RR 35
[035] Mine 2.
“It’s fine. He’s okay. Everyone, out.”
The secretaries released President Jo Dae-ho’s arm and bowed.
“Oh, and please prepare some coffee.”
President Song said towards the closing door.
President Song, after seating President Jo Dae-ho, who was lingering at the entrance, on the sofa, offered an awkward smile.
“I apologize. I’ve been so distracted lately.”
“Not at all, Chairman. I also read the newspaper. It’s my fault for showing up unannounced.”
“When was the last time we saw each other?”
“Two years ago, at the Automobile Association dinner meeting.”
“Ah! That’s right. I saw you when we were getting shaken down for association donations.”
The rigid expressions on both their faces softened.
“How have you been lately? I heard you gave up your position as president of Sunyang Motors.”
“I’m keeping busy with odd jobs at a packaging factory.”
“A packaging factory?”
He had heard that Jo Dae-ho had been relegated to a minor position, but he never imagined it would be an exile.
President Song frowned.
“Chairman Jin is going too far. Considering his position within the group… it’s too much.”
Rising to the position of president of Sunyang Motors meant dedicating one’s entire life to Sunyang. He hadn’t ruined the company, yet he was expelled to a hole-in-the-wall shop whose existence was unknown, merely because his pride was hurt.
President Song once again witnessed Chairman Jin’s ruthless side.
“Alright, what’s the reason for your sudden visit? It must be because of this, right?”
President Song shook the newspaper he was holding, and President Jo Dae-ho nodded.
“Is this Chairman Jin’s doing?”
“Probably.”
“Why? To swallow Ajin Motors?”
“Possibly.”
The media, Yeouido (the political district), and the Blue House could all turn their backs on him. Chairman Jin’s influence was certainly enough to make that happen.
“Why the sudden greed?”
“Fighting and winning is not only tiring but also takes a long time. He simply chose the path of winning without fighting. Just as he always has.”
President Song looked intently at President Jo Dae-ho and asked.
“What’s your reason for coming? An exiled subordinate wouldn’t bring an imperial decree… Is it a defection?”
“Isn’t it obvious why a salaried man would suddenly show up on a day like today? I thought today would be the most suitable day to ask for a job.”
“We don’t plan to hire experienced employees… What should we do about that?”
President Song waved the newspaper like a fan.
“When you’re desperate, you even borrow from loan sharks, so hiring outside of the plan isn’t a difficult thing, is it?”
“You’ve become quite brazen, our President Jo. Haha.”
“When you’re starving, all etiquette and pride disappear. It’s shameful, but true.”
“An experienced employee should have something useful in hand, but what does President Jo have?”
“I’m the one who laid the cement for the Sunyang Motors factory. I also signed the joint venture agreement for the assembly line with my own hands.”
“If that’s all, I’m disappointed. We have many engineers too.”
“At Chairman Jin’s command, I got my hands dirty with soil, blood, and even excrement. If I clean it all off and throw it back at Chairman Jin… Sunyang Group will be in a daze for a year just trying to take a shower.”
“It seems our President Jo intends to wash away even the smell of glue from the packaging factory with this opportunity.”
President Jo Dae-ho rubbed his hands together and smiled gently.
“Is my resume satisfactory enough?”
“The resume is good, but I’m not sure if there’s a position that suits President Jo’s wishes.”
“President of Ajin Motors is the Chairman’s right-hand man… So Vice President would be more than enough. And a salary comparable to the president of Sunyang Motors would satisfy me.”
As President Song rose from the sofa, President Jo Dae-ho also quickly stood up.
“Is President Jo going back home?”
“I will pay my respects to my ancestors.”
“Then we’ll talk again after you return from your hometown. Have a relaxing break.”
Jo Dae-ho bowed and left the chairman’s office with a smile.
Left alone, President Song Hyun-chang let out a long sigh and sank into his chair.
He lit a cigarette, the first in a long time. He needed to do a lot of thinking.
“I never liked that bastard from way back… I just can’t bring myself to like him, even now.”
