America: My Time

Chapter 1121 Cutting the Trouble with a Quick Sword

Chapter 1111 Quick and Decisive Action

Although he has been honing his skills for several years, even with great talent, family ties still have an influence. John understands this without Lee Boo-jin saying it; after all, he knows how shameless the Koreans are, and these guys are all thinking too much and scheming too deeply.

John didn't blame Lee Boo-jin for all of this, because the Lee family had no real family ties. John had expected them to exploit people's hearts. However, John didn't expect these guys to be so blind to the situation and so greedy!

Of course, Lee Boo-jin herself also had some issues with this situation. She hadn't focused all her energy on the Koreans and hadn't had much contact with them, so she wasn't fully aware of their greed. What Lee Boo-jin was doing was managing the assets she was in charge of and making numerous preparations. She hadn't forgotten the time she had been targeted.

As a woman from a chaebol family, Lee Boo-jin naturally knew the madness of chaebols, and that the chaebols in South Korea were already quite mad. Therefore, many of her methods were not used for legitimate purposes, but rather to prepare and calculate for her future competition for favor. Especially now, seeing John constantly splitting and consolidating numerous companies, she had even more ideas in mind.

Although Lee Boo-jin had made considerable preparations, she still understood the priorities and did not rush into action. Instead, after John arrived in South Korea, she quickly arranged a meeting with South Korean officials, as this was John's important matter, and she dared not neglect such an important matter!

When they learned that John had appeared in the Korean camp, those guys were overjoyed. In their arrogant minds, they all believed that John had come because he could no longer hold out and was about to compromise with them. Therefore, they all thought that everything was settled, and they were filled with endless joy.

Is that really the case? No. Initially, John had high hopes for the Korean market, but after his conversation with Lee Boo-jin, he no longer held those hopes. He discovered that the Koreans had become arrogant and self-important. Their lack of any response to his arrival made John realize he had overestimated them.

“Mr. John, our demands aren’t high. After all, we need to invest more capital, and our market is huge and has great potential. So we believe this shareholding arrangement is the most suitable!” The Korean official stubbornly insisted, even though John had given him chance after chance. This guy was unmoved and refused to accept John’s ‘goodwill’ or pay more. In his view, with such a large market, Korea should naturally take the lead in the cooperation and should also get more benefits!

"It seems we cannot reach a consensus. Your demands are too far removed from my ideas. A 50/50 split is the best option. If you do not accept this, there is no need for us to continue the discussion. Let's put this cooperation on hold for now and continue to cooperate in the future if there is an opportunity!" Although John was furious, he did not vent his anger on these foolish fellows, but instead gave them a polite answer!
Although John considers these guys to be like ants, he can't afford to have any open conflict with them, or even a verbal one, just to maintain his public image. That would be too rude, and if it happened, it would negatively impact his future investments in other countries. People would think he's a big, arrogant businessman, not a normal investor.

"Mr. John, won't you reconsider? With our huge market, even the current shareholding structure is absolutely beneficial to you, and we can also accept your loan request!" At this point, the Korean official was still unwilling to give up and still wanted to persuade John.

“No, I don’t have that right. Asian energy is not something I can control right now. Since you all think so highly of your own market and consider it very important, it’s better to give up Asian energy. In fact, I had this idea from the beginning, but I was unwilling to accept it, which led to this discussion. I just didn’t expect that there would be such a big difference in our views. I was too presumptuous!” John shook his head and ignored these guys. He had given them so many ways to back down, but these guys were so greedy and insisted on making such a decision.

Although John wanted to extract some more benefits from South Korea before the Asian economic crisis, this didn't mean sacrificing the interests of his other industries, especially in Asian energy. Look at how the Japanese reacted; in terms of market and population, Japan had a clear advantage over South Korea, yet they didn't negotiate with John at all, quickly accepting Asian energy's cooperation demands. The same was true for China. John's demands weren't unreasonable; he simply wanted to jointly build a domestic pipeline company with equal shares, and Asian energy wouldn't control the management, only overseeing and receiving profit sharing.

Without sufficient energy input, what's the use of building your own management system? Without energy, it's just for show. These guys haven't seen this at all; they only think their market is their biggest asset and they insist on getting as much profit as possible. Therefore, their cooperation with John naturally had to end.

After John's negotiations with them ended, these Koreans were still arrogant, thinking that John was just bluffing them and trying to force them to accept the demand for equal shares. So they still thought that as long as they persisted, they would eventually get John to compromise. But they were overthinking it.

"Give up. Stop thinking about the Koreans. Abandon all previous plans and focus our energy on Japan and China. Once I've settled things here, I'll discuss with the construction companies in China. If possible, we should focus on China. One oil pipeline is enough. After all, crude oil production on Sakhalin Island is limited, but natural gas is different. If possible, add another one now!"

