Chapter 1615: The Younger Generation

What is investment?

There are many answers to this question.

But no matter how you explain it, the purpose of investment is to make a profit.

Whether in politics or business, whether what you pay is real money or something else, the purpose of investment is to gain benefits.

Leaving aside political investment, in business, if the final result of an investment fails to yield profit, it can only be considered a failure.

And most of Lee Boo-jin's investments were failures.

That's right, this eldest daughter of the Samsung Lee family, almost every company she invested in ended up bankrupt.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, she was simply a jinx.

"Interesting."

Zhao Fusheng muttered to himself.

He didn't know about Lee Boo-jin's investment acumen, but he didn't believe that the eldest daughter of the Samsung Lee family would be someone who threw money around ignorantly.

So, there must be some other reason behind it.

Moreover, Lee Boo-jin's investments were mostly in domestic South Korean startups—this made Zhao Fusheng realize something.

Perhaps someone was deliberately sabotaging her.

As for who, the answer was actually obvious.

It was none other than Lee Boo-jin's siblings, and maybe even Zhao Fusheng's business partner, CJ Group, had a hand in it.

After all, if he could cause trouble for Lee Kun-hee, Lee Jae-hyun would definitely participate without hesitation.

The feuds of the Lee family, if turned into a TV drama, would definitely be more captivating than those Chinese dramas about domestic squabbles and mother-in-law conflicts, because the stories that could be told here were truly too many and too interesting.

But in South Korea, no matter how bold a filmmaker or TV producer was, none were crazy enough to use the Samsung family's feuds as a prototype for filming.

Although politicians have no bottom line, at the very least, for the sake of their political interests and reputation, they will more or less have some scruples and dare not go too far.

But the chaebol don't care about that.

This is no joke. In South Korea, the chaebol are the real power holders. Even gangsters, who dare to do things to politicians and people in the entertainment industry, simply do not dare to provoke the chaebol.

The reason is simple: politicians are temporary, but the chaebol are eternal.

…

…

"Chairman, Director Liang has sent word."

Zhao Fusheng was looking at some documents when the door was knocked on, and Park Sun-young walked in and said to Zhao Fusheng.

"Oh?"

Hearing Park Sun-young's words, Zhao Fusheng was a little surprised and asked curiously, "Is there something?"

"It's like this. After we announced the sale of the land we hold, quite a bit has been sold. Among them, several plots were acquired by various chaebol, including..." Park Sun-young hesitated but did not finish.

"What about them?"

Zhao Fusheng asked with some surprise.

"It's like this." Park Sun-young said in a low voice, "During the sale of several plots, Samsung C&T helped drive up the price."

"Oh."

Zhao Fusheng was stunned for a moment, then laughed and nodded, "I see. Tell Liang Jingyu not to worry."

Park Sun-young nodded, turned around, and went out to call Liang Jingyu.

Although she didn't understand what was going on, since the boss said not to worry, naturally there was no need to worry.

When Liang Jingyu received Park Sun-young's call, he understood more clearly than she thought.

Since Samsung was willing to help, it seemed that his boss had reached an agreement with Samsung.

But Liang Jingyu was still a bit surprised. After all, he knew a little about Zhao Fusheng's network in South Korea. If he really had some connection with Samsung, he wouldn't have had to start from scratch here with his bare hands back then.

So that means this relationship was just established by Zhao Fusheng?

"Impressive!"

Liang Jingyu sighed, said nothing more, and hung up the phone.

Leaving Park Sun-young utterly bewildered, holding the phone, wondering what Director Liang meant by that.

Zhao Fusheng naturally wouldn't explain these things to his subordinates. To be honest, Liang Jingyu was one thing, but assistants like Park Sun-young were different in Zhao Fusheng's eyes from people like Wu Sijie.

The latter were Chinese after all, and had been nurtured by him from the start, while these Koreans were either Liang Jingyu's confidants or hired by him. Zhao Fusheng would never use them casually.

Park Sun-young returned to the room, told Zhao Fusheng she had notified Liang Jingyu, and then turned and left.

Zhao Fusheng didn't waste words either. He sent a text to Jiang Wen asking how things were at the venue, then put away his materials.

From the materials, Zhao Fusheng could be sure that Lee Boo-jin would contact him before long.

After all, Samsung C&T had already started helping, which meant some high-level person must have given the word; otherwise, why would they bother to help?

Since that was the case, all he needed to do was wait.

...

...

Jiang Wen's text came half an hour later. He asked Zhao Fusheng if he wanted to come see a performance that evening.

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and replied, asking him to save a seat.

There was nothing to do at the hotel anyway; watching a show would be a good way to pass the time.

Jiang Wen quickly called back, asking how many people Zhao Fusheng had. Zhao Fusheng told him to find an inconspicuous spot and reserve six seats for himself, Park Sun-young, Hu Donghai, and the others.

Jiang Wen readily agreed to this request.

He could easily get such a spot from the organizers, and with Bong Joon-ho and the others around, such a small matter was no concern.

In the evening, Zhao Fusheng took Hu Donghai and the others to the main venue.

"Sir."

At the venue entrance, Zhao Fusheng saw Jiang Wen's assistant and a young man who looked familiar.

"Hello, I'm Gang Dong-won."

"You're an actor, right?"

Surprised by the other's standard English, Zhao Fusheng then smiled and said, "I think I've seen your photo before."

"Thank you very much."

The young man named Gang Dong-won bowed to Zhao Fusheng and said, "I am an actor, a junior of Senior Song Kang-ho. He asked me to escort you in."

"Oh, oh."

Zhao Fusheng nodded, patted the other on the shoulder, and said, "Sorry for the trouble."

Being sent by Song Kang-ho, he was naturally a direct junior, or a young man he valued.

This was very common in South Korea.

In the South Korean film and television industry, although the circles were strictly hierarchical, they were absolutely dedicated to promoting their own people.

Basically, in the South Korean entertainment industry, as long as someone was willing to promote you, the artist's chances of success greatly increased.

Of course, by the same token, the interests and even reputations of the two people would also be tied together.

Just like Song Kang-ho and Ahn Nae-sang, everyone knew they were part of Director Bong Joon-ho's inner circle. If other directors wanted to use them in a film, they would first inform Bong Joon-ho.

Conversely, if anyone wanted to secretly oppose Bong Joon-ho, say by competing with his work, they would definitely not hire these two, because they knew that even if they offered a sky-high price, they couldn't get them.

Gang Dong-won was naturally the young man Song Kang-ho wanted to promote; otherwise, he wouldn't have specifically sent him to guide Zhao Fusheng.

After all, this young actor had already made a name for himself in the South Korean film industry.

While leading Zhao Fusheng and the others to their seats, Gang Dong-won recalled what Senior Song Kang-ho had said to him: "Dong-won, this man is a super-tycoon from China, someone even Samsung's Lee Boo-jin associates with. Earlier at the Shilla Hotel, a director from Lotte's Shin family offended him, and Lee Boo-jin directly kicked him out of the hotel. You should know what that means. I'm having you guide him to build a good connection. If you ever develop in China or here in Korea, you might run into him..."

Although he didn't understand why Senior Song Kang-ho did this, Gang Dong-won was well aware that a tycoon whom the Samsung princess actively sought out was not someone a small actor like him could afford to offend.

Conversely, even just showing his face before such a person and building a good connection was a rare opportunity for him.

Such is the power of money.