The Chairman Who Wants to Play and Eat

Episode 4. I am curious about Grandfather’s plan.

The school was vast.

It was indeed enormous, befitting the top university in Korea.

‘500,000 pyeong.’

A land area of just under 1.7 million square meters,

A university so large that even people who have attended for years often get lost on campus.

Of course, it’s not just the size that’s impressive.

Korea University is the nation’s top educational institution, where the country’s leading scholars conduct research and nurture the talents who will lead the country in the future.

I didn’t come here because I wanted to,

but I can’t help feeling a little overwhelmed.

“It’s impressive.”

I stood in front of the very main gate that comes to mind when you think of Korea University.

“Yes, young master. It is impressive.”

“Shall we walk a bit?”

“I will guide you.”

Even Deputy Lee Beom-seok managed his expression, but he seemed quite excited inside.

“Deputy Lee.”

“Yes.”

“How long have you been with Seonghyeon?”

Although he was an employee assigned to assist me, as a student, I had no reason to look up his personnel records.

Even if they gave me documents like that, I would have refused.

Isn’t it fun to get to know someone?

“I am now in my fourth year.”

“You’ve already been promoted to deputy. As expected, the secretary’s office is the secretary’s office.”

“You’re too kind, young master.”

“Ah.”

There’s something I need to address.

“About your way of speaking.”

“Yes?”

“Your job is to assist me, and although I am part of Seonghyeon’s royal family, I am not comfortable with a clear hierarchical relationship. Even if you show this demeanor elsewhere, I would like you to be more relaxed when it’s just the two of us.”

“Oh, yes.”

He looked a bit surprised.

“I don’t mean you should treat me like a younger brother. I just don’t want you to be as stiff as you are with the chairman or vice-chairman.”

He still had a puzzled expression, but he seemed to roughly understand what I meant.

“Yes…”

Actually, this is all calculated behavior.

What do I mean?

Grandfather was always a businessman who prioritized the company.

Of course, the hierarchy within the company comes first.

Obedience to orders, organizational priority,

These were the personnel philosophies that represented Hyun Byung-gun, the indomitable founder who built Seonghyeon with his bare hands.

But what if I acted contrary to my grandfather’s philosophy?

In other words, if it were revealed that I had ordered my protocol secretary to be at ease, this would also be a minus point.

Wouldn’t he say this to me after receiving the report?

‘It’s good to be a nice person to those around you. But a manager shouldn’t be like that. Even in the most private moments, you must appear cold and firm. What use is this soft and weak guy, tsk tsk. The company is out of the question, I’ll just have to entrust him with a small building.’

It’s an outcome I earnestly desire.

Just thinking about it gives me a thrill.

Someone might say this.

Calculating everything so thoroughly and acting accordingly makes you seem a bit inhuman.

I know that too.

But there’s no other way.

If I hadn’t come to Korea University Law School, I wouldn’t have needed to go this far.

But now it’s different.

I’ve scored too many points.

While absolutely avoiding appearing too reckless, I must steadily accumulate minus points.

Ah, of course, it’s not that I don’t have any desire to be comfortable myself.

“Will you do that for me?”

I asked again.

“It won’t be easy, but I’ll try.”

“Even now.”

“Haha, there’s nothing as easy yet difficult as a boss telling you to be at ease.”

The second statement was honest. He seemed comfortable.

As expected of an elite, he adapts quickly.

“We’re almost there.”

While talking, we were already crossing the middle of the campus.

“If you go straight down this road, you’ll reach the main building of the law school in 2-3 minutes. If you take that side road, you’ll come to the site of the ‘Seongam Law Library’ that Seonghyeon has just started to establish.”

Seongam is my grandfather’s pen name.

“Have they already broken ground?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, that was fast.”

It was then.

A classmate with dragonfly glasses approached us and asked.

“Excuse me. I’m sorry.”

He seemed to be a freshman like me.

“I’m a freshman in the Business Administration department. Do you know which direction I should go to get to the main building of the Business School? I heard you seem to know the way well.”

