Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 35

35. 12th. As Expected, Unexpectedly (1)

“If that’s the case, why are you working with me? You could just do it all yourself, couldn’t you? I wanted to prepare together… It’s too much.”

I can’t believe it.

Was her asking me to consult with her just a way to have a date with a working person?

Finding data between office desks, eating cup noodles, and drinking coffee from the vending machine?

Seeing her expression, which middle and high schoolers would describe as ‘Hmph!’, I quickly racked my brain to escape this crisis. Then, with a slightly embarrassed expression, I opened my mouth.

“You… you know me.”

“What?”

“Did you forget? Back in middle school, you hit me on the back after I drew you?”

“…That?”

“You cried and hit me, asking if I thought you looked like that? That drawing is still in my room, should I bring it and show you?”

“…Pfft!”

It was a terrible memory just thinking about it, but there was no other way to escape the crisis. Whether the drastic remedy worked or not, Jang Ha-yeon covered her mouth as laughter burst out. Damn it.

Art.

It was a flaw in my character.

I might know music, but my drawing skills are terrible, and my eye for seeing is awful, so luxury goods that need to capture the eye are out of the question. My style has been endlessly recycled from what Jang Ha-yeon, before she was torn apart in her past life, picked out for me, so what more is there to say?

Decisively, luxury goods are heavily influenced by trends. Because of Jang Su-yeon’s obsession with luxury goods, I know the past designers of each brand, but I’m insensitive to luxury consumption trends. Therefore, it was best to lay the groundwork for Jang Ha-yeon to show off 120 percent of her skills.

“If I pick out the products and design the store layout, customers will leave right away, right?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll do it, hehe.”

Jang Ha-yeon soothed me and smiled, and Park Tae-jin shook his head as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“Why, Senior? You know Seong-min can’t draw, right?”

“I know that, but… Hmph, I don’t know what to say. How about the data we prepared?”

At Park Tae-jin’s question, Jang Ha-yeon nodded.

“It’s good. There are many types, and the quality is good… First, I’ll take all this data, check it, and contact you.”

Jang Ha-yeon put the documents in a box while I and Park Tae-jin were saying ‘Uh, uh,’ and said to me, looking at me.

“But you have to look around the department store with me. You have to work at the company later, right?”

That’s nothing.

Compared to being dragged around by Jang Su-yeon and working as a department store porter, it will be a date in heaven.

***

A little later.

After receiving a call from Jang Ha-yeon, who had finished checking everything, we arrived at the entrance of the Loeul Department Store’s main branch in Sogong-dong and entered the store.

“Welcome, customers. This is Loeul Department Store.”

We three looked around the store, receiving greetings from the employees who were bowing deeply. There weren’t many foreign brand products yet, but it was worth seeing as the largest department store in Korea.

“There are definitely not many foreign products. We can take the lead first. Let’s start with belts, scarves, and cosmetics with low unit prices near the entrance, and put more expensive brands as we go inside. Jewelry…”

Jang Ha-yeon took out the prepared summary data from her Birkin bag, which I was holding instead, and wrote down various things while looking back and forth between the store displays. I was afraid to talk to her because she was so focused.

While walking around the store, we took a seat in the food court in the basement and drank coffee.

“If we build the Gangnam branch after the department store renewal, can we bring in Hermès?”

“Hermès?”

“It hasn’t come to Korea yet. I thought it would be good if we attracted the first store.”

Hermès, which currently has a market capitalization of just over 1 trillion Korean won [approximately 750 million USD].

I also know that it will later be counted as one of the top three luxury brands along with Chanel and Louis Vuitton, and the best of the three. So, I wanted to put it in the Gangnam branch that will open when Central Square is completed in two years.

Jang Ha-yeon pondered for a moment, then took out a notebook from her Birkin bag and stopped at a piece of paper after flipping through it for a while.

“Add Chanel and Louis Vuitton. We have to bring in three unconditionally. And for jewelry, start with Bulgari and Cartier…”

She also recommended brands that are quite cheap yet cute or fancy, like AGATHA. Her comment that it looks vulgar if it’s only excessively expensive products sounded plausible.

Up to this point, it felt like her. But from then on, something was strange.

“For the household goods corner, it would be good to put Miele refrigerators or dishwashers and set up Artistina or Villeroy & Boch, Rosenthal, or Seltmann Weiden inside. For furniture, Molteni would also be good…”

“Noona, those are all in our house, right?”

