Chapter 126

Chapter 126

Taek-gyu had a head-to-head discussion with Jung Ki-hong, head of the PR team in the COO room to establish an e-sports team. Thanks to this, the CEO’s office was quiet, and I had more time.

I skimmed through the news posted on the portal site.

“After all, Ronald is not missing from today’s news.”

At this point, it is no exaggeration to say that I am a regular customer.

As previously mentioned, President Ronald has launched safeguards against Korean home appliance makers. The original target was Seosung Electronics and CL Electronics, but after Seosung SB announced its plan to establish a battery factory, Seosung Electronics was secretly removed from the list.

CL Electronics, who eventually ended up using poison alone, hurriedly set out to establish a factory in the United States, but it was difficult to avoid a blow right away.

This was just the beginning.

Ronald made it clear that the next target would be automobiles and steel. He is also considering renegotiation of FTAs already signed with several countries. Of course, Korea was included.

Another news is the opening of two sessions, the largest political event in China.

The two meetings are a combination of the National People’s Congress and the National People’s Political Consultative Conference, and through these two meetings, the Chinese government’s operating policies and economic policies are determined. Therefore, during the two sessions, the world’s attention was focused on China.

Here, President Zhang Pinghua criticized US protectionism and argued that the world should move on the path of free trade.

“what the… … .”

In your lifetime, you will see the US cry for protection and China for free trade.

Wasn’t it just a few years ago when the US threatened to unlock the protectionist China?

In any case, the policies that Ronald is promoting are helpful to us. After all, we have factories in the US, so we are not affected by tariffs and trade barriers at all. Conversely, other companies will be at a disadvantage in price competitiveness as much as tariffs rise.

At the appointed time, I had a video call with Daryl.

Daryl, who appeared on the screen, looked at me and asked.

“Which one should I say first, the good or the bad?”

“Let’s hear the bad news first.”

“Sales are down 8 percent compared to last month. Compared to the same period last year, the decline was more than 20 percent. Inventory continues to grow and the plant has been partially shut down.”

We turned down offers from dealers to increase sales incentives.

Then some dealers canceled their contracts altogether, and other dealers showed a passive attitude toward sales.

That doesn’t mean we don’t work hard in advertising or publicity, of course, so sales plummeted.

Anyway, the Chrysler brand has already decided to scrap it. It has not been decided yet, but from the launch of the new car, it will come out with a new brand.

I nodded.

“Now let’s hear the good news.”

“Level 4 development is complete. In the meantime, various problems that have appeared in simulation and test driving have been completely fixed through machine learning.”

Autonomous driving is divided into several stages.

Of these, Level 4 is a stage where driver control is unnecessary due to highly autonomous driving.

Level 4, which is currently in its initial stage, has been developed by several automakers and has been installed in mass-produced cars. However, it has not yet been fully reliable.

Even at the same level 4, the skill gap is huge depending on whether it is perfect or not.

This is because autonomous driving technology does not tolerate even the slightest error as the lives of drivers and pedestrians are at stake.

“It would be nice to say that we have now reached level 5.”

Level 5 is fully autonomous driving.

Driverless cars that can drive without a person are at this stage. The difference with level 4 is whether there is a person in the driver’s seat or not, and whether remote control is possible or not.

“How is the cooperation with Seosung Electronics going?”

“The development speed is progressing faster than expected thanks to the fact that a lot of preparations have already been made there.”

“Even if we hadn’t joined hands, we were going to enter this market anyway.”

“At this rate, we can launch a new car in the second half of this year.”

First, it plans to release a car equipped with level 4 autonomous driving technology in an internal combustion engine and mass-produce electric vehicles in earnest from the first half of next year.

There will be problems with battery supply and demand until TS Company’s plant is completed, but for now, we plan to receive batteries produced at the Seoseong SB domestic plant.

I nodded.

“It will be difficult, but please do a little bit more.”

“Okay.”

After finishing the video call, I let out a sigh I had been holding back.

I’m glad things are going as planned. However, the fact that the deficit is growing rapidly is a big problem.

There is still room to spare, but wouldn’t it be possible to face a liquidity crisis if it does not make a profit within one year?

“Ronalda should do a little better too.”

* * *

The meeting between Im Jin-yong and Kang Jin-hoo at the baseball field was reported in several media outlets.

Park Si-hyeong, who was reading the newspaper at the Blue House residence, said as if muttering.

“Is that still a tiger cub?”

I thought too easily about Im Jin-yong.

I thought that Seoseong SB would give up and back down if pressure was applied, but I used it as an opportunity to hold hands with Kang Jin-hoo.

The battery plant that TS Company, a joint venture between Seoseong SB and OTK Company, decided to build is the world’s largest. When this fact was announced, automakers and battery makers were all nervous.

But the bigger threat is the cooperation between Carlos and Suh Sung Electronics.

Even if it wasn’t for Seoseong SB, Im Jin-yong would have planned to join hands with Kang Jin-hoo from the beginning. So it would have worked quickly.

Park Si-hyeong was a businessman before being a politician. He spent much longer in the company than he did in politics.

As a businessman, he realized that no matter how hard he tried, he could not escape from being a servant of the chaebol.

So he turned his attention to politics and rose to the presidency, the pinnacle of power, with the title of a successful entrepreneur.

It has become a position where one can run a chaebol from being a single entrepreneur.

The taste of power was so sweet. But unfortunately that time is not very long. Unless the country is a dictatorship, it is the fate of those in power to step down after completing their tenure.

The president’s term is now short. Even if the next president emerges from the Korean National Party, it would be impossible to enjoy the same power as now.

Power doesn’t last forever. But money is forever.

Have not the chaebols inherited their wealth from generation to generation while the government changed several times?

