19- Seonghan Paper Co., Ltd. with Myeongdang (2)
#19. Sunghan Paper Co., Ltd. (2)
“Are you going to invest?”
There was anticipation in Jisoo’s voice.
“This is not to say that we will not necessarily invest. If you look at the financial statements and asset status and decide that it is worth investing in, you will invest.”
“Everyone…of course you should. Dad, tell manager Oh to get the ledger. Quickly.”
“uh? Uh… that, yes.”
President Park Seong-han picked up the phone right after his daughter Ji-soo’s torch and told Manager Oh to bring the ledger.
Thinking that it would take some time to gather the documents, Ji-hyeok went outside for a while to get some fresh air.
Manager Oh entered the president’s office, bowed to President Park Seong-han, and slowly opened his mouth.
“Boss… why are you suddenly asking me to bring the ledger…”
“Since you are in charge of finance, you know the situation of our factory best, right?”
“Yes, boss. I’ve already met with a few lenders, but the interest rates are too high, so we’re negotiating.”
“If you do well, you may not have to use the loan. There was someone who wanted to invest in our company.”
Director Oh’s eyes trembled slightly.
“Boss, we are in a difficult situation even with the interest on the loan. Who would invest in our company, which is a manufacturing industry but not one that requires a particularly high level of technology?”
There was nothing wrong with Manager Oh.
It was a factory that did not require great technology as it had a simple structure that only processed pulp to produce and deliver packaging materials or paper, and as a result, the margin rate was naturally significantly lower than that of other manufacturing industries.
Manager Oh continued.
“Don’t you remember when you came to invest in the past, opened all the books, and was reported to the National Tax Service? How hard was it to lose all of our customers because of them?”
Park Seong-han nodded and said.
“Yeah, there was a time like that. Those guys were trying to steal that from our business.”
“I will raise the funds by looking for companies with the lowest interest rate as much as possible. I was talking about 8% per month, but…”
Then the index came out.
“Oh, Mr. Manager. Not those people this time. And 8% per month? To pay salaries and pay for raw materials, you need 3 billion. If you borrow 3 billion and pay interest of 240 million a month, what will you do next?”
Director Oh said as if making excuses.
“Jisoo, it’s because you don’t know, but it’s not that expensive if the monthly interest rate is 8%.”
“It’s much better to get an investment than to use debentures and take over the entire company.”
Sunghan Park said.
“That’s Jisoo right, Manager Oh. And the person who wants to invest this time is definitely not the type of person to do that, so go ahead and get some ledgers.”
“Boss, I’d rather dig the ground like Jisoo said… Last time, someone who said he would buy our company land asked me to contact him at any time.”
“Uh huh, why is this person so stubborn today? I won’t say anything, so hurry up and get the ledger.”
After hesitating for a moment, Manager Oh bowed his head just as he did when he came in and went to collect the ledger.
***
Meanwhile, Ji-hyeok, who came out, recommended Seo-yeon to go up to Seoul first.
Seoyeon said.
“Does it take long? I haven’t even received a scenario fix yet…”
From noble mtl dot com.
“I think it will take quite a while to check the financial statements here and discuss this and that. I’ll give you the keys, so go up in our car. Just park it in front of the fortune teller and leave the key in.”
Seoyeon tilted her head and asked.
“A financial statement? Why did Jihyeok do that?”
“If you want to invest, you have to open the ledger first. It would be nice to have an ERP system in place, but I don’t think it will.”
Seoyeon looked at Jihyeok with a curious expression and asked.
“Does Jihyeok know how to see things like that? I feel dizzy just looking at the numbers in that account book.”
“If you are in the investment business, you should know how to read books.”
Seoyeon didn’t know that Jihyeok was criticizing her, and said with a natural smile.
“Then I should learn something. If you know that well, will Jihyeok teach you?”
“Seoyeon-ssi, you don’t have to learn.”
“yes? why?”
“Because there must be many people who will do that for Seoyeon. Just live the way you live.”
“Well… Secretary Go sees things like that.”
Jihyo nodded and said.
“You seem like a good talent, but do well when you are there. He is the one who will get out of hand if you are too careless.”
“yes? Are you a secretary?”
“Secretary Goh is not a very honest person. He is a person who will do his best in his role if he is paid enough, but if the result is not worthy of his efforts, he will find another way without regrets.”