“Really?”

“I’m using Miele with the refrigerator on my mother’s side, and the cup you used when you came last time was Artistina. The sofa is Molteni. There are many other brands too. Right, Hyung?”

Park Tae-jin nodded because Jang Ha-yeon seemed like she didn’t believe it.

“Except for TVs, we use a pair of Keumkang Electronics [a fictional brand, implying high-end Korean electronics] and Miele for home appliances, and although furniture is an exception, all the tableware brands you mentioned are handled at the Yeongdeungpo main branch. Those are the items that the owner’s wife chose after looking at the catalogs that the deceased president brought on business trips.”

A subtle smile spread across Jang Ha-yeon’s lips. Could it be…?

“Seong-min. Let’s stop looking here and go to your house. How about finding out all the brands and prices and adding one or two more zeros to the price tags for the furniture?”

I was so happy today to find out that the household items in our house, which I had been using indifferently, were luxury goods.

My feet were sore from walking around, but working like a date seems a hundred times better. I have to go home quickly before my mind changes.

***

Meanwhile, the women’s clothing corner of Loeul Department Store was in chaos because of a young customer.

“Bring that one, that one, that one, and… bring that one again.”

“Excuse me?”

The female employee unknowingly asked Jang Su-yeon, who was in front of the fitting room. Hadn’t she already brought that red dress nine times?

Since the customer is king, she realized her mistake and bowed her head, but Jang Su-yeon glared at her.

“What? Do you not want to? Should I call the owner here?”

“Ah, no, customer! I’ll bring it right away!”

The female employee hurriedly ran to bring the clothes, and Jang Su-yeon closed the fitting room door with a thud after receiving the clothes.

In reality, she would only buy a very small portion of the clothes.

Even so, her joy was to occupy the fitting room for more than two hours every time she came, making the employees go back and forth dozens of times to bring the same clothes several times, holding her own fashion show.

The employees couldn’t stop Jang Su-yeon. Leaving aside the fact that she was the third generation of the Shinsung Group [a fictional conglomerate, implying significant wealth and influence], wasn’t she a VVIP with monthly payments of tens of millions of won [equivalent to tens of thousands of USD]?

Today, after happily finishing her show, Jang Su-yeon saw three familiar people while walking around with bodyguards holding bags filled with nearly 10 million won worth of items.

“What’s that?”

Seeing Lee Seong-min, Park Tae-jin, and Jang Ha-yeon disappearing while talking intimately, sparks flew from Jang Su-yeon’s eyes.

The Shinsung Group’s affiliated office employees, who were holding shopping bags full in both hands next to Jang Su-yeon, who was trembling, turned pale. Wasn’t this a sign that the limiter on that crazy bitch was being released?

Jang Su-yeon’s shoulders, which had been shaking for a while, subsided. Jang Su-yeon spat out sullenly to the employees behind her.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you following me?”

‘Ugh, that bitch! Does she think we can use telepathy?’

‘If we used telepathy, she would yell at us for getting ahead!’

The affiliated office employees could only store a whole bunch of curses inside, but they couldn’t say anything to Jang Su-yeon. Wasn’t she the chairman’s daughter?

In that way, Jang Su-yeon ran into the main building, ignoring the employees who had brought her luggage all the way to her house.

“Mom!”

Jang Su-yeon called Hwang Na-yeon as she slammed the door open. It was because she couldn’t stand the sight she had seen at the department store.

“What’s wrong, Su-yeon?”

“Mom, I saw Jang Ha-yeon walking around the department store with Lee Seong-min.”

“Tell me in detail. Why are they walking around together?”

“I don’t know, but they were walking around Loeul Department Store with that tall guy who takes care of Seong-min? Are they dating?”

Jang Su-yeon couldn’t stand the bubbling anger. She was stuck in the company working, but someone was having a date disguised as work!

Unlike Jang Su-yeon, who was blinded by jealousy, Hwang Na-yeon was startled by her daughter’s words.

If Jang Ha-yeon, who has no backing, sticks with Lee Seong-min, then the Haedong Group will support her. It’s an extreme assumption, but since she’s usually a clever woman, if she attracts the Haedong Group, she might take away the share that her children, whom she painfully gave birth to, would take.

Hwang Na-yeon went into the master bedroom with her daughter and pressed the phone number pad with familiar hand movements. Soon, the male employee in front of Lee Soo-han’s room would answer the phone.

