Episode 28. What Remains When the Fierceness Is Gone 1
The next day...
Choi Jeonggeun, who had come to work early in the morning, sat motionless on the sofa.
The viper-like glare he fixed on empty space made it clear what state of mind he was in.
After what had happened yesterday, he had gone straight to find No Hyeoncheol, but No had already left work.
He did not answer his cell phone either.
Right now, Choi Jeonggeun was extremely anxious.
Judging by the fact that No Hyeoncheol had handed M Biotech’s performance and Yangwoo Bio over to Kim Inseop, it seemed clear that his mind had turned that way.
But that also meant he no longer trusted him.
He needed to know how far No Hyeoncheol was thinking of taking this.
Because he absolutely could not afford to fall out of his favor.
He had to meet him immediately and tell him that this matter had not stemmed from a mistake he himself had made.
He sat there waiting anxiously for quite some time, when the phone rang.
“Mm.”
[The president has just arrived.]
“Got it.”
Choi Jeonggeun put down the receiver and rose from his seat, his viper-like eyes flashing.
When he opened the door and went in, he saw No Hyeoncheol sitting on the sofa, drinking coffee.
“Good morning, Mr. President.”
As he greeted him, he discreetly studied his complexion.
His face was relaxed and at ease, as if nothing had happened.
“What brings you here? This early in the morning.”
“Nothing unusual happened, did it?”
“Was there something unusual that should have happened?”
“......”
“Say what you came to say. I have to head out in a bit.”
“Well, it’s just that I thought there might be some misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”
“That’s why I came to see you at the crack of dawn like this, sir.”
“A misunderstanding that made you come see me at the crack of dawn... Hmm... I don’t recall you doing anything that would cause that kind of misunderstanding. Did you do something wrong?”
This sly old snake was playing dumb even though he knew everything.
Which meant he was not going to take any action right now.
Then again, No Hyeoncheol was not the type to get into a war of words over whether you did it or not.
If he decided someone had to be killed, he was the type to create a situation where they could not move, then finish them off without warning.
With that awareness, Choi Jeonggeun’s mind raced, and he opened his mouth.
“Then why did you approve the sale request I submitted, only to return it afterward? We had already made a profit on the shares anyway, and the department that originally gave the investment opinion was Sales Team 6. Since you did that without even giving me a word, I wondered if there had been some kind of misunderstanding.”
No Hyeoncheol let out a faint laugh.
It was because he was dumbfounded, and because the man was far too shameless.
Still, he could understand why Choi Jeonggeun was acting this way.
From a purely political standpoint, it was an extremely wise judgment and appropriately calculated wording to match it.
If he acknowledged it outright, it would amount to confessing his own wrongdoing, so he had introduced another variable.
Nor could No Hyeoncheol pin him down clearly.
If he asked whether Sales Team 6 had not handed over the work, Choi would say they had suddenly discovered the misconduct of M Biotech’s CEO and, in trying to handle it urgently, things had ended up that way. If asked why they had failed to notice the falsification of the experiment report that Sales Team 9 had uncovered at once, he would say they had only been lucky enough to discover it because the CEO’s misconduct had shaken things loose.
And then he would emphasize the investment performance again, creating a situation that just went round and round like a hamster wheel.
No matter which angle he attacked from, there would be countless excuses to dodge with.
Because there was no evidence for any of it.
And yet, Choi probably did not particularly care about making sure the performance was credited to Sales Team 6.
His goal was only one thing.
It has nothing to do with me. I was simply doing my job to produce results.
That was it.
Within that frame, he was pretending to be righteous, going on about Sales Team 6’s performance and whatnot.
Because doing so would serve as counterevidence that he had truly worked according to his convictions.
Conversations with people who played politics always went like this.
Thinking they really were a disgusting breed, No Hyeoncheol could not help but laugh.
“Kukuku, I get it, so you can go now.”
At No Hyeoncheol’s completely unexpected reaction, Choi Jeonggeun was momentarily flustered.
“Pardon?”
“I’ll take your opinion into consideration, so get out.”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“I said... get out.”
For some reason, Choi Jeonggeun grew awkward, hesitated vaguely, then lowered his head.
“Understood. Then...”
As he turned and walked away, Choi Jeonggeun felt empty.
What did I come here to do?
He was genuinely confused as to what he had come here to do.
It was because the development had been so different from what he expected that his mind had gone blank for an instant.
Only by exchanging words back and forth could he blur everything within the murky ambiguity, but instead his mouth had been sealed and he had simply been turned around.
Like a child turning a toy soldier around and making it waddle away.
In that hollow mood, he grasped the door handle, when No Hyeoncheol’s voice came from behind him.
“Hey, Executive Director Choi.”
“Yes?”
