There are days when you feel a chill from the moment you wake up.
The kind of day when the bed you’ve used well by yourself until now feels empty. The kind of day when you keep feeling faint chills even while taking a hot shower. The kind of day when you feel inexplicable anxiety even while conducting business without a hitch all morning.
Ring ring ring.
“Yes.”
—Executive Director. It’s a call from the Chairman.
The moment the secretary informed him of an unscheduled contact, Kyungwoo could identify the nature of the strange energy that had been following him around. The connection signal followed immediately.
—Come out for lunch.
“I’m currently working, so I can’t leave my post……”
—Come out.
Jung Taeho, the lone wolf, hung up after two unilateral notifications.
Knock knock.
Before even 3 seconds had passed, the secretary came in.
“There was contact from the Chairman’s secretariat. You need to leave now to make it on time.”
“I understand.”
Kyungwoo organized the documents that were spread out. Then he stood up and put on the jacket he’d taken off, telling the secretary he’d be back soon so not to touch anything and leave it as is.
When he went down, Choi Dohyun was already waiting. As he got into the back seat, the black sedan departed toward a destination even the owner didn’t know.
“Where are we going?”
“Hwaryeon.”
It was a Chinese restaurant Jung Taeho frequented. Though it was renowned for excellent food, Kyungwoo had never properly tasted it until now.
Perhaps it was because he’d never visited Hwaryeon with anyone else. Just sitting in a private room with Jung Taeho lowered his preference for the food.
As soon as they arrived, a waiting staff member came out and guided Kyungwoo inside.
“Your secretary can go this way. A meal has been prepared.”
Another staff member guided Dohyun in a different direction.
Secretaries who always moved together usually matched their meal times roughly. But the thoughtfulness of preparing a separate meal for the secretary wasn’t the kind of consideration that would come from Jung Taeho.
“You’re here?”
Sure enough, as soon as he entered the small inner room he was guided to, Kyungrok, who had prettily wrapped a flowery patterned scarf around herself, smiled warmly as if pleased. Jung Taeho, with his perpetually grumpy face, sat in the seat of honor.
“I’m late.”
Though he’d departed immediately upon receiving contact, since the two were already waiting, Kyungwoo apologized.
“Making people wait, honestly. Sit down.”
“You called suddenly. This is coming quickly. You haven’t eaten, right? We waited to eat together when you came.”
“You should have eaten first.”
“If someone waited, you should be grateful. Instead you’re reproaching him.”
Jung Taeho, who found Kyungwoo disagreeable in everything, slurped down the half-cooled jasmine tea. When Kyungwoo sat down, foods that had nothing to do with his preferences came in one after another.
“I ordered in advance. I told them to bring it when you came.”
If there was no choice anyway, there was no reason to wait. Thanks to that, only Jung Taeho looked at Kyungwoo even more unfavorably, yet Kyungrok had become a considerate person with a broad mind.
“Please eat. You’ve waited a long time.”
There was truly no malice in the words added while recommending food to her father. Nevertheless, Kyungwoo found Kyungrok uncomfortable. Sometimes she was as irritating as his mother.
“It’s delicious as expected.”
“You like the flower bread here. But considering your age, reduce the carbohydrates a bit.”
Jung Taeho received his daughter’s attendance and stuffed food into his stomach. Meanwhile, Kyungwoo only tasted some cold dishes.
After eating enough food, Jung Taeho wiped his mouth stained with chili oil with a napkin and said:
“The Jeju Island hotel, are you looking into it?”
“Yes. On the last business trip, I toured all the target stores.”
“The report?”
“I’m preparing it.”
“How long has it been since I ordered it?”
It was physically difficult to submit the report at this point. The stores he’d toured numbered in the dozens, and he had to hold meetings about them and draw up an overall roadmap.
A moderately superficial show report wasn’t Kyungwoo’s work style, and at the same time, Jung Taeho wasn’t a person who would easily overlook such a shoddy report.
“I’ll submit it properly. Give me more time.”
“Speed is life, speed.”
“I know.”
“If you know, why are you dawdling?”
“It’s a business item that Taeryoung Holdings has never handled before, so it takes time. Even if you rush me, what can’t be done can’t be done. Or should I submit a report with no substance right now?”
Kyungwoo placed the long Chinese chopsticks down on the plate in front with a clack and looked straight at Jung Taeho.
From the beginning, Taeryoung Holdings, which was extending its reach from logistics to distribution, had absolutely no know-how regarding hotel operations. It was starting from scratch, so to speak.
“Even if you’re building a track record in distribution, suddenly perfecting food and hotel operations is unreasonable. You know that.”
Though hotels were related to food service, it was also a stretch to specifically point it out as the food industry. Yet Kyungrok lumped them together.
“If there was someone to trust at Taeryoung F&C, I would have entrusted it to them. I handed over a sound company, but far from growing it, they’re barely maintaining the status quo.”
“That’s true.”
After Kyungrok left, Taeryoung F&C was being led by a professional manager. The scope of their movement, not being part of the owner’s family, was inevitably narrow, and major business ultimately required the owner’s approval, so they operated the company relatively passively.
It was because for the individual manager, carefully maintaining was ultimately safer than implementing a big project and screwing it up.
