The Giant's Empty Seat
"Hmm." Kim Kwang-il's deliberation stretched on. The silence between them easily surpassed a minute. Yoo Jae-won found the wait mildly frustrating but made no move to hurry him. Objectively, the director position at ID Group offered far superior treatment compared to Cheong Wa Dae or Mirae Group. The base salary alone exceeded one billion won, complete with a personal secretary, a dedicated driver, and a private office on an upper floor of the ID Global Headquarters Building, plus a separate budget for business expenses. Yoo Jae-won saw no need to spell out these details. ID Group's lavish compensation packages were already legendary; repeating them would have been redundant. Kim Kwang-il's hesitation, then, had nothing to do with money. It stemmed from unfinished personal matters or intangible values Yoo Jae-won had yet to identify.
"Ah, my apologies. I've been keeping the chairman waiting when every second of his time is precious." When the silence approached three minutes, Kim Kwang-il glanced at his watch, startled, and finally spoke.
"I am deeply grateful for your generous offer, sir." The moment Yoo Jae-won heard the opening line, he had to school his expression. He could already see where the conversation was headed and needed to mask his disappointment. Still, Korean required listening to the end.
"There are still a few matters I haven't brought to a proper close." Kim Kwang-il's tenure at Cheong Wa Dae had already ended, and his position at Mirae Group was being wound down, yet no official dismissal procedures had been completed for either. He felt no attachment to Cheong Wa Dae without Jeon Myeong-heon, but Mirae Group still held a piece of his heart. Above all, there were the final words left by Jeon Myeong-heon, the man who had been a beacon in Kim Kwang-il's life. He needed to leave Cheong Wa Dae first, then pay one last visit to Mirae Group.
"Then go and close them. The Communications Director position will remain open for you." Yoo Jae-won spoke as though he could wait indefinitely, and every word was sincere.
"Thank you for your consideration." Kim Kwang-il expressed his gratitude. Any other chaebol family head he knew would have erupted in anger at this point or declared there would be no second offer. As expected, Yoo Jae-won was different. With Yoo Jae-won as his new ally, Kim Kwang-il began tidying up his affairs with greater speed.
The next day, the three Jeon brothers gathered for the first time in years inside a mansion in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Jeon Jae-gu, Jeon Jae-geun, and Jeon Jae-jun. Despite the rare reunion, the atmosphere was far from warm. The purpose of the meeting was to confirm Jeon Myeong-heon's will.
"He urged you to live in harmony and warned that he would never forgive any discord among you." Kim Kwang-il was the first to speak. Because the instructions had been given verbally, he delivered them in person. Predictably, none of the brothers took the words to heart. Had Jeon Myeong-heon issued the same warning while alive, their reactions would have been entirely different. They would at least have pretended to listen. Now they merely waited for the real inheritance details.
Kim Kwang-il clicked his tongue inwardly at their indifference and turned to the lawyer who had accompanied him. The man had long provided personal legal services to Jeon Myeong-heon alongside Kim Kwang-il.
"I will now explain the division of assets." At the mention of the main topic, even the brothers' expressions shifted slightly. The lawyer retrieved an iWorks laptop from his bag, placed it on the table, and opened it so all three could see the screen.
"What is this?" The brothers were visibly taken aback. They had expected a paper will, just like the first one. Jeon Jae-gu, chairman of Mirae Construction, voiced their collective confusion.
"The chairman left a second will in multimedia format," the lawyer replied, producing a CD from his bag. "It contains a video recording he made himself along with the asset distribution plan. Please examine the seal to confirm it remains intact."
He handed the CD to Jeon Jae-gu first. Caught off guard, Jeon Jae-gu turned it over and inspected it with sharp eyes. A paper seal was firmly affixed to the opening of the transparent case, bearing Jeon Myeong-heon's unmistakable signature and the date—November of the previous year. While the contents inside could be problematic, swapping the disc while preserving the signed seal appeared impossible. After scrutinizing the CD like a counterfeit bill examiner, Jeon Jae-gu passed it to his brothers. They examined it just as carefully before returning it to the lawyer.
