Personal Debts and the Birth of Enjoy
Henry immediately picked up the phone and rattled off a list of fashion, luxury, and food brands in addition to the satellite list he'd ordered earlier, commanding them to assess the feasibility of acquiring each one.
“And Gilberto, we need to put together an investment team as quickly as possible.”
Gilberto’s sigh-heavy voice came through the line. “...Boss, honestly, I don’t understand why you need all this information. Broadcast satellites, clothing, luxury goods, donuts, and coffee? While you’re at it, why not look into hamburgers or pizza?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea! Add those too. And when can we expect the game console department of the Future Team and the investment team to be fully staffed?”
It almost felt like Henry could hear Gilberto rubbing his temples. “Haa. The investment team you said was the highest priority received offers yesterday and we’re still waiting on replies. As for the game console side, we just made contact with Tiger Electronics as you instructed and scheduled a visit. The patent team is scheduled to go tomorrow to talk, but… Boss, are you really sure that plastic component patent is worth a million dollars?”
“I guarantee it. Even if we have to give that company a free license, make sure you bring both the patent and the developers to our side for no more than a million dollars. Contact me as soon as the team setup is complete, and send the list as quickly as you can.”
“Bos…”
Henry didn’t wait for the rest. He coldly hung up the phone. It was obvious the man was about to launch into the same lecture he’d given when Henry first asked about the satellite business.
‘Ugh, but having me give every single order personally is starting to look bad. I need a secretary team too.’
Since the organization still lacked proper structure, the idea of a beautiful female secretary like in the movies was still a distant dream. He was already swamped trying to recruit other talent; ordering a female secretary first would have been too shameless even for him. If he had that kind of thick skin, he would have called for a call girl long ago.
‘I can decide which brands to enter after looking at the list. What’s left is finding something worth acquiring in Japan… but other than manga, anime, and porn, I can’t think of a single thing. It’s not urgent, so I’ll just think about it while I relax.’
“Ah, but what should I do to relax…”
In 1979 New York, the only ways for a man to entertain himself alone were reading, watching TV, or going to the movies. With nothing better to do, Henry opened one of the trust law documents buried among the papers and began studying.
‘Wait a second, what the fuck?! You can’t even take out a personal loan using a trust as collateral?! And… I knew some things were impossible, but this isn’t just a simple fine?’
Henry’s eyes widened in shock as he flipped through the pages. The regulations written in the legal texts were far more intricate and brutal than he had imagined. And just like that, his second plan was wrecked before it could even begin.
‘Wow… I’m going to have to separate the family office and the think tank again! If I’m not careful, everything could get tangled with my personal assets and I’d lose it all.’
Henry clutched his head and collapsed onto the desk. He had thought becoming the head of a chaebol family would mean walking a flower path, but reality was an extreme job that required tightrope walking between law books and double-entry bookkeeping.
The next morning at six o’clock, Henry opened his eyes right on schedule. His new routine was to wake his body with a swim, eat a simple breakfast, and then enjoy horseback riding.
Between eating rich dinners lately and the strong drink he enjoyed while planning for the future before bed, he needed to move his body to maintain his physique. The moment he mounted the horse and took the reins, he could feel the benefits of raising his health stats throughout his entire body. His recovery and endurance were far beyond what could be explained by simply being in his early twenties.
‘Does it make sense that my thighs didn’t get sore the day after I first learned to ride? My body itself has definitely gotten stronger.’
With improved motor skills and stamina, he was already riding freely without an instructor after just a few days of practice. Of course, it helped that the horse the riding club manager William had proudly called top-class was exceptionally gentle and well-trained.
After a refreshing shower, Henry took a cup of Blue Mountain coffee and began his morning work. On the desk in his office, reports sent via telex had piled up into a small mountain, waiting for him.
Starting the day after the meeting, the workload had exploded due to personnel recruitment and the reorganization of the existing family committee. Since the HR team hadn’t yet gotten on track, every decision arrow pointed straight at Henry, the architect of the organization.
