Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 491

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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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491. A Historical Park?

Manager Choi Ho-geun, dressed in a gray coat and carrying a leather briefcase in one hand, stepped into the office.

“Good morning, everyone!”

His voice was remarkably cheerful, no doubt buoyed by the generous year-end bonus that had allowed him to purchase a new car.

“Good morning, Manager.”

As the team members who had arrived earlier greeted him with smiling faces, Jung Hwan-yeop, wearing a silk necktie, emerged from the break room with a cup of coffee in hand and spoke.

“Oh? Manager, you’re here early today.”

At that, Manager Choi Ho-geun set his briefcase on the desk and teased him.

“Of course. Did you think I was a chronic latecomer like you?”
“Come on. I’m not like that anymore.”
“Then keep it up from now on.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun removed his coat and hung it on the coat rack behind him, then smoothly snatched the coffee from Jung Hwan-yeop’s hand.

“Hey, that’s my coffee…”

Ignoring Jung Hwan-yeop’s protest, Manager Choi Ho-geun took a loud slurp of the coffee.

“Go make yourself another one.”
“Seriously? This is workplace harassment.”
“Want me to show you what real harassment looks like?”

As Manager Choi Ho-geun responded with a dismissive snort, Jung Hwan-yeop quickly averted his gaze.

“I was joking, joking. I made this one perfectly for you anyway, didn’t I?”
“Right. Enjoy it then.”

As the two of them bickered as usual upon meeting, the youngest team member, Noh Hee-won, approached and placed two transparent plastic cases on the desk.

“Manager. The new business cards have arrived. Two boxes, correct?”
“Yes. Thank you.”

Starting from the new year, the securities and venture capital fund that Seok-won owned—which had remained in an ambiguous position until now—underwent a complete subsidiary separation from Daeheung Group, and I rebranded everything under the new name Blue Hole.
Naturally, all the business cards used by employees had to be replaced, and the freshly printed new cards had arrived today.
Manager Choi Ho-geun opened the lid, took out the new business cards inside, and nodded with a satisfied hum.

“The material quality is excellent, and the printing is clean and sharp.”
“It’s far better than those tacky gold-embossed ones. The company clearly put considerable thought into the design—it came out quite refined.”

Jung Hwan-yeop, the assistant manager standing beside him, added his own comment.
Manager Choi Ho-geun traced his thumb over the new company logo engraved on one side of the card, and suddenly felt a renewed certainty that I had completely stepped outside the boundaries of Daeheung Group.
Yet rather than anxiety, I was filled with anticipation and hope for the future—and the same was true for the other team members as well.

“Manager.”
“What is it? Why haven’t you gone back to your desk yet?”

Just as Manager Choi Ho-geun was about to launch into a lecture about when exactly work would get done, Jung Hwan-yeop hesitated slightly, his expression wavering.

“I have something to give you as well.”

Sensing something ominous, Manager Choi Ho-geun’s eyes narrowed.

“Did you cause some kind of trouble again? Did you accidentally add an extra zero when processing stock trades? Tell me you didn’t.”
“No, that’s not it.”

Jung Hwan-yeop raised one hand and scratched the back of his head.

“You could call it a kind of accident, though.”
“What. Out with it!”

Convinced that this man had caused a major disaster, Manager Choi Ho-geun felt his heart drop and suddenly raised his voice.
Then Jung Hwan-yeop pulled something from his pocket and held it out.
Seeing the white envelope in his hand, Manager Choi Ho-geun blinked and asked back.

“What is this?”

Then Jung Hwan-yeop answered with an awkward smile.

“It’s a wedding invitation.”
“So whose wedding invitation is it?”
“Well, it’s mine, of course.”

The team members who had been eavesdropping in hushed silence all wore expressions of shock at those words.

“Manager, you’re getting married?”
“Oh my! Congratulations!”

Jung Hwan-yeop spoke with embarrassment as congratulations poured in from all directions.

“Ahem. Thanks, everyone.”

Choi Ho-geun, who had accepted the invitation somewhat bewildered, wore a baffled expression.

“How do you suddenly hold a wedding without even giving us a heads-up?”
“There were circumstances that made it necessary to hold the ceremony urgently.”
“What circumstances… Wait? Hey, you don’t mean—!”

