A Company Left with Only Its Shell
Taeshin Trading chairman's office.
Chairman Tae Gun-seung was sitting with his sons, Tae Seok-hyun and Tae Seok-ho.
"I called you because I figured so of you have complaints, so have questions. It seems like both of you have a lot you want to take up with ."
Recently, there were plenty of rumors circulating within Taeshin Group because of the TF division.
Responding right away, Tae Seok-ho jumped in.
"To the sudden re-audit to disciplinary suspensions and personnel transfers—there's talk in the various affiliates and subsidiaries about overstepping one's bounds."
It wasn't a false statent. The presidents of each company were also submitting civil complaints to the head office, so there was no way Tae Gun-seung didn't know this.
"Did Division Director Kang In-hyuk raise an issue over sothing that was nothing at all?"
"That's... not the case. But from a managent perspective, it's impossible to be completely transparent. Fa—no, chairman, you understand that better than anyone, don't you?"
Tae Gun-seung nodded slightly with a stern expression.
"You're not wrong. But there's a limit to what I can turn a blind eye to."
This ti, Tae Seok-hyun spoke up.
"Chairman. A re-audit is underway in Electronics as well. It's not as if there were no issues internally, but because they're poking into such minute details, complaints from shareholders and executives are mounting."
"So, are you saying we should just let all existing issues be? Do you even know where and how those problems originated?"
This question wasn't directed only at Tae Seok-hyun. The two fell silent like mute fish.
Watching them quietly, Tae Gun-seung continued.
"You both serve as the CEO of Taeshin Electronics and the executive vice president of Trading, and yet, at the sight of this situation, your first reaction is to talk about overreach and punishnt?"
Within Taeshin Group, chairman Tae Gun-seung held vast shares and controlled the major shareholders, reigning as the owner, but in practice, the actual managent had been left to Tae Seok-hyun and Tae Seok-ho.
In a sense, it was also his way of clarifying the heir apparent.
But the two brothers had run the group, pursuing only their own factions, safety, and imdiate interests, rather than making progress.
"Then, chairman, do you believe Division Director Kang In-hyuk's abuses are helping the Group? Even though the Group's performance has been declining due to the actions taken by the TF division?"
Tae Seok-ho's voice rose, showing his agitation.
However, Tae Gun-seung didn't waver—if anything, he calmly extended his hand to the side.
Song Tae-ho, the security guard and secretary, who was standing by, brought a stack of docunts from the desk and handed them over.
"Do you know what this is?"
"... It's from the TF division, isn't it?"
The first page had the na written right on it, so it couldn't be missed.
"It's a record of internal corruption committed by the presidents and executives of each affiliate and subsidiary. Embezzlent, accounting fraud, false claims, illegal hiring, and so on."
At that mont, the faces of the two sons hardened.
Tae Seok-ho pulled the docunts toward him and began to confirm the details.
Just as Tae Gun-seung said, detailed accounts of situations at each company were recorded.
"You're saying... the TF division investigated all of this?"
What was even more surprising was that, while the TF division had discovered all this, Tae Seok-ho himself had not known a thing.
So he asked Tae Gun-seung and waited for his response.
"Why? Do you think the TF division fabricated the contents?"
"Isn't that too much, considering the period they've been active?"
"I wouldn't know about that. Also, I'm not planning to overlook this situation."
At this, Tae Seok-hyun also carefully joined the conversation.
"If you do that, Taeshin's standing may be at risk. Is that what you want, chairman?"
"Isn't it your positions you're worried about losing?"
"I feel the sa way as my brother. Of course, we need to resolve issues within Taeshin, but the impact is too great. The stock price is already declining, and if word of this leaks, the shareholders and board won't stand for it. The Chairman's position could also be in jeopardy."
Though they spoke this way, the reality was that they were concerned about their own comfort.
Knowing this, Tae Gun-seung allowed a wry smile to show at his wrinkled lips.
