Chapter 104

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“CEO. What happened?”

“……”

The executives had been waiting for CEO Kim Du-young to come to work.

Because they were expecting him to bring a silk pouch from Jeong Jin-ho and deploy another clever strategy. But the answer was already evident from Kim Du-young’s expression.

“President Jeong said to prepare to sell off all the companies we acquired……”

“What? So we’re dismantling Gwangwoon Shipping like this?”

“Well, it’s not complete dismantlement. We keep the minimum and distribute everything we acquired to each country.”

“But that’s no different from complete dismantlement.”

“We must stop the shipping from being dismantled!”

The executives’ reactions were understandable.

How hard had they worked to grow the company?

Especially selecting countless overseas shipping companies one by one and proceeding with acquisitions to create the current Gwangwoon Shipping.

“What can we do? President Jeong, that friend is too kind-hearted.”

“Pardon?”

“What do you think would have happened if President Jeong had ignored each country’s demands and tried to maintain the company until the end?”

“That would……”

“First, I would be handcuffed and taken in, and you all here would be the same.”

This wasn’t a joke.

If they had really ignored it to the end, every single executive here would have gone to prison. On some trumped-up charge of disrupting the international trade market.

That’s how much the EU and various governments were sharpening their knives at Gwangwoon.

“To calm them down, President Jeong also had no choice. He said he didn’t want to sacrifice us.”

“D-did President Jeong really say that?”

“Yes. Haven’t I told you many times? Looking at President Jeong doing business usually seems ruthless beyond measure, but he really takes care of his people meticulously.”

The executives here knew well who the real power in Gwangwoon Group is.

But when they first met President Jeong Jin-ho, his innocent-looking face somewhat lowered their guard.

However, from then on, seeing Jeong Jin-ho’s unusual moves and ruthlessly trampling competitors, their thoughts gradually changed.

Eventually, seeing him unhesitatingly collapse an entire nation’s economy, they couldn’t even breathe properly in front of him.

That such a person who seemed so cold-blooded would give up the company’s profits to take care of his subordinates.

A tsunami of emotion swept through the meeting room.

“There’s only one way for us to repay President Jeong’s grace. First, sell everything at the highest price possible.”

Shipping was at an all-time boom right now.

That’s why splitting and selling off this large company was unconditionally a loss.

However, to minimize that loss, they had to sell at a high price.

“Yes. That’s all we can do right now.”

“We have to sell at the highest price possible to repay his grace. But… what about our people who are already overseas? Even if we tell them to come back, there are no positions here now.”

“Tell them to hold on for about 1-2 years first. President Jeong also said the side acquiring our companies probably won’t be able to cut people immediately at first. He’ll even put a condition in the sale terms guaranteeing 2 years of employment for our people in the company.”

Tears of blood might flow, but what can they do?

They have no choice but to cut this company with the heart of sacrificing a beloved soldier.

Tears were welling up at President Jeong’s decision to demolish the tower he himself built for the employees here.

“But… is it necessary to sell everything except the essential minimum to keep the company running?”

But there was one strange point.

Jeong Jin-ho said to keep only the minimum and sell everything else.

“Moreover, he said there won’t be any restructuring. But if we sell most of our shipping… isn’t this almost charity work?”

That was true too.

The company isn’t completely closing down, but they won’t need as many employees as before.

Yet Jeong Jin-ho said to maintain the company as is and there would be no restructuring.

“Plus, he said to tell our people being transferred to other places as companies split to hold on for 1-2 years. Even making it a sale condition.”

“Isn’t this like temporarily entrusting the splitting companies somewhere else?”

Temporarily entrusting Gwangwoon’s splitting companies somewhere else.

Looking at Jeong Jin-ho’s current actions, it really seemed like that.

When a company splits, restructuring is essential, but without any of that, maintaining employees while giving them only minimal work.

“Is the shipping business outlook bad?”

“Not at all. Rather, you could say the opposite. Everyone’s assessment is that the shipping business will do even better than now going forward. That’s why the EU and other countries are trying to split us.”

This is the correct assessment.

So why did Jeong Jin-ho make this decision?

“Could he really be trying to sell at the peak and buy back at the lowest point like an investment?”

