Chapter 37: Independence (4)
A-Gen management was preparing to hand over the management rights. CEO Yoon Dae-Sung had long considered how to hand over the management rights and the huge assets to his son Yoon Bo-Hyun.
Normally, there were three procedures that were followed by the head family of a large company.
First of all, they would start their own child company. When doing this, they would make sure that the prince who was going to receive the management rights had a significant share of the new company. Second, they would concentrate the high-profit work on the child company and grow it at an abnormal speed. Third, they would merge the large child company with the mother company and allow the prince to have a large share. After those steps, the management rights and assets had been transferred successfully.
The person who was preparing this huge management right succession project was Ji Kwang-Man, the Division Manager of A-Gen management. He had known Yoon Dae-Sung for a long time, and they were basically family. Ji Kwang-Man was extremely loyal to him, and he sincerely respected and liked Yoon Dae-Sung.
Then, what did he think about Young-Joon?
‘A legendary horse that is stubborn and runs however it wants.’
That was Ji Kwang-Man’s honest judgment about him.
When Yoon Bo-Hyun said that they needed to crush him a little, he told Yoon Bo-Hyun that he would take care of it.
Young-Joon was a difficult person to break, and he would become an enemy that they would constantly collide with if left like that. Then, wouldn’t it be the best course of action to make him into an ally?
Ji Kwang-Man strongly proposed that Young-Joon should be appointed as an unregistered director during the board meeting. He also strongly insisted that they give him shares as well. It went as he planned during the board meeting, and the decision would be confirmed during the shareholders' meeting.
The next thing to do was to make Young-Joon an ally.
This was about two weeks from when Young-Joon recommended Veratex, a treatment for high blood pressure, to Hong Ju-Hee.
Ji Kwang-Man was parking his car in the Lab Six parking lot.
—This is the eight o’clock evening news. Today at three o’clock, the optic cell treatment derived from induced pluripotent stem cells that were developed by A-Gen has entered Phase One of the clinical trial. Trial patient Son has lost their vision to glaucoma.
The SBS News came out from the car radio.
Click.
Ji Kwang-Man turned off the radio and got on the elevator.
At the same time, Young-Joon was covering his face with his bag in embarrassment after the eight o’clock news revealed his interview to Jung Hae-Rim.
While standing beside him, she said, “Oh, and Young-Joon. In your next interview, don’t glance at the camera. If you see on TV, all the doctors and scientists who are wearing gowns always keep a forty-five degree angle from the camera. That’s the classic way.”
“... I have wondered why they do that for a long time. Why do they always make it like that when a news outlet or TV program does an interview with an expert?”
“It adds trustworthiness to the interview if they make the situation look like the expert is not acknowledging the camera. It kind of feels like the expert is talking in a more objective way? Broadcasts are all about the details.”
“No, but I don’t understand why they do that when I’m doing the interview to explain this to the public who are watching it through the TV.”
“Did you argue about that with the reporters?”
“Well, I didn’t argue, but they did say something because I looked at the camera so much. But they gave up later on because I kept staring at it.”
“Wow! You really exceed my expectations. You don’t allow anything that is even a little unreasonable or unfair, do you?”
Young-Joon’s ears turned red.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable or unfair... I didn’t look at it on purpose or anything. I’m not that much of a fighter, you know. I just couldn’t help but glance at it because it was bothering me a little.”
Young-Joon laughed like he was a little embarrassed.
“What is this?”
Jung Hae-Rim pointed to a book that was propped up on one side of Young-Joon’s desk.
“I Lived As a Scientist, Not a Businessman. Author: Yoon Dae-Sung? This is a book written by our CEO.”
“Yes.”
“You’re reading something like this because you’re about to be a director...”
“It’s not that. I only read it as a reference to help me decide what my next target will be for the iPSCs”
Ring!
The office doorbell suddenly rang.
“Who is that?”
Jung Hae-Rim turned to the door in puzzlement. Usually, the people who rang the office doorbell were salespeople who were here to deliver lab materials. But it was eight o’clock in the evening; it was long past the time for salespeople to visit.
“I’ll get it and see.”
Jung Hae-Rim went outside the office. When she returned, she had a sour expression and Ji Kwang-Man with her.
“Sir?”
Young-Joon rose from his seat.
“You haven’t gone home yet. Good. I was just going to meet Director Gil Hyung-Joon if you weren’t here.”
Ji Kwang-Man did a fake laugh. As he approached Young-Joon, he saw the CEO’s book on his desk.
