The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 122



Only Krnovel

Episode 122 Before the Storm (1)

I entered the conference room without knowing the outcome.

The moment you open the door, the sound of applause pours in.

In particular, the result could be guessed by the sight of President Woo Sung-il spreading his arms in a ceremony.

“I will appoint Director Kim Min-jae as vice president. “90% of the presidents approved, so accept it humbly.”

Grandfather tapped my shoulder and said.

But 90% approved? This was beyond my expectations.

I thought there would be quite a few factions opposing me, but I guess that wasn’t the case.

Or maybe there was a lack of proper communication and voting was a personal decision rather than a factional one.

However, 90% means that about 3 people voted against it.

Without realizing it, I turned my head towards the presidents and found three people smiling awkwardly.

Taewoo Engineering & Construction CEO Jang Soo-young and his right-hand man, Taewo Engineering CEO Park Hyuk-soo.

Even without looking at the details, I could tell that they had voted against it.

President Jang Soo-young had a fairly large faction.

But with this vote, his faction was as good as gone.

I looked straight at them and thought about my feelings about the appointment.

How should I start?

Should I be humble since I became vice president in my 20s?

After thinking for a while, I uttered my first words.

“Taewoo Group is a frog in a well. Even if you are ranked first in the Korean business world, it is difficult to be ranked in the top 100 when you go global. “In order to break down the thick wall called the world, all employees of Taewo Group must work together.”

In short, it meant that there should be no factional fighting.

To put it a little differently, it also meant that you should come under me on your own.

Since I spoke while looking at CEO Jang Soo-young, who had voted against, my intention must have been well conveyed to everyone.

“To survive on the world stage, you must have overwhelming skills and abilities. That’s why I’m trying to create a personnel policy that allows employees to properly evaluate their skills. “Please understand that sudden personnel changes may occur.”

He became the group’s vice president.

Now I have the authority to move the HR team as I wish.

We checked the detailed information of all employees and made a plan to make personnel changes.

Those who rose to the position through personal connections or political power would be better off resigning.

Unless you want to be assigned to an overseas corporation in an remote area.

But was it too much?

The more I spoke, the more the CEO’s expression hardened.

If you hit the whip this much, you should throw a carrot too.

“I cannot grow Taewoo Group into the world’s No. 1 group with my abilities alone. We need help from many seniors, and we promise to reward you accordingly. “It’s Korea’s No. 1 company, so why can’t we get a lower salary than other companies?”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!”

When the topic of salary came up, laughter bloomed.

Isn’t a company ultimately a place to make money?

I planned to pay executives a much different salary and bonus than before.

That way, you can easily get rid of useless people.

“I’ll end my greetings here. “Please let the Chief Secretary take over the work that the Headquarters Manager did from now on.”

“We will inform the media of Vice Chairman Kim Min-jae’s appointment. “We will publish articles emphasizing our achievements so far to prevent public opposition.”

“There is bound to be opposition. “The Republic of Korea is still too rigid to accept a vice president in his 20s.”

“We will do our best to stop it.”

Vice President in his 20s.

It was the perfect business card to get jealous.

No matter how talented I was, in the end, I was my grandfather’s grandson.

It was an undeniable fact that he became the 20th vice president because he was of the chairman’s bloodline.

“Don’t block it too much. In fact, it may backfire. “If you have no choice but to hear swear words, it is better to keep them short and bold.”

“But it can also leave a negative image.”

“If you produce results, isn’t the negative image bound to come off?”

For entrepreneurs, the result was stock prices.

As the IT bubble began to burst, the stock prices of several affiliates were plummeting.

In this situation, you could get a generous score just by defending the stock price.

“I also agree with what the vice president said. “Don’t try too hard and just move the media to provide a little support.”

“I will.”

“Now everyone go back to work. “I have a lot of work to do, so why waste my time?”

The emergency convened meeting has concluded.

The presidents stood up with still puzzled faces.

Seeing that, my grandfather looked at me and winked.

They say the older you get, the more childish you become.

I heard that my grandfather seems to have become more playful these days.

***

A few days later.

I unpacked my bags in the new vice president’s office at the group headquarters.

While I was awkwardly fiddling with the nameplate engraved with the name Vice President, the head of the planning office came to visit me.

“Opposition is stronger than expected.”

“I also checked by reading the newspaper in the morning. “There was also an editorial saying that Taewo Group is in danger because of me.”

Taewo Group was giving a lot of advertisements to various media outlets.

Therefore, articles that were harmful to the Taewo Group did not appear often.

However, the appointment of the 20th vice president was such a huge issue that media outlets could not ignore it without mentioning it, even if it offended advertisers.

“We will reduce the proportion of advertising by some media companies.”

“Don’t do that.”

“But the media company that wrote the article comparing the Kim family cannot stand by and watch!”

There was also an article comparing North Korea’s hereditary succession and the Taewo Group’s succession structure.

Since this is a media company that doesn’t like large corporations, it didn’t feel like the article was provocative, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Just leave it alone. Rather, are the preparations for the Russian appointment ceremony going well?”

