I'll Dance to Their Tune
"What brings the busy Head of Restructuring all the way here?"
Lee Chang-jong looked at Kim Seong-ho, who had arrived without any prior notice, and asked.
Seong-ho told Chang-jong's secretary to leave, then sat in the chair across from him.
Chang-jong watched the secretary step out and close the door, then turned his gaze back to Seong-ho.
"What's so important that you're kicking the secretary out? Don't tell me you're planning something against our Ilhyeon Distribution?"
"Brother."
Chang-jong regarded Seong-ho's serious face with a puzzled expression.
Seong-ho spoke to him with words every bit as grave as his expression.
"Brother, do you remember the conversation we had last time?"
"The conversation we had?"
Chang-jong searched his memory for what Seong-ho meant. They had spoken privately so rarely that he grasped it at once, and his face grew even more bewildered as he asked,
"You mean that talk about solving my difficulties and all that?"
"Yes. Exactly that."
Seong-ho nodded and looked straight at him.
"I believe that moment has arrived."
He fell silent and watched Chang-jong.
For a moment Chang-jong failed to understand the meaning and furrowed his brow. Then comprehension dawned; he smoothed his forehead and asked,
"What!? Something like that has happened? A moment when I can be of help to my elder brother?"
"Yes."
"Really? What is it?"
Looking pleased that things were going well, Chang-jong urged Seong-ho to hurry up and tell him.
"There's one thing you must keep firmly in mind before you hear it."
"What do I have to keep in mind?"
"Once you hear what it is, the condition is that you must agree to it no matter what."
"You're fretting over nothing. We already talked about this—do you really think I'd hear it and then refuse? Just tell me what it is."
Chang-jong scolded him for talking nonsense and waved a hand, signaling him to get on with it.
Seong-ho quietly regarded the man who treated his words so lightly, then began to speak slowly.
As Chang-jong listened, his face gradually hardened. The hand that had been waving him on had long since stopped; he said nothing at all.
Even after Seong-ho finished, Chang-jong remained silent, head bowed.
Seong-ho understood the reaction perfectly.
I had the same look the first time I heard it.
Remembering how he himself had looked years ago when he had taken on Lee Mun-jong's child, Seong-ho waited patiently for Chang-jong to finish thinking. He was certain the man would accept the proposal and hurl himself into this pit.
After a long silence Chang-jong raised his head.
"Really… if I take the fall for this, is my future guaranteed?"
"Once Big Brother inherits the Group, you will be able to take the company you want and go independent."
"Independent…"
Chang-jong felt a tremor in his chest at the words. He was being told that the very thing he had longed for might actually be possible.
"All right. I'll do it."
"Then let's go."
Seong-ho rose from his seat at once. Looking down at Chang-jong, who still sat staring up at him, he said,
"There's an old saying about striking while the iron is hot, isn't there? Go to Big Brother right now and get a firm answer about your future."
"Yeah."
Chang-jong slammed both hands down on the desk, sprang to his feet, and declared in a loud voice,
"You're right. The best time to step forward is when someone's in the deepest trouble—that's when they'll be most grateful. I'll go tell him right this minute that I'll do it."
"You've made a wise decision."
Seong-ho told him so, then walked to the door and opened it himself.
Chang-jong looked at the open doorway, drew a deep breath, and strode out with purposeful steps.
Seong-ho watched his brother-in-law's back for a moment as the man left through the door he had held open, then smiled without a word.
In Seong-ho's eyes, Chang-jong looked exactly like a man walking into hell of his own free will.
Lee Mun-jong regarded the unexpected visitor to his office with a look of surprise.
"Chang-jong, you…"
"Brother. Don't worry. I'll take your place."
Startled by Chang-jong's booming voice, Mun-jong rose and first tried to calm him down.
"All right, all right—keep it down… Come sit and let's talk."
He gestured to the secretary standing wide-eyed by the door.
"No need for tea. Leave us and don't let anyone in."
"Yes, sir."
Once the secretary had bowed and closed the door, Mun-jong walked to the reception sofa and motioned for the two men to join him. He sat first and asked again about what Chang-jong had just declared.
"You'll take my place—are you serious?"
Chang-jong leaned forward and spoke in a voice utterly different from the shout he had used upon entering—soft, almost intimate.
"Yes. Brother's child. I'll say it's mine."
Mun-jong stared at him in shock, then turned his eyes to Seong-ho sitting beside Chang-jong. When Seong-ho simply nodded, Mun-jong finally relaxed and seized Chang-jong's hand.
"Thank you. I will never forget that you helped me."
Hearing the words he had most wanted to hear, Chang-jong clasped Mun-jong's hand in return.
"Your difficulty is my difficulty, isn't it? Just trust me."
"Yes. Ever since we were little I knew you were different from the others. The way you followed your big brother and listened to me—you were never like those other brats. I knew you'd help me. No one else, but you—I knew."
Mun-jong spoke in a voice thick with emotion, and Chang-jong's eyes reddened as he listened.
Seong-ho watched the two of them putting on a display of deep fraternal affection and barely managed to keep from bursting into laughter.
What a pair of clowns.
When Mun-jong had been looking for someone to take his place, he had ruled Chang-jong out from the start.
"That dog would never volunteer to stand in for me."
The Chang-jong Mun-jong knew was the sort who would betray his brother rather than ever step forward for him. And now that same man was telling Chang-jong, "I knew you'd step up." To Seong-ho it was simply ridiculous.
He watched the two thick as thieves for a moment longer, then spoke.
"There's still something important left. Let's settle that first."
"Something important?"
Mun-jong, still holding Chang-jong's hand, turned toward Seong-ho.
