The 3th Generation of the Chaebol Wants to Live Quietly - Chapter 210



Only Noblemtl

#210.

“… 500,000 units, that’s a lot.”

Chairman Choi Yong-wook also knew that this volume would not simply end there. Even if the US market were to be penetrated, export volume would expand to markets all over the world, including Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

This was not simply an optimistic guess. Collins’ quality had already been proven in the domestic and European markets, and the situation was different from a few months ago.

‘That’s why those Walmart guys were acting all rude to Minhyuk.’

Director Jang Seung-il also grumbled.

“But after receiving the investment, we have to share the profits with Walmart, but Director Choi will never do that.”

“… Minhyuk has that kind of personality that he won’t do anything good to others.”

“That will happen.”

Chairman Choi Yong-wook, who was worried about Director Lee Il-tae, also did not want to provoke Choi Min-hyeok with the Walmart issue related to Collins.

The reason is none other than President Oh Young-geun’s change in behavior. The President Oh Young-geun he knows is not someone who acts recklessly or shows extreme changes in attitude.

Still, there had to be some reason why President Oh Young-geun acted in a way that protected Choi Min-hyeok.

‘I may not have done well, but even so, President Oh has never acted like that.’

“Have you figured out why President Oh acted like that?”

“… That is still under investigation.”

“What on earth is going on? How come the Planning and Coordination Office doesn’t know the internal workings of the affiliated companies?!”

“After Executive Director Choi Hoon-yeol and Managing Director Kim Hyun-woo left, the internal situation of KM Electronics has completely changed, so it is impossible to grasp the internal situation. Furthermore, as the conflict with Vice Chairman Choi Moon-kyung deepens, everyone is taking precautions, making it even more difficult. The only person left is Director Lee Il-tae… … .”

“There’s no way that Minhyuk could have given Director Lee Iltae proper information.”

“yes.”

“Tsk.”

Chairman Choi Yong-wook clicked his tongue but did not criticize Planning Director Jang Seung-il.

“Let’s just wait and see about the Walmart issue. What kind of guy is Min-hyeok that he would touch Walmart without thinking? He must have some other ulterior motive. If you look at the circumstances so far, he has just asserted himself boldly. I can’t interfere with such matters in detail.”

“All right.”

* * *

Director Kwon Tae-seong expected that Director Jang Seung-il would take some action if he found out about the Walmart incident. However, he was shocked when he heard that there was no response from the KM Group.

“It seems that Chairman Choi thinks more highly of Director Choi Min-hyeok than I thought.”

Vice President Hwang Gwang-soo, who realized that Vice President Choi Moon-kyung was just watching the Walmart situation unfold, lowered his head.

“sorry.”

“Well, there’s nothing I can do. Chairman Choi isn’t stupid.”

All the work he had done for the KM Group recently was swept under the rug. He didn’t look at the KM Group lightly anymore. He was a bit anxious, but he didn’t rush.

“… How does ETRI work?”

“First of all, it seems that Director Lee Il-tae has not been fired. Director Lee Chang-myeong seems to be planning something with Managing Director Kim Hyeon-woo, but he has not made any special moves yet. He is only meeting with key figures from ETRI and managing the line, but there has been no movement beyond that.”

“… Will it be possible to manage Director Choi Min-hyeok through Director Lee Il-tae?”

Manager Im Kwon-soo hesitated for a moment and then spoke carefully.

“It will be difficult with only Director Lee Il-tae. However, the story will be different depending on who is behind it. This is a fact that has not been confirmed yet, but it is said that Director Jang Seung-il of KM Group was directly involved in this incident. However, there is talk within the KM Group Secretariat that it is a bit different from other times.”

“What does that mean?”

“The stake that Chairman Choi Yong-wook donated to Director Choi Min-hyeok is approximately over 30%, which is over 900 billion won at the current stock price of KM Electronics at 90,000 won. Even if he is Chairman Choi Yong-wook, there is no way he would donate over 900 billion won to his grandson.”

Even Planning Director Kwon Tae-seong was momentarily shocked at the mention of 900 billion.

I felt a sense of disconnect from the huge amount of money.

“… Wasn’t it 1,500 won back then? Oh, that must be so frustrating. It must be making my stomach hurt.”