“We have made all preparations in secret. “We have arranged for flights, accommodations, and even security personnel.”

“It looks like I’m going on a business trip to Russia before I even finish unpacking.”

There are 5 days left until the appointment ceremony.

Because it was such a huge event, I had to arrive in Russia three days before the appointment ceremony.

“I will complete the personnel transfer before you go on a business trip to Russia.”

“It will be very loud. “It’s not another affiliate, it’s Taewoo Engineering & Construction.”

I checked the personnel roster of Taewoo Engineering & Construction employees for several days.

I almost lost my eyes as I was checking the abilities, detailed information, and special details so thoroughly.

Still, it wasn’t boring because it was fun to discover hidden gems.

I felt nauseous whenever I came across trash, but I stayed up all night thinking that I would get rid of them this time.

“I am concerned that there will be strong opposition from President Jang Soo-young.”

“It’s close to an act of overstepping one’s authority.”

The personnel rights of affiliated employees were the authority of the president.

No matter how much he was the vice president, ordering staff changes was close to overstepping his authority.

They will take it as a declaration of war.

Well, it wasn’t that it had no meaning at all, but since Taewoo Engineering & Construction was such a large organization, it had to be pruned first.

“It is expected that he will either submit his resignation or reject the personnel transfer order.”

“It doesn’t matter what choice you make. “I would be more grateful if you got out of the way.”

“After my business trip to Russia, it looks like the results will come out somehow.”

“Manager, please have a hard time in the middle.”

I left for Russia without paying much attention.

It was no longer a big deal to kick out someone like CEO Jang Soo-young.

Since I was promoted to vice president, I could step down whenever I wanted.

***

next day.

I arrived at Moscow airport.

As soon as I got off the plane, David and Captain Kang were waiting with dozens of bodyguards, and even Russian police and soldiers were protecting me.

“Isn’t it a bit excessive? “Even if the president comes, I won’t do it like this.”

“The situation in Russia is not yet completely stable. “There is information that oligarchs who do not recognize Putin are gathering strength.”

Oligarchy.

Should we call it a powerful conglomerate?

People who accumulated wealth with the help of the government or military were called oligarchs.

They were also people who controlled state-owned enterprises and made huge amounts of money.

Putin was rejecting the oligarchs.

Silovik, made up of military attachés who looked like former KGB members, was leading the way.

War between oligarchs and siloviks.

David and Captain Kang had gathered a large number of bodyguards at the airport to prevent sparks from flying over me.

“You’re not going to have a bodyguard accompany you to your dorm, right?”

“The military has decided to provide escort around the accommodation. “Don’t do this and get in the car right away.”

I boarded the vehicle with David, escorted by Captain Kang.

It was a bulletproof vehicle similar to that seen in the military, and there was an armed security vehicle escorting it nearby.

“boss! “The Kremlin is telling me to stay at a villa in a resort area today.”

“Not a hotel, but a villa? Are you telling me to stay in a quiet place because of security?”

“I didn’t hear the details either. All they did was send me an address. How stiff she was. Just by looking at him, he looked like he had a military background.”

“If the owner wants to stay at the villa, you should stay there.”

Without even being able to see Moscow properly, we moved to a quiet rural village.

It took a whopping 4 hours to finally arrive at the villa, and soldiers were seen everywhere.

“I’m sure there won’t be any security issues. “I feel like I’m inside a military base.”

“Even our security guards cannot enter the villa. “The Russian government said it would take responsibility and provide security, so there was nothing we could do, right?”

I went into the villa with only David and Captain Kang.

Unlike the exterior, which looked a little old, the interior of the villa was decorated in a luxurious manner.

“Should I wait here until the installation ceremony? “If I had known this would happen, I would have come a few days later.”

“That’s right! “I don’t know why they asked me to come to Russia until today.”

The Russian itinerary was not planned by me.

The Russian government notified me of the schedule, and I just followed the schedule.

“Let’s quickly unpack and have a quick drink. “I didn’t mean to, but it gave me some time to rest.”

“Since I’m in Russia, I have to drink whiskey!” “I will set it up.”

David got excited and started pulling out a drink.

At that moment, the soldiers guarding the outside suddenly entered the villa and started groping our bodies.

“What are you doing?”

They were soldiers who touched every inch of my body without any time to resist.

Only after confirming that we didn’t have anything that could be used as a weapon did we step back.

And after a few minutes, a completely unexpected person entered the villa.

“sorry. “I told them not to do that, but they never listened to me.”

It was Putin.

He smiled and entered the villa, and with a single wave of his hand, he sent the soldier who had been filling the villa out.

“Nice to meet you. “This is Kim Min-jae, Vice Chairman of Taewo Group.”

“Do we need to say hello between us? And shouldn’t he be introduced as the representative of SAVE Investment Company rather than Taewoo Group? “Hehehe.”

Putin’s words sounded like a joke, but they had a bone in them.

He was a person well-versed in information because he was from the Russian KGB.