Dual Mandate
The old man nearing eighty hadn’t packed much into the text message.
- Busy? Let’s meet briefly.
- I’m available. Shall I come to headquarters?
- No. I’m not feeling well today, so I’m at home. Come here.
Perhaps because he had always seemed like an immovable mountain, the idea that Chairman Kwon Byung-do wasn’t well didn’t immediately register. Then again, most men his age had long since retired to enjoy their grandchildren, yet he was still at the helm, commanding the entire business world. It was impressive. At least it wasn’t the hospital—just home—so it probably wasn’t serious. Still, any trouble surrounding the chairman would derail my plans.
According to my memories before the regression, he lived another five years. But I had already changed the world from the one I knew as Kang Min-chan at QS Delivery. There was no guarantee his fate would follow the same path. At the very least, he needed to remain firmly in control until I stood on equal footing with Seong-gyun and Je-gyun.
I replied to the chairman and rose from my seat.
- Understood. I’ll be right there.
A short while later, in the study of the family home, I found Chairman Kwon Byung-do with one hand gripping his head while the other rested on the armrest.
“Father, are you very unwell?”
“No. It’s nothing serious. I didn’t even drink that much yesterday, yet this hangover is brutal.”
The chairman’s drinking wasn’t welcome news. Even if he claimed it wasn’t much, the fact that such a small amount left him suffering suggested his body could no longer handle it.
“Have you been drinking often lately? You really should take better care of your health.”
He hesitated, oddly reminiscent of a high-school student caught drinking by his homeroom teacher, before continuing.
“Well… occasionally. You take care of yourself too. I heard you nearly got into serious trouble at QS Delivery?”
“Yes. I’ll be more careful. Those people have been arrested, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Good. Aigoo, I was hoping to rest today, but the company won’t leave me alone. I need to appoint a new head of Central Management Headquarters—resignation letters keep landing directly on my desk.”
“Who resigned from Central Management Headquarters?”
“The Audit Team leader says he’s leaving. I’ve talked him out of going to study in America several times before, but this time he doesn’t seem willing to change his mind.”
The Audit Team of Central Management Headquarters investigated corruption across subsidiaries. Because of the nature of their work, even subsidiary presidents walked on eggshells around them; their authority within the group was immense. If we compared the QS Group to the Korean government, Chairman Kwon Byung-do would be the president, the subsidiary presidents the ministers, and the Audit Team leader the equivalent of the National Police Commissioner and Prosecutor General combined—someone who could point a sword at anyone except the chairman himself.
And now that position was vacant.
“That’s too important a seat to leave empty.”
“Exactly. So, how about you take it?”
“Me?”
“Yes. The current leader was quite impressed when he saw how you handled the QS Delivery strike. Don’t waste that talent only at the law firm—use it inside the company as well. Since you studied law, it suits you perfectly.”
The chairman had clearly made up his mind before asking. For me, it was an offer I would gladly accept with both hands.
Seong-gyun and Je-gyun were expanding their influence through the subsidiaries—the group’s limbs. Meanwhile, this would place the Central Management Headquarters—the group’s head—directly under my control.
Oh Il-mu had once mentioned that the chairman was considering me as the next head of Central Management Headquarters. But promoting me straight to that position would look suspicious from every angle. Offering me the Audit Team leader role now was likely a stepping stone toward eventually handing me the entire headquarters.
With this, I would gain access to information on an entirely different level—both in quantity and quality—compared to what the law firm could obtain through case referrals.
I bowed my head toward the chairman.
“Understood. I’ll do as you say. What about the law firm? Should I hand it over to someone else?”
“If you can manage both, I’d prefer you keep the firm and take the Audit Team as well. Word has reached even me—someone with no connection to the legal world—that your firm has never lost a case since opening. Is that true?”
“Yes. Our firm’s name is ‘Seungbaek,’ short for ‘100% win rate,’ and we’re living up to it.”
“Haha, good. A truly excellent company isn’t built by its representative alone. There must be a secret to your success. How about you serve as both Audit Team leader and managing partner of the firm, and use the firm’s resources in an outsourcing capacity for audit work? Would handling two roles be too much?”
Excellent! I could accept the enormous title of Audit Team Leader at Central Management Headquarters without giving up anything I already had. The workload would increase, but when such a grand path had opened before me, how could busyness be a problem?
“Not at all. I can handle it.”
“Good. If you have nothing urgent, head to headquarters immediately and begin the handover.”
“Yes, Father.”
“And once you start audit work, look into the hiring scandal at QS Telecom involving the new regular employees. The PR team seems to be having quite the headache trying to keep it out of the news. Even if an article does come out, we should be the ones releasing it first.”
