Chapter 1288: The Tycoon

In truth, Zhao Fusheng himself couldn't guarantee whether this decision was right or wrong, but regardless, the Korean entertainment industry was a sector worth investing in.

This point was beyond doubt.

That being the case, Zhao Fusheng didn't mind demonstrating his strength while investing in SM Entertainment for a small profit.

Of course, most importantly, this aligned with the plan he had previously formulated.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, those not of our kind are bound to have different hearts—he felt no psychological burden in making money from Koreans.

But before that, he needed to let these Koreans know his strength before he could proceed with his next plan.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng was not wrong.

In this era of accelerating globalization, the speed of information dissemination was faster than people could imagine; often, before people even reacted, some things had already happened.

Five hours after Zhao Fusheng left with Dong Chenxi and the others, a neatly arranged dossier on the Future Group was already on Kim Young-min's desk.

"Representative, this company is very large." Standing opposite Kim Young-min was a middle-aged man in his early forties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

"Director Lee, do you mean that this Future Group is even larger than our SM Company?" Kim Young-min frowned slightly, not looking at the materials on the table, but asking his trusted director.

Director Lee smiled bitterly: "Representative, can you believe it? The chairman who came to our company today is only twenty-five years old, and this Future Group was built from scratch by him in five years. It now oversees several subsidiaries including internet, advertising, investment, and film production, not to mention his shares in several other companies. The total value exceeds 3.5 billion RMB, and most importantly, he is the major shareholder, holding the vast majority of Future Group's equity, conservatively estimated at over 80%."

He paused, glanced at Kim Young-min's changing expression, and said quietly: "Moreover, this group is not listed."

Hearing this, Kim Young-min could no longer maintain his previous composure.

As a professional corporate manager, Kim Young-min knew well that a listed company and an unlisted one were two different concepts.

For example, a listed company might boast a market value of hundreds of billions of won, but in reality, the company's actual worth might not even be fifty billion won. The reason was simple: the stock market was ultimately a place for storytelling, relying on promising prospects to attract investors.

Thus, evaluating a company's future value based on its stock market value was actually an amateur's approach.

Conversely, if a company that was not yet listed already had a stock value exceeding 200 billion won, its value upon listing would exceed people's imagination.

The most obvious examples were Alibaba and Facebook in later years.

As an economics professional, Kim Young-min naturally understood this logic, so at this moment, he had taken Director Lee's words to heart.

If it were just an ordinary Chinese company, Kim Young-min might not have taken it seriously.

But a billionaire worth over 100 billion won—Representative Kim had to admit that whether it was himself or Lee Soo-man, they would have to kneel and call him 'father.' If they angered him, acquiring SM Company was not impossible.

"I understand. You may go back first." After pondering for a moment, Kim Young-min waved his hand to dismiss his subordinate and sat alone, beginning to read the Future Group's materials.

After a long while, he looked up with a very interesting expression on his face.

"So strong after all." Kim Young-min tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. What exactly did this Chinese man Zhao Fusheng want to do?

He didn't believe that Zhao Fusheng would approach him without reason.

Entrepreneurs from that neighboring big country were all ruthless characters who spoke politely but stabbed you without mercy—this Kim Young-min had learned long ago from a university senior.

That senior had once tried to invest in China but was fooled, losing everything without gaining any advantage.

Now, in Kim Young-min's view, this young billionaire named Zhao Fusheng was clearly not an easy person to deal with.

After thinking for a long time, Kim Young-min picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Director Lee, do you know something? A company from China has come; they are very influential in the Chinese film and television industry..." Kim Young-min spoke into the phone with a very polite tone.

After a long while, he put down the phone, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Old fox, aren't you always thinking about regaining control of the company? Let's see what tricks you can use this time."

Kim Young-min muttered to himself, his expression not at all gentle.

A dragon from the river versus a local snake—he wanted to see who would win and who would lose.

…

…

In a villa in Seoul's Namsan District, a short man with glasses and small eyes put down the phone, his face turning gloomy.

