I’d Rather Live as a Villain

I’d Rather Live as a Villain – Part 12

(I wish to do so)

“I am Joo Dong-jin, appointed as the executive secretary. I look forward to working with you.”

After finishing the formal greetings with the president and vice president, I came down to the office I would be using.

At the info desk-style seat prepared in front of the European Division Director’s office, a man who looked to be at most thirty, perhaps just starting his social life, stood up.

When I visited last week at the suggestion of President Min Byung-jin, there was a woman in this seat.

It meant that with the change of the director, the dedicated secretary had changed as well.

“Is this your first day at work?”

“Yes.”

“And yet, you’ve already settled into your space quite well. Do I have any schedule assigned to me today?”

“I haven’t received any schedule yet.”

“Then let’s take it easy today.”

It was when I was about to turn towards the director’s office I’ll be using.

“Inside…”

Should I ask for their age?

There’s enthusiasm, but something is definitely awkward.

I turned my head again at the secretary’s words.

“What’s inside?”

“The group’s executive secretary has been waiting for you for about 10 minutes now.”

The executive secretary?

I entered the director’s office.

“Executive Secretary!”

Mr. Jang Dong-ju, the executive secretary, who serves closest to Chairman Kang Man-ho.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he’s my only colleague in the group’s secretariat.

To me, who started my day commuting to Pyeongchang-dong for the past three years, he was the only person I could comfortably talk to in Pyeongchang-dong.

There he was, smiling at me with a slightly mischievous expression, bowing his head.

A subsidiary director of Daeyoung. The heart of Daeyoung, the executive secretary of the group’s headquarters.

Strictly speaking, even if he bows, I should be the one bowing first, and much deeper.

But that subtlety existed between us, and I had to see it as the executive secretary bowing first to eliminate that subtlety.

“It seems your initiation on the first day was quite something?”

When did he arrive?

The secretary said he came about 10 minutes ago.

But if he came straight here, he shouldn’t know that I had my initiation.

Well.

The meeting with the president and the executive director took longer than I thought.

“Please, make yourself comfortable.”

That’s when I noticed quite a number of potted plants had been brought in next to the office desk.

Each pot was labeled with the names of executives from other affiliates who had sent them.

For a moment, I wondered what all this was about, when the director handed me a shopping bag. It was narrow but quite long, held firmly in both hands.

One hand on the handle, the other supporting the bottom of the bag.

“The chairman sent this.”

A wooden box.

Just by the weight and the brand on the shopping bag, I could tell it was champagne.

And there was also an envelope with the newly changed logo of Daeyoung Department Store.

This too was a gift from the chairman, exclusively for the newly promoted executives.

Following the lobby welcome ceremony, now a gift of champagne.

No doubt, inside the department store envelope would be three 1 million won gift certificates.

“Since it’s your first day at work and you must be busy, the chairman asked if you’d like to have lunch together tomorrow.”

The chairman?

I forced down my surprised expression and smiled.

“Please have a seat, Director.”

“Executive Director Yoon.”

It felt awkward.

But it was a title I would have to get used to soon.

“Yes, Director.”

He was smiling, but I couldn’t quite decipher the exact meaning behind the director’s smile.

“It may seem obvious, but despite our long commutes to Pyeongchang-dong together, we’ve never had a drink, just the two of us.”

As the director said, it was perhaps inevitable.

“As you know, champagne is something you pop after a victory, not something you open in advance and wait to win.”

He was someone favorable to me.

A fussy owner’s VIP escort.

During the time when Vice President Kang Young-jin’s executive secretary changed three times, I had consistently stayed by Executive Director Kang Moon-jung’s side.

In that sense, it was true that I had made things much easier for Director Jang Dong-ju.

Perhaps that’s why, Director Jang, the master secretary of the Seoul National University alumni group, had always rated me higher than my abilities, regardless of school ties.

The things he was telling me now had no reason to be twisted.

Rather, it was right to take them as sincere concern for me.

“If you open it now, all the steam will escape and it won’t be enjoyable to drink later. If you drink it before winning because you hate losing the steam, you might even be accused of cheating. I’ve been serving the chairman for eight years now, haven’t I?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve seen many fall from grace by immediately opening and drinking what the chairman has given. This isn’t the time to open it, Director.”

“…Yes.”

“You open it after you’ve won everything.”

“Please, have a seat, Manager.”

Despite my invitation, Manager Jang Dong-ju declined with a neat hand gesture and consciously lifted the corners of his mouth once again.

“I must go, I’ve spent too much time here than I expected. I have to see to my duties.”

If only he had told me he was coming early, I would have ended the meeting with President Min as quickly as possible…

“While coming here to deliver this on behalf of the chairman, I suddenly thought, ‘I’ve been commuting to Pyeongchang-dong with you for over three years, and there’s nothing much I’ve done for you.'”

“That’s not true. You’ve taught me so much over the years.”

At my words, Manager Jang smiled faintly and confirmed tomorrow’s lunch appointment with the chairman.

“I’ll arrange for the secretary outside to let you know the venue as soon as it’s decided.”

“Are you really leaving without even having a cup of coffee?”

“During your meeting with the president and the executive director, I couldn’t just wait around doing nothing, so I got a cup from Deputy Director Jeon Chung-heon.”

So, the initiation ceremony I had in the European Division office had reached Manager Jang’s ears…

After Manager Jang left, I looked around the office that I would be using in the future.

The potted plants gathered on one side under the office desk.

“…”

Among those plants, I found the name of Vice President Kang Young-jin.

Kang Young-jin, Vice President of Chemicals.

There was a potted plant sent by him.

***

Fortunately, the lunch with Chairman Kang Man-ho was also attended by Director Kang Moon-jung.

