The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 363



Only Krnovel

363. Advance or retreat (3)

1:1 real sword match.

Candidate Choi Jae-seok resigned, calling for grand unification.

In order to gain at least 1% more approval ratings, candidates from the two major parties conducted negative elections.

Great division, not great unity.

I knew it would end up like this.

The more the two major parties fought, the more the ransom of candidate Choi Jae-seok became higher.

“Chairman, what do you think? According to information from Wall Street, there is a slight chance that the conservative ruling party will win this Korean presidential election.”

“It’s a battle to see who can get more of Candidate Jae-Seok Choi’s approval rating, but in the end, it seems like more people will flock towards the ruling party candidate who has more concrete supporters.”

There wasn’t much interest in this presidential election.

Therefore, even though today was the presidential election day, we were drinking beer with the vote counting broadcast as background music.

“It looks like the exit poll announcement is about to come out now.”

“You have to look at this. Exit polls are rarely wrong.”

I put down the beer I was drinking and looked at TV.

At the end of the spectacular countdown, the exit poll results were announced.

[50.3% VS 49.7%]

“It is a very close margin of only 0.6%. It will be difficult to know the results until the counting is over.”

“Still, the ruling party candidate won.”

Did the exit polls come out like this even before the regression?

This presidential election was much more closely contested than I remembered.

The variable of candidate Choi Jae-seok and the fact that the ruling party was unable to win the election by a landslide due to the National Economy Party in the last general election caused a butterfly effect.

“If there is a difference of 0.6%, wouldn’t the result be overturned?”

“In a national election, 0.6% is the difference of hundreds of thousands of votes. It will probably not be overturned. Korea’s first female president has been born.”

After finishing the exit poll, I turned off the TV.

There was little chance that the results would be overturned, and since the results were the same as before the regression, there was no need to worry any more.

* * *

The next morning.

I went to work early in the morning.

The planning director greeted me with wide eyes.

“The vote counting results have finally been announced. The ruling party candidate won by a margin of 0.5%.”

“The results are almost similar to the exit poll.”

“But is it okay? We did not support the ruling party at all in this election.”

“In what era do you support election funds? It’s not even during the military regime.”

“That’s true, but according to rumors, a politician who has been active since the military regime was appointed as chief of staff.”

The chief secretary is worried.

But I wasn’t too worried.

Because Taewo Group was no longer large enough to be controlled by the government.

Of course, it might be a little difficult, but it was also something that only needed to be endured for a few years.

“The Blue House will not be able to keep the Taewo Group in check. We just have to watch out for the flies that attract us.”

“When you say Paris, what are you worried about?”

“In any administration, there are bound to be forces that try to protect themselves by selling the president’s name. Such forces will approach us as well. They will ask for money, saying it is a donation or a social welfare fund.”

No matter how excellent a president there is.

Not everyone around him was a person of integrity and excellence.

This administration was at a time when people had to be especially careful about such people, so they emphasized this to the Chief of Staff.

“You are saying that you will completely break away from such forces.”

“It may be more convenient to give a few pennies, but if the government changes, it can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. So, just because another large company gives money, we should not give it to us.”

“If we do that, wouldn’t we be excluded from government-led projects?”

“The National Economic Party and the opposition party will take care of their defense.”

I was able to come out like this because I also had some faith.

If the National Economy Party joins hands with the opposition party, it will secure more than half of the seats.

Therefore, the Blue House had no choice but to pay attention to the National Economy Party, and the National Economy Party will serve as a strong defense for Taewoo Group until the end of this administration.

“Then I will not have any meetings with anyone related to the Blue House.”

“That does not mean that we will not go together with the Blue House. In the case of projects for the development of the Republic of Korea, Taewo Group will also actively participate.”

“We will draw a line only in cases of unjustifiable business.”

“How is the LNG power plant construction going?”

A year has passed since the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.

We had been working on LNG power plant construction even before that.

“Sacheonri Group and Taewoo Construction are jointly carrying out construction, and it is expected to be completed in the second half of next year at the latest.”

“The scale of the power plant is obviously large, so it will take quite some time to complete.”

“In the case of a small-scale LNG power plant, it can be completed in 1 year and 6 months, but since it is the largest LNG power plant in Korea, there was a slight delay. However, thanks to the participation of Taewo Construction, which is excellent in the construction of the power plant, completion is possible in the second half of next year. do.”

Korea’s largest LNG power plant.

There was a lot of talk and a lot of trouble.

Regulatory issues and opposition from civic groups were issues, but economic feasibility was a bigger issue.

“Are there still media or politicians who question economic feasibility?”

“Due to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, it has decreased compared to before. However, there are quite a few people who view the large-scale construction of LNG power plants, which are about 1/7th less economical than nuclear power plants, negatively.”

Nuclear power plants were naturally far superior in terms of economic efficiency.

However, since the Fukushima incident, the number of people doubting the safety of nuclear power has increased.

