The Return of the Ruined Chaebol's Third-Generation Heir - Chapter 79

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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 79
The next morning, in a conference room on the third floor of the Shinhwa Welltech headquarters.
“I apologize for calling everyone in so early.”
Jung Tae-sung, Park Jin-hyeok, Seo Min-seung.
The three of them sitting at the same table was a first.
Park Jin-hyeok and Seo Min-seung barely knew each other. They were in the same building but on different floors, doing different work.
I took my seat, feeling the awkward current flowing between them.
“Again, I apologize for the sudden gathering. I’ll get straight to the point.”
I began speaking slowly, looking at the three of them.
“Both Shinhwa Welltech and Synapse need new production lines to grow their businesses, so we’ve been making efforts to secure land. However, we’ve decided to cancel the land expansion project in Ulsan.”
Park Jin-hyeok reacted first.
“There’s no suitable land?”
Jung Tae-sung opened his mouth instead of me to answer.
“We scouted two blocks adjacent to the Miipo Industrial Complex. Both were already slated for Seonjin Motors’ tier-one subcontractors. The city’s industrial policy department was treating it as a confirmed project.”
“Did Seonjin Motors block it directly?”
There was an edge to Seo Min-seung’s voice. To him, Seonjin Motors wasn’t just a company name. It was the name that had brought down his father’s business.
I stepped in to answer his question.
“Rather than blocking it directly, the entire city of Ulsan is structured around Seonjin Motors. Half the tax revenue and half the employment hang on the Seonjin Motors ecosystem. The city government can’t afford to ignore that.”
Park Jin-hyeok’s expression darkened. Yesterday’s Secondary Battery material prototype production line had slipped through his fingers.
Seo Min-seung fell silent too. He needed more space to expand the inference cluster.
“We could fight and win. But even after winning, every time we try to do anything—permits, water, electricity—the same structure becomes a bottleneck. There’s no reason to keep running on a tilted playing field.”
I paused for a moment, then continued.
“So after much deliberation, my conclusion is…….”
All three of their eyes turned toward me at once.
“We’ll leave Ulsan.”
At the word “leave,” Park Jin-hyeok’s eyes wavered. He had a factory here that he’d built over more than a decade.
“Chief, the Electrolyte Additive you showed us yesterday—if it goes into mass production, who would be the customer?”
“Battery manufacturers like Future Battery or Goldstar Chemical.”
They were still producing mobile phone and industrial batteries, not finished secondary batteries for electric vehicles.
“Do those companies have factories in Ulsan?”
“……No. They’re in the Chungcheong region.”
His face showed the meaning sinking in only as he spoke the answer.
This man could look ten years ahead in manufacturing, but he wasn’t sharp in other fields.
That’s why I’d placed a management-specialist CEO beside him.
“Representative Seo.”
I turned to Seo Min-seung.
“If a Learning-type Robot were deployed to a factory for the first time, which line would it be?”
“An assembly line with many repetitive operations and high precision. There would be automotive lines too, but since you’ve brought it up, battery cell assembly would be first. The process looks simple, but yield variance is actually severe, so there are many segments that still depend on human hands. That’s where learning-type robots show the most effect.”
“So Synapse’s first customer wouldn’t be in Ulsan either.”
Both of them were now showing faces of understanding my decision to leave Ulsan.
“If the battery materials customer is in Chungcheong and the robot’s first market is there too, there’s no reason for us to stay tied to Ulsan.”
No one answered.
Not because they couldn’t, but because there was no need to. The answer was already clear.
“That said, we won’t abandon Ulsan entirely. We can’t just ignore the existing joint venture production line. We’ll keep that line as the joint venture’s operation, while Shinhwa Welltech and Synapse relocate.”
“Then perhaps you’ve already considered a location?”
Park Jin-hyeok asked carefully.
“We’re looking at Southern Gyeonggi or North Chungcheong. There are semiconductor manufacturers there, and battery companies too.”
