< For the Music Genius - Episode 116 >
There is something called the art of reporting. One of the common mistakes new employees make is that when they come to give a presentation, they just recite the report as if they were reading a passage from a Korean language textbook. Also, the abstract words and uncertain tone they use make the listeners distrust them.
“Director Kim, I have something to ask you first. Is that okay?”
I covered up the documents I received from Director Kim Sang-guk and looked at the faces of the employees in the strategic planning office. While Director Kim Sang-guk’s face was filled with interest, the faces of the other employees were clearly uncomfortable. That was because they had never seen Director Kim Sang-guk and I argue before.
“I think you’ve all already reviewed the content of the report. So I’ll take the liberty of explaining it to you. Rather than explaining it to you over and over again to make you understand the report, I’d like you to ask me about anything you don’t understand. The point of the presentation is to convey the main point more quickly.”
The faces of the strategic planning staff, including Deputy Manager Oh Tae-seok, were filled with absurdity and displeasure. Knowing this, there was no need to go to great lengths to persuade them. After all, I wasn’t really a new employee. Moreover, if you only look at my appearance, I was clearly a young student, so I needed to make a bold decision to renew our future relationship.
“Ahem, if you look at the contents of the report, it seems like there are some parts that make sense, but most of it is just absurd predictions about the future. To be honest, I should applaud the fact that you have figured out the overseas market conditions to this extent from the perspective of a high school student, but as you know, this is not a place for a club, but a place where the fate of the company is at stake. In particular, the investment value of ADAM and the future evaluation of LAS are so absurd that I almost think they are fiction.”
He was a middle-aged man who looked like he had worked in the National Intelligence Service in his younger days. Of course, even the people who came from this group were all extraordinary. If I hadn’t shown up with President Son Il-seon, I would have been kicked out of the company by now. There was a chilling tension in the room.
“I don’t think it’s a ridiculous novel at all. If you don’t mind, I’ll point out some parts you may have overlooked.”
“Overlooked something? Keep going.”
“First of all, you gave ADAM a failing grade on investment value. The reason is probably that their main product is just a facade. They are not yet effective and for now, they are just an extension of the promise of a signature system. But that will change in the future. Now, the signature system for corporate management will change more and more extensively.”
It was a time when computers were becoming widespread. A signature was literally nothing more than a promise, like a bill of exchange. However, as time passed and the communication channel changed from offline to online, it was obvious that interest in security would increase significantly. As an example, in the United States, losses due to IT security exceeded hundreds of billions per year. Aren’t fast-moving companies already moving toward online security, not offline security?
“Then shall we move on to the second one?”
Director Kim Sang-guk looked at me with curious eyes. The argument continued. The middle-aged man from the Agency for National Security Planning kept asking me questions with a look that said he would not give in. How could I be so intimidated by such a look? It wasn’t for nothing that I had the experience I had at the Western District Prosecutors’ Office. Including Deputy Director Oh Tae-seok, the others already looked half-astonished. It was then.
match-!
With the sound of clapping hands, Director Kim Sang-guk stood up from his seat. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. The face of the middle-aged man whose name I didn’t know had turned red and blue. That was understandable. Since I, a young man, answered every word without fail, I couldn’t stop mid-sentence, and there were many eyes watching me, so it must have been a difficult situation. When all the employees left the conference room, Director Kim Sang-guk gave me a thumbs up.
“I’ve never seen Team Leader Kim, who has a poker face, waver like that before. He’s always been a man of few words, to the point where he’s called the Buddha of Strategy Planning. The debate between Hyun and you just now was exactly like your pace.”
“It felt like I was being dragged in?”
“Was that intentional?”
Of course, I’ve dealt with almost all the high-ranking officials at the Western District Prosecutors’ Office in my past life. In prosecutorial jargon, there’s a word called “mat”, which is used when fabricating a report on a suspect with a heavy butt. When interrogating someone, my specialty was to go to the other person’s bedside and gently scratch them, getting them involved in my pace.
*
“You really did that?”
Son Il-seon’s eyebrows twitched.
“Yes, sir. Team Leader Kim was so great that I was shaken up during the meeting. If it weren’t for his youthful appearance, I would have suspected that he had scouted someone with experience from a rival company. He knew how to get out of an unfavorable situation from the beginning. It was like he was a veteran who had been in this situation countless times.”
Son Il-seon’s expression as he listened to Director Kim Sang-guk’s report was not good. Isn’t he a perfect child? He knew why his father liked him. Wasn’t he the one who gathered talented people under the name of Jeil Group scholarship student since he was young? It would be nonsense if he wasn’t captivated by Kang Hyeon’s appearance, which was so outstanding that he deserved the phrase “a scholar in the military.”
“By the way, boss, is the violinist Hyun that the newspapers are talking about these days the same person as Kang Hyun?”
“Yes, Director Kim, you didn’t know?”
“I didn’t think so. In fact, I’m not a classical music fan, and I never imagined that Hyun and Kang Hyun, who are called violin prodigies, were the same person. I found out after seeing the photo in the newspaper. I think the team members still don’t know.”
Yes, it was natural to not believe it. As you live in the world, you realize that there are many outstanding people. There are those who are called geniuses, but there are also many cases where they are only good in one field and are not as good as ordinary people in other fields. However, Kang Hyun was different. He stood out in everything like a veteran. Even the golden carp in the pond seemed to follow Kang Hyun more than Son Il-seon.
“Okay, you can go now.”
It was not long after Director Kim Sang-guk left. The intercom in the president’s office rang, and the face of Son Il-seon, who picked up the receiver, brightened.
“Yes, Yuha. Did you arrive in America safely?”
