Starting Over Again (5)
“However, as I mentioned before, all the members of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee belong to the opposition party, the Future Progressive Party. Even if the Minister of Economy and Finance is a person from the New Korea Party, if all the civil servants and those who hold power behind the scenes are affiliated with the Future Progressive Party, well... wouldn’t they be more inclined to side with the latter?”
At that point, the lawyer continued, “And second, you deceived the purpose of submitting the Large Shareholding Report to the Financial Services Commission. This contract shows a nuance that suggests you intend to engage in management activities, and there are many other clauses that a judge would likely interpret the same way. If we proceed with a lawsuit, not only will we invalidate the contract, but regarding the items listed for simple investment purposes—”
Gulp.
“—Article 150 of the same Act, Restriction on Exercise of Voting Rights for Violating Stocks, etc. It states that anyone who reports false information or omits important details regarding significant matters shall not exercise voting rights for the portion exceeding 5% of the total issued shares with voting rights for a period determined by Presidential Decree, and the Financial Services Commission may order the disposal of the violating portion within a period of up to six months. It’s written right here, isn’t it?”
Wow. I’m saved.
“Whoa....”
Eunbyul, watching the lawyer who was reciting legal codes as if he were pulling them directly from his brain, let out an exclamation of overwhelming emotion. But the joy was short-lived.
“However, there is a problem. If we make an issue of this, Salayme will hire a law firm and proceed with a lawsuit. GPL is a project where they’ve already poured in money, and if it succeeds, it’s a jackpot, so they won’t let go easily.”
“Hmm. That’s true....”
Right. I understood that a lawsuit would take a long time. Fatigue would only accumulate during the delay. It would be difficult for even the President to readily offer to invest in a GPL with an uncertain future, no matter how much they wanted to. Of course, if he, being wealthy, invested himself, that would be one thing, but as I said before, selling off all 10 trillion won worth of Doowon stock would cause management rights issues, and if the stock price fell while liquidating it, his father might support him now, but once he walked out the door—
“What a disgraceful son....”
He might say something like that. Thinking that, the lawyer continued, “That’s why I said earlier that acquiring Salayme might be better.”
“Ah... so that’s why you said that.”
“Yes. It would be better to just acquire it so we can move it however we want. Although, in the case of a private equity fund, there is a procedure that requires the consent of the majority of investors under relevant laws...” The lawyer realized he had slipped and changed the subject. After all, if this wealthy family bought the entire private equity fund, what couldn’t they do? Right. The problem now was whether to acquire it or not, and from whom to obtain Salayme.
“Thank you for your advice. So, you’re saying that if this case turns into a lawsuit, the Legal Affairs Office will handle it.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
As the work talk seemed to be ending, the conversation dwindled. ...I’ve seen that lawyer somewhere before. Did I run into him at the office or something?
“For now, this is all that President Kim Seok requested. Any further information would require additional data collection.”
“...Yes, thank you for your hard work.”
“Then....”
Watching the lawyer leave the conference room immediately after finishing his greetings, Eunbyul pulled her chair slightly forward and sat opposite me, saying, “Why? Did he cast a spell on you or something?”
“....”
“Stop staring. You’re going to wear that lawyer out.”
“No, it’s just that he looks like someone I’ve seen before....”
"Director, this is the Secretary's Office. The Chairman would like to see you."
“Understood. I’ll head up.”
“Understood.”
We didn’t talk about work as much as possible during lunch. Eunbyul must have noticed, as she didn’t mention anything and just ate quietly. We didn’t go to the company cafeteria often. It drew unnecessary attention. It was the same now. This call came right after we returned.
I put on my coat and told Eunbyul I was heading upstairs. It’s a relief that I don’t have to worry about Eunbyul, who says she’ll handle the work herself. There’s almost no secretary like her.
. . .
“I heard. It’s an unfortunate situation.”
“The Chairman might have other intentions...”
