Chapter 84. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Part I
Translator: Khan
Editor: Aelryinth
I accepted the docunts that Vice President Jang brought: one from the Ministry of Employnt and Labor, and the other from the city of Seoul. I turned them over. There were stories like ‘Extended Employnt for Youth by Small and dium Business’ and ‘Youth Unemploynt Counterasures by Seoul City.’
By the ti I read all of them, Jang said, “You know, with youth unemploynt becoming a problem recently, policies are pouring in.”
I suddenly rembered the last talk I had had with Secretary Seo. What about Min-seo, a junior mber of the business startup club? She wanted to et the boss because she couldn’t find a job. Everyone was in a difficult situation because they didn’t have a job. It seed to be getting worse and worse, even though it was directed at .
“If we hire a young man, they will give us benefits… It’s not a bad suggestion: do good work, and get a subsidy. Vice President Jang, what do you think of?”
“I think it’s good, but…”
“But?”
“They are not very many people needed in the company. That’s why I asked the boss.”
I looked back at the report and said, “What do you an they are not very many people needed in the company?”
“It ans we don’t have work for them right now. Maybe it’s just a waste of labor charge. It’s also a problem when training new employees.”
“But it’s a good cause. If we join them, we might be able to appeal to the governnt, to politicians.”
“Yes, that’s the case, but it’s a matter of the cost.”
I studied it with my chin up. It reminded of the ti when an investigation was conducted by the Financial Supervisory Service. I passed it without much trouble, but if anything was wrong, I might be in danger.
‘Even if it costs… …if I think of this as so kind of investnt too, I think it’s not bad. The cost itself isn’t much anyway, I can deal with it myself. It’s worth it if we hire young people and make ourselves so credit, because we have to donate where the jobless are.’
I looked up at Vice President Jang and said, “This is… Let’s do it.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes. Didn’t you say that last ti? In order to beco rich in Korea, we have to be close to civil servants to a certain extent.”
“Yes, I did.”
‘What he says is true. If we divide the economy into two categories, not like the canonical cohesion, the big axis is the governnt and the other is the market. They have no choice but to rub together in various fields. In addition, they say that they live on taxes, but because public officials also wield power, businessn are forced to read their countenance. This will be about buying a favor without giving the politicians and the public officials money directly.’
“… let’s make it hot. Don’t pretend like we’re getting a grant. Let’s be at the top of the list, whether it’s the Ministry of Employnt and Labor or the Seoul City Governnt. So let’s implant a good corporate image for the civil servants.”
“Yes, sir.”
“By the way, is there anything else you need when we add more people?”
“Oh, I think there’s a space problem.”
“Ahh…”
Our office, which was quite spacious when we first ca in, had been expanding to a point where it seed a little ssy recently. I said, pointing up with my fingers, “Isn’t it empty upstairs still?”
“Yes, boss.”
“Then we’ll rent there. Would that be enough?”
“We’ll have empty space for a while.”
I just thought about it and said one more thing, “Oh, and just in case, could you ask them how much the sale price of this building is, and if they’re willing to sell it?”
‘Even if this isn’t the case, our company is bound to grow bigger and bigger. It wouldn’t be bad to buy the building itself rather than making a fixed outlay on rent.’
“Yes, sir.” Vice President Jang excused himself and left the room.
After he went out, I glanced down at the report he had brought. If we had ties to the political community, it might be helpful to pressure people such as Lee Won-jae of the Daewon Daily News and Director Tak Joon-gi of the Suyeon Group. I looked at the report with my arms crossed and turned to the monitor.
Co to think of it, now they might start the CBT. I knew the future roughly, but I still wanted to know what the direct evaluation was like. I searched for Fantasy War Ground and looked around the responses from ga webzines, ga communities, and famous ga strippers. As it was a great hit, it was good for the whole.
– It’s refreshing. I’m going to do this for a while.-
– It’s fun. I hope there’s no more lag.-
– As the above says, there is so server lag. I could do it without it. Since we’re in the CBT, this is going to get better, right?-
I turned on the HTS and saw the stock price of Kai Gas. The stock that used to play in the 1% range in the morning was around 4% by the ti they were with the CBT.
‘Okay, it’s going well.’ Kai Gas’ stock price had been rising ever since I had taken over. The reason for this was that even after receiving the volu of first major shareholder, the Chinese company, and third-largest shareholder Tak Joon-ki’s in block deals, I had continued to buy more and more shares until my stake reached sixty percent of the shares, and so the price had risen more than thirty percent since my first purchase.
Of course, it wasn’t a real gain for , since I used my money to raise the price. By the way, as I kept buying shares, there was a rumor, “The major shareholder of Kai Gas knows a great deal of good news to himself without anyone else knowing, and that’s why he continues to buy.” The strange rumor turned around, and the ants joined the buying spree and the stock price continued to rise.
