The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 217



Only Krnovel

217. Time to choose (1)

A few days later.

I was waiting for a call from Chairman Jin Ho-gyun, but I got a call from the wrong person.

It was a call from Jin Dong-gu, the second son of Chairman Jin Ho-gyun and one of the vice presidents of Charlotte Group.

Since we requested to meet in a quiet place, we arranged a meal at a restaurant in Cheongdam-dong managed by Captain Kang.

“Nice to meet you. I should have come to see you first, but I’m sorry for being late. This is Minjae Kim from Taewo Group.”

“No. Thank you for coming out here. This is Jin Dong-gu.”

Slightly unclear Korean.

He was Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu, born and educated in Japan.

Even after graduating from school, I worked at a financial company in London, so my Korean wasn’t very good.

“If you feel comfortable, we can converse in Japanese or English. Do you feel comfortable speaking Japanese?”

“No. Still, I’m doing business in Korea, so how can I converse in Japanese? Even if it’s not enough, I’ll converse in Korean.”

It would have been a more natural conversation if I spoke Japanese, but Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu refused.

Although his pronunciation was a bit lacking, he was still a person with a passion for Korean.

“I don’t know if the food here will suit your taste. This is a restaurant I visit often.”

“Thank you for introducing a good restaurant. I didn’t know there was such a quiet and cozy restaurant in Seoul.”

We enjoyed the meal with light conversation.

Once the awkward atmosphere was resolved, it was Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu who brought up the main topic.

“I heard that you met your father together with Chairman Kim Tae-joong.”

“We met quietly, but it seems like rumors have already spread. Both of the chairman are huge figures in the political world, so I guess rumors have spread.”

“I have very sensitive ears, so I heard the rumors. By the way, did you have any conversations about the next management?”

As expected, the reason they called me was because of management rights.

Although he holds the same position as vice president, Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu is 50 years old.

Since he was old enough to start a family, he was sensitive to management authority.

“We couldn’t properly discuss management rights. I just heard that Chairman Jin had his sights set on the next chairman in his mind.”

“My father has decided in his mind who will be the next president. Hmm.”

It was Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu, who had been in trouble for a while.

Then, perhaps realizing that I was in front of him, he quickly came to his senses and asked another question.

“May I ask what you talked about with your father?”

“I proposed that I would like to purchase the land in Gangnam owned by the Charlotte Group. I offered to give a 50% premium over the current price and help the Anor family brand enter Charlotte Duty Free Shop.”

“Did your father accept the offer?”

“You just said we’d talk again later.”

I was honest with Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu about everything except the topic of management rights.

What was important to him right now was not the yolk land but the position of the next president.

“Thank you for answering my sensitive question. But do you want to purchase Gangnam land?”

“That’s right. Could you please say something to the Chairman?”

“I can’t do anything about that problem. How can I force my father to sell the land he risked his life to protect?”

It was a natural reaction.

As a son and as the vice president of Charlotte Group, forcing him to sell the yolk land in Gangnam was tantamount to betrayal.

But what if you could get something bigger?

I don’t know what will happen in the future of Yolk Land, but the position of head of the group was different.

“If you take my hand, I will help you be appointed as the Chairman of the Charlotte Group. I apologize if I sounded rude.”

“That’s a little rude. But I’ll consider your offer.”

This is how the conversation ended.

Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu may be a cautious person, but he didn’t grab my hand.

But the worries will not last long.

You know that I will also make this suggestion to my eldest son, Vice Chairman Jin Dong-oh.

* * *

next day.

As expected, we also received a call from Charlotte Group’s eldest son, Vice Chairman Jin Dong-oh.

I invited him to the same restaurant where I met Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu, and he greeted me in much poorer Korean.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Jin Jin-oh.”

“This is Minjae Kim from Taewoo Group. If you don’t mind, can I speak in Japanese?”

“Of course! Thank you.”

Not a poor level of Korean, but a poor level of Korean.

Vice Chairman Jin Dong-oh was so poor in Korean that conversation was difficult, so he had to converse in Japanese.

“May I ask why you asked to see me?”

“You seem to have a good level of Japanese! Haha, I heard that Vice Chairman Kim is meeting the Charlotte Group Chairman and Vice Chairman one after the other these days.”

“I had a meeting with the Chairman at my request, but in the case of the Vice Chairman, I was contacted first.”

“May I know what we talked about?”

The situation was as expected.

People in their 50s are at an age when they are most interested in management.

In particular, Vice Chairman Jin Dong-oh was the eldest son, so interest in management rights was bound to be even greater.

“We talked about the land owned by the Charlotte Group. At the Taewoo Group level, we would like to purchase the land owned by the Charlotte Group at a 50% premium.”

“Was there anything else to talk about?”

“Are you talking about management rights?”

“Hmm, yes.”

“I just heard that Chairman Jin has decided on the next chairman in his heart.”

