It was late at night, a few days later.
I was in the penthouse at Y Hotel in Yongsan, Rubicon Partners' base of operations.
The heavy door opened, and Joo Yun-ha entered.
"Chairman. The refinancing of the one hundred million won you requested has been completed without a hitch. You no longer have a single won of personal debt in your name."
"Good work, CEO Joo."
I gave a brief nod. Joo bowed lightly, then gestured through the half-open doorway.
A man hesitantly stepped into the penthouse.
His hair was disheveled, and he looked haggard, as though he had not washed for days.
Yet his sunken eyes blazed like those of a stray dog driven to the edge of a cliff.
It was Kim Jeong-gon, formerly a manager on Inju Securities' Risk Management Team.
"I tracked him down after making inquiries. Please introduce yourself."
At Joo's prompting, Kim turned his gaze toward me.
His dull eyes widened in astonishment.
"……You? No. Is a brat like you really Rubicon's true owner?"
His voice was cracked and hoarse.
It was hardly surprising. The 'Chairman' to whom the powerful head of a foreign fund bowed so respectfully was a raw youth in his early twenties who looked as though he had barely graduated from university.
"Mind your language, Manager Kim. You are addressing the chairman."
Despite Joo's warning, Kim gave a disbelieving laugh and bristled.
"Come now, CEO Joo. You brought me here for some sort of joke? You are telling me this young man is the financier controlling that enormous dollar fortune?"
The disbelief and mockery were unmistakable.
I gave a quiet laugh and gestured toward the leather sofa opposite me.
"Please sit down, Manager Kim Jeong-gon."
"Ah, but now that your company has defaulted, that title is meaningless. I will call you Jeong-gon."
His brow furrowed sharply at my cold provocation.
"I have no intention of playing the clown for some boy. My company may have collapsed and thrown me onto the streets, but I haven't abandoned my pride."
He turned dismissively and was about to leave the penthouse.
"Inju Securities held twenty million dollars in foreign exchange stabilization bonds (originating in Thailand). You warned of the danger in advance. You even submitted a report recommending that the entire position be sold."
He stopped dead, as though his foot had caught on a stone.
"But the incompetent executives threw your report in the trash, spouting assurances about 'government fundamentals.' What was the result? The company fell apart, and you were left on the verge of becoming a credit delinquent."
I tossed the documents I had prepared onto the table.
"You were not wrong. You merely had a foolish master."
Kim approached on unsteady feet and examined the papers.
It was the Share Transfer Agreement confirming that Rubicon Partners had secured complete management control of Taeseong Pharmaceuticals.
His eyes widened as though they might pop out.
"Wh-what is this……? You acquired an affiliate of Taeseong Group?"
"Rubicon has only just set sail. CEO Joo Yun-ha will handle our public presence and major acquisitions. You will work under him, keeping our house in order by controlling cash flow and defending against risk."
I met his eyes and drove the point home in a cold, informal voice.
"That talent you're so proud of. Will you waste it drinking soju on the streets of Myeongdong, or join me in tearing South Korea's business establishment to pieces?"
A heavy silence filled the penthouse.
The scent of ruthless capital crossing freely between the legal and the illegal, and the overwhelming presence of the young man who controlled it perfectly, crushed Kim's shallow arrogance without resistance.
At last, his knees seemed to give way, and he dropped onto the sofa.
"……What annual salary will you pay me?"
"Exactly twice the money you earned for Inju Securities' president. I will pay it in dollars, in cash."
"Haha, hahahaha……!"
He laughed as though he had lost his mind, then rose and bowed deeply to me.
"I look forward to serving you, Chairman. I will grind down my own flesh and bones if that is what it takes to protect Rubicon's vault."
"Good. Director should be an appropriate title for you."
I raised my glass with a satisfied smile.
"CEO Joo, Director Kim. I look forward to working with you both."
Joo Yun-ha, in his late forties, would serve as our public face. Kim Jeong-gon, the genius in his thirties, would take charge of internal operations and risk management.
At last, the two perfect gears that would sustain a vast Rubicon had meshed and begun to turn.
Immediately after Kim joined, Rubicon Partners' operations began moving at a frightening pace.
The first task was to erase every remaining trace of Taeseong from CEO Joo's major acquisition, the pharmaceutical company.
Its corporate name was immediately changed from 'Taeseong Pharmaceuticals' to 'Rubicon Pharmaceuticals.'
The old sign came down at the Suwon factory, replaced by Rubicon's red logo.
Every nepotistic appointee Taeseong had installed received a dismissal notice under Kim's ruthless restructuring blade.
Only the essential personnel required for new drug development and pharmaceutical production remained.
I stayed completely hidden as a mere new employee, directing the two chess pieces named Joo Yun-ha and Kim Jeong-gon from behind the scenes.
A few days later, at the Y Hotel penthouse, Kim brought me his findings.
"Chairman. I have examined the Second Research Institute's detailed records as instructed."
He placed a thick folder of confidential documents on the table.
"These are the original Phase II clinical trial results for the 'TS-702' hair-loss treatment, far more detailed than the clinical data you previously pointed out to us. I had a few trustworthy experts discreetly cross-check them……. This drug is almost beyond belief."
Unable to contain his excitement, he swallowed.
