After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 109

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 109

Normally, a large corporation’s business expansion would inevitably face various forms of backlash.

Especially octopus-like business expansion would face even more criticism.

So there were media outlets that expressed negative opinions about KH Group’s acquisition of Life Plus.

[KH Group’s rapid expansion. Is this really okay?]

[Extension of octopus-like expansion? Is KH Group a relief pitcher? Or an opportunist?]

[Following finance, construction, and entertainment, KH Group now enters logistics and distribution, concerns arise over rapid expansion.]

KH Group’s recent business expansion had been proceeding at a rapid pace.

Less than a year after declaring itself a group, it was jumping into various fields.

Such movements became good fodder for the media.

Usually when such media articles came out, public reaction would inevitably turn negative.

Indeed, people criticizing KH Group’s business expansion appeared centered around several communities.

-KH Group seems a bit strange.

What is?

I don’t know where they’re getting the money to expand their business like this.

It’s a conglomerate, so they must have had a lot of money to begin with.

-It only looks like invasion of neighborhood commerce.

Is this Life Plus some kind of neighborhood commercial district? lol

Now they’re calling large supermarkets neighborhood commercial districts.

-It only looks like forced criticism.

-Honestly, looking at the places KH Group invested in, aren’t most of them investments for ordinary people?

-The Yeongjong Island jeonse fraud case would have grown out of control if not for them.

-Let’s stop the forced criticism of those who caught jeonse fraud that even the government couldn’t catch, even if we can’t give them commendations.

In communities, when critical posts went up, surprisingly, posts defending KH Group would appear.

Especially during the KH Construction days, resolving the Yeongjong Island jeonse fraud case had built a favorable image among ordinary people.

Thanks to this, KH Group could enter the Life Plus acquisition battle with peace of mind.

* * *

Kang Hyeon visited TK Asset Management’s headquarters, accompanied by Lee Manager from the Future Strategy Team, Choi Kang-hyeon from the Legal Team, and Kim Ha-ryul from the Secretary Team along with several employees.

“I’m Kim Byeong-su from TK Asset Management.”

“I’m Choi Kang-hyeon from KH Group.”

Kim Byeong-su.

Born in South Korea but raised in the United States, he was someone who entered Wall Street in his youth and achieved tremendous results.

Based on the assets he accumulated during his trader days, he came to South Korea and created a private equity fund called TK Asset Management.

TK Asset Management made enormous profits by acquiring companies in crisis, normalizing them, and then reselling them.

Though there were many critical voices during this process, it made Kim Byeong-su one of South Korea’s top wealthy individuals.

“Let’s get straight to the point.”

Since Kim Byeong-su was someone who disliked wasting time, he went straight to the main topic after greetings.

“The transaction amount is 1.5 trillion won.”

It was a somewhat higher price than expected.

Kang Hyeon immediately shook his head.

“That’s too high. The amount should be 1 trillion won, and the higher the cash ratio, the more discount we’d like.”

“Hmm, unfortunately, that amount is unreasonable. As you know, the government has decided to forgive some of Life Plus’s debt. We’d like to receive additional payment equivalent to that difference.”

The government had decided to forgive part of the debt Life Plus held in order to save it.

This was a common occurrence.

If large corporations collapsed, the ordinary people belonging to them would suffer damage.

Moreover, if Life Plus, a large mart chain, closed all at once, it would cause inconvenience to local communities.

Due to these concerns, the government decided to pay off part of Life Plus’s debt.

Kim Byeong-su was thinking of exploiting this aspect to secure more money.

“We can’t do that. The government forgiving debt is only applicable if Life Plus operates normally. Is normal operation possible for Life Plus in the current situation?”

“Ahem! Fine. Then let’s do 1.3 trillion won. We’ve made significant concessions on our side with this amount.”

The other party was changing prices back and forth as if haggling over market goods.

There was a clear reason for this.

‘This guy who rolled around a bit in Yeouido seems to have made some money through luck. But he’s no match for me.’

Kim Byeong-su was someone who had risen to this position through self-made success.

Naturally, he had his own stubbornness and prejudices, and he had firm standards for judging people.

To such a Kim Byeong-su, Kang Hyeon still looked like a greenhorn.

Just a greenhorn with a bit of good luck.

That’s why he was actually looking down on him.

However, Kang Hyeon was not as easy a person as he thought.

“I think there’s some misunderstanding.”

Kang Hyeon’s atmosphere changed.

The polite demeanor from just moments ago disappeared, and from his eyes emanated an aura like that of a strong warrior.

A similar atmosphere emanated from his entire body, making his appearance no longer something that could be called a greenhorn.

Seeing this, it felt like having famous traders from Wall Street right before his eyes.

‘This can’t be. This greenhorn has that level of presence?’

They naturally acquired such energy by conducting countless life-or-death trades daily.

That kind of energy that ordinary people couldn’t possess.

But Kang Hyeon possessed such energy, so he couldn’t help but be surprised.

Then Kang Hyeon delivered an ultimatum.

“Our KH Group is a kind of relief pitcher that stepped up to rescue Life Plus at the government’s request. If you were thinking of haggling with us, that would be a grave miscalculation.”

