Everyday Life (1)
After returning to Korea, I headed straight for Yuseong Group’s Gangnam headquarters.
There was no need to wait; I was ushered directly into the chairman’s office.
Chairman Yoo Jae-ho looked at me and said, “I never imagined you would stop Kionos’s investment through such a method. But how did you know Chairman Samara would have that kind of information?”
“Japanese companies tend to be wary of foreign executives. I figured someone like Chairman Samara wouldn’t just trust the reports; he’d verify every detail of the company himself.”
At my answer, Chairman Yoo Jae-ho wore an expression of genuine admiration.
“I was worried our client companies might start drifting away, but thanks to you, I feel much more at ease.”
As Kionos wavered under one blow after another, the big tech firms all announced they would continue doing business with Yuseong Electronics.
When it came to semiconductors, supply stability mattered more than anything else.
Kionos shareholders were in tears, while Yuseong Electronics shareholders were raising both hands and cheering.
Other people’s misfortune was my happiness.
He didn’t know it, but in my first life, both China and Japan had been powerful rivals in the semiconductor industry, and Yuseong Electronics had fallen because of it.
But this time, things had changed because of me.
First, China’s semiconductor rise had been checked by the failed acquisition of Dongwoo Precision. And now, with the Kionos incident, Japan’s semiconductor industry had also become uncertain.
Even if they managed to clean up the mess and start investing late, they had already missed the timing. From here on out, they would no longer be a major threat.
“In the end, Prince Rashid pushed out his cousin and became Crown Prince. The companies are all stirring because of it.”
Once Crown Prince Rashid announced his national development plan, every company started running the numbers.
With such a vast market opening up in Saudi Arabia, South Korea was also beginning to hope for a new Middle East boom.
“I sent my congratulations a few days ago. He told me to ask for Yuseong Group’s investment in Saudi Arabia in the future.”
“Ah! I got a call recently too.”
A good leader could steer a country in the right direction.
Saudi Arabia was an absolute monarchy, so there was no denying that Crown Prince Rashid was a dictator. During his rule in my first life, he hadn’t done only noble things, either.
Still, it was clear that he had made Saudi Arabia a better place to live than it had been under the previous kings.
“Come to think of it, the Korean presidential election is coming up soon too.”
“Ah…”
If I were being honest, I wanted nothing to do with politics.
But economics itself came from the idea of governing the world and saving the people—how could it possibly be separated from politics?
Even Yuseong Group itself could hardly remain untouched by politics.
I asked Chairman Yoo Jae-ho, “What do you think of President Oh Young-hwan?”
“I think he was a capable president.”
“Even though he took bribes?”
He gave a bitter smile.
“Isn’t that still better than being corrupt and incompetent?”
“Fair enough. Then who do you think will be the next president?”
“At the moment, Representative Im Chang-sik is the most likely candidate.”
“I see.”
Chairman Yoo Jae-ho asked, looking puzzled, “Do you perhaps not think so?”
“No. I think so too.”
He was the leader of the main opposition, Woori Kookmin Party, and the strongest contender for the presidency. Unless something unexpected happened, he had the highest chance of becoming president—and in fact, that was exactly what happened.
To be honest, President Oh Young-hwan wasn’t the real problem.
At the very least, he hadn’t completely ruined the country.
The truly serious trouble began after Im Chang-sik became president.
If I started listing the problems, we’d be here forever, so I’ll use just one example: foreign policy.
Korea was a major ally of the United States and a major economic partner of China. It cooperated with the U.S. on security, but its economy was heavily dependent on China.
So what should Korea have done when the U.S. and China collided?
The best course was to balance carefully between the two, the middle course was to side with America, and the worst course was to side with China.
Korea chose the absolute worst option.
Did it side with China?
No. If only it had.
Under the guise of balanced diplomacy, it clung to the United States, then clung to China, then back to the United States, then back to China again.
One day it was announcing in the U.S. Congress that it would join economic sanctions against China, and another day it was showing up at the Chinese Communist Party’s founding anniversary and applauding like its life depended on it.