“Doesn’t the assessment say now is the lowest point?”

“That’s true, but……”

There, Kim Du-young also became curious.

Is Jeong Jin-ho really a kind-hearted philanthropist?

Or a cold-hearted investor?

————————————————————————————————————————

“President. Here… are the materials related to Hong Kong.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

I glanced at the team members who were restless in front of me.

For some reason today, I could feel the employees were watching my mood.

Even hyung-nim, when I talked to him earlier, seemed to be worrying about something.

Everyone in the company was being cautious in front of me.

“Section Chief Lee, please stay for a moment.”

At those words, the employees rushed out as if they’d been waiting.

Hye-rin came up to me with a completely frozen face, hesitant.

“Wwwwhat is it about?”

“Why are you trembling so much?”

“Y-you suddenly told only me to stay… so I wondered if I did something wrong……”

“How could that be? You’re always helping me the most from beside.”

Hye-rin’s title is section chief, but she’s actually handling even secretary duties.

I told her she didn’t need to do that, but she said doing at least this makes her feel less guilty about receiving such high pay……

Anyway, that’s not important right now.

“Is something going on at the company?”

“What?”

“Because everyone seems to be watching my mood today.”

“That’s because the President’s mood would be bad today……”

“What? Why me?”

“That’s……”

Hye-rin hesitated then answered cautiously.

“Because of Gwangwoon Shipping, the news is in an uproar everywhere right now. After all, you put so much effort into building Gwangwoon Shipping, and now suddenly it’s being forcibly split due to EU and other countries’ pressure……”

Ah. It was because of that.

I had been thinking maybe there’s something I shouldn’t know, or maybe I became an outcast without knowing—all sorts of thoughts.

But hearing it, it was nothing much.

“A-are you really okay?”

“Yes. If I was really in a bad mood, would I have come to work today? And we decided to have a company dinner today too. So tell everyone not to watch my mood and act normal.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yes. Tell everyone to come back in.”

“Yes!”

Hye-rin went out briskly as usual.

For a moment I could hear them talking outside, then everyone came in smiling.

But Manager Seo still had a heavy expression.

“President. Are you really okay?”

“Yes. I’m really fine.”

“But I… was so angry I couldn’t even sleep. These bastards. This is why people say EU guys are all thugs.”

“Right. When I heard the Gwangwoon Shipping news, I thought my blood was flowing backwards.”

“These bastards!”

The team members were genuinely angry.

Although we’re at this securities firm, we can’t say they had no contribution in building Gwangwoon Shipping.

“Let’s not get too heated, everyone. They say after bad things come good things, right?”

I also couldn’t help but be angry since I’m human.

But the vision my intuition showed me that day was clear.

Shipping, which is recording an all-time boom, will soon crash.

In other words, the EU is voluntarily taking away something that will become garbage.

While even paying money.

“As expected of our President. How does he have such a steel mentality……”

“Manager always says not everyone can have a mentality and beast’s heart like the President.”

“Right. His caliber is just different.”

If my intuition hadn’t shown me that series of visions, I would probably be drinking soju in my room right now.

“But is the media very noisy?”

“Yes. If you turn on the TV now, it’s all about that.”

“But it’s having a positive effect on us. Until now, the evaluation of our Gwangwoon was mixed, but because of this incident, we’re receiving sympathetic public opinion.”

“I’ve actually separately prepared a report summarizing the current public opinion.”

I examined the report the employees made.

Until now, the evaluation of our Gwangwoon had been complex.

But sympathetic public opinion was skyrocketing, saying we’re being unjustly robbed of our shipping business by those thugs.

“Both Gwangwoon Securities and PickPick, along with our exchange, are suddenly seeing an increase in Korean subscribers. We’re unintentionally getting a proper marketing effect.”

“Really?”

We’re really fine.

The citizens were getting angry on our behalf.

Because in citizens’ eyes, the EU was no different from highway robbers.

Thanks to that, Gwangwoon’s image was also rapidly rising.

‘They’re taking out the garbage and raising our corporate image on top of that……’

Should I later donate a bit more to Europe through the foundation?

————————————————————————————————————————

Leading the charge in keeping Gwangwoon in check was the EU.

