Chapter 100
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Submit a Dividend Claim Application?
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Submit a dividend claim application?
What the hell does this mean?
I read the court documents that had been sent my way over and over, but I still couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Well, sure, it's written in Korean, so I can read it.
But it's like those martial arts manuals written in hanja that I know inside out yet still don't understand. You get what I mean?
With all the legal jargon crammed in, I just couldn't be sure if I was grasping the actual content right.
"Sanghun oppa, you got a minute? In-ae teacher too."
"What's up?"
"Pardon?"
The situation hadn't even fully sunk in for me yet, so I didn't want to confuse the staff by letting them hear about it prematurely.
I called Hwang Sanghun and Seo In-ae into the exam room first.
They just seemed like the types who'd know more about real estate or auctions than I did anyway.
"Is something wrong...?"
Hwang Sanghun occasionally came to me with questions, but it was extremely rare for me to summon him like this, so he looked pretty tense.
And with Seo In-ae of all people?
"Could you two take a look at this?"
"Hmm?"
"...An auction? For this building?"
Seo In-ae's face twisted as she casually picked up the papers.
"Yeowon, how much deposit do you have tied up here?"
Hwang Sanghun asked urgently too.
Oh, they got the gist just from the title. Figures they'd be sharper than me at this.
"The deposit's not much. Ten million, eighty thousand monthly."
"Director, what about key money?"
"None. It was a free transfer."
"Phew, that's a relief!"
"No interior work either, right?"
"Yeah."
They both let out sighs of relief at the mention of no key money.
"What's key money got to do with it?"
"Well, if there's a prior mortgage, you lose opposability."
I scratched my head cluelessly while Hwang Sanghun spouted what sounded like alien talk straight from the documents.
Opposability? Like some kind of invincible diamond or what?
Seo In-ae finally spoke up, unable to stand my baffled expression.
"Let me explain from the beginning. The building going to auction means someone who the owner owes money to applied to seize his assets because they couldn't get paid. Got that much?"
"Yeah. I've heard that buying at auction is way cheaper for the buyer. If it sells normally, it goes for more, so this means the owner's basically bankrupt, right?"
"Exactly."
I'd looked it up online a bit before calling them, so I at least understood what an auction was.
"Looking at the registry, the bank's loan is the issue here. See? Loan's six hundred million, back taxes thirty million."
"Oh, yeah."
"The sequence shows the owner took the loan first, then you moved in as tenant the next year. So the bank gets paid before you. If it auctions for a billion, bank takes theirs, tax office gets theirs, then tenants in order. But at five hundred million? You're screwed."
"Ah!"
...So depending on the final bid, I could lose ten million?
It's not a huge sum compared to my current income, but it still stung.
Ten million could buy a new ultrasound machine, or electrotherapy gear, or even fund a full interior redo to add more beds!
"You've heard of jeonse fraud, right? Even if it's not fraud, when a villa hits auction, the jeonse deposit becomes the problem for residential buildings. One-rooms and two-rooms run into the billions."
"Ah, so my ten million is peanuts?"
"Yeah. Commercial spaces are usually monthly rent. But when the building sells, your lease from the old owner vanishes, so they can kick you out regardless of your contract. No way to recover billions sunk into key money or interiors."
Oh, now I got it.
I nodded in admiration.
"You explain it so well, like Yeowon would."
"Hmm?"
"What? You mocking me? I was just nodding like an idiot."
"Anyway, it's good news—the appraised value's a billion. No key money means everyone gets their deposits back no matter what floor."
The auction date was already set, and the appraisal was out.
Ten digits. What a monster sum. How do you go bust with assets like that?
Loans, taxes, all that jazz, but if it sells for a billion, we're probably fine.
I thought simply, but Seo In-ae shook her head.
"No guarantee it goes for a billion. I wouldn't buy it myself. Plus... our clinic takes the whole fourth floor for just eighty thousand monthly? No way that pencils out at a billion."
"Mm."
She compared it to bank interest on a billion versus the rent income.
"Sure, they could evict everyone and jack up rents... but compared to market rates around here, it doesn't look great on first glance."
"What if no one bids?"
"They lower the price and re-advertise. At five hundred million, someone's buying."
True. I'd buy at five hundred million.
Hell, maybe even a billion.
Of course, I kept that to myself. Two years since opening, and they'd chew me out for still lacking business sense.
"And here's the dividend claim form. It's to apply for your share of the proceeds."
"Ah, gotta file it, right?"
Hwang Sanghun chimed in this time.
