“Who do you think you are, trying to understand who?”
Yeon Haejeong looked down at the other person as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He swept his gaze over Director Hwang with eyes full of boundless contempt — the kind that said who do you think you’re crawling up to — then spread his legs wide and sank deeper into his chair. There wasn’t a shred of courtesy toward the other person in that posture.
“…Pardon?”
“Who do you think you are, trying to understand who — someone like you.”
“……Ahem. Senior Managing Director, I apologize, but as we are currently in the middle of a meeting, it would be appreciated if you could be more mindful of your conduct——”
“Yeon Chayeong.”
Director Hwang, apparently unable to back down easily in front of everyone, pushed his glasses back up and struggled to continue. But before he could even finish, Yeon Haejeong was already fixing the man seated beside him — Yeon Chayeong — with an insolent stare.
“Get your employee in line.”
“……”
“Who does he think he is, telling me what to do.”
As if to make the hierarchy clear to everyone in the room, Yeon Haejeong issued the command to Yeon Chayeong, who was both considerably older and of a higher rank than himself. Yeon Chayeong, who had been quietly observing, gave a mild smile with an unruffled expression.
“You’re right — you should have focused a little more.”
“What?”
“How badly must you have been behaving for a subordinate to say something?”
Yeon Chayeong fired back in a soft voice.
“Even if it looked bad, is it a subordinate’s place to say something? To me? Is that what you taught them? To look down on me?”
“Ah, no, the Senior Managing Director didn’t mean it like——”
The moment a flustered Director Hwang tried to interject with an excuse in response to Yeon Haejeong’s indiscriminate attack, Yeon Chayeong — who had only been smiling quietly — shot Director Hwang a chilling glare. It was a wordless warning: don’t step in. Feeling the cold edge in that gaze, Director Hwang immediately shut his mouth. Head drooping with a cowed expression, Director Hwang ground his teeth at Yeon Haejeong’s viciousness — going so far as to drag not just him but the Senior Managing Director into it. It was a calculated move; Yeon Haejeong knew exactly who to strike for maximum effect. The purpose wasn’t to humiliate Director Hwang — it was to humiliate the Senior Managing Director in front of Director Hwang and the entire chain of people aligned beneath him.
“This is why who’s above you matters. You’re all the same — every last one of you leeches trying to suck blood off someone higher up.”
The moment Yeon Haejeong shot back without so much as blinking, the employees in the room began to stir uneasily. It was the kind of remark that could easily be heard as contempt directed not just at the Senior Managing Director and Director Hwang, but at every other employee as well. As the atmosphere rapidly descended into disorder, Yeon Juhyeok, unable to stand it any longer, struck the table twice.
“That’s enough.”
With those words, he gestured toward the employee standing near the exit. As the meeting room, which had been darkened, began to brighten, Yeon Juhyeok rose from his seat with a weary expression. At that, all the employees except Yeon Haejeong and Yeon Chayeong scrambled hastily to their feet as well.
“That’s where we’ll end the meeting. Senior Managing Director — Senior Managing Director, stay. I need a word.”
Yeon Juhyeok fixed his younger brother with a precisely cold stare. Yeon Haejeong gave a scornful snort at the sight of his older brother all wound up and ready to lay into him. Right now he couldn’t care less about the meeting, his brother, or any of it. The only thing on his mind was……
Yeon Haejeong followed behind Yeon Juhyeok as if being dragged along, exhaling a long, exasperated sigh so deep it could have sunk the floor.
**
“What on earth is going on with you?”
After the executive meeting led by Vice Chairman Yeon Juhyeok came to a close, Yeon Juhyeok called Yeon Haejeong into his private office and asked with a grave expression. Not just in the executive meeting, but even in the team-by-team meetings, Yeon Haejeong’s level of engagement had been atrocious. His actual sitting posture being a disaster was a given by now — that could be overlooked — but the real problem was that his professional conduct had become an issue as well. Here was an executive who was supposed to set an example for the employees, and not only had he spent entire meetings glued to his phone, there had even been an instance where a matter requiring his sign-off failed to get reviewed within the deadline and fell through entirely.
On top of that, at today’s executive meeting, he’d been bouncing his leg anxiously all day as if something had him on edge — and when employees his father’s age tried to seek his advice or input, the only responses he could offer were things like “Handle it yourselves” and “How old are you, and you still don’t know that?” He called those answers. Yeon Juhyeok was genuinely furious to the point of having to pinch the bridge of his nose and steady his breathing in the middle of the meeting.
