Episode 25. Why Don’t You Just Pass Them By for Once? 2.
Kim Inseop entered his office and sat down on the sofa.
“Sit.”
Yang Gyeonghun and Hyeonu, who had followed him in, sat side by side.
“How was it? M Biotech.”
“It was fake. The experiment report had been fabricated.”
At Yang Gyeonghun’s low, subdued reply, Kim Inseop squeezed his eyes shut.
He leaned back against the sofa, tilted his head, and let out a long sigh.
“Hooah... That bastard Executive Director Choi... He’s screwing us to the very end.”
He remained like that for a moment, eyes closed as though swallowing down his anger, then opened them.
“Is there any way out?”
“We invested in an 8% stake in M Biotech. I think we need to pull that out first, as quickly as possible.”
“Hmm... Do you have the materials?”
Since investments were handled by the Financial Planning Team, they needed documentation if they wanted it processed urgently.
“We don’t have materials. Instead, we have circumstantial—no, conclusive conviction.”
“Is that conviction reliable?”
“Yes. I went with Dr. Go Hwigeun, a neuropsychiatry doctor, and verified it. The only issue is that they refused to show us the source data, so we don’t have proof that it was fabricated.”
“This Dr. Go Hwigeun, he’s someone trustworthy, right?”
“Yes. He’s a professor at Seoul National University Hospital. He’s famous in medical circles, to the point that he even appears on the news from time to time.”
“Hmm...”
[That punk... He even got someone like that involved in that short time and checked it... Not bad. In any case, we need to handle this fast.]
Biting his lip as he thought this, Kim Inseop picked up the receiver and dialed an internal extension.
After a few rings, the voice of the head of Financial Planning came from the other end.
[Yes, this is the head of Financial Planning.]
“Chief, it’s Department Head Kim.”
Due to the nature of his department, the head of Financial Planning ranked above Kim Inseop.
Somewhere between an executive director and a department head.
[Oh—Department Head Kim, what is it?]
“Well, it’s nothing else. I have a favor to ask.”
[A favor? Wow—so there are times when Department Head Kim asks favors too. What is it? What’s got our Kim so desperate?]
“Our people are going to submit a request to sell our stake in M Biotech, and I was hoping you could approve it right away.”
[M Biotech? M Biotech?]
“Yes, it’s the project Sales Team Six pushed a few months ago.”
[No, I know that, but I already approved it earlier.]
“What? You already approved it?”
Hyeonu’s eyes deepened.
It was just as he had guessed.
Since this had been planned from the start, they would have designed it in whatever way was most advantageous to themselves.
[Yeah. A request to sell the stake came in from Sales Team Six earlier. Department Head Lee from Sales Division Two called me, too, just like you are now, asking me to process it quickly. He said M Biotech’s CEO was about to be indicted for embezzlement, breach of trust, and the like, and that it was urgent.]
“Embezzlement... breach of trust?”
At those words, Yang Gyeonghun’s eyes went round.
He had not known that much yet.
[Yeah. Wasn’t that why you called too, Department Head Kim? Wait, but why are you calling? This is Department Head Lee’s project.]
“...Understood for now. I have something urgent to deal with, so I’ll call you later.”
Kim Inseop hung up and spoke with a face that had hardened stiffly.
“Looks like we’ve been completely had. They knew in advance about the CEO’s wrongdoing and shoved it onto us. Then, at the same time as the handover, they submitted the request to sell the stake. They’re taking the performance for themselves and trying to make us clean up after M Biotech. Those sons of bitches...”
Yang Gyeonghun added to Kim Inseop’s words.
“On top of that, they’re gobbling up Yangwoo Bio, the real prize.”
Yang Gyeonghun, who now understood everything, clenched his fist tightly with venom in his eyes.
He had already suspected as much after learning the experiment report was fabricated, but now that their scheme had been revealed as truth, it seemed his lid had suddenly blown.
“What do we do now?”
At Yang Gyeonghun’s question, Kim Inseop answered with an irritated expression.
“What can we do? They say it’s already been approved, damn it.”
“Hooah... Those bastards...”
Hyeonu looked back and forth between the two men’s faces.
Both of them seemed so consumed by emotion that their judgment had grown clouded.
Yang Gyeonghun had lost his reason to anger, and Kim Inseop seemed flustered because it had all happened too suddenly.
All they had to do was think calmly and look for a method, but their composure had been shaken.
The more critical the moment, the more one had to keep one’s wits.
