Do-beom Hwang looked at the proposal Seong-ho Kim had brought and clicked his tongue as if astonished.

“It’s truly staggering. How on earth did he come up with such an idea?”

“I’m just as astonished.”

Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee gazed quietly at the seat Seong-ho Kim had occupied a moment ago and said,

“That fellow — he’s something.”

“I never even imagined a plan like this could exist. Making the employees leave on their own two feet… It really is remarkable.”

“But if he can’t actually pull it off, theory is just theory.”

Tak-hyeon Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim’s proposal, held in Do-beom Hwang’s hand.

“What you think up in your head and reality can be different things. In business especially, the gap is all the more severe. Laying your ideas out on paper is one story — actually carrying them out is another.”

Tak-hyeon Lee interlaced his hands and curled up the corners of his mouth.

“Let’s watch and see whether that fellow can really do it.”

Holding the proposal, Do-beom Hwang gazed at the seated Tak-hyeon Lee’s shoulders and sank into thought.

Having served Tak-hyeon Lee for a long time, Do-beom Hwang was someone who could tell his mood just from looking at his shoulders.

‘He’s enjoying this.’

Seeing Tak-hyeon Lee’s shoulders twitch slightly, Do-beom Hwang could tell that Tak-hyeon Lee was relishing the present situation.

Do-beom Hwang thought that when Seong-ho Kim’s plan became known at Ilhyeon Watch, there might be a backlash greater than Seong-ho Kim had anticipated.

With a curious heart as to just how Seong-ho Kim would manage such a backlash, he looked at the proposal Seong-ho Kim had brought.

But contrary to Do-beom Hwang’s worries, a situation like this was nothing but familiar to Seong-ho Kim.

Because one of the main tasks he’d handled in his past life was precisely bringing the surgical knife to insolvent companies.

The moment he received Tak-hyeon Lee’s approval, Seong-ho Kim returned to Ilhyeon Watch and posted the notice of the relocation plan.

And soon, that notice turned Ilhyeon Watch upside down.

The Ilhyeon Watch employees looking at the head-office notice board talked among themselves with bewildered expressions.

“What’s this supposed to mean? Relocate the company?”

Having read the announcement posted on the board, the employees looked at one another’s faces.

“Relocate the company… what does this even mean?”

“I heard an officer came down from group headquarters this time, saying he’d cut away the insolvency our company’s suffering from… did that person decide this?”

“Who does he think he is, deciding a company relocation on his own whim? Isn’t he out of his mind?”

Into the group of people talking, another employee who’d been quietly looking at the board cut in.

“Because he’s somebody, that’s why.”

“What do you mean? Somebody?”

“He’s the chairman’s youngest son-in-law.”

“Youngest son-in-law? You mean… that male Cinderella who was at Ilhyeon Distribution?”

“Yeah. That Cinderella man. Word is he came as the officer.”

When talk of Seong-ho Kim came up, the employees all burst into laughter together.

“That guy’s an assistant manager, isn’t he? What power does an assistant manager have to decide whether to relocate someone else’s company? Didn’t he eat something bad and slap up a notice?”

“For that theory, the seal stamped at the bottom is the real thing, though.”

The employee who’d revealed that Seong-ho Kim was the officer raised a finger and pointed at the seal.

There, Tak-hyeon Lee’s name and seal were stamped.

The man spoke with his hand still raised.

“Assistant manager or whatever, the fact that he’s the chairman’s son-in-law doesn’t change. And if that person persuaded the chairman and got this approved, that’s a different story.”

“No way… does this even make sense?”

Just as the employees, feeling like they’d been struck by a bolt from the blue, muttered that it made no sense, the Ilhyeon Watch executives came approaching from behind in a group.

The employees carefully stepped aside to let the executives pass and said quietly,

“Looks like even President Do didn’t know about this?”

“You’re telling me. Not just President Do — Executive Director Bang, Managing Director Ju, all of them look like they didn’t know either. Look at that. Their faces are like people heading off to a fight.”

His face flushed crimson and huffing, President Do Eun-cheol led the Ilhyeon Watch executives toward the office where Seong-ho Kim was.

