CH136 | VOC

The news of Chunha Trading joining the consortium, initially met with skepticism, proved decisive.

“Buy Daehoo shares before the consortium makes its move! You can double your money once the acquisition process begins!”

Who was Park Sol of Chunha Trading?

An icon of honesty, the only conscience in these times.

A self-made man who hadn’t forgotten his roots, helping the underprivileged and donating his entire earnings from the gold collection campaign. He was the king of donations.

His participation boosted the consortium’s credibility significantly.

An analyst slammed his hand on the table. “Damn it, it’s already hit the ceiling, and there are no sellers!”

It wasn’t a leaked rumor, it was a public declaration of war. Even housewives were confident that Daehoo’s stock price would soar.

Within an hour of the market opening, all of Daehoo’s subsidiaries had hit the 15% upper limit, and there were no shares available for purchase.

“Damn it, we should have bought when Kim Min-sik made his announcement.”

The institutional investors and analysts, who had been hesitant to trust Kim Min-sik, were now left empty-handed, while individual investors who had bought the shares without hesitation were reaping the rewards.

“When do you think the consortium will make its move?”

“Who knows? They need a partner, either internal or external, before they can start the acquisition process. But with Chunha Trading on board, something big is bound to happen.”

Park Sol’s declaration of punishing Daehoo’s unethical management, regardless of its veracity, had turned Daehoo into a villain overnight.

The consortium, with its 7.5 trillion won war chest and the moral high ground, was no longer a laughingstock.

And at that moment, I was on the phone with Kim Yoon-seok, CEO of Daehoo Electronics.

[CEO Park, stop wasting your money on these childish games and let’s meet and…]

I interrupted him firmly. “No, I don’t care about the money. Money is easy to earn. But when will I get another opportunity like this to punish a corrupt corporation like Daehoo?”

[Punish? We haven’t broken any laws.]

I said in a righteous tone, “Laws? If laws could solve everything, there would be no crime in this world! I’m standing up for the voiceless, the vulnerable people who can’t defend themselves against the tyranny of large corporations! I’m doing this so they can experience even a fraction of the suffering they’ve endured! Do you understand?!”

He said, flustered by my passionate speech, – CEO Park, we’re both businessmen. Misunderstandings are common in business. Let’s meet and resolve the issues surrounding the Edge Phone and the conflict between Daehoo and Chunha Trading.

“I’m not interested. Daehoo wronged my mentor’s son, and I want their management team to pay the price. Goodbye.”

[CEO Park! CEO Park!]

I hung up the phone with a determined expression, ignoring his desperate pleas.

“Those bastards, exploiting the weak. I, Park Sol, won’t forgive them!”

Maru looked at me, dumbfounded. “Hyung, the call ended. Are you still in character?”

“Oh, right.”

I had been so engrossed in my performance that I had continued even after hanging up the phone.

Maybe I had a talent for acting.

I put my phone away and chuckled.

“Those Daehoo bastards. Serves them right! They’re panicking now that their asses are on fire. Kyahahahaha!”

I trembled with excitement, my body buzzing with endorphins.

“This is so good. I love watching those bastards suffer.”

And the fact that I hadn’t spent a single penny to create this situation made it even more exhilarating.

I had just made some empty threats, and the stock market was in chaos.

Maru looked at me as if I was a pervert. “Are you that happy?”

“Of course! Daehoo is groveling before me! What could be more satisfying? You have no emotions. Kim Min-sik would have enjoyed this with me.”

I missed having him around, sharing my joy, especially in moments like this. He was still unaware of my true identity.

“But no one is contacting us, despite the positive response.”

Despite the external chaos, no one from Daehoo had contacted us to join the consortium.

I had expected some back-channel negotiations, but it was eerily quiet.

“Let’s wait a little longer. They need time to think. Acquiring Daehoo isn’t an easy decision. Or…”

I chuckled. “It doesn’t matter if they don’t contact us.”

Maru looked puzzled. “What? It doesn’t matter?”

“Our goal isn’t acquisition, it’s hunting. Do you know the difference? It’s about whether you want to capture your prey alive or just kill it. Acquisition is about buying a company and keeping it alive. We just want to tear Daehoo apart and feast on its remains. There’s so much to take: automobiles, electronics… We don’t care if we acquire them or just watch them collapse.”

I whistled. “We can always bluff our way through.”

“Bluff?”

“Yes, that’s our specialty. Making something out of nothing, and making nothing out of something. No traitors? Then let’s make them think there are.”

The Daehoo acquisition frenzy, which had swept through the stock market for a week, was starting to die down.

Both Daehoo and the consortium were quiet, and people who had bought Daehoo shares, hoping for a quick profit, started taking a wait-and-see approach.

