Always Behind You
Jo Chung-sep followed the guide into the Restructuring Headquarters.
"Please wait here a moment."
The headquarters staffer told Jo Chung-sep to wait outside the door for a short while, then stepped into the Director's office. A little later he came back out and informed Jo that he could go in.
"Thank you."
Jo Chung-sep thanked the man who had held the door for him and entered the Director's office.
"Welcome."
Kim Seong-ho rose from his desk and greeted Jo Chung-sep warmly.
"Director. How have you been?"
"I've been fine, of course."
Seong-ho clasped Jo's hand with genuine pleasure and guided him toward the sofa.
"You've been well yourself, CEO?"
"Thanks to you, Director, I've been doing just fine."
"Hahaha. I hardly deserve the credit. Please, have a seat."
Seong-ho laughed easily and gestured for him to sit. Jo settled onto the sofa and glanced around the office.
"This used to be the Managing Director's office, right? I never imagined the day would come when I'd set foot in the old Strategic Planning Office."
"Yes. Back when it was the Strategic Planning Office, this was the Managing Director's room. Feeling nostalgic?"
"Absolutely. It feels brand-new."
At Seong-ho's question Jo surveyed the room once more before answering.
"A low-level clerk from Ilhyeon Securities walking into what used to be the Managing Director's office of the famous Ilhyeon Group Strategic Planning Office... I feel like I've made it big."
"Hahaha."
Seong-ho burst out laughing and instructed his secretary to bring tea. Then he turned back to Jo with a smile.
"As it happens, I was meaning to ask you to come by."
"Me? About what...?"
Seong-ho rose briefly, walked to his desk, unlocked a drawer, and returned with a check. Watching Jo's eyes flick between the check and his face, Seong-ho held it out.
"I know that burying this money right now won't make much difference, but I don't have any particular use for it either. So I figured I'd just park it in my account with the rest."
Jo took the check Seong-ho offered and checked the amount.
"One billion... won."
"Yes. One billion."
At Seong-ho's matter-of-fact tone Jo lifted his head and stared at him. How many people in the entire Republic of Korea, he wondered, could hand over a billion won as casually as if it were a thousand-won note?
One billion won was an amount that could do almost anything in Korea. It could buy several houses in Gangnam; if spent on land, it would buy so much that the end of the property would never come into sight. Jo looked back and forth between the check and the man who had passed it over as if it were nothing, then fell into thought.
Well... anyone else, maybe not—but if it's Director Kim, he really could do this.
The scene felt unreal, yet the thought that Kim Seong-ho was capable of exactly this suddenly settled over him.
Seong-ho spoke a little awkwardly toward the silent Jo.
"Even adding another billion won't make a big difference, will it?"
The question snapped Jo back to himself.
"To be honest, pouring another billion into your account right now is about as meaningful as dumping one more bag of sand onto a beach."
"What's the current valuation of my account?"
"With the KOSPI turning back down, it has broken through the one-hundred-billion mark again."
"I see."
Seong-ho answered, then studied Jo's flushed face.
"What's the matter?"
At the question Jo's face grew even redder and he bowed his head.
"I'm ashamed of myself... That's all. I'm sorry."
"What do you have to apologize to me for? There's no need."
Even though Seong-ho waved it off, Jo's face only deepened in color.
"Didn't I tell you we should liquidate the account? Because the index was rebounding?"
"You did."
"I still wake up in the middle of the night realizing how idiotic that analysis was. The thought that I nearly wrecked your account... I'm truly sorry. I felt so shameless that I almost turned around several times on the way here."
"Hahaha. Since that never actually happened, you don't need to worry so much."
"No. You trusted me with your money... and I keep making judgments that fall short of your expectations. I have no face left."
Seong-ho looked at the bowed head of Jo Chung-sep and smiled without a word.
To think the great Jo Chung-sep of Future Securities is bowing his head like this... interesting.
Watching the prodigy who had started from the very bottom and founded Korea's greatest securities firm confess his mistake and apologize struck Seong-ho as amusing. He took Jo by the shoulders, lifted him upright, and changed the subject.
"Anyway, CEO Jo—what brings you here today?"
Jo took a moment to steady his breathing and let the flush fade from his face before answering.
"First, I wanted to tell you in person that your account has crossed one hundred billion again."
"You could have said that over the phone, so that can't be the only reason you came all this way... There must be something else."
At Seong-ho's question Jo nodded.
"Yes. I came to make a proposal face-to-face."
"A proposal?"
When Seong-ho looked puzzled, the CEO of Future Asset glanced down at the one-billion-won check still in his hand. Then he slowly nodded and raised his eyes to Seong-ho.
"Director. As I said earlier, pouring this billion into your account won't mean much. One hundred billion becoming one hundred and ten billion—what real difference does that make? The account volume only rises by one percent."
"That's true enough."
Seong-ho agreed and simply watched Jo. The man had said he came with a proposal, yet he was circling back to the billion again; Seong-ho could not yet see where this was going. So he waited for the next words.
"Director. This billion... instead of putting it into your account, what if you used it somewhere else?"
"Somewhere else?"
"Yes. Please invest it in Future Asset."
"Invest?"
Seong-ho tilted his head as if he did not understand. Anticipating the reaction, Jo pressed harder.
"For one billion I will give you a twenty-percent stake in Future Asset. Please become a co-investor in our firm."
"A co-investor..."
When Seong-ho hesitated, Jo leaned even closer.
