The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 107



Only Noblemtl

The Tycoon Who Flies Into Space Episode 107

107. Finalizing the acquisition of a company

For some reason, I woke up early in the morning. I closed my eyes to try to sleep more, but I couldn’t fall asleep.

I changed my clothes and went out into the garden to go for a walk.

The garden, still dark, was quiet with no sign of life, except for the occasional chirping of unknown birds.

“It’s not bad to wake up this early.”

It felt like the refreshing morning air was washing deep into my heart.

[What are you doing that doesn’t suit you?]

WD Investment and Iriel Investment quietly purchased Merrill Lynch stocks. Since it was a stock with a high trading volume, purchasing it was not difficult.

“Is the stock purchase going smoothly?”

[Something big is going to happen. I have an appointment with Mayor James Hahn this afternoon.]

“What’s going on now?”

[It seems like they will ask for help in attracting companies. They will likely ask for companies to build factories in LA as well, even though they are only building factories in St. Louis.]

“I’m tired. Do I have to listen to the politicians’ nonsense? Can’t I keep my promises?”

[It’s already been postponed for the third time. There’s no need to make excuses anymore, and there’s no need to fight with politicians. Please just calm them down with words.]

“Why do you keep bothering me like this? It’s annoying. It’s annoying.”

Do I have to listen to the same nonsense politicians say when I meet them again today? My mouth is watering.

While I was talking to Ariel about my daily schedule, I suddenly heard a voice.

“Are you talking to yourself again?”

When I looked back, I saw the head of the department, dressed casually, as if he had just come out for a walk.

“Ah! It’s a habit. A habit.”

“The chairman’s wife was worried that he talked to himself a lot, so I thought he had changed his habit, but he’s still the same.”

The wife the passerby was talking about was actually referring to his mother.

“I said it’s just a habit. I have to organize the thoughts that come to my mind like this.”

At first, they thought it was strange that I was talking to myself, but now they thought everyone was like that.

It came to be regarded as the eccentric antics of a genius.

The person in charge of Bush Beer’s merger and acquisition has been staying in the annex to my house since the final contract was finalized.

Even though it was better to stay at my house and eat meals than to stay at a hotel alone, Director Do did not refuse my offer.

The staff in charge of the meal were so good that honestly, it was better than eating at home in Korea.

Do Jung-in was scheduled to move from the head of sales support at Toad to vice president of Bush Beer once the acquisition of Bush Beer was finalized.

“The FTC is expected to approve the acquisition soon. Kenneth called me yesterday and said the FTC will make a final decision sometime this week.”

The merger will not be finalized until the Federal Trade Commission determines that there are no concerns of a monopoly.

“That’s good. I guess the report you submitted was well-received. I was a little worried about that though.”

“There are several strong competitors. There are competitors like Abebe and Miller, so there is not much concern about monopoly.”

I wasn’t too worried, but the problem was that there would be an explosion of complaints about large American companies being bought by Korean companies.

“I was worried that they might cause trouble since Bush Beer is the number one company in North American market share.”

“That’s right. M&A seems like a really difficult task. Even if you have enough money, there are more than one or two things to worry about.”

Now, as the merger and acquisition process that had been nerve-racking for so long was finally coming to a close, Joong-in seemed to have a lot on his mind.

“Chief Do, you too have had a lot going on in the past two years.”

The person in the middle of the conversation smiled brightly at what I said.

“I thought I would retire from my job as a treasurer at our food company. Then I suddenly moved to Toad and now I’m moving to Bush Beer.”

There are not many Koreans who have experienced such a turbulent career in such a short period of time as the head of the branch office.

His position was manager when he left us, but now he has been promoted to vice president.

It was an incredibly fast promotion for a salaryman, but everyone around me took it for granted because they all knew that he was my closest associate.

The most difficult thing when I first took over Toad was that there weren’t enough people who would faithfully follow my wishes.

I got scolded a lot by my father when he took out the middleman from our food.

How could there not have been concerns when moving from our small but profitable company, Woori Foods, to the failed company, Dugeobi?

Even when he thought about it, it seemed like a new feeling.

“Do you usually wake up early?”

“Even when I was in Korea, I used to wake up at this time and get ready for work. My house was far away, so my commute was long. It would be better to get to work early so that the traffic wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Where was your home?”

“I bought an apartment in Uijeongbu. I needed a bigger house because I had to live with my mother.”

“Isn’t the chief of the city the eldest son?”

“It turned out like that because my older brother died early. It only caused my wife to suffer.”

“Is your mother coming to America with you?”

“No, he passed away two years ago. It was before he moved to Toad. He passed away without any major illness, so it was a happy funeral.”

“How many children do you have at home?”

“One son and one daughter.”

“You said it was time for your son to enter college?”

“So when I told my wife that I would be working in the US, she was really happy. She said that she would be able to send her son and daughter to college in the US. My wife had been singing about how she wanted to take the kids to the US.”

I never thought there would be such a story behind his calm acceptance of working in the US.

“Oh my, Chief Do almost became a goose father.”

“That’s right. I don’t know what you’re all doing. A family is a family if they live together.”

As we were talking, the sun began to rise.

“Why don’t you come into my house and have a cup of tea? You won’t be busy for a while anyway, right?”

