Gyeong-eun stood before the mirror, tension on her face.

She’d been preparing the words for days, and now she practiced them standing before the glass.

“I will make Ilhyeon Hotel the finest in the Republic of Korea, the finest in Asia — and beyond that, the finest in the world.”

She finished and looked into the mirror, checking what expression she wore and where her gaze went once the words were done.

“Very good.”

Watching from behind, Seong-ho offered his praise.

Gyeong-eun turned toward him, the paper with her remarks still in hand. “I’m so nervous I could die.”

“You don’t need to be that nervous.”

Seong-ho patted her shoulder and turned her back to face the mirror. He tapped lightly at her lower back to straighten her posture, then spoke to her reflection in the glass. “Do it with confidence. Every one of the Ilhyeon Hotel staff is waiting for you, and no one else.”

At his heartening words, Gyeong-eun spread her chest wide and drew a deep breath. Firming her lips, she steadied herself and nodded. “You’re right. This will be my workplace and my life from now on, so I mustn’t be nervous from the very start.”

“Exactly. Ilhyeon Hotel is our new home.”

Gyeong-eun looked much more at ease. Turning her head to him, she said, “But you’re really not coming?”

She looked at him with a gaze full of regret.

Seong-ho smiled lightly and drew her into an embrace. “If I show up — the man who was gripping and shaking Ilhyeon Hotel until just recently — the attention will scatter. Today’s lead is you, and every eye should be on you, so I can’t go.”

He took her hand and came out of the room. Still smiling at the reluctant Gyeong-eun, he offered one more word of encouragement. “You’ll do well. So don’t worry — just do as you always do. The rest will flow naturally on its own.”

At that, Gyeong-eun shook off her worry. “You’re right. It’s a place you’ve laid such good groundwork for, so worrying would be an indulgence.”

She relaxed her stiff face into a bright smile and came down the stairs. Then she greeted Suk-ja Chu — who’d come out to see her off on her first day at Ilhyeon Hotel — cheerfully. “Mom. I’m off.”

“Yes.”

Worried, it seemed, about her youngest daughter, Suk-ja brushed at her clothes with her hand. “If anything’s hard, don’t agonize over it alone — tell Mom. I’ll speak to your father for you.”

“Mom. What kind of president tattles to her mother that work is hard?”

“What kind? This kind.” Suk-ja embraced Gyeong-eun lightly, her face tender. “If it’s hard, don’t just hug it close and brood over it. All right?”

“All right. Don’t worry.”

Gyeong-eun gently pushed Suk-ja back and looked at her worry-filled face. “How is it that you seem more worried than I am?”

“Of course I worry. You’re a child who never had to suffer hardship, and here you are insisting on going out to do exactly that…”

Suk-ja shot a sidelong glare at Seong-ho, standing beside Gyeong-eun. Because she felt that meeting him seemed to be the cause of all of it. Had Seong-ho been capable and come with a good background, her precious youngest daughter would never have had to go out to a company — she’d have led the pleasant life the other daughters-in-law did, shopping and going out for fun.

“If anything’s hard, you tell Mom. All right?”

“Ugh, all right.”

Seong-ho and Suk-ja saw Gyeong-eun off across the yard until she’d climbed into the car, and only once it was out of sight did they hurry back into the house with quick little steps.

“Ugh. It’s cold.” Coming inside, Seong-ho brushed briskly at his shoulders with his hands as if shaking the chill from his body, and took off his shoes.

Suk-ja stood rooted in place, glaring at him.

Shoes off and stepping in, Seong-ho gave a shiver and asked, “Aren’t you coming in?”

Ordinarily Suk-ja wouldn’t have cared whether Seong-ho came in or not. Now, with her staring straight at him, he smiled and asked, “Is there something you wanted to say?”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Sorry? What do you mean?”

At his uncomprehending look, Suk-ja frowned. “I’m asking what you’re going to do, now that you’ve sent my daughter out to work.” She took a step toward him. “Don’t tell me you mean to loll about like a kept man, sucking the marrow out of your wife’s back?”

She looked up at him with eyes that said such a thing could never be tolerated. “I can’t stand a sight like that. I won’t tolerate you sponging off my daughter while she works herself to the bone.”

“Mother-in-law.” Seong-ho smiled. “Surely you don’t think I’ll just idle and eat? Don’t worry. It won’t be like that.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Nothing’s decided yet.”

At that, Suk-ja glared without lifting her suspicion. He said he wouldn’t idle, but she kept suspecting that in truth he meant to live as a parasite on Gyeong-eun and the Ilhyeon house.

Not letting the smile leave his face under her gaze, Seong-ho said, “First I’m going to talk with someone I have an appointment with today, and think it over from there.”

“You have an appointment?”

“Yes. So you needn’t worry too much.”

Having said it, he stepped toward Suk-ja. She flinched and made to back away, but his hand was quicker. He took her by both shoulders and said with a smile, “So give me just a little time. Soon a great many people will be coming to seek me out, and I’ll be too busy to catch my breath.”

Smiling at the speechless Suk-ja, he let go. “As it happens, I’ve an appointment right away, so I was about to head out. I’ll eat this evening while I’m out, so you needn’t have anyone set a place for me.”

As if the shoulders he’d held were uncomfortable, Suk-ja brushed at them with her hand and snapped back, “I’ve never once set a place for you, so eat out or don’t, suit yourself.”

