We Need Money Too
Jo Byeong-jin looked out over the office, which resembled a bustling marketplace, and clicked his tongue.
Then he turned to Jeong Byeong-ju beside him and spoke as if he could scarcely believe it.
"I was warned by the Head, but I never dreamed it would be this bad. Good lord… what on earth is going on here?"
"Because this is the only place left in the Republic of Korea that still has money."
Jeong Byeong-ju was just as stunned. Yet if he thought about it calmly, it didn't seem so strange that something like this was happening.
"I heard even the private loan market in Jongno has shut its doors. Right now, if you want dollars from the black-market dealers in Namdaemun, people say you can't get them even if you offer 1,300 or 1,400 won to the dollar."
"1,300 or 1,400? Still… the exchange rate being traded right now is only a little over 1,000 won, isn't it?"
"The reason it's still hovering in the 1,000-won range is because the foreign exchange market keeps closing."
Today the forex market had shut its doors again after less than an hour. With the won-dollar rate hitting the daily trading limit day after day, official channels for buying dollars had effectively been sealed off.
Jeong Byeong-ju's shoulders slumped as if drained by the sight of a Republic of Korea with no light ahead. Just then Lee Gyeong-deuk patted him on the back.
"Why are you standing around looking so dejected?"
"Deputy Head."
Jeong Byeong-ju pulled himself together and greeted Deputy Head Lee Gyeong-deuk. Unlike Jeong Byeong-ju, Lee Gyeong-deuk looked elated. After accepting their greetings, he gazed at the pandemonium of the office and laughed.
"People are showing up loaded down with collateral. Do you know what I just saw?"
"What did you see?"
At Lee Gyeong-deuk's prompting tone, Jo Byeong-jin asked as if playing along. Lee Gyeong-deuk lowered his head slightly, covering his mouth with his palm as if sharing a secret, and spoke to the two men.
"Just a moment ago I saw someone from the Seonwoo Group go into the Head's office."
"Who went in?"
"The Seonwoo Group? You're saying the Seonwoo Group went in to see the Head?"
Not only Jeong Byeong-ju, who had looked drained a moment earlier, but Jo Byeong-jin as well stared at Lee Gyeong-deuk in surprise. Lee Gyeong-deuk put a finger to his lips and gestured for them to keep their voices down.
"Quiet. He slipped in secretly; no one else knows yet."
At the gesture, Jo Byeong-jin asked Lee Gyeong-deuk in a low voice.
"Why the Seonwoo Group? Aren't they… supposed to be fine?"
"Everyone says they'll be fine. They classify us, Mirae Group, and Seonwoo Group as the safe ones, but…"
Lee Gyeong-deuk glanced toward the office where Kim Seong-ho was and spoke to the two men in an even lower voice.
"That's just what they say. Who knows what the real situation is inside."
Hearing this, Jeong Byeong-ju shook his head. Then he turned his gaze back to the place he had been watching before Lee Gyeong-deuk arrived.
The person who had been standing there talking a moment earlier was gone, and a new arrival had come with fresh documents, requesting an appraisal. He was doing his utmost to emphasize how excellent and valuable the collateral was, repeatedly asking the clerk receiving the papers for a quick decision before taking his leave.
The Ilhyeon Group Restructuring Headquarters had announced that before lending any money, they would first verify the collateral. They would assess its value, set a price, and only then decide whether to lend. Ilhyeon's valuation of collateral was typically set at one-third or one-fourth of the pre-crisis price…
From the perspective of the companies putting up the assets, it was an outrageously unfair situation. In normal times they would never even put these holdings on the market, and they could have gotten at least three times—or as much as four or five times—the price Ilhyeon was offering. Yet here they were being told the assets would be taken as collateral for a song.
But those who had come to borrow money could not voice any complaints about Ilhyeon's approach. In a situation where every last won was precious and every second counted, with Ilhyeon Group the only place still lending, no one could object to their judgment. Even if they undervalued the collateral, they weren't charging any interest, after all.
Lee Gyeong-deuk watched a construction company president—who until recently had walked around with his shoulders squared—putting up collateral and pleading for favorable treatment, and said,
"Whatever else, the fact is our standing is higher than it's ever been. There's even a rumor going around the market that the government asked the Chairman for help."
