Find the Reasons to Give Up
Lee Tak-hyeon fell silent for a moment.
He watched Hwang Do-beom methodically clearing the area around them, then spoke in a bitter voice.
"Did I accept this too easily?"
"Does the third daughter-in-law make you uncomfortable, sir?"
"What would I have to be uncomfortable about? Unless she's the one uncomfortable with me."
Lee Tak-hyeon shook his head and folded his arms.
"It's the people standing behind her that make me uncomfortable."
Lee Chang-jong's wife—Lee Tak-hyeon's third daughter-in-law—was publicly known as nothing more than the daughter of a well-to-do family who had majored in fine arts. Unlike the other daughters-in-law, who came from the households of famous political and business figures, her ordinary background had caused quite a stir at the time of the marriage.
The reality was rather different.
She was the only daughter of Chairman Jang Chan-pyeong, the man who, alongside Dan Il-gyeong—known as the financial pawnshop of the business world—split the private loan market of South Korea between them. That woman was Lee Chang-jong's wife and Lee Tak-hyeon's third daughter-in-law.
Arms still crossed, Lee Tak-hyeon thought of Chairman Jang Chan-pyeong and spoke again.
"Especially the bastards standing behind Chairman Jang."
"You mean the Japanese capital, sir?"
"That's right."
Lee Tak-hyeon made a sour face.
"The money Chairman Jang has pulled in is Japanese capital. And not just any Japanese capital—the kind that crawls around at the very bottom. The kind of scum that will do anything for money, no matter how filthy the method."
Having finished tidying the surroundings, Hwang Do-beom stood before Lee Tak-hyeon and answered.
"Even so, they can hardly touch us now, can they? We're no longer the kind of company that just sells fish to Japan the way we used to."
The original foundation of the Ilhyeon Group, established by Lee Tak-hyeon's father and founder, had been a company that sold seafood to Japan. In those days, Ilhyeon Trading had no choice but to tremble before Japanese capital. If the Japanese merchants who took their goods simply refused to collect them, the dried fish stacked in the warehouses would rot where it sat.
Hwang Do-beom was reassuring his chairman that the Ilhyeon of those days and the Ilhyeon of today were not the same. No matter how much Japanese capital stood behind Jang Chan-pyeong, the Ilhyeon Group had grown far too large for them to do anything about it.
But money was not the only thing that made Lee Tak-hyeon uneasy.
Still with his arms folded, he named exactly what was bothering him.
"It's not just the money. It's the connections Chairman Jang holds. His political and bureaucratic network. And the Japanese connections we ourselves don't have. That's what makes me uncomfortable. If Chairman Jang decides to play games, our entire Japan line could be cut off. And yet…"
Lee Tak-hyeon looked up at Hwang Do-beom.
"And yet I told that same Chairman Jang's only daughter to raise the child Chang-jong brought home from outside… This is a mess."
Even knowing he himself had given the order, Lee Tak-hyeon could not hide his discomfort.
"I must be getting old. I completely forgot. If I'd been even a year younger, I never would have missed something like this."
Only after issuing the order—as if under some kind of spell—had he remembered that his third daughter-in-law was Chairman Jang's only daughter.
"I haven't seen her in so long I didn't even know who my own daughter-in-law was… I must be close to dying."
"That isn't true, sir."
Hwang Do-beom shook his head firmly at the self-reproaching chairman.
"Anyone could have made the same mistake. It's been years since you last saw her face. And if not the third daughter-in-law, who else would raise that child? You could hardly hand him to one of the other daughters-in-law who have no connection to him, or to Jeong-eun or Gyeong-eun. And Madam certainly couldn't raise him either."
Hwang Do-beom insisted that the chairman's choice had been the only possible one.
"Even if a child is born of another woman's womb, only the legitimate wife can raise him and make him legitimate, isn't that so? Your decision was not wrong, Chairman."
"The problem is that the third daughter-in-law is not the legitimate mother."
"Sir? Not the legitimate mother? If the third daughter-in-law isn't, then who is?"
Hwang Do-beom stared at Lee Tak-hyeon as if he could not understand.
Lee Tak-hyeon looked up at him and let out a short, dry laugh.
"You missed it too."
"Missed what, sir?"
