Chapter 27. What’s So Special About the Chairman? (2)
“...W-What exactly are you doing right now?”
The person who entered without knocking was Future Strategy Office Head Choi Taesik.
About an hour earlier, Director Baek Kangjin had called him.
Kangjin said he would listen to the preliminary briefings first and choose one person to present to the chairman.
Taesik had rushed over immediately.
“What do you mean? Didn’t I tell you on the phone what we were doing?”
“Ha... Director...”
Taesik looked over the team leaders, then leaned toward Kangjin and whispered.
“You didn’t already finish, did you? I’m listening too.”
“Haha. But that violates procedure.”
“...Are you seriously going to keep doing this? You know how anxious I am...”
Kangjin’s mischievous teasing nearly made Taesik cry.
“Maintain your dignity. Department Head Kang hasn’t presented yet.”
“Ah! Really?”
After calming Taesik down, Kangjin looked toward Jinhyeok.
“Hmm. You don’t mind the Future Strategy Office Head listening too, right?”
Jinhyeok smiled in amusement.
Choi Taesik had followed them all the way to Creative Village last Thursday.
And now he had stormed into the director’s office early in the morning.
Apparently, the landmark project was incredibly important to him.
“Yes. I’m fine. Shall I begin?”
Jinhyeok began the briefing.
He treated it like practice before standing in front of the chairman.
Concise.
Overwhelming.
The instant the presentation ended, Geum Seokcheol jumped to his feet.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
“Absolutely perfect! A horizontal landmark! This plan is so incredible it gives me goosebumps!”
Seokcheol looked around at the other team leaders.
Wake up, idiots.
Department Head Kang is the golden spoon among golden spoons.
Even without Seokcheol’s strange reasoning, Jinhyeok’s briefing was more than enough to astonish everyone.
Taesik, who had spent days suffering from anxiety, finally relaxed.
“Amazing. I suppose it’s already obvious who should stand before the chairman.”
Seokcheol immediately responded.
All he cared about was impressing Jinhyeok.
“Exactly, Director! Today’s briefing absolutely has to be handled by the Commercial District Analysis Team! I fully support Department Head Kang’s proposal!”
Baek Kangjin looked around the room with a satisfied smile.
“Any objections?”
There were none.
Even ignoring the fact nobody wanted to present before the chairman, Jinhyeok’s briefing was on a completely different level from what they had prepared.
Around lunchtime.
Taesik spent time in the rooftop garden of Seongun Development.
Kang Jinhyeok’s briefing had completely shattered his fixed ideas.
A landmark didn’t need to be a tall building.
He was still replaying the incredible presentation when a voice he didn’t want to hear entered his ears.
“What are you doing?”
President Choi Taebong of Seongun Construction.
The unwelcome guest constantly aiming for the president’s position at Seongun Development had appeared.
“W-What brings you here...?”
“What? Am I not allowed to come here? You’re all grown up now. You don’t even greet your older brother?”
Taesik bit his lip and lowered his head at Taebong’s mocking voice.
“Did you come with Chairman Choi?”
“Dad is talking with old man Baek right now. More importantly, are you prepared? Dad’s patience seems to be reaching its limit.”
Taebong smiled cruelly.
He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he wanted today’s meeting to fail.
He would enter the presentation and attack everything.
Take the landmark project for Seongun Construction.
Then naturally absorb Seongun Development too.
Taebong probably thought it would be easy.
He had always looked down on Taesik.
“Everything is ready. Are you planning to attend the meeting?”
“Of course. I came this far. Shouldn’t I listen too? But you... You look strangely confident. Did you find a good site? Yangjae-dong is completely dead.”
“Ah... We decided on Mullae-dong.”
“Mullae-dong? That filthy neighborhood? Hahaha! Did you finally run out of land? Honestly, giving this project to you from the beginning was the mistake. Dad is getting old. Putting someone who knows nothing into the Future Strategy Office wasn’t enough, so now he gives you something this important.”
Taesik lowered his head carefully at Taebong’s provocation.
