Not a Burden but a Gift
Lee Mun-jong slowly opened his mouth toward the satisfied Lee Tak-hyeon.
“I’ve been thinking lately, after seeing Seong-ho show some impressive results a few times…”
Lee Mun-jong paused for a moment, then looked straight at Kim Seong-ho and laid out his true intentions.
“I thought that if it were Seong-ho, he might even be able to resolve the Ilhyeon Watch matter.”
The moment Lee Mun-jong brought up the name Ilhyeon Watch, Lee Tak-hyeon’s smiling face hardened into stone.
Lee Sang-jong was just as startled.
His older brother had said he had something prepared, but Lee Sang-jong had never imagined it would be Ilhyeon Watch.
“You’re suggesting we entrust Ilhyeon Watch to Seong-ho right now?”
A faint smile touched Lee Mun-jong’s lips as he continued, still facing Lee Tak-hyeon.
“Isn’t Ilhyeon Watch struggling somewhat these days? I made the proposal because I thought Seong-ho might be able to navigate those difficulties successfully.”
“Hyung-nim. So you’re saying we should appoint Seong-ho as the president of Ilhyeon Watch?”
“No. That’s not it.”
Lee Mun-jong shook his head at Lee Sang-jong’s question, then explained carefully to Lee Tak-hyeon.
“We appoint Seong-ho as restructuring officer under the Strategic Planning Office, then dispatch him to Ilhyeon Watch and entrust him with the task of normalizing the company.”
“Have Seong-ho try to normalize Ilhyeon Watch?”
“Yes.”
Still wearing that smile, Lee Mun-jong glanced once at Kim Seong-ho.
“This is the man who has pulled off miraculous results more than once. Couldn’t he save Ilhyeon Watch just as miraculously? What do you say, Seong-ho?”
Lee Mun-jong directed the final question straight at Kim Seong-ho.
Kim Seong-ho smiled as he met Lee Mun-jong’s eyes.
So this was your scheme all along?
Ilhyeon Watch was the Ilhyeon Group’s sore spot—the company ambitiously founded more than a decade earlier when the group entered the watch industry, and the very first company Lee Tak-hyeon had established himself after succeeding the chairmanship.
Because of that history, Ilhyeon Watch held a deep well of Lee Tak-hyeon’s personal affection.
After years of stagnation upon stagnation it had fallen to the bottom of the group’s affiliates in sales and was drowning in red ink, yet the steady investment and the treatment of its employees remained among the best in the entire conglomerate.
That was precisely why so many executives had volunteered to reform the place. They understood that anyone who managed to rescue a company so deep in the red would instantly solidify his standing within the group.
Yet not a single one of those who tried had ever walked out of Ilhyeon Watch alive. Every last man had floundered in its swamp and been swallowed whole.
Lee Gyeong-eun knew that history well, which was why she reacted so strongly to Lee Mun-jong’s words.
“Oppa. What on earth are you saying? You’re going to hand Seong-ho something no one has ever succeeded at?”
She shifted closer to Lee Tak-hyeon and took hold of his arm.
“Dad. How is Seong-ho supposed to pull off something that so many executives have already tried and failed? The earlier successes were possible because luck was on his side, but Ilhyeon Watch is different. It’s impossible for him alone.”
Lee Gyeong-eun cast a quick glance at Kim Seong-ho, silently urging him not to take her words the wrong way. It was not that she lacked faith in him; the problems at Ilhyeon Watch were simply that severe.
Having sent the look, she stared at him again as if to say, Hurry up and refuse.
Yet the one who spoke next was not Kim Seong-ho but Lee Mun-jong.
“This is the same Seong-ho who not only stopped the disaster at Jisan Cement but also outbid Homyeong Group and brought home Daeguk Fertilizer. Do you really believe all of that happened just because luck was on his side? It means he possesses that much outstanding insight. Therefore he will certainly be able to uncover the problems at Ilhyeon Watch as well.”
