My Peninsula 2007

How much does Chapter 493 cost?
An Rusong did not directly respond to the other party's suggestion. He picked up a pack of cigarettes, took one out, but did not light it immediately. He just held it in his hand and played with it for a while. Just as he was about to say something, Susan continued, "I think such a change should not be too difficult a choice for you, Chairman An, right?"

“After all,” she said, shrugging, “Mr. Ann already has legal American status in fact.”

An Rusong rubbed his nose. Since the other party could enlist Leonard as an intermediary, his dual citizenship was naturally no secret to them. Of course, An Rusong had no intention of hiding this from anyone; South Korea itself allows dual citizenship. For some time, he had even considered transferring Sun Manzhu and Li Caicao's citizenship to the United States. However, while Sun Manzhu's issue was relatively easy to resolve, Li Caicao's was more complicated because she didn't even have a legal identity.

“Since Ms. Susan knows that I have American citizenship, she must also know how I obtained it,” An Rusong said, lighting his cigarette. “For me, American citizenship is just a guarantee; its existence does not mean that I yearn for life in America.”

"Hmm," he said, touching his nose again, against his will. "I'm Korean, my roots are here. If I had a choice, I'd rather live here for the rest of my life than move to a place that's almost completely unfamiliar to me."

His statement clearly surprised Susan. The woman stared at him for a while, then suddenly chuckled and said, "I didn't expect Mr. An to have such a rare patriotic sentiment. However, in my opinion, such superfluous emotions are a burden for people like us."

She gently placed her arms on the table, clasped her hands together, shook her head and smiled, "NGN's development momentum is encouraging. Even someone without much investment acumen can see its promising future. I believe all of this is closely related to Mr. An. And the first piece of advice I can give Mr. An is that if he can let go of those inexplicable and unnecessary emotions, NGN's future will be even brighter."

The woman had clearly misunderstood An Rusong's meaning. His words were meant to show that he was a sentimental person, and also to politely decline the suggestion that he move NGN to the United States. Although the woman spoke fluent Korean, she clearly didn't fully understand the subtle style of East Asian language.

What kind of damn patriotism is this? Not only does he have absolutely no sense of belonging to this sick peninsula nation, but he has never even considered himself a Korean emotionally. Therefore, how could he possibly have any patriotism towards the so-called Republic of Korea? Is he insane?
Furthermore, even if he really is a Korean, he's a billionaire, a genuine tycoon. And what kind of patriotism would a billionaire have in his mind?
Capital knows no borders, and capitalists naturally have no borders either.

“Ms. Susan, you’ve misunderstood me,” An Rusong said casually, taking a drag of his cigarette. “What I meant was, the place right under our feet.”

He stamped his foot. “It has a special meaning for me. My family is here, and my experiences and memories from the past twenty years are all here. To leave this familiar place and move to a strange place would be a challenge for me. I don’t plan to do that, at least not in the near future.”

He paused slightly, glanced at the newspaper, and then chuckled, "Furthermore, although South Korea is currently deeply divided politically, with the relationship between progressives and conservatives having completely transformed from competition into hostility, South Korea is still, after all, a democratic country, isn't it? Whether the progressives are purging the conservatives or the conservatives are purging the progressives, they won't easily turn their purging stick on businessmen like me, otherwise..."

“Isn’t that chairman, Park Yeon-ja, a businessman?” Susan interrupted him, asking in return.

“He is certainly a businessman, but there are some differences between him and me,” An Rusong laughed and said, “At least I have an American identity, and I also have BlackRock as a partner, don’t I?”

Hearing him say that, Susan smiled. To her, since the other party had said that last sentence, it meant that there were no longer any obstacles to the cooperation between NGN and BlackRock.

“Well, as business partners, we respect Chairman An’s choice,” she said after laughing for a while, then her smile faded and she became serious. “Of course, as partners as well, we will do our best to provide any form of assistance to Chairman An whenever needed.”

