Even Children and Sons-in-Law Are Mere Tools
Lee Sang-jong jabbed a finger at Kim Seong-ho, thoroughly raked by that smile, and bellowed,
“How the hell would the likes of you know whether there’s a problem with the company or not! What do you even know!”
Despite Lee Sang-jong’s raised voice, Kim Seong-ho still wore a smile as he answered.
“Whether I know or not, whether what I said is right or wrong—isn’t that something we can simply check?”
“What?”
Kim Seong-ho looked at Lee Tak-hyeon, who still sat quietly without speaking, and said,
“If you’ve checked and there’s nothing wrong with the High.com acquisition, then I’ll accept any punishment.”
Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon nodded, then cut off Lee Sang-jong, who was about to shout again, and ordered,
“Quiet. Tell Chief Hwang outside to come in.”
“Father!”
Wearing an expression as if he had chewed something foul, Lee Sang-jong went out. Lee Mun-jong let out a regretful sound.
Lee Tak-hyeon’s face twisted tightly as he shouted,
“We’re talking business—why are you calling me Father! Planning to follow me around at the company calling ‘Father, Father’?”
At that, Lee Mun-jong quickly bowed his head and apologized.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Tsk tsk. Useless fool.”
Lee Tak-hyeon clicked his tongue at Lee Mun-jong, then turned to Kim Seong-ho.
“We’ll check as you said, but if there’s no problem, you’d better be prepared.”
“Yes.”
Lee Tak-hyeon quietly watched Kim Seong-ho answer in that confident voice.
While Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon and his son-in-law Kim Seong-ho gazed at each other, Lee Sang-jong returned with Chief of Staff Hwang Do-beom.
“Chairman. You called for me.”
Lee Tak-hyeon nodded and jerked his chin.
“Tell me about the thing I ordered you to look into.”
At those words, the faces of Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong went deathly pale.
Kim Seong-ho was equally startled.
From the phrase the thing I ordered investigated, he could tell that Lee Tak-hyeon had already looked into High.com.
Hwang Do-beom glanced once at Lee Mun-jong, Lee Sang-jong, and Kim Seong-ho seated before Lee Tak-hyeon, then began.
“High.com is a rapidly growing IT company that develops and sells various programs. Its sales are……”
As he seemed about to launch into a lengthy briefing, Lee Tak-hyeon cut him off and flicked his hand.
“Never mind that. Just tell me whether it’s worth twenty billion won or not.”
Hwang Do-beom flipped through the papers he had brought to the last page and spoke.
“The Secretariat judged that twenty billion is quite a good price for acquiring High.com itself.”
At that, the faces of Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong brightened.
Just as they were about to throw a remark at Kim Seong-ho, words that would make both men tense spilled from Hwang Do-beom’s mouth.
“However, the problem appears to be that the CEO of High.com has other ideas.”
“Other ideas? What kind?”
When Lee Tak-hyeon turned his head to look up at him, Hwang Do-beom glanced sideways at Lee Mun-jong and said,
“There were indications that from the moment we began acquisition negotiations, the High.com CEO had been diverting assets elsewhere.”
“Diverting? What do you mean?”
“Among the technologies High.com holds, several core technologies—including character-recognition tech—were contracted over to a corporation called KA Station. The representative of KA Station is an employee who worked at High.com until recently, so we believe it may be a company the High.com CEO established under a borrowed name to siphon off assets.”
Lee Tak-hyeon turned his gaze to Lee Mun-jong.
Lee Mun-jong kept his head down, avoiding the chairman’s eyes, but the flush that reached the backs of his ears made the state of his face clear without needing to see it.
Yet the story that would fluster Lee Mun-jong did not end there.
“A bigger problem is that over ten billion won was raised from the private-loan market under the company’s name.”
“They even pulled private loans under the company name?”
“Yes. And that was done at the end of last month while the acquisition negotiations were underway.”
Hwang Do-beom closed the documents as if finishing his report. Lee Tak-hyeon let out an amused laugh.
“Hahaha. So while negotiating the acquisition with us, they were siphoning off tech and money? Even though the negotiations with us hadn’t been finalized yet.”
“Father. That’s……”
Lee Sang-jong opened his mouth in place of the bowed Lee Mun-jong.
Thwack.
At that moment a wooden pencil holder from the table flew toward Lee Sang-jong.
Hit in the head by the pencil holder, Lee Sang-jong clutched his skull.
Lee Tak-hyeon shouted at him as he kept his head bowed, still holding it.
“You get scammed by a con artist when you should be the ones scamming? And you’re supposed to be the sons of the Ilhyeon Group?”
Lee Tak-hyeon turned his head to Lee Mun-jong, who carefully raised his reddened face.
“Did you two plot together to embezzle the money?”
At the question, Lee Mun-jong shook his head in shock.
“No, sir. How could we possibly……?”
“If not, that’s also a mistake.”
Lee Tak-hyeon raised his voice even higher at the two brothers.
