Things Wouldn’t Go the Way She Expected
While my aunt was resting, I told her I wanted to take her to a department store together.
I could see her surprise, and that only made me more flustered.
What was this? Had she forgotten she’d agreed to help me?
No, that didn’t seem to be it.
She simply hadn’t expected help to come like this.
I went with my stunned aunt.
I’d already called ahead to the department store, so when we stepped inside, the dedicated staff waiting for us were already there.
“What in the world is all this...”
My aunt visibly took a step back, startled.
Everyone reacted about the same way. Had I looked like that at first, too?
Thinking back on it now, I suppose I must have acted fine on the outside while being utterly shocked on the inside.
I asked the staff member in charge, “She’s someone I owe a great debt to. She’s going to a reunion soon, so I want to gift her everything from head to toe.”
“Yes, Chairman. As for a lady like her... may I ask her age? She looks very young, but her atmosphere is quite different.”
I told him my aunt’s age.
He reacted with visible surprise.
It didn’t seem fake at all.
“Then... I think Hermès would suit her best. It’s one of the top luxury brands in every way, whether in popularity or prestige.”
“Then please take us to the Hermès boutique first.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Still looking stunned, my aunt and I followed him to Hermès.
The store manager greeted us warmly this time.
“Chairman, it’s been a while. You could have called ahead.”
“I didn’t want to impose.”
“Not at all.”
“By any chance, what’s the best clothing item you have for someone like her?”
“Of course, it would be the Birkin bag. It’s not something you can just buy if you have money. We can introduce two this year, so I’ll reserve one for you as well, Chairman.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Thanks to you, our sales figures have gone through the roof.”
A little while later, the manager brought out a Birkin bag.
It looked a little different from the one I’d seen before.
Even with my poor eye for these things, it looked better than the last one.
“We just got in a better piece. I figured price wouldn’t be a major issue for you, Chairman, so I wanted to show it to you.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you. Please show us some other things as well, along with this Birkin bag. The best you have.”
“Thank you, Chairman.”
My aunt lightly tugged at my sleeve.
Maybe she thought it would be embarrassing to stop me in front of everyone.
“It’s fine. This is the least I should do if I really want to help.”
“What... I may not know much, but I do know Hermès. I know it isn’t cheap.”
“But aren’t there things you don’t know yet? Like how successful I’ve become.”
“That’s...”
She opened her mouth, then closed it again without answering.
Because she really didn’t know.
No matter how successful a young man could be, how successful could that really be?
But what was unfolding before her now was something that simply couldn’t happen with the level of success she was imagining.
In other words, it was proof that I’d become far more successful than she’d thought.
That was why she was left speechless.
In the end, she didn’t stop me.
We stopped by other brands too.
And before going home, we even stopped by a dermatology clinic.
“Give us the best one. Something that’ll show effects in two weeks.”
“These days, the technology is so advanced that results come quickly.”
I paid for the most expensive, highest-end skin treatment they had.
And thanks to that, day by day, my aunt’s beauty began to shine all the more.
So much so that she looked like a woman in her early to mid-thirties.
Honestly.
***
The next day, I met with the chief of staff.
“I think the bonus this time was set too high. I wasn’t involved in that much...”
“Thanks to you, I made even greater profits, so of course you should be rewarded for it. And if I think about how you helped me settle in from the very beginning, day and night... this still isn’t enough.”
“I’m grateful for your generosity, Chairman.”
“Don’t mention it. More than that, I want to acquire another building. This time, I’d like to buy one worth over 200 billion won...”
“If we find a property, there should be a very attractive building available. There are always wealthy people who need cash. I think it’s a good judgment call. The more aggressive the investment, the more steadily you build up hard assets... then at the very least, you won’t fall too hard.”
If I bought 200 billion won worth of buildings this time, then adding it to the other two would give me a total of 500 billion won in buildings.
Even after taxes and operating expenses, I’d still be left with 1.5 billion won in net profit every month.
The amount of money I spent was so absurd that it didn’t feel like much, but...
1.5 billion won was by no means a small sum.
At 15 billion won a year after tax...
That was the kind of money other people would need to be earning a 30 billion won salary to achieve.
That was how money made more money.
And that wasn’t all.
I could say with confidence that these three buildings in the heart of Seoul would soak up inflation and see their asset values rise substantially too.
More than I expected, even.
