Consolidating My Forces (2)
At Kwon Ho-gyun's entrance, Chae Hee-geon leapt to his feet with both hands raised as if ready to applaud like a seal. Ever since entering the villa, he had grown increasingly convinced that the rope he had switched to was not merely sturdy but forged from unbreakable steel. The realization filled him with unmistakable joy. He had long suspected Oh Il-mu stood with Ho-gyun and had already been informed about Shin Ho-jung, but Han Seung-woo's presence came as a genuine surprise. Only when Ho-gyun shot him a warning glance did Chae Hee-geon reluctantly lower his hands to his knees. Ho-gyun rewarded the PR team leader with a trainer's approving smile before continuing.
"I have gathered you here today to make two announcements. First, I, Kwon Ho-gyun, will succeed the late Chairman Kwon Seong-wook and the current Chairman Kwon Byung-do to become the third chairman of the QS Group."
Everyone present had either heard the claim before or could easily infer it. Even so, the official declaration sent a ripple through the villa's living room that completely dominated the atmosphere. Ho-gyun paused and looked toward Oh Il-mu, who lowered his gaze slightly and pressed his lips into a firm line. After decades of service to QS, the former head of the legal team had stepped down and now stood outside the company entirely, yet Ho-gyun offered him hope. The old dream of becoming Ho-gyun's shadow ruler had long since been abandoned. Even now, Ho-gyun occupied the seat of honor. Still, there was one thing Oh Il-mu was determined to achieve through him: he would return to QS. And he would elevate the legal team—long dismissed as a cost center that only spent money—from the periphery to the very heart of the corporation. Since Ho-gyun himself came from a legal background, he would not oppose the idea. On the day Oh Il-mu returned to QS, Ho-gyun would sit at the apex, and Oh Il-mu would occupy a central position beside him.
Ho-gyun shifted his gaze to Shin Ho-jung seated beside him. The president of QS Telecom also bowed his head slightly, a small smile playing on his tightly closed lips. As a telecommunications specialist, he had joined one of the QS Group's major subsidiaries, yet he had repeatedly run into the limitations of being an outsider. At every executive meeting he sat with his hands folded like a stone grandfather statue, and any attempt to speak drew immediate attacks from both the Seong-gyun and Je-gyun factions. Even within QS Telecom itself, only the technical teams paid him any heed; the finance and sales department heads openly treated him as a temporary guest who would soon be gone. But if Ho-gyun seized control of QS and backed him, everything would change. Shin Ho-jung would remain an outsider, yet he would become the most powerful outsider capable of dislodging the insiders already embedded in the group. With the strength Ho-gyun lent him, he had already begun to make progress. By snatching a large portion of QS Electronics' government contracts, QS Telecom had left Kwon Seong-gyun—the most firmly entrenched insider in the entire group—reeling.
Ho-gyun's eyes moved to Chae Hee-geon on the opposite sofa. The PR team leader, still visibly restraining the urge to clap, had tucked both hands beneath his thighs and wore the brightest smile in the room. In truth, he had felt deeply uneasy while riding the Seong-gyun line. He could never be certain whether Kwon Seong-gyun or Kwon Je-gyun would ultimately succeed the chairman. He had simply bet on Seong-gyun because the latter appeared to hold a slim 51-to-49 advantage. True opportunists would have withheld their choice, but Chae Hee-geon had lacked the luxury of time. Anyone who had spent years inside the group knew that Chairman Kwon Byung-do did not have many days left in the chairman's office. With Ho-gyun, however, the probability of claiming that seat far exceeded 51 percent. The very composition of the people gathered here proved it, and who would have guessed he already held shares in Jangbaek Corporation? After some quick mental calculations, Chae Hee-geon concluded that Ho-gyun likely possessed several more cards he had yet to reveal. Opportunists were always anxious, and right now Ho-gyun was the best option for calming that anxiety.
Next, Ho-gyun's gaze fell upon Seong Yun-hwan, president of QS Delivery, and Choi Sang-seok, president of QS Resort, seated side by side across from him. Their positions were similar. Both men found the title of subsidiary president far too large and uncomfortable. They were merely salaried employees who had climbed unusually high through longevity and luck, holding no meaningful equity in their companies. They had lived in constant fear of receiving a dismissal notice from headquarters. The sight of two current Central Management Division team leaders, one former team leader, and even the chief secretary gathered in one place was therefore a welcome relief. That relief quickly transformed into gratitude toward Ho-gyun and the reassurance that they would not be fired anytime soon. If Ho-gyun truly succeeded, they might even escape the precarious life of contract presidents and become influential executives within the group.
