CH 498

“Mister Jin-Ho! Good to see you again!” Jo Gyu-Min welcomed Kang Jin-Ho into his office with a cheery look on his face. Kang Jin-Ho was slightly taken aback by that happy greeting. Jo Gyu-Min tilted his head. “What's the matter?”

“No, it's nothing,” Kang Jin-Ho shook his head.

Jo Gyu-Min chuckled loudly. “Hang on, did you think I'd be waiting for you all awkward and embarrassed after saying all those things to you? That I was panicking from failing to rein myself in?”

“...Chief Jo, I'm pretty sure you're not a nice guy.”

“Fufufu...! I'm a little disappointed that you only figured that out now.” Jo Gyu-Min cackled while guiding Kang Jin-Ho to a spot on the couch. Once Kang Jin-Ho settled down, Jo Gyu-Min asked, “It's been a while, so how about a cup of coffee brewed by yours truly?”

“...Yes, why not?”

While still grinning, Jo Gyu-Min headed to the coffee maker. Kang Jin-Ho leaned back on the couch and watched the Chief Secretary of Jaegyeong make a cup of Iced Americano for him. This scene brought back memories from Kang Jin-Ho's high school days.

'It's been a long time.'

Just how many years had that been? Kang Jin-Ho briefly pondered how long it had been since their relationship started.

Jo Gyu-Min placed a large glass cup filled with Iced Americano in front of his guest. Kang Jin-Ho didn't stand on ceremonies and immediately took a sip.

Jo Gyu-Min expectantly asked, “So? How is it?”

“Mm, well... It's not as good as...”

“I-it's because the coffee maker is new! My skills haven't deteriorated or anything like that.”

“I see. We'll go with that.”

Jo Gyu-Min's pride was wounded by something unconventional just then, but Kang Jin-Ho chose not to dig any further. Since Jo Gyu-Min wasn't forced to endlessly brew coffee anymore, it was no wonder his barista skill had worsened recently.

“I see that you came to see me the first thing in the morning, Mister Jin-Ho,” said Jo Gyu-Min.

“Yes,” Kang Jin-Ho nodded while putting the coffee cup down.

“Should I assume that you've found the answer?”

Kang Jin-Ho changed the topic instead of answering that question. “Actually, Chairman seemed down when I was visiting him earlier...”

“Mm…” Jo Gyu-Min nodded. He obviously knew what Kang Jin-Ho was doing but still went along since the new topic was just as serious. “About that, I'm concerned about the Chairman as well.”

“How long has he been like that?”

“It's been a while. In my opinion, it started right after Chairman Hwang confronted his sons. To be more specific, he seemed to be overflowing with even more vigor right after the meeting with his sons, but his energy level just dropped off a cliff soon afterward…”

“Mm…” Kang Jin-Ho quietly moaned. Hwang Jeong-Hu was someone absolutely dear to Kang Jin-Ho. Unsurprisingly, Kang Jin-Ho wouldn't be happy about seeing someone so important to him losing the drive, the will, so quickly.

'I don't think the problem is with his physical health...'

Kang Jin-Ho briefly scanned Hwang Jeong-Hu's physique during their meeting and was pretty confident that the chairman's vitality hadn't deteriorated. Even if Hwang Jeong-Hu himself said he had gotten old, that evaluation was a little premature in Kang Jin-Ho's opinion.

In that case, this issue had to be psychological.

Kang Jin-Ho leaned forward. “Mister Gyu-Min, what do you think is the reason?”

“Mm...” Jo Gyu-Min was about to say something before tightly clamping his mouth shut.

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Mm? Looks like you have something on your mind...?”

“Yes, but give me a moment to straighten my thoughts first,” said Jo Gyu-Min before mouthing a cigarette. He lit it up and puffed at it for a while, his brows furrowed in a silent dilemma. Eventually, though, he slowly nodded as if he had come to a decision. “Before we start... Everything I say from this point on will be off the record.”

“...Chief Jo, I don't have anyone to prattle to, anyway.”

“Oh. You're right,” Jo Gyu-Min lightly snapped his finger. His immediate response subtly got under Kang Jin-Ho's skin, however! “In my opinion, I believe the Chairman has fallen into a severe case of Figurehead-ritis.”

“Figurehead... what?”

“Yes, that. Okay, so... He has nothing to do, and no one requires him to do anything. That kind of situation.”

“...Mm?” Kang Jin-Ho failed to understand and tilted his head.