“Whether you siphon money or spend it, you should be the ones leading it—and instead you get played for suckers? Have you ever thought how many people will come running to bleed you dry after that!”
Lee Tak-hyeon clicked his tongue, displeased at having nearly been taken by a con artist, and ordered Hwang Do-beom,
“He dared try to scam Ilhyeon. We can’t just leave it. Frame him with breach of trust or embezzlement, whatever it takes, and clean it up.”
“Yes. I’ll contact the prosecutors’ office immediately.”
Hearing the answer, Lee Tak-hyeon nodded and waved his hand at Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong.
“I don’t even want to look at your faces. Get out now.”
At those words Lee Mun-jong, Lee Sang-jong, and Kim Seong-ho made to rise from their seats.
Then Lee Tak-hyeon pointed at Kim Seong-ho.
“You stay a moment.”
Kim Seong-ho, who had half-risen, sat back down on the sofa at the order.
Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong glared at him for a moment before opening the door and leaving the study.
Outside the study stood Chu Suk-ja, mother of Lee Mun-jong and the others, and Lee Gyeong-eun.
“What happened, hmm? What did your father say?”
At Chu Suk-ja’s question, Lee Mun-jong shook his head.
“It’s nothing, so don’t worry.”
“Nothing? Your father’s booming voice was enough to shake the roof, and you say it’s nothing?”
“We just got scolded while talking company business.”
Lee Mun-jong shook his head as if annoyed at continuing the conversation and frowned, so Chu Suk-ja could not press further.
Then Lee Gyeong-eun, standing with them, spoke to Lee Mun-jong.
“What about Seong-ho? Why didn’t he come out with you?”
“Ask your husband when he comes out.”
Lee Mun-jong answered sharply and moved away from the study door as if he wanted no more talk.
Lee Sang-jong followed after. Seeing the two, Chu Suk-ja furrowed her brow and said to Lee Gyeong-eun,
“That beggar finally caused an accident.”
“Mother. Calling him a beggar!”
“What else is a beggar if not a beggar?”
Chu Suk-ja spoke venomously.
“That’s why I said not to bring home a man with no background, and the moment you let him in he causes this mess. I knew it.”
“Mother. You’re going too far.”
“Too far?”
Chu Suk-ja raised a finger and pointed at Lee Gyeong-eun.
“You manage that husband of yours properly. Should your brothers get scolded because of your husband?”
“Mother.”
“Don’t call me!”
Chu Suk-ja turned and headed toward where Lee Mun-jong was, to soothe his mood.
Lee Gyeong-eun looked alternately at the departing Chu Suk-ja and the study door for a moment, then followed after her.
Rather than waiting for Kim Seong-ho, who might come out at any time, she thought it better first to find out what conversation had taken place inside the study.
Once the people left, the area in front of the study that had been noisy grew quiet again.
“Seems they’ve finally gone.”
Lee Tak-hyeon, sensing the quiet outside the door, looked at Kim Seong-ho with a smile on his face.
Kim Seong-ho secretly broke into a cold sweat under that gaze.
He knew everything?
It was a side he had never seen in his past life.
Kim Seong-ho clearly remembered Lee Tak-hyeon’s furious rage when problems were discovered after acquiring High.com.
Back then, since the High.com acquisition had been left in their hands, he had thought Lee Tak-hyeon hadn’t known about the company’s issues either.
But from today’s display, he could tell that Lee Tak-hyeon had known everything from the start.
He knew it all from the beginning.
He had looked into everything and placed his children and son-in-law on the palm of his hand to watch how the situation unfolded.
Kim Seong-ho, who had thought he knew Lee Tak-hyeon well from watching him up close, felt cold sweat run down his spine at this unknown fact.
“High.com…… well done.”
Lee Tak-hyeon quietly offered praise toward Kim Seong-ho.
“As I said just now, money isn’t what’s important. If word got out that we’d been played for suckers over this, every con artist out there would have come running. We can’t let something like that happen to Ilhyeon.”
Lee Tak-hyeon looked at the door Lee Mun-jong and Lee Sang-jong had left through with a firm expression and clicked his tongue.
“Those idiots nearly soiled the company I built. You stopped that well.”
After spitting a few bitter words, Lee Tak-hyeon looked at Kim Seong-ho and smiled.
“Thanks to you, we were able to avoid a dangerous situation. Well done.”
In his past life, Kim Seong-ho might have been delighted that Lee Tak-hyeon had praised him twice.
Being praised face-to-face by none other than Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon of the top conglomerate Ilhyeon Group—even if he was a son-in-law—when he was nothing more than a mere assistant manager would have been moving enough back then.
But the Kim Seong-ho of now was different.
Kim Seong-ho smiled to show gratitude for Lee Tak-hyeon’s praise, yet inside he did not let go of the tension.
Through the experiences of his past life, he knew all too well that to Lee Tak-hyeon, even his own children were nothing more than tools.