"I will open it now. If anyone objects, speak now. No objections?" After waiting exactly three seconds, the lawyer carefully removed the seal and extracted the disc with minimal tearing, as though performing microsurgery. He inserted it into the already-booted iWorks. With a soft whir reminiscent of an airplane taking off, the disc was recognized, and a CD-ROM icon appeared on the desktop. Clicking it opened the file manager, revealing two files: one video and one ID spreadsheet.
The lawyer clicked the video file first. The media player launched smoothly, and the screen filled with footage. The empty desk in the Cheong Wa Dae office appeared first. Then Jeon Myeong-heon, dressed in slacks and a shirt, sat down, spoke briefly with someone off-camera, and turned to address the lens directly.
"It's your father. By the time you watch this, I will no longer be in this world."
At the sound of Jeon Myeong-heon's voice, the brothers' eyes immediately reddened. They were currently locked in a power struggle over an enormous inheritance unimaginable to ordinary families, yet the Jeon household of Mirae Group was known for its unusually strong familial bonds compared to other chaebol clans. The moment of emotion was brief, however.
"As I have said before, I have no intention of handing the entire group to any single child."
Having learned directness from Yoo Jae-won, Jeon Myeong-heon cut straight to the point. Tension among the seated brothers spiked instantly. The assurance that Mirae Group would not be concentrated in one person's hands brought relief to Jeon Jae-geun and Jeon Jae-jun, while Jeon Jae-gu had to swallow his disappointment in silence.
"Then let us begin. Listen carefully. I will accept no objections."
Regardless of the brothers' differing reactions, the Jeon Myeong-heon on screen poured out his instructions like a storm. The three men sat frozen, eyes and ears wide open, unable to move until the video ended.
"To Jae-gu, I leave Mirae Construction and Heavy Industries."
The distribution began in earnest with Jeon Jae-gu. The process took thirty minutes. The video's length was a testament to Mirae Group's status as Korea's top chaebol in 1999—not merely by media ranking, but by the authoritative annual list published by the Fair Trade Commission, which also determined protocol at presidential meetings with business leaders. ID Group was absent from that ranking due to its unique structure; the majority of its incorporated entities were registered directly in the United States. Nevertheless, Mirae Group was an immense conglomerate, and Jeon Myeong-heon had meticulously divided even its smallest subsidiaries, extending the recording accordingly. Several subsidiary names mentioned were unknown even to the brothers, underscoring the vast scale of the empire. With the division of inheritance, the chaebol rankings were certain to shift. Ilsung Group, now unified, would reclaim the top spot, while the fragmented Mirae Group would occupy positions between second and tenth.
The largest share went to the second son, Jeon Jae-gu, who received Mirae Construction Group. All heavy industry affiliates previously under Mirae Construction were added to his portfolio, along with Mirae Electronics and its related companies—44 percent of the entire Mirae Group. Jeon Myeong-heon's favoritism was unmistakable.
Jeon Jae-geun received the automobile group he had originally managed, plus Mirae Distribution, which oversaw the group's retail networks, and the financial arms Mirae Securities and Mirae Insurance. When the screen Jeon Myeong-heon declared, "This is as far as Jae-geun's share goes," Jeon Jae-geun could not hide his dissatisfaction. He had expected at least Mirae Electronics, but that had gone to his elder brother, shrinking his own portion considerably. Still, disappointment was premature. Compared to the youngest, Jeon Jae-jun, Jeon Jae-geun had fared better.
"To Jae-jun, I leave the department store group."
For the disfavored youngest son, the department stores were the end of it. Even so, Mirae Department Store Group encompassed more than a single chain; it included over ten subsidiaries. There was Mirae Home Shopping, which had secured prime cable television channels, Mirae Media, a cable TV operator, a water purifier rental company, and an interior design firm. Yet these were modest compared to his brothers' holdings. Anticipating Jeon Jae-jun's disappointment, the Jeon Myeong-heon on screen added one final line.
