【04. Confrontation】
It was a sunny Wednesday in spring.
Chaehun, who had gone out for fieldwork, returned to the hospital after half of lunchtime had passed. After quickly finishing lunch at the cafeteria, Chaehun grabbed coffee from the break room and returned to his desk.
The office was buzzing with talk about today’s shareholders’ meeting. For the past few days, Taehwa Group’s regular shareholders’ meeting had been a hot topic. There were rumors that the meeting would mark the beginning of Taehwa Group’s subsidiary separation. Because of this, Taehwa Group’s stock had been fluctuating wildly.
Chaehun, who had no interest in either subsidiary separation or stocks, half-listened to the conversation.
“Right? So how old is the CEO supposed to be?”
“He must be young. They said he’s the grandson. No matter how you count, he can’t be over forty, right?”
“I know. He’s thirty years old.”
Chaehun, who had been booting up his computer and drinking coffee, suddenly looked up at the mention that the CEO was thirty years old.
“Wow. I thought it was all over after what happened to Chairman Jeong.”
“I know, right?”
“Someone must be feeling like the dog that lost the chicken it was chasing.”
Having been out on fieldwork, Chaehun couldn’t follow the context of the conversation. He knew the general background since this shareholders’ meeting was quite important, but a thirty-year-old CEO came out of nowhere.
At the mention of grandson and CEO, Chaehun reflexively thought of Seunggeon. With a glimmer of suspicion, Chaehun leaned slightly toward Deputy Lee, who was sitting next to him.
“Deputy Lee-nim. What happened at the shareholders’ meeting?”
“Ah, you were out on fieldwork so you wouldn’t know, Assistant Manager Kang. There was a plot twist. A plot twist.”
“A plot twist?”
As Chaehun prompted him, Deputy Lee began explaining excitedly.
“MK was completely full of themselves about dividing up the shares this time. But then Chairman Jeong’s grandson appeared out of nowhere. I don’t know how he convinced the directors, but he was selected as CEO.”
“The grandson? The grandson became CEO?”
“Yeah. Total golden spoon. Or is it a diamond spoon?”
At Deputy Lee’s mention of a golden spoon, Chaehun couldn’t bring himself to agree. Jeong Sehyeok, Chairman Jeong of Taehwa Group’s only son, had no descendants. So the only person who could be called a thirty-year-old grandson was Seunggeon. By birth alone, Seunggeon was indeed a golden spoon. Still, as Deputy Lee said, it was definitely a plot twist.
The founding history of Taehwa Hospital went back to before Liberation. It certainly started as a hospital. However, as time passed and they jumped into various lucrative businesses, Taehwa Group became one of the top five conglomerates in South Korea. Besides hospitals, Taehwa Group’s reach extended across the entire economy—construction, electronics, pharmaceuticals, shipping, media, food, distribution, and so on.
Like most Korean conglomerates, Taehwa Group had also grown under a chairman with powerful charisma. But the situation began to change when Chairman Jeong Gyuwan, who had held and shaken the group in one hand, suddenly collapsed nine months ago.
The giant dinosaur that was Taehwa Group had not yet determined a successor after the death of Chairman Jeong’s only son. Given this situation, noise had been coming from all directions since Chairman Jeong collapsed.
Especially rampant were rumors that the chairman’s second younger brother was sharpening his knife. Word had reached even Chaehun’s ears that he was going around gaining shareholders’ support with subsidiary separation as bait.
But for the chairman’s grandson to appear and snatch the CEO position was surprising indeed. After all, everyone who had been dreaming of subsidiary separation was being shut down.
Among those who had dreamed of subsidiary separation was Taehwa Hospital’s Chairman. He had long been marked as anti-Chairman faction for openly saying that Taehwa Hospital needed to become independent to develop further. For such a Chairman, the appearance of a thirty-year-old CEO would be a nightmare.
And their nightmare CEO was none other than Seunggeon.
Chaehun understood why Seunggeon had been so busy all this time. Even with Chairman Jeong’s support, becoming CEO with no foundation shortly after returning from the US wouldn’t have been easy.
“So that’s why. There’s an emergency upstairs because of that.”
“I suppose so?”
“Our Chairman. Since he’s been marked as anti-Chairman faction, it’ll be hard to keep his position. His term doesn’t have much left anyway. He’ll have to keep his head down for a while.”
Deputy Lee drove the point home at Chaehun’s speculation.
