Chapter 205: This Is How You Stab Someone in the Back (2)

The minister was silent for a moment.

He also knew what kind of choice this was.

It was an unavoidable measure to save Woojin Bank. Even so, he asked.

“Is there no other way?”

Hyunjun shook his head.

“There is no other way. The longer you drag this out, the worse the situation will become.”

Silence settled over the conference room.

The minister slowly exhaled.

He could not easily open his mouth.

There was no way he did not understand the weight of the conditions Hyunjun had presented.

Someone who had risen to this position could not possibly lack that much sense.

Of course, there were cases where that was not true.

“I understand what HJ Partners wants.”

He spoke while looking down at the documents.

“However, there are many burdensome aspects for us to decide on this matter immediately. We need an internal review.”

Hyunjun nodded.

He did not urge him.

In fact, he was not the one in a hurry. He slowly rose from his seat.

“Then please think it over thoroughly.”

But the words that followed made the air in the conference room tense again.

“However, if it takes too long, we will have no choice but to withdraw from this matter as well.”

The minister asked with a troubled expression.

“When would you like an answer?”

Hyunjun spoke without changing his expression at all.

“By tomorrow.”

This was closer to a notification than a negotiation.

As if he had nothing more to say, Hyunjun lightly bowed his head.

Then he left the conference room.

The employees who had followed him went out with him.

The sound of the closing door rang unusually loud.

After Hyunjun left the conference room, the minister sank quietly into thought.

Only after the door had fully closed did he let out a short breath.

He looked around and said.

“Tell all the people in charge to gather.”

The directors in charge and the working-level heads immediately gathered in the conference room.

They also looked at the demands presented by HJ Partners and voiced their dissatisfaction.

“This is far too one-sided. If the bad assets are separated into an SPV, does that not ultimately create a structure where the government takes them on?”

“On top of that, it could effectively be seen as giving special favors. The political burden is large.”

The minister also nodded silently.

Nothing they said was wrong.

He knew that better than anyone.

The person in charge continued speaking.

“The private sector takes only the good assets, while the government bears the remaining resolution costs. On top of that, if we leave a precedent like this, it will be difficult to handle later.”

The air in the conference room grew heavier and heavier.

At this rate, it was difficult to reach a conclusion. It was then that the door opened.

The Economic Deputy Prime Minister entered the conference room.

The murmuring cut off at once.

As soon as the Deputy Prime Minister sat down, he looked at the minister and asked.

“How did it go?”

With a troubled expression, the minister handed him the documents.

“This is what HJ Partners presented.”

The Deputy Prime Minister received the documents and slowly looked through them.

“If we proceed this way, there will be a political burden as well.”

He spoke in a calm voice.

“Hmm. The risk the government will have to bear will not be minor either….”

Someone inside the conference room nodded in agreement. But the Deputy Prime Minister’s thoughts were different.

“Even so, we do not have many choices. Those above are also taking this matter seriously.”

His voice lowered slightly.

“Even while we are wasting time here, the anxiety felt by the market must be considerable.”

The Deputy Prime Minister looked at the minister and said.

“What company does business while taking losses? They will move only if they gain something in exchange for taking on risk.”

He stopped speaking for a moment, then delivered his conclusion as if throwing it down.

“To some extent, we also have to compromise.”

Silence settled over the conference room again.

“This is not a special favor. It is a cost.”

The Deputy Prime Minister added.

“A cost to prevent systemic risk. We do not have time.”

He placed the documents on the table and said.

“Push it through.”

The minister answered with a hardened expression.

“Understood.”

It was difficult to gauge what kind of repercussions this choice would bring.

But what mattered now was not avoiding criticism, but preventing the bank from stopping.

The minister quietly added.

“I will take measures so that HJ Partners can proceed immediately.”

But in truth, the board had already tilted.

The deadline Hyunjun had set still had one day remaining.

But even before the next day came, the government raised their hand in favor.

When the news was delivered, Hyunjun showed no particular reaction.

It was because he had already expected it.

At the same time, something completely different was happening inside Woojin Bank.

***

Kang Do-yun was cornered. Nam Kun-ho’s voice exploded from the other end of the phone.

The word brother-in-law had long since lost all meaning.

Curses poured out along with rough breathing.

“You bastard, what the hell is this! What have you been doing all this time to let things come this far? What is the point of sitting in that position when you cannot even run one bank properly?”

Kang Do-yun could not open his mouth.

If he tried to speak in this situation, it was certain Nam Kun-ho would become even angrier.

“If you cannot fix this, I truly will not let you off. You useless bastard. Do you understand me?”

“Yes? Yes!”

After words close to a threat fell, the call was cut off one-sidedly.

Kang Do-yun stood there holding his phone for a long time, unable to move.

His entire body was trembling. He knew it too. He had no options left now.

That afternoon, a notice went out convening an emergency board meeting.

In effect, it was no different from his final struggle.

When he entered the conference room, for some reason, the atmosphere was different from before.

Even the directors who had always taken his side would not meet his eyes.

Only the dry sound of papers turning echoed.