"Yes. Up there."
Seong-ho pointed a finger at the ceiling.
Both brothers realized at once that he meant their father, Lee Tak-hyeon, and nodded together.
"Right. Of course. We have to talk to Father."
Mun-jong released Chang-jong's hand. The joy of having someone take his place was already being overshadowed by the weight of facing Lee Tak-hyeon.
"Will Father believe it?"
"Whether he believes it or not isn't the issue. If we say it is so, the Chairman will accept it without much fuss."
"Is that true? Father will just take our word for it?"
"Yes."
Seong-ho spoke with quiet confidence to the two men who still looked doubtful.
"The Chairman won't care whose child it is. What he'll care about is how the matter has been handled. What happened to the child, what happened to the mother, what will be done going forward—those are the things that matter to him."
Seong-ho recalled the past. Back then he had expected Lee Tak-hyeon to berate him mercilessly. He had been an already disliked son-in-law who had broken his daughter's heart; he had been certain the Chairman would see it as an unforgivable crime. Yet Tak-hyeon had not made an issue of Seong-ho's actions. He had been far more interested in how the problem was cleaned up.
Remembering that earlier version of the man, Seong-ho continued in a calm voice.
"So tell a consistent story. Third Brother, you say the newborn is your child and that the mother has been sent abroad. And while Third Brother is speaking, Big Brother, you scold him a little and take his side a little—leave the Chairman with a good impression."
"If we do that, Father really won't make an issue of the… lapse?"
Seong-ho regarded Mun-jong, who was dismissing an illegitimate child as a mere "lapse," with a cool look. Inwardly he snorted, then answered,
"Consistency is what matters. Stay consistent and the Chairman will stop caring about this business."
He gave them reassuring words. What he did not say aloud was the truly important part.
The real problem won't be the Chairman—it'll be everyone else who decides to pick at it later.
The two brothers, knowing nothing of that thought, relaxed and looked at each other again. They traded lines about "for Big Brother's sake" and "I'll never forget your help," putting on the picture of devoted siblings.
"Ah—but still…"
After a stretch of this affectionate display, Mun-jong suddenly remembered something and asked Chang-jong with a worried face,
"What about your wife… will she be all right with it?"
With the fear of their father gone, he had finally thought of Chang-jong's wife. After all, she was the real party concerned; even if Tak-hyeon let it slide, she was the one most likely to make a scene.
Chang-jong, however, spoke as if the idea of worrying about his wife had never crossed his mind.
"Don't give that woman a second thought. Whether I bring a kid home from somewhere or carry one in on my back, she won't care."
"Are you sure? Even so… it's an illegitimate child…"
"Brother. Just trust me, all right?"
Chang-jong even raised his voice, as if offended that he was not being trusted.
"I'll handle everything. When you talk to Father, just take my side properly. And… don't forget the promise."
"Don't worry about that. Ilhyeon Distribution will be yours."
"Only Ilhyeon Distribution?"
Chang-jong's face said that was not nearly enough.
At that look Mun-jong clicked his tongue. A moment ago he had been speaking as if Chang-jong were his savior; now that he actually had to contemplate carving off a piece of the Ilhyeon Group, he felt a sudden reluctance.
Chang-jong noticed the reaction. He was just thinking he might have to threaten to walk away when Seong-ho stepped in first.
"Brothers. Discuss that after you've spoken with the Chairman. Right now we need to focus on this matter."
Seong-ho knew exactly what each of them was thinking. He reminded them of priorities before any quarrel could start.
The reminder worked; the two agreed to put the conversation off. They prepared with Seong-ho for the meeting with Lee Tak-hyeon, aligned their stories, and that very evening, before the Chairman left for the day, they walked into the chairman's office together.
Lee Tak-hyeon stared for a long time in silence at the door through which Mun-jong and Chang-jong had left.
Hwang Do-beom could not read the Chairman's mind, so he simply stood behind him and waited quietly for him to speak.
After the long silence finally broke, Tak-hyeon opened his mouth.
"So it really is Mun-jong's son?"
"Yes. The tests run by Mun-jong's side and the separate samples I had tested both confirm the child is his."
"Heh. And Chang-jong stepped forward to claim it's his?"
Tak-hyeon let out a low laugh and held out his hand. Hwang took a cigarette from the case in his pocket, placed it between the Chairman's fingers, and lit it.
Tak-hyeon drew the smoke deep into his lungs and released it slowly.
"And Director Kim met with Chang-jong today—that's true as well?"
"Yes. After meeting Chang-jong he went with him to Mun-jong's office."
"So in the end this is the picture Seong-ho drew… Hoo."
He exhaled another long stream of smoke and laughed as if he found it entertaining.
"Not bad. He pulled out a card I never saw coming."
"What shall we do?"
Tak-hyeon handed the shortened cigarette to Hwang, who stubbed it out in the ashtray and watched the Chairman's face carefully.
Tak-hyeon's smile only deepened.
"Call the whole family together. Not a single one left out."
"Not a single one?"
"That's right. Daughter-in-law or son-in-law, I don't care—have them all come to Pyeongchang-dong at once. I have something to say."
"Then…"
"Those brats are insisting, so I'll have to dance to their tune."
"What about the child? Do you intend to accept him?"
"Mun-jong's blood runs in him, and Chang-jong says it's his, doesn't he? Then we accept him. What's the big deal…"
Tak-hyeon spoke as if it were nothing and rose from his seat.
Watching the Chairman's back, Hwang thought,
If they had said it was Seong-ho's child… would he still have accepted it?
He rather doubted it, and followed after Lee Tak-hyeon.