How to Return to the Company
After the meal, as they sat over dessert and tea, Lee Mun-jong turned to Lee Tak-hyeon with a bright, pleased expression.
"Well, you'll never believe it. Our Seon-myeong got into the famous Boston University."
It was not Lee Tak-hyeon but Chu Suk-ja who reacted first, her voice rising with delight.
"Really? Our eldest grandson got into Boston University?"
Bang Hyeon-ju, Lee Mun-jong's wife and the eldest daughter-in-law, smiled at her mother-in-law.
"Mother, it's one of the most prestigious universities even in America—counted among the very top."
"Is that so? Who does he take after, being so clever? How hard he must have worked, so far from home."
Tears welled in Chu Suk-ja's eyes.
Lee Jeong-eun watched her mother for a moment, then snorted and cast a mocking glance at Bang Hyeon-ju.
"Sister, at least get the words right. You think Seon-myeong did that himself? The consultants mapped everything out, and the secretaries they sent along with him put it all together and stuffed it in for him. I wonder if he even sat the exam properly. Someone I know had a proxy take the test—maybe Seon-myeong did the same..."
"Young lady, what on earth are you saying?"
"Jeong-eun! That is going too far."
The smile vanished from Bang Hyeon-ju's face; she and Lee Mun-jong both fixed Lee Jeong-eun with sharp, hostile stares.
Lee Jeong-eun ignored them completely and kept talking.
"We're all family here, so let's be honest for once. Is there anyone sitting at this table who got into university purely on their own merit? Ah—except for the one person sitting over there. He probably did. But the rest of us? Not a chance. Am I wrong?"
She pointed a finger straight at Kim Seong-ho, then swept her gaze around the table.
No one answered. Every one of them had entered university through channels that were far from normal, and they all knew it.
Lee Jeong-eun sneered again at their silence.
"We can't even speak with confidence about ourselves, so there's no way Seon-myeong got in cleanly. Mom, don't worry. That boy is eating well and living well in America. Chasing girls, hitting parties, drinking... As long as he stays off the drugs, we'll count ourselves lucky."
"Young lady!"
"Sister, brag all you want, but keep a tight rein on Seon-myeong. Don't let us open the papers one day and find him on the social page."
"Hey! What the hell did you just say?"
Lee Mun-jong shot to his feet and shouted at her. Lee Jeong-eun refused to back down, and the noise dragged on for some time.
Kim Seong-ho watched in silence, mildly startled by Lee Jeong-eun's words—because in his previous life he had seen that none of them were wrong.
She talks like she actually knows something sometimes, so it catches me off guard. Well, nothing my sister-in-law said is false. And this time I won't be around to clean up after Seon-myeong.
In the last life, Kim Seong-ho had been the one who quietly handled every mess Lee Seon-myeong made. He knew better than anyone what kind of person the boy was and what kind of disasters he would cause. The same applied to Lee Sang-jong's children listening quietly from a corner of the kitchen, as well as to Lee Jeong-eun's children and Lee Chang-jong's.
As Lee Mun-jong and Lee Jeong-eun's voices climbed higher, Kim Seong-ho looked at Lee Tak-hyeon, who sat calmly spearing pieces of fruit.
Growing a company and raising children are two completely different things. Father-in-law has proven that better than anyone.
He could not help but regard Lee Tak-hyeon with a measure of pity—a man who had reaped nothing but a failed harvest, not only with his own children but with his grandchildren as well.
As if sensing the gaze, Lee Tak-hyeon looked up from his fruit and met Kim Seong-ho's eyes. After a brief exchange of glances he set down his fork and spoke.
"Have you all finished your after-dinner exercise?"
The mouths that had been shouting a moment earlier snapped shut. Lee Tak-hyeon snorted at the same old spectacle of his children, then turned to Chu Suk-ja.
"From now on, give those two two bowls of rice each. One bowl and this much racket—they'll burn through it too fast and end up with no energy left."
Lee Mun-jong bowed his head and sat back down. Lee Jeong-eun turned away, hiding a face gone red with shame.
