The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 65



Only Noblemtl

65. Entering a new business (2)

“It was a good idea to sell the stock fund as a closed-end fund. If the US stock price goes up, the fund’s return will also go up. If it were open-end, I would have had to withdraw my money and liquidate the fund because the return was low.”

“That’s why I made it closed. I thought the stock price would go up in the second half of this year. The U.S. market won’t continue to be depressed.”

The U.S. economy, which had been mired in stagflation and seemed unable to find a solution until the 1980s, began to revive in the 1990s by finding new vitality in IT.

Although it has slowed down since the IT bubble burst, the U.S. government can never fundamentally give up on new industries.

Added to this was the special nature of the war economy, and the American economy was reviving.

“Doesn’t it seem like now is the time to buy stocks?”

“Yes, I think it’s just the beginning.

“Isn’t WD overflowing with cash? They buy American stocks.”

The companies I own, Toad F&B and Seohae Oil, are companies that are accumulating huge amounts of cash.

“Will the government permit overseas investment?”

“I tried it out briefly, but I don’t think they will oppose it. They did put a condition that they can come back at any time when the government requests it if the foreign exchange situation is difficult. It seems that they are having a hard time because the won is overvalued due to the West Sea oil field.”

Oil prices are stable at around $30, so there is no significant profit, but oil fields are a strategically important resource for the country.

In a country like Korea where the petrochemical industry is developed, the importance of oil fields goes without saying. As the production of West Sea oil fields continues to increase, the operating rates of oil refineries and chemical plants built in Yeosu and Ulsan have also increased rapidly.

“Didn’t they just start talking about a second foreign exchange crisis just a little while ago?”

“It’s a big deal. Recently, the inflow of foreign capital has also increased rapidly. The won per dollar has fallen to 1,100 won. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance was worried that it might fall below 1,000 won. As soon as I asked the person in charge about overseas investment, he conveyed through Holdings that he would not block overseas investment.”

“It looks like the government wants an exchange rate between 1,100 and 1,200.”

“If it goes beyond that, it will hinder exports. It seems that not only us, but also the three states that have a lot of foreign currency have received the offer.”

Chief Song smiled at my words. The shackles that had been blocking overseas investment had been lifted.

Even though they did everything they could to block it, the government’s mere declaration that it would not block it was a great boost to overseas investment.

While I was calling my employees’ families, I also called my father. I told him to bring my mother along while I was there.

It may seem like a filial son who doesn’t go to see his father but instead calls for him to come, but if something needs to be done, he has to come.

I called my grandfather to ask him to come with me, but he said something was wrong and couldn’t attend.

My father was not the type of person to travel to the United States without making excuses like this.

I should buy a large private jet and write about what I do with it without holding back.

“You son of a bitch, tell your busy father to come!”

As soon as I got off the plane and walked out of the gate, my father scolded me. I brought my mother with me just in case something like this happened.

My mother frowned as she watched my father get angry.

“Honey, what are you talking about! My son came here on a private plane, and instead of praising me, he got angry. The plane was very spacious, so I came comfortably. It was like a hotel, not a plane. The flight attendants were also kind.”

Even though my mother had lived in a wealthy household her entire life, riding a private jet was a different story.

“I hope your mother can come comfortably. Isn’t your father finished with all the urgent work? The factory expansion is finished and it seems like he doesn’t have any busy work to do, so it would be nice to take a trip to the US with your mother. I wanted to invite your grandfather too, but he said he was busy because of an appointment.”

“Father, what’s the urgent appointment? It’s because of Gyeong-In Energy.”

“Haven’t you decided not to buy it?”

“It seems like they gave up on us and got sick of it.”

“If the conditions are good, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take over. It would have been nice if Grandpa had come too. Now that I hear it, it’s not urgent.”

“As my father gets older, he doesn’t like going abroad. He may not mind nearby Japan or China, but he really hates the United States.”

My mother looked around and asked.

“What about Jeongyeon?”

“He’s busier than me these days. He’s busy learning at a film company called Blue Rabbit.”

“I got a call from him too. He said you asked me to make a movie?”

“If you’re going to learn something here, you have to learn it properly. Rather than wasting time, I think you’ll learn a lot if you take the money and make it yourself.”

“That’s right. Since you have a lot of money, your younger brother is learning filmmaking through a short-term intensive course.”

“Hey, I was going to put Jeongyeon under me.”

My father made a displeased expression and was pinched by my mother.

“What is this guy talking about? What is Jeongyeon telling us to do at our food store? Yongwon really loves his little sister and found her a suitable job. Even when Jeongyeon calls and complains about how hard the work is, do you know how cheerful his voice is?”

When my mother’s pinching caused my divine power to explode, my father couldn’t say anything else in front of me.

When I left the airport and arrived home, my mother was so happy.

“Oh my, oh my, is this Beverly Hills? It really looks like the American houses you see in movies. I really like the large garden.”

The new house I recently bought was much larger than the one in Seoul.

“I was trying to buy a bigger house that was on the market nearby, but Jeongyeon said the house was too big and complained.”

“He’s still young and doesn’t know anything. It would be nice to have a bigger house, right? I heard there are Koreans working here.”

“Of course. We are doing well too.”

“Jeongyeon said that the people who work there have good personalities and are kind.”

I listened to my mother’s chatter for a long time. It seemed like she was in a really good mood because it was her first trip in a long time.

“I should take this opportunity to travel around with your dad. I should meet my friends who live in LA. I should also visit the school your dad went to. I said I would go there once, but it’s not easy to come to the US.”

Caltech, where my father graduated, is in Pasadena, a small city near LA.

Summers in California are much more bearable than in Korea because the humidity is lower.

It was a joyous occasion for the family to gather together for the first time in a while.

