“Joongang Investment Corporation? You’re offering me the management of Joongang Investment?” Kim Min-sik exclaimed, jumping up from his chair.
[Yes, are you interested? I’ve been observing you, and I believe you’re more than capable.]
Kim Min-sik was speechless, overwhelmed with emotion.
[As you know, we’re Chinese capital. We’ve been operating cautiously in K...
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was established as an international organization with the purpose of promoting economic development, international cooperation, and trade expansion.
As South Korea achieved remarkable economic growth—so significant that it was called the "Miracle on the Han River"—and its trade volume increased, pressure to join the OE...
Eldorado Fund Headquarters, Manhattan, New York.
Landon, who was sitting at his desk, closed the documents he was reading as soon as he heard a knock and saw Andrew enter the room, wearing a purple tie and suspenders.
“Have a seat,” he said.
Andrew walked over to the sofa, where warm sunlight was streaming through the large glass windows, and took a sea...
One week.
That was all it took for 3 trillion won to flood into the patriot fund (WIN-WIN Fund) launched by Taewoo Securities.
Salaries from office workers, retirement payouts from fathers who had left the workforce, even the spare savings of mothers—all of it poured into the patriot fund.
Even I hadn’t expected such an explosive response.
I had assumed it would ...
Taewoo Group’s department stores and CL Group’s battery division.
Regarding current market value, the department stores were worth far more.
The battery division hadn’t even produced a viable secondary battery yet, and due to the foreign exchange crisis, investment in the sector was being scaled back.
That’s why I was interested.
Of course, I had already acqu...
CL Group strictly adhered to the principle of eldest-son succession.
However, the chairman’s firstborn son had died in an unexpected accident.
Just like my own father.
But unlike Taewoo Group—where I existed as the grandson—CL Group had no male heirs, only a daughter.
To uphold their succession principle, they decided to adopt a nephew as the heir.
"Handle this according to the original plan."
Seok-won handed over the approval documents to Han Ji-sung, who was standing in front of the desk, then leaned back against his chair and asked,
"By the way, have you managed to get the DSP chips developed by Germany’s Micronas and send them to Digital Wave?"
"Yes. As per your instructions, I secured thirty sample units, and t...
Carlos Ghosn, with his thick, asymmetrical eyebrows.
He gave off an aura reminiscent of a Naraka, a guardian deity standing watch at the entrance of a temple.
I steadied myself and assessed his abilities. As expected, his business acumen was at an S-tier level.
With that realization, the once-demonic face before me began to look almost angelic.
Smiling, I extend...
A board meeting was convened.
Inside the conference room, a large TV was placed.
Everyone was watching the breaking news being broadcasted on the screen.
[The creditors have officially announced that Taewoo Group has acquired 51% of Kia Motors’ shares and has taken over its management rights. With this, it is widely expected that the landscape of the domestic automobile m...
Grandpa had an incredibly busy day.
Just last year, he spent more time abroad than in Korea.
But now, with Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) meetings and government negotiations, he was so tied up in Korea that he hadn’t even been near an airport lately.
"I don’t know why people won’t just leave me alone. I feel like a punching bag, getting hit from every directio...
“That’s not what you said before!” Park Jong-bum said, his eyes wide.
Kim Min-sik smirked. “I was just testing you. It was a pain in the ass listening to your bullshit.”
Park Jong-bum looked at me, dumbfounded, and I shrugged and approached Kim Min-sik.
“Hello, I’m Park Sol, CEO of Chunha Trading.”
Kim Min-sik looked at me with feigned surprise. “Yo...
A Securities Firm Trading Floor in Downtown Tokyo, Japan
Small groups of anxious individual investors huddled together, their eyes fixed on the stock ticker. As soon as the market opened, they watched in shock as Sumimoto Corporation’s stock, highlighted in deep green, plummeted. Their faces filled with despair.
[Sumimoto Corporation 875.4 ▼
Sumitomo Corporation Headquarters, Chuo Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Inside the spacious conference room, a large group of reporters had gathered as Ito Masanao, the president of Sumitomo Corporation, entered alongside Kubori, the CFO, and Hashimoto, the head of the Non-Ferrous Metals Division.
Click! Click! Click!
Amidst a barrage of camera...
Sumimoto Corporation Headquarters, Chuo Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Swoosh.
Manager Sugihara, who had rushed to the office at dawn, rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt and washed his face with cold water in the empty restroom.
As he turned off the faucet and lifted his head, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. His face hardened with a bitter expres...
Park Jong-bum disliked Kim Min-sik.
It hadn’t always been this way. Initially, he felt a sense of camaraderie, even pity, for the man who had, like him, been betrayed by the company he trusted and fallen from grace. He also appreciated Kim’s competence and efficiency.
But as Kim Min-sik rose in prominence, Park Jong-bum’s resentment grew.
He had argued against keeping...
Meanwhile, at Gucci’s headquarters.
The chairman of Gucci had impulsively bought a castle.
