Chapter 119: A Difficult Marriage
Chapter 119: A Difficult Marriage
While staying at a hotel in New York, the numbers in my bank account grew at a rapid pace.
―Balance: $38,761,978,177
A balance of 38.7 billion dollars.
And that was without having sold off my massive holdings in Tesla and a few other stocks.
‘With this kind of money, I could buy most companies outright.’
I could acquire companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Turning my eyes to Korea, the number of companies I could acquire grew even larger.
‘Except for the top five companies by market cap, I could buy any of them. Even Mirae Motors.’
Of course, if I actually tried to buy them, the stock prices would soar, making it difficult.
A year ago, I was just a rich guy with a lot of money, but now I owned Earth Resource.
Biolife had accomplished something incredible, saving millions of lives. And on top of that, my fortune had grown tenfold.
‘There’s no one I envy.’
Maybe this was why I’d said what I did in front of President-elect Biden.
I might have lived as a have-not for a long time, but now I had the confidence that came with owning wealth and a corporation.
Plus, when you have money, it's only natural to want to spend it.
“Jong-yeop.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Put together an acquisition team.”
Since I was in New York, I decided to buy a few skyscrapers.
New York had been hit hard by COVID, so real estate prices had plummeted.
A purchase purely for investment.
“I should buy a sports team, too.”
I already have an E-sports team in Korea, but I was thinking of acquiring a soccer, baseball, or basketball team.
It wasn't just a hobby for the super-rich, like those from the Middle East or Russia; it was a necessity for Earth Channel.
Broadcasting sports leagues was a crucial part of any TV channel.
Owning a team would make negotiating broadcasting rights easier, and I could also create various events during the off-season.
“I don’t think this is something I can handle alone.”
“Right. We’ll need a professional acquisition team. Recruit employees with relevant experience. We might be buying a lot more things in the future.”
* * *
An Myeong-guk wanted to escape.
When he accepted Kim Shin's offer and became the Senior Managing Director of Biolife, he thought he had won at life.
“Honey, I got a new job at Biolife.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t know Biolife? The company that made the COVID vaccine! The one run by Kim Shin.”
“Really?”
His wife was overjoyed.
His base salary started at 500 million won, and his incentives were several times that.
He could feel his social standing whenever he had meetings with other companies.
“Senior Managing Director An, you didn’t have to come all this way yourself. We’re so sorry to have troubled you.”
“It’s easier for me to move around. I didn’t expect the Vice President to come out personally.”
“Of course, I had to. The President sends his regrets; he had another appointment and wanted me to tell you how sorry he was to miss you.”
He visited other major corporations in his Bentley.
Although they were already working with Isung and DK, he met with other companies to secure various subsidiary materials and foster cooperation.
No corporate representative dared to treat An Myeong-guk disrespectfully.
“Is this the car that CEO Kim Shin picked out for you himself?”
“Yes, it is.”
It showed how small the Korean market was; rumors that Kim Shin had personally gifted him the Bentley were widespread.
Working at Biolife wasn't difficult.
He could meet with any domestic company with ease, and they all treated him with respect.
People even came directly from Japanese and Chinese companies seeking collaboration.
He had more work than when he was at Arcor, but with the authority and compensation he now had, he was more than willing to handle it.
“My husband just changed jobs. You know Biolife?”
“The company that makes the vaccine?”
“Yeah. I heard they make tens of trillions of won a year. He joined as a Senior Managing Director.”
“For real?”
During the holidays, when he visited his in-laws with his wife, he was the envy of everyone.
His brothers-in-law, who used to subtly look down on him for being a mere pharmaceutical company employee.
The brother-in-law who ran an electrical construction company was friendly to him for the first time in their fifteen years of marriage.
“Brother-in-law. I heard you took up golf. How about a round next weekend?”
This was the same brother-in-law who ran a small company in Incheon and would always brag about his money at family gatherings.
“I have another golf game next weekend.”
“Oh, come on. Who are you playing with? You should come with us instead. I have a lot of acquaintances in Songdo who work in pharmaceuticals. Wouldn’t that be helpful for your work?”
“I’m supposed to play with the presidents of Isung Biologics and Isung Construction, and a managing director from Isung Electronics.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
The Isung Group was showing An Myeong-guk their full favor.
It wasn't just because he had helped Isung Biologics grow severalfold.
They didn't know what other business opportunities might arise from maintaining a friendly relationship with An Myeong-guk, the person closest to Kim Shin in Korea.
“Would you like to join our golf group?”
“Would it be alright for me to join?”
An Myeong-guk took his brother-in-law golfing and introduced him to the Isung Group affiliates.
He landed him several billion-won construction projects, which greatly boosted his standing with his in-laws.
“You bought another bag?”
“This one is a seasonal bag. It’s only available now.”
He could understand the growing collection of luxury bags at home.
His wife had worked so hard raising the kids, after all.
“Let’s move.”
“Move? This place is plenty big for a family of four.”
“No. We have to think about your reputation. We need to live in a better house.”
“We don’t have the money right now…”
“With a salary that high, you can’t get a loan?”
So he took out a loan, and they moved to a better house.
“Let’s send Cheol-won to an international school.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a crucial time for him. It costs about 50 million won a year, and you can afford that much.”