“Mom! Dad! I really missed you.”

This was the first time Jeongyeon lived away from her parents.

His expression brightened when he saw his parents at home.

My father, who was always busy scolding me, brightened up when he saw Jeongyeon. Just like my mother said when she saw me earlier, we really were a father and daughter who couldn’t live together.

“Why on earth did you call me? Do you want to discuss business urgently?”

After dinner, I had coffee time with my father.

“Are you not interested in the energy drink market?”

“Huh? An energy drink? What’s that?”

“In Korea, there’s Bacchus. That’s an energy drink. In Europe, Red Bull sells really well.”

“Isn’t the taste of Bakkusu Ramen a little weird?”

“That’s because it’s sold like medicine. In Europe, Red Bull is consumed like a beverage. It’s popular among people who work hard or students preparing for exams.”

Making an energy drink isn’t hard. All you have to do is add a bunch of caffeine to the drink. And a lot of sugar is added for flavor.

It is common to list the ingredient as guarana fruit extract to avoid feeling offended when you say caffeine.

“Try this.”

“What is this?”

“It’s an energy drink sold in the United States.”

“Yeah, Monster? The name is a bit strange.”

My father drank the drink I gave him.

“It’s easier to drink something that’s slightly sweet than I thought. I was tired from coming here, but drinking this makes me feel refreshed.”

“It’s because of the caffeine’s stimulating effect. It makes you forget that you’re tired for a moment.”

“Don’t you make something similar to this at Lotte?”

“That’s a sports drink. How about our food company entering the energy drink market? The market will grow enormously in the future. Modern people are always tired.”

“Energy drinks? Let me think about it. I think sports drinks would be better than energy drinks.”

“It’s hard to break into that market because it’s already dominated by cola companies. The Korean market is also very competitive.”

Coca and Pepsi were fiercely competing with each other by releasing competitive sports drinks. The competition was even more difficult in the domestic market because there was even a joint venture with Japan.

The energy drink market was one where competition was relatively uncompetitive.

My father, who had been thinking for a moment, shook his head.

“I don’t like energy drinks. My grandfather probably doesn’t like business either.”

“Iriel, it seems like your father is negative about entering the energy drink business, right?”

[Because energy drinks are not good for your health.]

“I thought it would be a good business portfolio for our food products. I guess I have to do the energy drinks myself.”

[You don’t give up?]

“Why give this up? It’s obvious how big the market will be in the future. Why would I just leave it alone? Just take over Hansen and use that name.”

When doing business, it is inevitable that even rich people will have different opinions.

“Wouldn’t it be better for your father to work in the pharmaceutical business? I heard your major in college was biotechnology.”

[It doesn’t seem so bad. There’s a pretty big market for things like diabetes treatments, so it would be profitable if we got into it.] “If you help me, it won’t be hard to make a treatment.”

[How can I help you create a cure for diabetes?]

“huh?”

It was shocking news to me, who had thought of Ariel as an all-powerful being.

[I don’t know why I thought I knew about diabetes treatment, but I’m not an all-powerful AI. How much information would an implantable AI store? Even if I ran the memory circuit, I couldn’t find any information related to it.]

“Because I didn’t save the memories.”

It was my fault. No matter how advanced the 7th generation was, there was no way it had enough storage space.

So, I selectively saved only the areas that I am interested in.

If I lived in the Universal Century, it wouldn’t be too hard to find other information I need.

[However, we can only speculate on how treatments might develop.]

“That alone is a big deal.”

[It takes a lot of money to develop a treatment and it takes a long time to go through clinical trials. If I were to fully participate, it would shorten the time, but would that be the case?]

“No. You should just do it like you are doing now. You have a lot of work to do right now. If you use all your computing power, how much do you think I should eat?”

The power source of AI is the food I eat. If Iriel is to do computationally intensive work, the amount of food I have to eat will increase compared to usual.

Even though the amount of food you should eat in normal times is not significantly more than that of other people, when you are asked to do hard work, it seems like you have to eat almost as much as a wrestler.

It’s really hard to eat a lot.

Her parents, who came to the U.S., went on a trip, and Jeongyeon was busy making a movie. She said she found a script she liked, but she didn’t show it to me.

During the day, I stopped by the newly opened Emma Brown in Beverly Hills and waited for Hansen’s acquisition to be finalized.

I was already irritated by the scary and hot weather, but then an incident occurred that made me even angrier.

“How much do they want from you?”

“I will sell the company for a billion dollars.”

“Ha! Aren’t these guys crazy? How much sales are there? What kind of money are these tiny guys asking for? How many years have passed since you bought it for less than 2 million dollars? If you were to ask for 400 million or 500 million, you’d be saying you’d negotiate, but if you were to ask for 1 billion, you’d be saying you wouldn’t sell it from the start.”

“It seems that they highly value the energy drink market that they have recently entered. They will never sell the company for the low price we are asking. They seem to have gained confidence because sales are increasing rapidly. They must have judged that this is a viable market. There seems to be a racial element to it, although they did not say it out loud.”

Even Team Leader Jeong Gi-ha, who could be called a master of persuasion, seemed to have lost his mind. If the opponent builds an iron wall, there is no way out, no matter who goes.

I tried to suppress my anger. I thought about it for a moment. A billion dollars? If I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to give that much in acquisition funds. But I didn’t like the way they were acting.

“Team Leader Jeong, those guys are Jews from South Africa. They’re an eyesore. Let’s just trample them down.”

Energy drink?

I do it myself. It’s not that hard to make, the key is marketing. I’m going to crush Hansen’s energy drink market before it sprouts and grows.

I am confident when it comes to money.

Let’s see who wins. I’ll give you the billion dollars you want for marketing.

He gritted his teeth and told them to look for another beverage company to acquire.