Arriving in front of the office, Do Eun-cheol flung the door open without so much as a knock.

Seong-ho Kim, who happened to be in the office, spotted Do Eun-cheol through the opened door and rose from his seat.

“What’s the matter?”

“The matter? Look here, Assistant Manager Kim.”

“I did ask you to call me officer — you don’t seem to remember.”

“Officer, what officer? It’s not as though Assistant Manager Kim is some official… Ah, never mind the pointless talk.”

Do Eun-cheol waved a hand as if to say Seong-ho Kim was talking nonsense, and plopped himself down without invitation.

And, seated, he stated to Seong-ho Kim his reason for coming.

“Company relocation? What in the world does this mean?”

“You should have gotten a call from the secretariat — didn’t you hear?”

“I heard. I’m asking because I heard! And that’s not the problem right now.”

“Then what is the problem, exactly? It’s a decision handed down from group headquarters. The chairman’s approval has come through, as well. Is there some problem with that?”

Seong-ho Kim, as if he didn’t understand, looked back and forth at the Ilhyeon Watch executives standing in a row behind Do Eun-cheol.

At the sight of Seong-ho Kim, President Do Eun-cheol of Ilhyeon Watch, greatly angered, raised his voice.

“First off, you should have reported to me! It’s Ilhyeon Watch being relocated — what’s the idea of going over my head and talking straight to the chairman? Just because you’re the chairman’s son-in-law, you can trample all over the reporting chain?”

“That’s strange.”

Unlike Do Eun-cheol, whose voice had grown loud, Seong-ho Kim’s voice gradually sank.

Without losing his composure, Seong-ho Kim said,

“Do I have any obligation to report to you, President? I’m someone who came down having received an order from headquarters to restructure Ilhyeon Watch. I was also instructed not to discuss matters related to the restructuring with the Ilhyeon Watch side, not even the smallest ones, and the reporting chain, from the start, is set up to go to headquarters without passing through you. And now you’re angry that I didn’t report to you?”

Bang, bang.

Do Eun-cheol brought his fist down on the desk.

And in a thoroughly enraged voice, he said,

“This is a company relocation. Company relocation.”

“The company relocation is the start of Ilhyeon Watch’s restructuring.”

“How is that the start of restructuring!”

Do Eun-cheol jabbed a finger at Seong-ho Kim.

The more Do Eun-cheol raged, the more coldly Seong-ho Kim spoke.

“Ilhyeon Watch’s debt comfortably exceeds 100 billion won. That’s to say it’s shouldering an amount of debt over ten times its own equity. And most of that debt was borrowed at high interest approaching 10%. It’s hemorrhaging over a billion won a month on interest alone — shouldn’t we shake off the debt?”

“Even so…”

“There was no method to shake off the debt other than doing it by way of relocation. Do you happen to have some other method I’m unaware of? If so, please tell me. If you tell me, I’ll treat the relocation as if it never happened.”

At his words, the roaring, shouting Do Eun-cheol’s mouth clamped firmly shut.

Because to his own thinking, too, no method presented itself other than selling the head-office building and the factory site.

When President Do Eun-cheol could say nothing, Executive Director Ju-gyeol Bang of Ilhyeon Watch, standing behind him, cautiously opened his mouth.

“That… it’s not as though we’ve worked here a day or two, and if you’re going to move the company this unilaterally, what are we supposed to do?”

“Those who’ll follow may follow, and those who feel they can’t may leave.”

“Now see here!”

Managing Director Seong-su Ju of Ilhyeon Watch shouted at Seong-ho Kim’s words that they were free to leave.

“What kind of thing is that to say? If they don’t want to follow, they should quit? Can a company do that to employees who’ve devoted their whole lives to it?”

At Managing Director Seong-su Ju’s words about whether a company could do such a thing, Seong-ho Kim’s face went coldly rigid.

Looking at President Do Eun-cheol and the executives with an expressionless face, Seong-ho Kim held out his hand to Manager Byeong-ju Jeong beside him.

Manager Byeong-ju Jeong handed a single sheet of paper into Seong-ho Kim’s hand, and Seong-ho Kim placed it before Do Eun-cheol.