That kind of batlike behavior was enough to make the leaders of both the U.S. and China openly show their displeasure.
Those diplomatic blunders came back as all kinds of economic retaliation.
Business activity shrank, foreign capital stopped investing, and in the end Korea fell behind in advanced industries.
And foreign policy wasn’t the only thing that went wrong; the rest of the administration followed the same pattern.
Even when all kinds of side effects piled up, policy was forced through in the name of ideology, and when the results came out wrong, the blame was shifted onto someone else.
Over five years in power, the economy was ruined so thoroughly that recovery would be difficult.
That didn’t mean Korea became a backward country like Venezuela. It simply meant it was pushed down from the threshold of the developed world into the ranks of middle-income countries, while losing competitiveness in advanced industries.
Exports fell, the exchange rate rose, companies fled overseas, and unemployment increased. It was like watching Japan’s Lost Three Decades play out all over again.
At least Japan had entered its slump with over a hundred million people and the world’s second-largest economy behind it, but Korea didn’t have even that going for it, so the hardship ran deeper.
I said to Chairman Yoo Jae-ho, “Korea achieved dazzling economic growth in the seventies and eighties. And after the IMF crisis, it used industrial restructuring to lay the groundwork for growth once again.”
For all its flaws, Korea had still met the right leaders at the right moments.
When I looked at countries like the Philippines and Argentina—once wealthier than Korea, only to collapse because of bad leaders—I could see just how fortunate Korea had been.
It had somehow clawed its way to the threshold of the developed world, but there was still a long road ahead.
“If the wrong president comes to power at a time like this, Yuseong Group will take a serious hit too.”
Chairman Yoo Jae-ho immediately understood what I meant.
“You’re saying Representative Im Chang-sik must not become the next president?”
“Yes.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s incompetent.”
Im Chang-sik was so incompetent that Oh Young-hwan looked like a saint in comparison.
“Being incompetent isn’t necessarily bad. It just means the people around him have to be good at their jobs.”
Unfortunately, that only works if he has the intelligence to pick the right people around him in the first place.
I added one more thing.
“And he’s diligent.”
Chairman Yoo Jae-ho let out something like a groan. “...That is a serious problem.”
Being incompetent by itself was not necessarily catastrophic.
But Im Chang-sik was the kind of man who, after becoming president, would work so diligently that he’d forgo sleep.
He demanded reports on every issue personally and handled even trivial matters himself.
That combination of incompetence and diligence was the worst possible mix.
“Continue Capital is financial capital. We go where the money is, invest where it can make money, and pull out when it can’t. That’s all there is to it. But Yuseong Group is industrial capital. In the end, it has to share Korea’s fate. For that, politics has to support it—or at the very least, not tie its hands.”
Chairman Yoo Jae-ho’s expression turned grave.
“If not Representative Im Chang-sik, then who do you think should become the next president?”
When you know the future, there are only two choices.
One is to let it happen as it did before. The other is to make sure it doesn’t.
One person came to mind.
He had struggled with everything he had to prevent Korea’s collapse. His efforts had been moving enough to bring tears to your eyes, but by the time he acted, it had already been too late to reverse the current.
All he could do was slow the pace of decline.
If he became the next president, couldn’t he change things?
“What about Representative Namgung Seok?”
“The Woori Kookmin Party lawmaker?”
“Yes.”
Chairman Yoo Jae-ho looked as if he had never considered it.
He was a three-term assemblyman, but he still lacked real presence. At present, he wasn’t even mentioned as a possible presidential candidate.
“You’re not seriously saying you think Representative Namgung Seok could become the next president, are you?”
I shook my head.
“I’m not saying I think he will. I’m saying I think he should.”
At the very least, I had to stop Im Chang-sik from becoming president. Fortunately, there was still time.
“That’s not an easy problem.”
Politics was not something you could solve with money. If it were, the chaebols would have been taking turns running it by now.
“There is a possibility.”
In the party primary for Woori Kookmin Party coming up soon, Namgung Seok would ride the momentum and finish second behind Im Chang-sik.
Korean politics was a two-party structure, after all.
