The S-Class Chairman Who Does It All by Himself, Episode 48
“You haven’t changed, Jaehyun.”
“Neither have you.”
“Ho-ho. Anyone listening would think it had been years since you left. Here, take this when you go.”
The pharmacist handed him a bottle of Bacchus and nodded toward the vitamin canisters stacked by the pharmacy entrance.
“They came all the way from the United States, but they’re not selling. Don’t worry about it—take one.”
“I appreciate it, but I already have some at home.”
When Do Jaehyun left the pharmacy, the place he headed to was the headquarters of AK Capital, the company he used to work for. In today’s terms, it was the sort of place people would call an apartment-style factory or a knowledge-industry center, a cluster of large buildings packed with more than thirty thousand residents.
Countless companies from every line of work occupied the complex, but the fifth floor of Building 1, where AK Capital’s headquarters sat, was one of the liveliest places in the whole place—yet somehow still one that outsiders never came looking for.
“Sir, you need to try harder. Everyone’s having a rough time these days. Who’s out there living with piles of IMF cash in their pockets?”
“No, it’s fine when you borrow it, but the second you’re told to pay it back, you start whining about the interest being too high.”
“So where are you right now, sir? I’m asking where you are. If I come to you, will you pay the interest?”
The Personal Credit Management Department, where Do Jaehyun had worked, was called credit management in name, but in truth it was the collections department.
Still the same.
Do Jaehyun stepped into the office, but none of the nearly hundred employees so much as glanced his way. Each of them was staring at a monitor, pulling up client records, or barking into a phone and demanding repayment. Even if they had noticed him, they wouldn’t have had a spare second to speak.
“Hey, you. Hold up a second.”
Then someone called out to him. The voice came from some distance inside the entrance. It was Kim Donggeon, the team leader of Personal Credit Management Team 1.
“Do Jaehyun?”
“Long time no see.”
They said enemies met on a narrow bridge. For Team Leader Kim Donggeon, this was exactly that moment. And it seemed like the perfect chance had just walked right up to him to make up for the humiliation he’d suffered in front of the other employees last time.
“Long time? Hah…”
Do Jaehyun greeted him with a smile that was almost warm enough to be mistaken for affection, but what came back was nothing but mockery and coldness.
“What the hell are you doing, walking in here like you own the place? Don’t you know this is where we handle clients’ personal information? Nobody gets in here just because they feel like it. Get out.”
“I came to see Manager Lee Jinhee. You really haven’t changed at all, have you, Team Leader?”
“Manager Lee Jinhee…?”
Kim Donggeon’s mouth twisted into a sly sneer.
“You didn’t make an appointment with her, did you?”
“I was just passing by and thought I’d stop in.”
“Then call her and set one up first. You know ordinary people can’t come in here, right? Only employees and customers are allowed.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Because of the nature of collections work, sensitive personal identifying information like resident registration numbers and phone numbers was being displayed in real time on the monitors of dozens of employees, so even staff from other departments at the same loan company were supposed to enter only after getting a manager’s permission.
That said, they didn’t usually stop former employees from dropping by to say hello once in a while.
“Why? Don’t want to?”
“…”
“Do Jaehyun. You think I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours? I can already see why you came here, you son of a bitch. I told you before, didn’t I? You’d be better off nowhere than out there. What kind of world do you think this is? Did you really think a degree from Korea University would get you hired even in the middle of the IMF crisis? Huh?”
Apparently Kim Donggeon had completely misunderstood why Do Jaehyun was here.
“Do you think you’re the only one? There are plenty of guys who left and then came begging to be rehired. Even if Manager Lee gave permission, I wouldn’t. You know that, right? New hire, rehire—it doesn’t matter. If the team leaders refuse to take you, you don’t get in. It’s not just me. Who do you think is going to take you?”
“You’re still as quick to assume things as ever. I see people really don’t change easily.”
“Ha, look at this bastard. Still got no manners, huh? Why don’t you talk down to me again like you did last time? Come on—can’t do it now? Huh?”
“So this is what it takes for stupid people to understand—having it hit them in the body. They don’t listen when you speak nicely.”
“What did you say, you bastard? Are you really begging to die, you little…”
Team Leader Kim raised his voice even higher, but every so often he still shot a sideways glance toward Manager Lee Jinhee’s office. As far as he knew, she had been called away by an executive from another department, but a little caution never hurt.
“You’re not moving, are you?”
“Why? Want to try using force? Quit screwing around and get out. I’m just following regulations.”
“My, my…”
Do Jaehyun took out his phone. It looked as though he might call Manager Lee Jinhee, and as if he had been waiting for exactly that, Kim Donggeon sprang his trap.
“Don’t take out your phone. Security rules here say phones are forbidden for anyone except employees. You know client information is important, don’t you? If you want to call someone, do it outside.”
“I’ll give you one last chance.”
“Chance? Last?”
“Move aside now, and nothing will happen.”
“Ha. This bastard still hasn’t figured out his place.”
“Better move now than get humiliated later. You’ll regret it when you realize I was giving you the chance to step aside.”
