The White Knight's Noose
"How large do we estimate the foreign stake to be?"
Sunjin Group headquarters, main conference room.
As a heavy silence hung over the room, the voice of Kim Ja-young, CEO of Sunjin Group, seated at the head of the table, cut through the stillness.
The urgently summoned board members and affiliate presidents turned their eyes in unison toward the finance director.
The director swallowed dryly and spoke with caution.
"Based on our estimates, they've accumulated roughly 14 to 15 percent."
Kim Ja-young's brow furrowed. It was a larger figure than she had expected.
"Have they contacted us?"
"Not a single approach. That's why we still can't say for certain who this force is, or what their intent is in buying up shares. However..."
The finance director paused for a moment, then pointed to the stock chart displayed on the screen.
"The media has been reporting day after day on the possibility of a hostile M&A, and the market has already accepted a management dispute as a done deal. As a result, the share price is soaring abnormally."
"How much has it risen?"
"The price when accumulation is estimated to have begun through the BNP account was in the 24,000-won range. But as of this morning, it stands at 55,500 won."
A low groan rippled through the assembled directors.
A gain of over 130 percent in barely a month.
This was no ordinary rally. It was unmistakable proof that someone had made up their mind and was pouring money into the stock.
"......"
Every face in the room darkened.
Then Choi Dong-soo, head of the Management Planning Office, who had been keeping silent, spoke up.
"What's certain is that the market is dangerously overheated, and they are accumulating shares with great precision."
"Precisely?"
"Yes. They've amassed over 14 percent of the shares, yet no major-shareholder disclosure has appeared. Which means they're using nominee accounts and paper companies to split the holdings into tiny slivers and stay under the 5% Disclosure Rule."
Kim Ja-young gave a heavy nod.
Sunjin Sangsa — the weakest link in the Sunjin Group's ownership structure.
The enemy had come straight for that Achilles' heel.
Who on earth could it be?
Most suffocating of all was the helplessness of not even knowing the enemy's identity.
If my husband were still alive...
Kim Ja-young forced the thought away the moment it surfaced. Now was not the time for sentiment.
But neither could she simply sit back and absorb the blow. She had to protect the company.
"If we assume this is an attack aimed at control, then we must prepare countermeasures as well. I ask all of you to share your wisdom."
At her appeal, the conference room stirred.
After a moment, one mid-level director raised his hand and spoke.
"Madam Chairwoman, we must put Sunjin Sangsa's treasury shares to use. Those dead voting rights need to be revived."
Under commercial law, shares a company holds in its own name — treasury stock — cannot exercise voting rights at shareholders' meetings.
But what if those treasury shares were sold to or exchanged with a third party?
From that moment, the voting rights come back to life. It had been called the Magic of Treasury Stocks.
"But to whom would we hand them over? Move too rashly, and it could come back at us like a boomerang."
Another director threw up a caution.
"The shipping alliance partners are ones we can trust. I believe we should pursue a comprehensive share swap with them."
The shipping alliance.
Just as airlines form alliances like Star Alliance, shipping companies likewise maintain a global alliance sharing vessels, routes, and terminals.
They were partners bound together in a tight web of trust, each dependent on the others' survival.
"A share swap, then..."
"Yes. The shares currently held by the Chairwoman and her family come to 18.75 percent. If even 10 percent of the company's 30 percent treasury stake were swapped with the alliance partners to convert it into friendly shares, the total would reach 28.75 percent."
You could almost hear the sound of calculators tapping away around the room.
"28.75 percent. That's certainly not a bad number for defense."
Even when a management dispute broke out, the National Pension Service and institutional investors usually sided with the incumbent management.
Counting their holdings as well, friendly shares approaching 30 percent would make for a fairly solid shield.
"Does anyone object to this proposal?"
Kim Ja-young asked, looking around the table.
No one did. It was the most practical and powerful card available in the current situation.
Kim Ja-young's eyes hardened with resolve.
"Director Choi."
"Yes, Madam Chairwoman."