And on top of all that — not only did he lash back emotionally the moment a subordinate said one word, he went so far as to make a personal attack against his own cousin-brother, in front of all the employees, someone of higher rank at that — Yeon Juhyeok was floored. He’d thought Yeon Haejeong at least held himself back in front of others, but seeing today, that was apparently not even the case.
No matter that he was his younger brother, no matter that he knew that personality of his — lately it had been particularly bad. Something had clearly shifted in him. That was the kind of thing only family could know — the ones who had been watching him all this time, bound by blood.
“What.”
Yeon Haejeong, slumped in a sprawl across the visitor’s sofa, stared at his older brother with a sullen expression.
“I said, what on earth is going on with you.”
“Going on with me how. Speak clearly.”
“You speak clearly. What in the world has been happening with you lately that you’ve been doing your job looking like that? Is this your playground? Are you a child? Do you still think everyone around you will just put up with you no matter how you act?”
Yeon Juhyeok let loose — fast and heated, as if a dam had finally broken. Everything about Yeon Haejeong — his performance, his attitude, all of it — was directly tied to Yeon Juhyeok himself. It had significant bearing on the succession matters that lay ahead.
“Who’s saying anything?”
While Yeon Juhyeok asked in dead seriousness, Yeon Haejeong responded with complete indifference.
“God, you——!”
Yeon Juhyeok clenched his fist, jaw tight, and held himself back.
“I show up for work and I clock out properly. What’s the problem?”
“That’s the bare minimum!”
“Doing the bare minimum well is the most conscientious thing there is.”
“The nerve of you has limits. Have you already forgotten what you pulled in the meeting room just now?”
“What about it? Did I do something wrong? It was the guy under Yeon Chayeong who was in the wrong.”
“Even so — saying that to your older cousin-brother, in front of all the employees, someone of a higher rank than you?”
“It wasn’t a lie, was it?”
Yeon Juhyeok shook with barely contained fury at the look of someone who clearly felt he’d done nothing wrong.
“So you’re saying you did the right thing?”
“What exactly did I do wrong?”
When Yeon Haejeong asked back with a perfectly blank face as if he genuinely had no idea, Yeon Juhyeok’s nose flared fiercely. At that utterly shameless expression — the one that said there’s nothing wrong with what I did — Yeon Juhyeok began letting out everything he’d been holding back.
“Is there a single thing on your plate right now that’s actually moving forward?”
“Why would I do that work? That’s what the people below me are for.”
“You need to be taking the lead. You need to be building your own standing. You parachuted into this company. Do you think there are still people like that among the other chaebol heirs these days? Everyone else either starts as a new hire, or at minimum as a team lead.”
“I also started at the overseas branch——”
“You started as a director there too. Dad couldn’t stand the idea of you starting from the bottom, so he planted you there — but if you’re going to work like this, just quit. Go do food deliveries, or go clock in at some regional logistics warehouse.”
Yeon Juhyeok came in hard. Of course, even if he said so, their parents would never allow it — but what Yeon Haejeong needed right now seemed to be some kind of drastic measure. Even setting aside the chaos he’d caused in the meeting room, the problem was how he looked like a screw had come loose somewhere — completely unable to get a grip on himself. Back when he was overseas, most people said he had a terrible temper, sure, but the majority also said he actually got his work done properly. Yeon Juhyeok sighed in genuine exasperation and rubbed the back of his neck, exhausted. But the other person still replied in the same indifferent tone.
“I don’t want to.”
“Then do it properly. Why in the world are you not going to the external meetings? Do you even know how many buyers you need to be seeing right now? Word is that since the appointments keep getting pushed back, they’ve been reaching out to Director Hwang’s side instead. That’s an opportunity for them. And we’re the ones handing it to them!”
“My employee is busy during the day.”
“What?”
“Am I supposed to go to buyer meetings alone? Who’s going to drive? You want me to go meet all those important buyers by myself? If I go alone without anyone, who’s going to make me look good?”
“…Y-You have employees! I even assigned you an extra secretary — what are you talking about?!”
“There’s a specific employee I take to outside things.”
“If you have one, fine. Take them with you!”
“Can’t. They’re busy.”
