The gazes of the presidents present followed Tak-hyeon Lee’s finger to the home appliances piled high against the wall opposite.
Tak-hyeon lifted a finger, crooked it, and said,
“Do you know what that is? They’re products made by Ilhyeon Electronics — the very appliances Ilhyeon Electronics is currently selling in Los Angeles.”
The presidents, not grasping Tak-hyeon’s intent, looked at the appliances with puzzled eyes.
They couldn’t understand why those things were filling one wall of the hotel.
“I’m the one who had them brought in and laid out — does anyone know why?”
At Tak-hyeon’s question, the presidents could say nothing, still only watching for cues.
Watching for cues, Mun-jong agonized over whether he ought to say something or not.
But he couldn’t decide whether it was better to speak and score points, or better to stay quiet.
Where’s Head Kim?
Mun-jong thought he’d better check on Seong-ho before making a judgment.
It seemed best to see the reaction Seong-ho showed and match himself to it.
Seeing that Seong-ho kept his eyes lowered and gave no reaction at all to Tak-hyeon’s question, Mun-jong lowered his eyes exactly the same way and bowed his head.
When no one opened their mouth, Tak-hyeon frowned and said,
“No one knows? Not a single person knows?”
Tak-hyeon’s voice grew steadily louder.
But not one of the presidents opened their mouth, and in the end Tak-hyeon’s palm came down on the table.
Bang!
Tak-hyeon’s roar, striking the table, grew louder and louder.
“So no one really knows, is that it? Fine. Then I’ll tell you myself. Lift your heads and look for yourselves. See how there’s not a shred of consistency? Whether it’s the exterior, the size, the capacity — not one single thing matches. When last year’s product, this year’s product, and even next year’s new product are all different, do you think anyone will be able to tell they’re ours?”
“Chairman. Even so, if you look at the mark on the door…”
“Are you telling me a customer can check whether it’s an Ilhyeon product or not by looking at the mark right now? Listen here, President Seong. Are you in your right mind?”
Tak-hyeon shouted in an angry voice at the excuse from Il-do Seong, president of Ilhyeon Electronics’ Appliance Division.
“It’s precisely that state of mind that produces insane designs like these!”
Tak-hyeon glared at Il-do Seong and kept shouting.
“Even if I’m old and don’t know design well, I can tell that thing looks like garbage! Eh? If it’s this bad to me, how is it to young people these days, and to foreigners? Do you think we won the Worst Appliance Award unfairly? It’s because we keep putting out rootless designs like that — that’s why we win an award like the Worst Appliance Award!”
At Tak-hyeon’s roar, Cheol-o Ju, president of Ilhyeon Electronics’ Technology Research Institute, offered words in defense of President Il-do Seong.
“Chairman. Even so, the technology inside is the best in the world. The refrigerator’s temperature-holding capability is—”
“Listen here, President Ju.”
Tak-hyeon shot up from his seat and strode over to where the appliances were stacked.
“This refrigerator.”
Standing before the refrigerator among the appliances, Tak-hyeon rapped it with his hand and said,
“Do you think anyone will buy it? When your household buys a refrigerator, President Ju, who has the most say? Who uses the refrigerator most, and whose taste do you pick it to suit?”
“That would be my wife…”
“Yes. The woman who does the housework picks it. So does your wife care about a refrigerator’s temperature-holding capability? No — does she even know what temperature-holding capability is in the first place?”
At Tak-hyeon’s question, President Cheol-o Ju could say nothing.
He knew, too, that from the standpoint of a housewife who used the refrigerator day to day, a term like temperature-holding capability was a word with no meaning at all.
Seeing President Cheol-o Ju unable to say anything, Tak-hyeon rapped his hand across the appliances stacked beside the refrigerator as he passed.
“You put trash like this out and tell people to buy it — who’s going to buy it? And the product finish is a mess, too!”
The corners of the television, unable to be finished smoothly, showed a rough, bumpy state.
Tak-hyeon looked at the coarse, grainy finish, knit his brow, and shook off his hand.
“With quality like this, who’s going to buy it! The design’s unsightly, the finish is dreadful. And is it at least cheap? Secretary Hwang. How much is this television?”
