Raise Them to Slaughter
Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Hwang Jang-chul shouted at the representatives of the four major conglomerates.
"I get the feeling you're laboring under some kind of misunderstanding. I didn't gather you all here to make a request!"
"Not a request, you say?"
When the head of Seonwoo Group's Restructuring Headquarters looked at him as if the whole thing were absurd, Deputy Prime Minister Hwang turned toward the Seonwoo contingent and spoke again.
"Listen carefully. The IMF and the U.S. government have demanded that corporate restructuring be completed within this year. Not the showpiece restructuring you've been putting on—real, intensive restructuring! Do you understand me?"
Hwang Jang-chul glanced sideways at Kim Seong-ho.
Seong-ho caught the look. For a moment the two men locked eyes across the empty air, confirming they were of one mind.
Having exchanged that silent understanding with Seong-ho, Hwang turned back to the four groups and raised his voice once more.
"They've said that if you fail to comply, they will recover every won of the capital they injected into the Republic of Korea. Now—do you finally feel how close we stand to the edge? The country is a candle in the wind."
He rose from his seat, planted both hands on the table, lifted his chin, and spoke with a face set like stone.
"The reason we summoned Seonwoo's chairman and the key figures from every group is to demonstrate the government's will."
"Are you admitting, then, that you deliberately targeted us for tax audits?"
"Yes. I admit it."
Hwang fixed the KF Group representative with a sideways glare.
"We chose our targets, and if you refuse to listen to the government, we will arrest you and lock you up exactly as you are."
"What crime have we committed that—"
"Crime?"
Hwang's mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
"We'll find one if we look hard enough. Are you confident that a thorough shaking wouldn't produce a single speck of dust? I don't believe for a second that you've run your companies in perfect legal compliance. If you've broken even a minor statute, we'll use that as our handle."
At the Deputy Prime Minister's words, the Future Group representative asked in a voice that had gone pale blue.
"Are you… threatening us right now…?"
"If it sounds like a threat, then it's a threat. If it sounds like a request, then it's a request."
Hwang did not deny the accusation. His expression remained hard as he continued.
"You will follow what the government intends to do. You won't have any other choice."
The mouths of the four conglomerates' representatives, which only moments earlier had been full of complaints, snapped shut.
None of them could even begin to estimate the damage that would follow if they defied him.
"From this point on, we will no longer listen to your opinions or try to accommodate you. The only choice left in front of you will be whether you fall in line with us—or sit back and watch your companies dismantled."
"Company… dismantling?"
Hwang jerked his chin toward Seonwoo Group.
"Last year you took a five-hundred-billion-won loan from the Industrial Bank. Keep in mind that we can call that money back as a first step."
"That—that was a perfectly legitimate loan! Even the government can't simply force—"
"An Industrial Bank audit will uncover irregularities mixed into the loan process, and that will be our grounds for recovery. Of course we also intend to re-examine every loan issued under the previous administration and the one before that. And if problems turn up there as well…"
Hwang left the rest unsaid and simply stared at the Seonwoo representative.
The Industrial Bank was a government-affiliated institution; that alone said everything. Every other bank, too, lay under the government's influence. If the government ordered a capital recovery, the banks had no choice but to obey. And once that recovery began, Seonwoo Group—which had expanded its empire on borrowed money—would collapse without question.
Hwang stared down at the bowed crown of the Seonwoo representative's head and spoke with deliberate clarity.
"Let me state in advance that what I just said is an unambiguous threat."
Yet even under that threat, not a single person raised an objection.
The pressure Deputy Prime Minister Hwang was applying had exceeded every expectation in the room.
"Hoo… That will be all for today."
Still braced against the table with both hands, Hwang straightened.
Looking at the four groups' representatives still seated before him, he said,
"At our next meeting I will present the government's plan. I expect to see a different attitude then."
In effect he was declaring that the Big Deal would not be negotiated among the companies themselves. No one dared contradict him. When a single misstep could mean the dismantling of a conglomerate and the imprisonment of its owner, there was no longer room to push their own greed.
"Now go back and convey the government's will clearly to your respective chairmen."
Having finished speaking, the Deputy Prime Minister turned his head toward Kim Seong-ho, who had sat quietly listening the entire time.
"Ilhyeon, come with me for a moment. We will pay our respects to His Excellency."