Since I didn’t have any work to do, I thought I’d talk to the person I was talking to on the way, with whom I hadn’t had a proper conversation for a while other than business.

Since he did not even properly understand the family history or thoughts of his first aide, in a way, he was disqualified as a superior.

It’s morning so I prepared Earl Grey.

“Is it quiet in the house?”

“Jamie and Jeongyeon are filming their last movie in Napa.”

“Oh, so that’s why it’s quiet. Aren’t there people working?”

“I gave you a vacation this time. There’s no one at home and I’m not busy, so I should take a vacation now.”

“I guess America has a lot of vacations.”

“Executives don’t do that.”

“I know that too. The working hours of executives at American companies are murderous.”

“And they receive that much.”

“Haha, I also got a big raise this time.”

Korean companies still do not have much of a difference in annual salary between their employees and their managers.

Although performance was rewarded through performance-based pay, there was still a large gap compared to executive salaries at American companies.

“How much did you sign the contract for?”

“It was $3.2 million. I never thought I would be signing a contract that I had created myself.”

“It’s low.”

“That’s about right. It’s less than the amount I received from Toad last year, but it’s still average among executives. I’ll make sure to get a lot of money next year by achieving great results.”

My forehead naturally furrowed at his words.

“Bush beer is different from toads. Toads can make a lot of profit in a short period of time, but their sales or net profit will not increase much.”

Although they bought Bush beer, it was difficult to expect a rapid increase in sales in a short period of time.

It was purchased as part of an effort to expand scale, not for profit.

“I know that too.”

“It will be difficult to receive much performance bonus for the time being.”

“Instead, I am a shareholder of Toad. I got a big share when it was listed on NASDAQ this time.”

“How is the Toad St. Louis factory going?”

For a while, I was so busy with my newly acquired automobiles that I didn’t pay much attention to the Soju factory.

“Water is definitely the problem. Even after building the factory, we were unable to secure a proper water source. I thought it would be easy since it was near a river, but the water definitely tastes different.”

The most important thing in making soju was water.

“Is it difficult to solve?”

“No. It’s a city with several rivers running around it. It’s just that we’re delayed because we’re trying to get better water.”

The Mississippi and Missouri rivers flow around the factory, meaning there are abundant water sources nearby.

The burden on Joong-in’s shoulders was heavy, from building a factory with a capacity of 200,000 bottles to penetrating the North American market.

“If that’s the case, then that’s good.”

“I think I’ll be going back and forth between LA and St. Louis for the time being. I’ll be staying mostly in St. Louis, but my wife prefers living in LA. So I’m looking for a house around here.”

“LA is a good place to live because there is a Koreatown and a lot of Korean people live there.”

“There are also more educational institutions for children.”

“I’ve found that living in LA, you don’t have time to get homesick.”

There are many reasons why I live in LA instead of New York, but one of them is that the climate is not too harsh even in the winter and there are many Koreans living there, so the facilities are well-equipped.

“I’ve also been to a jjimjilbang in LA. It’s not much different from Korea.”

“Okay, I should go there sometime when I have time.”

I have never been to Koreatown in LA, I just heard what people around me say.

“The tea is delicious.”

“Really? I don’t know much about black tea, so I just drink what Jamie buys.”

“Did you know that Earl Grey is a black tea made by the Grey family?”

“Really? I don’t know much about that. Chief Do seems to know a lot about black tea, don’t you?”

“I understand that the name comes from the fact that the Grey family’s tea recipe became famous in London society.”

“Actually, I don’t really like Earl Grey because I think it smells like cosmetics. I force myself to drink it in the morning because of Jamie’s sanctification. He says it’s because of the bergamot oil added to the tea.”

“I hear that a lot. At first, I didn’t like it either. But after drinking a lot, I started drinking it every morning as a matter of course.

“You drink tea in the morning? You’re not some tea-crazy British person.”

“Don’t you drink black tea too, Mr. Chairman?”

“It’s because Jamie keeps nagging me to drink tea. Actually, I don’t really understand the habit of drinking tea in the morning.”

“At first, I started drinking it because of my blood pressure. My blood pressure was high during a health checkup, and my doctor friend recommended it to me. Bergamot oil contains a lot of HDL cholesterol, which helps cleanse the blood vessels. I started drinking it five years ago, and my blood pressure has dropped a lot. So my whole family gathers together every morning and drinks a glass. My kids hated it at first, but now it’s become a habit and they drink it without complaining.”

“You’re so diligent. Do the kids wake up early?”

“Health is more important than studying. My wife thinks the morning tea time is very important. It’s the only time during the day when the family gathers together. Even if we can’t talk for a long time, it’s the only time when we can have a short conversation with the kids.”

“Good. Your wife is very wise. Chief Do will probably be home late. How good it is for the children to have time to see their father in the morning.”

The person on the way smiled awkwardly at my words.

“I think so too.”

“You said it was time for your eldest son to go to college? Didn’t you say he was pretty good at studying? He should go to college in the United States.”

“Yes, I decided to prepare for the SAT this time.”

“Good colleges ask for all SAT scores, which is different from what I’ve seen in the past.”

“You said that you used to apply after choosing a program with good scores.”

“I used to draw at that time. I took the test several times and submitted the best grade.”