Since I had already confirmed the details through the director the day before, I tried to anticipate as many of the chairman’s potential questions as possible in his presence.

It couldn’t just be a simple invitation to dine together because of my executive promotion.

With so many subsidiaries under Daeyoung, it’s impossible for the busy chairman to arrange such meetings for every executive promotion.

At this lunch, it was clear that the chairman would focus not on my appointment as the head of the trading division but on my relationship with Director Kang Moon-jung.

Daeyoung Hotel Gangnam branch, 22nd floor Chinese restaurant.

I had left 20 minutes early to be the first to arrive, but before I could reach the hotel, I received a call from the executive director.

He said he had arrived early and was already in conversation with the chairman.

I hurried up and was guided to the room that had been reserved in advance.

Entering through the door opened by the manager, I bowed respectfully towards the chairman and the executive director, who were seated and talking on one of the sofas.

On the coffee table between the chairman and the executive director was a small porcelain teapot and teacups.

“I’ll prepare the tea first.”

The manager who had escorted me to the room said he would prepare my pre-meal tea.

However, the chairman suggested that it would be better to prepare the meal right away.

“Yoon Tae-sik.”

“Yes.”

My name came from the chairman’s lips.

The chairman, rising from his seat on the sofa, adjusted one of the buttons on his jacket and extended a hand towards me.

“The name that has been in my head the most over the past week.”

“…Yes.”

“Every day it was ‘Deputy Yoon, Deputy Yoon’… I only then realized that Executive Yoon’s name was Yoon Tae-sik.”

He didn’t let go of my hand.

Holding my hand, he looked me straight in the eyes and said,

“Congratulations on your promotion to head of the department.”

“I will do my best not to disappoint your expectations.”

“It’s okay to disappoint, but I really hope you keep that promise to do your best.”

I had been preparing for such an occasion even before the lunch appointment with the chairman was set, knowing that it was inevitable.

“As long as you keep that promise, I won’t be disappointed by much.”

Chairman Kang Man-ho.

Unlike the senior chairman Kang Ki-young, he was a warm person.

A man who would often slip in a light joke, unbeknownst to the senior chairman.

We sat around a small round table with a lazy Susan, with the chairman on the innermost side, the executive director with his back to the window, and me with my back to the entrance.

As the basic menu began to be served, the chairman rested one elbow on the table and slowly started turning the lazy Susan with his other hand.

Then he spoke.

“I heard you started off quite tough at the trading company.”

It was as if he knew everything about my confrontation with that man Park Je-dong, and how I had gone straight to the European division office without meeting President Min, who had been waiting for me after yesterday’s lobby reception, but he chose not to ask about each detail.

“Is that really your style?”

“No, it isn’t.”

I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“It isn’t?”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Then why did you go in so strong before you even started on your first day?”

One by one, dishes began to appear on the rotating table.

“Whether it was me or someone else in that position, the European division would have to endure some growing pains as soon as a new head took charge.”

Peanuts, chicken, and red dried chili peppers were stir-fried together. The chairman spun the dish on the lazy Susan towards me and gestured for me to help myself.

It was a gesture that suggested we talk over a slow meal.

“Has it been a problematic place for a while?”

“Even if the organization itself had no issues, it’s normal to expect some growing pains when a problematic head is replaced.”

“Why do you think President Min promoted such a problematic head from manager to division head?”

You can’t argue with that.

In an organization as large as Mulsan, there’s no such thing as a perfect personnel decision.

If one were to nitpick, they could find hundreds, if not thousands, of personnel issues right where they sit, given the size of Mulsan.

“The first thing I determined I needed to do at Mulsan was to erase the traces of the previous head as quickly as possible.”

Upon hearing my words, the chairman removed his hands from the glass turntable and rested his elbows on the table.

I picked up a few pieces of the chicken dish the chairman had recommended with my chopsticks, placed them on my plate, set down the chopsticks, and sat up straight.

“To do that, I had to ease the minds of the employees who knew about what happened between the previous head and me, those who shared an office with us at the time.”

“I heard that before you even started, you personally had Manager Park dismiss a deputy manager and a section chief, and just yesterday, right after the lobby welcome ceremony, you went up to the European division office and unilaterally promoted an assistant to deputy manager. How does that ease the minds of the other employees?”

At the chairman’s question, even Executive Director Kang Moon-jung began to look at me with curiosity.

“From the subordinates’ perspective, the most nerve-wracking and unsettling time is when something is clearly about to happen but doesn’t, and daily life continues as usual.”

“…”

“Once it actually happens, though, they might be shocked for a moment, but then they feel relieved. That’s how I felt. And that’s how the current European division is under my leadership. There’s definitely a festering corner, and the biggest victim of that decay has come as the new head. Many employees must have been anxious. But by acting as I did, everyone now thinks they can’t avoid it… Some resign themselves, others wait for their fate.”

It worked.

A satisfied expression began to form on the chairman’s face.

At the same time, the executive director also concealed his lips, showing his trust in me.

“I thought that was the right place to start as the new head of the European division. I’ve already cut away all the rotten parts that needed to be cut away according to my standards. From now on, I’ll apply ointment to the cut areas, so that healthy new flesh can grow.”

The round table’s lazy Susan began to turn again.

This time, a plate of Peking duck, with only the skin neatly arranged, was placed before me.

“Does your mother know about our Moon-jung?”

“…Yes, I’ve told her.”

“Are you going to introduce her?”

At that, I quickly glanced at the executive.

“Why are you looking at Moon-jung? I’m asking about what you think.”

To introduce her… That phrase held so many meanings.

What answer could penetrate this question, laden with various implications?

“I would like to do that.”