Chapter 43

EP 8 - The Youngest Granddaughter of a Chaebol Family (6)

A month has passed.

In the dimly lit office.

I sit silently in front of the turned-off TV.

Closing my eyes.

I slowly fall into a reverie.

‘First... I will protect the Cheonmok Group...’

‘Are you saying you will defend the shares in the heavy industry?’

‘No... I will tear them all apart...’

* * *

‘Even though the world seems chaotic now, it is still relatively peaceful, you know.’

‘Does the world look peaceful to you?’

‘With the heirs dead, the blind shares are floating around like scraps of paper. No one is eating them...? Cowards...’

Someone placed an unexpected piece on the carefully laid out Go board over the past six months.

It was a queen.

‘What a fascinating thing... Even though it seems like a calm ice lake, in fact, water snakes are seething beneath the thin ice.’

‘...Are you going to throw a stone?’

Cheon Geumsoon poured money into the stock market, which was fluctuating like Bitcoin.

Very. Very. Very. A lot.

‘While being treated as a has-been, I was only selling chicken, but with the semiconductor and financial sectors collapsing, I became the richest...? Of course, paper money is cheaper than toilet paper, but the same goes for stocks...’

Cheon Geumsoon repeated the chicken game.

When a mad dog suddenly jumped in and poured a huge amount of money into the already sensitive stock market, the stock prices skyrocketed.

Of course, she couldn't take over the management rights.

They weren't fools, after all.

However, the companies attacked by Cheon Geumsoon, due to the stock prices that soared because of her, had to buy more shares to defend themselves, resulting in significant losses.

Cheon Geumsoon always sold half of her shares at the peak and fled.

Naturally, the shares bought for defense became worthless.

Cheon Geumsoon repeated this four times.

‘Is this not market disruption!’

‘There is no confirmed evidence yet.’

‘Are you kidding? A crazy woman is running around with a knife, and the country should stop her, right!’ Many protests from chaebols followed.

Under normal circumstances, numerous division chiefs would have acted to move the Fair Trade Commission or the Industrial Bank to stabilize the stock prices.

‘With the country in this state, how can we have the time to catch a stock trader?’

‘W-What!?’

Those people are already dead.

‘Economic criminals will be apprehended later. However, we do not have the resources to allocate to that at the moment.’

‘If we lose all our shares, what kind of nonsense is this!’

‘I am truly sorry. We will do our best to resolve it as soon as possible.’

‘Hey! Yu Jae-kyung! How can you do this to me-’

‘......’

‘......Is this acceptable, Doctor?’

‘It's a matter agreed upon with the VIP. Director Yu doesn't need to worry too much.’

‘Anyway, it feels good to bully the chaebols. Yes, it does.’

The Financial Services Commission, more precisely, the Minister of Economy and Finance, who has the authority to appoint personnel in the FSC, lightly dismissed the chaebols' requests.

Even a financial committee member from the business community, appointed by the president of the Federation of Korean Industries, held a press conference, but due to reporting guidelines, it was not broadcast on TV and only received 2,136 views on social media.

This was because I had a showdown with Won Ok-bun.

She was in the middle of a fierce battle with the media and had not yet lost control.

‘...Han Eun-yeong seems to be having fun these days?’

‘I'm sorry, Acting Director.’

‘If it's a joke, you'll be punished.’

‘It's not a joke.’

‘Tell me.’

‘As the political situation stabilizes, the media is becoming active, and they are quite rude, I hear.’

‘But...’

‘Who could be giving them orders?’

‘......’

‘Of course, each media company serves different corporations, so it's hard to pinpoint one. It could be a systematic lobbying effort by the Federation of Korean Industries. It's difficult to identify a clear culprit.’

‘So...’

‘I think it's time for a show of force at this point.’

‘...Don't break the pen, but squeeze the ink out?’

‘Then they will know how to act, won't they?’

‘...Han Eun-yeong.’

‘Yes, Acting Director.’

‘You've become more aggressive since I last saw you. Who's behind you?’

‘Her name is Cheon Geumsoon. She's playing with a chaebol, and I'm just adding a little spice.’

‘Is she my age?’

‘She's the same age as me.’

‘...Hmm. I get the gist of it. She's cute. Bring her to me later.’

‘Thank you, Acting Director.’

In the end, the incident was resolved with a single section chief of Cheonmok Investment and Development receiving a six-month prison sentence for 'personal misconduct.' Naturally, he was on the list for a New Year's special pardon.

In other words, Cheon Geumsoon was fine. The chaebols saw this.