Wasn't Hwang Jeong-Hu referred to as the lion of the Korean business world? He relied only on his sweat, blood, tears and judgment to construct his dream on a land utterly devastated by the Korean War until finally reaching the proverbial top of the pile. So, to say he was a mere figurehead?

If Hwang Jeong-Hu was someone who lost his drive that easily, he wouldn't have clawed his way to the top like this.

“I don't quite follow, Chief Jo. Are you saying Chairman Hwang has lost his drive?”

“Yes, it seems that way.”

“Something like that couldn't have happened out of the blue, so... How?”

“...Because it's all in vain, Mister Jin-Ho.”

“Huh?”

Jo Gyu-Min scratched his cheek after noticing the confused look on Kang Jin-Ho's face. “I doubt that applying a simple theory to a superhuman like Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu would make much sense, but…”

“Okay?”

“Humans can't keep working without an appropriate reward, Mister Jin-Ho.”

Kang Jin-Ho agreed with that. It was an obvious fact, after all.

“At first, you might be motivated by passion and drive, so you might endure the little-to-no reward despite all the effort you put in. Sometimes, you might even comfort yourself by saying here is the proof of how passionate you are.” Jo Gyu-Min stopped there to take another puff of his cigarette. “However, no one can keep that up forever. If someone can, though... That individual must be deriving immense psychological satisfaction from their work in that case. The kind of satisfaction that far exceeds any material reward, that is.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“But the problem is Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu doesn't fall into either category.”

“...”

Jo Gyu-Min dusted the cigarette on the ashtray. “Money means little to Chairman Hwang. The thing about money is that it's just some number to a person who doesn't do anything with it. Only those who use money will attach greater meaning to their wealth. We should remember that Chairman Hwang has never been all that hung-up about getting wealthier, to begin with. What he always wanted to see was his company growing and becoming successful, not lining his pockets.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly rubbed his chin. For sure, Hwang Jeong-Hu had a side like that.

For instance, Hwang Jeong-Hu lived in an old, modest country house on the outskirts of Seoul, not some eye-popping mansion in an affluent upmarket suburb. And he drove a Korean-made car, not a fancy imported luxury brand.

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Wealthy people doing that would either earn the label of a stingy miser or be praised for their exemplary frugal behaviors. In Kang Jin-Ho's opinion, though... Hwang Jeong-Hu was neither.

Hwang Jeong-Hu really didn't have any interest in spending money. Rather than lacking interest in luxury goods, it was more like his modest lifestyle allowed him to sustain himself with only a small amount of money. So, what would his bank account getting fatter mean to a man like him? Not much, really.

“...Huh?” Kang Jin-Ho suddenly raised his head after having an epiphany.

Jo Gyu-Min chuckled at that. “Yes, Mister Jin-Ho. Chairman Hwang is a similar type of person to you when it comes to how one treats their wealth.”

“Mm...”

“And here's where the problem lies, I believe. If Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu had been a greedy man utterly obsessed with wealth, he'd be neck-deep in the endless pursuit of increasing the company's revenues through whatever means possible. Or, if his ambition was about honor and prestige, he'd be tormenting people left and right while trying to step into the political arena. But he's not interested in any of that. The only thing he was passionate about was Jaegyeong, and now, it's... slowly but surely drifting away from his hands. Which is a result he has been working toward, actually.”

“Hang on. Are you saying he's the one responsible for his situation?”

Jo Gyu-Min replied in a bitter-sounding voice. “Thanks to his prior experience of being deathly ill, Chairman Hwang understood how fragile Jaegyeong was without him around to guide it. So, he initiated various measures to separate himself from the corporation. Jaegyeong mustn't fall just because he passed away, after all.”

Kang Jin-Ho was a little saddened to hear this. Hwang Jeong-Ha had lived his whole life for the sake of his company. But he now had to separate the one thing he dedicated his entire life from himself because he feared his death could destroy it? That couldn't have felt good. At the very least, Hwang Jeong-Hu deserved some sympathy for what he had to go through.

