Baiting the Hook
"So what's the word? Is he going with Plan B? Or drafting a whole new strategy?"
"......"
Every desperate gaze in the room swung toward Team Leader Song at once.
He shook his head, heavy with the answer.
"He says there's no revision to the strategy."
"What? Th-then he means to push the TRS all the way to the end?"
"That's right."
"Not a single securities firm in Yeouido will deal with us because they're all watching Daesung headquarters for cues — so how exactly is he planning to pull this off? That does it. I'm going to meet Team Leader Kang myself."
Unable to stomach the frustration a second longer, Cheon Doa made for the team leader's office — and Team Leader Song quickly caught her by the arm.
"Hold on. I've told you before. All we have to do is exactly what the team leader tells us to do."
"Fine, if he says jump, we jump. But this time is different. The fate of our entire team is riding on this."
"I know. But you remember, don't you? Delta One — how the team leader and I took Managing Director Park down and delivered the greatest results in the firm's history."
"Why is that coming up now?"
"Everyone assumes the two of us put our heads together and cooked up some brilliant play, but the truth is different. I didn't do a thing. The team leader did all of it, alone."
"......"
"That's when I told myself: from now on, whatever outlandish plan Team Leader Kang puts on the table, I'll believe in it and follow it to the end. That whatever madness he proposes, I'll back it without condition."
Team Leader Song went on with a faint smile.
"And it looks like today is the day I keep that promise."
"Even so, this is a different matter entirely!"
"Team Leader Kang simply sees the board on a different plane from the rest of us. The depth of his thinking, his ability to read the game — you admit that much yourself, don't you, Team Leader Cheon?"
"That's......"
The words died in Cheon Doa's throat.
Didn't she know, painfully well, that Kang Suho was a colder and more meticulous strategist than anyone else in this room?
"Of course this investment is perilous. Reckless beyond all reason, with no visible way out. But do you really think the team leader doesn't know that — the same fact every one of us knows?"
"......"
"And yet he's pushing this investment plan through to the very end anyway. Doesn't that tell you he's holding something we can't see?"
"Or maybe...... he's just got nowhere left to retreat."
"Maybe. Which is exactly why we shouldn't be standing here burning time — we need to move, and move now."
"I'm sorry?"
"For our plan to work, Shinhwa Securities absolutely must take the TRS deal. So shouldn't we be throwing out bait — enough to make those bastards crawl to the negotiating table on their own?"
Throw out bait, huh......
Cheon Doa echoed the words under her breath, then asked, "What kind of bait, exactly?"
"That's what we go find out, starting now. I'm sure the team leader already has the whole plan mapped out in his head, but we can't just stand around with our hands in our pockets. If each of us gives everything from our own post, something's bound to help."
"......"
Cheon Doa stared at Team Leader Song, almost stunned.
The man who was always so rational, so cold about everything, radiating blind faith like this — she would never get used to it.
"Senior? You do realize you look exactly like a fanatic who's fallen in with a cult?"
"I'm a man who was this close to being cut from the company and survived by the skin of his teeth thanks to the team leader. Of course I'd end up a fanatic."
But Team Leader Song wasn't wrong, either.
Rewriting the investment plan from scratch at this point wouldn't conjure up any brilliant way through headquarters' persecution.
What they needed was a breach through this situation — and their one and only lifeline was Shinhwa Securities.
If they couldn't drag Shinhwa in as a partner by any means necessary, the Special Strategy Operations Team's first step would be over before it ever began.
"Whew. Fine. I'll start digging through the materials right away."
"Good. Everyone mobilizes every line they've got, and we shake down everything we can find for bait worth throwing at Shinhwa Securities."
And so the two aces of Delta One and the Research Center — the most rational people in the building — became accomplices in turning the most outlandish plan into reality.
They say a human life is something you can never quite figure out.
Barely a few months ago I was grinding away at the copy machine with an intern's badge around my neck — and now I was the head of the Special Strategy Operations Team, with an entire floor to ourselves.
But the director's old words had been right, as usual. Life is one bend after another.
The moment the grand title of "Team Leader" landed on my shoulders, hardship came knocking as though it had been waiting for exactly that. But then, they also say that even if the sky falls, there's always a hole to crawl out through.
"Team Leader."
The conference room door swung open and the team members poured in, their arms loaded with mountains of reports.
"......And all of this is?"
