NOVEL NEXT Chapter 56
In the end, the Lead Committee Member trembled, leaving behind a pathetic villain line, “I’ll get you for this!” before running away. It seems our three appeared to have surpassed the level of shamelessness that kid could handle.
The imagination here is really abundant. I mean, isn’t it obvious they know what’s going on? That’s why Ha Neul got knocked out by a few words. Well, it’s a cliché that the school disciplinary types tend to imagine things more fervently.
Well… I mean, it’s what you’d expect, and if I weren’t in the middle of that incident, I would have had similar thoughts. I wasn’t a disciplinary member, but I was a physically fit young man. It’s natural to have dirty thoughts when hearing dirty words.
And the incident in front of the school gate seemed to have spread like wildfire among the passing students.
Of course, they didn’t openly whisper in front of me. They were chatting about something, and whenever I passed by, they jumped in surprise or awkwardly changed the subject in loud voices. But seeing them glance at me every now and then, it was clear their attempt at ignoring me was only half successful.
And I was, of course, extremely confident.
Because I know all that misunderstanding is completely off the mark.
Well… Of course, it’s true that Ha Neul and Lee Soo-ah are wearing my underwear today, and that the three of us slept together last night.
Anyway, because of what happened this morning, by the first period, just sitting next to Ha Neul got me all the attention.
I thought it would take at least a month, but maybe by this weekend, there will be some kids who can’t resist their curiosity and start approaching?
…Though, I have some preparations to make first.
“I’ll be out for a bit.”
Not long after class started, I told Ha Neul and walked out of the classroom.
The Chairwoman unexpectedly reacted quickly, breaking her usual schedule.
That means I have to prepare a plan even faster than her. I can only speculate how she has charmed the kids, the parents, and the school teachers, but… there’s only one thing I need to run those methods I can imagine.
Money.
If possible, an enormous capital that can be pulled up as much as possible.
Whether it’s blackmail, bribes, or seduction, I needed money to fend it off.
And I needed to know how much the other side could spend, and how much I could fend off.
So, the only person I could go to was one.
*
“You’re out early today.”
Team Leader Han Garam was dressed almost the same as when we last met. With a hairstyle resembling a bank employee, a banker’s uniform, and a long coat over it. When I met her last time, I didn’t know she was a bank employee and thought of her as just a company worker, but looking closely today, her style was unmistakably that of a bank worker.
Except for the extremely important-looking briefcase she was holding in her right hand. I don’t know how to put it, but that bag seemed more like something a bank president would carry rather than a counter clerk. It’s only been a couple of months since I became rich, but I’ve started to see what “expensive things” look like.
…I hate to say it, but the bags the kids carry, like the one Ha Neul has, were clearly different in material and wear.
“I have some questions to ask.”
“If you’re asking me, I’d greatly appreciate it. Wealth is best handled with clients that are genuinely interested. I’ve seen too many people clam up and come back later, complaining that the contract is different or asking why their money hasn’t grown.”
Without waiting for my consent, Han Garam plopped down beside me.
“I apologize for saying this, but…”
She opened her briefcase with a click and said.
“To be honest, it’s a little easier for you to come out during class. Other student clients have stricter time constraints.”
Well, I guess there’s also the matter of security when talking outside like this.
She took out a leather-bound diary and a pen with a white star drawn on the cap, opened the memo portion of the diary, and spoke.
“Yes, I’m ready. So, what would you like to discuss, client?”
“What’s the maximum amount of funds I can prepare in one go?”
“We wouldn’t know that either.”
The Team Leader replied quite straightforwardly.
“Why’s that?”
I frowned and asked back.
“It’s because we don’t know the exact amount of your trust assets. Of course, the bank knows exactly, but the former Chairwoman wished for the trust assets to be managed among several teams. However, the real estate assets managed by our team amount to approximately 2.6859 trillion won. There are about five management teams, so if the other teams are managing similar assets, your real estate assets would be around 12 to 13 trillion won.”
The Team Leader answered that way and then added,
“Ah, you just thought ‘Oh my…’, didn’t you?”
“Um…”
No, I was a bit disappointed, but it wasn’t like it was that level. If I say it like that, it makes me seem like such a villain. Even if I have 1 billion or hell, even 100 billion, that’s notable wealth. If someone isn’t satisfied with this, then they might as well be a ghoul.
In fact, I was only thinking about whether that level of capital could hold down or block the Chairwoman.
“Oh, and by the way, the theme park isn’t being managed by our team; it’s operated at the bank level. Of course, since the theme park itself is a company, it doesn’t count as a ‘real estate asset’. The true power of the theme park actually comes from its real estate, though. The same applies to other real estate. Just holding onto it brings in astronomical amounts of money. Even after paying taxes, there’s plenty left over.”
“But still…”
When I hesitated a bit, Han Garam looked at me for a moment, almost as if to encourage me.
“Then, may I ask what kind of money you might need?”
“….”
I paused for a moment then spoke.
“Maybe around 15 trillion?”
“…….”
For a moment, Han Garam was speechless.
“Is there perhaps a company you wish to acquire?”