Kang Hyeon held out the document envelope he had in his hand.

“As I mentioned, the condition is 1 trillion won. If you want the full amount in cash, the payment will be 900 billion won. There’s no room for negotiation on these conditions.”

Having finished what he had to say, Kang Hyeon pushed back his chair and stood up.

“Then please think it over and contact us.”

That was the end.

Without even listening to a response, Kang Hyeon left the meeting room as is.

His subordinates followed behind him, leaving only an empty chair in front of Kim Byeong-su.

After they all left, the TK employees burst out in complaints.

“That… That! Isn’t that way too rude?!”

“How dare he treat our chairman like that! Such an arrogant bastard!!”

“Chairman! We should call off this deal immediately!”

“That’s right! There’s no reason to accept the conditions of such a young punk!”

Kim Byeong-su sighed at their appearance, all coming to him without exception.

“Then is there anyone who can call off the deal and go to the President to say we called off the deal because we didn’t like the price?”

At his words, all the employees became speechless.

Kim Byeong-su’s face contorted at their appearance of playing dumb.

“That young man you’re talking about has finished calculating up to that point and just delivered an ultimatum to us! And you’re suggesting we call off the deal without any countermeasures?!”

At Kim Byeong-su’s sharp rebuke, they broke out in cold sweat.

There was no one in this meeting room who could withstand the presence of him, who was called the Tiger of Wall Street.

“Phew… How can I trust you people to do work?”

“We’re… we’re sorry…”

“We were short-sighted…”

Watching them lower their voices, Kim Byeong-su picked up the documents.

‘His name was Choi Kang-hyeon…’

Until he established KH Group, it was a name never heard in this industry.

Just in case, before meeting today, he had asked friends in Yeouido.

Whether they knew a man named Choi Kang-hyeon.

But there wasn’t a single person who knew Choi Kang-hyeon from his days working in Yeouido.

Even the chairman of the company he belonged to didn’t know his name.

In other words, as a company trader, he hadn’t distinguished himself notably.

‘I made a mistake. If a man who hadn’t shown such prominence reached this position in just 1-2 years, I should have realized he wasn’t ordinary.’

Blaming himself for underestimating his opponent, he left the meeting room.

‘It seems I’ll have to take a loss on this deal.’

This transaction was being overseen by the government from start to finish.

Reminding himself that this was a deal he couldn’t overturn, he let out a sigh.

* * *

From the first meeting with Chairman Kim Byeong-su, I sensed that the Life Plus deal might be somewhat delayed.

So I played the ultimatum card, and he made a quick decision.

-We’ll proceed with the deal on the condition of receiving full payment in cash.

“Understood. Then I’ll contact you as soon as preparations are complete.”

After hanging up, Kang Hyeon immediately called Team Manager Lee Gi-cheol.

“Yes, Chairman.”

“TK has agreed to accept our conditions. Please take the lead in finalizing the acquisition contract, Team Manager Lee Gi-cheol.”

“Understood. I’ll complete it as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

The Life Plus acquisition was decided.

What remained was acquiring Dash’s logistics centers.

‘It’s about time for their funds to dry up.’

There had been continuous news that Dash would soon announce their position regarding compensation plans.

The government was also constantly pressuring Dash, trying to hold them accountable for this incident.

In this situation, Dash was still at odds with the South Korean government, continuing their tug-of-war.

‘They’re even bringing up the National Intelligence Service.’

The National Intelligence Service wasn’t an ordinary government organization.

Dash’s stance was clear as they engaged in a power struggle, even mentioning such an entity.

‘They’re going with a strategy to avoid lawsuits in the United States. But that will ultimately become their downfall.’

Kang Hyeon was waiting for the timing when they would raise the white flag.

That would be when he could purchase the logistics centers at the cheapest price.

* * *

Inside Dash, meetings continued every single day.

All the global executives couldn’t go home and sat disheveled in the meeting room, devising measures to escape this crisis.

“How about negotiating with the South Korean government even now?”

“Wouldn’t that be tantamount to admitting that we’re responsible for the information leak? That would lead to massive shareholder lawsuits in the United States.”

“That’s right. Unlike South Korea, lawsuits in America could shake our entire foundation.”

“We must prevent that at all costs.”

What they feared most were lawsuits in the United States.

In America, even the most massive corporations could be shaken to their roots if sued by shareholders.

With so many such precedents, they couldn’t rashly discuss responsibility for this incident.

“Even if we provide damage compensation, we need to shift the responsibility for this incident to external parties, not ourselves.”

“If it becomes known that this was an inside job by our employee, we won’t be able to avoid responsibility.”

“I’ve thought of a damage compensation plan to offer our members.”

When one executive touched his tablet, a compensation plan appeared on the screen.

“It’s a total of 50,000 won, but we’ll allocate 40,000 won to luxury goods purchases that most users don’t make, essentially making it unusable.”

“Oh… that’s not a bad idea, is it?”

“It seems reasonable.”

“Looking at our data, luxury item purchases are rarely made, so even if we give out coupons, they’ll likely expire unused.”

“What a brilliant idea!”

“Let’s go with this!”

They marveled at their own compensation plan and made yet another blunder.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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