Chapter 84
Chapter 84
84.
An Example of Relative Selection
Lee Sung-moon sat alone in the bar room, his pent-up anger finally erupting as he hurled his glass against the wall.
Clang!
"Those damn bastards… if you're going to do something, do it right!"
When Myung Woon-suk heard the news that Im Hee-yeon had been kidnapped after finalizing the Baipo contract, he had rejoiced.
In fact, it was Myung Woon-suk who had informed Cui Xun of Im Hee-yeon's location. However, Myung Woon-suk didn't know who they were.
He had simply agreed when they offered to take care of Im Hee-yeon and Baek Shin-woo.
But both of them returned to Korea unscathed. At the same time, he completely lost contact with those who had made the offer.
"Could it be… that they're turning on me? No. If that had leaked, I wouldn't be safe right now either."
He knew that if it became known that he was the source of the information leak, it wouldn't end with just a scolding like before.
Moreover, the biggest reason he accepted their offer was because Baek Shin-woo had brought Lee Sung-moon, whom he had demoted to the MH Retail Daegu branch, back to headquarters.
How he had dug up that information from years ago… he had even exposed it at a family dinner with Myung Joong-hwan present.
Myung Woon-suk couldn't help but feel that some action was necessary.
"But what's with Azure Feather Group? This is driving me crazy……."
Another problem was the fact that Im Hee-yeon was connected to Azure Feather Group, of all places.
A massive corporation that ranked among the top in China. Its influence was known to be difficult for even the Chinese government to ignore, so everyone wanted to work with Azure Feather Group.
However, Cheon Hye-rin, the chairman of Azure Feather Group, was known to be more meticulous than anyone else, and she rarely showed herself in human relationships, making it difficult to even get acquainted with her.
In particular, there were even rumors that she was deeply involved with the Chinese underworld and that if you messed with her, you'd be scattered as seagull feed in the Yellow Sea.
Looking back now, it was highly likely that Im Hee-yeon's smooth progress in Chinese business ventures was due to the influence of Azure Feather Group.
Knock, knock.
Amidst the barrage of complex thoughts, a knock was heard.
The door opened, and Kim Byung-woon, the second-generation heir of the Joseon Daily, poked his head in. He shook his head, looking at the shards of glass that decorated the floor with a sparkle.
"Looks like something really bad happened?"
"I called you ages ago, what took you so long?"
Today's meeting was a promise with Kim Byung-woon. But he arrived an hour late.
"It's been quite noisy lately. And of course, your MH Group is in the middle of it."
The Im Hee-yeon kidnapping case was so serious that even the Korean government stepped in and requested accurate cooperation and information sharing from the Chinese government.
Because a person from MH Group, a leading company in Korea, was kidnapped while working in China, it was necessary to treat it seriously.
Naturally, Joseon Daily, as a media company, had no choice but to continue covering the incident.
"Anyone would think you're a journalist with a strong sense of reporting."
"Why wouldn't I be? I'm the heir to Joseon Daily, after all."
Buzz, buzz.
At that moment, Kim Byung-woon's phone, which was placed on the table, rang. Kim Byung-woon's expression crumpled as he looked at the screen.
"This bastard… keeps calling……."
"Who is it?"
"Bae Han-joon. Ever since Bae Sung-hwan was kicked out of his position as vice president, his own position has been shaky, and he keeps begging for help."
"Just block him like I did."
To them, Bae Han-joon was no longer a friend. The moment things went wrong, he was seen as less than a kite with a broken string.
"Can a journalist do that? You never know. Maybe this bastard will give me a useful scoop."
"Come to think of it, your Joseon Daily broke the Han-joon story the hardest. And you're still covering it. And he's still asking for help?"
"That bastard doesn't have any friends. Right now, his old man is busy with the lawsuit to invalidate the inheritance of lifetime shares and assets that Chairman Bae Young-cheol received before he died."
