InkBound
patreon
CH42 | Heir
🕑 Added 2025-03-22 04:12:28 +0000 UTC"You should start by selling Hanbo Group's stocks. If that's not enough, I can point out a few more companies for you."
"Is there some issue with Hanbo Group? It ranks 14th among conglomerates. Plus, Hanbo owns an enormous amount of real estate."
That was the common assumption—
That real estate conglomerates never go bankrupt.
But Hanbo wasn’t just in the land business.
"Do you know why Hanbo originally entered the real estate market?"
"I’ve heard the story. A famous fortune-teller told them they’d make money if they worked with soil, so they got into real estate."
"Well, that same fortune-teller recently advised them to start handling metal shavings."
"I’ve heard that too. That’s why Hanbo ventured into the steel industry, isn’t it?"
A conglomerate chairman putting his fate in the hands of a fortune-teller—
But that’s how business often worked.
Some companies even had fortune-tellers sitting in as interviewers for hiring new employees.
"Do you think a company run solely on fortune-teller advice will function properly?"
"But Hanbo has already made a fortune in real estate and apartment developments. Just because they expanded into steel, does that mean they’ll go bankrupt?"
"If they ran the business properly, they wouldn’t. But with the level of corruption in that company, they’ll be bankrupt within two years."
Hanbo was even worse than Taewoo Group.
In many ways, they were similar.
Both climbed the corporate ladder through aggressive, octopus-style expansion.
The only difference was that my grandfather had moved faster and had already expanded enough.
Of course, that didn’t mean Taewoo Group would survive the upcoming financial crisis either.
"You really think Hanbo will go under? Is this your own judgment, or is it information from Wall Street?"
"Both. If you take a loss from selling Hanbo shares, I’ll personally compensate you. So don’t worry and go ahead with trading Hanbo stocks for Taewoo Group shares."
"You sound so confident… Fine. I’ll sell off all the Hanbo stocks and bonds to those Myeong-dong bastards."
"This information is confidential, as always."
"Don’t worry. My lips will stay sealed—even in the afterlife."
Thanks to the Gwanghwamun Bear’s help, I now held a 15% stake in Taewoo Electronics.
Meanwhile, SAVE Investment Firm was steadily acquiring more Taewoo Electronics shares.
The moment I secured my grandfather’s shares, I would officially become the owner of Taewoo Electronics.
***
Two weeks later.
Team Leader Han flew back to Korea.
Technically, he was just stopping by before heading to Japan, but he wanted to give me an update in person.
"CEO, the Japanese companies are in complete panic. Every company that signed a derivatives contract with us has sent people to the U.S."
"The Japanese stock market has been falling sharply."
The market downturn was accelerating—
Even faster than I had expected based on historical records.
And I could see that the financial derivatives I had created were adding fuel to the fire.
Just by looking at the companies whose stocks were dropping, the trend was obvious.
The ones with derivatives contracts were falling more than twice as fast as other firms.
Rumors about these contracts had already spread beyond the U.S. and into Japan.
And there was another major factor—
Wall Street had moved fast.
"Now that Wall Street is aggressively attacking the yen, the stock market is collapsing alongside it."
"They’re suffocating Japan from both sides—derivatives and currency. No breathing room at all."
"They’re hyenas, after all. The moment they see weakness, they rip apart their prey."
"That means Japanese companies must be begging for help by now."
"TDK’s president himself traveled to the U.S. That’s how seriously they’re taking this situation."
Stock prices continued to fall.
If this trend lasted a few more months,
TDK Group would be forced to sell off key subsidiaries— And if that still wasn’t enough, they would be facing bankruptcy.
"I can’t just sit back and watch a solid company go under. Let’s erase their derivatives contract—
But not for free. We’ll take a few things in return."
"A few things? What exactly do you mean? I know you’re interested in acquiring their battery division. But just the battery business isn’t enough."
"Along with the battery division, make sure to secure all of TDK’s patents related to mobile phone components. Also, take some cash while you’re at it. We’ll still be taking a loss, but we’ll have to settle for this much."
TDK was a company with a long history.
Since its founding in 1935, it had been manufacturing electronic components, Which meant there was a lot to extract from them.
Naturally, the battery division was the most attractive prize.
Then there were their patents on audio equipment and mobile phone components—
Both valuable assets worth acquiring.
TDK was a company rich in technology.
If they hadn’t signed a derivatives contract with me— Or if the Great Hanshin (Kobe) Earthquake hadn’t struck— They wouldn’t have been at risk of bankruptcy at all.
"Will patents and technology be enough? Given the scale of their derivative losses, we could acquire a few more business divisions as well."
"We need to maintain a good relationship with them moving forward, so let’s not push too hard. But the battery division is non-negotiable. That has to be ours."
"From TDK’s perspective, giving up a single business unit and some patents is a small price to pay compared to bankruptcy. They won’t refuse."
"Once we acquire the battery division, SAVE Investment should support ongoing battery research in collaboration with university professors."
"Wasn’t Taewoo Group supposed to acquire TDK’s battery division?"
Eventually, yes—Taewoo Group would own it.
But not right now.
For the time being, I needed to streamline Taewoo Group's structure. I would only initiate mergers and acquisitions once I had secured a more powerful position.
