novelraw Chapter 81
Chapter 81
A vehicle of Daehan Group was crossing the center of Seoul toward Cheongwadae.
The setting sun seeping through the car window colored the city center between the buildings.
Everywhere on the streets, fancy decorations ahead of Christmas were twinkling dazzlingly.
In front of a large tree on Myeongdong street, couples were taking pictures.
In the department store window, dolls symbolizing Santa Claus were placed here and there, making the upcoming Christmas clearly felt.
The sound of carols flowing from every cafe and the warm lighting made the entire city cozy.
Children ran around with their wool hats pressed down deep, overflowing with laughter.
People stood in front of a bungeo-ppang stall, blowing with a "ho-ho" as they ate the ones just made.
Everyone was having a happy winter, but the expression of Chairman Nam Kun-ho, who sat in the back seat, was hardened like cold marble.
His sharp eyes watched the scenery outside the window and formed a cynical smile.‘Foolish things… What is so good about that?’
To him, all of this felt like an illusion.
Surely, the reason Chairman Nam Kun-ho was called to Cheongwadae must be because of Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
The moment that word came to mind, Nam Kun-ho grit his teeth.
The contents announced by Special Prosecutor Ryu Seong-jin just two hours ago were vividly revived in his head.
[The annual operating loss of Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is estimated at 630 billion won, and the actual debt scale is expected to far exceed this. Not only window dressing accounting, but signs of corruption in the procurement process and asset concealment through overseas corporations are being revealed in detail. The suspicion of the management's involvement in accounting manipulation is now a situation difficult to deny. Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is currently in a state where normal business operations are impossible and should effectively be seen as on the verge of bankruptcy.]
At that moment, Nam Kun-ho turned his gaze and for no reason glared at the back of the neck of the secretary sitting in the front seat.
It was because that one remark thrown by the President was lingering in his ears.
“I can no longer shield Daehan.”
Not being able to shield them ultimately meant he would abandon them.
Right now, the President was issuing an ultimatum for Daehan Group to either take responsibility for Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering or hand it over as a target for national-level restructuring.
In fact, it was no different from a compulsion with no room for choice.
Nam Kun-ho pressed down hard on his knee with his right hand.
He tried to suppress the anger rising to his fingertips, but it was difficult to completely control the emotion boiling like hot lava inside his chest.
‘Damned bastard. It is not like he is going to vomit back what he has received all this time… how dare he tell me to give up the company or not!’
As the vehicle entered the Cheongwadae grounds, those guarding the security post checked their identities.
When they arrived in front of the main building, a secretary was waiting for him.
“Chairman Nam, have you been well? I will guide you.”
Getting out of the car, Nam Kun-ho composed his expression and moved his steps slowly while feigning tranquility.
However, a strange anger melted into his gait.
He was in the middle of swallowing the anger boiling from deep within his chest.
The words to be said while meeting the President alone were obvious.
He would just have to cater to his mood and hand him something to eat.
As the door to the reception room in the main building of Cheongwadae opened, unexpected figures appeared in Nam Kun-ho’s sight.
One was a familiar face, Chairman Lim Man-cheol of Taeseong Heavy Industries, and another person was me, Lim Hyunjun of HJ Partners.
I, who came while wearing my school uniform, was already leading several companies.
Furthermore, the fact that the President called me to this place meant he had another thought.
Nam Kun-ho instinctively grit his teeth.
Although he could not express it in words, anger was boiling like lava inside him.
‘To dare include that punk in a place like this!’
Regardless of what Chairman Nam was thinking to himself, I stood up from my seat and greeted him politely.
“It has been a long time, Chairman.”
“I see.”
It was a short and stiff remark.
Coldness overflowed in Nam Kun-ho’s voice.
After exchanging greetings, they walked to the table and sat in their respective seats.
Nam Kun-ho wanted to grab me, that bastard’s neck and shake it, but he calmed his anger and swallowed it.
If he showed such an appearance now, everything he had built up all this time would go to waste.
After a moment, the President spoke first.
“Everyone has gone through much trouble coming all the way here. The reason I asked you to come to this place is because I have to make a painful decision for the survival of the shipbuilding industry.”
Nam Kun-ho slowly turned his head.
The moment his eyes met the President’s, it felt as if invisible sparks were flowing in the air.
The President did not mind and checked each person’s reaction.
Starting with Lim Man-cheol, he looked at me, Lim Hyunjun, and finally Nam Kun-ho before continuing his words.
“Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is no longer in a situation where the private sector can lead it alone. Is it not already on the verge of bankruptcy? Even just the corruption confirmed through the special prosecutor…. Goodness, it was beyond imagination.”
The President’s fierce gaze turned toward Nam Kun-ho.
He picked up a file and tossed it toward Chairman Nam.
On the front of that document, a stamp saying ‘Confidential’ was clearly marked in red letters.
“I checked this data myself this morning. The total debt exceeds 2 trillion won. My conclusion is that court receivership cannot be avoided within the first quarter of next year, considering even procurement penalties and unpaid raw material costs.”
Despite the President’s biting criticism, Nam Kun-ho kept his mouth shut without a word.
However, his eyebrows trembled minutely.
His breathing also gradually became rougher.
The President tapped the table and delivered a direct hit.
“Chairman Nam. As for me, I cannot just stand by and watch this state. No matter how much it is Daehan Group, I cannot just keep looking the other way, can I? Either bring a plan for Daehan Group to take responsibility, or accept transferring it to a restructuring consortium. Make the decision here before you go.”