When he turned his head, No Hyeoncheol’s languid yet sharp gaze entered his eyes.
“Even if you have passion, if you point it in the wrong direction, all that’s left in the end is desire. Without accomplishing anything.”
“......”
“There are surprisingly many people like that. People who don’t know their own measure and dig their own graves.”
“......”
“This is my last piece of advice for your sake, so take my words to heart.”
“......”
“Go.”
Choi Jeonggeun could not say a word and had no choice but to leave.
Because he sensed that, regardless of this incident, No Hyeoncheol had seen through to the bottom of him and was speaking from there.
From the beginning, he had never been someone to play politics with.
* * *
Planning Team 2 Manager Kang Jihyeok stuck out his backside, fixed his shoulders in place, pulled his arms back, and swung.
“Hweek!”
As if something did not satisfy him, he tilted his head.
“Ah, shit...”
He wriggled his feet to set his stance, stuck out his backside again, and drew his arms far back.
Yang Gyeonghun, who had been watching him, laughed as if he found it ridiculous.
“Kukuk, anyone who saw you would think you were good at golf.”
Ignoring him, Kang Jihyeok swung, then tilted his head again.
“Ah, damn it. My shoulder keeps opening first.”
“Since when have you been playing golf?”
“A week.”
“Kukukuk.”
“Aren’t you going to play golf?”
“Where would I get the money?”
“If you go to a screen golf practice range, it doesn’t cost that much.”
“If I’m going to do that, I’d rather play the kids’ Nintendo.”
Kang Jihyeok, who had been sticking out his backside, made an irritated face.
“Nintendo, of all things... Why are your standards like that? Everyone’s in the middle of boycotting Japan.”
“I bought it before that. It’s not like I can throw it away. I bought it with my own money.”
Just then, Gu Hyeongjun could be seen opening the rooftop door and coming out, looking around.
Yang Gyeonghun had sent a message saying, “Rooftop, twelve o’clock,” and he was looking for where his peers were.
“Hey, Chief Gu. Over here.”
Gu Hyeongjun walked over and looked Kang Jihyeok, who was practicing his swing, up and down.
“You play golf?”
“He says it’s been a week.”
“He says he plays Nintendo.”
Gu Hyeongjun let out a small laugh and examined Kang Jihyeok from different angles.
“Hey, you need to turn your waist more.”
“Like this?”
“No. Keep your pelvis still. Hey! Why are you sticking your butt out there? Ah, seriously, I said turn your waist, your waist. Leave your butt alone. Are you posing right now? Are you bowling? Your butt, you idiot...”
As if annoyed, Kang Jihyeok shook off Gu Hyeongjun’s hands.
“Ah, fuck, you’re nagging like crazy.”
“Your form is what’s crazy.”
“Kukukuk.”
“Don’t laugh, Nintendo.”
Kang Jihyeok picked up the coffee he had set aside and drank.
“Golf’s too damn filthy to play.”
“I told you to just play Nintendo with me.”
Gang Jihyeok’s lips twitched as he took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Gu Hyeongjun lit it for him, then lit his own.
“Hooo······.”
After exhaling a long stream of smoke like a sigh, Gang Jihyeok spoke.
“I never thought M Biotech would end up going to you like that. Good for you.”
Gu Hyeongjun asked.
“M Biotech? The one you talked about over drinks a few months ago? The one you said Executive Director Choe stole from you?”
“Yeah. That’s the one. The one Executive Director Choe swallowed whole.”
After answering Gu Hyeongjun, Gang Jihyeok asked Yang Gyeonghun.
“What happened?”
Yang Gyeonghun gave a strange smile mixed with all sorts of emotions, then opened his mouth.
“I got on a line. Belatedly.”
“It’s not like you hit the jackpot, so why are you getting on a line?”
“Fuck, can you stop with those petty-ass dad jokes? I’m saying I joined a faction.”
Gang Jihyeok and Gu Hyeongjun’s eyes went round.
They had never expected such words to come from Yang Gyeonghun’s mouth.
Gang Jihyeok asked.
“Whose line?”
“The president’s line.”
“What? You grabbed the president’s line? You?”
“Yeah. Me.”
“How?”
“One thing led to another. In exchange, though, I’ve become complete enemies with Executive Director Choe Jeonggeun.”
“······.”
“······.”
Yang Gyeonghun drank the last of his coffee and said,
“Let’s talk about the details over drinks some other time. For now, I thought I should let you two know.”
“······.”
“······.”
“Let’s head down. I’m busy cleaning up M Biotech, so I barely managed to make time to come here.”
Yang Gyeonghun had just taken a step when Gu Hyeongjun asked,
“Was that new guy involved in this too, by any chance?”
Yang Gyeonghun stopped in his tracks.
“His name’s going up on the performance review for this one. The people in charge are me and him.”
