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EPISODE 31 - THE ERA OF RAPID CHANGE 1.
[031/326]
Daehyun Motor Co., an undisputed absolute powerhouse with more than half of the domestic market share.
Ajin Motor Company, which was ranked fourth for many years, released a very sturdy compact car—Proud. With this, they took second place at once.
Woosung Motors, which had fallen from second to third place by a slight margin, was aiming to regain its former position with its partner, GM Motor of the U.S. on its back.
Sunyang Motor Co., which managed to stay in third place, came in last in the industry.
Chairman Jin Yang-chul, who had strong self-esteem, had put up with this humiliation by dismissing only one president.
According to his temper, he was capable of dismissing up to five executives together, but it would have been difficult to dismiss them from the beginning of the new year. This was because he had to consider the morale of the executives and employees.
When the eldest son Jin Young-ki hesitated, Chairman Jin snapped his fingers in anger.
"Have you chosen? 20 or 1? Which one do you want?"
"The motors! I'll take it, too."
He spoke with particular emphasis on the word 'too'.
"But in reality, two years is impossible, Chairman. The new car under development will be released at the end of next year. Even if I do my best to develop a new car… and its popularity is sky-high, the results will not come until the year after the next."
"Vice president."
"…Yes."
"Go to the car factory now."
“…?”
"You know, hundreds of cars are pouring into the factory every day. If you sell them all, won't you be in second place?"
Who didn't know? Would such a lame excuse be made if it was as easy as it sounded? But they had to keep their mouth shut. Weren't they the words of the absolute?
"Are you only going to sell the new car without thinking about selling the current ones? Is that what you think?"
"Oh, that's not it…"
Vice Chairman Jin Young-ki tried to add a few words to save himself, but Jin already raised his hand, pointing to the study door.
"Hurry up and go. You'll know what to do when it happens. Come on."
Jin was not the type of person who spoke unseriously or joked around with words. If he told you to go, then you had to.
What if he sat?
The fate of the president who was kicked out of the packaging factory could not be avoided just because he was the son of the chairman.
Vice Chairman Jin Young-ki jumped up, bowed his head a little, and quickly walked out of the study.
As soon as the door closed, Chairman Jin scanned through the populace and said in a benevolent voice,
"No more for today. I already had a hard time being nagged from the beginning. Everyone, go out and work."
One after the other, they left the study with brighter expressions.
It was an expression of relief that they were not kicked out of the position of the president of an affiliate, which was no different from an ordinary employee.
"How's the Soviet Union going? Is there no hope?"
Chairman Jin asked Lee Hak-jae, who was sitting idly in the study when everyone else had dispersed.
"Yes, I politely declined, saying it would be difficult to focus energy on a particular company."
"It's hot. It's an ordinary process, but it's not normal, right?"
"We will set this administration's greatest achievement as northern diplomacy and proceed without any noise if possible... I hope you understand."
"So? What can you give me instead of gas?”
"The East German support you mentioned. He said he would leave the support window to the private sector."
"If you're a civilian..."
"We are pure sheep. Home appliances and food aid."
"Food? For what?"
"I'm trying to persuade them with 100% home appliances. We will turn all the support budget to the construction cost of our Sunyang Electronics local plant."
"The cost will bloom only when the Berlin Wall completely collapses, right?"
"That's right."
"And that will be…?"
"If we put together the information we have collected and what the Ministry of Security has identified, it will be September or October."
"Then let's make sure to prepare for the start of construction in the fall."
"The construction workers are already investigating the Berlin area. We plan to secure a factory site in a place with high potential for development and move Hungarian plant facilities to East Germany."
"As expected, Lee Hak-jae. It's just a parchment."
The home appliance factory that had already been established in Hungary barely maintained its reputation. It was like closing the factory and expanding and relocating to Germany—without spending a penny.
"No, it's just the beginning."
"Japan?"
"Yes. We have to overcome the affection for Japanese home appliances in the eastern part of the country. Especially Hitachi and Sony, aren't they absolute?"
Chairman Jin bit his lips when he heard that it was Japan.
Korean products with moderate performance for a low price. This was a sober assessment of the global market.
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Trying to catch up with Japanese technology, they had come this far. However, no consumer was anxious to have a Sunyang's product. They were struggling to overcome this difference, but it looked like an enormous wall higher than the Berlin Wall. Even now!
When Chairman Jin thought of Japan, he was overwhelmed by an inferiority complex, and his stomach boiled. Lee Hak-jae, who noticed his mood, gently brought up another topic.
"By the way, what should I do with the land I told you about the other day?"
"Land? Ah, you mean Dojun's land?"
"Yes. According to Power Shares' CEO Oh, Dojun said he wanted to sell the land, but I think he recommended overseas investment."
"What? I heard you can trust him."
"Yes, I checked again this time. He's a good guy. I think he probably judged that it was better than a rise in land prices…"
Chairman Jin waved his hand as if there was nothing more to hear.
"Never mind. Just buy it.”
"Will it be okay?"
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"You said you double-checked it. Oh, this guy is not a con artist?"
"Yes."
"Even if the land price goes up, it's a lot of money. Let's leave it up to him, but... I'm proud of his uniqueness. The way he moves first without waiting."
"I'll do that. I'd better buy it at the market price, right?”
"Of course. If the situation arises, people will say, "it's an expedient inheritance," Chairman Jin said, and continued, "Give it to them at just the right market price."
"All right."
"And review Power Shares' performance.”
"Eh? Why that all of a sudden?"
"I was thinking about leaving the money scattered in commercial banks. Wouldn't it be okay if the money is transferred to the place where Dojun invested?"
