12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

Tak Joon-gi and I were different ages, but the conversation was quite good, because we had something in common: being competent investors.

"I'm confident that I can sell any stock for more than that."

I laid down my eyes and said, looking at my face in a cup of coffee. "That's the same with me. I'm... I always play the winning game."

But there was a critical difference between us.

He opened his eyes and smiled. "Yes. Anyway, the goal is that someone buys my stock for a lot more than the price I paid? Somehow."

He and I seemed to be quite different in how capable investors were. "Somehow" was like he would scam a stock.

- There is a rumor that there is an operational force for scamming stocks next to him.- I remembered Vice President Jang's remark.

In contrast to that precisely, I would have to say, "I am the investor who recognizes the future stock price, and you are the investor who makes the future stock price."

'If the FSC heard about this, he'd go straight to the cell. But he says it in a place like this, but it may be an expression of confidence. He's still a member of the Suyeon Group.'

- If you're close to politics, you'll find it convenient in many ways.-

'Suyeon Group has never been out of the top ten in the business rankings for sixty years. Of course, there must be a decades-old connection with the political side. No matter how much director Tak Joon-gi is treated as an abandoned son in the Suyeon Group, he will be protected in passing.'

I said to him, "Then, did you make the Garden Envy for that?"

"Haha, no, no. That's not all. As I said before, I like competent investors. So... I made it interact with them."

As he said, his tone was a bit different than usual. He didn't want to tell what he knew, what he thought, or anything.

I said with a nod, "Okay, I see."

"I don't know what Han will be like, but I'm pretty lonely. Especially, I don't really feel that much of a connection with those people," he said, tapping a couple of times on the window.

I looked out the window. Outside was a group of high school students, ordinary people such as grandparents, mothers, and babies. People who were not necessarily specific to a group.

I asked him, "Those people?"

He smiled back at me and said, "Why not?" He held his hands forward and said, pointing one finger up and one down. "Who reigns above, and who is ruled below. I don't want to have any connection with those inferiors."

It was a little creepy to hear that.

'This man...' I laughed a little because I was dumbfounded.

But when he saw my face like that, he laughed profusely. "Ha ha ha! I think we are the same class. From the first time I saw you, I felt it." Then he suddenly turned a straight face and made a strange swear, "Bugs, dog-pigs. I hate those vulgar things very much. I like people who are rich and capable, like Mr. Han."

I was quite surprised inside, but answered deliberately, sipping a cup of coffee. "Thank you for your good words." I glanced at him and I had a rough idea of what he was like.

"I can't help but think you look good. It's not easy to make sixty million dollars at the age of twenty-nine. You are a genius. That's why I have to think like that. It's why I'm here today. You don't come to Garden Envy these days. Instead, I came to see you. I happened to be the majority shareholder of the same company, but when the judgment of Han and my power are combined... maybe we can do something bigger."

'Something bigger...' I nodded for now. "Yes, maybe."

But around this time, a giant man at the back of the cafe stood up next to Director Tak Joon-gi. After feeling him, Tak looked back and gestured to him, "Oh, okay. Go ahead and wait."

The big man passed me on the way out of the cafe. He seemed to be Tak's secretary.

"I think you're busy, but our conversation is too long." I tried to end the conversation.

'Bugs, dog-pigs.' Just after hearing his remark, it wasn't very pleasant to be in front of this man.

"No, I'm not too busy... Such a fool doesn't differentiate whether he has to intervene or not!" He even said such harsh things to his personal secretary. I had seen such an article before. 'A secretary of the chairman of a large company is treated as less than a human being.'

At this point, I became very disgusted with him. Naturally, humanely, he might have thought that I was the same kind of fellow who was born as him, who stood above others from the beginning, ruled over others. But I was born in an ordinary house, made friends with ordinary people, and had lived. I'd been standing on top of others since I had met a strange fate, but I'd never imagined myself like that.

I thought, 'How can I fuck him?' There was an answer nearby. I asked him, "By the way, what are you going to do with your stake in Kai Games?"

"Kai Games?"

"Yes"

"Oh, I see... actually I had a plan with my Chinese friends... but since you bought this company, I had to abandon the plan."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, and so, I will hold this stock a little more... because Mr. Han, the genius of the investment, bought this company."

"Oh, I see. I'd also like to buy your stake if I could... I mean."

"My stake?"

