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CH263 | GSI
🕑 Added 2025-03-30 02:20:20 +0000 UTC"Huh. No wonder they seemed so confident—they were hiding a card like this."
Chairman Kwak Dong-hoon let out a hollow chuckle as he sat on the sofa, having just heard the announcement from Mido Department Store.
At that moment, Yom Gun-woo, the chief secretary—a tall man with a lean, muscular build—adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and spoke.
"With this kind of announcement coming out on the final day of the tender offer, Donghae Group must feel like they've been blindsided."
"Their ultimate goal in seizing control of Mido Department Store was to use its textile shares as leverage to take over the entire Daehung Group. That must be it."
Chairman Kwak, sitting with one leg crossed over the other, wore an intrigued expression.
"Donghae Group will file an injunction to block the share sale immediately."
"If Daehung Venture Capital takes possession of the textile shares, even if Donghae Group succeeds in acquiring Mido Department Store, it will be nothing but an empty shell. They’ll fight tooth and nail to stop this."
"Of course."
Kwak nodded slightly before asking,
"How much has Donghae Group poured into acquiring Mido Department Store shares so far?"
"It's estimated to be around 900 billion to 1 trillion won. Depending on how many individual investors responded to today’s closing tender offer, that amount could increase to anywhere between 2 trillion and, at most, 3 trillion won."
"Even taking the midpoint estimate, that’s well over 3 trillion won."
"That's correct."
Yom Gun-woo's eyes gleamed behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
"The problem is, even after all that, they still haven't secured a majority stake."
"Excluding the shares from the tender offer, Donghae Group currently holds about 21.8%, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
Kwak folded his arms and mused,
"Even if they manage to add just 20% more through the tender offer, they could surpass Daehung. But spending over 3 trillion won just to acquire Mido Department Store seems like an overreach."
"I think so too. If you consider its subsidiaries and real estate holdings, Mido Department Store is worth at least 1 trillion won. However, with the textile shares gone and Daehung Group still holding a significant stake, the risk of another management dispute is always present. That makes it a reckless move."
"Exactly."
Kwak nodded in agreement.
Then, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him, he looked up and asked,
"But I heard Daehung Group is struggling financially. Where did they get the money to buy the textile shares from Mido Department Store?"
He tilted his head, his expression one of puzzlement.
"If they had that kind of capital, wouldn’t it have made more sense to buy even a single additional share of Mido?"
"I have the same question. This transaction might help Daehung Textiles survive, but if Mido Department Store is lost, half of their subsidiaries will be wiped out along with it."
Kwak furrowed his brows slightly, deep in thought.
"They might have decided that, since their financial situation makes it impossible to continue the share battle, it's better to give up some flesh to save their bones—keeping their textile division and the subsidiaries beneath it alive."
Yom Gun-woo hesitated for a moment before cautiously speaking.
"Or perhaps… we've misjudged Daehung Group’s financial situation."
"What do you mean by that?"
Chairman Kwak Dong-hoon looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"If we go by the announcement from Mido Department Store, they didn’t sell their textile shares at a bargain price. The statement clearly said that the shares were sold at the previous day’s closing price."
"Couldn’t they have covered the payment by urgently securing loan guarantees or borrowing funds from other subsidiaries?"
At Kwak’s dismissive reaction, Chief Secretary Yom Gun-woo, his face now serious, continued.
"That’s what I initially thought. But after looking into it further through the stock exchange, I found that Daehung Venture Capital paid the full amount in cash for the shares."
"Is that true?"
"Yes, it is."
Kwak’s brow furrowed sharply.
"If they sold at market price without any discounts, they would have needed at least a trillion won. And you’re saying they paid for it all in cash?"
He muttered in disbelief, and Yom Gun-woo lowered his head slightly as he responded.
"I had a hard time believing it myself, so I double-checked multiple times—but it’s a fact."
"Huh."
Chairman Kwak let out a hollow laugh, narrowing his eyes.
"Did Chairman Park have a massive hidden slush fund that no one knew about?"
At the time, it wasn’t unusual for companies to siphon off corporate funds to create slush funds for various purposes.
Saseong Group was no exception. They had a large secret safe disguised as a closet in the secretary’s office, stocked with bundles of cash and bankbooks containing hundreds of billions of won in slush funds, ready to be used at any time.
Still, Kwak didn’t seem entirely convinced, rubbing the corner of his mouth with a troubled expression.
"Even if that were the case, withdrawing hidden funds now—when all eyes are on them—might put out an immediate fire, but it’ll cause bigger headaches later."
"It could mean they were desperate enough not to care about the consequences."
Kwak shook his head.
"No, that’s unlikely. If they were truly that desperate, they wouldn’t have rejected the emergency loan offered by the Federation of Korean Industries."
With tax audits looming, taking out a slush fund was far riskier than borrowing from Saseong and Hyunwoo, even if the terms weren’t ideal.
Kwak tapped his fingers on the armrest of the sofa, lost in thought. Then, after a brief pause, he looked up.
