Chapter 66: The Length of the Claw, Part 1
Sehyun Oh sent out several emails. By tracking the trends of short-term foreign investors, he could gather data to predict whether the rise in exchange rates was just a temporary phenomenon.
“Do-jun, what if the exchange rate keeps climbing? Are you planning to pay the acquisition cost in dollars?”
“We’ll have to negotiate.”
“Negotiate what?”
“I’m thinking of slashing the acquisition cost of Ajin Group by agreeing to pay in dollars.”
Sehyun Oh slapped his forehead and burst into laughter.
“Haha! Exactly! What’s the point of holding onto a gold bar if you’re about to drown? You should toss the gold and grab a life jacket.”
The dollar, as the world’s reserve currency, is like blood to a person. Without circulation, a person can’t survive.
The one holding the blood bag can freely take the gold from the pockets of the fallen.
Sehyun, who deals with money, was well aware of this.
“When the country’s foreign reserves hit rock bottom, you might just become a savior, Do-jun.”
“Not me, Uncle. It’s you, the head of Miracle Investment.”
Instead of being surprised, Sehyun chuckled softly.
“Why? Are you too young to step up, or is there a hidden reason you’re reluctant to reveal yourself?”
His words, full of assumptions, caught me off guard.
“If I were holding billions, what would the world say? Illegal gifting, tax evasion, and so on. It would cause quite a stir.”
“And you wouldn’t be able to avoid the watchful eyes of many.”
“That’s part of it.”
Even without explicit words, we understood each other perfectly.
I waited calmly for Sehyun’s response, and he nodded with a knowing smile.
“For now, I’ll be your steed. Steer the reins and wield the whip as you wish. But time is short. I’m fifty. At most, five more years. After that, you’ll have to run on your own or find a replacement.”
“Are you saying you’ll retire at fifty-five? Isn’t that a bit early?”
“Fifty-five is just right. It might seem a bit early to retire, but… there’s too much money to keep working. Wouldn’t it be a shame not to have time to spend it? Haha.”
Five years.
It’s not a long time. How much can be achieved in such a short span?
Should I let the old horse rest and find a new one?
“You’re more like a nephew to me than my real ones, so it’s five years. Honestly, I’d like to retire now and escape to a quiet island.”
He made it clear—there would be no extension of his role as my steed.
“Is it true?”
“Yes. Do-jun saw it himself.”
Vice Chairman Jin Young-ki felt his blood boil upon hearing the information his son relayed.
Hadn’t his father patted his shoulder and promised him the chair in the study?
Yet, he was trying to change the group’s structure?
His father, whispering sweet nothings while keeping secrets even from his eldest son.
Vice Chairman Jin Young-ki trembled with betrayal.
But his son was watching. He needed to regain his composure.
Jin Young-ki spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Well, if the automotive division splits off, it’s a rite of passage we must endure. The overall structure might shake, but it’s nothing to worry about.”
“But father, if the shares held by the automotive division move…”
“Enough! I said it’s fine. I’ll handle it. You focus on normalizing Hando Steel… no, Sunyang Steel. Use this opportunity to show your grandfather what you’re capable of.”
“Understood.”
Once his son bowed and left, Jin Young-ki quickly picked up the phone.
“Tell everyone in the planning office to gather in the conference room.”
He needed to act swiftly before Chairman Jin made any strange decisions.
“Ah, I hope I haven’t inconvenienced you by calling you out.”
“Not at all. Things might get busy soon, but I can always make time to share a meal with you, President. Haha.”
President Jin Dong-ki greeted President Cho Dae-ho with a bright smile as he entered the private room.
“But I’m still confused. If Ajin and Sunyang merge, who benefits more? Of course, I’m sure your father knows what he’s doing.”
“Indeed. It’s all happening so quickly, it’s a bit overwhelming.”
Jin Dong-ki was keenly observing every expression and word from President Cho Dae-ho.
“Once the division happens, you’ll no longer have ties with Sunyang. You must feel quite sentimental.”
President Cho Dae-ho’s lips curled slightly as he looked at Jin Dong-ki, who was speaking with a smile.
“Are you being sincere, or are you testing me? If it’s the former, I’m quite disappointed.”
As expected. His prediction was correct. Sunyang was swallowing Ajin.
“What do you mean? Testing you? I was just curious.”
“President Jin.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve served the Chairman for over thirty years. In all that time, do you know the one time I opposed him?”
Jin Dong-ki swallowed dryly at the sudden seriousness in President Cho’s expression.
“It was when we first ventured into the oil business. The Middle East was constantly at war, and securing crude oil was a crisis. The Chairman and I flew to Texas to secure a deal for Texas crude.”
Bringing up old war stories was a sign of sincerity. By the end of this tale, President Cho would have a clear judgment of Jin Dong-ki.
“Driving down endless highways, we stopped at a steakhouse. It was hot, and we were exhausted, with no appetite. The Chairman suggested we share a steak. The smallest steak there was a whopping 600 grams.”