"Yes. If I want to participate in management, I'm afraid I'm a little bit short with the Chinese stake."

"You're not taking part in management..."

I started lying here. "That was a lie."

"Yes?"

I laughed and said, "It's common sense if a child has his toys, he does whatever he wants. But after buying thirty-eight million dollars worth of goods, if I can't get my hands on them… that will be ridiculous. Of course, I'll be in management. I'll be involved in game development a little bit, and I'll take out the people I don't need. It's management efficiency. It's management efficiency." I said something he'd like to hear.

Sure enough, he laughed again in my words. "Ha ha ha! Right! That's right! We can't afford to buy thirty-eight million dollars worth of stuff and put it in the house." And then he said with a straight look. "So, you want to buy my shares?"

'He had a dramatic change in his expression.' I said with that thought, "Yes, I will increase my stake by nearly 50%, change some board members, and put the right man in for the audit... then it's easy to raise the stock price again."

"Yes."

"That's why I'd like to buy the shares of Director Tak. I could buy a stake in the market... but wouldn't it take a little while? Ants may be involved in the deal."

He looked me in the eye and said, "Well... how much do you want to pay for it?"

That was the point. I brought up what I had in mind. "I bought $28,800,000 for $38,000,000. I bought it at a premium of about thirty percent. I'll buy your shares at the same premium."

In my words, Director Tak was quite surprised. "... at the same premium?"

"Yes, I will."

His reaction was already expected.

'Usually, the shares of the first and third largest shareholders differ in equity, but even if they are the same amount, they are not of the same value. The majority stake in the group is because it has the power to control the group as a whole. Of course, even the three largest shareholders can exert influence on the stake, but they cannot dominate the company this way or that way. But I will buy it at the same premium, paying almost five to ten percent more.'

"Well... it's certainly not a bad price." He really began to think about it. Whatever he had planned with the major Chinese shareholders, it would not have been easy for him to take thirty percent profit for a total of five percent of the shares so neatly. It would not be bad for him to get this offer because his plan went awry with my coming.

He looked at me with an expression of "Is that too good a condition?" He was not a fool to take a step back, seeing the conditions.

I said one more thing he wanted to hear, "As Director Tak said, if the power of Mr. Tak, Suyeon Group, and my strength are combined, we can do bigger things. I hope you'll accept this offer as a down payment for me to start a good relationship with you."

He laughed longer than ever at my words. I thought he was a human being who liked this kind of thing as well, a man who liked to reign and control others with power.

"Well, then, I can't take it all. I'll accept a twenty percent premium and give them over to you, because if we're going to have a good relationship, I'll have to show my respect."

'Huh! Twenty percent is much more than normal for the third major shareholder.' I thought, but I reached out my hand, "Thank you, Director Tak."

'Of course, this price is hugely cheap considering the success of Fantasy War Ground'.

Director Tak did not even know that he had just signed a foolish contract, and said, "Don't mention it. You increase your stake, I make money; this is win-win for each of us."

"Thank you very much, Director Tak."

'Pah! You are a loser. Two months from now you'll know how cheap you have been selling stocks.'

As we finished shaking hands, his cell phone rang once.

"Well, the stupid bastard… I'm going to have to go."

"Yes, I'll send you a proposal."

"Yes."

I hoped the conversation would be over right here. Since I had done my business with him, I want him to disappear.

But Tak was putting on his coat and said something else, "Ah, by the way, I was going to tell you something."

"What?"

When I tilted my head, to my surprise, he said, "The other company that you have, CKD..."

He brought out the CKD story. He didn't know that the name had already changed.

"Yes."

"Have you changed the president of the company lately?"

"Yes, I changed the name to OH Entertainment."

He raised his head slightly and said, "Oh, yeah? Is that why he did it?"

He said things I didn't know. I was dumb, but he lowered his voice and said another word quietly. "Mr. Han, I'm old enough and I'm working for the group, so I know a little more about this story. So, let me give you a little bit of advice."

'What is he going to say?' I watched his mouth.

"Wouldn't it be a little difficult for you to run the entertainment company so hard?"

I frowned and said, "Yes?"

"I think it was better when there was a representative of Do Chan-ki there before, in many ways."

I cocked my head one more time. "In what way?"

He slapped my shoulder and said, "You know that, don't you? Hahaha." He laughed again and turned around and said, "Then I'll see you again next time, Mr. Han."