He was fifty-two years old, debuted as a singer in the 1970s, and had spent many years in the music industry—neither a failure nor a success. But as a businessman, he was successful.

After all, not everyone had the ability to create Korea's number one entertainment company and produce generation after generation of top idol groups.

Lee Soo-man could be considered a generation's overlord in the Korean entertainment industry.

Even when investigated by Korean prosecutors back then, he did not lose confidence. Although he fled to the United States, he left many hidden hands within the company to remotely control the situation.

But he never expected that loyal and talented people were too rare in this world. Kim Young-min, whom he had placed great hopes in and hoped would help him control the company, stabbed him in the back at the most critical moment.

By the time Lee Soo-man reacted, he realized he was no longer the controller of SM Company.

If not for still holding the most shares and still having strong power in artist training through years of management, he might have been driven out of the company by Kim Young-min, whom he had personally cultivated.

This was a sad story.

In this world, capable people all have ambition; the greater the ability, the stronger the ambition. As a superior, one needs to channel subordinates' ambitions in the right direction, keeping the hounds always having a target, so the hounds won't turn on their master, and ambition can become motivation.

Conversely, if one fails to guide their hounds properly, they might be bitten back.

In fact, Lee Soo-man had already heard about the Future Group before Kim Young-min called him.

After all, he still had his trusted people within the company, and Zhao Fusheng's group had appeared conspicuously at the company today, making it hard not to be noticed.

Lee Soo-man initially didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just a Chinese company seeking cooperation.

But Kim Young-min's call surprised him.

Lee Soo-man knew that Kim Young-min probably wasn't lying about this matter; rather, that guy was definitely trying to sit on the sidelines and watch the tigers fight, letting him deal with the Chinese billionaire to see what he was really up to.

After all, Kim Young-min had already taken over the position of representative director of SM Entertainment, which originally belonged to Lee Soo-man.

In other words, he was now just an artist director. Although he was still a major shareholder, he couldn't gain any advantage in board voting; otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed to let Kim Young-min become the company's representative.

However, Lee Soo-man didn't understand why the owner of the Future Group had suddenly appeared in Korea and approached SM Entertainment without any prior groundwork.

What did he want?

Lee Soo-man, who prided himself on being well-versed in military strategy and no less intelligent than anyone, felt for the first time that he couldn't see through someone.

"Teacher, what are you thinking?" At that moment, a somewhat youthful voice sounded, followed by a figure with long hair, not very tall, appearing beside Lee Soo-man.

"Nothing." Hearing this, Lee Soo-man's gloomy expression immediately softened, and he turned around with a smile: "BoA, since you're back this time, you should rest well and not run around anymore."

"Oh, I know, teacher." The girl called BoA—more accurately, a young girl—was not tall, with skin not traditionally fair but a healthy wheat color. She was about twenty years old, and when she smiled, her eyes curved beautifully.

Hearing this, she hugged one of Lee Soo-man's arms and said coquettishly: "Don't nag anymore. My first Japanese album is coming out next month, so let me rest for a couple of days."

Lee Soo-man affectionately patted her head: "Silly child, teacher knows you've worked hard. Rest well these few days. Avex shouldn't bother you for now."

This was his most proud disciple and also his greatest confidence when he fled to the United States.

BoA, full name Kwon Bo-ah, was one of the representative female singers in Korea. Many people liked to say Lee Hyori was the number one female singer in the Korean idol circle, but in fact, that was because BoA had been developing in Japan and didn't focus on the domestic market. Lee Hyori, at most, dominated in Korea, while at her peak, BoA was known as one of Avex's nine great divas in Japan and was the one who single-handedly supported the entire SM Company.

However, because she had always focused on the Japanese market, many people thought she was less popular than Lee Hyori. In reality, the two had their own strengths.

And now, BoA was at the peak of her popularity, which was precisely why Lee Soo-man could remain unshaken at SM Company.

The reason was simple: in BoA's eyes, if Lee Soo-man, who was both teacher and father figure, left SM Company, she would definitely terminate her contract. For SM Company, this was a cash cow they could never afford to lose!