A Genius Speaks with Money

Chapter 22

I, Lim Hyunjun, saw Chairman Lim Man-seok'

s eyes instantly harden like stone.

“Tell him to come in.”

Lim Do-hyun, who entered as the door opened, could not hide his surprised eyes upon seeing me sitting there.

“Father, I am here. Hyunjun was here too.”

I quietly stood up from my seat.

“Uncle, you have arrived. I will greet you again later.”

At that moment, Chairman Lim Man-seok spat out a heavy voice.

“Hyunjun, do not leave.”

I had tried to tactfully avoid the situation, but thanks to my grandfather holding me back, I sat down again with a flustered face.

President Lim Do-hyun'

s expression also stiffened noticeably.“Do-hyun, you sit down too.”

A heavy silence lingered in the quiet chairman'

s office.

Lim Man-seok slowly straightened his bent back.

“Do-hyun, was the name Taeseong easy for you!”

Lim Do-hyun answered carefully.

“Father, that is absolutely not the case. An unexpected thing just happened. We are in the middle of attempting to talk with the subcontractors. And since we are also preparing countermeasures, it will be resolved soon.”

“Then why did a subcontractor representative who was driven to the point of choosing death appear?”

At Chairman Lim Man-seok'

s sharp question, Lim Do-hyun firmly shut his lips.

He wiped the sweat flowing on his forehead without realizing it.

Chairman Lim Man-seok pressed his son.

“Taeseong is not a company that is operated simply by contracts. We grew based on trust, and the moment we betray that trust, it is no longer Taeseong.”

Chairman Lim Man-seok'

s voice filled the chairman'

s office.

“No matter how much you are the president and my son, if you avoid the position where you must take responsibility, you have no right to sit in that seat.”

Lim Do-hyun bowed his head without a word.

I also held my hands together while holding my breath.

I quietly watched Chairman Lim Man-seok and President Lim Do-hyun.

“I will say this in front of Hyunjun as well. A true manager does not evade through things like numbers or reports. One overcomes with an attitude of taking responsibility. You were too complacent regarding this situation.”

“…….”

Lim Man-seok added one last thing.

“I have no intention of handing over the name Taeseong to just anyone. I believe you, being smart, understood what that means.”

It was that moment.

Lim Do-hyun'

s eyes wavered, and then he lifted his head which had been quietly bowed.

The emotions he had suppressed slowly began to show on his face.

“…So what!”

The air inside the chairman'

s office froze.

Chairman Lim Man-seok looked at his son.

“Father was always like that. If one thing goes wrong, you are busy holding someone responsible. You do not know how to say something like let'

s trust and leave it to someone.”

President Lim Do-hyun spat out words as if vomiting the resentment built up over time.

“Would Taeseong have grown this much all this time if it weren'

t for me? That damn talk about the eldest son. What on earth has brother done all this time? While you held up brother as the eldest son even though he did nothing, I worked and made efforts to death. Ha. To think I have to show this kind of appearance in front of my nephew now.”

Lim Do-hyun breathed heavily even after finishing his words.

The veins near his eyes stood out.

“I am also Father'

s son.”

Lim Do-hyun stood up from his seat and left after opening the door roughly.

Chairman Lim Man-seok still did not open his mouth.

He sat still while staring at the seat where his son had been sitting for a while.

Only a heavy silence filled the room as if time had stopped.

I also stared at Chairman Lim Man-seok quietly.

I felt like somewhere deep in my chest was sinking heavily.

Lim Man-seok slowly turned his head toward me.

In my eyes, I saw old and bent shoulders and a face where wrinkles of time hung.

Lim Man-seok asked me with a faint smile.

“I showed a terrible appearance to my puppy. Are you disappointed?”

I felt pity for Chairman Lim Man-seok who spoke like that.

“No, Grandfather.”

Outside the window, as if heavy rain was falling, the sound of rain tapping the window gradually echoed.

The sound soaking the heart felt as if it were tapping on old memories.

Chairman Lim Man-seok sat without a word.

He seemed to be lost in thought for a long time with his mouth closed.

It was the expression of a person who had suppressed something deep in their heart for a long time.

Such a man slowly raised his head.

“Hyunjun….”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“As for me…. I lost one thing while creating Taeseong. Family, that is.”

I raised my head quietly.

“Your uncle Do-hyun only chased after my back since he was young. I should have embraced him warmly as a father. But I always weighed the results first. I treated him like a subordinate employee rather than a child.”

Lim Man-seok turned his gaze beyond the window.

While looking at the glass window wet with rain, it was a gaze as if he were looking at himself from a long time ago.

“What that child said is not wrong either. Do-kyung was recognized just because he was the eldest son, and Do-hyun must have felt like a shadow no matter how much he tried.”

He was silent for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“But there was a reason why I pushed my children.”

Chairman Lim Man-seok'

s eyes deepened.

“I am the head of this household, but I am also the head of tens of thousands of employees working under the name of Taeseong.”

I wore an expression as if I were a little surprised upon hearing those words.

“If one employee loses their company, that entire family loses the foundation of their life. When that becomes tens of thousands of people…. Do you have a sense of how heavy the weight I carry is?”

Lim Man-seok continued speaking quietly while touching his forehead.

“So I could not be loose with my children either. I tried to let the son who would one day inherit Taeseong know that he must live more coldly and more heavily than anyone so that he would not harbor idle thoughts.”

He closed his eyes, which looked tired, and then opened them again.