The second son, Bae Sung-wook, was only happy for a short time after taking over as chairman. Baeseong Corporation itself was shaken by the trial against Bae Sung-hwan and the sudden appearance of Bae Young-cheol's ledger.
With the prosecution investigation underway, it was almost impossible for Baeseong Corporation to recover in its current state.
Of course, unless the contents of the anonymously (?) reported ledger were revealed…….
"That guy really has no pride."
"Honestly, he was annoying even when we met before. Because he was the heir to Baeseong Corporation, he was the closest to you in terms of wealth among us."
"What's the point of arguing about that now? Still, Bae Han-joon must have quite a bit of money stashed away, right?"
There was a reason why people said that even if a rich man goes bankrupt, he'll still last three years. Bae Han-joon was in trouble because of his father Bae Sung-hwan's property lawsuit, but he couldn't freely use company funds even before.
Naturally, he had been creating slush funds through various methods and gradually increasing them.
But Kim Byung-woon tilted his head as he poured himself a drink.
"Didn't you know?"
"Know what?"
"That bastard, like Ahn Seung-joo, secretly traded Telecom Stock in his own pocket and lost money when he took it out wrong, and recently, he made a big investment in Koga Pharmaceuticals in Japan and completely blew it."
Myung Woon-suk had also seen the article about the illegal clinical trials of Koga Pharmaceuticals' new drug in Japan. The issue arose when the test subjects suffered severe side effects and filed lawsuits.
Naturally, the stock price plummeted day after day, to the point where trading was even halted due to a circuit breaker.
"Of all companies, Koga Pharmaceuticals……."
As Myung Woon-suk muttered with a sigh, he remembered that the name had been familiar to him since he saw the article. He quickly took out his phone and checked the investment data of Baek Shin-woo that he had previously obtained through Lee Sang-kyung, the head of the fund management division.
Kim Byung-woon, who was watching him, was puzzled.
"What's wrong? What are you suddenly looking for? Did you get a call or something?"
"Wait."
Myung Woon-suk's eyes widened as he examined the contents.
【Investment Evaluation WDD LIST】
WDD stood for Warning, Dangerous, Delete, meaning that it was highly likely that there would be caution, danger, or deletion in investment trends. And the content contained information about Koga Pharmaceuticals.
【Category: Delete】
【Koga Pharmaceuticals - Although there is some growth potential, there are risks in the new drug development process. Circumstances have also been discovered in which side effect cases were omitted.】
Myung Woon-suk's hand, which was holding the phone, trembled.
Baek Shin-woo had accurately judged Koga Pharmaceuticals, which no one had foreseen.
"How did that bastard know this……?"
Kim Byung-woon, who was curious next to him, carefully approached and looked at the contents of the phone. And he couldn't help but react like Myung Woon-suk.
"What…? This is the data you got during the Telecom Stock incident, right? The one that Baek Shin-woo uploaded."
“…That's right.”
"Baek Shin-woo knew from the beginning that Koga Pharmaceuticals would turn out like this?"
"Can't you tell even after seeing it for yourself?"
Previously, he had thought that the WDD LIST was unnecessary and had skimmed through it.
But it contained even more terrifying content than the list of possible investments.
"Japan is in an uproar right now because of Koga Pharmaceuticals… where does Baek Shin-woo get his information?"
"If I knew that, would I be standing still?"
Myung Woon-suk still thought that Baek Shin-woo had taken what should have been his.
If Myung Woon-suk had been able to have the information up until now, Baek Shin-woo's position would have been his.
A moment of silence passed, and then Kim Byung-woon's eyes sparkled.
"Hey! Can I publish this as an article?"
Instantly, Myung Woon-suk's brow furrowed.
"Are you crazy? This is internal data. I already went to MH Electronics because of the Telecom Stock incident, and you're going to publish it on top of that?"
