The Holding Company Shares Pass Down the Generations (3)
Kwon Byung-do had chosen the location well—his own home, not the company. Aside from the regular Father and Son Night events, this was only the second time I had been summoned to meet him at his residence. The first time, far from earning his trust, I had been told that if I failed the bar exam he would strike me from the family register. I had, of course, passed, and now I was on my way to the family home for the second time. It was difficult to believe there was no deeper meaning behind the invitation.
Kwon Byung-do summoned me to the house only when he considered me his son. Last time, it had come with the warning that I might no longer be one. This time, the situation was reversed. At this point, having successfully suppressed the nephew’s rebellion Kwon Il-gyun had started, his calling me home could only mean my position as his son had become secure. Whatever I had hoped to obtain from him through resolving this incident, I would now be able to secure without difficulty. And in the major event looming ahead, his trust would be worth an army.
With a faint smile, I gripped the old USB in my pocket and stepped into the study. Seated on a plush sofa across the wide table, Kwon Byung-do wore a satisfied smile much like my own.
“I read the report at the office earlier. When that arrogant Il-gyun started acting up, I thought it would take years to deal with him. To wrap it up this quickly—well done. And you even managed to fold that eyesore One Two Chicken cleanly into the group? Excellent work. Truly excellent.”
Every word was correct. I knew I had done well. That did not mean I had forgotten where I was standing. In front of Kwon Byung-do, humility was essential.
“You flatter me, Father. As your lawyer, winning the case, and as your son, protecting the family from harm—both were simply my duty.”
“Is that so? When I first heard Il-gyun had filed suit, the thought of dragging this old body through appeals and Supreme Court hearings made me sick to my stomach. Finishing it this fast deserves praise. Haha. That aside—”
“Yes, Father.”
“When you first took the case, you said you would collect your fee only after it was over, didn’t you?”
The main topic had finally arrived. Kwon Byung-do had summoned me precisely to discuss this.
“Yes, I did.”
“Good. The case is finished, so collect your fee. How much shall I give you?”
It was a blank check. If I wanted money, I could have named ten billion or twenty billion won. But if a large sum had been my goal, there would have been no need to defer payment until after the case concluded. What I sought through this matter was not money. It was something only Kwon Byung-do could provide: the key to QS Group succession that the late Chairman Kwon Seong-uk had passed to him—the shares in QS Life Insurance, the group’s de facto holding company. I intended to be the first of the three brothers to claim them.
Resolved, I studied Kwon Byung-do’s expression. He wore the same hearty smile he had shown when I first entered the study. Pride in his third son and satisfaction at the successful resolution were written plainly across his face. But would that expression remain if I asked for the QS Life shares? I could not know. My estimate was fifty-fifty. If he had already decided I was his successor, he would grant the request without hesitation. If he had not yet settled the succession question, however, I would be challenging a decision that was still his alone—and a single misstep could mar the otherwise flawless path I had walked toward the group’s leadership.
Half a chance was too slim to justify the risk.
That did not mean I intended to abandon such a golden opportunity. I had already completed these calculations before arriving and had prepared a countermeasure. If the probability was too low, I would simply raise it. Taking the old USB and laptop from my pocket and bag, I asked, “Before that, could you take a look at this?”
Kwon Byung-do, expecting a monetary request, looked puzzled. “What is it?”
“Just a moment.”
The USB contained the evidence of the forged will that Lawyer Yu Hwan-il had provided—the original and the forged versions of Chairman Kwon Seong-uk’s testament. I opened the image files and turned the laptop toward him. His expression darkened instantly. It was the first time I had seen Kwon Byung-do visibly shaken. Understandable, since, as Oh Il-mu had told me, he had known nothing about the forgery.
“So… according to the file names, the left one is your grandfather’s real will, and the right one is the fake that was submitted to the court?”
“Yes. Lawyer Oh Il-mu and Lawyer Yu Hwan-il handled it without informing you. Most of the problematic documents left in QS Group were destroyed long ago, but Lawyer Yu Hwan-il kept this copy.”
“Good heavens. If this had fallen into Il-gyun’s hands, it would have been disastrous. How did it end up with you?”
