I’d Rather Live as a Villain - I’d Rather Live as a Villain chapter 56

56 Please mind your manners

“It’s a daughter.”

Daeyoung Hospital’s Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The doctor’s expression was nothing but indifferent.

“Are you certain?”

Joo Yeon-hee felt suffocated at the sight of her husband squinting his eyes, questioning the doctor.

Tap-tap-tap…

With several dazzling maneuvers, the doctor used the buttons on the ultrasound machine’s joystick to bring up different angles of the ultrasound image on the monitor.

“This part is called the ‘hamburger sign’. It’s clear, isn’t it? This represents the female labia majora…”

“Are you sure?”

The voice was tinged with irritation.

In Kang Young-jin’s eyes, furrowed with frown lines, a faint hostility towards the doctor lingered.

Yet, the doctor’s expression remained dry.

Just a moment ago, the doctor had asked with a look of confusion as if he had misheard something.

“Guardian, what are you doing right now?”

“What?”

After instinctively checking the mother’s condition, the doctor looked at Kang Young-jin, the vice president with a twisted expression, with a look of displeasure and watched him in silence for a while.

Vice President Kang Young-jin.

The doctor was well aware of this figure too.

How could they not know?

From the moment the medical records were transferred from the general hospital to this place, the news that Chairman Kang Ki-young’s grandson and his spouse, and Chairman Kang Man-ho’s eldest son and his spouse were pregnant, spread through the obstetrics ward like a beacon.

But what of it?

The doctor looked at Kang Young-jin with an incredulous expression and thought:

The mother is healthy, and the fetus in the mother’s womb is healthy.

Why should he feel uncomfortable in front of a guardian?

A guardian old enough, yet a man more than ten years his junior.

There’s no duty or responsibility for the doctor to tolerate casual speech or incessant nagging from such a counterpart, let alone take it without complaint.

Especially since the guardian’s attitude towards the fetus’s gender, even with the mother right beside him, was below common sense in the eyes of the doctor, who had been in obstetrics for over 20 years, regardless of the fact that he was part of Daeyoung’s succession.

So, unless there was something even slightly wrong with the mother’s health or the fetus, there was no reason for him to unconditionally endure the treatment from the much younger Vice President Kang Young-jin as if he were dealing with an employee of Daeyoung.

“What’s with the informal language? Your words keep getting cut off. Guardian, please show some manners.”

Kang Young-jin, who had been greatly disappointed to learn that the expected son was not a son but a daughter, burst into incredulous laughter at the sight of the doctor who only regarded him as the guardian of the mother and fetus, not as the vice president of Daeyoung Chemical.

“Heh…”

And Joo Yeon-hee, seeing her husband’s reaction, bit her lower lip hard, barely holding back.

“Just because you’re treated at Daeyoung Hospital doesn’t mean all the doctors here are employees of Daeyoung. I’m not one of your subordinates,” the doctor said with dry eyes, still attentive to the mother’s condition.

“The gender identified at 16 weeks is nearly 90 percent accurate. The fetal heartbeat and growth rate are all stable. The mother’s condition is good too. I’ll schedule your next visit for three weeks from now.”

Having set up the next check-up appointment and leaving the ultrasound room, Joo Yeon-hee felt her husband’s hand on her shoulder, chilling her like a cockroach’s touch.

“It’s okay. There’s still plenty of time.”

Joo Yeon-hee took a deep breath, shrugging her shoulders.

Then she looked at her husband with cold eyes.

“It’s supposed to be okay. The doctor said so. Both the mother and the fetus are healthy.”

Joo Yeon-hee also felt a deep regret.

More than anyone, she had hoped the life in her womb would be a son.

It’s not that she had no expectations for a daughter.

But for the first child, for the sake of Daeyoung’s succession, she had hoped it would be a son.

Yet, the overt reaction of her husband, even with her by his side, seemed like something she would never forget for the rest of her life.

