Removing the Variable
The secretary’s office staff, watching the two of them, were letting their imaginations run wild. They were picturing a young, wealthy couple spending money without a care as they dated, and at the end of that fantasy came a steamy night just like any ordinary lovers might share.
“People like that wouldn’t go to a motel, would they? They’d go to a hotel. Meanwhile, some of us in Seoul can’t even afford a house, so we’re stuck paying rent...”
“A hotel? No way. They’d never go somewhere that public.”
“Then where do they go at night?”
“They probably have a private officetel where they meet. Families at the level of EST Group usually do things like that.”
“Wow, they really live in a different world from us.”
“Compare like with like, will you?”
Once James’s car pulled out, they hurriedly started theirs as well.
“We’re going to lose them. Hurry up.”
James drove off with a tail on his back.
“This is my first time riding in a car you’re driving, oppa. When did you buy it?”
“Did I? But it’s not my car. They suddenly told me to come pick you up, so I borrowed one in a hurry.”
“Huh? You weren’t the one who said you were coming?”
“Check my text.”
Only after Su-ji checked the message on the phone James handed her did she understand how this had happened.
“Mom...”
“Thanks to that text, I even had to postpone a restaurant reservation I’d barely managed to get.”
“Ha! That’s crazy. Just a little while ago she told me not to wait outside, and then she went and told me to come quickly because you were waiting.”
“Haha. She even told me to call her mother earlier.”
“M-mother? You didn’t actually call her that, did you?”
“Of course not.”
“...”
Still, Su-ji found James’s answer a little disappointing.
“Then what did you call her?”
“I called her ma’am.”
“Y-you’re insane!”
“She seemed pleased.”
“Why would Mom like that? So that’s why she sent me away saying you had come?”
“Probably. Hahaha.”
“Ugh.”
Su-ji could tell that today felt very different from yesterday.
“...I feel kind of strange. Awkward, too...”
“Same here.”
James felt different too.
“I think it’s because we’re not sneaking around to see each other anymore.”
It was their first official date.
“Hehe. I think it’s because I got permission before coming to see you, oppa.”
“Then did the chairman give permission too?”
“Not yet...”
She didn’t have that much courage. Even yesterday, asking her mother for James’s number had taken tremendous nerve.
“You’ll find out as soon as you get home from work today anyway, won’t you?”
“Now I’m already starting to dread going home.”
“Then should we go to my place tonight?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! If that happened, both you and I would be finished!”
“Hahaha.”
The sports car’s heavy exhaust note roared as it tore down the road.
* * *
“Boss. Here are the results of the surveillance on that guy up until yesterday.”
“...”
Choi Jeong-san reached for the report Park had laid on the desk, then froze before he could touch it.
“...Damn it.”
Something inside it felt like the kind of reality he did not want to face.
“...It’s true? That bastard and the EST Group girl really...”
At Choi Jeong-san’s question, Park Jin-tae had to fight to keep his expression blank.
So it really is true, huh? You’re screwed.
“Unfortunately... it appears to be true.”
With a soft rustle, Park Jin-tae opened the report on the other side of the table and started turning the pages for him. The black presentation folder was packed with photographs. The first showed James and Su-ji facing each other. Behind that were playful escort shots and photos of them smiling brightly as they talked in a restaurant.
“The two of them appear to have already developed a deep relationship. James even went to the chairman’s home and met Kim Su-ji, the youngest daughter of EST Group.”
“...Shit.”
“He dated her late into the night yesterday and then took her home. And when they arrived...”
The final photo showed EST Group Chairman Kim Seong-oh and his wife, Hwang Ji-hye, meeting James at the front gate. Kim Seong-oh was laughing so heartily it was almost absurd, in sharp contrast to the shocked face of Hwang Ji-hye beside him.
“Chairman Kim Seong-oh and his wife greeted the two of them when they arrived.”
“...”
It was perfect evidence, leaving no room at all for the possibility that the two were not deeply involved.
“Some punk who can do nothing but parlor tricks with magic and EST Group? Does that make any sense? Huh?!”
Park Jin-tae continued his analysis with the same impassive face.
“The eldest and second sons of EST Group are already in the field, receiving training as executives. But the youngest, Kim Su-ji, is still a university student.”
“So?”
