Winter's Monsoon Rain
While Yeon-woo and the theater troupe were still lingering on Jeju Island, Chairman Seo Tae-gwang flew out to the Philippines.
Officially he was there to attend the Defense Industry Conference in Manila, yet at the same time he made a conspicuous appearance at the Korea-ASEAN Cultural Content Industry Forum.
Ihan Group was a classic Korean conglomerate that had sprawled octopus-like into every sector beyond defense contracting, so the chairman's presence at an unrelated forum was not, strictly speaking, strange. Still, the move was unexpected enough that reporters swarmed him. Seo Tae-gwang only laughed and gave an interview.
The troupe members, finding endless things to see, had gone out sightseeing again. Yeon-woo remained alone in the suite, watching Chairman Seo appear on the news.
His phone rang.
"Ah, Hae-un."
"Team Leader, how on earth did you get Chairman Seo Tae-gwang moving? He's going all out."
Truth be told, Han Hae-un had been half-skeptical even while compiling and handing over the chairman's schedule. Ihan Group stood opposed to Baeksol, yes, but that was no guarantee of help, and Hae-un had not even been certain Seo knew Baeksol existed. He had doubted any real assistance would come.
Yeon-woo had simply shaken his head and said he had a personal card to play that had nothing to do with Baeksol, then set the operation in motion. The conversation with Chairman Seo was to be conducted purely in the name of "Ryu Yeon-woo"; had Baeksol needed to be mentioned, Yeon-woo would never have contacted the man at all.
"Even without Chairman Seo stepping in we could have dealt them a solid blow," Yeon-woo said.
"It would have been only half a success. The bigger the board, the heavier the damage they take."
Yeon-woo nodded at Hae-un's words.
"Still, how did you move a heavyweight like Seo Tae-gwang?"
"Well, he said he liked my eyes."
"...Excuse me? Your eyes?"
"Something like that."
Meanwhile the reporters kept churning out articles on the chairman's unexpected move.
And among industry insiders a rumor began to spread, tagged with the irresistible phrase "insider information."
Ihan Group intends to acquire LN Media and take the lead in pioneering overseas content markets.
LN Media itself could hardly fail to hear a story that loud. In the CEO's office James Choi bowed his head as he took the call. The metallic voice on the other end made his whole body tremble.
"Verify the facts. Where did this story come from?"
"Yes, sir! According to the rumors, the information came directly from Ihan Group's Future Strategy Team."
"Good. Crisis and opportunity always arrive together. Consider that you've just been handed an opportunity, James Choi."
The man on the line was not the agent "Hwang-geum" who normally issued his orders. Claiming Hwang-geum had been injured in an operation, the higher-ups had linked James Choi directly to them. He bowed even deeper.
"Yes! I'll handle it cleanly."
Click.
The line went dead. James Choi's eyes glittered.
If I play this right, I might just enter the cartel's inner circle.
This was Ihan Group—one of the five largest conglomerates in Korea. If they truly meant to swallow LN Media and every entertainment subsidiary under it, the chance of a lifetime had just fallen into his lap.
Desperate to catch Baeksol's eye, James Choi began analyzing every scrap of LN Media's past records day and night, more frantically than he ever had as a corporate raider in the States.
Then he found one document.
Ihan Technology Advertising Contract Report
"An advertising deal between Ryu Yeon-woo and Ihan Technology... Why is the fee set so high? Given Yeon-woo's market value at the time, this amount is absurd."
He dug further, then picked up his phone and called Byeon Hak-gyu, CEO of Plus10 Entertainment.
"Oh, Representative Choi. I completely forgot to call and congratulate you. Haha."
"Representative Byeon. We're in the same boat now—shouldn't we grab a drink sometime?"
"Of course we should."
"Today I actually called because I have a few questions. You've got deep roots in this industry, after all."
James Choi laid out the situation and the inflated contract fee. Byeon Hak-gyu answered as if it were nothing special.
"That's everyday business in our world. They probably kept Yeon-woo's actual pay on a separate ledger and Kim Ju-seong pocketed the rest in the middle. With that kind of money, some back-channel deal is more than likely."
"Double books, then."
Byeon Hak-gyu, long practiced in exactly this brand of embezzlement, explained the method in detail. James Choi nodded along.
"Ahh, I see. Next time the drinks are on me. Yes, yes. Take care."
He hung up, eyes gleaming with feverish light.
Why had Kim Ju-seong refused to surrender equity even when offered a generous price? Why had a Chinese triad taken interest in a Korean entertainment company? And why had Ihan Group paid a rookie actor such an insane fee?
In an instant every piece of the puzzle locked into place.
That bastard Kim Ju-seong planned to sell the company to Ihan Group at a premium after the earnings surprise pushed the stock higher. The deal was already done under the table.
And if Baeksol had seized management rights without knowing about that contract?
Once the conclusion formed, James Choi sank into it completely.
