The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 130

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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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Regression of a Fallen Chaebol Heir, Episode 130
“Director, the main gate security just called. A vehicle has arrived.”
One month after the earthquake.
The situation in Japan was growing worse by the day. As previously unassessed damages came to light, the primary chemical supply sources in the Tohoku region remained flooded, and due to the power restrictions that began with the Fukushima nuclear accident, factory operating rates across Japan had fallen below fifty percent.
Shinei Chemical’s Osaka headquarters was also feeling the effects.
“Welcome.”
A white bus came to a stop in front of the building, and as people began to disembark, Shinhwa Welltech’s research director Park Jin-hyeok greeted them with a smile.
“Director Park, it’s been a long time since we last spoke.”
Saito, the first to step down from the bus, extended his hand toward Park Jin-hyeok with evident warmth.
Seven years earlier, when a joint venture between Shinhwa Welltech and Shinei was established in Ulsan, twelve technical staff dispatched by Shinei’s side were arriving in Ochang today.
As the joint venture became a subsidiary of Shinhwa Welltech, those who had been sent on assignment had to choose their own future.
Would they stay with Shinhwa Welltech? Or return to Japan?
“I heard that you persuaded your team members on our behalf. Thank you once again. Your joining us will be a tremendous source of strength.”
From Shinhwa Welltech’s perspective, fortunately, these people chose not to return home but to become employees of Shinhwa Welltech.
The favorable terms of compensation certainly played a significant role, but in truth, the lack of immediate job prospects in Japan made the decision easier.
“Has the relocation been completed?”
“We moved the family belongings to Cheongju yesterday. I didn’t expect you to come to the main gate yourself, Director Park.”
Saito spoke carefully in Korean tinged with a Japanese accent. Shinhwa Welltech had provided them with company housing in Cheongju.
Some had brought their families over from the chaos in Japan.
“Of course I had to come out. That’s only natural.”
Park Jin-hyeok smiled and replied, then opened his mouth again.
“Shall we take a look at the line first?”
“That would be good.”
Park Jin-hyeok led the way and began showing them around.
The first place he showed them was the cleanroom, which had been upgraded from Class 1000 to Class 100 in just one month—the Ochang line that had originally been designed for Class 1000.
In cleanroom classification, lower numbers meant cleaner environments, and Class 100 was essential for high-purity semiconductor processes.
“It’s cleaner than Ulsan,” Saito said, looking around.
He observed the Air Shower Room, the Particle Counter Monitor, and the newly installed HEPA Filter ceiling throughout the line—Ulsan maintained the same class, but the equipment here was of even higher quality.
Saito lifted his gaze to the new filters in the ceiling and looked back at Park Jin-hyeok.
“We were instructed not to spare any cost.”
“The equipment is so excellent that I’d almost say this is the finest cleanroom in Japan—no, in the world.”
Park Jin-hyeok laughed briefly at those words and proceeded to introduce the Ochang line staff with the newly arrived Japanese personnel.
“Where would you like us to begin the Process Transfer?”
In response to Saito’s question, Park Jin-hyeok pointed to several lines.
“Since we’ve newly installed the cleanroom and reinforced the line, we’re still in the process of establishing basic settings. We’d like you to begin with that task.”
Saito nodded. Their primary work involved running prototypes on lines just before mass production and correcting any purity inconsistencies.
In the chemical industry, where quality hinges on purity measurements to decimal places, this was critically important work.
“Sounds good. Once we tackle the largest line, the rest will follow suit. Shall we get started right away? What do you think?”
Clearly energized by seeing a well-prepared line, Saito asked the question, and Park Jin-hyeok nodded as though hearing something very welcome.
“Could we manage a first run today?”
“It’ll be tight, but let’s give it our best effort. We can run the first batch in the afternoon.”
“Excellent. Then let’s begin the line inspection right away.”
At Park Jin-hyeok’s approval, Saito gave a brief gesture to his team, and the technicians sprang into motion.

