The Overly Competent Junior Employee

“Hello, I’m Oh Jae-seok, Chief Team Leader of the Venture Investment Division at Yuseong Venture Investment. These are my team members.”

The next day, Dokyung, Team 3 Leader Seo Jeonghwan, and Han Dahyun were at Yuseong Venture Investment’s headquarters, meeting with the representatives who would handle the investment on their behalf.

“I’m Seo Jeonghwan from Yuseong Investment Securities’ Leaders Center. These two are…”

“We already know them. They came to our company a week ago and gave us a briefing.”

Seo Jeonghwan nodded at Oh Jae-seok’s words. The representatives from both companies exchanged business cards and sat down to discuss the practicalities of the investment proxy.

“A week ago, after receiving a briefing from Yoon Dokyung-ssi and Han Dahyun-ssi, we conducted our own investigation into Agrobridge. The results are as we communicated to you.”

“I apologize for the short time frame.”

“No, not at all. Yuseong Investment Securities had already completed their investigation and briefed us, and what we’re doing is just acting as a proxy to invest the fund’s money.”

Although it was a complex transaction, in simple terms, the Leaders Center was creating a startup investment fund and entrusting Yuseong Venture Investment with the investment proxy.

The Leaders Center would manage the clients, while Yuseong Venture Investment would manage the startups they invested in.

“We visited Agrobridge for due diligence the day before yesterday.”

It seemed Yuseong Venture Investment had conducted an on-site investigation of Agrobridge.

“They were welcoming when we visited, as they’re about to enter Series C investment and the market response hasn’t been great.”

“Why hasn’t the response been good? Is there something…”

Oh Jae-seok smiled and shook his head at Seo Jeonghwan’s question.

“Ah! It’s not like that. As you know, it’s because the economy isn’t doing well.”

Oh Jae-seok spoke with a regretful expression.

“When we went for due diligence, we were satisfied that the company was well-established and the CEO had a solid business philosophy, but these days, funding sources are really tight.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yes, they told us we were the third group to come for due diligence.”

It seemed that not many had visited, even though it had been over three months since Agrobridge announced they would proceed with Series C investment.

“If there are three places, then those who have actually invested…”

“Zero. Everyone acknowledged their business potential and future value, but…”

As if it was painful to repeat the same thing, Oh Jae-seok stopped speaking.

“Here are the due diligence documents.”

Oh Jae-seok handed out the report from their site visit, seemingly trying to change the atmosphere, and Dokyung opened the documents and began reading.

“What Agrobridge offered in exchange for the investment is existing shares.”

“That’s not bad. Given the nature of the funds, we were internally thinking that receiving existing shares would be good.”

Existing shares referred to stocks held by the company’s executives.

In other words, this investment method involved investing money and receiving shares in return.

Raising funds through a fund for investment had a maturity date.

The maturity for this investment was three years, and if the investment period wasn’t extended after three years, the plan was to sell the shares received this time to later investors and make a profit.

If Agrobridge went public or was acquired by another company before then, the resulting amount would be divided according to the shareholding ratio.

“The documents are very meticulously prepared.”

As Seo Jeonghwan said this, Oh Jae-seok smiled and nodded slightly. Seo Jeonghwan looked at Dokyung and Han Dahyun. As they were the ones handling the practical aspects of this work, he seemed to be asking for their opinions.

Dokyung nodded slightly, and Han Dahyun also nodded.

As Seo Jeonghwan had said, after checking the due diligence report, the company looked even more promising than when they had investigated before making the investment decision.

“The fund setup amount we’ve gathered over the past week is 18.8 billion won, with a total of 9 investors. The management fees and proxy fees are all included in the documents.”

The Yuseong Venture Investment representatives looked surprised at Seo Jeonghwan’s words.

It was an amount that exceeded the target of 15 billion won.

“That’s good. I think we can proceed as is.”

“Excellent. We’ll proceed with the investment proxy contract tomorrow, accompanied by legal representatives from both companies.”

As Seo Jeonghwan said this and stood up, Oh Jae-seok also stood up with a smile and extended his hand.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

Tap-tap-tap-

Three days later, only the sound of keyboard typing and mouse clicking could be heard in the office of Team 3 at Yuseong Investment Securities’ Leaders Center.

Although it was usually a quiet office, today everyone seemed unable to concentrate on their work, with particularly tense expressions.

“Sigh…”

Dokyung also let out a small sigh as he looked at the smartwatch on his wrist.

Today was the day Yuseong Venture Investment had gone to negotiate investments with Agrobridge, but there had been no contact even though the expected time had long passed.

‘Did Agrobridge insert something in the middle…’

Usually, when there was such a delay at the final stage of a contract, it was mostly because one of the two parties was inserting unreasonable conditions at the last minute.

Yuseong Venture Investment wouldn’t do that because they were acting as a proxy for the investment, but Dokyung began to worry that the contract might fall through due to unreasonable demands from Agrobridge.

“Still no contact?”

At that moment, Seo Jeonghwan’s question broke the silence, and Dokyung stood up.

“I haven’t received any contact.”

“I haven’t received any contact either.”

As Han Dahyun also stood up and said this, Seo Jeonghwan sighed as if worried.

“Yoon Dokyung-ssi, how much time is left until the appointment?”

“One hour left.”