If he beat Representative Im Chang-sik in the primary and became the Woori Kookmin Party candidate, wouldn’t it become a fight worth having?
For the first time in a while, I got in a car and headed to my parents’ house.
Since I’d called ahead, my mother was home.
“I’m here,” I said.
She welcomed me warmly. “My son’s here?”
“Where are Father and Se-na?”
“Your father went to the office, and Se-na went to school.”
“I see.”
“Have some fruit.”
My mother peeled an apple and a pear for me.
As I sat there eating fruit, she casually pushed her phone toward me.
My instincts immediately went bad.
“Look at this picture. It’s the daughter of my friend’s friend.”
“...Out of nowhere?”
Seriously? My son finally comes home after all this time, and the first thing you bring up is the daughter of your friend’s friend?
“Meet her once. Her name is Kim Song. She majored in piano at some university abroad. I think she’s won a lot of awards too.”
After looking at the photo, I replied flatly, “Mother. I don’t think Ms. Kim Song and I are meant for each other.”
“How do you know that without even meeting her?”
Don’t you usually know just from the picture?
“I’ll handle my own love life.”
“You won’t handle it on your own, that’s why! You won’t!”
“...”
I wanted to go home.
While I was enduring my mother’s nagging, Se-na came back.
“Ah! Oppa.”
Her hair seemed a little lighter than I remembered.
In the past, she would have looked at me like I was a cow watching a chicken and then gone straight to her room, but I was no longer the older brother of the past.
I was the older brother with money.
Maybe that was why she trotted right over and sat beside me.
“Why haven’t you come home in so long, oppa?”
She was being unusually sweet, which meant she definitely wanted something.
“Are you about to ask me for allowance again?”
“Hey, no, it’s not that.”
What a surprise. The allowance goblin was saying that?
Se-na grinned and said, “Can’t you buy me a car?”
“...What nonsense are you talking about?”
Then she grabbed my arm and started begging in earnest.
“Come on, why not? You bought one for Dad.”
“Yeah. When you have kids, you can ask them to buy you one too.”
“Wow, seriously. Can’t you buy a car for your one and only little sister? All my friends have cars. I’m the only one who doesn’t.”
“Do you major in taxi driving or something?”
“Fine. I’m not talking to you anymore.”
Her lips were already jutting out a good three inches.
“What kind of car do you want?”
If she had even a shred of conscience, she’d ask for a compact Korean car, right?
Then the girl who had just said she wouldn’t talk to me answered immediately.
“I think the new Ferrari that just came out is really pretty. Red.”
“...”
My younger sister had no conscience.
No, was this more a lack of basic common sense?
When she saw my expression, Se-na quickly started negotiating.
“But I guess I could compromise on a red Mini.”
No, how did a Ferrari turn into a Mini in ten seconds?
Thirty minutes after coming home, I already wanted to go back to the U.S.
I tuned out the car-addicted muttering with one ear and let it out the other, and then my eyes caught the liquor cabinet in the living room.
“When did that get so full?”
The cabinet, which had once been half-empty and sparse, was now packed to the brim.
Did business start going well enough that he was already buying liquor to fill it?
My mother said, “Oh! Those are all gifts.”
“Gifts?”
From her expression, she didn’t seem to realize how expensive those bottles were.
“Yeah. Apparently some business acquaintance kept sending your father one bottle after another to congratulate him on this and that. He apparently feels terrible every time he receives one, because he’s crazy about liquor.”
“...”
It was definitely no ordinary collection.
The most expensive bottle our house had ever owned had been a thirty-year-old Ballantine’s. Even that had stayed unopened for years because he said he wanted to savor it.
But today I could see a Macallan and a Royal Salute sitting side by side.
Could they be vintage editions?
There was only one person around me who would do something like that.
I called him on my phone. Before the ringtone had even played a few times, he answered.
“Hey, brother! What’s up?”
“How have you been?”
“Great. I’ve been working hard and not getting into any trouble. You know I haven’t been in the news lately, right?”
“...”
Was I supposed to praise him for that?
“I’m in Korea right now. Are you free? Let me buy you a drink.”