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CH27 | Heir
🕑 Added 2025-03-17 04:10:01 +0000 UTCAs expected, Executive Director Lee had been waiting.
It took at least four hours to travel from Changwon to Seoul.
Yet, less than two hours after the audit team contacted him, he confidently walked into the office.
He went straight into the investigation room upon arrival.
Deputy Manager Yoon pressed him with evidence, but Lee simply lowered his gaze and refused to say a word.
In the end, Yoon couldn’t get a single response out of him. With a deep sigh, he came looking for me.
"It seems he won’t say anything until he meets with you, Director."
"He’s acting more composed than I expected.
I thought he’d be hurling curses at you by now."
"……"
"Bring him to my office. He’s come all the way from Changwon to Seoul—it's only fair that I give him my full attention."
Knock, knock, knock.
With a polite knock, Executive Director Lee stepped into my office.
But instead of the arrogance I expected,
he bowed at a full 90-degree angle and greeted me.
"I am Lee Junsu, Executive Director of Taewoo Motors' Changwon factory. It’s an honor to meet you."
"I don’t care much for empty pleasantries.
Why don’t we just drop the act from the start?"
"I assure you, this is my sincerity. I have no intention of offending you, Director."
Why was he acting so submissive?
Was it because I was the Chairman’s grandson?
Unlikely.
He probably just wanted to smooth things over and sweep this incident under the rug.
"That’s unfortunate. Because I’m already offended. You should’ve known your limits. Wasn’t it a bit much? Accepting bribes to award contracts, over-purchasing parts to collect kickbacks, hiring through corruption—"
"I never initiated any of it. I was simply following company traditions."
"Well, then, I suppose I’ll follow tradition too—
by disciplining you accordingly."
"If an internal disciplinary action is issued, I will comply."
He seemed to be yielding, but I could sense his confidence— the certainty that Taewoo Group wouldn’t dare fire him.
Even if he got a pay cut, his bribe money far outweighed his salary, and a suspension? That was just a paid vacation.
"I will strongly recommend your dismissal."
"If that is the Director’s decision, then I will simply abide by whatever the board decides."
"A cancer must be removed as soon as possible
for Taewoo Motors to stay healthy.
It’s already metastasized to multiple areas—
cutting it all out will get messy."
Lee bit his lip hard.
Finally, a reaction.
"But tell me, why are you even with Taewoo Group? You’d make a lot more money in Myeong-dong. Why not move there instead?"
"That’s quite the harsh remark, Director."
"Well, a pine caterpillar should stick to eating pine needles. I just don’t understand why someone like you is feasting on the auto industry’s profits."
"The place I belong is the Changwon factory.
If it weren’t for my family’s support, that factory wouldn’t have even broken ground."
"Wow. So, even loan sharks have noble family lineages now?The world really has changed."
"Young Master. Do you even know how much Taewoo Group owes my family?"
Ah, there it is. His true colors.
But what was with that shameless confidence?
A mere lapdog for loan sharks, acting as if he owned the place.
"That’s not your money, is it? Do you really think Taewoo Group will collapse just because one guy like you disappears?"
"You really don’t understand how the world works, do you? You’ll regret treating me this way."
"Regret? Come on now. Don’t overestimate yourself. You’re not that important, Executive Director Lee."
"You’ll see soon enough."
"Just don’t make me wait too long. I’m not the most patient person."
Lee shot up from his seat, no longer bowing and scraping like when he first entered.
Instead, he straightened his back and marched out of my office with confidence.
This should be enough of a declaration of war.
I needed this fight to escalate into something big— only then could I wipe everything out in one go.
Hopefully, Lee will lose his temper and come charging in.
* * *
Taewoo Group – Chairman’s Office
It was right after the Chief Secretary finished briefing Chairman Kim on what had transpired in the audit room.
"So, Minjae is finally starting to grasp how this company really works."
"Now that he knows about our ties to Myeong-dong, he must be quite shocked."
"Well, what choice did I have? If he wants to inherit my position, he needs to know.
I had hoped to tell him gradually, but you know how impatient he is. He graduated early and joined the company while others were still in school."
Chairman Kim was deeply troubled.
He had just revealed the company’s ugliest secrets to his grandson— it was only natural for him to be concerned.
"With the way he is, he won’t let this slide.
He’s bound to push Lee out and strain our relationship with Myeong-dong."
"Do you think that’ll be so easy?
Once he realizes that losing Myeong-dong’s funds will weaken the company, he’ll step back.
He may be impulsive, but he’s smart.
He’ll figure it out soon enough."
"But what if he keeps pushing Lee into a corner?
What will you do then?"
"I’ll leave that to the board meeting."
That was Chairman Kim’s true intention.
He wanted to stay a “good grandfather” to his grandson until the very end.
By letting the board decide Lee’s fate,
he could avoid being the one to hurt his grandson.
"I heard Lee looked furious when he left the office. It wouldn’t be surprising if something happened as soon as tomorrow.
Shouldn’t you step in before it’s too late?"
"How can one grow without experiencing growing pains? Minjae has more to gain from this clash with the Changwon plant,
so let’s leave him be."
"…Understood."
"Also, I’ll be overseas for a while due to business trips, so I won’t be able to return to Korea.
In the meantime, I trust you to handle things smoothly."
Chairman Kim was using his travels as an excuse to leave.
He simply didn’t want to witness his grandson getting hurt—
so he chose to run away instead.