The President pressured Nam Kun-ho, telling him to decide today.
He slowly turned his head and looked at me, Lim Hyunjun.
That gaze was as fierce as a person who might even commit murder.
“Is that consortium thing led by HJ Partners?”
Nam Kun-ho asked the President while keeping his gaze toward me.
“Why is that important!”
This time, Nam Kun-ho glared at the President and spoke.
“If that is not important, then what is important?”
The President answered while feeling quite displeased.
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“Threatening is….”
I cut in midway.
If left like this, the two were on the verge of fighting.
Of course, for me, that was not exactly bad, but I simply did not want to get tired.
“Chairman, rather than saying HJ Partners is necessarily leading it, it is because we are the only company capable of it right now.”
Chairman Nam Kun-ho’s fierce glare turned toward me.
However, far from being intimidated at all, I wore an expression as if asking what the problem was.
That stoked Chairman Nam’s anger.
Chairman Lim Man-cheol, who was quick-witted, stepped forward.
“Now, Chairman Nam. Even I did not know the situation of Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering was this difficult. That is why, although the President also asked us, I could not just stay still. Ahem.”
Nam Kun-ho let out a full sneer and spoke.
“So you two colluded to swallow Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering?”
At those words, Lim Man-cheol furrowed his brows.
Displaying his displeasure as it was, he expressed a silent pressure for even someone like Nam Kun-ho to keep the line that should not be crossed.
“Tsk. How can this person say such a thing? Colluded? Mr. President, must we do this even while receiving such a misunderstanding?”
Lim Man-cheol subtly passed it over to the President.
In fact, the same went for me, but the reason Lim Man-cheol also came to this place was purely because the President called.
Therefore, the person who had to play the role in the middle was the President.
They had come to grant the request reluctantly.
However, Nam Kun-ho was not unaware that I had also created this situation to make the President step forward.
I spoke slowly with a smile and a polite attitude.
“In fact, Chairman Lim Man-cheol is right. We came to this place because the President requested it, and I intend to coordinate with the creditor group, including the Korea Development Bank, after identifying the problems of Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering jointly with Taeseong Heavy Industries. Of course, if Chairman Nam takes charge of Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, there is no need for us to go through such trouble.”
I turned my gaze toward the President as if it could not be helped.
“Chairman Nam, what will you do? Will Daehan take responsibility and settle it like this? Or….”
Silence flowed.
In fact, if Daehan settled the situation, the appearance would be preserved, and there would be no need to see such a sight that hurt his pride.
However, the reason he had not been able to do so sooner was because the mess Nam Jae-heon had made was larger than Chairman Nam had thought.
The work should have been spread to some extent for it to be possible to settle, but it was a situation where even a whole arm had to be cut off.
That was why he could not easily say he would settle it.
Therefore, he was being called all the way to Cheongwadae now and suffering this.
Furthermore, in Chairman Nam’s view, Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering already seemed rotten to the core and impossible to revive.
While settling it by taking on the debt as it was, if things went wrong, even the tower Daehan had built with hard work all this time could collapse.
Yet those people were saying they would settle this!
Nam Kun-ho was seething with anger, but he decided to judge calmly.
He had already gathered the executives and reached a conclusion about Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering before coming here.
The answer was ultimately one.
‘Discard what is unnecessary!’
“Taeseong Heavy Industries must also be having a hard time right now; will you be able to handle it?”
Chairman Lim Man-cheol sat comfortably leaning back on the soft-looking sofa and raised his voice.
“Well, are we the only ones having it hard? The whole world is the same. But we are unshakable to that extent.”
It was a voice full of confidence.
Clearly, there was a sign that he had something to believe in separately.
The President also indirectly soothed Chairman Nam.
“Chairman Nam, now is not the time to protect your pride. There are a large number of employees at Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering as well. If the company is left to collapse like this, where would those people go again?”
“Mr. President, does that remark mean those people will succeed in the employment of the employees as they are?”
The President noticed that Chairman Nam was gradually softening his heart.
“I told them to strictly protect that. And they readily accepted. Is that not so?”
I answered.
“We will keep the matters the President has spoken of.”
“Now, see. Are they not saying they will do so.”
Calculations ran quickly inside Nam Kun-ho’s head.
They might not know because they lacked experience, but to save a company that was difficult to revive, restructuring was not an option but a necessity.
Without that, an enormous amount of money had to be poured in, and there was no need to obtain Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering while doing that.
‘But they say it is possible?’
Suddenly, Chairman Nam had a question.
Was the boy named Hyunjun, who founded HJ Partners, that capable?
It was certain that he was running wild without knowing anything, relying only on his grandfather.
No matter how outstanding his ability was, there was no way he would pull off such a thing alone at that age.
Nam Kun-ho thought it was certain that the sly Chairman Lim Man-seok was pulling the strings from behind.
However, no matter how much Taeseong Group stepped forward, they could meet disaster while carrying a burden they could not handle.
If that happened, it would be another opportunity for Daehan.
Nam Kun-ho showed an appearance as if contemplating for a moment while slowly tapping the table with his fingertips.
Then he opened his mouth, and a sharp spearhead was hidden inside it.
“Very well. I will do Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering as the President wishes.”
The President spoke very happily.
“Chairman Nam, thank you for making a rational judgment.”
However, Nam Kun-ho did not stop there.
He continued his words while looking at the President.
As if a hunter were setting a trap.
“As the President also knows, Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is a company I cherish. It feels as if I am tearing off my own flesh, but I will accept the President’s will. Therefore, you must also grant me something that would allow me to save face.”