He wouldn’t tell him.
He wouldn’t tell the man who looked down on him that his half-brother’s plan was about to be shattered.
“What? You’re unusually obedient today. Even you know how hopeless this is, right? Mullae-dong? Ridiculous. Don’t feel too bad. Recognizing your limits is also an ability. You and I grew up differently. We were born differently too.”
Veins appeared on Taesik’s forearms.
He wanted to grab Taebong by the collar.
But that would accomplish nothing.
Just as humiliation made his fist tremble...
The most powerful person among Chairman Choi’s children entered between them.
“Ha... I wondered why Second Brother came here, so I followed you. What are you doing?”
Choi Iseul.
Chairman Choi’s precious youngest daughter.
She crossed her arms and glared sharply at Taebong.
“I-Iseul. You’re here. Hahaha. Everything going well?”
“It was. Until you broke your promise and showed up here. What? Should I go buy a plane ticket now?”
“W-What? What are you talking about...?”
Taebong even began stuttering.
When Chairman Choi tried to keep Iseul in Seongun, she had set conditions.
If her identity was revealed...
Or if her brothers interfered with her work...
She would immediately return to America.
Truthfully, Taebong didn’t care if Iseul went back to America.
From his point of view, she was only a younger sister far removed from the succession competition.
But there was one problem he couldn’t ignore.
She was the only child who had already inherited company shares.
Taebong was certain.
Chairman Choi intended to use Iseul as a casting vote to control the power struggle between his sons.
Nobody knew what kind of ownership battle might happen in the future.
Ignoring Iseul’s shares was impossible.
Taebong, normally arrogant toward everyone, carefully studied her mood.
“I came here for work! I won’t interfere with you at all. Isn’t that fine?”
“I worked on this project too. Didn’t you know? So don’t enter the conference room. I really hate it when my brothers interfere with the work I’m doing.”
The purpose of bringing Chairman Choi personally had collapsed.
Taebong asked in frustration,
“What about Taesik? That bastard is going in too. Why is he allowed?”
“Taesik Oppa is the person responsible for this project. What are you? Has there ever been a construction company president involved from the planning stage? And does First Brother even know what you’re doing?”
Taebong had been trying to seize Seongun Development behind their eldest brother’s back.
His eyes turned cold as he glared at Taesik.
He wanted someone to take his anger out on.
But Iseul wasn’t going to leave Taesik alone.
“Let’s go, Oppa. There’s no reason to stay and listen to nonsense.”
Iseul grabbed the stunned Taesik’s hand and pulled him away.
Taebong, left with nothing, ground his teeth and headed toward the parking lot.
2:00 p.m.
The Seongun Development conference room.
The Commercial District Analysis Team members moved busily.
“Team Leader! Say something into the microphone.”
“Huh? What am I supposed to say...?”
“Good. The microphone setup is perfect. Everything’s ready, Department Head.”
After shouting encouragement, the team members returned to their seats.
Seeing them made Jinhyeok feel reassured.
The team leaders and Choi Taesik took their seats.
Then the Human Resources Department Head bowed and opened the conference room door.
“Chairman entering.”
A man who had started as a market merchant and built today’s Seongun Group.
His presence filled the conference room even more heavily than it did on television.
“Begin.”
Everyone held their breath and stared at Jinhyeok with nervous expressions.
Strangely, Jinhyeok wasn’t nervous at all.
Partly because he was confident in the perfect preparation.
But there was a larger reason.
He had become an employee who was no longer afraid of resignation.
What’s so special about the chairman?
Jinhyeok had joined Seongun because he respected Chairman Choi’s values.
But now the chairman only felt like one more difficult superior.
“Good afternoon. I’m Kang Jinhyeok, Team Leader of the Commercial District Analysis Team.”
Chairman Choi’s sharp gaze fixed on him.
I’ll understand once I see him myself?
The conversation Chairman Choi had with Baek Kangjin earlier returned to his mind.
He was curious what kind of person had earned so much trust from Kangjin.
Click.
The first screen displayed only one sentence.
