The Man from the Corridor
"I'm sorry, but... I'm not sure I follow."
Yasumoto, was it? He answered that he had never seen me before. A moment later, though, something seemed to occur to him, and he opened his mouth with care.
"Ah. I'm Zainichi, so I may feel familiar to you..."
Zainichi. A Korean living in Japan.
And right then, those words laid a buried scene out in front of my eyes.
Jenjwaang...
It had been the day I visited Chairman Dazai's house. Passing down that wide corridor, I remembered seeing a man muttering to himself in Korean. We had only brushed past each other. So why had I bothered to remember it? Because I had felt something similar that day. The face had looked familiar enough that I must have greeted him first — and then no name had come to mind at all.
Guess I had the wrong person.
I had probably just turned and walked away. That was why the day had stayed with me, however faintly.
"If you're Zainichi... do you have a Korean name?"
"Yes."
His Korean was clumsy; his mouth worked into an awkward shape.
"Yan... eog... gwaneu."
"Yang Eokgwan?"
"That's correct."
Ha! No wonder he had looked so familiar.
On the off chance, I asked once more.
"And your family register... where is it from?"
"I was told Daegu."
That was him.
The genius of IT startup investing. Japan's greatest tycoon. An early investor in Yahoo and Alibaba, the man who had put capital into X-Pang, the Korean company famous for fast delivery, and the largest shareholder of the semiconductor firm Architecture.
But by now... shouldn't Yang Eokgwan already have been rich? So why wasn't he?
Surely history wouldn't change because of me...
...would it?
It was Hyung Yugeon who was changing. Fine, living in the same house as me, he could be affected. The only thing that tied me to Yang Eokgwan was that I had gone to see Chairman Dazai. Could that really be enough to change history?
I scratched my head.
I don't know!
For now, focus on what was in front of me. I had asked for a professional manager, and Japan's Buffett had shown up and planted himself there. Jackpot, as far as I'm concerned.
So I put on the most innocent face in the world.
"Rather than doing this here, shall we move somewhere else?"
The Hannam-dong Office.
"It's a fine office."
Yang Eokgwan looked around as if the place fascinated him. The scale wasn't anything grand. Even so, students from Seoul National University's College of Fine Arts had put their heads together and done the interior, so the atmosphere was bound to be different.
A little later, looking over the documents he had brought, I said, "You were in the software distribution business."
The same industry, no less. Could there be anyone better suited to take over my work? I could have signed the contract on the spot.
"..."
Honestly, one thing still nagged at me.
What if history really has changed?
What if, by some chance, Yang Eokgwan had changed for the worse? Then I'd be the only one bleeding for it. I shook my head. Right. They say you tap even a stone bridge before you cross it. Money was on the line. If something felt off, the sensible thing was to clear it completely before I went any further.
So I decided to try a simple question.
"Have you ever given any thought to the relationship between Korea and China?"
"Pardon?"
Born in Japan and educated in America, he would know those two countries inside out. Korea and China, by comparison, ought to interest him less. If, even so, he could talk about Korea and China without a hitch, there'd be no reason to doubt his ability.
I went on with confidence. "We're a company based in Korea, so we have no choice but to keep a close eye on China."
A test dressed up as a question. Yang Eokgwan seemed to read the intent; he straightened in his seat at once.
"Korea and China will maintain a good partnership for a certain period."
"A certain period?"
"Until China possesses technology on a level with Korea's."
Hm.
"The moment China decides it has caught up with Korea, it will bolt the door. That's the natural course of things. Every country is the same."
Up to here, it matched the future I had already confirmed, exactly.
"Unless a country becomes irreplaceable, it is eventually dragged along."
"An irreplaceable country would be..."
"The United States is the representative case."
He was right. Even in the days when China would contest hegemony with America, people there would still line up to buy Apple products. The image of being the best that Apple held was something China could not possess.
"How far do you expect China to grow?"
"Economically, far enough to threaten the United States."
"Do you think it could surpass them?"
At that point Yang Eokgwan took a moment to choose his words.
"If several conditions are met, it might even aim for hegemony."
"And those conditions?"
"The first thing that would have to come before anything else is extreme conflict. War, for instance..."
Perhaps he thought the words too dangerous. He paused again, then went on.
"China will have no wish to fight an all-out war with the United States. That is a scenario they aren't considering at all. They would, however, welcome other countries' wars as much as you like. If an oil-producing nation in particular were swept into war and international oil prices began to swing... China would get its chance as well."
A chance.
"At present oil can be traded only in dollars, which is why dollar hegemony holds, isn't it? But if, using a rapidly shifting situation as the excuse, a country such as Saudi Arabia were to start accepting yuan..."
"Dollar hegemony would shake."
"Of course the United States would not simply sit and watch that happen. In any case, if such a day ever comes, Saudi Arabia's standing will rise considerably as well. America and China will both be reaching out, neither of them holding back."
