Hamilton, the head of OneStar’s Seoul office, was one of them trying to derail Hyunwoo’s actions.
Reading the relevant article about him, Hamilton was enraged.
“This guy, Hyunwoo, is trying to steal the show with the money he took from Bando Oil.”
Hyunwoo was a stumbling block to Hamilton in every way.
It started with Nanotech. Hamiltion originally planned to invest heavily in Nanotech after confirming its vast potential, but Hyunwoo’s KOVE DREAM had already invested.
Since his investment, Nanotech was growing as the leader in carbon nanotubes industry.
Hamiltion’s ill-fated relationship with Hyunwoo didn’t stop there. That was just the beginning.
As a private equity fund, OneStar’s main business goal was to search for insolvent companies, buy them at a bargain and retrieve the investment when they grew later.
But KOVE DREAM took all the companies that OneStar was planning to invest in.
Actually, many companies preferred KOVE DREAM.
But they wouldn’t deal with OneStar because it was part of the DonStar family that took over Korea Exchanges Bank in a controversial deal.
That’s why Hyunwoo was a sore sight.
Besides, STM was like a devil to OneStart.
When OneStar took over Bando Oil, it had a big expectation because oil and water business would generate more revenue than other businesses.
And OneStar had one oil refinery with great technology in the Middle East. The gasoline produced there was of the highest quality. It was responsible for most of the gasoline supplied to Korea.
As long as OneStar took over Bando Oil, its management was convinced that its annual net profits would run to at least dozens of billion won and make them hundreds of billion won in profit when it sold Bando Oil back to Korea.
However, Bando Oil didn’t perform well because of Super Green. When Ohsung Group entered the oil market suddenly and began to sell Super Green, it dominated the premium gasoline market.
Besides, Singyong Co. was a dominant player in the low-price gasoline market. It was difficult for Bando Oil to get in.
It looked as if Ohsung and Singyong joined hands to block Bando Oil’s entry into the market.
Actually, that was true. After checking with multiple sources around him, Hamilton realized that Konho Ahn, CEO of Ohsung and Munsik Cho, CEO of Singyong were meeting often these days.
Hamilton couldn’t sit idle.
And he had a surefire weapon to break the joint coalition of Ohsung and Singyong in the oil market.
“Munsik Choi, bastard! I clearly gave you a warning before but you ignored it. Let me go after you!”
Hamilton conveyed the message through his aide that he wanted to meet Konho Ahn.
But Hamiltion couldn’t meet him easily because Konho was angry at him. Konho thought it was Hamilton who sent his son Taesu to prison.
But Hamilton told him a different story through his aide.
“You seem to have misunderstood me a lot. It was Munsik who was responsible for installing a hidden camera in Taesu’s villa and spreading the sex video. I have the evidence.”
Konho was stunned to hear that. He could not believe it at all, but Hamilton said he had the evidence.
“Okay, let’s meet then,” said Konho.
Their meeting took place secretly. Though Hamilton visited Ohsung Group headquarters, almost nobody in OneStar or Ohsung Group knew about it.
“Show me the evidence first,” Konho demanded.
Hamiltion was not a dumb guy. He knew exactly what Konho wanted. Accordingly, he knew how to respond to Konho’s impatient request.
Hamilton gave him a recorded voice file.
He quickly replayed it.
The voice file was about a conversation between two people. He couldn’t identify one of them, but the other’s voice was very familiar to him. It was Munsik Choi, CEO of Singyong.
“Did you handle the matter well?”
“I installed a hidden camera there.”
“You didn’t leave behind any trail of it, did you?”
“I hired a professional from a security company. I copied Taesu’s security card to get into the villa, so nobody would get wind of it until the case was closed.”
“Is there any possibility that the security guy could sense our involvement?”
“No, never.”
Hearing that dialogue, Konho’s face trembled with anger. He was pissed off and began to blame Munsik harshly.
“How dare this bastard …”
Hamilton just waited until Konho freely vented his anger against Munsik.
Finally, he offered a plausible proposal to Konho.
“Munsik made a huge profit by pitting us against Ohsung. Now, it’s time we took back the profits of Singyong.”
At his proposal, Konho regained his composure like the top Korean businessman he was.
