Translator: Khan
Editor: Aelryinth
Vice President Jang handed me the report. I lifted and read t. However, before I saw the amount in the report, he told me first, “We have 4.26%, 871.5 million dollars in Suyeon Construction, 3.66%, 1.158 billion dollars in Suyeon Electronics.”
The figures were correct, and the exact amount was written in the report.
“I see. There’s been a lot of news lately for the Suyeon Group, so it’s been a good buy, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
I just nodded as I listened. I didn’t say anything like ‘Yes, we were going to buy it, and we were lucky.’
It’d already been four years since Jang was with me. After our company bought a company’s stock and waited, a stream of good news came out. On the other hand, before we tried to buy something, bad news came out one after another.
In the first year or two, he might have thought, ‘Oh, my boss is lucky’, but after four years of watching it, he must have known that I’d planned and implemented all of these things. After all, I had asked him, “When Tak Woo-kyung dies, where do we attack?” Therefore, Vice President Jang would have had no choice but to realize that I had ordered Daewon Daily News to publish the news. But I didn’t say anything about it, nor did Vice President Jang ask me about it. He was quick-witted. He didn’t ask anything that would make me uncomfortable.
“We have bought more than 3% of both stocks, have they noticed anything about it?”
“There’s been so much trading for the past few days… But if they kept a close eye on it, they would probably know that there was buying in bulk at a certain branch. However, they would not know it was us.”
I pondered the words. ‘They would not know it was us. Really…?’
“Okay. Let’s just buy it up to five percent anyway.”
“Yes, boss.”
‘Five percent is important because there is a requirement for disclosure of the majority shareholder when a company holds more than five percent of the shares in another company. This is an important juncture, whether for hostile M&As or for general investment. “Who owns five percent of this company” is a factor that moves stock prices. Most of the time, when they make a general investment, they tend to go in openly advertising, “I’m going in. I’ll buy this. I’ll buy more from now on.” In public announcements, when the notice, “This is a five percent stake purchased by a super ant,” comes out, other ants rush in saying, “That stock should be good,” and the stock price goes up.
‘It’s a kind of halo-effect trading method, not only for the popular super ants in our country, but also for Warren Buffett and other world-famous investors. I don’t know if it is intended. In contrast to this case, hostile M&As are very quiet and unnoticed.
‘If the story “Someone is seeking the management rights of this company. Now that he’s bought five percent, he is likely to buy ten or twenty percent,” goes around, ants, institutions, foreigners, and others can all buy together and raise stock prices. Of course, when I get out of there, I can get money by stabbing other people in the back, but what I want now is not money, but the ownership of Suyeon Electronics and Suyeon Construction, which I can use to jump to the Grandmaster Class in one move.’
“So, have you talked to other major shareholders? Did you contact RMI?”
‘RMI stands for Red Moss Investment. As a global hedge fund, it is famous for quietly buying shares if a company is in crisis, and selling it at high prices when the company is normalized.’
In the case of Suyeon Electronics, when the stock price staggered during the 2008 financial crisis, it really got stuck like a moss at that time, buying a seven percent stake and keeping it so far. It was the second largest shareholder after Suyeon Construction, which had an eleven percent stake.
When Suyeon Electronics said, “We’d like to appoint Tak Jun-won as managing director,” these people had voted against it saying, “He is from Tak’s family and he is too related to the group. We are against the plan.” When Suyeon Electronics had said, “We’ll give you a dividend of three percent, since this year’s operating profit is good,” they countered them by saying, “Three percent is too small. Let’s do four percent.” They had been irritating to the Suyeon Group.
But the enemy’s enemies were allies, and if I gave them money, they were very likely to be on my side. In the first place, hedge funds were ones who pursued money without everlasting allies or enemies at the gambling table.
Jang answered, “I’m in a quiet contact without first showing our intentions to buy. But… if they find out we’re looking for management rights, they’ll probably make it very expensive.”
“Hmm… Okay. But let’s have a reasonable approach to buy unless it’s too expensive.”
“Yes, boss.”
‘If I buy five percent in the market and seven percent from RMI, I become a major shareholder, beating the eleven percent of Suyeon Construction. After RMI, the National Pension Service has about three percent, and it is likely to take my side, or at least stay neutral, as the president appoints the chairman of the National Pension Service. If I write an article to the effect of, “The National Pension Service managing the money of the people should focus on profitability, without an appraising look of a large company,” they’ll know and behave like that by themselves.’
“Then let’s talk about the construction side. Tak Woo-kyung has over twenty percent here. Wouldn’t it be possible to attack a little further until the inheritance tax payment starts?”
“That’s right, but Tak Mun-su…”
At that time, the telephone rang. I raised my hand, asked for permission from Vice President Jang, and answered the phone. “What is it? I told you not to call me when I am talking to Vice President Jang.”
