The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 67

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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 Fall and Return of a Ruined Chaebol’s Third Generation: Chapter 67
Seongbuk-dong.
The road led to Kim Seok-jun’s private residence.
Two days had passed since meeting Kim Jong-su. I had pored over Jungseong Group’s documents, assessed the financial authorities’ movements, and run through the scenario in my head countless times. The conclusion was always the same.
‘I can’t do this alone.’
Standing before the gate, a familiar sight caught my eye. Beyond the meticulously tended garden and fence, a tall pine tree rose into view.
I pressed the doorbell, and the gate opened at once.
“Come in, come in.”
Kim Seok-jun emerged personally. Though his hair was white, his posture was ramrod straight, and his bearing belied his age past seventy.
“It’s been too long. Thank you for seeing me.”
“Too long? Not really, is it? Let me think—you came to pay respects after your military discharge… but yes, quite some time has passed.”
It was a light reproach. I answered with a smile and bowed my head.
“Come, let’s sit. As it happens, I received a fine tea as a gift, and I was wondering whether to invite you over.”
I was led to the living room and took a seat. Tea implements were already laid out on the coffee table, steeping.
The moment Kim Seok-jun sat down, he began preparing the tea with practiced, deft movements.
“Everyone’s struggling with the Financial Crisis, I hear.”
Before I could even broach my business, Kim Seok-jun spoke first.
“How is Seonjin Group on your mother’s side? I’ve heard the automotive division is shaky.”
It sounded like a casual question, but the subtext was clear—he’d already grasped the situation.
“I’ve heard the same about the automotive business. Chairman Kang Tae-yong is apparently reviewing Restructuring measures, and on Chairman Kang Byeong-chul’s side, the aluminum price collapse has driven them into losses.”
“Both bleeding red, then.”
Kim Seok-jun nodded.
“Seonjin Group itself is stable thanks to building up dollar-denominated assets, but it remains vulnerable. That’s why they’re trying to maintain the status quo for now.”
“Your mother runs a tighter ship than people realize. The more you observe, the more impressive it becomes.”
“That’s all thanks to your guidance.”
“What did I do? Merely scraped together a few old men from the shadows and declared my support. In any case, this is fine tea—savor the aroma while you drink it.”
“Thank you.”
“Now then, what brings you today?”
At his words, I set down the teacup and spoke.
“I came because I have a favor to ask.”
“I gathered as much. You weren’t just here for pleasantries.”
I spoke directly.
“I’ve entered the bidding to acquire Shinseong Savings Bank.”
Kim Seok-jun’s eyes shifted. He showed no surprise, only focused attention.
“Let me explain the structure.”
I laid out everything without omission: the competitive dynamic between Jungseong Group and Kim Jong-su, the financial authorities’ position, and the deal terms I’d struck with Kim Jong-su.
“Kim Jong-su provides Seonjin Group equity, and in return you help him win the bidding?”
“Yes.”
“And you receive a 5% equity stake in the savings bank plus a Board seat.”
“Correct.”
Kim Seok-jun fell silent in thought.
“A hedge against future Management Rights disputes.”
He’d grasped it in a single breath—that Kim Jong-su’s stake becomes a deciding vote in any shareholder showdown, that the Board seat serves as a monitoring tool.
There was no need to explain further.
“Do you have a strategy?”
“I do.”
I brought out my prepared logic.
“Jungseong Construction’s Debt Ratio ranks among the highest in the industry. Add to that their heavy dependence on Project Finance. If they acquire the savings bank in this state, they’ll obviously funnel funds into their affiliated companies’ projects.”
“Not reducing Non-performing assets but multiplying them.”
“Yes. Plant this logic inside the authorities, and it will create resistance to approval.”
“So you’re using the approach of getting the authorities to exclude Jungseong Group from the start?”
“Exactly.”
Kim Seok-jun listened quietly, nodding neither in agreement nor denial.
That very neutrality began to trouble me.
“The logic is sound.”
Kim Seok-jun spoke slowly.
“But that’s not the whole picture.”
It wasn’t an unexpected objection, but I had no sense of where the gap lay.
“You knock Jungseong Group out of the running. Fine. Then to whom will the authorities award the savings bank?”
“To Chairman Kim Jong-su, presumably…”
“To a loan shark kingpin from the Jeonjang district?”
Kim Seok-jun’s tone was measured, but his point was razor-sharp.
“The authorities aren’t a place that makes right choices. They make explicable ones.”
