The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 86



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The Tycoon Who Flies Into Space Episode 86

Episode 86: Engagement Preparation (3)

As the drinking party got more intense, Jang Yi-rin revealed her true feelings.

“Do you really think it’s dangerous for me to go to China?”

“You little brat! I told you so, and you didn’t understand?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m just asking, would Zhou Yongkang do something so reckless?”

Jang Yi-rin shook her head at my words.

“Ugh, maybe not. But it’s true that it’s more dangerous than you think. It’s easy to make up excuses to keep them. After you catch them, you can frame them as drug criminals. And having the police in China means you can exert almost unlimited power.”

“Huh! You don’t treat people like people. How can you catch someone as big as me so easily?”

At my words, Jang Yi-rin tilted her glass.

“That’s the nature of communists. They have a fundamental lack of respect for humanity, and the upper echelons are teeming with people who think that tens of millions of people should die in order for the party to maintain its current power.”

“I really have nothing to say.”

Jang Yi-rin poured her glasses one after another.

“They are the ones who will do anything without hesitation to seize power. After Hua Yaobang and Comrade Zhao Ziyang, all those with a conscience had to hide behind the scenes and conceal their identities.”

“Did you follow their side, brother?”

Jang Yi-rin laughed bitterly at my words.

“It’s true that I was close to Comrade Zhao Ziyang, although it wasn’t revealed. I don’t know if he really considered me as his successor.”

“Is he still under house arrest?”

Hua Yaobang, who was designated as Deng Xiaoping’s successor, died during a State Council meeting in 1989. The Tiananmen Incident began when people began to gather one by one to hold him responsible for his death.

Zhao Ziyang, who had been lukewarm about the suppression, was ousted from power, and the person who filled the vacuum was former General Secretary Jiang Zemin.

“Because the guys who pushed Tiananmen with guns and tanks are in control of the party. No, that doesn’t matter at all. What really matters is that they have the government in their hands.”

“Are there many forces following you, hyung?”

“No way, I told you, everyone hid their identities and hid in the back. No one can come forward. What the hell is going on in the world!”

Jang Yi-rin put down her glass and sighed deeply.

What will happen to Jang Yi-rin in the future? For the time being, there is no one who can stop him.

His father, Zhang Dejiang, was also on a roll and seemed destined for a spot on the Politburo Standing Committee.

He had ties to both the Shanghai faction and the Communist Youth League, the two key forces currently ruling China. And his true intentions were with the reformists who were purged in Tiananmen.

“Stop saying such heartbreaking things and don’t go around saying such things. Even I can hear that it sounds dangerous.”

“There is no place in China where I can open up my heart. Where can I go to say such things? I also do not want to die in vain.”

“Okay, I understand how you feel, so have a drink.”

After drinking with Jang Yi-rin and finding out her true feelings, all sorts of thoughts came to mind.

Then, suddenly, I had a thought: what if I raised Zhang Yilin? If I raised Zhang Yilin to become the General Secretary of China in the future… … .

It wasn’t bad.

It wasn’t really that bad.

* * *

Before spring came, we carried out an internal personnel change. We brought in Kim In-young, the head of headquarters, as the chief of staff, and appointed Seo Gi-myeong, an external recruit, as the new CEO of WD Investment.

“Before coming here, I visited the Namhae Oil Field work site.”

“how is it?”

“The drilling operation is proceeding without a hitch. Although winter is not completely over, the waves are not high, so the work is progressing quickly.”

As soon as the drilling work is completed, the prepared production equipment is ready to take its place.

The process of storing crude oil produced from the FPSO manufactured by WD Shipbuilding was scheduled to be completed in the entire month of March.

Last fall, we drilled a drilling hole to finally confirm the location of the oil field and completed the work of estimating the reserves.

The D-day for formally announcing the discovery to the outside world was March 1st, the date requested by the government.

Originally, we had planned to announce the news of genetic development to the public in mid-March, but our schedule became busy.

Both oil fields are located in the path of persistent typhoons during the summer.

“Didn’t you say something when Vice President Jeong Gi-ha was posted to the United States?”

“He just accepted the personnel order.”

My son, who had been so averse to being posted in China, surprisingly accepted the move this time when he was going to school there starting this year.

