Chapter 121. Sweeping the Yard and Picking Up a New Social Class
It turned out that Kim Myung-seon hadn't even known about the embezzlement.
The investigation revealed that 280 million won had been deposited into the account of the executive in charge.
Kim Myung-seon immediately made sure the man experienced complete financial ruin, then called Cheongwoo Cement and advised them to plug their own leaking jar before everything drained out.
Naturally, they also reported the matter to the media.
The people responsible for the embezzlement were all disciplined, meaning fired, and Chairman Jung Jun, who didn't exactly seem like someone who would personally concern himself with every little incident, even posted a handwritten apology on the company's website.
He'd said that if you were going to take a hit, you should just take it.
Apparently, dramatic overreaction was Jung Jun's personal crisis-management method.
Cheongwoo Cement announced that they had also investigated and disciplined the people responsible on their side, and that they would leave the embezzled money to the police.
Perhaps because they still hadn't mentioned the illegal waste burial, Kim Hyun-tae was quieter than expected.
Aside from posting the arrogant line,
[The larger the sums of money people handle, the more corrupt they inevitably become.]
on his social media account.
Still, since when did Korean reporters ever let things go that easily?
It wasn't long before articles broke revealing that Cheongwoo Cement had attempted to conceal illegal waste burial.
And yet Kim Hyun-tae remained quiet.
That was because he was currently being buried under criticism for stirring up lawmakers from the ruling Happiness Party and getting the supplementary budget for the Returning Company Support Program frozen.
The Happiness Party's approval rating went up because of it.
Kim Hyun-tae's did not.
People had to like you at least a little before they'd praise you for doing something righteous.
Who was going to like watching a man spend all his time stabbing at everyone around him out of sheer self-importance, then when it looked like his political career was about to collapse, suddenly turn his own stronghold into hostile territory and start flattering people?
I became curious about how Jung Jun was doing, so I called Jung Tae-jin.
Apparently, he'd been shocked, but unlike in dramas, he hadn't grabbed the back of his neck and collapsed.
Instead, I received a request to visit MVN.
Chairman Jung Jun wanted to see me.
Apparently, he had something to thank me for.
Was he planning to thank me for stopping them from putting a building on top of a garbage dump?
Either way, if one of Korea's richest chaebol chairmen wanted to have tea with me, I should probably run over barefoot if necessary.
I waited in Jung Tae-jin's office for about five minutes before Jung Jun entered with several attendants.
"Where is he? This gentleman is CEO Do Jun-hyeok?"
"That's right, Chairman."
"Aigoo...! I thought anyone in business would look rough and burly like me. You're quite a handsome young man! Hahahaha!"
Jung Jun grabbed my hand and greeted me loudly.
Apparently, unless something major happened, Chairman Jung Jun almost never came all the way up to Seoul.
Yet he'd come here personally just to thank me.
Jung Jun guided the conversation in a friendly manner, but there was unmistakable force behind his voice.
His eyes shone clearly behind his aged face.
He had the presence of a great tree that had led a massive company for decades.
He probably wasn't as cheerful as he looked.
Hadn't he torn into Jung Tae-geon, a man already in his mid-forties, with terrifying intensity just the other day?
"When I heard Chairman Jung Jun wanted to meet me, I wondered what kind of gift I should bring. So I kept it modest... and I thought something too expensive might cause problems."
I handed him a 300,000-won red ginseng set and a 210,000-won Solsongju set.
"Oh! Isn't this premium Solsongju? You'd have to go all the way to Hamyang to buy this. Did you personally go there?"
"Come on. I sent someone under me. I brought the red ginseng too just in case you didn't drink alcohol, so I'm glad."
Sent someone, my ass.
I went there myself.
I'd heard it was a famous liquor only people in the know appreciated, so I'd stepped on the accelerator and driven all the way there.
At least it had been worth it.
"I'm the one who owes you a favor, yet I'm receiving gifts too. People would curse me if I just sat here after that. CEO Do, isn't there anything you want?"
"Nothing in particular. What did I even do? I'm sure you took quite a loss too, Chairman."
At my answer, Jung Jun and Jung Tae-jin quietly exchanged glances.
Jung Tae-jin spoke.
"Didn't you tell me before that we should buy shares in a domestic competitor?"
"Yes, I did say that, but you never answered, so I figured you didn't believe me. Did you actually buy them?"
"Of course we did. Assemblyman Kim Hyun-tae was acting suspiciously, and it was your advice."
Apparently, it hadn't completely covered Jung Jun's losses.
Still, it had saved them from a level of damage serious enough to make his blood pressure dangerous.
"If I avoid losing a fortune because of a benefactor, then that fortune should be spent for the benefactor. Isn't that right? Without him, that money would've been gone anyway. How could I call it mine?"
"That's true."
"Still, I'm not generous enough to give you all of it. But say something, CEO Do Jun-hyeok. There has to be something you need."
How much was he actually willing to give me?
Was he asking me to name a number?
But I didn't know exactly how much Jung Tae-jin had made from buying those competitor shares.
All I knew was that they had managed to avoid a major loss.
"You mentioned before that you were thinking of moving your company headquarters, didn't you? How about that?"
"Our company building? You can help with a building too?"
"What? Where's your current address?"
When I said Seocho-gu, Jung Jun groaned.
