The Obscure Clause

The moment the heavy door of the VIP consultation room swung shut, the noise of the banking hall was sealed away.

CEO Choi sank onto the sofa, still gasping for breath, and even now he would not let go of the golf club in his hand.

Assistant Manager Choi In-sung set down the coffee cup with trembling fingers and retreated into a corner, watching the situation warily.

"Tell me. What exactly do you know about my land? That ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠plot doesn't even have a road leading to it. It's a worthless piece of junk I got tricked into buying by those idiots in the real estate planning department!"

Disbelief saturated CEO Choi's voice.

But beneath it seeped a desperate hunger — the longing of a drowning man clutching at straws.

I took a leisurely sip of coffee, then opened my mouth slowly.

"Mixed-use land near the Seosan reclaimed tidelands, roughly ten acres. Since it's landlocked, I imagine you assumed it had no collateral value whatsoever."

"......."

"Which means you left it off your list of assets offered as collateral. As far as anyone's concerned, it doesn't exist."

CEO Choi's eyes wavered.

"How... how on earth did you..."

"Give me that land."

"What? Hey! Even if it is landlocked, that's practically my entire life's..."

"No. I'm not asking you to give it to *me*. I'm asking you to offer it to the bank as collateral."

I rapidly combed through the vast compendium of lending regulations that Time Skip had planted in my mind.

Among thousands of pages of rules, a needle-thin gap was glowing in my head.

"Sir, there is exactly one justification the main office is using to reject your extension right now: increased credit risk. They're hiding behind principle — construction market conditions have worsened, so no extension is possible without additional collateral."

"Right! So what good would it do to throw down that rotten little scrap of land? Its appraised value is pocket change!"

"The appraised value isn't what matters. What matters is your sincere willingness to repay and the act of reinforcing your collateral."

I continued with quiet conviction.

"Under Chapter 4, Article 12 of Daehan Bank's current lending regulations — the Special Provision on Support for Normalization of Distressed Companies — there is a clause stating that when a borrower offers additional collateral as part of their own recovery efforts, a maturity extension may be granted through committee review, regardless of the collateral's appraised value."

"I'm sorry — that regulation actually exists?"

After decades of banking transactions, this would be the first time he'd ever heard of it.

It was a fossilized clause that most bank employees never applied — either because it was a hassle, or because they simply didn't know it existed.

"Whether that land is expensive or cheap is irrelevant. The core of this is documentation — proof that you're willing to put up the very last asset you've been hiding in order to save this company. Once you hand the review officers that justification, they won't want to push you into default and pile up loan-loss provisions either."

I leaned across the table and looked CEO Choi dead in the eye.

"I will take that land as collateral and secure a conditional extension of your loan maturity. That's my promise."

"Is... is that really true?"

CEO Choi's voice shook as he asked.

Even the way he spoke had changed.

"Yes. I'll do everything I can."

He seized both my hands in his.

They were rough, calloused hands, hardened by years of labor on construction ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sites.

"Team Leader... no, Team Leader Kim Dong-su! Can you really do it? You mean I can stop a default just by putting up that one landlocked plot?"

"It's possible. Because I'll make it happen. I'm a banker. Finding a way to save a company *within* the regulations — that's my job."

Tears welled up in CEO Choi's eyes.

"I will never forget this kindness. What can I do for you? A fund? A savings account? Anything — just say the word! If you save my company..."

I smiled faintly.

It was harvest time.

"For today, please calm down and head home. I'll fax over the extension approval documents by tomorrow. Ah, and one more thing..."

I deliberately put on a troubled expression before adding:

"The Branch Manager is terribly on edge about his quotas... If you could show a small token of good faith today, right now, it would make my position considerably easier. Cross-transaction records are quite a useful weapon when persuading the review officers, you see."

CEO Choi wiped his tears and nodded.

"Of course! Director Park! Get Director Park in here now!"

At his bellow, one of the hulking men waiting outside shuffled nervously into the room.