At the time, concepts like “family office” or “think tank” weren’t as clearly established as they would be in the future, so even the staff had no choice but to ask for Henry’s opinion on every little thing. If yesterday had been mostly about personnel placement, today the telex was filled with resumes of recommended talents.
Every document seemed to ask Henry, “Which one of these would make a good manager?” He skimmed through the ten-or-so-page resumes listing prestigious universities, previous workplaces, and impressive titles, then let out a hollow laugh.
“How am I supposed to tell if someone’s good or not just by looking at this?”
It was impossible to fully grasp a person’s character or abilities from paperwork alone. In the end, he would have to conduct interviews himself or place someone trustworthy in charge, but right now Henry severely lacked “trustworthy people” around him.
‘Ah, I really need a clone. A clone! I already need at least three: one insurance bastard, one straw boss to run things in Japan, and one talent who can wield personnel authority. Tsk… Points. Haa, taxes. There’s really no way around it right now.’
Henry roughly shoved the resumes aside and dug through the pile of documents hoping the list he’d ordered yesterday had already arrived, but it was in vain. A sigh of disappointment escaped him. It wasn’t immediately necessary, but it was perfect for understanding this era.
If Gilberto had seen it, he would have protested, “How am I supposed to investigate hundreds of companies you ordered after three in the afternoon in just half a day!” Still, Henry couldn’t help but feel expectant.
Even after looking through the resumes again, while their careers looked solid, he couldn’t judge how well they would actually perform in real work. It would have been nice if skills appeared as numerical values like in a game, but this was reality, and in his previous life he had been nothing more than a marketing team assistant manager. He had zero experience in personnel management.
After considering conducting the interviews himself, Henry decided to delegate the task to the elders who carried the aura of experience. It was far more reliable to have battle-hardened veterans filter candidates than for a complete novice like himself to clumsily judge character. Besides, he doubted any chairman of a major corporation personally interviewed every single employee.
Henry picked up the phone right away.
“Good morning, Gilberto. I’ve reviewed the materials you sent, but instead of me deciding, send these to the elders first for initial screening. I’ll meet them one by one during the final interviews and make the decisions then.”
“Understood, Boss. The satellite business list will be organized by this afternoon. I’ll report the Tiger Electronics patent matter by phone as soon as results come in. Ah, and Boss. Have you ever heard of ARF Electronics in Manhattan?”
Henry quietly repeated the familiar name and searched his memory.
‘ARF Electronics? That’s the company the novel’s protagonist swallowed up early on. Didn’t they overextend their business and go under during the Yatari Shock later? It’s a listed company so acquiring it would be complicated, and it’s full of debt. The best move was to suck out the technical staff and patents right before it collapsed.’
“I know it. Isn’t that the place about to release a new game console? Are you suggesting we acquire it?”
“No, Boss! Acquire? Not at all. The company apparently overextended itself pulling in cash for mass production and has already delayed salaries by two months. Thanks to that, it’s become very easy to poach their technical staff. If we seize this opportunity, we can build the game console team within two days.”
“Good. Then start setting it up today. I have a building in my name, right? Use that as the office, and establish the corporation under my personal name as well. For the initial operating funds, go with a bank loan under my personal name too.”
“...Why have you been insisting on using your personal name since yesterday? You’re not at an age where you need to worry about inheritance yet, and it only increases your tax burden with no real benefit.”
At Gilberto’s reasonable point, Henry clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘I don’t want to do it either! The system is making me! Plus, the early records have to be completely clean. Once I succeed, there will be tons of people digging into my past like dogs. It’s better not to give them any handles in the first place than to suppress them with power later.’
“Hoo, that’s not all. Since I’ve decided to operate under my personal name, I also need to separate the family office and think tank that I originally planned to place above all subsidiaries. Establish them jointly under my personal name and the trust name with exactly 50-50 shares, and have the advisory fees paid from my personal name. Name it Debenzer Asset Management Services, and structure it so the office and think tank sit underneath it.”
