To Evaluate, a Test Is Necessary
Hwang Do-beom carefully addressed Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon, who was still gazing at the door Kim Seong-ho had just left through.
"Chairman. According to what we've found out..."
"That Mun-jong bastard cooked this whole thing up to line his own pockets, no doubt."
"You already knew, sir?"
"How wouldn't I know that?"
Lee Tak-hyeon snorted and leaned casually back into the sofa. He looked at Hwang Do-beom, who was watching him with open curiosity, and went on.
"That company—High.com or Buy.com or whatever it's called—is just a puppet Mun-jong put forward. He meant to siphon our company money through them and stick it to that Seong-ho bastard at the same time."
Hwang Do-beom was briefly startled by how precisely Lee Tak-hyeon had cut through the facts, as if he had already read a full report, then composed his expression again.
"In that case..."
"Just leave it."
Lee Tak-hyeon laughed as if the matter were nothing and rose from his seat. Returning to his desk, he continued,
"You need that kind of guts and brains if you're going to move Ilhyeon. The problem is he got caught and failed."
Bang.
Lee Tak-hyeon slammed his fist down on the desk. He turned to face the tense Hwang Do-beom and said,
"I don't care what schemes you cook up behind my back. But if you're going to do it, you damn well better not get caught by anyone else!"
Trying to acquire some ridiculous company or putting up a puppet firm to drain Ilhyeon's money—none of that was a problem to Lee Tak-hyeon. What displeased him was that someone else had noticed before the job was finished, so the scheme could not be seen through to the end.
"Clean it up thoroughly. Make certain the fact that Mun-jong or Sang-jong were involved never gets out. Clean it completely."
"Yes, sir. Understood."
"And..."
Lee Tak-hyeon sat at his desk and pondered for a moment. Hwang Do-beom, reading his face, sensed what was troubling him and spoke first.
"Is it because of Assistant Manager Kim, sir?"
Lee Tak-hyeon stopped thinking and nodded at Hwang Do-beom's words.
"Yes. How the hell did that guy know?"
With his head bowed, Lee Tak-hyeon gently tapped the desk as he spoke.
"Mun-jong was plotting the whole thing to pin it all on Seong-ho. I naturally thought that's how it would go... But that guy saw through it and flipped the entire thing around."
"Does that displease you, sir?"
"It's not a matter of like or dislike."
Lee Tak-hyeon raised his head and leaned back in his chair. He glanced once more at the door Kim Seong-ho had left through and said,
"I'm simply curious about the 'how' he knew."
"Depending on how he knew, your evaluation of Assistant Manager Kim will change, I suppose."
At Hwang Do-beom's words, Lee Tak-hyeon fell into thought for a moment.
It had been a marriage that only came about because his youngest daughter had stubbornly insisted. Chu Suk-ja had taken to her bed from the day she met Kim Seong-ho until the wedding day, declaring it impossible, and Lee Mun-jong along with the older brothers and sisters, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law had all opposed it tooth and nail. But Lee Tak-hyeon had sided with Lee Gyeong-eun, and the marriage had gone through.
In truth, Lee Tak-hyeon had not sided with her because he liked Kim Seong-ho. He had simply thought that among his five children, it would not be so bad if one of them married the partner they wanted. Moreover, as the youngest, Lee Gyeong-eun had no ambitions for the group, so he had allowed the marriage she desired. Separate from the fact that it was the marriage Lee Gyeong-eun wanted, however, Lee Tak-hyeon himself had found Kim Seong-ho less than satisfactory. That was why, despite the transfer, he had kept Seong-ho's rank at Assistant Manager. Hwang Do-beom was asking whether that position of Kim Seong-ho's might now change.
After organizing his thoughts for a moment, Lee Tak-hyeon shook his head and said,
"I can't change my evaluation of the guy just because he pulled off one incomprehensible feat. But... it seems worth continuing to keep an eye on him."
With a meaningful expression, Lee Tak-hyeon instructed Hwang Do-beom.
"Involve him in the Jisan Group matter we're about to proceed with."
"The Jisan Group matter, sir?"
"To evaluate him, he needs to take a test, doesn't he? The Jisan business seems the most suitable for figuring out whether that guy is useful or useless, so let's watch how he handles it."
Lee Tak-hyeon smiled quietly and spoke in a low voice.
"Gyeong-eun might have brought home someone useful, after all."
Hearing Lee Tak-hyeon's words, Hwang Do-beom closed his eyes slightly. The expectant tone of those words did not sound entirely positive.
Showing ability here... isn't always a good thing.
Hwang Do-beom was worried about Kim Seong-ho's future. But contrary to those concerns, Kim Seong-ho knew Ilhyeon better than anyone, so from the moment he left the study—even before Lee Tak-hyeon gave any instructions to Hwang Do-beom—he was already preparing for the next step.
"Aren't you going to sleep?"
Lee Gyeong-eun lay in bed looking toward the lit table. There, Kim Seong-ho sat in his pajamas with the stand light dimmed, reading something at the table.
"You must be tired after work today."
"Ah, I'll just finish this and sleep. You go to bed first, Gyeong-eun."
