The siblings gathered in Mun-jong Lee’s office moved together to Pyeongchang-dong.

“It’s not even Sunday — what are you all doing here?”

Suk-ja Chu looked at her children, who’d all arrived at once, with a bewildered face.

“We called the office and they said Father’s home — is he here?”

“Of course your father’s home… but what on earth is going on?”

Sang-jong Lee reassured the worried-looking Suk-ja Chu.

“It’s nothing serious. Just company business, so don’t worry.”

Gently draping an arm around Suk-ja Chu’s shoulder, Sang-jong Lee said to Mun-jong Lee,

“Brother, let’s go.”

“Right. Let’s go.”

Mun-jong Lee led the way, followed by Sang-jong Lee, Jeong-eun Lee, and Chang-jong Lee, up to the study where Tak-hyeon Lee was.

Puzzled by her children’s sudden appearance, Suk-ja Chu called out to Gyeong-eun Lee, who was sitting idly in the living room.

“All your brothers and sister just showed up together — do you know anything about it?”

“My brothers and sister? It’s not even Sunday, is it?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Though mother and daughter had been snapping at each other only that morning, they forgot all about it at this sudden turn and headed together toward Tak-hyeon Lee’s study.

Entering the study, Mun-jong Lee and the others found Seong-ho Kim already there, in the middle of a conversation with Tak-hyeon Lee.

“So you’re here after all.”

As Mun-jong Lee and the others came in, Seong-ho Kim rose from his seat.

“Brother, you’ve come? Oh — Second Brother and Sister are here too. And Third Brother as well… has something happened?”

“Something has happened.”

Mun-jong Lee walked forward and bowed his head to Tak-hyeon Lee.

“Father. We’re here.”

Seated on the sofa, Tak-hyeon Lee looked at his sons and daughter and frowned.

“Why did you all come at once? Is today Sunday?”

“No. It isn’t Sunday, but there’s something we absolutely need to tell you, Father, so we’ve come together like this.”

“All of you have something to tell me together?”

Tak-hyeon Lee looked at his children, standing in a row, at Mun-jong Lee’s words.

Then, seeing Suk-ja Chu and Gyeong-eun Lee come in after them, he nodded.

“Fine. Let’s hear it, then.”

As Mun-jong Lee and the others took their seats, Seong-ho Kim bowed his head to Tak-hyeon Lee.

“Then I’ll take my leave now…”

Seong-ho Kim had already anticipated why Mun-jong Lee had come.

Having worked under Chairman Mun-jong Lee for so many years in his past life, he could see straight through him, and could anticipate exactly what he was thinking.

Which was precisely why he made a show of pretending not to know, moving to leave the room.

That way, he’d continue to look naive in their eyes.

As Seong-ho Kim bowed to Tak-hyeon Lee and rose to leave, Mun-jong Lee, already seated, called out to stop him.

“You can stay too.”

“Me as well?”

Seong-ho Kim pointed at himself and asked, feigning ignorance.

Mun-jong Lee nodded at him and said,

“It concerns you, so you should be here too.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Seong-ho Kim bowed his head slightly, smiling to himself where no one could see, and sat back down.

Gyeong-eun Lee came over to sit beside him and asked Mun-jong Lee,

“Eldest Brother. Did Seong-ho do something wrong?”

“He didn’t do anything wrong.”

The answer came not from Mun-jong Lee but from Tak-hyeon Lee.

Brow furrowed, Tak-hyeon Lee asked Mun-jong Lee,

“What are you scheming this time, dragging all your siblings along with you? Looking for something else to pin on Kim?”

“Father, it’s not about pinning anything on him. It’s genuinely important.”

Jeong-eun Lee stepped in on Mun-jong Lee’s behalf.

Shooting Seong-ho Kim a glare, she said,

“Once you hear what we have to say, Father, your mind will change too.”

“Will it? Then let’s hear just what this is that’s supposed to change my mind.”

Tak-hyeon Lee leaned back against his chair, as if inviting them to speak.

At Tak-hyeon Lee’s cue, Mun-jong Lee glanced at Seong-ho Kim for a moment, then slowly began.

“As you’re aware, Chairman, there was a major incident at Ilhyeon Hotel recently.”

Switching his address to “Chairman” to signal that this was company business, Mun-jong Lee calmly brought up the matter of Ilhyeon Hotel.

“We sent him to restructure Ilhyeon Hotel, and he’s turned everything upside down.”

“As it happens, we were just discussing that.”

Tak-hyeon Lee, as if there were nothing more to say on the matter, turned to Seong-ho Kim and said,

“I told him he did very well.”