"Then the upcoming board meeting will proceed without you. It’ll be quite a tough first meeting for Young Master."
"The first time is always the hardest.
If I were there, he’d only grow more hesitant."
"Then we’ll proceed as scheduled."
The board meeting would be attended by at least 30 subsidiary presidents.
Until now, Audit Manager Jung Su-cheol had been the one representing the audit team.
But now that Kim Minjae had been promoted to Director, it was his turn to take the seat.
"I’m sorry to burden you with this responsibility."
"Not at all. This is something I must do."
Chief Secretary Kim completely understood the Chairman’s feelings.
He, too, believed that this was something Minjae had to go through at least once.
* * *
The Next Day
As soon as I arrived at work, I received some very amusing news from Deputy Manager Yoon.
"The labor union at the Changwon plant has begun the process for a strike. They have notified the members of their intentions
and will be holding a vote next week."
"A strike, huh? They’re coming out strong from the start.
I must have declared war pretty effectively."
"Do you think Executive Director Lee is pulling the strings behind this?"
"What do you think, Deputy Manager Yoon?"
"I agree. This strike is clearly meant to protect him."
Lee was a cancer that had already spread to the labor union.
Since they shared financial interests,
the union leaders had no choice but to defend him.
"We still have some time before the strike actually begins, right?"
"Yes. It will take at least two weeks
to complete the voting and other necessary procedures."
"Then we have plenty of time. Let’s make sure the ‘No’ votes pour in."
"A significant number of union members support Lee. And on the surface, this strike is about wage increases and benefits,
so naturally, many will follow."
Higher wages and better benefits—
those were topics any worker would support.
However, Taewoo Motors wasn’t in a position to meet all their demands just to prevent a strike.
"We’ll need to play psychological warfare.
This kind of operation is Captain Kang’s specialty, isn’t it?"
"Are you thinking of using military tactics?"
"Tell me, Deputy Manager Yoon—
do you know what ‘leaflets’ are?"
"I saw propaganda leaflets from North Korea when I was a kid."
The word “삐라” (pira) originally came from the Japanese term for leaflet.
However, in Korea, it referred specifically to propaganda flyers used to urge people to defect to the North or the South.
"Leaflets are a psychological warfare tactic in themselves. Distribute flyers exposing Executive Director Lee and the union leaders for who they really are."
"Are you sure about this? The media will pick up on it."
"Myeongdong will handle that.
These leaflets are a threat to Lee, after all."
If this were my past life, there would have been no need to use leaflets.
With just a single click, countless pieces of information could have been spread through the internet.
But in this era, accessing the internet through a mobile phone was impossible, and even using a computer to gather information wasn’t easy.
"I’ll have Captain Kang handle the leaflet production."
"Tell him to use various military tactics as well.
We need to question the legitimacy of this strike
and turn the vote in our favor."
"Captain Kang has already convinced one of the union leaders to cooperate. We can use him."
"A union leader would make an excellent mouthpiece. Also, assign security personnel—just in case."
Captain Kang had already brought in 30 special forces soldiers.
Most of them were men struggling to find stable jobs after their military discharge, so recruiting them hadn’t been difficult.
On top of that, Kang had been highly respected in the military, so some soldiers had even sought him out on their own.
"I’ll move forward with Captain Kang."
"With the strike creating chaos, it’ll also be easier to gather intel. Use this opportunity to collect more evidence of corruption."
We had already gathered an overwhelming amount of evidence.
At this point, finding more wouldn’t change much regarding Lee’s disciplinary action.
However, we weren’t just trying to oust him—
we needed more leverage for what came next.
* * *
The Chaotic Changwon Plant
The sudden strike procedures had left workers distracted, unable to focus on their tasks.
"Foreman! Did you hear? Executive Director Lee’s group has been taking bribes to hire new recruits!"
"You saw that on the leaflets, didn’t you?
Taewoo Motors isn’t some back-alley shop.
Stop talking nonsense and get back to assembling."
The Assembly Line 1 Foreman clicked his tongue.
The worker’s claim wasn’t entirely baseless,
which only made him feel more uneasy.
Just then, the Head of the Metalworking Team joined in.
"I knew something was off. Every single guy assigned to a two-person dorm room
was from Lee’s faction.
Meanwhile, our guys in Metalworking
are crammed into four-person rooms!"
"Why are you stirring things up too?
It’s one thing if the workers talk, but you’re a team lead."
"I’m not ‘stirring things up.’ I’m just stating facts."
"So what do you want to do? Vote against the strike?"
The foremen’s voices were loud.
They were used to the noisy factory,
so raising their voices had become second nature.
However, since the machines weren’t running yet, their voices echoed across the silent plant.
"Lower your voice. I’m not saying we should vote against it, but… There’s a rumor that the Chairman himself ordered the leaflets."
"Why would the Chairman bother?"
"Supposedly, Executive Director Lee’s backer is so powerful that even the Chairman couldn’t touch him."
"So you’re saying the Chairman is trying to get rid of Lee, and Lee is retaliating by inciting a strike? Who the hell came up with that nonsense?"
"Just keep it to yourself. I heard it from Foreman Bae in the Inspection Unit."
"Foreman Bae? Isn’t he one of the union leaders?"
The moment the term ‘union leader’ was mentioned, the credibility of the rumor skyrocketed.
Everyone had already been harboring suspicions, so the revelation only fueled the fire.
