12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

A man with horn-rimmed glasses, white skin, and neat hair asked me, “Why did you keep it a secret?”

“I didn’t mean to keep it a secret, but other investors except me were in a very difficult situation back then. I thought it was not good manners to let our success out.”

“So, you kept the profits secret in order to respect other investors.”

“Yes, I did.”

He mumbled over what I said and put something in the notepad. “I see. You kept the profits secret in order to be considerate of others.”

‘Forbes is one of the economic magazines that started in the U.S. If we look at the characteristics of this economic magazine, they are good at ranking things; “The World’s Most Valuable Sports Club” or “The World’s Highest Profit-Grossing Company.”‘

The theme of the interview now was ‘Korea’s 100 richest people.’ And I was the one at the apex of the ranking table.

“Did you have any other reason to take over Suyeon Electronics?”

“After I finished investing in China, I looked everywhere to acquire a local company. Along the way, I noticed Suyeon Electronics. I tried a hostile M&A because I judged that the shares were undervalued and that the equity structure was weak compared to the future potential. The result was successful.”

“By the way, many things happened to Suyeon Group in the process? There was news of the owner’s death, the issue of tax evasion, the arrest of the next chairman, and so on. What do you think of those things?”

I looked at the interviewer with my arms crossed and said, “… I thought I was lucky; they made the stock price very cheap.”

“But the timing was so exquisite that some say it was all done by CEO Han Sang-hoon… What do you think about this?”

I said with a smile, “That’s ridiculous. Of course, I made a lot of money, but I was the owner of an investment company, and Suyeon Group was a chaebol company for over fifty years. How can an investment company owner do such a thing against a chaebol? I’m sure dilettantes made it up.”

“I see.” He nodded and typed something more into the notebook.

“And what’s your next plan?”

“I’m going to do more M&A for a while. Although the whole world was staggered by the Chinese financial crisis, it is gradually getting better. If there’s a good company, I’d like to buy some more and try to build things together.”

“You intend to grow your company.”

“Of course. I’ve become the richest man in Korea, but I’m still a young chick in the global market. I’m going to challenge the global market, starting with Suyeon Electronics.”

“Oh, I see. You became the richest person in Korea, but you are still hungry. You want more money.”

I said there, with a slight gesture. “No, the nuance is something wrong… I don’t think that’s right.”

He asked me instead of teasing with the pen. “What…?

“… that part, ‘I want more money.’ I’m actually more obsessed with success than with money.”

“Success?”

“Yes… doing something well, anticipating things, acting in line with them, finally getting the results I want. Money is just a result. Actually, since three years ago, I’ve not been so obsessed with money since I had more than ten million dollars in my account. Since then, I’ve never been able to do anything because I couldn’t afford it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, I have hundreds of times more assets now than I did then, but… I don’t really live a luxury life. So ‘I want more money’ is not really right; I want to be a little more successful. I think that’s a more appropriate expression. I do not think it’s a matter of money, but I would like to say that… just as much as making money from now on, I want to succeed in spending it.”

“That means… are you talking about a charitable business?”

“Yes, well, Bill Gates would be my role model. I’d like to try to solve hunger, cure incurable diseases, and so on.”

“Oh, I see. That’s a great idea. So here’s the end of the official interview. Is there anything else you want to say?”

“Not really.”

“Yes, then I’ll stop here. Thank you for your interview, Mr. CEO.”

I stood up with a nod. Secretary Park came up, handed me my overcoat and said, “Boss, during the interview, there was a call from Vice President Jang.”

“Yes.” I received the phone right away and made a call. Vice President Jang answered the phone right away.

“Boss, did you do well in your interview?”

“Yes, what made you call?”

“It’s nothing special, but I was going to report the progress of the two deals in motion.”

“Oh, say it.”

“First of all, as soon as the inheritance tax is paid, we will take Suyeon Construction, adding to the existing shares of 4.99%. In the case of Tak Mun-su… well, we should have seen the result of the trial. It seems that his relatives are talking about disposing of him, too. His lawyers are the best, but it is not a good story out there.”

‘It is an open fact, but judges are not always neutral. They look after whether the accused is a person with a lot of money, a person with little power, or a person with power. They also consider the president and the public.’

Tak Mun-su had money, but he had lost favor with a person in power and was considered the third generation of an evil conglomerate to the public; therefore, a judge could not even lighten his sentence from their point of view.

“They think it will not be easy for Tak Mun-su because of his overlapping cases and strong public opinion. So there’s talk of the Tak family making him give up his inheritance rights. If a major shareholder is put in prison for more than twenty years, that will be a problem.”

