WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Conglomerate Heir Just Wants to Fail ◈
Chapter 18
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Someone posted a furious rant.
[Ugh, all insurance companies are the same. When they're signing you up, they act like they'd give you the moon, but once you get hurt and file a claim, they pull every trick they can to avoid paying. They come out for an on-site inspection and question you like it's an interrogation, then drag things out forever by saying they need a medical review... I'm so sick of it.]
Countless comments agreeing with the post poured in.
└Exactly. My husband had surgery for a herniated disc, and they claimed it was a pre-existing condition, cutting his payout in half.
└Whenever I call, the person in charge is never there, and why is the paperwork so complicated? They just want us to give up.
└Insurance doesn't begin when you buy it. It begins when you file a claim. These companies seem like they were made to fight their customers.
Then, among those comments, a few accounts with very different experiences began to appear.
└Huh? Not for me... Which insurer are you with? I have Daeseung Life, and when my baby was hospitalized, I submitted the documents and got paid the very next day.
└No way, me too! I'm with Daeseung, and I guess there was something I forgot to claim. A few days later, they called and said there was an additional rider I could receive benefits from based on the medical certificate I submitted. I was seriously touched.
At first, the only responses were mocking comments like, “Are you a paid shill?” and “Proof or it didn't happen?”
└Even if every insurer in the world did that, Daeseung never would lol. They're the most ruthless ones.
[When my friend got into a traffic accident, the claims adjuster from Daeseung supposedly fought the other insurer and got them a bigger settlement. Because my friend was their customer. Does that even make sense?]
└Fake. Why would a claims adjuster fight another insurance company for you? They're not that free.
└└(OP) No, I'm serious. My friend didn't know much about this stuff, so they were going to settle it at 50:50 fault. But the Daeseung claims adjuster looked at the dashcam footage, found that the other car had changed lanes suddenly without signaling, then personally ran around to secure nearby CCTV footage and got it changed to 20:80. When the other insurer pushed back, he held firm and said, “I can never agree to a settlement that's unfavorable to our customer.” He finally won... My friend thought he was their own lawyer.
As similar accounts erupted across multiple communities at once, the mood gradually began to change.
It went beyond simply paying claims properly. The stories said Daeseung Life actively stood on its customers' side and fought for them, which was shocking on an entirely different level.
It showed an unimaginable possibility: that an insurance company could be not a customer's enemy, but a dependable ally.
Alongside their anger at the vicious practices of other insurers, people began to cheer Daeseung Life's unprecedented treatment of its customers.
‘A company that fights tooth and nail not to pay claims vs. a company that tries to give you more however it can.’
‘If you don't want to be taken for a sucker, switch to Daeseung.’
Message boards were flooded with posts praising Daeseung Life and cursing existing insurers.
There were also sharp observations among them.
[Isn't this just raising their payout rate for a while, gaining market share, then going back to the old ways? It's a classic tactic.]
└Did this person just get back from abroad? People have been saying Daeseung changed ever since it shifted to the new Vice Chairman's system.
Cancellation rates at other insurers surged, and all those canceled policies flowed into Daeseung Life.
The president of Daeseung Life, a Daeseung Financial subsidiary, could only look baffled as he wrestled with soaring claim payments and operating expenses while watching new contracts and premium income explode.
.
To Daeseung's senior executive team and other top officials, Daeseung Financial's moves appeared to be part of a massive plan linked to the Daeseung Microfinance Foundation. This time, however, the stock market's reaction was lukewarm.
Daeseung invoked every buzzword it could: “mutually beneficial finance,” “inclusive growth,” and “investment for future generations.” To stock analysts and economic experts, though, it all looked like clumsy window dressing.
Brokerage reports poured out negative headlines, pointing to Daeseung Life's rising claim payout rate and operating expenses: “Incomprehensible Management Decision,” “Excessive Risk Exposure,” and “Management Moral Hazard.”
The overall atmosphere surrounding Daeseung Group kept the company from suffering a steep collapse, but Daeseung Life's stock price continued to close lower day after day.
Vice Chairman Kang Daeun's response, however, was remarkably calm.
Watching the declining Daeseung Life stock chart on his monitor, he wore an extremely satisfied smile.
“This is better, actually. The stock is cheaper now. Have us use our own capital to buy more shares. If we believe in the company's value, shouldn't we be even more aggressive at a time like this?”
A few days later, disclosures announced that Daeseung Group affiliates would purchase Daeseung Life shares, and brokerages raised their voices in even harsher criticism.