“Southern U.S. steaks are all about quantity. Haha.”
“I disagreed. I insisted we each have our own plate.”
“Surely that wasn’t your only act of defiance…?”
“Yes.”
“Are you joking… Ah!”
Though President Cho recounted the memory as a joke, Jin Dong-ki understood the underlying message.
He opposed sharing. If he disliked sharing a piece of meat, he certainly wouldn’t support splitting the group.
“President Cho, you may dislike sharing, but I dislike waste. If there’s too much to consume, it ends up being discarded, doesn’t it?”
Jin Dong-ki maintained his smile. Even if he couldn’t persuade him, he needed to make him understand.
“Your father seems wise to order just enough.”
“President Jin.”
“Yes?”
“You haven’t asked about the outcome.”
“What…?”
“In the end, the Chairman and I managed to eat it all. It seemed like a lot, but we finished it. You never know until you try. 600 grams… it’s not as much as it seems.”
Unconsciously, Jin Dong-ki bit his lip.
These old-timers, the founding members, treated Sunyang Group as if it were a family heirloom, despite being mere salaried employees.
They worried endlessly about the carriage being damaged, even though they knew that when the owner of the carriage changes, so do the driver and the horses.
Yet, to seize the carriage, a driver is essential.
“President Cho, you have quite the appetite.”
“I can’t eat as much now. Age has reduced my capacity.”
“I see. Since my appetite hasn’t diminished, I must be younger. I can still finish a 600-gram steak without leaving any. Rare.”
President Cho understood Jin Dong-ki’s intent to claim everything without sharing and sighed softly before speaking slowly.
“Dong-ki.”
The casual use of his name sent a chill down Jin Dong-ki’s spine.
“Yes, brother.”
Before Jin Dong-ki started working for the company, Chairman Jin’s close aides frequented their home. Some were called uncles, others were addressed as mister.
But President Cho insisted on being called brother and generously gave him pocket money.
“Vice Chairman Jin Young-ki is your elder brother. And the eldest son. You can’t have it.”
“Brother, don’t you know that Young-ki is incompetent?”
“Can’t you, being capable, support him?”
“Why can’t Young-ki support me?”
“An incompetent person can’t support a capable one. They’re useless.”
“Brother!”
“It doesn’t make sense. An older brother serving a younger one? Impossible. He’d be ousted.”
“I plan to reorganize a few subsidiaries and give them to Young-ki. I’ll support him in every way.”
He hadn’t intended to discuss this. The meeting was meant to gauge the fate of Sunyang Motors, but the cards were on the table now.
Having revealed their intentions, they had to see it through.
“Daejin Group, Cheongma Group, and Jasung Group. They’re all gone now. Torn apart by sibling rivalry. If the eldest monopolizes, they survive. But if the younger ones start to snatch, it ends in bloodshed and disappearance.”
“There are plenty of eldest sons who’ve ruined their families.”
Though his voice was filled with desperation, President Cho only offered a bitter smile.
“I may just be a tenant farmer of Sunyang Group, but I take pride in having made it prosperous. I don’t want to see this land torn apart.”
“I can make it even more fertile. I can cultivate the rough land into a vast, expansive plain. Isn’t that the vision you want to see?”
President Cho silently observed Jin Dong-ki’s confident demeanor for a moment.
When he spoke again, his tone had returned to its original form.
“President Jin, how well do you know your father, the Chairman?”
“What?”
“The Chairman isn’t someone who would pre-select and groom a successor. Don’t even dream of it.”
Hearing this for the first time, Jin Dong-ki felt as if he’d been struck by a hammer.
No successor?
“He’ll probably keep scoring and comparing us right up until the day before he passes. He might even announce the heir to the Sunyang Group in his final will.”
“Really? If he doesn’t prepare for succession in advance, the taxes will be astronomical. He’s not the type to overlook that.”
Jin Dong-ki knew all too well that his father was the stingiest man on earth.
“He worries more about Sunyang’s future than taxes.”
Listening to President Jo Dae-ho, Jin Dong-ki felt a surge of anger.
“Then what have you been saying all this time? As if Hyung, Young-gi, is going to inherit everything…”
“That’s just my opinion and my feelings. You asked for my thoughts, not the chairman’s intentions, didn’t you?”
Jin Dong-ki had no response. He needed to calm down.
The opinions of trusted advisors like Jo Dae-ho would heavily influence his father’s final decision and last will.
Forcing a smile, Jin Dong-ki raised his glass.
“I’ll take your words to heart—that the game hasn’t even started yet.”
President Jo Dae-ho also smiled and lifted his glass.
He had spent his life as a tenant farmer, always sitting on the driver’s seat of the Sunyang carriage.
He never got to see the inside, but he held the reins.
His words might have seemed like idle talk, but the perceptive Jin Dong-ki understood.
It was a warning not to underestimate the power of the one holding the reins.
A warning not to even dream of replacing the driver just because the owner of the carriage changes.
The children of Chairman Jin should know how formidable the united strength of the drivers can be when deciding the owner of the carriage.