His Whereabouts
The article reported that the coalition of small shareholders, including major overseas funds, had secured enough additional shares to push through every agenda item at the shareholders’ meeting despite the opposition of the TY Group controlling family and the National Pension Service.
It even reproduced the remarks James had made at the meeting.
“I would like to emphasize that this candidate is the younger brother of CEO Choi Jeong-san, who caused so much trouble at TY Telecom last year, and that he is not a candidate aligned with the will of shareholders who want the TY Group controlling family removed from management.” As the shareholder coalition had claimed, Choi Jeong-pil’s candidate was the second son of Chairman Choi Tae-yeong and the brother of CEO Choi Jeong-san, who had caused a scandal the previous year and had not even shown his face at the shareholders’ meeting. The shareholder coalition had fiercely opposed his appointment as an inside director, and for a time the meeting had descended into disorder. The article also mentioned that Choi Tae-jin, who had previously been identified as a drug offender, had been arrested by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The matter still needed to be confirmed with the DEA, however.
There was also a photo attached to the remarks, and Ho-jung recognized James at a glance.
James oppa, too?
“…….”
Ho-jung felt dizzy for a moment, but then she tilted her head.
“...Colt oppa is the CEO of TY Telecom?”
She couldn’t sit there another second. Ho-jung quickly got up, stepped outside, and brought the phone to her ear.
“Pick up already! Col-col!”
* * *
Buzz.
Colt had failed to answer Ho-jung’s call, so he turned to James instead.
“Jimmie. What do we do?”
“Ugh. I’m busy as hell, so why is she jumping in now?”
When James held out his hand, Colt promptly passed over his phone.
“Talk her down for me.”
“I’ll handle it.”
Colt couldn’t have borne Ho-jung’s anger himself.
“It’s James.”
- Huh? James oppa?
But James had no trouble dealing with Ho-jung at all.
“Did you see the article?”
- Uh...
“I’ll explain everything later. Just wait for now.”
- How am I supposed to wait? What on earth are you two doing?
“Sigh. To put it simply, Colt and I just succeeded in hunting TY Group. You’ve probably already seen all of that in the article, haven’t you?”
- James oppa! My dad...
“I know. Your father is the CEO of TY Chemical.”
At James’s calm answer, anger rose suddenly in Ho-jung’s chest.
- Then how could you do this to me?
“I only found out after everything was already in motion. By then, it was too late to back out.”
He had learned Ho-jung was a TY Group member only after he had already acquired a large portion of the shares. There was no turning back.
“You’re not exactly innocent yourself.”
- What did I do?
“Why hide the fact that you’re TY Group? When Su-ji told us she was from ST Group, you should have told us too.”
- ...Th-that’s because there was no need to tell you.
“Same for us. We had no reason to tell you we were hunting TY Group. Keeping it secret was the only way to make a successful hunt of such a big target.”
- ......
Ho-jung had no answer for that.
“Bottom line: nothing we do is going to put your family in danger. Everything will work out, so wait. I’ll explain the details properly when we meet separately.”
It was time for Ho-jung to learn that James was Choi Jeong-san’s son and, by blood, her cousin-oppa. But today was not the day to explain all the details.
- The controlling family has been pushed out of the group, and you’re saying there’s no danger?
“None. Trust me. Or trust Colt, if nothing else, since he loves you.”
- ......
“Colt became TY Telecom’s CEO at the board meeting held after the shareholders’ meeting today. Your grandfather even voted in favor.”
- What?!
According to the board minutes Chairman Choi had signed off on today, the entire board had unanimously resolved to recommend Colt Evans as CEO.
“Your father will be stepping down from his post at TY Chemical. Your brothers will have to leave the company as well...”
- James oppa!!
“This too was all coordinated with your grandfather. Chairman Choi Tae-yeong will personally order his own resignation.”
Ho-jung was certain her grandfather would never make such a decision.
- No! That makes no sense! Meet me right now! I’m coming over!
“Don’t even think about coming here. We’re insanely busy today.”
- Oppa!
“......”
At the way she called him oppa, James gave a small nod.
I am your oppa, at least.
He didn’t consider the TY Group controlling family his family, but Ho-jung alone, perhaps because of their relationship, he was willing to keep as a cousin-oppa.
“Nothing changes just because you come running in. You want to make things more complicated?”
- How am I supposed to look my father in the face?
“I’ll explain everything to CEO Choi Jeong-pil later too, so don’t worry.”
- Huh? James oppa is going to?
It wouldn’t be James who explained anything. It would be Chairman Choi.
“I’m hanging up. I’m busy too.”
- Oppa! Just a minute, please...
James pressed the red end-call button and handed Colt his phone back.
“Don’t think about Ho-jung today. Start with the lawyers and the paperwork. After that, have Internal Audit begin an internal investigation into the old management. If you find a few suitable cases and leak them to the press, it’ll make it crystal clear that the controlling family and TY Group have been completely separated.”
“...Do you know this company better than I do, even though I studied business administration?”
The scenario Park Chief and James had prepared included everything after TY Telecom’s capture at today’s shareholders’ meeting.
“Because it was all planned already. And freeze the controlling family’s corporate cards immediately today, then repossess all the company cars you assigned them. That needs to go to the press too.”
“Call.”
James picked up the intercom from the desk Colt had been sitting at.
- Yes. This is the secretary’s office.
“This is James Kane. Tell Park Chief from the Strategy Office to come in.”
- Yes, Vice President James.
“Vice president? Me?”
- CEO Colt asked us to pass along that it was already decided with the directors.
It must have happened while James was off talking to Chairman Choi.
“If I’m taking the CEO seat, then you need to give me a title too.”
The CEO of a company was chosen by the board, but titles within the company could be assigned by the CEO’s decision. The personnel order had not yet been issued, but they had already informed the secretary’s office in advance.