There was no reason not to buy them.
“And also... do you happen to know much about the company we currently outsource building management to?”
“Of course. Thanks to switching from the old contractor to the one I personally selected, I have a very clear understanding of their internal situation.”
“I’d like to know their annual sales and internal circumstances. If possible, I’d like to acquire them.”
“That’s definitely worth considering. Outsourcing the management of a 500 billion won building would mean money leaving our hands unnecessarily. If we buy another building this time, it would certainly be a good method. The current outsourced company has annual sales of about 30 billion won, but its net profit is by no means large. Around two to four percent at most... 1.2 billion won would probably be the ceiling. If you make them a proper offer, they’d have a hard time refusing.”
The net profit was smaller than I’d expected.
That was fine. What I wanted was the business card.
People wouldn’t know the exact net profit anyway...
They’d judge the company by its annual sales.
That seemed like enough to give my aunt a respectable name card. I could make the deal more favorable later on.
“Please look into the acquisition.”
“Yes, Chairman. I imagine it’ll be possible without much trouble. The owner has been preparing to exit, since the succession process wasn’t going smoothly... so he’ll probably welcome our proposal.”
“Good. I’d also like to recommend someone who’s like a benefactor to me as the company’s representative director... If the current owner can handle all the work and take his time with the handover, what do you think about recommending him for an advisory position? We’d also make sure his salary is higher than before.”
“In that case, the chances of the sale going through rise significantly. What likely held him back was that he’d already reached the stage of life where retirement was on his mind... and this would solve that problem too.”
I could make the former owner handle all the real work as an adviser.
And my aunt would just need to hold the title.
In the first place, there was nothing my aunt could do right away. She didn’t know anything, so what was there for her to do?
Then, if she grew interested, she could take over the handover.
If she didn’t become interested, I could just hire a professional CEO as well.
Either way, it was enough for a business card, so that was fine.
As for salary...
I figured I could just let her take all the net profit.
At that level, would it be around 1 billion won?
After tax, maybe around 500 million.
But even that alone would be a huge help to my aunt right now.
And if it still wasn’t enough, I could always take care of the rest myself.
Besides.
My appetite for collecting buildings hadn’t stopped here.
How many buildings in the heart of Seoul were worth hundreds of billions of won?
Among all those buildings, what I owned now would probably amount to no more than a single cup of water in front of a lake.
The more buildings I amassed, the more my aunt’s company would grow.
Her reunion was in two weeks.
So all I had to do was finish the acquisition by then.
Not many days passed before I heard the news that the company had been acquired.
The company name was D-Guard.
The “D” at the front came from the DE in DE Holdings.
I went to see my aunt.
“...Huh?”
“Since you’re helping out with the household, I figured you should at least have a business card. And honestly, this is a better method for me than paying you privately...”
“...This doesn’t really seem like household help to me.”
“It’s basically the same thing. It’s work my aunt does.”
“...”
And that was how my aunt got a business card that said she was the representative director of D-Guard.
***
The day of the reunion finally arrived.
During that time, she’d gotten to live a life she’d never experienced before.
For just a short while.
It felt like she’d stepped into a drama.
She went shopping at a department store like the ones you only ever saw in dramas.
She got better skin treatment than any rich Gangnam wife.
And with a name card to her name, she became the representative director of a company with 30 billion won in annual sales.
If that wasn’t a drama, then what was it?
She’d even gone to a salon that morning.
And even now, the question still lingered.
Is this really right...?
She’d asked for help with household chores, and suddenly someone had shoved a contract in front of her.
Now she was the representative director of a company that managed buildings all over the country.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Compared to two weeks ago, she really was a completely different person.
It had gotten to the point where she found herself thinking:
“...Should I be grateful?”
The friend who had invited her to the reunion almost felt grateful now.
Her changed appearance—
As a woman, she couldn’t hide how pleased she was.
She had regained the confidence she’d once lost, enough to feel like her old self again.
On the day of the reunion, she got a call from the friend who’d arrived first.
“Hey, you’re insane. Just don’t come. That crazy bitch even invited your ex-husband.”
“...”
“That woman’s totally nuts, right? I heard your ex-husband doesn’t even know. This is obviously something she’s doing to humiliate you.”
“...No, I’m going.”
“...Huh?”
I’d expected it.
But things wouldn’t go the way she expected.