“Director. How will we bear it, we’ll miss you so.”

“Director. Wherever you go, you’ll do wonderfully. Truly.”

“Director. You have to come visit often.”

On the day the Ilhyeon Hotel restructuring wrapped up and the restructuring team disbanded, the hotel staff came pouring out, every one of them, to send Seong-ho off.

Seong-ho exchanged final farewells with them. “I’ll come by often. When I do, it’ll be as a guest — so treat me well.”

“Director, you’re a VVIP — no, a VVVIP — so please visit anytime, and freely.”

The staff all knew that the group had meant to give up on Ilhyeon Hotel. And that same hotel, Seong-ho had transformed. He’d turned a five-star hotel that was five-star in name only into a true premier hotel, building an image reckoned among the finest even in Asia. The staff were genuinely moved by his achievement, and genuinely sorry that he was leaving.

“All right, all right. That concludes the send-off, so everyone return to your posts.” Byeong-jin Jo told the hotel staff to head back.

Byeong-ju Jeong directed the general affairs staff to clear away the send-off arrangements, then came over to Seong-ho. “Heading straight to head office?”

“I should.”

Seong-ho passed Byeong-ju the bouquet a hotel staffer had handed him, and looked around the space where the farewell had been held. “In a few days there’ll be an inauguration ceremony for the new president right here.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll support the president well at her side until you come back.”

Seong-ho smiled lightly at that. “Then I’ll be off.”

“Right. Come visit often.”

As Byeong-ju said his goodbye, Seong-ho waved and left.

Byeong-jin, who’d been settling the hotel staff, came rushing over the moment Seong-ho started to go. “Seong-ho.”

Seong-ho patted the shoulder of the reluctant-looking Byeong-jin and spoke first. “Let’s meet up with Dae-su soon and have a soju.”

“Yeah. As it happens, Dae-su was saying he wanted to see you.”

“You stay by Deputy Head Jeong’s side and support Gyeong-eun well.”

“Don’t worry. I’m nothing if not scrupulous about serving a boss. Privately she’s my friend’s wife, but I’ll keep public and private cleanly separate and serve her properly. Just trust me.”

At Byeong-jin’s big talk, Seong-ho conveyed his thanks and stepped out through the hotel lobby. Byeong-jin came all the way outside to see him off, waving. Seong-ho gave him a bright smile and climbed into the car.

“Driver. To head office, please.”

At Seong-ho’s word the driver set out for the group headquarters.

Seated in the back, watching through the window the hotel he’d spent a year with, Seong-ho murmured to himself. “This place will be the foundation for taking Ilhyeon into my hands.”

Mun-jong and the others thought that by taking Ilhyeon Hotel, Gyeong-eun had been shut out of the Ilhyeon Group inheritance. But Seong-ho’s thinking was different. He judged that, on the contrary, by receiving it, he’d gained the ability to exert great influence over the succession. And he resolved to make it so.

Straightening from his turned posture, Seong-ho began, in the car on the way to head office, to sketch out in his mind the preparations for his next move.

Gyeong-deuk Lee, Chief of the Strategic Planning Office, looked down at Seong-ho’s resignation letter with a face full of regret. He’d already known of it, discussed from above, but faced with the actual letter, regret came creeping up out of his chest.

“I felt bad about always keeping you out in the field, so I meant to bring you into an in-house post once you’d wrapped up the hotel job… It’s a shame it’s turned out this way.”

“There was much I wanted to do together with you as well, Chief. It’s a shame.”

Seong-ho gave Chief Gyeong-deuk a rueful smile and rose. “Then I’ll come by to visit sometime.”

Gyeong-deuk stood along with him and nodded. “Yes. You’ve got to see the chairman today too, so you’re busy? Come visit anytime. I owe you a great deal, Director Kim, and I truly want to host you, so come by with an easy mind.”