‘It’s nothing, it’s just that I bought it because I knew it was going to be a success… Now that the CBT has started, so of the ga’s leading players, who know the ga well, must have figured out what the big news the major shareholder knows is: the ga is really fun. Ga players are all about fun. Watch out for Kai Gas and OH Entertainnt.’
It was becoming more and more true to say, “Pay attention to OH Entertainnt and Kai Gas.”
‘The problem is OH Entertainnt…’ OH Entertainnt was the first stock I had acquired, but it continued to fall even after the acquisition. The drama that was tied up in China still hadn’t unraveled, and with the exception of Oh Hyun-joo and Kim Jun-hyung, no celebrities had been able to achieve good results. Therefore, on the OH Entertainnt Stock Bulletin, there were written many swears and complaints directed at Mr. Kwon, our company, and in various ways.
-Kwon Oh-hyuk, you bald ass, you’re an old man. It’s like his managent skills are like his hair numbers.-
-What are these boys, Invictus? Did they take over to pay for their dowry?-
-What is it that Han Sang-hoon is doing with his company?-
Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to do. I was doing the People Search for the entertainers and prospects of the company every day, and giving the orders, “Do this for this guy and that for that guy.” But I usually saw the news in 12 Months After, and gave the orders, so it took longer for the effects to be reflected in the stock price.
‘The Idol Manager 108 airing, which is expected to be a big hit this sumr, still has half a year left. The stock price may fall a little further by then. I don’t like that. I want to be more famous.
‘If I say, “This is going up,” it goes up. And if I say, “That’s going up,” that goes up; I am going to be such a huge investor, so that when I hit “Han Sang-hoon” in the People Search, I’ll have a better chance of coming out.
‘Should I buy more shares of this stock then? In fact, whatever happens, the price goes up when soone buys it. My stock goes up when I buy it. So, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. My prophecy of ‘OH Entertainnt stocks will rise’ can be realized, by raising the shares by myself.’
‘Can I talk to President Kwon about this?’ As it happened, the board eting was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. today.
I picked up the phone and called Secretary Seo.
“Yes, boss.”
“Call OH Entertainnt and tell to President Kwon that we’ll have lunch together at 1:00 PM, and then we’ll go to the board.”
“Yes, boss.”
———————————
Kwon asked over the sizzling, boiling sausage stew, Budae Jjigae, “So, you want to buy more shares in our company?”
I looked around for a mont. There was no one around listening. “Yes. Originally, the shares of Do Chan-ki were a little small for a major shareholder. I am trying to increase my stake further in order to stabilize the managent and boost the stock price… about ten percent more.”
‘This is a huge good source. If the general public hears it, they can sell their houses and sell their cars to buy the stock. If I had seen the news on future news, “OH Entertainnt parent company, Invictus Investnt, will increase its stake,” I would have bought it right away. I’ve been trading stocks on the news, but now I will be a subject of creating news like this.’
“Shareholders will like it. Yes, I see, Boss.”
Lifting so cooked ran, ham, and noodles from the Budae Jjigae, and putting them on my plate, I said, “By the way, how many shares in OH Entertainnt do you have now?”
“I have about 2.6 percent.”
It was small. That was what he had left after he handed over OH Entertainnt to CEO Do Chan-ki in the old days by taking so shares instead of cash. Of course, it was worth around three million dollars, but it was too small a share for a company-run president.
“Then, I think it`s okay for you to increase your stake before the company begins to buy its shares in earnest.”
“ too?”
“Yes, as you know, if we sweep ten percent of the market, the stock price will rise smoothly. It’s like breaking news that only you and I know. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to increase your stake now and think you’re getting a bonus. If you buy it, you can say that you’re responsible for managent. It’ll be okay to stock up on your annual salary and loans.”
I spoke for him from the bottom of my heart; it was a 100% favor. Moreover, as I believed in him, I had set a pretty high salary for the CEO of a small company, so there was a chance that he had cash and high credit.
Kwon nodded and said, “Yes, I think so.”
But his words were a little weak. I advised him one more ti. “Of course it’ll cost you the money you’re saving for education, but make sure you buy it. If I put in an order saying ‘Go!’, Invictus Investnt will start the buying in less than a week. You have to buy it before then.”
But then, Kwon said, “Yes… but sir!” I looked at him, and he continued, “I’m single…”
I tried to pick up the ran with chopsticks, but I was surprised and apologized to him. “Oh, I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
“Ha-ha, that’s okay. At my age, it’s normal to think I’m married.”
He was about forty years old. I guessed I had a stereotype picture of him. I didn’t say that anymore. I didn’t know how he hadn’t been married yet, but he also had a CEO title and quite a bit of money, so it wouldn’t be difficult to marry. I was a little bit concerned about his baldness, but I was sorry anyway, I rolled my head around to change the topic. Co to think of it, there was sothing I wanted to ask Kwon. I carefully opened my mouth to what Director Tak Joon-gi said before he left our eting. “By the way, President Kwon, the CKD where you were at in the previous years…”
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