The Seed and the Straw
"A scholarship foundation?"
Kim Seok-jun set down his teacup with a look of mild surprise.
I suppose it did seem a little odd — hand the boy 20 billion won, and the first thing out of his mouth wasn't an investment plan but a donation.
"Yes. It's a necessary venture."
"Explain your reasoning, would you?"
"It's simple. I need my own people. Right now, SJ Holdings has nothing but clerks to push paper. On the battlefields to come, I have no comrades I can trust to watch my back."
I continued in a calm, measured voice.
"Sunjin Group used to run an active scholarship program through its foundation, but once the group built its own educational corporation, that side of things faded. Meanwhile, rival conglomerates are still snatching up talent with jaw-dropping scholarship packages."
"Hmm."
"Until I take control, my plan is to raise these people inside SJ Holdings — an incubator of my own."
Kim Seok-jun nodded.
"Not bad. Cultivating talent does take time, after all. Sowing seeds early is a wise move."
"Thank you."
"I don't yet know everything you intend to do, but the principle that people are wealth holds true in every age."
Kim Seok-jun leaned back in his chair and studied me.
"Now then, tell me how you plan to spend the rest. You didn't ask for 20 billion won just to fund scholarships."
"Of course not. The seed capital will fund investment operations alongside it."
"Investment. You mean stocks?"
"That's part of it, but I'll also invest directly to build up companies — venture investments, M&A, that sort of thing."
"That's difficult work. It takes both an eye for good companies and the ability to grow them."
"You'll be here, won't you, Managing Director?"
At my shameless reply, Kim Seok-jun let out a startled laugh. "Ha! Well, well. Trying to squeeze even more work out of me than the Chairman did."
"Neglecting to use the finest strategist at your side would be dereliction of duty."
I allowed myself a small smile, then let my expression harden as I went on.
"First, let me cover the stock market. A super cycle in raw materials, driven by China, is coming."
"A super cycle."
"Yes. China is building factories and raising cities like a madman on its way to becoming the world's workshop. It's sucking in the planet's iron ore, crude oil, and coal like a black hole."
I counted off on my fingers as I explained.
"Shipping to haul the raw materials, shipbuilding to make the vessels, steel to raise the buildings — and beyond that, automobiles, chemicals, refining. Every heavyweight industry in Korea will ride this super cycle."
In my previous life, the early-to-mid 2000s had been the golden age of the Korean economy — an era so prosperous that the president publicly urged people to buy stocks.
The curtain was rising on the so-called Cha-Hwa-Jeong boom — automobiles, chemicals, and refining.
It was obvious as day: stockpile the leading sectors now, and assets would snowball beyond recognition.
"I'll build a portfolio around this trend and grow the seed capital with it."
I had already bought every one of those stocks through my personal account as well.
"There's logic in that. I'd sensed the same current myself."
"But direct investment in companies is a different matter."
I looked Kim Seok-jun straight in the eye.
"For company investments, I intend to steer clear of anything tied to China — or to put it precisely, I'll target the areas China can never catch up to."
"Hm?"
Kim Seok-jun's face filled with puzzlement.
"If China's driving a super cycle, why invest anywhere China isn't? You row when the tide comes in."
"The raw-materials super cycle is, flipped on its head, a declaration that China will seize manufacturing supremacy. Sooner or later, our companies — built on manufacturing — will come face to face with that enormous competitor."
"Hmm..."
"Refining Middle Eastern crude, for instance, or commodity petrochemicals — China will close that gap before long."
"What? China hasn't got that kind of technology yet. The gap is enormous."
"Not the technology — but the money, absolutely. And money erases a technology gap overnight. Their state pours it out by the trillions."
At my words, Kim Seok-jun's expression turned grave. He straightened in his seat, giving me his full attention.
"Businesses that can't generate high value will be devoured by China's bottomless capital and overwhelming scale. That's why we have to invest preemptively in companies that create high value — companies holding technology China can't simply copy with money."
