The Chairman's Reckoning
QS Electronics must have someone handling legal risk management, or they could have at least consulted the group legal team. Why take such a reckless gamble? Before heading to Chairman Kwon Byung-do, I checked the publicly disclosed financial statements of QS Electronics, wondering if there might be any clues. Something immediately stood out.
Two years ago—right after QS Electronics began collecting franchise fees from its dealerships—the company's cash reserves had surged at an alarming rate. In just two years, internal cash holdings had more than doubled, jumping from roughly seven trillion won to about fifteen trillion won. Not all of it came from the franchise fees, but it was clear the fees had become one of the tools used to amass liquidity.
If I stretched the logic a little, since President Seong-gyun was personally managing the franchise fees, it was highly likely he was overseeing the rest of the cash assets the same way. In short, QS Electronics was stockpiling cash at a frantic pace—even at the risk of illegal acts that could damage the company—and keeping it all under Seong-gyun's control. What did that mean?
That night, after Ho-gyun left the QS Group chairman's office, Chairman Kwon Byung-do—his rage boiling over—grabbed a bottle of whiskey and hurled the glass at the door. The crystal shattered, sending ice and liquor flying as shards caught the light of the chandelier above.
Hearing the crash, the chief secretary rushed in. “Chairman, are you all right?”
Kwon Byung-do waved him off as he bent to pick up the broken glass. “I'm fine. Leave it for later and go.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ah, and send for Je-gyun.”
“You mean the second young master?”
“Yes.”
“Understood, Chairman.”
Once the secretary left, Kwon Byung-do took a long swig straight from the bottle, trying to swallow his fury. He wasn't angry at Ho-gyun, who had just visited. If anything, the third son had been performing exceptionally well lately, as if atoning for past mistakes. Taking down Jang Gang-tae of JB Construction had been particularly satisfying.
What truly enraged him were his other two sons. From what Ho-gyun had reported, the family was in chaos. Je-gyun had once again tried to devour his elder brother, handing over Seong-gyun's corporate card records to Kwon So-hee on a silver platter. At first, Kwon Byung-do had wondered if Ho-gyun was fabricating the story to frame Je-gyun. But after seeing the email Je-gyun had sent to Kwon So-hee, there was no room for doubt.
The message itself was even more absurd.
If you take down Kwon Seong-gyun, I'll take over QS and give you a position too lol. Pick any affiliate you like.
Staring at the screenshot Ho-gyun had left behind, Kwon Byung-do felt a vein throb at the back of his neck. He crumpled the paper and threw it away in disgust. Kwon Byung-do had fought Kwon Gap-do and Kwon Eul-do tooth and nail to secure control of QS. Now his own son was offering to hand a piece of it to Kwon Gap-do's daughter.
“And he calls himself my son!”
Seong-gyun was no better. Kwon Byung-do had known Seong-gyun was stockpiling cash inside QS Electronics. He even understood the reason—preparing ammunition to buy shares in other affiliates under QS Electronics' name ahead of a potential succession battle. It wasn't embezzlement, since the shares would belong to the company, but it still left a bad taste. It felt as though Seong-gyun was already waiting for his father to die. And now Ho-gyun claimed Seong-gyun had violated the Fair Trade Act in the process.
Kwon Byung-do could accept that he wouldn't live forever, but the thought of his son harming the very company he had built—and which that same son hoped to inherit—filled him with bitter disbelief. The vague idea of appointing Ho-gyun as the next head of the Central Management Headquarters was slowly hardening into a concrete decision.
A knock sounded. Je-gyun had arrived.
“You called for me, Father?”
Without meeting his son's eyes, Kwon Byung-do pressed a hand to his forehead. “Je-gyun, I heard you were unhappy about being moved from telecommunications to food.”
“Ah, well, Father, that is—”
“Do you remember why you were sent to food in the first place?”
“I know I was wrong.”
Kwon Byung-do dropped his hand and roared, “If you know you were wrong, why did you do the exact same thing again? Where should I send you this time? Delivery? Resort? Or would you rather quit everything and leave the group for good?”
“What? Father, what are you talking about?”
“It just so happens to be lying right at your feet. Pick it up and read it.”
Je-gyun bent down and retrieved the soaked wad of paper from among the broken glass and whiskey. When he unfolded it, his blood ran cold. It was a printout of the very email he had sent to Kwon So-hee. He quickly stuffed the paper into his jacket pocket and dropped to his knees.
