Chapter 78
Chapter 78
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Meshing Gears (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Industrial Bank of Korea's Yeouido main branch was as grand as a temple to the religion of capitalism.
The soft winter sunlight poured down from the high ceiling.
It gently settled over the heads of those who had come to this sacred space to perform the rites of finance.
It seemed our visit times had overlapped by coincidence. The moment I stepped through the main entrance, there she was—Seo Yun-ji.
“It's been a while, Representative Seo. Not since the last Federation of Korean Industries gathering, right?”
“We may have met several times, but we're hardly on good terms, are we, Chairman Han?”
“You're right. After all... you're a busy woman with public and private matters alike.”
Polite greetings laced with displeasure were exchanged formally.
Seo Yun-ji still made no effort to hide her hostility toward me.
Her black eyes... They seemed to project countless things onto my very existence, layered in various colors.
The red of envy toward one who possessed what she lacked.
The deep blue of inferiority felt when facing someone endlessly above her.
And... the purple of displeasure, because her pesky little brother's presence overlapped so perfectly with mine.
Those condensed emotions were inevitably directed at me in the current situation. But...
“I hold no personal grudges against you, Representative Seo.”
I had no intention of backing down either.
If I couldn't even lightly overcome an obstacle like this, I wouldn't deserve to hold this position.
“No matter how you see me, Representative Seo, I'll simply walk my own path. Starting with this matter.”
The path I had to walk.
Ammunition Group, this company—from my family and close aides on a small scale, to the hundreds of thousands of employees at our affiliates on a larger one.
The first test: Could I carry them on my shoulders and charge my steed toward broader territories? That test was the Cheolhwa Semiconductor acquisition battle.
“That’s why... I’ll go my way. Even if it clashes with your circumstances, Representative Seo.”
“...I wonder if you'll say the same after today.”
Click-clack. Seo Yun-ji departed, her high heels striking the marble floor in irritation.
Her retreating figure today looked unbearably tangled, like a knot of emotions twisted like yarn.
And then, entering my view behind her: Chairman Seo Guk-cheol and SA Group Vice President Im Jae-ho.
The two men each exuded a different presence, as if vying to claim guardianship over real power.
One, to light a fire at the tip of his wick and bloom his final flame in life.
The other, to end this childish play and claim the spoils he'd long desired.
“Has Chairman Seo Guk-cheol been well? I heard you were under the weather.”
“What's it matter if this old man's time has come? I don't give a damn about such things, but damn if this isn't vexing.”
Chairman Seo Guk-cheol made no attempt to hide the displeasure etched on his face.
To me, who had suddenly appeared and thrown sand into what should have been a discreet game, he spat unfiltered criticism.
“I never expected Ammunition Group to crash a family-only affair as an uninvited guest. Or did I?”
“I apologize for the interference, but there's something more important on my shoulders than fake family games.”
“You talk a good game. Bloodlines can't be severed, after all. You, your father, and... me.”
Chairman Seo Guk-cheol trailed off in a hoarse, broken voice.
Swallowing unspoken words about his late-blooming son, he leaned on his cane and shuffled inward.
His limping steps, his unbalanced movements—they evoked the final throes of a clockwork doll with a wound-down spring.
“To think our official first meeting would be in a place like this. What a pity. However.”
SA Group Vice President Im Jae-ho, who had silently watched the exchange between the father, daughter, and me.
His face was utterly mechanical, devoid of emotion. But for him—an outsider dragged into this unwanted family charade—his patience seemed at an end.
The tangled domestic affairs of the Cheolhwa Group's Seo family. Thus, all he wanted was to grab the spoils as quickly as possible and sever ties with this sham family.
“I've invested a lot here myself. More than enough to be sick of it.”
“You're using 'sick of it' a bit prematurely, I'd say. The rice isn't fully cooked yet. From what I see, Vice President Im, you're fated for more heartache.”
“What?”
His voice dripped with displeasure.
Surely... with SA Group's intelligence network, they knew who Seo Yun-ji had been meeting outside.
“I can't hand over the spoils. But... perhaps I can personally sever the root of that heartache for you.”
“What do you...”
Im Jae-ho tilted his head, as if unable to comprehend.
I glanced at my watch; the appointed time had swiftly arrived.
Adjusting my red tie, I brushed past his shoulder and left a lingering word like an echo.
“Now's the time... for all the gears to mesh.”
* * * *
“Ha... fuck, seriously. Even stepping in shit wouldn't be this bad.”
