Money Begets Money (1)
"Yes." Yoon-gi answered calmly, without a hint of intimidation.
"I'm not asking you to lend it to me for free."
[Yoon-gi.]
Choi Ki-hyun didn't answer directly; instead, he called out to Yoon-gi in a low, resonant voice.
"Yes, Grandfather."
"That's right."
The moment he heard those words, Yoon-gi realized his mistake.
"I apologize, Grandfather. May I schedule an appointment to meet you in person?"
Seeing his grandson quickly acknowledge his error, Choi Ki-hyun's voice softened somewhat.
"Of course. I am confident enough to persuade you."
Even with the mind of a cold-blooded executive, one cannot help but feel the longing to see a grandchild.
Choi Ki-hyun was bored. Of course, he was busy enough to not even have time to blink. With employees bringing approval documents every single day and the need to grasp the situation of his actual companies, he would have needed ten bodies to keep up. But his grandson, who had been by his side almost constantly for nearly ten years, was away; his eldest daughter-in-law, who had been with him even longer, was in the United States; and even Brigadier General Colson, his comrade-in-arms, was not in Korea. Consequently, even when Choi Ki-hyun tried to go to sleep at night, he would just lie there scraping his heels against the floor, unable to find rest.
'He says he's coming tomorrow...'
It wasn't that he didn't have other grandchildren. His second daughter-in-law, Park Gyeong-ja, had given birth to a son, and his third and fourth daughters-in-law had also had children, as had his eldest and second daughters. But the problem was different. While there is no finger that doesn't hurt when bitten, some fingers hurt more than others. Among the other grandchildren, there were some cute ones, but the problem was that none of them satisfied him quite like Yoon-gi.
That was why, on the day before Yoon-gi's arrival, Choi Ki-hyun spent the night wide awake, waiting for the morning.
Clatter!
Hearing the sound of the main gate opening, Choi Ki-hyun's head snapped toward the noise.
'Ah, it's not him.'
Seeing the housekeeper returning with groceries, Choi Ki-hyun wore a listless expression and turned his head back to its original position.
Clatter!
'Is he here?!'
But it wasn't him this time either. It was just the gardener coming in to tend to the grounds.
'Ugh, honestly, I want to stop anyone else from opening that gate.'
He had sent a subordinate to pick Yoon-gi up, but Choi Ki-hyun thought that if he had known it would be like this, he should have gone himself.
Clatter!
"Whoa!"
While he was lost in thought, the door opened, startling Choi Ki-hyun, and he was a bit slow to look toward the entrance. However.
"Grandfather!"
Seeing his most beloved grandson, Yoon-gi, running toward the mansion while calling his name, Choi Ki-hyun jumped up and ran toward the front door himself.
"Aigoo, my grandson!"
"Grandfather, I missed you!"
"This grandfather missed you, too. But are you really sure you missed me?"
At the slightly sulky expression on his grandfather's face, Yoon-gi looked puzzled.
"Wouldn't it be better to just stay in Korea with Grandfather instead of going to America? Lately, this old man is bored to death."
Watching his grandfather make a face as if he were dying, Yoon-gi laughed awkwardly and shook his head.
"I still have more to learn if I want to become someone like you, Grandfather. Instead, I'll come back down as soon as the semester ends."
"You promise?"
"Of course."
"Then, let's talk about the details inside."
Just as Choi Ki-hyun was about to pick Yoon-gi up and head inside, the mansion's entrance door opened once more.
Clatter!
"Father, you were out here."
Choi Cheol-min, Choi Ki-hyun's second son, spoke in a tone filled with somewhat awkward politeness.
"You're here?"
Even though his second son had arrived, Choi Ki-hyun took his grandson into the study for his original purpose.
"Wouldn't it be better to meet Uncle first?"
"Since you came first, it's only natural that I see you first. Can you guarantee that you wouldn't be upset if I met Cheol-min before you?"
"What if there was a reason?"
Choi Ki-hyun seemed pleased with his grandson's answer, which carried significant weight; he set him down and patted his head.
"Anyway, you've come from far away, and you'll feel more at ease once that is settled, so let's start with that."
Choi Ki-hyun sat in the chair in his study. In an instant, his atmosphere changed, and the aura of a grandfather looking at his grandson vanished, replaced by that of an executive.
"I am already giving you special treatment. Your advice to buy Jeil Textiles was timely, so I am giving you an allowance equal to the salary of the president of Jeil Textiles. Even paying the gift tax for you."
"Yes, and I am always grateful for that."
"Then, tell me. Considering the monthly salary you've received through Jeil Textiles so far, and the amount you've grown it, the money you have should be hovering around 200 million won. Where did you spend all that money?"
Choi Ki-hyun's analytical skills were extraordinary. The total amount of assets Yoon-gi had grown through various methods was 220 million won. That was assuming he had deposited it into a bank account, but currently, there were exactly 7,820 won left in Yoon-gi's account. Even when he returned to Korea briefly with Ryu Geun-tae, he hadn't taken first class, or even second class, but third class. Because he had no money. Even then, he had given Ryu Geun-tae a small bonus, telling him to visit his family while he was in Korea, so Yoon-gi was currently practically destitute.
