"Ten percent of operating profit as performance pay?"

Tak-hyeon Lee lifted his eyes from the proposal with a look of disbelief and gazed up at Do-beom Hwang.

"Yes. He said he would pay out ten percent of the operating profit in excess of the target set at the start of the year."

"Ha. This is…"

Letting out a hollow laugh, Tak-hyeon Lee all but threw the proposal down onto the desk.

Do-beom Hwang, his face tense, asked him carefully:

"What shall we do? Shall I tell him to restrain himself?"

At the question, Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee quietly ordered his thoughts and shook his head.

"No. Leave it. The overall president says he'll do it — should those above press down on him? Let's watch. Besides, it doesn't strike me as a bad idea."

Tak-hyeon Lee pointed a finger at the proposal in front of him and said:

"It amounts to abolishing the bonuses we've been paying and moving to base pay plus performance pay, doesn't it? Good performance and you get performance pay; otherwise you get base pay only."

Lowering the finger to tap at the proposal, Tak-hyeon Lee went on.

"They say a bonus is money that's welcome if it comes and can't be helped if it doesn't — but has it ever actually worked that way? The mood of society now is that a bonus is treated as money that must be paid unconditionally. Money that has to be handed over even when the company is struggling. Which has meant it also serves to tighten the noose around a company's windpipe."

"That… is quite right."

"How much do we pay?"

Do-beom Hwang recalled Ilhyeon Electronics' bonus ratio for a moment and answered.

"In Ilhyeon Electronics' case, twelve hundred percent is set aside as bonus."

"So that amounts to paying out as much again in bonuses as the base pay, doesn't it? If base pay is one million won, the money actually disbursed is two million."

"Correct."

"And if we change that to base pay of one million five hundred thousand plus performance pay, the company can cut wages…