“Vice Chairman Jin!”
As Chairman Lee Hak-jae slammed the table, Jin Dong-gi looked up.
“Just a word of caution… or rather, a warning. Because of the cross-shareholding structure among our subsidiaries, you can’t just move shares around recklessly. You know that tampering with company assets before a bankruptcy is clear embezzlement, right?”
If the construction arm goes bankrupt, the shares owned by Sunyang Construction will fall into the hands of creditors, collapsing the group’s control.
Jin Dong-gi’s plan to shift all shares to the heavy industries and let the construction arm go bankrupt was not going to fly. The prosecutor’s office might have turned a blind eye to such maneuvers in the past, but didn’t the Prime Minister just say they might even bring in the tax office if necessary?
If the government decides to act, even a conglomerate is no different from any other company.
“Heavy Industries has guaranteed a lot of Construction’s payments, right? Our HW holds a significant amount of Heavy Industries’ promissory notes. If Construction falls, Heavy Industries will stagger too, and it won’t recover.”
Finally, Jin Dong-gi spoke.
“Enough with the threats. Just tell me what you want.”
“Why should I?”
“What?”
“You should be the one telling me what you want. It’s up to me to decide whether to grant it or not. Are you under the illusion that you’re still the vice chairman of a healthy Sunyang Group?”
Chairman Lee shook his head.
“You have only one choice. Either hand everything over to your brother Jin Young-gi and take whatever scraps he throws your way, or quietly help HW with a smooth acquisition. Which will it be?”
It’s a reality he neither wants to hear nor believe.
Jin Dong-gi knows that if he can just hold out for two years, or even one, he can recover.
The information he’s gathered from running around the Middle East suggests that Dubai will emerge from its moratorium sooner than expected. While the U.S. financial crisis will linger, Asia is expected to be less affected.
The thought of losing everything over just one year is hard to accept.
“Do you really have to take it all? Give me a little time, and I can solve this.”
“You know as well as I do that you can’t choose what’s not there.”
Chairman Lee’s expression was tinged with regret. After all, hadn’t they been like brothers for a long time?
“Time, that’s exactly what we don’t have. Companies disappear because they run out of time. Do you think Sunyang Group was built with money? It was built because we didn’t miss the timing for acquisitions and didn’t give time for recovery.”
“So? Are you saying you’ll make Sunyang Construction’s bankruptcy headline news?”
“Didn’t I say? If you help with a smooth acquisition, it’ll be handled quietly.”
Jin Dong-gi sighed.
“Why are you doing this? You’re not even the owner of HW Group. You’re just a salaried chairman. Wouldn’t it be better to secure something for yourself? That’s why I asked what you wanted…”
“Because I’m a salaried man.”
“What?”
“My boss wants Sunyang. I’m just earning my keep. Ha ha.”
The idea of an investment firm swallowing a company is hard to swallow.
It’s clear that Lee Hak-jae, who was once his father’s shadow, is eyeing Sunyang.
Perhaps he harbors the delusion that he built Sunyang and believes he should have been its chairman.
“Vice Chairman Jin, they say cancer patients go through five stages when given a terminal diagnosis: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I don’t know which stage you’re at, but it would be wiser to skip ahead and accept reality. You’ll save more that way. I’ll leave you with much more than your brother Jin Young-gi ever would.”
Lee Hak-jae’s voice was gentle, but Jin Dong-gi’s face only showed a bitter smile.
“How dare a lackey of my father lecture me? Do you want to mimic the father everyone called chairman? How presumptuous.”
His voice was low, but it was clear he was suppressing explosive anger.
“If I go broke, you’ll break too. What? Cancer? Five stages? Ridiculous…”
Jin Dong-gi abruptly stood up.
“Even if I end up penniless, I’d rather throw everything to my brother or nephew than let you get a single brick of Sunyang.”
As Jin Dong-gi stormed out, Lee Hak-jae let out a small laugh.
“Anger… still at stage two.”
Anger blinds people.
If he throws it to his nephew, he might regret it for the rest of his life.
Or perhaps, whether it’s his brother or nephew, regret is inevitable.
“HW is leading the creditors?”
“Yes. Lee Hak-jae wants Sunyang.”
You’re mistaken, uncle.
Is it because the situation is so urgent that you haven’t realized it yet? Or do you think I don’t have the resources to execute such a grand plan?
“The money tied up in Dubai is so vast that I don’t think I can do anything about it.”
“There is one way.”
Is there still a way out?
“As you know, we only hold shares in the main subsidiaries and the shell company that acts as the holding company.”
“That’s right.”
“The subsidiaries hold a lot of each other’s shares through cross-shareholding. What Lee Hak-jae is after are those shares. If he secures them all, the shares we hold will lose their control.”
“That’s right.”
“If we lose the shares held by the subsidiaries, we’re in big trouble. So…”
“If you mess with that, the creditors will come after you.”
“Sell them at a fair price and use the money to pay off some of the debt. Then it becomes a self-help measure that can’t be faulted.”
