The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 12



Only Krnovel

Episode 12. Talent Recruitment (2)

American universities usually start the semester in September.

Since I had some time left, I was able to focus on helping my grandfather create a scholarship foundation.

Creating a scholarship foundation wasn’t difficult.

In less than a month, the establishment of the scholarship foundation was completed, and an independent office and about 20 employees were assigned to the foundation.

“We created the Taewoo Group Scholarship Foundation that you wanted. “I transferred all existing scholarships to the foundation and even used my own money to raise an operating fund of 20 billion won, so try to run it well.”

“Is it only 20 billion won?”

“Is 20 billion the name of a neighborhood dog? Minjae, you are still a kid. “I don’t even know how big a sum 20 billion won is.”

Grandpa clicked his tongue and said.

Since I didn’t know that SAVE, which I was running, had over trillions in funds, it was natural for me to react like that.

“Are you leaving the scholarship foundation entirely up to me? If your grandfather is going to interfere, tell him now. “It won’t even start.”

“I’m busy taking care of Taewoo Group, but should I even care about the scholarship foundation? “Still, you need to be reported on everything from tax issues to miscellaneous administrative issues, so report those to the planning team at the group headquarters.”

“I understand that much. However, the reporting process must be unified. “If a foundation employee reports to my grandfather or anyone else, I will let go right away.”

“I insisted. “I understand, so just don’t cause any big trouble.”

My grandfather is already past retirement age.

Now that I had entered college, he had plans to hand them over to me one by one.

The moment you graduate from college, that plan will proceed quickly, and until then, you were planning to leave only the scholarship foundation in charge of me.

“You know that even when you return to the United States, you have to manage the scholarship foundation on your own, right? “If you are disloyal to the foundation’s work because you are busy studying, you will be severely scolded.”

“Do not worry. “You might not know it if you didn’t start, but you know very well that once you start something, you have to see it to the end.”

“So I entrusted the foundation to you. Hmm, I’ll go now. “We have assigned many competent employees, so there will be no major difficulties in operating it.”

My grandfather patted my shoulder and left the foundation’s chairman’s office.

But is it just my illusion that the grandfather’s eyes look moist?

My grandfather left the foundation office quickly, and only then was I able to spend time with the employees.

“hello. As you may have seen, I am the grandson of Chairman Kim Tae-jung. My grandfather and I created a foundation to support talented individuals for the future of Taewoong Group. Please take care of me.”

I slightly bowed my head and greeted the staff.

The response was quite favorable, and the staff accepted me with smiles and applause.

If I had been greeted in this way by another affiliate of the Taewo Group, what would have been their reaction?

They are executives and employees of affiliated companies who have risen to high positions through fierce competition and the experiences they have learned from it.

Even though he was the grandson of the chairman, he would not have wanted me to ascend to the highest position by parachute.

Since this is a scholarship foundation, such problems did not arise.

Other affiliates make money, but the scholarship foundation only spends money.

A scholarship foundation is a place where there is no need to produce any particular results or competition.

In a way, they can be seen as public officials.

So, looking at the employees, most of them were tired of competition from affiliates and applied voluntarily.

‘The abilities aren’t bad.’

These are employees who have worked at Taewo Group for at least several years.

Everyone had excellent work skills, and there was no problem in neatly completing the work I wanted to do.

“Let’s start with the first thing. Among the students in the top 5% of grades, we plan to apply first to those from difficult families. Please consult with the Ministry of Education to obtain materials.”

“Chairman, when you say student, are you a high school student?”

“We plan to support high school and college students first.”

“I already have that information.”

Taewo Group was already providing scholarship support through various channels, so it had the information I wanted.

“I will personally check the list and select recipients for scholarship support.”

“Do you have criteria for selecting support recipients?”

“I have my own standards. “The list includes a photo, right?”

“That’s right.”

The standard I set was ability level.

Students with better academic performance were more likely to have excellent work skills.

However, since there are people who are only talented at studying, I planned to give them a scholarship after checking their abilities individually by looking at their photos.

“And we are planning to proceed with one more project. “We want to provide support to young people who want to start a business.”

“The chairman’s intentions are good, but I think the scholarship foundation’s funds alone will not be enough. “A scholarship foundation cannot only be operated for one or two years, but must be operated for the long term, and it is difficult to provide start-up funds.”

“Don’t worry about that. Payment of start-up funds will be made through donations. So, employees, please only focus on promotion. Please coordinate promotional activities not only with universities but also with banks.”

For start-up funds, all you have to do is borrow money from the SAVE investment company.

Even if hundreds of billions of won are spent, it is not a large amount considering the capital of SAVE Investment Company.