Towards her, the husband began to speak with a feeble laugh, as if telling a lie.

“Take it easy.”

For a moment, Joo Yeon-hee felt as if she were dreaming.

A disturbing nightmare.

“…What?”

“Cut it out. There’s only so much teasing I can take with a smile.”

Joo Yeon-hee was reminded of what happened during the last Lunar New Year holiday, on the first day in Pyeongchang-dong.

Moon Jung, her sister-in-law, had come to her side in the garden, where she had been sitting to avoid the discomfort of being in the same space.

Pretending to be indifferent, she handed over a cushion and a blanket, telling her to sit on the cushion and cover herself with the blanket.

Then she had given her a shopping bag containing baby blue sneakers for newborns.

She had said she was already curious and eager to meet the child inside her, who was, after all, her niece or nephew.

Having known Kang Moon-jung for over ten years, Joo Yeon-hee felt pitifully earnest about the life inside her for reasons other than what Moon Jung had expressed.

As she began to compare the image of Moon Jung with that of her husband, she couldn’t help but feel disgusted, despite knowing better than anyone why she was so disappointed.

“Let’s go quickly. I need to drop you off at your gallery and then head to the group’s headquarters.”

“Forget it. Just go. I can take a taxi by myself.”

At her husband’s response, Joo Yeon-hee was suddenly engulfed in doubt, wondering if she had chosen the wrong path from the start and was just following it blindly.

“Is that what you want?”

“…”

“Alright, then do that.”

* * *

Kang Young-jin left his wife standing in front of the ultrasound room and walked down the elevator corridor.

The annoyance seemed to drag on.

If only it had been a son from the start.

Then he could have quickly settled the succession and ended this tedious competition…

The hospital elevator was painfully slow.

Kang Young-jin stared at the elevator indicator on the first floor, which wasn’t moving, and opened his phone to call his assistant waiting in the underground parking lot.

“Bring the car to the main entrance.”

― Are you finished?

“Ah, damn… This brat is making me tired today. Hey, you. I’m in the middle of something, and you’re telling me to bring up the car?”

― …I’m sorry.

“Hurry up and bring it.”

* * *

“Director Jang Ki-won?”

I carefully broached the topic of Director Jang and the China division to President Min.

“The situation with the China division. I understand it’s not very good these days.”

“Isn’t that the case everywhere? Any company involved in business with China, any company with a related division, is going through tough times.”

“That’s why I wanted to talk.”

I’ve given a lot of thought to the man named President Min Byung-chul.

He’s the nephew-in-law of my wife, Ahn Cheol-hyun, the owner of Hanshin Newspaper, and his college classmate.

Born in ’61.

He has been the president of Daeyoung Merchandise for nine years now, and that period is unprecedented in Daeyoung’s history, excluding the owner’s tenure.

In one way, it could be seen as recognition of his abilities, but on the other hand, it could mean that despite his outstanding skills, he has a critical weakness that prevents him from moving up to the group’s headquarters.

Naturally, that weakness would be his close association with Ahn Cheol-hyun, the owner of Hanshin Newspaper. The moment he became an executive at Daeyoung, he clearly declared his allegiance in the succession structure of Kang Moon-jung and Kang Young-jin.

Such a man, having passed sixty, still holds the presidency of Daeyoung Merchandise. Could there be anything left for him to desire now?

I heard that last year, he took home nearly 1.5 billion won just as a performance bonus.

Within the board of presidents, he’s considered next only to the president of Daeyoung Electronics.

After not a short span of nine years under Daeyoung’s roof, starting as an ordinary employee, he must have experienced all the wealth and glory one could enjoy. Perhaps the respectful attitude he’s showing me now is nothing but the last amusement of his remaining time at Daeyoung?

The respect President Min has shown me over the years isn’t because I’ve been insanely boosting the sales of the European division, but because he sees me solely as a partner to the person named Kang Moon-jung.