Well, most people were like that.
Quietly, and with the polite attitude befitting a new employee, Hyeonu opened his mouth.
* * *
The president’s office at Mancheon Trading...
Noh Hyeoncheol stood by the window, quietly looking outside.
He had a lot on his mind these days.
When he had first joined Mancheon, its rank in the business world had barely clung to twentieth place. Now, it was fourth.
All that time, as Chairman Min Yanghong’s right-hand man, he had done so much.
That effort and hardship had not been in vain.
After all, he had climbed all the way to this position.
However, the goal he had vowed to achieve with Chairman Min Yanghong—to make Mancheon the number one group in the business world—had ultimately remained unfulfilled.
It seemed that Chairman Min Yanghong, now much aged, and he himself had reached their limit here.
He had no lingering attachment.
He had no regrets either.
People each had their own vessel, and that vessel sometimes felt like fate itself, something one could not simply exceed.
What he had to do from here on was place a period at the end of the road he had run until now.
One was to help Chairman Min Yanghong carry out his final long-cherished project.
The other was to successfully conclude the management succession.
Those were the only two things he needed to do, so why did it keep feeling so hopeless?
Could he truly wrap everything up well and step down from this seat with a light heart?
For that to happen, who should become the next chairman?
Whoever it was, that man had to inherit the chairman’s final long-cherished project and make Mancheon the best company in Korea in both name and reality...
This question, which had been tormenting him for some time, filled his head when, suddenly, soft flakes of snow began to drift down.
Was this the first snow of the year? No, had it snowed not long ago?
Damn it, these days things like this kept growing hazy.
Every day, he got confused about whether he had taken the nutritional supplements he was supposed to eat three times a day twice or all three times.
Well, it was still fine.
The fact that the fluttering snow was beautiful had not changed.
It suddenly occurred to him that perhaps even the gloomy sky from just moments ago had merely been a prerequisite for letting such beautiful snow fall.
“Haa... Yes... It’ll work out... Because I won’t just stand by and watch if it doesn’t.”
Just then, there was a knock.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Choi Jeonggeun, executive director of Planning and Sales, entered.
In Choi Jeonggeun’s eyes, beyond Noh Hyeoncheol standing with his back to the window, there was a beautiful scene of falling snow.
But there was no snow in his interest.
Because he was obsessed with something else.
“It’s a relief you’re here.”
Seeing the approval file in his hand, Noh Hyeoncheol asked.
“What is it?”
“Ah, there’s something we need to handle urgently. It’s a biotech company called M Biotech, and we hold an 8% stake in it. But it seems their CEO has caused an incident. Because of that, there’s even a possibility it could be delisted.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Since the return on our equity investment is already over eighteen hundred percent, I thought it would be best to dispose of it immediately.”
“Mm... Bring it here.”
Noh Hyeoncheol sat at his desk, and Choi Jeonggeun placed the approval file in front of him.
After reviewing the request to sell the stake, Noh Hyeoncheol nodded slowly and took out his fountain pen.
He opened the cap and was about to sign when he suddenly seemed to think of something and raised his head.
“President Min Byeongsu is doing well, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he seems to be very busy lately.”
Noh Hyeoncheol tossed out the question casually.
“What about the Africa matter?”
He knew that Min Byeongsu had gone on a business trip to Africa not long ago.
Because on the day he returned to Korea, the first person he had met was Noh Hyeoncheol. At the room salon where they had eaten kimchi stew.
“Which matter in Africa?”
No Hyeoncheol did not let it show on his face, but inwardly, he gave a snort of laughter.
Yesterday, he had met Chairman Min Yanghong over the issue of the African iron ore mine that Min Byeongsu had asked about.
How much slush money could Mancheon Trading provide?
It was an extremely sensitive matter.
So when Choe Jeonggeun had just come in, he had thought he was referring to that issue.
To squeeze out even a little more in slush funds, that was.
But it was something else.
It seemed he did not know about the African iron ore mine at all······.
In other words, this bastard had yet to earn Min Byeongsu’s trust.
After all, one could not carelessly discuss slush funds with someone untrustworthy.
“It’s nothing. I just need to sign here?”
“Yes.”
No Hyeoncheol signed in the approval column and capped his fountain pen.
Choe Jeonggeun’s expression was exceedingly bright as he picked up the approval file.
“Then I’ll be going.”
He bowed his head and turned away, then suddenly looked back as if he had remembered something.
“Ah, there’s one thing I should tell you.”