"I understand full well what your concerns are. But we can't cover everything up. Once the full investigation is concluded, I'll have to weigh things out, so neither of you should even think about poking at the TF division."
At the sa ti, Tae Seok-ho's lips twitched.
In the end, it was a eting to issue a warning: touching the TF division would bring consequences.
However, Tae Seok-hyun and Tae Seok-ho bit at the bait Tae Gun-seung had presented.
If the two tried to spit out that bait later, Tae Gun-seung could use the materials prepared by the TF division to overturn all of Taeshin Group.
At the sa ti, this would an that the two brothers would lose their place in Taeshin Group altogether. And the next chairman's seat might not be theirs, either.
"Hoo—! Understood."
It was Tae Seok-hyun who sighed and answered first.
Tae Gun-seung then turned his gaze to Tae Seok-ho.
"What about you, Executive Vice President Tae?"
There was really only one choice.
"I'll do as you say."
With that answer, the conversation between the two ended, and they left the chairman's office.
"Why is Father suddenly so eager to back Kang In-hyuk, that guy?"
"......"
Even at Tae Seok-hyun's complaints, Tae Seok-ho kept his lips sealed.
Tae Seok-hyun frowned even more.
"What's got you so edgy lately? Did Kang In-hyuk catch you out on sothing?"
Was he just trying to provoke him?
Apparently, this ti it worked, as Tae Seok-ho's brow furrowed as well.
"Unlike you, I just have more things to worry about."
"What...?"
"Instead of doing this here, shouldn't we deal with the problems in Electronics—the ones the TF division found?"
"So you want to give it a go?"
"Forget it. I'm heading off first."
His security guard, Lee Jae-jun, followed after him.
After heading straight to his office, Tae Seok-ho imdiately gave instructions.
"There seems to be a separate TF division outside."
"What... exactly happened?"
Seated on the sofa, he let out a long sigh.
"The TF division already has a pretty good understanding of the issues in both the head office and the affiliates."
"... Excuse ? But we haven't gotten wind of that from the people we placed inside."
"That's what I'm saying—it looks like there are people moving from another area. Either that or soone has been plotting since before the TF division was even established. Otherwise, there's no way all that investigation could have been completed so quickly."
Lee Jae-jun grew serious too.
"Still, there was no sign of any such moves in Kang In-hyuk's activity. And from the outside, it would be very hard to mobilize that much internal personnel."
"Nothing's going as planned. What about Warborn? When are they starting?"
Tae Seok-ho's anxious tone was obvious as he asked, prompting Lee Jae-jun to lower his head slightly.
"They're in the process of estimating. For now, the target's movents are inconsistent, so they're trying to pin down a specific point."
"Hoo—! Take care of it as aggressively as you want. Just get it done as quickly as possible."
"That might make things unnecessarily noisy... are you sure that's okay?"
It was a question that required so thought.
But Tae Seok-ho didn't hesitate.
"Control is already out of my hands. If this keeps up, any number of things could happen."
"Understood. I'll inform Warborn as you said."
"Ah, and no matter what, make sure it gets handled. Even if there are unavoidable casualties, I guarantee nothing will happen to you."
There wasn't ti to worry about shifting situations or the aftermath.
Kang In-hyuk's actions and the surrounding atmosphere were turning more and more disadvantageous for him.
After receiving those orders from Tae Seok-ho, Lee Jae-jun left quietly.
* * *
Cheongju, north Chungcheong Province. At the Texcellence head office and factory, several cars arrived.
Getting out of the vehicles were Kang Do-young, Ahn Min-gi, and several employees of KQ Fabric.
anwhile, in front of the company's front gate, a middle-aged man and several n and won stood with dark expressions.
It was Park Sung-hoon, the president of Texcellence, and his staff.
"Hello, Division Director Kang Do-young."
At Park Sung-hoon's greeting, Kang Do-young gave a thin smile.