"We're junior to the creditors, so yeah, file to get the deposit. I saw my aunt hold out when she bought a building—opposability lets you stay. If you're senior to creditors, you might even keep the contract with the new owner."
"Oh, right."
Seo In-ae nodded along.
Whatever. We file and see, I guess?
"So we file this, hope it auctions decently, get our share, and bounce?"
"Probably."
"Recontracting as-is seems tough. They'll try to raise rent no matter the bid... Ah, who knows. I'm no expert."
"How about talking to the other floors first?"
Sounds good.
Blindly following staff advice would just shift the responsibility to them.
"Thanks so much for helping, you two."
I couldn't lean on them forever.
Research what I could, then decide myself.
I thanked them for the explanation and brainstorming.
The next day.
For the first time since this mess started, all the tenants of the four-story building gathered in one spot.
I'd asked around since I wanted to discuss with folks in the same boat, and everyone agreed readily.
"Everyone got the court registry?"
"Yes... What are you all planning?"
We met at the first-floor bakery. Second floor was a restaurant, third an academy.
Our clinic was the top-floor tenant.
First and third floors predated me; second... last year? I'd grab lunch at the dakgalbi place sometimes.
"Tsk tsk, I knew that bastard kid would screw things up big time!"
The middle-aged bakery owner said.
Unlike me, who had zero history with the landlord, he knew the story.
From what he shared, the original owner was a kindly old grandpa who'd built the place with minimal loans, never raised rent for decades.
But by the time the academy and I moved in, the grandson had inherited and used the building as collateral for a fat loan to fund some side venture.
"So everyone else's deposits are ten million each...?"
It stung, but ten million wasn't catastrophic.
I stayed relatively calm; first and third floors griped about the hassle but didn't treat ten million as dire.
But the second-floor restaurant owner was losing it.
Third matched ours at 1,000/80; first was 1,000/150. Second? Landlord pushed high deposit low rent, so 5,000/10.
"Commercial rent like that? It's basically jeonse."
"Th-the landlord insisted on upping the deposit, and lowering monthly seemed smart... Never imagined it'd end like this..."
Seeing no panic from others made him tear up more.
"We will get the deposit back, right? It's... practically my life savings!"
"If it hits a billion, sure..."
The academy director was the chillest.
"I was planning to move anyway. Obviously file the claim. Coordinate exit with the buyer if possible, otherwise leave when told."
Business was booming; wanted to relocate near the station soon.
Planned to hold out rent-free, leave on eviction notice.
"I'm senior anyway, contract's got time left."
The baker shrugged despite his irritation.
Senior to bank meant he could enforce his lease.
Fill the term, extend if possible. Same terms unlikely—that was his gripe.
"Ugh, uwaaa...!"
The restaurant guy had already filed; terrified enough that he'd shutter immediately for his deposit back.
We wrapped up amid his groans.
I shared the building situation and tenant meeting with the staff.
"So what happens to us? Do we move like the academy?"
Seol Yuhee asked.
I'd heard plenty of opinions, but hadn't settled on a stance.
Ha...
Expanded, and now forced into something bigger?
Not the worst.
0.7km uphill from station—not bad for me, but patients griped about the location constantly.
Might as well cash out max deposit, pay higher rent for bigger space.
"Not really feeling it."
But it didn't sit right.
Others thought I'd picked this spot on a whim, but feng shui-wise, it's prime.
Energy converges here—treatments actually work better.
"Talk to the next buyer then?"
Valid option.
But not top priority.
Banking on some stranger's whim without a plan? Nah.
They could hike rent absurdly or repurpose and evict outright.
Instead of answering directly, I asked Seo In-ae something else.
"In-ae teacher."
"Yes."
"This building—appraised at a billion, is that really pricey?"
I kept drifting to option three.
"Pardon?"
She tilted her head, puzzled why I'd ask her that.
"You know it best among us? Said you studied auctions before."
From the talk, she seemed the expert here.
Come to think, early on when she and I drank, she mentioned studying real estate auctions.
"Not like I know it inside out."
"But you've bought at auction before, right?"
She went quiet.
Silence fell among the staff.
"Director, no way..."
She hesitated.
"Why?"
"Just checking, but..."
"Spit it out."
"You're not... thinking of buying it... right?"
"If it's a good deal after checking, maybe?"
I nodded.
Worth considering as option three, no?
"Whaaaaat?"
"The director's buying the whole building?"
I'd just floated a possibility.
Yet everyone gaped in shock.