Chapter 56

===================

Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

Bonds.

Not only financial companies but also ordinary people often do this bond trading.

However, bonds were a more headache-inducing world than expected.

Among them, the most common mistake is exactly the relationship between interest rates and bonds.

Usually people think that when interest rates rise, bonds will also rise together.

But the reality was the opposite.

When interest rates rise, bond prices fall.

Since bonds give money at fixed interest rates, when rates rise they inevitably become less attractive.

For this reason, government bonds and corporate bonds are affected by interest rates and prices fall or rise.

Recently, the US was gradually raising interest rates after ending the zero interest rate era.

Accordingly, other countries also raised interest rates together, and the volatility was growing even more after Brexit.

Also, our country was raising interest rates, so bond prices were trending downward.

“I heard about it. You’re collecting Geumwoo Shipbuilding bonds?”

It was President Kim Du-yeong who kept saying since last time that he’d like to have meals together.

Today we finally met just the two of us.

“Ah, yes. Thanks to Gwangwoon Shipping working really hard, maritime plant bond prices are all hitting rock bottom.”

While bond prices were falling because interest rates were rising.

The shipping side was really serious.

Gwangwoon Shipping is sweeping up all the work, and with crude oil price explosions, Asia side was practically at total annihilation level.

In this situation, who on earth would try to buy shipping company bonds?

Naturally I also thought it was crazy.

But my intuition was stuck right on those bonds.

“How much did you buy them for?”

“For 10% of the price.”

“..10% cheaper?”

“No. I mean I bought them at 1/10 of the price.”

“!?”

President Kim Du-yeong was shocked and froze while holding his drink.

“N-no. You mean banks sold them even after you beat down the price that much?”

“You know. That Singapore banks are currently facing a bank run crisis. They had no choice. Because if companies go through corporate rehabilitation procedures and enter default, who knows when they can receive money.”

So they threw it.

At first, banks also held out.

But as shipping business crisis rumors spread and nobody tried to buy bonds, eventually they gave up everything and threw the volume.

Because they need cash right now.

“As expected, amazing. Department Head Jeong’s blueprint is being drawn properly.”

“..Blueprint?”

“Huhu. I know everything. Buying bonds to lower the debt of companies you’re trying to acquire as much as possible, isn’t it?”

Actually while purchasing bonds following intuition, I was also half-doubtful.

Why on earth does my intuition react to bonds?

Moreover, bonds of companies that are all collapsing?

Then such a thought suddenly occurred to me.

Could it be the intention to acquire this company?

But as expected.

President Kim Du-yeong was also thinking the same thing.

“Honestly it’s regrettable. There’s no shipping company holding as much oil as us, yet we can’t handle all the pouring contracts so we have to outsource to other companies. If we eat all of that ourselves, we could make enough profit, right?”

That’s true.

Though we outsourced.

If we could eat it all ourselves without sharing with them, we could make even bigger profits.

“So you’re trying to acquire companies that are closing doors one by one now, right? Starting with Geumwoo Shipbuilding. That’s how the current Gwangwoon becomes a group. Haha. How is it? I have quite the eye, right? Even if I look dull, my intuition is amazingly fast. Haha.”

There’s a saying that the interpretation is better than the dream.

Is this when to use that saying?

But a group..

It was a good direction.

If we make a group like this, hyung-nim will inevitably have to quit the president position and rise to chairman position.

Aah. Hyung-nim.

Though you submitted your resignation, it seems it won’t be approved.

“If there’s anything to order, just say it. Now if Department Head Jeong tells me to do something, I’m prepared to jump into a fire pit without hesitation!”

However, making a group is not an easy thing.

It was something that really needed careful approach.

Because if you make it rashly and even one place goes wrong, damage goes to all places.

“What do you think, President?”

“Well, buying Geumwoo Shipbuilding bonds means acquiring from there, and Geumwoo Shipbuilding is a place that makes ships, not operates them, right? So we’ll need a company to charter ships from Geumwoo Shipbuilding. Then what we need now is Geumwoo Shipbuilding, a chartering company, and a holding company to operate all this bundled as one group. These three things are needed first.”

“That’s the baseline?”

“Yes. Literally the baseline. But to handle all the volume, we’ll need more companies from here. We could bundle them as affiliates within the group, or completely absorb the companies.”

Maritime companies are probably all gloomy now.

You can tell just by looking at their stock prices.

But conversely for us, there was no better opportunity than this.

Buying them all at bargain prices to fill the resources we need.

“Speed will be key. Though oil prices are soaring now like this, it could normalize again, and the oil amount we hold isn’t infinite either.”

So it meant we must quickly bring what we need to bring before this discount period ends.

“President seems better than our research team in this field. Could you give me a list if there are companies that look good to acquire?”

Then President Kim Du-yeong smiled broadly as if he was waiting for those words and handed me a file.

“I prepared in advance. I told you, right? My intuition is good. I came this far with just intuition? Haha.”

That’s exactly right.

I can see why this president rose from entry-level employee to executive position.

“..!”

The moment I opened the file President Kim Du-yeong handed over, electricity started flowing crazily through my entire body.

