A Victory No One Could Steal
Kang Tae-yong, Chairman of Sunjin Motors and Seon-woo's uncle, was chuckling to himself as he watched the news drift out of the television, for all the world as if nothing had ever delighted him so much.
"Ah, look at our dear Chairman. I told him so — try to swallow something that big all by yourself, and you're bound to choke on it. And choke he did, thoroughly."
When Kang Tae-yong clicked his tongue, the managing director seated across from him broke into a smile as well.
"Isn't that right? What do you think, Managing Director Park?"
"Absolutely, sir. The Chairman's decision to step back turned out to be excellent timing in hindsight. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a masterstroke."
"Masterstroke, my foot. He pushed me out, didn't he? When a man tells you he can't stand the sight of you and to get lost, what choice do you have? Well — as it happens, being shoved out the door let me sidestep this mudslide, while that's what he gets over there."
Kang Tae-yong jerked his chin toward the TV. On the screen, experts were delivering one bleak analysis after another on the cause of Sunjin Sangsa's share price collapse and its dim future outlook.
The anchor's dry, urgent voice made Kang Tae-yong rest his chin on his hand. The amusement drained from his narrowed eyes. There were too many numbers to run for him to simply sit back and enjoy the show.
"Then again, from where I'm sitting, I can't exactly afford to celebrate this outright."
"I beg your pardon? We haven't lost a thing. This is a match we only need to watch from the sidelines, isn't it?"
"You have to think long term, long term. Sunjin Group is mine to take in the end. It's mine already, in truth. But to do that, I need to sever Sangsa cleanly and bleed it of its strength — and that dimwit of an uncle went and beefed up their weight class for no good reason."
Kang Tae-yong drummed his fingers irritably against the table.
"Kim Ja-young came back from the dead with her claws sharpened, no doubt about it. She'll start with cleaning up the shareholding structure. And now she has the perfect pretext — the government itself will be pushing to unwind the circular shareholding loop."
"That's true enough. From what we saw this time, Madam Kim Ja-young has real decisiveness. The consensus everywhere is that her crisis management is no joke."
The biggest surprise the business community took from this whole affair was the emergence of Kim Ja-young as a force to be reckoned with. The sight of a woman they'd dismissed as a figurehead commanding the front lines and steering the company through the storm had caught even Kang Tae-yong off guard.
But what truly grated on him was not Kim Ja-young's competence.
"Kim Ja-young is one thing... but Kim Seok-jun latching onto her side — that's what's sticking in my throat."
Kang Tae-yong's voice dropped low.
"I went to him myself, begged for his help, threw a blank check on the table — and the man didn't so much as flinch. And now that same man attaches himself to her? At this exact moment?"
Zzzt— Zzzt—
The mobile phone on the table vibrated noisily. Kang Tae-yong glanced at the name on the screen, scowled, and pulled the battery straight out.
Tap tap.
"If we can pry Kim Seok-jun loose somehow, we could still introduce a variable of our own—"
He was deep into his tirade about Kim Seok-jun when a knock came, and the chief secretary slipped in wearing a guarded expression — clearly gauging the mood of the room first.
"What is it?"
"Chairman Kang Byung-chul of Sunjin Aluminum is requesting a phone call, sir. He says it's urgent."
Kang Tae-yong let out a hollow, incredulous laugh.
"Unbelievable. So if he doesn't pick up on the mobile, I'm just supposed to take that as a green light to keep calling. Is the man oblivious, or shameless? That uncle of mine is beyond tiresome."
In truth, the calls had been coming in nonstop since that morning, and Kang Tae-yong had been ignoring every single one.
"Urgent, my ass. It's obvious. My money's on him asking for a loan — I'm no philanthropist, am I?"
"Then shall I..."
"Tell him I'm out on an external schedule. Say I'm in back-to-back meetings and can't be connected."
"Understood, sir."
"And next time, don't even report it. Just brush him off and hang up."
Once the secretary bowed and withdrew, Kang Tae-yong turned back to the managing director.
"Managing Director Park."
"Yes, Chairman."
"We need to build up our strength. Once Sunjin Group overhauls its governance structure, we won't be able to touch them at our current size."
The board had ended in Kim Ja-young's victory.
"So how do we move?"
"Sunjin Aluminum will need serious money to weather the fallout. The old man's already gasping for cash, so if he wants to raise funds, he'll have to liquidate his subsidiaries' stakes."
The managing director nodded.
"You're saying we shift targets to Aluminum first, then?"
"That's right. When Aluminum starts drowning, it's us who feeds — not anyone else."
"Understood, Chairman. I'll mobilize the team immediately."
Kang Tae-yong nodded along, a smile spreading across his face.
"Just a little longer, I beg you — just a little more time."
Despite Kang Byung-chul's desperate pleading, Kim Jong-soo — the King Ant of Bukchon — sat across the table, cold as stone.
"That, I cannot do."
"This is a miscarriage of justice! Don't you think I want to dump everything I'm holding onto the market right now? But the authorities won't grant clearance. They say if I move, it'll shock the whole market!"
Kang Byung-chul beat his chest in frustration.
"Those devils at the Securities and Futures Commission have issued an order barring me from selling on the exchange until I submit a disposal plan and get it approved! Meanwhile the share price is bleeding out by the minute out there — if they would just approve the plan, even that—"
"Why are you telling me this? If my money isn't repaid by tomorrow, I proceed exactly as the promissory note stipulates."
Kim Jong-soo cut him off flatly. His tone said plainly that your circumstances were no concern of his.