“This senior here knows well. Right, senior?”

“Uh, yes… Ah, right.”

While Beom-seok Lee, who was flustered between formal and informal speech, explained the way to the freshman,

‘Yeah. Since I’m here, I might as well get attached.’

I thought as I looked around the campus.

In the meantime, the explanation ended.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Oh, this is also a freshman from the Law department. Why don’t you become friends?”

“Friends?”

“Yes, friends.”

Beom-seok Lee suddenly made an unreasonable suggestion.

He started acting like a senior, which was not planned.

“Shall we? Senior?”

It didn’t feel too bad.

When I played along with Beom-seok Lee, he gave a slightly nervous cough.

I reached out my hand to the guy with dragonfly glasses first.

“I’m Hyun Sang-yoon, a freshman in the Law department, class of ‘8X. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Han Kyung-soo, a freshman in the Business Administration department, class of ‘8X. Nice to meet… Wait, what did you say your name was?”

“Hyun Sang-yoon.”

“Hyun, Hyun Sang-yoon? … Then, by any chance, are you from that Hyun family…?”

Han Kyung-soo’s face turned pale.

“Yes, I’m Hyun Sang-yoon, the lucky one from the Hyun family. Nice to meet you.”

I shook his hand without caring about his attitude. I made my first college friend.

“You’re unexpectedly good at playing the senior, aren’t you?”

“Ha, haha. You told me to be comfortable earlier… Thank you, young master.”

Meanwhile, Beom-seok Lee and I exchanged this conversation with our eyes.

It was a few days later.

I felt a strange sense of discomfort from the newspaper I read every day.

[ Special Feature on the College Entrance Exam, Interview with Han Kyung-soo, Ranked 3rd Nationwide. ]

[ Why did you choose the Business School over the Law School? … ‘I found the study of the principles of money circulation fascinating.’ ]

I just thought it was a name I had heard a lot.

“Han Kyung-soo?”

So I didn’t realize it right away.

The rustic dragonfly glasses I saw at Gwanak on orientation day came to mind thanks to the small interview photo under the headline.

At first, I was surprised.

Then I thought, ‘As expected, Korea University is Korea University.’

“Kid, you’re quite something, aren’t you?”

I liked him from the start.

It seemed like campus life would be more fun than I thought.

*

After the orientation, peace came for a while.

Of course, that peace didn’t last long.

Because the New Year came.

Holiday events for conglomerate families like ours, Seonghyeon, are held more grandly and uniquely than any other household.

For example,

“Chairman, I wish you health and longevity in the New Year.”

“Yes, President Go, I wish you a happy New Year too.”

Or,

“Chairman, happy New Year. Our construction company will also devote all our efforts to the accident-free construction of the Gunsan No. 3 Plant.”

“Hey, talking about work on such a good day. I wish you a happy New Year too. Thank you for your hard work this year.”

The sight of hundreds of executives coming and going, bowing in a line, is always a spectacle.

It’s like a military.

The most similar scene to others would be when the grandchildren bow to their grandfather. It’s like a break time.

“Grandfather, Happy New Year!”

“Yes, Ji-yoon, Happy New Year to you too. Here, your New Year’s money.”

“Thank you!”

Of course, we have no time to rest at all.

“You all.”

After Ji-yoon and Seo-yoon, the children of Aunt Hyun-hee Jae, finished their New Year’s bows, the grandchildren lined up in front of the Chairman.

This order applies even to the grandchildren abroad.

On New Year’s Day, we must eat rice cake soup,

It was the Chairman’s iron rule.

Given the circumstances, my two brothers, Do-yoon and Jong-yoon, who are in Japan and Singapore respectively, and my cousin Tae-yoon, who hurriedly arrived from the United States, are all standing in line without exception.

There was no way to avoid it.

‘When will this end?’

‘I’m so bored I could die.’

“I won’t say the obvious ‘Happy New Year’.”

Finally, Grandfather’s words of wisdom began.