"Who the child's real father is."
At those words, Hwang Do-beom's eyes went wide. He had just remembered that the child's true father was not Lee Chang-jong, but Lee Mun-jong.
"If Chairman Jang finds out about this…"
"He must not find out."
Lee Tak-hyeon's voice was absolute.
"It's bad enough that her husband brought home a child from outside. If she learns that the child is actually another brother's, do you think a man with Chairman Jang's temperament will just sit still?"
Lee Tak-hyeon thought of Jang Chan-pyeong's nature for a moment and shook his head.
"He'll come at us ready to die. Even if it kills him, he'll sink his teeth in and drag us down with him. So he must never know."
"But how long can we…"
Hwang Do-beom had been about to ask how long they could keep the truth hidden. Concealing something from Chairman Jang, of all people, was no simple matter.
"The water's already been spilled. I authorized the child as the third son's, and I said so in front of the family. Alive or dead, that child has to be Chang-jong's."
Lee Tak-hyeon closed his eyes for a moment and bit his lip. Then he let out a hollow laugh.
"Haha. I completely forgot about Chairman Jang, ordered the child registered as Chang-jong's, and on top of that told the daughter-in-law to raise him… I'm finished."
He uncrossed his arms, rested his head against the back of the chair, and shut his eyes.
Today, more than any other day, Lee Tak-hyeon felt the full weight of the years pressing down on him.
While Lee Tak-hyeon sat in the chairman's office feeling the weight of age, Kim Seong-ho, who had come in to the Restructuring Headquarters, was thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Being young really does make the body lighter."
He woke up clear-headed every morning. Even after working late into the night, his mind was fresh the next day. Drinking until the small hours no longer left him dreading the morning, and climbing stairs no longer left him short of breath. Day after day, Kim Seong-ho simply delighted in his rejuvenated body.
Then a new order came down.
"Yes, understood. I'll proceed immediately."
After taking the call from Hwang Do-beom, who was relaying Lee Tak-hyeon's instructions, Kim Seong-ho rose from his seat. He immediately summoned the team leaders of the Restructuring Headquarters and conveyed the chairman's order.
"As of today, we devote our full strength to the acquisition of Doa Motors."
"Has the bidding date been set?"
Deputy Head Lee Gyeong-deuk asked, looking at Kim Seong-ho.
Everything known so far indicated that Doa Motors would select its acquirer through competitive bidding. Lee Gyeong-deuk therefore assumed that a date had been announced and that they were now moving into the related work. He was not alone in that assumption. Every other member of the Restructuring Headquarters present thought the same thing.
Only Kim Seong-ho knew of the private understanding between the government and Lee Tak-hyeon.
He calmly surveyed the team leaders, then told them the truth.
"The acquisition of Doa Motors has already been settled with the incoming administration."
"Settled? What does that mean?"
"The bidding is nothing more than a formality. Doa Motors coming to us is already a done deal."
"Is that really true?"
Lee Gyeong-deuk and the other team leaders stared at Kim Seong-ho with startled eyes.
The incoming administration had publicly promised the nation that Doa Motors would be handed over through a fair bidding process to the party offering the best price, so as to minimize losses to the creditors. The revelation that a backroom agreement already existed, contrary to that announcement, left the team leaders stunned.
"Until now, the only people who knew this were the chairman, the chief of staff, and myself—three people. From this moment on, all of you know it as well."
"Does telling us mean we're free to move openly now?"
"No. We cannot move openly."
Kim Seong-ho shook his head at Team Leader Jeong Byeong-ju's question.
"The incoming administration promised a competitive bidding process, and they have to be seen keeping that promise."
"Then why tell us at all?"
Deputy Head Lee Gyeong-deuk looked at Kim Seong-ho with a puzzled expression.
Secrets were safest when the fewest people knew them. Of course, the Restructuring Headquarters did not have hundreds of team leaders, so the secret had not exactly been broadcast to a crowd. Still, there was a clear difference between three people knowing and more than ten. And telling the team leaders almost certainly meant their team members would learn of it as well, spreading the secret even further.
Lee Gyeong-deuk was asking because of that very unease. The other team leaders shared the same thought. They looked at Kim Seong-ho, wondering why he would reveal something as critical as a backroom deal with the next government.
