The 3th Generation of the Chaebol Wants to Live Quietly - Chapter 230



Only Noblemtl

#230.

The other planning team leaders or team leaders just rolled their eyes.

They too have heard about the Oculus Project, which has been the subject of a lot of rumors lately.

Eventually, Director Kwon Tae-seong, who couldn’t stand the stress anymore, took a cigarette. Only then did he feel a little better. Even the team leaders, who knew full well that smoking was prohibited in the conference room, remained silent.

He glanced at Manager Im Kwon-soo.

At that moment, Director Im Kwon-soo showed a video file of the presentation. In particular, he showed Director Choi Min-hyeok receiving ministerial treatment.

‘Is it Director Choi’s doing again?’

“… This is incredible.”

Director Im Kwon-soo also spoke with tired eyes.

“It seems that Director Choi was behind this incident as well.”

The complicated Kwon Tae-seong shook his head with a tired expression.

“I understand if it’s a new TV technology. But how did you use satellite broadcasting technology?”

“… I don’t know about that. But.”

“Okay. Enough with the speculation. I’m sick of it. It’s horrible. Director Lee Chang-myeong, this punk says he’ll do everything himself, and then blames others. It’s horrible. Wait, what is Director Lee Chang-myeong doing right now?”

“They say that Director Ahn Gook-ho has already called in several team leaders related to this project.”

“And there’s still more to come. Huhu, I don’t know where to start with this.”

“I will review the satellite broadcasting business again.”

“We’ve been looking into it so far but haven’t found anything… … Oh, no. Okay, first, watch Director Lee Chang-myeong. Since there are many people who have stepped forward, including Executive Director Choi Ho-seong, this case won’t be easily dismissed with excuses. Meet with the team leaders involved in this case and gather their opinions.”

“All right.”

However, Director Kwon Tae-seong felt a sense of urgency even after giving his instructions. It was something that had been repeated before. He looked at Director Choi Min-hyeok’s actions when he looked at the report.

It may seem unrelated, but what caught his eye at that moment was a photo of Director Choi Min-hyeok cosplaying as a minister.

Is that really the kind of treatment that a person who has nothing to do with anything receives?

Suddenly, I had a thought that maybe this was exactly what Director Choi Min-hyeok wanted. I realized it belatedly because I had been treated so badly by Director Choi Min-hyeok dozens of times.

He called out to Manager Im Kwon-soo, who was leaving the conference room.

“If we come into conflict with ETRI, things will get really bad. If that happens, the person who will like it the most is Director Choi Min-hyeok, right?”

“I think that’s what will happen. The one who will benefit the most from this incident is KM Electronics. In fact, we need to break the ongoing Wal-Mart negotiations… … .”

“Okay. For now, let’s close Walmart. Meet with the relevant business unit and thoroughly review the aftermath of negotiations as soon as possible.”

“But if we just cover it up like this… … .”

“Instead, the Ministry of Information and Communication and ETRI will not ignore this matter. Please review it. We cannot let it go as Director Choi wants!”

“…yes.”

When Director Im Kwon-soo heard the name Director Choi Min-hyeok, he readily agreed. He knew that even within the planning department, stories about Director Choi Min-hyeok kept coming up.

‘Could it really be that Director Choi is behind this incident as well?’

* * *

Choi Ho-seong, managing director of the system business division, not only designs, but also develops many HDD control chips and multimedia-related chips.

Based on his track record, he joined hands with ARM and entered the mobile business.

Satellite receiver chips are just one part of the many businesses in this systems business unit.

So his words were quite powerful.

I spoke out candidly about the recent satellite receiver chip incident.

Of course, I made sure to mention the name of Planning Director Kwon Tae-seong.

Naturally, the business divisions involved in this incident also spoke out.

As the situation grew, Director Lee Chang-myeong was also greatly embarrassed. This was because the response from the relevant team was more extreme than he had expected.

He eventually called in Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo to question him about the matter.

“How on earth does it work?!”

“We are still negotiating with ETRI. We need more time.”

“Hey, there’s chaos in another division right now. They’re swearing at me every time they open their mouths. And you want me to keep waiting?!”

Senior Vice President Kim Hyun-woo was also aware of the situation. However, unlike his outward appearance of bowing his head, his feelings were somewhat different. He knew that Director Lee Chang-myeong had no choice because of the pressure from within the company.

“The reactions of other business units are not out of the expected range. In fact, if they do that, they will be able to gain a bit more upper hand in negotiations with ETRI.”

Director Lee Chang-myeong frowned.

“Are you sure you can handle this well? If something goes wrong, you’ll have to take full responsibility!”

“…I will take responsibility for everything.”

“Hmm. Okay. Then, Chief Kim, take care of it yourself.”

* * *

The loss suffered by Osung Electronics due to the Oculus incident was greater than expected.

The reason the relevant business units are protesting is not only because of the losses they have suffered, but also because they believe that it is not their responsibility.

Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo met with them one by one. So did Managing Director Choi Ho-seong.

“I know very well. I am already considering what Director Choi is concerned about. I will make that point clear in the upcoming negotiations with ETRI.”

In fact, the part related to receiver chip development is something that ETRI officials are also well aware of.

Although it is true that Oh Sung Electronics acted arbitrarily, it was ETRI that changed the existing project at its own discretion.

ETRI was not free from that responsibility.

However, Team Leader Oh Hyun-jong took issue with the fact that Osung Electronics had unilaterally pushed the project forward. He showed Senior Vice President Kim Hyun-woo the documents containing complaints from other large companies about this project.

“Osung Electronics is already thinking of filing a lawsuit, so I don’t think other companies will just sit by and do nothing about this.”

Just as Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo collected data from related business teams and pressured ETRI, ETRI also brought out data from related business units and other partner companies.

