Watching Eun-mun Kim’s face grow paler by the second, Seong-ho Kim lifted DS Furniture’s bid proposal and said,
“As many of the company representatives here today may know, DS Furniture held exclusive supply rights to Ilhyeon Hotel for ten years. And through our investigation, we’ve confirmed that unjust profits were taken during that time.”
Seong-ho Kim looked around at the seated crowd and continued,
“We’ve also confirmed that a number of hotel personnel were complicit with DS Furniture.”
Seong-ho Kim raised DS Furniture’s bid proposal higher, shaking it as he spoke.
“DS Furniture attempted to learn the bid prices of the various companies participating today through Ilhyeon Hotel staff close to them, and then submit a lower price than what they’d learned, in order to win exclusive rights to supply Ilhyeon Hotel’s cleaning products.”
“Wh-what are you talking about! Do you have proof? Show me proof that we did any such thing!”
President Eun-mun Kim, his face startled, hastily cut in to stop Seong-ho Kim.
As if he’d been waiting for exactly this, Seong-ho Kim pulled a recorder from inside his jacket.
—So you’re saying this is IG Optain’s projected bid price?
The voice coming from the recorder was, to anyone listening, unmistakably President Eun-mun Kim’s.
Everyone in the room turned to look at Eun-mun Kim, whose face, already dark, now went pale as paper.
—If we win this bid, our DS Furniture will take responsibility for all of you. President, Executive Director—
After a moment of static, Eun-mun Kim’s voice came through the recorder again.
—And our union chairman. I’ll be counting on you. Keep the protests going, keep the strikes going, and tie up Director Kim’s hands and feet. You know who’s behind me, don’t you? That person will take care of everything.
At the mention of the union chairman, everyone in the room wore startled expressions.
What shocked them wasn’t simply that DS Furniture had colluded with a few executives internally, but that they’d joined hands with the union itself.
And at the mention of “someone behind” him, people instinctively understood that what was tangled up in this situation wasn’t only DS Furniture and the Ilhyeon Hotel union.
—Director Seong-ho Kim, step down!
—Step down!
Just then, the voices from outside carried in, and everyone’s heads naturally turned toward the window.
It was the same chanting that had been going on since before the bidding even started, but now, having heard the recording Seong-ho Kim had just played, the protest sounded entirely different.
It no longer sounded like a protest to protect their own workplace, purely — it sounded like a protest DS Furniture had coordinated for its own greed.
Setting down the recorder, Seong-ho Kim asked President Eun-mun Kim,
“President Kim. Anything further you’d like to say?”
Swaying for a moment, President Eun-mun Kim, supported by an employee, forced his mouth open.
“How did you… how…”
“I won’t be answering how we obtained it. We’ve already told the police everything.”
“The police? You told the police?”
“Of course.”
Seong-ho Kim looked at Eun-mun Kim with hardened eyes and said,
“We’ve filed a complaint against DS Furniture for obstructing Ilhyeon Hotel’s business over the past ten years, including this latest incident. Last year alone, the damage to Ilhyeon Hotel exceeded 3 billion won, and over the past five years the total damage comes to nearly 15 billion won — we intend to pursue liability for that as well.”
“Director Kim!”
“I’m not finished yet.”
Cutting off Eun-mun Kim, Seong-ho Kim continued,
“The compensation claim will proceed as a civil matter, and you should also brace yourself for criminal charges. We intend to see everyone involved in the harm DS Furniture caused our hotel punished, without exception, so bear that in mind.”
Seong-ho Kim looked around the room and said,
“Doesn’t it strike you as odd that not a single one of Ilhyeon Hotel’s existing executives is present here today?”
At Seong-ho Kim’s words, the people in the room only now realized that no other executives had been present throughout the bidding process.
Watching the bidding participants glance around, Seong-ho Kim smiled lightly and said,
“They’re all currently undergoing investigation, which is why none of them could attend today’s bidding.”
“Investigation? What do you mean by…”
“They’re undergoing the same investigation President Kim here will soon be facing. And…”
Seong-ho Kim paused for a moment, turning his head toward the window where the protest was still underway, and said,
“It looks like it’s begun outside as well.”
At Seong-ho Kim’s words, one of the people who’d stepped over to the window looked outside and shouted to the room,
“The protesters are being taken away by the police!”
People rushed toward the window in a crowd.
Seong-ho Kim turned to look at President Eun-mun Kim, who stood frozen in place, unable to move, and said,
“Do you know why the protesters are being taken away right now?”
