A Stolen Song
"Mr. President, Madam, please get in!"
"Mr. Dae-seok, you should be celebrating the New Year too. We're sorry for dragging you into this."
"It's fine. I'm from Seoul, after all. My family celebrates the solar New Year, so there's no problem."
Before his parents climbed into the Grandeur, they apologized to Kim Dae-seok. He waved both hands, insisting it was all right.
They had already visited the main family house that morning. Now they were preparing to head to Kim Mal-sook's childhood home—Yoo Jae-won's maternal grandparents' house.
Unlike his father, who had lost his parents early, Yoo Jae-won's maternal grandparents were still healthy and vigorous. It was an easy place to visit, yet today they had decided to arrive in full force.
Kim Dae-seok, the driver of Car No. 1 who had been resting in Seoul, had driven the Grandeur all the way down to Naeo Village.
His father wore a well-fitted suit, even if it was ready-made, while his mother had on a two-piece outfit beneath a wool coat. They were still young. Dressed in new clothes that suited them, their entire presence had changed. With the Grandeur parked outside, they looked every bit the successful businessman and his wife.
Yoo Jae-won had also traded his usual comfortable casual wear for a proper suit.
In the trunk sat boxes of red ginseng bearing the clear 100-year tradition Jung Kwan Jang mark, a Hanwoo gift set that Yoo Jae-won himself had helped popularize, and bottles of liquor he had bought as souvenirs at a U.S. airport duty-free shop through Choi Kang-wook.
It looked as though they were heading into a business battle, and in a way, they were. Yoo Jae-won had no intention of becoming rich alone. He wanted the people around him—his relatives included—to prosper as well.
The main family and other paternal relatives had not fully cooperated, yet some had followed along and reaped the benefits. The maternal side had not.
The reason was simple. Yoo Jae-won and the main family lived in the same village. Other relatives were scattered throughout Deokjin-ri. They could watch his rise up close and even see the results of what once looked like risky investments. The maternal side, however, lived in Neungseo-myeon, west of Yeoju, while Deokjin-ri lay to the east. The distance made it harder for them to feel the reality of his success.
Yoo Jae-won did not want the maternal family left behind. Especially once capital began its explosive growth in 1989 and 1990, fortunes could diverge within months. Missing that window meant instant dropout in the brutal logic of capitalism. So he had prepared a special measure: his parents' elegant appearance and an overwhelming gift offensive. Seeing the evidence with their own eyes, he reasoned, would at least keep them from refusing outright.
"Seat belts fastened?"
His parents settled into the back seat while Yoo Jae-won took the front passenger seat. Kim Dae-seok climbed in last and checked everyone's belts.
"All right, we're off."
After confirming everything with a glance, he pulled smoothly away. His driving skill was immediately apparent. The road into Neungseo-myeon had not yet been fully paved. Once they left the main road and entered the village, the lane narrowed, yet he guided the car expertly straight into the maternal grandparents' yard.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
The first to greet them was Nureong, the yellow dog. Yoo Jae-won remembered seeing the animal last year and winning it over with bones. The dog that had once wagged its entire body in delight now barked furiously, as though facing strangers.
Fortunately, the barking brought the inner-room door flying open. Aunts and an uncle stepped out, and Nureong's clamor quickly died down.
The sight of an unfamiliar car, followed by the Yoo Jae-won family stepping out, left everyone momentarily stunned.
"Mother! Big sister's here! Come out quickly!"
The first aunt to recover shouted into the house. Moments later the maternal grandfather and grandmother emerged, dressed in fine hanbok for the holiday.
"Mother, we're here."
"Father-in-law, have you been well?"
With his parents' greetings, Yoo Jae-won went straight to his grandmother and hugged her tightly.
"Oh my, our little puppy came!"
"Has the son-in-law arrived?"
The greetings were loud and joyful. Then the gifts began pouring from the trunk. Kim Dae-seok carried load after load until the uncle, seeing the sheer quantity, joined in and made several trips himself.
A commotion was inevitable. The car alone would have been enough, but the mountain of gifts sealed it. For the grandparents who had spent their lives farming, the sheer scale finally made their grandson's success tangible.
The surprise had worked. Though the maternal family could not join ID Technology, they agreed to participate fully in the next venture. Even the aunts and the still-unmarried uncle decided to invest as much as they could.
Their enthusiasm was not solely due to the material display. The new business Yoo Jae-won described—investments in real estate, bonds, and financial products—was something even the elders could easily grasp.
Real estate! That single word had captured them completely. Not one relative warned the young man against reckless property investment. His ability had already been proven beyond doubt. He had dined beside the President at the Blue House. When he presented one of the tea sets he had received there to his grandfather, the old man looked ready to enshrine it as a family heirloom. His American achievements needed no further mention. Even in real estate his talent had been demonstrated: through his mother, the maternal side had heard every detail of the ancestral mountain transaction, how he had used Hwang Jae-hong to maximize the profit. No one dared question him now.
