Everything Lies in the Palm of His Hand
After parting ways with Jo Chung-sep, Kim Seong-ho headed for the conference room.
"My apologies."
When Kim Seong-ho entered the conference room, everyone seated rose to their feet.
He began by apologizing to those who had arrived early and been kept waiting.
"Something urgent came up, so I ran a little late."
"Not at all. We were told you'd be about ten minutes delayed, so it's fine."
"Well then, shall we take our seats and get started?"
After inviting them to sit, Kim Seong-ho addressed the union representatives across the table.
"I understand you wanted to meet with me. May I ask why?"
The union representative fixed Kim Seong-ho with a grim expression.
"We request that the restructuring currently underway be halted immediately, in full."
"Halt the restructuring?"
Kim Seong-ho tilted his head.
"Is there a reason?"
"Because of the company's coercive restructuring, the workers are suffering greatly. Some employees have fallen into such panic that their daily lives are barely manageable. We ask that management immediately suspend the restructuring and issue orders returning everyone to their previous duties."
President Jeong Jae-su and the other executives seated alongside Kim Seong-ho watched for his reaction. With Kim Seong-ho having seized full authority over Ilhyeon Hotel, there was nothing they could do.
The union side seemed well aware of this; they didn't so much as glance at the executives lined up beside him, speaking only to Kim Seong-ho.
"Should management refuse to hear our demands, we hereby give notice that we will enter into an indefinite struggle."
"You're saying you'll go on strike?"
The union personnel exchanged glances at Kim Seong-ho's question, then nodded.
"If necessary, we are prepared to strike as well."
"I see."
Kim Seong-ho nodded at the union's words and said nothing more.
When the reaction they expected failed to come from him, the union representative looked flustered. Ordinarily at a moment like this, one would try to mediate or at least offer a few soothing words to placate the union side. But Kim Seong-ho merely watched the union representative in silence, as if inviting them to say more if they had anything left.
The wordless silence stretched on for some time.
At last, unable to bear it, a union member spoke first.
"What do you intend to do? Have you no intention of stopping the restructuring?"
Kim Seong-ho, who had simply been watching the union side, shifted in his seat and answered the question with a question of his own.
"Do you know how deep Ilhyeon Hotel's losses are?"
"Why should we need to know that? If the company is deep in the red, isn't that because management failed to run it properly? Why dump the consequences of reckless mismanagement onto the employees?"
"You're right. Reckless mismanagement is exactly what put the company in this position."
Kim Seong-ho readily agreed with the union. Then he turned to look at President Jeong Jae-su and the others.
"I agree that management bears considerable responsibility for the company's difficulties. Which is why..."
Kim Seong-ho gestured toward Jo Byeong-jin.
At the cue, Jo Byeong-jin, who had prepared in advance, set what he had brought on the union side's table. Kim Seong-ho pointed at the papers with a finger.
"I have already collected letters of resignation from every executive present here. Because saving the company comes first, we have suspended processing those resignations for now—but once the company is stabilized, we plan to review each person's degree of responsibility and accept them accordingly."
"What? Is that true?"
Startled, the union representative turned wide eyes on President Jeong Jae-su. President Jeong Jae-su wore a bitter expression and nodded.
"All of us here have written our resignations."
Once President Jeong Jae-su answered, Kim Seong-ho addressed the union representative.
"And you still oppose the restructuring?"
The union representative answered Kim Seong-ho in a raised voice.
"We cannot accept it!"
"We're not even firing people—we've only reassigned positions. And you still can't accept that?"
"You can call it a reassignment all you like, but doesn't it ultimately mean get out? How is a bellboy supposed to do a housekeeper's work, and how is an elevator girl supposed to take reservation calls?"
"I don't understand."
Kim Seong-ho shook his head.
"When a company falls into difficulty, everyone should pull together to overcome it—yet the union refuses even that."
Seeing that conversation with Kim Seong-ho was going nowhere, the union representative shoved back his chair and stood.
"You have one week."
The union representative had chosen notification over negotiation.
"If you do not restore everyone to their original posts within one week, we will begin an indefinite strike. Keep that in mind."
"Very well. I wish you a successful strike."
Seeing not the slightest trace of fear on Kim Seong-ho's face, the union representative ground his teeth and stormed out. The other union officers who had come with him followed.
President Jeong Jae-su looked back and forth between the departed union people and Kim Seong-ho. Once the union side was out of sight, he carefully asked Kim Seong-ho,
"Ah—Director Kim. What do you intend to do?"
Hearing President Jeong Jae-su, Kim Seong-ho smiled lightly and rose from his seat.
"I'm busy, so I'll have to take my leave. If there's anything you'd like to say, please come find me separately. Well then..."
Without answering the executives' questions, Kim Seong-ho offered a brief farewell and left the conference room.
As he stepped out, Jo Byeong-jin approached him.
"Do you really think President Jeong's side and the union have joined hands?"
Jo Byeong-jin glanced back at the conference room where they'd just been speaking and went on.
"Executives and unions are natural enemies."
"Even natural enemies can join hands if they share a common foe."
"And that common foe is you?"
At Jo Byeong-jin's words, Kim Seong-ho smiled deeply. Then he turned to Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju.
"How did it go?"
Jeong Byeong-ju understood what Kim Seong-ho was asking and answered at once.