Isn’t it the only daughter who went back to study abroad after the spring break? Son Il-seon’s voice also got louder as he heard the voice of his only daughter, who was as precious as a jewel. However, annoyingly, the voice coming from the other end of the receiver was not Son Il-seon, but someone else.
“Hyun-i? Hyun-i should be in Pyeongchang-dong by now. Or at the gallery…”
It was obvious that he would be having lunch at the cafeteria, but Son Il-seon deliberately changed the subject. Was he jealous of Chairman Wang’s favor? Well, Jeil Group was going to fall into his hands anyway. Moreover, if he was such an outstanding talent, he would have favored him even if it wasn’t Chairman Wang. The reason Son Il-seon didn’t like Kang Hyun was simple. Because his daughter, Yu-ha, liked Kang Hyun too much.
“Yes, Yuha. Call your dad often too.”
Son Il-seon could not hide his disappointment at the consistent reaction of his only daughter, whom he had raised with great care.
* * *
Perhaps because Chobok is approaching, the weather has become very hot. Around lunchtime, the inside of the Ichon-dong mansion is already filled with the savory smell of samgyetang being cooked. It was the first time since I came to Seoul that it had been this hot, so after a long time, I took off my upper body and gave each other a hug in the garden with my father. My grandfather and mother were happily looking at this.
“Hyun-ah, you’ve grown a lot, haven’t you?”
It was an uninvited guest who had started visiting Ichon-dong. It was my uncle and aunt. They probably didn’t come because they smelled samgyetang (chicken soup) boiling, but it seemed like they were trying to ask for my grandfather’s forgiveness again after failing to do so before.
“Beomgyeong, why did you come all the way from Jeju Island without your father’s permission?”
“Father, you know that I come to the mainland once a month because of my diabetes.”
It seemed like he had changed his strategy, as he didn’t apologize out of the blue like before. The aunt standing next to him was also looking for a chance to get involved.
“Ahem, Hyun-ah. Let’s hurry up and change our clothes and get ready to go. Hyun-ah, you should also prepare some samgyetang for Chairman Son.”
But he wasn’t the kind of grandfather who would be easily defeated. When he heard that his grandfather was leaving, his uncle and aunt’s faces suddenly turned pale. No matter how I looked at it, I had to pick a day and suggest that we send my uncle to Daema Island instead of Jeju Island. Since he has diabetes, all I had to do was give him a lot of insulin.
“They’re all here, Chairman.”
I went to Pyeongchang-dong with a thermos of samgyetang that had been boiled. Of course, there must be a housekeeper in Pyeongchang-dong who can make samgyetang. Isn’t that a place where a menu that would be envious of the king’s table is prepared every time? The reason my grandfather took my hand and brought me to Pyeongchang-dong was simple. Since both Chairman Im Hye-ra and President Son Il-seon were on a business trip overseas at the same time, Chairman Wang must be feeling quite lonely in the big house alone.
“Oh my, you old man. Why did you pack all these things?”
“I brought it myself because I thought you might skip meals while you’re alone. So don’t act like a fool and go get married as a nobleman who is in good health.”
“That’s right. If it’s so good, then you should have tried it first before you said anything.”
Chairman Wang, who was wearing a hemp cloth and straw hat and tending the garden, clapped his hands when he saw the thermos in my hand. At times like this, he was just like a kind old man from the neighborhood. He unpacked the bundle his mother had packed for him on the spacious table. He was so well-cooked that his bones and flesh were melting away with a flick of his tongue.
“Hyun-ah, are you still going to Seocho-dong these days?”
“Yes, Grandpa.”
“How many times have you been there in total?”
It’s been two months since I first visited Seocho-dong, so I’ve probably been there more than a dozen times. The staff at the strategic planning office, who initially treated me coldly, are gradually starting to acknowledge me. Of course, from the first day, I had a fight with the team leader in the conference room.
“Tell me about the staff in the strategic planning department.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, what you saw and felt. Now that we’ve met each other quite a bit, shouldn’t Hyun hear what your taste is like?”
There is no such thing as discernment, after all, it was a place where only the best were selected from among the most talented people. However, they all had strengths and weaknesses.
“Assistant Manager Oh Tae-seok is not a good fit for a team member, but he is an excellent individual. He is more useful for reading charts that change suddenly than reading the overall market situation. On the other hand, Team Leader Kim Jeong-won is a bit slow in commenting on sudden changes, but he is better than anyone else at reading the overall market situation.”
“The manager sees the trees instead of the forest, while the team leader sees the forest instead of the trees?”
“Yes. In a way, they are a combination that fits well together like gears meshing together. One side makes up for what the other side lacks. Should I tell you about the rest of them?”
He told me about the faces of the staff in the strategic planning department one by one. Of course, he left out personal feelings and showed them in public settings. As the conversation was coming to an end, the bowl of samgyetang was empty. Chairman Wang put down his spoon and looked at me.
“Who is the most talented among them?”
“It would probably be Director Kim Sang-guk, right? He’s in charge of the strategic planning department.”
“Then, if you were to put Director Kim in another position in the future, where would be a good place to do it?”
Director Kim Sang-guk is a very outstanding person. I have been able to know much more about him than I have seen in the past two months. Director Kim is very loyal and always thorough. He thinks about everything in a planned manner, so it would be a waste to put him in the position of president of an affiliate company.
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“I think a blue house would suit you better?”
“What? Why do you think so?”
“Somehow, he seems to be a person who suits public settings well. He has an intellectual and strong appearance.”
Chairman Wang looked at me in amazement at my unexpected answer. Of course, I can’t say that in my past life, Director Kim Sang-guk was the Prime Minister. Maybe what I just said will have a butterfly effect.
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