The 3th Generation of the Chaebol Wants to Live Quietly - Chapter 205



Only Noblemtl

#205.

When Chairman Choi Yong-wook saw Director Jang Seung-il about to step forward, he called him back, hesitated for a moment, and then instructed him to call President Oh Young-geun.

“…All right.”

Director Jang Seung-il hesitated for a moment.

Chairman Choi Yong-wook also laughed bitterly.

“Don’t worry too much. I have no intention of stealing my grandson’s rice cakes at this age.”

“Oh, no.”

Director Jang Seung-il pondered the current situation as he left the study. There is no way Chairman Choi Yong-wook would be so concerned about the life of a mere director of an affiliated company. Rather, it is probably because he is feeling complicated about the KM Electronics stock.

‘I hope I don’t have any unnecessary conversations with CEO Oh Young-geun. It’s a headache.’

* * *

President Oh Young-geun went to the mansion after receiving a sudden call from Chairman Choi Yong-wook.

A small drinking party was already prepared at the mansion.

He didn’t know English, so he just sat there silently, drinking and receiving.

‘Is it perhaps because of Director Lee Il-tae’s work?’

I remember well the incident where Director Lee Il-tae forced Choi Min-hyeok into a board meeting.

I thought that the prickly Director Choi Min-hyeok would not just sit back and do nothing, but something unexpected happened within the satellite business division.

President Oh Young-geun also considered calling in Director Choi Min-hyeok to persuade him, but when he realized that Director Lee Il-tae was not of much help to the company, he simply watched.

As time went on, the results were very different from his predictions.

Director Lee Il-tae’s face became more and more pale as the days passed.

It was more horrible than calling me in separately and forcing me to resign from the company.

It was only at this time that President Oh Young-geun realized how toxic Director Choi Min-hyeok was to his enemies.

I also found out later that Choi Min-hyeok had a hand in the downfall of Managing Director Kim Hyeon-woo and Executive Director Choi Hoon-yeol.

I called in Vice President Moon Hyung-seop and discussed the matter with him, but the conclusion was to wait and see.

Fortunately, things seemed to have ended well for Director Lee Il-tae after that.

It was a bit unexpected that Director Jang Seung-il showed up, but as expected, when he saw that Chairman Choi Yong-wook had called him, he realized that he had followed Chairman Choi Yong-wook’s instructions.

“How is Director Choi these days?”

“I always work with enthusiasm.”

“But it seems like he’s interfering in things that aren’t his responsibility, like the satellite business. Isn’t that beyond his capabilities as a director?”

“As far as I know, it’s to assist with areas that the satellite business division has not yet caught on to.”

“Is that so?”

“Chief Choi’s style is to report to the board of directors only after a certain level of results have been achieved, but I understand that it is still in progress.”

“Well, just because you’re the CEO doesn’t mean you can interfere with the planning director’s work. So, are you saying that you’re not dissatisfied with the work that Min-hyeok is doing?”

“yes?”

President Oh Young-geun was also taken aback by Chairman Choi Yong-wook’s completely different attitude than usual. He had never questioned Choi Min-hyeok’s actions in such detail before.

“Oh, no. I was talking nonsense. Maybe it’s because I drank a lot today, but I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

Chairman Choi Yong-wook, who was drinking one glass after another, looked very different from usual.

President Oh Young-geun just looked at Chairman Choi Yong-wook. Fortunately, Chairman Choi Yong-wook was quite drunk. President Oh Young-geun took advantage of that.

“Do you have any concerns?”

“Worried? What would I have to worry about?”

“I understand that this time, Director Choi Min-hyeok was nominated as one of the management successors. Vice Chairman Choi Moon-kyung will also be mentioned, but I think other family members will also be mentioned… … .”

“Oh, that’s right. My daughter-in-law is really upset. She’s upset because she can’t catch her father-in-law.”

Chairman Choi Yong-wook, perhaps because he had been drinking quite a bit, began to pour out his thoughts one by one.

Vice President Choi Moon-kyung’s incompetence.

Eldest daughter-in-law Kim Yi-kyung’s dissatisfaction.

The eldest granddaughter, Choi Young-ran, suddenly set the date.

Kim Yeo-jeong, who had a grudge against Executive Director Choi Hoon-yeol, brought in Chairman Kim Sang-goo because Executive Director Kim Yong-man was not enough.

“They’re not in-laws, they’re complete enemies. They’re laughing at me in front of so many people at the Federation of Korean Industries. It’s driving me crazy.”

“… … .”

