CH428 | Heir

Myeong-dong had changed a lot since the last time I visited.

As it had firmly established itself as a tourist hotspot, foreign visitors filled every street. High-rise buildings and luxury boutiques gave the district an even more upscale image.

And the man who ruled over this Myeong-dong was none other than Lee Young-han.

He was effectively the boss of Korea’s private loan industry—the undisputed master of Myeong-dong.

But the reason he held that position was because I had put him there. That was why Lee Young-han greeted me with such humble deference.

“Chairman, you’ve arrived!”

“You’re looking well these days.”

“All thanks to you, Chairman. Lately, I’ve been making better money from the water trade than the loan business.”

The loan business meant moneylending, while the water trade referred to the cluster of luxury bars around the Finance Tower.

The Finance Tower had been raking in record-breaking profits, and every night financial company employees were pouring massive sums into those upscale bars.

“To think you’d downplay your earnings from the water trade… That doesn’t sound like the Master of Myeong-dong I know.”

“Hahaha, when you treat it as a hobby and still pull in profits at that level, it’s pretty rewarding.”

Every year, Lee Young-han earned staggering sums.

He held more cash reserves than most banks, and the only reason he could achieve such massive returns was because of the information flowing from our side.

Of course, I never gave away information for free.

I only provided Lee Young-han with intel because there was something I intended to collect from him in return—and now, the time for harvest had come.

“Have you taken care of the matter I asked you about before?”

“Do you mean the land purchases near Gyeonggi Province? We began buying when the real estate market was in a slump, so we were able to secure large areas at low prices. And we’re still continuing to acquire more.”

Lee Young-han had been buying up land near Gyeonggi on my behalf.

To build a semiconductor city, vast tracts of land were required, and to speed up construction, the land purchases had to be completed in advance.

“I imagine some squatters or people were demanding outrageous prices. Looks like you handled them well.”

“If an egg is stuck, you just crack it and remove it, don’t you? My men are very skilled at removing those kinds of obstacles.”

Land acquisition was always the most difficult challenge.

Landowners inevitably wanted higher compensation.

Asking two or three times the official land value was common, sometimes even more.

The government’s involvement could ease matters somewhat, but even then, compensation disputes often delay groundbreaking.

That was why I had arranged for Lee Young-han to resolve the land issue in advance.

“How much land have you secured so far?”

“Over one million pyeong. On average, we purchased at around 300,000 won per pyeong.”

“So more than 3 trillion won must have gone into land alone.”

“My account is completely drained. Practically all the money from Myeong-dong is buried in Gyeonggi land now.”

“You’re making it sound weak again.”

Three trillion won was by no means a small sum.

Even for the master of Myeong-dong, it was a heavy burden—but compared to the profits he had earned through the information I had provided, it wasn’t that much.

“This time, I’m not exaggerating. I’ve poured every bit of free capital into the land purchases, leaving only the money tied up in lending. I even had to borrow funds from Myeong-dong’s elder statesmen just to build luxury bars.”

“Soon, Taewoo Group will begin buying land with government backing. They’ll be paying at least 400,000 won per pyeong. Hold on to what you have just a little longer.”

“If that’s how it turns out, I’ll be grateful indeed.”

A profit of one trillion won.

Taewoo Group will buy the land we purchased for three trillion won at four trillion won.

They did the dirty work for us, so they deserve about one trillion won in compensation.

And since they’ll be doing more dirty work going forward, we had to compensate them properly so we can rely on them again.

“And secure even more land. We’ll provide six trillion won through Captain Kang.”

“Are you telling me to purchase an additional two million pyeong?”

“We’ll add several more semiconductor complexes each year. Please use even the money earned from land compensation this time entirely for land purchases.”

“If you add the four trillion won received as compensation to the six trillion won support, that’s ten trillion won. Are you saying we should use all of that for land acquisition?”

You can’t build a semiconductor city all at once.

You must expand construction year by year and increase the scale, and to do that, you have to keep buying land.

“Soon, a large-scale semiconductor-city policy will be announced. It won’t specify exactly which plots will be used, but the rumor will leak that it will be near Gyeonggi Province.”

“Then land prices will rise a lot compared to now.”

“So please proceed with land purchases as quickly as possible.”

“We will mobilize all employees for land acquisition!”

“The land-compensation amount is fixed. If you buy land cheaply, won’t more money end up in Chairman Lee’s hands?”

For now, you can secure a profit of one trillion won.

When land prices go up, that profit will inevitably shrink.

So the one who needs to be impatient isn’t me — it’s Lee Young-han.

“I’ll raise as much funding as possible—even if I have to ask the elders of Myeong-dong—and begin buying land!”

“When the policy is announced, speculators might start snapping up plots.”

“I can tolerate many things, but I won’t stand by if someone reaches for my bowl. Especially when it’s the feast you served me, Chairman! I’ll make sure they never lift a spoon again — I’ll break every bone in their bodies!”

Taewoo Group could save money only if it secured as much land as possible in advance.

For now, the land costs around 200,000 to 300,000 won per pyeong, but once actual construction began, the price would change completely.

Especially if the land had to be bought from the Korea Land and Housing Corporation.

After factoring in site development costs, installation of arterial roads, plus land that had to be set aside for parks, roads, and transfer to the local government, the price could soar to over 2.5 million won per pyeong.