Looking at Seong-ho Kim with a different gaze than the one he’d turned on Mun-jong Lee, Tak-hyeon Lee continued,

“You have no idea how furious I was to hear that those DS scoundrels, or whatever they’re called, had been eating away at the company. And Director Kim not only found them out but handled it as well — what a fine job. And I hear he also dealt with the staff and executives who’d joined hands with DS to try to bring the company down…”

As he spoke, Tak-hyeon Lee turned his head to look at Jeong-eun Lee.

He glared at her as though he already knew everything.

Unable to meet Tak-hyeon Lee’s gaze, Jeong-eun Lee bowed her head.

Snorting at the sight of her, Tak-hyeon Lee said to Mun-jong Lee,

“Is that the only reason you all came marching in here together?”

“Chairman. If you hear the rest, your view will change.”

Mun-jong Lee, not losing his composure, continued.

“I think what happened this time was handled very well too. If there’s a rot eating away at Ilhyeon Hotel, of course it should be dealt with. But…”

“But?”

“What I’m curious about is whether there’s a plan for afterward.”

Mun-jong Lee turned to Seong-ho Kim and put the question to him directly.

“So what do you intend to do from here?”

Seong-ho Kim gave no answer to Mun-jong Lee’s question.

Staying silent right now worked more in his favor.

But not knowing this, Mun-jong Lee assumed Seong-ho Kim’s silence meant he genuinely had no plan, and began pressing him harder.

“You cleared out the executives and staff all at once, and now there’s hardly anyone left at Ilhyeon Hotel who can actually do the work — how do you intend to run the hotel? The whole point of restructuring is to make a company healthy enough to turn a profit, but now the company itself can’t even function, can it?”

Having asked his question, Mun-jong Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim for a moment.

Beside him, Gyeong-eun Lee, apparently worried by Mun-jong Lee’s words, took Seong-ho Kim’s hand, but Seong-ho Kim said nothing.

As if he’d expected exactly this, Mun-jong Lee turned his head away from Seong-ho Kim.

“Chairman.”

Turning his whole body to face Tak-hyeon Lee, he spoke in a serious voice.

“I’ve received reports that, because of everything that’s happened at Ilhyeon Hotel, occupancy has fallen to less than half. And reservations for the next three months are down to about 40% compared to last year. There’s talk that at this rate, Ilhyeon Hotel may not even be able to keep operating.”

Tak-hyeon Lee turned to Seong-ho Kim, frowning.

“Is this true?”

“Yes. It’s true.”

Seong-ho Kim answered immediately, without hesitation, at Tak-hyeon Lee’s question.

Mun-jong Lee, too, kept his eyes on Seong-ho Kim as he spoke.

“There’s a saying about burning down the whole thatched cottage just to catch a bedbug. I think that’s exactly what’s happening at Ilhyeon Hotel right now. When an employee makes a mistake, you discipline them and give things time until a new employee settles in — everything has its proper process.”

Mun-jong Lee turned to Tak-hyeon Lee, who was still watching Seong-ho Kim.

“As you well know, Chairman, if you fire everyone the instant something goes wrong, filling those empty positions becomes an enormously difficult task. If we cut and punish indiscriminately without considering this, how are we supposed to run the company? If you take a knife and gouge at the flesh the moment a boil appears, you might not just remove the infection — you might take a life along with it.”

“So you’re telling me Ilhyeon Hotel might go under?”

“Not might — it’s already headed there.”

Jeong-eun Lee, who’d been listening quietly, cowed by Tak-hyeon Lee’s presence, suddenly cut in.

“That bastard Kim has gone and destroyed a perfectly good company.”

Jeong-eun Lee spoke in a voice full of resentment and fury toward Seong-ho Kim.

“He’s ruined a company that was running just fine — how does he intend to take responsibility for that?”

“Running just fine? Did those words really just come out of your mouth?”

Tak-hyeon Lee turned his head toward Jeong-eun Lee.

Startled by his gaze, Jeong-eun Lee stumbled over her previous words.

“W-well, at least the company was… still running…”

“Is that what running looked like, to your eyes?”

“That’s…”

“Chairman.”

Mun-jong Lee cut in, worried the conversation’s focus might shift onto Jeong-eun Lee.

And he threw out a line meant to steer the whole conversation squarely back onto Seong-ho Kim.

“As you well know, Chairman, there’s a vast difference between a company that’s running, however poorly, and one that can’t run at all. Ilhyeon Hotel right now is in a state where it can’t run at all.”