"Thank you," An Rusong said, picking up the glass of red wine in front of him and gesturing to the other person.

“You’re welcome, it’s what we should do,” Susan said with a smile, raising her glass, taking a sip of red wine. “So, Chairman An should have no objections to the equity transaction between BlackRock and DFJ, right?”

“Of course,” An Rusong put down his wine glass and said seriously, “Actually, I have been optimistic and positive about this deal between you from the beginning. After all, compared to DFJ, BlackRock’s strength, well, whether it is financial strength or political strength, is much stronger. A strong partner will obviously be of more and greater benefit to the development of NGN.”

“Moreover, I’ve had contact with some of DFJ’s partners, and we could even be considered good friends,” he added. “So, Mr. Ann,” a middle-aged white man sitting next to Susan interjected, “since you don’t oppose this equity transaction and have no intention of repurchasing the shares, could we finalize the signing date of the tripartite agreement as soon as possible?”

The middle-aged man was a lawyer on Susan's team. Because NGN had signed a preemptive share buyback agreement with DFJ, DFJ now needs NGN's approval to sell its NGN shares to BlackRock. This approval isn't something that can be obtained simply by An Rusong nodding; it requires a series of procedures.

In fact, facing the financially powerful BlackRock, An Rusong was indeed unable to take back the shares held by DFJ through a preemptive buyback agreement. However, if he did not support the deal, he could indeed delay the transaction between BlackRock and DFJ for some time.

As for BlackRock, given their strong belief in NGN's future prospects and the imminent second round of financing for NGN, they naturally hope to finalize the deal as soon as possible.

“Of course,” An Rusong readily agreed. Since he didn’t intend to stop the deal, there was no need to create obstacles for it. Otherwise, it would only offend people for no reason, which would be irrational. “If Ms. Susan has no objections, we can set the signing date for tomorrow. I will have my lawyers prepare.”

“Thank you for your support, Mr. An,” Susan said with a smile, extending her hand to An Rusong. “I also think tomorrow will be a good day.”

After quickly finalizing the date for signing the tripartite agreement, Susan immediately asked, "President An, when is NGN's second round of financing scheduled?"

“If nothing unexpected happens, it will be at the end of October or the beginning of November,” An Rusong said without hesitation. “In the coming period, we will need to finalize the equity structure and contact potential investors, etc.”

Susan nodded, and after a few seconds of silence, asked, "I'd like to ask, what is Chairman An's target for this round of financing?"

Since it's a fundraising effort, a fundraising objective must be defined. This is a complex issue, including how much equity An Rusong is prepared to offer, how much money he wants to raise, and what he plans to do with the money. Investors need to understand all of this. After all, his money didn't come easily; he invests to acquire NGN shares and hopes that this money will drive NGN's further development, thereby increasing NGN's value.

As the president of NGN and the actual controller of the company, An Rusong had to make a promise to the investors that the money raised would be used to develop the company, and he also had to set a phased goal and ensure that the goal could be achieved.

However, Susan's question was quite interesting. She asked about An Rusong's target amount for this round of financing, specifically how much money he was prepared to raise, without asking how much equity he was prepared to offer or what he planned to do with the money.

Of course, An Rusong understood why the other party asked that question, because he had already mentioned NGN's next development plan after the financing to Leonard, and the other party must have already revealed this information to Susan.

An Rusong dared not speak for other matters, but he was certain that his next development goals for NGN, including further localization, expansion into mobile devices, and an open platform strategy, would definitely receive BlackRock's attention and recognition, unless the other party knew nothing about it.

Honestly, An Rusong believes that as long as BlackRock really wants to make money from NGN, and make as much money as possible, then they will be able to find trust in him as the leader of the company through these three plans. They will also clearly realize that NGN can only achieve the best development under his leadership.

Instead of answering Susan's question directly, An Rusong first moved the ashtray closer to himself, then raised his left hand and gestured with his four fingers excluding his thumb.

(End of this chapter)