"The government asked the Chairman?"
Jo Byeong-jin and Jeong Byeong-ju both turned to look at Lee Gyeong-deuk at once. Lee Gyeong-deuk nodded while watching the distribution company president who had come in after the construction president left, still bowing and scraping as he put up his collateral.
"Yeah. The business leaders who visited the Chairman's house on Sunday said they saw Deputy Prime Minister Kang come to see the Chairman as well."
"So what did they talk about?"
"No one knows. They wouldn't have discussed anything in front of everyone, of course. But instead…"
Lee Gyeong-deuk turned to look at Jo Byeong-jin and Jeong Byeong-ju.
"Looking at how the Bank of Korea has given up on foreign exchange intervention, don't you have a pretty good idea of what the two of them talked about?"
Understanding what he meant, the two men nodded. At the same time they both glanced toward the office where Kim Seong-ho sat. They were curious what the man who had elevated Ilhyeon Group to this unprecedented height of prestige would discuss with the Seonwoo Group.
"All right, all right. You two get moving too. We need every hand we can get; you can't just stand around because you're not on corporate accounts. Go help out."
"Yes, sir. Understood."
As Jo Byeong-jin and Jeong Byeong-ju headed toward the crowd, Lee Gyeong-deuk clapped his hands and called out.
"To all of you who have come to visit our Ilhyeon Group today, allow me to say a few words. Please understand that collateral appraisals may take a little time. As you can see, the sheer volume of assets flooding in means evaluations take a while. If any of you need money urgently, come to me here and…"
Before he could even finish, people swarmed around Lee Gyeong-deuk. Every face urgent, they all wanted to entrust their collateral appraisal to him as soon as possible.
Looking at the people gathered in front of him, Lee Gyeong-deuk recalled what Kim Seong-ho had said before meeting the person from Seonwoo Group.
He told me to set even lower amounts for the ones who come saying they're desperate… Looking at this, they'd probably accept one-fifth or even one-seventh of the value, not just one-fourth.
Lee Gyeong-deuk shook his head and began calming the crowd while taking the documents that detailed the collateral.
Kim Seong-ho offered a seat to Vice Chairman Seong Mu-bo of the Seonwoo Group, then glanced briefly toward the door.
"It's rather noisy outside. My apologies. I should have received you somewhere quieter, Vice Chairman Seong."
"Not at all. If I had wanted a quiet place to talk, I would have gone upstairs."
Vice Chairman Seong raised a finger and pointed at the ceiling. Understanding that "upstairs" meant the vice chairman's and chairman's offices, Kim Seong-ho smiled and sat down opposite him.
"I came to Ilhyeon today because I wanted a frank, realistic conversation with Head Kim. So I don't care what's happening outside. Please don't give it another thought."
"Thank you for saying so."
Kim Seong-ho bowed his head slightly in gratitude, then looked at the man who appeared to be in his late fifties and asked,
"Then what sort of conversation did you hope to have by coming to see me?"
Watching Kim Seong-ho's unruffled manner, Vice Chairman Seong Mu-bo clicked his tongue.
"If I hadn't attended Head Kim's wedding, and if I didn't know your résumé, I would have started by asking which dermatologist you use before getting down to business."
"A dermatologist? Why would you ask that?"
"Because the man talking to me is my age, yet he looks barely thirty. It's so strange I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from asking what procedure he had and where he got it to look this young."
"Haha. Do I sound that much older when I speak?"
"Not older—seasoned. There's experience in the way you talk."
It wasn't empty flattery. Seong Mu-bo genuinely sensed that Kim Seong-ho had lived far more than his outward appearance suggested.
Kim Seong-ho simply smiled at the vice chairman's words.
In truth, I'm about the same age as you.
If he added the years from his previous life to the time he had spent in this one, his actual age was not far from Seong Mu-bo's. But that was something he could never say, so he merely smiled and let the remark pass.
After watching Kim Seong-ho smile for a moment, Seong Mu-bo shook his head and opened his mouth.
"Enough idle talk. The reason I came to see you today is this."
He paused, hesitated a beat, then spoke to Kim Seong-ho.
"We need some money."
"Money? Are you saying the Seonwoo Group needs money?"
Vice Chairman Seong Mu-bo squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.
"Yes. We… need roughly 1.5 trillion won."