As expected, my intuition was to acquire Geumwoo Shipbuilding first, then devour other related companies one by one to make a giant maritime group.

‘This one has intuition stuck.. But this one has no feeling.’

I quickly skimmed through the materials and checked only the ones that gave me intuition one by one.

“Here it is.”

“Hmm? A-already?”

“Yes. I think you just need to prioritize acquiring the companies checked here. Since President knows this field well, I can leave it to you, right?”

“Whew. Of course. That’s what I’m sitting here to do.”

“Additionally if I find other places to acquire, I’ll tell you separately. Please start with those companies for now.”

“Understood, Department Head.”

Even though he’s clearly a president, calling someone much younger ‘Department Head’ respectfully felt somehow unnatural.

“And please speak comfortably too. We’re family now.”

“Khm. C-can I? This is touching. Even calling us family.”

“Yes. That’s more comfortable for me too.”

“Haha. Thank you. But anytime if there’s something to order, tell me comfortably. My words that I can jump into a fire pit for our Department Head Jeong’s orders are sincere.”

“Yep. Thank you, President.”

“Oh my. I’m the honored one. Haha.”

I think I know why my intuition picked only President Kim Du-yeong among all those executives.

He was a talent our company really needed.

***

Was there another meaningful dinner like yesterday?

President Kim Du-yeong came out having a very satisfying meal.

“The character is different, the character.”

The more he looks, the person is truly substantial.

He must’ve already drawn the entire blueprint in his head, yet despite that, he considered and respected President Kim Du-yeong and asked for opinions.

As evidence, Jeong Jin-ho received the company list and really quickly finished checking and handed it back.

It means Jeong Jin-ho already finished calculating which companies would be good to acquire long before President Kim Du-yeong even extracted the list.

“At that level, it would be fine to be arrogant.”

He’s someone making tremendous money with great achievements at Gwangwoon Securities.

There’s a reason President Hwang cherishes him terribly.

Though he could become arrogant at a young age, Jeong Jin-ho didn’t show even a speck of that.

Despite having such a genius brain, how should I say.

The person is truly pure?

Of course, that sometimes felt scary too.

Because the more such a person, the less you can know their inner thoughts.

“But.. This is a bit unexpected.”

The next morning after returning to the office and checking the list Jeong Jin-ho marked, President Kim Du-yeong tilted his head.

“He’s acquiring mostly Chinese companies?”

Of course, it was Kim Du-yeong who extracted the list.

But he just extracted it for reference, not strongly recommending to really acquire them.

Yet didn’t Jeong Jin-ho pick mostly Chinese maritime companies?

“China is a bit troublesome.”

If acquiring domestic or other overseas companies, it’s not that complicated. Because you just buy all bonds on the market at bargain prices first, then buy companies on verge of bankruptcy with just minimum amounts through acquisition tactics.

But China is different.

Since Chinese government is deeply involved in many places, if they raise objections from there, things get complicated.

“The fortunate thing is they don’t care much about the shipping side.”

They thoroughly block foreign capital with government agencies like the Ministry of Commerce controlling state-owned enterprises and designating them as national key industries for national security reasons.

Did Jeong Jin-ho also pick companies keeping that in mind?

Since the scale of those companies wasn’t that big, it didn’t seem like sanctions would come even if foreign capital bought them.

Because Chinese government also has too much to do to get involved in every single small company like this.

However, even so, it was still strange that checks were concentrated only on Chinese company side.

“Rather than here, acquiring other places seems more profitable.”

There are many properties for sale in Korea.

Acquiring such places would be much easier since it’s domestic.

If not domestic, Europe is good too.

But why specifically China?

Plus they’re small-to-medium-sized private companies.

“…”

Should he call?

Why did he only pick these?

“No.”

There’s very important feedback he received from President Hwang the other day.

Should I say it’s like a company motto that department members working with Department Head Jeong Jin-ho recite every morning?

“He said to discard the ego.”

Not questioning the work Department Head Jeong Jin-ho assigns.

Plus didn’t Kim Du-yeong say with his own mouth yesterday?

That if Department Head Jeong tells him to do something, he’ll jump into a fire pit.

That meant he won’t doubt whatever he’s told to do.

“Hey. Yes. It’s me.”

After finishing organizing like that, President Kim Du-yeong picked up the phone.

“Tell all executives to gather. Because we need to quickly enter acquisition work from today.”

***

Acquisition work is in full swing.

Hwang Dae-woon deliberately didn’t get involved.

Because once he got started, Kim Du-yeong began going around places buying companies, so getting involved would only be a hindrance.

As said before, now is a special sale event for Gwangwoon.

Companies are putting out shares at less than 1/3 of market cap from a year ago.

But even that has no buyers, so prices get lowered even cheaper, and exactly then Gwangwoon Shipping appears like a savior and takes all shares.

Just look at how the Industrial Bank, which was Geumwoo Shipbuilding’s largest shareholder, pleadingly laid down shares without any negotiation and backed out on their own shows the maritime market completely died.

Exactly one place, except Gwangwoon Shipping.

‘This was really the plan our Jin-ho was drawing.’

Cute guy.

