Chairman Kim Tae-jung raised his soju glass.
As Assemblyman Choi Jae-seok hurried to raise his own, Chairman Kim spoke up.
"I've prepared a small gift."
"I don't accept money."
"Tsk tsk, don't jump to conclusions before hearing me out. Taewoo Telecom is planning to build a large-scale data center. I'll make sure it gets built in your district. It may not create as many jobs as a factory, but it will greatly help with tax revenue."
"…If it's that kind of gift, I'll gladly accept it."
Assemblyman Choi promptly raised his glass and emptied it.
Securing a data center would greatly contribute to local development—there was no reason to refuse.
In fact, it was something he should have been the first to request.
"Here's a list of people you'll need to recruit going forward. No one aside from you must know that Taewoo Group is involved."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"There's a company helping us—an American corporation. Since it's based overseas, there's no risk of any suspicion. From now on, we'll communicate through them."
"You're planning to support us through this U.S.-based company?"
Politics requires money.
While Assemblyman Choi had no personal intention of accepting money, forming a negotiation bloc-level party would undeniably require substantial funding.
"I plan to support you using the most legal means possible. That means I won't be able to give as much as I might want. Instead, I can direct some of Taewoo Group's future business opportunities toward the politicians in your new party."
"I actually prefer it that way. Taking money through shady channels always ends badly."
"At my age, I can't risk going to prison either."
"I want to stay in politics for a long time myself."
They raised their soju glasses once more.
Smiling at each other, they clinked their glasses together.
*
After finishing lunch with Delphine, I returned to the office.
Maybe I'd had too much wine?
I was overcome with drowsiness and tried to snap out of it by pouring coffee into my mouth.
But thanks to a very welcome guest, the sleepiness vanished in an instant.
"CEO Seo Jung-jun! Have you returned to Korea?"
"It's too soon to call me a CEO. I haven't even officially launched the company yet. It's a bit embarrassing to be called that already."
Seo Jung-jun,
a man who, in just ten years, will create the number one biotech company on the KOSDAQ.
How could I not treat such a person with the utmost respect?
After all, he's the one who will multiply my investment more than a hundredfold.
"Does that mean your overseas tour has come to an end?"
"Thanks to you, Vice Chairman, I was able to meet many great people and get a solid grasp on the trends in the biotech industry. I truly appreciate it once again."
He bowed his head in gratitude.
I quickly helped him straighten up and guided him to the sofa.
"Since you've finished assessing the trends, I assume you'll be launching your company now?"
"With the investment you provided, I plan to set up an office first, then proceed with building an R&D center and lab facilities."
"You're starting boldly from the get-go."
"After analyzing the market trends, it's clear that the future belongs to biosimilar pharmaceuticals. And to develop biosimilars, R&D facilities are absolutely essential."
Biosimilar pharmaceuticals.
To put it simply, biosimilars were generic drugs.
If you could replicate a patented pharmaceutical and sell it at a lower price, making a fortune wasn't that hard.
"That's going to be a tough road. You'll probably need to spend at least five years just building your foundation."
"I'm fully prepared for that. But thanks to the large investment you've given me, I think I can endure those five years without worry."
"If you ever run short on funds, don't hesitate to let me know. Either Taewoo Group will invest more, or I'll introduce you to reliable investors."
"Thank you—truly—for continuing to support me, even after I left Taewoo Group."
"You used to be family. If we don't look out for you, who will? And I have faith in your abilities, CEO Seo."
"Thank you for your high praise."
Seo Jung-jun's eyes welled up, clearly moved.
Since the mood had turned sentimental, I decided to play it up a little more.
"You remind me of my grandfather."
"By grandfather, do you mean Chairman Kim Tae-jung?"
"That's right. You and my grandfather share many similarities. How could I not invest in someone like you?"
"I promise to live up to your trust!"
Seo Jung-jun's eyes trembled with emotion.
In my previous life, being told you resembled my grandfather might've been considered an insult.
But in this life, saying someone resembled Chairman Kim Tae-jung was a compliment every Korean businessperson longed to hear.
After finishing the conversation with Seo Jung-jun,
It wasn't long before I received a video call from David.
[Boss! The view here is amazing—I just had to show you.]
"You're kidding, right? I'm stuck in this bleak office building, and you want to show off your resort view?"
[If you're jealous, come and relax too! You haven't taken a vacation since you started this job, right? No one's going to scold you for taking a few days off. Just come now.]
"Enough nonsense. What's the real reason you called?"
I hadn't really thought about taking a vacation.