Having nearly circled the entire living room, Ho-gyun finally looked at Han Seung-woo, who had deliberately perched on the very edge of the sofa beside Chae Hee-geon. Unlike the others, Han Seung-woo met Ho-gyun's gaze with nothing more than his usual impassive expression. Ho-gyun already knew the man rarely revealed his thoughts, yet the fact that he could not read even one person in the room left him slightly frustrated. Still, Han Seung-woo would not forget that Ho-gyun had saved his daughter. If he did not support Ho-gyun, he would never have come to this meeting in the first place. Ho-gyun withdrew his gaze and resumed speaking.
"I trust that everyone here has no objection to my becoming the third chairman of the QS Group and will actively support me. Am I correct?"
All five men, including Han Seung-woo, answered in unison with short, firm replies. "Yes."
"I also believe that you will become reliable allies to one another as well as to me during the difficult corporate life ahead. Team Leader Chae?"
Chae Hee-geon, caught off guard by the sudden address, straightened his back. "Yes, Young Master."
"You mentioned you had a request for President Shin. Did you discuss it before I arrived?"
"Yes. President Shin has graciously agreed to help. President Shin, Young Master—thank you both from the bottom of my heart."
Ho-gyun swept his gaze over the entire room like a king surveying his ministers. "I hope you will continue to assist one another going forward."
Chae Hee-geon, unable to endure the brief silence that followed, raised his restless hand. "Young Master, you mentioned earlier that you had two things to say, didn't you?"
"Yes, that's correct. I am about to make the second announcement. There is one task that will require all of you to work together. From now on, we will join forces to pass a company rule prohibiting executives from holding concurrent positions across multiple subsidiaries."
A stunned silence, far longer than before, settled over the room. Everyone except Ho-gyun looked as though they had been struck.
The rule Ho-gyun had just proposed had never existed before, which in itself was strange; conversely, it was also a rule that had never been necessary. Executives at any level within QS were already extraordinarily busy. In a company where even ordinary employees sacrificed sleep to work, attempting to hold multiple positions while performing half-heartedly would result in dismissal rather than promotion. As with any corporation, becoming an executive only increased the workload. Performance was evaluated annually, contract renewals were decided by the Central Management Division, and failure to meet targets led to immediate removal the following year. Moreover, there was little incentive for executives to take on additional roles; their performance bonuses far exceeded their base salaries, so focusing on company work yielded far greater returns than juggling side positions. For these reasons, no QS Group subsidiary executive held another job—except for two men.
Kwon Seong-gyun and Kwon Je-gyun. Between them, the two brothers concurrently held the presidencies of more than a dozen subsidiaries. In the race to accumulate presidential titles, Seong-gyun had maintained a steady lead until recently, when the score reached a 14-to-14 tie. While Seong-gyun focused on stockpiling cash, Je-gyun concentrated on expanding his sphere of influence. His desperate attempt at the "Night of the Rich" to seize QS Delivery—the company Ho-gyun had already marked as his own—was part of that expansion strategy. Using their titles, the two brothers extended their influence into subsidiaries where their shareholdings alone could never guarantee control, each striving to swallow the entire group. Yet were they truly so exceptionally capable that they could single-handedly manage fourteen times the workload of an ordinary executive? Absolutely not. Even one directorship was overwhelming for most people, and the positions they held were not ordinary executive posts but presidencies. A president was not the highest-ranking person in a company for nothing. The role required intimate knowledge of every department's operations and interrelationships, along with the vision to overcome present crises and chart a future course. Given that Seong-gyun and Je-gyun were solely preoccupied with outmaneuvering each other, they were hardly likely to perform such duties. They merely lent their names to the presidencies and exerted pressure on the subsidiaries only when it served their interests. Furthermore, despite contributing little work, they continued to draw substantial base salaries, placing a considerable financial burden on the subsidiaries. Je-gyun had even resorted to a more malicious practice: whenever he needed quick funds, he would appropriate performance bonuses from other executives at the companies he presided over.
From any rational management perspective, the rule banning concurrent directorships that Ho-gyun proposed was something that should have been enacted long ago. The only problem was—
Choi Sang-seok, who had been seated at the very end of the sofa, asked cautiously, "I do not mean to contradict you, Young Master, but does this mean you intend to wage an all-out war against your two brothers? As far as I know, no other executives besides those two would fall under the new rule."
The others in the room, who had been wondering the same thing, turned their eyes to Ho-gyun as one. He nodded with quiet certainty. "Yes. That is correct. It will be an all-out war."