New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 139

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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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Chapter 139. Cracks (3)

The Creditor Faction.

It was a newly established power group after Daehyeon Construction fell under creditor management, and it was the second most powerful group after the owner faction.

They sat with their backs straight as if everything happening had nothing to do with them.

Their confidence stemmed from having banks as their massive backing.

How could a construction company possibly go against banks?

So they had the underlying belief that no one could touch them.

But they were no longer a sanctuary.

Daehyeon Construction was no longer a failing company that had to bow down to banks.

“Why didn’t the executives appointed by the banks notice such corruption? If measures had been taken earlier, the debt scale would have been much smaller!”

“We’ve only been in office for a few months! There wasn’t enough time to identify signs of corruption.”

“Tiger Fund identified this much corruption evidence in less than a month. But being inside the company for months without discovering anything means you were either incompetent or simply didn’t care from the start.”

The bank-origin executives still sat upright.

They seemed to firmly trust the banks backing them.

However, the stronger I pressed, the more their expressions changed.

Though they forced themselves to appear calm, fear began to seep out little by little from around their eyes and lips.

“And management rights have completely transferred from the creditors to Tiger Fund.”

“Are you saying you’ll completely break ties with the banks? To proceed with large-scale civil engineering projects in the future, cooperation with banks is absolutely necessary. That’s why people like us need to remain in position.”

Director Gu Dong-jin, the leader of the Creditor Faction, raised his voice.

Since most large construction projects move with bank funding, he was arguing that their presence was essential.

It wasn’t wrong, but.

It wasn’t a reason why bank-origin personnel needed to hold executive positions within the construction company.

“Among domestic large construction companies, where else besides us do bank-origin executives hold positions? Of course we should cooperate with banks. But we have no intention of discussing the company’s internal management with banks.”

“Are you telling us to leave on our own? Are you really okay with that?”

It was a threat.

It implied they would disadvantage Daehyeon Construction when they returned to their banks.

It was something they could say because they didn’t know the situation had changed, and I had already prepared countermeasures.

“Ah! There’s one piece of good news I haven’t announced yet.”

“What do you suddenly mean by that?”

I turned away from Director Gu Dong-jin and slowly looked around the conference room.

The sudden topic change focused all the executives’ attention on me.

“We’re proceeding with a large-scale apartment construction project. Most major commercial banks have agreed to participate through PF. So you don’t need to worry about relationships with banks.”

“….”

Director Gu Dong-jin bit his lip.

He wouldn’t have expected us to establish relationships with the banking sector through an apartment consortium.

And I had already finished discussions with commercial bank representatives.

“We’ve already completed consultations with the creditor banks as well. The executives who have worked hard at Daehyeon Construction can take charge of apartment consortium management duties going forward. Though you’ll be working in different locations from headquarters, I’m pleased we can still work together.”

Every executive immediately understood what I was saying.

A purge disguised as personnel transfer.

Everyone knew that once they moved to the consortium, they could never return to Daehyeon Construction headquarters.

But they had no choice but to accept it.

The consultations with the banks backing them were already complete.

“We’ll move to the consortium.”

“You’ve made a wise decision. When you move to the consortium, you’ll receive higher salaries than now. And since several more consortiums are planned, we’ll see each other’s faces often.”

“We’ll cheer for Daehyeon Construction’s success from afar.”

All the creditor executives stood up.

They kept their backs straight until the end, but they were no longer people with any connection to Daehyeon Construction.

“Now! Shall we talk about Daehyeon Construction’s future?”

The conference room atmosphere had completely changed.

The two factions that had controlled Daehyeon Construction had lost their power. Though the owner faction hadn’t completely disappeared, with key figures gone, they could no longer shake the company like before.

Conversely, the reform faction and independent faction were holding back smiles.

They would now be able to fill the positions vacated by the high-ranking executives.

“With so many people leaving, organizational restructuring is inevitable. We’ve restructured the organization to maximize work efficiency, so please follow along.”

I didn’t consider factions.

This organizational restructuring was designed directly by me, based solely on individual employees’ abilities.

To be precise, it was like making gears with matching patterns mesh together anew.

Even if factions differed, there were bound to be executives with similar patterns, and gathering such people together could create greater synergy.

I would have liked to target all employees, but there wasn’t time for that.

So I proceeded with disassembly and assembly targeting only executives for now.

“Please move to your positions according to the restructured organizational chart.”

As executives moved to their seats, a strange tension flowed through the conference room.

With different factions mixed together, awkwardness was inevitable, and I closed my eyes to focus only on my ears.

No discord was audible.

Though factions differed, people with similar patterns were gathered together, so harmonious harmony flowed instead.

In my mind, I could even picture a massive gear structure meshing smoothly and rotating rapidly.