“I think you have an idea about that since you have come to see me like this. What are you going to do about him?”
“Simple. Let me pay back what he did to Bando Oil.”
Hearing what he said, Konho could figure out what he was thinking.
Bando Oil was on the crackdown list of the government authorities because of its malpractices. Not only Bando Oil itself but also its gas stations were also affected by the crackdown.
Hamilton’s message was to make Munsik’s Singyong Co. suffer the same pain.
That was not difficult. Konho had powerful connections with politicians. If he asked a favor of someone he knew, Singyong would be in big trouble immediately.
But that’s not the only option Hamilton offered to Konho.
“If Ohsung and Bando Oil join hands, we can dominate the oil refinery market here.”
“Singyong is the biggest oil refinery in Korea. Even if we join hands, we can’t ruin it overnight.”
Konho reacted negatively to his idea.
But Hamilton resisted.
“Don’t you think the most important thing in business is the credit of the company? What if Singyong is caught selling fake gasoline at its headquarters’ level?”
Konho’s eyes sparkled momentarily.
“How can it happen?”
“We can fabricate it. I can do it.”
“But that’s too mean…”
“What Munsik did was meaner. How can we insist on fair competition with such a mean guy?”
Come to think of it, Hamilton’s proposal appealed to his taste. And he said on the record that he would take care of that dirty thing. All Konho had to do was sit and enjoy him dealing with Munsik.
“What do you want from me then?” asked Konho.
“Give 20% of the Super Green sales rights to Bando Oil. Then we will hand over some of our gas stations to you in return.”
That was not a big deal to him.
Nodding his head, Konho said,
“Good. But as far as fake oil is concerned, that’s irrelevant to me.”
“Sure, don’t worry. We joined hands to develop the Korean economy.”
Going back to his office, Hamilton called his chief secretary.
“Remember that guy we bought off last time?”
“You mean that delivery guy with Singyong?”
“Yea, tell him to work on it right now.”
“Got it.”
After letting his chief secretary out, Hamilton agonized again.
‘Done with Munsik. Now, my next target is Hyunwoo Jang of STM. Looks like our man has found something dirty about him by now.’
In fact, he spent lots of time and energy to spot Hyunwoo’s vulnerabilities.
In particular, he actively used the officials at National Tax Service and National Customs Office. No matter how perfectly they handled their business, none of them could evade the watchful eye of the tax authorities.
So, he secretly promised big cash rewards to some of the tax officials.
Those bought off by Hamilton were competent in the field, and it was their duty to find such tax evasion.
They all gladly agreed to his offer. And they worked night and day to find the evidence of tax evasion by KOVE DREAM, Ani & Funny and STM.
It had already been one year since they started to work on that.
Hamilton called in the intel chief this time.
“Did they find anything suspicious?”
The intel chief looked gloomy.
“Very strange. I keep checking on them, but they seem to have found nothing unusual.”
“What the hell are you talking about? How can anybody make no mistake?”
Hamilton raised his voice.
The intel chief kept tilting his head to one side and said,
“I can’t understand either at all.”
At that moment, Hamilton felt something.
“Isn’t it that they joined hands with Hyunwoo? I mean they might have closed their eyes to Hyunwoo’s tax evasion? Don’t you think so?”
“In fact, I had the same suspicion. But they didn’t. There was another reason.”
“Another reason?”
“I’ve done some background check on the employees of KOVE DREAM. They were all competent.”
He briefed Hamilton on what he found out about them.
The core members were advisor Hwasik Kang and director Sonjong Kim. The moment they were hired by Hyunwoo, they were experts in import/export processing. Besides, Hyunwoo hired several tax accountants. And whenever they found something doubtful, they checked with the tax officials and solved the problems.
Hamilton seemed perplexed.
But he could not give up.
“Raise the cash rewards higher. If they find his tax evasion, I’ll give them 10% of the amount of tax evasion. If they can’t find anything, tell them to make one.”
“Got it.”
And several days later the intel chief called Hamilton urgently.
“Sir, they’ve finally found it.”
“Found? What?”
“They found out the evidence of Hyunwoo’s tax evasion with relation to KOVE DREAM.”