“It’s me. Are you doing well? Thank you. Even handsome guys like you should be wrapped around like us. Hehe.”

Unlike her voice, Hwang Na-yeon had a mocking smile on her face. Now that she had shown the lowly guy the taste of money, he had given up his liver and gallbladder, hadn’t he?

“Yes. Trading with the Haedong Group… Yes? Oh, you’re thorough. Okay. Thanks.”

Hwang Na-yeon hung up the phone with a smile on her face. Jang Su-yeon wanted to know what her mother had heard and opened her mouth.

“What’s going on, Mom?”

“I heard that Jang Ha-yeon is going to be in charge of consulting for Lee Seong-min and Haedong Department Store.”

“Yes?”

Jang Su-yeon’s clenched fist trembled. She was stuck in the company working, but someone was having a date disguised as work!

Hwang Na-yeon patted her daughter’s shoulder and told her what she hadn’t said yet.

“But I heard that the Haedong Group will pay for Jang Ha-yeon’s hotel expenses.”

“That’s not a big deal… Mom?”

Hwang Na-yeon liked her daughter, who interrupted in the middle but soon lowered her voice and called her. Wasn’t her quick judgment just like her?

“If you tell your mother’s side and another newspaper breaks it, it will be a win-win situation if you damage Haedong’s image there, right?”

Hwang Na-yeon’s voice sounded sweet to Jang Su-yeon. There was no reason to refuse since she could grind the two people who had humiliated her to dust.

“Let’s do that, Mom. I have to pay them back more than I was hurt.”

Hwang Na-yeon, who had a cold smile while facing her daughter, picked up the phone that had been thrown on the bed. Hwang Na-yeon’s determination to show the horror of the Choguk Ilbo [a fictional newspaper, implying a powerful and potentially ruthless media outlet] added strength to the hand pressing the keypad.

***

Let’s go back to the past for a moment.

The male employee who hung up the phone with Hwang Na-yeon was sitting on the sofa facing Lee Soo-han.

“Why did you do that?”

“S, Section Chief…”

At Lee Soo-han’s blunt voice, the male employee was trembling with the hand holding the phone, not matching his physique.

“Why did you do it, you bastard!”

“…I’m sorry, Section Chief.”

“Shut up! How much did I trust you… How could you betray me like this?”

Lee Soo-han glared at the male employee, clenching his fist as if it would burst with the human betrayal he had tasted for the first time.

He was the guy who diligently asked about company work when he went to the commercial high school he graduated from to give a special lecture, and he was the guy who was noticeable for writing down his answers. He had found out enough about him, proposed a Shinsung Group high school graduate recruitment as soon as he graduated, and had him sit in front of his room as soon as he joined the company.

He was so good at his job that he was even considering sending him to night school with his own money and helping him with the college graduate recruitment. To think that such a guy would be swayed by ties, watches, and shoes…

Lee Soo-han lit the cigarette in his mouth and took a deep puff. He strongly exhaled thick cigarette smoke on the employee’s face as if spewing out anger.

“Cough! Cough!”

Only after hearing the employee’s cough until he took the last puff and rubbed it out in the ashtray did Lee Soo-han calm down and pick up the phone.

“This is Lee Soo-han, Chairman. What I said was correct. Yes. He still has value, so how about dealing with him later? Yes. I will definitely take care of it. Thank you.”

After finishing the call, Lee Soo-han looked at the employee with a sharp gaze.

“There is only one way for you to be forgiven. If you do as I say, I will make sure you have enough money to buy a house in LA and start a supermarket.”

“Section Chief.”

Lee Soo-han spat out in a cold voice to the male employee who was calling him.

“After this is over, live there quietly. Forever.”

Regardless of the outcome, it was an accident caused by a guy he had picked with his own hands.

Lee Soo-han was thinking of taking responsibility and cleaning up this mess.

***

A few days later.

Chairman Hwang Hyun-seong of Choguk Ilbo received a call from his younger sister, asking him to make Jang Ha-yeon and the Haedong Group the talk of the town.

He was now drinking chrysanthemum wine with the president of Dongyang Ilbo [another fictional newspaper, implying a rival media outlet], Cho Hyung-man, at a Korean restaurant, using gayageum [a traditional Korean stringed instrument] performances as a snack, after making an appointment a few days ago.

“Is it true?”

