Chapter 38
Chapter 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: A Necessary Threat
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Jaewoo Thales's Second Son, Jin Hyun-seung, Hints at Increasing Major Shareholder Stake.]
The acquisition of shares took place over several days.
The total purchase amounted to five percent.
Thanks to this, the stock price, which had been in continuous decline, rose again, but it couldn't last more than a few days before collapsing under the pressure of short sellers.
“I can't fathom who has this much financial power. At this rate, even sending a signal to the market by confirming the successor won't have much of an effect...”
“Daeyu Securities is also concerned about that. Still, they said they'll proceed with the share transfer since it's the only option for now. But... the market's reaction is unusually grim. It seems people believe Aerospace will have a hard time recovering from this blow, and the impact will eventually spread to Thales, won't it?”
Secretary Kim's analysis had a point.
Frankly, what conglomerate could possibly thrive on its own when a major affiliate is on the brink of collapse?
Especially with a shareholding structure as tangled as a spider's web, the impact would be beyond imagination.
In other words, the dark tunnel caused by Aerospace's troubles was going to be quite long.
“Still no word from Nokid Martin?”
“Yes, CEO Jin Hyun-cheol has been trying everything, but it seems they're not even giving him the time of day.”
“At this point, there's no use hoping for anything more.”
Even though it wasn't my responsibility, I couldn't help but be concerned.
If left unchecked, the entire group could waste time and energy under the constant pressure of short selling.
The problem was their attitude—we were willing to give an inch, but they wanted to take a mile. I couldn't just sit back and let that happen.
‘Is this really not just a simple attempt to tame us? If so, Nokid Martin might not be the only one behind this...’
The thought suddenly crossed my mind.
If I were an American defense contractor, would I have let an opportunity like this slip by?
Once it started, the suspicion spiraled, and soon after, it hardened into conviction.
‘That could be it. Our successive arms exports to the United States. We made various concessions under the pretext of placating the US defense industry, but for them, it might not have been enough...’
Besides, there's no guarantee it wouldn't happen again, so it would have been natural for American defense contractors to feel uneasy.
And in the midst of it all, Nokid Martin found a clear pretext, so other companies might have just jumped on the bandwagon.
‘So the merger was just a trigger? Then I can't place all the blame on Jin Hyun-cheol.’
As the thought occurred to me, I picked up the phone.
I dialed a number I had saved in my contacts, and a moment later, a familiar voice answered.
[General Michael?]
With no real connections to Nokid Martin, Michael was my only option.
Fortunately, he readily agreed to my request, and a few days later, I was able to speak with the person actually in charge of Nokid Martin's liaison office in Korea.
Not the person we had been dealing with, but the true head of the Korean office, the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
-Hello?
The voice on the other end spoke Korean.
I wondered if he was an American fluent in Korean, but that didn't feel right.
Judging by the distinct tone of his voice, I guessed he was probably a Korean-American.
“Good day, this is Jin Hyun-seung of Jaewoo Thales.”
-...How did you get my number?
The man on the other end sounded extremely flustered.
Just as I was about to state my business, ignoring his question, he abruptly hung up.
“Well, look at this guy.”
I called back.
But the call wouldn't go through again. In the end, I had to ask for Michael's help once more to arrange a face-to-face meeting.
“It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Jin Hyun-seung of Jaewoo Thales.”
“Jeremy Jeong.”
As I expected, he was a Korean-American.
Though Korean by descent, his mindset was thoroughly American.
This could make things even more complicated.
“Let me be clear from the start. I only came here to tell you that using your connections in the US to pressure me is pointless. To put it simply, it's Nokid, not Jaewoo, that's close to the powers that be in America.”
“I won't deny that. But if you had agreed to talk from the beginning, I wouldn't have had to go to such lengths. Why are you avoiding a conversation?”
“That's because we have our own reasons. Besides, we've already notified you that the contract won't be extended. The relationship is over. I don't see what there is to talk about.”
“...”
My anger was starting to boil.
If this was how it was going to be, I didn't need to be polite anymore.
I loosened my suffocating tie and spoke with a deliberately defiant attitude.
“Then you should have ended things cleanly with just the contract termination. I wouldn't have had to arrange this pathetic meeting.”
“What are you talking about? What else have we done that wasn't 'clean'?”
“Are you really asking because you don't know?”
“...”
"The short sellers attacking us right now. Can you confidently say that none of them are connected to Nokid?”
For a moment, the man's eyes wavered violently.
Despite that, he pressed his lips together, determined to feign ignorance, glanced at his watch, and spoke again.
“I have no idea what you're talking about. If that's all you have to say, I'll be leaving now.”
“I'm warning you. If you get up from that seat now, you'll probably get a call from the US Chief of Naval Operations in a few minutes.”
He froze.
His body flinched.
Did he sense it wasn't an empty threat? The look he gave me was fierce.
“...”
“Knowing his personality, I imagine you'll be treated to a rather colorful variety of curses. Do you think you can handle that?”
I leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
“If you don't immediately stop the short-selling operation against Thales, I plan to terminate the HVP technology cooperation agreement with the US Navy. If that happens, I doubt the Chief of Naval Operations will just stand by.”
“That's absurd!”
The man was extremely agitated.
Kicking your opponent when they're down is the best way to gain the upper hand in a negotiation.
I immediately added another remark.