Gu Hyeongjun did not let it show on his face, but he was extremely surprised.
He had wondered if it might be the case, but that rookie had played a part again.
On top of that, now Yang Gyeonghun was saying he had gotten on the president’s line.
This was the exact picture Gu Hyeongjun had wanted so badly to draw.
That was why he had subtly egged the rookie on during the car ride, and had also dropped a hint to Yang Gyeonghun at the off-cuts barbecue place.
Of course, he had not expected either of them to understand.
He had thought it would be better to move slowly, letting it seep in, so he had stopped at merely giving them a hint.
But,
‘Fuck, what is this? Why is it so fast? It’s like they read my mind.’
As he was thinking that, Yang Gyeonghun spoke again.
“I think what you said at the off-cuts place was right. I need to back this guy as much as I can. Like you said, with my slow feet, it feels like I’m climbing onto a horse.”
“······.”
“Let’s give it a try, Chief Gu. I really think it could work. That guy really is different. Backing aside, he’s someone who genuinely has something.”
Now Yang Gyeonghun seemed to be the more proactive one.
Without realizing it, Gu Hyeongjun swallowed dryly.
Just then, Gang Jihyeok’s voice came to him.
“What the hell? What are you two talking about? Did you two go to that off-cuts place without me?”
A smile slowly spread over Gu Hyeongjun’s stiff face.
“We had something important to discuss.”
“What kind of discussion?”
“A discussion about a monster.”
“What?”
Gu Hyeongjun draped an arm around Gang Jihyeok’s shoulder and guided him along.
“I’ll tell you after work over a glass of soju.”
“I have to go to the golf range.”
“The golf range? Keukeuk, if this goes well, we might be able to play some proper golf. Take the corporate card out onto the course······. If you’re a company man, isn’t that how you have to play for it to be real golf? Don’t you think?”
“What the hell are you guys talking about? Did you join some kind of club?”
“Keukeukeuk.”
Yang Gyeonghun, walking behind Gu Hyeongjun as he laughed, laughed as well.
As the three colleagues from the same intake crossed the sun-drenched rooftop of Mancheon Mulsan, the rooftop door opened and Hyeonu popped out.
“Oh!”
“Team Leader.”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“The Financial Planning Office has summoned our team and the PR team regarding the M Biotech cleanup.”
“They have? Hey, then you should’ve called right away. Why come all the way up here?”
“You weren’t answering.”
Yang Gyeonghun took the phone from the pocket of his thick parka and turned on the screen.
There were quite a number of missed calls and Talk messages.
He had put it on vibrate, but it seemed he had not noticed because his parka was so thick.
“Damn it······. I’m going ahead.”
“Yeah, sure. Good work.”
“Do your best.”
Yang Gyeonghun rushed past Gu Hyeongjun and Gang Jihyeok toward Hyeonu.
After staring blankly for a moment, Gang Jihyeok asked,
“You guys were talking about him earlier, right?”
“······Yeah. The monster. The expressionless little bastard monster.”
Looking at Hyeonu, Gang Jihyeok quietly rubbed his chin in thought, then opened his mouth.
“Hmm······ He’s definitely uglier than my youngest sister. She’ll be fine.”
“What are you talking about? Out of nowhere.”
“No, I’m saying she’ll be fine. Assistant Manager Song, I mean.”
“Ah, shit.”
Gu Hyeongjun pulled his arm off Gang Jihyeok’s shoulder, glared at him with an irritated face, and walked ahead first.
Yang Gyeonghun informed the only two remaining colleagues from his intake first that he had gotten on the president’s line.
Because these two were the only people he could trust, the only ones who would become his allies.
It was also his way of asking whether they would get in the same boat.
* * *
That day, Mancheon Mulsan released news that it would be pulling out of M Biotech.
The stated reason was that the new drug development outlook was negative, and that the partnership between the companies was not a good fit.
As soon as the news went out, the stock price plunged, then bargain buying came in and it repeatedly soared and dropped.
Because the stock price was fluctuating so violently, an enormous trading volume formed, and thanks to that, they were able to dispose of all their shares in just two days.
The potential profit from the shares to be sold, which had once recorded a return of over 1,800 percent, ultimately fell to 1,100 percent, but even that was a sufficiently massive return.
The 700 percent return that vanished into thin air was the bare minimum conscience of a conglomerate, and the cost of freeing itself from criticism that it had secretly pocketed gains from its shares.
Once all of the exit strategy was complete, a disclosure appeared.
‘Suspension of Stock Trading’
-Subject Company: M Biotech Co., Ltd.
-Reason for Suspension: Substantive Review of Listing Eligibility (Cause Occurred)
It was the end of a biotech company they had seen whenever enough time had passed for them to forget.