Chapter 204: This Is How You Stab Someone in the Back (1)

Someone who had been holding their breath while watching for that opening quietly raised their head.

But he did not reveal himself easily.

The government stepped in and tried to settle the Woojin Bank crisis, but no one clearly expressed an intention to acquire it.

There was only a flood of words about reviewing it.

No one actually raised their hand.

The major financial holding companies shook their heads from the internal review stage.

A bank whose foreign exchange settlement channel had once been blocked already had a scarlet letter branded on it.

On top of that, this was not a simple acquisition.

Whoever took it would have to shoulder every hidden risk as well.

The midsized financial companies were the same.

Capital capacity was also a problem, but above all, the timing was the worst.

If they entered now, they would have to take every curse there was, starting with restructuring.

That was why none of them was willing to step forward while taking on such risk.

***

A closed-door meeting presided over by the Economic Deputy Prime Minister.

The air in the conference room was heavy from the start.

The Financial Services Commission official reported first.

“Woojin Bank’s situation is more serious than expected.”

He explained while looking at the graph displayed on the screen.

The Deputy Prime Minister silently looked at the screen, then opened his mouth.

“Even if we sell it, would it not be desirable for a domestic company to step forward?”

A scenario in which foreign capital entered had not been considered from the beginning.

Considering the symbolism of a bank and even public sentiment, the burden was too great.

“If foreign capital comes in, it will become politically noisy as well. We have to resolve this domestically somehow.”

The Minister of Finance agreed with the Deputy Prime Minister’s opinion.

But reality was not so accommodating.

“Most major domestic corporations already have financial affiliates. At a time like this, they have no reason to take on Woojin Bank.”

Silence flowed through the conference room.

Then someone cautiously opened their mouth.

“What about HJ Partners?”

The Deputy Prime Minister’s gaze turned in that direction.

“HJ Partners?”

“Yes. Judging by their funding capacity and overseas network over the past few years, I think there is a possibility.”

The Deputy Prime Minister furrowed his brow.

“Were they at that level?”

An explanation followed for a while.

The recent state visit to the United States by the President, recent fund flows, and even their aggressive investment tendencies.

The Deputy Prime Minister listened quietly, then slowly nodded.

“That is right. Considering what they did in the United States… it is not entirely impossible.”

HJ Partners already had HJ Finance.

Its scale was small, but perhaps for that very reason, it might be suitable for taking on Woojin Bank and reorganizing its structure.

“HJ Finance has low recognition, but that may actually be an advantage.”

“For them, they may even welcome this matter.”

After thinking for a moment, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

“Then actively sound them out.”

That instruction was immediately handed down.

The next day, a vice-minister-level official from the Ministry of Economy and Finance contacted HJ Partners.

But Hyunjun did not appear at that meeting.

Instead, Director Choi Seo-jun came out.

The vice minister wore a reluctant expression, but opened the conversation in a fairly polite tone.

“Regarding the Woojin Bank situation, do you perhaps have any interest?”

Choi Seo-jun listened to him until the end without interrupting.

Then he shook his head and said,

“At present, we at HJ Partners are not reviewing it.”

The vice minister’s expression hardened at once.

“What?”

“We have many projects currently under way, and under the present circumstances, expansion into the financial sector is not under consideration.”

He answered with absolute firmness.

Usually, when the government subtly expressed its intentions, companies would at least say, as a formality, that they would review it.

But HJ Partners was different.

They drew a clear line from the beginning.

After meeting Director Choi Seo-jun, the report went straight upward.

Through the Minister of Finance and all the way to the Economic Deputy Prime Minister.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s expression stiffened as he listened to the report.

“They rejected it at once?”

“Yes. They said they did not even have any intention to review it.”

The Deputy Prime Minister shook his head with a troubled expression.

“How did you handle things for them to come out like that?”

Those words immediately turned into a reprimand directed at the Minister of Finance.

The nuance was that he had unnecessarily worsened the matter.

