Acquire Hyoyeon Group?
"M-Manager... why are you handing these contracts over to me?"
Fifty-two partner companies across the affiliates were clamoring for contracts. Of those, Jung Jinwoo tossed two to Team Leader Ji Jeong-eun and five to Deputy Manager Lee Ki-seok.
Ji Jeong-eun was already handling Hyoyeon Group work on top of everything else — but Lee Ki-seok hadn't closed a single deal and was backed into a corner.
"M-Manager, why would you give... these contracts... to me..."
"You haven't landed a single one. What were you going to do if they fired you?"
"Th-that's what you were thinking..."
He looks genuinely moved.
At this point, Giseong IT's Business Planning Department was a sales team in all but name. Without results, holding onto a seat would be impossible — and then Lee Ki-seok would be out on the street all over again. Jung Jinwoo couldn't stand watching a subordinate get shown the door for lack of performance. As long as he was the one in charge, he wasn't about to sit by and let that happen, if only out of pride. Even if that subordinate had once glared daggers at him for being younger and strutted around like a cocky little brat.
"Manager... haaah..."
Lee Ki-seok let out a sigh dredged up from the very pit of his stomach.
"Deputy Manager Lee! Didn't I tell you our Manager Jung is a class act? I said it a dozen times — he's a different breed from those petty bosses who only look out for themselves."
"I had no idea. I never imagined you were thinking that far ahead... that you were worried I'd get fired... Thank you, Manager."
Lee Ki-seok bowed his head toward Jung Jinwoo.
It wasn't like I handed them over out of some grand generosity... If he got fired, people would just say I couldn't manage my own staff. I don't want to be pointed at as the cold-hearted manager who hogged every deal and let his people take the axe. Even if I kept them all myself, we'd be talking a few tens of millions of won. Why bother over pocket change like that?
Whether that actually counted as looking out for the guy, he wasn't sure.
"It's nothing. Don't get so anxious — take your time with them."
"Nothing? In incentive pay alone that's ten million won... kuh..."
What's with the emotional display...
"I completely misjudged you, Manager. I'll work my hardest from now on."
Lee Ki-seok said it biting down on his lower lip.
Jinwoo wanted to tell him not to overdo it. But looking into Lee Ki-seok's eyes, how could he? They were blazing. The man had clearly made up his mind to throw everything he had at this.
"Alright, alright, Deputy Manager Lee... we're a team, after all. Let's focus and give this a real shot."
"Yeah, okay... I mean, let's do that."
Lee Ki-seok started to answer Ji Jeong-eun in casual speech, then quickly corrected himself. He would have spoken casually before — he'd been her senior, with a five-year age gap besides. On top of that, Lee Ki-seok had been Ji Jeong-eun's mentor.
Ji Jeong-eun flashed Jung Jinwoo a sly grin.
Looks like she's enjoying playing Team Leader.
The truth was, Jung Jinwoo couldn't spare much attention for this work right now. As for the contracts, he could close a few each month at a leisurely pace and call it done. As long as everyone racked up their numbers without any major hiccups, they could all laugh and get along just fine. Watching Ji Jeong-eun and Lee Ki-seok burning in all-out work mode, he actually felt a little guilty.
"Manager! Let's develop a real business of our own. We're supposed to be a Business Planning Department, but we've been dumping everything into website contracts just because we needed the numbers."
"I second that. A Business Planning Department at Giseong IT can't just sit around signing website deals."
They're overflowing with motivation. As if IT-related work wasn't already a madhouse thanks to JW Dive In.
"If you've got a good idea, bring it to me. If it's viable... we'll go ahead with it."
"Understood. You heard him, Deputy Manager Lee! Let's build something together."
"Yes... in that spirit, how about we hold a brainstorming session after work?"
They're having a blast.
"Sounds great! Over a beer... let's gather some ideas. What do you say, Manager?"
At Ji Jeong-eun's words, Jung Jinwoo glanced over them — from Ji Jeong-eun all the way to Lee Ki-seok in the seat behind her. It was obvious. And even if it weren't, this was the kind of moment you had to give them a push.
"Ah, I've got some headaches to deal with lately, so I don't think I can make it. You two brainstorm first, and if you come up with something decent, we'll look at it then. Team Leader Ji! Here."
Jung Jinwoo held out a card.
