New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 76
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 76. Frog Hunt (1)
Immediately after the public broadcasting investigative report, Hanyang Dairy Headquarters fell into a state of panic.
Nationwide public opinion began to boil over, and during the weekend, allegations of abuse of power spread like wildfire through the internet and media.
And there was one place in headquarters that was the noisiest.
Hanyang Dairy Food Service Division Head Office.
The office where the third-generation chaebol sat was a space that even executives couldn’t casually enter, but.
Harsh profanity poured out through the wide-open door, echoing all the way to the hallway.
“You bastard! What the hell have you been doing!”
It was Chairman Han Tae-gwang’s voice.
He had come down directly to the general manager’s office and was hurling vulgar words.
General Manager Han Dong-su stood up from his seat with a flustered face, his words trailing off.
“F-Father… Why are you doing this? The volume pushing isn’t my fault. Why did you come all the way here for this?”
“You can still say that after seeing this?”
Chairman Han Tae-gwang threw the bundle of documents he brought onto his son’s desk.
Han Dong-su’s face hardened at one familiar word that stuck out from among the documents.
“An indictment… Why?”
“I’ve never seen such a variety of indictments in my entire life. Patent infringement, fair trade law violation, business interference, defamation, capital markets law violation, and even breach of trust! Lawyer Kim, what would the total sentence be if all these are combined?”
“If the prosecution formally indicts with capital markets law and breach of trust as the core charges… a maximum of 10 years imprisonment would be possible.”
At the Legal Team Leader’s words, Han Dong-su actually raised his voice.
He thought an indictment was literally just an indictment, nothing more.
“Anyone can file an indictment! The trial hasn’t even started yet, so why are you talking about prison sentences? And the patent infringement won’t even hold up. We filed the patent application first!”
“Max Coffee already filed their patent application three months ago, and the Food Service Division filed two months later than that. And Giant Coffee appears to have infringed not only kiosk patents but also interior-related patents.”
The Legal Team Leader recited the investigated materials.
Han Dong-su, who had been completely unaware of such information, was momentarily speechless.
The patents were already filed?
Was it even logically possible for a small store to file patents first?
“Even if the kiosk is true, they filed patents for the interior too? Coffee shop interiors are all pretty much the same anyway.”
“Including the rotating bar counter, ceiling structure, indirect lighting, integrated speakers… Max Coffee has filed applications for all patentable elements.”
“Does that even make sense? Even we, as a large corporation, don’t go that far! What money did Max Coffee use to file all those applications!”
Han Dong-su venting his frustration.
Perhaps finding his son’s appearance pathetic, Chairman Han shook his head.
“Swallowing up small businesses is understandable. But investigating your prey is the most basic of basics, isn’t it?”
“We don’t do background checks on stores like that. Who would imagine that a mere 10-pyeong small business would be like this?”
“That’s why you’re not cut out for this. And isn’t it strange? According to you, it’s just a small store, so why would it hold an exclusive event with a website called Rollbook?”
In fact, one of the reasons Han Dong-su had taken interest in Max Coffee was precisely that Rollbook.
The online platform receiving the hottest attention these days.
He had judged that a store doing partnership events with such a website would be perfect to acquire and use for the Restaurant Business Division’s marketing.
“What kind of connection does it have with Rollbook?”
“Chief Secretary, explain.”
“The owner of Max Coffee is the parent of Rollbook’s founder. The kiosk and interior were all confirmed to be technically supported by Rollbook.”
Only then did Han Dong-su realize who he had been fighting against.
It wasn’t just a small coffee store, but the founder of Rollbook.
“Then… does that mean Rollbook’s CEO deliberately tried to screw us over?”
“That hasn’t been confirmed yet. However, it only appears they responded legitimately to the Restaurant Business Division’s attack.”
“Father. It’s just an internet website at best. We can crush someone like that!”
“Pathetic fool. What’s important about winning a fight? What matters is what spoils of war you can obtain after the fight ends. If all we get from fighting Rollbook is just Max Coffee, that’s a loss.”
Chairman Han was resolute.
A person who wouldn’t even start fights that weren’t profitable.
But his child was now violating that principle.
“But we have no choice. If we had known before fighting, maybe, but now we can’t back down.”
“So can you win? You clearly infringed on the patent, and you’re the one who committed illegal acts with Giant Coffee. So what are you going to win with?”
“Father just needs to help me. If Father uses his influence, we can invalidate Rollbook’s patent and register our own patent!”
Han Dong-su threw a tantrum like a child.
Chairman Han turned his head away and didn’t continue speaking, and instead the Chief Secretary stepped forward.
“It’s impossible. To invalidate a patent, we’d need to move the Patent Office director. But Rollbook is currently one of the fostering projects the government is backing. This would be a matter the media would sensationalize, and if we apply pressure, there’s a high possibility we’d face a counterattack instead.”
“Then are you saying we should just take it lying down?”
“Han Dong-su! Don’t you understand the situation yet? You need to go to Rollbook right now and seek a settlement first!”
Was he telling him to admit defeat?
Han Dong-su had never apologized to anyone other than family.
But now, his father was demanding he bow his head in front of others.
“You want me to throw away my dignity and apologize? To some guy who just made an internet website? What will the company employees think of me?”
“Then, are you saying you’ll go to prison?”
“Who goes to prison over something like this? It’s something that ends with paying a few pennies in fines, so why are you really acting like this!”
In fact, it wasn’t wrong.
Chairman Han had no intention of sending his son to prison.