“Is there anyone who can buy all those shares at a fair price? It would require astronomical sums.”
“That’s why I’m asking you. You and I are joint decision-makers of the controlling shares, aren’t we? If the subsidiaries’ shares disappear, the power of your controlling shares will weaken.”
Is he trying to say we’ll sink together? It even sounds like a threat.
“Mobilize the funds from Sunyang Financial Group to secure the shares owned by the construction subsidiaries. That way, Lee Hak-jae’s plan will fall apart.”
“You’re saying to use that money to pay off the construction subsidiaries’ debts?”
“Yes. It’s killing two birds with one stone.”
Pay off the debt and keep the shares.
It is indeed killing two birds with one stone. But not for me, for my second uncle.
I’ll just end up spending a fortune to buy shares that would eventually be mine anyway.
“No, thank you.”
“What?”
Jin Dong-gi began to glare sharply.
“Did you make the same proposal to my first uncle? Sunyang Electronics and Sunyang Trading’s financial power isn’t inferior to the Financial Group’s.”
“Well, that’s…”
“Especially since Sunyang Trading ventured into the Middle East with Construction. My first uncle can’t just stand by and watch. Surely you discussed it with him?”
His eyes, which had been glaring at me, wavered.
“Why? Did he refuse to buy the subsidiaries’ shares and instead offer to consider it if you handed over the group’s controlling shares? And maybe threw in a couple of non-core subsidiaries as a token?”
I hit a sore spot, and he clamped his mouth shut.
“Why should I do what someone who should be responsible refused to do?”
“Because the shares you hold could become worthless.”
“That applies to everyone. But I’m not worried. I can protect my shares.”
His eyes widened, as if he hadn’t considered this possibility.
“If HW takes the Sunyang subsidiaries’ shares, I’ll just reclaim the Financial Group’s shares. HW Group’s owner is Miracle. I’ve invested a significant amount in Miracle. I’ll get them back at a very low price.”
He seemed to finally grasp my plan. His voice trembled as he cautiously asked.
“Are you planning to completely separate from the group this time?”
“Of course. Did you think I’d sit idly by when my uncles are constantly trying to take over my company, and when your businesses falter, it puts me at risk too?”
“Do-jun! You can’t do that. A separation… you can’t break Sunyang like this!”
If the major construction subsidiaries go to HW and the Financial Group separates, Sunyang will no longer be Sunyang.
I found it amusing that my second uncle was worried about this. Someone who was already beyond the point of no return from Sunyang was still talking about Sunyang…
“Uncle, my first uncle has already started the succession process. The very act of transferring the group’s controlling shares to Young-jun means a separation. Isn’t it a clear intention to secure what he has? Sunyang splitting is inevitable.”
Jin Dong-gi fell silent. He had also intended to proceed with the succession process and planned to give the money earned from the Dubai World project to his son. But that plan had fallen apart.
“I’m sorry to say, but there aren’t many options left for you. Either transfer all your shares to prevent Sunyang from being taken by someone else, or cooperate with the creditors to avoid the company’s collapse…”
Faced with a harsh reality he didn’t want to believe, I offered him one last option.
“There’s another way.”
He lifted his head, eyes fixed on my lips.
“Transfer all your shares to me instead of my first uncle.”
“What?”
“Don’t get angry, just think about it. I have a significant difference from my first uncle. I can take care of Tae-jun.”
His eyes widened at the mention of his son’s name.
“If Uncle takes control of the group, no one but Young-jun and his family will be able to set foot in the main Sunyang estate. But I’m different. Both Tae-jun and Sung-jun will have significant roles in Sunyang. I promise you a joint management by the third generation.”
“Under your command, right?”
I shook my head at his mocking tone.
“You must already know. I don’t receive reports from the heads of the financial group. We only discuss matters when something as significant as the recent U.S. financial crisis occurs. Both of them will be independent professional managers. Of course, Sung-jun still needs to prove his abilities, but I believe Tae-jun is more than capable.”
Seems like family matters more than the company.
Vice Chairman Jin Dong-ki stormed out, his face flushed with anger.
Pride is important, but if it clouds your judgment, you’ve got a long way to go.
He needs to face reality more brutally.
“We’ve hidden what we could, but it looks like it’ll be over 600 billion won.”
Vice President Jang Do-hyung hesitated as he handed over the documents.
“You’ve hidden quite a bit. There’s a small food company with less than 2 trillion won in sales that paid 150 billion in taxes for succession. I only paid 1.3 billion. It should be over 1 trillion to be normal.”
“It’s already done. Is there really a need to spend 600 billion on voluntary tax payments?”
“Vice President, I’m not a model taxpayer. It’s painful, but necessary. This isn’t about paying inheritance tax; it’s about preventing inheritance.”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
Vice President Jang sighed deeply, clearly reluctant to part with the money.
It’s not the amount of money that matters, but how you use it.
Of course, for those without money, the amount does matter.