A lowly nobody, far from the top, was acting out of place and causing chaos, yet she walked away unscathed with a mouthful of meat.

Finally, the thin ice broke,

and the eels awoke from hibernation.

They realized that no one was protecting them anymore, and no one was restraining them either.

Of course, they did not show any signs of bowing to the government or submitting to anyone.

They were not that kind of people.

- BBC Chicken has acquired Cornerus Communications. This marks the seventh successful hostile takeover between major corporations in the past 16 days.

- However, this case is also speculative, unrelated to the company's expertise, and a stockpile attack during a temporary stock price plunge. Public concern is growing...

- A confectionery company is acquiring a semiconductor firm! They don't care about business scale or technological capabilities!

- The KOSPI index is experiencing wild fluctuations. Despite price limits and circuit breakers, a massive influx of funds is overwhelming the market.

- The former CEO of Cornerus Communications, Park Joo-cheol, was found dead at his home. His suicide note contained apologies to his family and the company.

- The Federation of Korean Industries has unanimously opposed Representative Yang Pan-seok's market closure bill, stating that any excessive government intervention in the market is unacceptable.

- Despite the twelfth circuit breaker, the 'speculative frenzy' shows no signs of stopping. There are speculations that chaebols are simultaneously injecting slush funds into the market.

The chaotic era has begun.

It is an age of warlords.

The Sixth Prince's Rebellion, the Pan Yuseong Family Civil War, and so on.

The media used all sorts of adjectives to broadcast the war of the powerful. The public's opinion reached a fever pitch as the economy turned into a bloodbath.

But what could be done?

An old hunting dog, who spent his life polishing the shoes of the chairman and was relegated to a minor position in his old age.

A prince who was long ago pushed aside by his brothers.

A CEO who, with all the chaebols dead, is trying to eat the company by installing a three-year-old heir.

The youngest granddaughter of a chaebol family, who caused chaos and then hid within it.

For cunning heroes, only a chaotic era is a world worth living in.

All sorts of beasts that had been hiding in the city's skyscrapers began to emerge and cut off each other's breath.

The distinction between hunter and prey is only one thing.

Money.

No matter how good the performance or how large the scale, if you don't have the cash in hand, you will die.

And our country is one where most people do business with debt. They create a company with debt, use it as collateral to create a new company. The larger the company, the more massive it was.

And it died easily.

The food chain was completely shattered, and the circular investment of the Cheonmok Group was in ruins.

But Cheon Geumsoon protected the Cheonmok Group.

Cheonmok Heavy Industries, the holding company of the Cheonmok Group, is a shipbuilding company. It is large and slow, making it vulnerable to attacks. In other words.

*

“The liquidity has dropped to an extreme level...”

In a dim corner of a small beef soup restaurant.

“It will be dismantled because it can't stop the speculative capital...”

Cheon Geumsoon, with her eyes half-closed from alcohol, mumbled.

“At that time, when the SKY TREE MALL CEO declares bankruptcy, the circular investment will be perfectly severed at the point I set. The 2% of the distribution sector owned by the department store will be scattered, and the distribution will become the property of the shipping company...

At the same time, Cheonmok Shipping will be reborn as a holding company with a jewel of a subsidiary...

With an internal shareholding rate of 51% and a debt ratio of 20% based on separate accounting. This is the Maginot Line...

Ah! It means it's solid...”

Cheon Geumsoon's voice never rose above a certain decibel.

“Isn't the design well done...? It's hard to believe it was set up in just six months, isn't it? Thank you...”

So her words were always hard to hear.

Gloomy.

Stuttering.

Scattered.

Small, soft voice.

But, sitting in this dimly lit beef soup restaurant on a quiet night,

feeling her calm voice seep through the shadows of her face,

I finally realized one fact.

“During the bloodbath, I will donate hundreds of billions to an orphanage in northern Seoul and distribute most of the food in the warehouse. When people receive food when prices are sky-high, how will they feel...? And I plan to entrust most of the profits from speculation to the Bank of Korea...”

Her gentle tone.

Slightly slow pace.

“And at that time, the government will step in and say.”

And her violent nature.

“To control the economy and crack down on economic criminals who disrupt the market...”

Each word that came out of her mouth seemed to pierce my eardrums and embed itself in my brain.

I felt the blood draining from my body. The piece was placed on the carefully laid out Go board over the past six months.

This woman is crazy.

She had already taken off her suit and emptied two bottles of soju in her shirt.

“At this point, no one will call out 'communist'...

