Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 377

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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377. How did Donghae Group end up in this state?

Unlike Daeheung Group, which was weathering the crisis well thanks to Seok-won’s timely advice and thorough preparation, most companies were drifting through each day like small sailboats caught in a fierce tempest. Donghae Group was no exception—their attempt at a hostile takeover of Midopa Department Store had failed, and in their desperation to cover the aftermath, they had recklessly drawn upon foreign debt, which ultimately became their undoing.
In the spacious Chairman’s Office, furnished with antique furnishings, Chairman Woo Yong-gap sat on the sofa with group executives flanking him on either side.
As he smoked and repeatedly rolled up his sleeves to check the watch on his wrist, Chairman Woo Yong-gap’s face was taut with tension. He fixed his gaze on Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol, who sat to his left.
Chairman Woo Yong-gap, who had been smoking a cigarette and repeatedly rolling up his sleeves to check the watch on his wrist, looked at Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol on his left with a tense, anxious expression.

“You know how difficult it is to secure cash these days. The negotiations may simply be taking longer. Let’s wait a bit more.”
“You know it’s not easy to come by cash these days. The story might get a bit long, so let’s wait just a little bit longer.”

Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol’s face was also rigid as he spoke in a soothing tone.

“Damn it. At this rate, my insides will burn out first.”

He then pulled out a fresh cigarette from the wooden box on the table and placed it between his lips.
Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol, watching from beside him, silently flicked his lighter and lit it for him.
Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol, watching this from beside him, silently flicked his lighter and lit it for him.

“Phew…”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap, who had been chain-smoking nervously, muttered while unable to hide his anxiety.

“We’ve set up additional collateral on the headquarters building and your shareholdings, just as the bank requested. It should work out.”
“Yes, it has to.”
“Yeah. That’s the way to do it.”

At that moment, there was a knock, and the door opened. A middle-aged man of medium height entered.
It was Choi Byung-il, who had been serving as the Financial Director of Donghae Group since last year.
Chairman Woo Yong-gap hastily stubbed out the cigarette in his hand and asked urgently.
Chairman Woo Yong-gap hastily stubbed out the cigarette in his hand and asked urgently.

“What happened!”

With all eyes in the room fixed on him, CFO Choi Byung-il hesitated with an embarrassed expression.

“That’s…”

Woo Yong-gap’s eyebrows shot up at my inability to answer immediately.

“Why aren’t you answering!”

As he pressed again with a loud voice, Choi Byung-il, the Finance Director, stood before the door and wiped the sweat embedded in his palm onto his trousers, then spoke in a creeping voice.

“Woo Young Bank says they cannot provide the loan they promised.”
“What!”

Woo Yong-gap glared fiercely and spat out his words.

“I even set up additional collateral as you wanted—why won’t they give us the loan!”

At his accusatory question, Choi Byung-il raised one arm as if he were a criminal, wiping the sweat beading on his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Sir. They were definitely saying that until just a few days ago. But with the exchange rate skyrocketing, even the banks are struggling to secure dollars, and more than that, due to cascading defaults, there are so many non-performing loans that they no longer have the capacity to extend any more loans.”

Before he could finish, Woo Yong-gap slammed his palm hard against the armrest of the sofa he was sitting on.

“Why are you telling me this now!”

At his furious roar, veins bulging in his neck, Choi Byung-il’s shoulders shrank.

“If this was going to happen, why did you ask me to put up additional collateral in the first place!”

As Woo Yong-gap blazed with fury, Choi Byung-il’s head drooped lower and lower.

“I apologize.”
“This is absolutely maddening.”

Woo Yong-gap looked at Choi Byung-il, who stood sweating profusely as if undergoing punishment, with eyes full of contempt, and roughly yanked his necktie knot loose with one hand.
While the other executives held their breath, afraid even a spark might fly their way, Jeon Hae-cheol, the Chief Secretary, opened his mouth with a grave expression.

“It seems we’ll have to give up on securing an additional loan from Woo Young Bank.”
“Those bastards! Are they playing games with me?”

Woo Yong-gap ground his teeth and spewed curses.

“I need dollars to pay interest to HSBC next month—this is driving me insane.”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap, who had attempted to swallow the entire Daeheung Group through a hostile takeover of Midopa Department Store but was blocked by Seok Won-han, had borrowed 100 million dollars from HSBC to clean up the aftermath.
It was a two-year maturity with 9% annual interest, and at the time, he had believed it would be manageable.
However, as the economy deteriorated sharply, short-term foreign debt had ballooned to 280 million dollars, let alone repaying the principal.
To make matters worse, the exchange rate skyrocketed, and the monthly interest payments nearly doubled overnight.
For the Donghae Group, already struggling under excessive debt, it was a catastrophe without equal.

“The interest is problematic, but the more critical issue is repaying the 100 million dollar debt that matures at year’s end.”

At Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol’s words, Chairman Woo Yong-gap’s expression twisted with irritation.

“I asked them to raise the interest and extend the maturity. Still no response?”
“I contacted them again today and pleaded our case, but they flatly refused, saying they cannot extend the maturity.”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap’s face contorted painfully as he listened.

“Nothing is working out properly.”

As he bit his lip, barely suppressing the roiling fury within, Finance Director Choi Byung-il hesitated before reluctantly opening his mouth as if he had no choice.

“There is… one more matter I must report.”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap glared at the still-standing Finance Director Choi Byung-il and replied with a barbed tone.

