Corporate Villain
Copyright© 2025 by K.W
Chapter 18
When did time slip by like this?
The vigorous twenties, the ambitious thirties, and the forties when I took office as the vice-chairman of Daeyoung Electronics, securing my succession—it all feels like just yesterday, yet now I’ve reached the age where I must neatly wrap up the last page of life.
Chairman Kang Ki-young was steeped in regret.
And there, as always, stood Son Jung-hyun, the group’s secretary and head of strategic planning, with his hands clasped in front of him like a statue.
“Did you send him on a business trip?”
“Yes.”
Back when Chairman Kang Ki-young was confirmed as the second-generation leader of Daeyoung, there was a task he absolutely had to accomplish.
His father, who had first planted the flag of Daeyoung on the impoverished land of Korea.
His father’s constant reminder, almost like a mantra, that semiconductors were the future bread and butter of Daeyoung, urging him to carefully nurture and grow the business?
The task of adding another signboard in front of Daeyoung’s name, proclaiming it as the top domestic company, a global corporation?
No.
It was a business that took precedence over those, one that required more care.
It was preparing for the perfect third-generation management for the next era of Daeyoung.
In this country, Korea, if ten companies stand tall, eight or nine of them will crumble under second-generation management—a peculiar structure.
Of those surviving second-generation management companies, only one in ten will safely transition to the third generation.
That was precisely why Chairman Kang Ki-young had to be strict and thorough with his children.
Every morning at breakfast, he received business reports from his children and gave his evaluations.
And he made sure to deliver work instructions face-to-face at the dinner table.
The child who succeeded as the third-generation heir of Daeyoung was none other than the second son, Man-ho.
He may not have been as academically inclined as his older brother, but he was quick with calculations and knew how to hide his ambition.
He may have lacked the aggressive drive born of desperation compared to his younger siblings, but he had the ability to read the overall situation and command people.
Man-ho, the second son who was considered for succession, was tied to the Hanshin Daily through marriage.
When no heir had come from his son after more than eight years of marriage, there was no choice Chairman Kang Ki-young hadn’t considered.
There was a plain-looking but upright and smart accounting employee in the company.
Koo Young-sook.
It was none other than Chairman Kang Ki-young himself who had made his son go out and father a child, even if it meant doing so outside.
His own impatience, his haste, had led to the biggest and most painful mistake of his life.
When the daughter-in-law finally became pregnant, the seed of her child had already blossomed elsewhere.
After countless business failures and bitter defeats, there had never been a time when he wished to turn back the clock more than now.
Time.
It’s always about time.
Despite having everything, possessing it all, and being in a position to acquire anything at any moment, Chairman Kang Ki-young knew all too well that time was the one thing that couldn’t be bought with Daeyoung’s power or his own abilities.
“Team Leader Son.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“If it were Moon-jung, what decision do you think she would have made in that situation?”
Chairman Kang Ki-young, who had been closely following the issue with the Madrid branch of Mulsan Trading Company since the initial report last week, asked. It was a sector under the responsibility of Executive Director Yoon Tae-sik.
Upon hearing that the Spanish olive farm owners were colluding to secure better terms, he immediately called a video conference with all the overseas branch managers of Mulsan in Europe.
He conveyed the troubling news from the Madrid branch and sternly warned to prevent the same issue from arising in other branches.
And just yesterday, he sent a deputy chief from the European division to Spain.
Even forming an inspection team for the task.
Chairman Kang Ki-young, seeing Team Leader Son unable to answer, changed the subject and asked again.
“If it were Young-jin? What decision do you think Young-jin would have made? Would he have entered the fray as decisively as Director Yoon?”
“Executive Director Kang Moon-jung, Vice President Kang Young-jin. Both have their pros and cons. They have different strengths and weaknesses, so I don’t think it’s fair to compare them.”
“That’s what comparison is, weighing those strengths and weaknesses.”
It was only natural for Team Leader Son to be at a loss for words.
How could he honestly express his thoughts on such a question, taking responsibility for his answer?
Chairman Kang Ki-young began to search for the answer that Team Leader Son couldn’t provide.
If Moon-jung had been in that seat, she wouldn’t have sent someone else; she would have gone to the Madrid branch herself.
And without regard for means, she would have stamped the re-contract within the limits she allowed herself and returned to Korea.
What about Young-jin?
Re-contracting. With still a year left, it probably took him months just to grasp the importance of the re-contracting of a core business, even sitting as the head of the European division.
Even if a problem like this had surfaced, he would have been more concerned with covering it up than resolving it.
Thinking that beheading the branch manager would solve everything.
But Yoon Tae-sik had sent people to look into alternative businesses to olives.
How should one interpret this move?
After three years away, returning to Mulsan, and barely a month into his role as an executive director, could he really make such a bold decision?
In Chairman Kang Ki-young’s eyes, the decision made by Executive Director Yoon Tae-sik was not to rectify the problem, but to prove himself.
It wasn’t about the 12 percent of the total billing that Mulsan was handling, nor was it about the 12 percent of the total billing in the trading sector.