The Golden Age of the Regressed Conglomerate: Episode 001
Prologue
I sent a letter to my future self.
Just how would this letter change my life…….
I staked everything on a gamble.
001. Regression (1)
February 1904. The investigation by the Financial Investigation Bureau of the New York State Police into ‘USA Steel,’ created by the great financial conglomerate ‘Logan’ family in 1901, was in full swing.
USA Steel’s market dominance was approximately 65%; it could be indicted for violating antitrust law.
Under the so-called ‘Sherman Act’ enacted in 1890, numerous trusts had already been dissolved, so experts expected USA Steel to be broken up within three years of its founding.
This was because the Logan family’s trust, ‘Roden Securities,’ had already been dissolved.
The New York State Prosecutor’s Office had already completed the procedures to indict the head of the Logan family, ‘J.H. Logan,’ and now the ball was in the Financial Investigation Bureau’s court.
The police arrested ‘Logan’s Butler’ Adam Floche, who was known as J.H. Logan’s right-hand man.
This was because Adam Floche was being cited as the de facto core of USA Steel.
Adam Floche had been active in South America recently and had come all the way to New York after receiving the police’s summons.
Investigators requested specific financial documents from him.
“As you know, the trial against the trust called USA has already begun. Salvage what you can at this point and just end it.”
“Heh, is that truly what you think?”
“You are quite confident. Surely you haven’t forgotten His Excellency’s Sherman Act?”
The Sherman Act boasted tremendous destructive power, so much so that it was called the Trust Buster.
This meant that President Theodore Roosevelt’s power was formidable.
Could the Logan family really defeat the President’s cabinet? The New York police had judged that they could not.
But the Logan family’s position was different.
Adam Floche shook his head and said.
“At this rate, there will be nothing for you to gain. Let’s stop this showmanship and release me. Time is running short to transport rebar to Panama.”
“……Panama?”
The previous year, Panama had been born as a new nation after seceding from Colombia.
The Panama Canal construction, already started by the French, had become a hot potato, causing massive casualties.
Shortly after, the door to the Financial Investigation Bureau’s interrogation room opened.
“Mr. Floche, please come out.”
“……?”
The top brass of the investigation bureau slightly tilted their heads.
Adam Floche spoke with a smile.
“The Roosevelt administration’s power is formidable indeed. Unless we are fools, why would we even think of going against that power?”
“Surely not for the Panama Canal project……?”
“That is exactly what has come to pass.”
The fastest way to build a trust.
Was to offer up a portion of it to the government trying to break it.
‘Loganism,’ which held that collusion took priority over excessive competition, also meant that colluding with oppressive forces was faster than conflicting with them.
The ‘Logan-style’ strategy in response to Roosevelt’s unchecked power was to rally USA Steel and make a massive donation to the Panama Canal project.
In the end, Adam Floche gifted USA Steel to Logan and became a feudal lord of the financial empire…(omitted)….
From ‘FBI Financial Investigation Records,’ ‘Logan Family’ - ‘Adam Floche.’
Adam Floche (?–1905 or ?–1912). A businessman of unknown nationality.
Known as a genius of both intellect and resourcefulness; recognized as J.H. Logan’s foremost disciple.
In 1905, following the conflict between the ‘Logan’ family and the federal government during the Portsmouth Treaty, he is presumed to have gone into hiding. His actual year of death is estimated to be around this time.
***
I was the son of a fallen second-generation chaebol, a descendant of the SG Group who had been abandoned by the head of the family.
My father was second-generation chaebol but lived like a shadow of the family before he passed.
My father was different from his brothers, as was his mother. Naturally, they despised my grandmother, who was my grandfather’s mistress and concubine and who had borne my father.
Therefore, from a young age, the relatives denounced and abused my father, and pressured him his whole life so that he could not even set foot in the succession structure.
Especially my uncle, who was the most likely successor candidate, was a man who would do anything to become chairman, and he cruelly tormented my father until he withdrew from the succession competition on his own.
Perhaps that is why my father always said this to me.
“Never show your talent to the relatives. Never let them see you as an outstanding person. You don’t know what their cruel clutches will make of you.”
