Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 126

126. 37th. That Summer, a Time of Passionate Movement (3)

To welcome her husband home after his long absence, Hwang Na-yeon instructed the housekeepers to prepare a lavish meal. However, Jang Ho-gun’s words shattered her efforts.

“I’m going to merge Korea Hotel with Shinseong Corporation. We’ll combine the existing Korea Hotel business with Shinseong Corporation’s resort division, all the golf courses within the group, and all of SH Asset Development’s shares to create a subsidiary. Ha-yeon will own 100 percent of that subsidiary’s shares.”

Hwang Na-yeon, Jang Yong-jae, Jang Su-yeon, and Jang Min-jae were shocked by Jang Ho-gun’s startling inheritance announcement. He was going to hand over nearly 1 trillion won in assets to a woman he brought in from outside the family!

“Y-you can’t, dear!”

“Father!”

“Dad!”

Amidst the barrage of protests, Jang Ho-gun slammed his palm on the table. The family fell silent at the thud, and Jang Ho-gun shouted at them.

“Ha-yeon extended the 300 billion won loan that Hae-dong Merchant Bank was going to call in, with a 20-year term and an annual interest rate of 7 percent!”

“…What?”

Not only Hwang Na-yeon but also the three siblings were wide-eyed.

Even if Jang Ha-yeon and Lee Seong-min’s relationship was special, how could she have swayed the Hae-dong Group while Lee Dae-soo [the head of the Lee family and the Hae-dong Group] was watching so closely?

Jang Ho-gun spoke, intending for the four despairing individuals to hear.

“If any of you can get a better deal and extend the bond maturity under better conditions than that, I’ll give you what I was going to give Ha-yeon. How about it?”

Despite Jang Ho-gun’s proposal, the three siblings couldn’t open their mouths.

How could they possibly create such a deal against the Lee family of the Hae-dong Group, who despised their maternal Hwang family?

Hwang Na-yeon, a member of that Hwang family, also remained silent, seeing her children’s faces miserably crumpled. Jang Ho-gun spoke.

“I never give anything for free. Ha-yeon has contributed that much to the company, so I’m giving her reasonable compensation. Of course.”

Jang Ho-gun paused to catch his breath before continuing.

“That’s all Ha-yeon will get. Thanks to the 300 billion won Ha-yeon secured, the acquisition of Ado Motors will be easier, so the rest you all will inherit.”

Jang Yong-jae and Jang Min-jae’s faces brightened. If they acquired the Ado Group, Jang Ho-gun’s affiliates would grow even larger, meaning they would inherit more.

“So, everyone, stop it. If we acquire the Ado Group, your share will be larger than what Ha-yeon takes. Is it that regrettable?”

Despite Jang Ho-gun’s rebuke, Jang Yong-jae and Jang Min-jae clenched their fists under the table. After all, the leisure business and real estate development were outside their interests.

Unlike her older brother and younger brother, only Jang Su-yeon, who coveted the leisure business, glared at Jang Ha-yeon, trembling with a tightly clenched fist. Jang Ho-gun’s voice flew toward her.

“And Su-yeon, you.”

“Yes? …Yes, Father.”

“Hold the wedding with Park Nam-joon before the end of this year.”

“Yes?”

Jang Su-yeon’s face turned pale. Was he going to bury her in the tomb of marriage?

“In this acquisition battle, even if we become the preferred bidder, we need to bring in the Mujin Law Firm to push through a price reduction. Ha-yeon is earning her keep, so you need to do the same, right?”

“D-dad!”

Jang Su-yeon raised her voice, but Jang Ho-gun didn’t back down.

“Do as I say! It’s already been two years since you’ve been playing around with that guy. How long do you think I’ll keep cleaning up after you? Huh!”

“F-fa…”

Even after seeing Jang Su-yeon stammer, Jang Ho-gun lashed out as if he had made up his mind.

“Do you even know how much your father has suffered trying to hide your escapades with Park Nam-joon? The secretarial office, the public relations office, bribing the media with alcohol and money, and even…!”

He couldn’t bring himself to say that he had even provided women in front of his daughter. Jang Ho-gun sighed and stopped speaking, then glared coldly at Jang Su-yeon.

“I won’t say any more. Get married by the end of the year.”

Jang Su-yeon couldn’t say anything. Such a good day was ending like this!

Jang Ho-gun turned his gaze away from the frozen Jang Su-yeon and spoke to Jang Ha-yeon in a heavy voice.

“Ha-yeon, you get married soon too. You’re already twenty-nine. I need to think about my grandchildren.”

“Yes, Father.”

With Jang Ha-yeon’s calm reply, Jang Ho-gun left the dining room and went down to the underground garage. Jang Ha-yeon followed Jang Ho-gun.