At Tak-hyeon’s question, Secretary Do-beom Hwang answered.
“It was selling for 1,200 dollars locally.”
“How much is the Japanese product?”
“The Japanese product was also 1,200 dollars.”
“The Japanese one is 1,200 dollars, and if you sell this thing at 1,200 dollars too… who’s going to buy it? Hey. President Seong. Would you buy it? Put your hand on your heart and tell me. Would you pay the same price and buy our product instead of the Japanese one?”
He’d singled out Il-do Seong, but everyone thought the same thing.
Thud!
Tak-hyeon brought his fist down on the table.
“Listen closely. Our being mocked at the electronics show a few days ago — there’s ample reason for all of it. The quality isn’t good, and the price isn’t good either — so if we weren’t mocked, wouldn’t that be the strange thing?”
“Chairman.”
Seong-ho, who until then had merely been listening quietly, opened his mouth.
The presidents, who’d only been watching for cues under Tak-hyeon’s roars, sent Seong-ho expectant gazes when he opened his mouth.
Because, given the course Seong-ho had shown so far, they thought he’d offer a way to calm Tak-hyeon’s fury and rescue the cornered presidents.
Receiving the presidents’ expectant gazes, Seong-ho slowly spoke to Tak-hyeon.
“The reason Japan can offer the same price as us is that Japan relocated its manufacturing plants to Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Considering our workers’ wages, which are high compared to Southeast Asia, the fact that the prices are the same means, if anything, that we set a very aggressive price.”
President Il-do Seong, hearing Seong-ho’s words, felt as though his chest had been thrown wide open.
Because Seong-ho had said exactly what he’d wanted to say.
And it wasn’t only Il-do Seong who felt this way — every one of the presidents did.
“Chairman. Quantity and quality cannot coexist at the same time. To raise quality, quantity drops; to increase quantity, quality inevitably falls.”
When Seong-ho finished, everyone present nodded.
Those very words were exactly what they’d wanted to say.
Seong-ho spoke to Tak-hyeon, who was still standing with his fist against the table before the appliances.
“Japan moved its production plants to Vietnam to lower prices. Unless we too move our production plants, we won’t be able to gain an edge over Japanese products in price competitiveness. And as for quality… as you know, Chairman, Japanese products’ quality has long been renowned, hasn’t it?”
The moment Seong-ho finished, Tak-hyeon snatched up the teacup set before him and hurled it to the floor.
Crash!
The faces of the presidents present drained blue.
“Head Kim, do you call that talk? So you’re saying we have to spend our whole lives clinging to the trouser legs of those Japanese fellows and eating only the scraps left over after they’ve sold?”
“Chairman. That’s not what I mean—”
“Silence.”
Tak-hyeon glared at Seong-ho and shouted.
“You’ve been sitting in the seat of Head of the Restructuring Headquarters with a mindset like that? Pack up. Pack up and get down here right now!”
Having shouted, Tak-hyeon said to Do-beom Hwang,
“Secretary Hwang. My words are being recorded properly, yes?”
“Yes.”
“As of this moment, I strip Head Seong-ho Kim of his position.”
The faces of the presidents present turned ashen.
Because they hadn’t for a moment imagined Seong-ho would be fired in a single stroke.
Tak-hyeon said to Il-do Seong, president of Ilhyeon Electronics’ Appliance Division,
“Quantity and quality. We will seize both. If Japan moved its plants to Vietnam to lower production costs, then we go to Vietnam too. And newly strengthen the design department to produce refined designs. Make a design that shows our own identity, instead of this haphazard, all-over-the-place shape. Make it so that people know it’s an Ilhyeon Electronics product not by looking at the mark, but from the design alone.”
Tak-hyeon turned his head toward Il-do Seong.
“President Seong. Do you understand?”
At Tak-hyeon’s question, President Il-do Seong couldn’t dare say he couldn’t do it.
“Yes. I can do it. No — I’ll get it done!”
Tak-hyeon lifted his fist from the table and slowly walked back toward his original seat.