In truth, that worry was somewhat pointless.
From a young age I was talented in mathematics, but conversely, I was terribly lacking in management and resourcefulness; I couldn’t even mingle among the outstanding ones in the first place.
In mathematics alone, my concentration and mental arithmetic were peerless, but the rest was worthless.
Yet my father deliberately hid me away like this until his death.
My father’s creed was that no matter how outstanding one is, without power, one will be ground down and shattered before authority.
Of course, my grandfather liked outstanding people, and if I were branded as too outstanding, the succession structure would become complicated later, so that worry wasn’t entirely useless.
In 2001, my parents passed away in an unfortunate accident.
Thrown into the world alone, I tried my best to live diligently.
But an absurd incident occurred during the chairman succession.
Shares of the company held by my grandmother unexpectedly came to me, and the wives of shareholders who had been close to my grandmother poured friendly shares into my hands.
Perhaps my grandmother had been pained to see me relying on the real estate rental business she had given me to eke out a living after being pushed out of the family.
She had concentrated shares on me for this reason, but I had neither the power to protect those shares, nor were the friendly shares overwhelming enough to let me immediately succeed to the chairmanship.
My uncle took it as a challenge against himself.
In the end, after having all my assets confiscated in 2002, I was driven out to China, and ten years later in 2012, died in an absurd traffic accident.
Of course, my uncle probably didn’t kill me directly.
Because the ten years in China made my life so painful.
A feeling of defeat so desperate I wanted to die — I had died within that feeling of defeat.
After that, I experienced what is called reincarnation.
Opening my eyes in America in 1867, I lived as the 14-year-old coachman of the ‘Logan’ family.
The coachman of Logan, the ruler of America’s Wall Street, the Emperor of Finance.
Fortunately, I caught the eye of J.H. Logan, the head of the Logan family.
Because I came from the future, I possessed new knowledge that was utterly unimaginable at the time.
Besides, no matter what anyone said, I possessed abilities several times greater than others when it came to mathematics.
The Logan family educated me and entrusted me with personal asset management and the management of the company’s lobbying funds.
They believed that because I was good at calculations, I could also manage funds.
I could have run away with that money, but I didn’t.
I had no doubt that those experiences and trust would one day elevate me to the major leagues.
Of course, there were a few mistakes. Being good at calculations didn’t mean I was good at management.
But humans are mysterious creatures who develop as they overcome adversity and move forward.
Learning by J.H. Logan’s side and studying without rest, I gradually neared perfection.
Thus, while directly experiencing and learning the ‘Loganization’ (Rorganization) firsthand, I grew, and finally came to be called the Logan family’s ‘Steward.’
That connection, too, could not last forever.
In 1905, I was extremely negative about the results of the Portsmouth Treaty.
Because this treaty allowed Japan to effectively colonize Northeast Asia.
At that time, I held American citizenship and possessed considerable wealth.
Furthermore, the network of politicians I had built during the process of subsidiaries’ mergers and trust formation was quite densely woven.
Perhaps that is why. The US government found me very uncomfortable, going so far as to take it as a challenge by the Logan family against the US government.
The Logan family, pressured by the government, decided to eliminate me.
In 1907, I went into exile in Shanghai.
Rather than being pruned by the Logan family, I had decided to donate all the money I had gathered to my homeland and leave.
Immediately after exile, I met death.
I was shot in the head and died, without even clearly seeing my killer’s face.
With a single gunshot, I had passed away.
A futile death.
Before I died, I had prepared for things turning out this way and wrote a letter to my future self.
“……If I die here now, I cannot support the independence movement anyway. In that case, let us concentrate my assets on my future self.”
I had acquired ‘Tomorrow Tex’ in Houston in the southern US, left a letter stating ‘All rights to exercise property ownership are inherited by the recipient of this letter,’ and requested it be sent in 1996.
It would be about 90 years later.
There was no guarantee this would be honored, and even if the property rights inheritance were realized, the Logan family or the US government might have already recovered all the assets.
But I staked everything on the time slip I had experienced so far.
If I failed……?
It would all be over.
As a result of that gamble, another chance came to me.
I had returned to the Republic of Korea in 1986.