The investment would not take the form of equity shares. From now on, Yoo Jae-won intended to avoid giving away ownership stakes whenever possible. The reason was straightforward. Although no one had interfered yet, the prospect of outsiders meddling in management was unappealing. He also knew that large new ventures would inevitably bring demands for dividends.
If he simply funneled money from ID Technology into a new company, the subsidiary's shares would be divided according to the parent company's ownership ratio. To keep full control, he would have to receive dividends first and use that cash to found the new entity. With only ID Technology the inconvenience was manageable, but once multiple subsidiaries accepted outside capital the complications would multiply. He had therefore set the policy in advance.
Furthermore, once the major shareholders of ID Technology accumulated sufficient dividends, he planned to adjust their positions as well. In any case, while equity stakes were off the table, he promised clear and prompt settlement of investment returns. He guaranteed the arrangement would outperform simply parking money in a bank, buying bonds, or chasing unknown stocks.
The next day.
"I'll be going now."
Yoo Jae-won bowed to his parents as he climbed into the company car. His original plan after the holiday had been to spend several focused days translating and optimizing the comments in the Office source code—an enjoyable and productive task for a true computer enthusiast.
But the outside world refused to leave him alone. Mirae Group's Chairman Jeon Myeong-heon had called personally and asked to meet. Somehow the man had obtained Yoo Jae-won's home number. His mother had answered first and assumed it was a prank; no one expected the head of one of the nation's top two conglomerates to telephone in person.
—Do you have time tomorrow? How about a hike?
Yoo Jae-won had no connection to Mirae Group, and Jeon Myeong-heon was not his superior. A simple refusal citing the winter weather would have been perfectly acceptable. Yet the chairman had called directly, and only a day of translation work remained. Making time was no hardship. There were also matters to handle in Seoul: founding the investment company and finalizing the contract with Hwang Jae-hong. The invitation did not sound like a casual hiking trip anyway. Though hiking was the chairman's hobby, Yoo Jae-won doubted the elderly man would drag himself up a winter mountain. While he was already traveling to the capital, meeting Jeon Myeong-heon seemed efficient. Fortunately, Kim Dae-seok had stayed behind in Deokjin-ri to visit friends and could drive him up comfortably.
"Ah, a laptop would have been perfect right now."
Staring blankly out the window on the highway, Yoo Jae-won muttered the complaint. Wasted travel time always bothered him. A laptop would have let him use the scraps productively, but this was still an era when even that thought felt extravagant. The machines then called laptops were bulky enough to serve as weapons, and their performance and battery life were dismal.
"A laptop, sir? I packed one behind the passenger seat."
Kim Dae-seok, still driving, had anticipated the need. When Yoo Jae-won checked, however, he found only a paper notebook—nothing like the device he had in mind.
"Thank you."
He was still grateful for the secretary's thoughtfulness. Even a notebook would help pass the time if he jotted down ideas.
"Could you turn on the radio as well? Something with plenty of music."
The fully optioned car had a cassette player, but Yoo Jae-won had not thought to bring any tapes. Radio would have to do.
"Yes, Mr. President."
Static crackled, then a station locked in and music filled the car. To Kim Dae-seok it was the latest pop song; to Yoo Jae-won it was a 1989 hit that stirred old memories. He could not recall the title, yet the melody felt familiar.
'Come to think of it, it's been a while since I gave that song to Lee Seong-hee. Still no word.'
He had also sold songs to Byeon Jin-seok and Nam-hee. None of them had released new material yet. A regular album held roughly twelve tracks, so they were probably waiting until everything was finished. That did not mean they had vanished from television; the industry had not yet adopted the habit of disappearing into the studio. Even now, music shows still featured Lee Seong-hee and Byeon Jin-seok regularly. The real seclusion era would only begin after Seo Taiji's debut much later.
The unknown song ended. The DJ's voice came on.
—The rising star of trot, Do Jin-ha, has returned with his new single, "A Woman Who Doesn't Even Wear Makeup." I got to hear it first, and—wow! The senior trot singers had better watch out. This one's a knockout. Let's give it a listen!
New song: "A Woman Who Doesn't Even Wear Makeup"!
Do Jin-ha? A new song? Yoo Jae-won had sent the singer a demo tape, but there had been no response. He had assumed it was a rejection. Now it appeared the tape had simply been stolen. The demo, however, contained only half the song—deliberately, to prevent exactly this. Could anyone produce a proper track from just that fragment?
Doubtful, Yoo Jae-won set his pen down and listened intently.