“Director Jang Ki-won. Isn’t it too precious to lose someone like you over performance issues?”

President Min Byung-chul looked at me with an inscrutable gaze for a long while.

Then, unexpectedly, he spoke.

“Do you have a personal connection with Director Jang?”

“I was planning to build one in the future.”

“Is that so?”

“I believe he’s someone we absolutely need at Merchandise.”

“So that’s why you came to see me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not like you, Director.”

“In what… aspect do you mean?”

With a light smile, President Min said,

“I always thought you were rational and cool-headed, but it turns out you have an emotional side too?”

So I said,

“If this place were filled only with people as calculating and cold as me, wouldn’t Merchandise become too desolate?”

“What does that mean?”

I told President Min about the help I received from Director Jang Ki-won when I was planning an olive farm-related business in the European division during my time as an agent.

“Right, Director Jang. He’s that kind of friend. But it’s not just about personal connections with him. If you think back to when the China division’s sales were skyrocketing, his tenacity and focus were so remarkable that it left you tongue-tied. At least 30 percent of the total billing turnover created by the China division at that time was thanks to Director Jang’s efforts when he was leading the office as a manager,” I said.

I also shared my thoughts, mentioning that although I was part of the European division at the time, I had closely observed the unbridled growth of the China division right next door.

“I don’t think the current situation in the China division can improve just by changing the person in charge.”

I didn’t come to the president’s office just because I felt a personal debt of gratitude towards Director Jang Ki-won.

Right now, I can’t afford to worry about anyone else.

If someone other than Director Jang Ki-won came and could restore the China division to its former glory, I would have been clapping and looking forward to it.

But the current issue with the China division isn’t the market of China, which is completely frozen over; it’s not at all about the capability, quality, or leadership of the person leading the China division.

“Although I know I have no right to offer such an opinion to you about the China division, if I may be so bold, I believe that no matter who takes over, the slump in the China division will continue for a while. Wouldn’t the morale of the China division be even more damaged if the director is replaced due to poor sales performance?”

A sip of coffee.

President Min, sitting with crossed legs, placed his clasped hands on his knee and let out a chuckle towards me.

“That’s why the image of a person can be so frightening.”

I too moistened my mouth with a sip of coffee and responded with a smile.

“I’m curious about what kind of image you have of me, President.”

“No, not Director’s image, I’m talking about my own image.”

“…Your image, President?”

“For the past nine years, I’ve led the company like this. Strictly selecting and dismissing people based on sales and ability.”

President Min Byung-jin’s sharp personnel management is quite famous throughout the group.

“And so, at some point, I found myself trapped by the image I had created.”

I felt like I understood what he meant.

I had to restrain myself in front of numerous opportunities because of the stubborn image I had created, even up to my first kiss with my wife.

“It’s not easy for me to hear from others why I’m doing things differently now after leading the company this way all along.”

“But…”

“Yes, but.”

He pushed his glasses up slightly and continued.

“If you think Director Jang is essential for the current and future director, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to step out of the image I’ve created for once.”

At that moment, I felt a throbbing pain from my tailbone to my herniated disc, as if that single sentence had revived a past experience.

“Is Director Jang an essential person for you, Director?”

An essential person?

To be honest, it’s not quite to that extent.

But…

“If someone has to be made into such a being, it would be nice if one of them was Director Jang.”

“Then you should create it. The current distribution president is only losing to the chemical vice president because of the group’s internal support base, isn’t that all there is?”

This time, he uncrossed his legs and leaned forward towards the table, lifting his coffee cup.

Holding the coffee cup almost to his lips, President Min looked up at me with his eyes narrowed and said,

“No matter how hard I try, I can’t make it. It’s only natural. I’m not part of the owner’s family, nor a relative of that family, so the very thought that I could create it is nonsense.”

“……”

“But it’s different for you, Director. From what I see, you have the justification, the qualifications, and… the skills. You seem to have it all. If you need anything in the future, feel free to come by like today.”