“Don't make the mistake of thinking I won't do it. I'm saying this fully prepared for the possibility that the weapons integration permitted to us might be canceled as a result.”
“...”
“What, you think I'm bluffing?”
“Jaewoo Thales would take a huge hit as well, wouldn't it? Especially in a crisis like this.”
“What's the worst that could happen? We go bankrupt? You seem to be unaware that I have ways to survive even without Jaewoo Thales, so it doesn't matter to me.”
“...”
“Just for your reference, the US Navy's projected budget savings from implementing HVP amounts to a total of 90 billion dollars over ten years. If that falls through because of you, I doubt the Navy will look upon you kindly.”
“...”
“Oh, dear. Come to think of it, that would be a real headache. The prideful Navy already wants to pursue its next-generation fighter jet development program separately from the Air Force. If they get on the Navy's bad side on top of that, Nokid's future is obvious.”
“Wh-what are you trying to say?”
“What am I trying to say? I'm saying I'll burn it all to the ground!”
“...”
“Listen carefully. What do you think will happen if I use a 'complete technology transfer' of the HVP as leverage against Nokid?”
It was by no means an empty threat.
Of course, resolving things amicably would be best, but if things went south, I couldn't go down alone.
If they insisted on maintaining their current attitude, I was prepared to risk everything to deal them a blow.
“That's...”
The man's gaze wavered intensely for a while.
Was he considering the possibility? A pained groan began to escape his lips.
“If you still don't believe me, I'll deliver the news to Chief Jeffrey right here, right now. I'll tell him the company is on the verge of collapse, so the cooperation is likely to be terminated, and he should bill Nokid for the 90 billion dollars.”
I immediately picked up my phone.
As I pressed the speed dial and the phone began to ring, the man's hand shot out to stop me.
“W-wait, please give me a moment.”
The man stood up at once.
Did he realize this was no longer something he could handle on his own?
He stepped away to make a call and returned a long while later.
“Alright. Give us fifteen days, and we'll do as you ask.”
He was probably trying to buy time to cover the shares they had already shorted.
If they suddenly changed their position, the stock price would skyrocket, so they wanted to scrape up as much as they could at the bottom.
But I had no reason to grant his request.
No, if you come at someone with the intent to kill, you should expect to bleed yourself.
“That's not acceptable. I'll give you three days. Settle it, or do whatever you need to do, within that time.”
I said, calming my excitement, and stood up.
The man, who had been so arrogant the entire time, suddenly grabbed my sleeve and pleaded, all pretense gone.
“Please. If you leave like this, I'm finished. The short-selling pressure was an idea our Korean office proposed to headquarters in the first place...”
“...”
He must have said it out of desperation.
Still, how could he be so thoughtless?
It was like confessing to being the culprit in front of the victim. If he thought he'd get a positive response from me after hearing that, I'd have to question his intelligence.
“That's not my problem.”
I shook off his hand and delivered my ultimatum.
As I walked out the door, I glanced back to see the man with his head hung low, as if his world had just collapsed.
“Tsk... I don't feel a shred of sympathy for him.”
******
A few days later, the mood surrounding Jaewoo Thales in the stock market completely reversed.
It was the result of the short sellers covering their positions.
Proof that my threat had worked.
‘Now, the problem is how to get Aerospace back on its feet.’
That was the real issue.
If we recklessly tried to acquire Motor Sich again, not just Nokid but every aerospace and defense contractor in the US would come after us, so that was impossible.
And there was no way Nokid, with whom relations were now thoroughly soured, would extend an olive branch and offer another parts contract.
‘Tsk, what a frustrating bunch. Honestly, there can't be many parts suppliers who can meet their standards as well as Jaewoo.’
In truth, I had secretly hoped Nokid would suggest renewing the contract.
Business is supposed to be cold and rational, and no one knows that better than American companies.
But since they never called, it meant they had no intention of doing so.
Ultimately, that meant there was only one way for Aerospace to recover for the time being.
‘The attack helicopter development project.’
Once that gets into full swing, all these problems will be solved in an instant.
The scale of that project is incomparable to a simple parts supply business.
“They're really something else.”
Secretary Kim fumed after hearing that Nokid Martin had been behind the recent troubles.
The external pressures against Jaewoo, which were just beginning, were now being felt for real.
In fact, this experience made me realize one thing for certain.
What would have happened if I hadn't had a way to corner them this time?
Ultimately, to protect myself, I needed to have power.
Whether that power was political or technological.
‘The problem is, I don't have political power, so I need to secure more technologies that can act as insurance... What could they be?’
A few suitable technologies came to mind.
Technologies that, if I had them in my grasp, could move the US military, just like this time.
“Hmm...”
The only issue was that it would take time to realize them. There was no guarantee something like this wouldn't happen again in the meantime, so I had to prepare a countermeasure.
‘Damn it. Forget technology; if I just had the right connections, this wouldn't even be a headache. But I don't have anyone around me who can influence American politics.’
“Oh, Senior Managing Director. We received a call from Korean Air this morning. They said the casket of your friend, the one whose reburial you arranged, has arrived.”
Secretary Kim's words came just as I was lost in deep thought.
Because of the complicated process, it had only just now arrived—Kim Jun's body. No, my body.
Upon hearing the news, rather than feeling glad, a sense of dread washed over me.
‘It's finally here.’