With Mun-jong Lee and the others gone, along with Seong-ho Kim, the study fell quiet.

Tak-hyeon Lee was discussing what had just happened with Do-beom Hwang.

“The eldest seemed to have come here gritting his teeth, but Kim let it all slide right off him. Isn’t that something?”

“I… wonder if Director Kim didn’t make an overly reckless promise.”

“You mean about doubling revenue?”

Do-beom Hwang nodded at Tak-hyeon Lee’s words and answered,

“Yes. Doubling revenue… seems like an awfully far-fetched number to me.”

Convinced no matter how he thought about it that Seong-ho Kim had overreached under Mun-jong Lee’s pressure, Do-beom Hwang asked Tak-hyeon Lee cautiously,

“What do you intend to do if Director Kim fails to achieve it?”

Tak-hyeon Lee smiled faintly and said,

“Didn’t I say we’d discuss that when the time comes?”

“You’ve already thought it through, haven’t you?”

Having served Tak-hyeon Lee for so long, Do-beom Hwang knew he’d already worked out everything on the matter.

And as Do-beom Hwang suspected, Tak-hyeon Lee had indeed already decided what to do about Seong-ho Kim.

“What is there to think through? Obviously, he’d have to step down and be cast out.”

“Is that really… necessary?”

“Of course.”

The smile on Tak-hyeon Lee’s face hardened.

“I agree with Mun-jong on this. What is restructuring, after all? It’s a seat you’re placed in to lance a company’s boils. If you tell someone to lance a boil and they kill the patient instead, of course they should be punished for it.”

“Even so, he was trying his hardest — it’s not as though he did it deliberately, is it?”

“Does it matter whether there’s room for leniency, when the patient’s already dead? Good intentions have their limits too. If the company’s already dead, good intentions mean nothing. Don’t you agree?”

“That’s…”

Do-beom Hwang was about to say isn’t that a bit much, but held his tongue.

He knew Tak-hyeon Lee’s character too well — dazzling as Seong-ho Kim’s accomplishments so far had been, Tak-hyeon Lee wouldn’t forgive even a single failure.

“Then what if… he really does double revenue? What will you give him?”

“Hmm, if he succeeds…”

Tak-hyeon Lee’s mouth twitched, apparently pleased just thinking about it.

“Then I suppose I’d have to give him the hotel president’s seat.”

“Sorry? You’d really give him the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat?”

Do-beom Hwang asked Tak-hyeon Lee with a startled expression.

Ilhyeon Hotel was in an entirely different weight class from Ilhyeon Watch, which had been offered before.

Loss-ridden and poorly managed as it was, it was one of the few domestic five-star hotels, and the Ilhyeon name gave it a level of brand recognition arguably unmatched in the country.

The gap between it and Ilhyeon Watch was like night and day, so hearing that its president’s seat might be handed over was genuinely shocking.

“Isn’t this… a bit fast? He’s barely had the director title for any time at all… jumping straight to the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s chair could stir up talk.”

“He jumped straight from assistant manager to director too — what does it matter?”

“Even so, Mun-jong and the others could raise objections over the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat. Jeong-eun, Vice-President Cha, and Chang-jong in particular are certain to speak up loudly. And Madam won’t stay quiet either. Chairman, so about the president’s seat…”

As Do-beom Hwang was about to ask him to reconsider, Tak-hyeon Lee raised a hand.

It was a gesture that made clear he wouldn’t tolerate any other opinion.

Do-beom Hwang thought that even if Ilhyeon Hotel doubled its revenue and normalized, it would still be thrown into considerable turmoil for a while.

However absolute Tak-hyeon Lee’s power might be, seating Seong-ho Kim as Ilhyeon Hotel’s president was bound to provoke fierce backlash from those around him.

Do-beom Hwang shook his head, thinking that whether Seong-ho Kim kept his promise or not, a difficult road lay ahead of him either way.

But contrary to Do-beom Hwang’s worries, everything unfolded exactly as Seong-ho Kim had anticipated.

While Tak-hyeon Lee and Do-beom Hwang were talking, up in Seong-ho Kim’s room, the conversation had also turned to Ilhyeon Hotel.

“Seong-ho. Are you really all right?”

“Of course I’m fine. Are you worried?”

“Of course I’m worried.”

Gyeong-eun Lee came over to sit beside Seong-ho Kim, perched on the edge of the bed, and recalled the conversation from the study a moment ago.