"I purchased as much land in Cheonggyecheon as I aimed for, and I am currently preparing to purchase land in Yongsan. Among them, there are places I bought a little early, and places where I have verbal contracts through fraud."
"I know that. But even so, there should be money left over? What did you do in America?"
"I signed a contract to invest 700,000 dollars in Microsoft."
"Wh, what did you say?"
Choi Ki-hyun jumped up from his seat. A 700,000 dollar investment. This far exceeded the capital of Yoon-gi that Choi Ki-hyun had calculated, and if he signed an investment contract and couldn't invest the promised amount, there would certainly be penalties associated with it.
'Investing in a company I've never heard of... did I misjudge Yoon-gi?'
Watching his eldest grandson, who had gone to America and done something absurd, he felt dizzy, but his eyes and ears were fixed on the mouth of his eldest grandson, which was opening again.
"A 200,000 dollar prepayment, and I agreed to invest 100,000 dollars every year after that."
"Yoon-gi, you rascal..."
At his grandfather's despondent voice, Yoon-gi took a brown envelope out of his bag and handed it to him.
"What is this?"
"I wanted to let you know what kind of company Microsoft is."
There were documents in English and documents that Yoon-gi had translated himself, so Choi Ki-hyun read the Korean documents first.
"Capital of 1,500 dollars and revenue of 100,000 dollars...?"
Yoon-gi nodded.
"Yes. If you consider labor costs, it's a company that achieved enormous revenue with the absolute minimum amount. Moreover, that's not all. Turn the page."
Choi Ki-hyun narrowed his eyes as he looked at Bill Gates' family background.
"Ho-ho..."
"The parents and grandfather of Microsoft's founder are people who are more than enough to be described as upper-class even in America."
"Do you think these people will invest if the company called Microsoft fails?"
"No. It means the president has various opportunities for connections. And the president's parents and grandfather won't invest if Microsoft fails, but if it does well."
"Hmm...?"
"It's only 100,000 dollars in revenue now, but imagine it becomes 1 million, 10 million later. How much will my dividends be then? There will be defensive investments to prevent dividends from being concentrated on me, and new investors will appear as well. If Microsoft catches the current just a little bit, it will surely become a massive conglomerate."
"It was certainly an investment with a basis."
Choi Ki-hyun sighed without realizing it.
"I'm really sorry for causing you worry."
Because he had faith in his grandson, he was able to listen to the story until the end. If it had been a subordinate or another child, a slap might have flown first. Because there were no others who gave him as much sense of trust as Yoon-gi.
"Then, does that mean you invested all your money in Microsoft?"
"No."
"You still had money left?"
"A little, but it remained. I invested that in graduate students at Harvard University."
"In graduate students...? Wouldn't it be enough to just hire kids from Seoul National University, Korea University, or Yonsei University? What are you going to use those 'big-nosed' foreigners who can't even speak Korean for?"
Choi Ki-hyun also knew that Harvard was the world's top prestigious university. However, Samwoo Group was a Korean company after all. That was why Choi Ki-hyun became curious about why Yoon-gi had made that choice.
"Before I went to America, I wanted to make Samwoo Group the best group in Korea."
Although it was an executive's attitude, a smile hung on Choi Ki-hyun's lips.
"Yes, that kind of ambition was my driving force."
"But my thoughts changed after I went to America."
"Why...?"
A slightly disappointed expression; today, Choi Ki-hyun's emotions were fluctuating to an unprecedented degree in the study.
"Because I wanted to grow it into the world's best group. To do that, I have to preemptively secure elites who use the world's common language, not elites who use Korean. I don't have the ability to hold onto American graduate school graduates or university graduates, but I do have the ability to sponsor graduate students."
"Oh...!"
Choi Ki-hyun gripped the armrests of his chair tightly with both hands. His grandson's immense ambition. Although the realism was still close to zero, the rational rhetoric based on that ambition stimulated Choi Ki-hyun's sensibilities.
"So, how did you make the investment?"
"I decided to support their tuition and living expenses during their graduate school life. Instead, I told them they must apply to 'the company I run' before joining any other company."
"Not joining, but applying to join?"
Yoon-gi nodded.
"Yes. I intend to make them an offer they cannot refuse. Investing in necessary talent is not a waste, is it? The moment I get my hands on even one Harvard talent, it won't be difficult to get my hands on other Harvard, Princeton, or Yale talents as well."
Listening to Yoon-gi's answer, Choi Ki-hyun couldn't help but mutter 'My goodness' to himself. His grandson, who was only ten years old, was showing such insight that he couldn't help but be surprised.
'This kid, if he had been born in the Joseon Dynasty, he would have easily become a nine-time top-ranking scholar.'
A nine-time top-ranking scholar. It referred to Yi Yulgok, the great scholar of the Joseon Dynasty who passed the state examination with the highest honors nine times, and in Choi Ki-hyun's eyes, his eldest grandson appeared to be a genius capable of such a feat. However, Choi Ki-hyun forced himself to calm his excitement and asked coldly from an executive's perspective.
"The story so far is truly rational. However, that still doesn't give me a reason to lend you money."
"Yes, that's right. Because this is a future story that hasn't materialized yet."
"Right, then by what method will you extract an investment from me?"
At his grandfather's question, Yoon-gi nodded and answered briefly.
"Collateral."