Hamilton, the head of OneStar’s Seoul office, was one of them trying to derail Hyunwoo’s actions.
Reading the relevant article about him, Hamilton was enraged.
“This guy, Hyunwoo, is trying to steal the show with the money he took from Bando Oil.”
Hyunwoo was a stumbling block to Hamilton in every way.
It started with Nanotech. Hamiltion originally planned to invest heavily in Nanotech after confirming its vast potential, but Hyunwoo’s KOVE DREAM had already invested.
Since his investment, Nanotech was growing as the leader in carbon nanotubes industry.
Hamiltion’s ill-fated relationship with Hyunwoo didn’t stop there. That was just the beginning.
As a private equity fund, OneStar’s main business goal was to search for insolvent companies, buy them at a bargain and retrieve the investment when they grew later.
But KOVE DREAM took all the companies that OneStar was planning to invest in.
Actually, many companies preferred KOVE DREAM.
But they wouldn’t deal with OneStar because it was part of the DonStar family that took over Korea Exchanges Bank in a controversial deal.
That’s why Hyunwoo was a sore sight.
Besides, STM was like a devil to OneStart.
When OneStar took over Bando Oil, it had a big expectation because oil and water business would generate more revenue than other businesses.
And OneStar had one oil refinery with great technology in the Middle East. The gasoline produced there was of the highest quality. It was responsible for most of the gasoline supplied to Korea.
As long as OneStar took over Bando Oil, its management was convinced that its annual net profits would run to at least dozens of billion won and make them hundreds of billion won in profit when it sold Bando Oil back to Korea.
However, Bando Oil didn’t perform well because of Super Green. When Ohsung Group entered the oil market suddenly and began to sell Super Green, it dominated the premium gasoline market.
Besides, Singyong Co. was a dominant player in the low-price gasoline market. It was difficult for Bando Oil to get in.
It looked as if Ohsung and Singyong joined hands to block Bando Oil’s entry into the market.
Actually, that was true. After checking with multiple sources around him, Hamilton realized that Konho Ahn, CEO of Ohsung and Munsik Cho, CEO of Singyong were meeting often these days.
Hamilton couldn’t sit idle.
And he had a surefire weapon to break the joint coalition of Ohsung and Singyong in the oil market.
“Munsik Choi, bastard! I clearly gave you a warning before but you ignored it. Let me go after you!”
Hamilton conveyed the message through his aide that he wanted to meet Konho Ahn.
But Hamiltion couldn’t meet him easily because Konho was angry at him. Konho thought it was Hamilton who sent his son Taesu to prison.
But Hamilton told him a different story through his aide.
“You seem to have misunderstood me a lot. It was Munsik who was responsible for installing a hidden camera in Taesu’s villa and spreading the sex video. I have the evidence.”
Konho was stunned to hear that. He could not believe it at all, but Hamilton said he had the evidence.
“Okay, let’s meet then,” said Konho.
Their meeting took place secretly. Though Hamilton visited Ohsung Group headquarters, almost nobody in OneStar or Ohsung Group knew about it.
“Show me the evidence first,” Konho demanded.
Hamiltion was not a dumb guy. He knew exactly what Konho wanted. Accordingly, he knew how to respond to Konho’s impatient request.
Hamilton gave him a recorded voice file.
He quickly replayed it.
The voice file was about a conversation between two people. He couldn’t identify one of them, but the other’s voice was very familiar to him. It was Munsik Choi, CEO of Singyong.
“Did you handle the matter well?”
“I installed a hidden camera there.”
“You didn’t leave behind any trail of it, did you?”
“I hired a professional from a security company. I copied Taesu’s security card to get into the villa, so nobody would get wind of it until the case was closed.”
“Is there any possibility that the security guy could sense our involvement?”
“No, never.”
Hearing that dialogue, Konho’s face trembled with anger. He was pissed off and began to blame Munsik harshly.
“How dare this bastard …”
Hamilton just waited until Konho freely vented his anger against Munsik.
Finally, he offered a plausible proposal to Konho.
“Munsik made a huge profit by pitting us against Ohsung. Now, it’s time we took back the profits of Singyong.”
At his proposal, Konho regained his composure like the top Korean businessman he was.