“Thirty-eight parts per trillion!”
That afternoon, an employee watching the monitors in the control room shouted loudly, and Park Jin-hyeok and Saito, who had been observing the same monitors side by side, clapped their hands.
The other staff members were caught up in the excitement, cheering or applauding.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Not at all. The line quality was so excellent that we were able to achieve such high purity. This level of purity rivals that of Shinei’s Osaka main factory.”
PPT—Parts Per Trillion—was a unit representing one part per trillion. Thirty-eight ppt meant that out of a trillion particles in the solution produced in the first batch, there were only thirty-eight impurity particles.
Converted to a percentage, it reached 99.9999999962%.
“No company has ever produced Ten Nine on a first batch.”
In the industry, a figure with ten nines was called Ten Nine.
Park Jin-hyeok continued excitedly. Just as Saito had said, Shinhwa Welltech had achieved a purity that only a tiny minority of companies in Japan could produce.
Of course, when moving into the mass production phase, purity could decline, but once refined, they should be able to produce it stably at current levels.
“We can’t keep this news to ourselves.”
Park Jin-hyeok took out his phone and called someone.
“This is Park Jin-hyeok.”
He gave a brief response to the voice on the other end of the line.
“We’ve initiated the Process Transfer. We achieved excellent purity in the first batch, and I’ll report back after running the mass production batch.”
After ending the call, Park Jin-hyeok set down the receiver and turned his gaze back to the monitors. At that moment, Saito, standing beside him while watching the monitors, quietly opened his mouth.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve felt this way. There’s a special flavor to starting from the ground up.”
“Haha, you’ll experience many more things like this ahead.”
As Park Jin-hyeok spoke, Saito smiled and nodded.

Tokyo, Fujimi Semiconductor headquarters, 14th floor conference room.
“You came from South Korea, I understand.”
A month had passed since the earthquake struck, but Japan’s semiconductor industry was in disarray.
The company supplying thirty to forty percent of the world’s automotive MCUs had halted operations after the quake, and the factory of the supplier providing sixty percent of the world’s silicon wafers sat idle.
The remaining precision chemicals in Japan had concentrated in the western regions, but prices had already more than doubled from normal levels, and even then, priority went to major corporations.
Mid-sized semiconductor companies could see no way forward, and Fujimi Semiconductor was one of them.
“That’s right. My name is Hong Sang-jin of Shinhwa Welltech.”
“How is South Korea these days? I hear the situation is very favorable.”
As the Fujimi representative mentioned, the atmosphere among Korean semiconductor companies was indeed good.
They were filling the gap left by Japanese competitors, pulling in NAND and DRAM orders, and Korean automotive parts exports in the first half of the year were up 26 percent compared to the same period last year.
Hong Sang-jin hadn’t understood why Seon-woo had initially asked him to go on a business trip to Japan, but since the earthquake, he’d felt how everything had changed.
Even in Japan, they were now urgently seeking Korean raw materials.
“Companies our size don’t feel it much, but I hear the atmosphere among the major corporations isn’t poor.”
Through the interpreter, Hong Sang-jin’s words were conveyed, and the Fujimi representatives nodded.
“We received contact from Shinei. They’re requesting that we supply materials on their behalf for the time being.”
Today’s meeting with Fujimi had been made possible through an introduction from Shinei’s Nakamura Kenji.
Fujimi had been receiving most of its materials from Shinei, but Shinei announced they couldn’t normalize their line until September and were looking for alternatives.
From Shinei’s perspective, it was better to have a company that had purchased their joint venture and acquired main company equity—making Shinhwa Welltech a board member—take over rather than lose this market to a complete stranger.
“That’s correct.”
“To be frank, we haven’t yet built trust in Korean companies. I’ve already contacted three other companies, but their quality hasn’t met our standards.”
Fujimi’s technical director adjusted his glasses slightly.
The precision chemical companies that had approached Fujimi from Korea had mostly fallen short on mass production capacity or purity consistency to Japanese standards, and with no time to spare before results were needed, Fujimi couldn’t afford to start sample testing from scratch.
“May I ask what level of purity Fujimi is looking for?”
Fujimi needed semiconductor cleaning chemicals.
“We’re looking for chemicals with a purity of 45 parts per trillion or lower.”
With PPT, lower numbers meant higher purity.
“That’s possible.”
“Pardon?”
The confidence in Hong Sang-jin’s words startled the Fujimi representatives.
“We’ve established a joint venture with Shinei in Ulsan. The cleaning chemicals produced there have a purity of 42 parts per trillion.”
Hong Sang-jin knew that the Ochang line had produced 38 ppt in the test batch, but they hadn’t yet entered mass production. The fortunate part was that the Ulsan line was already producing chemicals at the purity level Fujimi required.
“Since it’s also being supplied to companies manufacturing automotive MCU semiconductors within South Korea, we can guarantee both stability and purity.”
With that, Hong Sang-jin pulled a single document from his bag and handed it over.
The paper contained the current operating status of the Ulsan joint venture line, inventory quantities, and a shipping schedule from Busan Port, all compressed onto one sheet.
“We can load your shipment right away.”
The Fujimi representatives all lowered their eyes to the paper simultaneously.
“The Ulsan line has been at full capacity since just after we acquired the joint venture last month, and inventory is already in the Busan Port warehouse. We can load your shipment on the Thursday departure this week, and with two days to Hakata Port, we can have it to your facility by Monday of next week.”
The conference room fell silent.
“We’d like to receive quality assurance documentation and materials showing domestic Korean customers. Is that possible?”
“If we establish a test batch supply contract, we can certainly provide all of that.”
The Fujimi representatives exchanged quiet words, looking at one another.
In two weeks’ time, the line would have to shut down.
Although the line itself hadn’t been damaged, being far from the epicenter, it would have to stop due to supply chain failures among raw material companies—and this felt like a lifeline being thrown down.
After much discussion, they looked at Hong Sang-jin and spoke.
“We’ll request quality data from the last three years.”
“We’ll provide all the quality data you need.”
A clear answer came back, and they nodded.
“We’ll place a first order as a test batch.”
At Fujimi’s words, Hong Sang-jin’s expression brightened.
“As you mentioned, if we ship this week, we can arrive at Hakata Port within two days, correct?”
Hakata Port was Japan’s largest port on the western side. Being the shortest distance from Busan Port, the schedule wasn’t impossible.
“Of course.”
“Good. We’ll set a one-week window for the test batch. Once we confirm the quality meets our standards, we’ll execute the main contract immediately.”
At the Fujimi representative’s words, Hong Sang-jin smiled brightly and nodded.