When Eun-mun Kim could say nothing, his eyes only darting about, Seong-ho Kim said with a smile,
“They’re being taken away because they caused harm to the company.”
“Why would you say that to me…”
“Because that harm was done in collusion with an outside party, and that outside party is DS Furniture, where you sit as president.”
The bidding participants looked back and forth between Seong-ho Kim and President Eun-mun Kim of DS Furniture, finding the situation far more interesting than the bidding itself.
Seong-ho Kim looked at the bidding participants and said in a loud voice,
“Going forward, Ilhyeon Hotel intends to thoroughly uncover any forces attempting to destabilize it and see them face the full punishment of the law. We will not tolerate harm done to the company, nor will we tolerate the manipulation of our employees. So we ask that all of you respect this decision by Ilhyeon Hotel.”
Eun-mun Kim made one last desperate move toward Seong-ho Kim.
“Director Kim. If you truly do this, Director Lee will not stand for it!”
“Director Lee? Which Director Lee might you be referring to, and where?”
Seong-ho Kim walked slowly toward Eun-mun Kim.
And, corners of his mouth rising, he said,
“Go ahead and say it here, in front of everyone. Which Director Lee won’t stand for this.”
“That… that’s…”
Under Seong-ho Kim’s gaze, which seemed to demand he say it now, President Eun-mun Kim couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth.
Eun-mun Kim stood rooted to the spot, breaking into a cold sweat, and Seong-ho Kim only watched him with an amused expression.
Once the bidding had ended and everyone had left, Seong-ho Kim, Byeong-ju Jeong, and Byeong-jin Jo remained behind in the grand conference room.
Seong-ho Kim turned to Byeong-jin Jo and asked,
“Did Managing Director Choi get away safely?”
Byeong-jin Jo nodded and answered,
“He should have departed through Gimpo Airport right around when the bidding was in full swing.”
Just then, Byeong-ju Jeong asked Seong-ho Kim, curious,
“But why did they believe the false information we fed to Managing Director Choi so easily? Anyone running the numbers would know 23,500 won made no sense.”
“Ten years.”
Seong-ho Kim turned to Byeong-ju Jeong and explained why they’d so completely trusted the projected bid prices of the other companies that Managing Director Jong-dae Choi had passed along.
“For ten years, they sat comfortably and moved forward trusting the information coming out of Ilhyeon Hotel’s inside. Would people who’ve operated that way suddenly start running the numbers themselves? I figured there was no chance of that, and…”
“And there really wasn’t.”
Byeong-ju Jeong looked at Seong-ho Kim with a dumbfounded expression.
Just then, Byeong-jin Jo, who’d been looking out the window, said,
“It’s finally quiet outside now.”
“With the ringleaders taken away, the rest were bound to scatter on their own.”
“So no more protests going forward?”
“There won’t be.”
Having stated this with certainty, Seong-ho Kim said to Byeong-ju Jeong,
“With the people who were stirring everyone up gone, the staff will naturally return to their proper places. Sort them out well and put them back to work.”
“And any staff who still push back, we let go?”
“Everything we’ve compiled about the harm done to the company so far is more than enough grounds for termination, so there’s no need to go easy from here on.”
Byeong-ju Jeong let out a deep sigh and said,
“Whew. They’ll probably resist and refuse to listen at first, but once we make an example of a couple of people, everyone will fall in line eventually.”
“Right. And also have all the executives suspended from their duties until the police investigation results come out.”
Byeong-jin Jo, who’d been looking out the window, sat down across from Seong-ho Kim and Byeong-ju Jeong, shaking his head as though he couldn’t understand it, and said,
“But how could they possibly think to hand information to DS Furniture, knowing full well we hold full authority over this restructuring?”
“You saw it too — him going on about how Director Lee had his back.”
“Honestly.”
Byeong-jin Jo shook his head, still unable to make sense of it.
Even though that incomprehensible thing had actually happened, Seong-ho Kim had anticipated it and prepared accordingly.
Seong-ho Kim looked back and forth between Byeong-ju Jeong and Byeong-jin Jo and said,
“Even the bidding went exactly as we expected, so let’s move on to the next stage.”
“Good. I’ll get right on it, then.”
Byeong-ju Jeong nodded at Seong-ho Kim’s instruction and rose from his seat.
Byeong-jin Jo rose after him.
Before leaving the grand conference room, he turned back to look at Seong-ho Kim, still seated, and asked,
“So… your in-laws… will they be all right?”
