WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Conglomerate Heir Just Wants to Fail ◈
Chapter 22
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If I understood correctly, leaving this alone would not simply end with Hanseong Securities collapsing. The entire financial market could be paralyzed.
And at the end of that chaos, the company that would snap up fire-sale assets and profit again would be...
‘Daeseung Financial, of course!’
If I let this go, then just like the last Project Finance crisis, Daeseung could enjoy another untimely boom all by itself and fatten the company.
I could not stand by and watch that happen a second time.
Somehow, I had to save Hanseong Securities!
The chair seemed to interpret my troubled expression differently.
“I know this is a difficult decision. But I believe Vice Chairman Kang’s presence here means that you share the same intention. So, just this once, let both sides put aside their old grievances and find the best solution for the greater good of the national economy.”
When the chair finished speaking, a man from Hanseong stepped forward.
He was a neat, cool-headed-looking middle-aged man, the head of Hanseong Group’s Planning and Coordination Office.
“First, we acknowledge that full responsibility for this crisis lies with Hanseong Securities’ reckless management decisions. We will accept the consequences without excuse.”
He paused and placed the documents he had prepared on the table.
“However, as the Chair said, we also keenly recognize the need to prevent this crisis from spreading into a market-wide disaster. Therefore, in taking responsibility for this situation, we would like to present Daeseung with the following compensation proposal.”
The director began to read the documents aloud.
“If Daeseung delivers the shares of Daeseung Life that we are obligated to repay, we will pay 250 percent of the current closing price. Forty percent of the total will be paid immediately, while the remainder will be repaid in installments over ten years by the entire Hanseong Group.”
“Hey! That’s far too...!”
President Jeon of Daeseung Financial, seated beside me, sprang to his feet and shouted.
Exactly!
It was far too expensive!
They were offering to pay two and a half times the value of a stock that had hit its upper price limit today.
And Hanseong would not even be able to touch the shares it bought. It would have to use all of them to repay its debt immediately, meaning it would be throwing away money for nothing.
“What kind of negotiation is that? Even if you offered four or five times as much, if we refuse to sell, you go bankrupt! You can’t buy this with money! Understand?”
Startled, I hurriedly pulled President Jeon back down into his seat.
Please, just stay quiet.
Ignoring the commotion as best as he could, the director continued reading.
“...Second, separate from that, we will sell Daeseung all of Hanseong Securities’ core assets, including its Investment Banking Division and Asset Management Division. Third, we will also sell Daeseung the Hanseong Securities headquarters building in Yeouido. All sale prices will be set at 70 percent of their current book value. Those are assets money cannot buy, are they not? Does that answer your question?”
What was that supposed to mean?
I had no idea what those things were, but I understood that they were offering to sell them to us cheaply.
Damn... should I take those, at least?
I did not know whether they were good or bad, so I could not answer.
When I looked around, naked greed had spread across the faces of Daeseung’s executives.
The Investment Banking Division, the Asset Management Division, and a headquarters building in the middle of Yeouido.
I did not know exactly what any of those meant, but judging from their expressions, they had to be enormous sources of profit.
Then I needed to reject this quickly...
“Ahem.”
I looked toward the Financial Services Commission Chair seated in the middle, intending to voice my refusal. But perhaps because I had kept my mouth shut for too long, my throat had gone dry, and a raspy sound came out.
The Financial Services Commission Chair did not miss that brief moment as I cleared my throat.
“Ha ha. The government will not remain idle, either, when it comes to resolving this crisis smoothly. If Daeseung accepts Hanseong’s proposal, the government will prepare a gift worthy of that magnanimous decision.”
A gift?
I looked at the Chair anxiously.
Please do not say anything strange.
“The issue of the internet-only bank license that Daeseung has consistently requested will be reviewed positively on this occasion. We will actively pursue selecting the Daeseung consortium as the operator of the third internet-only bank.”
The instant those words were spoken, exclamations burst from President Jeon and President Kwon beside me at the same time.
‘An internet bank? What is that? Why is everyone so happy about it? No. We can’t accept that, either. I have to refuse somehow!’
The longer I delayed, the more they might add.
Fortunately, Honorary Chairman Choi Geonyeong, who had remained silent until now, spoke in my place.
“Chair Jang must have given this a great deal of thought. Thank you.”
“Ah, Chairman. Not at all.”
There was no way I could refuse in this atmosphere!
Honorary Chairman Choi Geonyeong turned to me.
“We’ll settle on this much for the broad framework, and let the working staff handle the rest. Vice Chairman Kang, come see me privately.”
Then, without even looking back, he rose abruptly and left the Financial Services Commission Chair’s office.
My mind went blank.
What was I supposed to do?
Was I supposed to follow him?
Where?
Why me?
Countless question marks filled my head, but no one else in the room seemed as flustered as I was.
No, everyone acted as though this were perfectly natural.
I looked at President Jeon and President Kwon beside me, silently begging for help.
But perhaps they thought I doubted their abilities, because they answered with determined expressions.
“Do not worry about this side. Leave it to us.”
“The Vice Chairman has already given us the guidelines, so there is nothing difficult about it. We have to earn our keep too, don’t we?”
I was never worried about you.
No, that was not it.
I was worried you would squeeze too much and make Daeseung fatter.
That was my guideline...!
With no other choice, I rose from my seat and left the Chair’s office.
