Ten Billion, After Tax
Chairman Cha Wonseok, who had held on so lucid and unbowed, departed this life a week later. Through those seven days he spent time more precious than gold, and only after doing so many of the things life had never let him do did he close his eyes.
In the empty hours before dawn, a nurse making her rounds heard the machines and ran. By the time she reached him, they said, he had already shut his eyes in peace.
Word that a great star of the business world had fallen set the whole country astir. A mourning hall went up in the funeral parlor of Gwangmyeong Hospital, and the burial was set for the family hills. The hall was more lavish than any that had come before it, and the notable names of politics and industry came to pay their respects.
In accordance with his will, the rites lasted two nights and three days, and then Chairman Cha Wonseok was laid to rest in the ancestral mountain.
"There's definitely something. Don't you think so, Brother?"
"I think the same. What about you, Father?"
"Yes. Your old man thinks Gihyeok has it right."
On the ride back, Cha Jinpyo, Cha Dohyeok, and Cha Gihyeok shared the sedan Secretary Kwon was driving. No one had put it into so many words, but all three were gnawing on the same question: what Cha Wonseok might have said when he summoned Choi Seonggi.
"We have no idea how much Grandfather hid away. If it's there, it'll be staggering—and he might have handed it to that man..."
"True enough. He was meticulous to a fault."
He said it mildly, but Cha Jinpyo felt the same as Cha Dohyeok.
"Father... let's ask him, and find out what Grandfather said."
"Ask him, and you think he'll answer?"
It was Cha Dohyeok who answered, in his father's place.
"Which is why we use the carrot and the stick."
"You think he'll fall for a trick like that?"
"Offer him money. Wouldn't that do it?"
"And if he fobs us off with some vague lie, we just throw the money away?"
"We can't have that... What about a lie detector? We tell him he gets paid if he passes the test."
"And if he refuses?"
"The inheritance will be settled by then anyway. We annul the marriage and throw him out."
"You think that'll make him so much as blink?"
"He won't blink, no... But Jiyeon is different. If she takes the hit, he won't be able to sit still. What do you think, Father? My idea."
"It sounds like a good one. As it happens, your grandfather appears to have left that man the Yangpyeong Mansion..."
"The Yangpyeong Mansion?"
Nearly an acre of grounds, and a house of some seven thousand square feet—a place that had once commanded ten billion won, closer to thirty billion in today's money. The Yangpyeong property fever had long since cooled, the building had gone to seed, and now you could list it for a billion and still find no one willing to buy.
"Perfect. Lay cash on top of the Yangpyeong Mansion and ask him to tell us. He won't be able to refuse."
"That much won't do it. If we want him meek and doing exactly as he's told, we say we'll let Jiyeon and that man attend the Meeting."
"The Meeting?"
Cha Gihyeok asked it again, startled.
The gathering where the sons and daughters of chaebol houses met to confer on management was a room one entered only by invitation. There the royal families who moved the Republic of Korea sat down together, collaborated in business, struck agreements wherever interests were at stake, and settled their disputes. In a word, it was the business world's invisible hand: the Meeting. Unless you were some self-made outsider passing through, you were not acknowledged as true chaebol until you had taken a seat in it.
"Just as I thought... Yes. If you're going to make a deal, the bait has to be big."
Cha Gihyeok's slit eyes bent into a satisfied curve.
After the funeral, Attorney Jeong took his seat at Cha Jinpyo's estate in Gapyeong, and the division of the inheritance began.
Land, buildings, and real estate were parceled out, and as everyone had expected, the only legacy allotted to Choi Seonggi was the Yangpyeong Mansion.
Once the various properties, the paintings, the ceramics, and the rest of the art had all been divided, they came at last to the heart of it: the shares in Gwangmyeong Corporation. Cha Wonseok's forty percent was split into twenty-two for Cha Jinpyo, eight for Cha Dohyeok, six for Cha Gihyeok, two and a half for Cha Jiseon, and one and a half for Cha Jiyeon.
With that, Cha Jinpyo held forty percent, Cha Dohyeok eighteen, Cha Gihyeok fourteen, Cha Jiseon six and a half, and Cha Jiyeon four and a half. Choi Seonggi was allotted two-tenths of a percent.
