on the reverse side of the curtain. She knew the man who had sat quietly in that Cheongdam-dong office and directed every move.

"Heh heh heh. If this blows up, I can stretch it into a whole feature series."

The editor-in-chief, peeking over her shoulder, snorted.

"Don't bother. Who's going to care about that?"

"Why not? This guy is the real deal."

"What the public cares about is stars. Stars. They might wonder how Gil Donggyu pulled it off—but nobody wants to know who's standing behind him. Think about it. Do people click on a third-generation chaebol, or on the third-generation chaebol's secretary?"

Not a secretary—a shadow power broker!

But the editor was right.

She posted the article. The view count was pitiful.

Seventy. Most of those were her own checks, and the search engines never even indexed it.

The public's interest was crystal clear.

Who becomes the heir. Whether to buy Hitex stock or not.

"Tch!"

These people have no idea what actually matters.

Grumbling, Cho Miyeon fell in with the crowd.

……You write what the readers want if you plan to eat.

Inside a car cutting fast down the road.

"Heh heh heh."

At the laughter drifting from the back seat, the secretary glanced over his shoulder.

Gil Donggyu, mouth stretched ear to ear, was reading an article about himself.

"Yes. This is it!"

After knocking Seonkang Group out of the race, Gil Donggyu had negotiated with the creditors alone. A few months later, Hitex settled into the arms of KG Group.

In that single moment, every problem KG Group had been carrying was solved.

Improved governance structure. Synergy with the smartphone business. A foothold in the new semiconductor venture.

And best of all—

—the red carpet to official heir had been rolled out end to end, and people were already praising him, elevating him as the new leader of the business world.

These days, searching his own name in the news was practically a hobby.

"Ugh heh heh heh heh."

Mid-smirk, Gil Donggyu felt the secretary's eyes and wiped his face clean.

"What are you looking at?"

"……We've arrived."

Lately Gil Donggyu had been circulating through gatherings at a frantic pace.

Officially, to manage his network ahead of the presidential promotion.

Unofficially, to collect congratulations.

Tonight was a dinner among third-generation heirs.

Gil Donggyu swaggered into the private room.

Sing my praises!

But—

"Hyung, what the hell did Lee Jaseung even do?"

"……Huh?"

"I mean, Seonkang Group suddenly got knocked out. Did he cut a deal? Or was it a threat?"

Gil Donggyu panicked on the inside.

Why do these kids just assume Lee Jaseung did it?

"Once our group entered the race, the acquisition price kept climbing without a ceiling, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Seonkang Group's capital also……."

Han Juhyeong, a veteran of acquisition battles himself, waved a hand.

"Come on, hyung. It's just us. If you'd known how to do it alone, why hire Lee Jaseung as a consultant in the first place?"

……This brat.

There was no getting around it. Unlike the general public, they knew the truth—or something close enough. They knew exactly what role Lee Jaseung played in chaebol succession fights.

Gil Donggyu sighed and explained what had happened.

Not a single loud noise. Just one internet paper in the mix. A contest decided purely through psychological warfare.

"……Anyway, yes—Lee Jaseung is the one who wiped Seonkang Group. More precisely, he made sure they couldn't enter the acquisition battle. Thanks to that, I got to negotiate alone with no competition."

The moment he finished, everyone started fishing out their wallets.

"……?"

"I lost."

"Here, take it."

They had placed a bet.

Who took out the Seonkang Group chairman—Lee Jaseung, or KG Group?

Han Juhyeong, the winner, raked in the cash with swagger.

"See? I told you. It was Lee Jaseung."

"Whoa. Still—I never thought he'd go as far as blackmailing a chairman. I figured for sure the KG Group chairman had applied the pressure."

"Hey, do you not know Lee Jaseung's personality?"

"……."

And so Lee Jaseung had steered yet another acquisition to victory and proven himself once more.

"Hmm. Looks like Donggyu hyung needed consulting after all."

"……What's that supposed to mean?"

Gil Donggyu casually clenched a fist; the forearm muscle beneath his shirt sleeve jumped. Han Juhyeong flinched and scrambled to cover.

"I-I mean the consulting made the whole picture look clean! You toppled a chairman, walked into KG Electronics with Hitex as a gift, and got the promotion."

That was exactly the part where Gil Donggyu felt his money had been well spent. He loosened his fist and shrugged.

"That's true enough."

"Right? That's all I was saying!"

No, it wasn't.

What he had actually meant was something closer to, Even a flawless Gil Donggyu is taking succession consulting?

Gil Donggyu had just proven that any third-generation chaebol—even a legitimate heir—needed a professional's help. The psychological hurdle dropped all at once.

It wasn't that a client was incompetent and therefore needed consulting. It was that Lee Jaseung was a brilliant expert, so of course you hired him.

