The Emperor's Test
In the chairman’s office of the Lee Do Group.
“Hahaha, so Cheol-ong was quite the celebrity back in Busan, huh?”
“Celebrity? That’s putting it mildly. The man practically flew across the city.”
“Don’t exaggerate, Kim Jong-pil. What do you mean, I flew?”
“Aww, come on, big brother. Don’t you remember? When the kids from our neighborhood got beaten up by the ones from Namil Middle School? You and I went right in front of their school with wooden clubs and cracked their damn skulls open!”
“Hey! Kim Jong-pil, the chairman is right here!”
“Oho! Cracked their skulls!”
“N-no, Chairman! That’s not—!”
The atmosphere was warm and lively.
The notoriously eccentric Kim Jong-pil, the man known as Lee Do’s Grim Reaper, Yu Cheol-ong, and even the iron-fisted emperor of Lee Do, Lee Sang-byuk—memories had transported every one of them back to those wild younger days.
“This is delightful. I never imagined I’d be sitting in my own office with you like this.”
“I feel the same. I was worried it might look bad if I came to see you, but this place has quite the charm.”
“Of course it does! I’m far superior to that tacky old Chairman Kim, aren’t I?”
“Hahaha.”
Lee Sang-byuk let out a hearty laugh and reached out, firmly grasping Kim Jong-pil’s hand.
“Anyway, I’m glad you came. Truly glad. Just seeing your face makes me feel like I might tear up.”
“The chairman always held you in the highest regard. He looked forward to meeting you here more than anything.”
“I know. I know exactly how much you and Chairman Sang-byuk wanted me.”
When the gates finally opened for large corporations to enter the guild business, the number one recruitment target for the Lee Do Group had been the Mountain King, Kim Jong-pil.
They had even reached a verbal agreement through Yu Cheol-ong. But in the end, everything fell through at the last moment.
“Even now, just thinking about that time makes me sigh. Those gold-badge bastards were so slow, and they handled everything like third-rate thugs. I’m sorry, kid. You must have gone through a lot of trouble because of me.”
“It’s fine. It’s all in the past now.”
“That’s right, Chairman. At least now we’re finally eating from the same pot.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Lee Sang-byuk stroked the Mountain King’s hand for a long time before turning his gaze. He looked at his grandson—the remarkable boy who had made this meeting possible.
“Tsk tsk, these cookies are pretty good.”
In the corner, Lee Shin was stacking cookies into a small mountain and devouring them. Watching the eldest grandson of the country’s most powerful chaebol family display absolutely zero refinement, Lee Sang-byuk couldn’t help but sigh.
“Who would’ve thought the day would come when I’d feel grateful to that good-for-nothing brat? The world really is unpredictable. Don’t you think so, Cheol-ong?”
“……Well. Hahaha.”
Yu Cheol-ong had given the boy a chance out of respect for his bold initiative, but it hadn’t been a real opportunity. Honestly, he had seen it as nothing more than a discard pile.
Considering everything the boy had squandered until now, entrusting him with Lee Sang-byuk’s grand plan—and the future of the entire Lee Do Group—had seemed impossible.
Lee Sang-byuk had assumed that if he gave the boy a small corner store in some remote village, he would just continue acting like the same worthless degenerate he had always been…… yet somehow, that very boy had managed to fulfill one of the pictures Lee Sang-byuk had dreamed of his entire life.
‘Hmph. Still, he has a long way to go.’
Lee Sang-byuk refused to admit—even to himself—that his mood had improved, if only by the tiniest margin.
At that moment, Kim Jong-pil chuckled softly and spoke.
“Still, big brother, it really seems like you can’t trust rumors in this industry.”
“What do you mean?”
“That kid over there.”
“That kid? You mean Shin?”
“Yes. Lee Shin. I know he’s your grandson, but…… the rumors painted him as the absolute worst kind of trash. And yet……”
“Why? Does he seem different in person?”
“Different……? No.”
Kim Jong-pil shook his head and declared with certainty.
“He’s outstanding. Honestly, I was impressed.”
“Oh? That much?”
To think the Mountain King would say such a thing.
Almost slyly, that single comment caused a spark of interest to flicker in Lee Sang-byuk’s eyes as he looked at Lee Shin.
“First of all, he has incredible guts. Most people wouldn’t dare speak their mind so freely in front of me, but he didn’t hesitate at all. His drive to push things forward is remarkable for his age. On the surface he seems lighthearted, but there’s real depth to his schemes…… he doesn’t act like the young people these days at all. The more I see him, the more charm I find.”
This might be a bit much to say, but—
“Chairman Sang-byuk, he reminds me of you in your younger days.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Exactly like you.”
“Haha, if you want to insult me, just say it outright.”
“I’m being serious.”
Lee Sang-byuk simply laughed.
Who was Lee Sang-byuk? He was the legendary figure who had taken a flour-selling company and elevated the Lee Do Group to the very top of the business world.
And yet.
“That worthless brat resembles me?”
But Kim Jong-pil truly meant it.