“According to the analysis from the secretary’s office, it doesn’t seem likely that Chairman Kim will leave his daughter any shares.”
“Oh. So she’s a throwaway piece?”
“I’m sorry, but not entirely. The issue is the fashion stake held by President Hwang Ji-hye.”
“EST Fashion?”
“Yes. President Hwang has long wanted to hand fashion over to her daughter, and Kim Su-ji’s major at university is also related to fashion. It seems they split fashion off from EST Group from the start with that in mind.”
“Ha! A guy who used to make his living on magic shows caught himself a big one!”
Ignoring Choi Jeong-san’s rant, Park Jin-tae got to the heart of the long report.
“James becoming part of the EST Group family seems all but certain.”
“!”
“Chairman Kim Seong-oh is the type who values stability above all else, and if his daughter is happy enough with someone to laugh like that, marriage won’t be difficult.”
“...So in the end he’s become a dead weight?”
It was already too late to recognize him as a son. Setting aside his wife and father-in-law, who would fly into a rage at the revelation that he had hidden an illegitimate child all this time, his father would be the hardest of all to face.
“You think my father will just sit still if he finds out?!”
Park Jin-tae, as if he had prepared for that, brought out the alternatives.
“Then there are two methods available to you, sir. But neither of them is ideal.”
“...Fine. Tell me.”
“I’ll start with the worst-case scenario. You reveal to James that you’re his father and then seek Chairman Kim’s forgiveness, belated though it may be...”
Park Jin-tae was bringing up the one method Choi Jeong-san would never choose.
“What kind of nonsense is that supposed to be? What about my wife and father-in-law? What are my in-laws supposed to think of me? And the chairman will kick me out of this seat the moment he learns the truth! Then that brat of a younger brother gets to swallow up all of TY Telecom! Feed the dog with the porridge I cooked? Are you insane?”
Because of your greed alone, recognizing James is absolutely impossible.
At Choi Jeong-san’s perfectly predictable conclusion, Park Jin-tae hurriedly spoke up.
“Then the only thing left is the final method.”
“Say it already!”
“We bury the problem as it stands.”
In other words, do nothing.
“How is that a solution? Has your brain rusted over, Park?”
“...Sir. The other side has no information about you at all.”
“Huh? Now that you mention it...”
Choi Jeong-san seemed to glimpse hope. He knew everything, while James, his illegitimate son, knew nothing.
“We’ve hidden every piece of information from him until now, and thanks to that he doesn’t even recognize us. If things can just end here, then there’s nothing for us to worry about. Whether he gets permanent residency or not, we can ignore him.”
“Oh?”
“Of course, in the worst case, he becomes the youngest son-in-law of EST Group.”
“!”
“Even then, it doesn’t matter. A rich wife and her family would become his strong backing, but because of that he’d no longer want to search for his biological parents. We should also consider the possibility that the two of them never end up married, but that’s far too distant a matter. It isn’t our concern.”
“Good. Very good.”
But there was still a problem Choi Jeong-san had not thought of.
“However, we need to silence the former chief of staff whom you called in and assigned to this job.”
“...”
“My mouth is sealed, but there’s no telling what will happen with his. And if James really does become EST Group’s son-in-law... he’ll report directly to the chairman, no doubt about it.”
Since this mess had happened because Choi Jeong-san himself had not trusted Park Jin-tae, there was no one else to blame.
“Damn it... I shouldn’t have had him handle the job...”
Park Jin-tae had already prepared a solution for that as well.
“People move according to money, sir.”
Park Jin-tae and Choi Jeong-san both valued money above all else, and so did the former chief of staff.
“...Damn it. Then how much do we need to pay to shut him up?”
“You’ll need to spend five billion won. That should cover the former chief’s retirement too. For the amount of money involved, especially if you’re becoming chairman, it’s not that much.”
“Tch. Fifty hundred million won to become chairman of TY Group is cheap, all right.”
“...And once you take the chairmanship, recouping it won’t be difficult either.”
If it was not simply fifty hundred million won burned away, but money that would come back later, there was even less reason to hesitate.
“Puhaha. You really do know me too well, Park.”
It’s not just that I know you well. I know every rotten inch of you, Choi Jeong-san.
With a gleam in his eyes, Park Jin-tae put the final point on the conversation moving exactly as he wanted.