Lee Mun-jong brushed Lee Gyeong-eun’s objections aside and turned fully to Lee Tak-hyeon.
“Father. I believe the reforms of Ilhyeon Watch have failed until now because they lacked freshness. Men who had sat comfortably in executive seats for years stepped forward, so of course they could not properly grasp the real issues. That is why someone fresh and insightful like Seong-ho must enter Ilhyeon Watch as the reform personnel.”
He turned his head toward Kim Seong-ho.
“What do you think? Don’t you agree?”
After laying out his case at length, Lee Mun-jong asked with a smile.
Kim Seong-ho read the true intent behind that smile at once.
He wants me to refuse.
Having worked alongside Lee Mun-jong for so many years in the previous life, he understood perfectly. Right now Lee Mun-jong was hoping that, in front of Lee Tak-hyeon, Kim Seong-ho would declare the task impossible.
But Kim Seong-ho had no intention of dancing to Lee Mun-jong’s tune.
And he was confident about Ilhyeon Watch as well.
After all, the work I spent the longest time on in my previous life was reforming Ilhyeon Watch.
“Chairman.”
Kim Seong-ho, who had entered the study and listened quietly until now, opened his mouth in a calm voice. He glanced once at Lee Mun-jong, then began to speak with a smile.
“Hyung-nim has recommended me out of trust. How could I possibly betray that goodwill?”
“Seong-ho!”
Lee Gyeong-eun cried out in shock.
“It’s not as if I’m marching off to a battlefield. I’m only going to a troubled place within our own group. You don’t need to worry so much.”
He soothed her, then continued addressing Lee Tak-hyeon.
“Chairman. If you entrust the Ilhyeon Watch matter to me, I will give it a try.”
“You truly believe you can do it?”
“Since even men far more capable than I failed, I think I can approach it with a light heart. Even if I fail, please do not scold me too harshly.”
Smack!
At Kim Seong-ho’s words Lee Tak-hyeon slapped his knee with his palm.
“I like that spirit.”
He praised him in a hearty voice.
“A man ought to speak exactly like that. Good. Just as the vice chairman suggested, I will appoint you restructuring officer. Give it a try.”
Having decided the matter on the spot, Lee Tak-hyeon summoned Hwang Do-beom and ordered him to process everything related to Kim Seong-ho and Ilhyeon Watch. Then he rose, walked over to the desk, and spoke to Kim Seong-ho once more.
“If you succeed in normalizing Ilhyeon Watch, I will promote you to executive rank in a single stroke.”
“Thank you.”
“So do well.”
Kim Seong-ho bowed his head in gratitude.
Lee Mun-jong, confronted with a development completely different from the one he had planned, found himself speechless. Only Lee Gyeong-eun fretted and fretted, heartsick that her husband was now saddled with Ilhyeon Watch.
Once they left the study, Kim Seong-ho bowed his head to Lee Mun-jong in thanks.
“Since Hyung-nim has given me such a fine opportunity, I will work hard to live up to your expectations.”
“Huh? Ah. Yes. You should.”
Momentarily flustered, Lee Mun-jong nodded and told him to do well. Then, wearing a deeply thoughtful expression, he left the house.
“Hyung-nim.”
Lee Sang-jong hurried after him and asked,
“Was sending him to Ilhyeon Watch the method you had in mind?”
Lee Mun-jong stopped in the middle of the courtyard and stared back at the house.
“No. The method I had prepared was not sending Seong-ho to Ilhyeon Watch.”
“Then why did you bring it up in front of Father?”
“I naturally assumed he would refuse.”
Lee Mun-jong turned to look at his younger brother, shaking his head with an expression of pure incomprehension.
