Chapter 92
The Proper Spoon
【Taeshin Electronics, total losses amount to 825 billion won! Of these, about 300 billion won are due to a scam by the Chinese Swentech company, and the rest are losses from kickbacks involving executives at the head office and affiliate employees, as well as failed coin investments...】
【Suspects in Swentech company scam arrested by Interpol in Thailand! The damages are in coin and, while it will take some time, recovery is possible...】
【Is Taeshin Electronics collapsing? Despite decent results last year with SpaceU25 and T14, major losses occurred due to internal problems... The company will make a detailed announcement after the media reports on the losses...】
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Taeshin Electronics had become noisy once again.
In the midst of this, W&W Group chairman Baek Ji-woong, together with the knight, stared intently at a stock graph on the screen beside them.
Just a moment ago, they had moved to secure more shares in Taeshin Trading and Taeshin Electronics after having lost their lead last time.
After the market closed, it was harder than ever for him to hide his displeasure.
"How could this happen?"
The other party, who acted first, had scooped up nearly all the shares that hit the market.
At this, Do Jung-geol simply stated the obvious.
"It seems the other side had far more capital than expected."
"Still, even so, attacking this hard? Don't tell me... is it Orbis and Lumen again, like last time?"
In the previous session as well, those two companies had bought up a significant amount of shares.
As a result, up to now, Baek Ji-woong had only secured 0.94% in Taeshin Trading and 0.13% in Taeshin Electronics.
Of course, even that meant more than 500 billion won had been invested already, not a small amount.
However, the party who got ahead of him started buying before the price dropped further, so much so that they spent extra money they otherwise wouldn't have needed to, which left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Bzzz— Bzzz—
At that moment, his desk drawer began to vibrate.
A message had arrived on a separate phone used for Organization business.
【Code Hyottoko : Shouldn't we meet?】
The sender was Hyottoko, the very person Baek Ji-woong had been wary of in this plan. He was a bit surprised Hyottoko would message first.
【Code 007 : Let's.】
The reason for the meeting was obvious.
【Code Hyottoko : 17:00 37.3449/127.0103】
The message included both a time and place.
"Hyottoko wants to meet."
"Will you go?"
"How could I not, in this situation?"
Soon after, Baek Ji-woong left the office together with Do Jung-geol.
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The place the two arrived at, about an hour and a half later, was a rural road on the outskirts of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.
Entering a dirt path surrounded by trees, they came upon an estate that appeared to be reasonably well kept.
There, two black sedans were already parked.
When Baek Ji-woong and Do Jung-geol got out with their security guards, the people from those cars also slowly stepped out.
The first to speak was Im Deok-chang, known as Hyottoko in the Organization and the third deputy director of the National Intelligence Service.
"It's been a year since we've seen each other, hasn't it?"
Baek Ji-woong frowned at Im Deok-chang's sly grin.
"Indeed. I don't need to ask how you've been, do I?"
"No need for that."
Im Deok-chang gestured toward the estate.
"First time seeing this place... is this a safehouse used by the National Intelligence Service?"
"Well, yes. More importantly, didn't you come on a little too strong this time?"
Im Deok-chang, brow furrowed, questioned him.
"... Came on too strong?"
"What are you doing throwing your spoon onto the Taeshin shares we've been handling our way?"
He meant Baek Ji-woong had started the purchase before him.
"Was it just me? Orbis and Lumen both started first. I only rushed in to lose as little as possible."
"Can you even say that with a straight face?"
"What else would you call it? Besides, in that urgent situation, wasn't it your own side's fault for being late?"
Because of the market limit down, whoever bid first at the highest price would get the shares.
"Even if that's so important, can you afford to waste Organization funds?"
"Funny coming from someone who aimed for minus 8%."
Baek Ji-woong's original plan was for minus 10%. This time, Im Deok-chang had tried to beat him at minus 8%.
Im Deok-chang's expression hardened even more at that.
"Of course you had planted someone in my ranks."
"Not just you. And instead of fighting among ourselves, isn't the real issue Orbis Investment and Lumen Holdings? They're the ones who made a scene in today's session again."
There hadn't been a disclosure notice yet, so it was hard to confirm, but it certainly felt like a similar atmosphere to before.
"Still, is there any reason for them to dump that much money into Taeshin right now?"
The shares those two companies purchased were worth close to 10 trillion won.
Together, that meant 4.08% of Taeshin Trading and 2.9% of Taeshin Electronics.
If the two joined forces, they could become a crucial pivot point threatening Taeshin's management rights in the future.
"There could be a fund operating to profit off Taeshin's crisis."
At Baek Ji-woong's mutter, Im Deok-chang's face twisted.
"Isn't this whole affair your responsibility? Shouldn't W&W have caught on to the companies' moves ahead of time?"
"Responsibility? You suddenly butted in, so do you even have the right to discuss this with me?"
Im Deok-chang shrugged and sighed.
"I just do what I'm told from above."
"To above, huh..."
"If our Chairman Baek had handled things better, I wouldn't have needed to get involved."
That wasn't entirely untrue, and the corners of Baek Ji-woong's mouth twitched.
"Deputy director Im, you talk like you did well. I hear you just had to smoothly acquire some small firm called TN SOFT. And you failed at that?"