The moment the inheritance was settled, an internal reorganization followed at once. Cha Jinpyo locked his grip on the group chairmanship even tighter. Cha Dohyeok became president of Gwangmyeong Electronics and vice chairman of Gwangmyeong Group, and Cha Gihyeok became president of Gwangmyeong Construction and vice chairman of the group as well.
Cha Jiseon shot Choi Seonggi a wink, then turned to Cha Jinpyo.
"Dad! Look after my husband too. He's already been vice president for three years... Isn't it about time you made him president?"
Ah. So this was it.
"Promote him for doing what? President Shim has been running things just fine all this time."
"That's just it, Father-in-law—I mean, Chairman. President Shim has far too many commitments outside. The day-to-day inside the clubs is entirely in my hands."
Yoo Jeonggyun said it, but Cha Jinpyo looked at him with open distaste.
"Of course he works outside. Someone has to lobby the political world, and with five golf clubs, they all need looking after."
"Dad! This man needs a company of his own too. How long is he supposed to stay vice president?"
"Enough! Your grandfather is barely in the ground and you're starting that again?"
"Daaad."
"I said stop!"
Cha Jinpyo raised his voice and glared, and Cha Jiseon bit her lip, unable to push any further.
"Father, as Jiseon says, Brother-in-law Yoo has had a hard time of it. Even a promotion..."
"Enough."
This time the eldest, Cha Dohyeok, had stepped in, and Cha Jinpyo cut him off without hesitation.
Cha Gihyeok grinned, as if to say they ought to have seen it coming.
"President Shim worked side by side with Father. How do you cast a man like that out?"
So that was why Cha Jiseon had come to Choi Seonggi and begged him so earnestly.
Cha Jinpyo turned his eyes on Choi Seonggi.
"Anyway. Our youngest son-in-law."
"Yes, Father."
The word Father had come out carefully, but Cha Jinpyo was smiling, so he used it.
"Come to think of it, our youngest son-in-law saved your father's life once, and all he inherited for it was a wreck of a house. How could I simply let that pass? If there's anything you want, say it! If I can give it, I will."
Why is he playing the kind benefactor? Wasn't this the same man who, only days ago, had sent people to turn him into fish food? Choi Seonggi studied Cha Jinpyo with open suspicion.
"Let's forget every unpleasantness. We're one family now, so we ought to look after one another. What is it you want?"
What more was he supposed to want? And would the man even give it if he asked? If he had his way, he would rather not be tangled up with them at all.
"Then, for me..."
Choi Seonggi remembered what Chairman Cha Wonseok had said before he died.
"Give me the Butterfly."
"Butterfly? What's a butterfly?"
"Grandfather called Secretary Na Dohyung the Butterfly!"
At Yoo Jeonggyun's blurt, Cha Jiseon drove an elbow into his ribs.
"Secretary Na Dohyung?"
"Yes. I've heard a great deal about how capable Secretary Na is. I want to work with him."
"Oh-ho..."
Cha Jinpyo, and everyone else with him, wore the same startled look, as if none of them had expected that.
"Secretary Na! What do you think?"
"I would like that as well."
Na Dohyung, too, remembered what Cha Wonseok had said before he died.
"Secretary Na! Do you dislike the idea of working with me?"
Cha Jinpyo said it with a wounded look.
He had watched Na Dohyung attend his father, Cha Wonseok. Quick to read a room, smooth in his manners, and the one man who had handled alone any number of matters that could not be spoken of. There were more than ten secretaries, and all of them together seemed unlikely to match Na Dohyung by himself.
"It isn't that. With the late chairman gone, I would have to move to the chairman's secretariat anyway... and I don't think I fit with the people there."
Na Dohyung, it seemed, simply did not want to work alongside Cha Jinpyo. And if a man didn't want to stay, there was no point forcing him.
"Fine, then... Secretary Na will remain with you. Whatever it is you're planning."
"But Dad, then my brother-in-law ought to be given some post too, shouldn't he?"