There was no way the negotiations would go well.

Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo had not taken these negotiations seriously in the first place, and was greatly embarrassed by ETRI’s unexpected response.

“Oh, team leader.”

“Oh, I was promoted to manager this time.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Oh. Are you really saying that you will go all the way with us?”

Perhaps a month ago, Team Leader Oh Hyeon-jong would have spoken positively about it, but after becoming the director, his attitude was a bit different.

“You are saying such strange things. Do you think ETRI is that easy?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what are you trying to say? Do you think that if you threaten us, we will just follow along like obedient puppies?”

“That, that’s not it… … .”

Senior Vice President Kim Hyun-woo was so flustered that he didn’t know what to do. The behavior of Team Leader Oh Hyun-jong that he had learned through Vice President Ahn Guk-ho was very different from what he had expected.

However, this situation arose because Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo did not know Director Oh Hyeon-jong well.

Although Team Leader Oh Hyeon-jong was timid, he was not stupid. When he was under Director Park Jae-ho, he was careful to survive.

But now that I’ve been promoted to manager, there’s no reason for me to live in hiding.

He was a veteran with over 25 years of experience within ETRI, having earned his master’s and doctoral degrees.

“… I also tried to make this case go as well as possible. However, if Oh Sung Electronics goes to extremes, there’s nothing we can do. In the first place, Oh Sung Electronics brought the loss on themselves. Even though we at ETRI adjusted the project schedule hundreds of times, they were the ones who proceeded as they pleased. Furthermore, Director Lee Chang-myeong has acted as if he were the president of ETRI. Isn’t that because he was confident about this case?”

Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo gritted his teeth at Director Oh Hyeon-jong’s clever attempt to shift responsibility.

‘Damn, this is a headache.’

However, Director Oh Hyeon-jong did not necessarily go to extremes.

“Next week, there will be a working-level discussion on the Oculus project with the Ministry of Information and Communication. Come out and talk about it then.”

“…All right.”

He also knows what the working-level meeting is about. It is to discuss future work ahead of the launch of the Mugunghwa satellite. However, if he participates passively in the meeting, he will gain little from it considering the investment he has made so far.

‘If we’re not careful, we could lose all our interests to other large companies.’

* * *

Despite pressure from O Sung Electronics, ETRI took the lead in the situation.

This is what happened when Lee Won-han, the director of the Ministry of Information and Communication, stepped forward.

In the end, it seemed like the government had made up its mind to push ahead with this.

Things were bound to get bigger.

Director Lee Chang-myeong did not blame Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo for his restlessness. He simply stated that this incident was Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo’s responsibility and then moved on.

Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo insisted that he would fight ETRI to the end to secure his vested interests, but it was all empty words.

The upper echelons of Oseong Electronics did not want to come into conflict with the government over this matter.

Even though there was a huge loss, I decided to use that as an excuse to take the initiative in this matter.

Of course, this is because all those who opposed Director Lee Chang-myeong, including Director Kwon Tae-seong, unanimously argued for it.

Moreover, since there was a suitable scapegoat for this incident, they did not complicate matters.

Although Senior Vice President Kim Hyun-woo used his brain to his advantage, the world did not go as he wished.

Choi Min-hyeok also felt disappointed when he heard that Oh Sung Electronics had finally folded. He was thinking about making more work, but the work ended up being finished sooner than expected.

“That’s strange. If Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo had been involved in this, there’s no way it would have turned out this easily… … .”

“… It’s probably because of the director.”

“Me?”

“I think he probably thought that the reason ETRI wasn’t listening to him was because of him. So he probably covered up the past for now and just ended it by taking some profits.”

That’s right.

Unlike others, Director Kwon Tae-seong, who was greatly hurt by Choi Min-hyeok, is not a fool. Rather than things being delayed like this, he would rather cover it up and push things forward.

Thanks to this, there is no one in the Oseong Electronics research team involved in the Oculus project who does not know the name of Director Choi Min-hyeok.

Team leader Jo Seong-don also continued talking with his tongue hanging out.

“Not only Manager Lim, but also an employee who was previously at Oseong Electronics and then transferred there recently called me directly to say that there were a lot of rumors about Director Choi Min-hyeok through an acquaintance.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It’s no joke. In particular, Director Kwon Tae-seong took the lead in this matter, and Director Lee Chang-myeong also kept his mouth shut about it.”

“Did Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo just stay still?”

“It wasn’t just one or two people talking. Furthermore, with Vice President Hwang Jun-yeop also stepping in, the atmosphere at Oseong Electronics is now turning strange. As if he had been waiting, Ahn Jae-woon announced his return to the Management Planning Department.”

Director Lee Chang-myeong has also been strangely silent since Ahn Jae-woon returned. This is because he too was concerned that this incident had become so big that he could easily suffer a huge blow.

Furthermore, as Senior Vice President Kim Hyeon-woo stepped forward, it became known within Osung Electronics that he was the one pushing this entire matter forward.

There was no reason to create more work once the goal had been achieved.

Choi Min-hyuk whetted his appetite. He felt as if he had just drunk flat cola.

‘I feel bad for Chief Kim. I thought he would be more persistent, but I guess that didn’t work out.’

But he had no intention of forcing things through.

“It’s strange, because the stakes in the Oculus project are so complex that it’s hard to cover things up that easily.”

“It is said that Director Kwon Tae-seong personally met with executives such as Vice President Hwang Jun-yeop and Managing Director Choi Ho-seong to push for this. It is said that they could not ignore Director Kwon Tae-seong’s influence.”

“Oh, our Director Kwon has stepped forward? Hmm, we can’t ignore that gentleman. Let’s wait and see for now. Oh Sung Electronics may be able to step down like that, but it’s a different story for other companies.”

“Do you really think this won’t end like this?”