“I never imagined that fellow would actually accept the Ilhyeon Watch proposal. The original plan was that once he refused, I would use the refusal as an excuse to ship him off to an overseas branch…”
Knowing Seong-ho would be unable to refuse a second offer, Lee Mun-jong had deliberately led with the impossible Ilhyeon Watch assignment. Yet against every expectation Kim Seong-ho had accepted the very proposal that was supposed to be unacceptable, and with that single decision the entire original scheme had collapsed.
Even so, Lee Mun-jong did not regard the outcome as a serious mistake.
“It may have turned out better instead.”
“Better?”
Lee Sang-jong stared at him, bewildered.
“Didn’t you hear Father? He said if Seong-ho handles Ilhyeon Watch well, he’ll promote him straight to executive. Once he’s an executive it won’t be the same story as when he was just some assistant manager.”
“Do you not understand why Father offered to jump him all the way to executive in one go?”
Lee Sang-jong blinked. He turned the question over in his mind for a moment but could find no ready answer.
Lee Mun-jong smiled at his brother’s blank face and turned away.
“Never mind. Keep thinking like that and you’ll only give yourself a headache. Let’s go.”
“Hyung-nim.”
As he crossed the courtyard and stepped through the main gate, Lee Mun-jong said,
“Don’t worry. He will never succeed in saving Ilhyeon Watch. That place is nowhere near soft enough for the likes of him. In the end he will throw up his hands just like all the others, and we can use that failure as the perfect excuse to keep him away from company affairs forever. So stop fretting over nothing, go home, wash your feet, and get some sleep.”
“Really? Then I just need to trust Hyung-nim?”
“If you can’t trust me, go back inside right now and settle it with Father yourself.”
Lee Mun-jong opened the gate and walked out as if he had nothing more to say.
Cowled by his brother’s tone, Lee Sang-jong muttered,
“No, there’s no need to go that far… Hyung-nim. Let’s go together.”
He hurried after the receding figure. Watching the two of them leave, Hwang Do-beom turned and reported to Lee Tak-hyeon.
“They have gone.”
“Good.”
Lee Tak-hyeon twitched the corner of his mouth, smiling as if he found the whole affair entertaining.
“The eldest put his mind to work rather cleverly. But since Seong-ho accepted, the boy is probably more than a little confused right now.”
“But will it… really be all right?”
Hwang Do-beom asked in a worried voice.
“What do you mean by ‘all right’? Are you worried about Ilhyeon Watch, or about Seong-ho?”
“Well…”
Hwang Do-beom glanced once more at the window through which he had just watched the brothers depart.
“On a day this joyful—after we won the bid for Daeguk Fertilizer—I can’t help wondering whether it is right to send Assistant Manager Kim to Ilhyeon Watch.”
“Didn’t he volunteer himself?”
Lee Tak-hyeon leaned back in his chair, clasped his hands, and looked up at his chief of staff.
“I didn’t push him. He stepped forward of his own accord and said he would try. Leave him be.”
“Then shall we also halt the sale of the company?”
Until now Lee Tak-hyeon had been preparing to sell Ilhyeon Watch, convinced there was no remaining hope.
Still clasping his hands, he smiled faintly.
“Put everything on hold for now. We can decide after watching how he performs for a while; it’s not too late. Just keep everything ready so we can sell the moment we choose. If it looks as though things are going worse than expected, clean it up at once.”
“And Assistant Manager Kim?”
“What about him? If a man cannot take responsibility for his own words, he must accept the corresponding punishment.”
“Punishment?”
“Did you think I offered him an executive post for free? Where there is a reward of that size, there is always a corresponding price. He should keep that in mind.”
Hwang Do-beom felt a pang of regret that Kim Seong-ho, who had just brought home Daeguk Fertilizer, should receive not praise but a crushing burden instead.
Yet contrary to the chief of staff’s concern, the Ilhyeon Watch assignment was a gift to Kim Seong-ho.
In fact, he was quietly savoring the pleasure of having the entire matter set in motion through Lee Mun-jong’s mouth rather than his own.