Chapter 30
The news reported a number of companies filing for bankruptcy and major domestic firms restructuring plans due to the aftermath of high-interest rates. They also broadcasted how major companies were urgently liquidating their foreign branch properties to save their head offices. Not a single day passed by quietly at the end of January 1998. Japan took Korea’s financial crisis as an opportunity and broke the fishing agreement unilaterally.
The exchange currency plunged to approximately 1,500 won, but it was just a temporary illusion created during the IMF negotiations.
My day began with reading the newspapers in the building’s mailboxes to confirm how history was changing with my intervention. The major flow had not changed from the previous history, but minor details such as things for personal gain were different now.
For instance, foreign firms were purchasing domestic real estate quicker than in history. It was because Jeon-il had advanced the opening date of real estate by half a year in exchange for large-scale investment, but I saw names I hadn’t seen in the domestic market in the past.
「Foreign firms including Jeon-il Investments, DP Krump, Deutsche Bundesbank, GOA and Bluestone Group are purchasing domestic real estate.」
In the previous history, GOA, ANG Bearing, Silverman Sox, Standard Bank, and the Bluestone Group had reigned like eagles that flew to look at the burning country. However, DP Krump and Deutsche Bundesbank were different. They had focused on corporate hunting rather than real estate purchases, and they were more active in Korea from the second quarter of this year. It was the period when the Korean government was buying time while manipulating the commercial tax rates to make smaller companies fail and allow bigger corporations to survive. The domestic companies were suffering and dying out.
DP Krump and Deutsche Bundesbank began entering the domestic real estate market aggressively from the first quarter. The reason was obvious, they wanted to recoup their losses. They both had great losses on my Hong Kong bet and would have also lost in Thailand’s and?Hong Kong’s future foreign exchange market.
There were two facts I could affirm even without special data or investigation about the ongoing Asian financial crisis. Those large financial firms would have attacked Asian countries and also suffered much greater losses than gains. A large portion of the dollars they used so aggressively was now in my hands, so they were desperate to get as much as possible from Korea, which they had cultivated for a while.
In the past, Korea was just the land of gold and honey to them, but now, they just wanted to make up for their losses. Well, it was an opportunity if they had enough dollars because the entire country was for sale.
***
Cho Dae-Hwan had a close relationship with Park Chung-Sik. They graduated from the same high school and university, and Cho Dae-Hwan’s eldest son got married to Park Chung-Sik’s youngest daughter, so they were each other’s in-laws.
They began to call each other by different names after joining the mainstream of the powerful classes, which was a deformed power structure created by the era. No one knew when the dollar would stop being the center of power, but the Korean financial crisis was not light enough to be sorted out in a day or two.
In fact, the reason why Cho Dae-Hwan started addressing Park Chung-Sik as Director Park was because of Jamie’s management policy in Jeon-il Investments, and that carried over naturally into their private lives.
“The Senior Secretary of Civil Affairs in Pyeongdong Construction is nagging me endlessly. Isn’t Secretary Kim Cheol-Min your university alumnus, Director Park?” Cho Dae-Hwan asked.
“Yes,” Park Chung-Sik answered.
They were drinking at their favorite restaurant.
Cho Dae-Hwan shook his head, “He called me three times today. I don’t know why he works so hard when his term ends next month.”
“Haha. Please let him be. He has no choice but to be diligent because he’s going for the general election in Gangnam next season,” Park Chung-Sik responded.
Cho Dae-Hwan added, “He should take some time off since the public opinion about him is so negative.”
“I know, right? So, what about Pyeongdong Construction? Did the estimates work?” Park Chung-Sik questioned.
Cho Dae-Hwan held his glass. Even before Jamie had expanded Jeon-il to include corporate acquisitions, major firms like Pyeongdong Construction had been his close clients. As the executive director of the nation’s number one Samwoo Accountings, he even participated in counsel when Pyeongdong bought International Construction in the late eighties. Therefore, he knew the situation very well.
“I don’t owe anything to my friend, Cheol-Min. Don’t mind me and just go by the rules. There are so many firms like Pyeongdong these days,” Park Chung-Sik smiled with wrinkles in his eyes after getting a sense of Cho Dae-Hwan’s complicated emotions.
“He knows how to make connections in the cabinet even if it’s difficult for him to win the next election,” Cho Dae-Hwan said.
Park Chung-Sik laughed, “Haha. Did you know that his nickname is the Eel?”
Kim Cheol-Min was called the Eel because he slithered his way up no matter how hard it was, and Cho Dae-Hwan realized that Park Chung-Sik’s voice had brightened. He told him to follow the principles, but those were his actual thoughts.
“But why did he call me directly instead of talking to you first?” Cho Dae-Hwan questioned.
“Because he doesn’t want to owe me a favor. Haha.” Park Chung-Sik replied.
“Hmm…He would know that we are on the same boat,” Cho Dae-Hwan said.
“Now, we are together in an actual boat. Cheers to our Jeon-il Investments!”
