42. I’m secretly addicted to this.
A few days later, Mr. Hong briefly thanked his employees and left the company.
However, he was grateful to those who had been with the company for a long time and paid them as much as 10 million won to as little as 1 million won.
Of course, the employees who had been with the company for less than a year didn’t get any soup, and one-third of the employees were less than a year old.
What a cold-hearted man.
The next day happened to be Friday.
From nob le mt l. co m
Jae-ha instructed all employees to stay in the office and not go out, so I stopped by the foundation in the morning and headed to the office around 4pm.
Ding-dong!
– Who is it?
“Me!”
– Oh my God, Mr. Chairman!
“——.”
What is this lady talking about?
Mr. Wen?
Ziying!
The automatic doors opened and I went straight inside.
“Chairman Wen?”
“Then say something—. What?”
“Ah, Mrs. Chung, what kind of chairman is he?”
“Well, you can’t just call me that like you used to—. What?”
“Let’s relax. Just call her as usual when you’re alone.”
“That’s not right, does that mean I’ll turn into a beanstalk?”
“Hmph—.”
After graduating from Yeosang, Mrs. Chung went straight to work as a bookkeeper for a large company and has been working for over 25 years.
Maybe that’s why she’s more familiar with organizational physiology than I am.
Now that I think about it, I think she’s right.
“Well, don’t call me Mr. Chairman, just Mr. President, and keep your tone moderate.”
“Okay, Mr. President, ho ho ho!”
“Speaking of sneaky foxes, is the president’s office still there?”
“Yes, Mr. Hong only took his stuff, but everything is still there.”
“Okay, can you call Jae-ha, Jin-ho Park, and the design director, Lee Jung-hwan, and get me a cup of coffee?”
“Yes, I’ll be happy to!”
“Can’t they accuse you of ordering coffee?”
“Would I—. What?”
“Aye! Hmph!”
“Ho-ho-ho!”
A moment later, Jae-ha took the lead and entered the president’s office, followed by Director Park Jin-ho of the sales department, Director Kim Sun-jung of the design office, and Assistant Director Lee Jung-hwan, who was in charge of computerization, sales management, and logistics.
“Um, where’s Mrs. Jung?”
“She was sitting in her seat, calling only us.”
From nob le mt l. co m
Jae-ha replied, using the same respectful tone.
Oh no, I forgot to mention the party while giving instructions.
Mrs. Zheng, as the head of the accounting department, was a key participant in the handover of the company.
Under Mr. Hong, she was treated as a mere bookkeeper, and she went to work at the company even though she was a Park Feng purely because it was close to her home, but not anymore.
I trusted him.
I picked up the intercom.
– “Yes, Mr. President?
“I forgot to ask you to come in with me, please come in.”
– Yes!
I answered cheerfully, but inside, I felt bad that I had left myself out while calling the executives.
When Mr. Chung walked into the president’s office, I immediately opened my mouth.
“I’m sure you’ve all heard the story: I somehow made some money and bought the company, and I’m sure you’re all confused because it happened so quickly. You’re all older than me, and you’ve all had much higher positions, right?”
“——.”
I’m sure it was a bit of a shock.
It was like something out of a novel.
Especially since Mr. Park was my direct boss for six years.
Now, I don’t know if this is a dream or real life.
“It’s true that I took over the company I used to work for, but since I was an employee, I’ve always wanted to start a branded company like this one day. But somehow, my eyes were opened to investment, and I made a lot of money, and then I remembered my old dream, so I took over Daesung to use it as a stepping stone.”
“I, Mr. President—.”
“What, Mr. President?”
The head of the design department raised his hand and cautiously called out to me.
I didn’t have to raise my hand.
“You said you acquired it to use it as a stepping stone, so are you planning to acquire more companies?”
“Hmph, it’s because our chosen sister—. Ah! Humph! Chief Kim asked a good question, yes, that’s right. I’m going to acquire a few companies that are bigger than our Daesung, and I’m also going to expand into adult wear. My goal is to grow the company to the size of Korea’s H&M or ZARA, and I’ll keep investing, whether it’s 100 billion or 200 billion, until I achieve that goal!”
“100! 100 billion? 200 billion!”
“Oh my God!”
“——.”
Except for Jae-ha, who already knew my scale, the rest of the executives were stunned as they shouted out 100 billion and 200 billion.
“So, I want you all to move forward together toward that dream, even if you’re all in your own minds.”
“Excuse me, Mr. President—.”
“Huh? Mr. President, you don’t have to raise your hand, just ask.”
“Ho-ho! So you’re going to run the business yourself?”
“No. I run an investment firm in the US, so I’ll have some involvement, but I won’t be running it.”
“Then who—.”
“I’m going to ask Mr. Lee Jae-ha, the head of production here, to be the CEO.”
“Oh my!”
“Wow!”
“He’ll be the CEO of ——.”
The reactions were mixed.
From nob le mt l. co m
Jae-ha keeps a straight face, while Kim Seon-jung looks impressed, knowing that Jae-ha and I have been around each other almost like brothers.