“Ilhyeon Hotel. Do you really have a way to double its revenue?”

Seong-ho Kim smiled gently at her question and whispered in her ear,

“Of course I do. So there’s no need for you to worry at all, Gyeong-eun.”

“What is this method, then?”

“Aw, it wouldn’t be any fun if I just told you. Just wait and see. I’ll bring in results even bigger than double.”

Knowing Seong-ho Kim as she did, Gyeong-eun Lee understood he wasn’t the type to say such things idly, and figured he really must have some method in mind.

But unable to shake her worry entirely, she asked once more,

“You really have a method, right?”

“Yes. So please don’t worry too much, Gyeong-eun.”

Seong-ho Kim lightly ran his hand over the leather diary sitting beside him.

‘Because it’s all written down in here.’

Naturally, the diary — which held everything from his past life — contained information about Ilhyeon Hotel as well.

Which was why Seong-ho Kim could speak so confidently about doubling revenue.

If anything, the doubled revenue he’d mentioned was an extremely conservative target.

In his past life, using the methods written in the diary, Ilhyeon Hotel’s revenue had grown to more than quadruple.

But unable to explain any of this, Seong-ho Kim kept the reason to himself and steered the conversation elsewhere.

“Gyeong-eun, more importantly — aren’t you tired of staying home all the time?”

“What do you mean by that? Tired of staying home?”

At Gyeong-eun Lee’s puzzled question, Seong-ho Kim spoke as though he already knew everything.

“I know the reason you don’t go to work is because of me.”

“Seong-ho…”

Startled by the sudden remark, Gyeong-eun Lee’s expression showed her surprise.

Seong-ho Kim spoke to her in a calm voice.

“You quit working because of my pride, didn’t you? Gyeong-eun. Now that I’ve got a director’s title, you don’t need to do that anymore.”

“I just… like staying home and relaxing. Really.”

Hesitating for a moment, Gyeong-eun Lee waved a hand, denying it.

But Seong-ho Kim knew exactly why she’d quit her job.

‘Back then, I actually believed that lie.’

In his past life, he’d genuinely believed Gyeong-eun Lee had quit simply because she wanted to enjoy herself.

Being the youngest daughter of a wealthy family — and not just any wealthy family, but the largest company in Korea — he’d assumed she preferred leisure to work and had quit for that reason.

He’d even thought that marriage had given her a convenient excuse to quit, and that she was probably glad of it.

But he hadn’t learned the truth until the moment she died.

Seong-ho Kim looked at Gyeong-eun Lee quietly and said,

“I know you quit ahead of time because you knew my pride would suffer if you stayed on at the company. You don’t have to lie about it.”

“Seong-ho. That’s not…”

“Thank you. I only learned far too late just how much you cared about me, to go that far.”

Seong-ho Kim expressed his gratitude both to the Gyeong-eun Lee before him now and to the one from his past life.

Gyeong-eun Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim, head bowed, with an embarrassed expression.

Just as Seong-ho Kim had said, the reason Gyeong-eun Lee had quit her job was indeed because of him.

Seong-ho Kim had come into the household as a live-in son-in-law at a time when the family’s power balance leaned heavily to one side.

If, on top of that, his start date had come late and Gyeong-eun Lee held a higher position than him, it would surely have made him look even more pathetic in other people’s eyes.

Even before the wedding, he’d already heard blunt remarks about what kind of man would become a live-in son-in-law.

In a situation like that, Gyeong-eun Lee could easily imagine what people would say if he remained at the same company holding a lower rank than his own wife.

So she’d quit her job without hesitation the moment they married.

Because to her, Seong-ho Kim mattered more than her career.

Even feeling embarrassed, Gyeong-eun Lee felt a sense of pride that Seong-ho Kim recognized what she’d done.

When Seong-ho Kim lifted his bowed head and looked at her, she smiled brightly and said,

“Still, I don’t regret my choice at all. And watching you do so well gives me a kind of vicarious satisfaction, so I really am fine. I’m very happy with my life as it is now.”

Gyeong-eun Lee was genuinely delighted that things were going well for Seong-ho Kim.

Which was why she had no regrets whatsoever about her choice to quit.

Seong-ho Kim smiled at her and said,

“Then rest for one more year… just one more year, and come back.”

“Sorry? Rest one more year and come back?”

