Too Easy a Defense (2)
Kim Majin hesitated for a moment, as if it was now her turn to explain why she wouldn’t support the candidate I had put forward. Then she continued.
“This voting right wasn’t originally mine. My husband—the true owner—has such unshakable opinions on the matter.”
“If it were Brother Je-gyun, he obviously wouldn’t back any candidate from my side. But Sister-in-law, do you remember how that authority ended up with you?”
“Wasn’t it because my husband was declared an adult ward and I was appointed as his guardian?”
“Exactly. The court recognized that Brother Je-gyun is in no condition to make rational decisions. One of the reasons cited was his blind hostility toward me. The court granted the guardian authority precisely to prevent or correct the ward’s flawed judgments.”
It was as if a tangled knot in her mind had suddenly come loose. Kim Majin’s eyes widened, and she even let out a small, bright laugh.
“So that’s it!”
“It’s difficult for me to ask you to decide one way or the other, but I can state with absolute clarity that you possess the legal right to determine that Brother Je-gyun’s thinking is wrong. Especially when it concerns the exercise of property rights.”
She let out a soft sigh, the sound of someone reluctant to broach yet another complicated subject, and pressed on.
“What if—and I mean purely hypothetically—I opposed President Choi Sang-seok’s appointment? Would you be all right with that, Young Master?”
This, at least, I could answer without hesitation. It really would be fine. No matter what choice Kim Majin made, Choi Sang-seok’s appointment was going to pass anyway. And by asking me that question, she had already given me one thing with absolute certainty.
My judgment was correct.
I had personally handed her an enormous amount of power. Had she chosen to stand against me, it would have been the same as buying weapons for the enemy with my own money. Yet here she was, repeatedly gauging my intentions and making it clear she had no desire to wield the authority I’d given her against my wishes. This confirmed that my belief—she would not harm me going forward—was correct.
“I will respect whatever decision you make, Sister-in-law. If anything else is weighing on you, please speak freely.”
“The truth is… whether the motion passes or fails, I still have to choose a side. I keep wondering whether it looks proper for me to so visibly take one side in a family dispute.”
Ah. So it was about appearances.
Having lived my life without caring much for such things—whether by nature or necessity—I genuinely didn’t understand why it mattered. The time I had been given felt far too short to waste worrying about the gaze of some vague, unspecified “others.” No matter whose standards I tried to meet, someone would always disapprove.
That said, I wasn’t completely incapable of understanding her concern. There were people who placed great importance on such things, and for their sake, I could show respect.
Kim Majin had once lived as the nation’s beloved actress, then as the daughter-in-law of a chaebol family. When viewed in that light, the fact that she had internalized the weight of public perception wasn’t surprising at all.
Then perhaps it was time to relieve her of that particular worry.
“You don’t actually have to choose between approval or rejection.”
“Pardon? Then what should I…?”
“You can simply abstain. There will likely be a flood of abstention votes at this extraordinary shareholders’ meeting for QS Food. Individual shareholders rarely exercise their voting rights in the first place, and QS Corporation itself cannot easily reach corporate decisions without Father due to its articles of incorporation. The National Pension Service will probably skip the meeting as usual, won’t it?”
Even with my solution, Kim Majin still seemed to feel something was missing.
“If I abstain and the new CEO appointment motion is rejected, won’t President Choi Sang-seok resent me? We did meet face-to-face at the Gangwon-do villa last time.”
I nearly burst out laughing. It wasn’t the time for it, but the chuckle rose from deep in my stomach and I had to fight it down. So President Choi Sang-seok was also included among the “others” whose opinions she worried about.
“I’ve already run the numbers. Even without Brother Je-gyun’s shares, President Choi Sang-seok will not be removed. So set your mind at ease and decide whichever option feels right to you.”
She had already heard the detailed vote breakdown from Seong-gyun, so for a moment she simply tilted her head, as if my words didn’t add up.
“Is that so? That’s a relief. Thank you for lifting a weight off my shoulders today.”
For the next ten days, Seong-gyun threw himself into buying QS Food shares with frightening determination. Not only that, rumors spread like wildfire that he had mobilized employees from QS Electronics to hunt down individual shareholders and beg them to sign proxy voting forms.
As a result, the QS Food stock price climbed even higher. The longer it went on, the more money Seong-gyun was forced to sink into the company, increasing his stake at an ever-growing loss.
The more I watched, the more he looked like a fool thrashing wildly in a swamp he had mistakenly stepped into, sinking deeper with every desperate move.
The QS Food shareholders’ meeting was set for next Monday. Today was Saturday. The window for Seong-gyun to pour any more money into QS Food stock had closed with yesterday’s market bell.
I was confident about the outcome on Monday, but I had no particular desire to gather an audience just to watch brothers tear into each other. Therefore, I decided to reveal the one card I held that could not possibly lose—today.
The necessary preparations were two text messages and one phone call. The last one was to Seong-gyun.
“I hear you’ve been ridiculously busy lately.”
His voice came back stiff and clipped over the phone.
"If you know I’m busy, don’t call. Or if you must, keep it short and hang up."