"Chairman Kang! Please, I'm begging you — just this once."
"You were awfully full of yourself when you were borrowing it."
The corner of Kim Jong-soo's mouth twisted.
"I have treated every soul who ever borrowed my money by the same standard. You could be the chairman of the mightiest chaebol house in the land and it would change nothing. The rule is the rule."
Kim Jong-soo rose from his seat.
"If the transfer hasn't cleared by tomorrow, I take the Sunjin Sangsa shares you put up as collateral. All of them."
"..."
The moment Kim Jong-soo walked out of the room without a trace of lingering attachment, Kang Byung-chul collapsed where he sat.
"It's... all over."
Kim Seok-jun's home. The study.
I went straight to Kim Seok-jun the moment school let out. Naturally, I owed him my thanks first, and there was much to discuss about the road ahead.
"Managing Director, thank you. Thanks to your help, we were able to bring this whole affair to a clean close."
"Hahaha, you rascal. All I did was move exactly as you told me to."
Kim Seok-jun waved his hand with a hearty laugh.
It was true, of course — I had laid out the board and moved him across it, just as he said.
But he had trusted me completely, and he had executed everything I asked of him — and more — without a single misstep.
Not for one second had I regretted choosing Kim Seok-jun as my partner.
"You're the one who worked yourself to the bone. No — this time, it was you who stopped it."
I dipped my head slightly, a little embarrassed.
"I keep thinking back to the day you first came to see me. Back then I figured, what could a high schooler possibly know — but now I'm certain. You're different."
"You flatter me."
"Your read of the board, your drive, your eye for talent — look at how you brought in a man like Jung Tae-sung and put him to use. And that's not all. Don't get me started on the investing."
My face was growing warm.
It was the first time I'd received such sincere recognition from an elder — from someone who had weathered every storm life could throw at him — and I honestly didn't know how to answer.
"Watching you, I feel like when I die someday, I'll be able to face the old Chairman again with my head held high. I'll tell him: I found his successor, and I found him properly."
Kim Seok-jun nodded in clear satisfaction, then his expression turned serious.
"So. What's the plan now?"
"The Bukchon capital has started squeezing Kang Byung-chul. Going by the promissory note, Kim Jong-soo will seize the Sangsa shares as collateral around tomorrow. I intend to use the cash parked in Reborn Capital to buy those shares back for myself."
Kim Seok-jun's eyes went round.
"You handed over four and a half percent at the 70,000-won level, and today's price is..."
"Thirty-three thousand won."
"So you'll buy them back at half what you sold them for. Hahaha! Where else in the world is there a trade this sweet?"
"If anything, by the time Bukchon actually recovers the shares, the price will probably have slid into the 20,000-won range."
The Securities and Futures Commission had demanded he dispose of his holdings — but only after submitting a plan first, ostensibly to avoid shocking the market. Meanwhile, the value of the Sangsa stock in Sunjin Aluminum's hands was eroding by the day.
It was a scenario in which I would buy back the shares Kang Byung-chul vomited up at a price below market — funded by the very money I'd sold at the peak in the first place.
"Once I have the four and a half percent, it stays buried in Reborn Capital. I'll need it later — either for a defense against a management challenge, or when I inherit the company myself."
"And the rest of the funds?"
"I keep them working. Continue investing, keep compounding."
"Then what about the shares SJ Holdings is holding? Gathered bit by bit, they've passed eight percent."
"If nothing changes, I'd rather keep those buried too. Sangsa will need to reform its shareholding structure eventually, and when it does, we'll want friendly shares standing in our corner."
Left as it was, Sangsa would be attacked again.
Unless my mother and Director Choi Dong-soo were fools, this affair would push them to unwind the circular shareholding structure — and when that moment came, those shares needed to be a friendly stake working in our favor.
"Kang Byung-chul is finished for good, then?"
"Yes. For the foreseeable future, forget attacking anyone — the man will be scrambling just to find a way for Aluminum to survive."
And there had been one more figure circling Sangsa. My uncle, Kang Tae-yong.
"As for Chairman Kang Tae-yong — watching this play out will have taught him exactly what happens to anyone who moves carelessly. He won't touch Sangsa for a while."
It was time to catch my breath.
From here on, I planned to step back from the corporate defense wars and concentrate on growing the war chests of SJ Holdings and Reborn Capital.
"Besides, it's about time I started doing things befitting my age."
"Things befitting your age... Can you really go back to that, after all this?"
"Of course. I came straight from school today, didn't I? I'll sit the college entrance exam, go to university. Serve in the military, too."
In truth, the military had been the one thing nagging at me ever since I regressed to this age — but I'd decided to stop agonizing over it.
If you can't avoid it, enjoy it — wasn't that how the saying went?
I had handled this affair well, which meant I'd earned myself more time to grow.
"Good. Do as you see fit. I'll be right here beside you, helping all the way."
At the solidity in Kim Seok-jun's voice, I smiled and nodded.
"Then I'll take my leave."
As I stood, Kim Seok-jun rose with me and stepped closer.
"Give me your hand, then. Let's shake on it."
With those words, I clasped the hand he offered.
"You did fine work. I mean that — sincerely."
I released his hand, bowed my head quietly in farewell, and stepped out of his house.
Outside, the early summer evening air greeted me.
So it finally feels real.
A perfect victory — something my previous life had never once granted me.
But there was no time to lose myself in the feeling. This was only the beginning.
Better hurry home and hunt down the next investment. Next time, I'll crush them before they can even get started.
With that vow, I picked up my pace.