"We have to get Shinhwa Securities to the negotiating table somehow, don't we? I'm sure you already have something in mind, but we couldn't just stand by and watch. So we scraped together everything we could find on Shinhwa Securities' recent movements, all the way down to the bedrock."
Just as I hadn't given up, neither had they.
"To start, I went through everything — the Yeouido rags, the media coverage, all the way through Shinhwa Securities' latest investor presentation materials."
Junior Associate Kim Sujin set a stack of paperwork nearly the size of her own body down on the table, her voice soft and round.
"Their results this year are quite impressive. They made a killing on the Hong Kong index and in tech stock plays. Right now they're bursting with confidence about using this as their springboard into the global financial big leagues."
Team Leader Cheon was right behind her, pushing up her glasses as she cut in with a razor edge.
"I reviewed the recent positions on Shinhwa Securities' Prop Desk. They're remarkably aggressive. Their risk exposure is well past three times the industry average — and instead of trimming their positions, they're actually adding to them."
"On top of that, the bold investments keep coming one after another — as if they're out to flaunt the Shinhwa Group's muscle."
At another teammate's added explanation, I asked, "You're saying Shinhwa Securities is overextending itself?"
"Yes. There's also a strong tendency to artificially puff up their results. That's most likely because of the cutthroat succession battle currently raging inside the Shinhwa Group."
Just as the Daesung Group was in an uproar over its own succession, the Shinhwa Group was no different. Wasn't it due for a full generational handover of its own?
"CEO Namgoong Hyun of Shinhwa Securities is one of the frontrunners for the next chairmanship, which is why he's making such big plays. But when you spread yourself this thin, at least one of those ventures is bound to have a fatal crack in it — and all we have to do is turn that into our negotiating card."
That was why the team had shown up hauling all this material. Find what Shinhwa Securities was missing, and in exchange for helping them with it, get them to sign the TRS contract with us.
Honestly, it would be a treacherous job — a needle hunt on a sandy beach. But in this moment, a hot camaraderie was roaring through our team, fueled by nothing more than one fierce, stubborn resolve: to put Shinhwa Securities at that table no matter what it took.
"This one's an overseas alternative investment... this one's FX derivatives... and this one's an IPO?"
I was in the middle of combing through the materials with the team when a single report in Junior Associate Kim Sujin's hand seized my gaze and refused to let go.
Nexcom Energy KOSPI Listing — Underwriting Proposal
"......!"
Because my nose, dead silent until this very moment, was reacting to that proposal like something gone mad.
Yet the team's reaction to the very same document was lukewarm.
"Ah, you can probably set that one aside. Shinhwa's IB headquarters staked everything on the due diligence, and I couldn't find a single crack in it. I cross-checked it any number of times myself — there's nothing sloppy in there."
"True. From the financial statements to the corporate valuation, it's put together incredibly tightly."
"It's the biggest IPO project Shinhwa Securities is currently underwriting. If they get Nexcom Energy listed on the KOSPI without a hitch, CEO Namgoong Hyun's influence within the group will shoot straight up."
"I see."
The moment she nodded lightly and moved to slide the report to the very bottom of the pile, I shot my hand out and grabbed it.
"......T-team Leader?"
"Just a moment."
The instant the Nexcom Energy listing proposal closed in my hand, a scent far thicker and more intense than before came flooding up into my nose.
And yet... there was something strange about this smell. It was sweet, unmistakably — but so artificial it made me want to wrinkle my brow.
How should I put it? The contrived fragrance of cheap synthetic air freshener dumped over rot to smother the stench underneath.
"......"
I flipped through the report page by page, fast. Just as the team had said, on the surface it was a flawless due diligence report without a single dent. Then why was my nose reacting to this one document and nothing else?
"This report — are you certain it's actually clean?"
"Yes. Beyond the data in the report itself, we understand Shinhwa Securities spent months on a high-intensity due diligence. Their conclusion was that Nexcom itself has no problems whatsoever. That's why plenty of people are simply waiting for Nexcom to list."
But the more they reassured me, the louder my sense of smell clamored at this one proposal and nothing else.
"If there really is a problem despite every indicator looking this perfect from the outside — what on earth could it be?"
The team chewed on my question, and then one of them spoke up.
"Well, usually that would mean the reported figures are fundamentally wrong... Oh! Team Leader, don't tell me you think Nexcom's data itself was manipulated?"
"What? Nexcom?!"
"Is that for real?"
So that was it.
Only then did I understand why the scent felt so artificial.
"This company of yours — Nexcom. Would you all take a much closer look at it for me?"