From Taewo Group’s perspective, it had to make up for the power shortage, so it started building an LNG power plant right away.

“Natural gas prices are still rising a lot these days, right?”

“The trend continues to rise. It has risen more than 16% this year compared to last year. And it is expected to rise by more than 10% next year as well.”

“LNG prices will fall significantly from 2015. By then, economic feasibility will no longer be an issue.”

The year when shale gas exploded in earnest was in 2015.

And because Saudi Arabia is also implementing a massive increase in production, natural gas prices will fall by more than 30%.

In this way, we were able to import natural gas at a low price for more than 5 years.

We could have received a stable supply from the shale gas company we purchased.

For these complex reasons, they decided to build Korea’s largest LNG power plant.

“Do you think LNG prices will fall starting in 2015? However, according to expert analysis, prices are expected to continue to rise.”

“With shale gas development in full swing, prices will fall significantly from 2015.”

Of course, even if LNG prices fall.

It was inevitable that it would be less economical than a nuclear power plant.

However, since the Taewo Group needed a huge amount of power, there was no other way now.

“We will make moves at the planning office level based on the LNG price reduction.”

“Do you have anything else to report?”

“There is talk that Hyunjin Shipping may go into court receivership next year.”

It was a natural procedure.

In fact, Chairman Choi Young-hee, who is currently sitting as Chairman, was a scarecrow.

The justification for Chairman Cho of Hyunjin Group to absorb Hyunjin Shipping was court receivership.

“It’s not long until Hyunjin Group brings Hyunjin Shipping back.”

“There is talk that everything from foreign companies to Hyunjin Group are targeting Hyunjin Shipping.”

“That’s just a story that comes out because you don’t know the internal situation. If they find out the inside story of Hyunjin Shipping, they will shake off everything. Of course, Hyunjin Group will try to get it back because it is theirs.”

I have already talked about this with Chairman Cho.

And I planned to do my best to help Chairman Cho take over Hyunjin Shipping.

“Would it be okay for Hyunjin Shipping to be transferred to Hyunjin Group? Isn’t the Chairman also very interested in Hyunjin Shipping?”

“At this point, if we take over Hyunjin Shipping, it will be nothing more than a lump of debt. So, it is advantageous for us if Hyunjin Group takes on at least some of Hyunjin Shipping’s debt.”

Chairman Cho of Hyunjin Group possessed outstanding management skills.

And since Hyunjin Group had a stable cash cow, it was clear that they would pour a lot of money into normalizing Hyunjin Shipping.

But that didn’t mean it would work.

It was nothing more than pouring water into a bottomless poison, and it would only be able to remove foreign substances contained within the poison.

“Do you think Hyunjin Group will not be able to handle Hyunjin Shipping?”

“We need to repair the bottomless dock, but Hyunjin Group does not have the ability to do so. And there is no way the shipping cartel will miss this opportunity.”

Cartels were bound to arise wherever there was profit.

In the shipping industry, two cartels also monopolized the market.

The relationship between the largest cartel, 2M, and Hyunjin Shipping was at its worst, and they were playing a game of chicken.

“If we can negotiate the charter fee again, wouldn’t Hyunjin Shipping be able to survive?”

“Why would they renew a lucrative contract that has already been signed? That will never happen because shipowners have to watch out for the shipping cartels. Let’s wait and see how Hyunjin Group overcomes this challenge.”

And there was one more remaining variable.

It is said that the president who won this presidential election does not like Hyunjin Shipping very much.

Therefore, Hyunjin Shipping was destined to collapse as it would not receive any help from the government.

“And the White House sent me a request to attend the inauguration ceremony.”

“Of course I should attend. January 21st is the inauguration ceremony, right? I can go in a week early, take care of business, and attend.”

“I was invited to the inauguration ceremony on January 20th, not January 21st. And the inauguration ceremony on the 20th will be held privately.”

“Ah! The 20th is Sunday.”

The presidential inauguration ceremony was legally determined.

So, the inauguration ceremony must be held at that time.

If the date was Sunday, the inauguration ceremony would be held privately, and another public inauguration ceremony would be held on the following day, Monday.

“Because it is a private inauguration ceremony, information about the Chairman meeting President Obama will not be released to the media.”

“I guess that means I have something else to talk about.”

It was Taewo Group, which is carrying out a lot of business in the United States.

It was generating much more sales in the U.S. than in Korea.

Therefore, my relationship with the U.S. President was very important, and I planned to listen to whatever President Obama wanted.

“Since it is the inauguration of the President of the United States, shouldn’t you bring a nice gift?

“I have already prepared a few gifts. These are gifts that will increase my approval rating in the early days of my inauguration.”

“If the U.S. president takes a friendly stance toward the Taewo Group, this administration’s intervention may be minimized.”

“That’s why we donated a huge amount of election funds. You can get several times greater benefits than investing in the Korean presidential election.”

The National Economy Party was not the only corner I believed in.

We were able to move with confidence because we were confident that we had the US President completely on our side.