I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 37: Bad Things (2)
“And... there’s another important thing. It can’t be Ha Yeong-il, it has to be Alpha Fund that takes center stage. It’s better if the fund holds the title, not an individual hogging all the fame.”
This fund was something I’d have to absorb later. If all the fame ended up with Ha Yeong-il, there could be a clash.
I’m sure Ha Joo-seong would handle it well, but people are unpredictable. I’ve got to keep Yeong-il in check so he doesn’t get any funny ideas.
You lock your doors not to keep thieves out, but to stop friendly neighbors from turning into thieves. Expecting Ha Yeong-il to become the top name on Wall Street and not betray me? That’s a stretch.
“Besides, I trust Ha Yeong-il, but we don’t know his limits, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true. I was worried he might screw up and drag us down, but that makes me feel better.”
Older now, and more in tune with reality, Ha Joo-seong nodded. For him, that kind of assurance was probably a relief.
After all, it meant that even if Ha Yeong-il crashed and burned, I wasn’t going to just throw him away.
“Oh, and how’s the investment banking side coming along?”
“We’ve been short on time, so I didn’t spend too much effort there. But I’ve got the basics in place... take a look.”
He handed me some documents. I skimmed through, checking over the plan.
‘Not bad.’
Pretty solid for a beginner’s work. I especially liked how he trimmed the scope to focus only on the essentials, considering how weak Daehwa Securities was at attracting talent.
“Looks good. We can set up the front office like this.”
“Phew, the real problem’s the lack of people. Same as always.”
True. Unlike post-IMF Korea, talent’s scarce right now. Just graduating college gets you into most jobs, and if you’re from a top school, companies practically beg.
Later, we’ll be swimming in talent, but Daehwa Securities needs them before the IMF hits.
“Right, one thing needs changing. Set up an M&A department anyway. I’ve got a feeling this’ll be big later.”
Investment banks have merger and acquisition divisions.
They coordinate with legal teams to work around complex laws, and they prep target companies to be “eaten” smoothly by clients.
When it’s time for Daehwa Group to make some M&A moves, I’ll need a sharp knife for the job. No way an amateur can handle that—the group’s just too damn big.
“Got it.”
Not knowing the plan in my head, Ha Joo-seong nodded without much thought.
As we were leaving Daehwa Securities, just before heading home, Ha Joo-seong asked me something.
“By the way, is that thing you mentioned before still on the table?”
“What thing?”
“About gathering some friends from school and getting them into the company... That. Have you made any friends yet?”
I did say something like that.
“....”
Friends, huh....
I sighed and shook my head.
“I’m just too brilliant for the kids to keep up.”
“Yeah, figures.”
...What’s with that look?
“I-I do have friends, okay? There’s Si-hyun, and that guy Kim Hae-ik, you could kinda call him a friend, right? We don’t have any conflicts of interest. Age doesn’t matter in friendship.”
“Even counting me as your friend, that’s two people, isn’t it?”
“Quiet, I’ll make friends in middle school. By then, there’ll be some kids who can keep up with me mentally.”
“Hmm... I don’t know about that.”
No, seriously.
There’s a future tech genius who’s gonna emigrate to the US and build one of the biggest companies ever. He’s around my age now. Said he was bullied in middle school, so I need to find a way to befriend him and reel him in.
He’s also a huge gamer, so we’ll probably click. Bit of a bastard from what I remember, but if I manage him well from now, he ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) should turn out fine.
Feels like I’m the one groveling, but whatever. He’s worth it.
He was the richest guy in the world in my past life even without any reincarnation perks.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
***
Not long ago, or up until 1986, the famous American political scientist Robert Dahl, who was president of the American Political Science Association, defined power like this:
Those with power make those without it do things they otherwise wouldn’t. And power is the force that makes that possible.
It’s something I’ve always known, but since coming into this life, I really feel it.
“Give me an Americano, ice floating on top, nice and cold.”
