Before leaving Pyeongchang-dong, Mun-jong Lee and Sang-jong Lee exchanged a brief word with Seong-ho Kim.
“Good thinking. Racking up results like that is the better move for your future.”
“Ilhyeon Hotel? A fine place. Only, it’s been losing ground to competitors lately, which is the problem… but that’s exactly what you’re going there to fix, isn’t it? You’ll do well. Right, Brother?”
“Right. He did well at Ilhyeon Watch, so he’ll do well at Ilhyeon Hotel too.”
At Mun-jong Lee’s and Sang-jong Lee’s words of confidence, Seong-ho Kim smiled and bowed his head to the two of them.
“Then I’ll be counting on your continued guidance going forward.”
“Sure. We’re here, so don’t worry.”
“If anything difficult comes up, contact us anytime. We’ll help however we can.”
Mun-jong Lee and Sang-jong Lee clapped Seong-ho Kim on both shoulders and congratulated him on his move to Ilhyeon Hotel.
Seong-ho Kim told them to get home safely and came all the way out to the door to see the two of them off as they drove away.
Having left Pyeongchang-dong, the two cars pulled up side by side beneath Bukak Palgakjeong.
Getting out of their cars, Mun-jong Lee and Sang-jong Lee talked as they looked down from the pavilion at the brightly lit city of Seoul.
“Brother. What do you intend to do?”
Sang-jong Lee, hands clasped behind his back, put the question to Mun-jong Lee as he gazed down at Seoul.
Without taking his eyes off the view, Mun-jong Lee answered,
“Do what? Is there even a way for us to do anything right now?”
“Still…”
“We tried to push Kim out and instead ended up handing him a permanent seat in the company. If we’d just left well enough alone, he’d still be an ordinary assistant manager — but in the end, we made him an Ilhyeon Group executive ourselves.”
Just as he’d promised when Ilhyeon Watch was normalized, Tak-hyeon Lee had promoted Seong-ho Kim to executive rank.
His affiliation, however, still remained with Strategic Planning, and his work was confined to running the group’s affiliate restructuring.
Seeing Mun-jong Lee’s displeasure at Seong-ho Kim becoming an executive, Sang-jong Lee, reading his mood, said,
“Brother, don’t worry too much. An executive title or not, he’s nothing more than the head of a brand-new team with no real power. Just think of it as Father forcing the seat on him to keep his promise.”
“I wish it were that simple…”
Mun-jong Lee couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling no matter what.
However he tried to put a positive spin on a plan gone wrong from the start, the answer he wanted never came.
“Haah… For now, let’s just watch. Best to keep an eye on how well that fellow does at Ilhyeon Hotel and see how things go.”
“Then getting him out of Pyeongchang-dong…”
At Sang-jong Lee’s question about their original plan to get Seong-ho Kim out of Pyeongchang-dong, Mun-jong Lee waved a hand and turned around.
“Let’s hold off on that too, for now. If anything, staying close to Father might make it easier for something to catch his eye badly — that could work out better for us.”
“Yes sir… Then I’ll take it that we’re holding off for now.”
“Right. Let’s do that.”
A faint smile rose to the corner of Sang-jong Lee’s mouth.
‘So I’m free to move on my own, then.’
Once Mun-jong Lee settled on “wait and watch,” Sang-jong Lee decided he was free to act first, on his own.
Mun-jong Lee, choosing to wait, and Sang-jong Lee, planning to move first —
The two men, each harboring different thoughts, stood at the pavilion looking down over Seoul.
While Mun-jong Lee and Sang-jong Lee were having their conversation, Tak-hyeon Lee, too, was in his study discussing Seong-ho Kim with Do-beom Hwang.
“Is that fellow out of his mind?”
By Tak-hyeon Lee’s standards, Seong-ho Kim’s refusal of the Ilhyeon Watch president’s seat didn’t look like the act of a sane man.
However he thought it over, Tak-hyeon Lee simply couldn’t make sense of it.
“He doesn’t want the president’s seat at the very Ilhyeon Watch he normalized himself?”
Tak-hyeon Lee laughed as if it were absurd and looked at Do-beom Hwang.
“Say, Chief Hwang. What do you make of it?”
Do-beom Hwang, who’d stood quietly listening from behind during that conversation, recalled the scene and slowly began to speak.
