The Chairman of Yuseong Group, Part 3
After that, a meeting had been scheduled, but Yoo Jae-ho canceled every appointment.
When he called, Park Soo-chan, the head of strategic planning, came in.
“How was today’s meeting?”
At that, Yoo Jae-ho let out a faint smile.
“More interesting than I expected.”
At first, he had only intended to see the face of the only daughter of the next DA Financial Group chairman. Then, after hearing about the man accompanying her, his interest had been piqued as well.
So that young man was the one who exposed the Primus scandal?
Whether that had been a coincidence or proof of real ability, and what relationship the two of them had, had stirred his curiosity.
But once they actually met, everything had turned out to be beyond expectation.
He had suggested buying the bonds of a dying company at a bargain price, then acquiring the company itself.
I like the nerve of it.
Who in the world could speak like that in front of the chairman of Yuseong Group?
But liking someone’s nerve and doing them a favor were two very different matters.
Yuseong Electronics was a global company known around the world.
It had thousands upon thousands of partner companies. By virtue of its immense scale, Yuseong Electronics occupied the position of a super-dominant client, and countless businesses wanted its investment.
There was no reason to acquire a company that was already going under. Under normal circumstances, he would likely have dismissed the whole thing and let it pass.
But then.
Yoo Jae-ho found himself murmuring without meaning to, “The horse’s shoe and the nail…”
Hearing the murmur, Park Soo-chan asked, “What is it?”
Yoo Jae-ho went on. “Without a small nail, you can’t attach a horseshoe. Without the horseshoe, you lose the horse. Without the horse, you lose the messenger. Without the messenger, you lose the letter. Without the letter, you lose the war, and the kingdom falls. All because of a single small nail.”
“An English proverb.”
“It was written in my father’s will.”
Park Soo-chan was startled.
“The late chairman left words like that?”
“Yes.”
It had been the final line of a short will that contained advice on management.
It had been meant for him alone, and he had shown it to no one else. He had never spoken of it to anyone, keeping it to himself all this time.
And yet here I am, hearing those words from a young man I met for the first time today.
A great kingdom could fall because of a single small nail. If you wanted to govern a country, then you had to tend first to the smallest nail.
In fact, his father had done exactly that, and built the Yuseong Group that existed today.
That company is the horseshoe nail?
He could consider reviewing Dongwoo Precision’s acquisition, even weigh it carefully, but he had assumed it was nothing worth his personal attention.
Yet after hearing those words, he could no longer dismiss it so lightly.
After a moment’s thought, Yoo Jae-ho gave Park Soo-chan an order.
“Look into a company called Dongwoo Precision. Company information, facilities, technology, patents—everything.”
Why had he suddenly recalled the late chairman’s will, and what did that have to do with Dongwoo Precision?
Park Soo-chan was puzzled, but he did not ask. He answered at once.
“Understood. I’ll investigate immediately and submit a report.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I thought back to the memories I had before regressing.
I wasn’t the only one who had missed the opportunity. The entire Republic of Korea had fallen behind in future industries. One of them was semiconductors.
Korea was a semiconductor powerhouse everyone acknowledged.
It accounted for the largest share of the industry, and exports reflected that as well. But when this semiconductor industry was overtaken by China, the entire Korean economy took a massive hit.
But this time, things were unfolding a little differently from the first run.
Because I had exposed the Primus scandal, Dongwoo Precision’s workout period had been brought forward by about a year, and I had personally proposed an acquisition to the chairman of Yuseong Electronics.
I had succeeded in meeting Chairman Yoo Jae-ho, but that didn’t mean it was over.
“That still doesn’t mean I can tell XRT Semicon or CMIC to buy it.”
It would be no exaggeration to call that practically selling the country out. If word ever got out that Dongwoo Precision had ended up in Chinese hands because of me, I might be branded the 21st-Century Lee Wan-yong.
Still, wasn’t that better than watching the value of my bonds go to waste?
I was stuck deciding whether to put the national economy first or my own bond value first when Seon-woo came home.
Since development had finished, he’d been getting off work earlier these days.
But for some reason, he didn’t look good. Just from his face alone, it seemed as if he were carrying every worry in the world.
“Did something bad happen at work?”
“No. It’s not work. It’s something bad at home.”
“Huh? What kind of bad thing?”
“Dongwoo Precision. All I’ve heard is that it’s going to go under.”
“Ah. So that’s what you were worried about?”
“Then what, you think I’m not supposed to worry when three billion won turns into junk bonds?”
He had looked like he’d gone a little off for some reason over the past few days, and apparently that was why.
Seon-woo sat on the sofa and muttered dazedly, “My three billion won… I never even got to touch it.”
Money was never easy to touch in the first place. It was enough to see the number appear in your account for a moment.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan.”
“What plan? A plan to get some rich company to acquire it?”
I nodded.
“Yeah. That’s actually why I went to meet Yoo Jae-ho.”
“Who’s Yoo Jae-ho? The Yuseong Electronics chairman?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“I’m serious.”
Seon-woo’s mouth fell open.
“You met Jae-Tiger?”
“What, I’m not allowed to meet Jae-Tiger?”
“Not exactly… but still.”
He still looked unconvinced.
“So, did he say he’d buy it?”
“Well…”
I didn’t know either.