"Contact the shipping alliance partners immediately and propose a comprehensive share swap. There's no time, so dispatch the working-level team and close the deal as fast as possible."
"Understood. I'll proceed at once."
"And mobilize every intelligence channel we have — spare no means — to find out who stands behind the foreign investors..."
BANG—
Just then, the firmly closed door of the conference room burst open and Kim Ja-young's secretary rushed in, breathless.
Her face was drained white — uncharacteristic for a woman who was usually so composed.
"Madam Chairwoman! Urgent report!"
The secretary hurried to the head of the table and whispered into Kim Ja-young's ear.
Her pupils wavered as she listened, and then her expression froze over, cold and hard.
"......"
Every ear in the conference room strained toward her.
An ominous premonition hung in the air.
Kim Ja-young steadied her trembling lips and spoke slowly.
"Sunjin Aluminum... has just issued a press release."
"Sunjin Aluminum — you mean Chairman Kang Byung-chul?"
"Yes."
She continued with visible difficulty.
"Sunjin Aluminum claims to have secured 13.1 percent of our Sunjin Sangsa shares. And... they've declared that, as the elder of the family, they will step in as a white knight to help us repel this hostile attack from the foreign interests."
"Ah!"
Exclamations burst out around the room.
Several directors' faces brightened in an instant.
"What a relief! If Chairman Kang Byung-chul is coming to our aid, that's an army of reinforcements!"
"Leave it to a crisis to bring the family elder forward."
But while the directors sighed in relief, the faces of Kim Ja-young and Choi Dong-soo turned ashen.
A white knight...?
Impossible.
There was no way the Kang family — who had been circling for control at every opportunity — had bought up a massive 13 percent stake out of pure goodwill and with no strings attached.
It felt like a noose being slowly tightened around their necks.
"Sunjin Aluminum has revealed itself and made its move."
The moment I climbed into the car after school, Jung Tae-sung, who had been waiting, delivered his report without preamble.
"They've presented themselves as a white knight, holding 13.1 percent of the shares."
"A white knight? As if."
I snorted.
Nothing had changed from my previous life. The justification was a white knight; the reality was a Trojan horse.
Soon enough, they would absorb the dummy foreign stake they themselves had planted for the attack — this time under the white knight's name.
And then they would strip off the mask and show their true face.
"They disclosed their holdings as 13.1 percent?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Then with roughly 14 percent hidden under the foreign front, the two combined come to 27 percent."
"Precisely. And if you include the 4.5 percent we'll funnel to them through Park Nam-gyu, they'll believe they've secured somewhere around 31 to 32 percent."
Short of a majority, but more than enough to shake a company's control.
From their perspective, this was exactly the moment to believe the advantage was theirs.
"Let's tally up our own holdings. They think they have 32 percent — in reality, 27 percent."
"The Chairwoman, your mother, and Miss Seon-ah hold 18.75 percent, SJ Holdings holds 4.95 percent, and Reborn Capital holds 4.5 percent."
I ran the numbers in my head.
"28.2 percent."
Our holdings sat marginally ahead of the 27 percent the enemy actually possessed.
But there was no room for complacency. I knew they wouldn't stop here.
Once Sunjin Aluminum absorbs the foreign stake under its white-knight banner, the next move is obvious. They'll drain every won of their company's capital and buy up shares aggressively.
Their ultimate goal was over 40 percent — the threshold for secure control.
At the current share price, that would cost hundreds of billions of won, but these were men who would pour in embezzled company funds if it meant taking the company itself.
"What's the response from the Sunjin Group side?"
"No official position has come out yet."
Even after Sunjin Aluminum's surprise disclosure and announcement that morning, the parent company, Sunjin Group, had maintained silence for half a day.
The reason was obvious.
"Which means they're divided internally too. Either they've been caught off guard — or they've been played."
"......"
"The Sunjin Group will most likely go after a comprehensive share swap with Sangsa's shipping alliance partners."
At my words, Jung Tae-sung looked at me through the rearview mirror, startled.
"A comprehensive share swap... it's true that using treasury shares would let them build friendly holdings in a short time. That seems like a solid strategy."