“From now on, please all cooperate in proceeding with work. Factions no longer exist. Instead, compete as teams. If you compete and win with ability alone, not office politics, I’ll provide appropriate rewards.”

“What about the practices that have been maintained until now? If work proceeds according to practices, the field will never change.”

An executive who appeared to be from the reform faction spoke with a voice full of resentment.

Just from his voice, I could tell how much the practices remaining in the construction industry had troubled him.

“There’s no need to maintain unreasonable practices. From now on, Daehyeon Construction will follow established rules, not practices. If there are any sites that don’t follow rules and stick to practices, we’ll halt all work. This includes safety rules.”

“Are you really okay with that? Internal staff will follow, but subcontractors and construction companies will strongly resist. In severe cases, they might refuse construction.”

An executive who had been part of the owner faction familiar with sites voiced concern.

Changing the field system that had been maintained until now wouldn’t be easy, but I couldn’t just leave it as is.

“We won’t work with companies that don’t follow rules. Even if construction is delayed, principles must be maintained. Instead, Daehyeon Construction will guarantee industry-leading wages and subcontract rates. With rebates and under-the-table money gone, we can raise legitimate costs higher.”

“Just eliminating rebate and under-the-table money structures could lower subcontract costs by over 10%!”

At the reform faction executive’s words, all other executives flinched.

It was standard practice for most construction companies to take 10-20% of winning bids as rebates during subcontract processes.

Construction companies weren’t called money laundering machines for large corporations for nothing.

Through various practices, they had structures that could create not only money laundering but also slush funds.

But since Tiger Fund didn’t particularly need such structures, bold reforms were possible.

“All contracts will proceed under identical conditions to the contract documents. If any executive makes dual contracts with companies, we’ll handle it legally going forward. For reference, it took less than two days to discover the Vice President’s corruption evidence.”

“….”

The executives fell silent.

None of them were free from corruption.

Even those in the reform faction had no choice but to commit customary corruption to rise to executive positions.

“We’ll proceed as if all previous practices never happened. Only then can Daehyeon Construction become South Korea’s top construction company again. The apartment construction we’ll soon proceed with is especially important. We plan to make it Korea’s first premium apartment.”

“By premium apartment, do you mean luxury apartments?”

“We’re not simply building luxury apartments. We plan to create residential spaces that present a new living culture with fitness centers, swimming pools, cutting-edge security systems, premium finishing materials, and differentiated design.”

So-called luxury brand apartments had begun appearing since last year.

But these weren’t quite premium apartments yet.

They weren’t significantly different from existing apartments, just using better finishing materials to raise prices.

“We want to create truly premium apartments better than Manhattan condos in New York or California coast apartments.”

“Wouldn’t that make the sale price too high?”

“You don’t need to worry about sale prices. The truly premium apartments Daehyeon Construction will build are planned as post-completion sales.”

“You mean selling after completion? That’s an impossible structure!”

All apartments in Korea used pre-sale structures.

They had no choice but to cover construction costs with funds secured through pre-sales.

But Daehyeon Construction had Tiger Fund as a solid funding source, so there was no need for the pre-sale system.

“Tiger Fund will invest the entire construction cost upfront. That makes post-completion sales possible. And Korea’s first post-completion sale apartment will further enhance the premium apartment’s value.”

“That may be true, but even small-scale apartment construction costs exceed 500 billion won. For large complexes with over 2,000 units, over 2 trillion won might be needed.”

Two trillion won was certainly an enormous amount.

But if it could elevate Daehyeon Construction’s brand image all at once, it would be a profitable deal.

If the real estate market entered a boom period as I expected, post-sales would generate much more profit than pre-sales.

“You don’t need to worry about funding. Tiger Fund has the financial capacity to use not just 2 trillion won, but even 20 trillion won. You just need to focus on helping Daehyeon Construction reclaim its past glory.”

“But will there be no restructuring?”

It was a question that came too late.

With executives being fired one after another, an atmosphere formed where no one dared to speak up easily, and the most important question only came out now.

“There will be no restructuring. However, we plan to decisively cut employees who don’t follow the rules.”

“So everyone can stay together as long as they follow the rules?”

“From today, Daehyeon Construction has changed. Whether you’re a staff member or an executive, regardless of rank, you must step down if you break the rules. Conversely, if you achieve results through ability, you’ll receive appropriate compensation. This concludes the meeting.”

I declared the meeting over.

Then applause broke out for the first time.

Most of it came from the hands of reform faction or unaffiliated executives.

Meanwhile, the owner faction executives sat with stern faces, deep in thought about how to adapt to the new system.

This was sufficient.

The structure was already in place, so the gears would turn on their own.

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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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