[The characters, places, organizations, events, and so forth appearing in this work have no relation whatsoever to reality and are entirely fictional creations of the author’s imagination.]
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For a moment, Henry swelled with dreams of building the greatest liquor empire in the world, but since it was not something he could put into action immediately, he decided to leave it at that for now.
‘Once I can make a bed out of stacks of cash, I’ll just sweep them all up through mergers and acquisitions. No need to rush.’
Without delay, he shifted the topic to the next item on the agenda.
“That’s enough about Devenger Liquors. Next is Devenger Shield, whose name we’ve changed this time. Its existing role remains the same, but the scale has grown far too large for Joshua to handle alone.”
Henry glanced sidelong at Joshua, who stood beside him. Joshua still exuded a heavy presence, but no matter how one looked at it, overseeing security, bodyguard duties, and even the intelligence team all by himself was too much.
“With the family office work on top of my personal security, Joshua has too much on his plate. So I intend to bring in a new operations manager to support him. In other words, we’ll elevate Joshua to CEO and hire a COO beneath him to handle the day-to-day affairs. Joshua, if you have someone you can recommend, we’ll review that person first. If not, we’ll recruit externally.”
“Understood, boss.”
“And I hear applications for security services have been flooding in lately. Recruit and train personnel quickly. Especially if we can bring in former CIA or FBI agents with abundant field experience, do it. Turning their wiretapping and surveillance techniques back on themselves and perfectly protecting our clients—that should be the identity of Devenger Shield.”
“Yes, boss! We’ve already recruited former CIA agents and are strengthening our counter-technical security, but we’ll increase investment further and fill in any gaps.”
Perhaps because it was a matter directly tied to the family’s safety, the elders nodded without raising any particular objections. The meeting flowed smoothly on to the next item.
“Next is the hotel division. With this restructuring, we have placed the hotels under the holding company, but pushing ahead with excessive remodeling in this murderous high-interest-rate era would be no different from suicide.”
By 1979, interest rates in the United States had already broken into double digits and were soaring without knowing a ceiling. Henry shuddered as memories of his previous life as a debtor came back to him.
‘Borrowing money at these rates to do interior construction? That’s basically saying you want to go to the Han River... no, the Hudson River.’
“Instead, we will begin by standardizing our internal systems. In place of the family committee’s antiquated methods of operation, we will install professional managers, and we will unify the service manuals that have all been different until now. The moment a guest opens the door to one of our hotels, we must give them the certainty that, as long as it bears the family crest, they will receive the finest treatment at any branch.”
Henry tapped the logo on the documents with his finger.
“We will also overhaul the names entirely. The flagship hotel will bear the family name, and the other branches will be unified under ‘Zenith,’ launching as the Devenger & Zenith Hotel Group. Before changing the shell, we will raise the substance to the level of a prestigious house.”
The retainers nodded in satisfaction at an approach that did not incur great costs while maximizing efficiency. It was another moment in which Henry’s practical approach shone.
“Next item. With this restructuring, Devenger General Construction has been placed under the holding company, but due to the current severe recession, it is in the red.”
Henry turned a page in the documents and continued calmly.
“But if even we, with our history and tradition, are having a hard time, that means our competitors are already on the verge of collapsing. Right now is the perfect time to scout talent. Abandon the family committee’s methods and install professional managers. Then sweep up every genius architect, designer, and master technician who has been thrown out onto the streets. During a recession, we will stockpile capability and widen the technology gap.”
Henry paused for a moment, looked around at those present, and then dropped a bomb.
“And about participating in the Battery Park construction project that New York City proposed. Renegotiate with City Hall.”
“Boss, are you in your right mind?”
The finance officers cried out in horror.
“Putting up buildings on reclaimed land made of piled-up garbage and sand is suicide. With Fifth Avenue’s prime land right there, is there really any value in investing in that wasteland?”