The market, which was a situation where everyone was tearing each other's flesh and attaching it to their own body, will become fixed...”

Her gently drooping eyebrows,

between the dark circles,

her eyes were filled with an indescribable coldness.

“So, most companies will be half-dead, right?”

The chaebol, driven by burning ambition, drawing their swords.

Won Ok-bun, pressuring them to control the media.

The bloodbath that will follow.

The suffering people.

The political sphere stepping in to gain votes.

The government, controlling the economy at their request.

And the one who will ascend to the throne.

Cheon Geumsoon.

Chairman.

“At that point, the companies I will control will be four major lines: steel, energy, food, and construction...”

Steel. Food. Power plants. Construction.

Industries that benefit from war.

She planned war companies.

“It's perfect for patriotism.”

“......”

“Among the money-hungry fools. Feeding the people. Filling the national treasury. Winning national projects. Such a solid and good company...”

“......”

“How high do you think it can rise?”

After calculating, she mumbled that it could rise to the sixth position within a year and tilted her glass again.

She emptied her glass,

and I refilled it for her.

“I heard you.”

“Hmm... No more comments? I worked hard on this plan...”

While refilling her glass, I said,

“So.”

The alcohol overflowed from the glass, running down the table to the floor.

“To eat a company, you're going to destroy the economy of our country, aren't you.”

I put down the empty soju bottle. The room was filled with silence and the sweet smell of alcohol.

Cheon Geumsoon drank the small glass that was left. I asked her,

“Why are you doing this?”

“Hmm...?”

She seemed to have never thought about it, as if it was a given, and fell into deep thought for a long time.

Then, she licked the alcohol from her hand, as if it was a waste to let it go, and smiled calmly.

“My family never saw me as me. I have my own life... How can you see your beloved daughter only as a business tool? I was so angry, I wanted to take revenge-”

“Stop the nonsense.”

“In fact, I am my father's illegitimate child. I grew up being beaten by my mother.”

“Every time you open your mouth...”

“My grandfather, who treated me well since I was young, is actually in a coffin, not a nursing home. I watched my father remove the respirator through the crack in the door...”

“What do you want me to do about it.”

“It doesn't work. This...”

She sighed and thought again.

“Yeah. I don't like my name.”

Slurp. She licked the alcohol from the back of her hand.

“What is Geumsoon, Geumsoon... In the end, I'm just a girl who brings in money, right? A talisman...?”

“I don't think it's because you hate your family.”

“That's right. Thanks to them, I was born with a silver spoon. In today's world.

But there are only goldfish in the family... How can you call a goldfish your mother...?”

“......”

“Maeseok has become a new energy source.

After buying a large amount of maeseok under the pretense of business, resell it at a high price...

Geumsoon... seduce them...”

“......”

“I'm good at seducing people, but I don't want to this time...”

“......”

“Seeing them make a fuss over a tabloid and even selling their daughter, I feel so frustrated...

Can't the country play its cards better...? Arranged marriages here...?”

“......”

“And, after the Han Seung-moon Foundation's research institute has been running for six months, how can I not know...?

Seeing Japan importing a large amount of maeseok, Seung-moon is already stockpiling. Why are they so...

Sigh...

I'll stop talking about this... It's exhausting...”

“...How, did you...”

“The sea route is in my palm... Anyway, I can't understand why they want to touch it...”

“Hey, Cheon Geumsoon.”

“Yes...?”

“Why do I have to do business with a crazy woman?”

“Ah... Forget it...”

Cheon Geumsoon laughed and shook my hand. It felt sticky, probably from the alcohol.

“Thank you...!” She smiled. Her drooping eyebrows made her look gentle and naive, but.

Right now, this smile was terrifying.

I wanted to pull my hand away, but was it the alcohol making it sticky, or was she holding me tightly, or was I just too weak?

I couldn't pull my hand away.

“Since you don't care about the recorder... Does that mean you're willing to hold my hand?”

“......”

“Your mouth says no, but your eyes are honest... Ah...! Finally, I've got you...”

Cheon Geumsoon smiled triumphantly.

“Representative Yang Pan-seok said. He said I would be his type...”

A queen was placed on the carefully laid out Go board over the past six months.

In one move, it overturned the twisted political situation.

“You. Do you find me attractive right now.”

...I don't want to admit it, but.

It was the most needed move.

But, if this is something I need from a crazy woman...

The problem is, this is the queen placed by Yang Pan-seok.

“What crazy plan are you cooking up...?”

In other words,

my plan