The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 33

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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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The Regression of a Fallen Chaebol Heir — Episode 33
“I’m sorry. I should have come to find you first, not made you come looking for me.”
A few days later, in the Seonjin Aluminum Headquarters Chairman’s Office.
Kim Ja-yeong, the representative of Seonjin Group and Seon-woo’s mother, sat across from Kang Byeong-chul, the chairman of Seonjin Aluminum.
Kang Byeong-chul offered her tea with a face that showed not the slightest hint of apology.
“Well, you must have seen our press release, then?”
“Yes. It would have been better if you’d contacted me first.”
At Kim Ja-yeong’s pointed remark, Kang Byeong-chul picked up his teacup with an air of exaggerated composure.
“I did think about that, but my people kept talking me out of it. They said there was no way Kim Ja-yeong had complete control of the entire group.”
At those words, Kim Ja-yeong’s expression froze cold.
He was openly questioning her grip on the group.
“If we’d contacted you first, everything about our position would have leaked out from inside Seonjin Group, wouldn’t it? Your company has too many holes in it.”
Kang Byeong-chul rested both elbows on the armrest of the sofa and spoke to Kim Ja-yeong as if lecturing her.
“This is a matter where I, as the elder of the family, should step in. It’s beyond the scope of what you can control. If it were up to me, I would have stopped it before it came to this. You’re too late.”
“If you’re truly the elder of the family,”
Kim Ja-yeong cut him off quietly. Her voice was low but steady.
“You would have at least consulted with me. All the more so if you’d decided the situation was beyond my control.”
Kang Byeong-chul’s eyes wavered for a moment.
A brief silence fell between them. Though they exchanged formal words of respect, Kim Ja-yeong was aware that steel ran beneath them.
Kang Byeong-chul clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“You shouldn’t be uncomfortable with me. You should be uncomfortable with your own incompetence — for not knowing that someone was quietly accumulating over ten percent of the equity stake.”
“So you know who it is, then?”
A brief silence followed. Kang Byeong-chul stared at her mutely, as though at a loss for words.
“Being here now, I’m beginning to understand something. I wonder why that is.”
“It’s natural that suspicion would grow in a situation like this. So wait. I’ll clear up all of that for you.”
“Seonjin Trading Company — no, I’ll handle Seonjin Trading Company myself.”
At Kim Ja-yeong’s firm refusal, Kang Byeong-chul let out a scoffing laugh.
“Can you? And still say that after seeing the state of things?”
“If I’d needed help, I would have knelt before you in this very room. But I haven’t yet found reason to need your help.”
Kang Byeong-chul gave a bitter smile.
“You keep making things complicated. Just accept it and take your family’s help — that’s all there is to it.”
“I think the help you have in mind and the help I need are different things. Notification without consultation doesn’t strike me as help.”
“I told you already. Your control over the group……”
Kim Ja-yeong rose from her seat as though the conversation was beneath further listening.
“Why do I feel as though you’re trying to take control of the company yourself?”
“Ah, so that’s how you see it……”
“I won’t be visiting you again. And I won’t need your help, either.”
Kim Ja-yeong looked down at Kang Byeong-chul directly as she spoke.
“Within a week, send me your voting rights proxy or sell your stake and leave. If you don’t, I’ll regard you as an enemy.”
Kang Byeong-chul’s face hardened like stone.
A mere daughter-in-law daring to threaten him that she’d consider him an enemy.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
Kim Ja-yeong bowed slightly and left without looking back.
The moment the door closed, Kang Byeong-chul clicked his tongue in irritation.
“Insolent thing. Just like that bastard Tae-jin.”
The face of his dead cousin seemed to overlay itself before him. Even that stiff, unbending temperament — she had inherited it all.
Kang Byeong-chul’s eyes glinted darkly.
“All right then. Let’s see how stiff you can remain after losing the entire Trading Company.”