For a moment, Kim Donggeon’s face stiffened. He had forgotten, but the man standing in front of him was Joker Do Jaehyun. True to that nickname, he was the kind of person no one could predict—but what was even more frightening was that Do Jaehyun always kept his word once he said something.
Do Jaehyun had once been under Kim Donggeon’s thumb as his subordinate, but from the day he first joined the company to the moment he walked out, that one fact had always been clear. And even more troubling was the fact that every offer Do Jaehyun made was always best the first time.
But...
“Quit screwing around and get out.”
Kim Donggeon was no longer afraid of him. He wasn’t even a coworker anymore, and from the looks of things now, it was far more likely that Do Jaehyun had come here to beg Manager Lee for a favor of some kind. More than that, Kim Donggeon was confident.
This situation was perfect for humiliating Do Jaehyun while still claiming he was simply enforcing company security policy.
“Ah, can I ask just one more thing?”
“I can’t answer anything related to company business. Likewise, I can’t tell you Manager Lee’s schedule.”
“It’s not about that. Company regulations haven’t changed, have they?”
“Why would a man who isn’t even an employee ask that? You son of a bitch. And now you’re starting to talk back again? Giving up on rejoining, are you?”
“The rules for repaying debt haven’t changed, right?”
“No. Since they haven’t, get it through your head and get lost. And if you’re even thinking about setting foot back in this company someday, erase that thought right now. I’ll stop you myself.”
“See you later.”
With that, Do Jaehyun cleanly walked out of the office.
“There’s nothing scarier than a bastard who says ‘see you later.’ What a pathetic loser. You should’ve taken the chance I gave you back then.”
Now drawing every employee’s attention with the commotion he’d caused, Team Leader Kim sat back down in his seat with a self-satisfied look.
“What are you looking at? Get back to work!”
“I was just planning to stop by and see Manager Lee Jinhee quietly, but now it looks like I’m going to get an unexpected little event as well.”
Team Leader Kim Donggeon.
Honestly, he wasn’t a bad man. But the way he talked and acted made him look like nothing more than a slimy, power-hungry climber who only cared about himself.
But to someone like him, who hadn’t even been able to finish university, AK Capital was as precious as rain after a long drought.
So he had done everything he could, by any means necessary, to stay loyal to the company, produce results, and trample anyone beneath him in order to claw his way upward.
The problem was that once he’d gone through all that suffering and finally become a team leader, he had changed a little as a person. I called Kim Museong.
“Mr. Kim.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“Do any of our employees have loans with AK Capital?”
“Huh? AK Capital?”
“Yeah.”
“Well… I’m not sure where the kids borrowed money from, exactly…”
“Okay. Realistically, we don’t have time, so I’ll give up on that.”
I changed my original plan a little.
“Uh… Chairman.”
“Yeah?”
“Why AK Capital all of a sudden? Don’t tell me you went to AK Capital today?”
“Yeah. I had someone to meet.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Nothing should have happened, but something did.”
“Should I send the guys?”
“Looks like it.”
“Understood. I’ll have them ready.”
“Don’t load them up with weapons. This isn’t that kind of job.”
“...Pardon?”
For a moment, silence hung over the phone.
“If there are any employees who borrowed money from AK Capital, I was going to pay it back for them, but that sounds difficult. So I’ll have to find someone among Yeonhui Credit Union’s customers instead.”
“Our... customers?”
“Pick anyone. The larger the loan, the better. And if possible, someone with a hard-luck story, or at least someone who could start over anytime if it weren’t for the money they borrowed from us.”
“...You mean you’re planning to forgive the debt?”
“Why? Shouldn’t I?”
“No. If that’s what you’re ordering, then no, of course not. Besides, the actual principal on the loans we’ve issued isn’t that much. The biggest one probably isn’t even ten million won. Most of them are in the hundreds of thousands to the low millions.”
“Okay. Then get it moving. As fast as possible.”
“Should I just forgive the debt, then?”
“No. If we simply erase the debt, the company takes the loss. We can’t do that. We’ll take out a refinancing loan from AK Capital. Use that to pay back Yeonhui Credit Union’s funds.”
“Understood. Is that all?”
“And if you can’t find a customer like that, use any customer who borrowed from AK Capital money instead.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And from now on, get ready the way I told you and send the guys over. One person probably won’t be enough. It’s going to be pretty heavy.”
“What kind of preparations should we make?”
“So...”
Do Jaehyun gave Kim Museong his instructions for a while, and Kim Museong listened carefully to every word.
“Hahahaha, can it really be done? Even the banks would be stunned.”
When Do Jaehyun finished, Kim Museong burst out laughing.
“Get ready right away.”
“Understood.”
After hanging up, Kim Museong got busy.
“Hyungtae.”
“Yes, Representative.”
“Call every customer of ours who hasn’t been able to pay us back, starting with the ones with the hardest luck.”
“Huh? All of a sudden? Do you really think debtors will answer the phone?”
At Gong Hyeongtae’s question, Kim Museong grinned brightly and issued his order.
“Text the first one who calls back and tell him we’ll pay off his AK Capital debt for him.”