Corporate Villain
Copyright© 2025 by K.W
Chapter 11
The situation was already complicated enough.
The day before the first day at Mulsan as an executive, at the group’s headquarters.
It was when I was going through the resignation process at the Human Resources Headquarters.
It’s called a process, but it was just about handing over the resignation letter I had prepared in advance, exchanging awkward greetings with the head of HR, and receiving congratulations and support for the executive promotion.
Since the reason for resignation was the contract with Mulsan as an executive, there was no need for an exit interview.
The time I spent at the HR Headquarters was at most five minutes.
After finishing that, I received a call from an unfamiliar number.
It was a call from the head of HR at Mulsan.
-A request from the group’s secretariat has come in to prepare for the director’s executive inauguration ceremony in the Mulsan building lobby at exactly 10 AM tomorrow.
The group’s secretariat?
But I just came down from there.
-There was a special instruction from the chairman to welcome you concisely but sincerely.
And they said I didn’t need to prepare anything myself, as the HR department at Mulsan would send someone to my house in the morning.
Since it’s a lobby welcoming ceremony, I have to get off at the entrance of the building and enter through the main gate at the right time.
The lobby welcoming ceremony.
One of the traditions of Daeyoung Group.
It’s customary to prepare when there’s an appointment of the president or executive director level.
However, it’s very unusual for general executive-level appointments.
The only time I actually witnessed something exceptional was when Kang Moon-jung, the Executive Director, took office as the head of distribution operations.
It was a natural event for the Executive Director, given the uniqueness of an owner being appointed as a VIP executive.
But me receiving it?
I didn’t know about the other parts, but I felt I had to inform Mr. Kang Moon-jung about this part over the phone beforehand.
-My father?
“Yes, it was a request from the group’s secretariat, and there was also a special instruction from the chairman to do it concisely but sincerely.”
-Really? I have no idea what you’re talking about.
It was hard to take this as purely good news.
I wasn’t even married to the Executive Director yet, and the marriage details were just starting to be worked on by the group’s secretariat, spreading rumors in the financial world.
If such an event were to be created hastily, it could lead to a dangerous atmosphere of, “What’s with this guy?”
While I was worrying about these things, Mr. Kang Moon-jung’s voice began to flow through the receiver again.
-But why?
But why? But why?
Wow...
Is this really happening?
It was a typical reaction from the Executive Director, but the fact that I was left alone to worry and fret over the situation did hurt my pride a bit.
-Just do it. It’s an instruction from the chairman through the group’s secretariat, and Mr. Min, the president of Mulsan, has given the okay sign, with the HR Executive Director even contacting us directly. What reason do we have not to accept it?
He’s your father.
Your own father.
Did someone call because they don’t know they just have to do it?
If I say, “It seems like such an event is going to happen...” and you respond, “Oh, really? I’ll ask the chairman about it later,” would that make you feel better?
The truth is, I still don’t know what position the chairman or the great chairman have on this marriage.
I couldn’t ask the Executive Director.
50 billion is already deposited in my account, so where’s the point in asking what the chairman and the great chairman think about this marriage, and what their thoughts are?
That’s why I’m being careful now, trying not to create a disadvantageous situation for the Executive Director without knowing exactly what they think.
If I only had the assurance that the chairman and the great chairman were favorable towards this marriage, there would be no reason for me to hesitate or be cautious.
-If it’s worth doing, he must have instructed you to prepare for it.
Worth doing?
-As soon as I heard that a lobby welcoming ceremony was being prepared, a phrase my father often uses came to mind.
I pride myself on being well-studied about the great chairman Kang Ki-young, but in truth, I’ve hardly studied chairman Kang Man-ho at all.
The breakfast table in Pyeongchang-dong is a place where Chairman Kang Ki-young speaks alone.
-”Some people take an opportunity and turn it into a crisis, while others take a crisis and turn it into an opportunity. Which one will you be? At every group affiliate presidents’ meeting, he always asks that question to the presidents of affiliates where incidents have occurred. Chief Yun.”
“Yes.”
-”Don’t be nervous.”
“Who, me? Am I?”
His voice was completely teasing.
-”Just act like yourself.”
“Like myself?”
-”No, like me, me. Act like Kang Moon-jung.”
It seemed to make sense at once.
-”If you were Kang Moon-jung, what would you do in this situation, how would you conduct yourself ... Always keep that mindset as the head of the trading division. Then, as for me, if I were Yun Tae-sik, how would I clean up, how would I cover ... Just like how Chief Yun has been cleaning up the messes I’ve made, I’ll cover for Chief Yun here.”
“...”
-”The difficulty level will rise from what you’ve done so far, but if we can just coordinate well, then we won’t be just two people in the future, but two Kang Moon-jungs, two Yun Tae-siks. Four of us.”
How could I not acknowledge the executive director?
If we’re talking about work performance, to be honest, he still has a long way to go.
But is it intuition? Guts? Or boldness? In that regard, he’s unparalleled.
And then there’s the intuition.
And the confidence to turn that intuition into reality.
Such things don’t grow by learning.
That’s what I think when I look at the executive director.
It’s something you’re born with.
-”There’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s just the trading division. Go and just devour it all.”
Trading Division Headquarters Lobby.
More employees of the trading division were looking down at the upcoming welcome ceremony from the railings on each floor than the line of executives and department heads standing.
Next to the revolving door, a security guard had the side entrance wide open, waiting.
The first thing to do upon entering was to briefly scan the trading division employees who were watching the welcome ceremony from the railings on each floor.
For a short 2,3 seconds.
What could those people be thinking as they look at me now?
Just a lucky guy who turned his life around by meeting the right woman?
Or perhaps a division head who’s parachuted into position?
After all,
Does it really matter what those people think of me?
From now on, I’m going to excel.
I clear my mind.
To do that, I go to face reality.
“Division Manager of Overseas Construction, Executive Director Jeon Chung-heon.”
Division Manager of Overseas Construction, Jeon Chung-heon.
Born in 1975.
Known within Daeyoung Corporation as the one-man force who played a pivotal role in embracing the Middle Eastern region for the Overseas Construction Division, he’s now rising as a prominent figure.
Even before I saw the information about the executives of Daeyoung, provided so openly through Director Roh by Executive Director Kang Moon-jung, I knew too well about Division Manager Jeon Chung-heon.
Until I moved to the group’s secretariat, Jeon Chung-heon was the Middle East branch manager of the Overseas Construction Division.
The division kept securing astronomical contracts in the Middle East, and naturally, his presence rose like a hero among the employees of the European region as well.
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