“I can’t quite make sense of it either, but… if I were in Assistant Manager Kim’s position, I think I might have made the same choice.”
“You might have made the same choice? Why is that?”
Having pictured Seong-ho Kim’s situation in his mind for a moment, Do-beom Hwang looked at Tak-hyeon Lee and said,
“Assistant Manager Kim is your son-in-law, Chairman, not your child. Above him there are not only his brothers-in-law but his fellow sons-in-law as well, and unlike Vice-President Cha, he has no family standing behind him to back him up.”
“What does that have to do with turning down a president’s seat?”
“It has quite a lot to do with it.”
Do-beom Hwang looked at Tak-hyeon Lee and said,
“You may not understand it, Chairman, but I fully understand Assistant Manager Kim’s feelings. A man with nothing behind him has no choice but to lower himself.”
At Do-beom Hwang’s words, Tak-hyeon Lee’s baffled expression hardened.
“So you’re saying he’s reading the room, is that it?”
“Aren’t Mun-jong and Sang-jong anything but ordinary? I imagine Assistant Manager Kim, having been here for quite some time now, would have caught on.”
“I see.”
At Do-beom Hwang’s suggestion that Seong-ho Kim had turned down the president’s seat out of deference to Mun-jong Lee and Sang-jong Lee’s feelings, Tak-hyeon Lee’s face lit up with a pleased smile.
Tapping his fingers on the armrest, he said,
“If he read Mun-jong and Sang-jong’s temperaments and lowered himself on his own accord, then it makes sense that he’d turn down the Ilhyeon Watch president’s seat too.”
Tak-hyeon Lee sank into thought for a moment, then spoke.
“Kim’s a rather fine fellow. He’s got a knack for the work, and the ability to match. Someone I can trust to hand things to. And on top of that, he reads the room well too — icing on the cake. I think he’ll be of great use going forward.”
Do-beom Hwang realized that Seong-ho Kim’s test had come to an end.
He’d passed the test with high marks, and Seong-ho Kim had now become a fine piece for Tak-hyeon Lee to ponder how best to use.
Setting aside his thoughts, Tak-hyeon Lee looked up at Do-beom Hwang and gave an instruction.
“Tell Kim he did well, and give him 100 million won.”
“100 million? You’re giving him money?”
“Yes.”
Tak-hyeon Lee clasped his hands and said with a smile,
“He gave up the president’s seat out of deference to others — I should soothe him for it. That way he’ll work all the harder, won’t he?”
“You’re right. A reward like that will surely give him the motivation to work even harder.”
“Tell him to use it to help his parents, who are farming out in the countryside.”
The smile on Tak-hyeon Lee’s face grew ever deeper.
“And have the secretariat look after Kim’s family as well. He’s fully one of our family now, so we ought to look after his side too.”
“Understood.”
At Tak-hyeon Lee’s instruction to have the secretariat manage even Seong-ho Kim’s family, Do-beom Hwang understood that Seong-ho Kim had been fully accepted into the Ilhyeon family.
But even within family, there existed a hierarchy.
‘So it’s begun.’
Thinking that the road ahead would only grow rougher for Seong-ho Kim now that he’d become a member of the Ilhyeon Group, Do-beom Hwang left the study to carry out Tak-hyeon Lee’s instructions.
And, glancing back at Tak-hyeon Lee — who wore a smile on his face as he pondered how best to make use of Seong-ho Kim — he carefully closed the door.
“Chief. What is this?”
Gyeong-eun Lee looked at the envelope Do-beom Hwang held out and asked.
Having just returned from an outing, Gyeong-eun Lee and Seong-ho Kim both wore puzzled expressions at the envelope Do-beom Hwang had suddenly handed over.
“It’s from the chairman.”
“From Father? Why would he…”
At the news that it was from Tak-hyeon Lee, Gyeong-eun Lee opened the envelope.
And, seeing the check inside, she was startled.
“100 million? He gave you 100 million?”
“Yes.”
Do-beom Hwang turned his head to look at Seong-ho Kim and said,
“The chairman says it’s so you won’t feel too bad about it.”
“Feel bad about what?”
Gyeong-eun Lee asked, but Do-beom Hwang, still looking at Seong-ho Kim, kept talking.
“He also said to give it to your parents, who are farming. Whether it’s land or farm equipment, do whatever your parents want with it. And… he said if your parents in Nonsan ever run into difficulty, to tell him anytime, and the secretariat will handle it right away.”