Choi Ho-geun pointed accusingly with his finger and exclaimed.

“Is that what you meant by causing trouble? You got her pregnant?”

At those words, Hong Jae-hee’s eyes widened as she turned to look at Jung Hwan-yeop.

“Oh my! Is that really what’s happening?”

As Noh Hee-won and Yu Seok-hyun stared in astonishment, Jung Hwan-yeop nodded with an embarrassed expression.

“Ha ha. Well, that’s how things turned out.”
“You rascal! I figured it out the moment you suddenly handed out the invitation.”

Choi Ho-geun placed his hands on his hips and gave him a ribbing while the team members offered their repeated congratulations.

“Congratulations doubled, since you’re getting both a marriage and a child at once.”
“You’ll be receiving both marriage and birth congratulation gifts all at once.”
“What a blessing. Truly a blessing.”

Jung Hwan-yeop grinned and responded to the envious remarks.

“I didn’t intend for it to happen, but when I calculated it, the profits turned out to be quite substantial.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s excellent.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun cast a look of exasperation at that.

“Now that you have a family to support, you’d better get your act together and live responsibly.”
“Of course. I need to earn money for formula and diapers, so I’ll work hard.”
“Please do exactly that.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun, not forgetting to deliver one last jab, spoke bluntly.

“Anyway, congratulations on your marriage.”
“Hehe! Thank you so much!”

As Jung Hwan-yeop bowed his head respectfully, a bright, innocent smile never left his face.

* * *

“We’ve reached a final agreement to purchase all 610,000 pyeong of land in the Mosulpo region owned by the Ministry of National Defense for a total of 176 billion won.”

Seok-won, seated at the head of the sofa, nodded slightly and spoke in response to Blue Hole Construction President Jung Gyu-chul’s report.

“So that comes to just under 290,000 won per pyeong.”
“That’s correct.”

President Jung Gyu-chul pointed to the Mosulpo region map spread across the table and added his explanation.

“Once we finish acquiring the additional 210,000 pyeong of private land that falls within the planned development area, we’ll have secured all the necessary land.”
“The government has agreed to restrict the land transaction zone before the media announcement to prevent speculation, but there’s no benefit in dragging this out. Let’s expedite the land acquisition and wrap it up.”
“Understood.”

Leaning back in his seat, Seok-won turned his head to look at Dr. Choi Tae-ho, the Blue Space president sitting to his left, and asked.

“So with the reclaimed land from filling in the sea, the launch site will expand to 900,000 pyeong.”

Considering the original plan had been 400,000 pyeong, the land area had more than doubled in the interim.
Dr. Choi Tae-ho spoke cautiously, gauging the atmosphere.

“What if we skip the costly coastal reclamation work, given that we’re purchasing more land on the mainland than originally planned?”
“That approach would not only reduce construction costs but also allow us to avoid issues with reclaimed land fishing rights and environmental damage. It seems like a reasonable alternative.”

In reality, the reclamation area spanned 80,000 pyeong, and to minimize resistance from local residents and environmental groups, the original plan had been to transport soil from the mainland—not Jeju Island—via barge and dump it into the sea.
As a result, the construction costs for creating the reclaimed land were bound to be substantial.
Jung Gyu-chul also displayed a positive attitude, but Seok-won shook his head without a moment’s hesitation.

“We’re planning to construct the launch pad and other hazardous facilities on reclaimed land as far as possible from residential areas to prevent secondary damage like falling debris and noise. Let’s just proceed with the original plan.”

With Seok-won controlling the purse strings and saying to proceed, there was nothing more to say.

“Yes.”
“Understood.”

Seok-won picked up his teacup, took a sip of the coffee that had cooled appropriately, and set it back down.

“Once all the land acquisitions are complete, we’ll begin site development work, including coastal reclamation. How is the design work progressing for facilities like the launch pad, rocket assembly building, and control center?”

Dr. Choi Tae-ho responded immediately, as if he’d been waiting for the question.

“While domestic construction companies possess excellent capabilities and technology, none of them have any experience designing or building a space launch facility, which presents considerable challenges.”
“That makes sense—it’s completely different from constructing apartments or bridges.”
“Fortunately, thanks to the Baikonur Cosmodrome design data and related technical personnel that you secured for us recently, we’re proceeding with the design work step by step.”