“Ugh. Then the company has two vice presidents.”
“Director Son was fine with it too.”
“Fine. With a company this big, having two vice presidents shouldn’t be a problem.”
James spoke into the intercom again and left another instruction.
“Have Park Chief bring one trusted employee with him.”
- Yes, Vice President.
A short time later, Park Chief entered the CEO’s office with Assistant Manager Kang Dong-hwi.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Park Jin-tae from the Strategy Office.”
“I’m Kang Dong-hwi, assistant manager in Strategy. CEO, Vice President.”
“Come on in. Good to meet you both. Hahaha.”
Colt greeted the two men warmly, while James was in a hurry because there were more things to do.
“Park Chief has somewhere to go with me, so CEO Colt, Assistant Manager Kang will back you up today. There’ll be a lot to handle.”
“Yes, Vice President.”
Colt asked, curious.
“Is something urgent?”
“You’re the one with the more urgent problem than me, CEO Colt. The items I instructed on here with Assistant Manager Kang...”
James looked past Kang Dong-hwi to Park Chief and asked again.
“Was this the man you were talking about?”
“Yes. He’s the key employee in Strategy who will take over after me, Vice President James.”
James corrected his title and said,
“You can go over it with Manager Kang and handle it that way.”
“Huh... thank you, Vice President.”
I was counting on Park Chief alone!
By lining up well, he had shot up one rung in rank in an instant.
* * *
As James left the building with Park Chief, he took care of what had been promised first.
“...I put in five billion won after the board meeting earlier. Thanks for all your hard work today.”
He had already paid the first fifty million won of the two hundred million won he had promised Park Chief, and now he added another fifty million won to bring it to one hundred million.
“Thank you, Vice President.”
“I explained it to Chairman Choi in a way he could accept and left it there. Since you said the timing of Park Chief’s transfer to me was after my name appeared in the disclosure, keep your story straight.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“The problem is the bastard who never showed his face until the end.”
The shareholders’ meeting and the board meeting were over, but Choi Jeong-san still remained unresolved. That was why Park Chief and James were now heading toward the place where Choi Jeong-san might have hidden himself.
“It’s definitely not his home. Choi Jeong-san hasn’t been able to go back since the affair with his mistress blew up.”
Choi Jeong-san’s troubles with his wife had begun when the reports about his mistress started coming out in the past, and because of that he had been staying in an off-site officetel. The rift between them had nearly led to divorce, but as long as Choi Jeong-san remained the heir apparent at TY Telecom, it probably had never gone that far.
“But as of today, Choi Jeong-san doesn’t have a place anymore.”
“...Soon, Madam will probably make her decision too.”
Choi Jeong-san had been abandoned even by his own household. Once he was completely cut out of TY Group management, there would be no reason for her to keep shielding him.
“But where the hell is this guy hiding?”
“The last time I saw him was when the Chairman called him in.”
“Chairman Choi?”
“Yes. He called him to the family home, and I drove Choi Jeong-san there. He told me not to come inside and just go home...”
“And then he disappeared...”
That Choi Jeong-san was cooling his heels at home had been a line spoken by Chairman Choi himself. Even when James asked about Choi Jeong-san’s whereabouts, the Chairman had ultimately refused to answer and moved on.
“Then couldn’t he have been spirited out overseas?”
“The Chairman usually did protect his children, but this is after he got hit with the slush fund scandal and the shareholding dispute, too. I don’t think he’d forgive him that easily.”
“......”
James replayed his conversation with Chairman Choi. The place where he was staying had never been mentioned, but there had been one small clue.
That bastard was throwing a fit, saying he still wouldn’t admit it to the end. He really thought he got the CEO seat because he was so capable!
Choi Jeong-san had flushed all of the slush fund away and still hadn’t begged for forgiveness, nor had he accepted that he would have to step down from the CEO chair. He also seemed unable to cope with the current situation, with foreign forces challenging them in a shareholding battle, and had stubbornly resisted to the very end.
“According to the Chairman, he didn’t even apologize to him?”
“Good Lord. In front of the Chairman? It wouldn’t be strange if the Chairman had picked up a club and...”
With James’s additional information, Park Chief could picture the scene.
Choi Jeong-san was mouthing off in front of the Chairman? When it’s all been exposed that he blew the slush fund too?
James watched Park Chief sink into thought from behind and asked,
“Looks like you’re guessing something.”
Screech.
Park Chief quickly pulled the car over and turned in his seat.
“Choi Jeong-san seems to be staying at the family home, not a hotel or officetel.”
“...He’s been there this whole time, ever since you drove him over?”
“Yes. His trail disappears from that point on.”
“Come on. Choi Jeong-san isn’t that obedient a person. He would’ve slipped out somewhere.”
For all his fear of his father, Choi Jeong-san wasn’t the kind of man to sit still and wait.
“...What if he had no choice but to be obedient?”
“Even if he’s scared of Chairman Choi...”
“When Choi Jeong-san first started working at the company, there was an incident where he offended the Chairman over a woman. That same thing happened repeatedly, and in the end the Chairman could no longer tolerate it.”
Park Chief clearly remembered an old story from long ago.
“Back then, Choi Jeong-san begged the Chairman until his hands and feet wore out, but he still ended up diagnosed with twelve weeks of treatment.”
“...Twelve weeks?”
“Because he was beaten so badly with a club that both his legs broke.”
“...His own father beat him like that?”
“Choi Jeong-san’s fiery temper is the result of inheriting Chairman Choi Tae-yeong’s blood exactly as it is. If anything, the Chairman is worse, not better.”
James recalled what Park Chief had told him in the past. Park Chief had definitely said that Chairman Choi doted on his bloodline to an almost grotesque degree.