“Right. I’ll keep it short. Let’s meet briefly at QS Tower this evening.”
"If you have business, come to me. You know I’m busy—why do you keep doing this?"
“Aren’t you busy because of the QS Food shareholders’ meeting? That’s what I wanted to discuss. Oh, and Second Sister-in-law said she’ll be there too. Are you really not coming?”
The moment I mentioned Kim Majin, his attitude shifted noticeably.
"What exactly are you talking about with my sister-in-law?"
“If you’re curious, come and listen together. Or we can talk without you. I’m fine either way.”
A low groan escaped him over the line. He was probably weighing whether to cancel his evening schedule of meeting individual shareholders for proxy signatures. But Kim Majin held more voting power than a hundred of those shareholders combined. His answer was already decided.
"Fine. What time?"
“Seeing my face right before the shareholders’ meeting would probably kill your appetite. So I set it for eight o’clock, after dinner. Same location as last time—the division chief’s office.”
"See you then."
As soon as business was concluded, he hung up abruptly, as if continuing any longer would make him sick with rage.
Another half-day and four hours later, the promised eight o’clock arrived.
Seong-gyun opened the door to the division chief’s office and stared at me with a sullen expression.
“What is this? Why are you alone? Where’s my sister-in-law?”
“Why don’t you sit down first? We’re not going to talk standing up. Sister-in-law will be here in about thirty minutes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me to come at eight-thirty? Why call me early?”
“There’s someone else I need to see before that. He’ll be here shortly. He holds voting rights for the QS Food shareholders’ meeting, so it won’t hurt you to meet him. His stake is quite significant.”
The scrape of chair legs against the floor answered me. The mere mention of voting rights had been enough to move him.
Less than a minute later, the person Seong-gyun needed to meet arrived.
“Hello. I’m sorry for being slightly late. I couldn’t find a parking space.”
The man apologizing so politely for a single minute’s delay was Baek Eun-deok, CEO of QS Life Insurance. Despite the nickname “Baek the Ungrateful” he must have heard since childhood, he was a man who had devoted his entire loyalty to Chairman Kwon Byung-do.
This middle-aged man, whose hair had thinned considerably from the rigors of corporate life, could be summed up in a single word.
A rubber stamp.
As CEO of QS Life Insurance—the de facto holding company for the entire QS Group—he also served as chairman of the board, the body required to pass all major corporate decisions. Of course, he hadn’t earned the chairmanship through share ownership. Chairman Kwon Byung-do had simply placed him there because he himself could not attend every meeting.
Therefore, Baek Eun-deok’s primary role was to channel the chairman’s will through the board, not his own.
I had met him frequently during the treasury stock acquisition negotiations for QS Life. Since the instructions had come directly from Chairman Kwon Byung-do, Baek Eun-deok had been extremely cooperative. Thanks to that, the deal had proceeded far more quickly than the scale would suggest and now awaited only formal board approval.
Naturally, this remained strictly confidential—known only to the small number of necessary personnel, Chairman Kwon Byung-do, myself, and Chairman Baek.
That was why, although Seong-gyun clearly recognized Baek Eun-deok’s face, he wore an expression of pure bewilderment at the man’s sudden appearance.
Baek Eun-deok kept bowing deeply to both of us. Seong-gyun finally spoke.
“Don’t tell me… QS Life intends to exercise its voting rights at this extraordinary shareholders’ meeting for QS Food?”
“Yes, that is correct. The board has decided accordingly.”
“After what happened to Father, there have been more than ten affiliate shareholders’ meetings. You never once exercised your voting rights during any of them. Why now, of all times?”
If QS Life—holding more than thirty-eight percent of the shares—participated in this meeting, every calculation Seong-gyun had made would collapse. No matter how many proxy forms he collected from individual shareholders or how many shares he bought on the open market, everything would have to follow the decision of the QS Life board.
Having been thoroughly scolded the moment he walked in, Chairman Baek looked at me quietly.
“I told him to do it.”
In the previous meetings, there had been no event significant enough to warrant revealing that I was acquiring QS Life’s treasury shares, so I had kept my hand hidden. At my short answer, Seong-gyun’s face twisted in a way that mirrored the ruin of his carefully laid plans.
“What? With what authority?”
Since Chairman Baek had passed the question to me, it was my turn. Receiving my glance, he quickly supplied the explanation.
“Young Master Kwon Ho-gyun will soon become the third-largest shareholder of our QS Life Insurance. With the first-largest shareholder, Chairman Kwon Byung-do, and the second-largest shareholder, QS Corporation, both in difficult positions to render decisions, our board has chosen to follow the will of the third-largest shareholder. Since the first-largest shareholder instructed the sale of treasury shares to the third-largest, the QS Life board has determined that this path respects the collective will of the top three shareholders.”
Seong-gyun pressed a hand to his forehead as if dizzy and rested his elbow on the table.
“Father transferred shares to you without consulting me—his eldest son? And not just any company—QS Life?”
If I were to explain the full story, I would have to begin with Kwon Il-gyun, and the explanation would grow long. A simple summary, however, was possible.
“Because I am the successor. Not you, Brother.”