I told the same story repeatedly to my brother in the Charlotte Group.

But the reaction was completely different.

In the case of Vice Chairman Jin Dong-gu, he stepped forward cautiously, but Vice Chairman Jin Dong-oh grabbed my hand first.

“Can you help me become the head of the Charlotte Group? If you do so, I will allow you to purchase the land owned by the Charlotte Group without a premium.”

“Vice President, would you be available?”

“If I were to become chairman, who would object? If you ask me to write a contract, I can write one for you.”

Vice Chairman Jin Dong-oh came out very enthusiastically.

It certainly seems like he has a personality that shows his ambitions more easily than his younger brother.

But I couldn’t hold my eldest son’s hand right now.

It’s not too late to join hands after checking who has the stronger hand.

“I plan to see Chairman Jin again soon. I can only give you an answer after that.”

“Please speak kindly to your father. He has always viewed Vice Chairman Kim favorably.”

“What can I do? I just want to avoid saying anything bad.”

“Hehe, that’s enough.”

The eldest son was the first to suggest holding hands.

The second son suggested that I hold hands first.

Whose hand should we hold to benefit?

It’s been a while since I had a very interesting thought.

* * *

After finishing my meal with Vice Chairman Jin Dong-oh, I returned home.

My grandfather was waiting for me as usual, watching the news.

“Aren’t you tired of Korean food? You go out to eat Korean food on odd days.”

“It just so happened to be like that.”

“How was it when you met the children of the Charlotte Group? Was there anyone you liked?”

“They are almost 30 years older than me, so how would I evaluate them? I will just say that they are all people with outstanding abilities.”

“Are you going to be reticent to talk to me now? You bastard!”

The grandfather was a little angry.

I quietly walked up to my grandfather and massaged his shoulders.

“I’m thinking about it right now. I think I can get there easily if I hold hands with my eldest son, and I think I can definitely get there if I join hands with my second son.”

“Don’t just look for the easy path.”

“Grandpa seems to like the second son.”

“What else can I do other than like it? He is the successor to another group. I am saying this because the second son seems to have more management skills than the eldest son.”

“Then shouldn’t we push out the eldest son? That will prevent the Charlotte Group from growing.”

“Tsk, tsk, I would have thought so even five years ago, but now I wonder if it is really necessary. For the Korean economy to run well, other large companies must also grow well.”

Should we say that it is the class of the top in the business world?

This was also possible because the gap between Charlotte Group and Taewo Group was widening day by day.

“I have the same thoughts as my grandfather. In terms of management skills, the second son seems to be slightly better. And he also seems to have a stronger attachment to Korea.”

“The Charlotte Group is a very unique group. It is a Korean company but also a Japanese company.”

“They say that the Korean and Japanese Charlotte Groups are independent, but they are just blindfolded and silent.”

“Well, just because you join hands with us doesn’t mean you’ll become the next leader, so it’s funny that you even say this.”

“In the end, the person Chairman Jin wants will be the next CEO. If we help him, he will be able to sit in the CEO position more stably.”

“We have to think about the case where Chairman Jin doesn’t accept our help.”

“Then, we can give up the Charlotte Group’s land and aim for the gold-ssaragi land owned by KEPCO.”

Every business had to prepare the next best solution.

That way, I could think and judge more flexibly and avoid signing an unfavorable contract.

“There has been talk about relocating the KEPCO headquarters for a long time, but there is still no news.”

“As real estate prices in Seoul are rising, it will be burdensome for KEPCO to continue to remain in Seoul. It is expected that it will relocate within 10 years at the latest.”

“10 years is too late.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to speed up the time? If the political world starts now and advocates equal regional development, we can speed up the time.”

“Hmm, but it will take at least a few years to move the headquarters.”

“The same goes for the land owned by Charlotte Group. It takes at least a year to get permission. If we do the preliminary work slowly without thinking too much, it will be in our hands someday.”

Before returning, the KEPCO site was taken over by Hyeonjae Motors.

And that’s over 10 trillion won.

However, it was a current car that did not have as much cash reserves as before the regression, and especially now that it was 10 years ahead of time, cash reserves were severely lacking.

Of course, the land price on the KEPCO site was less than half.

Still, it was a land that could be purchased for at least 3 to 5 trillion won, and the only groups that could pay that amount in cash were Taewo Group and Samjin Group.

“Your eyes are full of greed. Are you planning to own both the Charlotte Group site and the KEPCO site?”

“I don’t think you can fool my grandfather. If I get the chance, I plan to bring both places. Although it will cost a lot of money to purchase, wouldn’t the price of land in Seoul go up more than the bank interest rate if I just keep holding on to it?”

“Just try to buy it somehow. I will take care of the rest.”

“Then, let’s just trust Grandpa and take a little drastic action.”

Two remaining gold ssaragi lands in Seoul.

Even though I didn’t have much desire for land, the land made my mouth water.