CH398 | Heir

Chanos’s reputation was no lie.

In just two weeks, he had driven hedge funds to the brink of bankruptcy.

Even veteran executives who had spent their entire lives in finance were shocked at the sheer brutality and recklessness with which Chanos devoured the hedge funds.

“These days on Wall Street, people are saying Chanos has gone insane. Some have even started calling him the Grim Reaper of Wall Street.”

“Two weeks ago, they were calling him a traitor. Now he’s the Grim Reaper.”

“Well, isn’t being called a traitor or a reaper still better than being called a failure?”

“Much better. In fact, I hear the size of the Chanos Fund is only growing larger.”

“Even though he betrayed others and swung his blade like a madman, what mattered was that he gave people confidence he wouldn’t lose money.”

Turncoats were always the most ruthless.

To prove their worth, they had to deliver results greater than anyone else’s. And so, in order to prove his usefulness to me, Chanos mercilessly squeezed the hedge funds dry.

Thanks to that, Taewoo Group’s coffers grew much healthier.

We had already made a fortune from the oil war, and now, by stripping the hedge funds through short-selling, Taewoo Securities had earned nearly ten times its original profit within a single year.

“As far as oil goes, that’s more than enough. It’s time to change our prey.”

“You’re moving on from oil already? It’s still generating handsome profits.”

“The era of low oil prices will last for some time. Prices will fluctuate like waves, yes—but they’re too calm, too gentle.”

“With gentle waves, it’s hard to catch a big fish.”

Of course, we weren’t abandoning the oil industry entirely.

Like everything else, oil moved in cycles. In a few years, another golden opportunity would appear, bigger than the one we had now.

But until then, we needed new prey.

And our next prey… was China.

The business in China was moving along smoothly.

“We’ve already funneled part of the profits from the oil war into China in advance. And the money we’ve been squeezing out of the short-sellers is also being redirected into China.”

“This time, we need to extract as much as possible. Right now, we can count on protection from the Chinese elite, but in one or two years, that won’t be the case anymore.”

“Because of THAAD, you mean?”

The THAAD deployment issue had begun.

China was vehemently opposed, and although the system hadn’t been installed yet, meaning no major clashes had occurred so far—once it was deployed, things would change.

When THAAD was finally stationed, China would respond with its anti-Korean measures, and even the senior ranks of the Communist Party would no longer be able to openly shield the Taewoo Group.

Of course, their ties wouldn’t be completely severed. But it was clear they wouldn’t be able to act so brazenly on Taewoo’s behalf any longer.

“Starting with THAAD, the relationship between Korea and China will continue to deteriorate. And right now, China is eager to flex its power as it pushes to become a global hegemon. That’s why they’ll try to trample Korea first—it looks like the easiest target.”

“Judging by their momentum, that may very well happen. But their economy doesn’t look so great. Ever since you named China as our next target, I’ve been paying close attention to their economic conditions.”

“And how do you see it, President Han?”

Han swallowed hard.

China’s economy was so tangled and complex that explaining it simply wasn’t easy.

“The economy is still growing, yes, but it feels like stacking goods recklessly without a solid foundation. Even the slightest shake could bring the whole thing crashing down. Still… it’s China. The domestic market is massive, and they export heavily too. So it doesn’t look like a complete collapse is possible.”

“It won’t collapse entirely. But precisely because the market is so large, wouldn’t even a slight tremor scatter crumbs big enough to feed us handsomely?”

“Not just crumbs—more like whole boxes of rice cakes dropping at once.”

It was unlikely that China’s economy would utterly collapse.

But even a tremor in such a massive market could yield enormous profits.

“President Han, do you remember? The moment we first started under the name ‘Young Master’s Task Force’?”

“Of course I do. That was the first time I met you, Chairman—how could I forget? Even now, I sometimes dream about the days of the Young Master’s Task Force.”

“And you remember where the starting point of Japan’s economic bubble was?”

“It began with the lending cap policy. Of course, there were hundreds of reasons for the bubble, but the lending cap was the spark that dragged everything out into the open.”

Snap!

I snapped my fingers and shouted the answer.

"Exactly. I’ve heard that China is preparing to implement a loan quota system soon."

"Do you think it’ll burst like Japan’s bubble economy did?"

"The scale is so different that it won’t collapse to that extent. But it’s certain that a staggering amount of money will evaporate in a short period of time."

"Letting money vanish like that would be a shame. We’ll make sure Taewoo Group sweeps up as much of the evaporated capital as possible."

President Han flailed his arms as if scooping the air.
For someone destined to be vice chairman, the gesture was rather frivolous.

"As you probably know, since March this year, the Hong Kong Exchange has allowed short-selling of Shanghai-listed stocks."

"You mean the Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect short-selling system? Indeed, China has been making relentless efforts to draw in foreign capital."

The Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect.
‘Hu’ stood for Shanghai.
‘Gang’ for Hong Kong.
And ‘tong’ for connection, symbolizing a system that linked the two markets together.

Since foreign capital flowed in through Hong Kong, this new system made it possible for investors to easily trade Shanghai-listed stocks via Hong Kong.

It was a system launched at the perfect timing—
a golden opportunity dropped right into their laps to scoop up the capital evaporating from China.

"Real estate will be the first to crash, followed by IT, smart devices, software—one after another, stocks will be hitting their lower limits."

"The Stock Connect does place restrictions on the total short-selling amount. So I’ll make thorough preparations to short not only through Hong Kong but directly on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as well."