Had this man lived through the future and come back? Otherwise, how could he see what lay ahead so clearly?
"But Korea is not Saudi Arabia. A day is bound to come when it is forced to choose between the United States and China."
"Is balanced diplomacy impossible?"
"If it were Saudi Arabia, it would be possible. Because Saudi Arabia is one of the irreplaceable countries."
Yang Eokgwan's argument was simple. Irreplaceability. America's technology and China's purchasing power could not stand in for each other. That was why, even while they fought over hegemony, they kept dealing with each other under the table.
And a country that could be replaced?
Nothing for it but to be caught between the great powers and beaten from both sides.
A bitter truth, and a cold one. But I decided I had worried about the country enough for now, and turned my attention to the man sitting in front of me. Someone who could see the future clear as day had come to me saying he would run my company.
Excuse me, sir... Rather than stressing yourself out turning your own money over, how about working comfortably at our company? Pleasant days, and nothing to rack your brains over...
I almost laughed. I knew it was an empty hope. Was Chairman Park Yonghak the sort of man who worked under anyone? Yang Eokgwan had the very same temperament as Grandfather. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms terms, he was closer to a sovereign than to a general.
A shame. All I can do is keep a good relationship for as long as we're together.
Then again, by the time I graduated high school I would be retired anyway...
Anyway.
I held out my hand to Yang Eokgwan.
"Chairman Dazai has sent me a remarkable man."
"You mean..."
"I'll be counting on you from here on."
Grandfather stared hard at the proposal Yang Eokgwan had brought.
A system that would cut communications costs by a dramatic margin. A method that automatically found the cheapest line and connected to it. When he had it checked with Hyeon-gang's engineers, the answer that came back was fairly positive: a similar system existed in America, but this one was better in both efficiency and cost.
"If it's that good, why didn't Chairman Dazai invest, then?"
"Well. Maybe his health? He was given a terminal diagnosis once..."
"Japanese money come with a noose on its lifespan, does it?"
Grandfather shook his head as if he simply could not understand. Even so, the résumé was impressive, the specialty was close enough, and the proposal itself was excellent. Above all, the man had been recommended by Chairman Dazai. Even Grandfather would have no grounds to turn him away.
"You talked it over?"
"Yes. Thoroughly."
"And how'd he seem?"
"Not an ordinary man."
"You're handing him your company. Mull it over, and mull it over again..."
Instead of launching into a speech, Grandfather turned his eyes to the window.
"Royal School, you said."
"Yes."
"You sure you gotta go?"
"I want to see a wider world."
"..."
A great full moon hung over the yard. Even without any other light, the pond showed clear.
"Don't get in, then what're you gonna do?"
"Sorry?"
"They say it's hard to get in, don't they. If by some chance you fail — how about the science high school then?"
And after that, take over Hyeon-gang Motors? I groaned. It was not a scenario I liked. But Grandfather had already conceded this far. If I refused him here...!
"All right. If I don't get in, I'll go to the science high school."
Just in case, I left out the part about the cars. Fortunately, Grandfather didn't seem inclined to push it that far.
"When's the school interview?"
"Two months from now."
"Get the handover done properly by then."
"Thank you, Grandfather."
I bowed and slipped out of the study. Before the door shut fast, Grandfather's back, visible through the gap, looked strangely lonely.
If you'd just stop telling me to take over the company... I'd be a filial grandson too!
I steadied myself.
Click.
Quietly, I let go of the handle.
The handover was not particularly difficult. Where work was concerned, Yang Eokgwan's concentration was in a class of its own. He scanned the various figures at speed, sorted them by standards of his own, and produced improvements — the whole process moving through in a single pass.
Which meant I had no choice but to be astonished every time.
Is he human?
Of course, there were plenty of times when Yang Eokgwan was the one who was astonished. Mostly when he checked the company's results.
"The return against investment is beyond anything I could have imagined."
"Is it?"
"You went in at the bottom on most of them, and after that you left profits that don't even make sense. And you still didn't sell. You judged there was still room to grow, didn't you?"
"Something like that."
Even so, there were moments when that same Yang Eokgwan looked puzzled.
"...Hm."
"What is it?"
"Every business is in the black. Exactly one is in the red."
He looked further through the papers.
"Are you investing in football with a long-term view?"
"It's just a hobby."
"A hobby?"
"It's more or less the reason I make money."
"So quite a lot of money goes into blowing off stress."
From the point of view of a money-making machine (?), perhaps it simply would not sit right. Before long, he offered an idea.
"I know it's delicate to say this about your hobby, President..."
"...?"
"I think there may be a way to make money from football, too."
Real-estate profits from acquiring a club? But the thinking of Yang Eokgwan, star lecturer of investment (?), seemed to run in a different direction.
"How about bidding on the broadcast rights?"