"High value, hm... Specifically, where?"
"Semiconductors. And within that, the materials, parts, and equipment companies — the ones making core equipment and key materials."
My voice rang with conviction.
"No matter how much money China throws at it, core equipment for advanced process nodes and material technologies shielded by patents can't be replicated in a short time."
"You think China can't make them? By your own logic, they'll poach the engineers and build it anyway."
"They will. Eventually."
I nodded.
"Which is exactly why the gap must be widened now. Ten years — no, twenty years or more. We invest today to give those companies a head start China can never close."
Where money couldn't bridge the distance, we had to outrun them with technology instead.
Left alone, they'd catch up in twenty years. But if we injected capital now and accelerated their R&D, the lead would stretch to thirty — and with further investment, we could pin them in second place forever.
"And advanced industries like semiconductors are no longer just business — they're becoming a contest of national power. They could even become a political weapon for China. All the more reason we need technological independence."
"Whew..."
Kim Seok-jun let out a low sigh of admiration. But his face hadn't entirely relaxed.
"The logic is sound. But one thing bothers me."
"Please, go on."
"Time. These materials-parts-equipment companies won't turn a profit for years. Do you think your relatives will just sit still in the meantime?"
A razor-sharp point.
"If the Chinese super cycle you describe gets underway, your cousins with the automobile and heavy industries businesses will only grow stronger."
"That's why 15 billion of it goes into stocks. Short-term gains from super-cycle beneficiaries, while the long-term weapon is prepared underneath — a two-track structure."
That was precisely why I kept running my personal account even now that the 20 billion had arrived.
Money, once in hand, was a weapon at any moment. Not only SJ Holdings' assets — my personal fortune had to balloon like mad as well.
"..."
Kim Seok-jun stroked his chin.
"Then one more question. Will 5 billion won really be enough? Even among those materials-parts-equipment firms, the serious ones cost hundreds of billions."
"As I said — China's super cycle is about to begin."
I answered evenly.
"Right now, everyone's eyes are on raw materials, heavy industry, construction. Semiconductor materials and equipment have been shoved to the back of the line. No money is flowing into that corner at all."
The legacy semiconductors that go into automobiles would ride China's rise — but that wasn't what I intended to buy.
I was after the materials, parts, and equipment that made advanced chips possible — and right now, that corner of the market was being ignored more than ever.
"..."
"After this, I'll never be able to buy in at these prices again."
The look in Kim Seok-jun's eyes shifted.
"You're making a convincing case, aren't you."
He could feel himself being strangely swayed by the logic of this brazen young man — not vague idealism, but strategy rooted in a cold-eyed reading of reality.
"I'm simply stating the facts."
"Fine. If your way starts to feel wrong, I'll slam the brakes. For now, proceed with your plan."
Kim Seok-jun gave his approval without hesitation.
"And that student you mentioned — Han Jae-yi. I'll contact the school myself. The scholarship foundation we're establishing will designate her a special scholarship recipient and support her."
"Thank you."
"Going through the school is cleaner in appearance, and less of a burden on the girl besides. You seem eager to secure her quickly, so waste no time."
I nodded.
Handed nothing but an SJ Holdings business card, she might have been half in doubt — but if the foundation chairman or the principal summoned her personally to present a scholarship certificate, that was an entirely different story.
From Han Jae-yi's perspective, her gratitude toward the one person who had recognized her — me — would only deepen.
"Now, as for the stock investments..."
I drew a single prepared document from my jacket and slid it across.
"Here. The buy list."
Kim Seok-jun took it and scanned the page.
Steel blue chips, shipbuilding equipment, shipping lines...
Page after page was filled with the super-cycle beneficiaries I had described.
"Not bad. The timing is good, too."
"How much should go in?"
"Put the full 15 billion in, at the ratios written there. Hold the remaining 5 billion in cash, and deploy it when that direct-investment target of yours is settled on."
"Understood. I'll vet the company list more rigorously and report back."
"Oh, and one more thing."
