The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 163



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Episode 163 festival (2)

The new year of 2002 has arrived.

2002, a year where the festival never ends.

World Cup and presidential election.

It was an unusually hot year as two festivals were held in Korea.

Of course, it may not have been a fun festival for everyone, but in order for Taewo Group to smile, they had to stay on the winning side.

“Vice Chairman, this is the 2002 plan. “This data also includes data analyzing the business plans of all affiliates, domestic political situations, and even overseas political situations.”

“It’s time to look at this later and talk about more important things. “This is a story that the Chief Secretary should also share.”

“I will take you to the vice president’s office right away.”

He was the chief secretary who was acting as my grandfather’s shadow.

After I became vice president, I was really quiet like a shadow, but this time I needed the help of the chief secretary.

“Did you call the vice president!”

“Your face is very burnt. “He said he often goes to Vietnam to see the chairman, and he seems to be having a great time.”

“This is what happened as I traveled here and there with the president.”

It was the chief secretary with an awkward smile.

His smile was full of age and composure.

It was a smile that came out because he already wanted to follow his grandfather into retirement.

“My grandfather is not here, so if the chief secretary is away, won’t I be very tired?”

“The vice president is doing better than anyone else. And shouldn’t new wine be put in new wineskins? “It’s time for old-timers like me to step down.”

Where are you trying to run away?

Are you going to throw all your work at me and take a break?

Even if my grandfather says I can’t do anything, I’ll never see even the chief secretary do something like that.

“Shouldn’t you complete the handover and then leave?”

“I am still steadily passing on my know-how to the staff in the secretarial office.”

“Still, I hope the Chief Secretary will handle this matter himself.”

“What are you talking about?”

The chief secretary adjusted his posture.

I guess the feelings I left for Vietnam have finally returned to Korea.

“Did you know that two big events will be held in 2002?”

“Are you talking about the World Cup and the presidential election?”

“For the World Cup, the planning office is preparing various events, so you don’t have to touch anything, but wouldn’t it be a little different for the presidential election?”

The position of Chief Secretary was in charge of Taewo Group’s troubles.

The Chief of Staff was in charge of election-related work even before the military regime.

“Well, wouldn’t this election be overwhelmingly favorable to the Conservatives? “Just looking at the results of public opinion polls, the gap in approval ratings is at least 15%.”

“Don’t they say that heaven will take over the presidency? So no one knows the outcome.”

Of course I knew the outcome.

A very unexpected person is elected president with a margin of less than 3%.

But I wasn’t as confident as I was in this election.

Because my intervention brought about so many changes, it became unclear how the 3% approval rating gap would be overturned.

“Wouldn’t we be able to find out by waiting for the results of the local elections in June? “Usually, a president emerges from a place that wins a landslide victory in local elections.”

“Just because the odds are high doesn’t mean you’ll be elected.”

“Vice President, is there a candidate you have in mind? The Chairman also fully supported the Vice President’s choice during the presidential election. He also said that he was more courageous than a shaman.”

Knowing the outcome, it was easy to choose who to fund the campaign.

But this time, I really had no idea, so I made a plan to pioneer a new path.

“To be honest, if we fully support it, wouldn’t we be able to elect a candidate from any party to the presidency?”

“You seem too proud. “If we provide support, we may have some influence on the outcome of the election, but we cannot create a president.”

“ah! This is a comment limited to this election. My prediction is that the president will be decided by a very small margin. So wouldn’t it be more likely that the candidate we support will be elected?”

“If it goes as the Vice Chairman expects, it could happen. So, vice president, who do you plan to support?”

It was the chief secretary who showed great interest.

No matter how much one had no regrets about one’s position, the question of who the next president would be was a topic that all Koreans could not help but be interested in.

“I don’t plan on applying.”

“What are you saying all of a sudden? Are you saying you won’t contribute a penny to the campaign?”

“We are not in a world like the United States where campaign financing is legal, so why should we continue to take the risk of going to jail if we get caught?”

“To do business in Korea, you really need help from the government.”

“That’s what we need help with when growing the size of a company. Taewoo Group has already grown to the point where it is outside the boundaries of the government. And I have no desire to go to jail.”

Of course, the Republic of Korea had a structure in which power changed all the time.

This means that if you step on the wrong line even once, you can get all your karma back at once.

“Are you saying that you will completely cut off the lines with the political world?”

“That’s not it. “But we are going to stop doing illegal things like campaign financing.”

“A huge amount of money goes into elections. “Politicians cannot be moved by compensation other than money.”

The goal of politicians is to win elections.

In order to be elected, massive financial support was essential.

That is why politicians and companies can maintain good relationships.