At those words Seong-ho rose slowly, offered a polite bow to the other representatives, and left the conference room together with Deputy Prime Minister Hwang.
Only then did the people remaining at the table understand that Ilhyeon had already sided with the government.
They realized that Ilhyeon had decided to cooperate early—so early that the authorities had summoned Lee Sang-jong for questioning instead of Lee Tak-hyeon himself.
Cold sweat ran down the backs of the four conglomerates' representatives.
Only now did they grasp just how disastrous their earlier defiance had been.
They hurried out of the conference room, desperate to carry the news back as quickly as possible.
When they arrived at the presidential office in the main building, Kim Dae-sang was waiting for Kim Seong-ho not behind his desk as before, but at the conference table.
"You've come. Please, have a seat."
Apparently deciding they were past the need for formality, Kim Dae-sang remained seated and greeted Seong-ho with easy warmth.
Seong-ho smiled at the changed atmosphere, bowed in greeting, pulled out a chair, and sat down deliberately.
Kim Dae-sang smiled at him, then turned to Deputy Prime Minister Hwang.
"Well? Did they get the message?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. They all appeared to understand."
Hwang answered the President, then looked at Seong-ho.
"All thanks to Director Kim."
Seong-ho waved the praise away and shook his head.
"What did I do that deserves credit? I merely kept step with what the government was already trying to accomplish."
"That is the hardest part of all. You saw it yourself, didn't you, Director Kim?"
Still sour from the scene moments earlier, Hwang frowned and recounted the confrontation to President Kim Dae-sang.
The President listened and frowned in turn.
"I never imagined they would be so reckless. To refuse to let go of their greed even in a situation like this…"
"Your Excellency."
Hwang lowered his head slightly.
"Would it not be wise to make an example of someone?"
"An example…"
Even with Kim Seong-ho present, Hwang did not hesitate to propose that they show the four groups something severe enough to bring them to their senses.
President Kim answered just as freely, as if the presence of an outsider made no difference.
"Yes, an example is clearly needed. I'll speak with the Minister of Justice."
"Understood."
From those words Seong-ho understood that the heads of the four conglomerates would no longer be able to escape legal punishment.
They should have prostrated themselves from the start. They still don't grasp what kind of situation they're in…
Seong-ho clicked his tongue inwardly.
The people of the four groups still seemed to believe the world operated the same way it had during the years of breakneck growth before the financial crisis. The thought struck him as pitiful.
In particular, the way they had grown soft under the pro-business atmosphere that arrived with civilian government—forgetting entirely the iron-fisted era that came before—struck him as almost comical.
Then again, if I hadn't lived through it once already, and if I didn't have the diary, I might have been exactly like them.
Seong-ho recalled the contents of the diary and the experiences of his previous life, and quietly wiped a hand across his chest in relief.
Kim Dae-sang turned back to Seong-ho with a smile.
"Because Ilhyeon promised its support, we were able to move boldly."
"I was taught by the Chairman that if there is even a small thing we can do for the country, we must do it with all our strength."
"As expected of the Chairman. Remarkable."
Kim Dae-sang spoke with a touch of regret as he thought of Lee Tak-hyeon.
"If only the Chairman's health were better, there is so much we could have accomplished together… A pity."
"The Chairman himself has expressed the same regret many times."
At present Lee Tak-hyeon had stepped back one pace, using illness as his excuse.
That was why Kim Seong-ho sat here as Ilhyeon's representative opposite the President.
Seong-ho knew perfectly well that Lee Tak-hyeon had not entrusted him with this role out of trust.
In a situation no different from walking a tightrope, the Chairman had simply placed someone else on the wire. It was not because Seong-ho headed the Restructuring Headquarters. If anyone was going to fall, it was better that Seong-ho fall than Lee Mun-jong, the leading candidate for the next chairmanship.
Yet Seong-ho did not regard being placed on that tightrope as pure danger.
On the contrary, he intended to turn it into an opportunity—to walk the wire all the way to the far side and claim something far greater.
Crisis can always be turned into opportunity.
Seong-ho was, if anything, enjoying the present situation.
"Still, by sending us such a capable son-in-law, the Chairman has given real momentum to what we mean to do. So then—what is Ilhyeon's restructuring plan this time?"