When Tak Mun-su’s downfall was confirmed, the remaining heirs of the Suyeon Group began to bite him, like a group of sharks attacking an injured colleague. Although they did not seem eager to take control of Suyeon Group openly like Tak Joon-gi, it seemed to be the best time for them when Tak Mun-su went to prison.

Except for Suyeon Electronics and Suyeon Construction, the other parts of Suyeon Group were in danger of being torn apart again from a fight between the Taks. I didn’t mean it to go that far, either.

“… Well, I see. Anyway, let’s leave it to them and just do our job. How’s the CEO selection process going?”

Maverick Turner, former vice president of Intel, and Shin Jae-chul, former CTO of Susung Electronics, both of them said they were interested in the position of CEO of Suyeon Electronics. I think it would be nice if both of them were brought to our company, talked with us, and we could make a decision.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Let me know when the meeting schedule is fixed.”

“Yes. The next is about FC Sejong.”

“Ah, yes,” I said, my eyes gleaming.

“Needless to say, they welcome your investment and would like to meet with you and talk to you as soon as possible.”

“Good, then I’ll go down to Sejong City, and talk about the stadium, too.”

“Yes, please.”

Soon after the acquisition of Suyeon Electronics was completed, I was going to pick a car as a reward, but I chose a soccer club, FC Sejong, instead. FC Sejong was the first professional sports club to be created since the inauguration of Sejong City, but it had not been able to find a sponsor for a while, so Sejong City was acting as the owner of the club.

Sejong City grew bigger and bigger, and now it was a big city with a population of eight hundred thousand people, but it was still difficult to operate the club with the taxpayers’ money. FC Sejong was short of staff and players, and it was in a position where it had to borrow other players’ ballparks, so it was in the lower division even in the lower leagues. In the meantime, I decided to be the main sponsor of FC Sejong. It was a kind of expensive hobby.

‘Why isn’t there a computer game that makes a club grow by taking over as a manager?’

I was going to spend my money on building a stadium, and bringing in a coach and staff.

‘Three years? No, I have to bring in talented prospects, and in about five years, it will be the top club in Korea. Of course, I know who will and how they become outstanding players in the future, so it will be easy to run. I am an owner who sees the future of the team.’

After I finished talking to Vice President Jang, I smiled and put my cell phone in my pocket. ‘It sounds like fun.’

“Shall we go then?” Secretary Park approached me and asked.

I nodded.

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On my way home in the car driven by Secretary Park, I looked out of the window with my arms folded as usual. Along the way, a large electronic display of a building was showing a series of fashion ads of Suyeon Fashion, a subsidiary of Suyeon Construction. It was a company that would end up in my possession.

I looked at it and thought. ‘… in the future news, what’s the news for the clothing business? The bigger the company, the more work I would have to do. Whether it’s electronics, construction, or fashion, there will be more places that need my insight. I can even see the movie box office in advance.’

In the past, it was a way to buy and sell stocks in line with a successful movie, but now I would be the owner of the distributor. ‘… I’ll have to watch the news more closely.’

I now had to do some work as a manager as well as an investor, because I had more companies to run.

‘It’s easy to manage. I’m going to make a decision anyway. If I know the future, I can always make the right decision. Now, I will soon get the Grandmaster Class, and receive the news for 12 Years After… Whatever the news is, it can’t escape my hands.’

I thought about it when I got in the back of the car that Secretary Park was driving. But that was my arrogance. When I got home, there was news waiting for me, something I had never imagined.

————————-

“Are you sure?”

Ah-young nodded. I did not know what to do and scratched my head for a moment. She gave me an additional explanation.

“I haven’t had a period in two months… But sometimes I do. So I wasn’t quite sure, but the doctor told me it’s real.”

Ah-young was pregnant. This was the most shocking news I’d heard recently, since the future news didn’t warn me. But coming down from the shock, I realized that it wasn’t bad news. On the contrary, it was very good news!

I said, holding her hand, “Yes. That’s great. These days, there are a lot of couples who are worried about getting married and having problems, but we’re starting with no such problems, right?”

“Yes, I’ve heard of that lately…”

I looked into her eyes and said, “I was so busy with my work that it was delayed. Let’s set the wedding date as soon as possible. You don’t want to wear a dress with your belly out because of a baby, do you?”

Ah-young nodded and gave me a subtle look.

“Don’t you like?”

“No.”

“I want you to make the proposal right again.”

I said with a smile. “Oh, yes, yes.”

I was going to become a father. Maybe it was bigger news than me buying Suyeon Electronics this year!