“Yes. As president of Ilhyeon Hotel.”

Gyeong-eun Lee looked at Seong-ho Kim with a startled expression at his unexpected words.

It wasn’t simply that he’d suggested she return to work — it was that he’d said she should return as president of Ilhyeon Hotel that shocked her.

“Over the next year, I’ll get the hotel in good enough shape for you to come back to comfortably. So come back to the company as president of Ilhyeon Hotel a year from now.”

“Seong-ho. What… what are you saying? President of Ilhyeon Hotel? How could I possibly… become president of Ilhyeon Hotel?”

Gyeong-eun Lee had held the rank of department head even when she quit.

Reaching department head at such a young age had only been possible because her father was chairman.

But no matter that her father was chairman, department head had been her ceiling.

Without a solid, undeniable achievement like Seong-ho Kim’s, becoming an executive would have required more time.

And yet he was telling her to come back not merely as an executive, but as president of Ilhyeon Hotel — Gyeong-eun Lee couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

But Seong-ho Kim had good reason for thinking this way.

“Once I double Ilhyeon Hotel’s revenue this time, the chairman is going to urge me to take the president’s seat.”

“They’ll offer you the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat?”

Thinking it over for a moment, Gyeong-eun Lee clapped her hands and said,

“Father would definitely do that. Cleaning up a loss-ridden company and doubling its revenue on top of it gives more than enough justification — no one would be able to say anything against it.”

Seong-ho Kim, watching Gyeong-eun Lee — who still didn’t fully understand what her siblings were really like — smiled and said,

“But I don’t want the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat.”

“Sorry? You don’t want the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat?”

Gyeong-eun Lee spoke in a voice even more startled than she had at the news that Tak-hyeon Lee might offer him the position.

“Seong-ho. It’s not just any position — it’s Ilhyeon Hotel. Not even my sister or my youngest brother has ever sat in an affiliate president’s chair. Why would you turn that down?”

“Because I’m better suited to Strategic Planning than to being an affiliate president.”

Seong-ho Kim said this with a smile, but hearing it, Gyeong-eun Lee wore a pained expression.

“Seong-ho, you don’t need to worry about their feelings that much. If Father offers it, it’s because he has good reason to, so you can accept it. Even my brothers and sister wouldn’t be able to say anything against Father’s decision.”

Seong-ho Kim looked at Gyeong-eun Lee, thoroughly misunderstanding the situation, and thought to himself, smiling without a word,

‘It’s precisely because of those brothers and sister of yours that I’m doing this.’

He was refusing the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat precisely because he anticipated that Mun-jong Lee and Gyeong-eun Lee’s other siblings wouldn’t simply let it go.

Of course, that wasn’t the entire reason.

Going forward, to carry out his revenge for his past life and devour the great prize that was the Ilhyeon Group, he couldn’t afford to stay tied down in one place.

He needed to remain unrestricted in his movements, which was another reason he wanted to decline the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat.

But that didn’t mean he intended to completely dismiss such a mouthwatering offer either.

‘For the future, I need to build up Gyeong-eun’s power too.’

To seize control of the Ilhyeon Group by putting Gyeong-eun Lee forward, he needed to raise her standing, and the Ilhyeon Hotel president’s seat was perfectly suited for exactly that purpose.

Keeping most of his plan hidden, Seong-ho Kim offered Gyeong-eun Lee only the smallest sliver of a reason.

“Ever since we got married, I’ve been running nonstop trying to earn recognition. Suddenly assigned to Strategic Planning, then Ilhyeon Watch, then Ilhyeon Hotel… I’d like to catch my breath for a moment.”

At Seong-ho Kim’s words about catching his breath, Gyeong-eun Lee’s heart grew heavy.

Because she knew better than anyone how uncomfortable Seong-ho Kim found living at Pyeongchang-dong.

Seeing her nod at his words, Seong-ho Kim smiled and said,

“And besides, I’m not suited to hotels. A hotel suits you far better, Gyeong-eun.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course.”

With Seong-ho Kim saying this much, Gyeong-eun Lee’s heart seemed to lean slightly toward the idea.

Picturing herself seated as president of Ilhyeon Hotel, a smile rose to her face on its own.

Watching her, Seong-ho Kim smiled quietly.

Then he turned his gaze to the leather diary lying beside him and began thinking through the method for raising Ilhyeon Hotel’s revenue.

(End of Chapter 43)