Huh? An Elementary School President?
‘W-what did you say?’ Yoon-gi almost blurted it out, but Choi Deok-bae answered with unexpected composure.
‘You mean the thieves didn’t fully seize control of the Samwoo Group?’
‘Did they really have to go that far, even with the legitimacy of being the eldest in the direct line?’
‘So, they made deals with outsiders to prevent that?’
‘Ha... and to think they bragged about their competence in front of me...’
Yoon-gi felt a sense of utter futility. They had beaten him, mocked him, and acted so arrogant, yet in the end, they were nothing but puppets for outsiders who handed over the entire Samwoo Group.
Grind!
The sound of him gnashing his teeth echoed in the air, startling the driver, who looked back at Yoon-gi.
“Young Master?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. It’s just... the fact that my friend ran away...”
“I understand that feeling. I was separated from many of my neighborhood friends because of the Korean War, too.”
Yoon-gi had seen plenty of the war generation since his regression, but hearing such vivid testimony helped ease his tension just a little.
“Phew, let’s head back now.”
“Understood.”
Glancing back at the shantytown he would never visit again, Yoon-gi clenched his fists.
‘I won’t have to see those two again here. But someday, no matter how long it takes, I will hunt them down. I can’t end my revenge for the past like this...!’
“I have one question.” Choi Deok-bae asked, lying on the bed in the room with a listless expression.
“If Kim Chanyeol isn’t going to become the chairman after all, doesn’t that mean the replacement of executives through the shareholders’ meeting is off the table?”
“Why do you say that?”
“As you know, before I committed suicide, I was an idiot who bounced between day labor jobs, and after suicide, I’m just a ten-year-old kid. No matter how much I’ve heard through rumors or read in books, I barely know how a corporation actually runs.”
Choi Deok-bae shifted from a lying position to a sitting one with a gloomy expression.
“...?”
“Ugh.”
Choi Deok-bae chuckled at Yoon-gi, who was grimacing in frustration.
“Fine, fine. I get it.”
Yoon-gi got up and headed to the kitchen.
“Ma’am, please boil one ramen for me. And please tear the kimchi by hand, too.”
“Understood, Young Master.”
A moment later, when the housekeeper brought the ramen into the room, Choi Deok-bae smacked his lips, clearly salivating.
“When should I come back for the bowl?”
“I’ll take it out to the kitchen myself.”
Once the housekeeper left, Yoon-gi placed the ramen tray on the desk and bowed politely twice.
‘Have you never eaten this before?’
‘Well, I suppose.’
Watching Choi Deok-bae slurp down the ramen, Yoon-gi thought to himself.
‘If I had regressed to my twenties in the 50s, I could have founded Samyang.’
But the reality was that he had regressed to 1968, and now, in 1977, he was merely a ten-year-old elementary school student.
‘If only I were a little older...’
It was frustrating to have to just watch from the sidelines because of his age, but he hadn’t felt this heavy-hearted until he experienced what happened earlier.
‘Even in the worst-case scenario, the Samwoo Group would grow enough to at least rank at the bottom of the business world.’
He had thought that as long as he led the group better than that, it would be enough. But after hearing the truth, that wasn’t the case. If Choi Deok-bae’s words were true, the Samwoo Group would surely fall into total chaos by the time he turned forty-three. To prevent that, he had to do everything in his power, starting now.
Yoon-gi turned his head toward Choi Deok-bae, who was patting his stomach and burping.
“Now, please tell me.”
“Hmph.”
When Yoon-gi left the room without a word, a look of satisfaction spread across Choi Deok-bae’s face. However, when he saw what Yoon-gi brought back, he couldn’t help but gasp.
What Yoon-gi was holding in his hand was dried jujubes.
“Who told you to keep playing around like that?”
Yoon-gi placed the jujubes on the desk and bowed politely once.
“Hmph.”
Then came the second bow. Suddenly, Choi Deok-bae’s body began to be dragged toward the jujubes, very slowly but inevitably. Choi Deok-bae’s hand reached out, and he ended up having to chew the dried jujubes raw, his face contorted in agony.
He had found out a year ago: there was clearly a binding rule that if a descendant prepared a memorial table, he had to eat it regardless. That was why, whenever Choi Deok-bae teased him too much, Yoon-gi would use this method to warn him. After all, jujubes were the one thing Choi Deok-bae hated most.
“So, what would have happened if Kim Chanyeol hadn’t done that?”
“It would have plummeted vertically.”