Because of that, the person who became most anxious was the Minister of Finance.

The very next day, the minister summoned Kang Do-yun.

In the place to which he had been called, Kang Do-yun could not even properly raise his head.

The minister spoke bluntly.

“You are the bank president, are you not? How could you let the situation reach this point? Just how far were you planning to neglect it?”

Kang Do-yun had no excuse to offer.

An incompetent man had occupied the position of bank president and merely watched from the sidelines, so what could he possibly say?

On top of that, both inside and outside Woojin Bank, people were already openly saying that all the actual work was being done by the vice president.

That meant there was no one who did not know who the root cause of this crisis was.

After hearing nothing but scolding from the minister, Kang Do-yun’s shoulders slumped.

He had no options left.

Woojin Bank now had no choice but to wait for anyone at all to step forward and resolve the matter.

The only name that had surfaced as a savior, though no one had wanted it, was HJ Partners.

***

After returning to HJ Partners, Choi Seo-jun reported directly to Hyunjun.

“As you instructed, I rejected them immediately and came back.”

Hyunjun nodded and answered.

“You have worked hard.”

Perhaps Choi Seo-jun had something he was curious about, because he asked cautiously.

“Would it not be better to accept it this time while pretending not to know? In any case, we are aiming for Woojin Bank, are we not?”

Hyunjun smiled.

“That is precisely why we must not do that.”

He looked at Director Choi Seo-jun and smiled.

“We have to make the other side anxious. It is better to plant the recognition that they need us.”

At those words, Choi Seo-jun thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Either way, there are not many places that will covet Woojin Bank in this board.”

“That is right. So the longer we wait, the more we will win.”

Silence flowed for a moment. Then Hyunjun added.

“And I have already set up one ward.”

Choi Seo-jun asked.

“Are you referring to Chairman Lee Jin-cheol of Hanmyeong Group?”

Hyunjun nodded. In truth, a few days earlier, he had personally gone to see Lee Jin-cheol.

He was not someone who would grant anything Hyunjun wanted merely because Hyunjun was Lim Man-seok’s grandson.

Entrepreneurs were originally such beings.

Hyunjun smiled and said.

“Do you remember what you said when I was hospitalized before? You said you would buy me something delicious once I was discharged. Now it is your turn to buy it for me.”

Then he added calmly.

“I would appreciate it if you did not take an interest in the Woojin Bank matter.”

At those insolent words, Lee Jin-cheol narrowed his eyes.

“What reason do I have to do that?”

In truth, he had no great interest in Woojin Bank. He was merely curious about how Hyunjun would act. Hyunjun smiled and spoke calmly.

“I do not believe someone like you, Chairman, would be too stingy to buy a toy for a boy young enough to be your grandson. Surely you are not so hard-pressed that you would snatch a toy out of a child’s hands.”

Lee Jin-cheol clicked his tongue at Hyunjun’s audacious appearance. As if to say he was a wicked little fellow. Soon, he laughed heartily.

“Fine. Let me hear why you are coming out like this.”

Hyunjun did not speak in circles. With a person like this, if he blurred the end of his words or tried to speak indirectly, he would most likely be seen through immediately.

“As the grandson of Chairman Lim Man-seok, I could not simply stand by and watch. Chairman Nam Kun-ho threatened my uncle and tried to kill him.”

At that moment, Chairman Lee Jin-cheol’s expression stiffened in an instant. Silence flowed, but it did not last long.

“So you are saying you will buy Woojin Bank?”

Hyunjun nodded. Lee Jin-cheol stroked his chin and sank into thought for a moment. At last, he opened his mouth.

“I will not touch it.”

A moment later, Lee Jin-cheol asked as if curious.

“But what are you going to do if some other fellow steps forward to buy it?”

Hyunjun answered that question with a smile, without the slightest hesitation. He looked so overflowing with confidence that, to Chairman Lee Jin-cheol, Hyunjun overlapped with the image of Lim Man-seok in his younger days.