“As a head of household and as a father, I might have always failed. But I know more desperately than anyone that protecting a company in this country means protecting someone'

s life.”

Chairman Lim Man-seok smiled quietly.

“That is why I told you not to leave. I wanted to let you know that management is not power but responsibility.”

I quietly breathed in.

I felt my shoulders becoming heavy without realizing it.

It was because the name Taeseong now felt like a reality where numerous lives and weights were intertwined.

After leaving the chairman'

s office, I walked quietly down the hallway.

My head was still complicated and my heart was heavy.

Chairman Lim Man-seok'

s words did not leave my head.

‘I am the head of this household, but I am also the head of tens of thousands of employees working under the name of Taeseong.’

At that one sentence, I recalled the memories of my past life when I lived as Jeong Taeshik.

The time when I lost my parents at a young age and lived in a shabby house barely getting by on ramen for meals.

The day I greeted my parents at their grave with the first salary I earned after entering a large corporation by studying while staking my life on a single scholarship. At that time, I thought I would be able to face the world.

But a company collapsing happened in an instant.

My name was put on the layoff list and I became unemployed overnight.

My wife, whom I had married, disappeared taking our young son.

She ran away with a bankbook without leaving a contact number or address.

I had put the money I earned into that bankbook by splitting it tightly. Jeong Taeshik'

s share was always last.

Even if I got by on ramen, I sent money hoping that the child could eat warm rice with this money.

Someone called me foolish for being like that.

Someone said I was stupid.

But that was the weight of the head of household that Jeong Taeshik endured.

Having left the chairman'

s office, I stopped my footsteps as I was walking slowly.

I saw a face reflected in the window.

Inside it, a heavy silence as if I had just realized something was reflected.

‘The me of that time. And Chairman Lim Man-seok of now are no different.’

Becoming a head of household is not simply the will to protect one'

s family.

How much one can lower oneself in front of those one must protect. That was indeed the weight of the head of household.

Until now, I just wanted to protect my parents. It was a simple heart that I had to replace Hyunjun who had left first.

But it is different now.

In order to become a person who can stand proudly in front of someone. And in order to become a person who can raise up those who are collapsing, I must live.

My fingertips trembled a little.

Only my gaze was firm.

‘…I will not avoid it.’

For the numerous families enduring the weight of the head of household in Taeseong.

So that I am not ashamed of that name.

The sound of rain outside the window continued distractedly, but it washed the inside of my heart cleanly.

At the same time.

At this time when Taeseong was moving busily to settle the crisis, there was one person watching that commotion from a distance.

It was none other than Nam Kun-ho, the chairman of Daehan Group.

He was not a person who moved by emotion.

Words like justice or loyalty did not exist in his dictionary.

He thought the world was only a battlefield where only the winner survived on a board designed rationally.

Nam Kun-ho was the second son of Nam Young-hoon, the founder of Daehan Group.

He was a figure who became the head after pushing aside his older brother.

Unlike his brother who was just a good person, he made his father choose him.

After crouching for decades, he became the person with the real power of the group by pushing aside his brother at the decisive moment.

He was a cold competitor. And that temperament was still the same now.

The death accident originating from Taeseong Construction.

The protest of subcontractors covering the streets.

All the confusion looked like Taeseong'

s weakness in Nam Kun-ho'

s eyes.

He smiled while watching the TV where news related to Taeseong was flowing out.

He stood up from his seat and looked at the heavy rain pouring down fiercely.

At that time, the door opened and someone entered the chairman'

s office.

“Chairman.”

It was Park Se-dong, the president of Daehan Construction and Chairman Nam Kun-ho'

s strategist.

After giving a short greeting, he walked to Chairman Nam'

s side.

Nam Kun-ho opened his mouth without turning his head.

“What is it?”

Park Se-dong said as if he were used to it.

“It is news from the Cheongwadae side. Today they say the President spoke with Chairman Lim Man-seok directly. It seems he contacted him unofficially through a private line.”

Nam Kun-ho'

s eyebrows went up minutely.

Park Se-dong continued speaking quietly.

“He said that the whole country is noisy because of Taeseong Construction and rebuked him in a considerably sharp tone.”

“…Whose mouth did this story come from?”

“It is Secretary Gu'

s line.”

The corners of Nam Kun-ho'

s mouth slowly rose.

That smile was not joy nor mockery but a conviction that the board was flowing as expected.

“Good. It is not bad that Cheongwadae stepped in directly.”

Nam Kun-ho walked to the sofa and sat down comfortably.

Park Se-dong also sat down nearby following him and continued.

“Taeseong'

s domestic public opinion, as well as its international credibility, will now be shaken. At this point, they won'

t even be able to bring back the Iraq refinery project.”

Nam Kun-ho turned off the screen, which had the sound muted, with a remote control.

He opened his mouth while looking at President Park Se-dong.

“Now seems to be the right time. Use diplomatic channels to start lobbying the Ministry of Industry. So that the subsequent negotiations with Iraq proceed from our side. And make sure the word comes out that Daehan did what Taeseong could not do.”

Park Se-dong nodded his head without a word.

And after thinking of something, he asked one last thing.

“Chairman, how shall we organize the media side? If the Taeseong side finds out that we stepped in, they will not stay still.”

Nam Kun-ho said while looking at the rain streaks becoming even more fierce.

“Don'

t care about such things. Who do they think they are.”

“Yes. Understood.”