At this point, John wanted to act decisively; there wasn't much time to waste. Since the Koreans were having problems, it was best to abandon them and use this short time to make other arrangements. Furthermore, they could continue to borrow money from Japan for the construction of the undersea oil pipeline; after all, the Japanese weren't as arrogant as the Koreans. Japan had always harbored ambitions and ideas about the Chinese market, so their understanding of it was far superior to that of the Koreans. Moreover, the current situation was clear: while South Korea's development was also good, it was nowhere near the level of Japan, and certainly not on the same scale as China.

"How long are you going to stay here? Are you really going to give up this market?" Because John didn't hide it from Lee Boo-jin, she heard his decision clearly, which is why she asked this question!
"About ten days, no more than twenty days. After all, many things here are already being handled by professionals. I just need to get a general understanding of things here. As for the market, we'll let go when it's time. Their demands are too insane, they're too greedy. Perhaps South Korea's economy is developing rapidly, which has made them arrogant, thinking they have everything under control. Under such circumstances, we can only give up. If it weren't for you, Asia Energy would never have planned to enter the South Korean market. Our focus has always been on China and Japan!"

South Korea's energy imports are already substantial, and if this continues, their demand will only increase. They have readily available energy resources, yet these guys insist on resorting to underhanded tactics and greed. They only have themselves to blame for being so foolish and arrogant. John doesn't have time to continue arguing with these guys; he'd rather focus his time on investing in China than South Korea.

While South Korea's economy is indeed developing rapidly, its potential is too small. Compared to China, it's insignificant. Instead of wasting energy on endless conflicts with them, it's better to shift the focus and observe the reactions of those Japanese. There was absolutely no resistance. When they heard that John intended to cooperate with them to build a large oil pipeline connecting the entire territory of Japan, these guys didn't hesitate at all. The shareholding structure of the pipeline company was decided immediately, without any further discussion.

The same applies to China, because China needs to maintain absolute dominance. Asia Energy directly ceded some shares, and there was no further entanglement. Both investments are currently being utilized.

The undersea oil pipeline project was arranged with Russia, requiring them to use Russian pipelines. However, the situation is different between Japan and China's internal pipeline companies. This is an enormous project, capable of generating immense profits. Yet, these South Koreans are arrogant and self-righteous, believing they should reap even greater benefits.

"Isn't there any other way? Maybe if we wait a little longer, we might get a good result!" Lee Boo-jin felt a little reluctant to give up like this, after all, it involved huge profits. You know, the annual profit of such a pipeline company is not a small number.

"There's no need to waste time and energy. Those guys won't accept it. All they see now is greed and madness. You might think they don't see the huge profits this project can bring to major Korean companies, but I'm telling you, they know it perfectly well. They're just too greedy, or rather, they don't want Quantum Mining to benefit. They want to keep all the profits in their own hands. Only by having absolute control can these guys kick Quantum Mining out of the game!"

John knew exactly what these Koreans were thinking. Only in this way could the Koreans gain more benefits and profits, and thus limit John's development in Korea. Now, John's companies in Korea, whether in shipbuilding, automobiles, steel, or petrochemicals, far surpassed those Korean giants because they had an absolutely staggering number of orders. Now that they saw such an opportunity, these guys naturally didn't want to give it up.

The idea was good, very good, but reality was incredibly cruel. John wouldn't give them that opportunity, much less the chance to snatch benefits from him. Since they couldn't reach an agreement, they should just give up. There was no need to waste their time and energy, and no need to continue with them.

If it were those guys from the US or Europe, they would never have bothered with John like this, nor would they have made such outrageous demands. They know John's character; they know he won't be threatened, and he has always refused to be held hostage. This is why John needs to control shares in their domestic pipeline company.

If a conflict were to arise that gave these guys the opportunity to shut down the management company, it would severely damage John's previous investment and could even cost his existing undersea oil pipeline management company dearly. John dared not take the risk of dealing with the Koreans' greed and ignorance, nor did he trust their character. So when these guys insisted on continuing, John had no choice but to give up, abandon the investment, and focus his energy on China and Japan.

Unfortunately, these Koreans didn't see through all of this. They were still hoping for John to renegotiate, completely unaware that the so-called assessment had ended and the cooperation had failed.

After John communicated with Asian Energy, Asian Energy quickly abandoned the construction of the undersea oil pipeline management project in South Korea and began to re-examine the energy needs of China and Japan, and to test John's new plan. After all, such an investment is not a small matter and cannot be taken lightly.

As for the Russian side, this is not a problem. Everything has already been negotiated and is not a big deal. As long as there are no issues with the verification between Japan and China, everything is acceptable. Moreover, it's not just John who is optimistic about the Chinese market; many others are also optimistic about it. However, not all companies have the ability to make such arrangements!

(End of this chapter)