“Understood.”
QS Telecom. Perhaps I could soon achieve not only control of Central Management Headquarters but also one of the group’s three main pillars.
I bowed to the chairman and left the family home, heading straight for the QS Group headquarters where Central Management Headquarters was located.
* * *
A few days later, after completing the handover and reporting to headquarters as Audit Team leader, I was reviewing the QS Telecom hiring scandal the chairman had mentioned.
Among the various recruitment routes, the problem lay with the internship track. Through this track, five interns had been hired at QS Telecom last year, and three of them had been converted to regular employees. The incident surfaced when one of the two who were rejected—Hwang Sang-hyun—submitted a formal complaint to Central Management Headquarters.
The complaint now sitting before me in the Audit Team roughly stated the following:
-(……) I was certain I would be converted to a regular employee, so I worked harder than anyone. Yet in the end, Im Yu-jin—who none of us expected to be converted—was hired, and I’m writing this as an unemployed man. During my internship, I was never late or absent even once. The marketing campaigns I planned received positive responses from consumers (……)
-(……) Im Yu-jin was frequently late, left early, and absent. She never participated in any important company projects during her internship. She didn’t even join the study group the interns ran to prepare for regular employment conversion. (……) I saw her visiting the president’s office several times, but I never imagined it would lead to such a disastrous outcome. (……)
In short, a woman named Im Yu-jin had been hired through the internship track despite being unqualified, causing the excellent talent Hwang Sang-hyun to be rejected. Since the track had a 60% acceptance rate, Hwang had apparently been quite confident about conversion. Being hired meant becoming a regular employee at a major corporation; being rejected meant immediate unemployment. His despair must have been profound.
Up to this point, it seemed like the typical complaint of a rejected candidate—pitiful due to his apparent loyalty to the company, but nothing requiring serious attention. However, the fact that this matter had reached not only the Audit Team but also the PR team, and that Chairman Kwon Byung-do himself had ordered it prioritized, was due to the continuation of the complaint:
-(……) I know that Im Yu-jin is the daughter of Professor Im Su-chan at Hankook University, and that the current president of QS Telecom received his doctorate under Professor Im. I also know that Professor Im Su-chan has been nominated as the next Minister of Information and Communication. If Central Management Headquarters does not correct this matter, I will disclose everything to the media. (……)
This was no longer a simple hiring issue. Before the scandal involving the QS Telecom president and a ministerial candidate exploded, I—the one in charge of the audit—needed to uncover the truth so the group could respond properly.
Only one week remained until Im Su-chan’s confirmation hearing. Hwang Sang-hyun’s revelation would likely come around the same time, so I didn’t have much time.
First, I reviewed the other documents that had been transferred to the Audit Team regarding this incident. I didn’t know how Im Yu-jin—suspected of being unfairly hired—was viewed by her fellow interns, but the performance evaluations in the official records were excellent. The only notable point was that, unlike the other interns, she had used up all her half-days and monthly leave. Still, one couldn’t fault someone for using entitled vacation days.
As Hwang Sang-hyun had claimed in his complaint, his own internship evaluation wasn’t bad either, but his score on the final planning proposal presentation—the last selection stage of the internship track—was clearly lower than Im Yu-jin’s.
President Shin Ho-jung of QS Telecom’s statement had also been included.
-(……) It is true that I pursued my doctorate under Professor Im Su-chan at Hankook University’s Department of Information and Communication Engineering, but I only learned that employee Im Yu-jin was Professor Im’s daughter after this incident broke. There are countless people with the surname Im in Korea—why would I have ordered her hiring just because I saw the surname and assumed she was the professor’s daughter? (……)
Hwang Sang-hyun’s complaint and the other documents told completely different stories. If shown these documents, Hwang would likely claim they had been fabricated by President Shin Ho-jung, the central figure in this hiring scandal.
In the end, what I needed to determine was which of the two—Hwang Sang-hyun or Shin Ho-jung—was lying.
And I possessed a 100% accurate lie detector. There was no need to strap the suspected liar to a chair and wire them with electronic devices. I only needed to know the outline of the case.
Once I finished reviewing the documents, my ability to preview verdicts activated as always.
Defendant: Shin Ho-jung
Ruling: The defendant is sentenced to one year in prison. However, execution of the sentence is suspended for two years from the date this ruling becomes final.
Reason: (……) The defendant had a duty to select new employees through a fair process for the benefit of the company, but violated this duty by accepting a request based on personal connections (……)
I had found the liar. It was President Shin Ho-jung of QS Telecom.
From now on, this liar and the future Minister of Information and Communication would have to grovel before me if they wanted to survive.