Chapter 42: The End of the 80s (2)
September 17, 1988.
The long-awaited '88 Olympics finally held its opening ceremony.
Riding high on the wave of construction contracts before and after the Olympics, Yoo Jin-seok went all in on aggressively expanding his business, and it paid off. By the end of the year, he even got praise from Chairman Yoo Seong-pil.
I still remember Yoo Jin-ha’s face twitching just a little that day. It was the Olympics, for god’s sake—a golden opportunity, and he did absolutely nothing domestically. That look on his face said it all.
Anyway... the Olympics turned out to be way more fun and exciting than I expected. Honestly, I’ve never been that great at socializing, so I’d been slacking on building connections. But during the Olympics, talking to people was easy.
I mean, half the conversations already had a built-in topic. It was hard not to feel the real impact of soft power, and I started preparing, step by step, to move beyond Korea.
‘Things are moving along faster than I thought. Makes my life easier.’
[Securities Law Significantly Eased... Ministry of Finance Announces Plans to Attract Foreign Investment Around the Olympics]
I sipped my coffee as I skimmed through the morning paper. The article had come out a few months ago, but the bill had just passed a couple of days back.
Maybe because all the smart people didn’t die in some bombing this time around, things were actually getting done for once.
Sure, they called it a "significant easing," but in reality, only a few minor restrictions were lifted. Still... it was enough to lay the foundation, and that was something.
This part of the law was moving way faster than I expected, but I figured it was probably because people in finance weren’t exactly the most motivated bunch to begin with. Even when regulations on investment banks were loosened, no one gave a damn enough to do anything. So, why would the law ever change?