Only when the room had finally quieted did Lee Tak-hyeon look around at the children seated before him and begin, slowly,
"I cut short the entertainment for a reason. I have something to say to all of you today."
"Did something happen?"
Lee Sang-jong, who would normally have thrown himself into the fight between Mun-jong and Jeong-eun and torn at one side or the other, had kept silent until now. At his father's words he finally spoke, then glanced sideways at Kim Seong-ho and gave him a small, knowing smile.
Lee Tak-hyeon raised a hand and pointed at Kim Seong-ho.
"I intend to place Kim Seobang over there among the new presidents."
"President?"
"You're putting Director Kim in as a president?"
"Not even managing director—straight to president?"
Lee Mun-jong, Lee Chang-jong, and Lee Jeong-eun all wore identical expressions of shock. Lee Sang-jong and Lee Gyeong-eun, by contrast, received the news with calm faces.
Lee Gyeong-eun looked at her second brother in mild surprise. She herself could remain composed because Kim Seong-ho had already told her, but she could not understand why Sang-jong was taking it so quietly as well.
And Sang-jong's inexplicable behavior continued.
"That's excellent news."
He backed his father's words without hesitation.
"It always seemed odd that the head of a headquarters-level unit was only given managing-director treatment. If you're promoting him to president, that means you're pulling him out of the Secretariat and putting him under you directly, doesn't it?"
"That's right. I plan to place the Restructuring Headquarters under the Chairman as a separate unit."
"That's good news too. Restructuring is going to keep happening, and having it buried under the Secretariat always looked a little wrong on paper."
Lee Sang-jong agreed once more, then turned to Kim Seong-ho.
"Congratulations. You've finally joined the president ranks of the Ilhyeon Group."
"Thank you, hyung-nim. It's all thanks to you."
"What is this?"
Lee Jeong-eun looked back and forth between the two men as if she could not believe her ears.
"Are the two of you filming some comedy skit?"
She stared at them with open contempt, then turned on Lee Tak-hyeon.
"Father, what are you talking about? President? Even Cha Seobang here isn't a president, and neither am I. So why does Kim Seobang, who's barely been back at the company five minutes, get to be a president?"
Her voice was louder now than when she had been fighting Mun-jong. She jabbed a finger at Kim Seong-ho.
"Jumping from some assistant-manager nobody straight to executive was already ridiculous enough. And now president? What has he even done to deserve it?"
"Director Kim has done nothing?"
Lee Tak-hyeon's eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at his daughter.
Lee Jeong-eun's volume collapsed under that gaze; her words shrank smaller and smaller.
"No... he has done things... a lot of things, actually... but still..."
"If you truly believe Director Kim has done nothing, then someone like you has no place in Ilhyeon. Don't even think about coming back to the company."
"Father."
Lee Jeong-eun looked at him with an expression of pure injustice. Lee Tak-hyeon ignored it and turned to the others.
"Anyone else opposed?"
"As I said a moment ago, I am in full support."
Lee Sang-jong stepped forward at once to back Kim Seong-ho.
"The results the Restructuring Headquarters has already delivered are beyond words, and those results are only going to grow larger. Elevating Director Kim to president is an entirely reasonable decision."
Lee Mun-jong stared at Sang-jong for a second as if the man had grown a second head. Then he quickly followed with his own agreement.
"Father, as you know, when the Restructuring Headquarters was first established I already argued that Seong-ho should be made president. I have no reason to reverse that opinion now."
Having made sure everyone heard that he had said it first, he turned to Kim Seong-ho.
"From now on you'll assist the Chairman and help lead our group. I'll be counting on your help as well."
"Yes. I will do my utmost to meet those expectations."
With Mun-jong also falling into line, Lee Chang-jong's eyes began to flick rapidly from face to face. The two brothers who usually snarled at each other were suddenly united on anything involving Kim Seong-ho; he was trying to read the new map of power before he opened his mouth.
Until his thoughts settled he said nothing, and in that silence Lee Jeong-eun rose to the attack again.