"Wh-what's this? I thought all our corporate cards were confiscated a while back... and this is an Amax Platinum. Even the company president couldn't get one of these issued... Manager, how do you have..."
I just had one issued because you need at least one card on hand.
"When you go brainstorming... if you need to spend money, put it on that. I'll collect the receipts later and bill the director."
"Ahh... our Manager is the absolute best. I respect you, Manager... I'll use it well."
Lee Ki-seok, apparently so moved, had started putting "our" in front of "Manager."
See? The number one way to earn your subordinates' respect is, unsurprisingly, money.
"Oh? Is that so? You're truly considering placing some ten trillion won in Miss Oh Se-eun's hands?"
"If it were up to me, I'd hand her a hundred trillion — but that would put Oh Se-eun under far too much scrutiny."
"A wise decision, sir. Judging by how she handled the funds last time, I believe she can more than control ten trillion."
Ko Yoon-seok said it with a satisfied smile.
"Once Oh Se-eun builds up her capabilities, we'll look at handing her a hundred trillion down the line."
"Understood. And also... we've proceeded with Chairman Kim Gwang-deok as you instructed."
"Ah. Right."
He'd been inclined to just leave the man alone. But Kim Gwang-deok kept pulling strange stunts, so Jinwoo had cut off his funding pipeline and used Kim Du-chil to deliver a warning. For a "big" player who'd once thrown around a hundred billion won, a billion was pocket change — but if he was careful, that should last him ten years. If it turned out he was short, Jinwoo could always step in and help then.
Whatever fondness he'd had for the man had long since evaporated, but Kim Gwang-deok was still his maternal grandfather. Even if the old tycoon had conducted himself as less than human, Jung Jinwoo had no desire to stoop to the same level. He couldn't help thinking that was the lesson his father, Jung In-seok, had left him. His father, more than anyone alive, would have wanted Kim Gwang-deok — the man who had crippled him — dead. Kim Gwang-deok may have been the father of the woman he loved, but they weren't actually related at all.
"About Hyoyeon Group, sir."
"Yes?"
"What would you say to simply acquiring it yourself, Chairman?"
"......"
He'd become Hyoyeon Construction's largest shareholder in order to protect President Park Kwangsoo — Bak Gyeongtae's father, who'd been installed as the company's figurehead CEO.
"We need a firmer grip on Hyoyeon Construction, and there's overlap between their businesses and ours. On top of that, Hyoyeon Group's performance has gone to pieces with everyone fighting over the succession."
"Hmm..."
If Vice Chairman Ko Yoon-seok was putting it that way, it likely meant Hyoyeon Group had drifted close enough to snatch. And an acquisition would shore up JW Group's own businesses as well.
"How much capital do you think it would take?"
"Well... we'd need a more thorough analysis, but roughly forty to fifty trillion should make an acquisition possible. Hyoyeon Group has been cleverly mixing a holding-company structure with circular shareholding. The holding company, Hyoyeon Corporation, owns over thirty percent of most subsidiaries, while Hyoyeon Corporation's own shares are scattered in five- and ten-percent blocks. And Chairman Kwak Junggap's family holds about thirty-eight percent of Hyoyeon Corporation."
"So you'd go after the holding company?"
"No, sir — both. When we acquired Hyoyeon Construction, we effectively secured the twelve percent of Hyoyeon Corporation that Hyoyeon Construction held. If we pick up just a few more subsidiaries — Hyoyeon Industry, Hyoyeon Heavy Chemical, Hyoyeon Development — we should be able to push past fifty-one percent of Hyoyeon Corporation."
"Why does the Kwak family only hold thirty-eight percent of the holding company?"
Thirty-eight percent for a chairman's family wasn't small, but some groups clung to the vast majority of their holding company's shares with an iron grip. Wasn't holding-company stock the kind of thing you never sold, even if someone offered several times the market price?
"There were management difficulties, and the circular shareholding played a role as well. But above all, it's because of the power struggle between Chairman Kwak Junggap's eldest son, President Gwak Seung-gyun, and his second son, President Kwak Dogyun. Add to that Chairman Kim Gwang-deok cooking up a scheme to take over Hyoyeon Construction... and the gaps have only widened."
"Then draw up a scenario first. I'll decide once I've seen it."
"Understood. I'll have it prepared."
"But Vice Chairman — why did you single out Hyoyeon Construction specifically? Was it out of consideration for my personal circumstances?"