They toasted, then Cho Dae-Hwan said, “I’ll try to save Pyeongdong. Kim Cheol-Min is too good to throw away.”
“Hmm…. It’s going to be hard. Can you make it happen?” Park Chung-Sik looked up at Cho Dae-Hwan.
“I’ll deal with our young CEO if you can take care of those blond hairs that she brought…” Cho Dae-Hwan said.
“Oh, no. That’s bad. We’ve already experienced it many times. White people have such rigid mindsets that won’t work the way we’ve been. Also, Cheol-Min is not a card that’s worth that much. He's high-risk and low-return,” Park Chung-Sik responded.
“Oh, really?” Cho Dae-Hwan’s eyes became wider.
“Let’s wait for a bit longer until something comes up that gives Cheol-Min a chance to show his voters his achievements, and is enough to fulfill the White people’s greed,” Park Chung-Sik said.
Cho Dae-Hwan nodded. If they wanted to give Kim Min-Cheol real achievements, he had to accept something so minor that the foreigners would allow it. The problem was that those wouldn’t pass Jamie’s approval, who handled massive funds only with her career experience at Wilshire Land.
Cho Dae-Hwan glanced at Park Chung-Sik’s face, and the other man was deep in thought. It was just then that inspiration came in a flash. The television in the room was showing Daehoo Motors commercial on mute. Their logo grabbed Cho Dae-Hwan’s attention, and at that moment, his brain worked furiously.
“Any good ideas?”
Park Chung-Sik asked, but Cho Dae-Hwan didn’t even hear it since he was deep in thought. Park Chung-Sik remained silent and didn’t bother him. It was nice to see Cho Dae-Hwan concentrating so much that he couldn’t hear anything like a young guy. It was a talent that helped Cho Dae-Hwan to succeed as a mainstream without money or background and got him to the point of becoming the father-in-law of his daughter.
Cho Dae-Hwan finally opened his mouth, “Director Park, let us secure an additional two years after our two-year contract expires.”
“Oh?” Park Chung-Sik’s eyes widened.
“The current VIP will go down in shame, so let’s throw him a bone, give the secretary an opportunity for his achievement, and shove the money in the White people’s mouths. This will give us respect and a guaranteed position in the next term. We can also take the young lady CEO down a peg or two,” Cho Dae-Hwan said.
“Is there a firm that would do that?” Park Chung-Sik questioned.
“Daehoo. They’re rotten inside,” Cho Dae-Hwan replied.
If Cho Dae-Hwan had still been working at an accounting firm, he couldn’t have even dreamed of this plan. However, things were different now because the whole political and business field was looking up to Jeon-il Investments, and everyone would want to use the power if it was given to them.
Cho Dae-Hwan and Park Chung-Sik were the same. However, they were experts in Korean Politics and Business, not amateurs. They were professionals.
***
I got in touch with Jamie in the morning, but she hung up on me, saying that she was busy. Since she had become the busiest person in Korea, I didn’t mind that.
Surprisingly, she called my office first in the evening when I was at the logging site in Hwaseong. She said she was on her way there and apologized for hanging up on me in the morning.
“You didn’t have to come all the way here to apologize. Are you alone?” I asked.
“Yup, I do have some sense,” Jamie mumbled, “You must have been working out.”
I nodded and wiped my sweat with a towel. Before entering the dungeon, going through gyms and sparring with pro athletes was the best way to improve my stats. However, I had to stop doing that since rumors had begun to spread.
Jamie removed her hood and blew warm air onto her hands. She had become prettier. Although her schedule was tiring, she knew how to enjoy work and public attention.
“Didn’t you drive here?” I questioned.
“I had a meeting nearby, so I just walked,” she answered.
She said she met the Senior Secretary of Economy all morning in a Japanese restaurant instead of the Blue House. That was why she hung up on me this morning.
She sat down and asked me, “Do you know the Daehoo Group?”
I couldn’t understand why she was mentioning that name during this period. In the previous timeline, they were severely impacted by the IMF crisis in late 1999. Before then, Daehoo was at the center of Korea’s economy as the second largest group in this country. They were even more famous than the largest group, Daehyun, overseas. They had gained significant recognition worldwide with their motto, “The world is big, and there’s a lot to do.”
“Why would I not know Daehoo? Did you put them on the list? The only corporations this government has to protect are Daehoo, Daehyun and Ilseong,” I said.
Jamie smiled meaningfully at my words.
“The president of Daehoo will be arrested tonight,” she said.
I was more confused than surprised. Why all of a sudden? Daehoo dissipated not only because of the IMF crisis but also because all kinds of projects that had been expanded to the world were failing. It would be next year when everything clicked and burst. But that was going to happen tonight?
“I have so many things to talk to you about,” Jamie was filled with confidence.
So, Daehoo was going to be sold in the first half of this year. I was the one who flipped the butterfly’s wings, but I didn’t know what made the hurricane hit Daehoo.
“A warrant for arrest out of nowhere? What happened? I want to hear about this in detail,” I said.