The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 470



Only Krnovel

470. Prepare (5)

Toyota President Haruo Toyoda, who asked for two weeks.

But he returned to Korea a week later, holding in his hands a list of the member companies that had formed the alliance.

“We will acquire all Russian factories owned by Taewoo Group through the union.”

“That was really quick. I didn’t know you could form an alliance so quickly.”

“I personally went around to Japanese companies and created an alliance. These are companies that came together to attack the European market using Russia as a bridgehead.”

The Russian factory was an attractive place in many ways.

The Russian market itself was not small, and products could also be exported to Europe through Russia.

That’s why we were able to form a union in just a week.

It was a coalition centered around President Haruo, and he had to take full responsibility.

“Let me state the conditions again. Taewoo Group will sell all its automobile and electronics factories in Russia and lease them for five years instead.”

“Is it possible to adjust the rental period for each factory?”

“For automobile factories, it is possible to extend the period up to three years, but the period cannot be extended further.”

It only took three years to build a new factory.

Beyond that, there was no reason to rent a factory.

“There are companies that want to use the plant right now. In particular, in the case of the automobile plant, we want to be ready to produce Toyota finished vehicles right now.”

“We will shorten the period to two years for President Haruo. Taewoo Group will use it for only two years, and after that, we will give the position to Toyota.”

“That’s too bad.”

“But considering the time and cost involved in building a new factory, there is no better deal.”

Establishing an overseas factory was not an easy task.

We also had to negotiate with the government, from purchasing land to hiring employees.

It was a task that required a tremendous amount of time, money, and effort.

But if we take over Taewoo Group’s factory, we can save on such efforts.

In particular, it could alleviate the problem of hiring skilled workers.

Because we were able to hire workers who had been working at Taewoo Motors for several years.

“Then, you will vacate the factory two years from the date of signing the contract.”

“If the price negotiation goes well, I will sign the contract today.”

“Then let’s proceed with detailed negotiations with the working-level staff.”

An agreement was reached on a broad scale.

But in all negotiations, details are everything.

In order not to miss even the slightest detail, working-level staff from both sides were mobilized to conduct detailed negotiations.

***

The next afternoon.

We were finally able to negotiate the detailed contract.

I signed the contract with President Haruo.

“Thank you for the good contract! I hope we can meet again for good things.”

“Take care on your way back. I’ll see you next time.”

President Haruo leaves for the airport with a broad smile.

Vice Chairman Han and I shared the same smile as we looked at his back.

“You succeeded in passing the bomb.”

“I still don’t know if the Russian factory is a bomb. If war breaks out as the chairman said, then it might be different, but if not, then it would be like handing over a good base to a Japanese company.”

“Russia is continuing to build up its military. And it is also making a lot of money from selling natural gas. When you are full, you tend to think about other things.”

I trusted President Putin more than anyone else.

To be precise, I believed in his greed and that he would definitely attempt to expand his territory.

“If war really breaks out, Japanese companies will lose an entire sum of 5 trillion won.”

“That’s not something we need to worry about. Did you receive the sales proceeds?”

“The moment you sign the contract, the money is deposited.”

“It seems Japanese companies had quite a bit of spare cash on hand.”

5 trillion won is by no means a small amount of money.

Even if that were the case for Toyota, given the circumstances of other Japanese companies, it was definitely not an amount that could be made in a week.

“They say Toyota provided financial support. You can think of it as a low-interest loan.”

“You must have been a bit impatient. You even gave them a loan. But it’s surprising that other companies accepted these conditions.”

“I think they figured that since they were charging us rent, they could afford the interest on the loan.”

That wasn’t a wrong statement.

Because I received rent equal to the loan interest, I didn’t actually have any money going out.

And since I had been preparing for five years to enter Russia, there was no reason to hesitate.

“If Russia starts a war, Toyota might be in trouble.”

“I don’t know exactly what form the Japanese companies took in signing the contract, but it’s very likely that Toyota will be responsible for at least some portion of it.”

The Toyota Group could easily afford a loss of 5 trillion won.

And we were also more than capable of handling any major incident that might occur this year.

“Now that the contract has been finalized, it’s time to start exposing the Japanese steel company data manipulation scandal.”

“We have already made all the preparations. Taewoo Securities and several financial companies, including Financial Tower, have stepped forward to secure short selling volumes for several companies, including steel companies.”

“Even if it’s not that big, it will cover the labor costs.”

“The wages of employees at the financial tower are so high that they would have to strip everything away to cover the wages.”

The financial tower didn’t touch the small fish.

Even though Japanese steel companies and automobile companies were involved, it was not a level that was satisfactory to us, but it was still not a fish of such a small size that we could let it go.

“Just let it sit for another month or so and then blow it up.”

“We will secure a little more quantity. And the work to minimize the damage to Taewoo Group is almost finished.”

