Chapter 12
Even when she had been Kang Iwon, Iwon had barely seen Chairman Yeon. In truth, after Imperial reached a certain level, he had poured far more effort into the broadcasting station business and other businesses than idol development.
Of course, most of those showed slightly more disappointing results than IBC and the entertainment division.
But that was only because those two divisions were such massive hits. Considering the overall scale of the business, it was truly a major corporation.
Since Ilsong also held a large stake in IBC, it was difficult to say it completely belonged to Yeon Kangho.
However, Chairman Yeon Kangho’s stake in Imperial Entertainment was overwhelmingly large, so his affection for it was different in itself.
The problem was that affection….The problem is that it’s eating away at this entire industry.
To begin with, Chairman Yeon Kangho had never been a musician. He was thoroughly a businessman.
Of course, that did not mean he lacked an eye for music or skill in the entertainment industry.
No matter how much he focused only on management and entrusted the actual practical work of entertainment to the staff, he had only been able to succeed this much because he fundamentally had an eye for this industry.
In other words, he had an ear for music.
Now, all the artists had moved into labels, so he was no longer directly raising them, but back when headquarters handled every artist, every song had to receive Chairman Yeon Kangho’s approval before it could be released.
And any song Chairman Yeon Kangho chose succeeded without fail.
…In fact, it was no exaggeration to say Yeon Kangho had discovered the producer Kang Iwon.
Because Yeon Kangho had boldly chosen and pushed the song of a rookie producer with no proper resume.
Everyone opposed it, but Yeon Kangho was firm.
‘How exactly are you people planning to raise idols with that kind of sense?! It’s obvious after one listen that this song will work!’ That was what he said.
A ghostlike old man when it came to having an ear for music.
I don’t know how that’s possible. He never even learned music.
One thing was certain. He was no ordinary human being.
That was why Se-rang had no intention of denying his ability itself. The problem was that he saw this industry strictly as an “industry,” and that was ruining it.
Until Baek Do-gyeong came to find her, she had not properly known how exactly he was ruining this industry.
To protect Imperial, he had chosen the strategy of crushing artists and producers outside Imperial.
Countless artists and producers who could have grown had disappeared without ever seeing the light because of that.
If you can’t become mine, then die.
That bastard who ruined the entire industry.
Baek Do-gyeong was one thing, but you’re a bad person too, Chairman Yeon.
Hiding her boiling insides, Se-rang calmly drank a sip of soup. Today’s menu was beef bone soup, just like Chairman Yeon Kangho, who liked pretending he preferred simple food.
“Wow, Grandfather. The broth tastes incredible today.”
“Ha ha. Director Yeon. When we’re at a work gathering, you should call me Chairman. What’s this Grandfather?”
…Acting like such a good person.
Then again, he had always poured terrifying amounts of affection onto his own bloodline. Enough to embrace even that hopeless troublemaker Yeon Se-rang.
Suppressing her disgust, Se-rang smiled at Chairman Yeon.
If it was for the sake of getting revenge on you, I can give you as many false smiles as you want.
“Oh my. This wasn’t a friendly family meal, but a work gathering? I didn’t know.” Se-rang responded shamelessly, and Chairman Yeon merely laughed at her words.
At a glance, it sounded like a peaceful conversation between family members, but there was no one present who failed to notice the danger in those words.
This was a place to discuss work.
In other words, it was not a place to leisurely eat.
“Then since this is a work gathering, you should tell us the agenda. Chairman. These days, people get criticized for gathering others after quitting time like this.”
“Is that so? Well, I hear young people these days value that kind of etiquette.”
“Come on. You successfully run this huge entertainment company, Chairman. Why are you acting like you aren’t one of today’s people?”
While no one else dared to open their mouth, only Se-rang was chattering away, displaying her relationship with Chairman Yeon Kangho.
