Episode 12: Hello!
My friends said they were already gathered, so I hurriedly left school and headed to Dandelion Territory.
It had really been a while since I'd been to Dandelion Territory. During my student days, it had been a hideout of sorts that I'd frequented tirelessly with my friends nearly every other day, but after graduating and taking charge of the company, I'd lived so hectically dealing with all sorts of crises that it had practically disappeared from my life before I knew it. Later, I heard only one store remained? Or had they all closed down? It had been a very long time since I'd seen it again with my own eyes.
When I entered the quaintly designed Dandelion Territory store, female employees wearing red checkered pinafore dresses reminiscent of Heidi, the girl from the Alps, smiled and welcomed me warmly. Now that I look at it, the uniform seems a bit tacky? I used to think it was pretty, though?
The guys were in their usual spot, as always.
“Oh~~ chaebol third-generation heir~~ Anyway, since you're late, you're paying for all of today's culture expenses.”
“Think that'll cover it as culture expenses? Let's order a risotto.”
“I already drank three Chamsari drinks. Buy me another one.”
“You three gathered first without me, so what's with the lateness whining, and without even calling me? What were you all doing here?”
“Ahem! That's because this hyung was being considerate of you, Seho, thinking you'd be busy with company work. You could at least be grateful. Hear ye! Snap the neck of that ungrateful wretch~~”
This guy is Jo Minjun, who was in the same business administration department as me. After graduating, he worked at Saseong Electronics and made a proper investment in the early days of Bitcoin, hitting it really big. To give you an idea of how much he earned, when Hankuk Electric Wire was going through tough times, he participated in a paid-in capital increase on an individual basis, becoming a major shareholder. To think he joined a paid-in capital increase for a dying company out of friendship—truly a grateful guy. Later, when Hankuk Electric Wire was acquired by KMM, the stock price rose significantly, and I'd really thought that was fortunate. Because if my friend had suffered huge losses because of me, it would have been truly sad.
“What else would we be doing gathered here? Analyzing new stocks. Hey, this one feels good this time. It reeks of jackpot potential. This one's at least a five-bagger. Hyung, trust me on this one.”
This guy is Yun Yeongsik from the computer science department. He's an amazing coder, worked at LAVER, and later founded a system trading company with Siyoung, achieving great success.
“Jackpot, my foot. In my opinion, it smells a bit like a scam. It's a company with completely shady cash flow. It's suspicious, so I'm not feeling it. This punk Yeongsik must be losing his touch these days.”
Choe Siyoung from the mathematics department. After finishing his undergraduate degree, he went to study abroad at the University of Chicago in the United States. After earning his degree, he was at the famous hedge fund Citadel, then founded a system trading company together with Yeongsik.
These three were all guys who kept comforting me even when I fell into despair and went down to Jeju Island. At the time, I wasn't in a mental state to accept that comfort, though.
Looking at it like this, among our club's quartet, I was the only chaebol third-generation heir who failed, while the rest all succeeded?
I'll make you guys even more successful than you were in your original lives, so you'll have to help me out instead.
“I have to start taking management lessons in earnest now, so I won't be coming to school anymore. Today I asked all the professors for their understanding. But I have a proposal for you guys: when you graduate, want to do a business with me?”
“What kind of business, exactly?”
Minjun, who had been eating another cup of instant noodles, asked me with curiosity.
“I'll have to take over the company from my father now, but who are we? Aren't we guys who banded together to become Korea's Warren Buffett? You all graduate next spring after this fall semester, right? I'm planning to create an investment company in America with my personal funds, so join me there. I'll hire a president locally, so you guys won't be running the company or anything. I need people to attend investment meetings and check whether the guidelines I set are being followed properly, and whether anyone's getting any funny ideas. You need trustworthy people around to prevent potential accidents, after all.”
If I find offshore slush funds, I intend to create a paper company to circulate them. A paper company exists only on documents, so creating it is simple enough, but to actually carry out investments in the US, there needs to be an investment firm with the paper company as majority shareholder.
Since I can't personally handle every investment from Korea.
Going through Yi Seongho's affair, I felt to the bone that personnel is everything.
This is a matter of moving large funds in America, not Korea. Since I'll be in Korea, if the employer is out of sight, employees might easily fall to temptation. But if they're my friends, I can trust them, can't I?
“America? I haven't even thought about it... Minji will hate it. Are you trying to turn us into a long-distance couple?”
Minjun, who was in the middle of a lovey-dovey relationship these days, grumbled.
I clearly know you'll get dumped by Miss Minji soon enough even if you stay in Korea. Ah, but I can't say that out loud.
“Hmm... I was thinking of studying abroad anyway... I'll think about it. I'm in the middle of the application process, so if I get admitted, I don't know what will happen....”
As expected, Siyoung was troubled over studying abroad.
“If Minjun does it, I'll do it with him. It seems like it'll be fun, right? Hey, you're guaranteeing the salary properly, right? I trust you won't make us eat tear-soaked bread all the way in America?”
“Of course, I'll set your salaries to match the highest level in the American investment industry. Just think of it as the level you'd receive if you joined Goldman Sachs.”
“Wow! Goldman Sachs level? Damn~ as expected of a chaebol third-generation heir!”