Even if the indictment was filed, he could wrap it up with a suspended sentence by utilizing competent lawyers and his political and business connections.
Not only that, Chairman Han thought he could easily pressure Rollbook as well.
A government-supported development project?
Even so, it couldn’t compare to his own connections built up over decades.
“First, you need to reach a settlement so I can have justification to clean up the situation afterward.”
“If the settlement fails, will you help me?”
“If they make unreasonable demands, we’ll have to use the stick. But if it’s a problem that can be solved through dialogue, there’s no need to make things bigger.”
Chairman Han simply didn’t want things to escalate.
With the media already making noise, another issue erupting would have a negative impact on the entire group.
But if Rollbook chose all-out war instead of settlement, his thinking could change then.
At that point, he was planning to crush them thoroughly.
“The result doesn’t matter, I just need to meet them?”
“That way we can create the picture that ‘we did our best.’ We need justification to show the media and shareholders. Do I really have to explain even this to you? Tsk tsk.”
“I understand what you mean. I’ll accurately convey the situation and return.”
“Learn from this experience. How many times will you sit at merger and acquisition or negotiation tables in the future? Think of it as good training.”
Han Dong-su’s personality ultimately stemmed from his father.
Self-centered thinking, the attitude of trying to solve things with force, and pride that never apologizes.
He had grown up watching such a father and had naturally learned it.
“Then I’ll go to the Rollbook representative and tell them to hand over Max Coffee. In exchange, we can give them about 1.5 billion, right?”
“If it’s a problem that can be solved with money, that would be best.”
“But what if they demand 2 billion or 3 billion? Then I’ll just break off the settlement and come out.”
“If you give money to someone trying to grab a big share, they’ll keep making demands.”
The father and son were perfectly in sync.
But a situation that would break apart this father-son relationship had erupted.
“Chairman! The Financial Supervisory Service has come for an on-site inspection!”
“What? Why is the Financial Supervisory Service? Why did even the inspection team come?”
“There was a request from the Financial Services Commission. They say a tip came in that there are signs of accounting manipulation related to Giant Coffee.”
“What kind of nonsense is this! Why would the Financial Services Commission suddenly target us!”
Chairman Han had also failed to conduct proper background research.
He only knew him as the representative of Rollbook, but didn’t know the fact that he was the Deputy Branch Manager of Tiger Fund.
“The media has already started moving. Breaking news about the Financial Supervisory Service inspection is coming out one after another.”
“Stop it! Stop it right now! I don’t care how much money it costs! We must stop the media coverage!”
The situation was already noisy due to the investigative program.
But if Financial Supervisory Service inspection reports were added to this, public opinion would spiral out of control.
“We’ll contact the media companies we’re advertising with first. But the Financial Services Commission side is the problem.”
“Contact the prosecutor’s office connections and try to stop it somehow.”
“Father, what should I do? With the situation like this, is there any need to visit Rollbook?”
“Let’s pretend the agreement never happened. They declared war first, so there’s no need to build more justification.”
Han Dong-su cheered inwardly.
He no longer had to swallow his pride and bow his head.
Now he thought he could push forward unilaterally with his father as a massive shield behind him.
But the father and son never got to attack.
Defense alone was insufficient, and a large-scale offensive was just about to begin.
“Chairman! The stock price has started plummeting!”
“What? Why is the stock price? Is it because of the investigative program?”
“The decline is too steep to be just because of the TV program.”
“Then, are you saying someone played games!”
“It seems market forces are involved. At least 10 billion won worth of volume is being sold.”
Chairman Han stood at a crossroads of choice.
For the shareholders’ sake, he should prevent the stock price crash through treasury stock purchases.
But Chairman Han once again made a decision thinking only of himself.
“Just leave it for now.”
“Will that be okay? At this rate, it will hit the lower limit. Then the media will cover it even more extensively.”
“It’s already exploded, so what difference would doing something now make? It would just be wasting money. If we stay still, time will solve it anyway.”
Chairman Han completely gave up on defense.
In fact, it was understandable. While the stock price crash could be fatal to other shareholders.
To chaebol families, it was just numbers on paper.
They weren’t going to sell their equity shares, and falling stock prices wouldn’t cost them management control either.
“We won’t defend against the stock price decline. But what about the media?”
“This whole situation was caused by the media anyway. If we just block the media properly, the stock price will rise again. So this is much cheaper than spending money defending against stock price decline.”
“Father is right. Korean people don’t have particularly good memories. It’ll recover again in a month or two. Or how about transferring some equity shares to me during this opportunity? We could save on inheritance tax too.”
The father and son didn’t consider the current situation particularly serious.
Eventually, Hanyang Group’s stock price hit the daily limit down, but they showed no particular reaction.
“Stay only at the company and home for the time being. Don’t go wandering around and get caught by the media.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
“I should go on an overseas business trip too.”
“I’ll make a reservation somewhere with nice weather.”
Chairman Han was simply waiting for the storm to die down.
But he didn’t yet know that the storm had already passed beyond a strong wind and was turning into a typhoon.
The New Employee with 1 Trillion Won Annual Salary Chapter 76
E-book Publication Date | 2025.11.27
Author | Seo Oh
Publishers | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Publishing House | Poten
Address | [04783] 10th Floor, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585
ISBN | 9791175305892
Price | 100 won
ⓒ Seo Oh 2025
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law.
This e-book is published under contract with the author, so unauthorized reproduction, copying, distribution, and sharing are prohibited without written consent from both parties.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