“Speak.”
“Due to the stock market collapse, the value of the securities and oil company shares pledged as collateral has declined. They are demanding either additional collateral or partial repayment of the loan principal…”
“They say they won’t provide additional loans unilaterally, and now what are they going on about!”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap cut him off mid-sentence and shouted with a face flushed red with rage.
Though Finance Director Choi Byung-il was merely delivering the news, he hung his head in shame, deeply regretting why he had to be the one bearing such tidings at this moment.

“How much collateral does Woo Young Bank want?”

Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol asked with a hardened expression.

“It appears they want what we were planning to offer as collateral for the additional loan.”
“How much is that worth, and they’re demanding we hand it over! These bastards are nothing but highway robbers without weapons!”

As Chairman Woo Yong-gap raged, pacing back and forth, Chief Secretary Jeon Hae-cheol paused briefly in thought before speaking in a grave voice.

“It’s an unreasonable demand, certainly, but if Woo Young Bank truly recalls the loans, our group will be insolvent that very day.”
“Damn it!”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap cursed and slumped back against the sofa.
Then, sighing long and heavily as if lamenting, he muttered to himself with a note of self-mockery.

“How did the Donghae Group ever come to this?”

I had dreamed of swallowing the Daeheung Group and entering the top thirty of the business rankings, but in an instant, everything had crumbled to dust.
If I made even one wrong move, I would lose everything I had and be drowning in debt.

* * *

That night.
Rain pattered softly against the window, cooling the unusually oppressive late summer heat.
Chairman Woo Yong-gap sat alone in the Estate Study, drinking.
As I held an old-fashioned glass filled with whisky and ice, took a sip, and set it down, a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.”

I spoke in a heavy, subdued voice, and the door opened as my eldest son Ho-geun entered the study.
He had been convicted on multiple charges including stock manipulation and illegal loans, sentenced to prison, and released just a month ago through a special pardon on Liberation Day.
Naturally, it was only because Chairman Woo Yong-gap had pulled strings behind the scenes that he could be released on parole.
Ho-geun, who had been quietly keeping a low profile, glanced at his father’s unusual appearance and lowered his head.

“I’m here.”
“Sit there.”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap gestured with his chin toward the empty seat.
Ho-geun quietly moved to the sofa on the right, sat down, and Chairman Woo Yong-gap silently took another drink of whisky.
In the suffocating atmosphere, Ho-geun watched his father’s expression carefully and waited quietly for him to speak.
After drinking in silence for a long while, Chairman Woo Yong-gap set down the old-fashioned glass with only ice remaining and looked up at his son.

“You have ears, so you must know what the company’s situation is like.”
“…Yes.”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap, still seated on the sofa, took out an envelope he had prepared beforehand and handed it to his son.

“What is this?”

Ho-geun accepted the envelope without thinking, and Chairman Woo Yong-gap answered while leaning back in his chair.

“It’s an airplane ticket.”
“…?”
“You’re going to the United States in four days. Finish anything you need to settle by then.”

Ho-geun opened the envelope and found a one-way ticket to New York inside. He looked at Chairman Woo Yong-gap with a bewildered expression.

“Why suddenly the United States… And I can’t leave the country while I’m on parole.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve already pulled strings with the Ministry of Justice.”
“…!”

Ho-geun sensed that something significant was happening. He swallowed hard and listened intently to what Chairman Woo Yong-gap had to say.

“Once you arrive in New York, immediately withdraw all the dollars from the U.S. branch account and transfer them to the paper company we’ve set up in the Cayman Islands.”

Donghae Oil, the foundation of the group, imported soybeans—the primary raw material for the cooking oil it produced—entirely from the United States and South America.
To facilitate soybean imports smoothly, the Donghae Group had long ago established a separate corporation in the United States to manage operations there.
Since cooking oil was an essential commodity, even as the government strictly controlled foreign currency outflows, the Industrial Bank had specially extended a thirty-million-dollar loan that could be remitted to the U.S. corporation’s account—and that was what he intended to siphon off.

“I’ll file for composition with the court in two weeks.”
“Father!”

Ho-geun cried out in shock at this thunderbolt revelation.
Chairman Woo Yong-gap looked at his son and continued in a heavy voice.

“We have hundreds of billions in debt that must be repaid by the end of this year alone. We can barely manage the interest payments, let alone the principal. If things continue as they are, we won’t last even a month before we go bankrupt. When that happens, we’ll not only lose the shares we’ve pledged as collateral, but we’ll also lose control of the group.”

Ho-geun’s pupils dilated sharply.
Until now, he had been able to spend money freely as the crown prince because he was the third generation of the Donghae Group. The thought that this could disappear filled him with a sense of loss and overwhelming anxiety.

“Given the current situation, even if we have to surrender management control, we’ll need money to reclaim the group later. So you need to go abroad and manage the slush funds. You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”
“…Yes.”

Ho-geun nodded with an unusually serious expression.

“I’ll handle any problems that arise on this end, but just in case. Once you’ve completed the transfer, leave the United States and go somewhere that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Korea. Since you have an American passport, the Prosecution won’t be able to touch you.”
“Yes.”

Chairman Woo Yong-gap gazed at his son’s face, committing it to memory—a face he would not see for some time to come.

“Be especially careful that no one suspects anything until you leave the country.”
“Understood, sir.”

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