The words struck me like a blow.
I’d focused solely on dismantling Jungseong Group while overlooking this critical weakness.
“If Jungseong Group acquires it, what will the authorities say? That a top-twenty conglomerate has taken it over. Done. No matter how Congress probes or the media questions, that explanation suffices.”
He was right.
“But if Kim Jong-su acquires it? The moment the press runs the headline that a loan shark kingpin bought the savings bank, the authorities’ official loses his head. Congress and media will raise hell.”
Ultimately, it came down to Justification.
I’d fixated on Kim Jong-su being legally clean. He was the man who’d cut ties with Park Nam-gyu when the latter peddled his name for stock manipulation.
‘That’s what I thought made it acceptable.’
But what the authorities minded wasn’t legal flaws—it was public perception. One headline declaring that a loan shark kingpin had acquired the savings bank, and the official’s career would be finished regardless of legal merit.
Shutting out Jungseong Group meant nothing if there was no Justification for putting Kim Jong-su in the seat. The authorities would never stamp approval.
‘I was right to come here.’
Kim Seok-jun understood the language of bureaucracy. He’d spent decades serving his grandfather, dealing with officials all those years.
“You look troubled.”
“Not at all. If anything, my head feels clearer.”
“Is that so? Do you have an alternative, then?”
“I’m thinking it won’t work to put Kim Jong-su in the foreground.”
At my words, Kim Seok-jun smiled and nodded.
“You’re exceptional—I say one word and you grasp ten.”
He looked at me with evident pleasure, his expression inviting me to continue.
“The only answer seems to be a Consortium.”
“Precisely. Hide Kim Jong-su, but swap in a presentable face for the foreground. That’s the only way.”
A Consortium.
Multiple private investors pooling resources for joint acquisition—simple, yet the exact answer this situation demanded.
“Kim Jong-su enters as one investor among many. He holds the largest stake but stays out of public view. You put a clean name front and center.”
The structure crystallized in my mind.
From the authorities’ perspective, a private investment consortium’s acquisition is explicable.
Kim Jong-su’s name gets buried; public sentiment remains untouched.
“The figurehead is the linchpin.”
“Exactly. Someone with a smaller stake than Kim Jong-su but who becomes the public face. Clean record, financial sector connections, and someone the authorities won’t instinctively reject.”
I mentally catalogued the criteria: clean history, financial sector experience, someone the authorities wouldn’t dismiss out of hand. Fewer shares than Kim Jong-su, yet enough to serve as the consortium’s face.
“I’m glad I came to you. My thinking is finally organized.”
“Ha ha, you give me high marks just for dropping a word or two—makes me happier still. I’ll check with my contacts in the authorities and reach out through Director Jung.”
He was offering to leverage his network reaching into the bureaucracy. I bowed deeply.
“Thank you. I’ll work hard.”
“I’m a shareholder in SJ Holdings myself, so your success benefits me too. Do your best.”
Kim Seok-jun spoke with a smile, and I bowed once more.

* * *
At the same moment, Gangnam, Seoul.
Jungseong Group headquarters, the chairman’s office.
“I’ll report on the progress.”
The Director of Planning unfolded his documents.
Chairman Jung Min-woong, settled deep in his chair, gestured for him to proceed.
“We’ve conducted three informal meetings with Park Han-su and his side—the Major Shareholder of Shinseong Savings Bank. The willingness to sell is definite. However, there remains a gap in the pricing.”
“How large?”
“Park Han-su is asking 15% above market valuation. We can regard it as a pride premium.”
Jung Hyun-il, seated beside him, opened his mouth.
“We can negotiate it down. As time passes, the authorities’ pressure will only intensify. He hasn’t the capacity to hold out.”
Jung Hyun-il was president of Jungseong Construction and Jung Min-woong’s eldest son.
Though not yet forty, he bore the title of president without a trace of shame.
Rather, he approached the meeting as if it were entirely natural.
His father had put him in that seat; all he needed do was meet expectations.
“There’s no rush.”
Jung Min-woong spoke.
“The authorities are backing us. The price will fall on its own.”
Acquiring a savings bank was hardly a formidable task.
For Jung Min-woong, difficulty meant battling major construction firms tooth-and-nail in the bidding wars, not scooping up a troubled savings bank.
It was merely a window they’d come to need as banks tightened lending.
“I agree.”
The Director of Planning bowed and turned the page of his report.
“However, there is one competitor.”
“A competitor?”