"How much capital can we allocate to the Chinese stock market?"

"Taewoo Securities will invest 30 billion dollars, and considering the resources of the entire Financial Hub Tower, the total will exceed 60 billion dollars."

Sixty billion dollars.

An astronomical sum, nearly 80 trillion won, was about to strike the Chinese market.

The 60 billion dollars would act like a giant vacuum, sucking up the money evaporating from the Chinese stock market.

I remarked,
“Finance Tower firms are investing far larger sums than I expected.”

“I thought so too. Since they’ve never lost money when working with us, I suppose they decided to take the plunge this time. And considering it’s China, they must believe there’s a huge pie waiting to be carved up.”

The financial firms within Finance Tower were already well-trained.
Like baby birds waiting for food, they simply kept their beaks open.
And we were now in a position to mobilize even their capital, assembling an enormous war chest.

“By the way, how is your vice president training coming along?”

“Thanks to Vice President Park Mandeok’s excellent guidance and advice, it’s going smoothly. But… there’s a strange rumor circulating.”

“What kind of rumor?”

“That I’m the one controlling Taewoo Group’s money. From funds invested in affiliates to retained earnings, the story goes that nothing moves unless I give permission. I don’t know why such a bizarre rumor is spreading.”

Why wouldn’t it spread?
Captain Kang and the planning director were tirelessly seeding it everywhere.

If Han wanted to be promoted to vice president, people needed to believe he held the purse strings of Taewoo Group.

“It’s not a bad rumor, actually. Don’t you think the title of vice president will carry more weight if you appear to control the finances? We’ll need to move up the inauguration ceremony.”

“When you say move up, when exactly do you mean?”

“No later than the first of next month. That’s when we plan to hold the ceremony.”

“That soon? Did Vice President Park Mandeok cause some kind of incident? Embezzlement, corruption, something that requires a rapid replacement?”

I couldn’t give a straight answer.

How could I explain that we were accelerating the handover so Han could be the one to take the fall when the muck started flying, instead of Park Mandeok?

“He’s simply reached retirement age. In fact, he himself has expressed a strong desire to retire as soon as possible. He wants to move to Southeast Asia, where the Honorary Chairman resides, and enjoy a comfortable life there. Who am I to stop him?”

“Now that you mention it, Vice President Park has looked much more cheerful lately. He used to walk around with a permanent scowl, but these days he even hums to himself.”

“Well, his salary has always been the highest in the industry. He made a fortune, but never had the time to spend it. Naturally, he wants to retire quickly and finally enjoy the pleasure of spending money.”

The vice chairman of Taewoo Group earned an annual salary of over 3 billion won.

Even after stepping down, he would continue as head of the Southeast Asia branch, meaning his salary would remain unchanged.

The pay was the same, but with less work and more time to rest—who wouldn’t welcome that?

Having already climbed to the highest possible rung for a salaried executive, Vice Chairman Park Manduk no longer had any lingering regrets.

“I’ll expedite the handover process as much as possible. Taewoo Securities will also handle the preparations for the inauguration ceremony.”

“Coordinate closely with the planning office on the ceremony. Make sure it’s more extravagant than any event Taewoo Group has ever hosted. It shouldn’t feel like he’s being pushed out, but rather as if he’s stepping into a new chapter of life.”

“We’ll make it as grand as a presidential inauguration!”

But elevating Han to vice chairman wasn’t only about filling the vacancy.

His title and authority needed to grow, so that when our new ventures began, Han could stand at the forefront as their public face.

That was why I had to promote him quickly—while also appointing a new president for Taewoo Securities, someone who aligned perfectly with my own interests.

***

A few days later.

The head of the Planning Office visited my office to deliver the first-quarter report.

“Sales in the automobile, semiconductor, and electronics subsidiaries continue to grow steadily. And Taewoo Construction, which was the first to introduce the pre-sale system, is showing exceptionally strong performance.”

“So real estate prices must have risen quite a bit.”

“They began to inch up last year, and since the start of this year they’ve been rising at a much faster pace. According to our projections, real estate prices are expected to climb more than 10% this year.”

The construction industry had endured several years of its worst downturn.

Developers had avoided building apartments, which allowed Taewoo Construction to secure large-scale projects almost exclusively.

Now, the issue was no longer about selling apartments before completion.

Once the real estate boom took hold, people would rush to buy apartments—even if it meant going into heavy debt.

“Taewoo Construction will see tremendous gains this time.”

“They’ve solidified their position as the number-one contractor. The gap with the second-ranked company has widened significantly, making them the undisputed leader of Korea’s construction industry.”

Taewoo Construction had been the only builder willing to invest during the crisis.

Of course, it had been possible because they had the deep pockets of Taewoo Group behind them. And now, the time for harvest had arrived.

“The land Taewoo Construction owns must have appreciated greatly as well.”

“The plots they purchased during the downturn are beginning to skyrocket in value. Even on its own, Taewoo Construction could now rank among the nation’s top twenty conglomerates.”

“They need to earn as much as possible now, so that when the next downturn comes, they can survive without relying on the group’s support. Help them build a system that makes this possible.”

“Understood. Also, the Blue House has reached out. They want to host a dinner with the executives of the nation’s top ten conglomerates.”

“That would be the first official event for Han after his promotion to vice chairman.”

From now on, such Blue House matters would be Han’s responsibility.

If the inauguration ceremony was held with enough grandeur to capture public attention, then the Blue House would have no objections to Han attending the dinner.