"Thank you for agreeing to et first."
"... Let's go inside for now."
In this strange mood, they took seats in a conference room inside the building.
The air having grown heavier, Park Sung-hoon spoke up first.
"I looked over everything you sent. You want KQ Fabric to acquire our company?"
"That's right. And we're considering 5 billion won as the acquisition price."
Generally, the market capitalization of fabric companies related to defense contracts runs from at least 1 trillion won up to several tens of trillions.
But Texcellence was still a small to midsize business.
However, they'd been trying to grow by leveraging a newly developed material.
The material under developnt this ti was valuable.
But with internal problems, everything had gone awry.
Of course, even without those issues, given Texcellence's technology and productivity, the company's worth was several tis above 5 billion won. Kang Do-young was plainly lowballing them.
Park Sung-hoon bit his lip.
"Division Director, I know better than anyone that we aren't in a good situation, but isn't that a bit much?"
"Surely you're not saying the price is too high? I actually valued the company generously, for you, president."
It was a question with obviously malicious intent.
Even so, it was hard for Park Sung-hoon to push back.
"That's a little too much."
"For a shell of a company, are you saying there's more to use beyond this?"
Today's eting was created by KQ Fabric, sharing material that was tantamount to blackmail with Texcellence.
That material concerned the possible leak of new-material technology—and the possible involvent of Vice President Choi Jung-mook's disappearance in that leak.
To Texcellence's perspective, not a single one of these issues was insignificant.
Above all, the most serious problem, the technological leak, was sothing that KQ Fabric had discovered, possibly involving insider Choi Jung-mook.
"The issue of a technology leak hasn't been confird."
"But Vice President Choi Jung-mook disappeared with those developnt materials, didn't he? And you still haven't tracked him down."
"The technology wasn't complete yet."
"And Vice President Choi Jung-mook had contact with Refiber Works in the U. S. With that capital and technology, wouldn't it be easier to solve things there than here?"
A chain of answers and counter-questions.
Since Kang Do-young's comnts weren't wrong, Park Sung-hoon fell silent.
"Then why is KQ Fabric trying to buy such a company for so little? If you know where Vice President Choi Jung-mook is, couldn't KQ Fabric be involved in the leak, too?"
As Kang Do-young said earlier, to KQ Fabric, texcellence was nothing but a shell if it had no new-material technology.
Naturally, it was suspicious for them to be making such a blackmail-like proposal in this situation.
"If I knew that, I'd have just handed Vice President Choi Jung-mook tens of billions and bought the technology off him. Why would I need to bother acquiring Texcellence?"
Truthfully, Park Sung-hoon didn't strongly suspect any connection between KQ Fabric and Choi Jung-mook.
After all, rumor had it that Kang Do-young, as heir to the KQ Group, had made a huge blunder and was demoted to KQ Fabric as a result.
It was a hard series of events to believe had been planned in advance, which only deepened Park Sung-hoon's dilemma.
"Hmmm...."
"Of course, I know how hard you've worked and how much you regret the situation.
But think about what will happen if this leaks outside.
Think about your staff, too. Even RSK, your long-term partner, has done nothing to help, has it?"
That was true, too.
Not long ago, Lee Hyun-geon, president of RSK, visited to ask about Vice President Choi Jung-mook.
It was obvious where he'd heard about the situation they'd been trying so hard to hide.
But since it wasn't a lie, Lee Hyun-geon went back without committing to any scheduled business.
"Still..."
While muttering this, there was a knock and a man entered.
It was the company's finance director, who'd been waiting outside for the eting to end.
"President. You have a guest outside."
"... Guest?"
The only expected guests today were Kang Do-young and the staff from KQ Fabric.
"He says he's Division Director Kang In-hyuk from Taeshin Group. He'd like to discuss business related to new material developnt."
"... Taeshin's Kang In-hyuk?"
In that instant, Kang Do-young's expression crumpled like a sheet of paper.
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