In front of the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul.
Kim Beom-ho stepped out of his yellow luxury sports car, the door swinging upward.
Pacing in front of the station where a uniformed officer stood guard, he kicked a stray pebble and plopped down on a curb near the flower bed.
A situation where he had to walk straight into the tiger's maw.
Clutching his hair, Kim Beom-ho muttered to himself.
“I must be crazy. With all those pretty girls out there, why'd I have to go and screw around with Seo Yun-ji... The moment Dad finds out, I'll get beaten black and blue and shipped off to America.”
Even though it was the illegitimate son's doing, the T Group chairman wanted no rumors from family scandals.
With his fiery temper, Kim Beom-ho's ass was surely in for a golf club lashing from the T Group chairman today.
Kim Beom-ho mindlessly plucked camellia leaves one by one. Having consulted a lawyer urgently last week, he couldn't back out now.
‘So, uh... isn't there some way to resolve this, lawyer?’
‘If the other party's claims are solid and the evidence holds, complying with their demands is the best option right now.’
The camellia was now bald. Wiping the last leaf's frost off on his sleeve carelessly, Kim Beom-ho opened his mouth in self-compromise.
“Still... America's better than jail, for sure.”
Kim Beom-ho took a step forward. The cold metal of the police station's glass door handle met his palm.
“Fuck it. Even if Seo Yun-ji crashes and burns, I'll survive. For now, like the lawyer said... and like that Han Seo-jun bastard ordered.”
* * * *
Big fish.
Cheolhwa Semiconductor, whose major shares the Industrial Bank had held for ages.
Fitting its symbolism, the acquisition battle kicked off with the bank president himself at the helm.
Kim Han-seong, president of the Industrial Bank, ascended the podium along the red carpet.
“Such an old fogey, huh? No matter how you look at him.”
“Can't be helped. He's lived his whole life on that financial elite identity.”
Uncle Kim Won-cheol, seeing the man in person for the first time.
Like appraising an exotic fish in a market tank, he busied himself mimicking a fish expert.
“Looks like a real hard-ass. The type to bulldoze orders from above without question.”
“That's why he's so hung up on that vague notion of 'fairness.' Well, thanks to that.”
Bzzz. My phone vibrated in my hand.
Seeing the text on the small screen, I immediately smiled as if I'd seized the advantage.
-[Advisor Yoo Se-na] Kim Beom-ho just turned himself in. Will report any further developments immediately.
“Lucky for us things are falling into place so smoothly.”
“Heh heh heh. It's finally starting. Both sides.”
The board was now fully set.
President Kim Han-seong's voice mixed with the mic's metallic feedback.
He still had no clue. That he was a wooden puppet dancing on the stage I'd designed.
“Ahem, first, thank you all for attending. We will now begin proceedings for the Cheolhwa Semiconductor acquisition.”
The auditorium-cum-event hall was semicircular, fanning out from the podium.
At the ends of that semicircle sat the acquisition hopefuls. Ironically, the tense face I spotted was Seo Yun-ji's.
Like a hedgehog bristling its quills, ready to stab at an approaching predator's paw.
-Clang!
The brass bell rang out.
At last... the time to write the hoped-for acquisition bids had arrived.
Staring holes into the white paper I'd received, I turned to Uncle Kim Won-cheol.
“We need to be within 15% of the opponents. What's the final figure from Ammunition Economic Research?”
“Final estimate: 3.7 trillion won. Data looks reasonable even to me.”
3.7 trillion won.
Far exceeding the pre-regression actual acquisition price of 3 trillion won.
The number was reasonable. SA Group's spare funds, Cheolhwa Group shares' value, bank interest rates, procurable capital scale—all factored in.
“So they just need to write between 3.145 trillion and 4.255 trillion won. The kids down there did the math right.”
But... intuition, a judgment beyond data.
The three key players on the opposite side, right in front.
Even before entering this auditorium, I'd felt their emotional current: raw desire. For Cheolhwa Semiconductor itself, and for fulfilling their own cravings through it.
“A bit... short. The gap between prediction and reality feels stark.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those three's desire. Today, I felt how vast it is—beyond what numbers can capture.”
A fountain pen drawn from my jacket pocket.
The heavy ink scent and the metal nib touching white paper sent a tingle up my fingertips.
“We need to add more. No, we must. This should nail it.”
“Just how much are you planning to...”
Scritch-scratch. With the final period, the result far exceeded all predictions.
“N-No! Chairman, this is...!”