“Please do as I say just this once. “This year, I will not be giving any campaign funds to either party.”

“Other companies will donate tens of billions of dollars in election funds to each party. If that happens, Taewo Group will suffer reverse discrimination.”

“If it doesn’t work out, wouldn’t it be okay to spend money then?”

“The earlier you donate election funds, the more effective it is. “If we want to support him after he is elected, we have to give him several times more money.”

Repairing a barn after losing a cow is bound to cost a lot of money.

Nevertheless, the reason I made this decision was because I knew what would happen in the future.

It was difficult to know who would win the presidential election, but I knew well that a series of campaign finance scandals would arise during the presidential election process.

The election finance scandal broke out simultaneously with both the ruling party and the opposition party.

It was an incident so big that it would be safe to say that all large corporations in Korea were involved.

This decision was made to exclude Taewo Group from that incident.

“I know it well. Still, shouldn’t we break the vicious cycle at some point? “If you can’t break the vicious cycle, the Chief Secretary won’t be able to retire!”

“… … “Then what can I do?”

“I hope the Chief Secretary will sort out his relationship with the political world.”

“We’ll see if we can hold on somehow. “We may be able to hold out somehow until the election is over, but I can’t guarantee what will happen after the election.”

“You just have to do that.”

For now, the presidential election issue has been resolved.

We decided not to provide a penny of campaign funds, so what more is there to say?

So I brought up the next topic, the World Cup.

“We decided to do that for the presidential election, and since the World Cup is being held in Korea, shouldn’t we hold a large-scale event?”

“Taewoo Motors has launched a vehicle discount event, and Taewoo Electronics and Taewoo Communications are also preparing various events.”

The 2002 World Cup was a series of miracles.

Of course, if I held an event predicting a miracle, I could achieve great results, but I had no intention of doing so.

Still, it would have been a waste to just throw away the great opportunity called the World Cup.

“Why not sign an advertising contract with the current national team coach and all players?”

“Even if it’s the players, I don’t think signing an advertising contract with the manager is helpful to the group’s image at all. We lost 0-5 in the last friendly match. “Public opinion criticizing the director is very strong.”

Even though I’m cursing like I’m going to kill you right now.

After the World Cup period, he will be called the national coach.

He is not only a national director in words, but is actually granted the status of an honorary national director.

The coach and players are now at their lowest point.

If you sign a contract in advance, you can make huge profits.

“Still, since the World Cup is being held in Korea, the popularity of the coach and players will increase. Please sign advertising contracts at the highest level.”

“Which affiliate should I sign an advertising contract with?”

“First of all, Taewoo Motors, Taewoo Electronics, Taewoo Communications, and Taewoo Construction would be sufficient.”

“Are you saying we have to sign advertising contracts with all of our major affiliates?”

“It’s the World Cup period, so we have to do this. And please sign long-term contracts with some players. “I will send you the list separately.”

After the 2002 World Cup, a large number of players advanced to the world.

In particular, in the case of players playing in the EPL, it was necessary to sign long-term contracts from now on.

“I will follow the Vice President’s instructions. However, if the World Cup results are not good, the commercial we produced may not be aired.”

“I will take full responsibility. Please select advertisements well in the planning office. ah! And Taewoo Group is not the official sponsor of this World Cup, right?”

“That’s right. To become an official sponsor, we had to provide over 50 billion won in donations, so we did not apply. Among competitors, Hyeonjae Motors and Korea Telecom were selected as official sponsors.”

World Cup advertising was restricted unless it was an official sponsor.

However, since we couldn’t just ignore the World Cup special, we had to use a shortcut.

“Then sign a contract with the official World Cup cheering squad. “We are making advertisements with the theme of the cheering squad, not the World Cup.”

“If I make a mistake, I could be involved in a lawsuit, so I will proceed with the advice of the legal team.”

Handled both big events.

Now it was time to focus on the Korea Exchange Bank issue again, and I went to Captain Kang’s office to meet Dimon.

***

Captain Kang’s office has also changed a lot.

In the past, it was just a small building, but now surrounding buildings have been taken over to build a huge castle.

The 5-story building used by the security guards, the 7-story building where Dimon’s team operates, etc.

All the surrounding buildings were acquired under the name of SAVE Investment Company or a security company, and it was safe to say that everyone passing by was ours.

“Is work going well?”

“Large bombs were placed in several places. And the president of Korea Exchange Bank sent the BIS data to the Financial Supervisory Service.”

“What program did you report to?”

“It’s 6.16%. “This figure is such that it is treated not just as an insolvent bank, but as a complete trash bank.”

Longstar began to move in earnest.

Without even knowing that we had already set a trap where they were going.