Lee Hyun stared down from the window seat at the restaurant. The landscape had changed so much since he last remembered. A waiter approached him and asked him he’d like something to drink.
“Just water is fine.” Replied Lee Hyun with a smile.
The young waiter was most displeased. “How could the concierge admit someone so poorly dressed into the restaurant?” he thought to himself. No matter how he looked at Lee Hyun, Lee Hyun didn’t appear to be a famous personality. The only people admitted through the doors of the Pinnacle are either very very famous celebrities or ostentatiously rich people. Even the waiters had standards here. Lee Hyun just didn’t fit into either of those categories. If anything, he stood out the most in the entire restaurant with his cheap overly used and rugged suit.
As the waiter approached the table with bottled water, Lee Hyun asked “If they had a cheaper bottle.”
The waiter stood in shock. “The cheapest bottle of water was only 10,000 won. He wanted something cheaper?” The waiter frowned and walked back to complain to the concierge about how cheap Lee Hyun was. To the waiter’s astonishment / shock, the concierge ran to Lee Hyun, profusely apologizing for the waiter’s misconduct and then offered him a table at the premium section of the restaurant and dining was complementary.
“You fool!” scolded the elderly concierge. “You have no idea who this man is! He is from a forgotten era. But I still recognize him.” As the concierge looked past the waiter. It was undoubtedly Weed from Royal Road. Though he never played alongside Weed, he sometimes was a part of the bigger quests conducted by Weed (Author: *cough* pyramid building). Even though it had been over 40 years, those who played with Weed treated him as a legend. (How the concierge and Lee Hyun got to know each other, is a story for another time)
Lee Hyun sighed as he stared at the scenery from his new table view. Everything had become so expensive.
The elevator door to the restaurant door opened and Kang Jin Cheol walked in wearing a very expensive black suit. He kept grumbling about how buying such a suit was a mistake but his secretary kept dismissing his arguments. As he requested for Lee Hyun to the concierge, they were pointed in the direction towards the premium section. Jin Hyuna, Kang Jin Cheol’s secretary smirked as they were directed to the premium upper floor. Only envious stares trailed them. Pinnacle was the most luxurious restaurant, nobody knew what the requisite was to gain access to the ultra luxurious / premium section of the restaurant. Jin Hyuna could only imagine how grand Lee Hyun is, to have access to the best restaurant in Korea.
As they reached the upper section, her thoughts were somewhat thrown into disarray upon seeing Lee Hyun in the distance. She blinked her eyes several times and squinted them while staring at Lee Hyun. Her only thoughts were “Who is that? Did they let a beggar in here?” What made it more difficult for her to understand was when he looked in their direction and smiled. Kang Jin Cheol quickened his pace and feverishly shook hands with Lee Hyun. They were meeting after ages.
They quickly exchanged pleasantries and took their seats.
Jin Cheol began. “The suit is rented.” He said.
Jin Hyuna’s mouth was left dangling open! Why would you ever say that!! She stared at Kang Jin Cheol in total disbelief. Was this really her boss?
Lee Hyun smiled and replied. “So is mine. I didn’t have anything fancy like a suit and they said they wouldn’t allow me in my casuals. So I rented what I could find.”
Jin Hyuna sat frozen silently in horror. Was this some kind of miserly competition?
Kang Jin Cheol cursed under his breath. He knew he should have rented the cheapest suit possible. Lee Hyun is a tough negotiator and the negotiating begins from the appearances. Kang Jin Cheol knew he was severely disadvantaged already before discussing business matters.
Lee Hyun wore a malicious smile on his face. His smile said, “I have already won.”
After a brief moment of silence Lee Hyun spoke, “51% stake.”
Kang Jin Cheol nearly fainted on hearing those words. It had taken over a month to get the entire board to agree to 15% but 51% was just ridiculous.
Kang Jin Cheol finally spoke, “Not possible. The board will never agree.”
Lee Hyun smiled. “That’s ok, let me talk to them.”
Kang Jin Cheol looked up at Lee Hyun “What now?”
Lee Hyun nodded. Kang Jin Cheol double tapped the window next to them and then clicked an icon “Board”. Instantaneously 8 people appeared on the screen. Kang Jin Cheol spoke before them, “I have with me Lee Hyun.”
Most board members were caught unawares with the call. They did not expect to hear back from Kang Jin Cheol till the end of the week. Some of them were at home (so they turned off their videos).
“I will turn around Unicorn.” Lee Hyun asserted confidently. All the board members cheered him.
“However, I need controlling stake in the company.”
At the end of the sentence a whole bunch of profanity was heard from nearly every board member. Three even disconnected from the call. A voiced boomed which hushed all others. “Speak Lee Hyun.” The person who switched off his video (as he was at home) personally knew Lee Hyun from the time Lee Hyun played Royal Road. Even though they never spoke to each other before. He had been part of Unicorn long enough to know that for Lee Hyun nothing was impossible.
After everyone was silenced, Lee Hyun spoke his terms, “Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t want it without earning it. I will personally ensure those who return their stake will get 20% premium on their original purchase price.”