There was money from the Ultimate collaboration and the future profits looked promising, so he confidently signed the contract.
But!
A certified letter arrived for Alfredo Gucci.
It stated that despite the end of the contract with Ultimate, unauthorized additional quan...
After wrapping up my conversation with Dimon, I returned to the estate.
Having spent nearly a month in the U.S., my grandfather greeted me with even more warmth than usual.
"My boy, you’ve come back from America looking like half the man you were! Did American food not suit your taste? Or were you avoiding beef altogether because of that E. coli scare?"
"I ate plenty of b...
The IMF headquarters was located in Washington, D.C.
So, I boarded a flight with David, and by evening, we were dining with IMF executives.
"It’s truly an honor to meet you all. I’m Min-jae Kim from Taewoo Group. Please feel free to call me Kim."
"We’ve heard quite a bit about you. You have strong ties with SAVE Investments and connections with multiple firms on Wall ...
The transfer of SS Oil’s shares was finalized swiftly.
My grandfather personally flew to Saudi Arabia for negotiations.
The agreement was confirmed on the spot, and SS Group exchanged SS Oil’s shares for cash.
There was nothing to worry about up to this point.
The real challenge was securing investment funds.
The amount of investment we could secure from A...
By December, the exchange rate had surged once again.
Having waited for this exact moment, I urgently summoned the Chief Strategy Officer.
"Today, we’re moving the entire $10 billion locked in our joint venture with Aramco."
"Have you determined that the exchange rate has peaked?"
"It won’t go any higher. We must clear Taewoo Group’s debt today. I’ve already ...
Gwanghwamun Bear’s Old Mansion.
It looked more like a parking lot, with cars lined up in neat rows.
In front of the mansion, company chairmen were bowing their heads, desperately trying to negotiate their way inside with the security guards.
"Please, let me see the chairman. You know me, don’t you? We’ve known each other for years—shouldn’t I at least be allowed i...
August 1997.
A very welcome guest had arrived in Korea.
Steve, who should have been incredibly busy preparing for a new product launch, had flown into Korea without even notifying me.
It wasn’t entirely surprising, though.
The mobile phone division was still operating out of Taewoo Electronics’ building, so he had every reason to visit Korea for product developme...
Rodney, the CIO of Quantum Fund, sat at his desk, scanning the multiple monitors in front of him. Something caught his eye, and his brow twitched.
Reaching out, he pressed the intercom switch, summoning his secretary, Rose.
"Rose, call Ian and tell him to come to my office immediately."
[Yes, sir.]
Before long, there was a knock at the door. Rodney looked up and resp...
At the hotel fitness center, where a vast glass window overlooked the deep blue Han River, Seok-won ran on a treadmill, earphones in, listening to fast-paced hip-hop.
It was a weekday afternoon, and although more than a dozen treadmills were lined up in a row, he was the only one using them.
He kept running without pause, and by the time the red sunset settled between the apartmen...
Chairman Kwak Dong-hoon of Saseong Group placed his coffee cup down, his expression one of surprise.
“So, you're saying that the head of the Wall Street hedge fund, Eldorado Fund, is actually Chairman Park’s second son?”
Receiving his gaze, Yom Geon-woo, the chief secretary seated on the right-side sofa, replied.
“That’s correct. Since it operates solely with priv...
A luxury Benz sedan cruised down a quiet national highway, surrounded by vast fields of farmland stretching endlessly on both sides. Gradually, the car slowed before coming to a stop by the roadside.
As soon as the vehicle halted, Han Ji-sung stepped out from the front passenger seat and swiftly opened the rear door. Seok-won emerged, his face partially concealed behind a pair of Ray-Ban...
The following day.
In the chairman’s office at Daeheung Group’s headquarters in Mapo, Chairman Park Tae-hong sat in the seat of honor on the sofa, flanked by his two sons, Park Jin-hyung and Park Seok-won, with Chief Secretary Gil Seong-ho beside them.
Chairman Park Tae-hong, cigarette in his mouth, anxiously checked his wristwatch again, even though he had already looked at t...
Overwhelmed by shock and betrayal, Chairman Woo Yong-gap’s face turned an alarming shade of red, his body trembling with barely contained rage.
It wasn’t just anyone who had stabbed him in the back—it was a family member he had believed he could trust. That made the pain even more unbearable and the anger even more consuming.
The executives of Donghae Group, who had been wat...
The full-scale strike by the Eunsung Motors labor union was dragging on without any progress, just wasting time.
Being white-collar workers at a large corporation, they weren’t living hand-to-mouth, but for salaried employees, the cessation of their monthly income was devastating.
Among the union members, talks began to surface about returning to weekend overtime work. The idea ...
Eunsung Motors is experiencing its worst crisis since the IMF.
The airbag recall fiasco, plummeting sales and operating profits, doubts about Han Chan-young’s management capabilities, a full-scale union strike, and so on.
Worst of all, one of the biggest hurdles is my own bad history with Eunsung Motors.
I did offer some help during the airbag recall, but I was the one wh...