[Daeseung Life: Target Price Further Lowered. Investment Opinion: ‘Strong Sell’]
[Incomprehensible Share Purchases Accelerate Damage to Fundamentals]
[Owner Risk Materializes: Daeseung Group ‘Using Affiliates to Prop Up Share Price’... Clear Moral Hazard]
Analysts criticized the move in one voice.
It was already bad enough to abandon risk management, the essence of the insurance business, and damage profitability. Using cash from other affiliates to stop the resulting stock decline could not be considered a normal management decision.
Review after review called it shortsighted and irrational, saying the company had no interest in increasing its intrinsic value and was only desperate to defend its stock price.
Then, amid the chaos, unexpected activity began to emerge from an entirely different place.
It came from individual investors on stock communities, the so-called “ants.”
[Title: The Vice Chairman Personally Hit the Buy Button on Daeseung Life.
Don't trust those reports from institutional bastards.
They're just dogs barking to suit their own positions.
The real information is in the flow of money.
Look. The Vice Chairman, the company's real owner, thinks the stock is cheap and is buying like crazy.
What do you think that means?
It means there's some massive good news internally that we don't know about.
The person at the top of the information chain is putting his own money in to buy. So why should we sell?]
The post spread to dozens of communities in an instant, and “follow the moves of the owner family” spread like a meme.
For several days, a bizarre phenomenon continued. Daeseung affiliates and the army of retail-investor ants swarmed like zombies to absorb every massive sell order institutional investors threw at the market.
The stock's decline stopped as if by a miracle. Amid enormous trading volume, it held steady, locked in a tense tug-of-war.
.
“I just don't understand it. The Korean market is truly irrational.”
At the office of a foreign asset management firm in Yeouido's IFC Tower, Jason Kim, a Korean fund manager more comfortable in English than Korean, clicked his tongue as he watched Daeseung Life's stock chart on his monitor.
Every indicator clearly pointed downward.
Profitability was worsening, and risk was rising.
Taking a short position had been an entirely rational decision.
Yet the stock price would not budge.
“Where the hell is all that buying pressure coming from? Are all Korean retail investors philanthropists or something?”
“Daeseung Life? Oh, Jason, if I were you, I'd close that short position while I still could.”
Jonathan, Jason's rival on the same team, cut into Jason's muttering.
They belonged to the same team at the same firm, but in this industry, where everyone effectively operated independently, not interfering with one another's positions was practically an unwritten rule.
Suppressing his irritation, Jason turned to Jonathan. A report on Daeseung Life was open on Jonathan's monitor as well.
It was not a stock chart, but an evaluation report filled with complicated categories.
“What are you talking about, Jonathan? Look at that company's fundamentals. Profit margins are plunging, and operating expenses are exploding. It's barely avoiding losses as it is. Of course the stock should be going down. The only people buying that right now are irrational retail investors.”
Jason snorted, emphasizing that his judgment was not wrong.
Jonathan merely shrugged.
“Jason, this isn't only a Korean-market issue. There's something you're missing.”
“I'm missing something? What are you talking about?”
“You're only looking at numerical financial indicators. Times have changed, my friend.”
“Hm, are you talking about the rise in market share? That's a meaningless number they gained by sacrificing profitability.”
“No, no. This is what's moving the market right now.”
Jonathan turned the monitor toward Jason and pointed at one item in the report.
“‘Comprehensive ESG Evaluation Report’?”
Jason looked dumbfounded.
ESG
Environment, Social, Governance.
It was the sort of report spreading like a trend over the past few years, and one Jason despised most.
Jonathan scrolled through the report's detailed categories and showed them to Jason.
“Look. The S category. ‘Industry-lowest insurance claim denial rate,’ ‘Establishment and operation of a microfinance foundation for financially underserved groups.’ Perfect score.”
Without even checking Jason's reaction, Jonathan scrolled further down.
“Next is the G category. ‘Performance bonuses for executives and employees far exceeding industry standards,’ ‘Enhancement of shareholder value through proactive share purchases when stock prices fall.’ This gets the highest rating too. Every action you're criticizing for damaging fundamentals is being rated by ESG agencies as ‘the most exemplary socially responsible management.’”
Jason answered as though he could not believe it.
“Are you kidding me? What does that garbage have to do with the stock price? A company that can't make money will eventually fail. That's just the truth.”
“The truth? Sure. But can you hold out until that truth comes to pass?”
With a mocking smile, Jonathan brought up one final, decisive piece of data.
It was the latest rating announced by MSCI, a global ESG rating agency.
Only one quarter earlier, Daeseung Life had held an average BBB rating. Now, its rating had shot straight up to AAA, the highest in the industry.
“Just that...?”
“Jason, you really don't know anything, do you?”
Looking exasperated, Jonathan began to explain.
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