"On the surface, yes."
My reply was cold.
"But even with that swap, Sangsa's precarious control wouldn't fundamentally change. If anything, it amounts to opening our front door to foreign shipping companies."
"Opening the front door?"
"Suppose one of the directors becomes the head of a shipping line that just did a share swap with us. Would they quietly sit on their hands? Once they have voting rights, capital's basic instinct is to meddle in management."
It would be walking into the tiger's den to escape the fox.
In my previous life, my mother had rushed into the share swap to put out the immediate fire — and in the end, those foreign shipping companies stabbed her in the back.
I could not let the same mistake happen twice.
"We have to stop it."
"Then..."
"We reveal SJ Holdings to the world. If we show that we've secured over 5 percent in friendly shares, Mother will conclude there's no need to reach out to foreign shipping companies after all."
I made my decision.
It was a name that would have to come to light eventually. And if so, it deserved to appear at the most dramatic moment — the moment it was needed most.
"Go to Managing Director Kim Seok-jun's residence right now."
"Understood."
"We have to become the real white knights."
Seongbuk-dong — Kim Seok-jun's home study.
"So I've heard. Kang Byung-chul has stepped forward, has he?"
"Yes. As I mentioned before, there's a strong chance this is a bluff."
Kim Seok-jun nodded gravely.
After all, my predictions had yet to be wrong, and more than anyone, he understood the greed of Kang Byung-chul and his relatives better than most.
He knew better than anyone that these were not great men inclined to help out of the goodness of their hearts.
"So, what is it you'd have me do now?"
"I've already instructed Director Jung to bring SJ Holdings' stake above the 5 percent mark. As for you, Managing Director — please meet with my mother tomorrow."
"Meet her, and then?"
"Offer to be her white knight."
At my proposal, Kim Seok-jun's brow creased with worry.
"Will Kim Ja-young believe me? Right now, more than anyone, she can't tell friend from foe. Handle it wrong, and suspicion might fall on me too."
"That's exactly why I'm asking you to meet her before the disclosure."
I said firmly.
"Meeting her after the stake disclosure has hit the papers is a world apart from visiting her beforehand to exchange views. The former is a notification. The latter is a proposal."
"Hmm..."
"If you extend your hand first, at the very least my mother won't think of you as an enemy."
Kim Seok-jun fell into thought for a moment, then lifted his head as though he'd made up his mind.
"Very well. That's what we'll do. I'll reach out to Madam Kim early tomorrow morning."
"And from this point on, consider the media campaign yours to run."
"Me?"
"Yes. You'll be stepping in front of the cameras after a long while. That's all right, isn't it?"
At my question, Kim Seok-jun burst into hearty laughter.
"Ha! That was my specialty. I stood at the prosecutors' photo line more than a few times in your grandfather's place. Dealing with reporters is a piece of cake."
I couldn't help but chuckle at his joke.
It was clear he'd thrown it out deliberately to lighten the mood — the practiced tact of a man quietly looking after me, lest I get too worked up or wound too tight.
"Good. Time to start meeting with the elders, then."
As we'd discussed before, rallying the sentiment of the veteran executives who had once served my grandfather was a critical task.
If they coalesced around Kim Seok-jun, Kang Byung-chul's justification would be severely undermined.
"There are also a few legal responses to mount, but I'll handle those through Director Jung and report back to you."
"Fine. Manage that yourself as you see fit."
"Thank you. Then I'll get to work — you can count on me."
I rose from my seat. There was a mountain of things to be done.
I had just turned to leave when —
"Are you holding up all right?"
Kim Seok-jun asked quietly.
It was a single short sentence, but the weight packed into it was anything but light.
Worry, and a touch of pity, for a boy fighting this battle in a high schooler's body.
I turned back and looked at him.
Then I answered with a grin.
"I'm fine, sir. That's what I've been preparing for all this time."
I gave a nod, and Kim Seok-jun nodded back at me, slow and weighty.
Trust that needed no words.
That was enough.