“I'm sorry, Father. Please forgive me just one more time.”
The next day, unaware of the previous night's events, Kwon So-hee headed confidently to QS Foods, intending to squeeze Je-gyun for a hefty sum in exchange for dropping the lawsuit. She had already decided that simply taking money in return for not revealing the email wasn't enough. Since she had the opportunity, she wanted the fifty million won she needed immediately, plus something that would bring in regular income—perhaps a nominal position with a salary but no actual work, or exclusive distribution rights for QS Foods products in a specific region.
With a bright smile, she stepped into the president's office at QS Foods—only for Je-gyun's furious outburst to shatter every fantasy.
“Kwon So-hee, how dare you show your face here? Are you insane?”
“Oppa, what's wrong? Is this because I dropped the lawsuit against Seong-gyun?”
“You took the documents promising to bring Seong-gyun down and then withdrew the complaint? Did you run straight to Father after I gave you the evidence?”
“What are you talking about? What would I tell Uncle?”
Kwon So-hee looked ready to cry as Je-gyun thrust the crumpled paper at her. It was a screenshot of the email he had sent—and she had received.
“If you didn't tell him, why does Father have this?”
“Uncle had this? I swear it wasn't me.”
“Who else would have printed it and delivered it to him if not you?”
Kwon So-hee felt utterly wronged. This was the same email Ho-gyun had offered to buy for fifty million won—the one she had refused to hand over. “No, Je-gyun oppa, think about it. What good would it do me to give this to Uncle?”
Her protest earned her the same punishment Je-gyun had received the night before.
“Get out!”
“Oppa!”
“Don't call me that. Can't you understand plain speech? Get out of my company right now, and don't ever think of contacting me again!”
In the end, Kwon So-hee left QS Foods empty-handed, without even the minimum fifty million won she had hoped for. “Haah… how am I supposed to pay for the kids' tuition? Should I just tell them to come back?”
Having sued Seong-gyun, she knew pressure would soon come down on her dealerships and sales would plummet. With everything falling apart, she had considered selling a few dealerships, but there was no guarantee buyers would appear quickly. She might even have to sell the clothes off her back.
About a month after resolving the Kwon So-hee matter, changes appeared in both my law firm and my ability to read judgment documents. The most noticeable change at the office was the signboard. Oh Il-mu had kept insisting it was embarrassing every time he saw the old name, so I sped up the replacement. The firm name changed from “Oh Il-mu Law Office” to “Seungbaek Law Firm.”
“Seungbaek” was simply shorthand for “100% win rate.” We had never lost a case so far, and with the ability to preview judgments, we never would. Even if we couldn't win every single case that came in, we could select only winnable ones or settle losing cases before they reached trial.
Along with the new name, we launched a fresh website. Most importantly, the firm's staff had grown significantly. After our victory in the QS Resort land dispute and the arrest of the land swindler Song Jeong-pil, the firm gained considerable recognition. As a result, we were receiving a substantial number of external requests that had nothing to do with the QS Group or the Kwon family.
Of course, most of them weren't particularly difficult or large-scale. Like many legal issues, the majority simply required procedural assistance. Handing all of them to Oh Il-mu, the senior attorney, wouldn't look right, but handling them personally risked losing sight of the bigger picture. So I decided to hire an associate lawyer.
An associate lawyer is someone employed by a law firm or law office to assist with work rather than taking on cases independently. The new colleague was Jegal Hyeon, my senior from law school. “Jegal” was his surname, “Hyeon” his given name—and, remarkably, he lived in Galhyeon-dong.
Jegal Hyeon had passed the bar exam right after graduation, completed his military service as a military judge advocate, and then opened his own practice, which had struggled. I had always admired how diligently he studied and how meticulously he handled every detail of any task. When I saw his post on social media about the difficulties of running his office, I reached out with an offer to join forces.
I had briefly considered hiring someone with more experience and industry recognition. But with my ability to preview judgments, I already had sufficient legal expertise. While connections and experience mattered in this field, Oh Il-mu provided more than enough of both, and finding someone who surpassed him would be difficult. What I needed now was someone with solid foundational knowledge who would be grateful for the opportunity and handle the routine work quickly and thoroughly.