The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 81



Only Krnovel

Episode 81 1997 (4)

The most important thing in transferring political funds was confidentiality.

Since it was a risky task for both the recipient and the giver, very cleanly laundered funds were needed.

Companies used slush funds as political funds or used Myeong-dong to pass the money through a money laundering process.

“If you launder money in Korea, you will eventually get caught. So, we want to use Wall Street to launder money and deliver political funds.”

“If you use Wall Street, what method do you mean?”

“We are going to open a fund. “The chairman of the sponsoring party for the opposition candidate invests in the fund we created, and the fund makes a profit of more than 10 times in three months.”

It was a method of giving political funds without being legally involved.

It was legal to create a fund, and it was also legal to invest in a fund.

And there was no problem in earning profits through the fund.

But why hasn’t this method been used until now?

Of course, this was because there was no one who could create a fund that could guarantee 10 times the return.

But I was able to do that, and it was possible because the situation was right before the Asian foreign exchange crisis hit.

“You are saying that you want to create a fund and make 10 times the profit unconditionally. I understood how it was done.”

“It may not be the way you think, but it is true that political funds are delivered using Wall Street funds.”

The manager had a misunderstanding.

‘I always make it 10 times more.’

The meaning behind this was to force profits tenfold through unusual means.

However, I was able to guarantee 10 times the profit in a legitimate way.

“We will send someone from Wall Street to contact the chairman of the opposition party’s sponsors.”

“Then can we just send our funds to Wall Street?”

“First of all, just hold it. “If we need funds, we will ask for them.”

In fact, there was no need for the slush fund that the manager worked so hard to create.

If I spend that kind of money, I could end up getting kicked out, so when the manager retires, I should take care of it as severance pay.

* * *

Sponsorship Chairman Jeong Bae-chun.

A month ago, he met a person from Wall Street who came through Taewoo Group’s introduction.

And 1 billion won of funds received from the sponsoring association was invested in a Wall Street fund.

He transferred the money to the fund without question because Taewoo Group said it was a way to provide support without being caught by political fund laws.

“No matter how much I think about it, I still feel uncomfortable. “I put my money into a Wall Street fund, but I feel like I was scammed.”

“So do i. “This is my first time receiving political funds in this way, so I’m uninspired.”

“Do you speak English? “Please call America and find out what happened to the fund money.”

The aide made an international call.

The aide, who had been talking on the phone for over 10 minutes with a bit of poor English, suddenly said ‘Thank you’ a lot.

“What’s going on?”

“They say the fund’s funds have now tripled. It is said that it will increase to more than 10 billion won within two months.”

“1 billion has now become 3 billion? And it becomes 10 billion within two months?”

“That’s right. “They said they would send related materials via email.”

“You sure you’re not cheating, right?”

“Taewoo Group made a promise, so it’s probably not a scam.”

The sponsorship chairman scratched his head.

I just put money into the fund, but the money tripled.

I had no idea what kind of magic the Taew Group was doing.

“It seems like a method that has no legal problems.”

“The whole process is legal. “Our lawyers unanimously said that we could not find any connection to the Taewo Group and that there was absolutely no risk of legal problems.”

“You’re so brave. They said that all the smart people in Korea are being swept away by large corporations, so they came up with this ingenious method.”

“I knew there was a way to use stocks to finance elections, but I think this is the first time in Korean history that they used Wall Street funds.”

Securing election funds using stocks.

Simply put, it was a way to make money by manipulating stock prices.

He often worked with Myeongdong to secure election funds by manipulating stock prices.

However, this was a very difficult method to use because it was likely to cause legal problems and could have a negative impact on public sentiment.

However, the fund had no such problems at all.

Since the stock price was not manipulated using Korean stocks, there was no possibility of causing a problem with public sentiment.

By receiving money from Wall Street funds, it was actually like earning foreign currency.

“If the money you put into the fund increases tenfold, you won’t run out of money for a while.”

“It’s like receiving 100 pieces of political funding.”

“The Taewoo Group is definitely big. “There is a reason VIP has a good relationship with Chairman Kim.”

“If we can take power, we would like to repay the Taewo Group.”

“Uh-huh! What a reward. We are working with Taewo Group for the development of the Korean economy. “Would it be useful to run a country based on trivial feelings like reciprocation?”

“I made a mistake. “I want to develop Korea together with the Taewo Group.”

“yes!”

10 billion worth of political funds.

It was a much-needed fund for the opposition party, which had to face an unfavorable election.

I was just grateful that Taewo Group had found a way to provide the funds legally.

* * *

It was July 1997.

The Korean economy was rapidly deteriorating.

The grandfather urgently held a meeting of the presidents.

“How many large companies have already collapsed? “Starting with Hanbo, Sammi, Jinro, Samlip, and even Haitai collapsed.”

“There are a lot of articles saying that Kai Group is actually close to bankruptcy.”

“Even the Kai Group, ranked fourth in the business world, has collapsed. What is going on with the Korean economy? .”