Lee Hyun grabbed everyone’s attention. 20% was a lot of money to be offering on original purchase price.
Lee Hyun didn’t stop there, “I’ll also adjust it for inflation. So we are talking about 30% premium at the very least.” Nearly all the board members (who also are shareholders) were drooling at the offer. In their minds, Unicorn was a lost cause. Lee Hyun’s offer was like a rain in parched dry lands.
Jin Hyuna linked Lee Hyun to a fisherman who threw two hooks with the juiciest bait. But where was this all leading to?
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“You could offer us 100% return. Just saying numbers won’t make it happen.” Scorned a board member.
Lee Hyun smiled, he had been waiting for this. He pulled out a cheque and signed it for US$ 50 million. This was pretty much everything he had. He then spoke, as all board members eyes widened with interest in seeing the cheque.
“I want to be a partner in rebuilding Unicorn. This is my investment in it. I know times are tough and Royal Road has been a longer part of my life than anyone here” Three board members were now on Lee Hyun’s side. Lee Hyun was speaking the truth, nobody played Royal Road as much as he did. But by bringing out the cheque the negotiating equation had changed significantly. Unicorn was desperate for capital, and Lee Hyun was willing to put in money.
Lee Hyun’s lips curled with glee. It was working, he needed to nudge them a bit more, he continued to sweeten his offer. “I don’t even want 15% to begin with.” Kang Jin Cheol’s eyebrow was raised at this point, this couldn’t possibly work. He had known Lee Hyun to play with his words and get things his way, he had never seen Weed or Lee Hyun use such tactics.
“I’ll take an additional 10% on joining and the salary for sake of the contract.” The board members started looking to Lee Hyun as a philanthropist and some were growing suspicious by the generosity. Fully aware of the human psychology, Lee Hyun knew if he were too kind, then he would not gain anything from the deal. Conversely, if he was too demanding, the board would not give him anything”. He paused and then continued, “for every year I succeed in bringing in money, I will purchase your shares till I reach controlling stake. The shares will be purchased at 20% premium as I said before.”
Though Lee Hyun simply repeated what he said before and didn’t say how he would purchase at
premium, the board members were more confident and agreeable than before. Kang Jin Cheol didn’t understand it himself. Nothing changed, except that Lee Hyun offered an initial paltry commitment of US$ 50 million for 51% stake. Yet why did it seem to favor Lee Hyun?
A video screen turned on, a tiny man appeared in it and said, “It sounds interesting, Lee Hyun. In my eyes, your purchasing 10% for 50 million, which is its current market price and on top of it you’re offering us a way to leave this firm. But what if you did succeed in returning Unicorn back to its glorious days. I am sure none of us would like to sell it to you at 20% marked up price.”
Lee Hyun smiled, this man was known as the shrewdest of investors in Korea. Like Lee Hyun, he had keen eyes and knew a good deal when he saw it.
“This is the best I can offer. If you think you have better options, then I shall walk away. I am already 60, for someone so old like me to toil my years of retirement in turning around your company is too cruel. One cannot put a price to the reward I deserve if I succeed. Some might say I deserve the entire firm, since its worth nothing as it is now. Yet, you’re asking to cut myself even further to satisfy your greed?” Lee Hyun’s eyes glistened with tears almost as if he was accusing the board members of being greedy to the point of unreasonable. Lee Hyun had to take the risk, there was bound to be a degree of conflict.
It worked, the board members were horrified to think that they were forcing an old man out of
retirement, investing his life long savings into a sinking firm and to top it off, they wanted more. They were feeling contempt for their own greed. One by one, each member agreed to Lee Hyun’s plan to take over the firm if he succeeded in turning it around. Lee Hyun smiled happily in his mind, he still had it in his to fake tears and even used his poor old man appearance to his advantage.
Jin Hyuna watched the whole thing happen in front of her, but she had no words for it. Kang Jin Cheol who took a whole month to get the board to agree for just 15% where as this man, Lee Hyun, achieved much more in a span of 30 minutes.
Kang Jin Cheol stared at Lee Hyun in admiration. He remembered his days as a merchant in Royal Road alongside Weed. Weed would cry, play with words, or even beg. Anything to save a copper. Though it seemed foolish that Lee Hyun was putting so much money in the company, Kang Jin Cheol likened it to when Weed invested in Morata. How similar, money truly was the only thing on Lee Hyun’s mind.
“So what next. Mr CEO of Unicorn?” asked Kang Jin Cheol.
“Let us begin cost cutting. Shut down every VRMMORPG we are running.” Replied Lee Hyun.
Jin Hyuna and Kang Jin Cheol asked Lee Hyun to repeat what he just said, but he just repeated the same thing. He then added, “Royal Road as well.”
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Authors Note:
1. Editing Credits: Knaivvs
2. I skipped over the finer details (the regulatory aspects) of how he became a CEO despite 3 board members leaving the meeting. The answer is rather simple, the remaining members were majority shareholders (Though my instincts tell me, that some minority shareholder rights protection law may have been violated, I'll choose to ignore it.)
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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