Seoyeon was a little confused by Jihyeok’s sudden words.
“The late secretary… betrayed me…”
“You seem to have misunderstood my words, but it’s not betrayal, it’s finding someone who will recognize your abilities. It means that the ability to be loyal to a stingy boss is unusual. Do you know what I mean?”
“Ah… So, raise your salary?”
“It’s not that simple, but it wouldn’t hurt to raise the salary first.”
Seoyeon nodded, then opened her eyes wide as if she had suddenly remembered something.
“By the way, do you mean to invest in the factory here?”
“It’s not confirmed, but I’m thinking about it.”
“You’re not saying you’re going to listen to me and invest?”
Jihyeok smiled and said.
“If so, will you stop it?”
“Why do you dry it? This is absolutely awesome. It is said that with moderate marketing, it will explode in Korea, China, and Southeast Asia as it is.”
“Was it that good?”
“Can’t you see my skin right now? It still shines brightly.”
Come to think of it, the fact that her skin looked clean even after removing all her makeup seemed to work just as Seoyeon said.
Seoyeon suddenly said with a serious expression.
“Mr. Jihyeok, let me invest too.”
Jihyeok indirectly rejected Seoyeon’s proposal.
“It is not a company that requires a large investment, even Seoyeon. Don’t even think about putting a spoon on it.”
“What… what? Spoon? No, Mr. Jihyeok, you have a knack for making people feel very sad. And Jihyeok put a spoon on my movie, and I can’t put a little on it?”
“hmm······.”
It wasn’t that he was wrong, but Jihyeok didn’t respond.
“Anyway, when Jihyeok invests, I also include him. OK?”
Jihyuk replied with a sour expression.
“Let me think about it.”
***
Seo-yeon said that she would participate as an investor, and followed Ji-hyeok into the president’s office.
Manager Oh came in with the documents just in time and delivered them to President Park.
Jihyeok glanced at Director Oh’s face as he handed over the documents, then read them page by page.
Jihyeok, who reviewed all the documents in an instant, asked Manager Oh.
“Is this all?”
“what do you mean?”
“It only has the right form, but the current status of the assets I mentioned is not properly listed, and only cash withdrawals and company reserves are written.”
Director Oh replied with a slight frown.
“We don’t do retail separately, and everything is made to order, so there’s nothing particularly complicated about it.”
– Bang!
Jihyeok slapped the desk and said.
“Is that what the person who manages the company’s finances should do? When I asked who was responsible for the fact that there were no companies with nearly 20 billion in annual sales and only 3 billion, it was because of you.”
Director Oh, whose face turned red in an instant, asked President Seong-Han Park as if arguing.
“Boss, who the hell is this guy? Could it be that this person is investing?”
President Park Seong-han thought Ji-hyeok’s behavior was a bit excessive, but since Dong-soo brought him there, he thought that there must be a reason and tried to mediate.
“Here, Master. Manager Oh was a person who worked for a large company and joined our company during the IMF to solve the company’s financial difficulties.”
“Just because you went to a big company doesn’t mean you’re good at everything. Let me ask you. What department did you work in when you were at a large company? I don’t know, but it probably wasn’t in the accounting or accounting department.”
“Are the ledgers too lax?”
Jihyuk sighed and said.
“On the surface, it seems plausible. But there is no almaeng-I. As far as I know, most small manufacturers in Korea use double ledgers. If you’re going to write a separate ledger, make it a little better, what is this?”
Only then did Park Seong-han turn his eyes to Manager Oh.
“Oh manager, don’t do anything stupid and go get the real ledger.”
“Sah… boss, but…”
“Just bring it.”
After a while, when I saw the real ledger brought by Manager Oh, I could properly understand the situation at the factory.
It was not to the extent that inventory, distribution, production, accounting, and salary details could be seen at a glance like the ERP system, but the company’s asset status, actual rate of return, and rebates provided to trading partners were detailed.
Jihyeok said.
“Boss Park, Manager Oh. From now on, you will have to answer my questions accurately.”
President Park nodded, and Manager Oh reluctantly replied that he would.
“Once the marketing expenses are written on the ledger. At first glance, this looks like a rebate, but does the boss know about it?”