“You do not need to worry about that. No one will be able to buy Woojin Bank. I will make it that way.”

At those words, Lee Jin-cheol’s eyes filled with curiosity. His laughter even rang through the chairman’s office.

“Hahaha. You really are Chairman Lim’s grandson.”

Even after Director Choi Seo-jun met with the government official, Hyunjun did not move. No, to be precise, he made it appear as if he was not moving directly.

If even the slightest word leaked out that someone was reviewing the acquisition of Woojin Bank, he made the atmosphere change immediately. Every company that had been reviewing it withdrew.

On the surface, it seemed like each company’s own judgment, but the reality was different. The reason was the reaction seen overseas.

This crisis was not merely a domestic financial problem. The single fact that the foreign currency settlement channel had been blocked had already shaken the overseas financial world greatly.

Financial media outlets in the United States and Europe mentioned Woojin Bank. They made noise, saying that a settlement channel that had been blocked once could be blocked again at any time, and that its foreign exchange credibility had suffered a fatal blow.

Once it became known like that, it did not take long to spread among domestic financial circles and corporations.

To say that one would acquire Woojin Bank meant becoming an object of suspicion in the overseas funding market. It had become a situation where no company could easily lay a hand on it.

To major corporations that already possessed financial affiliates, Woojin Bank looked not like an opportunity, but a burden. If they recklessly took it on, the credibility of the entire group could be shaken.

It was exactly as Hyunjun had calculated.

When no one stepped forward, the side that ultimately became most impatient was the government.

Even within the financial authorities, the judgment that they could not leave things as they were grew firm.

If market anxiety became prolonged, it might not end with Woojin Bank alone.

In the end, the name HJ Partners was mentioned again. This time, the atmosphere was different from before.

It was not a sounding-out, but practically a request.

Even the Minister of Finance stepped forward and sought out Hyunjun. Even when Hyunjun received the contact, he did not respond immediately.

He let several more days pass. And then he stepped forward reluctantly. He made it look exactly that way.

When Hyunjun entered the Ministry of Economy and Finance conference room with the executives and employees of HJ Partners, even the minister had come out in person this time.

He tried to somehow make the matter succeed, even adding flattery-tinged praise toward Hyunjun, who was still a blue-young boy, in an effort to please him.

But Hyunjun drew the line from the beginning.

“I have conditions.”

Tension flowed through the conference room.

“It is impossible for us to take on Woojin Bank in its entirety.”

He continued speaking calmly.

“We have to split Woojin Bank apart.”

The minister narrowed his eyes. This was something he had not expected at all.

“What do you mean, split it apart, Representative Lim?”

Hyunjun continued while unfolding the materials he had prepared.

“Exactly as I said. We must separate the good from the bad. Overseas settlement, Corporate Finance, and the core credit portfolio will be saved. On the other hand, insolvent risks and uncertain assets must be separated. We will create an SPV and move them onto a resolution track.”

The words were simple, but the meaning contained within them was great. It was a declaration that they would maintain only the outward shell called Woojin Bank while completely changing its actual structure.

SPV. The meaning of the term Special Purpose Vehicle was clear.

It meant separating problematic assets and liabilities from the main body and placing them in a separate vessel.

It meant they would separate insolvent loans, uncertain derivative contracts, and assets with remaining litigation risks from the body called Woojin Bank and manage them separately.

If that happened, the functions that had to survive would be able to breathe again.

The overseas settlement line, Corporate Finance, and the normal credit portfolio would be freed from uncertainty.

The market would take issue not with the entire bank, but only with the assets undergoing resolution.

For the government, it was not a bad option either.

It was only the difference between carrying all the bad assets as a whole, or confining them within a limited scope.

Above all, they could block the risk of it spreading to the entire financial system.

As if delivering the decisive blow, Hyunjun added.

“If the government approves that, we will step forward.”

Those words were not merely a proposal. They were also the only way to bring this crisis under control.