The Funeral, Part Two
"This is the first time I've paid my respects to you properly."
Park Namil and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court traded a perfunctory greeting and passed on. The old man left standing before me leaned on a cane, his body looking frail enough to topple — and yet his eyes were as sharp as ever.
"Director Jo Sangmin. What is the meaning of this?"
The intent behind it was obvious, but I couldn't help being nettled that Jo Sangmin, the most powerful man on the board, had come with them.
"Well... nothing more than a simple greeting, surely? I was in a hurry, my path happened to cross the Chief Justice's, and we came in together. Nothing more, and nothing less."
"...And you expect me to believe that?"
"Hahaha! But it happens to be the truth. What would you have me do?"
That shameless smile said the rest. He had known the reporters were packed into this place, and the meeting had been arranged so that, in a single stroke, every eye would swing to Park Namil.
> CCTV review complete. Confirmed: the two have been meeting since this morning.
Makina told me, but I wasn't supposed to know. Speak a fact like that aloud and I would only draw suspicion. For now, I had no choice but to let it pass in silence.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"I'm asking why you chose Park Namil."
I couldn't make sense of it. There had been directors who opposed the Chairman, yes — but this was the man who had stood at the very front of them and talked the rest around to the Chairman's view. That he should now take Park Namil's side was difficult to accept. Difficult enough that he would see Namil off like this and play spokesman for him.
"You understood the Chairman's intentions, and his dream, better than any other director. So why would you..."
Director Jo Sangmin cut me off. He tapped the floor several times with the cane he leaned on, as if setting his thoughts in order, and then went on.
"There was only one reason I never opposed Chairman Lee Jinhyeok when he poured the company's money into useless charity and one social contribution project after another, even in times when the finances were strained. Do that, and the company's image improves — and the profit comes back greater than what was spent."
He drew a breath, then leveled his cane at the place where the Chairman's portrait hung.
"At the same time, my aim was to pile debt upon debt as the price of beating down the other directors' opposition for him, so that when the day came to name a successor, he would have no choice but to choose the one I wanted. Now he has gone and died, and I cannot collect from him. So should I not collect from his children?"
"Do you actually believe that makes sense? You laid the debt on him by yourself, and now you demand he pay it alone? That's no different from robbery..."
"And what of it?"
The answer was so brazen that I couldn't even get angry — and that was without Makina's Care to settle me.
"That is simply how all things turn. The higher the seat, the more a man must not fail to repay what he owes, and the more he dwells on human ties, the more he clings to such things. I merely make use of it."
"...So that's why you chose Park Namil?"
"Hahaha! Ability aside, if there is anyone who knows better than I that the boy's character is hopeless, I should very much like to meet them!"
"Then why?"
"President Lee Sieun, the one in whom I could still see a little hope, seems — following the Chairman's will — to have no thought of picking a quarrel with you. Which leaves only that boy, does it not? And more than anything..."
As he spoke, Director Jo Sangmin pressed thumb and forefinger together, shaping the familiar little gesture for money.
"Ought I not set up a puppet worth using, and take as much gain as I can? It is less that I support the boy, you see, than that I mean to use him."
The remark was so naked that I lost whatever I might have said in reply — and just then I caught sight of Park Namil coming out of the building.
If I tell Park Namil this, what's the chance their arrangement falls apart?
> None.
Why?
> First: even if you tell him, he will not believe it.
> Second: even if he beats those abysmal odds and does believe it, his arrogance will convince him that he is the one who can use the other man.
That he carried that much arrogance was no surprise. Even so, I couldn't stake anything on odds that bad.
"Still, your handling of the opening has been excellent, so allow me to offer one piece of advice."
Slipping back into polite speech, Director Jo Sangmin dropped his voice to something I could only just hear.
"Because of the directors who came today?"
More than twenty directors had shown their faces at this funeral hall — more than half the board. Even if I summoned a meeting, the ones who looked to be standing with Park Namil would never answer. It would never be held.
"You understand rather well. So you were not simply standing at the Chairman's side for show."
With that he lifted his hat a fraction in farewell and walked off toward Park Namil.
> Do not worry. Park Namil cannot drive the Chairman out by using the board.
Had my fretting bothered her? Rain whispered on the tent, and into the quiet that settled again, Makina spoke.