"Most of the sorting is done, so we should be able to confirm everything tomorrow."
"Good. Then let's continue as planned."
Jeong Byeong-ju and Jo Byeong-jin nodded their agreement and followed after Kim Seong-ho.
Whether the union threatened a strike or the executives and union joined forces to shake the company, Kim Seong-ho didn't care in the slightest. Watching him remain utterly unmoved, Jeong Byeong-ju and Jo Byeong-jin could only click their tongues in amazement.
Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju began reporting to Kim Seong-ho everything confirmed so far.
"From the room furniture to the cleaning supplies, bedding, toiletries—even the notepads and pen refills on the desks—not a single item met quality standards. Everything is below standard. You wouldn't use this stuff in a four-star hotel, let alone a five-star."
Kim Seong-ho said with a faint smile,
"When the people doing the work have no discipline, of course the supplies won't be up to par. So what about the suppliers?"
"There's a place called DS Furniture that's held an exclusive supply contract with Ilhyeon Hotel for the past ten years. They provide the furniture and bedding. For cleaning supplies and consumables like notepads, we get them from a place called Dongsan Supplies—and, well..."
"The two of them are essentially one and the same. Is that what you're saying?"
When Kim Seong-ho spoke as if he already knew, Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju's eyes went wide.
"What? You already knew?"
"I didn't. I only just heard the names DS and Dongsan from you, Chief. How could I have known?"
"Then how did you know they were one and the same if you didn't know?"
"Well... cases like this are usually pretty obvious."
Kim Seong-ho drew on years of past experience and explained to the two of them.
"When a place like a hotel doesn't buy supplies directly but receives them through a supplier, it's an excellent setup for skimming rights and kickbacks. Once you figure you can sweet-talk a few people at the top and take the whole pie, of course you'd want to handle the furniture, the cleaning supplies, the notepads, and even the pen refills—everything."
"You're a complete... professional."
Watching Kim Seong-ho pinpoint exactly where the company had gone wrong and where the rot had set in, Jeong Byeong-ju and Jo Byeong-jin stared at him with open amazement. Combined with how he hadn't so much as raised an eyebrow at the union's attempts to shake things up, he looked so practiced that one couldn't help thinking: if there were such a thing as a restructuring specialist, this is what one would look like.
Of course, Kim Seong-ho was that practiced for good reason.
I've seen this kind of thing to the point of boredom.
For Kim Seong-ho, who had scoured every corner of the Ilhyeon Group over more than twenty years, the current state of Ilhyeon Hotel was just one of the common situations that turned up. Which was why the hotel's precise condition, and exactly how the other side would move, all rested in the palm of Kim Seong-ho's hand.
Kim Seong-ho said to Jeong Byeong-ju and Jo Byeong-jin, who were still looking at him with wonder,
"Now that we've mapped the relationships, we need to find the evidence that will trap them."
"You have a way to find evidence too?"
This time Jeong Byeong-ju looked at Kim Seong-ho with curiosity about what method he would propose. Jeong Byeong-ju himself had tried to find evidence and failed, and Kim Seong-ho knew that. So Jeong Byeong-ju figured Kim Seong-ho must also know how difficult finding evidence was. And yet Kim Seong-ho brought up evidence as casually as pulling something from a drawer—which made Jeong Byeong-ju wonder if he had already found a method.
"It'll be hard for us to dig up the evidence ourselves, so we need to make them move first."
When Jo Byeong-jin and Jeong Byeong-ju watched him as if waiting for the next word, Kim Seong-ho gave a short laugh and laid out the method.
"Announce that the exclusive supply arrangements that have been in place until now will be converted to competitive bidding. Tell them that even the existing suppliers, DS and Dongsan, will start from zero and compete fairly."
"Switch the supply contracts to competitive bidding?"
"Yes. Whichever company wins the bid will supply Ilhyeon Hotel for two years, and after two years we'll hold another bid—either retaining them or selecting a new vendor. That's the fair way."
Jeong Byeong-ju slapped his knee.
"Right. That way we can get physical evidence."
"Exactly. Once that happens, the other side will move on their own, so put people on DS and Dongsan. We'll follow behind and collect the evidence."
Kim Seong-ho smiled lightly at Jeong Byeong-ju's words, then gave instructions to Jo Byeong-jin.
"You look among the executives for anyone who might turn."
"Turn—meaning someone who might come over to our side?"
"They don't necessarily have to come over to us. Turning away from them is enough."
"So not full betrayal—just find someone who's already drifting on the outskirts among them?"
"That's right."
Kim Seong-ho pointed a finger at Jo Byeong-jin.
"Find someone like that and just arrange a meeting with me. From there, I'll handle the rest."
Jo Byeong-jin and Jeong Byeong-ju wondered why Kim Seong-ho wanted an executive who was drifting on the margins. But from the beginning until now, nothing had gone the way they expected—so what good would it do to settle their curiosity right now? Even if they got an answer to this question, the next one would only follow after it.
The two of them nodded and left the office to carry out Kim Seong-ho's instructions.
Kim Seong-ho leaned back lightly in his chair and muttered to himself.
"Once we wrap this up, what should I do with Ilhyeon Hotel?"
With not the slightest worry about the restructuring, Kim Seong-ho spun his chair this way and that, passing the time by thinking about how to dispose of Ilhyeon Hotel once the restructuring was finished.