That was Cha Jiseon, cutting in. Groundwork, no doubt, toward making her husband, Yoo Jeonggyun, president of the Gwangmyeong golf clubs—but Seonggi could hardly have been more grateful. They aren't about to withhold the four percent and call it settled with this, are they?
"A post?"
"What work is he supposed to do with Secretary Na and nothing else?"
"...Now that I think of it, she has a point. What business did you say you were in before?"
"IT..."
"I was in the coin business."
Choi Seonggi cut across what Cha Jiyeon had been about to say. She stared at him, startled. No sense walking into some IT company he knew nothing about and dragging innocent employees down with him.
"We don't have a coin business, do we? Fine! We'll make one. You set it up."
"Pardon?"
Was he about to offer investment money, or a building? Nothing at all? Just the words?
"Jiyeon, you help him all you can! Ah, and our Jiyeon ought to be promoted too. What do you want? President of Gwangmyeong Chemical? Or will you take the CMO seat at Gwangmyeong Electronics?"
For an ordinary salaried man, clawing his way to CEO over a lifetime was the wish of a life. Here, a single word from Cha Jinpyo made presidents and directors.
"Hmm... Then I'll take CMO of Gwangmyeong Electronics."
At her words, Cha Dohyeok's eyes went sharp. Turning down the presidency of Gwangmyeong Chemical—a seat worth two trillion won—to become CMO of Gwangmyeong Electronics was as good as Cha Jiyeon laying her ambition bare.
"Well then. The rough of it seems to be settled..."
Cha Jinpyo sent a signal to his second son, Cha Gihyeok.
"Brother-in-law Choi."
"Yes? Yes!"
Realizing the call was for him, Choi Seonggi startled. Brother-in-law? Are they actually acknowledging me as family? That can't be right.
"You were called in for a private audience with Grandfather, weren't you? Might you tell us what he said?"
"Th-that... Grandfather told me not to speak of it."
"Ah... I understand... But our grandfather, precious to all of us, left words behind, and we have to honor his will. That's why I asked. We've no intention of hearing it for free. Whatever those words were, a price ought to be paid. Isn't that so, Father?"
"Of course. This is a matter of honoring the late chairman's will. How could we simply listen to so precious a testament for nothing? You'll need to establish a company, so how about I invest that money in exchange for hearing the will? No—I'll simply give it to you. Let me see, how much would it take..."
"It had better be at least ten billion."
The one who struck in that instant was Cha Jiyeon.
"T-ten billion?"
Every face went blank with shock.
"Th-that much?"
Even Cha Jinpyo's.
Chaebol or not, mobilizing ten billion won in personal cash was no simple thing—all the more so now, with inheritance tax still to pay.
"Ahem. What's the difference! We'll give it. This is a matter of honoring Father's will..."
"Understood. Then..."
"Wait!"
Cha Gihyeok cut Choi Seonggi off as he was about to speak.
"A grandfather's will demands accuracy, wouldn't you say? I'll tell you tomorrow where you need to come. We have to be certain the words are truly his."
What was this scheme? He didn't even need to look. Honor Cha Wonseok's will? Like hell. These were the same people who had said not to bother with CPR, who had called in a lawyer just to confirm the split of the estate. They were hunting for whatever wealth Cha Wonseok had hidden. Why be so obvious about it?
Inwardly Choi Seonggi snorted, but on the surface he only blinked, playing flustered. Fleecing people soaked in greed was, after all, the most fun there was.
"Then give me the ten billion first. After tax, of course? Ten billion, net?"
"What? After tax? Puhahaha."
While Cha Gihyeok cackled, Cha Jinpyo spoke with the corners of his eyes lifted.
"We'll give it in shares of Gwangmyeong Corporation. Structured as an inheritance, that ought to do."
"Then how about you hand it over first... and we continue after? This is a matter of honoring Grandfather's will, so I think everything ought to be thorough."
Choi Seonggi said it with a smile, as if it were nothing at all.
Look at this bastard. He really isn't an ordinary man.
He had known the fellow wasn't one to take lightly. Just wait. Once they had heard that will, they would have no further use for him. And then they could settle him properly.