“In the case of the Chief Jeong’s family, they liked it, but they didn’t hate it. There are many cases where fathers become goose fathers in order to send their children to study abroad in the United States. If they had refused, I don’t know, but my sister-in-law would have scolded me a lot.”

“Are you the goose dad?”

“I’m talking about a man who sends his children and wife abroad and lives alone.”

It was something that didn’t make sense. If you get married and have children, you should live together. If you want your wife and children to live separately in a foreign country, why get married?

“It’s hard to understand.”

“I’m the same way, but the number of people who do that is increasing. My wife was so happy when I told her that I was working in the US. She was thinking of sending her son to the US for college. She was so happy that she could see her kids up close, and I couldn’t say anything. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my wife so happy.”

I didn’t know that the conversation about Namhae Oil Field Development had turned to the issue of children.

From my perspective as a childless person, I could have just let it go and said, “Oh, that’s just how it is,” but it was a different story for the person on the receiving end.

“Did you say that your eldest child at home is in the second year of high school?”

“Hey, when the year changes you’ll be a senior in high school.”

“It must be a concern. I feel uneasy about sending my third-year high school student abroad. The entrance exams are changing.”

“My son likes it. He said he will take the SAT.”

“Are you good at studying?”

“That’s just it. Even in Korea, it’s barely enough to aim for Seoul.”

“The SAT is not an easy test.”

“It seems like it looked easier than the CSAT to you. You can take it multiple times, and it’s gotten a lot easier than before.”

It is true that since the reform in 1994, the number of people who received a perfect score of 1,600 has increased compared to before.

“Have you found a house?”

“I found one near here. It was more expensive than I thought. I only heard about the rich district, but the housing prices… … I really lost every penny I had.”

I didn’t understand what he was saying.

“Didn’t the bonus you received last year exceed 2 billion?”

“My wife was a little greedy, so the house prices were too high. It’s near the house we lived in before.”

That makes sense. The houses in that area were expensive because the school was close by.

“I have to work hard to fill my empty wallet.”

“That’s right. My wife told me that too. She said that American college tuition is not cheap.”

American students often work part-time while attending college. I worked part-time while attending college, but it wasn’t for the purpose of earning tuition.

Because my family paid for my tuition and living expenses.

“When will Deputy Manager Jeong come in?”

“I will go to China and finish the work and then come back.”

Tencent and Alibaba had to discuss listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

“Alibaba is a bit tough, but Tencent has a high chance of success in its IPO.”

“Why?”

“Foreign investors prefer Tencent.”

In order to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and maintain a high stock price, an influx of foreign investment funds was essential.

“Has Chief Jeong also found a house?”

“Like me, I’m also planning to find a house around here.”

“Director Jeong is rich, so he will take care of things.”

He inherited quite a bit of wealth from his father, who was in the trading business.

He also owned a significant amount of real estate in Hong Kong.

Most people would quit their jobs and live comfortably off the money they inherited, but Manager Jeong was a workaholic.

That too with very outstanding abilities.

“The engagement ceremony will be simple.”

I tried calling people here and there, but there were too many targets.

We decided to have a simple engagement ceremony with only the families from both sides, because it would be difficult to have a simple wedding ceremony.

“I know. I stopped by Seongbuk-dong before coming here and heard about it. I heard that only relatives from both sides gathered to hold the ceremony.”

“So don’t worry too much. Jamie will take care of it.”

“That’s fortunate. If we do it formally, we’ll have a ton of guests.”

“Even though it’s an engagement ceremony?”

“Hasn’t the chairman’s position changed a lot? If it’s in the US, guests won’t come, but if it were Korea, oh my! Later, when Chairman Noh says he wants to attend the wedding, he won’t have the courage to stop someone.”

My head hurt thinking about how many people I should call. This wasn’t good because my grandfather knew a lot of people.

“Let’s worry about that later.”

I left the headaches to my future self.

And the real issues to discuss were starting now.

“What is the situation with the domestic presidential election?”

“I think it’s a close race. No one can guarantee victory. The opposition party was already confident that they had won, but the ruling party candidate is making a huge comeback. I thought he was like Don Quixote, but he’s already become the ruling party candidate, and now he’s become the protagonist of a whirlwind that’s swallowing up even the opposition candidate, who was considered a reserved position for the president.”

Anyone who knew Joo Moo-yeon before was surprised.