“Do you know what’s even funnier? Those guys who said that I raised my grandson well are now mocking me because they were fooled by Chairman Kim Sang-gu’s instigation. How can a human being do that by giving my grandson over 1 trillion won?!”

“… … .”

President Oh Young-geun did not respond further as he filled the empty glass. He just listened. Chairman Choi Yong-wook poured out all the emotions he had accumulated so far, as if he was comfortable.

And when the chairman lost consciousness, President Oh Young-geun tactfully left the place.

It was only later that I realized that the issue of Director Lee Il-tae had become strangely distorted.

‘I’m going crazy.’

* * *

When President Oh Young-geun returned to work the next day, he called in Vice President Moon Hyung-seop and discussed what had happened with Chairman Choi Yong-wook.

Vice President Moon Hyung-seop was also serious.

“If it’s nothing, it may not be anything. But the essence of the problem is a conflict over management succession. If you look at it that way, you can’t just leave it alone.”

“I guess it would be right to ease the Chairman’s mind, right?”

“That’s right. But this is not a simple problem. When I saw KM Electronics’ stock price exceeding 100,000 won, my heart sank. I thought it would definitely be a problem.”

“Fortunately, it didn’t fall to 90,000 won.”

“That’s why. I think it would be right to call Director Choi Min-hyeok and talk to him.”

“I guess so?”

“Yes, and we need to call Director Lee Il-tae to the interim board meeting and wrap things up appropriately. For the time being, it would be best for Director Choi to remain quiet as well.”

“You go talk to Director Choi.”

“All right.”

* * *

Choi Min-hyeok, the illegitimate son of Choi Byung-moon, the youngest member of the KM Group, left his mother, Jeong Mi-seon, and returned to his family home after his father’s death.

However, this was a preemptive measure taken by his uncle, Choi Moon-kyung, to cover up the management errors of the KM Group.

Chairman Choi Yong-wook was actually satisfied with Choi Moon-kyung’s handling of the situation.

Choi Min-hyeok, who only thought positively, ended up becoming Choi Moon-kyung’s sacrificial lamb and went to prison twice.

When I came out of prison, the KM Group had already disintegrated.

There was no one to look after him when he was left alone, and he eventually died alone.

But his death disappeared like a dream.

He did not want to get involved in the greed of the wealthy family, and decided to live quietly using his knowledge of the future.

Choi Min-hyeok tilted his head at the sudden board meeting, but he quickly found out what the agenda was in advance through Team Leader Jo Seong-don.

At first I was a little confused, but soon I started to think positively.

It was bound to happen anyway.

Rather, I didn’t really care because it was within the category I expected.

‘It’s better this way.’

Anyway, I had to tell President Oh Young-geun and Vice President Moon Hyung-seop about MP3.

Choi Min-hyeok, on the other hand, took the initiative and checked the board meeting schedule first. He even checked the movements of Director Lee Il-tae.

Director Lee Il-tae, who was already tired of this work, happened to have a business trip to ETRI scheduled at the time.

After Minhyeok Choi reported that he had something to report to the board of directors, he called a board meeting to coincide with the date of Director Iltae Lee’s business trip.

However, I contacted him on purpose to check on Executive Director Won Jong-sang.

President Oh Young-geun tilted his head when only four people attended the board meeting.

“Why isn’t Director Lee Il-tae coming?”

Choi Min-hyuk immediately stepped forward.

“I heard that he went on an urgent business trip because something came up at ETRI.”

“… Is that true?”

“yes.”

President Oh Young-geun realized that Director Choi Min-hyeok had intervened, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he glanced at Managing Director Won Jong-sang.

Won Jong-sang, the executive director who was hiding because of the uproar over Director Lee Il-tae, was just keeping an eye on things. Unlike the other members of the board of directors, he was anxious because he knew better than anyone else that he too might end up like Director Lee Il-tae.

‘Director Choi is too toxic.’

President Oh Young-geun was about to say something to Director Choi Min-hyeok, but ended up sighing.

Vice President Moon Hyung-seop was no different. They both know better than anyone how absurd the recent events at the company are.

But an unexpected person showed up late.

“Huh? Aren’t you Team Leader Choi Byeong-yeon?”

Minhyuk Choi gestured to Team Leader Byeongyeon Choi and pointed to an empty seat.

“I called you. I have something to report to the board today.”

President Oh Young-geun, who was having a headache because of the Chairman Choi Yong-wook issue, asked a question.

“Is it important?”

