"That is why I have found a beast willing to soak up that blood in our place."
Division Head Oh's brow furrowed at my answer.
"A beast? Surely you do not mean those foreign bastards again?"
"Yes. It is Rubicon Partners."
At Rubicon's name, he gave a curt nod toward Song and Lee, who were trembling like leaves beside him.
"Senior Department Head Song, Manager Lee. Wait outside."
"Y-yes! Understood, sir!"
They fled the office, and the heavy door closed behind them.
Once complete silence had settled, I took a document from my inside pocket and slid it across his desk.
"I have not forgotten my promise to serve as a 'channel' for you. Did I not say I would make their capital serve our interests?"
The document bore a red 'TOP SECRET' stamp.
Above it was a radical title that would shake Taeseong Group.
[Proposal for the Comprehensive Transfer of Management Control and 100% of Taeseong Foods' Equity]
"Rubicon proposes to acquire every share in Taeseong Foods for 'just one dollar.'"
"Naturally, the condition is that they assume every last bad debt attached to Taeseong Foods: the food and drug authorities' penalty surcharges, contractual penalties owed to subcontractors, and bank debt."
For a moment, profound astonishment flickered behind his glasses.
The proposal was so unreal that it unsettled even this ruthless architect, a man who had weathered every kind of battle.
His fingertips trembled faintly as he picked up the document.
"……Are they mad? Leaving aside selling the shares for a dollar, they intend to take on that entire mountain of debt, tens of billions of won?"
"Taeseong Foods' name is now as toxic as radioactive waste! Why would they pay for rotten meat like this?"
"They have no interest in Taeseong's 'name.' They look strictly at 'tangible assets.'"
I calmly unfolded the flawless lie I had prepared.
"They want the Hwaseong factory site, the largest in the Seoul metropolitan area, and the web of logistics subcontractors spanning the country. For foreign capital, it is a golden opportunity to acquire Korea's distribution infrastructure for practically nothing."
"That is their hungry calculation. If it lets them swallow those valuable assets whole, they will gladly accept the debt."
He gave a short, cold laugh.
"It is eerily identical to the rationale for swallowing Taeseong Pharmaceuticals. You said the factory site was the objective then, too."
"Their hunting methods, like those of any vulture fund, are simple and destructive."
Oh Se-dong stared at the document, then set it down on his desk.
Taking a cigar from his pocket, he put it between his lips and fell into a heavy silence.
The air in the office grew cold.
The abacus in his head was no doubt already clattering furiously.
Here was a chance to throw this enormous time bomb outside the group without spending a single won of Taeseong's own cash.
But the elite predator's instincts were not easily deceived.
"……Baek Do-jin. What deal did you make with them behind my back?"
His cold eyes bored into me through the cigar smoke.
"You are trying to convince me with a plausible excuse, but anyone can see this deal has more costs than benefits. They are picking up Taeseong Group affiliates as though begging for scraps. Not once, but twice."
"What are you plotting? What connection do you have with those foreign bastards?"
The suspicion was unmistakable.
But I neither panicked nor made excuses.
Instead, I bowed with a greedy smile on my lips.
"……I will be honest."
I affected embarrassment, though my smile was thoroughly calculated.
"The Rubicon people promised me a generous personal 'kickback,' under the guise of a finder's fee, if I make this deal happen."
"What?"
"Of course, I have no intention of serving myself at Taeseong's expense. If you find my petty conduct offensive, I will sever all contact with Rubicon immediately."
As I bowed my head deeply, an odd silence briefly filled the office.
A moment later, the silence broke.
"Haha, hahahaha!"
He burst into a disbelieving laugh at my shameless answer.
There was incredulity in it, but also a peculiar relief.
He had thought I was an uncontrollable beast. Now he was certain I was merely a hound moved by a little money.
The ruthless elite predator's arrogance had blinded him.
"Fine. What scraps you pick out of that garbage bin are none of my concern."
"Just clean it up immediately and keep the filth off Taeseong. I accept the offer. Proceed."
"Understood. I will handle it perfectly."
I bowed respectfully and left his office.
The moment the heavy door closed, I straightened, a dark sneer spreading across my lips.
***
Late that night, in the executive office at Rubicon Group headquarters in Gwanghwamun,
CEO Joo Yun-ha spoke with a slight tremor in his voice.
"Division Head Oh Se-dong…… really approved it?"
On the table lay the original [Proposal for the Comprehensive Transfer of Management Control and 100% of Taeseong Foods' Equity].
At the bottom, the red official seal of Taeseong Group's Restructuring Division stood out clearly.
The price was just one dollar.
It was the extraordinary result of a hunt that had swallowed the top conglomerate's enormous food affiliate whole for that paltry sum.
Yet Director Kim Jeong-gon, responsible for our internal operations, was not entirely cheerful.
"Chairman. I understand why you want a vast nationwide distribution network. But was it necessary to acquire all 100% of the shares?"
Adjusting his glasses, he sharply pointed out the problem.
"An 'asset transfer' that cleanly separates out just the factory land and goodwill would be far safer. Acquiring the whole Taeseong Foods entity means assuming tens of billions in bad debt, including the food and drug authorities' penalty surcharges, subcontractor penalties, and bank debt. The liabilities could dwarf the acquisition cost."