Im Deok-chang's face contorted.
"... Just how many people have you planted?"
"It's not so much people planted as having sharp ears. Besides, your side was making so much noise about it."
The brief ease between the two evaporated into tension again.
Im Deok-chang glared at Baek Ji-woong, then slowly spoke.
"I didn't expect your ears to reach this close to me."
"The ability to see and hear far is a virtue, isn't it? But did you really call me just to argue? To wallow in how we both failed the Organization's assignments?"
Silence lingered before Im Deok-chang sighed once again.
"How about you just hand over the Taeshin job entirely to me?"
"Now, after all this, you want me to back out?"
"You know better than anyone how many things you've bungled lately. Starting with dumping Daemyung on your own, you crossed the line to begin with."
The Daemyung Detective Agency, in concert with Areum Cleaning, had acted as backup and cleanup for agents operating within Korea.
Baek Ji-woong had disposed of it to clean up his own mistakes.
"I only dealt with agents who failed their missions. That's our rule."
"Then shouldn't that include you as well?"
"Same goes for you."
The air between them grew taut again.
"So, you're saying you won't hand it over? Even if you finish this one successfully, you know you can't fully join our fold. But now things have come this far..."
In other words, it was impossible now.
"Even so, I can't just hand it over to you. So why doesn't the deputy director hand over the shares he's secured and focus on National Intelligence Service business? There's only a year and six months left in the president's term, and things are getting noisy."
Organizations like the National Intelligence Service and other government entities are reshuffled when the president changes.
The two men's argument grew so entangled, it was hard to see a conclusion.
"In the end, you're never backing down—no matter what happens."
"You know it."
"Then, what about the KQ Group?"
Baek Ji-woong felt a sudden sense of foreboding at the abrupt change in topic.
"... KQ?"
A sly smile appeared on Im Deok-chang's lips.
"Why act clueless? You found and presented Chairman Kang Cheon-gyu's other son as the successor, didn't you? If he's being mentioned as the next heir instead of Kang Do-young, the game's already decided. Well, there's still some cleaning up to do. We'll make that the condition for bringing over our shares at 50% of their price."
It was impossible not to instantly get what he meant.
Baek Ji-woong's face turned rigid.
"This is really driving me crazy..."
"This field is the same everywhere. No matter how you struggle, you can't break free, and besides, it's not like I'm asking for it for free; this could be good for you as well."
Baek Ji-woong had set up the board for KQ Group's heir.
As soon as Kang In-hyuk was recruited and the decision was made, it would be finished.
Afterward, as long as Tae Seok-ho took over Taeshin Group, the troubles would morph into multiple-fold profits solving everything.
Now, Im Deok-chang was trying to put in a proper "spoon" instead of just tagging along.
"I'll have to think about it."
"I can't wait too long—they're watching upstairs."
"..."
After the conversation, the two left the estate and got into their respective cars.
Im Deok-chang's cars left first, and Baek Ji-woong glared at them, clenching his fist.
* * *
【H Chemical company on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management! Where will its 7,000 employees go? Even B Financial, which used to guarantee its loans, has decided further loans are impossible...】
【Is a government-led workout for H Chemical even possible? The company's stock and bonds are too unstable and its going-concern value is judged to be extremely low...】
【AMK Bridge rejects a loan to chemical company Hwain Techon! With no clear explanation for the decision, 7,000 employees can only watch the situation unfold...】
【Taeshin Electronics fires CEO Tae Seok-hyun and related executives over losses of about 800 billion won! Chairman Tae Gun-seung announced executive vice president Hwang Won-jun would share the CEO position...】
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There was never a quiet day in the media.
Meanwhile, within Taeshin Group, chairman Tae Gun-seung's bold and decisive action was gradually stabilizing the share price.
While there was still a downtrend with shareholders fleeing, it wasn't as bad as the worst-case scenarios that had been speculated.
"So this is what it means to be a real chairman?"
In-hyuk marveled at the situation from the division director's office at Taeshin Asset Management.
Frankly, like those around him, he had expected matters to get far worse with the publicizing of the list.
At that moment, a message arrived on his Ghost Link app.
【Norman: As you asked, I turned over the paper company documents related to Hwain Techon to prosecutors as a whistleblower. The media will probably start reporting soon.】
This was a message from Norman McGrath, the branch manager of AMK Partners in Korea.
【Gordon: Thank you for your hard work. Also, there could be unexpected pressure from both sides, so please remain vigilant.】
【Norman: I've already tipped off the desk and the executives at the press, and even informed department managers and deputy general managers at the prosecutors' office. By the way, regarding AMK Bridge's case, are you not handling it directly?】
He was referring to Jang Hyung-cheol.
At the moment, In-hyuk only communicated with that side via Norman McGrath.
【Gordon: I don't think it's necessary just yet. If there's an opportunity, I'll reach out.】
【Norman: Understood. And thank you for this incentive—staff who dealt with the AMK Velion case were delighted. I think everyone will work even harder now.】
The incentives averaged 50,000 dollars; about 7 million won per person for a single project.
【Gordon: I'm glad to hear it. Please take care of the remaining projects as well.】
With that, the conversation via messaging ended.
Afterward, In-hyuk checked his other messages and began replying.