Chapter 17
First Assignment (2)
“What are you?”
“Why do you ask? Is there something wrong with my review results?”
Manager Oh no longer felt confident that he could sit calmly and continue the conversation.
“Follow me.”
Chairman Kang followed Manager Oh into a meeting room.
“What are you?”
“Stop repeating yourself and finish the question.”
“What’s your real identity?”
“I’m new employee Hwang Junhyun, but...”
“I already know you’ve got no sense of humor. It’s not funny, so tell me. What did you used to do?”
If he told the truth, there would be far too much to say, but there was no reason to explain himself to someone at the level of a mere manager.
“Is it month-end already?”
“You know, you’ve said an awful lot of things that require a convincing explanation. I want to hear that explanation... though honestly, I doubt I’d find any explanation believable.”
“You find it hard to believe that I analyzed a two-year-old report, correct? Considering I haven’t even been with this company for a year.”
Manager Oh was dumbfounded.
“You know exactly what’s suspicious. That’s the biggest one. Though everything else is suspicious too.”
“Then why did you give me a report from two years ago? If it’s that old, it means the project was already dropped.”
Manager Oh couldn’t answer.
He had simply pulled out the most recent project files and hadn’t realized a two-year-old file had been mixed in. The employees who failed to organize those files were dead meat today.
“Stop changing the subject. How did you know it would have been a good item if the Chemical Division had handled it?”
“Two years ago was when Japan’s economic retaliation began, wasn’t it? The whole country was scrambling to develop alternatives to Japanese products. It turns out the item has now been replaced by a Dutch product.”
“So?”
“If Chemical had conducted the feasibility study, they could have reached a conclusion much sooner. Instead, Trading kept fiddling with it until semiconductor companies chose the Dutch product, and they missed their chance. To be honest, Choi Sung Chemical deserves part of the blame too. Trading figured it out, but the company directly involved didn’t.”
“How did you know it was replaced by a Dutch product?”
How did he know?
Because later he had received reports about it and absolutely shredded the executives responsible. If it were up to him, he would have fired every last one of them. Unfortunately, the person in charge had been Executive Director Kang Donghun—his second son.
“I searched it online. It came right up.”
Manager Oh was speechless.
What frustrated him even more was that he had no logical rebuttal.
After dragging the kid all the way to the meeting room and sitting alone with him, he felt compelled to say something.
After thinking it over, he reached only one conclusion.
This guy wasn’t acting like a new employee.
That single conclusion explained everything.
Large corporations were full of intelligent, capable people. But for those people to shine in practical work, they needed a foundation of job-related knowledge.
New employees lacked that knowledge.
You couldn’t build expertise just by reading manuals. You accumulated it through experience, mistakes, and real-world work.
The reason new hires lacked knowledge was simple: time. They hadn’t had enough time to gain practical experience. At best, they had only done some internship work.
Yet this kid displayed insights that belonged to someone at least at the manager level and an arrogance and composure normally seen only among department heads and above.
Looking at Manager Oh, who could do nothing but glare at him, Chairman Kang spoke.
“Manager, there’s just one thing I’d like you to understand.”
“What?”
“There is no one in this building who loves this company more than I do, who cares about it more than I do, and who would be more willing to do anything for its sake. So stop looking at me with suspicion and focus on how to make use of me. That’s all.”
Chairman Kang gave a slight bow and turned to leave the meeting room.
Manager Oh stopped him.
“Why? You’re just a new employee. What gives you the right to say something so grand?”
“Because it’s my first love.”
“What?”
“They say your first workplace is like your first love. You never forget it until the day you die. Even after leaving, you feel attached enough to call it your hometown.”
Chairman Kang smiled at Manager Oh.
“I’m the same. Besides, this is the company that accepted an intern who caused a huge scandal. Thanks to them, I escaped unemployment. After receiving that kind of kindness, wouldn’t my loyalty naturally be special?”
***
Manager Oh cautiously opened his mouth while watching President Choi’s reaction.
“There’s no doubt he’s extraordinary.”
“I never expected to hear that from you... What’s going on?”
“There are both positive and negative aspects. Which would you like to hear first?”
President Choi immediately understood.
The fact that Manager Oh couldn’t reach a single conclusion and had to divide it into positives and negatives meant the new employee was unusually complicated.
Viewed positively, it meant the newcomer was that complex.
Viewed negatively, it meant the newcomer was operating on a higher level than Manager Oh.
Either way, the kid was certainly remarkable.
“Start with the positives.”
“His perspective is incredibly broad. His ability to expand his thinking is exceptional. Most importantly, he has the insight to see the big picture from small clues.”
That was high praise.
“What’s your basis for that judgment?”
“He glanced through a discarded business proposal and instantly identified its flaws. But instead of reaching conclusions through detailed numerical analysis, he judged it from a macro perspective.”
“For example?”
“He immediately recognized the lack of confidence in the proposal’s author and saw where the data had been forced to fit a conclusion.”
“So he notices things that can’t be quantified?”
“Exactly.”
“Anything else?”
“You’ve already experienced firsthand how much nerve he has, haven’t you?”
