“Verification, is it done?”
Dowon raised his head as he set down his glass.
His gaze slowly swept upward starting from Yeohwi’s wet toes, to his legs wrapped in a hotel robe, his waist, and finally to his face where the moisture hadn’t fully dried.
“Sit.”
The end of his commanding voice cracked low.
Yeohwi obediently sat on the sofa diagonally across from Dowon without a word. As the eye level looking down lowered, their faces grew even closer. Though he was following orders obediently and submissively, Yeohwi’s eyes looking at him weren’t quite like that. They were hungry.
“This is the framework you proposed.”
Yeohwi quickly skimmed through the documents placed on the table. The asset list of the Seong family that the two had secured together today, and the structure diagram of Do Jingyu’s slush fund were spread out.
“After reviewing it, there seems to be no need to revise the detailed plan.”
“Really? Then…”
Yeohwi’s eyes sparkled as he leaned forward. Then he caught the scent of deep cedarwood wafting from the hem of Dowon’s suit.
“The targets are Taesung Logistics, the source of Do Jingyu’s slush fund, and Stone, the money laundering place.”
Dowon picked up his fountain pen and circled Taesung Logistics at the very top of the structure diagram. As his upper body leaned forward and the shadow inside his open shirt deepened, Yeohwi unconsciously swallowed his dry saliva.
“Do Jingyu embezzled company funds from this unlisted company, Taesung Logistics, under the pretext of dividends. That money flowed into Stone, a paper company in the Cayman Islands.”
“Yes, and he took out loans under Stone’s name to buy KD Construction stocks.”
Yeohwi naturally continued Dowon’s words. Since these were background knowledge he’d been cooped up in Dowon’s study memorizing every day, he felt he could recite them in his sleep by now.
That’s why his gaze was following not the diagram but Dowon’s mouth. The lips that moved each time he spoke, slightly closing then opening again.
“Also, he used the stocks purchased in that process as collateral again. To increase the size.”
Dowon nodded and rolled the fountain pen in his hand. Each segment of his long fingers moved elastically, creating a rhythm.
“We target exactly that weak link—the collateral.”
Yeohwi pointed to the documents he’d brought from the bank today.
“The funds are ready. I converted all the convertible bonds and bonds I inherited into cash to secure liquidity. Now it’s time to establish an offshore fund with this money.”
Yeohwi planned to establish a private equity fund in a third country where tracking was impossible, the Virgin Islands. On the surface it would be disguised as foreign capital, but in reality it would all be Seong Yeohwi’s capital.
Do Jingyu had been recklessly and aggressively purchasing KD shares to defend management rights. He repeatedly took out loans using stocks as collateral, then bought more stocks with that money. As a result, a massive tower of debt built up precariously.
Now, what would happen if Yeohwi’s offshore fund purchased the bad debts that Do Jingyu had heavily borrowed in the past?
The answer was simple.
Seong Yeohwi would become Do Jingyu’s creditor. Do Jingyu would fall in an instant to the status of a debtor owing Yeohwi a mountain of debt.
Most of all, the most splendid and fantastic part was that the borrowed-name KD stocks that Do Jingyu had illegally embezzled and steadily accumulated were the collateral for the loan. Not only would they have Do Jingyu by the throat, but if Do Jingyu couldn’t repay that debt, all the stocks would become Seong Yeohwi’s.
“Have you decided on a fund name?”
Dowon took a sip of whiskey and threw out the question. His Adam’s apple could be seen bobbing largely as it went down.
“Hmm, I was torn between a few candidates, but how about ONE?”
“ONE?”
“Yes, One. Because it’s Dowon.”
“…”
He put the ice remaining in his glass into his mouth and rolled it. Clink, the sound of ice clinking was strangely lewd.
“Why, is it no good? The fund I own being named after Dowon-ssi.”
Yeohwi grinned. The corners of his eyes curved long and the aegyo-sal under his eyes became plump.
The corners of Dowon’s mouth rose sharply.
“Rather, you should hope your identity doesn’t get exposed. If Uncle catches even a whiff?”
“Aw, no way. And even if he does find out, there’s no problem. Because there’s absolutely no way to fight back.”