"Father, are you really doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"What about Cha Seobang? Why is he still only a vice president? What am I supposed to tell them at my in-laws' house?"
Having failed to stop the promotion herself, she dragged her husband, Cha Yeong-su—currently vice president of Ilhyeon Electronics—into the fight.
"You've seen Ilhyeon Electronics' numbers, haven't you? Everyone talks about the restructuring results, but Cha Seobang's work is just as good. No—if you look at the record-high performance at Ilhyeon Electronics, his achievements might even be larger."
She inflated her husband's reputation, then returned to the injustice of Kim Seong-ho's appointment.
"And yet he still isn't president. How can you put Kim Seobang above him? Or at the very least, what about the fourth? What does the fourth get out of this?"
She pulled in Lee Chang-jong as well, who had been quietly calculating. She shot him a look that said Say something, already.
"Chang-jong, you speak up too. Do you really think it's right for Kim Seobang to become president?"
"Uh, I..."
Lee Chang-jong glanced at Mun-jong, Sang-jong, and Kim Seong-ho in turn, then smiled at his father.
"I will follow Father's will."
"What?"
Lee Tak-hyeon nodded with clear satisfaction.
"Good. That's the way."
Seeing his father's reaction, Lee Chang-jong knew he had chosen correctly. Lee Tak-hyeon regarded him with a pleased look, then turned back to Lee Jeong-eun.
"So. You're opposed?"
"No... I... that is, I..."
Now that every sibling except herself had endorsed Kim Seong-ho's promotion, Lee Jeong-eun began to sweat as she looked around the table. No one came to her aid. Even her own husband, Cha Yeong-su, turned his eyes away, silently making it clear he would not stand with her.
In the car heading back toward Apgujeong, Lee Gyeong-eun turned to Kim Seong-ho with open curiosity.
"How did you manage that?"
"Manage what?"
"Second Oppa. How did he come out so strongly in your support?"
"I asked him to."
"You asked him?"
Lee Gyeong-eun remembered that Lee Sang-jong was not a man who granted favors simply because someone asked, and she looked at her husband again.
"Oppa isn't the kind of person who just does what he's asked..."
"You're right."
Kim Seong-ho, hands on the wheel, gave a light laugh and nodded.
"So I told him the one thing he wants most."
"The one thing he wants most?"
She tilted her head, then asked,
"What does Oppa want most?"
"To return to the company."
The moment the words left his mouth, Lee Gyeong-eun clapped her hands as if it were obvious. She already knew that the reason Sang-jong had gone to Pyeongchang-dong in the first place was to find a way back into the company.
An hour earlier, Kim Seong-ho had driven to Pyeongchang-dong for the sole purpose of telling Lee Sang-jong what he wanted most. Lee Gyeong-eun had wanted to bring the japchae she had made, so she had asked to leave earlier than usual; he had used that as the perfect excuse to arrive an hour ahead of schedule. While she talked with Chu Suk-ja and Oh Min-yeong, he had quietly explained to Sang-jong how to get back into the company.
"So what exactly is the way back into the company?"
"Gathering the scattered control towers of the Ilhyeon Group into one place. That is what I told him."
"The control towers into one place?"
Lee Gyeong-eun frowned, not quite following.
"We already have a group headquarters."
"Not just the group headquarters. Creating a single town where every affiliate headquarters sits together. That is the core of it."
"Putting every affiliate headquarters in one place?"
Her eyes widened. The idea of gathering all the affiliate headquarters into a single town had never even crossed her mind.
"If we could bring all the affiliate headquarters together it would be wonderful, of course... but where? Ilhyeon Electronics alone would need a massive building, and Construction, Chemicals, Life Sciences—each of them would need space for thousands of people. Where on earth would you put all of that?"
"Conveniently enough, a very good piece of land has just come into our hands."
"A good piece of land?"
"Yes. The land in Seocho that Homyeong Construction held. Develop the tract centered on Gangnam Station."
"Homyeong Construction's Seocho land..."
Lee Gyeong-eun pictured the roughly fifty thousand pyeong of empty lots around Gangnam Station that currently sat vacant.