No Hyeoncheol asked with a languid expression.
“What is it?”
“You remember what I mentioned last time, don’t you? The thing you said was none of your business.”
“······.”
“I brought it up to President Min Byeongsu and got scolded for it. He said I’d gone overboard on my own and said something unnecessary. He asked me to tell you not to misunderstand, if possible.”
“Then what you said to me back then was something you said on your own, regardless of President Min Byeongsu’s intentions.”
“Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry for making you worry needlessly, President.”
“Hmm······ All right. You can go.”
“Yes. Then.”
Watching Choe Jeonggeun turn away, No Hyeoncheol gave a snort of laughter.
He was not laughing at Choe Jeonggeun.
He was laughing as he thought of Min Byeongsu, who must have given such an instruction.
‘He’ll definitely make his move quickly. He’s no ordinary bastard. His ability, his way of handling himself······.’
* * *
Hyeonu looked at Yang Gyeonghun and spoke.
“Team Leader.”
Yang Gyeonghun’s gaze, his face flushed with excitement, turned toward Hyeonu.
“The shares in M Biotech had to be disposed of anyway, didn’t they? Does it matter who got the approval, as long as we dispose of the shares properly? Before the corruption involving M Biotech’s CEO comes to light, that is.”
Yang Gyeonghun’s face twisted.
“Hey, you punk. Didn’t you hear what the department head just said? The performance will be credited to their side. We’ll only be stuck cleaning up after them.”
Hyeonu replied in a calm voice.
“If we do it the way we discussed on the way here, I don’t think it matters at all. Am I wrong?”
Yang Gyeonghun’s brow furrowed as he turned his head at an angle.
What Hyeonu had said while they were walking to the department head’s office······.
What was it again?
At that thought, Yang Gyeonghun’s eyes widened.
‘What? That? That’s how this turns out?’
Yang Gyeonghun’s eyes were already bloodshot, and his rough voice trembled slightly.
“You knew in advance it would come to this?”
Because their moves had been obvious, Hyeonu had guessed that if the situation turned bad, it would come this far.
“No, Team Leader. I just thought that method would be the best.”
“······.”
Kim Inseop, who had been silently watching the conversation between the two, looked at Hyeonu and spoke.
“You, now that I listen to you, you had a plan all along······. What is it?”
“For this matter, I’d like to cut Executive Director Choe out.”
Hyeonu answered in an even voice, but the weight of those words was tremendous.
Kim Inseop was startled.
“What did you say?”
Then Yang Gyeonghun opened his mouth with a faint, bitter smile.
“Like the rookie just said, let’s cut Executive Director Choe out.”
Yang Gyeonghun’s bloodshot eyes gleamed.
It was the same look Gu Hyeongjun, his fellow recruit, had shown when he revealed his ambition.
It was an aura he had never seen from him until now.
Hyeonu immediately continued explaining his plan, and after hearing the whole story, Kim Inseop’s face had hardened heavily.
“Hah······ You bastards······ You’re scary······.”
Yang Gyeonghun said a word.
“But if we do this, we can take it all. Just like the rookie said.”
“Do you even know what it means to cut out a superior? In a company organization, superiors and subordinates are thoroughly in a Party A and Party B relationship.”
“Isn’t that why we’re saying we should side with Party A? Executive Director Choe may be Party A to us, but to the president, he’s Party B.”
“You think he’s an ordinary Party B? He’s a super Party B. He’s our company’s number three.”
“No matter how super a Party B he is, to Party A, he’s still just Party B!”
Kim Inseop flinched when Yang Gyeonghun suddenly raised his voice.
Then he spoke again in a quiet voice.
“Let’s try it······. Let’s stop living while getting stabbed in the back.”
Looking at Yang Gyeonghun with his bloodshot eyes gleaming, Kim Inseop felt he understood what state of mind he was in.
Yang Gyeonghun was now making the decisive gamble of his corporate life.
Dragging in even him, his superior······.
On top of that, he had brought along a green rookie.
No, he had just said it was the rookie who had come up with the plan.
‘What the hell, then is this guy the one tying everyone together? What kind of absurd, ridiculous, shitty situation is this······.’
But what was even funnier was the atmosphere in this room.
Yang Gyeonghun now had the face of a gambler about to go all in at a poker table.
He himself was probably not much different.
But this bastard’s face was not disturbed in the slightest.
How could he not waver even a little in a situation like this?
Just what kind of mentality did he have······.