New Investment (1)
We’d had a company dinner for the first time in a while.
Senior Dong-ho was eating beef and sighing in admiration. “It just melts in your mouth. If you’ve made money, beef is the way to go.”
“You all worked hard.”
The two of them had barely slept at all. They’d been analyzing stock prices and trading volume, then organizing the articles and sending them to headquarters. Thanks to that, we’d been able to adjust the buying volume and time our sells with precision.
Maybe because they felt we’d closed out a major investment successfully, both of them looked relaxed.
As we raised our glasses, Kim Beom-seok’s phone rang.
He excused himself and answered it for a moment. “Hello, hyung. I’m in the middle of a company dinner right now, so I’ll call you back later. Yes, I understand.”
Senior Dong-ho asked, “Who was that?”
“Kim Jeong-gyu……”
“What! Don’t tell me you mean the Kim Jeong-gyu from 2 Days, 3 Nights?”
“That’s right.”
Kim Jeong-gyu was a national MC, someone every Korean knew.
Senior Dong-ho’s eyes widened. “No way. Why would Kim Jeong-gyu be calling you?”
“We met at the broadcasting station last time and got to know each other a little.”
“Come on, that’s impossible.”
He looked like he couldn’t believe a friend of his was close to the nation’s MC.
Kim Beom-seok, seeing that reaction, lifted his chin a little.
“As you can see, we’re on a hyung-dongsaeng basis.”
I asked him, “Looks like you’re pretty popular with entertainers.”
“It feels a little awkward to say it myself, but every time people see me, they line up asking for my number.”
Senior Dong-ho frowned. “Why? What for?”
“They ask where they should invest. Some of them even ask whether Continue Capital takes investments.”
“Hmm. Everyone’s interested in making money work for them.”
From what I heard, Kim Jeong-gyu had apparently taken a big loss on a fund investment this time. And because the fund manager had belatedly piled into GL Entech stock, the losses had grown even larger.
“Oh! Come to think of it, Kim Jeong-gyu is the model for GL T-Plus, isn’t he? GL Group’s image has been trashed, so is that okay?”
“Apparently he’s getting dragged for it, too. He’s even thinking about paying the penalty and breaking the contract outright.”
“Well, you don’t worry about celebrities or chaebol heirs.”
That was true.
So I took it all in without the slightest concern.
We finished the meat and were about to leave when Senior Dong-ho, apparently already drunk, said in a cheerful voice, “Second round! On a day like today, we have to keep drinking.”
When we stepped outside, familiar music drifted toward us.
“Hey! Isn’t that the song Letter of Farewell?”
A man in his early twenties, by the look of him, was busking on the street, and the passersby had stopped to listen.
Kim Beom-seok watched him and smiled faintly. “I had a time like that once, too.”
“Go up and do a duet with him.”
“Pardon? I’ve been drinking.”
“Come on, hurry up.”
I pushed him forward by the back. With no choice, Kim Beom-seok approached the makeshift stage.
Then the young man stopped singing, stared at him in shock, and blurted, “The dim you in my memory—whoa!”
He probably never imagined the original singer would show up in the middle of a street performance.
“Would it be all right if I sang with you?”
“I-it would be an honor!”
Kim Beom-seok took the spare microphone and sang along.
The people watching were stunned.
“What the hell?”
“Is this a hidden camera?”
“That’s really Kim Beom-seok!”
“Whoa! No way!”
Everyone hastily took photos and videos with their phones.
Even if he’d been drinking, his skill hadn’t gone anywhere. Kim Beom-seok belted out his own song with the busking singer.
Senior Dong-ho, listening quietly, wore a look of astonishment.
“Wow! He sang that well?”
“Does it feel real now that your friend is a singer?”
“Hmm, he’s got some chops.”
The weather was cool, and the music was sweet.
I looked up at the night sky and enjoyed the rare ease of the moment.
For some reason, I felt good.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
An Italian restaurant in Cheongdam-dong.
I followed the staff inside, where Sung Yoon-ah and Min Ah-reum were already waiting at the table.