Just as people were starting to think the acquisition was a bust, Daehoo’s stock price started fluctuating again.

“What’s going on? Buy orders for Daehoo Motors, Daehoo Electronics, and a few other subsidiaries are surging!”

“What?”

An analyst checked the trading volume and shouted in surprise, “It’s true! The price was falling after a few quiet days, but now the sell orders have disappeared, and the buy orders are skyrocketing!”

He immediately recognized the unusual trading pattern. “The consortium is making its move! They’ve already bought billions of won worth of shares, and it’s still increasing!”

“This is it! They’re finally moving!”

“They waited until the price stabilized after hitting the ceiling!”

“Quick, place buy orders! This is going to go up!”

And a rumor started circulating in the financial world:

The consortium had found a partner, and they had agreed to acquire 5-15% of the shares in certain Daehoo subsidiaries.

And this rumor reached Chairman Kim Hoo-joong.

“What? They’re moving?”

He had just received the news during a meeting with his executives, and his face hardened noticeably. The CEO of Daehoo Energy, who was about to give a presentation, hesitated, sensing his mood.

“About ten subsidiaries, including electronics and automobiles?”

He started racking his brains, realizing they were attempting a piecemeal takeover.

‘5-15%? Who has enough influence to turn the tables with an additional 5-15% in those subsidiaries? CEO Oh Ji-yong? Chairman Kim Chan of Kim-Ae Development?’

Several names flashed through his mind, but the 5-15% range was too wide.

‘There could be multiple traitors. The more allies you have, the easier it is to stage a coup.’

He looked at his executives suspiciously. They were all potential traitors.

He shook his head. ‘No, I can’t waver. Daehoo is strong. And the fact that such a detailed rumor is circulating means it was leaked by the consortium. What are they trying to do?’

He wondered if they were trying to sow discord and create suspicion. But what would the consortium gain from that?

He suspected they had found a collaborator, either internal or external. It didn’t make sense for them to buy shares recklessly without a plan. They would just be wasting money buying overpriced shares without gaining any real influence.

The CEO of Daehoo Energy, seeing his silence, asked cautiously, “Sir, should I continue with the presentation?”

Chairman Kim snapped out of it and smiled. “Hahaha, my apologies. I was lost in thought. Please continue.”

“Yes, sir. The estimated reserves in Eastern Europe are…”

Although the presentation continued, Chairman Kim’s mind was racing.

A week later, having received no contact from Daehoo, I started buying their shares, spending 30 billion won.

It seemed reckless to buy overpriced shares without a clear plan, but I was a reckless man.

Having become a trillionaire, I had realized that money didn’t change your life much beyond a certain point.

I still drank soju and makgeolli (rice wine), and my favorite meals were kimchi jjigae (stew) and doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew).

Spending 30 billion won for my pride wasn’t a burden.

I would gladly spend 100 billion won to crush Daehoo and establish Chunha Trading’s dominance.

My life wouldn’t change whether I had 8 trillion won or 7.9 trillion won.

“Daehoo is a giant. 30 billion won is already gone.”

My initial investment of 30 billion won had vanished in half a day, buying an unlimited number of shares in ten Daehoo subsidiaries.

The stock prices were still rising thanks to the institutional investors and individual investors who had joined the bandwagon, but the momentum would fade without my continued investment.

“Prepare another 30 billion won. And buy more shares if the price starts falling.”

Maru said with a disgruntled expression, “Does this even make sense? It’s all pointless if Chairman Kim Hoo-joong doesn’t react.”

“I guarantee you he’ll react.”

“You’ve never even met him. How can you be so sure?”

“His management style is similar to mine. He doesn’t tolerate anyone messing with his business. He’s aggressive, not defensive. Do you think he’ll just sit back and watch us, whom he considers insignificant, attack his company? And he has to worry about his friendly shareholders, who might betray him and join us. He’ll try to prevent that. And the only way to do that is to buy back shares and defend his management control. And we’re driving up the price, forcing him to spend his dwindling cash reserves. Hehehe.”

Of course, I knew that things didn’t always go as planned.

I didn’t know Chairman Kim personally, so he might not react as I expected.

But it didn’t matter.

We were hyenas, feasting on the carcasses of dying companies.

Unlike other investors, we could make a profit even from trash.

We were the wizards of capitalism.

We could turn any company into a money-making machine once we took control.

And that’s why he would panic.

“A hostile takeover attempt is one thing, but an investor targeting a company’s carcass? He wouldn’t have anticipated that. As long as he doesn’t realize our true goal, he’ll play by the rules. He won’t be able to understand why we’re spending billions of won on overpriced shares unless he thinks we’re aiming for management control.”