“Kim Jong-su. He’s called the Ant King of Bukchon in the industry.”
Jung Min-woong’s eyes narrowed.
“He’s from a loan shark background and controls substantial assets in real estate and lending.”
“Ah, everyone in business knows of the Ant King of Bukchon. No need to recite his profile.”
“Kim Jong-su has been in contact with Shinseong for four years.”
“Four years?”
Jung Hyun-il interjected.
“Persistent.”
“The sale fell through during the real estate boom, but the Financial Crisis has given him another opening.”
“His capital reserves?”
The Director of Planning paused.
“Hundreds of billions in funds. The exact scale is hard to pin down, but it’s not negligible.”
“A loan shark with hundreds of billions?”
His son seemed startled by Kim Jong-su’s apparent wealth, but Jung Min-woong’s mouth curled upward.
“A man like Kim Jong-su would have that much to move. He’s ground his wealth from the darkest corners.”
“Is he such a formidable figure?”
His son’s question drew a hearty laugh from Jung Min-woong.
“Formidable? No. He’s a man who doesn’t know his place.”
The type who thinks money buys everything.
Exactly the breed Jung Min-woong held in contempt.
The gap between a man who’d survived thirty years in the conglomerate world and one who’d shuffled funds in the shadows was immense.
“Not knowing his place, thinking money solves everything—that’s why he’s waded into this. Having money and being able to buy are different things. Will the financial authorities license a loan shark to own a savings bank? One question in Congress and that official’s career is over.”
Jung Hyun-il nodded. His father’s words rang true.
“Don’t concern yourself.”
Jung Min-woong settled the matter.
A brief silence fell. Jung Hyun-il spoke up.
“Father, we need to establish the management structure after acquisition in advance.”
It was Jung Hyun-il raising the topic, not the Director of Planning.
He’d waited for the director’s briefing to finish before seizing his turn.
Jung Hyun-il understood what his father wanted: not a son who merely executed orders, but one who anticipated and prepared.
“If we place our own representative, the authorities will look unfavorably on it. It will appear as though a construction company is meddling in savings bank operations.”
“So?”
“We need to erect a figurehead. I’ve already identified someone.”
Jung Min-woong’s eyes flickered.
“Yun In-chul. Professor of economics at Seongmin University. A former first-tier bank executive who rose to Vice President—the youngest ever in that position.”
Jung Hyun-il pushed forward documents he’d prepared himself. A card he’d uncovered not through the Planning Department but through his own initiative.
“His record is spotless and his financial credentials are solid. Making him representative gives the authorities no grounds for objection.”
“You found this yourself?”
“Yes. I’ve already sounded him out informally. He’s not opposed.”
Jung Min-woong scanned the documents.
Former vice president of a bank, now a university professor—an unblemished resume.
It surprised him that his son had prepared this much independently.
Usually, he’d have ordered the Planning Department to compile a list, but his son had found this man on his own and made contact.
Not bad. He still had much to learn, but this was how one learned—one step at a time.
“Not bad.”
It was sparse praise, but for Jung Hyun-il, it sufficed.
Hearing “not bad” from his father was never easy.
“Wrap this up—acquisition or otherwise—before year-end.”
Jung Min-woong closed the documents.
“Dragging it out creates variables. Handle Park Han-su, handle Yun In-chul, settle everything at once.”
“Understood.”
Jung Hyun-il and the Director of Planning bowed simultaneously.
As the two men turned to leave, Jung Min-woong’s voice followed them.
“Don’t let one loan shark shake our resolve.”
At that, Jung Hyun-il turned back to his father and spoke.
“Rest assured. I’ll see it through cleanly and place the savings bank in your hands.”
At his son’s bold promise, Jung Min-woong beamed and nodded.
After exchanging the courtesy, as they left the office, Jung Hyun-il pulled the Director of Planning aside.
“Director Park.”
“Yes, President.”
“I’ll be handling this directly. Why don’t you step back?”
“But the Chairman asked me to oversee it…”
“Ah, I said I’d do it. So just keep me posted on the situation in general. Understand?”
The Director of Planning hesitated a moment, then bowed.
“Understood, sir.”
“Director Park always grasps things so well. Good work, then.”
Jung Hyun-il adjusted his tie as he walked down the corridor.
This was a fight he would win. Taking on a mere loan shark didn’t require deploying the entire Planning Department.
And…
‘Only a fool shares credit.’
Jung Hyun-il curved his lips upward and continued on his way.

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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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