Muttering to himself, President Song called all the automobile executives through his secretary.
The executives, who rushed over in a flurry, initially erupted in outrage upon hearing President Song’s explanation, and after calming down, opinions were divided.
“If it’s Sunyang, they’ll push through with their financial power. We need to start acquiring shares to defend our management rights.”
“Where will we get the funds to buy shares?”
“We’ll look into loans as much as possible, using our shares as collateral.”
“That’s right. We’ll get bank loans and some quick cash, and use that money to shake up the stock market. If the stock price goes up, Sunyang will hesitate too.”
Opinions were divided, but there was no strong countermeasure. Even after a bloody fight, they couldn’t be confident of the outcome.
President Song presented the executives with an even more difficult problem.
“Look at the media now. Today is just the beginning. They’ll try to shake me up, won’t they? If they persistently question my morality, a summons from the prosecution is an obvious outcome.”
No one is so clean that they don’t have dust when shaken. A chairman of a large corporation under a professional management system has lived covered in dust.
If just one prosecutor blows on him, an indictment would be as easy as pie.
“Why are you silent? Is it okay if the company is protected but I get arrested?”
“How could that be? No, Chairman!”
All the executives waved their hands and jumped up. Seeing their reaction, President Song chuckled and threw out another piece of information.
“I understand your true feelings enough, so that’s enough. Actually, there’s another reason I called you all here. Jo Dae-ho came by. Do you remember him? The guy who used to be the president of Sunyang Motors?”
“Why did Jo Dae-ho…?”
“He asked for a position. Said he’d be thankful for a Vice President position at Ajin Motors.”
Vice President. This position is like two sides of a coin. Either a strong candidate for the next president, or a scarecrow who just occupies a spot. It’s one or the other.
But the Vice President position Jo Dae-ho mentioned now was a scarecrow position, just for taking money.
The executives welcomed him with open arms.
“That’s a godsend! If it’s Jo Dae-ho, he was Sunyang’s loyal dog and Chairman Jin’s close aide. He must know all of Sunyang’s irregularities inside out. If Sunyang knows that Jo Dae-ho has become one of us, they won’t dare to act rashly.”
“If they come at us to shake out dust from each other, Sunyang will have many times more dust than us, so they’ll retreat.”
Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as a way to stop the enemy’s attack emerged. If the enemy’s attack stopped, they could quickly release funds and solidify their management rights.
“You just said Jo Dae-ho was Sunyang’s loyal dog, didn’t you? A dog doesn’t change its owner. Why do you think Jo Dae-ho is on our side?”
At President Song’s words, all the executives were speechless again, as if they had swallowed honey.
It was none other than the Trojans who dragged the wooden horse left by the Greek army inside their city.
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A Grandfather’s Lesson
“Our Do-jun, why are you so quiet?”
“Oh, no, I’m not.”
My quick-witted grandfather had already noticed my discomfort.
“Are you already going through puberty?”
“What?”
“Are you hiding things from your grandpa now? I’m a bit disappointed, hehe.”
They say that when you get old, you feel disappointment even in small things. Though he was smiling, a dark shadow passed over his face.
Since it had come to this, I might as well subtly ask.
“Today’s newspaper… It was just so loud…”
“Ajin Motors?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Is something strange?”
“Hmm… It’s always been like this. Whenever a story about our Sunyang Group came out in the newspaper, you, Grandpa, would get angry, asking whose doing it was and demanding they find them.”
“That’s right. You remember.”
“Yes.”
Chairman Jin took my hand and sat me beside him, slowly beginning to teach.
“Do-jun. How do newspaper companies make money?”
“Through advertising, aren’t they?”
My grandfather snapped his fingers.
“That’s right, everyone thinks that. But newspaper companies make money by selling letters.”
“Letters? Articles?”
“Yes. Do you know how many characters are on one page of a newspaper?”
“No.”
“Usually about five thousand characters. Each and every one of those characters is converted into money.”
Damn it, I asked one question and now I’m going to listen to facts I already know for a long time. But I had to pretend to be hearing new information, my eyes sparkling.
