Chapter 110: The Classroom of Power

The business class that President Shim was supposed to teach started a week later.

This was because, after the Taesung Group executive meeting, the reacquisition of Wookwang Chemical became more visible, and President Shim had a lot of work to handle recently.

“Master Jeong-hyeok, for today, I ask that you treat me well not as the ‘President of JH Investment Company’ but as your ‘private tutor.’”

Look at this?

JH Investment Company was an investment company named after my initials.

‘Just to remind you that we are now a tutor and a student, not an employer and an employee?’

The intention was obvious.

‘It means you don’t want to give up the initiative and authority.’

Even though I knew full well what was going on, I politely put my hands together and bowed.

“Please take care of me in the future, Mr. Sim.”

He seems very satisfied to hear ‘Teacher’ instead of ‘CEO Shim’ as he wanted.

“Then please take a seat, Jeonghyeok.”

“yes.”

“It will be quite a difficult and challenging class, but please do not give up and follow along with all your passion and sincerity until the end.”

It was a threat and a declaration of war.

So I prepared too!

“My grandfather sent me this official document anyway.”

“Yes, it was the Chairman who first suggested it. He asked me to train the young master in management.”

President Shim smiled broadly.

“I was originally supposed to help Master Seongjun with his business class. I accepted the offer to help his son, Jeonghyeok, instead of Master Seongjun.”

“If you have accepted my grandfather’s proposal, does that mean you will take responsibility for me and guide me at least until I step into the front lines of management?”

“Of course. If you wish, I will be happy to help you until you become an executive.”

“Executive. Okay. Then sign and stamp it.”

I thrust in the contract I had prepared in advance.

“What is this? I think just keeping my promise with the chairman would be enough.”

“CEO Shim, you just resigned from Taesung Group, right?”

So, I’m sitting here as the president of my investment firm.

“Have you thought about the proposal I sent you in a note?”

“If you are talking about the time you asked me via note whether I had decided between Taesung Chemical, an investment company, and an oil refinery······.”

On New Year’s Day, I made a promise to President Shim when I hired him.

If we get Taesung Chemical back, we will respect President Shim’s choice.

“I must say that it depends on you, Master Jeong-hyeok. I hope you will take to heart my words that you should do your best in your management lessons.”

“So, we have no choice but to prepare a contract.”

“······yes?”

“Unless I’m bound by a contract of employment with the company, my promise to my grandfather ends up being just a verbal promise. I want to learn from Mr. Shim properly, for a long time, and definitely.”

I smiled broadly.

“It’s something that requires money, time, effort, and hard work, so we have to make sure to go through it. As you know, I’m a person who believes in documents more than words.”

“Then the tutoring contract is with your father, Master Seongjun······.”

“Do you see this official document? My grandfather gave me full authority over the private tutoring. Also, I am the one who will be receiving the tutoring. The person involved.”

With a slightly surprised expression, President Shim looked back and forth between the contract and me and thought about it, but I was getting extremely tired of repeating the same thing for the 21st time.

“When on earth do you prepare a contract like this?”

“Pre-studying is essential for a smooth class.”

“No, how is it that there is a clause in the contract that says I will help you grow into an executive? That was just a proposal I made.”

Well, I expected that CEO Shim would make such a suggestion.

“Does that matter? What matters is that Mr. Shim was determined to help me, and I was willing to take business lessons with Mr. Shim.”

“That’s true, but this clause is also quite problematic.”

“What bothers you about the part that says that the number of participants and location of the business class, as well as the teaching method, can be decided autonomously through agreement between the parties?”

“I’m bothered by the part about the agreement between the parties. Even though this is a class I lead, it seems like they’re claiming their right to proceed only if they reflect Master Jeonghyeok’s opinion. The teacher is the boss.”

“Isn’t it the case that extracurricular classes require active cooperation from students?”

I said it bluntly.

“Do you think this is a company? I’m not even a subordinate to CEO Shim, so you’re going to insist on following the hierarchy?”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what’s the problem? You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Please keep in mind that the goal now is education, not management.”

Unlike the naive elite college students, President Shim carefully considered each and every clause of the contract.

“Then what’s with all these confidentiality clauses? Why is it that no information about the class can be leaked to the outside?”

