novelraw Chapter 86: First Button (4)
Chapter 86: First Button (4)
The effect appeared immediately after I flatly rejected the Korea Development Bank side flatly.
Their anxiety and impatience grew larger and larger as time passed.
Finally, it went around and reached my great-uncle, Chairman Lim Man-cheol.
Chairman Lim Man-cheol contacted me directly.
“Hyunjun, are you playing with the Governor of the Korea Development Bank now? You are amazing.”
I smirked at the humorous voice of my great-uncle coming from over the cell phone.
“I did not exactly do it on purpose either. But they became anxious while I was just staying still.”
“Hahaha. Hey, Min Kyung-ho is making quite a fuss calling me. He put on a thick face and said, ‘Chairman, please help me.’ What would I help with? It is all your work anyway.”
“…….”
“But you see, Hyunjun. If you hold the reins too tightly, even a horse cannot endure. People are the same. You have to open up the breathing room little by little to lead them long. You know what I mean, right?”I answered.
“Yes, I understand well.”
“Right, right. I will not stop you. You are doing well on your own, so why would I stop you? I am just saying do not push them too much. You have to be good at these things too.”
“Thank you, Great-uncle.”
After finishing the call, Lim Man-cheol immediately called his older brother.
He raised his voice as if bragging.
“Brother! That fellow Hyunjun even cooked and seasoned the Governor of Korea Development Bank. You should have seen for yourself how he is playing on that fellow Hyunjun’s palm…. I am telling you, he is completely caught!”
At those words, a familiar voice returned from over the cell phone.
“Of course. He is my grandson.”
“…….”
Lim Man-cheol pouted his lips.
Then he grumbled like a monologue.
“Goodness, I cannot say anything. Does only your blood enter that child! Some of my blood is in there too!”
Even so, the corners of his mouth rose subtly.
A proud heart was something that could not be hidden.
Even after hanging up the phone, Chairman Lim Man-cheol muttered like a monologue for a long time.
“Brother is always like that. But was I not more full of vigor in our younger days?”
He laughed while recalling old memories for a moment.
The chairman’s position was a titular honorary post, but sometimes such moments were worth enjoying sufficiently.
Especially when his main descendant Hyunjun achieved such a great thing, he was more proud than anyone.
“He grew up very well.”
He stood up from his seat and looked at the liquor bottles filling one wall of the office.
There was also old liquor left there that he had drunk with his brother.
He took out a glass, filled it halfway, and muttered quietly.
“I should drink this with Hyunjun sooner or later. Ah, wait. That fellow is still a minor.”
Since he handled work so proficiently, he sometimes forgot that he was still young.
He took the glass and slowly walked to the window to look out.
***
Late hour.
I headed to the Taeseong Hotel again.
There, Financial Director Choi Sang-gyu of Taeseong Heavy Industries, Governor Min Kyung-ho of Korea Development Bank, and Manager Cho Minki had arrived first and were waiting.
When I entered together with Director Choi Seo-jun and General Manager Yu Hyeon-seok as the door opened, Min Kyung-ho and Cho Minki stood up at the same time.
In particular, Cho Minki’s expression had become completely different from the morning.
A look of tension was clearly evident.
“Representative!”
He bowed his head toward me.
Because he bent his body excessively, an embarrassing silence hung for a moment, but he did not mind.
I wondered if this was the same person who had appeared with President Park Se-dong in the morning and argued with me.
“I am sorry, Representative. I was too hasty this morning.”
I walked while only nodding my head lightly without saying much.
A composed gait, an unshakeable expression.
I looked as if I were the person standing at the very center among those in this place.
I spoke while pointing at the chairs.
“Everyone, please sit.”
As if they had made a promise, everyone naturally sat in their seats.
Min Kyung-ho took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat already forming on his forehead even though it was not midsummer.
Manager Cho Minki placed both hands on his knees while being extremely tense.
Governor Min Kyung-ho cautiously opened his mouth.
“Representative Lim, you have made a precious step at a late hour. This morning, our judgment took precedence before we could fully fathom the Representative’s intent.”
His voice was quite cautious.
“In the future, we will join you with the Representative’s will as the top priority in any direction. If there are necessary matters, please just tell us. We will back you up.”
Manager Cho Minki followed and said.
“I will immediately go through the internal approval procedure for the matters the Representative requested. Once again, I apologize for causing inconvenience.”
I looked directly ahead after quietly putting down the teacup.
“The reason I came to this place again today is only one.”
A solid resonance could be felt in my voice.
“Daehan Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is not simply a company in need of restructuring. Even now, numerous people are making a living there, and the competitiveness of the Republic of Korea’s shipbuilding industry is being protected at their fingertips.”
The air in the room sank heavily.
“I believe the employment maintenance condition requested by the government is justified. Of course, that does not mean we should cover up even the grave mistakes of the management. For corruption and malpractice, we should firmly hold them legally responsible.”
I turned my eyes to the Governor of the Korea Development Bank.
Min Kyung-ho flinched without realizing it.
“However, it is not just to drive even those who worked silently out into the streets. The management, a small minority, committed the wrong, and it is not right for the employees to bear that damage. Because the firing of someone is soon the collapse of a family’s life.”
I slowly pushed forward the restructuring document on the table with my fingertips.
“If the Republic of Korea’s shipbuilding industry is shaken, that damage eventually returns to all citizens. That is why we are engaging in this work with a sense of mission.”