“The spring semester isn't even over yet, so I'll think about it a bit more and let you know. It's still a while until graduation. I'll have to talk to Minji, too.”
Right, it didn't make sense to decide on the spot.
“Okay, since it'll take some time to establish the investment company too, let's talk about this again when I've finished setting up the company in America and recruiting local staff. Just know that I trust you guys the most and absolutely need you.”
“As if we don't know that? In that sense, you're paying for the culture expenses here, got it?”
Fine, I'll pay, I will!
I parted with Minjun, who had a date with Miss Minji; Yeongsik, who said he had a blind date in the evening; and Siyoung, who said he had a gathering with friends preparing to study abroad together, and returned home. Not my studio apartment, but the main house.
Entering through the front door and opening the inner door, I found Seyong, who had been running around frantically yesterday and today to meet friends he hadn't been able to see before returning to America, quietly packing his suitcase in the living room.
“Hyung, you're back?”
“Yeah, I had some things to take care of at school... So, did you meet all your friends?”
“Yeah, I think I met all the kids living in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do?”
“What time is your flight tomorrow?”
“2:30. Considering the travel time and check-in procedures, I'll have to leave at the crack of dawn.”
“I was going to have a drink with you today, but would that be too burdensome?”
“Oh, hyung, please hold off. Do you know how much I drank yesterday and today? If I press my stomach now, I feel like liquor will pour straight out of my mouth. I'm worried sick about whether I can wake up tomorrow morning.”
“Since I don't know when we'll see each other again after you leave this time, I'm sad to send you off like this, you punk! When you were little, you used to follow me around calling 'Hyung~ Hyung~' to the point I found it annoying, but now you've really gotten too big for your britches, huh?”
“What? Why do you sound like such an old man? Are you feeling yourself age already? Does your whole body ache when it rains, getting all sentimental? Should I put a pain relief patch on you?”
That's because while my body is twenty-three, my mind is that of an ajusshi past forty, you punk.......
My younger brother, whom I was happy to see after a long time, would be leaving for America again tomorrow, so I wouldn't be able to see him for the time being.
“Hyung, but aren't you dating? You're going to become chairman in a few years, right? Then, what is it. Yeah, a strategic marriage? Don't you have to do something like that? Wait? If it's a strategic marriage, can't you date? Do you have to get engaged to a girl chosen between families in some solemn ceremony and get married right away? Now that I think about it, you shouldn't date recklessly. What if you're dating a girl you like, and Mom splashes water on her face going 'Break up with our son!' and throws money envelopes at her?”
What kind of makjang drama has this guy been watching? As if Mother would ever do something like that.
“Where would I have the time to date leisurely? Just thinking about company work ahead makes the future feel dark enough......”
“You have Uncle Seongho for company work, don't you? He worked with Dad for how many years? He must know the company inside out. Can't you just learn well under him and become chairman? Even after hyung becomes chairman, Uncle Seongho isn't going anywhere.”
Seyong, that Yi Seongho is the biggest problem and the biggest headache for me.
“What do you think of Uncle... Seongho?”
“Huh? What do I think of him? He's just like family. Hyung, remember? When we were little and Dad didn't give us allowance, when we were staring enviously at our friends buying tasty food, Uncle Seongho used to secretly slip thousand-won and ten-thousand-won bills into our pockets... Shh! It's a secret from Dad. Just me and Uncle's promise! Like that.
Dad was such a penny-pincher to us too. I mean, when I was little, I actually thought our family was poor!
Our family is poor. Our housekeeper is poor, our gardener is poor, our driver is poor. This isn't funny. I almost wrote something like this in elementary school!”
Seyong laughed as he talked about childhood memories. Seyong, don't tell me you were won over by Yi Seongho for just a thousand or ten-thousand won?
“Well, I don't hate Uncle Seongho either, but eventually, when I become chairman and try to lead the company my way, I'll have to erase Uncle Seongho's influence to some degree.”
“No, Uncle Seongho isn't someone who would do anything harmful to us, and he'll probably handle things well on his own. Erase his influence? Is that really necessary? Hyung, don't be like that. You sound like some evil chaebol from a drama. It's not like you're discarding him after he's served his usefulness.”
As expected, I couldn't open up to Seyong about Yi Seongho.
For now, I need to think carefully about countermeasures with Manager Gim Yunsik and Team Leader Yu Ilho, the three of us.
“Well, I just mean it could come to that. Is Mother going to be late again today?”
I quickly changed the subject.
“Yeah, she said there are a lot of meetings at the company today so she'll be late. She told us to sleep first.”
“Okay, you seem to have drunk quite a bit, so if you want to wake up early tomorrow, finish packing your suitcase and go to bed quickly.”
I went up to my room on the second floor.
Sitting at my desk, I took out a business card from my pocket and fiddled with it, lost in deep thought.
When should I contact Managing Director Yi Yongjae? And what should we talk about when we meet?
Strike while the iron is hot—I stopped thinking and took out my phone. I'll meet him first and decide then.
When I pressed the number written on the business card, the dial tone rang. After a few rings, the other party finally picked up!
[Yes, this is Yi Yongjae.]