Even if a grandfather gave a gift to his grandson, it is a different story if the amount exceeds 900 billion won. This is not common even in the United States.

“Even among the top 10 conglomerates in Korea, no one would donate such a huge amount of money. So Chairman Choi Yong-wook’s review process is bound to be complicated right now.”

“Hmm, it would definitely be different if Chairman Choi Yong-wook had pushed for Director Lee Il-tae. By the way, does Director Lee Chang-myeong even know about that?”

“CEO Choi Du-jin, the father of Managing Director Kim Hyeon-woo, is close to Chairman Choi Yong-wook. He is also the major shareholder of KM Group, and the shares he owns were sold to Bellman Investment Company, of which Director Choi Min-hyeok is the actual owner.”

“… I see.”

To be honest, Director Kwon Tae-seong, whose stomach hurt, didn’t care about the number of KM Electronics shares. He didn’t even want to imagine it. When he tried to think of who among the second or third generation of Korean conglomerates had assets like that, no one came to mind.

“… If it’s Director Choi Min-hyeok, I wouldn’t mind if it was called Woozoo Mart instead of Walmart.”

“That’s probably why Director Jang Seung-il is just watching Director Choi Min-hyeok. He’s already in conflict with Vice Chairman Choi Moon-kyung due to the management succession issue, so it would be burdensome to interfere with the Walmart situation.”

“Then should we just watch?”

Director Im Kwon-soo also previously ignored Director Choi Min-hyeok. However, after being treated badly by Director Choi Min-hyeok and receiving advice from Vice Director Hwang Gwang-soo, he began to think deeply about this issue.

If even Planning Director Kwon Tae-seong resigns because of this incident, he himself will be in a situation where he will have to quit the company.

So, I have been stepping back and just observing the progress of things, but when I saw Director Jang Seung-il’s actions, I had an eerie feeling and ended up expressing an opinion that was different from my usual one.

“Wouldn’t that be okay for now? Even the Walmart thing is questionable. What kind of person is Director Choi Min-hyeok? Would he end things at this level? It’s possible that he set a trap to drag us in.”

“You mean using Walmart? What would you gain by doing that?”

“… I don’t know about that right now. But wouldn’t it be better to just wait and see? Isn’t Walmart not a particularly trustworthy company? You can tell just by looking at their demand for shares.”

“That’s right. Then let’s just watch this situation. If Walmart says anything, just say that we’re looking into it.”

“All right.”

I also felt a bit sorry for Director Kwon Tae-seong, but I couldn’t just trust Walmart.

‘There are many other distributors, too.’

* * *

Director Mark Miller met with Director Kwon Tae-seong several times to check on the progress.

But Director Kwon Tae-seong just kept saying that he needed more time.

Although it was a minor conflict, this incident also had a negative impact on negotiations between Oseong Trading and Walmart.

To be exact, it became a justification.

The issue of shares in the joint venture between Walmart and Osung Trading eventually led to a sharp confrontation.

But that’s it.

Director Mark Miller also no longer had any conflicts with the Oseong Group.

In the end, when he had no other alternative, he pretended to back down from the lawsuit with KM Electronics and gave KM Electronics whatever they wanted.

Walmart surprisingly admitted defeat in the first round of negotiations with KM Electronics.

It was a painful mistake for Mark Miller, the CEO, because he was called in and beaten up by Walmart President Robb.

The problem was not that Director Mark Miller had a dispute with KM Electronics, but that he unilaterally backed out of the conflict.

However, even CEO Mark Miller had no choice because American consumers’ demand for Collins had grown so much.

Choi Min-hyeok tilted his head at this unexpected result.

‘It’s too bad. If we had done well, we could have connected this with Oh Sung Electronics and even brought in Director Lee Il-tae to expand the business further… … .’

It was surprising that Director Kwon Tae-seong, Director Jang Seung-il, Grandfather, and even Director Mark Miller, all of whom had strong self-esteem, were all bowing down to KM Electronics.

Team leader Jo Seong-don, of course, had a slightly different opinion.

“Whew, I finally caught my breath.”

“Do you really think so?”

“… I think it is a good idea to compromise along appropriate lines.”

“No. This time, it was good to fight Walmart with confidence so that other retailers wouldn’t look down on us.”