> Director Jo Sangmin will propose removing you through the board, but Park Namil will certainly refuse.
> Mark my words. He will insist on crushing you himself — pride, and all the rest of it.
The prediction laid itself over everything I had seen of Park Namil, and the certainty that it would play out exactly that way drew a dry little laugh out of me.
"So what does he do next?"
> If he abandons the idea of expelling the Chairman through the board, then the Chairman must rally the remaining directors and the people around him, and force them — by ability alone — into a position where they have no choice but to choose the Chairman.
"Meaning the real fight starts after the funeral."
> Precisely.
I was still deep in it with Makina when I reached the tent where I had been standing, and found Yura in my place, greeting people and guiding them through.
"You've had a hard time of it because of me."
"Oh, Representative! Perfect timing!"
The moment she saw me she caught my hand and hurried me off somewhere. I had no idea what was happening and could only follow, and where we arrived, Sieun was sitting and watching the rain come down.
"She came a little while ago looking for you, Representative, but you were in the middle of a conversation... The President's been waiting ever since."
"If you put it like that, it sounds as if I waited because I wanted to see him or something..."
"Then I'll leave the two of you to talk. Don't worry about the guests!"
Before Sieun could get another word out, Yura set me down there and went back to her post.
"...She's a bright one."
"Yeah. Even back in my secretary days, that brightness of hers helped me a lot."
"Hmm~ What's this? You said you'd never dated, but it sounds like you've got a soft spot."
"It's just an evaluation of her as someone who works under me. You don't need to read into it."
"Who said I was reading into it?!"
I wasn't sure whether I'd put my foot in my mouth again, but the sudden rise in her voice made the people drifting nearby glance over — and then, just as quickly, go back to what they were doing.
"Ahem... Anyway, I came for another reason."
Perhaps because the attention had gathered, Sieun cleared her throat and reset the air, then pointed off to one side.
"I only paid my respects and got out because I couldn't stand looking at that bastard Park Namil's face — and that's how I ended up seeing you. You were talking with Director Jo, weren't you?"
"Yeah. He said his piece about the board and left."
"Well, looking at how many of them showed up together today, I more or less caught on..."
Was it the instinct of someone who had actually run a company? In that short a span, she already had the shape of it.
"Which means, knowing that guy, he'll try to beat you with ability."
"Ability?"
"Ever since he was little, he couldn't stand anyone standing over him. That's why even my older sister..."
"Your sister?"
"...I said something I didn't need to. You don't have to know."
As if caught in the slip, Sieun briefly mussed her hair — then pointed at me.
"Anyway. As soon as the funeral's over, come to my company. We're going to need a strategy meeting."
"We could do it over the phone..."
She said nothing. Expressionless, she only looked up at me, and under that look I had no choice but to take it back.
"Yes, ma'am."
"See you then?"
Only then, as if her mood had lifted, did she smile and start back toward her place. Watching her go, I finally let out a breath of relief.
> She is quite shy.
"Who, me?"
> No. I mean President Lee Sieun.
"What do you mean, shy? She was expressionless the whole time."
> Would you believe me if I said that was her roundabout way of offering to buy you a meal — as thanks for your trouble?
"Then... the stiff face?"
> This is the first time she has made a proposal like that herself to anyone outside her family. She was nervous.
"...I see."
Without Makina's reading, I never would have caught Sieun's real feeling — that she was far more bashful than I had thought.
> I may not know her as a president, but as a person, she has quite an interesting personality.
Of course she didn't neglect to add her own assessment.
Park Siyoung — Park Namil's older sister, and his secretary — kept her eyes on them until Lee Sieun and Lee Jinwoo finished talking and parted.
"...You look bright. I'm glad, Sieun."
"Noona!"
Park Namil, his own conversation apparently finished, came toward her, and Siyoung turned sharply.
"What is it?"
"We're done talking. Now we can really start moving."
He spoke to her so easily. Did that mean he still counted her as family, or was it something else?
"I'll show him. I'll show that bastard what it really means to be in a different league..."
Is it because he thinks of me as someone who can't touch him even if he doesn't bother hiding what he really feels — is that why he treats me like this?
She looked away from her younger brother, who was sneering in Lee Jinwoo's direction, and stared for a long while at her own red hair. Then Park Namil started off, and she followed.