Deputy Director Lee Jeong-hwan and Director Jung also seemed to be doing so because they knew Jae-ha’s involvement in the acquisition.
However, only Director Park Jin-ho seemed to be struggling to control his expression,
probably because he thought it might be him.
“Anyway, as I’ll tell you in front of all the employees later, there will be a lot of changes in the future. Our company, Daesung, honestly, you all know that Mr. Hong yelled a lot and was too hard on the employees, but it’s a good enough company and has a lot of growth potential. I’m going to make the new Daesung really big, and I have enough money to do it. And I believe that if you guys work together, really work together, it will happen, can I trust you?”
“Yes!”
“hahahahaha, thank you. Mr. Chung.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Did you give the staff a heads up that we’ll be having dinner tonight?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Well, since it’s 4:30 now, tell them to close the office early at 5:00, and to gather there since we have a reservation at Sosawa.”
“Uh-oh, beef?”
“Aye, I’ve got a big brother, you think I’m just going to feed him pork belly all the time like everyone else?”
“Ho-ho-hong, I’ve been counting on you, Mr. President!”
During Mr. Hong’s time, we also limited our year-end dinner to 20,000 won per person.
That included everything.
So at best, we could only eat pork belly or pork neck.
It’s a good thing I have a sober, short-tongued employee, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to drink even soju.
“Okay, that’s it, then, Mr. Park, I’ll see you at Sosawa.”
“You mean me?”
“Yes.”
“——.”
As the other executives left, Mr. Park fidgeted uneasily.
“Mr. Director.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“It’s pretty crazy, isn’t it, this situation?”
“Yes—.”
“I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Director, when I took over the company, I had some trouble deciding whether to go with you or not.”
“Yes or no, and why?”
“Well, you know, I owe you a lot. After all, he’s the one who taught me sales.”
“And?”
“You’ve been the de facto head of Daesung’s sales department for six years now, and we’re not exactly close in person, are we?”
“I’m not,” I said, “——.”
“Look, I recognize your ability. Your sales prowess is unquestioned, and you’ve been on the ground for a long time, so you have big feet. But there’s something I don’t like about you.”
“What is it?”
“It’s that you boss people around when you think they’re beneath you. You’ve talked down to sales people, you’ve talked down to older managers, you know?”
“Here’s a link: ——.”
“I honestly didn’t like it when you were there. Do you know what they said when they left? They said they didn’t like Mr. Hong yelling at them, but they didn’t like you. They said that if Director Park was the boss, he’d probably be even worse than President Hong. No, what the hell is this bastard, who is the head of a family, even if he’s the lowest person in the world, where is a boss like that these days?”
“——.”
“And you sneak out if there’s an awkward payment?”
“Humph—.”
“Same thing with the managers, they’re in their fifties, they’re middle managers, technically, and they’re all self-employed, so it’s a partnership with the company, and when they’re yelling at me, the director, and talking down to me, I want to be in a rat hole next to them.”
“——.”
Mr. Park blushed bright red.
But the point must be made.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” he said, “but even if we weren’t face-to-face because of the change in location, this is something I’d like to say to you over drinks when we get a chance.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Well, let’s decide now if you can come with me or not.”
“What?”
“Those things I just said, they must never happen in the New Cathedral. Can you promise me that you’ll never do it again? If you promise, you’re coming with me, and if not, I can’t come with you. Don’t think you’re just going to get away with it, but please think about it and answer me. Because if it reaches my ears later that something like this happened, I’m going to take it out on you.”
“You can find me at ——.”
“How? Can you promise me that, Mr. Park? If you can’t, say so now, and I’ll send you a consolation prize in addition to your severance pay, even if it’s not much. Of course, if you break your word, you won’t have that later.”
I knew the answer was obvious, but I pressed him harder.
For God’s sake, stop being such a jerk.
Man, if you get fired right now, there aren’t many places you can go.
I don’t think there’s a head of sales position available on the hardscrabble infant floor these days.
You know what?
“I’ll work really hard, and I won’t cut corners again, Mr. President!”
“Can I trust you?”
“Yes, please believe me!”
“Then I’ll believe you, and you shouldn’t feel bad that Lee Jae-ha is coming as president?”
“Of course! I will serve you with all my heart!”
From nob le mt l. co m
Jae-ha is a year older than me, but it was annoying to me that he was treated like an underling since he moved to the company first.
It’s a completely different department.
“I’ll believe it, then! Let’s shake hands!”
“Thank you, Mr. President, I’ll do my best!”
When I stuck out my hand, Mr. Park bent over and squeezed my hand with both hands.
This was Mr. Park’s strength and weakness.
He bends over backwards for his superiors.
Since he’s bowed so much, he should say something nice, right?
“I’ll treat you right, and if you don’t know what a Morning is and what an Avante is, I’ll trade you in for a new Sonata.”
“Loyalty, Mr. President, loyalty!”
“Nah, loyalty is a—.”
I’m secretly getting addicted to this.