I Do Not Judge Before the Results Are In
While they were exchanging greetings, staff from the Federation announced that the meeting would begin shortly.
"Would all member company representatives please take your seats. We will proceed with the seventy-fifth regular meeting in just a moment."
At the words of the Federation of Korean Industries employee, the people who had been scattered about in small clusters chatting began taking their places one by one in the seats the Federation had prepared.
Just then, Mun Yeong-gwang, Chairman of Seongro Group, approached Lee Tak-hyeon.
"Chairman. If I could just have a moment…"
"Enough."
Lee Tak-hyeon looked at Chairman Mun Yeong-gwang with an expression of clear irritation.
"I've known since earlier that you wanted to talk to me."
"…You knew, sir?"
"I did. And still you don't understand why I never called you over?"
"Chairman…"
Mun Yeong-gwang turned a pleading look on Lee Tak-hyeon.
Kim Seong-ho stepped between Mun Yeong-gwang and Lee Tak-hyeon.
"Chairman Mun. Please return to your seat."
"Step aside for a moment. I still have things to say to the Chairman."
Even when Mun gestured for him to move, Kim Seong-ho did not budge.
Mun Yeong-gwang snapped at him, irritation thick in his voice.
"I said get out of the way!"
"Chairman. Ilhyeon has no intention of helping Seongro."
"What?"
Mun Yeong-gwang stared at Kim Seong-ho with startled eyes.
Kim Seong-ho kept himself planted squarely in front of him and continued.
"I know exactly why you want to see our Chairman. You want us to help Seongro, don't you?"
"How did you…"
"I'm sorry, but we have no intention of helping. So please return to your seat."
When Kim Seong-ho spoke with that flat finality, Mun Yeong-gwang appealed past him to Lee Tak-hyeon, who was watching from behind.
"Chairman. No—hyung-nim. Please help me, hyung-nim. We've known each other all these years, haven't we? Right? If the old man were still alive he would have helped me for sure. Hyung-nim."
Even under Mun Yeong-gwang's pleading, Lee Tak-hyeon only stared at him in silence.
"Um… Chairmen."
Because Kim Seong-ho, Lee Tak-hyeon, and Mun Yeong-gwang were the only ones still standing, a Federation employee approached them.
"I believe it would be best if you took your seats now."
At the staffer's words Mun Yeong-gwang took one last step forward, determined to plead with Lee Tak-hyeon one more time.
Once again Kim Seong-ho blocked him and he could not get close.
"Chairman… the meeting is about to…"
"I know!"
Mun Yeong-gwang barked at the innocent Federation employee for no good reason, then turned on his heel and stalked back to his own seat.
Once Lee Tak-hyeon and Kim Seong-ho had also taken their places, preparations for the meeting were complete.
Befitting Ilhyeon Group's position as the foremost conglomerate in the Republic of Korea, they had been assigned the highest seats even at the meeting table.
As Lee Tak-hyeon sat down he glanced back at Kim Seong-ho, who was taking a seat behind him.
Kim Seong-ho was attending in the capacity of Lee Tak-hyeon's aide, so he had been given a temporary seat prepared at the rear rather than a formal place of his own.
Kim Seong-ho gave a slight bow to the Chairman who was looking at him, then watched the businessmen settling into their seats one after another and thought to himself.
At the next meeting, most of the companies gathered here will be gone.
He already knew that roughly twenty of the firms represented in this room would vanish before the year was out, and that within five years some fifty companies would disappear altogether.
He looked at the heads of the companies destined for that fate and a bitter expression crossed his face.
Do those people have any idea?
Kim Seong-ho pictured the horrors that were coming and quietly shook his head.
Just then Kim Woo-ha, Chairman of Seonwoo Group, who had held the Federation chairmanship since the end of last year, made his appearance.
"It's been a while."
Lee Tak-hyeon was the first to offer a greeting to Kim Woo-ha.
Kim Woo-ha merely nodded in Lee Tak-hyeon's direction, then addressed the room.
"We will now begin the meeting. Planning Director, come forward and start us off."
At Kim Woo-ha's order the Planning Director who had been waiting stepped forward.
Lee Tak-hyeon, watching Kim Woo-ha, had his brow furrowed.
He was angry that Kim Woo-ha had given him such a perfunctory response after he had been the one to greet him first.
But other businessmen were present and the meeting had already begun, so he swallowed his temper and simply watched the proceedings unfold.
The Federation Planning Director looked around at the seated executives and opened his mouth.
"First, allow me to offer my gratitude to Chairman Kim Woo-ha and to all the presidents and representatives who have taken time from your busy schedules to join us today."