"This whole episode made me realize all over again how small I am next to you. Without your insight, both I and Future Asset are nothing but empty shells. So please join Future Asset and show us the path we should take."
"CEO Jo. I believe I already declined that once."
Seong-ho shook his head.
"I'm only interested in managing the capital I already have. I have no interest in taking other clients' money and running it. And if I had been interested in a joint investment, I would have proposed it to you myself long ago."
"I know. I know you have no interest in the securities business. Even so, the reason I am making this request is that I truly need you. I founded the company and I am leading Future Asset, yet I constantly feel I lack the capacity for it."
Having honestly admitted his inadequacy, Jo's eyes shone as he continued.
"I need someone I can trust and lean on. When I hit difficulties I need someone whose advice I can seek and whose strength I can rely on. And I want that person to be you, Director."
Jo paused, then bowed his head once more toward Seong-ho.
"Director. Please help me just this once. Become the pillar that holds Future Asset up."
Jo kept his head lowered with the look of a man who would not raise it again unless Seong-ho accepted. Seong-ho studied him quietly.
This whole affair has shaken him more than I thought.
Seong-ho could more or less understand why Jo was acting this way. After the Dubo and Bumyi crises had stabilized, the KOSPI had climbed for a while—only to lower its head again and start falling. It had dropped all the way back to the previous low and was now at a level where people were fretting over a break of that floor.
The man who had suggested liquidating the account while the market rose must have felt crushing despair watching that same market not only return to its old place but threaten to punch through the bottom and keep going into the basement. The knowledge that his judgment had nearly cost Seong-ho hundreds of billions weighed on him, and he had clearly come to feel that next to Seong-ho's judgment he himself was insignificant.
He would do well enough if I just left him alone...
Seong-ho knew better than Jo himself what kind of man Jo Chung-sep was and what path he would walk in the future. Even so, leaving him as he was did not look wise. Left like this he might collapse under the weight of his own frustration.
Seong-ho did not want Jo to break. Through Jo there was still far too much work that needed doing.
Keeping his eyes on the bowed figure, Seong-ho spoke.
"One billion for twenty percent. You won't regret it?"
Jo raised his head at the words, met Seong-ho's gaze, and nodded urgently.
"I will not regret it."
"If I become an investor in the company, I may end up influencing it."
"I don't mind being influenced. If I am running the company wrong, give me a sharp rebuke."
"No. That isn't what I mean."
Seong-ho shook his head and spoke again.
"I mean that if Future Asset ever heads down the wrong road, I may end up standing on the opposite side from you, CEO Jo. In the worst case, we could become enemies."
"That will never happen."
Jo's reply was firm.
"It could. Twenty percent is not a small stake."
"No. I think you misunderstand me, Director."
Jo fixed Seong-ho with a steady stare.
"What I mean is that if you show me and Future Asset the path we should take, I will follow behind you without question."
As Seong-ho seemed on the verge of accepting the twenty-percent investment, Jo's entire bearing hardened with resolve. He placed a hand over his heart and spoke as if making a vow.
"I will always be behind you, Director. Because of that we will never have to face each other—we will always be looking in the same direction."
At those words Seong-ho let out a short laugh. Then he nodded and accepted Jo's proposal.
Only then did Jo's face bloom into a broad, relieved smile.
And that very day the KOSPI finally smashed through the 700 line—long regarded as a powerful support level—and set a new low.
Kim Seong-ho sat alone in a tatami room, staring at a newspaper.
The same press that had once condemned the Ilhyeon Group's restructuring and insisted that the Korean economy was rock-solid had, at some point, begun to report that the economy's warning lights were flashing red. And the incident that poured fuel on that atmosphere was right there on the page.
Composition.
It was the court-mediated procedure by which a company facing imminent bankruptcy or insolvency reached a debt-repayment agreement with its creditors in order to avoid outright collapse.
Rattle.
The sliding door opened and Lee Sang-jong stepped into the tatami room where Seong-ho had been waiting.
"Been waiting long?"
"No. I only just arrived myself."
Seong-ho folded the newspaper he had been reading and set it aside. Lee Sang-jong glanced at the folded paper, then sat opposite him.
"I hear Seongro Group went under."
"Yes. I just saw it myself."
"You didn't already know?"
"I'd heard the rumors."
At Seong-ho's answer Lee Sang-jong gave a short snort of laughter, then ordered from the attendant who had come in through the door. Once the attendant left he returned to the subject of Seongro Group.
"That fellow really... he expanded the business too far. He should have just stuck to the soju business he already had. Why did he have to stick his hand into construction and resort development? Though even that would have been fine. He went and brought in some foreign brand for a fortune so he could get into the beer business, and look at the mess he's in now."
"He never expected the exchange rate to climb like this."
"Exactly... The rate has gone up way too much. Just a few years ago people were still arguing over whether five hundred won to the dollar was right or wrong, and now a thousand is right around the corner. The royalties he has to pay overseas suddenly doubled—how is anyone supposed to survive that?"
Lee Sang-jong shook his head slowly from side to side.
"If he at least didn't have all those other projects spread out, he might have scraped by with the cash in his pocket. But he doesn't even have that..."
He looked down at the newspaper article on Seongro Group with a face full of pity, then clicked his tongue and lifted the teacup in front of him. After wetting his throat he set the cup down and fixed his eyes on Seong-ho.
"Anyway... why did you want to see me?"
Lee Sang-jong asked the question and stared straight at him. Under that gaze Kim Seong-ho smiled and opened his mouth to speak.