“I think you have an idea about that since you have come to see me like this. What are you going to do about him?”
“Simple. Let me pay back what he did to Bando Oil.”
Hearing what he said, Konho could figure out what he was thinking.
Bando Oil was on the crackdown list of the government authorities because of its malpractices. Not only Bando Oil itself but also its gas stations were also affected by the crackdown.
Hamilton’s message was to make Munsik’s Singyong Co. suffer the same pain.
That was not difficult. Konho had powerful connections with politicians. If he asked a favor of someone he knew, Singyong would be in big trouble immediately.
But that’s not the only option Hamilton offered to Konho.
“If Ohsung and Bando Oil join hands, we can dominate the oil refinery market here.”
“Singyong is the biggest oil refinery in Korea. Even if we join hands, we can’t ruin it overnight.”
Konho reacted negatively to his idea.
But Hamilton resisted.
“Don’t you think the most important thing in business is the credit of the company? What if Singyong is caught selling fake gasoline at its headquarters’ level?”
Konho’s eyes sparkled momentarily.
“How can it happen?”
“We can fabricate it. I can do it.”
“But that’s too mean…”
“What Munsik did was meaner. How can we insist on fair competition with such a mean guy?”
Come to think of it, Hamilton’s proposal appealed to his taste. And he said on the record that he would take care of that dirty thing. All Konho had to do was sit and enjoy him dealing with Munsik.
“What do you want from me then?” asked Konho.
“Give 20% of the Super Green sales rights to Bando Oil. Then we will hand over some of our gas stations to you in return.”
That was not a big deal to him.
Nodding his head, Konho said,
“Good. But as far as fake oil is concerned, that’s irrelevant to me.”
“Sure, don’t worry. We joined hands to develop the Korean economy.”
Going back to his office, Hamilton called his chief secretary.
“Remember that guy we bought off last time?”
“You mean that delivery guy with Singyong?”
“Yea, tell him to work on it right now.”
“Got it.”
After letting his chief secretary out, Hamilton agonized again.
‘Done with Munsik. Now, my next target is Hyunwoo Jang of STM. Looks like our man has found something dirty about him by now.’
In fact, he spent lots of time and energy to spot Hyunwoo’s vulnerabilities.
In particular, he actively used the officials at National Tax Service and National Customs Office. No matter how perfectly they handled their business, none of them could evade the watchful eye of the tax authorities.
So, he secretly promised big cash rewards to some of the tax officials.
Those bought off by Hamilton were competent in the field, and it was their duty to find such tax evasion.
They all gladly agreed to his offer. And they worked night and day to find the evidence of tax evasion by KOVE DREAM, Ani & Funny and STM.
It had already been one year since they started to work on that.
Hamilton called in the intel chief this time.
“Did they find anything suspicious?”
The intel chief looked gloomy.
“Very strange. I keep checking on them, but they seem to have found nothing unusual.”
“What the hell are you talking about? How can anybody make no mistake?”
Hamilton raised his voice.
The intel chief kept tilting his head to one side and said,
“I can’t understand either at all.”
At that moment, Hamilton felt something.
“Isn’t it that they joined hands with Hyunwoo? I mean they might have closed their eyes to Hyunwoo’s tax evasion? Don’t you think so?”
“In fact, I had the same suspicion. But they didn’t. There was another reason.”
“Another reason?”
“I’ve done some background check on the employees of KOVE DREAM. They were all competent.”
He briefed Hamilton on what he found out about them.
The core members were advisor Hwasik Kang and director Sonjong Kim. The moment they were hired by Hyunwoo, they were experts in import/export processing. Besides, Hyunwoo hired several tax accountants. And whenever they found something doubtful, they checked with the tax officials and solved the problems.
Hamilton seemed perplexed.
But he could not give up.
“Raise the cash rewards higher. If they find his tax evasion, I’ll give them 10% of the amount of tax evasion. If they can’t find anything, tell them to make one.”
“Got it.”
And several days later the intel chief called Hamilton urgently.
“Sir, they’ve finally found it.”
“Found? What?”
“They found out the evidence of Hyunwoo’s tax evasion with relation to KOVE DREAM.”