Unlike before, Kang Do-yun had no strength in his voice.

“As all of you know, this current situation arose because of external pressure. The government and the market are overreacting.”

Before Kang Do-yun could even finish speaking, Heo Sang-gyu rose from his seat.

“That is not true!”

The directors’ gazes turned toward him.

“This matter was not caused by external forces.”

Heo Sang-gyu’s voice was calm, yet sharp.

He looked at Team Leader Jo Chang-seop and Manager Kim Ji-hoon, who were quietly standing behind him.

They moved quickly and handed the documents they were holding to each member of the board one by one.

“The documents you are looking at show what reports the bank president received over the past several months and how he delayed decisions. They also detail how he reacted to each matter.”

He pointed them out one by one. Email records, meeting minutes, internal report documents.

He presented everything as evidence.

“In the end, this crisis is not the result of poor management. It is the result of neglect.”

The air inside the conference room froze.

The blood drained from Kang Do-yun’s face.

The board quickly set its direction.

“The bank president must take responsibility for this crisis.”

“That is right. Of course the bank president must take responsibility.”

Everyone spoke in one voice. But even if they tried to assign responsibility, the board had already tilted to one side.

The next morning.

The government made an official announcement.

[Promotion of Normalization Plan for Woojin Bank Conditional on Restructuring and Capital Reorganization]

HJ Partners was not mentioned in it.

The market reacted immediately.

Woojin Bank’s stock price plunged as soon as the market opened.

As volatility grew, sell orders poured in, and in the end, trading was suspended.

The bond market also shook.

Interest rates on bonds related to Woojin Bank surged, and anxiety spread across financial stocks as a whole.

The press could not hide its excitement over this matter.

[Effectively a Public Restructuring]

[Is This the Signal Flare of Another Financial Crisis?]

Headline articles poured out. The market shook with anxiety. And at the center of the confusion, a company that had been quietly holding its breath began to emerge.

That same evening, the article that took over the portal’s main page was this.

[HJ Partners, “The Woojin Bank Crisis Is Not Only the Government’s Problem. The Private Sector Must Also Feel Responsibility.”]

Contrary to expectations, the article was restrained.

It neither directly criticized the government nor blindly defended it.

[The government also appears to have recognized the seriousness of the situation and moved quickly. In a situation where trust in the financial system is being shaken, delaying was likely not an option. The starting point of the problem is clear. Woojin Bank management’s lax decision-making and failure to respond to the crisis enlarged this situation.]

The article was extremely specific.

It mentioned the delays in decisions despite reports, as well as internal meetings where foreign exchange settlement risks had been recognized, yet dismissed with the claim that things would be fine. And the decisive point was this.

[The market has also been discussing circumstances in which blood ties with a specific major corporation cast a shadow over management judgment.]

Of course, Daehan Group’s name did not appear there. But there was no one who did not know whom it referred to.

[Such complacency ultimately enlarged the damage. That damage was passed entirely on to the citizens and companies that used Woojin Bank.]

The article pointed out each issue one by one, from payment delays suffered by small and medium-sized companies, to the anxiety of individual depositors, and even cases where import and export companies had their transactions suspended.

[HJ Partners criticized the situation, saying, “Something like this must never be repeated in the Republic of Korea. Finance is a matter of trust, and once it collapses, it takes a long time to recover. As a company of the Republic of Korea, HJ Partners is taking this situation very seriously. The damage is too great for us to merely stand by and watch.”]

Finally, the conclusion came.

[Furthermore, the company added, “If it is for the normalization of Woojin Bank, we are willing to step forward responsibly, even if the path is not easy,” and, “This is not a choice made for profit, but a decision for the stability of the financial system.”]

A sentence was added at the bottom of the article.

[HJ Partners refrained from commenting on the specific method, but clearly stated that restoring public trust was its top priority.]

Public opinion heated up in an instant.

There were opinions saying that, at times like this, the private sector had to step forward, and that people should not only curse the government.

Then, before long, the perception settled in that there was no company that could do this except HJ Partners.

On SNS as well, words praising HJ Partners naturally spread.

Voices of support grew, saying that in an era like this, the country could run only if there were companies like that.

Before anyone knew it, HJ Partners had become the company that had stepped forward to save Woojin Bank.

It was a moment when the image of shouldering responsibility amid chaos was engraved into people’s minds.

When Nam Kun-ho saw that article, he finally could not hold back and threw the TV remote control.

KABOOM!

The remote control struck the wall and shattered to pieces.

“It was all that bastard’s plan.”

As if he had pressured the government and shaken the market from the very beginning, only to appear at the end like a hero.

“I was completely played. Completely! Damn it.”

Nam Kun-ho’s hand trembled. It was not so much because of rage, but because he was furious at himself for being so beautifully played by a blue-young brat. He gritted his teeth.

“…Lim Hyunjun!”

The voice that spat out the name was filled with hatred.

But what settled even deeper than that was the fact that he had to admit defeat.

Nam Kun-ho knew it.

Now Woojin Bank was beyond his reach.

It had completely fallen into Lim Hyunjun’s grasp.