“I don’t think the recall quantity will be that large.”

“We replaced parts through regular inspections, and we only need to recall vehicles that did not undergo regular inspections. It is estimated that the number of vehicles affected will be around 5,000.”

Recalling 5,000 units was by no means an easy task.

However, it was not a fatal flaw, so it was a manageable scale if done sequentially.

“It’s fortunate that we prepared in advance, but other car companies are going to be in big trouble.”

“The more cars a company sells, the greater the damage will be. Toyota in particular will suffer the greatest damage.”

“We would prefer not to proceed with a recall, but the situation will not develop that way.”

“If Taewoo Motors conducts a recall, we will have no choice but to follow suit and conduct a recall, right?”

The amount of material from Japanese steel companies that went into Taewoo Motors was small.

However, Japanese automakers obtained most of their materials from Japanese steel companies.

However, if Taewoo Automobile, which uses a small number of parts, conducts a recall, it is natural that Japanese automobile companies, which use a large number of parts, will be under strong pressure.

“Mr. Chairman, I have an urgent call!”

When I was having a pleasant conversation with a vice president.

The planning director entered the chairman’s office with an anxious expression.

“Where did this call come from? Did Toyota call to cancel the contract?”

“This is a call from Russia, not Japan. They want to talk about selling the Russian factory.”

“Who exactly contacted you?”

“I received a call from Chairman Roman.”

That was a good thing.

If the Russian government had contacted us, it would have been a serious situation.

The fact that I got a call from Roman, who I was close with, meant that there was potential for a conversation to resolve the issue.

“I was planning to talk to the Russians sooner or later. When did you say we should meet?”

“I heard that Chairman Roman will visit Korea in person within this week.”

“We need to prepare to welcome our guests. Please prepare them yourself. We need to treat Bin Salman like a crown prince.”

“I will do my best to prepare.”

It was something that Roman came to Korea in person.

Only by somehow coaxing him into meeting with the highest levels of Russia could we maintain relations with Russia.

***

A week later.

Roman visited Korea.

The media reported that the visit was for the joint development of natural gas between Korea and Russia.

It was just a show schedule, the real purpose was to meet me.

“I am especially happy to meet Chairman Roman in Korea. I should have gone to Russia to greet you, but I am sorry that I could not do so.”

“What does it matter where you watch it from? And I’m not in Russia much either. I spend most of my time in England or Europe. Hahaha!”

First, we exchanged greetings with a smile.

It was only after a long chat about EPL over a cup of coffee that Roman brought up the main topic.

“The Kremlin is watching with concern. Why is Taewoo Group suddenly trying to sell the factory?”

“It’s not for any other reason. It’s a process of raising funds to make bigger investments.”

“You’re not saying you’re going to sell your Russian assets and invest in other countries, are you really going to withdraw from Russia?”

Russia was trying to attract more foreign companies.

But he must have been very angry when Taewoo Group suddenly showed signs of withdrawing from the Russian market.

“We have absolutely no intention of withdrawing from the Russian market. And it is not a simple sale of the factory, but a sale with a lease agreement. The factory will continue to produce Taewoo Group products.”

“So why did you suddenly sign such a complicated contract? You are not withdrawing from the Russian market, nor are you stopping production at your factory.”

It was Roman who spoke, beating his chest as if he was frustrated.

If Taewoo Group had unilaterally sold the factory, it seems highly likely that it would not have ended with frustration but would have even led to anger.

“It’s literally to make larger investments.”

“Can you tell me exactly what kind of investments you are making and at what scale?”

“We are still holding meetings at the Taewoo Group level, but we plan to build a factory that is at least larger than the current size.”

I was actually thinking of making such a plan.

We plan to create a report and actually proceed to the planning stage.

However, there are quite a few plans that are scrapped during the planning stage.

“Hmm, I feel relieved now. I will make sure to tell the Kremlin.”

“I apologize for causing you unnecessary worries. I should have discussed it in advance before proceeding with the work, but I was short-sighted. After all the negotiations were over, I only thought about leaving with a large-scale investment proposal.”

“I understand. I guess you wanted to present a pretty investment plan. I sometimes make that mistake too. If I report something in the middle of the process, it can cause misunderstandings.”

It was Roman who packed it for me.

I agreed with him and helped him pack.

“You never know what might happen in the middle of the process, right? So I thought Taewoo Group would handle all the complicated processes and only show the final results. I had the illusion that the Kremlin would be very satisfied.”

“I trusted Chairman Kim. That’s why I came all the way to Korea. I will resolve any misunderstandings on my own.”

That’s why credit was important to people.

Because we have built up trust over a long period of time, we can solve huge problems with just a few words.

All I had to do was waste time like this.

The Russian government will not raise the issue again during the lease period of the factory.

If war broke out while they were stalling like that, they could just scrap the Russian investment plan.