"Seocho? Then if you're moving, the location has to be an upgrade from Seocho, doesn't it? Haa... That's a little tough."
"No, I don't intend to ask for anything unreasonable."
"Hey, Tae-jin. Has Cheongwoo Cement been hit with a tax investigation yet?"
Jung Jun spoke with Jung Tae-jin for a moment about Cheongwoo Cement.
Then he said,
"In that case, that company won't last much longer. I already thought something smelled wrong when I heard they were surviving in Gangnam with one chemical plant. If they're the kind of people who bury garbage in sacred land, what wouldn't they do? Once those bastards move out, snatch up the building and hand it to CEO Do Jun-hyeok."
Good lord.
Chaebol really did spend money on an entirely different scale.
This wasn't like sweeping the yard and finding a coin.
It felt more like sweeping the yard and suddenly changing social classes.
"Still, giving it away completely would be a little much for me. I'll buy the land and building, but you'll have to pay me roughly the equivalent of a bank deposit interest rate. What's that these days? Around three percent?"
"Some cheap places are under one percent."
"These banks are thieves. They charge seven or eight percent on loans and then pay peanuts on deposits?"
If the total value was twenty billion won, he was basically asking for two hundred million won a year.
Two hundred million.
If I just made one good chunk of unexpected money a year, I could cover that easily.
"I've been wanting to expand the business anyway. That would be a huge help."
"Is that so? What kind of business?"
I calmed my excitement and explained my ambitions as grandly as possible.
He didn't seem like the type who liked people sucking up to him anyway.
"If Universe starts producing its own entertainment content, I plan to eventually launch our own broadcasting company and open a channel. We'll create a drama studio, manage dozens of idol groups, and directly supply actors, singers, comedians, everything. Ultimately, I want to grow it into a broadcaster capable of supplying culture to the entire world."
Jung Tae-jin, who had been listening even though I might one day become his competitor, looked impressed.
"So you want to build a massive entertainment IP organization?"
"Yes. There's been a lot of talk recently about competition between entertainment companies. But if they're all subsidiaries sharing the same IP ecosystem, then whether one side wins or loses, the group still makes money. I think it's possible."
Jung Jun silently thought over my words, then picked up the red ginseng and Solsongju.
"Interesting. Strange too. Is that how trends are moving these days?"
"It's similar to what you do, Chairman. You control almost every industry related to your core businesses, don't you? That's what I want to do in entertainment."
"...I should get going. Anyway, CEO Do Jun-hyeok. You've worked hard. I hope this counts as repaying the favor."
After saying goodbye, Jung Jun quietly left the office.
It seemed my words had given him something to think about personally.
A few days later, Jung Jun summoned Jung Tae-jin to Busan.
It was after Heenari had debuted and their first music video had been released.
Even then, Jung Jun was still thinking carefully about what Do Jun-hyeok had said.
"Does entertainment really make that much money? That guy's a complete ambitious bastard. If you're talented enough, can you really make money in any industry?"
"I suppose so."
"Then did I fail to support Tae-geon enough? I'm suddenly regretting it."
Jung Tae-jin was slightly surprised.
During all the years Jung Tae-geon had managed ZJ Electronics and achieved various successes, Jung Jun had never once acknowledged his ambitions.
Yet after a single short conversation with Do Jun-hyeok, he was suddenly reflecting like this.
Of course, the idea of organizing entertainment IP on that scale had shocked Jung Tae-jin too.
Who had ever seriously thought about producing every piece of content aired by a single broadcaster entirely in-house?
Still, it wasn't absolutely impossible.
All you had to do was continuously create companies capable of producing every kind of content.
"If you really want to make money, you should sell necessities. People won't die just because they don't watch idols, right?"
"Correct. They won't."
"And yet people spend that much money on them? I don't understand."
The fact that Jung Jun kept repeating that he didn't understand meant he was slowly becoming convinced.
"There are so many global platforms now that even when customers are scattered across the world, you can supply content without spending a single won on distribution. Like you said, the demand isn't on the level of necessities. But normally, just loading goods onto a ship for export costs astronomical amounts, doesn't it? If you earn one thousand won from one customer but spend five hundred on distribution, CEO Do Jun-hyeok can earn ten won each from fifty customers instead."
"Does it really work like that?"
Jung Tae-jin nodded.
"Accessibility has improved dramatically. In fact, traditional broadcasters have been declining lately. In the past, content could only reach the public if a broadcaster distributed it. That's no longer true. In that sense, Universe is already operating a small broadcasting station through Nutube and social media."
"I understand what you're saying, but hearing it from someone who runs a broadcasting station feels a little strange."
"I only analyzed it because it's becoming a problem for us. Still, as CEO Do said, aiming straight at the global market seems like something far in the future for now."
Jung Jun looked unusually serious at that.
He asked Jung Tae-jin to explain in more detail.
"The advantage traditional terrestrial broadcasters have is stability. Until CEO Do builds a broadcasting station of his own, the original content he wants to produce will always remain unstable. No matter which country he enters, he'll have to overcome the same obstacle until he establishes a proper broadcast network there. And before he can even worry about the next mountain, the mountain called Korea standing directly in front of him is already extremely steep."
After hearing that opinion, Jung Jun made his decision despite Jung Tae-jin's somewhat pessimistic outlook.
Then he made a proposal.
"Looks like we should invest some money in that Do Jun-hyeok bastard."