And as he walked, he pressed the shoulder of each president he passed, one by one, and said,
“I’ll say it once more — our Ilhyeon will absolutely seize both quantity and quality. Don’t even think of offering excuses about how this can’t be done for this reason and that can’t be done for that reason. If it can’t be done, set your mind to finding the reason and solving it. And this policy applies not to Ilhyeon Electronics alone but to every affiliate, so take note.”
Tak-hyeon returned to the seat where he’d first sat and, still standing, looked down at the presidents.
“I hope none of you will forget this humiliation suffered in Los Angeles. And move as one, all of you, so that we never suffer such humiliation again. This is the reason I called you all the way here to a foreign land. Do you understand?”
At Tak-hyeon’s words, everyone present nodded hard.
With Seong-ho — who’d even been quietly spoken of as Ilhyeon Group’s number two — fired in a single stroke, there could be no room for a differing opinion among them.
Mun-jong looked back and forth between Seong-ho and Tak-hyeon and thought,
This worked out. I blew my nose without lifting a finger.
Seeing the Seong-ho he’d meant to get rid of anyway sent flying by Tak-hyeon’s own hand before he’d even begun, Mun-jong put on a satisfied expression.
But Seong-ho being sent flying was by his own wish — and Mun-jong folding up the plan he’d meant to carry out at that sight was exactly what Seong-ho had wanted.
Seong-ho saw Mun-jong’s satisfied expression, smiled at his lips, and turned his gaze to the teacup that had been thrown and shattered.
Visuals really do work well, as expected.
No one noticed why the teacup had been in a spot where no one was even sitting, and so the emergency meeting in Los Angeles came to a close.
The contents of the meeting Tak-hyeon had emergency-summoned in Los Angeles were urgently wired to Korea.
[We Will Seize Both Quantity and Quality]
[Take the Shock of the Electronics Show as a Lesson]
[Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee Declares He Will Change Ilhyeon Group from the Ground Up]
Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee’s remarks became a huge topic.
The words “seize both quantity and quality” were talk that woke up the heads of people who’d grown stagnant.
Ordinarily, if you took quantity, you had to give up quality.
Thinking you could seize both was something people generally didn’t do.
But Tak-hyeon, using the shock that occurred at the electronics show as a foundation, had presented a direction to advance one step further.
And this direction lit a fire in the hearts of a people shrunken by the severe economic slump, too.
Tak-hyeon’s words — that it could be done, going so far as to fire even the head of the Restructuring Headquarters — became a catchphrase in Korea even though he hadn’t yet returned from America.
Flash flash flash flash.
“Chairman. Just one word, please. You said you’d seize both quantity and quality — what is the concrete plan?”
“Is the rumor true that you’ll move production plants to Vietnam and establish a design center?”
“Has Head Seong-ho Kim really been relieved of his position? Can he not return to the Restructuring Headquarters?”
When Tak-hyeon and the Ilhyeon Group officials arrived at the airport, a great throng of press met them.
Do-beom Hwang blocked the approaching reporters and said,
“We’ll arrange an occasion before long to speak on the details. Everyone, the Chairman included, is tired from the long flight, so we’ll be leaving early — please understand. I’ll say it once more. The details…”
While Do-beom blocked the reporters, Ilhyeon Group staff cleared a path to help Tak-hyeon get into the car.
The car door opened, and before getting in, Tak-hyeon gestured toward Seong-ho.
“You get in here too.”
Tak-hyeon hadn’t called for Seong-ho even once since the meeting ended.
Seeing him call for Seong-ho for the first time, the presidents thought they understood the reason Tak-hyeon had done so.
He must feel sorry.
Tak-hyeon had fired Seong-ho from the Head’s seat in front of everyone just for offering a word of rebuttal.
On top of that, that story had crossed the Pacific and become known all the way in Korea.
It had become something that couldn’t be taken back or overturned.
The presidents, sympathizing with the reason Tak-hyeon had called for Seong-ho, boarded the prepared cars one by one.
And after waiting for Tak-hyeon’s car, which Seong-ho had boarded, to depart, they began to leave the airport in order.
(End of Chapter 165)