A War Without Guns
How much do you think they dug up?
About two weeks later, in the chairman’s office of the Maseong Group.
I stepped inside that office with only Yu-gyeong at my side.
“Hello, Chairman Ma Dong-gi.”
“A pleasure. I’m grateful that the Midas of Yeouido would spare her precious time for me.”
“Not at all. I’m just the youngest on the fringes of the Hanul family, after all.”
We were smiling as we spoke, but from this moment on it was essentially a war without guns or blades.
I needed to acquire Seongjin Maseong FC as cheaply as possible. Conversely, the Maseong Group needed to sell Seongjin Maseong FC for as high a price as they could manage.
One side cheap, the other expensive—the argument for that was the main theme of this meeting. And I was clearly the one holding the upper hand.
Even so, I couldn’t let my guard down. Stay sharp and wrap this up quickly.
That was today’s goal…
…but honestly, facing a man more than twice my age wasn’t exactly easy.
I get it because I used to be a man, but does he have to keep glancing at my chest? It’s kind of grossing me out.
“You’re a busy person, so let’s get straight to the point. I hear you want to purchase Seongjin Maseong FC?”
“Yes. The Hanul Group itself is looking to get back into owning a soccer club.”
“Couldn’t you just found one yourselves?”
“We could, but when there’s such a good seller available, there’s no reason for us to go through the trouble of founding a club ourselves.”
A probing exchange. There was information to be gained from it. What information?
From the way Ma Dong-gi didn’t particularly deny the phrase “good seller,” I could tell the Maseong Group wanted to offload this club.
Just knowing that intention meant I already had half the battle won.
Of course, it was information I already knew.
“Then let’s dive right in. How much would you like to sell it for?”
“Our specific proposal is as follows.”
I took the folder he offered and carefully read through the contract. Inside was every piece of necessary information.
All the human resources and material assets the club possessed, even the voting rights.
Literally everything was written down. Yes—at least every “asset” value.
“The price is a bit steep, isn’t it?”
“This should still be far cheaper than founding one yourselves.”
“That’s true, but you’re being a bit too greedy for what you actually have.”
“Where’s the greed? It’s not greedy at all.”
With that, Chairman Ma Dong-gi launched into a detailed explanation of why he had set the price at this level.
The value of these players, the value of the coaching staff and facilities he possessed, the spectator-drawing power, the existing contracts they held…
These were all pieces of information I already knew. I wished he wouldn’t underestimate Hanul’s intelligence capabilities.
Of course, the person who had done the investigating hadn’t approached it in any ordinary way.
Once the explanations were finished, Ma Dong-gi smiled with great confidence and spoke as if trying to persuade me.
“How about it? At this level, we’ve made quite a few concessions in setting the price.”
“Hmm~ You’re right. Compared to the list price, you’ve conceded a lot.”
“Right?”
Ma Dong-gi was smiling.
The greed packed into that plump belly of his was probably cheering in triumph right about now—that he had won, that this was a guaranteed winning deal.
I understood. Considering the problems currently facing the Maseong Group, they needed to sell this club as soon as possible, yet at the same time they needed to sell it for as high a price as possible.
Alright. Then it’s my turn now.
Something I’ve realized after doing this a few times is that deals and negotiations are turn-based.
Once my turn ends, I have to take the opponent’s attack or defense.
In other words…
Now it’s my attack turn.
“That’s true if you only look at the ‘asset’ values. There’s nothing at all about the ‘liability’ values, is there?”
At the mention of liability values, Ma Dong-gi’s face crumpled.
Yes. Liability values. That was the important part.
If you only looked at asset values, I admitted it. Ma Dong-gi’s deal was very reasonable. It made my mouth water.
But if I took over this club, I would also take on all their liabilities. Why hadn’t he explained that?
Of course he hadn’t. Because doing so would mean having to slash the price significantly.
I pulled out the materials I had prepared—the ones our proud Yu-gyeong had put together for me.
Glancing at Yu-gyeong’s expression, her face was blank, but I knew. That was a thoroughly proud expression.
Two weeks before the negotiation, Yu-gyeong had handed me a set of materials.
“Yu-gyeong, what’s this?”
“These are the materials on Seongjin FC that you instructed me to gather, Chairman.”
“They’re already done?”
“They weren’t particularly trying to hide anything, so it was sufficient.”
Feeling a question rise at those words, I began checking through all the documents.
As I reviewed them, I also came across some strange ones…
It was the ledgers of Seongjin FC. Why were these here?
“Um, Yu-gyeong un… no. Yu-gyeong.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“…Why are Seongjin FC’s ledgers here?”
“They tried to hide these a bit, but I managed to dig them up somehow.”
Now I was starting to get curious.
“What’s your standard for ‘trying to hide’ them, Yu-gyeong?”