“Yes. Hmm, that will be the answer to what the CEO is worried about right now. So first, Director Choi, oh, sorry, I will start with Team Leader Choi’s report.”

“… Okay, I see.”

President Oh Young-geun also knew that Choi Min-hyeok was leading the board of directors unilaterally, but he knew that he was not the kind of person to do something without a reason, so he stepped down for the time being.

Team Leader Choi Byeong-yeon glanced at Choi Min-hyeok with a strange look at the story of ‘Director Choi’ and then immediately began reporting on the MP3.

A repetition of what was already said when calling in the staff.

However, the reactions of President Oh Young-geun and Vice President Moon Hyeong-seop were somewhat different from those of the working-level staff who had heard the story earlier.

The more they heard the explanation, the more shocked they became.

In particular, Vice President Moon Hyung-seop was even more shocked because he had already heard from Team Leader Jo Seong-don about the supply of 5 million speakers for mobile devices.

This is because the planning team also wanted a new mobile speaker that surpassed the quality of existing speakers, as they were planning to produce 5 million units as a base.

He thought it was a joke at first, but it was only later that he realized what its purpose was.

However, President Oh Young-geun already knew that the MP3 project was in progress through consistent reports from Choi Min-hyeok.

The problem is that the results are finally out.

And Vice President Moon Hyung-seop realized one thing belatedly after checking the list of patents related to MP3.

“Team Leader Choi, is that the original owner of those patents, Sisbel? It’s not the Sisbel patent specialist company I know, is it?”

“That’s right. We also purchased the patent from Sizbell.”

“Sizbel sold the patent? Those guys aren’t the kind of people who would do that.”

“I understand that Director Choi and the planning team have been quietly negotiating.”

“Oh, then you must have gone to Europe… … . Wow, that’s really incredible.”

Vice President Moon Hyung-seop blankly stared at Director Choi Min-hyeok with a bewildered expression.

I couldn’t understand how they managed to buy the patent from the patent-obsessed Sizbel.

Choi Min-hyuk simply nodded. The situation was too complicated to discuss that here.

“If Sizbell ended up selling the MP3 patents, those guys would already know what our company is doing.”

“I don’t know exactly.”

“That must be true. Director Choi kept it a secret from us, so how much more so. But I guess you could guess. That’s right. That’s right. I didn’t know why foreigners were so obsessed with our company’s stocks, but now I know.”

Vice President Moon Hyung-seop himself wanted to buy KM Electronics stocks separately if he was not a stakeholder. So, there was no way a sharp foreign investor would miss this opportunity.

“Haha, this is it. I wondered why they were hiding it so tightly, but there was a reason. But how on earth did they develop it in such a short period of time? Oh, sorry. I have so many questions.”

Just by comparing Sony’s cassette player with MP3, Vice President Moon Hyung-seop got a rough idea of ​​the value of MP3.

President Oh Young-geun, who has been working at KM Electronics for a long time, was not much different.

“Heh heh heh.”

He didn’t remember much about what happened with Chairman Choi Yong-wook.

The Kim I-kyung incident and the Kim Yo-jong issue no longer have much impact on him.

That’s how shocking MP3 was.

Collins One might just be lucky.

But back-to-back grand slam home runs were a different story.

Even at Oseong Electronics, no one has ever produced results like this.

President Oh Young-geun and Vice President Moon Hyeong-seop glanced at Team Leader Choi Byeong-yeon.

“Team Leader Choi, you were the one who developed this product?”

“We simply carried out the project according to Director Choi’s plan.”

“Is that so? Actually, I have a lot of questions, starting with the development schedule. But I don’t think this is the place to talk about them.”

“I will submit a detailed report separately to Director Choi.”

“I know.”

President Oh Young-geun glanced at Managing Director Won Jong-sang, who was still in shock, and then looked at Choi Min-hyeok, who had a confident expression.

“…Director Choi, do you happen to know what happened to the Chairman?”

“I heard that too. It was unexpected that my second eldest aunt went to see Chairman Kim Sang-gu. I never thought she would go that far.”

“… It would be easier to talk if you already knew. The chairman is also a human being, and I guess he has a lot of worries. People around him keep putting pressure on him, so I can’t just ignore it. But… … .”

President Oh Young-geun sighed as he glanced at the MP3 player in front of him. As for this item, it didn’t seem to matter what Chairman Choi Yong-wook thought.

1 trillion won in stock donation.

There are definitely a lot.

However, when you look at the value of MP3 players and patents, it’s hard to say that they’re necessarily that much.