By cooperating so readily with the government, Ilhyeon had earned the right to present its plan first. That opportunity, however, was no guarantee of results.
Seong-ho nevertheless put forward a proposal that would lead straight to results.
"Ilhyeon will choose semiconductors and shipbuilding. In return, we will give up Ilhyeon Power and the railway division."
"You're offering up the power business?"
Kim Dae-sang turned to Deputy Prime Minister Hwang with startled eyes.
What Ilhyeon was volunteering to surrender was completely outside anything the government had anticipated.
Hwang calmed his surprise and asked Seong-ho again.
"When you say 'give up,' you mean the companies that hold the power-generation technologies themselves—is that correct?"
"Yes. We will hand over Ilhyeon Power, which possesses thermal, hydroelectric, and even nuclear technologies."
"Nuclear as well…"
Deputy Prime Minister Hwang's mouth fell open as he stared at Seong-ho.
Seong-ho smiled faintly at the man's astonishment and turned to President Kim Dae-sang.
"Construction of the plants themselves will continue to be handled by Ilhyeon Construction. But every piece of generation technology that goes into those plants belongs to Ilhyeon Power. From now on, when plants are built, Ilhyeon will not take turnkey contracts. We will enter consortia solely as the construction partner. And we will also pledge not to participate in generation technology for the next thirty years."
"Are you serious? Nuclear generation technology is something Ilhyeon obtained only with great difficulty… and you're simply handing it over?"
Hwang spun hurriedly toward the President, then back to Seong-ho.
"There are no plans to build thermal or hydroelectric plants within the next ten years. Every new plant is scheduled to be nuclear."
"Public opinion holds that thermal and hydroelectric plants destroy the environment, and overseas countries are moving away from them as well," President Kim added.
Hwang nodded and pressed on.
"Nuclear generation technology was created in the 1970s through the joint efforts of the government and Ilhyeon. Once plants are built, Ilhyeon's technology will inevitably be used… and you're abandoning that? Has this been discussed with the Chairman?"
So little did he believe what he was hearing that the Deputy Prime Minister even asked whether Lee Tak-hyeon knew.
President Kim caught the slip and gave Hwang a slight wave of the hand.
Hwang immediately realized his error and turned to Seong-ho with an apology.
"Forgive me. I did not mean to slight you, Director Kim, as Chairman Lee's proxy. It was simply that I…"
"I understand. It's only natural."
Seong-ho accepted the remark lightly, as if it were nothing, and smiled.
"I understand your reaction completely, Deputy Prime Minister. Ilhyeon Power is a genuine cash cow. But if, in the present situation, we simply cling to our own prize assets while coveting everyone else's, how would we be any different from the other four?"
"Ha-ha."
Seong-ho turned toward President Kim, who had let out a dry laugh.
"If one is to gain something, one must give up something of equal weight. That is why Ilhyeon is prepared to surrender power and railways in order to secure semiconductors and shipbuilding."
"If only every group were like Ilhyeon…"
President Kim spoke almost as if sighing, then gave Hwang his instructions.
"Ilhyeon has made a great decision. We must match it. Deputy Prime Minister, put your full strength into this."
"Yes. I will do everything in my power to gather semiconductors and shipbuilding under Ilhyeon."
Seong-ho smiled faintly at Hwang's words.
When the man who held the sword promised to swing it, the matter would not end as mere talk.
Semiconductors and shipbuilding… The outcome will be better than last time.
These were things he had failed to obtain in his previous life.
Back then, just like the four groups today, Ilhyeon had clutched its own possessions while eyeing everyone else's—and in the end had let the truly important things slip away.
As a result two semiconductor companies had taken root in the Republic of Korea, and that fact had hobbled Ilhyeon for years afterward.
Shipbuilding, too, had ended up with two additional players besides Ilhyeon, producing the farcical spectacle of Korean companies locked in a chicken game against one another.
Seong-ho did not want that future.
Moreover, nuclear power might look attractive now, but ten years from now it would no longer occupy the same position. Being able to trade away Ilhyeon Power so smoothly in exchange for semiconductors and shipbuilding was more than satisfying.
Even chickens taste better when you raise them yourself before you slaughter them.
Thinking of the Ilhyeon that would grow in exactly the direction he desired, Kim Seong-ho smiled.