Replacing the Chairman didn’t just mean changing personnel. If a Chairman marked as anti-Chairman faction was ousted, naturally the next person selected would be from the pro-Chairman faction. If that happened, not only the Hospital Director, known as the Chairman’s line, but even the Administrative Director would be finished. Next would be the General Affairs Department’s turn to get noisy.
Office politics were dangerous. Chaehun, who was practically the youngest in the General Affairs Department, had nothing to do with the Chairman’s line. The perpetual Deputy Lee was the same. However, the General Affairs Department was a place where various interests were intricately entangled. Since no one knew where the sparks would fly, it was best to be careful.
Having concluded the conversation with Deputy Lee that way, Chaehun was drinking his coffee again when his eyes met Park Gwangho’s, who was just entering the office. At that moment, Park Gwangho scowled and turned his head, going on his way.
Since they had exchanged words that one time, their relationship had noticeably worsened. Especially Park Gwangho, who picked fights to get on his nerves whenever he had the chance.
Chaehun mostly ignored him, but occasionally he got so pissed off that he thought he wished that bastard would just disappear from sight.
Park Gwangho’s backing was the Chairman. Chaehun became curious whether he would share the Chairman’s fate. Getting fired outright would be nice too. The only reason the brazen Park Gwangho with his poor attendance could hang on was because the Chairman was his backing.
As he was smiling contentedly while imagining a future that hadn’t arrived yet, his phone vibrated. It was Seunggeon.
[Today. 10 PM.]
Confirming the short message with only the date and time written, Chaehun deliberately pulled at the corners of his mouth to avoid frowning. The thirty-year-old CEO and the man texting him on his phone existed separately in his mind.
It had already been three months since he’d made the contract with Seunggeon and started meeting him. The seasons had changed from winter to spring.
During the ten weeks, Seunggeon’s messages were consistent. Only ever the date and time. The location wasn’t written separately because it was always Seunggeon’s apartment.
Chaehun watched until the phone screen passed the waiting time and turned black. As Seunggeon had wanted, their meetings were those of sex partners with no particular emotions entangled. Because they had known each other, the meetings continued to be calm and natural.
Actually, meeting someone specific long-term solely for sex like this was a first, so he couldn’t tell if this was how it should go or not. He was just going along with it because Seunggeon hadn’t said anything particular.
As Seunggeon said, sex was sex. He was still energetic and enjoyed watching people get aroused. There were a few times Chaehun got choked up because Seunggeon said sharp things nonchalantly. But even that was the kind of thing that was fine after taking a few breaths.
It was definitely a physical-only relationship. At this rate, a year would pass by quickly.
However, if there was one troublesome point, it was having to meet him one day during the weekend and, when needed, during the week. Weekend schedules were set even just a day before, but during the week there were often times like today when he’d say to meet the same day.
If he had prior plans, he had to cancel them. Today was like that too. After a long time, he was supposed to get together with all his high school friends, but he had no choice but to skip it.
He briefly considered asking Seunggeon for understanding but soon erased it from his mind. Making time for one day during the week if needed was a contract condition. A 2 billion won one at that. Violating the contract for his own convenience was unacceptable, especially when his pride had already hit rock bottom.
After sending Seunggeon a reply that he’d confirmed, Chaehun informed the group chat where his high school friends were gathered that something suddenly came up and he couldn’t attend. When his friends asked what happened and he said it was because of overtime work, they all cursed out the hospital with one heart and mind. They were good friends.
Having sorted out his schedule that way, Chaehun started his afternoon work. Today was going to be a long day.
* * *
Chaehun arrived at Seunggeon’s apartment just before 10 o’clock. Time was tight because he’d stopped by home to eat dinner. Chaehun unlocked the front door lock with the card key in his hand and pressed the six-digit password.
The security of the latest residential-commercial complex apartment was quite thorough. To pass through Seunggeon’s apartment entrance, you had to go through three authentications. To pass through the residential area entrance of the building required a card key and four-digit password, to operate the elevator required a card key, and the front door required a card key and six-digit password.
All devices for safety. Even with such layered security emphasis, incidents and accidents couldn’t be perfectly prevented.
“It’s a dangerous world.”
Muttering to himself as he pushed open the front door, Chaehun saw the black dress shoes placed in the entrance. Seunggeon seemed to have arrived first.
Chaehun, who grabbed and put on slippers, stepped inside. The interior, which had undergone renovation work, was decorated in warmer colors than before. Still, in the middle of the living room with far more empty space, Seunggeon was sitting on the sofa looking at a tablet.
He didn’t know what work he was doing, but the guy was very busy. Busy enough to work until late at night.
“I’m here.”
“Just a moment, let me finish reading this.”