"Who's requesting the TRS?"
"Daeseong Securities, sir."
"Daeseong? We've done TRS deals with them more times than I can count. That's worth reporting now?"
"The terms are a bit unusual. They're demanding 10 billion KRW in initial margin with ten-times leverage."
"What?"
Namgoong Hyun, CEO of Shinhwa Securities, slowly lifted his eyes from the monitor he'd been fixed on.
"Normally it's three to five times at most, right? Ten is about what the bond desk runs. And 10 billion KRW on top of that? What's with these numbers?"
"The deal was submitted by Daeseong Securities' Special Strategy Operations Team."
"The Special Strategy Operations Team...?"
Namgoong Hyun's brow creased.
"Ah, those guys. That self-proclaimed super team that's been raising all that racket in Yeouido?"
"That's right. Though the reality seems a bit different from the rumors. Word is Daesung Group headquarters allocated that team a budget of exactly 10 billion KRW — and not a won more."
"Wait — 10 billion? Seriously?"
All that fanfare about a super team, and the grand sum they were handing over was 10 billion KRW?
"So headquarters is trying to strangle the team in its crib?"
"That's not all. Daesung Group HQ has been calling the major securities firms one by one, strong-arming them not to do any deals with the Special Strategy Operations Team. We got one of those calls ourselves."
Namgoong Hyun burst into a hollow laugh, utterly incredulous.
"Just how much fun is going on inside Daeseong Securities? I can't even picture it. Who's running that team?"
"Kang Suho."
At his secretary's answer, Namgoong Hyun's eyes glinted.
"Wait. Kang Suho?"
"Yes. He's currently at the very top of our own HR team's recruitment priority list."
Kang Suho.
Namgoong Hyun knew that name well.
"He's the kid who slammed a straight right through Ilseong Securities, isn't he?"
"Yes. His track record beyond that is dazzling too. Daeseong Securities practically worships him as the only All-Rounder in Yeouido."
All-Rounder, huh.
In the financial world, that was a word like a mirage. Namgoong Hyun had written the talk off as nonsense — but there was no denying that Kang Suho was a man of real ability.
"We're not the only ones hunting Kang Suho, are we?"
"No, sir. It's not just the domestic firms — the foreign brokerages have their eyes bulging trying to scout him too."
Which was why he'd assumed Daeseong had built the Special Strategy Operations Team in the first place — to bolt Kang Suho down so he couldn't go anywhere.
"And now Daeseong is trying to screw over that precious talent of theirs?"
"Yes. From what we've learned, Director Geum Gaho is preparing his return with Kang Suho as his focal point. As far as headquarters is concerned, the boy has become a threat to the succession."
At last, the puzzle pieces clicked together.
"Damn. Then the odds of that kid ever coming over to our side are zero."
"That's right. He's a confirmed Geum Gaho man. If Director Geum really does reach the chairman's seat someday, a royal road opens up before him — he'd have no reason to jump ship to anyone else."
A shame — but there was no point in licking your lips over another man's dog.
"By the way, sir. Kang Suho has actually requested a meeting with us here at Shinhwa Securities."
"Oh?"
"Yes. He must be desperate, needing to close the TRS contract."
Namgoong Hyun gave his chin a light stroke.
"Turn him down. He was never going to be our man anyway, so there's no reason to take his deal and pick a fight with Daesung Group headquarters. It'd only become a headache later."
If he would never be Shinhwa's man, there was no point in getting tangled up with him.
"Although... they sent this along with the request."
"What's this?"
As Namgoong Hyun skimmed the document his secretary carefully handed over, his hand stopped mid-air.
"......You're certain this really came from Kang Suho's side?"
"Yes. As for whether to take the meeting... they asked that you look this over first and decide."
A dry snort of laughter burst out of Namgoong Hyun.
"Would you look at these guys?"
Then he set the document down and said, "What's on my schedule tomorrow?"
"The executives' meeting is set for the morning, and in the afternoon there's the IB briefing..."
"Cancel all of it, and set up a meeting with Daeseong Securities."
"I'm sorry?"
"I'd like to see, with my own eyes, what kind of confidence it takes to send me something like this."
"Y-you're taking the meeting yourself, sir?"
"That's right."
Namgoong Hyun's gaze bored sharply into the words written across the document's first page.
Nexcom Energy KOSPI Listing — Risk Review
Kang Suho, was it?
The man really was something else.
After all, he'd just made Namgoong Hyun himself snap his jaws shut around the bait.