We Will Be Villains Wherever We Go
"Director Kim Seong-ho, who wants to drive out the employees—step down!"
"Step down! Step down!"
"Director Kim Seong-ho, who wants to ruin the Ilhyeon Hotel we built—step down!"
"Step down! Step down!"
The representatives of various firms gathered in the grand conference room of the Ilhyeon Hotel for the bidding exchanged uneasy glances at the noise drifting in from outside, as if silently asking one another whether everything was all right. They had heard that the Ilhyeon Hotel union's protests had already stretched past a month, yet none of them had expected the demonstration to still be this intense.
Every person who had come on behalf of a company kept stealing glances at Kim Seong-ho, who sat calmly in his seat. Hearing his own name shouted so openly outside made it impossible for them to gauge what might happen next.
"You okay?" Jo Byeong-jin asked in a low voice beside him.
Kim Seong-ho, arms folded, answered with a question of his own.
"Okay about what?"
In reply, Jo Byeong-jin flicked a finger toward the window.
"Step down!"
"Step down!"
"Kim Seong-ho, step down!"
Following the direction of his friend's finger, Kim Seong-ho looked toward the source of the protesters' voices and let out a short, dry laugh. Jo Byeong-jin stared at that smile, puzzled.
"Doesn't it bother you? They're out there right now calling your name to your face and protesting like that…"
Kim Seong-ho turned back to him, rested a hand on his shoulder, and said,
"We'll face plenty of situations worse than this from now on. So you'd better get used to it too."
"Worse situations…?"
Recalling the years he had already lived, Kim Seong-ho nodded and continued.
"That's right. Because from now on, wherever we go, we'll be the villains."
Anyone who carried out restructuring was doomed to become a villain. There was no such thing as a peaceful restructuring. In his previous life Kim Seong-ho had been terrorized by resentful employees, painted by newspapers and the media as the ruthless lackey of a chaebol family, and dragged through every kind of public humiliation. When he walked into restaurants, people refused to sit near him. In places where no one knew him he had been pelted with eggs—and sometimes stones. After more than twenty years of living through scenes like that, the present demonstration outside the Ilhyeon Hotel felt less like a threat than something almost cute. To his ears the union's chants were no different from the chirping of sparrows.
Those who knew nothing of his past, however, saw only an iron man.
"He really doesn't care at all."
"How can anyone stay that calm? Does he even have feelings?"
"Even though it's not my name, just listening makes me dizzy… How does that Director Kim manage it?"
While Kim Seong-ho quietly conversed with Jo Byeong-jin and remained completely unruffled, the others kept glancing at him, clicking their tongues in disbelief.
"Section Chief, let's begin."
At Kim Seong-ho's word, Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju turned to the people assembled in the conference room.
"We will now proceed with the bidding."
At once the noisy hall fell silent. The representatives took their seats, ready to present the plans each of them had prepared and to compete for the Ilhyeon Hotel contracts.
"As everyone here already knows, starting today the Ilhyeon Hotel intends to procure all necessary supplies through competitive bidding. Today we will first hold the bidding for cleaning supplies. The company that submits the lowest bid will receive the exclusive right to supply those products to the Ilhyeon Hotel for one year."
"One year? Wasn't it two?"
"A year is barely enough time to get ready and then it's over…"
"One year is far too short."
The announcement that the exclusive contract would last only one year sent a ripple of discontent through the bidders. Jeong Byeong-ju calmed them and explained the shortened term.
"This is our first time running a bidding system, so we expect to encounter a number of unforeseen problems. For this round only we will keep the period to one year so we can identify any side effects; after that we plan to fix the term at two years."
Even after he stressed that it was only for this occasion, the hall still murmured. Jeong Byeong-ju scanned the room and added,
"We ourselves acknowledge that one year is short. That is why the company awarded the contract this time will be paid not by promissory note but in cash."
"Cash?"
The murmuring swelled again—yet everyone present could tell that this time the tone had changed completely. Jeong Byeong-ju poured oil on the fire.
"Settlement will be made on a next-month basis."
"Cash next month?"
"Is that true? You're really settling in cash the following month?"
The reaction was so loud that the protesters outside, still shouting Kim Seong-ho's name at the top of their lungs, could no longer be heard. Under the barrage of questions Jeong Byeong-ju glanced briefly at Kim Seong-ho, who sat at the front. Kim Seong-ho gave a small nod, signaling him to continue.
"Yes. Cash payment, settled the following month. That is the special privilege the Ilhyeon Hotel is offering the successful bidder this time."
Eyes among the bidding companies lit up. Even if the exclusive period was only one year, receiving cash the next month still looked like a clear profit. Watching the room quiet down and the bidders' eyes burn with desire to win, Kim Seong-ho thought,
In an age when promissory notes are taken for granted, nothing is more seductive than a cash settlement.
Just as he had expected, the companies fixed their gazes on the cash offer, and a faint smile touched his lips. Most transactions these days were settled with promissory notes—promises to pay in a few days or even several months. Subcontractors routinely discounted those notes for immediate cash, so the money that actually reached their hands was always less than the face value, and they lived in constant fear that the issuer might go bankrupt. Now the Ilhyeon Hotel was shattering that custom by offering cash settled the following month; the heat in the room rose accordingly.