Both of them were rare beauties with excellent style, so the people around us kept sneaking glances in their direction.
Min Ah-reum asked me, “This place is expensive. Am I really allowed to have you treat me, too?”
“Of course. Order whatever you want.”
I’d planned to buy them a meal anyway, since they’d helped me out at the last party.
“Oh! I have a gift for you.”
“What is it?”
Min Ah-reum held out a card inside an envelope.
“It’s a department store gift card from us.”
“How much is it worth?”
“You’ll know when you use it.”
I was oddly curious how much money was on it.
Was it maybe a million won?
No matter how much money you made, free things were good.
“Thanks. I’ll put it to good use.”
I tucked the gift card into my pocket.
Smiling, Min Ah-reum said, “Still, it’s getting harder to split off a subsidiary and hand it out these days. For an heir who’s going to inherit the group, that’s one thing, but everyone else must be resenting you, Miru.”
“Is that so?”
Well, I didn’t care whether they resented me or not.
The reason chaebol groups kept splitting themselves apart endlessly was simple: they wanted to leave something behind for their children.
Even a company that only operated a single franchise would create a distribution company, a supplier, and a packaging company, then divide them up among relatives one by one.
But now it had become difficult to split off a new subsidiary and list it on the market. Maybe that was why an odd atmosphere had settled over the chaebol families now facing succession.
Min Ah-reum propped her chin on her hand and let out a sigh. “Honestly, I’ve got my own problems. I’m starting to wonder what I’m supposed to live on later.”
The Shinsegi Group’s main businesses were department stores, marts, duty-free shops, and large-scale shopping complexes.
But those would, in the end, belong to her older brother and older sister.
In the original future, Shinsegi Group would have split off its fashion division and put her in charge. This time, though, my involvement had thrown everything off.
All the better.
Since the subject had come up, I decided to bring it to her directly.
“Then how about working with us?”
“Pardon?”
It must have been so unexpected that both women looked flustered.
“We’re planning to use the money we just made to start a new business.”
“What kind of business?”
“I’m thinking of investing in fashion.”
The global fashion industry was so huge it rivaled the semiconductor industry in scale.
Spain’s richest man was the chairman of ZARA, the leader in fast fashion, and France’s richest man was the head of the luxury empire LVMH.
“Are you planning to acquire a luxury brand?”
“That would be hard.”
The famous luxury names had already been acquired by someone somewhere. Buying them back would take an absurd amount of money.
“I want to grow a new brand. There are all kinds of new designers and labels popping up these days.”
“Hmm, that won’t be easy.”
Unlike IT, fashion was hard to differentiate through performance.
You had to differentiate through design and image, and that wasn’t something you could simply brute-force with money. The higher up you went into the luxury end of the market, the more firmly established the existing brands’ dominance became.
But still—
“A new market is going to open up in fashion.”
At my words, Min Ah-reum leaned in and listened.
“A new market?”
“As you know, digitalization is the big theme for every company right now. That’s happening actively in fashion too, isn’t it?”
Min Ah-reum nodded. “Yes. Lately, the trend is to digitalize production, distribution, and sales all at once. They connect online malls and offline stores into one system, collect customer data, and use it for inventory management and new product development. That way, they can understand customer needs, develop products quickly, and minimize inventory through customized distribution and production.”
Fashion brands with any real scale were all racing to digitize.
I nodded.
“That’s true, but there’s something even more important.”
“What is it?”
“A virtual space. In other words, fashion moving entirely into the digital world. Advertising there, too, along with production and sales.”
Both of them stared at me in surprise.
“Metaverse will open a completely new market for fashion. Not just store promotion, but actually producing and selling clothes and shoes in the digital world.”
“You mean spending money to dress up characters?”
“Exactly.”
Fashion in a virtual space was nothing more than data made of zeroes and ones.
But data like that could make money any way you liked.
“Have you ever done avatar customization and stuff like that? Gamers pour ridiculous amounts of money into skins that have nothing to do with performance. In the case of limited-edition skins, the price can jump dozens of times later on.”