“What’s wrong, Ha-yeon?”

“It’s about Seong-min.”

“Seong-min?”

“Yes, actually…”

Jang Ha-yeon told Jang Ho-gun about Lee Seong-min’s business trip to Hong Kong, which she had heard while resolving the Shinseong Electronics bond repayment issue.

“Hmm… that’s quite awkward. But we can’t interfere with another company’s affairs.”

Jang Ha-yeon spoke to Jang Ho-gun, who was lamenting with regret.

“Seong-min said he’s working hard to come back quickly. So…”

“I understand. I’ll wait. But instead…”

Jang Ho-gun chuckled, seeing Jang Ha-yeon’s tense expression.

“If that guy can’t come back even after a year, I’ll take you to Hong Kong and hold the wedding myself, haha.”

“Father, really.”

Jang Ho-gun patted Jang Ha-yeon’s shoulder, who was relieved, and got into the car. Jang Ha-yeon took a deep breath, watching her father’s departing figure.

***

After parting with Jang Ha-yeon and returning home, I finished my paperwork and arrived at Hi-Mart Eunpyeong.

I was pushing a cart around the store to fill the empty refrigerator when a friendly voice caught my attention.

“Would you like to try some ramen, customer!”

I turned my head and saw a woman wearing a bandana, apron, and sanitary mask—a sales promoter. In front of her was a mini induction stove with ramen bubbling on top.

‘They’re already doing this?’

I was surprised to see the food sampling promoters, unlike before. It was an idea I hadn’t shared yet.

“I’ll just have a bite.”

“Yes, customer!”

I received a paper soju cup filled with a bite-sized portion of ramen and poured it into my mouth. The broth was refreshing, and the noodles were cooked just right—it tasted good.

“Where is this located?”

“It’s in this aisle, customer.”

I looked at the aisle the promoter politely pointed to and put two multipacks of ramen in my cart.

‘Could it be?’

A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I pushed my cart to the frozen food section, and sure enough, there they were. Promoters were out offering samples of dumplings and shrimp tempura.

“I’m a little hungry…”

After eating the shrimp tempura and dumplings offered by the promoters, my cart was filled with the frozen foods I had sampled.

I also looked around the meat, seafood, produce, and food court sections, confirming that the sanitation was as good as it was during the first opening, and after paying, I went to the office.

“Has everyone been well?”

“Director Lee?”

I opened the door, greeted them, and a few of the employees who were working got up and recognized me. They rushed toward me with the documents they were holding.

“It’s been so long, Director Lee! We thought you had forgotten about us, haha!”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been too busy with work.”

After catching up, I greeted Na Chang-seok, who was behind them.

“Congratulations, Manager. I heard you were promoted to executive director this time?”

“It’s all thanks to Director Lee. But… what are you holding…?”

I gave Na Chang-seok, who looked from the bag in my hand to my face, an awkward smile.

“I looked around the store and got ambushed by the ladies, haha.”

“I knew it. It was Section Chief Yoo’s idea, but if even Director Lee fell for it, there’s nothing more to see, haha.”

“Section Chief Yoo?”

Unlike Na Chang-seok, who was laughing heartily, my eyes widened. The food sampling promotion was Yoo Hyun-jung’s idea?

“Yes. Section Chief Yoo said it would be good to have food sampling promotions in the store. The smell from the food court stimulates the appetite, so if we apply that to the products we sell in the store, it would stimulate the desire to buy. Isn’t that right, Section Chief Yoo?”

At Na Chang-seok’s call, Yoo Hyun-jung walked over to us with an embarrassed smile.

“No, Executive Director. The treatment policies for the ladies and other ideas were from you or other colleagues, weren’t they?”

“That’s true, but I wouldn’t have even thought of it if Section Chief Yoo hadn’t come up with that idea, haha.”

I stared at the two of them, my mouth agape.

The food sampling promotion was an idea I was planning to release around next year, but they were doing it on their own… Was it because they had applied the Korean-style discount store framework early? It was a good butterfly effect.

“In my opinion, I think the Executive Director must have pointed out the treatment of the ladies… Am I right?”

People’s eyes widened at my careful guess.

“How did you know…?”

“You were worried about the field staff’s dinner at the celebration party the year before last.”

“Ah…”

When I told them about what had happened then, the way the employees looked at Na Chang-seok changed. I gave them a gentle smile and said.

“It’s a good thing, everyone. They’re working hard to increase our sales even though they came from outside, so treat them like our family. That’s where coexistence begins.”

The distribution industry is one of the most sensitive industries, where issues of abuse of power by the ‘gap’ side [the powerful party in a business relationship] occur most frequently.

As a private company, it can’t afford to run at a loss, but if it acts stingily, it will cut off customers’ footsteps, so it was only natural to support Na Chang-seok’s win-win management.