"I can’t shake this uneasy feeling. Find out exactly where that money came from."
"Understood."
Kwak exhaled deeply through his nose before shifting topics.
"Regardless, Daehung Group now has a fresh trillion won in cash. They won’t just sit on it—they’ll use it to buy up shares."
"Exactly. If they keep it as reserves and lose control, Donghae Group could swallow them whole. They’ll likely distribute it as loans to subsidiaries so they can purchase Mido’s shares instead."
"That makes sense. Even if this goes all the way to an emergency shareholders’ meeting, it won’t be easy to reach a conclusion."
Kwak’s eyes gleamed with interest—things were getting exciting.
* * *
Seoul, Gangnam – Daehung Venture Capital Headquarters
With only a short time left before the stock market closed, the capital management office was a battlefield.
"Alright, 5,000 shares at 32,000! What? It went up again?!"
[Donghae Oil Refinery 33,120 +4,680]
Jung Hwan-yeop, hunched over his monitor with a phone wedged between his shoulder and ear, scowled and practically shouted.
"Dammit! Fine, just buy at the current price!"
When the transaction was finalized at a higher price than his initial bid, he slammed the phone down, muttering in frustration.
"Ugh, this stock is going absolutely insane."
Nearby, Choi Ho-geun, sleeves rolled up, walked over and smirked.
"Hey, if you’re gonna slam it down like that, at least do it properly. Why don’t you just chuck it against the wall?"
"This is just a phone. How much could it possibly cost? You're being too much."
"Don't you know we should take care of company property as if it's our own?"
Jung Hwan-yeop pouted.
"You never used to say that. Now that you’re a department head, you’re going full boomer on me."
"This little punk, I swear…"
Choi Ho-geun furrowed his brows at the smart remark, then let out a deep sigh.
That reckless personality of his wasn’t going anywhere.
"Is the buying process going smoothly?"
Jung Hwan-yeop ran a hand roughly through his hair before responding.
"As you can see, it's like everyone caught the scent—there’s barely any stock left on the market. Well, our constant buying isn’t helping either."
Looking at the sharply rising stock chart, Choi Ho-geun’s expression grew serious.
"The price will climb even higher tomorrow. Try to secure as much as you can before the market closes."
"Got it."
Jung Hwan-yeop nodded as he swiftly typed in buy orders on his keyboard.
If nothing else, he was known for his speed, which made him a reliable asset in moments like this.
If only he could keep his mouth shut…
Thinking this, Choi Ho-geun patted him lightly on the shoulder before glancing at the others—Yoo Seok-hyun, holding two phones at once while managing calls, and Hong Jae-hee, busily organizing trade records. Seeing them hard at work, he felt reassured.
Meanwhile, Seok-won was monitoring the stock movement from the CEO’s office to avoid interfering with the trading floor.
Sitting in front of a desk with two CRT monitors side by side, he watched the stock price of Donghae Oil Refinery, which had skyrocketed by more than 10% in just one day.
"By now, Donghae Group must have realized something is off."
It wasn’t a stock that typically saw much trading, so if they weren’t suspicious about this sudden surge, that would be even stranger.
Reaching for his mouse, Seok-won pulled up the price chart for Mido Department Store.
[Mido Department Store 70,000 ▼ 130]
Previously surging past 80,000 won due to the hostile M&A rumors, Mido’s stock had now dropped to 70,000—the exact price Donghae Group had offered. Since Daehung Group hadn’t raised their bid further, the public tender offer was closing at this level.
"Even if they realize too late that they've been played, it’s not like they can cancel the public offering now. They must be kicking themselves."
A deep smirk spread across Seok-won's face, revealing his white teeth.
Just then, the vibration of his phone broke the silence. He picked it up from the desk.
[It’s me.]
Hearing Lee Chul-kyun’s heavy voice, Seok-won leaned back in his chair.
"Since you're calling, I assume everything is set."
[Yes. The information will be released during tomorrow’s lunch break.]
"Then the newspapers will run the story in their evening editions, and it’ll be on the news at night."
[That’s right.]
"I trust you made sure there were no leaks beforehand."
[We only shared the data with trusted sources, so there’s no need to worry.]
Seok-won nodded.
"Good work. If anything unexpected happens, contact me immediately."
[Understood.]
Ending the call, Seok-won placed his phone back on the desk and murmured to himself.
"I’ve got plenty of other things to handle—I can’t afford to be stuck on this issue forever. Better to wrap it up quickly."
Every time he happened to run into Woo Ho-geun, it had been nothing but bad luck. Just thinking about his face was unpleasant.
"Summer is just around the corner, and that pampered little heir, who’s never had to struggle a day in his life, is going to have a rough time enduring the heat in a prison cell with no air conditioning. But hey, that’s just the weight of his own sins catching up to him."
Seok-won took a leisurely sip of his coffee as he switched back to the stock chart on his monitor. The price of Donghae Oil Refinery was still climbing steadily.