“That’s true, but... do you call that nerve? Isn’t it recklessness?”
“I’m only discussing the positives right now.”
President Choi nodded.
“Fine. Then what’s the negative?”
“There’s a high probability that he can’t be controlled.”
That single sentence instantly erased all the positive impressions.
Even if you obtained an uncut diamond, it was just a stone unless you could polish it.
An untamed Red Hare horse was merely a wild animal.
A diamond only had value after being cut into a gem.
A horse only earned its reputation after being trained and ridden.
“You can’t handle a new employee in his late twenties? You’re exaggerating, Manager Oh.”
“No. Honestly, I’m not confident.”
“Being honest isn’t always a virtue. Do you realize how incompetent you sound right now?”
“I’m sorry.”
Manager Oh couldn’t lift his head.
Still, bowing his head once now was far better than taking responsibility later when the newcomer caused a major incident.
“So what’s your recommendation?”
“I’ll assign him work while treating him as an equal rather than a subordinate.”
“So your plan is to make use of him first?”
“Yes.”
“Got anything in mind?”
“I’m thinking of involving him in the SOC project. Primarily on the feasibility review side.”
“SOC? What are we currently working on?”
“It’s still in the early stages. Our Resources Division is coordinating with Construction. The expansion of two 30,000-ton berths at Incheon Port’s coal terminal.”
“Ah, that one...”
President Choi didn’t seem enthusiastic.
Understandably so.
The project was being led by Choi Sung Construction, and Vice President Kang Dongseong—the chairman’s eldest son—was personally overseeing it.
Furthermore, it hadn’t even been reported to the chairman yet.
Dongseong apparently intended to succeed with the project on his own and make a strong impression on the chairman.
Though with the chairman currently hospitalized, who knew what would happen?
“Yes, that sounds good. And Manager Oh.”
“Yes, President.”
“You know how I feel, right? I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Construction and Engineering already formed a sufficient consortium.
Yet they had dragged Trading into it.
Officially, the reason was liquidity concerns, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t shake the suspicion that they were preparing someone to take the blame if things went wrong.
“That’s why finding a justification for an exit is the most important thing. We’ve already focused our review in that direction.”
Manager Oh didn’t know the full circumstances, so he said nothing further.
But the chairman’s collapse had changed everything.
Originally, they intended to find a reasonable excuse and withdraw Trading from the project.
But if things developed a certain way, Vice President Kang Dongseong of Construction might become the next chairman.
If Trading pulled out of a project the future chairman was aggressively pushing, then the moment Dongseong became chairman, resignation letters would be inevitable.
“No. Just in case, review it properly. If it’s genuinely worthwhile, we should participate aggressively.”
“Huh? Ah... understood.”
A feasibility review required a clear perspective.
Either you evaluated it negatively or positively.
Only then could the analysis have direction.
If the president maintained an ambiguous stance like this, there was a high chance the report would end up being neither one thing nor the other.
But why had President Choi suddenly changed his mind?
If Manager Oh failed to understand that, any report he submitted would only earn criticism.
His mind became increasingly complicated.
***
“I’m sorry for making you come all the way to Seoul.”
“Not at all. It’s nice to get some fresh Seoul air.”
Standing in the lobby of Ocean Hotel, GF President Kim Sangdo looked around in admiration.
“Come on, let’s go upstairs and talk.”
When he entered the elevator with Chairman Kang, Kim Sangdo assumed they were headed to the Sky Lounge for drinks.
Instead, the elevator stopped on a guest-room floor.
“This is...?”
“Oh, it’s my office and residence. It’s spacious enough for a quiet conversation. Dinner’s already prepared too, so let’s talk while we eat.”
As soon as they entered the suite, Kim Sangdo’s eyes became even busier than they had been in the lobby.
“This hotel... feels like a home.”
“Well, it’s divided into a living room, bedroom, and office, so it does look like one. The hotel handles all the housekeeping, so it’s convenient.”
Kim tried estimating the daily room rate.
But after seeing the food laid out on the dining table, he felt he should probably add another zero to whatever figure he had imagined.
Throughout dinner, Kim asked many questions, but the answers were brief.
A wealthy heir investing diligently using the vast inheritance left by his parents.
That single backstory answered every question.
On top of that, Chairman Kang naturally carried himself like someone born into a chaebol family, leaving no room for suspicion.
“You asked to meet again, so I assume you’ve made your decision?”
“I have.”
“Since you insisted on meeting in person, I’ll take that as acceptance. If you intended to reject the investment, you would’ve called or sent a message instead of arranging a face-to-face meeting.”
“Correct. The more I thought about it, the better investment looked compared to bowing and scraping before banks for loans.”
“So how much are you considering?”
“The forty billion won you originally proposed.”
Lee Sangjae from the Strategy Office had valued the company at 80 billion won.
That was before the new technology was applied.
He hadn’t even attempted to calculate the company’s value after adopting the new technology.
After all, his plan had been to acquire the company outright for 80 billion won.
“Excellent. Then for forty billion won, give me ten percent of the company’s shares. The method is up to you. You can issue new shares or transfer part of your existing holdings.”
For now, he threw out the offer.
How would this man respond?