“Sir. For the same reason, I think all surveillance of James should be suspended immediately.”
“...Because of EST Group?”
“Yes. In truth, the fact that we hadn’t been caught until now was close to a stroke of heaven-sent luck. Yesterday, too, our office staff’s parked car was apparently visited by EST Group security personnel.”
That had not happened, but Choi Jeong-san was in a position where he could only get information through Park Jin-tae’s mouth.
“!”
“Fortunately, the two of them were in plain clothes, so it could be brushed off. But if we get caught again, we’ll have to endure a full background investigation. If EST Group starts digging, they could expose not only our connection to TY Telecom but every piece of information we’ve hidden so far...”
“Stop right there! James is in the dark about everything anyway. There’s no need to stir things up and make this worse.”
“A wise decision, sir.”
Having carried everything through in the direction he wanted, Park Jin-tae bowed his head and showed a faint smile.
I hope the day comes soon when you walk straight into hell, Choi Jeong-san.
* * *
After that, the former chief of staff received a strange proposal from Park Jin-tae.
“You want me to go overseas?”
Park Jin-tae still had his head bowed, as though embarrassed, and could not bring himself to look up.
“...I’m sorry, Mr. Kim.”
“Hah! Do you know how many years I’ve watched Choi Jeong-san? Since the moment he was born, right up to now! And you want to move me aside? All because he’s learned about his own illegitimate son?”
“The boss seems terribly uneasy.”
“Hah! Looks like I did that bastard’s bidding for nothing! I’m going to the chairman.”
When the man started to rise, Park Jin-tae hurriedly grabbed his arm.
“Please don’t stop me. The chairman needs to know too!”
“...It won’t take long. Two years.”
“What does time matter? One year, two years, what’s the difference!”
Park Jin-tae knew the amount that man could not refuse.
“Twenty-five hundred million won a year will be deposited.”
“!”
“If you go abroad for two years, that makes five billion won.”
“F-fifty hundred million?”
Mr. Kim, who had just been declaring he was going to the chairman, quietly settled back into his chair. Fifty hundred million was not a sum one could brush aside.
“The boss would prefer it if you never came in at all, but I’ll settle everything inside that period. That’s why it’s two years. If you go away and take your time at a foreign resort, you’ll come back to a neatly wrapped-up result.”
His change of attitude was dramatic.
“When should I leave?”
“The sooner the better. But as for the chairman...”
“There’s no chance of this ever reaching the chairman’s ears.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Heh heh heh. Never thought Park would look after me like this.”
“Who do you think taught me enough to stand in this position? It’s all thanks to you, Mr. Kim. I should be the one looking after you.”
“Hahaha. My wife’s gone, and I’ve been lonely. I guess I’ll just take a leisurely world tour.”
“I’ll arrange your flight. I’ll also put together a cruise package.”
“Oh-ho. Our Park is generous.”
“Not at all...”
If things keep moving smoothly according to my plan... TY Group will be in James’s hands within two years.
That was why he needed two years. During that time, Chairman Choi must not discover James’s existence, and Choi Jeong-san’s eyes and ears had to be covered as well. Once the former chief of staff disappeared, Choi Jeong-san’s only source of information would be Park Jin-tae.
“By the way... what are you planning to do with him?”
“Ah...”
Park Jin-tae wondered how he should phrase it so the man would not take an interest in James.
“I saw once that he seemed to have some connection to EST Group. No matter that he’s an illegitimate son, if EST Group and our TY Group are ever tied together by blood...”
“I checked further, and it wasn’t that deep a relationship. Chairman Kim is notoriously exacting, after all.”
“He really is a difficult one.”
“Leave the rest to me. Everything will proceed according to the proper order.”
“Honestly, it might be easier on me if I don’t know.”
He knew full well that “dealing with the illegitimate son” meant death.
“Please send me the account you’d like to use comfortably overseas. I’ll transfer the money precisely on the day of your departure.”
“Keh-heh-heh. I’m counting on you from now on, Park.”
“Yes, sir! Leave it to me. I will serve Chairman Choi Jeong-san until the day TY Group stands proudly at the top of the business world.”
And so Park Jin-tae sent Mr. Kim, Chairman Choi’s trusted man, overseas, then began preparing, one by one, the plans for taking over TY Telecom in earnest.
---