Remembering that it was thanks to Seong-ho that he’d risen to Chief of Strategic Planning, Gyeong-deuk told him to come again. Seong-ho left him a word that he would, then went out to the office and exchanged farewells with the other Strategic Planning staff.

Then Seong-ho made his way to the chairman’s office.

When he arrived, Chief Secretary Do-beom Hwang welcomed him. “The chairman is waiting for you.”

“Yes.”

Seong-ho straightened his clothes a moment, then signaled to Do-beom that he was ready. Do-beom nodded, knocked on the door, and announced Seong-ho’s arrival. “Chairman. Director Seong-ho Kim is here.”

“Tell him to come in.”

At Tak-hyeon’s voice from within, Do-beom opened the door for Seong-ho, who went through it and inside.

“So. Have you finished all your goodbyes?”

Tak-hyeon leaned back against his chair and asked the entering Seong-ho.

Seong-ho went up before the desk and answered. “Yes. I said goodbye to the hotel staff and to the Strategic Planning staff both.”

“Good.” Tak-hyeon nodded and looked up at him. “You’ve stepped aside for Gyeong-eun’s sake?”

“Gyeong-eun is a capable person. I only thought it was wrong for someone like her to spend her time at home, unable to exercise her abilities, all because of me.”

“Aren’t you a capable person as well?” Tak-hyeon looked up at him with a veiled gaze. “I think it a waste for you to go out like this and idle your time away. What do you say? No thought of just staying on at the company?”

At the question Seong-ho showed a moment’s hesitation, but then shook his head. “As it happens, I was lucky enough to make quite a lot of money in stocks this time.”

“Oh? With what money did you play the market?” Tak-hyeon put the question feigning ignorance.

Seong-ho answered with a smile brimming with delight. “I did well with the 100 million won you gave me last time, Chairman. I mean to take some time and think about what I might do on my own with that money.”

“Thinking of setting up a business?”

“Whether it becomes a business or I go on managing stocks to live, I’ve nothing decided yet — but I want to keep every possibility open as I think it over.”

“Right. Give careful thought to what you’ll do going forward. But before that, know this one thing: thinking a long time doesn’t necessarily produce a good answer.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Tak-hyeon looked at him and smacked his lips. “Well, your ability is a loss, but what can I do. You’re stepping aside for my daughter’s sake — as a parent I can hardly tell you not to. Understood. Then think it through, and when you land on a good answer, let me know. I’m curious, after all, where a man who worked under me goes next.”

“Yes. Understood.” Seong-ho bowed his head. “Then you’ll be busy, so I’ll take my leave.”

“Go on.”

At Tak-hyeon’s nod, Seong-ho bowed once more and left the office.

Tak-hyeon gazed quietly at the door Seong-ho had gone through. Then it opened, and Do-beom — who’d left with Seong-ho — came back in.

“Well. Saw him off properly?”

“Yes. I watched him down to the first floor.”

Do-beom reported that he’d seen Seong-ho out, then came up before Tak-hyeon. “Chairman. You’re not going to hold on to him?” He spoke with regret still on his face. “Director Kim’s results are astonishing. He’s posted great achievements for the group, and if you watch him, he’s a man certain to post more.” Chief Do-beom spoke in a careful voice. “They say he stepped back on his own because the children’s obstruction was severe, but I think leaving it at this is a waste. Strip away the title of the chairman’s son-in-law and he’s still a talent the company ought to keep.”

Tak-hyeon looked at him quietly and asked, “Hahaha. It seems you covet him more than I do. You want to take that boy into the secretariat?”

At the chairman’s question, Do-beom nodded emphatically. “As I said before, if it were only possible, that’s exactly what I’d want to do.” Not denying it, Do-beom laid his honest feelings bare. “The speed of judgment and the drive to execute that he showed in the restructuring were top-class. And the way he grasped where a company had gone wrong and produced the right solution was — needless to say — deeply impressive.” Do-beom shared the impressions he’d formed. And, as if the resonance still hadn’t faded, he smacked his lips in regret. “I find myself thinking that with Director Kim, we could do bigger things, and more of them.”