I recounted the behind-the-scenes story that had never appeared in any official report: Yu Hwan-il’s current condition, the guilt he had carried, the path by which his daughter Yu Ju-yeon had arranged the ghostwritten autobiography, and finally the recording of his own voice. Then, deliberately emphasizing my words, I added, “As you just heard from Lawyer Yu Hwan-il himself, this is the only remaining original. There are no copies. I thought it best that you keep it personally, so I brought it here.”
I closed the laptop and handed it to him, USB still inserted. Kwon Byung-do accepted it and burst into hearty laughter.
“Well done. Very well done.”
“Thank you.”
His laughter soon softened into a faint smile I had never seen before. He was thinking the same thing I was. The word “copy” had a peculiar property. Proving a copy existed was trivial—just produce it. Proving no copy existed was effectively impossible, because a copy could be anywhere, in any form. Therefore, anyone told “there is no copy” had no way to verify the claim.
Applied to the present situation, the conclusion was intriguing. I had stressed the absence of copies while pretending to demonstrate loyalty to the chairman and filial piety to my father. In doing so, I had made it impossible for Kwon Byung-do to rule out the possibility that I myself possessed a copy of this damning evidence. His faint smile suggested he had read the move exactly as I intended. Whether that smile meant he now saw me as a worthy successor, or merely acknowledged the leverage I held, was impossible to tell. To dispel any suspicion that I was using his weakness against him, I pushed the laptop a little closer.
Whatever thoughts were forming in Kwon Byung-do’s mind, one thing was certain: from this moment on, he could no longer refuse the request I was about to make for the QS Life shares.
Setting the laptop on the edge of the sofa, he returned to his hearty demeanor and asked again, “You didn’t just resolve the case—you even brought me this. Are you planning to demand an enormous fee? Speak. How much do you want?”
“Not money. I would like something else.”
Kwon Byung-do nodded as though he had already guessed. “Very well. What do you want?”
“I want what Grandfather left to you. I understand that QS Corporation plans to purchase 3.5 percent of QS Life’s treasury shares next quarter.”
“That is correct.”
“Could you grant Law Firm Seungbaek the authority to make that purchase?”
Kwon Byung-do tilted his head. “You want the QS Life shares you protected from Il-gyun for yourself? That makes sense. But do you even know how much 3.5 percent of QS Life is worth? I hear Seungbaek is doing well, yet financially it would be impossible to manage.”
His assessment was accurate. 3.5 percent of QS Life was astronomically expensive—roughly three hundred billion won, according to the figures I had checked beforehand. Even if Seungbaek was thriving, it was only a two-year-old firm. Selling the entire firm would not raise enough capital. To Kwon Byung-do, my words must have sounded like trying to swallow my own navel.
One simple method existed: taking out a loan secured by the very QS Life shares being acquired, just as Kwon Il-gyun had once planned. But Kwon Byung-do would never approve. It would mean placing the group’s holding-company shares half in the hands of a bank. For the same reason, I found the idea equally unappealing. I did not want outside hands touching shares that would one day belong to the company I would lead.
Of course, I had already prepared the funding method. Meeting his eyes to convey certainty, I answered, “I will inject the necessary capital into Seungbaek through a capital increase. The firm itself will bear no financial risk.”
Kwon Byung-do’s expression grew even more unreadable. A capital increase meant I would be putting my personal funds into Seungbaek. When even the firm as a whole could not easily acquire the shares, the idea that I would handle it with my own money was difficult for him to comprehend.
“Where would you get that kind of money? Be honest. If you want the QS Life shares so badly, are you asking me to simply gift them to you? I could give you a portion in lieu of a fee—even if not the full 3.5 percent.”
A portion? If that had been enough, I would have simply purchased the shares on the open market. What I wanted was a large enough stake to secure a stable position in QS Life’s management. Since QS Life served as the group's holding company, its shares were not widely traded, and neither Seong-gyun nor Je-gyun had ever received any as gifts. As a result, owning 3.5 percent would make me the third-largest shareholder of QS Life, behind only QS Corporation and Kwon Byung-do himself. In other words, the only person capable of opposing any decision I made concerning QS Life would be Kwon Byung-do.
“No. If you simply grant Seungbaek the purchase rights, I will secure funds equal to the amount QS Corporation has already allocated for the acquisition.”
Kwon Byung-do finally let out a disbelieving laugh. “Then tell me—how exactly do you plan to secure those funds?”