Episode 150. Like the CIA.
Lone Super Korea CEO Yuhan-min asked Do Min-jae, director of the Financial Supervisory Service’s policy department.
“Yes? What do you mean? Is there a place that offers to buy a Yu-Hwan Bank at this time, which no one has ever been interested in?”
“To be precise, no one was interested. There were companies who were interested, but most of them could not take over because they were industrial capital whose qualifications were restricted by the banking law, and now an exception is in effect.”
“You did things as quietly as possible in fear that such companies would come out, didn’t you? How did you know that and how did you apply?”
“I don’t know that either. In any case, it must be a company that CEO Yoo knows well, so let’s all gather together…”
Dang…!
At those words, Yuhan-min was engulfed in a shock as if he had been hit directly in the brain and was unable to think for a moment.
Meanwhile, Director Doo continued.
“There, I applied for registration as a candidate for takeover. I think you have to do something about it.”
Yuhan-min, who had barely regained his composure, asked.
“..How the hell do you know about Damoye?”
“I do not know. We checked the line on our side and there was no one suspicious. Perhaps it was leaked from the representative’s side…”
“On our side? That can’t be… maybe?”
In Yuhan-min’s mind, the face of Bank President Na Woong-jin, who suddenly turned cooperatively, came to mind.
“Did that writer come out so cooperatively for this?”
“Are you that little one?”
“..no. There is a place where we can guess, so we will check it on our side. First, the director, please find out if there is a way to disqualify Damoye from taking over. If Damoye intervenes, things can go terribly wrong.”
“Um… I see. I will look for it.”
I sat down opposite the bank president Na Woong-jin and had a leisurely tea time.
“At this point, Lone Star Korea must have been in an uproar, right?”
Na Woong-jin smiled and looked up at the vibrating cell phone.
“yes. The phone hasn’t stopped since before. Now, it seems that they have noticed too.”
“haha. Unless he’s an idiot, of course he is. The president of the bank goes to the bank for nothing, so don’t get caught up in complicated things, and for the time being, come to work here.”
“Are you going to work here?”
“yes. We have prepared a seat for the head of the bank in the secretary’s office. You can help me with my work there for a while, and then return to work as the head of the bank after the takeover of Yuhwan Bank is over.”
“..are you telling me to look at the secretary’s office? I don’t know anything other than financial affairs.”
“haha. All you have to do is do the work that requires that financial knowledge. Wait. I will also call the chief of staff and tell you.”
After a while, Director Lee Kuk-hyun came in and spoke with the head of the bank.
“Chief Lee, together with the president of the bank, please thoroughly investigate the loan super fund. What is the structure, how is the investment, where the funds come from, etc. Exactly who are the investors in the game right now.”
Hearing these words, the manager sighed.
“Whoa… President, you don’t think this is some kind of CIA, are you? How do you figure it all out? However, Lone Super itself is a very closed organization, so it is difficult to find out even ordinary information.”
“If the CIA can do it, then Manager Lee can do it too.”
The manager smiled with a surprised face.
“I’m going to allocate 500 million won for this investigation.”
At my words, the manager suddenly lost his speech.
After a while, he opened his mouth with difficulty.
“..500 million?”
“yes. If that doesn’t work, I’ll raise another 5 million.”
The manager had a look of dismay.
“..with that amount of money, you can even steal the president’s identity…”
“Is that right? Let me know if you need more research fees. You just have to get good results.”
The manager nodded with a face that he couldn’t do it.
“All right. If you do so, I will try to find out the name of the hidden illegitimate child of Chairman Lone Super.”
“haha. It’s good to be prepared. Then the bank manager. Manager, please help me out. There will be many jobs that require financial knowledge.”
#Lonestar Korea CEO Yuhan-min Yuhan-min, Bank President Na Woong-jin, does not answer the phone.
When I heard the report that I wasn’t even going to work, I immediately noticed how things were going.
Yuhan-min, feeling frustrated, smiled bitterly.
“Ha…my eyes are ready now. I never thought Na Woong-jin was a savvy person who could hit the back of my head like this… Plus, he’s eating with Kang Jae-woon, so he’s doing things right.”
After nervously tearing up the provisional contract that was unilaterally canceled by Komatsubank, he muttered a little.
“..as long as things have turned out like this, for now, I can only hope that Director Do will do a good job.”
Park Si-woong, the team leader, was reporting the results.
“The market share of the apparel sector continues to increase, and it is expected to rise to the 40% level next month. But slowly, companies that benchmark our Dao Mall are starting to appear one by one, so it seems that countermeasures are needed.”
“Did Team Manager Park have any ideas?”
“yes. The factor that has been successful so far has been the management method that differentiates us from other offline stores, such as offering the same clothes at a lower price and providing customers with the convenience of trying on their own clothes.”