One month later, I stopped by the office after leaving work and heard Jung Tae-sung’s report.
“The purity has dropped slightly from what was reported earlier, but they’ve decided to set mass production at around 40 parts per trillion.”
“Forty is acceptable.”
When I heard that a test batch had achieved 38 ppt purity, I was genuinely astonished.
Such high purity, not inferior to Japanese chemical companies, had materialized, and though purity declined in the mass production phase, 40 ppt was undoubtedly the finest purity in the domestic market.
“Director Park relayed that the purity mass production couldn’t achieve even in the Ulsan joint venture line has now been set as the production standard—all thanks to the representative’s investment decision.”
“Rather, it’s thanks to Director Park and the technical team for achieving Ten Nine purity. Please assess and report the performance bonus distribution for all Shinhwa Welltech employees.”
Before I returned, Twelve Nine—99.9999999999%, with twelve nines—had been the standard, but achieving Ten Nine purity at current technical capacity represented clear growth.
It was naturally right to distribute performance bonuses to all employees.
“I’ll organize the scale and method and report back.”
“How are things with Hong?”
Hong Sang-jin had been practically living in Japan recently.
“Since Fujimi signed the main contract and regular deliveries began, several Japanese companies have been inquiring. Most of the quantities they want are relatively small, but…”
“That’s enough to use as leverage.”
I had no intention of profiting from supply contracts with Japanese companies.
What Shinhwa Welltech needed now was a track record of supplying major corporations.
Supply records equaled trust in quality.
“Yes, as you said, we’ve established test contracts by accommodating most of the Japanese companies’ requests. Based on that, we’ll enter into negotiations with domestic companies when I return to Korea.”
The target was the domestic semiconductor majors. Since the purity matches that of Japanese chemical companies, Shinhwa Welltech could become an excellent alternative.
“Good. Tell him not to rush too hard. Ultimately, time is on our side.”
“Understood. Next, I’ll report on matters related to Synapse.”
I nodded and focused on Jung Tae-sung’s words.
“CEO Seo Min-seung has begun preparing for the demonstration next month.”
In truth, a month ago I had personally posted Synapse’s proposal, drafted by their side, into Seonjin Logistics’ internal pipeline.
As we proceeded with Fulfillment conversion, I inserted Synapse’s Robotic Shelf System—which moved entire shelves—as a trial introduction candidate.
The Operations Division initially responded that the timing was premature, but when I pushed hard, CEO Oh Jin-su even arranged for a demonstration session where he would personally observe.
“Please provide active support for anything needed in the demonstration preparation.”
“Understood.”
Shinhwa Welltech had found its footing, and if Synapse’s demonstration succeeded, it would finally become a robot company that earned money.
“Ochang has taken another step forward.”
“It has.”
“The remaining issue is the investors. I think it’s good to clearly divide roles at this point.”
I said so and looked at Jung Tae-sung.
“Please summon Han Jae-yi and Danny.”
With the manufacturing operations sorted, once I clarified the path forward for SJ Holdings, Ribbon Capital, and DK, they would be able to grow sufficiently over time without my involvement.
“Today, sir?”
“Yes, I’ll wait.”
At my instruction, Jung Tae-sung bowed and took out his mobile phone.

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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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