“Oh, Doctor Ryu, you read our CEO’s book as well?”
“Yes. I was wondering what kind of person our CEO is. I think I’ll get to see him more often once I become a director.”
“Haha, it’s a good idea.”
Jung Hae-Rim was packing up her things and leaving. As she left, she waved to Young-Joon and silently mouthed the words "good luck" to him.
“But what brings you here?” Young-Joon asked.
“Haha, it’s nothing much. I just wanted to talk to you, Doctor Ryu. Would you like to go for a drink?”
Ji Kwang-Man was a businessman. Before he became the division manager, he usually took on the role of a lobbyist when A-Gen was just a small company. It was him who had gotten that investment from SG Group. It was also him who had undone all the frustrating regulations that were put on them as a pharmaceutical company by the government. His lobby was simple but powerful.
He related himself to them through schools, mutual friends, and family. Then, he gave them a pretty girl and poured expensive alcohol into their stomachs using the girl’s hands. They went back to their most primitive ways together.
And depending on the other person’s personality, he used several cards that were up his sleeve: luxury goods, secret information, meetings with certain people, and more. If he included a plausible explanation and a profit-loss calculation, it was a success.
But Ji Kwang-Man did not lead Young-Joon in that way.
“This is the place. It’s quiet, but has a nice atmosphere. It’s the perfect bar to have a straightforward conversation.”
The place Ji Kwang-Man led Young-Joon to was an upscale sky-lounge bar.
“I thought people that were around your age went to places like hostess bars,” Young-Joon said as he took a seat.
“Haha, there are a lot of people like that. But I detest places where people get women and drink with them. What kind of drinks do you like?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t drink often.”
“How about some wine? They have a set menu here.”
It didn’t seem like Young-Joon would notice even if Ji Kwang-Man ordered an expensive appetizer, and he thought that it could actually backfire.
“That’s good with me.”
Ji Kwang-Man called over the bartender and ordered a bottle of wine and canapé. After they had a couple glasses, Ji Kwang-Man got to the point.
“Doctor Ryu, how would you feel about making a child company of A-Gen?”
“A child company?”
“Wouldn’t it be easier for you to pursue the research you want if you became the CEO and led the company? We will also give you a fair amount of shares.”
Young-Joon sipped his wine without replying.
Ji Kwang-Man smiled on the inside.
‘Bingo.’
Ji Kwang-Man had thrown a curveball. What Young-Joon wanted was not money nor prestige. If he wanted things like that, he would have quit a long time ago and started his own venture company by now.
Young-Joon’s goal was research. He showed the qualities of a businessman when he crawled up to management as he fought for company shares, but Ji Kwang-Man couldn’t let that distract him. The reason Young-Joon wanted to interfere with management was because of the conflict he had with Kim Hyun-Taek. All he was trying to do was to perfect a level of power that no one from management could touch to protect research ethics, the thing he basically worshiped.
Then conversely, they could make him into an ally if they secured the autonomy of his research. It was a brilliant idea. They would start a child company for the succession of management rights, and Yoon Bo-Hyun would hold the largest percentage of the shares legally possible. Then, he would give the position of CEO to Young-Joon along with a percentage of shares a little lower than Yoon Bo-Hyun. The rest of that could be taken by A-Gen headquarters. The headquarters wouldn’t have to concentrate their high-profit jobs on them since genius scientist Young-Joon would make the company big himself, which would only increase Yoon Bo-Hyun’s power.
All Yoon Bo-Hyun had to do was befriend Young-Joon. Since they were similar in age, it would be easy if he sucked up a little and had similar hobbies.
Then, they would make Young-Joon Yoon Bo-Hyun’s right-hand man when merging the company with A-Gen headquarters.
It was the perfect situation. It was no different with Nicholas standing beside Yoon Dae-Sung.
Ji Kwang-Man grinned and stared at Young-Joon.
‘You can’t resist, right? It’s such a sweet and perfect deal.’
Clank.
Young-Joon put down his glass. Staring at him, he said, “Not a child company, but I was thinking about starting an affiliate company.”
“Kuk!”
Ji Kwang-Man almost dropped his glass. He actually shouted because he was so surprised.
“Y-You’re making what?”
Ji Kwang-Man’s voice trembled.
“An affiliate company of A-Gen.”
“...”
A child company and an affiliate company were different things. The former allowed A-Gen to have over fifty percent of company shares and therefore complete control.
However, an affiliate company had separate, independent management. The most important standard was how much shares they were willing to give to the company that was in the same group as them, but an affiliate company was basically a separate company.