“Ha, I never knew being young would be such a problem. If I were a high schooler right now, I’d at least be able to enter a prestigious school and build some connections...”
“Is there any way I can do something right now?”
Choi Deok-bae replied shortly with a listless expression.
“No, how can a ten-year-old be a president?”
“...?”
Yoon-gi didn’t quite understand what Choi Deok-bae meant. But the moment the words ended, Yoon-gi finally realized his intention.
“Would you like some watermelon?”
A moment later, Choi Deok-bae was hugging a whole, uncut watermelon, looking at Yoon-gi with a pitiful expression.
“You want the Jeil Textile company?”
Choi Ki-hyun narrowed his eyes significantly as he looked at his grandson. For Choi Ki-hyun, who was drinking Ssanghwa-cha and watching TV in the main room, it was a truly out-of-the-blue request.
“Yes. To be precise, I don’t want you to give me the president’s salary as pocket money; I want you to give me the title of president.”
When he acquired Jeil Textile, Choi Ki-hyun had told Yoon-gi that he would set aside the president’s salary of Jeil Textile as pocket money for him. It was a reward given to family members who submitted and succeeded with appropriate strategies. As such, Yoon-gi’s allowance was already at a level that not only children but most adults couldn’t even imagine, yet he was asking for the next thing.
“Do you know what the title of president means?”
“Yes. It means I have to be the leader who guides the company.”
“Then, do you think you have the ability to be that leader?”
“I don’t think I do.”
Judging that his grandson wasn’t just throwing a tantrum, Choi Ki-hyun relaxed his expression slightly and began to explain.
“Yes, you know exactly. You don’t have the capacity to be a president yet. A president must be able to control the organization and inspire trust from the outside. But a company where a third-grade elementary student is the president? How could such a company gain the trust of business partners, and how could such a president lead his subordinates?”
“That’s why I want you to appoint a separate vice president.”
“Appoint a vice president? In that case, your goal isn’t to be the president of Jeil Textile, but rather you need the title itself?”
As a seasoned businessman, Choi Ki-hyun immediately sensed what his grandson was talking about.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Why?”
“I heard that you worked very hard to earn money from a young age, Grandfather.”
At his grandson’s words, Choi Ki-hyun smiled while recalling his difficult memories. Smiling while remembering a miserable past was the privilege of a winner. Choi Ki-hyun was fully qualified to do so.
“Yes, I started selling ice pops with a box when I was eight. Back then, to keep from getting my money stolen by thugs, I gave free ice pops to the most powerful rickshaw pullers. I still remember the rickshaw gang laughing and letting me go, saying, ‘How much could a little kid possibly earn?’”
“I want to be like you, Grandfather.”
“You want to be like me?”
Yoon-gi nodded.
“Yes. You started your business when you were eight, but if I go on like this, I can only start a business after graduating from university. That’s too big of a gap compared to you. I want to start a business from a young age and become a great person like you.”
A smile spread across Choi Ki-hyun’s face. To have his own grandson be the one to sincerely praise his past—naturally, he couldn’t help but be pleased.
“Listening to you, it sounds like you don’t need the title of president of Jeil Textile, but rather a title that allows you to do business?”
“Ah, that’s right!”
Yoon-gi certainly had many experiences from the past and had room to utilize them. However, when it came to management, he was practically a blank slate, so he didn’t know how to express exactly what he wanted. But thanks to Choi Ki-hyun piercing through what his grandson wanted, Yoon-gi felt the need to study his professional field once again.
‘I have to study consistently. I’m increasingly realizing that I can’t do anything with just the experience of a 43-year-old.’
Just like that thought, Choi Ki-hyun hit the nail on the head.
“Your heart is admirable, but the era I lived in and the era you live in are different. In my day, if you had ability and luck, you could start a business with a single coin, but these days, it’s an era where you have to study just as much.”
Choi Ki-hyun’s words continued.
“Since you aren’t in a desperate situation where you have to do business from a young age, how about you learn professional studies until you graduate from university, and then work?”
It was a perfectly logical argument, but Yoon-gi didn’t give up there.
“Please give me an opportunity not to waste my time.”
“You want an opportunity?”
“Yes. Please give me a chance to try working with the allowance I’m receiving now. There will be a big difference between experiencing things after graduating from university and doing something from now on.”
“Hmm...”
As his grandson pressed him this much, Choi Ki-hyun fell into deep thought. And a moment later, he offered a compromise.
“Then, how about this? I will allow you to start a company that has absolutely nothing to do with Samwoo.”