"They have brought sexual dysfunction and cardiovascular risks, the serious side effects of existing drugs, almost completely under control."
His voice was thick with excitement and astonishment.
Even to a specialist in risk management, the patent's potential to explode onto the market was beyond imagining.
"If we can successfully complete Phase III clinical trials, we could monopolize the global hair-loss treatment market! We would generate astronomical revenue every year!"
"Phase III?"
I flipped through the folder indifferently and gave a short laugh.
"Director Kim. Do you think Phase III trials for a new drug are like running a corner shop?"
"They are a swamp that will swallow at least several years and hundreds of billions of won. The odds of success are slim as well. If the project collapses halfway through, those hundreds of billions will vanish with it."
'Of course, it succeeded in the future I remember. But I have altered history. There is no telling what variables may arise.'
He flinched at my cold correction and fell silent.
"We are not philanthropists trying to save the world by selling medicine. We are hunters who feast on capital."
I tapped the closed folder with my fingers.
"We will not manufacture the drug ourselves. We will use the industry's most proven and ruthless exit (Exit) strategy: 'licensing out (License Out).'"
Joo, who had been listening quietly, adjusted his glasses, his eyes lighting up.
"You mean an outright sale of the technology patents?"
"Exactly. Our target is the American global pharmaceutical giant, 'Pryer (Pryer).'"
I drew on the future indicators etched into my mind.
In my previous life, Pryer had been a pharmaceutical behemoth whose weak hair-loss treatment pipeline had left it languishing in second place for years.
Then it had lost ground to a competitor, and its stock price had fallen by half.
For Pryer now, these flawless Phase II clinical data would be more than welcome rain in a drought. They would be its only lifeline.
"CEO Joo. Contact Pryer's Asia-Pacific Regional Head discreetly at once. We will offer our Phase II clinical data as bait."
"Let those wealthy behemoths shoulder all the Phase III risk, with its limitless demands for time and money. We will sell at a high price and be done with it."
"What terms should we ask for?"
I answered Joo without the slightest hesitation.
"At least one hundred fifty million dollars for the initial signing payment alone. At the current exchange rate, that is roughly two hundred thirty billion won. Make 'upfront (Upfront)' payment a nonnegotiable condition."
"T-two hundred thirty billion won……!"
Director Kim exclaimed in astonishment.
It was an absurd sum to demand for a drug that had merely passed Phase II trials and was nowhere near being sold.
But I could see exactly how far Pryer's funding would stretch.
As the crucial business discussion drew to a close, Joo spoke cautiously.
"Chairman, Rubicon has grown beyond a mere investment firm. We now own a pharmaceutical company, an operating business. We should establish a proper organizational structure."
He offered the reorganization plan he had prepared.
"The proposal places the holding company, 'Rubicon Group,' at the top, with 'Rubicon Partners' handling investments and M&A, and our newly acquired 'Rubicon Pharmaceuticals' as another affiliate. I would oversee the group and focus on Partners, while Director Kim would take responsibility for the pharmaceutical company's operations."
"A good idea."
At my approval, Kim nodded and added a suggestion.
"And, Chairman. Now that you truly head a group in every sense, how about we address you as 'chairman of the group,' at least when we are among ourselves?"
Chairman of the group.
Taeseong Group's 'employee Baek Do-jin' and Rubicon Group's 'Chairman Baek Do-jin.'
The stark gulf between those identities, lives lived on different clocks, gave me a peculiar thrill.
"Very well. Use that title only when it is the three of us."
With that, the perfect triangular formation that would support Rubicon Group was complete.
Time passed, and late January 1998 arrived.
South Korea's economy was still enduring pain that seemed to grind away its very bones, but in the heart of that hell, Rubicon Group's fortress was becoming more secure than ever.
I established Rubicon Group's first base in Sinmun-ro, Gwanghwamun, a traditional center of power.
"Chairman, the headquarters office and staffing arrangements are complete, as instructed."
In the stately executive office in Gwanghwamun, CEO Joo Yun-ha bowed to me as I sat on the sofa and delivered his report.
"We have organized the business into two arms under the holding company, 'Rubicon Group.' 'Rubicon Partners,' which I head, will operate here at headquarters, hunting investments and M&A opportunities. Director Kim will hold effective authority over our affiliates, including the newly acquired 'Rubicon Pharmaceuticals' and those we add in the future. For efficient management, however, we have hired professional executives to serve as presidents of each affiliate."
"A sound decision. Director Kim, how are things on the ground?"
He arranged his papers and answered.
"The pharmaceutical company has already transitioned to a professional president and is entering a stable phase. I coordinate risk and substantive decisions from behind the scenes. The employees hired at Partners are also kept strictly outside our inner circle. As far as they are concerned, CEO Joo and I are their only masters. Your existence remains completely concealed."
I nodded in satisfaction.
"And, Chairman. Preparations for the negotiations with Pryer (Pryer) are complete as well. Even with the upfront signing payment of one hundred fifty million dollars, roughly two hundred thirty billion won at the current exchange rate, they appear to regard the deal as a matter of survival."
"Good."
I gazed at the view of Gwanghwamun beyond the window.
By day, I was the new employee tightening the noose around Taeseong. By night, I was Rubicon's chairman, poised to feast on their corpses.