Corporate Villain
Copyright© 2025 by K.W
Chapter 3
“The personnel authority of Mulsan is beyond my control.”
“I will become the most persuasive candidate.”
I’m not sure if I have the capability, but Executive Kang Moon-jung confessed her ambitions to me candidly. The moment I accept this deal, inevitably, I must play the role of her Zhuge Liang, her kingmaker.
“In what way do you mean you’ll become the most persuasive candidate?”
“Assuming this contract actually materializes, I would become a temporary contract worker, but externally, I’d be part of Daeyoung’s ownership.”
The Director waited silently for my next words.
“Someone like me can’t remain in the group’s secretarial office, where the owner plays the role of a shadow to the VIPs, can I?”
As if it were obvious, the Director nodded in agreement.
“It’s clear you have discernment, but I can’t continue to serve you here in distribution. Personally, it would be the best for me, but realistically, it’s impossible.”
“That’s true.”
“The core electronics of the group? Unthinkable. It’s crucial who among you, the Director, and the Vice President, enters electronics to determine the succession structure. Vice President Kang Young-jin in chemicals? That’s nonsensical. A sports business club owner related to me? The media exposure would be excessive, wouldn’t it?”
“...”
“Right now, don’t you need the spotlight focused on you, Director? You’re not trying to turn me into a male Cinderella. I joined Mulsan on my own merit. It’s not a key business sector of Daeyoung, so there won’t be much spotlight on me.”
And the most crucial part.
“Whichever subsidiary of Daeyoung I’m assigned to, the fact that I’m a parachuted executive is unavoidable. Aren’t you planning to use me as a weapon? Then you should place me somewhere I could at least potentially be a weapon, not your weakness.”
“Mulsan is that place?”
“If you haven’t thought of anywhere else, Director.”
He smiled lightly.
“Your head must have been aching these past few days over this, hasn’t it?”
“It’s a matter involving ten billion won.”
I too shared a light laugh.
“What will you do with ten billion won once you have it?”
“It’s an amount that doesn’t require any action on my part.”
“Resources? Hmm ... I can’t promise anything. But I’ll do my best.”
“Your promise is enough, sir. You’re someone who always keeps their word.”
“Don’t make me feel obligated with such roundabout talk.”
Sighing as if a great burden had been lifted, the executive spoke.
“Set up a new account. Choose the best product for holding a large sum of money. I’ll send 5 billion won as soon as I get the account number. And this weekend, since there’s no need to look for me, why don’t you visit your mother?”
“My mother?”
“Won’t you be busier than now in the future? It wouldn’t be right for your only son’s marriage news to be heard through the media.”
“The order should be the chairman first, then the senior chairman, shouldn’t it? Whether this contract proceeds or not ultimately depends on those two. I’ll set up the account once I have their permission.”
“And if you don’t get permission?”
“Then I suppose ... I’ll have to look for another job as a consequence of coveting a fortune beyond my reach.”
“You must have had a lot to consider.”
“To be honest, I haven’t worried much about that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I know you well, sir. You’re not someone who would climb a mountain without a plan to conquer it.”
I was certain of that part.
“I may not know what it is, but I’m aware that I’m the solution you’ve found after contemplating how to reach the summit.”
The day in Pyeongchang-dong starts at 7 a.m.
It’s also when my tension begins.
The owner’s family breakfast starts before the day is fully bright.
We, the secretaries from the group’s secretarial office, must wait on the ‘L’-shaped sofa set up on one side of the living room until the owner’s VIPs begin their meal.
Our work starts then.
In the early morning, we greet the owner’s VIPs with their subdued expressions.
Reading their moods from those dry expressions is also an essential part of our job, though it’s not in the manual.
We always keep an ear open to the kitchen where the owner’s VIPs are dining, browsing the group-related news on our phones or tablets, exchanging news, and checking the daily schedules of the VIPs we serve.
“Have you arrived?”
The director serving the chairman has come to work, even though none of the VIPs have shown themselves yet.
“Ah, Deputy Manager Yoon. Did you have a good weekend?”
“Yes.”
“Was there anything unusual over the weekend?”
“No calls received.”
“You must have had a good rest for once.”
But at that moment, another shadow moved behind the open front door.
“Huh? Team Leader.”
It was clear that he had come with the director, judging by the timing of his entrance.
Though under the group’s secretariat, the real control tower was the Strategic Planning Team.
And there was Team Leader Son Jung-hyun, entering behind the director.
“It’s been a while, Deputy Director Yoon.”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t dare ask what brought him to Pyeongchang-dong.
We aren’t the kind to express our doubts and curiosities outwardly.
That’s how we were trained.
Team Leader Son’s arrival in Pyeongchang-dong made me more nervous.
It meant that the chairman had summoned him.
“You’re here.”
Madam Koo Young-sook.
She emerged from the living room, wrapping her shawl around her shoulders.
It was a sign that the chairman’s morning preparations were complete.
All of us in the secretariat stood up and bowed to Madam as she passed.
She knew about Team Leader Son’s visit to Pyeongchang-dong beforehand, it seemed, as she offered a gentle smile before heading straight to the kitchen where breakfast was being prepared.
Shortly after, almost simultaneously, Chairman and Executive Director Kang Moon-jung appeared, having finished their morning preparations, coming down the indoor staircase that led from the second floor.
They, too, seemed unfazed by Team Leader Son’s visit to Pyeongchang-dong, casually making their way to the living room sofa.
The 7 AM news was already on.
As soon as the Chairman and Executive Director Kang sat down on the living room sofa, Madam Koo Young-sook came out of the kitchen with a tray carrying two cups of herbal tonic and two glasses of green juice.
Just as my duty was to arrive at the Pyeongchang-dong residence by 7 AM to wait for the Executive Director, Madam Koo’s day began with preparing the Chairman and Executive Director’s morning herbal tonic and green juice.
Like medicine taken on schedule, the Chairman and Executive Director Kang swallowed their tonic and juice in turn.
Today, as usual, Executive Director Kang left more than half of his green juice, while the Chairman grimaced but finished his cup to the last drop.
“Ugh...”
The Chairman shuddered momentarily as he endured the bitter taste of the green juice.
“Shall we bring him out?”
“Yes, Chairman.”
As soon as the Chairman’s order was given, the director rose from his seat and headed to the study to attend to the great Chairman Kang Ki-young, who starts his mornings earlier than anyone else in the Pyeongchang-dong family home.
Great Chairman Kang Ki-young.
A figure who has become the epitome of second-generation corporate management.
The man who founded the Daeyeong Republic in this country, South Korea.
Even though it’s been over five years since he stepped down from the chairmanship and retired from the front lines of management, people still equate Daeyeong Group with great Chairman Kang Ki-young.
Daeyeong Electronics is still synonymous with the name of great Chairman Kang Ki-young, and Daeyeong’s stock prices fluctuate with his health status.
The only person who can make Executive Director Kang Moon-jung stutter.
A person who, if he so wishes, can easily wipe her mind blank.