229. ransom
Miru’s car arrived at a brown building in front of Seoul Station.
Currently, the name of this building is ‘Daewoo Building’.
Although Morgan Stanley later bought it and renamed it ‘Seoul Square’, it remains a symbol of the Daewoo Group to the extent that many people still call it the Daewoo Building in the future.
After parking in the parking lot right in front, Hoyoung sat down at a cafe in a corner of the lobby on the first floor and ordered a cup of coffee.
It was the late 1990s, but the appearance of having a cafe in the company already looked quite plausible.
‘Does this mean that they are the third largest group in the financial world?’
Hyundai Daewoo Group was right behind Daehyun Group and Myungsung Group in the rankings of the business world.
Although it fell behind LS Group until recently, it continued to grow in size even in the midst of the foreign exchange crisis in Korea in 1997 and rose to the third place.
“Chief. Could you ask me to deliver this letter to Chairman Kim Joong-woo? If you think it’s a joke, you hand over my business card.”
“All right.”
“Please tell me that I will be waiting at this cafe for just 30 minutes.”
“Yep. President. I’ll be back.”
“Please.”
Miru goes to the information desk, and Hoyoung takes the coffee and enjoys the aroma of coffee.
Hoyeong’s letter to Miru didn’t say anything different.
just seven letters.
‘Accounting Fraud, Artek’
It was just written.
However, Hoyoung had no doubt that this short letter would have a tremendous effect.
“I’m home.”
Miru returned in less than 10 minutes.
“What did you say?”
“At first, I asked Chairman Kim Joong-woo to deliver the letter, so I looked at him as if he were looking at a strange person, but after seeing the chairman’s business card, I immediately contacted the upper management. Then immediately someone came down and took the president’s business card and letter.”
“As you think. You suffered. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“thank you.”
After Hoyoung’s name became famous nationwide, I liked this.
Most of the influential people also vacated their time when Ho-yeong contacted them to meet in person, and the heads of other chaebol families also bowed their heads in most cases.
Of course, there were many times when it was annoying because there were so many people asking to meet Hoyoung.
By the time Hoyoung and Miru had been chatting and drinking coffee less than 10 minutes ago.
“The president has arrived.”
I heard someone shouting from the lobby.
Hoyeong realized that Chairman Kim Joong-woo had come down.
‘To come down in less than 10 minutes, Chairman Kim Joong-woo must be in a very urgent situation right now.’
Hoyoung smiled inwardly.
Until now, the Daewoo Group continued to grow in size and showed off its strength on the outside.
Even a while ago, Daewoo Group went so far as to spread a large-scale TV advertisement saying that it is healthy.
However, Ho-yeong was well aware that the current Daewoo Group was Sasangnugak.
The Daewoo Group was maintaining its present group with illegal loans through fraudulent accounting, and the illegal loans were a staggering amount of 10 trillion won.
“Here is Yun Ho-young, Chairman Yun Ho-young?”
Then a middle-aged man hurriedly came into the cafe.
Hoyoung recognized at a glance that he was Kim Joong-woo, the chairman of the Daewoo Group.
“hello. President Kim Joong-woo?”
Hoyeong smiled at him and bowed her head very slightly.
It looked like he was greeting someone he was already close to.
Kim Joong-woo glared at Ho-young for a moment, then glanced back and said,
“Everybody get out of here.”
“yes?”
The secretary, who couldn’t understand Kim Joong-woo’s words at once, put on a puzzled expression, and Kim Joong-woo spoke once more.
“Didn’t you hear that we should all get out of here? including you Get everyone out right now!”
“Yes, yes!”
Kim Joong-woo’s secretary quickly came to his senses and began tidying up the cafe.
In a very short time, all the staff at the cafe left, and even the people who worked at the cafe left the cafe.
Hoyoung waited with a relaxed face for the mess to be sorted out.
Joong-Woo Kim walked over to Ho-Young and said,
It was an ambiguous tone that was neither half-talking nor respectful.
“Are you not going to let this person next to you go?”
“There is nothing I will hear that this man will not hear. Of course, none of what I have to say.”
“I still want you to vacate your seat.”
“after···.”
Kim Joong-woo sighed heavily and sat down on the chair.
“Okay. Would you like to sit down?”
Hoyeong sat down in front of him, and Miru naturally sat a little further away.
Kim Joong-woo looked at Ho-young with complicated eyes for a while, then opened his mouth first.
“I don’t know where you heard that baseless rumor, but if you thought that just that would upset me in the slightest, you’d be very mistaken. I came down to tell you about it. Got it?”
“When I saw it, it seemed that they were very agitated and came down here. Isn’t it?”
“This man!”
“To be honest, I didn’t expect the response to be this good. Did I say something poignant?”
“Me, hitting the point?”
Hoyeong ate and laughed and said.
“Well, the president knows better than that. You must be well aware of the wide range of funds I manage. As I was rolling that much money, I naturally got to know the Swiss side as well.”
“Swiss···?”
“yes. In particular, I know the UBS bank in Switzerland well… They said that they obtained information that a company called Artek had borrowed a whopping amount of $200 million.”
Kim Joong-woo could not answer anything and just glared at Ho-yeong.
Hoyoung continued talking leisurely as if nothing was wrong with that gaze.