Dokyung was scheduled to meet Kwon Eun-ho in an hour to finalize the asset management service contract. If there was no contact before then…

Dokyung shook his head as if he didn’t want to think about it.

“Let’s wait a little longer…”

Buzz-

Just then, Seo Jeonghwan’s mobile phone vibrated, and he reflexively picked it up.

“Yes, this is Seo Jeonghwan. Yes, yes. Thank you for your hard work. Yes. I’ll come right away.”

After finishing the call, Seo Jeonghwan stood up with a smile.

“They say the investment contract between Agrobridge and Yuseong Venture Investment has been finalized.”

“Wow!”

As soon as the words left Seo Jeonghwan’s mouth, all team members stood up, and Han Dahyun even shouted.

“Yoon Dokyung-ssi, head out right away to meet the client. I’ll send you the details via message.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Han Dahyun-ssi, let’s go to Yuseong Venture Investment together.”

“Yes!”

Dokyung smiled as he packed his documents into his bag and looked at his team members.

“I’ll be going now.”

After saying goodbye, Dokyung quickly left the office.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Dokyung, who had left the office and visited Kwon Eun-ho’s nearby office, was finalizing the asset management service contract.

After signing the contract and handing the documents to Dokyung, Kwon Eun-ho said,

“This is something I should have given you more time for. But doing business has given me a strange habit.”

Dokyung received the documents and listened carefully to Kwon Eun-ho’s words.

“I’ve seen many cases where businesses fall through when given too much time. So when I need to confirm something, I tend not to give ample time.”

“I understand. You wanted to see my abilities while entrusting me with a large sum of money, Chairman.”

“Haha, thank you for understanding. To be honest, when Team Leader Seo first brought you, Yoon Dokyung-ssi, I misunderstood a bit. Seeing him bring a young person, I wondered if he was disrespecting me.”

Dokyung looked surprised at Kwon Eun-ho’s words.

He couldn’t sense any of this on that day.

“But on the day you introduced Agrobridge to me, I changed my mind. Ah, he must have gone to the Leaders Center at that young age because he has ability.”

Dokyung bowed his head slightly.

“When you change your perspective on age like this, people look different. The briefing you gave me was like that too. If you think, ‘What’s so great about just brokering agricultural product trades?’ that’s all you can see.”

Kwon Eun-ho looked at Dokyung with a satisfied expression.

“While on this business trip to the U.S., I looked into Agrobridge. They seem to be more well-known abroad than in our country.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I sent someone to investigate a bit. Satisfactory information came back. And there, I once again realized how remarkable you are, Yoon Dokyung-ssi.”

“Not at all. I just investigated based on news articles too.”

“Your words about needing to find companies that make money even in the face of climate change stuck deeply in my mind. Have you ever thought about changing positions?”

“Positions as in…”

As Dokyung cautiously asked, Kwon Eun-ho smiled and spoke.

“I’m tempted by your skills. When I went to the U.S. this time, I saw many family offices.”

Dokyung nodded. In the U.S., it was common for families to create investment companies to manage family wealth.

It referred to using family wealth to invest in stocks, bonds, and other investments to grow money.

In Korea too, some large corporations had examples of creating personal companies for the owner and incorporating large corporations as affiliates under them.

“I became a bit interested. If I create a company later, would you consider joining?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I still like this job for now. And I have dreams too.”

“Dreams… It’s not easy to find dreams while working.”

“I think I’m lucky. I can pursue my dreams while working.”

“Haha, then I guess I’ll have to create a company when Yoon Dokyung-ssi expresses interest later.”

Having just signed the contract, Kwon Eun-ho seemed quite taken with Dokyung.

For Dokyung, there was nothing better than a client trusting him, so he bowed his head.

“Thank you for signing a contract with me. There’s still the internal investment review committee process at Yuseong Venture Investment, but it should pass without any issues.”

“So my money will really be invested in Agrobridge?”

“That’s right. I’ll report to you daily as things progress.”

“Good. I’m excited as this is my first investment in a startup.”

“It will go well.”

“I’ll trust you. Shall we get up then?”

Kwon Eun-ho nodded and stood up, extending his hand to Dokyung.

“I think I’m lucky to have made a good connection through this investment.”

“I’m the one who’s glad to have met you, Chairman.”

Dokyung shook hands and bowed his head in greeting.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

“Thank you.”

Two days later, Dokyung was having lunch with Han Dahyun when she suddenly thanked him, causing him to look at her with a puzzled expression.

“For what?”

“Thanks to you, I had a good experience. And my client also invested in Agrobridge. I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do.”

“How is that thanks to me? You also…”

“It is thanks to you. You offered to work together, and because of that, I can do what I want to do too. It’s so much fun. This job.”

Recently, Han Dahyun’s expression had been bright, as if she had found something interesting in her work, and Dokyung chuckled.

“I’m the one who’s grateful that you think that way. I was wondering how to repay you, but I guess I don’t have to.”

“What did you say?”

Buzz-

As the two were in the middle of their conversation, Dokyung’s phone vibrated. He raised his hand to excuse himself and checked the screen.

“Is it good news?”

Han Dahyun asked curiously. A smile had spread across Dokyung’s face.

“A message I’ve been waiting for has arrived. It’s a bit late, though.”

Dokyung smiled brightly as he checked the message.