Chapter 18: The Predator’s Valuation

The spacious office was swallowed by a suffocating silence. Jeonghyeok hadn’t uttered a single word for over ten minutes as he reviewed the documents Hyeonseo had presented. The atmosphere felt even colder than usual, and Hyeonseo found herself clenching her interlaced hands tightly.

Whether it was just her imagination or not, his attitude over the past few days had been freezing. Was he tired? Was he still feeling unwell? Her entire nervous system was focused on the tips of his long fingers. Without even knowing why, she was walking on eggshells around him.

Jeonghyeok, sitting with his legs crossed leisurely, finally turned the last page. His thick lips parted, and a cavernous voice broke the long silence.

“One hundred billion.”

Hyeonseo snapped her head up at the unexpected figure.

“We strike first before this moves to a public sale.”

“…Pardon?”

The company in question had been valued at an EBITDA multiple of three during the preliminary bidding. The 100 billion won he just called out was a valuation exceeding a multiple of five.

“When GNA negotiated exclusively with HRR last month, the figure was 70 billion. That’s likely why our partner already hinted at the 70-billion mark to the other side. Considering a short-term exit, I believe 100 billion is far too excessive.”

Jeonghyeok frowned at her pushback and tilted his chin upward. From that angle, his straight forehead and sharp nose looked exceptionally prominent, making his next question feel even more high-handed.

“And who set the criteria for what is ‘excessive’?”

“Well, the GNA valuation during the main bid was—”

“And who set that valuation?”

He cut her off mid-sentence. His fierce, arrogant eyes locked onto hers as if conducting an interrogation.

“On what basis do you, Cha Hyeonseo, judge a valuation during an acquisition?”

The questions were fired in rapid succession. The air itself seemed to freeze under the pressure. Cold sweat trickled down her spine.

He was a man who knew instinctively how to occupy the superior position. She had momentarily forgotten that he was a man accustomed to suppressing and overpowering others. She needed an excuse. Anything.

“To be honest, as a lawyer, I have no choice but to judge based on objective indicators…”

“Objective indicators.”

He tossed the stack of papers onto the desk and scoffed.

“What exactly is ‘objective’? Is a value calculated on a calculator while sitting at a desk inherently objective?”

“Of course, I am well aware that subjective criteria vary from person to person and company to company.”

“Then I am asking you: what is Cha Hyeonseo’s criteria, spanning both objective and subjective factors?”

Hyeonseo was speechless. It was something she had never doubted until now. She had simply managed situations with quick-witted improvisation based on the results gathered by the partners. Was there any other answer?

“Answer me.”

He pressed for a response. Her mind went blank. Under his tyrannical gaze, her knowledge, grounds for judgment, and logic had long since vanished.

In the GNA and Eunsung Pharmaceuticals cases—which Jeonghyeok had decided to handle personally—Hyeonseo’s judgment took precedence over the partners’. She couldn’t blame them. Ultimately, the responsibility for the 70-billion valuation rested entirely on her.

Even if she could excuse the valuation she set, it was clearly her negligence and mistake to let the partner leak the amount to the counterparty. Jeonghyeok was clearly interrogating her on that point. There was no more room for excuses. She stood like a mute, barely holding onto her shallow breaths.

“Shall I speak for you?”

“……”

“Because the amount the counterparty called in the previous trade was 70 billion. Or because you trust analysts who flap their lips without considering the actual field or non-quantitative situations at all. Or perhaps you believe the words of low-grade PEFs that only know how to swoop in like hyenas and slash prices. Or maybe you’re just naive enough to bring a box set by some ‘experts’ who are just making noise. Well? Is the answer in there?”

Her heart tightened at the sound of his savage, level voice.

“Who gave you permission to spout a valuation based on grounds you can’t even properly defend?”

His overbearing gaze made it feel as though she wasn’t even allowed to breathe without his consent. The silence he dictated was suffocating.

“…I am sorry. It was my mistake.”

Her voice came out thin and cracked. She bit her dry lip. She had no choice but to admit her fault and bow her head. She could feel his gaze pouring over the top of her head—sharp and stinging. It was almost too much to endure.

“With a mediocre amount, those people will likely just want to break the deal. Seeing how they’re acting, they probably intended to start a bidding war from the beginning. In that case, the price won’t just be five times—it’ll skyrocket to ten or twenty times.”

It was a worst-case scenario she hadn’t even imagined. A situation she would never be able to fix.

She looked up at him again. His cold, emotionless face held a predator-like gleam in his eyes.

“Let’s make one thing clear. Moving forward, there are no other criteria.”

In that moment, she realized. The objective indicators, the subjective improvisations, and the professional maneuvering she had toyed with were nothing. They were all futile.

“In every transaction, my judgment and my instinct are the only valid and effective criteria. Do you understand?”

In the face of this man’s animalistic instinct, everything else was meaningless.

“Yes. I understand.”

She shrunk back instinctively. His black eyes seemed to demand the next line of her confession.

“I will be careful to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

“You certainly should be. I paid a high price for you, Cha Hyeonseo, and you should be worth the money. I haven’t even broken even yet.”

Sure enough, he chose the cruelest words without blinking.

“I don’t really like people touching my things. I don’t tolerate sharing what’s mine with others. And I can’t stand it when my things get scratched.”

She felt ridiculous for momentarily forgetting his habit of treating people like objects and trying to imbue his words with some impossible meaning. What had she been thinking about such a man?

She bit her lip until it hurt and walked out of the Director’s office. Thanks to that, she tasted the metallic tang of blood from the lip she thought had healed. She squeezed her eyes shut. Her reflection in the elevator door was a pathetic mess.

Jeonghyeok sat there for a long time, glaring at the documents she had left behind—the stack of papers she had handed him with her pale, slender fingers.

She was a capable lawyer, but she was fresh and lacked extensive experience. At her previous firm, she hadn’t specialized solely in M&A, nor did she have a related degree. It was natural for her to judge with that level of knowledge. He couldn’t blame her by comparing her to someone like himself, who had spent his life obsessed with taking and reselling things. Furthermore, it wasn’t her who had carelessly leaked the amount to the other side.

He knew this. He understood. Yet, even knowing all that, his emotions had become excessive again. He couldn’t just blame his sharp mood on the frequent nightmares and physical pain of the past few days. The root cause was a confusion he had never felt before.

He felt increasingly unclear about what he actually wanted to do with Cha Hyeonseo.

Was it a petty, meaningless desire for revenge? A cruel curiosity to see her struggle and break? Or was it a competitive urge to press down a woman who acted so haughty and expensive despite having nothing? A possessive desire to hold her in his hand and shake her at will?

No. If not those, was it just that his body reacted to that alluring, sensual face?

A hollow laugh escaped him at the baseless assumptions. A sudden headache surged. Jeonghyeok stood up, pressing his temples. He snatched the documents off the desk, shoved them into the trash, and took out his phone.

[ Send the gift to Cha Seon-yeop. Now. ]

He hadn’t wanted to act this childishly. But he saw no other way. Since everything had started from his twisted ill fate with Cha Seon-yeop, he felt that only by touching the source would this ambiguity become clear—whatever “this” was.

It was infuriating. He felt as though the pettiness he had hidden deep inside had been exposed. He felt as though he had come face-to-face with the ugly, pathetic reality behind his mask. And Cha Hyeonseo was the one who had pushed the situation this far.

Who was truly holding whom?

The cracks were finally beginning to show on his frozen, cold face.