“A leader does not wait for luck. You must be the ones who create and share luck, unlike others.”

“……”

“Furthermore, always remember that your every move is being imprinted on the employees of Seong-hyun, which you will lead in the future. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Chairman!”

Their soulless responses and expressions are quite a sight.

“Do-yoon.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“You are the eldest grandson of Seong-hyun. Tell me your plans for this year.”

“What?”

An unexpected question came out of nowhere.

“Um, uh. Grandfather. I will study hard.”

“Study hard…”

“Uh, and, also…”

“That’s enough. Next, Jong-yoon.”

Similar moments passed. After my cousin Tae-yoon, who is a year older than me, it was finally my turn.

“Sang-yoon!”

Grandfather’s sharp voice,

‘Just fumbling around is 2% short.’

A face without vision, an attitude lacking willpower, of course, even that is enough to lose points.

But I am different.

Already in a situation where I have gained a lot of plus points by entering Korea University’s law school,

Just hesitating and avoiding answers is too far ahead to earn minus points.

“As you all know, our Sang-yoon has entered Korea University’s law school. He has upheld my reputation among the other chairmen of the Federation of Korean Industries. You should look up to him.”

I can see the faces of my three older brothers, Do-yoon, Jong-yoon, and Tae-yoon, and my younger siblings rotting away.

‘If I don’t come up with something.’

It won’t do.

This is troublesome.

“Chairman.”

“Yes, speak quickly.”

“First of all, thank you for quickly building our law school building.”

In case he had forgotten, I reminded him about the library to emphasize that a lot of company money was spent.

“Has the construction already started?”

He seemed unaware. The chairman asked Chief Joo, who was standing next to him.

“Yes, Chairman. The groundbreaking ceremony was on January 3rd of this year.”

“That’s fast.”

“I heard that President Choi Moo-yeol of Seonghyun Construction put in a lot of effort.”

“That’s why he looked constipated earlier. I guess it was because I didn’t recognize his efforts. Haha.”

He seemed to be in a very good mood, as he was making jokes.

“I understand that. So, what is your plan?”

“I will tell you.”

Taking advantage of the moment when his attention was diverted, I organized my thoughts that I had been thinking about.

I must not say things like graduating and joining the company, or getting an MBA and returning to apply it to work.

For my brothers, grandfather listens with one ear and lets it out the other, but not for me.

I might not even graduate and get caught.

This answer is wrong.

That doesn’t mean I will play around in the future, or that I have no plans. Such answers are just as wrong.

It is impossible to make a choice that reduces my potential to zero.

In the end, there was only one answer.

“Since I went to college, I plan to make a lot of friends like everyone else.”

I put particular emphasis on the phrase ‘like everyone else.’

This is the exact opposite of Chairman Hyun’s usual philosophy.

He always said that one must be different from others, that if you are ordinary, you can only live an ordinary life.

“Oh? Why is that?”

Grandfather’s eyebrows raised.

“I don’t have money yet. The resources I can access right now are human resources. Fortunately, I got into Korea University. It’s a place with many excellent talents. I judged that making a lot of friends here is the path I can take.”

Even though my words flowed smoothly, they ultimately meant that I would play with friends.

He is not someone who would be deceived by superficial words, so he must have understood.

He would think,

‘I thought this kid was soft, but now he’s only thinking about playing with friends. You fool, do you think you can handle the company? Just take a building and live off it!’

However,

“As expected, our Sang-yoon is deep in thought.”

The reaction was the exact opposite of what I imagined.

“Look at this kid, Chief Joo.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Isn’t it impressive for a kid who just entered college?”

“It seems your eyes are accurate, Chairman.”

Was this not it?

Did I give the wrong answer again?

“Alright, I understand. Go back to your seat.”

Without giving me a chance to lose more points, Grandfather dismissed me. But I couldn’t back down like this.

“Grandfather.”

“Do you have more to say?”

“Yes.”

I had to take a risk before it was too late.

“I told you my plan. But I’m curious about your plan, Grandfather. Would you tell me?”