Only Chief of Staff Lee Jinju followed me.
Hearing the click of her heels behind me, I suddenly felt a strange sense of relief.
Yes, surely Lee Jinju was the only one looking out for me.
She felt like the only person on my side in this unfamiliar, brutal world.
I felt a little sorry for having been so cold to her all this time.
When I stepped into the elevator after leaving the corridor, Chairman Choi and one of his secretaries were holding it for me.
As Lee Jinju and I entered, the doors closed, and the most awkward minute in the world began.
The only thing filling the cramped space was the elevator’s low mechanical hum as it descended.
“Basement level one.”
As the doors opened with the elevator’s announcement, Chairman Choi, apparently just as uncomfortable as I was, quickly stepped out first.
Despite his age, he strode away in long steps, headed not for the main entrance I had used but for the rear exit, then disappeared down an alley without even getting into a car.
“Huh?”
He moved so quickly that I had not even seen where he went, but Lee Jinju walked on without hesitation, as though she were used to this. I had no choice but to follow her.
The place we arrived at was a quiet hanok mansion that made me wonder whether such a place really existed in the middle of Seoul.
As I entered the still courtyard, the gentle scent of juniper brushed my nose.
I took a moment to look around the carefully tended garden and house when a door suddenly flew open, and Chairman Choi’s voice rang out.
“Get in here, quick! What kind of young man moves that slowly?”
When I entered, the room was filled with a warmth completely unlike the tranquil atmosphere outside.
On a large low dining table sat every sort of rare dish, steaming as though it were a royal banquet: sinseollo hot pot, braised short ribs, a nine-section platter, and more. Chairman Choi was already seated in the place of honor, looking at us as though he were welcoming guests into his own home.
When I awkwardly approached and sat across from him, Chairman Choi gestured.
“You two can leave now. I had another table set in the guest wing.”
Chairman Choi’s secretary and Chief of Staff Lee Jinju bowed at the same time, as though they had arranged it in advance, then left the room.
The heavy sliding door shut, leaving only Chairman Choi and me inside.
Chairman Choi stared at me without a word.
Unlike the hostile looks I had seen from the Hanseong people at the Financial Services Commission, his gaze held something like unfathomable curiosity.
“Can you hold your liquor?”
“Yes, well...”
“Good. A man should know how to drink.”
Chairman Choi picked up the bottle and poured liquor into the cup before me until it nearly overflowed.
Trickle.
The only sound breaking the heavy silence in the room was the clear liquid filling my cup.
After filling his own cup, Chairman Choi lifted it and gestured to me with his eyes.
Reluctantly, I raised mine.
Gulp.
Strong!
The burning heat sliding down my throat made me cough.
Chairman Choi watched me for a moment, then picked up the bottle again and spoke.
“Is that bastard Sinsu still laid up in the intensive care unit?”
Sinsu?
Ah, that was my grandfather’s name.
No one ever called my grandfather that, so I had wondered who he meant.
Not knowing what to say, I merely nodded.
To be honest, I did not know, either.
I had not visited the hospital since that day.
Then he stared at me again in silence for a long while.
Was that all he had called me here to ask?
I was getting hungry. It should be all right to eat this, right?
As I stared at a gleaming piece of braised short rib, wondering whether I should pick it up by the bone and tear into it or politely use my chopsticks to remove the meat, Chairman Choi spoke again.
“Mi-ae called once, saying she’d given birth to you. This is the first time I’ve seen you.”
“...Mi-ae?”
That was my mother’s name...
“...You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“You don’t know who I am?”
“Aren’t you Honorary Chairman Choi Geonyeong of Hanseong Group?”
Until just a moment ago, he had been speaking perfect Seoul dialect, but whenever he became agitated, a Gyeongsang accent slipped out.
That was another thing he had in common with my grandfather.
But the more Chairman Choi listened to my answer, the redder his face became.
“You... don’t even know Choi Mi-ae is my daughter?!”
“...What?”
“I’m your maternal grandfather! You didn’t know that?”
Chairman Choi Geonyeong’s shout thundered through the small room, but I was just as stunned.
My maternal grandfather?
The father of my mother, whom I only vaguely remembered from photographs, was Honorary Chairman Choi Geonyeong, my grandfather’s lifelong rival?
“Th-that damn bastard! Kang Sinsu, that son of a bitch worse than a dog, made my daughter out to be a child without a father? And his son lured away my precious youngest daughter, ran off with her somewhere, and made her suffer through all that hardship, but in the end... in the end...!”
Unable to continue, Chairman Choi Geonyeong began to sob loudly as he called his daughter’s name.
“Excuse me...”
Then the crying suddenly stopped.
He bowed his head and did not move.
Could he possibly...?
A chill ran down my spine as I carefully called to him.
“Excuse me? Chairman?”
There was no answer.
Even when I approached and lightly shook his shoulder, he simply swayed limply.
Just as I panicked and began to rise from my seat, the sliding door silently opened, and Chairman Choi’s secretary entered, apparently having heard the commotion outside.
“He is asleep. It seems he drank a little too much tonight.”
As though accustomed to this, the secretary took a thin blanket folded nearby and placed it over Chairman Choi’s shoulders.
I quietly counted in my head.
One, two... he only had two drinks?
‘You said a man should know how to drink?’
I barely managed to swallow the words before they slipped out.
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