Clap, clap, clap, clap..

"Congratulations."

"Vice-Chairman. Congratulations."

The staff took as much joy in Seong-ho Kim's promotion to Vice-Chairman as if it were their own.

"Vice-Chairman. My sincerest congratulations."

Dae-hwang Jin, Sector Head of the Devices Sector, offered Seong-ho Kim his congratulations.

After him came Yong-gyun Shin, Ji-jung Choi, Un-ho Jeong and the rest, congratulating him with real feeling.

Seong-ho Kim raised a hand for a moment toward the Sector Heads and the staff applauding behind them, and spoke.

"Ilhyeon Electronics' independence is going to grow stronger still. You could say the ground now exists for us to judge and decide for ourselves. But I'd ask you to keep in mind that our responsibility has grown by exactly as much. From here on there is nowhere behind us to prop us up or lend us a hand."

The staff answered him with applause that said they would follow his intentions entirely.

Seong-ho Kim waved them a greeting, signaled Sector Head Dae-hwang Jin to follow him in, and went inside.

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

Once Seong-ho Kim was out of sight, the staff began to disperse.

"Vice-Chairman, of all things…"

"Why so struck by it now? It's not as if you didn't know."

"I know. I know, but… a fresh rush of feeling, I suppose you'd call it. Vice-Chairman, of all things…"

Assistant Manager Yun, heading back to the office after all that applauding, wore a moved expression.

Watching him from beside him, Assistant Manager Choi let a laugh slip and said,

"Anyone watching would think you'd been made Vice-Chairman."

"That's about half how it feels."

To a remark thrown out as a joke, Assistant Manager Yun answered in earnest.

"Whatever our size and our results, the rating we get inside the group has always sat below Construction and Motors."

"That much is true."

Assistant Manager Choi nodded, then said,

"Construction was the group's beginning and Motors was its leap, so Electronics, with a shorter history than either, got treated a bit… like that."

"Right. Which is why, bigger as we are than Construction and Motors in company size, we always…