To Henry, who knew the future, it was an absurd thing to say, but to the people of that time, it was common sense. Reclaimed land roughly filled in with the soil and sand dredged up while constructing the World Trade Center. In New York of 1979, with public safety a mess and the real estate market frozen, that place was simply abandoned land. The only part being actively developed now was the site right next to the World Trade Center—the Twin Towers—and even that was only somewhat popular. The rest had been left neglected for a long time in his previous life’s history because no contractors had recently participated.
But if one looked at that place with knowledge of the future, those lands were, in Korean terms, like this: Fifth Avenue was Cheongdam-dong and Apgujeong-dong, while Battery Park was Yeouido. And the price of Yeouido? As a Korean from his previous life, he simply could not endure it.
‘As long as we don’t build too high in preparation for when a plane crashes into the Twin Towers later, anything we put up here will bring in hundreds of times the return. On top of that!’
Henry raised his voice, brimming with conviction.
“New York City Hall is currently on the verge of bankruptcy, so they’re ready to give up anything. Don’t make the unreasonable demand that they lend us the construction costs when they don’t have a penny. Instead, demand low-interest loans through City Hall’s payment guarantee, extraordinary tax abatements for the next several decades, and the right to occupy a 99-year long-term ground lease at a dirt-cheap price.”
Henry’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“When others laugh at it as nothing more than a sandlot, we will plant the new heart of New York there. I’ve already finished the concept. A luxury yacht marina embracing the Hudson River, a private club, a design hotel and shopping center containing an art archive for artists. And at the center of it all will be the family’s specialty: a top-class residential complex.”
Henry pointed at the map and drove the nail in.
“I intend to create a new New York landmark combined with a green park. This will be the turning point that changes the fate of our construction company.”
“Boss! That place is not fit for people to live!”
Even Noah Miller stepped in to dissuade him.
“It’s reclaimed land where they dumped the leftovers from building the World Trade Center! Are you saying you’re going to build those structures on top of a sandcastle whose foundation could collapse at any moment?”
James, a veteran adviser who had spent twenty years rolling through the construction sector, slammed the documents down on the table and raised his voice.
“Look at Manhattan’s current real estate indicators! Even proven areas like Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue have stagnant prices because of the recession. And yet you insist on throwing money into the far western edge, which is no better than a smoking garbage dump? This isn’t investment, it’s speculation—and a very bad gamble at that!”
Gilberto, too, shook his head vigorously and joined the opposition.
“That’s right. I tried to understand the hotel branding, but this construction matter is on a different level. If it goes wrong, we’ll end up pouring the family’s entire cash flow into that uncertain landfill. The risk is too great! If City Hall ever goes bankrupt, the family will sink along with it. I may not know about the other items, but I can never agree to this landfill construction project!”
To Henry, who knew the future, their worries were nothing more than old-fashioned needless anxiety. But while nodding as if he understood, he tapped the map on the conference table with his finger. After all, it had only gotten a little better recently; not long ago, New York City Hall had truly almost gone bankrupt.
“Gentlemen, you are blinded by the sand dust in front of your eyes and cannot see the diamond hidden behind it. Do you know why New York City Hall is clinging to us right now? It is not because they have no money, but because they have no hope. The very fact that they are at their most desperate means this is our chance to acquire this place at the lowest possible price.”
Henry stopped speaking and met the eyes of each person present, exuding his conviction. This prime land had to be taken no matter what.
“Fifth Avenue? Fine. But that is already completed land. The profit we can gain by entering there is obvious. In a recession like this, we won’t even cover the loan interest. City Hall has no reason to feel regret there, so there will be no benefits either. But this sandlot is different.”
Henry pressed firmly on the Battery Park site on the map.
“This is land we will build on with bank money backed by City Hall’s guarantee, rent for ninety-nine years at a bargain price, and pay not a single cent in business taxes on for twenty years. Later, when the Twin Towers—the World Trade Center—become the new center of global finance, it will already be too late to try to enter.”
Even now, the Twin Towers—the World Trade Center—were drawing tremendous popularity, and as the voices of the opposition quieted slightly, Henry drove the nail in.