“Hmm.”
“What’s left is Dowon-ssi’s turn.”
Yeohwi’s eyes gleamed sharply. He didn’t avoid Dowon’s colliding gaze but rather raised his chin and looked at him provocatively.
“As soon as we return to Korea, Dowon-ssi will move the legal team to attack Taesung Logistics. Application for provisional injunction to view and copy accounting ledgers, and lawsuit for provisional injunction to prohibit dividend payments.”
Dowon added coldly.
“Right. There’s sufficient justification. Suspicion of embezzlement for private gain by the owner’s family. If we blow this up, the financial authorities will start an investigation, and Taesung Logistics’ funds will all be frozen.”
“If the money source is blocked… Do Jingyu won’t have cash to pay Stone’s loan interest. Even if he knows who’s behind ONE, he’ll have no choice but to take it. He can’t do a thing.”
“The moment the interest becomes overdue, ONE Fund, as the creditor, declares acceleration.”
Acceleration (EOD). It was the creditor’s right to recover the entire principal even before maturity when the debtor violated obligations such as interest payment. Based on this, ONE Fund would gain the authority to dispose of the collateral stocks.
“We demand immediate full repayment of the loaned money.”
But Do Jingyu has no money on hand.
“Then we just execute the collateral right and it’s over. Ta-da. Game end.”
Then they could forcibly take all the KD Construction stocks held as collateral. All the shares that Do Jingyu had embezzled bit by bit over his lifetime would go to Seong Yeohwi.
Normally in such cases, they would sell on the market to convert to cash, but Dowon and Yeohwi’s purpose wasn’t cash but the shares themselves for securing KD management rights.
“Do Jingyu will be left with nothing but an empty shell.”
Dowon set down his whiskey glass and looked at Yeohwi, whose flushed face met his eyes. He saw something surging in those pupils. The resolve of jumping into a lawless war, and behind it, the fierce desire endlessly surging and boiling.
Seong Yeohwi had now escaped from being a child ignorant of the world’s ways. Just as a larva emerges from its cocoon and metamorphoses into a butterfly, Seong Yeohwi had also emerged from his past self. Dowon had made him that way. A comrade-in-arms who could stand facing him on this board, sharing understanding and tactics, and wielding swords together. Or as a partner. And…
“It’s perfect.”
Yeohwi murmured. His gaze clung tenaciously to Dowon’s two eyes.
“Yeah.”
Dowon, cutting off useless thoughts, leaned back and replied languidly.
“All that’s left is execution.”
“…But Dowon-ssi.”
Yeohwi called him, resting his chin on the table.
“If we take Do Jingyu’s shares, isn’t it practically the same as Dowon-ssi winning the succession fight?”
“It should be.”
Dowon answered dryly.
“Then there’s no more… need to worry, is there?”
Yeohwi asked carefully but with earnestness. At the same time, he reached out and covered Dowon’s hand resting on the table with his own.
His hot palm pressed down on Dowon’s cold skin. It felt like electricity flowing between them.
“Do Jingyu, who was the biggest risk factor, will disappear. Not just me, but won’t Dowon-ssi also not have to live killing your emotions? There won’t be any more need to act or hide who you really are.”
“…”
“Then Dowon-ssi will be able to do everything you want. So then… surely, with me too…”
Yeohwi’s breathing quickened. His light brown eyes gradually moistened with anticipation.
A peaceful future after the carefully prepared battle ended and the massive threat called Do Jingyu disappeared. He found it hard to hide his faint expectation that then, perhaps, Dowon would fully look at Seong Yeohwi.
However, Dowon said nothing.
He downed the remaining whiskey in his glass all at once. Thud, his expression as he set down the empty glass looked displeased. The anger slowly seeping from his furrowed brow could be detected.
He had never thought about life after seizing KD management rights. To him, life was always war, peace was a luxury, and emotions were weaknesses to be excised. That was all.
To him, who was focused on the immediate life-or-death struggle at hand, Yeohwi who endlessly bumped into him while dreaming of an ephemeral future was nothing but an unfamiliar error. Those eyes were too clear, making Dowon’s stomach churn.
