Kwon Shin-woo stood up with a soft smile and reached for the paper cup on the round glass table. As his hand tilted the cup, the aroma of instant coffee, which didn’t suit a man like him with well-groomed sharpness from head to toe, intensified. He precisely drank exactly two-thirds of the lukewarm coffee, then sat on the chair at an angle, gazing down at Seo Seung-hyun.
“By the way, I heard you scouted an employee from Shanghai.”
“We always welcome talented individuals with open arms. Whether it’s a large corporation like Seoran or a small hole-in-the-wall shop like us, it’s all the same, isn’t it?”
Seo Seung-hyun casually shrugged his shoulders without changing his expression. A hint of disappointment flashed in Kwon Shin-woo’s eyes. A brief silence followed. It was broken by the sound of the cup gently being placed back on the glass table. A smooth hand withdrew from the cup, with only one-third of its contents remaining.
“Thank you for the coffee. It was good.”
Leaving a polite and neat farewell, Kwon Shin-woo turned around.
The cheap aluminum door closed cautiously.
The sound of footsteps gradually receded, neither fast nor slow.
Only after the sound completely disappeared did Seo Seung-hyun rise from his seat. Without hesitation, he forcefully opened the aluminum door and stepped out of the executive office. With decisive movements, the wobbly aluminum door finally gave way with a loud crash.
The workshop manager, who had been standing outside the executive office in a state of confusion, hurriedly ran towards Seo Seung-hyun.
“Sir, do you have any instructions…?”
“Clean up the workshop.”
The abrupt command left the workshop manager bewildered.
“Pardon?”
“Finish cleaning up the workshop by tonight. Take a vacation for a while, and go wherever you want until I call for you, be it Southeast Asia or South America.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Give the other employees a vacation too.”
“Um… What about the Shanghai project?”
“I’ll handle that with Young-hee.”
After a momentary pause, Seo Seung-hyun tilted his head slightly to the left and smiled faintly.
“We’ll hire a temporary employee to assist.”
The mention of a temporary employee triggered a series of cries in the workshop. What do you mean by a temporary employee? Are you really going to completely clean up the workshop? Are you planning to send all of us in the workshop to Southeast Asia or South America? The cries continued, but Seo Seung-hyun waved his hand dismissively, ignoring the commotion. He confidently walked past the chaotic containers.
The flimsy aluminum door, its latch torn apart, hung pitifully. As Seo Seung-hyun effortlessly stepped over the broken door, a plastic nameplate with the three words “Executive Office” in distant traditional Chinese characters fell to the ground.
The driver, waiting in front of the limousine, opened the door. As Seo Seung-hyun got in, the door immediately closed. Leaning his elbow on the armrest, he rested his chin on his hand and inclined his body slightly to the right. He stretched his left leg forward through the ample space between the front and rear seats, crossing his right leg on top of it. The tip of his raised right foot tapped the air a couple of times.
The driver returned and took his seat.
“Where should I take you?”
The driver’s curt question made Seo Seung-hyun glance briefly outside the dimly lit window.
“Let’s go to Seongsu-dong.”
A brief response.
The driver pressed the accelerator without delay.
Seo Seung-hyun’s gaze focused on the containers quickly receding outside the window.
The Pohang workshop was the one where he invested the most effort.
As his business expanded its territory, the most urgent need was information. At first, Seo Seung-hyun paid hefty sums of money to information brokers for their services. Later, he used various eyes and ears scattered throughout different regions to collect information through more direct and traditional means. Since last year, he had been gathering information directly through sources that utilized the most advanced and efficient technologies.
The Pohang workshop was exactly that.
Despite its shabby and run-down appearance, the container was filled with state-of-the-art facilities that were unimaginable from the outside. In addition, there were five so-called experts hired by him and Jang Young-hee. Various tasks, crossing both legal and illegal means, were carried out there. It involved ruthless information collection and utilization aided by dazzling advancements in information technology, creating or erasing new identities, and using various means to transport illegal goods legally. Sometimes, it even served as an excellent intermediate safe for storing foreign currency cash, gold bars, or diamond ore that would only pass through Korea momentarily.
Externally, it appeared to be a scrap iron processing plant. It was established in 2003 and registered in Pohang City. The five employees, including the CEO, followed the law, paid the required taxes, and adhered to a 40-hour work week, working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The scale of sales and net profits was around the industry average.
The National Tax Service, which had a keen interest in the flow of SH’s liquid assets, the prosecution that was focusing on Seo Seung-hyun’s movements, or competitors, third parties, enemies, allies—all of them. No one would find a small and modest business like this suspicious.
“Well, we have no choice but to dispose of it.”
Seo Seung-hyun muttered quietly.
As he whispered to himself, the driver asked, “Pardon?” Seo Seung-hyun smiled and shook his head.
“Oh, nothing. It was just talking to myself.”
The brief conversation came to a halt with a faint vibrating sound from his cellphone. Seo Seung-hyun put his hand into his coat pocket and took out his cellphone. The number appearing on the screen was an overseas number. Without hesitation, his long finger swiped the answer button.
“Yes.”
[Mr. CEO, it’s Young-hee.]
A slightly crackling voice traveled through the Pacific via electromagnetic waves.
“Yes, Young-hee. How’s the water over there?”
[It’s good.]
With the unwavering secretary’s reply, which crossed the Pacific with a certain static, Seo Seung-hyun chuckled. Beyond that laughter, Jang Young-hee, who had keenly caught the sound of a car engine, asked again.
[Mr. CEO, are you on the move?]
“Yes, Pohang.”
[Did you stop by Pohang before going home?]
“I was planning to take care of some work there before going home, but it didn’t go as planned.”
[What do you mean by ‘didn’t go as planned’?]
Jang Young-hee asked, and Seo Seung-hyun shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, even though there was no one around. Then came a dry announcement.
Leave a Reply