Listening quietly, Tak-hyeon nodded in agreement with Do-beom’s assessment. “I agree with that. With you, he’d likely have generated even greater synergy.”

“Chairman. Knowing that, why—”

“Why didn’t I hold on to him, knowing it?”

“Yes.”

Do-beom nodded carefully, and Tak-hyeon said in a flat voice, “Why should I go to the trouble of keeping a man who says he doesn’t want to?”

“Chairman. Still, if you think of the company—”

“There are people beyond counting who’ll come to me on their own two feet asking to have a go. With people like that lying about, why should I hold on to Director Kim? Good results? That’s not something only Director Kim can do. And didn’t I hold on to him once already? That’s enough.”

At Tak-hyeon’s clipped words, Do-beom bowed his head. Better than anyone, he knew that the proud Tak-hyeon would never hold on to someone who said they’d leave first.

Not that he’d keep him — but the ease with which Seong-ho was leaving made Tak-hyeon curious.

“Director Kim did well in stocks with the money I gave him, they say — how well did he do?”

Soothing his sour mood, Do-beom set his expression straight and answered the question. “He invested 100 million won in a place called Soyoung Packaging and posted a profit of over 2 billion won.”

“What? How much?” The smile went out of Tak-hyeon’s face. “How much profit did you just say?”

At the hardened tone, Do-beom answered again. “Precisely, it’s confirmed as a 22-fold return.”

“A 22-fold return? What on earth did he invest in, that 100 million becomes 2.2 billion?”

“It’s understood that a place called Soyoung Packaging saw its share price surge on a rumor that it had developed a contaminant-free packaging box.”

“A contaminant-free packaging box? What’s that now?”

At this thing he was hearing for the first time, Tak-hyeon put the question with an incredulous look.

Do-beom relayed the information he’d learned through the secretariat. “It seems that up to now, the packaging boxes we all use have been found to give off components harmful to the body. And this company, Soyoung Packaging, made a harmless packaging box, and—”

Sensing it would run long, Tak-hyeon raised a hand to cut Do-beom off. “The explanation’s fine. Was it true, then?”

At the question of whether it was true or not, Do-beom wore a troubled expression. “Whether it’s true isn’t certain. There’s only the fact that Soyoung Packaging claimed to have developed it, and that on that claim the share price shot up.”

“So on an unverified claim, the share price rose more than twentyfold?”

“…Yes.”

Tak-hyeon knit his brow deeply. “So he happened to invest and happened to post a return of more than twentyfold.”

“Chairman. It may be… a result he obtained through study.”

Do-beom took Seong-ho’s side, but even to his own mind it seemed absurd, and he finished and bowed his head.

Tak-hyeon let out a snort of laughter at that. “I know how you feel, so you can stop taking his side.”

Keeping his eyes on the bowed Do-beom, Tak-hyeon ran the back of his hand along his jaw. Then, with an interested expression, he said, “He earned more than 2 billion, and that’s why he so easily said he’d quit the company? If so, that’s a disappointment…”

“Does Director Kim’s choice disappoint you?”

Still stroking his jaw with the back of his hand, Tak-hyeon said, “Yes. If he’s the kind of man who’s satisfied with earning some 2 billion for now and can’t set his sights on something bigger… then it’s a shame, but he’s a man who won’t belong in this game.”

Thinking that Seong-ho had been satisfied with turning his 100 million into 2.2 billion and had given up on the succession fight, Tak-hyeon let his disappointment show.

But the 2.2 billion Seong-ho had won was only the beginning.

Soyoung Packaging was the first company written on the note Seong-ho had handed Chung-seop Jo. Two of the companies written on that note still remained — so the money Seong-ho had invested was, as yet, only just beginning to roll.

(End of Chapter 56)