"Ah, and I also bequeath my electoral district to Jae-jun."
Jeon Jae-jun's expression did not brighten. Being a National Assembly member was not undesirable, but it paled beside owning a major corporation. At best, one could argue he had inherited the Tongil National Party founded by Jeon Myeong-heon, yet that party had another major shareholder—Yoo Jae-won. Few assembly members within the party had won their seats without Yoo Jae-won's support. The situation was awkward at best. Given Yoo Jae-won's unassailable position, Jeon Jae-jun's political inheritance was realistically limited to a single district in Ulsan.
Jeon Jae-jun stared intently at the iWorks screen, hoping for more. But Jeon Myeong-heon's will had concluded.
"What? Is that everything?" Jeon Jae-jun looked genuinely shocked that it had ended so abruptly. Kim Kwang-il found the reaction rather amusing. The department store group alone generated hundreds of billions of won in annual revenue, and Jeon Myeong-heon's electoral district was a rock-solid political stronghold. It was an inheritance most people could never even dream of, yet Jeon Jae-jun still found it insufficient. Kim Kwang-il's disappointment grew.
Then Jeon Jae-gu spoke. "What about Asan? There was no mention of Asan."
"Ah, Asan! There was Asan as well." Only then did Jeon Jae-jun realize the omission.
Asan was a recently established corporation within Mirae Group, created to manage the Mount Kumgang tourism business and the development of North Korean mineral resources. While Mount Kumgang tourism was relatively small in scale, its symbolic value as an inter-Korean cooperation project was immense. North Korean resource development, meanwhile, was a highly lucrative venture. Kim Il-sung had even left instructions prioritizing Mirae Group for North Korean development projects, which was why Asan had been selected. Yet the video will had made no reference to it.
"I received separate instructions regarding Asan," Kim Kwang-il said, producing a document bearing Jeon Myeong-heon's clear signature. It specified that Asan's shares were to be divided equally at 30 percent each among the three brothers.
"Then what about the remaining 10 percent?" Jeon Jae-jun, quick with numbers, pressed further.
"The chairman instructed that it be distributed among the founding members," Kim Kwang-il replied. Though he said "employees," the brothers understood he meant the inner circle of loyalists. Besides Kim Kwang-il himself, the presidents of Mirae Group's various companies belonged to the founding generation that had served Jeon Myeong-heon for decades.
"Hmm. And our illustrious nephew receives nothing?" Jeon Jae-gu asked, his tone laced with irony. If Yoo Jae-won was close enough to call Jeon Myeong-heon "grandfather," then to the brothers he was a nephew—though the term now carried far more weight than it once had.
"I understand something was sent separately to ID Group Chairman Yoo Jae-won," the lawyer answered. The brothers' expressions showed clear curiosity about what that "something" might be.
"Is there anything else you wish to know?" Having finished presenting the inheritance details, the lawyer posed his final question. Though they were curious about Yoo Jae-won's share, their own settlements took priority for now. On paper, Jeon Jae-gu had received the most, yet it still fell short of satisfying the ambitions harbored by all three.
"Then I will take my leave." The lawyer, sensing trouble brewing, attempted a hasty exit. Kim Kwang-il felt the same; he had no desire to witness the brothers' inevitable squabbling and rose to go.
"Chief of Staff, do you have urgent business? If not, why not stay a little longer?" Jeon Jae-jun caught him. The other two brothers also appeared to have matters to discuss. The lawyer offered a quick bow and departed, leaving Kim Kwang-il to resume his seat.
"Well, what is it?" Kim Kwang-il asked once they were settled again. Given his age and experience, he could comfortably use informal speech with the brothers, and they did not object. They cut straight to the point.
"Chief of Staff, you left something out, didn't you? The safes. For example, the one at LK Bank."
As expected, Jeon Jae-jun knew about the safes. When the video will ended without any mention of them, he had grown suspicious and now confronted Kim Kwang-il directly.