It was a flawless objection, worthy of a specialist in risk management.
But I casually filled a crystal glass with whiskey and gave a short laugh.
"Director Kim. What was the total net profit Rubicon Pharmaceuticals earned from the Pryer signing payment and Tau-Max?"
"……Approximately two hundred twenty billion won or more."
"Then have you calculated the corporate tax due on that enormous sum of cash?"
His eyes widened at my question.
The top corporate tax bracket in 1998 was punishing.
If we booked that enormous two hundred twenty billion won in net profit as it stood, the tax Rubicon would have to hand over to the National Tax Service would easily exceed seventy billion won.
"The money may be legally earned, but I detest being bled of tens of billions of won in taxes."
I gently swirled the whiskey and smiled coldly.
"Consider the astronomical losses Taeseong Foods will incur, the food and drug authorities' penalty surcharges, and those enormous contingent liabilities."
"They are more than a mountain of debt. They are the perfect 'overdraft account' for legally reducing Rubicon's book profits."
"Ah……!"
Only then did a thunderstruck exclamation escape him.
"A 'tax loss carryforward deduction' strategy through corporate M&A……! You mean to offset Taeseong Foods' enormous losses against Rubicon's profits and make tens of billions in corporate tax disappear entirely!"
Joo, who had been listening quietly, removed his glasses and gave a disbelieving laugh.
"Good heavens. I thought we were taking on tens of billions in debt. Instead, you are turning that mountain of debt into a perfect tax shield (Tax Shield) worth seventy billion won. And those Taeseong people must be on their knees thanking us for cleaning up the shit they left behind."
"Exactly."
I knocked back a mouthful of whiskey and coldly drove the point home.
"We will do more than swallow Taeseong's enormous nationwide distribution network at a pittance. We will even save the tax we would otherwise pay the National Tax Service. It will be the perfect transaction."
"Of course, we will have to put out the immediate fires."
Kim added the remark, his mental abacus moving rapidly.
"By my rough calculation, the cash needed to settle the claims against Taeseong Foods and the contractual penalties will be little more than thirty billion won. That is far less than the fifty billion we refinanced when we acquired Taeseong Pharmaceuticals."
"Damn……."
An astonished curse escaped Joo without his thinking.
But beneath it lay blind awe at his young leader's ruthless genius.
"Save your admiration for later, both of you."
I set the empty glass down with a clack and issued my orders coldly.
"CEO Joo. Tomorrow morning, gather Taeseong Foods' creditors and the subcontractors demanding contractual penalties in one place."
"We will silence them completely with our cash and tear down that filthy 'Taeseong' name forever."
***
The next morning, in the grand ballroom at P Hotel in Gangnam, angry subcontractor presidents facing a chain of bankruptcies overnight because of Taeseong Foods' atrocities had gathered with bank creditors at risk of losing their funds.
Just as shouting and accusatory fingers threatened to fill the hall, CEO Joo Yun-ha stepped onto the dais in an immaculate suit.
He did not bother with a microphone.
Instead, he opened the bulky leather bag he had brought and roughly poured its contents onto the dais.
RUSTLE-!
Bundles of crisp checks drawn on current accounts and foreign currency deposit certificates spilled out, worth tens of billions of won.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Taeseong Foods has left its subcontractor payments and contractual penalties unpaid, while its bank debts have fallen due."
His declaration commanded the entire room.
"Rubicon Partners will settle them here and now, 'in full, in cash.'"
For a moment, a suffocating silence fell over the hall, as though cold water had been thrown across it.
The presidents who had been shouting curses stood with their jaws hanging open.
In the hell of the IMF crisis, with exchange rates running wild, a savior had appeared to settle tens of billions in debt in a single immediate payment.
Before the overwhelming violence of cash, their anger evaporated without a trace.
***
After silencing the creditors and subcontractors completely with money, Joo continued his relentless advance that afternoon.
"People of this nation. How much anger and betrayal must you have felt at the appalling atrocities committed by Taeseong Foods?"
His resolute voice echoed through the press conference hall over the microphone.
"As of today, Rubicon Partners has acquired 100% of Taeseong Foods' equity. We will now break with Taeseong's wretched old practices and begin anew as 'Rubicon Foods.'"
He raised the certificate confirming full payment of the food and drug authorities' penalty surcharges and the receipts for compensation paid to subcontractors toward the cameras.
Flashes erupted from every direction like a torrential downpour.
"We have excised every rotten abscess left to fester by the former management's corruption!"
"We have paid every last won of the outstanding penalty surcharges. And here, before you, we pledge to tear out and dispose of every piece of contaminated production equipment. Rubicon will restore the food on this nation's tables, trampled by Taeseong, to the highest standards of cleanliness!"
It was perfect showmanship, turning a crisis into an opportunity.
The public fury boiling against Taeseong, the 'unscrupulous conglomerate,'
was rapidly becoming fervent praise and expectation for the 'foreign savior' that had taken responsibility for the debts and promised to clean up the factory.