“You can take it as a joke if you want, but I saw you when you were young. If you had been born with a face like his, you would have looked exactly like that.”
“Ugh, so you were teasing me after all, suddenly bringing up my face.”
“Anyway. Just keep watching. It’s going to be very entertaining.”
Because that’s why I chose him.
The absolute confidence in Kim Jong-pil’s attitude finally made Lee Sang-byuk wonder if it might actually be true.
Could that worthless brat really…… resemble him?
After their long conversation finally came to an end, Yu Cheol-ong took Kim Jong-pil to the dining area first, leaving the grandfather and grandson alone.
“Aigoo~ That was long. Are you finally done with your little trip down memory lane?”
“Hmph……”
“Then I suppose it’s time for me to say what I want to say.”
Lee Shin, who had been stuffing himself with cookies until his stomach was about to burst, finally broke the long silence and revealed his true purpose.
“How much are you going to give me?”
He held out his hand as if he were simply collecting what was already his.
‘So this is what I looked like when I was young……?’
No. Absolutely not.
Lee Sang-byuk felt genuine disgust at the sight of his grandson’s eyes gleaming with greed. Never mind that his own eyes were filled with just as much greed.
* * *
It was finally time for real business.
The once warm and friendly chairman’s office had grown frighteningly cold. Like grandfather and grandson who both reeked of money, neither of them yielded even an inch.
“What do you want?”
“You present first.”
“You’re the one who should be making an offer.”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. You present first.”
Korea’s greatest money demon versus an SSS-class fire-attribute degenerate.
A battle of equals!
“What a ridiculous kid. Hey, you’re the representative! The representative! This is all for your own benefit, so what the hell do you mean ‘you present first’?”
“Pfft. You’re basically a robber, Grandpa—you just don’t have a knife in your hand. We’re talking about the Mountain King here. Korea’s living legend! The legend of legends! You don’t get it?”
“Since it’s Jong-pil, I’ll specially support the signing bonus.”
“Aww, why are you acting like such an amateur? The signing bonus is obvious. Right now we should be talking about something more productive.”
“Look at this guy?”
“Come on, go higher.”
Lee Shin crudely made a circle with his thumb and index finger. Lee Sang-byuk frowned deeply and drew a firm line.
“The signing bonus is enough! I’ll take care of the rest later.”
His decisive tone carried the unmistakable aura of a corporate titan. It was an overwhelming presence that no ordinary person could dare challenge.
But he had picked the wrong opponent. Lee Shin, already fully committed to squeezing every last drop, could no longer see anything else.
“How unfortunate. Thanks to certain someones, I’ve developed a serious case of trust issues. I’ve decided not to accept ‘verbal agreements’ anymore.”
“……”
Did they really think he wouldn’t realize he had been treated as a discard? The moment he heard the name Mir, Lee Shin had immediately seen through Lee Sang-byuk’s intentions.
“Speaking of which, it was honestly pretty petty. You said you were giving me a chance, but you discriminated against me that much?”
“P-petty?!”
“Well, I can’t exactly call my own grandfather a cheapskate, can I?”
“Y-you damn brat!”
“Anyway, I’ll let it slide just this once. Now, let’s get back to business.”
“Hah……”
This petty, small-minded tendency to get even whenever he had the chance. Still, Lee Shin wasn’t worried at all.
Because he knew his grandfather would give it to him. Every single thing he wanted—the signing bonus, the annual salary, everything.
“Signing bonus and annual salary? You idiot. Do you even know how much Jong-pil’s salary is?!”
“What does that matter? You’re going to match Korea’s highest anyway.”
“Hah, are you his agent or something? You idiot, you’re the representative! The representative of Mir Guild! You’re the one who’s supposed to be cutting costs even by a single won! Yet here you are telling your grandfather to pay Korea’s highest? What’s your justification?”
“Ah~ Yep, I knew you’d say that. Grandpa, you’re pretending not to know even though you do! You’re testing me, aren’t you?”
“Just answer the question.”
“Fine, fine.”
Why should the Mountain King Kim Jong-pil’s value be the highest in Korea?
It was too obvious.
Because this place—this family—was ‘Lee Do.’
“Korea’s greatest corporation. The ultimate symbol. The top chaebol. In this country, Lee Do has always been the best. There are brands that are nearly impossible to create even if you pour in billions.”
So why would they throw away the ‘best’ brand they had spent decades building?
In reality, Lee Do was a latecomer in the guild business. No, calling them a latecomer was generous—they were practically newborns.
But that was fine. As mentioned before, they were Lee Do.
“Don’t you understand marketing? In people’s minds, Lee Do is permanently stamped as the best. There’s no need to break that perception. Even though we’re new, we don’t feel new. We’re like a winning lottery ticket that was always destined to be the best.”
That was what they needed to make people believe.
“The underdog story of a dragon rising from a stream is fun, but these days the real trend is the topdog story—charging forward with overwhelming support and delivering satisfying victories.”
In that sense, recruiting the Mountain King Kim Jong-pil was an acquisition worth any amount of money.