The desire to look different from others was practically human instinct. That was why fashion mattered even in the digital world.
Brands that climbed onto that wave quickly would achieve enormous success.
“How would we do it?”
“First, Ah-reum, you set up an independent company. Hire people as needed. Then Continue Capital’s Korean branch will invest in it, by taking a 70 percent stake.”
“How much are you planning to invest?”
“I’m thinking about 300 billion won for the first round. Depending on how things go, I’d put in as much as 1 trillion won more.”
At that, both women were taken aback.
At that level, it was an enormous sum even for a chaebol.
There weren’t many people in those families who had that much cash on hand.
Someone might think I could just invest directly, but I didn’t know this field very well.
And new brands often depended on a single designer.
If that designer quit after the investment, the brand could collapse in no time. Sustained management was essential.
She was a Shinsegi Group member and already a famous figure in fashion. She had the ability and the network, so finding someone more suited for the job would be difficult.
Shinsegi Group had department stores and duty-free shops, and we had the metaverse. We could grow the brand through both offline and online channels.
If she stepped forward and said she would invest, wouldn’t designers welcome it with open arms?
“I can promise you this much: within five years, it’ll be much bigger than Shinsegi Group.”
I wasn’t just saying that.
I wasn’t especially interested in fashion, but I did know a few brands that would rise in the years ahead. If we acquired those in advance, we could make tens of times our investment.
In any case, as long as she had an older brother and sister above her, there was no chance she’d inherit the group.
But if she worked with me, she could build a company bigger than Shinsegi Group. She might think, even then, that a 30 percent stake wasn’t much—but at that scale, it was actually enormous.
After all, even Shinsegi Group’s founding family didn’t hold 30 percent of the shares.
Apparently caught off guard by my unexpected proposal, Min Ah-reum stopped moving her hand and sat there lost in thought.
“There’ll be a lot to do. You’ll have to acquire existing brands, manage designers, and build production and distribution networks, too. You’ll need time to think, so take it slow and give me your answer later.”
Min Ah-reum shook her head. “No. I’ll answer now. I’m in.”
“Really? Don’t go back on it later.”
“Of course. And you, Miru, better not change your story either.”
Sung Yoon-ah said, sounding envious, “That’s nice, unni. Getting a 30 billion won investment before you’ve even started the business.”
Min Ah-reum smiled brightly. “Let’s make a toast.”
We clinked our wine glasses together in good spirits, but then unexpected people walked into the restaurant.
“Ah!”
She looked at me and seemed startled.
I was startled too, and asked Sung Yoon-ah in my head, “Did you invite her?”
“N-no, of course not.”
It seemed to be a coincidence.
A woman in her twenties with a doll-like face and a polished outfit.
It was none other than Go Hyeon-ji, the daughter of GL Chemical’s CEO, Go Jae-ik.
Her friends were with her. They all seemed to recognize me, since they’d been at the party that day.
Since we’d crossed paths like this, I stood and greeted her.
“We meet again, Go Hyeon-ji.”
Apparently flustered, she avoided my eyes and asked, “W-what are you doing here?”
“I came to eat.”
“Oh, to eat……”
Then she straightened her back and snapped, “Y-you don’t have anything to say to me?”
I thought for a moment, then said, “Ah! Thanks.”
“What?”
“For ignoring my advice.”
Her eyes widened.
“If you’d actually listened to me, it would have been impossible to make this kind of return. It’s all thanks to you, Hyeon-ji.”
“……”
She looked absolutely speechless, as though she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.
Sung Yoon-ah shook her head, while Min Ah-reum covered her mouth with her hand, barely holding back laughter that was about to burst out.
“As a show of thanks, dinner’s on me tonight.”
“Forget it! I’m not eating!”
Go Hyeon-ji’s hands trembled, and then she spun on her heel and stormed out of the restaurant.
Once she was gone, Min Ah-reum finally burst into the laughter she’d been holding back and said, “Miru, I see now—you’re a bad man.”