There were reasons why they suddenly started pressuring Gwangwoon.

“Starting with Taiwan’s TSNC, they first collapsed Taiwan’s economy, then after that used semiconductor supply control to attack numerous large corporations to create the massive platforms PickPick and Gwangwoon Exchange, and after that, attacked Britain and France in succession and reaped enormous profits.”

“Just hearing it is brutal. Does that really mean one company in Korea did all this?”

“Yes. The more you dig, the more unbelievable things they’ve done. They’re very wicked. They’d do anything for money. But what’s even scarier is that Gwangwoon has reached right under our chins but we didn’t guard against them at all.”

Moreover, the general public doesn’t really know what Gwangwoon is.

Rather, they only know them as a company doing good business.

“Didn’t you see last time? They incited SNS to cause riots throughout French cities, then shamelessly distributed disaster relief money.”

“Yes. The problem is the amount was larger than expected, so citizens cheered greatly.”

“That’s right. That’s how meticulous they are. They know how to sway the crowd’s hearts.”

After that, seeing even Britain get flipped by Gwangwoon, EU countries gathered the opinion that they couldn’t let this continue.

“The reason Gwangwoon can exert such power is primarily because this shipping’s power is too strong. There are rumors that even America and China have connections with Gwangwoon, but they also couldn’t keep Gwangwoon in check because of Gwangwoon’s vast shipping system.”

Is that why?

Gwangwoon crossed the line.

And they touched Britain and France, the two pillars of Europe and the representative thugs.

“Britain already left through Brexit, so whatever. But touching France, the representative of the EU, is a clear challenge to Europe. That’s why countries are exceptionally gathering strength to keep Gwangwoon in check.”

The first target was shipping, the core of Gwangwoon.

If they paralyze this, Gwangwoon cannot exert influence like before.

That’s why they prepared hundreds of scenarios to make Gwangwoon hand over shipping, making thorough preparations.

“But I didn’t expect it to end so easily.”

“I know. Looking at their reputation, they seemed like total mad dogs, but they gave this up so easily?”

“Isn’t it wise in a way? The fact that they rose to that position means they’re also quick-witted—they must have calculated. That if they resist here, they’ll be beaten from all sides and the Gwangwoon Group itself might disappear.”

It was disappointing.

The moment Gwangwoon resisted, they were going to crush them so they could never rise again.

But these guys also seem to know when to back off.

“So what happens now?”

“Since the EU started this, it’s right that we EU member countries take the spoils first. More importantly, this is shipping. Isn’t shipping enjoying an all-time boom? Just looking at the BDI index, it’s already broken through 2,000.”

The dominant forecast is that the BDI index will break through 2,500 going forward.

“Gwangwoon knows this too, so they seem to have no intention of selling cheap. They seem to be thinking of completely splitting the company and selling at the highest price possible.”

“That’s a bit burdensome, isn’t it? Do you think the price they proposed is reasonable?”

“Honestly, it’s expensive. But looking at the future shipping growth trajectory, it’s definitely not a loss. Rather, it’s a gain.”

“That’s enough then. Please actively encourage European companies to take over the shipping business as much as possible.”

Since the EU was at the forefront pressuring Gwangwoon, the EU should also be the one to claim the spoils.

“But Chairman. Isn’t Gwangwoon backing off too easily?”

“Someone said earlier. That Gwangwoon also has their wits about them.”

“But they could have bought time by fighting through lawsuits?”

“Let’s not overthink it. There’s already a mountain of work to handle after Brexit. The whole EU stepping up because they can’t properly handle one company in that small Korean land is embarrassing enough as it is.”

Actually, the EU Chairman also didn’t want to make things bigger.

With Brexit already causing the EU’s reputation to hit rock bottom, he didn’t want to create the image that the EU was flailing because they couldn’t handle one company.

“Plus, you said the shipping industry outlook will continue to be good, right? What could suddenly make shipping collapse?”

“Hmm. If all countries suddenly close borders and issue lockdown orders?”

At someone’s joke, everyone burst into laughter.

If such a thing happened, it would be a scene straight out of a movie.

But doesn’t everyone know?

That such a thing would absolutely never happen.