At Do-beom Hwang’s words, Seong-ho Kim realized that his own parents, too, had been brought under the secretariat’s care.
‘Seems my father-in-law was pleased with what I did.’
Seong-ho Kim bowed his head slightly in gratitude.
Gyeong-eun Lee looked back and forth between the two men, then down at the check again.
And, tilting her head, she said,
“Why on earth would Father give Seong-ho 100 million won? And since when has he ever paid any mind to Seong-ho’s parents in Nonsan?”
Tak-hyeon Lee and Suk-ja Chu hadn’t even held a formal meeting between the families, nor had they so much as met Seong-ho Kim’s parents on the wedding day.
That this same Tak-hyeon Lee had suddenly handed over 100 million won to give to Seong-ho Kim’s parents, on top of promising special care from the secretariat, left Gyeong-eun Lee unable to help but wonder why he’d had such a change of heart.
“Gyeong-eun, that’s…”
Seong-ho Kim gave a brief explanation of why Tak-hyeon Lee had changed his mind.
Hearing the reason, Gyeong-eun Lee let her arms drop in disbelief and said to Seong-ho Kim,
“So you’re telling me you personally turned down the Ilhyeon Watch president’s seat?”
“That’s…”
Seong-ho Kim laughed awkwardly and looked at Do-beom Hwang.
He sent Do-beom Hwang a look asking for help, now that he’d come this far.
“Ahem. Well, I’ve passed along everything I came to say, so I’ll be on my way. Assistant Manager Kim, I’ll speak with Ilhyeon Hotel — you can report for work there starting next week.”
“Ch-Chief Hwang.”
As Do-beom Hwang made to leave, Seong-ho Kim grabbed at him.
But Do-beom Hwang left the couple’s room without so much as a backward glance, and from the room he’d left, Gyeong-eun Lee’s voice rang out loudly.
“Seong-ho! Do you have any sense at all, or not?!”
Looking at the closed door, Do-beom Hwang shook his head and muttered to himself,
“Gyeong-eun is an Ilhyeon after all, blood will tell.”
Though Gyeong-eun Lee always showed a demure side around Seong-ho Kim, Do-beom Hwang, who knew her temperament was nothing ordinary, felt a pang of sympathy for Seong-ho Kim and took his leave.
Loud voices kept coming from Seong-ho Kim and Gyeong-eun Lee’s room for some time even after Do-beom Hwang had gone.
Most of it was Gyeong-eun Lee’s voice, demanding to know why he hadn’t taken the Ilhyeon Watch presidency.
Seong-ho Kim spent quite a long time persuading Gyeong-eun Lee.
Gyeong-eun Lee felt the disappointment and injustice of it more keenly than if it had happened to her personally.
Seong-ho Kim argued that the joy he found in his work mattered more to him than the family’s standing, and after a good while of this, Gyeong-eun Lee finally let out a sigh and accepted Seong-ho Kim’s decision.
“Whew. What can I do. If that’s what you want, Seong-ho…”
It was less persuasion than resignation, but Seong-ho Kim thought that was enough.
“Still, didn’t I get bumped up to director? Straight from assistant manager to director, in one leap.”
“What good does becoming a director do? You’re not even a registered director — you’re nothing but a contract position they can fire anytime. There’s nothing good about that at all.”
“I’ll climb the ladder step by step.”
“No, you could have gone straight to the top, so why climb step by…”
About to ask why he’d climb step by step when he could have leapt straight to president, Gyeong-eun Lee realized there was no reversing the decision now and let out a sigh.
“Haah… Fine.”
Gyeong-eun Lee held out the 100-million-won check to Seong-ho Kim and said,
“Give it to your parents in Nonsan. Father did say it’d be good if they bought land with it — will you buy them land?”
“I’m thinking of using it for something even better.”
“Something better?”
“As it happens, I needed money, so it’s good timing that the chairman gave it to me like this. I’ll use it where it’s needed first, and give it to my parents in Nonsan later. Land isn’t going anywhere, after all.”
Gyeong-eun Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim, unable to fathom what he intended to do with such a large sum as 100 million won.
Seong-ho Kim held the check and turned his head to look at the table.
There, the leather diary he’d been examining until just a moment ago lay open.
(End of Chapter 30)