In the future, this area will be called a semiconductor belt.
From Pangyo to Giheung, Icheon and Cheongju—connecting these points makes a K shape, earning it the name K-Semiconductor Belt.
“I think Synapse should become independent from this building and construct its own new headquarters—with the materials factory and robot research institute under one complex.”
Seo Min-seung’s expression wavered.
I could imagine how the words “dedicated research institute” must have sounded to someone who’d been researching in a corner of the fourth floor of someone else’s building.
“If we relocate, realistically we’ll have to obtain all permits anew. Will that be all right?”
Park Jin-hyeok asked, and I nodded.
“That was my biggest concern too. Especially for Shinhwa Welltech—handling hazardous chemicals means the regulations are incredibly strict. But I realized that obtaining new permits from scratch might be easier than struggling to find factory land here.”
Park Jin-hyeok’s face showed understanding. If we couldn’t expand the production line, Shinhwa Welltech would miss out on growth opportunities.
“If anyone has objections, please speak up now.”
I said that and looked at the three of them. They were looking at each other’s faces, nodding in agreement.
“Good. Then I’ll assume we’re all in agreement and proceed with site selection. Director Jung.”
“Yes, Representative.”
“Once you’re in Seoul, begin the site selection work right away and make contact with each provincial and municipal government office. We’ll choose the most favorable location.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Then we’ll end the meeting here.”
I said this and stood up from my seat. We were done with the domestic side. What remained now was going to America and laying the groundwork for both companies to grow further.

* * *
“If that’s the situation in Ulsan, leaving is the right call. Butting heads in Seonjin Motors’ yard isn’t sound judgment.”
The day after we arrived in Seoul, at Kim Seok-jun’s residence in Seongbuk-dong, Kim Seok-jun listened quietly to my explanation, then nodded and spoke.
“So what area are you considering for the new site?”
“We’re looking at Southern Gyeonggi or North Chungcheong.”
“Doesn’t sound bad. There are semiconductor factories over there.”
“Yes. We’re planning to bundle the new line for Shinhwa Welltech and the Synapse research institute in a single complex.”
“A single complex?”
I nodded and continued speaking.
“The thing is, what we’re building now isn’t separate businesses.”
Kim Seok-jun listened intently to my words.
“Shinhwa Welltech produces semiconductor materials now, but it will eventually make secondary battery materials. Synapse makes robots for manufacturing plants. Right now both are operating separately, but as battery factories grow, materials demand rises, and robot demand rises too. They’re looking at the same customers.”
“The same customers.”
Kim Seok-jun nodded. He was quick to read business structures.
“But for battery demand to truly explode, there needs to be a finished product consuming huge quantities of those batteries. Mobile phones and notebooks have their limits.”
“A finished product?”
“Electric vehicles.”
A brief silence fell.
“Electric vehicles have to be mass-produced for battery factories to expand, battery factories have to expand for materials to sell and robots to be deployed. And since electric vehicles are automobiles, those production lines will need robots too. I see electric vehicles as the apex of the value chain. No matter how well you build what’s underneath, without the apex everything stops.”
Kim Seok-jun rested his chin on his hand. After a moment of thought, he spoke.
“Electric vehicles…… People have been saying for years that it’s an alternative, but will it actually be mass-produced? A car that you have to charge every few kilometers—who would drive it?”
“Battery development has advanced tremendously lately. Research institutes have actually made batteries for electric vehicles, and studies show they can go two to three hundred kilometers on a charge.”
“Hmm, then there needs to be somewhere that can mass-produce it. Domestically, isn’t it only Seonjin Motors? You’re thinking of going under them?”
I shook my head immediately.
“No. The moment we go under Seonjin Motors, leaving Ulsan becomes meaningless. The same structure just repeats.”
“Then?”
“I’m thinking of going abroad.”
Kim Seok-jun’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Is there an automaker making electric vehicles overseas?”
“Not yet.”