“I mean, let’s end the class with the class. The only thing I have to report to Grandpa is the Su-umi-yang-ga evaluation report. Is there a problem?”

“Well, then I guess that won’t be a problem.”

Only then did President Shim obediently sign and stamp the document.

President Shim also took the bait like the elite college students.

“Then shall we begin the class?”

President Shim cleared his throat.

“What is management?”

“It is the act of managing and operating an organization formed to achieve a specific goal. In short, it is the work of running a company.”

President Shim flinched.

But once again, he opened his mouth calmly, clearing his throat.

“Then what is a company?”

“A corporate body organized for the purpose of profit-seeking and engaging in commercial or other for-profit activities.”

“So what does it mean to run a company?”

“It is usually divided into sales, public relations, organization, personnel, production management, and financial management, but ultimately, it is the work of reading the needs of the market and selling goods and services.”

President Shim muttered quietly, ‘You’ve been studying very thoroughly. It’s not easy, after all.’

“So what is the most important thing in running a company?”

“Selling products on the market, selecting and developing products, promoting products and managing inventory, and hiring employees to run the company are all ultimately done by people.”

“······.”

“In other words, I think that in the end, the most important thing in management is how to manage people.”

President Shim opened his mouth wide.

“Professor Shim, I didn’t ask you to tutor me to learn business theory or anything.”

President Shim, who had burst into laughter, looked at me with a strange look.

I continued talking without paying any attention.

“I came here to see and learn from Mr. Shim’s judgment and insight, which he has gained through his practical experience.”

“you’re right.”

“We’re not scholars, so what’s the point of delving deep into theories?”

“Of course. For practitioners like us, the best thing we can do is run the company well and manage people well.”

President Shim opened his briefcase and took out a thick stack of documents.

“So I prepared it.”

“······This is work that needs to be handled by my investment firm?”

So you’re saying that President Shim brought me some work that he had to do himself?

Why did I hire President Shim?

They gave me a contract and paid me a high salary to do this kind of work.

“Should we call this teaching material?”

President Shim smiled meaningfully.


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“After all, the best way to learn is to break things and roll around in real life, engraving it into your body.”

So you’re going to roll me around and teach me lessons deep in my bones?

“I knew that would happen, so I prepared for it.”

I pointed to the thick stack of documents I had already placed on the desk.

“What is this?”

“You said that running a company is all about hiring people and running them, right? This is the result of hiring useful people and running them for a week.”

It was an assignment submitted by private tutors.

“Huh? I think I just heard something strange······.”

“Seeing is believing. It’s faster to see for yourself than to listen to a detailed explanation. Follow me.”

I dragged the arm of the bewildered President Shim and headed to the next room.

* * *

Bam.

In the next room, there were twenty tutors waiting for today’s lessons.

People who were struggling to do their homework, each assigned a desk and chair, raised their heads.

“Oh my! I haven’t finished it yet. Time is running out, and the amount of homework is over the limit!”

“Jeonghyeok, didn’t you say that you were going to end today’s class with just a quick discussion?”

“No, I didn’t know that they would invite outsiders to their private lessons and hold such a grand debate······.”

While listening to the private tutors’ protests, I pointed to President Shim.

“Hello. This is the president of Taesung Chemical.”

“what?”

The private tutors screamed.

“Tae, why is the president of Taesung Chemical here?”

“That’s because we want to invite experts and conduct full-scale management classes.”

“Hey, business class?”

I clapped my hands.

“Pay attention. President Shim is the one who grew Taesung Chemical into a company with a market capitalization of approximately 30 billion won, annual sales of 3.1 billion won last year, operating profit of 1.9 billion won, and net profit of 1.6 billion won in just 7 years with a business capital of 1 billion won.”

The private tutors looked at President Shim with their mouths wide open.

“We had a hard time inviting the person who created a management success story by growing the company 30-fold in 7 years for the sake of teachers, but the welcome was not very good.”

“It’s an honor to meet you! My name is Pil-Doo Cho, and I’m a third-year student in the Department of Economics at Korea University!”

As soon as I finished speaking, the private tutors greeted me with loud applause and cheers.

Each of them raised their voices, trying to somehow get noticed, while stating their affiliations and names.