“However, this management method has the disadvantage of being easy to follow, so it is difficult to maintain competitiveness for a long time. As a way to compensate for this, we thought that it would be good if we could create our own clothing brand and supply it exclusively to Dao Mall to create a difference from other similar Dao Malls.”
“haha. That’s a good idea.”
It was a strategy that reminded the famous OTT company Godflix how to create their own original products and make it difficult for other companies to follow.
“yes. But to create a new brand, you need a lot of great designers. How are you going to solve that?”
“Many of the small clothing retailers in our shopping mall design and sell their own clothes. We have already created a community by gathering only the best of them.”
“..a community of designers. Did you make all those things?”
Manager Park replied with a humble face.
“Actually, this was not done by me, but by Kang Kyung-ah.”
“Are you Kyung-ah?”
“yes. Deputy Kang is very interested in clothes, so when he sees good clothes, he communicates with the designers of those clothes. The community was originally created by Deputy Kang for the pure purpose of making friends with the designers, but I thought about using it in this way.”
“haha. Kyung-ah, this guy is paying for his meals properly.”
“yes. At first, there were many people who looked up to me as a parachute who was easily hired, but now it is not. Rather, there are more reviews that he has the ability because of the blood connection with the CEO.”
“okay. In any case, the opinion of Team Leader Park was good. Team leader Park prepares for the creation of a new brand, and we add one more strategy to that.”
“What strategy..?”
“Let’s also make a luxury hall.”
Manager Park asked with a surprised face.
“A luxury hall?”
“Um… luxury clothing wouldn’t want to enter our shopping mall for fear that the brand value would go down.”
“It’s a well-known brand. However, there are some clothing brands around the world whose clothes are of the highest quality, but are buried by marketing and other issues. Among them, target brands that are difficult to manage and bring them to us. If necessary, we will also approve the equity investment.”
“All right. But even if I made a luxury hall, would it sell a lot? Most of the people who use our shopping mall come here because the clothes are cheap.”
“It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t sell well. In fact, the reason department stores also attract luxury stores is that the purpose of increasing brand value is greater than making profits there. If there is a luxury store in a shopping mall, many people will come to Dao Mall to try on luxury items, and the name of our shopping mall will rise. If the price is the same, people will have a feeling that the quality of living in Damoye will be guaranteed.”
Manager Park looked at me with admiring eyes.
“ah! I guess so. I was immersed in the stereotype that I had to sell at a low price, so I didn’t even think about that.”
“yes. Are there any other problems with the operation of the shopping mall?”
Manager Park paused for a moment at my words and continued.
“It may be a minor issue, but these days, imitation reports are coming in.”
“Imitation? That’s an unavoidable problem when you’re in a brokerage business like this. If it is true, you can close the seller’s account and finish by providing a reward coupon to the customers.”
“Yes, but the number of reports of this is growing rapidly.”
“The sales have increased a lot these days. Isn’t that why?”
“Even considering the increase in sales, it seems to be too much.”
“Hmm… So, the opinion of Team Manager Park is that it doesn’t seem like a normal situation?”
“..yes. Maybe I’m overreacting, but I’m not feeling very well anyway.”
I thought for a moment, then opened my mouth.
“Then, do your research properly to see if there are other reasons for the increase in the number of imitation reports. We will help with the cost.”
“There is no solid evidence. I’ve actually researched it, and it might not be a big deal. I could just throw away the cost, would that be ok?”
“it’s okay. If Team Manager Park, who is in charge of the work, feels that way, there is a high possibility that there is a problem, and even if it is not a big problem, it is good to point it out clearly. A small hole can make a dam fall.”
“Then I know. We will investigate and report back.”
I received a call from Chairman Kang-Jin Joo.
“yes. President.”
“The spy is calling to report.”
“haha. You tell me.”
“Not long ago, the loan super fund created a new fund called the loan super fund IV. I thought you were going to try to take over Yuhwan Bank with that fund?”
“Did you come and create a new fund?”
“okay. They said it was to prepare for the takeover battle with Damoye, so I didn’t ask for more details because I was afraid of being suspicious.”
“All right. President. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“okay. I’ve been asking for information like this, so there’s no way I’m going to fail, right?”
“Sure. Rest assured, this will never happen. It’s not like I’m usually fighting with determination.”
“okay. Call me again.”
I hung up the phone with Chairman Joo and called Director Lee Kuk-hyun.
“Chief. Please investigate the loan super fund IV in detail.”
“Lone Super Fund IV? what else is that? It’s a fund that didn’t exist until last week, right?”
“It’s a fund that was created all of a sudden. I’m sure there’s a plan in there, so please dig it up in detail.”