Kim Seok-jun’s eyebrows rose slightly. Even I would’ve thought it sounded like nonsense the first time I heard it.
But I couldn’t speak of the future as it is now. In the end, all I could do was push forward with conviction.
“Not now, anyway. That’s why we’re looking. Someone must be working on it. They just haven’t reached mass production yet.”
Kim Seok-jun regarded me quietly.
Then he laughed softly.
“You’re always several moves ahead. It’s like watching your grandfather, Chairman Kang Man-ho.”
“…….”
“It’s a compliment. Talking with you makes me think—what if I’d been young and sharp like you too?”
“You’re too kind.”
Kim Seok-jun smiled slightly and continued.
“So there must be a reason you came to tell me this. Is there something I can help with?”
“Director Jung has begun the site selection work. Once we’ve identified candidate sites, we’ll need government help with permits and regulations. Shinhwa Welltech handles hazardous chemicals, so the approval process is complicated. In Ulsan, we’ve been using existing permits, but for a new site we’d have to start from scratch.”
“Ha, that’s exactly what I do best.”
It wasn’t bluster. The government channels this man possessed were something I couldn’t build in ten years of work.
“And you’re going abroad?”
“Yes. I’ll be leaving soon. I want to look for some candidates while I’m there.”
Kim Seok-jun nodded and didn’t ask further.
“All right. Let me roll up my sleeves. Leave the domestic side to me, and have a good trip.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed in gratitude.

* * *
Right after leaving Kim Seok-jun’s house and getting into the car, my phone rang. It was Danny.
—Seon-woo! I set up a meeting with Volta. Three days from now. Can you make it? He said he can’t give any other time.
It was tight, but if I left the country tomorrow, it would be possible.
“I can make it.”
—Yeah? Then come to San Francisco. Book your flight and let me know—I’ll pick you up.
“Thanks. Oh, Danny.”
—What?
“Can you find one more person for me?”
A sigh came through the phone.
—Just treat me like a detective agency.
“I’m sorry.”
Even I thought I was pushing it. But Danny was the only person I knew in America.
—Just kidding, just kidding. So who’s the person you need me to find?
Danny laughed loudly at my apology and asked.
“A researcher doing postdoctoral work at Berkeley. Belgian. His name is Lucas Janssen. He’s researching Reinforcement Learning to control robots.”
—Reinforcement Learning? What’s that?
“Instead of programming every movement into a robot, you give it a goal and let it learn through trial and error on its own.”
A brief silence followed.
—A postdoc means…… he just got his PhD, right? How do you even know about this guy?
“I’ve read his papers.”
Of course, I didn’t know him just from reading papers. Lucas Janssen was a figure who would become widely known in robotics and deep learning in the future.
Almost no one in the world understood the significance of what he was doing now.
He was teaching machines to learn on their own.
Right now it’s being used to move a single robotic arm, but when the same principle scales up, machines will write, draw, and think like humans.
—So why do you need that person?
“The Robotic Arm that Synapse is making needs a brain. We built the body, but we have no one to teach it how to move. Not domestically.”
—A Berkeley postdoc—isn’t that someone who’s made it? Why would they come to a Korean company, especially one that’s barely a startup right now?
It was a realistic question.
“Because he’s doing research that nobody appreciates right now. Robots with AI? Even academia treats it as fringe. His papers are outstanding, but he’s probably not getting proper research funding.”
—You really do know everything. All right, let me reach out.
I smiled.
“If you can find him, I’ll meet him in person.”
—Got it. Berkeley’s just across the bridge from Palo Alto, so we can schedule it before or after the Volta meeting.
“Thank you.”
—Thank you? With the salary I get from you, this much is the least I should do. See you in America.
After hanging up with Danny, I looked out the window.
‘Lucas Janssen, and Volta…….’
No one knows it now. Only I know.
How much value what they’re about to accomplish will have.
So right now, I have to bring them in.

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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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