He was a man who had been in trouble every time he ran for the National Assembly or mayoral elections. The best moment of his career was when the president appointed him as a minister, saying he would raise him once.

When he announced that he would run for president, everyone thought he would just play a supporting role and be a poster boy for the ruling party’s presidential election campaign and then fall behind. However, Joo Moo-yeon created a storm in the election in various ways.

“Did you return the election funds?”

“There is no problem. The candidates do not know the exact information because it is transferred to a pre-prepared account. Only the accounting managers of the presidential campaign know.”

The fact that WD has been pouring in huge election funds is known only to Park Young-joo, the president of Holdings, and Kim In-young, the group’s chief secretary.

Unlike other companies, the money was distributed through bank accounts rather than cash, so there was no chance of the secret being leaked.

They simply created a paper company, received investment funds from overseas, and then closed the business, leaving no trace behind.

It didn’t matter which side won the presidential election.

“Have you decided on any candidates you would like to support?”

The problem wasn’t the presidential election, but rather choosing a candidate to support in the subsequent parliamentary elections.

“We are expanding our information network as much as possible to dig up the candidates’ personal information.”

“It’s important. The president’s term ends in five years, but this is a transitional period as power is transferred to the National Assembly, so the people who will run in the next National Assembly elections are more important.”

We had to get as many people in the National Assembly as possible to raise our hands.

While other groups are rushing into the presidential election to try to get elected for five years, our position as a new group was different.

Honestly, there was nothing to miss in Korea.

If you try to be close to the government, you’ll only get criticized later when you attend hearings.

Externally, we take a neutral stance on politics.

It was a completely different move from the Federation of Korean Industries’ support for the conservative candidate.

“Didn’t the Federation of Korean Industries say anything?”

“Even without that, I was getting a lot of calls after I was told that I was appointed as the chief secretary in charge of the group.”

“What did you say?”

“There was a lot of talk about how things would be difficult in the future if things continued like this.”

I snorted.

“What can we do then? Even if the conglomerates reach out to us, it’s not enough. So what’s the use of threats?”

There wasn’t much to do in Korea. The work that had already been done was so much that it was impossible to handle.

After concluding the contract to acquire Gyeong-In Energy, there were no plans for expansion for the time being.

But other conglomerates had a lot to ask of us. There wasn’t a single conglomerate that wasn’t involved in shipbuilding or oil refining.

Things were different when WD wasn’t even among the top 10 conglomerates.

After the modern era was divided by the Prince’s Rebellion, Samjeong, which naturally rose to become the number one group, also had to express regret.

Not only was the ship engine a problem, but I also had to negotiate with Qualcomm for the chip usage fee for my main product, the mobile phone. I was the largest shareholder of Qualcomm.

When the big domestic companies complained to me, I did, but I never had to complain.

“I saw the list of stocks you gave me and it was really surprising.”

When Kim In-young became the chief of staff, she was shocked when she checked the list of assets I had invested in the United States.

Short-term investment funds have increased to 28 billion, and the value of stocks held for long-term has also exceeded 20 billion dollars.

Although he has more personal wealth than Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who is known as the world’s number one, he would be evaluated as being in the top 10 because there are many aspects of his wealth that are not revealed.

“How is the NASDAQ listing of Toad F&B going?”

“We are proceeding with Merrill Lynch as the weekly publisher. If there are no major issues, we will be listed on NASDAQ around June.”

Although the presidential election is a big issue, the NASDAQ listing of Dduki F&B has also been a topic of conversation in Korea.

The question of how much the stock price would be after listing was of great interest.

The stake scheduled for listing was 30%.

It was planned to be listed by splitting the face value by 50, so it was not known how high the stock price would rise once trading began.

It was currently being traded at 2 million won in the over-the-counter market.

If the stock price exceeded $35 after listing on NASDAQ, it was a successful start.

“I think the stock will go up at least a little bit. I think the stock will go up at least to $70.”

“Then the market cap is over 200 billion dollars?”

“Doo-doo-bi is a company that has made a profit of more than 4 billion dollars this year alone. The profits of the companies it has invested in are also considerable. Above all, the acquisition of an 8% stake in Seohae Oil for 3.5 billion dollars is receiving very favorable reviews.”

In order to increase the value ahead of the listing, I sold some of my shares in Seohae Petrochemical to Dugeobi F&B.

I owned 100% of the shares in Seohae Oilfield.