If There's a Problem, Who Takes Responsibility?
Sitting in the office, Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju skimmed through the documents Hi.com had prepared, then nodded with evident satisfaction.
"That's correct."
Kang Hyeong-jin, who had been waiting for him to finish, rubbed his palms together.
"Then we're done here, right?"
Expectation shone plainly across his face.
Jeong Byeong-ju regarded him with a listless expression, pulled another set of papers from his bag, and said, "Yes. The moment you stamp these documents, twenty billion won will transfer into your account, President, and Hi.com will become a subsidiary of the Ilhyeon Group."
He did not hand the papers to Kang Hyeong-jin. He held them out to Kim Seong-ho instead.
"Here. You finish this, Assistant Manager Kim."
Jeong Byeong-ju passed the documents over with a faintly displeased look. The entire acquisition had been engineered for Kim Seong-ho—arranged from above as a wedding gift for the man who had married the youngest daughter of the Ilhyeon Group. Jeong Byeong-ju shot him a look that said, Get it over with. He simply wanted the uncomfortable meeting finished so he could leave.
But Seong-ho, receiving the papers, did not simply offer them to Kang Hyeong-jin. He spoke instead.
"President Kang."
Kang Hyeong-jin, hand already outstretched, looked up. "Yes? What is it?"
"Have you ever heard of KA Station?"
Kang Hyeong-jin flinched.
Seong-ho gathered the documents while watching the man's face drain of color, and continued, "I understand you've been doing business with them."
"How… how did you…?"
Kang Hyeong-jin remained frozen with his hand still out. His complexion went from pale to chalk-white.
Jeong Byeong-ju frowned at the strange reaction and turned to Seong-ho. "KA Station? What are you talking about? What does that have to do with the Hi.com acquisition?"
"It has quite a bit to do with it. Doesn't it, President Kang?"
Kang Hyeong-jin could not answer.
Faced with the sudden shift, Section Chief Jeong could only look silently between the two men.
Seong-ho lifted the documents Jeong had given him and said, "I'm beginning to think we shouldn't go through with this acquisition after all."
"You're not going to acquire us? But this was already settled with President Lee—!"
Kang Hyeong-jin cut himself off and clamped his mouth shut. In his agitation he had nearly blurted something he should never have said. Closing his lips in time did not matter; Seong-ho already knew.
I know perfectly well. You and the eldest brother already got your stories straight.
From the experience of his previous life, Seong-ho knew exactly how deeply Lee Mun-jong was involved in this affair.
A thick smile curved Seong-ho's lips as he spoke in Kang Hyeong-jin's place. "We'll take this acquisition proposal back and examine it once more. Kindly understand that."
With both hands he tore the acquisition contract Jeong Byeong-ju had handed him cleanly in two.
"Assistant Manager Kim! What do you think you're doing?"
Section Chief Jeong cried out in shock. The papers themselves were only paper; they could reprint them back at the company. But ripping them up in front of the other party to the negotiation carried an entirely different meaning. Jeong Byeong-ju realized that whatever had been arranged in the upper levels of the Strategic Planning Office—or perhaps even higher—had suddenly grown far larger than he could handle.
Tap. Tap.
While worry flooded over Jeong Byeong-ju, Seong-ho casually scattered the torn scraps into the air and dusted off his hands. He rose from his seat and looked down at Kang Hyeong-jin, who sat white-faced and trembling.
"You must have come all this way expecting twenty billion won to fall into your hands. What a pity."
"You… do you even understand what you've just done?!"
Kang Hyeong-jin finally lost control and shouted.
Seong-ho studied him, the corner of his mouth lifting. "I understand better than you do. So wait. Next time it won't be me who comes looking for you—it'll be a prosecutor."
He gave a scornful little laugh and turned to the dazed Section Chief Jeong.
"Section Chief Jeong. Shall we go? There's no reason for us to remain here any longer."
"Huh?"
Even at Seong-ho's invitation, Jeong Byeong-ju could not quite process what had just happened. Only when Seong-ho turned first did he scramble to his feet in confusion.
"Assistant Manager Kim! Wait for me."
Jeong hurried after Seong-ho out of the conference room, glancing back once. Kang Hyeong-jin, president of Hi.com, sat frowning blankly at the shredded contract scattered across the floor. Without even managing a farewell, Jeong followed Seong-ho out of the building.
"What the hell just happened?"
As the car pulled away from the building, Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju kept glancing at Seong-ho in the passenger seat, his face a study in disbelief.
Seong-ho, unlike him, kept his eyes on his diary and answered absently, "It's nothing major. Don't worry about it too much."
"You tore up the contract right in front of them and now you say it's nothing? Assistant Manager Kim, this whole thing was already set up. We didn't come here to decide whether to sign—we came here to get a stamp. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Seong-ho looked up from the diary and met Jeong's eyes. "How could I not understand? It was arranged for my benefit, after all."