President Shim also bowed his head with a bewildered expression as he greeted me.

President Shim looked at me and muttered, “Master Jeong-hyeok, what is all this about business tutoring?” but I pretended not to know.

“If you are Taesung Chemical’s CEO, you are also known as the closest associate of Taesung Group Chairman Cha Tae-seong.”

“I know!”

“What would happen if one of the teachers caught Mr. Shim’s eye?”

“······!”

“Let’s think back to the contract. Didn’t it include a 6-year exclusive contract condition along with a condition for joining Taesung Group?”

“······!”

These are all great people who have taken up the positions of presidents of major affiliates of large corporations.

Not only were his ambitions and aspirations greater than those of the criminals, his drive and passion were also extraordinary.

“Think about it carefully. You can’t live your whole life tutoring anyway, right? You’re not going to get a job at a big company after you graduate, are you?”

“I have to join the company!”

“What if you become an employee that CEO Shim is interested in? Don’t you think your company life will go smoothly from now on?”

Suddenly, it seemed like lasers were coming out of the tutors’ eyes.

“If you don’t have a family and support, can’t you get a parachute? You can win it with your own ability. Is this a rare opportunity to open your own path to success with your own hands?”

Everyone clenched their fists and looked at President Shim with the aforementioned expressions.

“If you learn about management one step ahead of others, wouldn’t it be very advantageous for you to quickly advance to an executive position in the future? The starting line will be different.”

I pointed my finger at Yoo Jong-tae.

Then, Yoo Jong-tae, a quick-witted bodyguard, copied the homework he had collected from the private tutors and distributed it as meeting materials.

“Then, let’s report on the assignments from the past week to President Shim.”

“yes!”

Twenty private tutors shouted ambitiously and with enthusiastic voices.

‘Life is all about the carrot and the stick!’

President Shim leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Huh?”

“Your Majesty, who are all those people?”

“My private tutors.”

“Are you planning to use me to train private tutors in this way?”

“Management is ultimately about dealing with people, right? That’s what you do. Isn’t this what real life is like?”

“······.”

“Is there a problem?”

President Shim looked speechless.

Whatever.

The twenty private tutors began to report enthusiastically, their eyes sparkling.

“I am Pil-Du Cho, a third-year student in the Department of Economics at Korea University who tutors math. I will be presenting my assignment.”

President Shim and I also sat down and reviewed the papers, passing them along.

I covered up the accounting ledgers and reports submitted by Mr. Cho.

“What a mess. Who told you to prepare the balance sheet like this?”

“I did my best. Accounting is so difficult that I wanted to organize it in a way that would make it easier to read······.”

“If someone saw this, they would think I was embezzling funds by keeping double ledgers.”

“What, embezzlement?”

“If you just look at the ledger, you might have such doubts. Accountability comes with keeping ledgers. Can you take responsibility for these ledgers in your name?”

Mr. Cho was shocked and didn’t know what to do.

“I don’t know where to use a balance sheet?”

“I know that the stock market uses it to analyze a company’s financial structure, but······.”

“If you want to solve a math problem, you have to use math symbols. Can you just change the balance sheet that is commonly used in the market?”

“······I’m sorry. I’ll fix it right away.”

“I told you to ask Team Leader Yoo if you don’t know anything. Does Team Leader Yoo look like X······.”

“No way! Absolutely not!”

“Until the next class, make sure you learn and master how to analyze a balance sheet properly.”

“yes.”

President Shim nodded, seeming to share the same opinion.

When his expression became obviously uneasy, Mr. Cho lowered his head.

His face turned red, but he didn’t make excuses or get angry.

I was taking notes of the points that were pointed out, marking them with stars and underlining them.

‘You have good spirit! I like you!’

But why is that?

The glint in President Shim’s eyes was unusual.

Not at Jo Pil-doo who ruined the presentation, but at me.

“Is this the talent of an eight-year-old? No, who in the world receives tutoring like this?”

Soft exclamations and deep sighs were a bonus.

“This is really a no-brainer······. Aren’t we going to end up writing down our names in order of our assignment grades and sticking them on the wall?”

No, how did you know?

If the annual salary is frozen, the reason for the difference in performance bonus must be clear.

Life is all about the carrot and the stick.