When Daeheung Group underwent complete subsidiary separation, Seok-won’s title changed from President to Chairman.
In fact, considering that he’d acquired not only securities and venture capital operations but also WB Bank and four subsidiaries of Hansan Group recently, it would have been appropriate to elevate his title much earlier.

“While I’d prefer to resolve this internally, domestic technological foundations are too limited and it would take too long. Let’s actively recruit technical personnel from Russia as well as the United States.”
“We’ll do that.”

Seok-won interlaced his fingers and added a note.

“Oh, and when designing the facility, leave the northeastern land vacant—the area with the underground bunker and aircraft hangar built during the Japanese occupation, as well as the Seot-al Oreum 4·3 historical site.”

The two men exchanged puzzled glances upon hearing this.
Jung Gyu-chul examined the map spread across the table and looked back at him with a question.

“That’s quite a substantial area. Surely you don’t intend to leave it vacant?”

Seok-won smiled faintly at the corners of his mouth as he answered.

“I’m thinking of creating a historical park by combining the two archaeological sites into one.”
“A historical park?”
“Here, you mean?”

Both men couldn’t hide their bewilderment at the unexpected proposal.
In the midst of this, Seok-won continued calmly.

“Yes. Since these are archaeologically significant sites, creating a park to properly preserve them rather than simply demolishing them would substantially reduce resistance from local residents and civic organizations.”
“…!”
“Moreover, we could utilize the historical park as a kind of buffer zone, so it’s truly a win-win situation.”

Jung Gyu-chul, after pondering for a moment, nodded his head with an impressed expression.

“Now that I hear it, it truly seems like a brilliant idea.”

Dr. Choi Tae-ho also gazed at Seok-won with astonished eyes.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been aiming for this from the start and purchased all the Ministry of National Defense land with this in mind.”

If that were the case, one could only marvel at just how far ahead he had been thinking.

“I didn’t plan it from the beginning—it was an idea that occurred to me when I visited the Ministry of National Defense last time.”
“Still, to conceive of such a plan in that brief moment is truly remarkable.”

Dr. Choi Tae-ho let out an exclamation of admiration.

“In any case, both of you should make a major announcement of the historical park development plan alongside the Mosulpo Space Center construction announcement to minimize resistance from the outset.”
“You’re saying we should conduct media play before civic organizations can raise objections.”

Jung Gyu-chul responded with quick wit.

“Exactly. These matters are fundamentally about who seizes the initiative first, so don’t hesitate to spend money on it.”

Jung Gyu-chul, who had extensive experience in construction and knew all too well how troublesome local residents and civic organizations could be once they began opposing a project, nodded with a determined expression.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to defuse the opposition before it gains momentum.”
“And once the space center is established, I’ll prepare to hold a residents’ meeting as soon as possible so we can explain to them that it won’t harm them and will actually be beneficial.”
“Surely you’re not planning to meet with the residents yourself, Chairman?”

Dr. Choi Tae-ho’s eyes widened in surprise.

“If I step forward to persuade them rather than sending someone else, the residents will trust and believe in it more, won’t they?”
“That’s true, but…”

Though his expression suggested he didn’t think it was entirely necessary, Dr. Choi Tae-ho seemed to accept Seok-won’s proactive approach and stepped back.

“Let’s aim to acquire all the land and secure resident approval by summer this year, then begin construction immediately.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”

Seok-won watched the two men bow their heads in unison as he spoke.

“Then let’s end the meeting here.”

Jung Gyu-chul and Dr. Choi Tae-ho gathered their respective diaries and maps, rose from the sofa, gave a respectful bow, and left the Chairman’s Office.
Left alone, Seok-won picked up the teacup before him and brought it to his lips, only to find the coffee had gone cold. He set it back down.
Just as he was about to stand, his phone vibrated.
Seok-won picked up the phone from the table, checked the number on the screen, and pressed the call button to answer.

“It’s me.”
[It looks like Hyunwoo and TG are about to make a major semiconductor deal.]
“…!”

At Lee Chul-gyun’s words from the other end of the phone, Seok-won’s eyebrows shot up.

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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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