Secretary Park answered as he was scolded, “I called you because it was a big thing. I was thinking you and Vice President Jang should listen.”
“What is it?”
“Vice Chairman Tak Mun-su of Suyeon Group says he’ll come here himself.”
“He’ll come here himself?”
When I said that, Vice President Jang was also quite surprised.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“He wants to see you as soon as possible, when you have time.”
I thought for a moment, ‘Hmm… Does he think the fire is on his foot now? He seems to be in a corner and trying to negotiate.’ I didn’t mean to make a deal. But I wanted to meet him and see how embarrassed he was. ‘If he comes and kneels down, I can be a little generous with the rest of the company.’
“Well… we’re not going to have lunch together… Tell them to come tomorrow afternoon at about three o’clock, after we finish eating and digesting.”
“Yes, I see.”
I put the phone down and told Vice President Jang, “Did you hear that?”
“… yes. The vice chairman of Suyeon Group, Tak Mun-su, is coming…”
“… that’s right.”
Vice President Jang stared at me, but he didn’t open his mouth, even if he had a lot of questions to ask:
‘How do you know Vice Chairman Tak Mun-su?’
‘Is it related to this takeover?’
‘Why is Tak Mun-su coming all of a sudden?’
In any case, his patience was good. I muttered to him, “The vice chairman of a large company is coming by himself, so he must be in a hurry.”
Still, he didn’t ask me about personal matters. He only asked about things related to this work. “Well, do you think tomorrow’s meeting can bring about a change in our company’s keynote?”
I answered him firmly, “No. Whether I meet him or not, we do our job. Tomorrow’s meeting is going to be a private one.”
After I replied, Vice President Jang lowered his head and said, “Yes, sir!”
———————-
The next day, 2 p.m…
I had Seolleongtang for lunch with Secretary Park and talked to him on my way back to work. “Secretary Park, do you remember what happened in the old days? I told you when Tak Joon-gi came here that the guy who was coming to our company today is my enemy.”
Apparently, at that time, I said: At eleven o’clock, there’ll be someone who looks like a very skinny person, and who seems to have ditched money from head to foot. He’s my enemy.
Secretary Park remembered that. “Yes. I remember, boss.”
“It’s my enemy who is coming today; Tak Mun-su, chairman of Suyeon Group.”
“I was guessing.”
“I just happen to be enemies with the Tak family.”
“If we look at the novels of martial arts or something like that, it’s common to take revenge for relatives.”
“Oh, yes, but…”
I thought in my heart when I said that, ‘The relationship between the relatives was not very good.’
Their relationship was actually quite bad. Even Tak Mun-su was the one who had killed Tak Joon-gi. Tak Mun-su didn’t start the war with me because of Tak Joon-gi’s vengeance. If I thought about it, I would have to say that I was trying to get revenge for Tak Joon-gi.
‘Oh, my God. I am still connected to Tak Joon-gi even when he is dead. He’s already dead, and he’s probably in Hell, but I’d like to meet and talk to him again if I had the chance, about his cousin, Tak Mun-su.’
———————-
Around 2:50 a.m. following, the waiting call rang.
“Boss, Vice Chairman Tak Mun-su of Suyeon Group is here.”
“Let him in after searching for concealed weapons.”
In fact, Tak Mun-su didn’t even have a knife in his pocket, but if he had, it would have already come out on the future news.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“It’s the boss’s order.”
“That’s okay. Director Kim, stay calm.”
There was a brief high noise outside, but after a while, Tak Mun-su opened the door and came in with Secretary Park. I got up from my seat and greeted Tak Mun-su.
“Welcome, Vice Chairman Tak, you’ve come to this place while you’re quite busy.”
Tak Mun-su stared at me. ‘While you’re busy’ meant an independent counsel who had started the special investigation. But there was nothing he could do except stare at me.
Park, standing in the back, spoke coercively, “When I said that I was going to search Vice Chairman Tak Mun-su, the directors of Suyeon Group hated that, and there was a bit of noise.”
“Aha, I see. You should be a little gentle.”
“I did it gently.”
I put Tak Mun-su in the middle and had a conversation with Secretary Park like that. I neglected him in his presence. But then I offered him a seat. “Sit down, Mr. Vice Chairman.”
This way, I remembered the time when Tak Joon-gi had come to our company. At that time, the building was not in Samseong-dong, but Nonhyeon-dong, which we used to rent out, but the situation was the same. Tak Joon-gi had been hit by me, and had come and told me, “Let’s make a truce.”
‘Cousins are doing the same.’ I looked at Tak Mun-su with such thoughts. He was staring at me as if he would kill me. I said to him with a real smile. “So you wanted to see me… What brings you here, Vice Chairman?”