“By the way, when Daewoo Motors increased capital in 1996, Artek participated in the capital increase by consuming all 200 million dollars. It’s because I’m curious. I was curious about what kind of company Artek was, so I tried hard to track it down… this. A paper company?”
paper company.
In other words, it means that it is a ghost company.
Chairman Kim Joong-woo borrowed money through a paper company and used the money to participate in a paid-in capital increase to finance Daewoo Motors.
If this happens, the book of Daewoo Motors will record a capital increase of 200 million dollars under the category of attracting foreign investors.
In simple terms, it was debt hiding.
“So, what do you want to say?”
Kim Joong-woo tried to hold on to his trembling voice and spoke to Ho-yeong with enthusiasm.
If I showed even the slightest agitation here, it seemed like everything would be caught by Hoyeong.
“Well, this doesn’t seem like something you’ve done once or twice. So, I want to start doing some research in earnest. Before that, I thought it would be better to say something to the president, so I visited him once. haha.”
Hoyoung made an expression as if he was really worried about Kim Joong-woo and said.
However, Kim Joong-woo could not see Ho-young’s tone or expression at all.
He grabbed his shaking chest and pretended to be calm and stood up from his seat.
“under. haha. thank you so much for that Wherever you like, try it. I am fine.”
“I’m glad if you’re okay. Haven’t you heard the good news yet?”
“good news?”
“It’s just me and a few people really close to me that know this yet.”
“That means…”
Hoyoung shrugged.
“I think the answer will come if you think about why I came here.”
“reason?”
“Maybe I… I guess I will be in the office next Thursday around 1:00 PM because I have no schedule. Then I’m busy too, so I’m off for today.”
Hoyoung stood up, bowed slightly, and left the cafe.
“No, damn it…”
Chairman Kim Joong-woo had no choice but to admit that he had been completely stopped by that kid he had only met for less than 15 minutes.
.
.
.
In an era of upheaval, a week seemed like an instant.
During the week Ho-yeong met with Kim Joong-woo at the Daewoo Building, the South Korean government executed an unprecedented amnesty for criminals, a staggering number of 2,300.
And the IMF bypassed, but in the end, the Daenong Group and Midopa Department Store finally declared bankruptcy on March 18, unable to withstand the foreign exchange crisis.
“They say you’ll be a little freer in 1998, but you seem to be busier?”
“But can we have lunch together these days?”
“Oh, thank you very much for having lunch with me. What···. However, it is because I am in Korea.”
Hoyeong and Sumin had been at a coffee shop right in front of the Hermes Group headquarters for the first time in a while.
In the second half of 1997, when the foreign exchange crisis was in full swing, Ho-young was so busy that he could hardly meet him.
Especially, as Sumin said, I didn’t even have much time in Korea.
If you were a normal lover, you might have had a big fight or had a big problem on the love front, but fortunately, Sumin didn’t care too much about such things.
‘Isn’t it strange that I’m shaking just because I haven’t seen this much when it’s not something I’ll see for another year or two?’
Every time he heard Sumin say this, Hoyoung felt that something was going wrong(?), but this flow was already something Hoyoung could not do.
Not too long ago, I had introduced Sumin to my parents in Hannam-dong, so with the sensibility of the late 90s, it was no different from a situation where I couldn’t take it out or leave it out.
Ha Su-min was once again enjoying his heyday.
And in its heyday, although it cannot be said to be all, the influence of Hoyoung accounted for a large portion.
The title of ‘Yoon Ho-young’s woman’ was enough to attract the public’s attention, and Ha Su-min’s skills were, of course, good, so he continued to appear on various broadcasts and sell albums.
In addition, Sumin and Kim Mi-ae appeared together in the campaign advertisement for ‘Cheer Up Korea’, produced jointly by H&H, Hermes and Pantech, and boasted a close personal relationship.
“brother. Didn’t you say you had an appointment at 1 o’clock today? It’s almost one o’clock now, can I not go into the office?”
Ha Su-min asked Ho-yeong.
Although she grumbled in words, she was the one who took care of Hoyoung’s schedule first.
“it’s okay. It doesn’t take long to get to work from here. And I decided to contact you when I meet someone.”
Brilliant-
As Hoyoung finished speaking, his cell phone rang.
“Did you see it?”
Hoyoung answered the phone right away.
“hello?”
– President. Chairman Kim Joong-woo came to visit us.
“Could you please wait in the parlor for a moment?”
– All right.
Hoyoung glanced at his watch to see that it was still 10 minutes before 1:00.
“I heard you’re not this good at timing, but you must have been in a hurry.”
“Should we go in now?”
“yes. What time did you say your schedule is today?”
“I start at eight, and I’ll finish around twelve.”
“okay? Then, I’ll pick you up at the set at that time. see you then I really don’t have any plans for tomorrow.”
Sumin rolled her eyes at Hoyoung and smiled.
“Who was it that suddenly went to Japan after doing that the other day?”
“I really couldn’t help it then.”
When Hoyoung started to cry, Sumin laughed as if his face was funny.
“Okay. See you later. brother.”
“yes”
After Hoyoung broke up with Sumin, she took light steps towards the Hermes headquarters.
He was confident that he would bring Daewoo Motors just by having a conversation with Chairman Kim Joong-woo, which was to be held a little later.