“In the middle of all this, Chairman must've realized that... he's reached the limit of what he can do for Jaegyeong's future. So, he gave away some of his shares to the younger generation and made arrangements so that Jaegyeong would continue to grow even after his passing. Now that he's finished doing all that, though... What else is left for him to do next?” Jo Gyu-Min stopped talking again to take another long puff from his cigarette. The poor cigarette smoke dispersed into the air without a trace. “Since he has half-disowned his sons, Chairman Hwang no longer needs to prepare for the later generations of his family. Which means he doesn't need to go crazy about building his wealth for his children to inherit one day. So, he's progressively getting less involved with the corporation's operations. It's not all that surprising to learn that Chairman Hwang feels he's no longer needed in the overall scheme of things.”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned deeply. “Doesn't this... sound like the issue of senior citizen unemployment?”

“Yes. And it sounds absurd, doesn't it?” Jo Gyu-Min rhetorically asked as if he also found it absurd. “Me worrying about the Chairman is an absurdity in itself. How dare a mere salaryman like me worry about Jaegyeong Corporation's legendary Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu? Even if we don't worry about him, our Chairman's last days won't be pitiful, that I assure you. After all, he still has all the wealth and prestige built over the years. If he passes on tomorrow, history will remember him as one of the most respected business personalities to ever grace our country. It's just that…” Jo Gyu-Min roughly scratched his head. “...There's nothing I can do about me worrying about him. Chairman Hwang isn't just my superior officer but my life's benefactor who opened a new path of survival for me. And I sometimes view him as a father figure who unhesitantly taught me everything he knows. That's why whenever I see his shoulders slumped like that... Yes, it's difficult to not worry about him.”

Kang Jin-Ho took out another cigarette and mouthed it. 'Feels like I've been chainsmoking a lot lately...'

Then again, how could he not smoke after listening to stories like this?

“That's why I'd like to speak to you about something...” Jo Gyu-Min sat forward in a slightly awkward position as if he wanted to ask a difficult favor from Kang Jin-Ho. He faltered and hesitated before sighing grandly. “My apologies for bringing up this topic that I used to oppose in the past, Mister Jin-Ho, but... Do you think there is a way to patch up the relationship between Chairman Hwang and his sons? I've been trying, but I... I just can't think of one.”

Jo Gyu-Min sounded hopeful just then, but Kang Jin-Ho's response completely betrayed his expectations.

“Why do you want to do that?” Kang Jin-Ho asked.

“...Sorry? W-well, since the situation is like this, I thought that maybe, his family might…”

Kang Jin-Ho leaned against the couch while leisurely smoking away. “I don't think that will solve anything.”

“I don't follow?”

“Of course, I do think people need their families. And that's why I wanted to see Chairman Hwang on good terms with his children again. However, this and that are not the same problem.”

Jo Gyu-Min's brows rose up ever so slightly. What was Kang Jin-Ho trying to say here when he said one's family was important a second ago?

“Improving Chairman Hwang's relationship with his family is basically telling him to retire and take care of his grandkids in the backroom. In other words, that's not going to solve his problem. A lion can't graze on grass, after all.”

“...Oh.” Jo Gyu-Min realized Kang Jin-Ho was right.

The patching up with family idea was nothing more than a stop-gap measure, not a surefire solution. It wouldn't satisfy Hwang Jeong-Hu's entrepreneurial spirit that allowed him to roam the business world as an apex predator.

“In that case,” said Kang Jin-Ho while casually tapping his cigarette on the ashtray. “There's only one way out of this situation. And that is for him to get involved in something else again.”

“However, isn't that too... cruel? Chairman's age is fast approaching eighty, after all. To ask someone like that to again spearhead the company's charge into the fiercely competitive world of commerce is a bit...”

“It doesn't necessarily have to be a business operation, Chief Jo.”

“I'm sorry?”

Kang Jin-Ho smiled softly. “If Chairman Hwang feels useless after he no longer has anything to do... All we have to do is give him something to do. Something that only he can do, that is.”

Of course, that was easier said than done. The difference between saying something and actually putting it into practice was like heaven and earth. And to turn what Kang Jin-Ho said into reality, mountains of issues had to be addressed first.

Jo Gyu-Min didn't doubt Kang Jin-Ho's capabilities, but... this problem was not something an unyielding spirit and a bulldozer-like attitude could solve.

“This is good timing, actually,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Sorry?”

“This topic segues rather nicely into what I came here to speak to you about. Maybe, we might be able to resolve Chairman Hwang's problem at the same time.”

Jo Gyu-Min grew a little dazed as he stared at Kang Jin-Ho.

As if he was enjoying that reaction, a deep grin spread on Kang Jin-Ho's face. “There's something I'd like to do. And yes, it is something I really want to do.”