Kim Seong-ho studied them for a moment, then spoke slowly.
"I told you this so that you would accurately understand the situation we are in and enter the acquisition process with that understanding."
Hearing this, Lee Gyeong-deuk turned and glanced at the team leaders around him. Confirming from their faces that they were thinking the same thing he was, he carefully opened his mouth.
"Because of the Doa Motors strike?"
"Exactly."
Kim Seong-ho nodded and addressed the room.
"The strike has become the single most critical issue in the acquisition process. If we cannot resolve it, we cannot complete the acquisition—and even if we do, the aftershocks are likely to be severe."
"It's true the atmosphere right now is anything but ordinary. Even if we take the company as things stand, the union's backlash could be enormous."
"Which is precisely why I told you—so that you go into the process knowing exactly where we stand."
"Knowing exactly… knowing what, exactly?"
Kim Seong-ho looked over the curious faces of Lee Gyeong-deuk and the team leaders, then laid out what the Restructuring Headquarters actually needed to do.
"The direction we need to take is not to become the winner of the bidding as the negotiating acquirer. It is to calculate whether, after the acquisition, this deal benefits us or not. Skip the intermediate stages. Jump straight to analyzing the situation after the acquisition negotiations are finished."
As he listened, Lee Gyeong-deuk finally understood why Kim Seong-ho had revealed such an important secret. Rather than wasting energy keeping the secret buried and pouring effort into useless work, he had disclosed the agreement with the next government so that their energy would be spent where it truly mattered.
"I understand what you mean. We'll begin with the post-acquisition synergy analysis right away."
"Head of Headquarters."
Deputy Head Mun Yong-nam, who had been sitting quietly and listening the entire time, carefully spoke up.
Specialized in number-crunching and focused on support work, Mun Yong-nam rarely opened his mouth even in ordinary meetings, let alone a gathering like this. He believed that if he calculated the numbers accurately when ordered and delivered them to Kim Seong-ho, the actual decisions belonged to Kim Seong-ho and Lee Tak-hyeon. He had consistently shown that he needed only to get the figures right. Everyone present knew this about him.
That was why they all looked at Deputy Head Mun with surprise. Kim Seong-ho, however, turned to him with a faint smile.
"Yes, Deputy Head Mun. Did you have something to say?"
Mun Yong-nam moistened his dry lips—kept shut for so long—and explained why he had spoken.
"If, for various reasons including the union strike, we reach the conclusion that the acquisition would not benefit the Ilhyeon Group… what happens then?"
Every team leader in the room looked startled by the unexpected question. Not once had any of them considered the possibility that acquiring Doa Motors might result in a loss. They had assumed it would be pure gain, never a loss. Mun Yong-nam's words therefore struck them with even greater force.
Kim Seong-ho, however, was not surprised. He had expected Mun Yong-nam, of all people, to raise exactly this doubt. In fact, he had gathered the team leaders and revealed the secret of the backroom deal with the next government in anticipation of it.
Looking at Mun Yong-nam, Kim Seong-ho spoke in a low but firm voice.
"If it does not benefit the Ilhyeon Group, we walk away."
"Walk… away?"
Deputy Head Lee Gyeong-deuk's face showed even greater shock at an answer he had never imagined.
Kim Seong-ho stopped looking at Mun Yong-nam, turned to the team leaders present, and continued.
"Of course we walk away if it doesn't help us. There's no reason to cling to something that won't work and sink into a swamp."
"Walk away…"
The word left Lee Gyeong-deuk so stunned he did not know what to say. The other team leaders wore the same expression.
Kim Seong-ho looked them over and finally stated the real reason he had revealed the secret.
"That is why what we need to find is not a reason to acquire—but a reason to give up. If there is even a single reason we should walk away, I intend to abandon the Doa Motors acquisition without a shred of regret. Keep that in mind when you run your numbers."
"Not a reason to acquire, but a reason to give up… Does the chairman know about this as well?"
"Have you forgotten? We are now the chairman's direct department. In other words, my thoughts are the chairman's thoughts, and my words are the chairman's words."
Kim Seong-ho finished speaking and looked at the team leaders of the Restructuring Headquarters. They still could not easily shake off the shock, staring back at him with stunned faces.