"How much? 1.5 trillion?"
Kim Seong-ho stared at Seong Mu-bo in genuine surprise.
He had known the Seonwoo Group needed money. From the experience of his previous life he was well aware that Seonwoo, too, was suffering a severe liquidity crunch. So when Seong Mu-bo had arrived, he had not been particularly surprised. But when the vice chairman named the amount, even Kim Seong-ho was truly taken aback. He had never imagined the man would ask to borrow more than a trillion won.
Fearing his shock might seem rude, he quickly apologized to the vice chairman.
"I'm sorry. That was discourteous of me. I shouldn't have reacted that way…"
"Not at all. I understand completely. Anyone who heard the figure 1.5 trillion would have been startled."
Even after being told it was fine, Kim Seong-ho took a moment to steady his breathing and calm his racing heart before speaking again.
"If you want to borrow 1.5 trillion, you must have brought collateral to match… What is it?"
Seong Mu-bo looked at Kim Seong-ho and could not speak for a moment. He had expected one of two reactions to the figure of 1.5 trillion: either a request to confirm the number, or a question about whether they truly meant to borrow that much. Even if the conversation went further, the next natural question would have been what they intended to use it for. That was how any ordinary person would have responded.
But Kim Seong-ho was different. He had been startled by the sum of 1.5 trillion, yet instead of asking whether it was real, he had asked what collateral they had brought.
Seong Mu-bo could not hide his inner astonishment at the man's composure.
"I expected you to ask whether it was really 1.5 trillion. Instead you went straight to the collateral, and that surprises me more. You're clearly no ordinary man."
"Not at all. I was simply curious what someone would bring as collateral for 1.5 trillion, so I asked about that first. For me, collateral sufficient for 1.5 trillion is simply beyond imagination."
"That's certainly true. To borrow 1.5 trillion you would need collateral worth at least four or five trillion… and bringing something like that is no easy matter."
At those words Kim Seong-ho nodded and fixed his gaze on Vice Chairman Seong. Seong Mu-bo of the Seonwoo Group met his eyes for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.
"The collateral I have brought is… Doa Motors."
"Doa Motors? Are you saying you have brought Doa Motors—which is currently under court receivership—as collateral?"
"Yes. That is correct. We will hand Doa Motors over to the Ilhyeon Group. We wish to borrow the money against that."
Vice Chairman Seong Mu-bo spoke as if Doa Motors were already a Seonwoo subsidiary he was free to transfer.
Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon sat facing Kim Seong-ho and listened to the report. Kim Seong-ho was recounting the visit from Vice Chairman Seong Mu-bo of the Seonwoo Group a short while earlier.
Lee Tak-hyeon heard him out with his arms folded, then fell silent for a time, lost in thought. After a long stretch without speaking, he turned his head and looked at Kim Seong-ho.
"What do you think?"
"I… believe we should not accept it."
"Should not accept it? Why not?"
"Seonwoo's proposal is that they will arrange for Doa Motors—which would otherwise be priced at over three trillion if they themselves bid—to be awarded to us at a comfortable 1.5 trillion or less."
"Right. And in return they want us to lend them the difference… You're saying it doesn't look as good as it seems?"
"Yes."
Kim Seong-ho explained in a calm voice.
"The first reason is that Seonwoo has no intention of acquiring Doa in the first place."
"Seonwoo Group has no intention of acquiring Doa Motors?"
Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon regarded Kim Seong-ho with a puzzled expression.
"The only parties capable of acquiring Doa Motors are us, Seonwoo Group, and Mirae Group. There are foreign firms, of course, but they only get a turn if none of us shows any will to buy. If any one of us displays real intent, Doa Motors will go to one of the three. In that situation, Seonwoo abandoning Doa Motors is… hard to accept."
Lee Tak-hyeon looked as if he could not understand and demanded a fuller explanation. Kim Seong-ho drew on the memories of his previous life and spoke to the chairman.
"Seonwoo is thinking of acquiring Duryong Motors, not Doa."
"Duryong? Isn't that the company whose deal with Seonwoo fell through? There are even rumors it's being sold off to the Germans. And you're saying Seonwoo wants to take Duryong back?"
Hearing Kim Seong-ho's words, Lee Tak-hyeon's confusion only deepened.