Sunghan Park replied.
“I couldn’t help it because it was requested by the client.”
“great. Then I’ll ask Manager Oh. Why the hell did you siphon off funds like this?”
“What… What? This person is the real…”
Director Oh, who was trying to refute, was cut off, and Ji-hyeok continued.
“2,000 ballpoint pens, 1,000 USBs, and 300 boxes of copy paper. First of all, it makes no sense from 2,000 ballpoint pens. With this amount, I will use it for 10 years even if I use all the employees and relatives of Sunghan Paper.”
“That, that’s…”
“The funniest thing is three hundred boxes of copy paper. Why do you buy and use copy paper from a company that supplies copy paper in the first place?”
As Ji-hyeok continued to push Manager Oh, Seong-han Park stepped in.
“Master, I will tell you that. It’s absolutely not embezzlement or anything like that, so don’t misunderstand.”
Park Seong-han said:
After graduating from school, Ji-soo’s daughter came to help the company and spent a lot of money on new product development, but Manager Oh could refuse to extend the loan if it was recorded that corporate funds were spent on something that hadn’t yielded any results over the past few years. I thought there was.
In the first place, I knew that Director Oh’s contemplation was not someone who would embezzle, but Ji-hyeok’s explanation was too absurd.
“Huh… Manager Oh, this is why there is a saying that Seonmudang catches people. Do you know what R in R&D means?”
Director Oh replied bluntly.
“Because it’s research, doesn’t it mean research?”
“Research, that is, research. In the research stage, development costs are set as research funds, and research funds are naturally set as costs. That’s not going to look good on the books.”
“That is what I mean.”
“Then what is D? I mean development, development. Aren’t we in the development stage where we finish research and produce prototypes?”
Director Oh reluctantly nodded.
“Don’t you know that spending on the development stage, which has already reached the prototype, can be classified as an asset, not an expense?”
Manager Oh and Seong-Han Park looked like they hadn’t even dreamed of it.
“It’s not just that electronics companies unnecessarily release prototypes that don’t work. Because it is evaluated as an asset of the company.”
Manager Oh wiped his face with both hands, as if his face was burning.
Park Seong-han said with a gloomy expression.
“We have run the company too narrowly. He said that he would receive investment and put out a good book… heh heh. As Jisoo said, I will solve the problem by simply selling the land. Come to think of it, the exponent also makes sense. How much interest…”
Jihyuk smiled and said.
“President Park, you said you had a lot of problems, but you didn’t say you would withdraw your investment.”
“yes? then······.”
“Didn’t I tell you? They say they want to invest in a company with great assets.”
***
On the way back to Seoul, Seoyeon was humming a song as if she felt quite happy having brought a full mask pack.
“Is it that good?”
“A mask pack? Or did you decide to invest in Sunghan Paper?”
“Either way.”
“f*ck, both are good. By the way, Mr. Jihyeok, where did you come from school?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“No, our late secretary also graduated from Seoul National University, but I don’t think you can know the company’s situation so quickly just by looking at the ledger.”
“I just came out of a moderately good place.”
“By the way, how much are you going to invest? I heard earlier that the urgent thing right now is about 3 billion…”
Jihyeok asked with a serious expression.
“Do you really intend to invest, CEO Jin?”
“I am not joking. Is this mask pack really good? But why are you representing Jin again? Just call me Seoyeon.”
Ji-hyeok found it funny that they had come to call each other by name, but he wondered if he had kept his distance too long.
Jihyeok cleared his mind for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.
“great. So let’s raise the plate a bit. First of all, I plan to invest about 20 billion, so Seoyeon should bear half of it.”
Seoyeon was surprised and asked back.
“This, two hundred billion? Even if you sold all of the company’s assets, you said that after the debt feast, less than 1 billion is left. The profit-to-sales ratio was also very low…”
“So, shouldn’t you improve your constitution? Anyway, it is at least 20 billion won, and it will take an additional 10 billion won to acquire and attach a suitable one among the KOSDAQ listed companies.”
After hearing Jihyeok’s words, Seoyeon pondered for a long time.
An amount that is already impossible to invest with the money you have even with 20 billion.
I thought about it for a long time, but the decision was faster than anyone else.
“great. I hate to open my hands on the house, but you can’t miss an item like this.”