Now that he was earning a high salary, his wife wanted to send their son to an international school.
‘Honestly, he’s not the academic type.’
He’d given up on having high hopes for him shortly after he started elementary school.
As a father, he knew his son wasn't particularly bright, but his wife insisted on sending him to various academies, trying desperately to raise his grades.
He'd maxed out his credit card more than once from paying for seven or eight different academies.
Still, now that he had a generous salary, he figured he could at least grant his wife's wish.
“Alright. Let’s send him to an international school.”
“Really? I’ll look into it.”
She said she would enroll their child in an international school, and it seemed she did her research diligently.
A week later, his wife changed her mind.
“Let’s send the kids to Hawaii. No matter how good an international school is, it’s still in Korea. For their future, we need to send them to the U.S.”
“All the way to Hawaii?”
He could somehow manage the tuition, but he had never imagined living apart from the children he was so attached to.
“If we send the kids to Hawaii, we’ll only see them during school breaks?”
“Yes. And I’ll have to go with them to take care of them.”
“You too?”
“Of course. Do you think I’d be at ease sending the kids abroad by themselves?”
Now, not only his children but also his wife wanted to go live in Hawaii.
He thought everything had gotten better after he joined Biolife, but now it felt like everything he had painstakingly built was crumbling in an instant.
* * *
Lee Jong-yeop was busy in New York, putting together the acquisition team.
He brought in employees with business degrees to Earth Resource and used their connections to link up with lawyers and consulting firms.
While working from dawn till late at night, he received a call from Random Flower Publishing.
―We’ve received the completed manuscript from Ms. Han Chae-won.
“Did you? I told you to delay the publication since she was bound to write some nonsense anyway.”
―It’s not nonsense. I think you should take a look at the manuscript first.
“Alright, send it over.”
Lee Jong-yeop received the manuscript on his phone and began to read.
Her first meeting with Kim Shin while working at Arcor, their first date, their marriage.
She wrote about how kind and endearingly earnest he had been with her, and how she had gradually used that to get gifts and benefits for herself.
The villainous things she did after they got married were written down just as they had happened.
“Han Chae-won wrote this?”
―Yes, that’s right.
Lee Jong-yeop didn't fundamentally believe that people could change.
An evil person is always an evil person.
Even if she had truly changed her heart, considering the life she had lived, there was no need to re-evaluate her.
He believed that turning over a new leaf was something only possible for animals in fairy tales.
‘What was Han Chae-won thinking?’
Considering her usual personality and situation, the answer came quickly.
‘She wants to sell the book and make money, but my boss’s reputation must have made it impossible for her to fill it with lies.’
Kim Shin was experiencing spectacular growth as both a businessman and an investor.
He was solidifying a firm foundation in both Korea and the United States.
If she published a book full of lies, she would immediately be hit with a lawsuit, and the book would face an injunction to halt sales.
‘Unless she’s a fool, she must have thought that far. Which means, in the end, she wanted to publish the book no matter what criticism she faced.’
Han Chae-won’s greed.
She wouldn't have wanted to miss an opportunity to make money, no matter what.
And yet, the manuscript's contents… were filled with stories about what a kind and good person Kim Shin was.
―What should we do with this manuscript?
“Hoo… I think I’ll have to ask the CEO directly about this.”
* * *
NVIDIA’s market capitalization reached 900 billion dollars.
I sold off my shares, worth over 5 billion dollars, little by little.
I did the same with my Tesla stock, selling it off in portions on the market.
My work environment was leisurely, operating from the best suite in a New York hotel.
‘I feel bad for Myeong-woo.’
He must be doing so much work back at Earth Resource.
To be living this carefree life at such a crucial time.
I solidified my resolve to buy an even taller building for Oh Myeong-woo in San Francisco, in his name.
“Boss. Han Chae-won has written the manuscript for her book.”
“Huh?”
Lee Jong-yeop had brought a printed copy of the manuscript Han Chae-won had written.
“It’s not important enough for you to read the whole thing. Still, I thought you should be the one to decide whether she publishes it or not.”
“And if I say no?”
“I’ll stop it by any means necessary.”
I tried to keep an open mind and took a sip of my coffee.
‘This isn’t Han Chae-won’s writing. This is not Han Chae-won’s writing.’
Just the thought of it being written by her made my stomach churn and a headache bloom.
This was the woman who would get annoyed over the most trivial conversations, and she had written an entire manuscript.
‘I don’t need to read it all. I’ll just skim through it.’
I opened the manuscript and started reading from the first page.
It contained her story from her point of view, starting from when she was at Arcor and first met me.
[It was a rainy day. Kim Shin was leaving work with his backpack on when he spoke to me.
“If you don’t have an umbrella, would you like to share mine to the subway station?”
Hearing his voice up close, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.
“Yes. I’d love to.”
As we walked to the subway under the umbrella, I barely got wet from the heavy rain.
I realized it was because Kim Shin was holding the umbrella more over my side.
He was just like the man the female employees at work described: responsible, warm, and considerate.]
‘So she did see me in a good light from the start.’
I did recall that day.
Han Chae-won, standing helplessly in front of the office.
She looked so pitiful that I’d offered to share my umbrella.
‘Looking back on my life, that was a truly massive mistake.’
The consequences were far more terrible than lecturing President-elect Biden.