Why spend a lot of money on something like this?

The goal is to turn Taewoo Group into a huge and solid empire.

We can survive no matter what crisis comes only if we instill excellent talent with a strong connection with Taewoo Group in all walks of life.

However, simply supporting students and young people is not enough.

These were arrangements for the distant future, and for the near future, ties with people who had already reached high positions were needed.

“I’m going out for a while.”

I left the office to meet the person who would do the job.

I entered the building not far from the foundation office.

“Boss, are you here! “Korean coffee tastes very good.”

David greeted me warmly, drinking coffee mix in a paper cup.

Next to him, Team Leader Han Jeong-hoon bowed to me with an awkward expression.

“How was your flight?”

“I was able to sleep well for the first time in a long time.”

You are bound to be tired after a long-distance flight.

However, Team Leader Han’s face looked much brighter than usual.

At the company, Jeffrey always assigned excessive work, and a team leader was not able to sleep even 3 to 4 hours a day and was skipping work.

“Let’s stop with the greetings and move on to talking about work. “You’ve read all the materials I sent, right?”

“I checked the names of prosecutors, police, and public officials. But most of them were people outside the mainstream.”

“These are people who can’t climb to high places because they don’t have a line.”

“Are you really going to support all these people? “Korea has a structure that can never succeed without a line.”

It was a team leader who pointed out Korea’s structural problems.

Academic ties, local ties, personal connections. If these three things are not met, it is not easy to succeed in Korea no matter how talented you are.

This trend was especially strong in the 90s.

“The people on the list are talented individuals.”

“But most of them have poor educational background or are from Gaecheon. Even if you support them, it is difficult to get proper output. Wouldn’t it be better to support proper lines?”

“We want to be their line. “Wouldn’t it be more helpful to create a line rather than support it?”

“Do you really need to create a new line? “I understand that there are a significant number of high-ranking public officials supported by Taewo Group.”

“The new line to be created can be seen as a kind of variable. “It’s my role to help behind the line that my grandfather created, or to make sure the weight tilts toward us in tight situations.”

In today’s era, corporations and power have no choice but to be in collusion.

Naturally, in order to lead Taewoo Group, which ranks third in the business world, a huge amount of money must have been used to manage personal connections.

That alone is not enough.

Because it was proven that my grandfather’s connections alone were not enough to sustain him during the foreign exchange crisis.

“I will do as the boss wishes. “We will meet with the people on the list and apply for them.”

“But if you just apply, it seems like it doesn’t exist. So, I am thinking of creating a fund under the name of SAVE Investment Company. “In the United States, we are receiving a lot of inquiries about whether there is a fund created by our company and if so, they would like to join.”

Rumors of the SAVE investment company began to circulate on Wall Street.

Rich people wanted to invest in us after hearing that we had made huge profits in the Gulf War and had even joined hands with the Quantum Fund.

But I haven’t created a fund yet.

“Would they want to join the fund? “It’s not like the money is coming into your hands right away.”

“Does it change if I receive slush funds? If you receive a lump sum of money as a slush fund and spend it carelessly, you’ll get criticized, so what’s better than hiding it in the warehouse? Slush funds are money that can only be used after retirement anyway.”

Team leader Han lost in thought for a moment and then nodded.

“If it’s a fund or a slush fund or money that can only be used after retirement, a fund that doesn’t require any care about storage would be more useful.”

“Now that worries about old age have disappeared, there will be no need to worry about what superiors think. As the funds in the fund accumulate, loyalty will increase. “We will also use methods to provide money immediately to those who need it right now.”

“However, the fund concept is not yet popular in Korea. “I think there will be quite a few doubters.”

“Even David was brought to Korea to solve that problem.”

I said, looking at David.

David smiled as he drank the remaining mixed coffee in his paper cup.

“Is there an incentive this time too?”

“If 50 people join the fund, it’s $100,000. “If we get more than 80 people to sign up, we promise $500,000.”

“Then what if we sign up everyone on the list?”

“One million dollars!”

“call! “Can I just move on from today?”

“The foundation will provide a space for you. Move slowly. “I just need to complete the recruitment before I return to the United States.”

David was already anxious.

However, unlike in the United States, David did not have a wide network of contacts in Korea, so he needed someone to build a bridge.

“Team leader Han should consult with the foundation to arrange a position.”

“We will proceed like that. But if David is in Korea for a few months, what happens to the support project he has in the US?”

I was working on a similar application in the US.

We were supporting people with outstanding abilities to start their own businesses, or putting saliva on people who would become so successful in the future that I could remember their names, and David took the lead and met them.

“The team David created will take over that role going forward.”

“The boss hired so many good people that I had nothing to do in America!”