At that Seong-ho laughed lightly and headed up to the second floor.

Suk-ja looked up at him climbing the stairs, hesitated, then asked, “But where is it you’re going?”

Reaching the second floor, Seong-ho looked down and answered, “I’ve arranged to meet in Myeongdong to talk over what we’ve done so far and how we ought to go from here.”

“To talk over what you’ve done so far and how to go from here?”

Suk-ja looked up at the second floor with a gaze that wondered whether he wasn’t lying just because she’d nagged him a little.

In answer, Seong-ho only smiled, and headed for the dressing room to get ready so as not to be late.

“Director. Over here!”

The moment Seong-ho stepped into the coffee shop, Chung-seop Jo — who’d been drinking a juice — shot up from his seat and waved.

At his voice, Seong-ho saw every customer in the café turn to look at him, and gave an awkward smile as he waved back.

Still standing, Chung-seop bowed to Seong-ho at ninety degrees. “You’ve come, Director.”

“Aigoo. People are looking at us strangely. Stop that and get up.” Seong-ho raised the bowing Chung-seop back up and sat him down. Then, to the server who’d come over with a strange look to take the order, he ordered first. “One hot coffee, please. Assistant Manager Jo — will you have something else? My treat.”

“No, no. You, paying, Director? It’s only right that I pay.” Chung-seop made a fuss, reaching into his inside pocket for his wallet.

Seong-ho smiled at the sight and said to the server, “The hot coffee first, please.”

The server looked between Seong-ho and Chung-seop with a strange look, then took the menu and left. Wallet drawn from his inside pocket, Chung-seop watched the server’s already-retreating back, scratched his head, and put the wallet away again.

Seong-ho watched him tuck it into his breast pocket, then spoke. “How did it go?”

At the question, Chung-seop — still putting his wallet away — leaned in hurriedly with a startled expression. In a low voice no one else could hear, he laid out the current situation. “You know Hudo Electric? Word’s going around that they really have developed an automotive exhaust-reduction device.”

“And so, where’s it at?”

Seong-ho put the question without a flicker of surprise, and Chung-seop checked his surroundings before answering in an even lower voice. “Right now… it’s over 40,000 won.”

“40,000 won, is it…”

At the answer Seong-ho quietly folded his arms and sank into thought. Just then the server arrived with the hot coffee he’d ordered. “Your hot coffee.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Unfolding his arms, Seong-ho thanked the server and said to Chung-seop, “It’s still not even halfway to the target price.”

“Director!”

Chung-seop looked at him, thoroughly startled. Then, minding the server, he said with an astonished expression, “If you speak so carelessly… what are we to do?” He watched the server’s back as she set down the coffee with an indifferent look and turned away, and said under his breath, “If a server happened to hear, wouldn’t that be a disaster?”

“Assistant Manager Jo.” Seong-ho smiled quietly. “You needn’t be so careful. Whoever’s listening won’t even know what our words mean, and even if they did understand, it makes no difference.”

“No difference? How so?”

“That the outcome is already decided — that’s the greatest lesson I’ve drawn from this place.”

“Sorry?”

Chung-seop wore a look of incomprehension.

Seong-ho lifted the cup before him and carefully drank his coffee. “Hudo Electric climbing to 120,000 won is an outcome that’s already decided.”

“Climbing to 120,000 won is a decided outcome?”

“Yes. And depending on how we move, it’s our own lives — the branches growing off to the side — that get changed.”

Chung-seop thought quietly, then clapped his hands. “So even if that server over there catches what we’re saying and copies it, Hudo Electric climbing to 120,000 won won’t change, so your making money won’t change either — that’s what you mean!”

Seong-ho nodded emphatically. “So don’t fret over trifles. What matters is how we move.”

At the words that how they moved mattered more, Chung-seop wore the look of a man who’d received a great revelation. He nodded several times over, chewing on what Seong-ho had said.

Seong-ho had turned 100 million won into more than 2 billion through Soyoung Packaging. Then, investing 2 billion in Hudo Electric next, he’d posted roughly a fourfold return so far, and his account had now swelled to 8 billion won. It had taken less than a year for 100 million to become 8 billion.

On the strength of these astonishing results, Chung-seop had received Ilhyeon Securities’ top-employee award the previous year, and around the company he’d even been told a god of stocks had descended. But that all of it had been built by Seong-ho’s design, no one else knew. Following Seong-ho’s instructions, Chung-seop kept strictly silent, and it was known only to the extent that he’d managed the funds well and produced remarkable results. But the true god of stocks was right in front of Chung-seop’s eyes.

“Director. Then is Sogyeong Machinery rising 12-fold a decided thing too?”

“That’s right.” Seong-ho nodded. “All we have to do is decide how much we take from it.”

He organized his thoughts a moment, then said, “If we took all of Soyoung Packaging’s 25-fold rise, Hudo Electric’s 18-fold, and then Sogyeong Machinery’s 12-fold, the 100 million I handed you would come to over 400 billion won. But that’s physically impossible, so… we’ll have to set the amount we take at a reasonable figure.”

He considered a moment what a reasonable amount might be, then said to Chung-seop, “It’s a shame, but let’s wrap it up at 50 billion for now.”

Chung-seop’s mouth fell open.

Because the words let’s make 50 billion had sounded like fishing a 500-won coin out of his pocket.

(End of Chapter 57)