Sitting with his legs crossed, Seong-ho Kim smiled lightly at Byeong-jin Jo’s question and answered,
“Don’t worry about my in-laws. I know them better than anyone.”
“That… ugh, fine. We’ll go proceed as planned, then.”
Byeong-jin Jo wasn’t entirely convinced that a man who’d only recently married into the family could claim to “know them better than anyone,” but since it was Seong-ho Kim saying it, he chose to trust him and go along with it.
After everything Seong-ho Kim had shown them so far, there was no reason not to follow him.
Once Byeong-ju Jeong and Byeong-jin Jo left the grand conference room to move on to the next stage, Seong-ho Kim was left alone.
Still seated, Seong-ho Kim spun a lighter with one hand.
And he muttered to himself,
“My in-laws — I know them better than anyone, all right.”
Repeating to himself the words he’d just given Byeong-jin Jo, Seong-ho Kim smiled silently and rose from his seat.
Recalling the family he’d endured since his past life, he slowly made his way toward the place where they would show their next move.
In Mun-jong Lee’s office, every sibling except Gyeong-eun Lee had gathered.
Summoned by Jeong-eun Lee, the siblings, wearing angry faces, poured out their grievances against Seong-ho Kim, no one waiting for another to go first.
“Isn’t that man out of his mind?”
Jeong-eun Lee’s fury was the greatest among the siblings.
“Does he think Ilhyeon Hotel belongs to him? Not content with the staff, he’s gone and filed complaints against every last executive, getting them all fired — are you really going to let this stand?”
“I told you all along there was something off about him, back at Ilhyeon Watch.”
Chang-jong Lee chimed in as well.
“Relocating a company isn’t child’s play… and he even cut off a supplier that had done business with Ilhyeon Watch for years. How could that possibly be the act of a sane man? And, Sister, it’s similar with Ilhyeon Hotel this time too, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. Not only did he cut off a supplier we’d done business with for years, I hear he even incited the Ilhyeon Hotel staff and filed a complaint claiming they’d harmed the company. Honestly, Brother.”
Jeong-eun Lee looked at Mun-jong Lee, who’d been sitting quietly listening, and said,
“Are you really going to just let this go on? A steward raising a club against his own master, and you’re just going to watch?”
Holding a cigarette between his fingers, Mun-jong Lee had been listening quietly all this while. He took a drag, stubbed it out, and looked at Jeong-eun Lee with a face that couldn’t understand her.
“A steward raised a club against his master? What club is anyone raising against a master? He’s trying to make Ilhyeon Hotel better — how is that raising a club?”
At Mun-jong Lee’s cold words, Jeong-eun Lee had nothing to say.
Snorting at Jeong-eun Lee, Mun-jong Lee turned to Chang-jong Lee and said,
“I saw Ilhyeon Watch’s latest results not long ago, and performance has improved tremendously. A place that had been chronically in the red turned a profit. Quarterly operating profit over 2 billion won, no less.”
“Brother…”
Mun-jong Lee looked at the flustered Chang-jong Lee and said,
“So what you’re telling me is you’re unhappy that Ilhyeon Watch is turning a profit?”
“Brother, that’s not what I meant…”
Waving a hand to cut off the flustered Chang-jong Lee, Mun-jong Lee looked around at his younger siblings and said,
“If you’d gone to Father with the logic you’re using right now, you’d have been thrown out of the very seats you’re sitting in.”
At Mun-jong Lee’s words, Jeong-eun Lee and Chang-jong Lee bowed their heads.
Because they knew themselves that their reasoning was lacking.
Mun-jong Lee watched the two of them, unable to say anything, and pulled out another cigarette to put to his lips.
“Either way, I’m just as uncomfortable as you are with leaving Kim in that seat.”
“Brother.”
“Brother.”
Chang-jong Lee and Jeong-eun Lee, who’d been sitting with heads bowed, snapped their heads up.
Cigarette in his mouth, Mun-jong Lee said, gazing into empty air,
“We do need to get Kim out of that seat.”
At Mun-jong Lee thinking the same way they did, the darkened faces of Chang-jong Lee and Jeong-eun Lee brightened.
As if he had some plan in mind, Mun-jong Lee lit the cigarette in his mouth.
And Sang-jong Lee, who’d been quietly listening all this while, only rolled his eyes, seemingly harboring thoughts of his own.
And so the four siblings joined their intentions to pull Seong-ho Kim down from his seat.
(End of Chapter 41)