He turned toward Kim Woo-ha, bowed in greeting, then launched into the substance of the meeting.
"Today's agenda is restructuring."
At the Planning Director's words, eyes throughout the room naturally shifted toward Lee Tak-hyeon.
Even under those stares Lee Tak-hyeon folded his arms and gazed straight ahead as if he noticed nothing.
"As everyone present is well aware, the successive bankruptcies of Dubo and Bumi Group have plunged the Republic of Korea into a serious crisis. In the midst of this situation, Ilhyeon Group—one of the nation's leading conglomerates—has undertaken large-scale restructuring, and our concerns have only deepened. Is restructuring the correct course? And if it is not, should it be halted at this point…?"
The Planning Director paused and cast a sidelong glance at Lee Tak-hyeon.
Everyone listening knew exactly where those words were aimed.
Yet Lee Tak-hyeon's face remained completely expressionless.
Seeing no reaction from him, the Planning Director wrapped up his remarks.
"We intend to discuss this matter at today's regular meeting. I ask that each of the representatives present share their views freely."
When the Planning Director finished, Kim Woo-ha looked around at the seated chairmen and presidents.
"The discussion we have today is of the utmost importance. It may well determine the immediate state of the Korean economy and the future that lies ahead of us."
Kim Woo-ha glanced briefly toward where Lee Tak-hyeon sat, then continued.
"Everyone here already knows this, but the Korean economy is in a precarious state. We are walking across a river of thin ice that could melt at any moment—we must tread with extreme care."
At Kim Woo-ha's words, the roughly fifty corporate representatives seated around the table all wore expressions of agreement.
Some nodded; others folded their arms and sank into thought.
Kim Woo-ha looked them over and said,
"In circumstances like these, is the extraordinary measure of restructuring something Ilhyeon Group absolutely must pursue…? I would like us all to gather and deliberate the question together."
Kim Woo-ha finished speaking and fixed his gaze on Lee Tak-hyeon.
It was a look that said: if you have something to say, say it.
In response, every corporate representative in the room—and every aide who had accompanied them—turned their eyes toward Lee Tak-hyeon.
Even under more than a hundred pairs of eyes, Lee Tak-hyeon's expression did not change in the slightest.
Still expressionless, he gestured toward the rear.
Kim Seong-ho recognized that the gesture was meant for him and rose from his seat.
When the man who had been sitting behind Lee Tak-hyeon stood, Kim Woo-ha shifted his gaze.
"And who are you?"
"Good day to you all. I am Kim Seong-ho, head of the Restructuring Headquarters of Ilhyeon Group."
"Ah—Director Kim. I've heard about you. You've been in charge of Ilhyeon Group's restructuring from the very beginning, is that right?"
"Yes, that is correct."
Kim Seong-ho took one step forward from where he had been sitting, drawing the representatives' attention onto himself, and began to speak.
"I expected that today's gathering would be a call for every company to pursue restructuring aggressively. Instead I find we are discussing whether Ilhyeon Group ought to abandon the restructuring it is already carrying out… I must admit I am rather taken aback."
"You thought we would all be saying we should do it, and instead we're telling Ilhyeon to stop—so that offends you, is that it?"
Chairman Kim Woo-ha frowned as he spoke.
Kim Seong-ho looked at the Seonwoo Group Chairman and answered in a calm, unhurried voice.
"As you said, the Korean economy is in crisis. In a crisis of this magnitude, the only way our companies can respond is through restructuring—painful, bone-cutting restructuring. There is no other path."
Bang!
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
Chairman Mun Yeong-gwang of Seongro Group slammed his fist down on the table and shouted at Kim Seong-ho.
"Why is there no other way? If Ilhyeon would just stop pouring fuel on the fire while shouting 'crisis,' the crisis would die down on its own. Why can't you see that Ilhyeon is the one manufacturing this crisis?"
Mun Yeong-gwang was still seething from the pre-meeting encounter—blocked by Kim Seong-ho, snubbed by Lee Tak-hyeon, denied everything he had come for.
So he had already decided to oppose whatever Ilhyeon said, and he led the charge in condemning them.
"Gentlemen, isn't that right? To be perfectly honest, if Ilhyeon hadn't gone around shouting about restructuring and claiming the country was in crisis, this would have been a problem that quietly resolved itself! Dubo and Bumi were companies that deserved to fail, so they failed. Hasn't that sort of thing happened countless times since the founding of this country?"
Chairman Mun Yeong-gwang appealed for agreement from the other member-company representatives.
At once, voices of support rose from every direction.
"That's right. Ilhyeon is taking a minor problem and blowing it into something huge."