There was just too much going on. I had too many irons in the fire. Besides, I'd had more than enough time to rest in my previous life—this time around, I wanted to push forward with everything I had.
[I've been thinking during this break. I don't think it's wise to keep backing President Bush in the upcoming U.S. election.]
"Is it because of the Iraq War?"
[Exactly. Sure, right now we're hearing nonstop victory reports from Iraq, and his approval ratings are high. But once election season ends, there's a high chance public opinion will sour due to the war's aftermath.]
As always, war was a double-edged sword.
Especially for the President of the United States—the ultimate decision-maker in times of war—it was an incredibly sensitive matter.
"It's true that his approval ratings might drop due to the war's aftermath, but there's still lingering anxiety from 9/11. It'll be close, but I still think President Bush has a high chance of winning the next election."
[He barely scraped by in the last one. If the opposition makes economic recovery their main promise, Bush might struggle to get re-elected. And let's not forget—we still haven't found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.]
The justification for the Iraq War was the existence of weapons of mass destruction.
But even after they'd torn Baghdad apart, none had been found.
A war without justification.
That alone could cause approval ratings to dip.
Still, just because the war lacked justification didn't mean people's fear of terrorism had disappeared.
"Right now, public safety is a bigger concern than economic recovery."
[Since you put it that way, I'll continue supporting the Bush campaign. But if we only support the Republicans, we could run into trouble if a Democrat wins the presidency. Not that it's a big issue for me—I keep friendly ties with both sides.]
"For this election, go all-in on the Republicans. Oh, and also, give your full support to one Democratic Senator."
This election would go to Bush.
But the next one? It was very likely the Democrats would win.
[Which Democratic senator are you referring to?]
"Support Senator Obama from Illinois."
[I've heard of him. He's known to be a great speaker. But do we really need to give him that much support? He's not exactly a major figure right now.]
True, he wasn't well-known yet.
But in next year's election, he would give a keynote speech—one so powerful it would top the playlists of college students everywhere and move hearts across the country.
"You have to build relationships with promising politicians early. Support him generously."
[I'll set up a meeting as soon as my vacation ends. Funny thing is, just sitting around doing nothing makes me want to work more. That's partly why I called you, Boss.]
David might have seemed like a carefree guy,
But in truth, he was more of a workaholic than anyone.
Even without my prompting, he would go out and build connections. And now, even while relaxing at a resort, his mind was still on business.
By the time 2003 reached its final month, the Planning Director came to the Vice Chairman's office with a report summarizing Taewoo Group's performance that year.
"2003 was the year Taewoo Group set an all-time record for sales. Taewoo Semiconductor, which had been running at a loss, turned profitable. Thanks to collaboration with Apple, Taewoo Electronics' second-half sales surpassed Samsung and CL Electronics. Additionally, royalty income from Apple more than doubled compared to last year."
"For a while, no other group will be able to challenge us for the top spot in the business world."
They had planted seeds in various areas over the years, and this year marked the beginning of the harvest.
Companies acquired in the big deals during the foreign exchange crisis had shifted from losses to profits, so money began to accumulate in Taewoo Group.
"Also, Taewoo IT is growing very rapidly. Our gaming platform saw growth of over three times in both China and Europe, and the music streaming site is performing well. Social networking services have increased users, but since a proper revenue model has not yet been established, it's still running at a loss."
"Every business spends money in the early days. Within a year or two, it will turn profitable, so don't worry."
SNS was still in its infancy.
With smartphone sales—including the iPhone—steadily rising, revenue from SNS would naturally increase over time.
"The other affiliates are also doing well. Taewoo Construction still holds the number one spot in contracting and won't have to worry about new orders for the next five years. Taewoo Telecom continues to maintain its leading position, although its user base is no longer growing explosively."
"We've already drawn out all the users we could, so there's nothing more to do there. How is Taewoo General Trading's performance?"
Taewoo General Trading handled distribution for the group.
Once, along with Taewoo Construction, it was one of the group's core affiliates, but now it had been overshadowed by others.
"The performance dropped significantly compared to last year. This decline isn't limited to Taewoo General Trading, but applies to all seven general trading companies."
"With the government planning to abolish benefits for trading companies, things will only get tougher."
"That's right. During the foreign exchange crisis, the trading companies were export champions, but now they've become burdens."
General trading companies were essentially general merchandise dealers.
They made sales by purchasing goods from other countries or companies and selling them on, earning commissions with very slim profit margins—often less than 1%.
Even with 10 billion won in sales, it was difficult to keep even 100 million won in operating profit.
"We can't leave the trading companies as they are. The era of raw material distribution will come, and we need to strengthen the trading companies in preparation for that."