Kim Seok-jun held out a business card.
[Contact number]
No title, no affiliation — just a name and a phone number.
"He used to be my secretary. Which makes him your secretary now, I suppose."
"I'm sorry?"
"I've prepared the man so you won't have to keep trudging to me every time business requires it."
Even as I stared at the card, Kim Seok-jun went on.
"He's trustworthy. He served as my hands and feet for many years, and he knows a great deal. It's not as though you can come find me every time something urgent comes up — and from your position, you need someone you can actually put to work."
I did need that. It wasn't as if I could go to Kim Seok-jun saying please do this and please do that.
"If the arrangement feels uneasy, phone calls alone would do. I'll tell him so."
"No. I should meet him. He'll be handling my business, after all."
"All the better. And I'll say it again — he's a man you can trust. I mean that."
I intended to judge that for myself, once we'd met.
I rose from my seat and bowed.
The 15 billion won investment was settled.
From here, that money would ride the rough waves of the market and come back to me swollen like a snowball.
During break, the classroom hummed with its usual noise.
For the boys around me, every conversation began and ended with games.
I rested my chin on my hand and gazed out the window, but inside my head, an intricate circuit was spinning.
15 billion committed to stocks, leaving 5 billion.
I needed a company to acquire directly under the SJ Holdings name. The problem wasn't a shortage of targets — it was an overabundance of them.
Knowing the future is actually a poison.
2003 was the season when new technologies were stirring to life after the IT bubble burst. A glance to the side showed secondary battery materials firms groveling at the bottom; semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment companies were going for scrap prices. Look further out, and the seeds of artificial intelligence and platform businesses were visible too.
They're all good...
But grab at everything and I'd end up with nothing. What I needed was selection and focus.
Making money wasn't the point. My goal was to reclaim the subsidiaries my relatives had stolen and to protect Sunjin Group — and beyond that, to forge Sunjin into a group that led the world.
In my previous life, even with that ambition in my heart, I'd been too busy fending off my relatives' attacks to ever grow Sunjin properly.
This life had to be different.
So which company would make the most efficient blade?
"No, seriously — I fought some guy from the other class at the PC bang yesterday and lost."
Just then, the chatter from the seats behind me struck my ear.
"Why? You're great at Terran matchups."
"The bastard secretly built a hidden expansion right next to my main base. The light goes out right beneath the lamp, you know — how was I supposed to spot it?"
Laughter burst out around him.
"You got sneaky-expanded on? Man, you got played."
"Exactly. I'm so starved for minerals I can't even field an army, and it turns out he's strip-mining every resource near my main base and flooding me with units. God, it was infuriating."
In that instant, their idle banter struck me like lightning.
All this while, I'd been approaching the question too much as a businessman — no, as an investor.
Strong returns. Promising future value. Superior technology.
But what I needed right now was not such a well-behaved investment.
The path itself is different.
The goal of this life was, by any means necessary, to protect Sunjin — and to pioneer markets no other company could enter, growing Sunjin into something enormous.
To do that, I had to neutralize the cousins closing in on me — above all Kang Tae-yong with his automobiles, and my uncle with his heavy industries.
I have to plant a straw right beside their main bases.
A structure where the more they grew, the more of their fruit flowed to me.
A position as a Super-Eul — so indispensable that even if they tried to attack me, cutting my supply would grind their own factories to a halt, making it impossible for them to lay a finger on me.
Very quietly, without my cousins ever noticing, I had to raise my flag in their own front yards.
"...Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
The answer had been closer than I thought.
That's it.
As the thought resolved, my mind went crystalline.
Five billion won. More than enough to begin.
A technology undervalued today — in an industry where, later, whoever held the monopoly would be the victor.
"Found it. Something indispensable to automobiles, to heavy industries — and to semiconductors besides."
The business best suited to our situation now, and the one that would become the most lethal weapon of all.
Because for the men who dealt in tons and tonnage, what they needed most was, ironically, the most precise chemicals money could buy.