“I see.”
“On the surface, articles that seem to have nothing to do with money, for example, traffic congestion in Seoul, become justification for expanding road construction in the responsible area. Who makes money from this article?”
“The civil engineering company that does the road construction?”
“Yes. You know well. Haha.”
My grandfather stroked my head, proud of my quick wit. And for a long time, he used various examples to explain how to read the true nature of an article.
When would he finally satisfy my curiosity?
“So, the Ajin Motors article is for whom?”
“A competitor who wants Ajin Motors to be severely shaken, perhaps?”
“Daehyun Motors… or Grandpa?”
Chairman Jin’s hand again stroked my head.
From that touch, I was convinced that the articles attacking Ajin Motors were my grandfather’s work.
Oh, for crying out loud.
To think that my grandfather would target my company, which I had already laid claim to so early!
My mind was a mess.
Is there a way for it to go into Grandpa’s hands and then back into mine? If that’s possible, it would be like getting something for nothing…
Wait!
Perhaps this whole situation is also something that happened in my past life, but I just don’t remember it?
Ajin was definitely swallowed by Daehyun Motors.
If that’s the case, then it’s obvious that what Grandpa is doing now will fail.
When you don’t know how things will unfold, you need to find a way to make them go in the direction you know, as quickly as possible..
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A Family Gathering and a Revelation
When money abounds, even ancestor worship is done with money.
The holiday syndrome that Korean daughters-in-law complain about is hard to find in this family.
Three or four chefs and a dozen assistant cooks occupied the kitchen, preparing all the food to be placed on the ancestral table.
The family members chatted while preparing the ancestral rites, and the ceremony ended with just a few bows.
Breakfast was served at two large tables. The chairman and his children, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law sat at one table. And the grandchildren occupied the other.
I sat closest to the adults’ table, straining my ears.
“Oh, Yoon-gi. You said the movie you made opened yesterday, right? How is it? The box office results?”
Everyone was curious, but the second son cautiously asked what they couldn’t ask due to Chairman Jin’s presence.
“Ah, Dong-gi hyung. Not bad. One is fully booked, and the other… is half-booked.”
“Oh! That’s amazing, little brother. It’s your first work, and you’ve succeeded?”
“It’s just the first day. You never know until it’s off the marquee.”
My father’s voice sounded like he was complaining, but his expression was different. Seeing that he couldn’t hide his smile, it seemed he wouldn’t be losing money at least.
What was funny was that Chairman Jin also seemed secretly pleased, as he just ate without saying much.
At this point, a mood-dampening comment was heard.
“Sister-in-law, please get me some more soup.”
Jin Dong-gi’s wife handed my mother her soup bowl.
That woman habitually tries to order my mother around. Everyone else had started being careful after Chairman Jin showed affection for me, but she was still acting out.
I suspected it was due to a complex. She was the only daughter of a rich Gangnam landowner, but her face was quite plain. She was consumed by inferiority and jealousy, throwing herself into conflict.
My father’s face twitched. It seemed he was about to play the part of a husband. Indeed, a man needs to handle external affairs to gain the power to protect his family.
But surprisingly, an unexpected person spoke before my father.
“Second daughter-in-law, would you get me some more soup?”
“Yes?”
“Is the young one deaf already? Go get me some soup!”
At Chairman Jin’s sharp command, the second daughter-in-law turned pale and sprang up. Grandfather had already extended his soup bowl.
The second daughter-in-law rushed to the kitchen and got the soup, but she even spilled some due to her trembling hands.
As Grandfather received the soup bowl and continued eating, the entire house was eerily silent. Only the sound of Grandfather’s spoon could be heard.
It was a moment that settled everything with just one act.
It was also the moment he acknowledged my father as a proper son, and my mother as a proper daughter-in-law.
I was so grateful that it brought tears to my eyes, but I had to go behind my grandfather’s back.
A little, no, tremendously sorry, but I would make sure no one touched what I had already claimed as mine.
Sorry, Grandpa.
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