A clean message personally designed by Choi Iseul.
The thick font style Chairman Choi liked most.
[Seongun Does Not Build Landmarks.]
Among the people gathered in the room, Chairman Choi was the only one who had not seen the morning briefing.
As expected of him, even the shocking opening line didn’t change his expression.
Click.
Jinhyeok pressed the remote.
[Seongun Preserves Landmarks.]
With the mysterious sentence displayed, Jinhyeok began.
“Please remember this statement. Seongun is not a company that destroys something to create profit. Mutual growth. Preservation. Coexistence. From now on, I’ll show you the landmark that will be born while protecting these three core values.”
Click.
The next screen did not show Mullae-dong.
It showed the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
“The building in this image is one of France’s greatest landmarks, the Arc de Triomphe. It was built to honor soldiers who died during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.”
The history lesson seemed sudden.
But Jinhyeok continued as if understanding the arch’s history was necessary to understand today’s proposal.
“In 1940, German forces occupying Paris passed beneath that arch, making it a symbol of humiliation. Later, after liberation, it became famous for victory marches too. There are many other stories. In other words, the Arc de Triomphe is not simply a monument to victory. It is history itself, containing both the joy and sorrow France experienced.”
Chairman Choi tilted his head slightly.
Jinhyeok didn’t care.
Everyone had reacted the same way during the morning briefing.
“Next is the Grande Arche, also called the New Arc. It was constructed for the two-hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution. Government offices such as the Ministry of Environment and corporate offices operate inside it. Another important feature is that it lies on a straight line with the Arc de Triomphe we saw earlier.”
Jinhyeok paused and looked around the conference room.
Choi Taesik had already watched the morning briefing.
Yet his eyes were still excited, like an audience member watching a good movie for the second time.
“What we should focus on is this. One hundred fifty years exist between those two arches. Countless historical events took place during that period. A place that remains over time and preserves the history of the area. Isn’t that what a true landmark should be?”
Chairman Choi lifted a glass of water.
He wanted to say the introduction was too long.
But he was curious what would come next from the man who showed no fear before him.
“Then what should we do? Build the tallest building in Korea and wait for history to gather around it?”
It sounded like Jinhyeok wanted someone to answer.
But the answer was already decided.
“My answer is no. So we found a place where history already exists. Seongun will preserve Korean history that is at risk of disappearing. Because that is the direction Seongun should move.”
Chairman Choi’s heart began pounding rapidly even though he tried not to show emotion.
“May I continue?”
Realizing Jinhyeok’s question was directed at him, Chairman Choi recovered from his daze.
“Ahem. C-Continue. Don’t worry about me.”
“Thank you, Chairman. From now on, I’ll show you how we will preserve Korea’s history.”
At Jinhyeok’s signal, Park Jongil turned off every light in the room.
The conference room went dark.
A single beam of light cut through the darkness.
A 3D video created with enormous effort by the Commercial District Analysis Team appeared on the large screen.
The image was astonishing.
A spectacular aerial view of Mullae-dong Creative Village.
The video, polished with AI, circled above the district as though filmed by a drone, then descended toward the streets.
As the camera approached ground level, the viewpoint shifted into that of a pedestrian.
After passing through a massive gateway, cafés and workshops that stylishly preserved old factory exteriors appeared.
Cleanly organized metal shops lined the street.
Gasps came from around the conference room.
The quality was completely different from what it had looked like on a laptop.
Even those who had watched it repeatedly were still impressed.
“Mullae-dong Creative Village. A place containing Korea’s modern and contemporary history. It began with textile factories during the Japanese colonial era, became part of the steel industry in the 1980s, and eventually transformed into what is now called Creative Village. If Paris’s arches absorbed history over a long period, Mullae-dong already exists as a massive space carrying history within itself.”
Taesik, who had watched Chairman Choi throughout the briefing, opened his eyes wider.
A faint smile had appeared on Chairman Choi’s face.
Beneath it was a strange excitement.
Exactly the same expression Taesik had worn during the morning briefing.