“A level that even insiders can’t easily touch.”
So the insiders Yu-gyeong contacted could freely look at documents of this level? Did that make any sense?
“Yu-gyeong, I’m not trying to scold you or press you right now. I’m genuinely, purely curious…”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“…Just how high up was the person you contacted?”
“The representative of Maseong Heavy Industries.”
She answered so honestly that my thoughts simply stopped connecting.
“How on earth did you make contact?”
“I’ll explain briefly.”
To put it very simply, the Maseong Group itself treated Seongjin Maseong FC as a toxic asset.
An asset they’d be better off selling right this instant. A toxic asset, plain and simple.
In that situation, even internally they had split into two factions.
One side wanted to sell it off as quickly as possible to pay off the Maseong Group’s current debts. The other side wanted to jack up the value as high as possible in order to erase a large amount of debt.
The current chairman and acting head of the Maseong Group, Chairman Ma Dong-gi, belonged to the latter camp—the side that wanted to extract maximum value.
Having grasped that fact, Yu-gyeong had immediately contacted the opposing faction—Ma Dong-gi’s half-brother, Chairman Ma Dong-ju of Maseong Heavy Industries—and obtained these materials.
“…Yu-gyeong unnie, speaking as a human being named Han Do-a, you’re sometimes really scary.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, at least as Secretary Jeong Yu-gyeong.”
She was truly sly. Sometimes I thought this unnie was the biggest monster of all.
Well, thanks to her I was able to obtain all the Maseong Group’s materials, so I should count myself lucky. Yeah. Lucky. Mm-hmm.
With just these materials, I could absolutely seize the upper hand in the negotiation.
When he saw the materials I handed over, Chairman Ma Dong-gi let out a deep sigh.
“…With this, I have nothing more to say.”
“We have to take on all these debts as well. Don’t you think this price is far too high?”
“That’s true, but I still can’t sell it for less than this price.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
That was also true.
Currently the Maseong Group was carrying enormous borrowings due to Chairman Ma Dong-gi’s failed expansion into new businesses. As a result the entire group was teetering.
That was why they had to sell Seongjin Maseong FC, which could be called the founder’s legacy—and for as high a price as possible.
In other words, even if this soccer club was an unrelated business that only racked up losses every year, Chairman Ma Dong-gi had absolutely no intention of selling it for less than the amount he had proposed.
So now that I had proven this price was absurd, I also needed to throw him a lifeline. Deals only work when both sides win.
“Chairman Ma Dong-gi, if I may be so bold as to say, no one is going to buy it at the amount you’ve proposed.”
“Someone might still come along, no?”
“If they’re not someone who can investigate as thoroughly as I can, sure. But how long are you going to wait for such a person? You need to sell this club as soon as possible, don’t you?”
At my words, Chairman Ma Dong-gi pressed his lips tightly shut.
Well, of course. Getting lectured by a girl who hadn’t even lived half his life, barely a social novice, must feel pretty unpleasant.
But just bear with it a little. I’m trying to save you here.
“So, how about this proposal?”
I held out the second document folder I had prepared in advance. Inside that folder was an amount written that was nearly similar to the one Chairman Ma Dong-gi had proposed.
Chairman Ma Dong-gi’s eyes widened as he looked at it, but that wasn’t the point.
“You’ll entrust all the remodeling work and additional construction to us?”
“Yes. On top of what I consider a reasonable price for this club, plus the remodeling costs and additional construction costs. How about it? Isn’t this a sufficiently good deal?”
It might sound a bit harsh to say this, but rather than entrusting it to the Maseong Group, it would be better to throw a bit of a tantrum and hand the remodeling and additional construction over to Hanul Construction.
The price would be a bit higher, but the quality would be better.
Even so, the reason I was conceding like this was that the Maseong Group was still one of the top five construction companies in Korea. They had built a major conglomerate on construction technology alone.
Compared to us, the quality difference wasn’t as big as one might think, and we could contract at far below market price. You couldn’t get value for money like that anywhere else.
“It feels a bit awkward to say this myself, but wouldn’t it be better to entrust it to Hanul Construction?”
“That’s right, but a deal is only a deal when both sides can smile, isn’t it? With a deal like this, I’m fine with it, and Chairman Ma Dong-gi, you can save Maseong. As a bonus, you’ll also form a connection with Hanul.”
“…I don’t understand why the Hanul Group hasn’t put someone like you, Chairman Han Do-a, in a key position.”
“I’m just not a very ambitious person. I have no interest in things like running the group.”
With that conversation we finished our verbal agreement and decided to send the contract later.
Amusingly, the very next day they sent over the contract right away.
Alright. Now that I’ve received the contract…
Time to go make the announcement. To Grandfather and the family.