That was more than an eightfold increase.

So even if more than 20% of the profit had to be handed over to Myeong-dong, it was still more advantageous to use their influence to secure land early.

Of course, land acquired through Myeong-dong alone wasn’t enough to build an entire semiconductor city.

In the end, they would have to rely on the government or the Land Corporation to secure far more property.

That was precisely why a budget as massive as 700 trillion won had been allocated for the semiconductor city project.

***

A month had passed.

As promised, the president had stepped down, and now only 60 days remained until the election.

And today—
Representative Choi Jaeseok of the National Economy Party was set to officially announce a 700-trillion-won semiconductor city project as his number one campaign pledge.

Only three hours remained until the official announcement.

I hurriedly summoned the key executives to the chairman’s office.

Such a massive undertaking as a semiconductor city couldn’t be something they learned about through the media.

“The reason I’ve called you all here today is to reveal a large-scale project that will determine Taewoo Group’s future. Before anything else, I must apologize for moving forward with the planning without prior consultation.”

I bowed my head in apology.

Especially to President Lisa and Vice President Wei, who were leading Taewoo Semiconductor, I lowered my head even deeper.

“For the future of Taewoo Group, we are planning to build a semiconductor city with an investment scale of 700 trillion won. By the end of today, this issue will also be addressed in political circles.”

“Wait a moment. Did I mishear? Did you just say… 700 trillion won?”

“That’s correct. We plan to inject 700 trillion won into the semiconductor city.”

Though President Lisa usually carried herself with the energy of a commander, right now she leaned helplessly against her chair, staring at me blankly.

That was how overwhelming the figure of 700 trillion won was. Everyone else was the same—blinking in silence, waiting for what I would say next.

“First, let me address the matter of funding. Vice Chairman Han, would you explain?”

“Ahem. Taewoo Securities has been managing the group’s internal reserves. Thanks to several successful investments, we are now in a position to raise 700 trillion won without relying on external loans.”

“You mean to say we actually have 700 trillion won in cash available for use?”

“That’s right. Of course, we won’t be deploying the full amount immediately. The plan is to invest 140 trillion won annually over the course of five years.”

“You’re talking about investing more than the group’s annual operating profit into semiconductors. Are you sure that won’t be too risky?”

President Lisa’s question was reasonable.

Although the Taewoo Group was the number one conglomerate in Korea, its annual operating profit barely reached 40 trillion won.

Of course, this figure was thanks in part to subsidiaries like Taewoo Trading, which suffered massive losses.

If one considered only the profitable subsidiaries—Taewoo Semiconductor, Taewoo Motors, and Taewoo Electronics—the operating profit could have been much higher.

Even so, it was far from enough to handle 140 trillion won in annual operating profit. Investing an amount equivalent to four years’ worth of operating profit every single year for five consecutive years was difficult for Lisa to believe.

“We have already secured the 700 trillion won needed. The semiconductor city can be completed without any contributions from subsidiaries,” he explained.

“Hmmm… I don’t know whether I should be pleased or worried. A larger factory would allow for greater production, yes, but if the semiconductor market were to slump, the losses could be unmanageable,” Lisa said.

Vice President Wei was speaking for the first time.

President Lisa handled the fabless market, while Vice President Wei oversaw the foundry sector. Taewoo Semiconductor’s foundry operations were more than twice the size of its fabless facilities.

“The semiconductor city has been planned with the foundry market in mind. To dominate the rapidly expanding foundry market, we need factories several times larger than what we currently have,” Wei explained.

“My responsibility just got heavier. I’ve only just finished securing orders for the new semiconductor complex. Once the semiconductor city is complete, I’ll have to run around like crazy to get contracts. Ha ha ha,” Wei laughed, excitement evident in his voice.

He was thrilled by the thought of expanding Taewoo Semiconductor several times over.

“We’ll start construction as soon as possible. Some factories will be operational within two years, and the semiconductor city will be fully completed in five years. Is that feasible?”

“As long as construction begins, it’s entirely achievable,” replied An deok-hwan, President of Taewoo Construction.

Taewoo Construction had handled the semiconductor complex, and it would also oversee the upcoming semiconductor city.

“Will there be any issues with securing the workforce?”

“We can simply hire the same personnel who worked on the Taewoo Semiconductor complex. If they are willing to commit to long-term employment for at least five years, we can recruit workers from all over the country,” he replied.

“Make sure to secure the workforce as quickly as possible, even if it means offering higher wages than other industries. And isn’t it feasible to offer ten-year contracts instead of just five?”

Completing the semiconductor factory didn’t mean the construction was over.

Semiconductor technology evolves rapidly every year, so factories that were five years old needed renovations to implement new technologies.

“If we include the existing semiconductor complexes, construction won’t stop after ten years—it could go on indefinitely. Once the semiconductor city is completed, some facilities will need to be remodelled or demolished and rebuilt to incorporate new technology,” he explained.

“So, maintenance will be a lifelong task. In other words, it could become a lifetime job,” she observed.

“Exactly. We will post nationwide recruitment notices to hire a large workforce,” he confirmed.

The semiconductor city would act like a black hole.

A black hole that would draw in workers from construction sites across the country.

From low-wage shipyard welders to day laborers, everyone would be drawn into Gyeonggi Province—the moment the semiconductor city created its gravitational pull.