"Hyung's the one who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠actually understands management. Sure, your own skills would've been enough! But you brought Lee Jaseung in to make it perfect. I hear he even cut the acquisition price by twenty percent?"

"Th……at's right?"

Listening to the praise, Gil Donggyu tilted his head.

What is this? Why do I feel like I've become an advertising model?

Makers office.

Lee Jaseung pursued extreme efficiency in running Makers as well.

Legal work went to a law firm. Accounting to an accounting firm. Tax to a tax firm. Investments to Seo Sung Securities.

Most operations were outsourced, the structure kept as lean as possible.

As part of that arrangement, Seo Minjae paid Makers a visit.

"I've got good news and bad news."

"Bad news first."

"Your assets under management are down to ten billion won."

"I know. I settled taxes this quarter."

The annual membership fees had gone straight out the door as tax.

Lee Jaseung had no intention of shredding his reputation just to save on taxes, so he handled everything strictly by the book—but watching more than a hundred billion vanish in a single stroke still left him speechless.

"No matter how I look at it, I seem to do more for this country than the country does for me."

Seo Minjae snorted a laugh.

"That's the one point I actually agree with you on."

But this part he could not understand at all.

How did he end up with only ten billion left?

Paying a lot of tax meant you had earned a lot. Lee Jaseung's investment profits over a single year had exceeded a trillion won.

And he had burned through all of it and left only ten billion.

The crown jewel of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that spending spree was the Hitex acquisition battle, where he had dumped seven hundred billion at once.

"Is there no middle ground with you? Whatever you touch, you go all-in."

"In exchange, I secured a stake in KG Electronics. We locked in the merger plan this time too."

"For real?"

"Of course. I finished talks with the chairman. The stock-swap ratio will dilute the stake somewhat, but I should still be able to lock in seven percent of KG Electronics."

"Seven hundred billion for seven percent of KG Electronics……."

Seo Minjae knew chaebols' obsession with ownership stakes very well.

Seven percent was nearly National Pension Service tier. At the critical moment it could play a decisive role—sometimes as a casting vote, sometimes as a safety lock, sometimes as a weapon.

That possibility was influence itself.

And he could secure it for a mere seven hundred billion?

"That was a card you had to take."

"Which is why I made it succeed. So—what's the other good news?"

"Your operating capital is about to jump from ten billion back to a hundred billion. The Facenote fund fees finally settled."

A fund that had raised a trillion won and gone all-in on Facenote alone.

Not a single won of Lee Jaseung's own money had gone into it—but performance and management fees were finally starting to come in.

"How much?"

"Eighty-six point eight billion won."

"Sounds like bank interest."

"……."

In all his life, Seo Minjae had never met anyone who treated fund fees like bank interest.

And for eighty-six point eight billion, no less!

The only thing they had in common was that the money just kept landing without much effort.

"For a single-stock long position, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that's an enormous haul. Facenote's share price recovered quite a bit over the year."

"Still hasn't reached the IPO price, though."

"True."

A full year later, Facenote was only just hovering around the thirty-dollar line.

Then Lee Jaseung said, "But it's going to fall again."

"You're shorting it again?"

"Can't. I'm the one running that Facenote fund."

"Ah. Right."

Lee Jaseung was currently managing the Facenote fund, so shorting the same stock would be a clear conflict of interest.

"Think of this as this month's information. Around October it'll drop for a short stretch. I'll give you the exact timing then."

"And you? Are you just going to miss the opportunity this time?"

The corner of Lee Jaseung's mouth lifted slightly.

As if that could ever be the case.

"I can't touch Facenote—but there are other methods."

"Other methods?"

Right on cue, that "other method" flung the door open and stormed in.

Chae Eunchae fumed her way onto the sofa and dropped into it hard. Her face was flushed deep red with rage.

"Aaaargh! Those rotten bastards!!"

"What is it?"

"Instalink."

"What about Instalink?"

"Oppa, you told me this one would absolutely blow up. You said it was a sure thing."

"Which is why I told you to get equity in advance."

He had.

Last time, he had given Chae Eunchae the information.

—Instalink is going to take off. Lock in equity early.

Because this October, Facenote would acquire Instalink for a billion dollars.

"I don't think I was wrong, was I?"

Lee Jaseung asked as if he had no idea. Chae Eunchae let out a long, heavy sigh.

"You weren't. You weren't wrong. So I flew all the way to Silicon Valley to invest in Instalink. But the thing is……."

This work is a work of fiction. All characters, groups, place names, and events appearing in this work are entirely fictional and have no connection to anything in the real world. Specialized knowledge described herein has also been reconstructed and adapted to fit the story, and may differ from actual information.