Chapter 226 – Part 2. 1993

A few days after the presidential inauguration, Seong-jin met Kwang-shik.
In the conference room of Mirae Mutual Credit Union Bank, Kwang-shik and all the directors, former private moneylenders, were now gathered.

When Sungjin entered, everyone looked at him with bewildered faces.
However, no one talked about how Kwang-sik hyung-nim had talked about it.

“Hello? My name is Seongjin Lee. Kwang-sik hyung must have heard about me, so I won’t explain anymore. Just think of it as an outside advisor giving you advice.”

As Seongjin spoke and nodded, Kwangshik hyung smiled and clapped.
The rest of the directors applauded reluctantly as Kwang-shik frowned.

“Don’t feel too bad about it. I will make you rich in the future, so just listen to what I have to say. How can I, still young, have the power to put pressure on you? Isn’t it?”

Seongjin laughed and looked at the directors who mobilized gangsters to play private loans.
Seongjin knew very well how to deal with people like this who used to play around with money.

Also, these people would know very well that they should bow their heads to someone like Kwang-shik or Seong-jin.
Otherwise, you never know when it will quietly disappear.
There is bound to be a difference between a true gangster nationwide and a person who takes children under his wing and pretends to be a gangster.

And even the directors here don’t know the details, but they probably know that there are influential people in the current government behind Kwang-shik and Sung-jin.
No, even if they don’t know it, they probably feel that it’s good for them to be out of the eyes of Kwang-shik, who is still exerting a great influence on the gangster world as a former gangster underboss, or rather, who is exerting a stronger influence recently.

If Kwang-shik has no influence in the political and gangster circles, he knows all too well that the recent merger of 10 other mutual credit unions cannot happen.
That’s why even when Seong-jin, who was young and had never even heard of his name, came in, he was forced to smile and clap.

And on the other hand, I could have expected more.
This is because people who play money games know that having a great network in politics is the same as saying that you can earn money as easily as swimming with money in the future.

“First of all, congratulations on merging 15 mutual credit banks to create a huge bank in the secondary financial sector. It is said that the assets are over 1 trillion won. All of you who have invested here from the beginning should know that meeting Kwang-shik is a great blessing. I ask that you continue to support Kwang-sik hyung well. Never different mind. Well, don’t bear it.”

Seongjin said very softly that he would kill him if he betrayed him.
As Seongjin looked at each mover and spoke, everyone’s faces stiffened with tension.

It was only now that he realized why Kwang-shik hyung-nim warmly welcomed a young guy and why he had brought Sung-jin to this place.

“Hey. Everyone, don’t be so nervous.. We have to earn a lot of money in the future, right? For reference, I’ll just say one thing. Our brother Seongjin here is an asset worth more than 100 billion with only six businesses. And that was accomplished in just two years. And he is also a fighter who can win one-on-one with Jang Gwang-shik. Ah! Did you see the last Olympics? He’s a boxing gold medalist. Haha.”

At the words of Gwang-sik, the directors recognized Seong-jin and pretended to know him.

“You guys know that the Gwangseongpa disappeared because it was annihilated, right?”

Suddenly, when Gwang-sik hyung brought up the Gwangseongpa of memories, the directors nodded and paid attention to Gwang-shik.

“That’s what this guy did. So, don’t be fooled by the background investigation of our little brother Seongjin. I can’t handle it when this guy gets angry.”

All the directors looked at Seong-jin, who was standing there with a smile on his face, with a surprised look on his face, unable to say a word.

“Now then, shall we begin the board meeting?”

Everyone straightened their postures with completely frightened faces.

“Everyone, please look at the booklet in front of you. This is the overall asset status of Mirae Credit Bank after merging 15 credit unions. What do you think is the biggest problem with our future credit union right now? Let’s talk one by one, starting with the director in front of you.”

Each person spoke, but everyone said the same thing, such as having a lot of debt and not having enough money to come in.

“Yes. You’re right. As you can see, our credit union now has a bond ratio of 90%. Of these, half of the bad debts are unreceivable. In a word, it is a light apricot. So, it must have gone bankrupt and been merged like this, right?”

“Sungjin. This is about this because we took over some of the bonds while taking over the credit union. To be honest, until a while ago, I was worried that we had taken over the credit union for nothing.”

“Brother’s bond, you can take it. Where do you put your younger siblings below? Send them all to collect their debts.”

“Huh~ Hey, what kind of world is this now? And don’t you think we used to be loan sharks? They are financial companies officially registered in the country. Even if you want to come back from debt, it’s not as easy as it sounds.”

At Kwang-shik’s words, all the directors nodded and sighed.

“Though this time, President Kim Hyeon-sam said that he would support up to 50 billion won for bad debts of insolvent financial institutions as a special administrative measure, so I am pinning my hopes on it.

“What is it?”

“Instead of providing support up to 50 billion won, financial institutions must invest capital equal to the amount of support to pay off bonds. Most of the mutual credit banks are insolvent because the pre-war administration abused permission for second financial institutions.”

The government’s support of government funds to insolvent financial institutions was also a policy that President Kim Hyeon-sam passionately implemented to encourage Seong-jin and Kwang-shik.

“Great. I will show you how.”

It was a bit funny to see all the older men prick up their ears in surprise and focus on Seongjin.