Grandpa turned his head towards me.

I guess you remembered what I said about Kai cars being dangerous.

Kai Group’s bankruptcy meant that the too-big-to-fail theory was broken.

With a look in my grandfather’s eyes, I explained the situation in Asia after leaving Korea.

“Thailand’s economic crisis has begun in earnest. The value of the baht is plummeting at a rapid pace, and the situation in neighboring countries is also worsening.”

“What is the probability that the foreign exchange crisis in Southeast Asia will spread to Korea?”

“I’ll tell you something about that.”

Advisor Fukuda stood up.

Until now, Advisor Fukuda was not qualified to attend presidents’ meetings.

I and the CEO of Taewoo Securities made a strong argument and had him attend the CEO meeting.

“It is now called the Southeast Asian foreign exchange crisis, but it is certain that it will spread into the Asian foreign exchange crisis before the end of the year. “It is clear that even Taiwan, Korea, and Japan are in danger.”

“The dollar exchange rate has now exceeded 890 won. But does that mean it gets higher from here? “It seems like a very pessimistic prediction.”

Bae Seong-gyun, president of Taewoo Motors, protested.

As the group’s vice president, he knew that the performance of Taewoo Motors and Taewoo Electronics had increased significantly compared to the previous year.

Because of that, it would have been difficult to accept the economic crisis.

Taewoo Group is doing better than ever, so it might be hard to believe that an economic crisis suddenly occurred.

“The Korean government’s foreign currency reserves are less than $30 billion. Moreover, our foreign debt exceeds $100 billion. The Korean government is unprepared for the foreign exchange crisis. And small and medium-sized businesses have already been unable to pay wages, resulting in over 600 billion won in unpaid wages.”

“Are you saying there is that much unpaid wages?”

“The moment short-term borrowings are withdrawn, the exchange rate will ridiculously exceed 1,500 won.”

“However, the government and media are pouring out articles claiming that it is not an economic crisis. In particular, even the head of the IMF agreed and came forward.”

In fact, the IMF chief viewed the possibility of an economic crisis in Korea as low.

I said this because I still don’t know the exact reality of Korea, and I will change my words soon.

“There are media outlets that say it is not an economic crisis, but on the contrary, there are also reports emphasizing the risk of a foreign exchange crisis.”

“Then doesn’t that mean the odds are 50:50?”

“I see it as 100%. Considering the situation of the Korean government and the absurd management methods of companies, an economic crisis is inevitable.”

“What a ridiculous method! Are you ignoring Korea now?”

Advisor Fukuda was Japanese.

President Bae Seong-gyun was upset when a foreigner criticized his corporate management style.

“Is there any country in the world where bills are paid by bills? “It’s a structure where even if one link in the middle is crooked, the whole thing falls apart.”

“Everyone stop it. We have to assume the worst case scenario. “What do you think, Advisor Fukuda, should be done?”

“Taewoo Group’s situation is not bad. Director Kim Min-jae prepared well in advance. “I think that if we can lower the debt ratio as much as possible with the funds we have now, we can not only survive the economic crisis but also rise higher.”

The presidents, including my grandfather, remained silent.

They had finally realized that the foreign exchange crisis was just around the corner.

* * *

The serious CEO meeting ended.

I headed to Captain Kang’s office, which had a completely different atmosphere from the CEO’s meeting.

“CEO! Revenues from Thailand have already exceeded $5 billion. “I will be able to make at least three times more profit next month.”

“What is the return on political funds?”

“Thanks to investing only with the best money, I easily exceeded 10 times the amount. “The amount was so small that it was possible to make a profit.”

From a team leader’s perspective, 1 billion won was no different from a small amount.

It is difficult to double profits with 10 billion dollars, but it is not difficult to make more than 10 times profits with a small amount such as 1 billion won.

“If it exceeds 10 billion won, tell them to collect it.”

“I already received a call. “I will transfer the money to the sponsor’s account by the end of today.”

“Anyway, how does Wall Street view the situation in Korea?”

“There is an atmosphere of trying to recover funds. However, Japan is reacting more sensitively than Wall Street. We are starting to recoup our short-term borrowings.”

It was a history that had not changed since my previous life.

As Japan’s funds flow out, the foreign exchange crisis becomes more rapid.

Korean banks played interest games by lending short-term loans borrowed from Japan to companies.

However, the bank did not expect the situation in which the company could not get its money back.

They borrowed more money from Japan than they had, and when the company went bankrupt, they had to repay the loan with bank funds, but since they did not have the money to do so, the bank also went bankrupt.

“Now is the time to move. “Keep all funds in cash, except for stocks invested in U.S. IT companies.”

“That’s over $20 billion. Are you saying we should keep it all in cash?”

“This is the money I saved for today. “It is also an opportunity to turn $20 billion into more than $200 billion.”

Delicious companies are being put up for sale.

In order to put it in the shopping cart in advance, it was necessary to secure funds.