Having such a plan yet not saying a word back then?

To give a surprise gift?

Plus Gwangwoon Securities and Gwangwoon Shipping are working together on corporate acquisitions, so President Hwang Dae-woon quickly established a holding company to avoid getting caught by financial-industrial separation law and entered traffic control.

Thanks to that, while gradually letting go of securities work and proceeding with succession, suddenly work piled up like a mountain.

‘This won’t do. Looks like I can’t even retire as I please.’

Why does Prime Minister Hwang Hui who requested resignation several times to King Sejong the Great and got rejected come to mind?

However, working was indeed enjoyable.

Because it means the company is growing that much.

But that was only briefly.

“What’s going on? Hallyu ban?!”

Hallyu ban.

Limiting Korea.

In other words, cutting off everything Korea makes money from in China.

K-pop, tourism, cosmetics, consumer goods, Korean company mart operations, etc.

It was China’s extreme measure to stop all Korean companies coming in to do business, even launching a nationwide boycott to dry Korea to death.

“It’s retaliation for this THAAD deployment. We had to inevitably introduce it to defend against North Korean nukes, but from China’s position, they have reason to be angry. Though it’s for North Korean nuke defense, through our country, America is essentially also defending against China.”

“No. China or America, why do they keep only messing with our country?”

“What can we do? Our country’s location is exactly suitable as a strategic point. Anyway, Korean companies currently in China are all closing doors because of this measure.”

First, what took the biggest hit was exactly tourism and food products.

The millions of tourists coming to our country were cut off, and Korean marts operating in China were forcibly closed.

Also, places selling electronic products like Kangsung also had extreme incidents bursting one after another where angry Chinese people rioted and destroyed entire stores.

“The biggest problem is shipping. Because China declared they won’t work with Korean shipping companies. For domestic shipping companies that were barely surviving on trade with China, it’s practically no different from a death sentence.”

China and our country have close relations in trade.

Since our country imports many raw materials cheaply from China, shipping companies were barely making a living attached to that.

But now that work is cut off.

That would be a big blow to Gwangwoon Shipping too.

“But you know what. We’ll probably not take a hit this time, but rather make even more money.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you see while organizing acquisition companies? Didn’t Department Head Jeong Jin-ho have President Kim Du-yeong acquire Chinese companies?”

That was also Hwang Dae-woon’s question.

Among many companies, why specifically China?

“With so much work to handle, President Kim Du-yeong also seems to have proceeded with acquisitions quickly and decisively. Even though things from the holding company to group design haven’t properly finished yet.”

“So?”

“In other words, though we acquired companies, we haven’t erased those companies’ names yet. Plus Chinese capital is mixed in somewhat too.”

“That means.. Those companies are excluded from this Hallyu ban?”

“Yes. Even if they want to sanction, they can’t right now. You know. Because Chinese shipping companies also all collapsed from this oil price explosion. So Chinese ports are overflowing with containers. Because there’s no company to transport.”

In other words, if Gwangwoon doesn’t handle all that volume, it won’t work.

“So Chinese government is also in a bind. They clearly know they’re companies absorbed by us, yet if they sanction even that, we’ll take damage but Chinese damage will also be tremendous.”

“So they’re turning a blind eye?”

“Yes. Rather, they say public security is in chaos asking to quickly solve the volume.”

“Ha-.”

Hwang Dae-woon laughed hollowly.

With this Hallyu ban cutting off even Korean companies that were at least handling China-side transport, even more work flocked to Gwangwoon side.

Chinese government also knows.

They’re not fools, they must know Gwangwoon acquired Chinese shipping companies.

But knowing, they’re not blocking.

If they attempted acquisition after the Hallyu ban, they would’ve blocked, but they also bought before that.

Most importantly, since they haven’t reorganized into a group yet and Chinese company names are alive, that must’ve played a part.

“Covering eyes and saying boo, but protecting pride in their own way?”

“Yes. Even if we erase names, there’ll probably be no way. The moment they block us, they have to entrust to other places, but they’d probably have to pay almost double the price, so it just means let’s all die together.”

This was exactly killing two birds with one stone.

Though the Hallyu ban is inflicting massive damage domestically, Gwangwoon is about to make even more money sitting down.

“How far did Jin-ho, this guy, predict?”

“Wasn’t he precisely predicting this from when he heard THAAD would be deployed in our country?”

It was truly sharp insight.

Thanks to that, Gwangwoon Group was facing explosive growth.

“Congratulations, President. No, it’s Chairman now, right? You said you’d give the securities firm president to Department Head Jeong and quit yourself. But you ended up becoming chairman?”

“The inauguration hasn’t happened yet.”

“Haha. That’s also soon. And thanks to China helping us this time, the growth seems tremendous. At this speed, it seems it’ll become a really tremendous scale group?”

Honestly it still didn’t feel real.

Long ago he vaguely thought if they made a group, it would become a financial group, but surprisingly a maritime group.

Moreover, at this speed, the industry’s largest maritime group will be born.

‘I just said I’m quitting the president position..’

Jin-ho, this guy, completely tied Hwang Dae-woon to a major group chairman position so he absolutely can’t escape.