Mun-jong Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim with the clear intent to pin him down decisively.

“Even granting that it’s somehow limping along, the greatest goal of restructuring is to normalize the company — does Kim have a plan for that? How does he intend to generate profit? If all he did was wield the knife without any plan for what comes after, I cannot condone what’s happened here. Holding a blade to a person’s body is something a butcher does, not a doctor.”

Mun-jong Lee pressed Seong-ho Kim as if he’d come fully resolved to do exactly this.

Seong-ho Kim smiled quietly at his words.

‘Still relatively gentle days, these.’

Mun-jong Lee seemed to be showing real venom, but compared to the Ilhyeon Group chairman Seong-ho Kim had known in his past life, this looked almost mild.

Seong-ho Kim knew that with Tak-hyeon Lee still alive, Mun-jong Lee couldn’t yet show his true claws.

On top of that, though he was ahead in the succession process, Mun-jong Lee hadn’t formally received the succession yet.

Which was why, without even realizing it himself, he was holding back his true nature and merely growling for now — something Seong-ho Kim understood perfectly well.

Seeing that Mun-jong Lee’s argument had roughly concluded, Tak-hyeon Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim and said,

“Well, it seems the talk is done, so let’s hear from you now, Kim. Setting aside the cleanup at Ilhyeon Hotel… did you have a plan in place to make money at Ilhyeon Hotel before clearing out all the staff and executives? I’m curious too.”

At Tak-hyeon Lee seeming to agree with them, Jeong-eun Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim with a satisfied expression.

They were certain Seong-ho Kim could have no such plan.

But Seong-ho Kim had already prepared everything.

“Of course I have one. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have gone this far, no matter how much of a mess the place was.”

“Oh? You have something in mind?”

At Tak-hyeon Lee’s question, Seong-ho Kim turned to Mun-jong Lee and asked,

“I haven’t yet had the chance to check Ilhyeon Hotel’s revenue myself — you’re saying this month’s revenue has dropped sharply?”

“That’s right. And results are expected to keep getting worse next month and the month after.”

“If it’s expected to be bad through the month after next, then it simply needs to improve starting the month after that.”

“What did you say?”

Mun-jong Lee bristled at what sounded like wordplay from Seong-ho Kim.

But with Tak-hyeon Lee present, he couldn’t fully unleash his anger at Seong-ho Kim and only raised his voice slightly.

“Do you think running a company is some kind of joke?”

“I’m not saying this as a joke either.”

Seong-ho Kim wore a serious expression as he spoke to Tak-hyeon Lee.

“I can’t guarantee anything for next month or the month after, admittedly. We’ll need time to settle the confusion. But starting the month after that, I’ll bring the company back onto a normal track. And I’ll make sure next year’s results are double what they are this year.”

“What did you say? Double?”

“You’re just saying whatever you can to smooth this over, aren’t you!”

At the word “double,” Jeong-eun Lee and Chang-jong Lee shouted at Seong-ho Kim, startled.

Tak-hyeon Lee raised a hand to stop them.

Then he asked Seong-ho Kim again,

“You’ll make it double next year? Double what, exactly? Revenue? Operating profit? Net profit? Say it precisely.”

Tak-hyeon Lee asked with a smile, but everyone in the room could tell there was a cold blade hidden within that smile.

It meant: be prepared to answer for your neck if you can’t keep this promise.

But even at Tak-hyeon Lee’s words, Seong-ho Kim answered calmly, still smiling.

“As long as it remains a loss-making company, operating profit and net profit mean nothing. I’ll double the revenue.”

“Hahaha. I was ready to scold you for having the nerve of a pea if you said you’d raise operating profit and net profit off rock bottom… and you’re saying you’ll double revenue instead?”

Tak-hyeon Lee turned to look at his children, seated alongside Mun-jong Lee.

“You’ve heard his promise, so you can all go home now. If he fails to keep it, I’ll handle it myself.”

At Tak-hyeon Lee’s words, Mun-jong Lee and the others could say nothing more.

Tak-hyeon Lee gave his now-silent children one sweeping glance, then looked at Seong-ho Kim with an amused expression.

Under Tak-hyeon Lee’s gaze, Seong-ho Kim smiled back.

That smile spoke for exactly what Seong-ho Kim was thinking inside.

Because Mun-jong Lee and the others had come on their own, laying out the very stage on which he could shine, Seong-ho Kim couldn’t help but find it all rather amusing.

And so, in that tension-filled study, only Tak-hyeon Lee and Seong-ho Kim sat looking at each other with smiling faces.

(End of Chapter 42)