If Yuseong Electronics didn’t move, then my next option was to meet Chairman Cha Tae-wan of LK Group. If that still didn’t work, I’d have to send emails to Antel or PSMC.
No matter what it took, I had to recover the value of my bonds.
“Let’s eat dinner first. What do you want?”
“Chicken.”
“……”
That damn chicken.
They should try running a chicken shop, only to get crushed by the parent company’s bullying, before they ever said they wanted chicken again.
We were about to head out for dinner when Sung Yoon-ah called me. Seeing her name on the screen, Seon-woo jumped.
“Whoa! Who’s Sung Yoon-ah?”
“A former coworker.”
“No, come on. It’s been ages since you quit. Why would a former coworker be calling you?”
“Why else? Work.”
I answered the phone.
“Hello?”
Sung Yoon-ah spoke in a hurry.
[It’s about the Dongwoo Precision bonds.]
“What about them?”
[They’ve more than doubled just now.]
“Pardon?”
Even if they had doubled, they were still under thirty percent of par value, which made them junk bonds all the same. Still, there had to be a reason the price had suddenly jumped.
“What’s the reason?”
[It’s still just hearsay, but apparently a place called XRT Semicon in Singapore has started showing interest.]
At that, I was startled.
“Really?”
[Yes. There’s a rumor they’ll be approaching management and the bondholders soon. The institutions that were preparing to sell are now leaning toward waiting to see what happens.]
Even though the workout had been brought forward by a full year compared to the first run, they were moving in for an acquisition just the same.
At that moment, something clicked in my head.
Was this really a coincidence?
Dongwoo Precision had poured enormous sums into R&D and facility expansion to the point that people said it had gone bankrupt because it invested too much.
The reason it had been able to pursue that kind of investment in the first place was because it had a contract to supply the products it developed to YMCT.
YMCT was the seventh-largest foundry in China.
The semiconductor manufacturing process was so sensitive that if even one component or one material had a problem, an entire factory could stop, and all production would have to be discarded.
Because of that, manufacturers didn’t easily change suppliers, and it was extremely difficult for a new business to break in.
Yet Dongwoo Precision had developed a NIL-based stamp and succeeded in supplying it right away. Once that first supply went through, domestic companies like NB Hitek also began ordering components.
If a company received a new piece of equipment, it would normally be introduced to one or two lines first for preliminary inspection, but YMCT applied it to the entire factory at once.
The result was exactly what everyone knew it would be.
Could it be… was everything planned from the beginning?
Did they pressure Dongwoo Precision into investing in technology and facilities, then take the resulting product and put it straight into mass-production lines without any real inspection?
As expected, defects appeared, the factory shut down, shipments were halted, and compensation payments ballooned like a snowball.
I was lost in thought when Sung Yoon-ah’s voice came through the line.
[Did you somehow know this would happen?]
I gave her a vague answer.
“No way. I just thought that since it has good technology, it was more likely to be acquired than to go under.”
Sung Yoon-ah didn’t hide her surprise.
[Then your prediction was exactly right.]
After the call ended, Seon-woo asked, “What did she say?”
“She said I probably don’t need to worry about my bond value being wiped out.”
“……Huh?”
The problem was that the same situation as the first run now seemed highly likely to unfold.
XRT Semicon would acquire Dongwoo Precision, commercialize the technology, and then wage a lawsuit of historic proportions against Korean companies.
The only way to stop that was for a domestic conglomerate to step in as the buyer.
What decision would Yoo Jae-ho make?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Yuseong Electronics, Hwaseong Campus.
Gangnam’s Yuseong Town was symbolic, but the actual headquarters of Yuseong Electronics was in Hwaseong. That was where the semiconductor division executives’ meeting was being held.
Yuseong Electronics was a giant corporation divided into four business divisions.
Yoo Jae-ho generally delegated as much authority as possible to the presidents of each division, and it was rare for him to personally handle mergers and acquisitions.
That was why the semiconductor division executives gathered in the conference room, along with President Jo Jun-ho, all wearing slightly tense expressions.
Shortly afterward, when Chairman Yoo Jae-ho entered, they all stood at once.
“Please, have a seat.”
Once Yoo Jae-ho sat down first, the executives took their seats as well.
Executive Director Oh Hyun-seong, a former researcher, stepped forward.
“I’ll report the results of the Dongwoo Precision due diligence.”
As he continued with the report on the company’s financial statements and other matters, Yoo Jae-ho scanned the materials laid out before him. Nothing stood out in particular.
Was there any real reason to spend money acquiring a company like this?
Still thinking that, Yoo Jae-ho asked, “What about the NIL-related technology?”
“They did invest heavily in R&D, but there isn’t anything we could apply immediately on our side.”
“I see.”
After a brief hesitation, Executive Director Oh Hyun-seong spoke carefully.
“However, there was one interesting patent.”
“What was it?”
“A patent for transferring the stamp without contacting the wafer.”
At that, Yoo Jae-ho was genuinely startled.
“Is that true?”
Then Oh Hyun-seong quickly added, “Only in theory. In practice, it seems impossible to implement.”
That made sense.
If it were such a simple technology, other companies would already have developed and commercialized it.
“If it were possible to commercialize it, would it be usable in system semiconductors or advanced process lines?”
Though slightly flustered, Oh Hyun-seong nodded.
“Theoretically, yes. The biggest problem with NIL is the damage and wear caused by contact. A non-contact method could solve those issues.”