"Boss, what is it? You want us to flip the place?"

"Flip what, you idiot? Get the corporate account book out here right now! And scrape together every spare won the company has! Open a savings account — anything, everything — in front of Team Leader Kim here!"

The situation resolved itself in a matter of minutes.

Mirae General Construction would survive its default crisis through a maturity extension, and our branch had secured business no one had dreamed of.

Best of all, a loan teetering on the edge of default had been normalized under the respectable banner of collateral reinforcement.

The instant I opened the consultation room door, every eye in the hall locked onto me.

At a single glance from CEO Choi, the gangster-looking men who had been radiating murderous energy all morning bowed to me at a perfect ninety degrees.

"Thank you for your hard work, sir! Boss!"

"......."

Since when was I your boss?

I forced an air of composure as I saw CEO Choi out.

"Get home safely, sir."

"Yes, Team Leader! I'll prepare the documents and send them right away! I believe in you!"

Once the storm of men swept out the door, an eerie silence settled over the branch.

The employees stared at me blankly, and Assistant Manager Choi In-sung had collapsed into his chair, his legs apparently giving out beneath him.

Just then, the Branch Manager's office door cracked open a sliver.

It was Branch Manager Park Tae-jin.

"Are... are they gone?"

The sight of him peeking around as he emerged was truly one for the books.

Straightening my clothes, I addressed him.

"Yes. CEO Choi of Mirae General Construction has left. And..."

I waved the new account application that Assistant Manager Choi had filled out.

"As a condition of the loan extension, we've opened a corporate deposit of fifty million won. We've also agreed to acquire additional real estate collateral — roughly ten acres — on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the existing credit loan. The LTV is low, but it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠qualifies as collateral reinforcement under the regulations, so it can be processed with your sign-off."

"...What?"

Branch Manager Park's jaw dropped.

He snatched the documents and checked them, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"How... how did you sweet-talk that lunatic who was swinging a golf club around? You even wrung collateral out of him??"

"Just good luck, sir."

I added with a grin:

"Oh, and Branch Manager — Donggwang Electronics is scheduled for a three o'clock visit. I'll handle that one too. Don't worry about a thing and get back to work."

The Branch Manager could only stare at me, his soul visibly departing his body.

I left him gaping and returned to my desk.

The moment I sat down, Assistant Manager Choi In-sung — his expression having gone well past admiration into outright worship — peeled open a vitamin drink and held it out to me.

"Team Leader... what on earth are you? In my entire time at this company, I've never seen anyone win a customer over by quoting the regulations. Most people just say the rules won't allow it and leave it at that."

"Regulations don't exist just to tell people what they can't do. They exist so we can make things happen."

I drained the drink in one go.

My throat felt like it was on fire.

I'd sounded calm enough, but the truth was I'd been sweating cold the whole time.

If it hadn't been for my past self inside the Time Skip, I would have been shaking in front of that golf club just like everyone else.

"Assistant Manager Choi, stop staring at me and get the Donggwang Electronics file ready. Three o'clock is sooner than you think."

"Oh! Yes, sir! Right away!"

Assistant Manager Choi snapped into motion without a word of complaint.

I took a moment to steady my breathing and opened the Donggwang Electronics file.

Donggwang Electronics.

A second-tier vendor that performed the plating used in mobile phone components.

Their financial statements were a disaster.

Revenue was holding steady, but rising material costs and ballooning labor expenses had pushed operating profit into the red two years running.

By any conventional measure, this was a textbook dead-end company.

But inside my head, the corporate intelligence database that Time Skip had injected was telling a very different story.

There it was.

A money-losing company today — but if S-Electronics changed its policy six months from now, this firm could become very valuable indeed.

A plating technique that didn't rely on cyanide was bound to shine brighter the tighter environmental regulations became.

The CEO doesn't know this yet. And the financial industry certainly has no idea how to value that technology.

I allowed myself a smile.

For this one, I wouldn't even need my abilities.

Pure, simple information asymmetry would do just fine.