“And I want to start with the possession of one hundred percent of the shares of this affiliate company,’ Young-Joon said.
Things were getting worse.
“Doctor Ryu, did you have a drink or something before meeting me?”
“No, I’m serious about this. And I want you to help me get this proposal approved.”
“... Why are you trying to make an affiliate?”
“You just said it, sir, that it would be easier for me to pursue the research I wanted if I became the CEO and led the company. To ensure that, the best way is to keep all the company shares to myself first. Well, I could divide the shares up later for tax savings, but I am going to do that,” Young-Joon said.
“Well, if you are going to be that conservative about it, don’t you think it will be easier if you just start your own company?”
“I can only use A-Gen’s huge infrastructure if I’m in the same group.”
“...”
“The reason I wanted to become a director of A-Gen was because of the ability to build an affiliate company,” Young-Joon said.
“In order for the concept of affiliate to be established, the same person must hold more than thirty percent of the two company shares combined with an affiliated person. My lawyer friend told me.”
“That... is true...”
“As soon as I become a director of A-Gen, I become an affiliate of the CEO. It fulfills the conditions of an affiliate company.”
“It’s not going to happen. Even if that’s the case legally, do you think the company will invest a large amount of money to make an affiliate company and just give it to you as a whole? Realistically, do you think that will happen?”
“It’s a small company compared to A-Gen. It’s going to be worth around twenty billion won. And there’s no need for A-Gen to invest because I’ll pay one hundred percent of it.”
“Excuse me?”
‘Did he just say twenty billion? Is this bastard crazy? No wait.’
Whenever Ji Kwang-Man thought that Young-Joon was not in his right mind, he always got stabbed in the back hard. If this guy looked like he was bluffing and was talking nonsense, it was true. There was a good chance that what Young-Joon was talking about right now was true.
‘But still, twenty billion won?’
Twenty billion won was not just a small amount of money that people would have lying around. How could a mere Scientist, that was the lowest on the company hierarchy, have twenty billion won in their pocket?
“...Doctor Ryu, you haven’t received A-Gen shares yet. You’re not thinking of selling that, are you? And you can’t sell them off that easily. You will have become a director when you receive those shares, and you must announce it even when selling just one share,” Ji Kwang-Man said as if he was warning Young-Joon.
“I know that. And I have no intention of selling A-Gen shares. Why would I sell it when I gave away the shares of my precious iPSCs?”
“... Then how would you come up with twenty billion won by yourself?”
“Haha, I won the jackpot, you see.”
“Don’t joke around.”
“It’s a secret. I’ll tell you next time.”
As soon as they parted, Ji Kwang-Man called everyone he knew. It was to investigate the deposits and withdrawals from Young-Joon’s account.
Of course, it wasn’t easy to find out an individual’s financial transactions, which was under heavy security, but Ji Kwang-Man influence reached key government agencies that dealt with money, such as the National Tax Service.
Ji Kwang-Man invoked the right to request financial transaction information to track Young-Joon’s account. Young-Joon peacefully agreed to all of it and put all of it out in the open.
After some time, the news was now talking about how Son Soo-Young was successfully cured in the clinical trial. When A-Gen was in a celebratory mood, Ji Kwang-Man couldn’t even sleep. He felt like he was going to go crazy.
The news that glaucoma had been conquered was broadcast every day and night.
“Fxxk, I wish they’d stop broadcasting that. That damn glaucoma!”
On his way to work in the morning, Ji Kwang-Man turned off the radio in irritation. This was two days before the shareholders' meeting where Young-Joon’s appointment as director would be confirmed.
At A-Gen right now, Young-Joon’s reputation was skyrocketing into space. In this atmosphere, Ji Kwang-Man really didn’t know what would happen if he really brought twenty billion won and said he was going to start an affiliate company.
Ring!
One of his networks from the National Tax Service was calling him.
“Hello?”
—Sir. Young-Joon is poor. He has tens of millions of dollars in debt in private loans. He also has student loans.
“And he has no assets?” Ji Kwang-Man asked on the phone.
—Nothing. He has no car or a house. He pays rent monthly for a basement. He’s poorer than me. He hasn’t gotten any funding from anywhere either.
“Of course. He can’t get individual funding since he’s going to be a director of the company. Sigh... This is insane.”
Now, there were just two days left.
‘He’s going to make twenty billion won in two days? Is there some kind of job where the daily rate is ten billion won? What is this bastard trying to do?’
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