Knowing that fact well, Si-hyung Park is in power and has accumulated enough wealth. The result is PAS.

During Park Si-hyung’s presidency, the silver car, which was supported by the state, grew significantly, and the PAS, which received the support of the silver car, also grew along with it.

PAS, which was only a subcontractor, has grown into a large-scale parts company with 16 factories both at home and abroad in 10 years.

The biggest problem with PAS is that it depends on Eunsung cars for 90% of its sales.

So far, the Eunsung car is running well, so there is no problem. However, if there is a crisis in the silver car, the PAS will also be shaken.

So, when OTK Company supported Ronald and said that they would directly enter the automobile industry through Karos, they immediately entered into a check.

But Ronald was eventually elected president, and things have been going badly ever since.

As feared, Ronald was planning to adjust automobile tariffs even by revising the Korea-US FTA. Despite the support from the National Pension Service, Eunsung Motor’s acquisition of Suseong SB failed.

In Park Si-hyung’s opinion, Carlos was a bigger threat than Nikola.

What matters is production. No matter how much Nikola’s market cap has grown to the point where it threatens GM, its annual production is only 70,000.

This was not enough to hurt the sales of other companies.

But Carlos is different.

It has already acquired Chrysler to secure a production plant, and is building a new plant there. When all of the factories currently under construction are completed, the annual output will be able to increase to 5 million units.

Due to the battery supply problem, electric vehicles will be limited to 500,000 units, but that alone will amount to seven times the sales volume of Nikola.

If the mass-production of cars equipped with completed autonomous driving technology begins in earnest, existing automakers with relatively low technological prowess will be hit hard. And there was also a silver car.

If the government does not lift regulations on autonomous driving, the domestic market can be protected. But US regulatory matters are in Ronald’s hands.

If Carlos had been a Korean company, or even just a business place in Korea, he would have used his hand in some way. However, Karos is an American company, and all of its headquarters and factories are located in the United States.

Fortunately, the CEO of OTK Company, a holding company, is a Korean. So I tried my hand at the beginning, but the result was a failure.

On the contrary, the head of the National Intelligence Service and the Prosecutor General, who were close to him, were blown away by the counterattack, and the president himself had to come forward and apologize to the public.

As I recalled that time, my anger grew.

Even Lim Il-kwon or Han Min-goo bows their heads in front of them, but only a 20-year-old kid would get such an insult.

‘Anyway, if you think about the resentment that Jin-hoo Kang has for Eun-sung, it would have been impossible to compromise from the beginning.’

Let’s use our hands again, the opponent is carrying the President of the United States on his back. If you mess around with it, you’ll have a bigger problem.

However, I had no intention of leaving my hand like this.

He still holds a living power in his hands.

* * *

After finishing work, Park Sang-yeop met a friend after a long time.

“CEO Park. how have you been?”

“It’s been a while, Min-sik.”

Min-sik Chae, a classmate of Mathematics at Hankuk University, passed the 5th grade open recruitment after graduation and is currently working as a secretary at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

It’s been awhile since we haven’t been in touch with each other because we’ve been busy.

“What do you want to eat?”

“The restaurant has already been prepared.”

The place that Min-sik Chae had reserved was a high-end Japanese restaurant. The two were led into a quiet room.

Park Sang-yeop looked at the menu and asked.

“Are you living?”

Chae Min-sik was stern.

“Hey, how much is a civil servant’s salary? Take a look.”

“If a public official eats from a place like this, wouldn’t he fall under the Kim Young-ran Act?”

“Only you, who bought it, should keep your mouth shut.”

Park Sang-yeop smirked.

“Okay, okay.”

The drinks came out first before the food came out.

The two filled each other’s soju glasses.

“how’s work?”

“The life of a civil servant is obvious.”

“But wouldn’t it be okay if it was the Ministry of Finance? Since it’s a budget department, you can shout at other departments.”

Chae Min-sik shook his head.

“It’s true for seniors, but a low end like me should die and do their job.”

“Say happy. What is the 5th grade? It is said that these days, even the children of Korea University are preparing for the 9th grade civil service exam.”

“right. There are a few of my classmates who have not been able to find a job.”(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

“You are so amazing that you passed that difficult recruitment test at once.”

“What are you talking about? Among our classmates, you are the best.”

“is it?”

Park Sang-yeop did not dare to deny that statement.

The two chatted over sashimi and soju. Talking about work, talking about girls, talking about schoolmates, talking about old times, etc.

“I used to think that when I saw MK Tech or something, I took out the security deposit for the house where I lived, and saw them eating and sleeping at school, and I thought there were all sorts of crazy people out there. Not only me, but my classmates and seniors did the same. Later, when I saw that it hit 10 times the jackpot, I thought that he could do anything. I didn’t know it would be this successful.”

“What is success? We still have a long way to go.”

It’s been a long time since we’ve met, so there were a lot of things we talked about, but there was no end to it.

And all the stories ended in one conclusion.

“Still, school was fun.”

“right. After going to work, I realized that I was the happiest when I played billiards after class.”

After all, everything looks good after all.

As I continued to drink, Chae Min-sik kept moving his lips as if he had something to say. In the end, Park Sang-yeop, who had not seen it, spoke first.

“Are you talking about borrowing money?”

“Huh?”

“How much do you need?”

Chae Min-sik waved his hand in embarrassment.

“Oh, no. It’s not like that.”

“Then what?”

After hesitating for a while, Chae Min-sik carefully spoke his words.

“I have someone to introduce you to.”

“who?”

“Wait a minute.”

Minsik Chae sent a text message somewhere.

After a while, a middle-aged man in a suit opened the sliding door and entered.