Why? Because it had a story.
“The Lee Do Group has taken in the Mountain King Kim Jong-pil, who once stood at the peak of Korea. By offering the ‘highest’ signing bonus, the ‘highest’ annual salary, and the ‘highest’ treatment in Korea! How do you think that will look to people?”
Wow~ As expected of Lee Do! So cool! Their class is on another level!
The Mountain King, promised the very best, would become an object of envy. And Lee Do, the one capable of making such promises, would be seen as the El Dorado that every hunter dreamed of.
“Well, some people might call it wasteful spending, but.”
So what?
“That actually works in our favor.”
Wasteful spending requires having a lot of money in the first place. And Lee Do had the most money in Korea.
“If wasteful spending is also the best in Korea? People will secretly be jealous. ‘I want to receive that kind of wasteful treatment too.’ All of this is marketing. It’s brand marketing under the name of ‘the best’—something only the Lee Do Group can do in Korea.”
How about that?
Lee Shin shrugged as if it were no big deal. But Lee Sang-byuk’s eyes had grown unusually sharp.
As Lee Shin had expected, this had indeed been a test. A test to measure the caliber of his grandson.
And Lee Shin’s answer just now was—
‘Better than I expected.’
Honestly, Lee Sang-byuk had thought Lee Shin would bring up Kirin Guild.
No matter what anyone said, Kirin was currently Korea’s top guild. Naturally, their hunters’ levels and salaries were also the highest.
If the second-ranked business group was investing this much into the guild business, wouldn’t it wound Lee Do’s pride if they spent less than Kirin? For someone as obsessed with being the best as Lee Sang-byuk, it was a provocation he would have no choice but to fall for.
That was why Lee Sang-byuk had naturally expected him to mention it…….
Yet astonishingly, the word ‘Kirin’ had never once left Lee Shin’s mouth.
Why would he abandon the easy path and deliberately choose the harder one?
Lee Sang-byuk couldn’t help but ask.
And Lee Shin’s answer was truly a masterpiece.
“Ah~ What? Grandpa, were you worried about Kirin? Ha, that’s disappointing. When did my grandfather become so small-minded? Maybe it’s because you’re getting older and your estrogen levels are too high……”
Kirin? Why would he care about them? Because they’re the best in Korea?
Lee Shin asked the question in reverse.
“Are you seriously planning to be satisfied with just Korea? Do you really intend to be content with being number one in this tiny little market?”
To Professor Lee Shin, the fossil, Korea was nothing more than a stepping stone.
Frankly, if he had only wanted to be the best in Korea, why would he have bothered climbing all the way up Mt. Geumgang to recruit the Mountain King? There was such a thing as efficiency. He could have just gathered a few promising rookies, trained them for a few years, and achieved it naturally.
“I thought your ambition was the greatest in the world, Grandpa. If you’re only aiming for the best in Korea, that’s going to be a problem. There would be no reason for me to work with you.”
The unexpected provocation caused Lee Sang-byuk’s brow to furrow deeply.
“Look at you, getting cocky. The very seat you’re sitting in right now—I created it for you. Do you really think you could have done this without my help?”
A strong aura accompanied the clearly threatening remark.
But Lee Shin answered without the slightest change in expression.
“Yes.”
The answer came so naturally.
At those words, Lee Sang-byuk’s face hardened like stone.
In a way, wasn’t that a denial of his very existence? The boy was getting arrogant. Lee Sang-byuk glared at Lee Shin with eyes that were slightly angry.
The moment their eyes met—
He was rendered speechless.
“……!!”
The emotion felt in those terrifyingly clear eyes.
It was absolute certainty.
Suddenly, the Mountain King’s earlier words flashed through his mind.
—‘His schemes…… they don’t belong to today’s youth at all.’
“It’s true that your help shortened my timeline, but that’s all. Even without your arrangements, I would have entered this industry, and I would have succeeded without fail.”
Why? If there was one field he was confident in, it was guilds.
“Because I am the best in the world.”
The best in the world.
It was an incredibly arrogant answer.
Yet the reason Lee Sang-byuk couldn’t say anything was none other than those eyes—those clear eyes that held not a single trace of doubt, eyes that even seemed to carry a hint of madness.
“Does that answer satisfy you?”
“……Very well. I hope you take responsibility for those words.”
He had delivered results. He had presented a vision. And in the end, he had even shown bold spirit.
Therefore—
“The signing bonus, annual salary support, everything will be done exactly as you wish.”
He had passed.
Lee Sang-byuk seemed quite pleased with his grandson’s performance, which had exceeded expectations. Unlike his usual self, he even gave a faint smile, patted Lee Shin on the shoulder, and stood up.
But at that moment.
“Wait just a second.”
“What? What is it now?”
“That’s what I should be saying. Why are you acting like such an amateur?”
“What?”
Now that the Mountain King matter was settled, it was his turn.
Lee Shin pulled some documents out of his bag.
“Now it’s time to talk about what ‘I’ should be receiving.”