“You called it aggressive expansion? No. This is preemption. While others tremble in the recession and back away, we will capture the king on the vast chessboard called New York.”
Henry’s tone began to take on a cold dignity as the head of the family, beyond his usual ease.
“My decision will not change. Sit down at the negotiating table with City Hall. Use the fact that they cannot support the construction costs as your justification and wring even one more thing out of them. Whether it is a floor area ratio incentive or anything else, everything you extract will become our profit.”
At Henry’s gaze, filled with conviction, the conference room fell into silence along with a strange tension. Before long, heated debate erupted. Voices of opposition were still loud, but as time passed, the scales began to tip toward approval. If they could wring out all the extraordinary conditions Henry had proposed, then as long as City Hall did not go bankrupt, it was not a business that would lose money.
In the middle of the meeting, Henry also stepped in personally from time to time to add to the logic. In truth, he could have made an arbitrary decision with the authority of the family head. But Henry knew. He merely set the direction; the ones who would roll through the mud and execute it were these people. There was no need to force it through while breaking their morale.
‘No matter how much of a boss I am, the carrot is the best way to handle people. If you make them work in a good mood, the results come out better too.’
.
.
.
After a long debate, a conclusion was finally reached. They would proceed with the Battery Park project on the premise that the conditions were met: low-interest loans through City Hall’s payment guarantee, tax abatements, long-term ground rights, and even floor area ratio incentives.
“Phew... Bart, contact the City Hall officials and the Battery Park City Authority, BPCA, and secure as many of the conditions we discussed today as possible. I’m counting on you.”
“Understood. Given City Hall’s circumstances these days, I think we have a chance, but the conditions are so extraordinary that I can’t make any guarantees. I’ll mobilize every connection I have.”
The media business division remaining in the documents was already operating under a professional management system, so they passed over it without particular mention. There was a much more important issue left: ammunition.
“Now, lastly, let’s talk about the funds to be put into my investment team. Gilberto, how much available cash does the family trust currently have?”
“Forty-nine million eight hundred ten thousand dollars. Of that, after excluding the 3.8 million dollars that will go out as June taxes, the expenses to be used after the acquisition of Britain’s The Times, the land purchase costs for the think tank and liquor corporation decided today, and the operating costs for the construction company and Shield...”
Gilberto’s ballpoint pen moved dazzlingly over the paper.
“At present, the limit we can allocate to the investment team is ten million dollars.”
“Oh, come on. Let’s make it a clean thirty million. The acquisition of The Times can be handled with the low-interest loan negotiated with the British government anyway, and the land payments won’t all go out at once, will they? The construction project will use City Hall-guaranteed loans too, so about thirty million dollars in spare cash should pose no problem. Next month, won’t various dividends and interest payments be coming in as well?”
After a persistent negotiation with Gilberto, Henry ultimately won by decision.
‘The ten million dollars he called out at first was probably a safe amount that wouldn’t hurt the family even if I lost all of it. Just give me a few months to roll it around and show some profit, and next time I’ll make them open the vault doors even wider.’
Gold, silver, and the brutal high-interest-rate era soon to come. Henry’s mouth turned sweet at the thought of rolling this seed money to the maximum before the end of next year. Then, suddenly, he remembered something he had forgotten.
“Oh, right. Gilberto. Have the trust distribute just one hundred thousand dollars to me. Ah, and please pay the taxes promptly in line with the quarterly deadlines. New York City is having a hard time, so I should be a patriot too.”
For an instant, Gilberto’s expression twisted as if to say, “Are you insane?” and the other attendees shook their heads in disbelief as well. But with his characteristic stubbornness, Henry seized victory this time too.
‘Why are they all like that when I’m just trying to take care of my allowance? I need money to maintain my dignity too. And there’s no one scarier than a tycoon who pays his taxes properly. Of course, paying taxes I don’t have to pay is a stupid thing to do... but I have my reasons!’
And so, the storm-like family meeting came to an end.