She cautiously asked.
…Fifteen trillion, does that scale raise an eyebrow that much?
“Uh, no. I just thought I might need it for personal use…”
“For personal use, such as…?”
“…Like giving it to friends…?”
“…….”
Han Garam was silent for a long time, then set the pen cap back on the pen she was holding. And she closed the diary.
After letting out a small sigh, she asked again.
“Why are you thinking like that?”
“…Are you aware of my situation?”
“Yes, I am. Thanks to that situation, I’ve struggled for years to gain your trust. Do you recall how many times you said you didn’t need our trust assets?”
…Did I say that too?
“When I was getting you the sleeping pills, my hands were trembling so badly…”
Could it be that she extorted it?
Yeah, now that I think about it, there was something fishy about a bank employee getting me sleeping pills. In a situation where tens of trillions are at stake, she could probably score me a pack of sleeping pills or so, right?
“Which is why I’m finding it hard to understand the current situation. Why do you suddenly want to give away 15 trillion to your friends?”
“….”
I momentarily shut my mouth.
After a brief thought, I decided it would be better to tell her. She’s the one managing my assets. If there’s no minimum information exchange, I won’t be able to effectively pull out money.
“Because the money that created the current situation belongs to the Chairwoman. If I threaten my friends with that money…”
“Are you saying you’ll block them off with that 15 trillion?”
Han Garam mumbled to herself in disbelief.
After a moment of silence, she said,
“Can you lend me just 1 trillion if you don’t mind?”
She said something quite out of the blue.
“Why should I?”
When I asked back with a look as if I was hearing nonsense, Han Garam took a sigh of relief.
“No, I was worried that your judgment might be clouded. Seeing this, I really think you seem worried. Well, it is true that there’s no better way to get out of your situation than money.”
Han Garam nodded to herself while muttering, then cut to the chase.
“But honestly, there’s no need to prepare up to 15 trillion.”
“…Why’s that?”
“The amount of money one can borrow isn’t as much as you think. The same goes when you expand that to family, relatives, and the company. Even if the kids attending this school come from wealthy families, it’s rare that ‘the family itself’ has more than 1 trillion in capital. There are about twenty-five per class, with twelve classes combined, and that’s not to mention that there are three grades in this school.”
“Oh….”
I started to understand what Han Garam was trying to say.
“And considering that this school allows those wealthy enough to come back, there are quite a few rich people in this country. Other than the top few percent, most are in the mid-sized and small business range. I could state with certainty that no student has a ‘personal’ asset in shares worth 215 trillion. No, not just students. Even your ‘father’ or ‘grandfather’ wouldn’t have half of that.”
The shares amounting to 5.7 percent of Yujin Electronics, plus the other equity stakes in affiliate companies total up to that amount.
“So…”
“So if the ‘current Chairwoman’ who holds 8.5 percent of Yujin Electronics thinks of messing with someone in this school, she could actually do it more easily than expected.”
Team Leader Han Garam said.
“By collapsing the company or piling up huge debts on someone… even if it’s illegal, with enough money, it could be smoothed over. Though that smoothing over would also be illegal. Unlike in the US, where billionaires overflow and bribery is legal, the rest of the country simply doesn’t have enough money to control a ‘wealthy family’ of Yujin Group. Even most banks would struggle to match your loan limit.”
“So, to destroy someone’s future, it could be done with a surprisingly small amount of money—”
“And likewise, to prevent that from happening, it could also be done with a surprisingly small amount of money. Of course, I mean it from your perspective, not as a standard.”
“….”
What kind of media company has taken my photo, anyway?
Are they seriously living on borrowed time, or what?
“If a friend gets into hundreds of billions of debt, just give them a billion. Gift tax, 50 percent? Would you be worried about such things to save your friend when you’re thinking of 15 trillion?”
“Uh….”
I hesitated for a moment and then spoke.
“But most of my wealth is in stocks…”
Aren’t stocks supposed to be sold to get cash?
“….”
Han Garam stared at me intently.
“What? What’s the problem?”
As I bewilderedly stuttered, Han Garam waved her hand across her face.
“Did you know? Stocks have something called dividends.”
“Uh, yeah. But it’s really small—”
“Yes, that’s right. Currently, Yujin Electronics’ dividend is 205 won a share, distributed quarterly. If you have ‘2 billion’ stocks, you can receive about a million won a year, in simple calculations. Wow, that’s really pocket change, right?”
“Uh oh.”
“But hey, client, you have ‘roughly’ 200 trillion won worth of stocks. 200 trillion is 100 million times 2 billion, so just multiply the million by 100 million. So how much would that be?”
“Ah!”
“Also, including the cash assets the former Chairwoman left behind, tangible assets, and the profits from the real estate you own, it adds up to much more. So honestly, if you are just preparing 15 trillion, you could easily process it with a single phone call in less than 10 minutes. You just need to check the balance of your cash holdings.”
“….”
I was left speechless, my mouth agape, as Han Garam looked at me with a serious expression.
“Uh, client.”
“Yes?”
“Could you possibly lend me just 500 billion?”
“Are you out of your mind?”