“Hey, am I the kind of person who would lie about this?”

“Still, isn’t Ha-yeon that child, your older brother’s eldest daughter? It’s a matter of giving convenience to your niece, so why are you asking me to tear her apart?”

At President Cho Hyung-man’s question, who was placing his hand on the table and fiddling with the empty glass, Hwang Hyun-seong smiled.

If you write an article about how chaebol owners treat company money as their own pocket money, there won’t be any newspapers left on the stands. But wouldn’t it be suspicious to throw his own flesh and blood to others to tear apart?

Hwang Hyun-seong didn’t lose his smile and poured wine into Cho Hyung-man’s glass.

“Are you that curious about other people’s family affairs? If this blows up properly, you’ll get Haedong Group’s advertising, and even if it goes wrong, you’ll make 5 billion won [approximately 3.75 million USD], right?”

Cho Hyung-man bit his lip.

Even though they are the same conservative daily newspapers, Dongyang Ilbo had said what it had to say not only to the military regime but also to the Governor-General of Korea, unlike Choguk Ilbo, which was attached to the military regime. To think that the eldest son of the family that founded the first ethnic media in this country would suffer such humiliation!

Hwang Hyun-seong didn’t even find Cho Hyung-man funny. When was Dongyang Ilbo ever like that!

The fact that the Ko family is even using their own money to barely maintain third place is a well-known fact in the media world. So, he can’t easily turn away from the secret plan he gave him and the 5 billion won in Shinsung Electronics unregistered corporate bonds he put on the table, right?

It was also an opportunity to help his younger siblings and nephews, but also to have Dongyang Ilbo, which is always in third place, grab the ankles of Hanyang Ilbo, which is chasing after Choguk Ilbo, so Hwang Hyun-seong only wore a gentle smile.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, hey. If you don’t believe me that much, I’ll add 1 billion won in cash as a deposit.”

Hwang Hyun-seong’s eyes widened, but Cho Hyung-man’s bargaining was just beginning.

“10 billion.”

“Wha, 10 billion?”

“10 billion in cash plus 5 billion in corporate bonds. That’s the deposit I want.”

“Hey! Cho Hyung-man!”

“Why? Don’t tell me you were thinking of making me write a fake article? Are you trying to take down our company’s sign?”

Hwang Hyun-seong, who shouted angrily, looked at Cho Hyung-man’s sharp eyes. The saying that a tiger leaves its skin even when it dies was not wrong.

How long had it been? At the end of the staring contest, Hwang Hyun-seong gritted his teeth.

“I’ll give you the unregistered bonds you put here as a deposit. I’ll give you the remaining 10 billion as soon as the article comes out. Is that okay?”

“Okay. I’ll put it in the newspaper to be released the day after tomorrow and spread it all over. I’ll keep putting it out until you tell me to stop, Brother.”
Hwang Hyun-seong, who was in a bad mood, returned home as it was and received a call from Hwang Na-yeon.

[Brother, it’s me. Did you handle the work well?]

“I persuaded Cho Hyung-man and decided to put it in the newspaper that will come out the day after tomorrow.”

Hwang Hyun-seong wore a bitter smile, wondering if her personality of looking for scorched rice in a well [a Korean idiom referring to someone who is overly meticulous and eager to gain even the smallest advantage] was still the same. Her older brother was working hard for the family and nephews, but he felt sorry for his senseless younger sister.

[Thank you, Brother. You worked hard, so I should give you a gift, hoho.]

Hwang Hyun-seong’s expression relaxed when the word gift caught his ear.

“What kind of gift is it?”

[Brother, you have the same impatient personality. When I see things like this, I guess we’re both our father’s children?]

“Don’t beat around the bush, Na-yeon. If this goes wrong, you might lose 15 billion. Cho Hyung-man, that bastard, was so stubborn…”]

Hwang Hyun-seong frowned and weighed his words. His face looked like he wanted to ask if every family’s younger sister was like this.

[Is that so? Then I’ll have to eat it all myself.]

“Ah, no! Tell me quickly. Aren’t we saying this to make everything go well, haha.”

[I heard that Shinsung Electronics is going to build a factory in Pyeongtaek? I heard that the site area is about 100,000 pyeong [approximately 81 acres]…]

Hwang Na-yeon’s voice sounded like the sound of coins pouring out of a slot machine to Hwang Hyun-seong’s ear, which was holding the receiver today.