I spoke in a calm tone, but a firm will was contained in my voice.
Cho Minki felt an unknown emotion seeping from deep within his chest while listening to those words.
It was perhaps something close to awe.
‘I was told he is clearly a high school student….’
He had encountered me twice during this day.
He had ignored me in the morning.
However, the figure he faced now looked like a completely different being.
The vessel was different.
It was not just to the degree of being smart, but even the weight of the air surrounding him was different.
‘What have I done.’
For the first time, he reflected.
Even when he bowed his waist and spoke to me here, he had only intended to settle this matter.
But listening to what I said, something surging from within his chest made him uncontrollable with shame.
Until now, for Cho Minki, corporate normalization was just a task, and he had handled countless matters encountered in that process, but he had actually been neglecting the existence called humans.
He looked at everything only through documents and figures.
However, this young manager was putting humans as the top priority.
Cold-headed but warm, realistic yet value-oriented.
A shock as if old scales were being peeled off occurred within Cho Minki’s mind.
Cautiously, but with sincerity, he spoke.
“I will truly take the Representative’s words to heart. I want to devote my heart to this work from now on.”
Those words were pure sincerity.
General Manager Yu Hyeon-seok, who watched that sight quietly from the side, quietly clenched his fist under the table.
‘As expected of our Representative….’
Director Choi Seo-jun also found it hard to hide his pride and bowed his head for no reason.
‘I will not even be able to joke around carelessly now. He is truly an amazing person.’
At that time, Financial Director Choi Sang-gyu of Taeseong Heavy Industries cautiously opened his mouth.
“Representative, our Taeseong Heavy Industries will also actively cooperate. I look forward to the work of saving people being realized without fail.”
I nodded and answered briefly.
“I shall certainly do so.”
That remark was like a promise.
After a silence flowed for a moment, Governor Min Kyung-ho continued his words while folding his handkerchief and putting it into his inner pocket.
“Very well. Korea Development Bank will also go in the direction where HJ Partners becomes the center. However, let us focus on creating a system that can efficiently promote actual business rather than a leadership that is revealed on the surface.”
At those words, Manager Cho Minki opened his laptop and began to quickly write something down.
“I will organize it so that the employment maintenance condition is reflected according to government guidelines and the right of personnel management is clearly stated in a separate agreement.”
I spoke firmly even while nodding.
“You must not just make it a written rule. Please clarify it with clauses that can actually be executed.”
Cho Minki immediately nodded and said.
“Yes, Representative. I will discuss it with the legal team and organize it as quickly as possible.”
Only then did General Manager Yu Hyeon-seok add with a sigh of relief.
“Representative, I will set the meeting schedule for the relevant working-level staff tomorrow morning.”
It was to catch a certain amount of direction before I entered Cheongwadae.
I raised my teacup and moistened my mouth.
“I understand. Since the coordination of opinions has finished to some extent now, let us get up.”
That remark was the conclusion of the meeting and the start of a new era.
My group stood up from our seats.
After they left, Governor Min Kyung-ho of Korea Development Bank let out a long sigh without a word.
The tension was released in an instant, and his shoulders drooped.
He slowly took off his outer garment, hung it on the back of the chair, and roughly loosened his tie.
As the tightly fastened knot became loose, it felt as if he could finally breathe.
“Phew….”
Min Kyung-ho exhaled long.
Leaving his disheveled shirt collar as it was, he slowly shook his head and let out a small monologue.
“Today was truly a long day….”
His gaze turned toward Cho Minki sitting next to him.
He was hardened blankly like a person who had lost their soul, with his head bowed as if burying it.
Min Kyung-ho thought quietly while moistening his bitter mouth with tea.
‘What a state I am in because of that fellow. If you had not just lost your temper at Representative Lim… I thought my insides were burning up all day long.’
However, he soon turned his head slowly and gathered his thoughts.
He wiped his face with his palm as if to erase the self-mocking smile formed on his lips and muttered inwardly.
‘Even so, it was really good that I apologized.’
A dizzying imagination passed by at that moment.
If he had not prostrated himself flat then, he might have been kicked out without even being able to finish the rest of his term.
Min Kyung-ho thought that he was a person who was more than capable of doing so just by looking at him.
The name Lim Hyunjun was engraved as a deep impression in his mind.
Having met him today, he was not just a young man.
Looking at the depth of his thoughts and the way he accomplished tasks that were not easy, one could tell he was no ordinary person.
Above all else, the insight and courage to see through the essence of the matter.
All those things combined and overwhelmed a person.
Min Kyung-ho felt the back of his neck and glanced at Cho Minki sitting in the next seat.
“Are you somewhat okay?”
Even with those words, Cho Minki had no answer.
He stared blankly at a point on the table while having lost his words, and then very slowly dropped his gaze to the floor.
Inside that, a certain unknown emptiness along with an old memory was wavering.
What filled Cho Minki’s head was himself during his rookie days.
A time when he was not even thirty.
When he first joined the Korea Development Bank, he had made a resolution like this while working overtime alone.
‘I want to become a person who gives help to someone.’
Those were words of a resolution he had never spoken to anyone.
It was simply a belief engraved in his heart in a corner of a dark office.
However, that resolution had disappeared at some point in order to produce results while being buried in work.
He had reached this position before he knew it while working mechanically.
But today, that resolution came to mind again.