"Honestly. If they'd just kept quiet, this would have died down by itself. Why go around yelling 'crisis' until the whole country starts believing it really is one?"
"Even the banks and the creditor groups are getting rattled, aren't they?"
"The crisis in this country is something Ilhyeon is creating."
Once Mun Yeong-gwang opened the floodgates, the room filled with voices denouncing Ilhyeon Group as if they had been waiting for the chance.
Kim Woo-ha, who had been listening quietly, raised a hand and quieted the room.
"Now, now, everyone settle down and let's hear what Ilhyeon has to say."
He looked at Kim Seong-ho, who was still standing, and asked,
"Does Ilhyeon have no intention of stopping its restructuring?"
Kim Seong-ho nodded and answered the question.
"None. On the contrary, I would like to make an earnest request of everyone here. It is not too late even now. We must all make every possible effort to respond preemptively to the crisis that is about to strike. We must shed debt, cut away the fat, examine whether any of the capital already deployed has been invested in duplicate or excessively, and if so, liquidate it without delay."
Kim Seong-ho spoke with genuine urgency to the men seated around the table.
"There is very little time left. If we do not act now, there may never be another opportunity."
"He's out of his mind."
The words "out of his mind" slipped from someone's lips.
But it was not only that one person's thought.
Most of the people in the room were thinking the same thing, and they stared at Kim Seong-ho—and at Lee Tak-hyeon, who had still said nothing—with strange expressions.
Kim Woo-ha likewise looked up at Kim Seong-ho as if he found him peculiar, then said,
"I asked whether you intended to stop the restructuring, and instead you double down."
Kim Woo-ha shifted his gaze to Lee Tak-hyeon, who sat with his arms folded and his face blank.
"Chairman Lee. Is this your will as well?"
"I wouldn't know about my will…"
Lee Tak-hyeon rose from his seat.
He looked around at the people seated at the table and said,
"I have delegated full authority to the head of our Restructuring Headquarters. Whatever the Director decides, that is the decision we follow."
"Shouldn't you be the one restraining him, Chairman?"
"This is a matter whose results have not even appeared yet. What grounds would I have for stopping him?"
Lee Tak-hyeon looked at Mun Yeong-gwang, who had asked him to intervene, and said,
"Is that how Chairman Mun runs his company?"
Mun Yeong-gwang had no answer.
Lee Tak-hyeon took his eyes off the now-silent Mun Yeong-gwang and looked around at Kim Woo-ha and the rest of the Federation members.
"The results of the work the Restructuring Headquarters is carrying out have not yet come in, and I have no intention of passing judgment before the results are in. Therefore Ilhyeon will continue as we have been."
Lee Tak-hyeon spoke with absolute firmness and rose from the seat he had been occupying.
"If I remain here it will only make free discussion more difficult, so I will take my leave. The rest of you should discuss restructuring in depth among yourselves."
"There is a banquet planned after the meeting. Do you mean to leave without attending?"
"You want to drag me all the way to the banquet so I can sit and listen to your complaints?"
Back in his usual blunt manner of speaking, Lee Tak-hyeon looked at Kim Woo-ha, gave a snort of contempt, turned on his heel, and walked out.
Kim Seong-ho followed him from the room, and for a long while the first-half regular gathering of the Federation of Korean Industries was filled with nothing but silence.
Once outside the hall, Lee Tak-hyeon climbed into the car without a word.
Even inside the car he said nothing for some time.
Only after the car had left Yeouido, crossed Mapo Bridge, and reached Seoul Station did the closed mouth of Lee Tak-hyeon finally open.
"According to the report that came up through the secretariat a few days ago, the restructuring is expected to reduce our group's overall sales by roughly twenty percent."
"Yes. To be precise, a decline of about twenty-three percent is projected."
"I suppose there is no need even to mention that the number of affiliates and the number of employees have also fallen."
Lee Tak-hyeon continued without so much as glancing at Kim Seong-ho.
"It has been more than twenty years since I inherited the company from my father, the founding Chairman. This is the first time the scale of the company has shrunk."
After a brief pause, Lee Tak-hyeon turned his head and looked at Kim Seong-ho.
His eyes were filled with rage.
It was plain that Lee Tak-hyeon was holding back, with every ounce of his strength, a fury that threatened to explode.
Kim Seong-ho met those eyes squarely and said,
"I will prove that the choice we have made was not wrong."
"You had better."
Lee Tak-hyeon held the confident gaze of Kim Seong-ho for a moment, then turned his head away again.
And until they arrived at the company, the two men exchanged not another word inside the car.