"If Taewoo Group takes it now, it’ll cause unnecessary problems. The Japanese and Korean governments could get involved."
"That’s a good point. Since I’ve been based in the U.S., I didn’t fully consider those political risks."
"After finishing negotiations with TDK, move on to other companies. Secure as many mobile phone-related core technologies and patents as possible. Also, grab anything related to audio and video technology while you’re at it."
"I understand why mobile phone patents are important, but what does audio and video technology have to do with phones?"
People listen to music and watch movies on their phones.
It was commonplace in my past life, But right now, phones were only used for calls and text messages.
Because of this perception, we could secure groundbreaking patents for cheap.
"Soon enough, all of it will become essential."
"Understood. We’ll acquire all the patents we can and take any remaining compensation in cash or bonds."
"With all these acquisitions, how much will SAVE Investment’s capital increase?"
"The compensation hasn’t been fully settled yet, so I can’t provide an exact figure…
But a rough estimate would put it at over $40 billion."
$40 billion—28 trillion KRW.
But the exchange rate right now was only 700 KRW per USD.
If I waited just one or two years for the foreign exchange crisis to hit, The exchange rate would skyrocket to over 1,900 KRW per USD.
Even if I did nothing but hold onto USD,
My 28 trillion KRW would balloon nearly 2.7x to 75 trillion KRW—
Like magic.
Of course, that was just theory.
But even in the worst case, I was guaranteed to see at least a twofold return.
With that kind of capital, I could handpick the companies I wanted—
And finally set my grand plan into motion.
***
The next day.
As soon as I arrived at the research lab, I sent the entire mobile phone production team to the Incheon factory.
Then, I spent my morning inspecting the patent team.
It was a quiet and uneventful morning—
Until an unexpected visitor arrived.
"Director, Seo Moon-gi, the Deputy Manager of the Taewoo Scholarship Foundation, is here to see you."
"Let him in."
I had almost forgotten.
I was not only the director of Taewoo Group’s research lab but also the chairman of the Taewoo Scholarship Foundation.
I had held this title ever since my university days in the U.S., And since the foundation was running smoothly without my involvement,
It had slipped my mind for a while.
"It’s been a long time, Director."
"Deputy Manager Seo, how have you been? Thanks to you, the foundation is running exceptionally well. I truly appreciate all your hard work."
"Thank you for saying that. But honestly, you built such a perfect system that I’ve hardly had to do anything. However, we have a company seeking a rather large investment, and they’ve reached out to the foundation. I wanted to discuss it with you."
The scholarship foundation mainly focused on providing scholarships to students.
But less known to the public was its role in funding startups and venture businesses.
"If you’re bringing this to me personally, then it must be a promising idea."
"Actually… no. It’s completely unfamiliar territory for me, so I couldn’t make a decision.
Have you ever heard of MP3? Apparently, it allows music to be played as computer files instead of CDs or cassettes. I don’t fully understand it, so I thought it was best to ask you."
Ah! MP3!
I knew exactly how MP3 would change the world.
And since I was already developing mobile phones, I also knew that future generations of phones and smartphones would include MP3 functionality.
But someone was already attempting to create an MP3 player?
That… I hadn’t anticipated.
As far as I knew, the first MP3 player wasn’t supposed to be released for another two to three years.
I had thought there was plenty of time,
Yet here was a company already preparing for it.
"What’s the company’s name?"
"They’re called DigitalCast. A newly established startup."
DigitalCast.
A name I remembered well.
They were the first company in the world to create an MP3 player.
But due to the Asian Financial Crisis and business failures, they lost their MP3 player patents to foreign companies.
Even in my previous life, few people knew that Korea was the first to create an MP3 player.
Like the Apple Newton MessagePad, it was simply ahead of its time.
Once the internet made it possible to share music files, MP3 players would sell like crazy.
"How much investment are they asking for?"
"They’re requesting 100 million won (≈$83,000) and want Taewoo Electronics to handle production, distribution, and marketing. In return, they’re offering to co-own all patent rights with us."
Just 100 million won.
Sure, they wanted us to handle the costly parts—production, distribution, and marketing.
But co-owning their patents for that price?
It was incredibly cheap.
To acquire Japanese companies’ patents, I had gone as far as to create derivative contracts.
Yet here, for a mere 100 million won and some production support, we could share ownership of MP3 technology patents.
"I want to meet with the CEO of DigitalCast right away. Set up a meeting."
"I’ll call them immediately."
***
In Korea, venture companies struggled to secure investments.
In the U.S., startups had access to Wall Street investors and venture capitalists.
But in Korea?
Not only was funding scarce, but when small or venture businesses came up with great ideas,
large corporations often stole them, making success even harder.
Yet, these smaller companies still had no choice but to seek support from major corporations.
That’s why, the moment DigitalCast’s CEO, Hwang Young-chul, received my call,
He rushed to the research lab.
"Nice to meet you. I’m Hwang Young-chul, CEO of DigitalCast."
"So you’re the one who came up with the MP3 player idea. I must say— I love it. I’ll invest."
I didn’t waste time.
I gave Hwang Young-chul the words he most wanted to hear— right away.