Meanwhile Yeon-woo and his agents, who had been monitoring the call between Byeon Hak-gyu and James Choi through the hacking chip planted during the YouTube variety show Fan Search, confirmed that the target had taken the bait.
Yeon-woo pictured James Choi and gave a short laugh.
Right about now he's fallen under the curse of knowledge.
According to Elizabeth Newton's 1990 Stanford study, when a person alone possesses certain information, they easily assume others must know it too. That is the curse of knowledge.
If you tap out the national anthem with your fingers while singing it silently in your head, you believe the other person can identify the song from the rhythm alone. Because you yourself hear the full melody, you overestimate how much information is actually being transmitted.
In the same way, once James Choi believed he held inside information, every movement in the stock market began to look suspicious.
Seated at his computer, combing through data, he wore a thin, knowing smile.
The target price has already been exceeded, yet institutions and high-net-worth investors still refuse to sell the LN shares they've accumulated. Those bastards know too. The rumor flooding the industry is true.
Of course it was not. LN Media had simply kept increasing its own treasury holdings, so others were buying in the hope of an even bigger catalyst.
Trapped by the curse of knowledge, James Choi grew more certain by the hour.
Ihan Group will absolutely acquire LN.
He reported his conviction up the chain. The order came back: if a high-value acquisition offer for LN arrived, accept it.
On the morning the dreamlike Jeju vacation ended and they returned to Seoul, Yeon-woo sent Han Hae-un a message.
Execute the final stage now.
Han Hae-un: Understood.
The moment Yeon-woo and the members boarded the plane, Terren Williams's corporate vehicle, Terren Investments, informed LN Media of its intention to sell an 11 percent stake.
James Choi, already frantic, accepted the proposal at once. An agent hired by Han Hae-un arrived at LN Media to negotiate the details.
"Our principal wishes to sell at 43,000 won per share."
After weeks of mixed trading most retail investors had fled; LN Media's stock currently hovered around 29,000 won.
"What? You're offering to sell a 29,000-won stock for 43,000? That makes no sense."
Block deals between corporations normally applied a discount; the demand for a premium made James Choi bristle. The agent for Terren Investments regarded him with mild amusement.
"Representative James Choi. The rumor that Ihan Group will acquire LN has already reached Wall Street. This is not some local secret. Once Ihan takes over, becoming a unicorn is inevitable, isn't it?"
A unicorn company is one valued at over one trillion won. With 21 million shares outstanding, LN Media would need a share price of at least 47,000 won to reach that threshold.
James Choi chewed his lip hard. The man was right—if Ihan Group was going to buy, any purchase price was still a bargain.
"Even so... nearly a fifty-percent premium..."
"When name-brand Wall Street funds do block deals, this is hardly unusual. If you have no interest, we'll simply leave. From our side, waiting and dumping on the open market would still be more profitable."
Acquiring the 11 percent would push Baeksol's total holdings just over 50 percent, giving them both the spread and superior leverage when they eventually sold to Ihan.
"...Fine. We'll deal."
Before the block-deal disclosure between LN Media and Terren Investments could hit the market, Yeon-woo struck first.
World star Ryu Yeon-woo, whose contract with LN Entertainment expires this year, has informed this paper that he has no intention of renewing with his agency.
The actor stated he will leave the comfortable nest and set out on a new challenge. While affirming that he will continue his acting career, he left the industry buzzing about his next project and future path...
The moment the article dropped, the internet erupted over the appearance of an all-time free-agent prize.
LN Media's stock, hit simultaneously by the disclosure of a premium treasury purchase and the news that Yeon-woo would not renew, could not decide a direction and continued its mixed trading.
At that same hour Yeon-woo and Han Hae-un were touring the Mokhwa Building—not the fifth floor used by the agents, but the floors below.
"You've got a real eye for aesthetics. It's well put together."
"I told you, Team Leader. I have excellent taste."
From the second to the fourth floor, three entire stories of the Mokhwa Building now belonged to one company. Above the entrance the name was mounted in large letters:
Yeon-woo stood in the headquarters of the agency with which he would begin his new chapter, inspecting every corner.
"Fill every floor with the best furniture money can buy. We're loaded, after all."
"Of course. Thanks to the suckers we reeled in, we cleaned up nicely."
Yeon-woo and Han Hae-un looked at each other and grinned.
The operation had begun with a loan secured against the building plus the laundered second-round profits from Yeon-woo's White Blood. Even after transaction taxes and loan repayment, the capital had more than doubled.
The losses Baeksol would bear, however, would be many times greater. Having swept up every last retail share, they now faced a stock price about to plunge straight down.
And the fated day arrived.
Seated in the office with its antique furnishings, idly turning the nameplate that read "CEO," James Choi stared at the monitor and could not believe his eyes.
"Wh-what the hell is this bullshit!? How can insider information that came straight from Ihan Group's Future Strategy Team be a rumor?!"
Institutions that had confirmed the rumor was empty began dumping their LN Media holdings all at once. On LN's stock chart, even though winter had not yet ended, a fierce monsoon rain began to fall.