"Well…"
Money in a commercial bank, which referred to Chairman Jin's personal slush fund hidden in a borrowed-name account.
"Should I clean up the bonds?"
"Check the performance and if you think it's appropriate, do everything."
"Yes, I'll take care of it right away."
It was indeed safer to move it abroad, and Dojun may be able to track the money. Safety and surveillance, It was a way to catch two rabbits. It was not that bad.
When he felt a little better after being informed about Japan, Chairman Jin began a real meeting with Lee Hak-jae. A meeting between just the two of them.
"What do you think?”
"I'm sorry. About what…?”
"The car… and Youngi."
"He's the vice president. Isn't he doing well?"
"I'm not discussing this with you to hear nice things."
"No. To be honest, it's impossible to raise our position to second place by next year. It was a bit… too much."
"Hakjae."
Hakjae was most nervous when he heard such a subtle voice and a playful adult expression from the Chairman.
Chairman Jin was a person who did not like playing jokes.
"Yes."
"Are you with me?"
Didn't a saying go that 'the king is most wary when a servant gives an opinion on behalf of the crown prince'?
Lee Hak-jae did not panic and laughed it off like a joke.
"Haha, no. I mean it."
"Really? You're saying it's that hard, right? All right, then you answer. You really don't think there's a way to get to No. 2 in the car industry in two years?"
Chairman Jin Yang-cheol even spoke with a smile.
However, Lee Hak-jae could not do likewise.
"Public opinion will not be good. Maybe he will after a lot of effort."
"What's the possibility?"
"50 percent if this administration comes forward. If not… It will be less than 30 percent."
Both men were lost in thought for a while in silence.
"The Blue House wants to have a meal, so they asked to meet up."
"Would you like to meet him in person?"
"A business dinner would be a good idea."
"Yes, I'll be ready."
It looked like it was really starting, but Lee Hak-jae did not give any objections. Wasn't reckless adventure the founder's right?
Starting today, the brain group of the Soonyang Group had to be fully operational.
It had to figure out what percentage of shares it needed to secure to swallow Ajin Motors, which had the weakest governance structure, and how much it would cost to secure shares in units of 1 million won, and also prepare for a public opinion battle.
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In order to attack Ajin Motors, the management had to also start a background check, and at least the chairman and president of Ajin Motors had to be placed on the photo line of the prosecution office.
Even if he was released without charge.
Lee Hak-jae was suddenly cut off from his train of thought by Chairman Jin's words.
"By the way, why can't Young-gi think of this? It's the boss's job to sell. He doesn't realize where he is."
"It's because the chairman is still alive and well."
Chairman Jin shook his head.
"No. If you are a lord fighting for supremacy, you don't know that you have to start a war, expand your territory, and build a castle. Only when the workers in the territory expand the land to farm can they be eligible for permanent residence... I can see that he's trying to increase the yield by hiring workers. The bowl is small."
"Isn't it the age of Mercury now? Didn't you train the vice president like that?"
"The instinct for war must wriggle! Can I just sit down and watch him?"
Lee Hak-jae knew it was time for him to keep his mouth shut. These days, there had been frequent complaints about the vice chairman.
Could the reason be Jin Do-jun's influence?
For a long time since then, Chairman Jin had expressed his dissatisfaction with his children.
All Lee Hak-jae could do was respond to the Chairman's nagging from time to time to time.
* * *
The '80s were gone and the '90s were here.
The new decade was an important time to prepare for the 2000s. Chairman Jin Yang-cheol was motivated from the beginning of the year, but in less than a month, everything had to be revised completely.
Since the beginning of 1990, President Roh Tae-woo of the Democratic Party of Korea and President Kim Jong-pil of the New Democratic Republican Party agreed to disband the three parties and form a conservative coalition party at a meeting with the Blue House on the 22nd of the same month.
It was a political big deal called the merger of the three parties. This turned into a huge ruling party in an instant.
At 9 a.m. on January 30 of the same year, nearly 900 delegates and party officials gathered at the Unification Democratic Party building in Mapo, making it impossible to step foot in.
At the national convention held on this day, President Kim Young-sam expressed his feelings, saying, "I don't know how much suffered," and continued, "It was a great decision made in the interest of saving the country that made the ruling party's sign come down."
At the 35-minute convention: "Objection. We have to have a debate against it," he said, ignoring the opposition of the lawmaker, and a dozen opponents in favor of his argument agreed and it quickly ended in favor of the merger.
So, on February 9, the huge ruling Democratic Liberal Party was born.
Now the business community had one more person to watch.
He led the ruling party and was likely to be the next president.
Chairman Jin Yang-cheol threw the newspaper.
'God damn it, I soothed an ordinary mule, and a hopping old man appeared with a club', this feeling was fully evident on his face.
I picked up the newspaper.
"It's him, isn't it? Always in 2nd place..."
I pointed to gray-haired Kim Young-sam among the three pictures of people raising their hands.
"Yes, the second place teamed up with the class president and took over the next class president position.”
Grandfather looked at me with an expression of frustration, which was a little burdensome.
"Now, shall we listen to the smart Dojun's thoughts?"
I knew it. Was it fun now?
"What? What are you talking about?"
"What would you do if it were you? The white-haired man is stubborn."
It was a different perspective and a unique wording, but this time I spoke like a child.
"Hmm… isn't it good to be friendly?”
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
Chairman Jin's disappointment was evident on his face.
It couldn't be helped.
Was there a person more shocking than President Kim Young-sam?
His shocking policies had to be kept to myself. At the end of Kim Young-sam's five-year presidency, he should be part of the Sunyang Group. A very good affiliate.
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