“There’s no one to trust, no one.”
Jung Taeho’s unprecedented urging wasn’t only related to Holdings and F&C.
“That bastard Taesu finally put his person in the Chemical president’s seat. He says he’ll directly supervise Chemical. If only Gilsu hadn’t gone like that, this humiliation wouldn’t exist.”
“President Kim is still alive. And the person your younger uncle recommended is also a Taeryoung man who worked at Chemical for a long time. He’s a capable person.”
Jung Taesu. Jung Taeho’s younger brother by three years and the Vice Chairman of Taeryoung Group.
Having risen triumphantly as Taeho’s right-hand man in his youth, he was now diligently moving to secure a position for his own child.
He’d placed his line in the Chemical president’s seat that became vacant due to Kim Gilsu’s unexpected traffic accident.
From now on, Vice Chairman Jung’s standing in Chemical would grow, and along with it, Kyungwoo’s not-very-close cousin would also increase influence over Chemical.
In fact, his cousin Kyunghyun had entered Chemical as an assistant manager about four months ago.
“Even so, for Taeryoung, it’s Chemical. Gilsu should have held on until the shareholding was sorted out. Time doesn’t wait for those who are slow.”
Saying that, Taeho glared as if it were Kyungwoo’s fault. He always viewed Kyungwoo, who grew up in America, as a late child. He did receive Korean-style successor education later than other chaebol heirs. But it was hard to say that was Kyungwoo’s fault.
Throughout his growth in America, it was Jung Taeho and Park Jungok who neglected him until he became an adult without any hint about returning to Korea.
“Do things go as planned? Then what’s the fun?”
“Is this the time to look for fun?”
Whether he was quite furious, Taeho rarely blamed Kyungrok. Still, Kyungrok didn’t shrink at all.
“Is it my fault this time?”
“Because you got married.”
“When did you say that when a daughter reaches the right age, marrying and presenting grandchildren to parents together with a reliable son-in-law is a daughter’s duty?”
Lines that another woman would have shrieked, Kyungrok said while laughing like a joke.
“Ah, geez.”
The person who pushed the marriage the most was none other than Taeho.
He was the one who felt sick watching similar-aged people around him brag about grandchild photos. Kyungrok, who grew up as her father’s proud eldest daughter, fulfilled that wish.
“If you’re so distressed, how about reinstating me? As president of Taeryoung F&C. I’m capable in the food area. In fact, I prepared for the hotel business before getting married too.”
“What about Professor Kim?”
Before considering ability, mentioning the son-in-law who wasn’t even blood-related first made Kyungwoo inwardly smirk.
Daughter after son-in-law. That was the logic of this country’s old farts.
“We decided he’d stay alone near the school for the time being. He says he has a lot of research to do.”
“What’s so busy when it’s not even engineering.”
“These days, professors get criticized if they just leisurely maintain their position like in the old days. They have to work day and night with research students.”
Saying that, Kyungrok drank some cold water. Kyungwoo glanced at her sideways.
Kyungrok, whose eyes met his, smiled broadly. Not divorce but separation?
“What about the child?”
“Mom says she’ll take care of pick-up and drop-off. You know. How much she likes children.”
It meant she’d thought ahead and asked. Kyungwoo finally caught on to why this gathering was created today. Indeed, Kyungrok knew how to handle Taeho.
However, since the matter was what it was, Taeho couldn’t easily reach a conclusion. If he didn’t drive the wedge here, the probability of it becoming wishy-washy later was high.
Though he’d never felt affection for his half-sister, it seemed that with her stepping forward, the unreasonable project of the hotel business wouldn’t need to be done anymore.
“The food and hotel sectors prefer female CEOs. The biggest consumer group is women, and they have the existing image of sensibility and expertise. If it’s noona, you’d be able to do the hotel well. F&C’s growth would improve too.”
“Are you taking her side?”
“I’m just stating facts. If I could, I would have directly hired noona.”
“Thank you.”
Kyungrok smiled brightly at Kyungwoo, whether sincerely or not.
“I’ve been feeling that way lately anyway. How much have I seen and learned as the daughter of Taeryoung Chairman Jung Taeho, yet living life only as someone’s wife, someone’s mother feels a bit futile. I love my family, but caterpillars must eat pine needles after all.”
Saying that, Kyungrok deliberately reproached Taeho.
“This is your daughter. Working under an amazing chairman who increased market capitalization more than tenfold, learning management skills while shedding tears, but unable to demonstrate them so I can’t sleep at night. Take responsibility.”
“Hmm.”
The reproach was ultimately words that elevated Taeho. Kyungrok’s eloquence was always admirable.
Taeho, who would normally have shown a good expression, was silent. He just quietly looked at his daughter.
Kyungrok, who had dropped a bombshell regarding an unprecedented matter for Taeryoung, an embodiment of archaic thinking, deliciously ate the cold food, saying “The food here is delicious, right?”
“Can you do it?”
Whether still not trusting her to the end, Taeho asked one last time.
“I’ll start coming to work from next week.”
The Taeryoung Chairman’s intention was decided by the unilateral declaration of the new Taeryoung F&C president.