“Wouldn’t this be enough even if it weren’t for that? Anyone who knows us already knows that we’re not easy.”

“No. That’s not enough. Well, it’s more unfortunate that I can’t fight in the mud anymore since I’m not a fighting dog.”

“Isn’t follow-up action more important?”

“Yes. Are the negotiations starting again?”

“Yes. Jang Chang-sik, the sales team’s deputy manager, will personally go to Walmart’s headquarters in the United States.”

“Will you go ahead with the contract we proposed?”

“Your position is that there are still some adjustments needed based on the order volume, as the transaction volume is so large.”

“Okay, but tell them not to bend to the sales team. They can deal with Walmart or any other retailer.”

“yes.”

Team Leader Jo Seong-don also stood up from his seat and stuck out his tongue at Director Choi Min-hyeok’s stubbornness. He never imagined that Walmart would accept his one-sided demands.

‘It went well, but it really felt like they were just using brinkmanship tactics.’

* * *

The people I like the most about this Walmart situation are, of course, the sales team.

Sales Team Leader Kim Bu-yeong was also nervous inside, but he was satisfied with how things turned out. However, he was more worried about Deputy Manager Jang Chang-sik.

“Hey, Vice President Jang, when are you going to submit your report on your business trip to the United States?”

“…All right.”

Vice Minister Jang Chang-sik, who had been worried about this incident, was relieved that things were somewhat resolved normally.

The rest of the sales team just rolled their eyes because they didn’t know English.

Only after everything was over and those who learned the full story of the Walmart negotiations were left speechless.

They also didn’t know that KM Electronics would be so firm in its negotiations with Walmart.

I was even more surprised to hear that all of this was directly directed by Director Choi Min-hyeok.

Minhyuk Choi was of course satisfied with the sales department’s return to stability.

The Walmart incident also gave the company confidence that its core members had now found stability.

There was, of course, a reason for not revealing any more information.

The sale of the TV division was not a short-term matter either.

There was a lot to coordinate, starting with the sale price.

It’s something that will take at least one year, or at least two years.

However, I looked at the satellite broadcasting business from a slightly different perspective than before. This was because I found out that, surprisingly, this business was profitable.

However, he had no intention of providing satellite broadcasting business services.

At that moment, Choi Min-hyeok received a call from Team Leader Oh Hyeon-jong informing him that the system modification work was completed.

[Then proceed with the work as negotiated. Oh, I don’t know anything about this matter. Let’s assume that Professor Lee Dong-ho and Professor Song Han-seong took the lead in handling it.]

[That’s what I hope for.]

Team Leader Oh Hyeon-jong also did not want Director Choi Min-hyeok to step in and complicate the issue. It would have been troublesome if Director Lee Chang-myeong found out that Choi Min-hyeok was behind this incident.

Team Leader Oh Hyeon-jong and Team Leader Kim Seung-gu went to see Director Park Jae-ho and told him the whole story.

“what?!”

First of all, Director Park Jae-ho was shocked.

As the story continued, Director Park Jae-ho became more and more angry and got up from his seat.

“No, you call that talking?!”

“Since Sizbel is the legal representative of Professor Lee Dong-ho and Professor Song Han-seong, there is nothing we can do. If you reject our offer, we will first file a lawsuit in a U.S. court. Then, all work related to the satellite will be stopped immediately.”

The threat was quite powerful.

Director Park Jae-ho, who was furious, initially just listened silently.

And another negotiation with Team Leader Oh Hyeon-jong, who presented an alternative.

The problem was that if I accepted this offer, I would have to scrap all my existing projects.

“Are you crazy? Then who will take responsibility for all the losses?!”

“… … .”

The two people stared blankly at Director Park Jae-ho with warm eyes.

“Hey, are you really asking me to take responsibility for this?!”

“Anyway, it was Director Park Jae-ho’s orders to steal Professor Song Han-seong’s research materials. Here’s even a recording tape as evidence.”

A recording tape prepared just in case.

Director Park Jae-ho went on a rampage and destroyed the recording tape.

“There are dozens of copies, so it’s no use. Let’s have the director take responsibility for this and step down. It would be clean if Osung Electronics said that he quit for personal reasons. Otherwise, we’ll file a complaint with the prosecution. I mean, the company took money from him.”

“… … .”