“We must protect what is ours. What else can we do?”
My father, who said we must proceed even if it means a lawsuit, was examining the GPL research portfolio and the intellectual property rights materials we had acquired. He didn’t seem to be just glancing at them this time. He didn’t bark at me to stop causing trouble.
“Do you have any other thoughts?”
“...I still have a lot to think about.”
“The company is backing you, the government is backing you, so why aren’t you doing it?”
“...?”
I stared blankly at the Chairman, who raised his voice just a little, asking if I shouldn’t have been meeting people already. I thought he was asking how I planned to deal with Salayme, but that didn’t seem to be it.
“There are things to consider, and there are many uncertain factors. In this situation, to proceed with the business...”
“That’s a weak excuse.”
“...?”
“It means you just have to do the job you’re assigned.”
What does that mean?
“Whether the contract is illegal or not, you are the person in charge of that project. Then you should continue the work you were doing. It’s the same for the biotechnology business I used to run. Just like how you have to cling to that one task until you find the one among thousands of drug candidates that is most effective and has the highest chance of success.”
“Like that, I think the work you need to do is to make the product you were developing even more perfect, and run toward that goal until you commercialize it with all your effort. That’s my thought.”
So, in summary, don’t worry about weird things and just focus on research and development—that’s what he meant. It means I should restore the hope that turned to dust while I was away for the employees.
As he said, “You haven’t done a lawsuit before, have you?”
“...Yes.”
“I like your attitude of throwing yourself into things you don’t know. It’s good to be interested. But there is a department in charge of this kind of work, isn’t there? Tell them the situation is such and such. So please solve it. You can just throw it to them and walk away.”
However, I couldn’t just go down to the floor where GPL is located, could I? But—
“If it were a problem that could be solved by worrying, I wouldn’t have called you.”
“...”
“I’ll assign this to the ISG and the office, so you go and do your work.”
“The government investment...”
I nodded and was about to turn back, but I stopped and asked, “...Well, they’ll figure it out themselves. Explain it sufficiently... and if they want to do it, let them. It will be difficult in the current situation.”
- “I need to go down to the 15th floor. Secretary Eun, please continue what you were doing...”
“Fifteenth floor... 15th floor? I should go too. Then.”
“Why?”
I intended to go down alone, but Eunbyul insisted on following.
“What do you mean why? What are you going to do there by yourself? You’ll just come back up sighing deeply, won’t you? I’ll assist you.”
The wording ‘what are you going to do there’ was a bit of a blow to my heart, but it was true... I didn’t even know what I would say when I got there. I might just spit out whatever my brain outputs in real-time and try to appeal to their emotions. So, I took the elevator down with her.
“What did you talk about?”
“He told me not to worry...? That he’d handle it.”
“Oh... the Chairman didn’t get angry?”
“Yeah. He seems to have changed a bit since I received that award last time.”
We arrived on the 15th floor. Passing the automatic doors, I went straight to where the GPL employees were staying. Among the various departments gathered there, I sat in a chair and looked around at the employees who were only processing the office work assigned from above. I called out to the people one by one, who were busy with their own work without even giving me a glance even though I had arrived.
“...! Representative.”
“...What representative. Just.... just a person.”
It wasn’t that they intentionally avoided looking at me. They had to do this work to make a living. I had hired them separately because I couldn’t just fire all the employees, but it seemed like there was more work than I thought. The person sitting as the department head was Lee Jeonghyun, the person who created that club and the GPL research and development manager who had kept his place from the beginning until now. And he was also my senior by two years in school.
“What brings you....!”
“Oh, hello!”
“Hyung!”
“Wait, what? How long has it been?”
And the employees stood up one by one to welcome me. I felt that they came to life as soon as they saw me, so I thought it was a good thing I came. I was worried that they might have cut ties with me because so much time had passed, or that they would show hostility. I tried to retrace my memory one by one to remember what kind of people they were.