“...This is... this is an insult to coffee, Miss.”
The chef I hired for the mansion trembled with rage. Since the house was small to keep from drawing the family’s attention, we didn’t have many staff....
Naturally, the chef who worked here had to be a jack-of-all-trades. Meaning, expensive as hell. Especially since the kind of food I wanted wasn’t even in Korea yet, I’d hired a foreign chef.
“Come on, it tastes good this way.”
This Italian chef, in charge of all my meals and desserts, had just hit his biggest challenge yet.
Now that I was a high-grade elementary schooler, the nanny had finally allowed me coffee. I was so excited I jumped around and immediately demanded an iced Americano from him.
“...Nobody even drinks Americano cold in America, what are you saying? And it’s not summer—it’s the middle of winter!”
True, Americano didn’t catch on in Korea until Starbucks opened in 1999. For now, it’s still just trendy in the US.
“Well, guess it’s gonna start now. Go on, make it.”
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
The chef pulled at his hair and stomped into the kitchen. Soon, the smell of coffee drifted out along with a string of Italian curses.
“Damn it, those fucking Starbucks bastards ruined coffee! Watering it down like this!”
I’d never seen him so mad. Maybe when he saw pineapple pizza?
-Thud.
“...Here’s your cold, watered-down coffee drink, made from coffee beans.”
Looking like he was being tortured in real time, the Italian trembled as he handed over the iced Americano.
“Hehehe, you’re making me feel like a villain now. It’s not even a big deal, chill. It does taste better when you make it, though. The ‘flavor’ is nice.”
I smiled sweetly, savoring the coffee. The chef stared at me like I was the devil.
“No, this is probably the worst thing you’ve done all year. Please, just... don’t talk about flavor or aroma with this sewage.”
Apparently, the worst thing I’d done this year wasn’t plotting to betray my family, or trying to hire Si-hyun’s friends as killers—it was making this Italian guy brew iced Americano.
Dude really doesn’t know when to stop.
“Mmm, nice. I should add this to the menu when I start a café. Market it as the creator of iced Americano. That’d make a killer ad.”
“Miss, please stop before my father in Sicily sends someone to kill me....”
I hummed happily as I sipped my iced coffee.
‘It’s been almost ten years. I missed this.’
Hot coffee’s good, but sometimes you just need something cold.
Maybe because it was made by someone with real skills, it tasted even better. The taste of power?
***
Well, there was a bit of drama, but....
Anyway, now that I was eleven, my perfect morning routine was complete.
Coffee and newspapers.
‘Still, hot coffee really is better.’
I was gonna keep teasing the chef, but he looked ready to quit, so I settled for a warm latte.
[Alpha Fund surpasses $500 million in assets under management...]
The Wall Street Journal featured my booming fund. Felt good, but since I wasn’t in the spotlight, there weren’t any compliments about me, which left me wanting more.
[President Jeon Doo-gwang steps down... End of the Fifth Republic]
[McDonald’s opens first Korean location...]
‘Oh, they opened now. I should take Si-hyun later.’
Censorship had eased up, so reading the paper was pretty fun.
Just then, Lee Si-hyun came in, groaning under a mountain of papers.
“Hey, Si-hyun. Did you bring everything I asked for?”
-Thud.
“Ugh, yeah. What the hell is all this...? My back’s killing me.”
She grumbled, dumping the documents, which were filled with names, faces, and other personal info.
Lists of incoming students at major Seoul universities, Daehwa Group employee records, and more. With no real data protection laws yet, you could get away with crap like this.
Colleges just handed over their student lists.
“It’ll be hard to get this stuff later. Gotta memorize it now.”
“...You can really memorize all that just by looking?”
“I can.”
I flipped through the pages like they were treasure, stuffing the details of hundreds, thousands of people into my head. In Korea, where school, family, and hometown ties run everything, nothing beats knowing people’s weaknesses.
Perfect memory is just so damn handy.