"Hey! Who said I'd publish it in a bad way? Title! MH Group predicted the Koga Pharmaceuticals crisis in Japan! MH Group is the only one you can trust! How's that?"
It felt like he was trying to boost the image of MH Group with the Koga Pharmaceuticals incident.
But Myung Woon-suk didn't like many parts of it.
"At best, it'll only make Baek Shin-woo's MH Future Security look good."
As a result, it was Baek Shin-woo, not MH Future Security, who had predicted the Koga Pharmaceuticals incident.
"Hey, we've been in business for more than a day or two. No matter where you start the fire, the direction it spreads depends on the wind."
"You mean… you're going to make that wind blow towards me?"
"If things go well, you might be able to return to headquarters, right?"
Myung Woon-suk began to hesitate slightly, and then the scoldings he had heard from Myung In-chul flashed through his mind.
"Tsk! Forget it. My grandfather will know about it anyway, and I might end up suffering for nothing if I bring it up."
At the same time, Kim Byung-woon's face frowned.
"Our Woon-suk has become a coward because of that Baek Shin-woo."
"What? A coward?"
"Either way, the WDD LIST data won't be harmful to MH Group. As you said, it might be like feeding Baek Shin-woo, but you can also praise him. There's also a saying that you should keep your enemies closer than your friends."
Until now, Myung Woon-suk had only been trying to keep Baek Shin-woo in check, and he had failed. Of course, it wasn't that he didn't understand Kim Byung-woon's words.
But his pride wouldn't allow him to bow down to Baek Shin-woo.
"Closer……."
Myung Woon-suk muttered that and poured himself a full glass of alcohol and drank it.
【MH Future Security, a financial investment affiliate of MH Group, had already predicted the Koga Pharmaceuticals crisis in Japan? The investment evaluation WDD LIST, which was created for Koga Pharmaceuticals, which was on the rise, received a Delete rating…….】
【MH Future Security CEO Baek Shin-woo, the Midas touch of this era! The investment projects he has been involved in have been successfully led every day…….】
.
.
The articles, which started with Joseon Daily, continued to be published through various media outlets.
Shinwoo, who was watching it in his office, tilted his head.
"Are these guys crazy……."
He knew that Joseon Daily was where Kim Moon-chan, the father of Myung Woon-suk's friend Kim Byung-woon, was the CEO.
Naturally, he couldn't be happy about the fact that an article praising Shinwoo had been published in a place that couldn't be friendly.
Jang Man-soo, who had shared the content with him, also found it difficult to understand.
"Could it be that they've really gone crazy after being beaten by you so much? Or maybe there's another trick."
"It would be strange if there wasn't a trick."
Lillian peeked her head over the partition from her seat.
"Or maybe they're trying to stick to the boss like leeches and suck something out of him?"
"That's not impossible."
Just like Shinwoo had joined hands with Kwak Chi-young of TSF Investment under the pretext of a deal. Of course, if that was the real intention, Myung Woon-suk's move was the most shallow.
Then Jang Man-soo clapped his hands.
Clap!
"Could it be that he's being nice because he feels guilty about telling Cui Xun about Madam's location?"
After solving the Im Hee-yeon kidnapping case, Shinwoo had hacked the phones of Cui Xun and the 666 Unit members.
The information inside was naturally sent to Jang Man-soo, and the coded messages were immediately deciphered, revealing that Myung Woon-suk was the source of the information leak.
Of course, he couldn't present that as evidence, so it was difficult to take legal action against Myung Woon-suk.
But he could definitely tell that he had contacted Myung Woon-suk at the TSF China branch.
"There's no way that guy would do that. The previous guess is more likely to be correct."
The Baipo technology patent lease agreement led by Myung Woon-suk was not even noticed due to the Im Hee-yeon kidnapping case.
If he had emphasized that achievement, he might have needed to be prepared to endure Myung Joong-hwan's anger.
At this, Shinwoo smiled bitterly as he watched Myung Woon-suk's desperate struggles.