I put the vinyl bag I had brought in the office refrigerator for a moment, and then I sat down at the table with the original Hi-Mart members. I was drinking the coffee that the junior employees had set up when I handed Na Chang-seok a document envelope.

“What is this, Director Lee?”

“It’s a business plan for an online shopping mall. I don’t know if you’ll like it.”

Seeing my smiling face, expectations began to rise on the faces of Na Chang-seok and the other members. Na Chang-seok opened the envelope and took out the documents to examine them.

“The computer penetration rate will increase in the future, so if we start with a shopping mall and expand it into an open market as Director Lee’s plan suggests, it seems worth a try. I’ll talk to the CEO to integrate the product codes of the department store and the mart and create a website.”

“If you work on it this time, use that code when you expand to other channels. If you don’t set it up now, the cost you’ll pay later will be even greater.”

‘Roel On’ and ‘Shinseong Commerce’ also had a hard time integrating product codes.

‘Integrating more than 10,000 product codes isn’t easy, is it?’

The ordeal that the two groups went through in my previous life due to computer integration was terrifying just to think about. If I left it as it was, they would have to go through several times the hardship, so it was advantageous to combine the product codes into one from now on, when the scale was small, for computer management and inventory management.

In addition, after hearing about the current status of Hi-Mart and discussing future strategies, I took a break and went to the rooftop with Yoo Hyun-jung for a while.

“Executive Director Park will be promoted to managing director next year, Section Chief Yoo.”

“M-managing director?”

Yoo Hyun-jung’s eyes widened. Park Tae-jin was the closest aide to the chairman, but how surprising was it that he was skipping the position of executive director and being promoted to managing director?

“Yes. He’s suffering in Hong Kong right now because of the promotion to managing director, so don’t feel too bad, Section Chief Yoo.”

“Ah, no, Director. I’m not upset. It’s company business, and I haven’t even had a wedding with him yet…”

Yoo Hyun-jung’s face turned red as she trailed off. Park Tae-jin couldn’t help but fall for a woman who was usually so strong showing this side of herself.

“Wait a little longer, Section Chief Yoo. You know there’s no man like Executive Director Park, right?”

“Of course, Director. There will never be anyone like him.”

I was relieved to see Yoo Hyun-jung’s confident answer. If we just held on a little longer, both Park Tae-jin and I would be able to ease the minds of the women who believed in us.

***

A few days later.

After finishing my preparations for the business trip, I took a plane and arrived at Hong Kong Kai Tak International Airport.

“Hyung! [Older brother/close friend]”

“Director!”

Park Tae-jin and I, who had come out of the arrival hall, called each other with happy expressions and waved our hands.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I was circling in the sky for 20 minutes!”

I didn’t know I would experience the infamous landing delay at Kai Tak Airport like this. The last time I came to Hong Kong in my previous life, Kai Tak had closed and Chek Lap Kok Airport had opened, so I had only heard about it.

Park Tae-jin smiled at me, shaking his head.

“The Hong Kong government and the British mainland are also inconvenienced by it. Chek Lap Kok will be opened next year, so it will be fine, haha.”

“Britain is amazing too. They’re building a new airport even though they have to leave.”

“It can be seen as the British have high expectations for Hong Kong. To be precise, it’s the expectations of Lombard Street in London.”

“The City, you mean.”

The City, also known as the City of London.

It is an extraterritorial area with its own autonomy since the Magna Carta was proclaimed during the reign of King John of England.

Lombard Street in that City of London has numerous investment companies and banks. They’re all playing with money, so they must have high expectations and a lot of attachment to the Hong Kong stock market, which will become the investment gateway to mainland China.

Park Tae-jin, who was nodding, carefully opened his mouth.

“Hyung and the chief told me on the phone before Director came. You came to put a smokescreen on the acquisition of Ado Motors.”

“If I’m not in Korea, the relationship between Standard Capital and our family won’t be suspected. And…”

I opened my carrier on the spot and handed Park Tae-jin a paper bag.

“Section Chief Yoo told me to give it to you when you saw Hyung.”

“Hyun-jung… did?”

“Yes.”

Park Tae-jin blinked his eyes, tore open the envelope, and took out the letter. The more he read the letter, the more bitter Park Tae-jin’s face became.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Young Master. It says she understands because it’s company business.”

A bitter smile formed on Park Tae-jin’s face. Seeing that, I also showed a sorry expression and said.

“Let’s work hard for the next few months, so you can go back quickly.”

“Yes. I’ll help you hard too, Young Master.”

Park Tae-jin and I smiled at each other and moved our steps toward the airport exit.

By now, Seon Hae-cheol will be slowly preparing to declare war… Can I hold out until I go back?

Until I make a solid profit in Hong Kong and return.