* * *
“How did it go?”
The moment Kim Ja-yeong returned to the Executive Office, Choi Dong-su asked carefully. She removed her jacket and answered calmly.
“He clearly has other intentions in mind.”
Choi Dong-su’s expression hardened. The worst-case scenario they’d feared — a dispute over Management Rights between family members — had become reality.
Yet Kim Ja-yeong’s face looked almost lighter.
“Actually, this is better. At least it’s clear now. Who the enemy is, and who’s on our side.”
“Representative……”
“We can put the contingency plan the Task Force prepared into action right away.”
Kang Byeong-chul had accused them of standing by helplessly without any countermeasures, but that wasn’t true.
Ever since Seon-woo had given her the hint, Kim Ja-yeong had been quietly forming a Task Force with Choi Dong-su, running defensive simulations from multiple angles.
“Understood. Then we should start with the New Share Issuance.”
“Good. Launch a major public campaign — say we’re making it a public offering.”
New Share Issuance.
A strategy of printing new shares and releasing them to the market. When the number of shares increases, the percentage stake of existing shareholders is relatively diluted and reduced.
It was a classical but effective defensive measure against the attacker’s equity stake.
“And cap the subscription at thirty shares per person.”
It wasn’t simply about diluting the stake.
By capping the per-person subscription limit at thirty shares, they would completely block Kang Byeong-chul’s side from hoarding the new shares with their overwhelming financial power.
Simultaneously, they’d flood the market with small-scale shareholders, cementing an image of the company as a people’s enterprise.
“Understood. I’ll convene the Board of Directors immediately and prepare……”
Knock-knock.
Just as Choi Dong-su was about to leave, a knock broke the silence.
Kim Ja-yeong nodded to Choi Dong-su to answer it. When he opened the door, the secretary came in.
“Representative, you have a visitor.”
“A visitor? Did I have an appointment I forgot about?”
“No. They came unannounced, but they’re such an important person that I felt I should report it to you.”
“Who is it……?”
“It’s Kim Seok-jun, the Executive Vice President.”
At the mention of Kim Seok-jun’s name, Kim Ja-yeong’s eyes widened in surprise.
Kim Seok-jun.
A founding contributor who had served her father-in-law and a living witness to Seonjin Group’s history.
After her husband Kang Tae-jin became group chairman, she had tried to keep him close, but he had walked away cleanly, saying “my role is finished” — a man of unshakeable principle.
“Please show him in right away.”
Kim Ja-yeong stood up abruptly and headed for the door.
Moments later, the door opened, and Kim Seok-jun entered — his hair white as snow, but still bearing himself with perfect posture.
“Welcome.”
“Representative, good to see you. Thank you for making time, even though I arrived without notice.”
Kim Seok-jun bowed respectfully.
Kim Ja-yeong, flustered, waved her hand.
“No, Executive Vice President. Please don’t. It makes me uncomfortable.”
“Now that you are the owner of Seonjin Group, you should naturally grow accustomed to it. Hierarchy must be observed.”
At Kim Seok-jun’s words, Kim Ja-yeong gazed at his face quietly.
It was not formal courtesy, but genuine respect for an owner — a sincere support that was exactly what she needed most right now.
“Welcome. I’m truly glad you came.”
Kim Ja-yeong smiled faintly and returned his bow with a slight nod.
“Please, sit.”
At Kim Ja-yeong’s invitation, Kim Seok-jun sat on the sofa. Kim Ja-yeong, rather than taking the seat of honor, chose to sit across from him.
“I saw the news. Seonjin Trading Company seems to be in quite a precarious situation.”
The moment he sat, Kim Seok-jun brought up the main topic. It was consistent with his straightforward nature.
“In my view, Chairman Kang Byeong-chul appears to be targeting the Trading Company.”
Kim Ja-yeong was momentarily startled by those words.
A brief confusion flashed through her mind. Why was this man, who had retired and withdrawn from the world, suddenly arriving to broach such a sensitive subject?
Could Kang Byeong-chul have sent him?
“I apologize for jumping straight to the point — it may seem abrupt — but since the matter is urgent, I’ll continue.”
“No, not at all. I’ll listen as though receiving wisdom from an elder.”
Kim Seok-jun nodded gravely and opened his mouth.
“Would you allow me to help?”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll purchase equity stakes in Seonjin Trading Company on the market and grant you my voting rights proxy.”
Even at those words, Kim Ja-yeong’s expression remained bewildered.
Entering an equity stake war without asking for anything in return — one that might cost hundreds of billions of won.
“How……?”
“I have a family company. It makes money on the stock market quite well. I’ll use it to become a White Knight for you.”
“No, Executive Vice President. I don’t understand why you would help me. You were the one who refused even when Chairman Kang Tae-jin asked……”
Kim Ja-yeong’s question was natural. With kindness that carries no justification, one must first suspect.
Kim Seok-jun paused for a moment, then replied with a gentle smile.
“Seon-woo came to find me.”
The moment her son’s name left Kim Seok-jun’s lips, Kim Ja-yeong’s eyes widened.
“He said that right now, I’m the only one he can turn to for help. I told him I would.”

* * *
“So, what is a law norm composed of legal articles?”
“Written law.”
Even though I was at High School, I couldn’t concentrate on the lesson at all.
The teacher’s voice posing questions at the blackboard, the voices of my classmates answering — all of it sounded distant.
Man, at times like this, this identity as a high school student really feels like too much of a constraint.
Right now I need to be moving, taking action myself……
‘I wonder how it went.’
Today was the day Kim Seok-jun was meeting with my mother.
No matter how much certainty I’d given her, from her perspective, accepting help from someone who had been my late father’s loyal supporter wouldn’t be an easy decision.
In a time when you could barely trust anyone.
My mind was a mess.
The core of my plan was to position Kim Seok-jun beside my mother to secure the legitimacy of her Management Rights, and moreover, to use the equity stake I’d already acquired under the name of SJ Holdings as a defensive stake.
‘If this fails, everything falls apart……’
While I was caught up in that worry, my phone vibrated briefly in my pocket.
I tensed up instantly and glanced sideways at the teacher.
Fortunately, the teacher was absorbed in the blackboard.
I pulled out my phone beneath my desk and opened it.
The sender was Kim Seok-jun.
[It’s done. Your mother has agreed to accept help. SJ Holdings will act as the White Knight.]
I nearly gasped aloud, barely catching myself.
‘It’s done!’
I’d finally positioned our strongest defender beside my mother. With the support of a group elder that Kang Byeong-chul cannot treat lightly, there’s no way we’ll lose the battle over legitimacy now.
So now it’s time to go on the offensive.
The waiting is over.
I immediately opened my phone and sent a message to Director Jeong Tae-sung.
[Director Jeong, after work today, please bring a trustworthy lawyer. We need to start the Public Battle now.]

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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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