"No. Not at all. I take the business side every bit as seriously as you do, Chairman. I brought it up because the prey is sitting right in front of us."
"I see. Understood."
After finishing his conversation with Vice Chairman Ko Yoon-seok, Jinwoo's mind churned as he rode the elevator down. Hyoyeon Group had originally been formed from the merger of his maternal grandfather Kim Gwang-deok's Seyeon Group and Kwak Junggap's Hyogwang Group. The president of Hyoyeon Corporation was the eldest son, Gwak Seung-gyun, while Hyoyeon Development was headed by the second son, Kwak Dogyun — husband of Jinwoo's mother, Kim Mi-rim. And at Hyoyeon IT were Gwak I-jin and Kwak Jungjin... Jung Jinwoo's maternal half-siblings.
He had the sensation of being sucked into some tangled whirlwind.
"This should be interesting."
Wasn't Hyoyeon Group the ultimate prize his maternal grandfather Kim Gwang-deok had been trying to seize? Cleaning it out thoroughly while he was at it might not be such a bad idea.
"Let me in! This is important!"
"You can't do this here. If you keep this up, I'm calling the police."
"Call them! A man's about to starve to death — the police are the least of my problems! Some director in there ran off with my two hundred million won!"
Around quitting time, a security guard was arguing with a familiar face at the company's front entrance. The moment Jinwoo saw him, a filthy feeling rose in his gut. Noh Gyeong-se, once his father-in-law, was causing a scene. Behind him, the psychopath Jo Seong-gi stood with his arms crossed, calmly watching the whole thing. Making a spectacle of himself at quitting time, without a shred of shame.
Jung Jinwoo quickly turned his head, about to walk away, when—
"Jo! That's you, isn't it, Jo!"
Noh Gyeong-se had recognized him. If they'd crossed paths on the street, Jinwoo would have turned his head and taken another route. But this was the JW Building, home to all twelve affiliates of JW Corporation. People were pouring out in droves. They'd probably timed this scene precisely for this hour.
Jung Jinwoo stopped walking and stared Noh Gyeong-se down.
"You... help me out here... we're about to starve to death! Your daughter Lee-seon — we can't even buy her milk..."
A shudder of rage surged up through him. How dare he bring up Lee-seon? And "your daughter"?
He'd once believed she was his own daughter and raised her with every ounce of love he had. No matter how hard things got, he'd gritted his teeth and endured, just watching Lee-seon smile. For a year of his life, the little girl he'd believed was his daughter had been almost his entire world. Which was why, when he learned she wasn't, that entire world had come crashing down.
Shameless people would drag anything into the open for their own petty gain. No decency, no sense of occasion. Nothing mattered but their own benefit. Noh Gyeong-se was that kind of man.
"Excuse me."
Jung Jinwoo turned his head and was about to leave when—
"That bastard's just a salaryman. He's useless."
Jo Seong-gi sneered.
"Still, come on... he can at least pass our grievance up the chain."
Despicable people.
Jung Jinwoo ignored them and was just about to push through the door when—
Noh Gyeong-se spat the words like a challenge. Jung Jinwoo's footsteps, already turning to leave, came to a halt. People streamed past, glancing between Noh Gyeong-se and Jung Jinwoo.
"And why would I need to know that?"
It had always gnawed at him. Why adopt him only to raise him with such discrimination. He wanted to be free of those filthy, uncomfortable memories.
"Grant me just one favor and I'll tell you everything... just one favor... please... if not for me, then for Lee-seon... she needs to be fed well, raised well, doesn't she..."
"It's pointless. What good is that insolent little—"
Noh Gyeong-se's words and Jo Seong-gi's overlapped in his ears.
"Haaah..."
He knew. He knew that to sever the past completely, he should pretend he hadn't heard and just walk away. The moment he got tangled up with these people again, he'd be face-to-face with the same messy, filthy business all over again.
But the image of a child beaming with a bright smile rose in his mind. Lee-seon. She'd be Noh Lee-seon now, not Jo Lee-seon — and who knew what surname she'd carry after that.
"Let's go somewhere else."
Jung Jinwoo said it looking straight at Noh Gyeong-se.
"R-right... let's go!"
Noh Gyeong-se beamed as if he'd won, looking over at Jo Seong-gi.
"See, I told you this was a waste of time..."
Jo Seong-gi, putting on a show of reluctance, let himself be led along by Noh Gyeong-se.