"Step down!"
Outside, the Ilhyeon Hotel union, having learned of today's bidding, still roared themselves hoarse. Inside the hall, however, the sound no longer registered. Every mind was filled solely with the determination to win the contract.
Sensing that order had more or less been restored, Jeong Byeong-ju moved straight into the bidding.
"We will begin at once. You have fifteen minutes. Think carefully during that time, then place the bid documents you brought into the wooden box you see here. Once all bids are in, we will open them on the spot, verify the prices, and announce the winning company."
As soon as he declared the bidding open, the representatives began revising the figures they had prepared in advance. Although the exclusive period had been shortened to one year, the promise of cash payment made the deal far more attractive than they had originally calculated.
Yet one corner of the room remained completely untouched by the rising fever.
"Those people aren't moving at all," Jo Byeong-jin said, eyeing the cluster of DS Furniture employees with open curiosity.
Gathered around President Kim Eun-mun, the DS Furniture staff sat motionless amid the general commotion. Kim Seong-ho glanced their way, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"They must be confident."
"Confident?"
Jo Byeong-jin started to ask what they could possibly be confident about, then stopped; he already understood what Kim Seong-ho meant. Kim Seong-ho smiled lightly at him.
"Even if they revise their price now, they can't drop it more than ten percent. At best they'll manage a five-percent adjustment. But…"
He paused and looked straight at President Kim Eun-mun. As if sensing the gaze, Kim Eun-mun turned his head; their eyes met for a brief moment. Kim Eun-mun's lips moved as though he wanted to say something, yet no words came out—only a thin, mocking smile directed at Kim Seong-ho. After that silent exchange in mid-air the two men returned their attention to the bidding now under way.
One after another the participating companies adjusted their prices and dropped their sealed bids into the box. Some murmured a prayer as they released the paper; others hesitated, clearly unhappy with the figure they had written, unable to let go at once. Despite the variety of reactions, the process proceeded smoothly until the final proposal had been submitted.
"Very well, we will open them immediately. Director, would you please come forward and make the announcement?"
Kim Seong-ho rose at Jeong Byeong-ju's request and stepped to the front. While he did so, Jeong Byeong-ju and Jo Byeong-jin opened the box, collected every bid, and checked the prices one by one. After a short interval Jeong Byeong-ju handed a single sheet to Kim Seong-ho. Kim Seong-ho confirmed the company name, then faced the expectant crowd.
"The company that will supply cleaning products to the Ilhyeon Hotel for the next year is… IG Optain."
"Yes!"
"We did it!"
The IG Optain staff erupted in cheers. Being chosen as the exclusive supplier to a five-star hotel like the Ilhyeon Hotel was worth far more to them than money alone. The other companies that had privately hoped for victory let out sighs of disappointment, yet the knowledge that another chance would come in a year allowed them to set their regrets aside and congratulate the winners.
Not every company, however, joined in the congratulations.
"This is impossible!"
A shout of protest burst from the DS Furniture side.
"We cannot accept this. Why was IG Optain selected?"
A DS Furniture employee raised his voice toward Kim Seong-ho. Standing quietly at the front, Kim Seong-ho tilted his head as if genuinely puzzled.
"Naturally because they wrote down the lowest price, wouldn't you say?"
"The lowest price? That can't be. We… we wrote the lowest price."
"And how can you be so certain of that?"
At the question the standing employee hesitated, clearly wrestling with words he wanted to speak yet unsure whether he should. Then President Kim Eun-mun rose, patted the man's shoulder, and took over.
"I'll explain."
Understanding that his superior would handle it from here, the employee sat down. Kim Eun-mun stepped slightly forward.
"We are confident we submitted a price lower than anyone else."
"I'm sure every company here feels the same. Each of them wrote the lowest figure they believed possible."
"No." Kim Eun-mun's face hardened with absolute certainty and his voice rose. "We wrote a price so low that no one else could possibly match it. No one can deny that."
"Is that so?"
Kim Seong-ho allowed a faint smile to touch his lips, then picked up the sheet DS Furniture had submitted and glanced at the number written on it.
"I was about to announce the winning bid and the other prices anyway, so why don't you tell us first, President Kim? What figure did DS Furniture put down?"
President Kim Eun-mun of DS Furniture looked around at the other bidders and declared in a loud voice,
"We bid 23,500 won as the base price for one set of cleaning supplies placed in a single guest room."
The reaction around him was nothing like what he had expected. The other companies, who had been curious about the figure, now stared at him with pure incomprehension. Startled by the unexpected response, Kim Eun-mun turned back to Kim Seong-ho. Kim Seong-ho smiled at him and said,
"You're correct. DS Furniture wrote 23,500 won. What I don't understand is why you showed such confidence in that number. The 23,500 won DS Furniture submitted was not merely second-highest—it was the highest of every bid in this room. The next-highest price after yours was 19,800 won; the gap was that large."
Kim Seong-ho set the DS Furniture sheet down and asked Kim Eun-mun,
"Surely DS Furniture didn't think that writing the highest price would win the contract?"
Only then did Kim Eun-mun realize something had gone terribly wrong, yet it was already far too late. He had stepped fully into the trap Kim Seong-ho had prepared.