“I’m glad you understand the legal risks, but Boss… are you really going to do it this way?”
Gilberto’s voice was thick with deep concern.
“Since it hasn’t been established yet, changing the structure is fine. But the moment you split the shares, at least five million dollars of debt will appear under your personal name. Every service provided to you from now on will have to be meticulously recorded in the books and paid at full value. Of course it will become transparent enough to withstand any investigation, but the personal burden on you will be enormous.”
“Congratulations, Gilberto. Thanks to you, the trust’s cash has been very firmly protected.”
Henry swallowed a hollow laugh and continued.
“Apply for a loan under my name at Chase Manhattan Bank. Whether it’s a bridge loan (similar to startup lending) or a loan collateralized by trust beneficiary rights, it doesn’t matter. Let’s make it forty-five million dollars. Considering the five million dollars in initial investment for Debenzer Asset Management plus the initial operating costs for the game console company and investment company I’ll be building, that’s about how much I need to borrow.”
“Boss, do you really have to go this far? If the business doesn’t perform well and you can’t even pay the interest, it will be a disaster!”
“I know, that disaster! Haa… but I have to. There’s no other way. Set it for a lump-sum repayment in one year with a fixed interest rate. Even if the rate is fifteen percent, it doesn’t matter. Contact the bank right away and let me know. Since it’s a personal loan, I’ll have to go myself. I’ll decide on the game console company name and let you know before lunch. Good work.”
Henry hung up before Gilberto could reply. His mood was terrible.
It was because he had absolutely no excuse to give when asked why he was deliberately using his personal name and making things difficult for himself. As the owner holding full authority over the trust, he could freely use the trust funds, so taking on separate personal debt to run a business was something even an idiot wouldn’t do.
But he couldn’t exactly tell the truth: “I have to pay taxes to get points!” Everything had gotten twisted because of those damn points.
The one saving grace was a single sentence embedded in the trust’s articles of incorporation.
[Personal safety measures shall be considered essential expenses to prevent depreciation of trust assets.]
Thanks to this clause, Debenzer Shield’s free protection of Henry could be recognized as a legitimate service. If he had to pay for security out of his own pocket as well, Henry might have seriously hurled curses at the status window.
‘Yeah, at least my body is comfortable, so let’s call that a win. Now I just need to think about how to grow the forty-five million dollars.’
Henry let out a series of sighs and calmed his troubled mind. It was time to decide on the name for the game console company that would soon be established.
He had considered preemptively taking the name of a famous game company that would dominate the world in the future, but since this was his very first company founded under his own name, he decided to put some genuine thought into it.
“Joybox and Enjoy. Both sound good and roll off the tongue nicely. Considering future expandability, Enjoy seems better. To enjoy, to take pleasure in. The meaning is perfect.”
Henry briefly recalled that in the distant future in Korea this word would take on a strange connotation, but he quickly shook his head.
‘Whatever. If I secure it now and dominate the Korean market too, that’ll be the end of it. By then, the standard definition of the word Enjoy will be my company.’
Having decided on the company name Enjoy, Henry immediately called Gilberto.
“Gilberto, I’ve decided on the game console company name. It’s Enjoy.”
“You mean Enjoy Electronics?”
“No, no. Clean and simple, just one word. Simply Enjoy.”
“...Understood, Boss. I’ll handle it as quickly as possible.”
“Ah, one more thing. Don’t establish the corporation right away. It’ll be troublesome if they find something to nitpick later, so get the loan approved first. We have to establish Debenzer Asset Management Services through joint contribution first and then move. Also, put some desks and chairs in the empty building under my name so we can use it right away. Anyway, I’m counting on you!”
After hanging up, Henry flopped onto his desk and muttered.
‘I really am that idiot, fuck… Ha, I can only sigh.’
With a golden mountain called a trust right beside him, he was forced to take on personal debt and even handle office furniture himself. Henry’s sighs showed no sign of stopping in this miserable situation.