“Do you know what this is?”

Do Eun-cheol and the executives checked the paper Seong-ho Kim had set down.

[Re: Schedule Adjustment Due to Production Issue]

Executive Director Ju-gyeol Bang looked at the document, then looked at Seong-ho Kim with strange eyes and said,

“Isn’t this the document about a production issue arising at the Gumi factory, saying the production schedule needs to be adjusted?”

“Yes. That’s right. Do you happen to remember it?”

“Of course I remember. I signed here about two weeks ago.”

Executive Director Ju-gyeol Bang pointed a finger at where he’d signed in the signature field.

Seong-ho Kim pointed at another signature field visible beside it and asked,

“And you, President? Do you remember too, Managing Director?”

“Of course I remember. But what on earth is this, that you’d ask about it in the middle of talking about the company relocation?”

Do Eun-cheol asked in an irritated tone.

Seong-ho Kim tapped the document before him with a finger and told Do Eun-cheol and the executives his reason for producing it.

“It’s a document I had Manager Jeong here make the moment I arrived at Ilhyeon Watch.”

“What?”

“Because I wanted to check how long it takes for a document that comes up from the factory to come back around.”

“Don’t tell me… you ran a test?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Seong-ho Kim spoke in a bold voice.

“For a document about schedule adjustment to travel up from the factory all the way to you, President, took exactly twenty days. And to get approval and come back down took another ten days.”

At his words, President Do Eun-cheol and the executives flinched, as if flustered.

“Because the offices and factory are separated between Seoul and Gumi, even a schedule-adjustment matter like this takes a month. Look. It’s a document asking to push the schedule adjustment back by just one week — but by the time you signed it here, President, that time had already passed, hadn’t it?”

At his words, Do Eun-cheol’s face went bright red.

Because setting aside that the complicated reporting chain lowered work efficiency, it felt humiliating that he’d signed a document without even properly checking the date.

Catching on to the reason Do Eun-cheol’s face had reddened, Seong-ho Kim smiled lightly and gathered the paper back up.

“It was a test to show you just how complicated the system is and how low the efficiency.”

Managing Director Seong-su Ju furrowed his brow and said,

“So you’re saying we should merge the offices and factory to raise efficiency?”

“Precisely so.”

Seong-ho Kim nodded and said to the executives,

“It’s a two-birds-with-one-stone method that both shakes off the financial-sector debt and raises work efficiency. That’s why the first button in reforming the present Ilhyeon Watch can be said to be the integration of head office and factory through relocation.”

At his words, the executives were struck dumb.

Because from beginning to end, there was no flaw in what Seong-ho Kim had said.

But Do Eun-cheol had no intention of backing down like this.

Settling his reddened face, he said to Seong-ho Kim,

“And the employees? What do you intend to do about the employees? Will you really tell those who’ll follow to follow and those who don’t want to follow to quit the company?”

“That will be precisely Ilhyeon Watch’s second reform.”

“You call cutting people reform?”

“Removing unneeded personnel to trim the fat is reform — how would cutting people indiscriminately ever be reform?”

“Telling those who’ll follow to follow and those who won’t to quit is cutting them — how is that trimming fat?”

At his words, Seong-ho Kim let a smile touch his lips.

“If the company cut them on the grounds of relocation, that would naturally be a problem — but if they leave of their own accord, there’s no problem, is there?”

“So what you’re saying is, Assistant Manager Kim, you’ll torment the employees to make them leave on their own?”

“Hahaha. You misunderstand.”

Seong-ho Kim smiled at President Do Eun-cheol’s words and said, waving a hand,

“I intend to have them thank us for letting them go, and leave. Do it that way, and there’s no problem, is there?”

“That’s… true enough, but…”

Do Eun-cheol trailed off and turned to look at the other executives standing behind him.

Because he couldn’t begin to imagine how on earth you’d get employees to leave the company of their own accord and offer thanks on the way out.

But the other executives couldn’t imagine it either.

President Do Eun-cheol and the executives gazed blankly at one another, then left, and Seong-ho Kim saw them off with a smile. And so a fierce, menacing confrontation ended in anticlimax.

(End of Chapter 24)