“Calling me one of today’s people, how ridiculous. I’ve become an old man in the back room now.” Chairman Yeon Kangho said that and added one casual sentence. “You can tell just by the way the people here treat me. That I’m a toothless tiger.”
“!”
The hands of everyone holding spoons stopped.
At Chairman Yeon’s words, everyone looked as if they were about to choke.
“Don’t say that. If you aren’t active, Chairman, then who is?” However, Se-rang smiled even more deeply as she answered. “You are still drawing the future, Chairman, and you are still seeing the cards that fit that future. If that doesn’t make you one of today’s people, then what does?”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. Only people who don’t even know how to see the current cards would dare look down on you. Someone who truly knows the flow could never do that.” After saying that, Se-rang glanced at Yeon Si-ho, who was sitting beside her. “The ones who missed that flow are the true toothless tigers.”
“…It chills my heart quite a bit when you say that while looking at me, little sister.”
“Oh my. Have you really gotten old, CEO? Is there already a draft in your bones? What will you do if you’re already like that?”
The two glared at each other for a moment, then turned their heads away.
Chairman Yeon watched the two of them with a complicated look before letting out a sigh. His expression clearly said he found them pathetic and tiresome.
“The reason I called you all here is to give you one piece of advice.”
At those words, everyone’s eyes filled with tension again.
“There is one thing all of you are seriously mistaken about. You think my grandchildren are fighting each other in a survival-of-the-fittest battle. You think once one of them kills the other two, I’ll gladly hand over my seat to that one.”
At those words, the Yeon brothers’ faces stiffened coldly.
But the one who stiffened even more coldly was Baek Do-gyeong, who was not mentioned at all.
“However, I have one more child. My company.”
“…!”
“These brats are the children of my children, so they’re one step removed, but my company is the child I gave birth to and raised myself. It is my child itself.” Chairman Yeon’s eyes blazed fiercely with anger. “Do you think I would watch my own child die just to save my foolish grandchildren? If you saw this Yeon Kangho as that kind of man, you were completely wrong.”
As Chairman Yeon Kangho said that, his back was straight, and the finger tapping the dining table was still firm.
The imposing force of Chairman Yeon Kangho, who had once commanded the world, had never once gone out.
Only the people around him had been mistaken.
“I have already watched one of my children die. Do you people think I would watch that happen again?”
The expressions of the executives other than the three Yeon siblings gradually darkened.
Some visibly began recalculating, while others were still hiding their knives.
Amid them, Chairman Yeon drove in the wedge.
“Yes, I likely won’t remove my grandchildren with my own hands. After all, in this old man’s later years, they’re the only brats who will at least put on some tricks for me.” Chairman Yeon met the executives’ eyes one by one. “But do you think I can’t remove all of you?”
“!”
The effect of those words was powerful.
Powerful enough to make even those still hiding their knives set them down in an instant.
“I hope you remember this. I may not be able to cut down my own crops with my own hands, but I am more than capable of spraying pesticide on the aphids eating away at those crops.”
At Chairman Yeon’s words, everyone could not say a single word and only lowered their heads.
However, Yeon Kangho was not someone who would let even that pass.
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
“We will keep it in mind, Chairman!”
“We will do our duties!”
There it is. Yeon Kangho-style discipline.
Se-rang leisurely pulled meat from the bone and put it in her mouth.
That method of crushing people’s spirit, then shattering even their pride to tame them, was famous inside Imperial too.
She had never personally experienced it, but she had heard plenty about it.
Still, today, it felt rather reassuring.
However, Chairman Yeon. That company you love like your own child will be taken from you by me, someone who is not your child.
That will probably be the worst revenge for you.
When you hand everything down to me and die, I will whisper the truth into your ear.
That I am not your beloved granddaughter, Yeon Se-rang.
That I was one innocent person you drove to ruin in the name of protecting your children.
“Baek Do-gyeong.”
“Yes, Chairman.” Baek Do-gyeong answered calmly.
But with eyes that absolutely did not bend.
“Well done.”