“Brother, most of the younger siblings who were arrested during the last war on crime have now been released, right? The directors also have younger siblings that they used to have, right?”

“Yes. Most of them came out and about half went back to the old back alley, and the rest seemed to be hanging out.”

“Then, brother, appoint a smart person from among them and make a company specializing only in debt collection. You could name it some kind of credit information company. This company is officially a company that accepts bad money such as bills and bad debt. And I put all of my younger siblings as employees of this company. Since our bank cannot collect debts illegally, we hand them over to this company and receive them a little stronger.”

“Oh, that’s a good way. All the kids who are currently working in our bank’s debt collection team can move to this company. In other words, it means to cover your eyes and say ah. Haha.”

“Yes. But you can’t get rid of debt collection teams in banks. You have to go get general bonds. First of all, buy about 50 billion bonds with this company at a price of about 30% of the principal. And about 50 billion is receiving money from the country. Then, about 100 billion won can be reduced.”

“To receive 50 billion won from that country, we also have to put in 50 billion, but that is difficult.”

“Brother, do you know what the Japanese interest rate is these days?”

“Japan? No I don’t know Why is Japan suddenly?”

“In terms of the market interest rate, the Japanese interest rate these days is 2.5%. Korea is 14%. Do you still not know what I mean?”

Then, Director Jung, who was sitting in front of him, burst into exclamation while clapping his hands.

“Ah. So, are you saying to bring in money from Japan at that rate and send it to Korea?”

“Yes. Japan’s economy is not doing well these days as house prices fall. In short, the money to invest has nowhere to go. Maybe the yakuza guys are worried because they don’t have anywhere to invest their surplus money. Brother, do you know any of the Japanese yakuza?”

“No. I don’t know directly, but the Eight Stars kids in Busan must be affiliated with the Yakuza guys.”

“Then, brother contact the Eight Stars and bring in some money from the Japanese yakuza. Interest rates as low as possible. This is a method that large corporations are already doing now. Because of public sentiment and the position of the government, it will be difficult to officially bring in Japanese funds. So please launder money through the Eight Stars and bring it.”

Yes.
Most of the savings banks and lending companies currently operating in Korea came from Japan at this time.

Of course, Seong-jin, who knew this future, thought of bringing in Japanese funds with low interest rates through Gwang-shik.

“If rumors spread that we have raised funds from Japan, we will raise Japanese funds with low interest rates in the future. So, bring in as much as you think is a little excessive and take over more credit deposit boxes. We have to turn our bank into a dinosaur. Then you can go to the next step.”

Starting from the fact that Mirae Credit Union drew funds from Japan, Korean banks began to draw Japanese funds here and there to stimulate the economy.

The merger and abolition of mutual credit unions and reduction of permits started at this time, and as permits increased again, the second financial sector was booming.

A smile began to appear on the faces of Kwang-shik and the directors.
They were definitely people who had been rolling money, so it was quick to understand what they were saying.

“And when handing over bonds to credit information companies, focus on greenbelt land, factories, and new buildings near Seoul.”

Seongjin’s sudden words made everyone look puzzled.

“I get it. I’ll take care of that myself.”

Knowing what he meant, Kwang-sik hyung smiled single-single and hit the ball.

Now, for the stabilization of house prices by President Kim Hyun-sam, there will be a large-scale lifting of the green belt in the metropolitan area, and plans for the 2nd phase of new towns such as Pangyo will be announced.
Sungjin planned to prepare for it from now on.

An opportunity to buy land tied to the greenbelt at 30% of the bond price, and an opportunity to buy buildings at 30% of the price when you build a house and sell it, but of course you have to bring those bonds.
And, except for the land, these buildings can be handed over to future construction to continue to be built, or they can be changed to residential officetels and sold.

And the funds for construction can be borrowed again from the Mirae Credit Bank up to 200% of the bond value, build and sell the building without spending a penny of the company’s money, and purchase additional land.

In the future, Sungjin planned to take over all of the bad debts related to real estate by taking over more credit unions.

“And, as for the 50 billion bonds I mentioned earlier, just treat it as a loss and create a slush fund. People in high places will go into the bottom fund. You know what everyone is talking about? You have to do well for those who will put you on a higher level in the future.”

They knew very well what they meant, so they nodded without saying anything.

To be honest, they had nothing to lose.
This is because bad bonds are treated as a loss anyway, and the money received from the government is returned to the person who gave it back by making a slush fund.

The long-term bad debts can also be handed over to a credit information company to shake them off, and if the credit information company collects the receivables, a certain portion of them can be returned as a rebate.

“Let me tell you a little more about credit reporting companies. As younger siblings who received money from directors in the past, launder them appropriately and put them all into the company. And this company should never have contact with our credit union. Don’t try to soak the directors’ feet for nothing. Then, later, when the government investigates and your relationship is revealed, you are behind bars. I’ll take care of everything myself, so from now on, just focus on raising the future credit union here. Did you know?”

The method is to gather the children of each director to form a debt collection team.
It was decided to pay the directors a rebate equal to a certain percentage of the amount collected through competition with each other.
All the directors were happy, and they were ready to call their younger siblings right away.

“So, how is the acquisition of a life insurance company going here? Who was in charge?”