When Kim Seong-ho held up the diary she had gifted him, Lee Gyeong-eun smiled softly. The simple fact that he was using the present she had given him brought a natural smile to her face. She told him not to stay up too late and went to bed first.
Kim Seong-ho watched Lee Gyeong-eun settle into bed, then turned his gaze back to the diary. He checked the contents related to the Jisan Group written inside.
Given my father-in-law's personality, he'll definitely try to involve me in this project.
Having handled all the dirty work under Lee Tak-hyeon for over ten years, reading the man's thoughts was not difficult for Kim Seong-ho. If it was Lee Tak-hyeon, he would want to test the unexpected fellow who had slipped past this incident, and at this point the most suitable test was the matter related to the Jisan Group.
Jisan... Jisan...
Thinking of the Jisan Group—which had started as an educational foundation and expanded into cement and construction—Kim Seong-ho examined the diary entries.
Around this time, negotiations were underway regarding the acquisition of the cement company owned by the Jisan Group.
Kim Seong-ho carefully reviewed the diary entries about the Jisan Group, which was trying to sell off its major affiliates due to a liquidity crisis, and the negotiations for the sale of Jisan Cement. After committing all the related content to memory, he spent some time pondering how to score well on this test Chairman Lee Tak-hyeon had prepared.
After seeing Kim Seong-ho off as he walked to work, Lee Gyeong-eun returned home and spoke to her mother, Chu Suk-ja, in a curt voice.
"Mom."
At Lee Gyeong-eun's curt tone, Chu Suk-ja responded equally curtly.
"What do you want?"
Displeased that her precious youngest daughter had married some beggar of unknown origins, Chu Suk-ja had nothing nice to say to Lee Gyeong-eun.
"Please assign a car to Seong-ho as well."
"A car? What car?"
"Doesn't it look pitiful how he walks to the company alone like that?"
Lee Gyeong-eun pulled her coat tighter around herself even after coming inside, as if the morning chill still lingered.
"Or have him ride with Father when he goes to work. How long are you going to make him walk like that?"
"Have you not fully woken up yet this morning? In what world does a mere company employee ride to work with the Chairman? Just thinking about what people would whisper makes me sick."
Chu Suk-ja looked at Lee Gyeong-eun with an incredulous expression.
"Get a grip. And if you need a car, you should earn the money and buy one yourselves. It's not like you left a car in our care, so demanding one is just too shameless, don't you think?"
Enraged by Chu Suk-ja's words, Lee Gyeong-eun threw off the coat she was wearing and nearly shouted at her.
"If this is how it's going to be, why did you tell us to come live here! You won't support us at all, yet you bring us in just so you can keep us under surveillance?"
"You said it yourself."
Chu Suk-ja snorted at Lee Gyeong-eun's words.
"Yes, I told you to come live here to keep an eye on him."
"What?"
"I was afraid he'd get cocky, going around saying he married the daughter of the Ilhyeon Group, that he's the son-in-law of the Ilhyeon Group. That's why I told you to move in. I have no intention of recognizing that man as the Ilhyeon Group's son-in-law."
"Mom!"
But Chu Suk-ja spun around as if she no longer wished to talk.
"If you're going to bring home some rootless nobody, you should be prepared to put up with that much inconvenience."
Lee Gyeong-eun trembled as she watched Chu Suk-ja's receding back. The attitude toward Kim Seong-ho in this household was even harsher than she had expected, leaving her feeling dumbfounded. And she felt to her bones that without her in this family, Kim Seong-ho would have no place to stand at all.
I have to protect him. For Seong-ho's sake, I have to be the shield in this household.
Lee Gyeong-eun steeled her resolve once more and turned around.
While Lee Gyeong-eun and Chu Suk-ja were having their confrontation in Pyeongchang-dong, Kim Seong-ho arrived at the company and was summoned to the deputy director's office before he could even sit down.
"Director. You called for me?"
"Ah, yes. Come in."
Director Lee Gyeong-deuk, who had been handling some business, rose from his seat to greet Kim Seong-ho and invited him to sit. Settling on the sofa, he opened the conversation with light talk.
"How is it? Settling in okay?"
"Yes. Everyone around me has been very helpful, so I'm adapting without major difficulties."
"Good. That's excellent."
Director Lee Gyeong-deuk beamed and rubbed his palms together as he spoke.
"I heard about the High.com matter. Those guys were real bastards, huh? I hear the High.com representative or whoever is going to be arrested. Embezzled over ten billion won plus fraud charges on top of that. Honestly. If it weren't for you, Assistant Manager Kim, it could have been a disaster."
Hearing that the High.com representative was being arrested, Kim Seong-ho felt that the direction of his life had truly diverged from the past. But he could not be satisfied with just this. To take revenge on the people who had not only used him like a dog but driven him to his death, he needed an even greater turning point. And another opportunity for that turning point came looking for him.
"So, what I wanted to say is, I'm thinking of assigning the Jisan Cement acquisition matter to Team 2, where you are. If you wrap this up well, I'll push hard for you, so keep that in mind and do a good job. Got it?"
When the Jisan Cement matter was assigned to him just as he had expected, Kim Seong-ho silently smiled at the corners of his mouth.