"If you already knew that…"
Faced with Seong-ho's calm admission, Jeong Byeong-ju found himself unable to say another word.
Seong-ho paused briefly, then turned back toward the man still driving. "Don't worry. I was the one who broke the arrangement that was prepared for me, so none of the fallout will land on you, Section Chief."
"That's not what I'm worried about. It's more that…"
"And since I've wrecked the acquisition talks, you suddenly have some free time. Take your child to the hospital, just as I told you."
"Assistant Manager Kim…"
"You must take him. Otherwise you may end up regretting it."
Jeong Byeong-ju could find no reply to Seong-ho's firm words. He simply tried to hold on to the thoughts that kept threatening to fly apart. The suggestion that he take his child to the hospital—coming right after a collapsed acquisition that already felt larger than the word "collapse"—had thrown his mind into complete disorder.
Seong-ho watched the rigid set of Jeong's face as he drove, then smiled and looked away. Inside the open diary, written in letters only Seong-ho could see, was the note that Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju's child was ill.
By the time the two of them returned to the company, the Strategic Planning Office of the Ilhyeon Group was in an uproar over what had happened at Hi.com. Word of it even reached Pyeongchang-dong.
"Kim Seong-ho. Just what do you think you've done?"
Lee Mun-jong's voice reached Seong-ho the moment he stepped through the door that evening, before he had even finished removing his shoes. Lee Gyeong-eun, who had come to the entrance to greet him and walked in beside him, turned toward her husband in startled alarm at her brother's tone. Seong-ho lightly stroked her back to signal that everything was fine, then finished taking off his shoes. He turned and greeted Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong as they stormed toward him, breathing hard.
"I'm home."
"We send you to acquire Hi.com and you tear up the contract on the spot? Are you out of your mind?"
"Ah, so you've already heard."
Seong-ho nodded as if it were nothing of consequence and gestured toward the study. "Brother. Would it be all right if we discussed the rest after I've paid my respects to Father-in-law?"
"You want to greet Father first and then talk?"
Lee Mun-jong let out a disbelieving laugh. "No. Let's discuss it with Father present."
Without waiting for Seong-ho's reply, Mun-jong strode ahead with Sang-jong toward the study where Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon was staying.
"Seong-ho, what's going on?"
Lee Gyeong-eun looked at him with worried eyes. Seong-ho took her hand. "Don't worry. It's nothing serious."
While he was reassuring her, Lee Mun-jong called back from farther down the hall, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up!"
Seong-ho told Gyeong-eun he would be right back and walked over to where Mun-jong waited outside the study. When Seong-ho approached, Mun-jong knocked.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
Lee Tak-hyeon, already aware from Mun-jong's earlier shout who stood at his door, told them to enter at once. Mun-jong opened the door, stepped inside, and bowed.
"Father. I've come."
"What's all this racket?"
Lee Tak-hyeon closed the book he had been reading at his desk and looked at his eldest son. When Seong-ho and his second son Sang-jong followed in after him, his brow furrowed.
"Coming in a group like this, you must have something to say."
He rose, moved to the reception sofa, and sat. "Sit down."
"Yes."
Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong took seats ahead of Seong-ho.
"What on earth is so urgent that you're making this much noise?"
At the chairman's question, Mun-jong launched into the Hi.com affair before Seong-ho had even sat down.
"It's a twenty-billion-won acquisition."
Mun-jong held up two fingers and raised his voice at Seong-ho. "Do you even know how much money that is? One house costs a hundred million. This was a deal worth two hundred houses of a hundred million each. And you went and ruined the whole thing. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"We already had everything arranged so all you had to do was go get the stamp. We told you to come back with the signature—so why did you tear up the contract and walk out?"
Sang-jong joined Mun-jong in scolding him. Seong-ho, however, simply absorbed their words with an expressionless face, showing not the slightest trace of apology. Seeing that, Mun-jong turned to Lee Tak-hyeon.
"Father, this cannot simply be overlooked. He walks into the Strategic Planning Office and immediately blows a twenty-billion-won contract. He must be held accountable."
Only then did Seong-ho, who had remained quiet until now, speak with a light smile.
"And if Hi.com had problems that led me to cancel the contract… what then?"
"What did you say?"
"If a deal succeeds, the credit goes to me. Conversely, if the contract itself was flawed, the responsibility would also fall on me. But if I discovered the problem and cancelled the deal because of it… if that was the case, what happens then?"
Seong-ho looked at Lee Tak-hyeon, who had been listening in silence.
"My role was simply to obtain a stamp. I had no involvement whatsoever in the acquisition process. So if the Hi.com acquisition was problematic from the start, who takes responsibility for that?"
A smile still on his lips, Seong-ho turned his gaze on Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong.