Chapter 111: Claiming the Helm

The private tutors’ presentations continued.

But President Shim’s reaction was lukewarm.

That would be the case, as President Shim would have only received reports that went through the approval process.

Then, I ended up seeing the assignments of rookies who were worse than new employees, so how could I possibly be interested in them?

“Haam.”

President Shim yawned openly.

He openly expressed his boredom, tedium, and annoyance.

Naturally, the private tutors were greatly intimidated.

I couldn’t stand to watch so I intervened.

“Mr. Shim, please lower your expectations.”

“I wonder if there is any room for lowering expectations here.”

Every time that happened, the private tutors shrugged their shoulders.

“Please be lenient. I did my best on the assignment anyway.”

“Is it important that you did your best at work? The word best should be attached to the result, not the process.”

“That’s true. But everyone has a first time.”

Even if they are capable elites who will one day rise to the position of president of an affiliated company, they are now just college students who have not even received new employee training.

“This is not a company, and teachers are not new employees.”

“So you should be thankful. If this were a company, the harassment would have started from the executives all the way down to the shooter.”

The atmosphere noticeably became tense due to President Shim’s harsh evaluation.

Naturally, the pressure on the next presenter would be enormous.

“I am Ha Seon-woo, a senior in the Department of Business Administration at Hankuk University. I was given an assignment to draw a graph of the stock price fluctuations of 41 Wookwang affiliates based on stock price data from the past three years.”

“Get started.”

This time, President Shim answered calmly.

But his eyes changed when he saw the graph that Ha Seon-woo had drawn.

“You’ve been drawing graphs by quarter. Not only did you draw them by each affiliate, but you also grouped similar affiliates together and made graphs with different colors, and you even picked out only Wookwang’s core affiliates.”

For the first time, President Shim showed interest.

Then, the other private tutors all looked at me with surprised eyes.

“Have you organized the data separately?”

“Yes. This is the same data in a table format.”

“good.”

President Shim smiled with satisfaction.

Review the Whirlyric stock chart.

The rate of increase and decrease compared to the previous quarter and year-on-year is recorded in small letters next to the table, and is organized using red and blue.

It is written so that the rise and fall can be easily seen at a glance.

“It’s pretty good, isn’t it?”

What is that one word?

Ha Seon-woo was so happy that he almost jumped for joy.

I became the target of envious stares from everyone.

“What is your name?”

“I am Ha Seon-woo, a 4th year student in the Department of Business Administration at Korea University.”

“Ha Seon-woo. Remember that.”

I looked at Team Leader Yoo.

Then, Yoo Jong-tae, my quick-witted bodyguard and self-appointed right-hand man, quickly brought me a sketchbook. It was a label with names on the horizontal and dates on the vertical.

“Your Majesty, I have prepared three types of seals.”

It was a stamp with words and pictures that said, “You’re the best!”, “Well done!”, and “Do your best.”

I stamped ‘This is the best!’ on Mr. Ha’s box, which had been graphed to show the rise and fall of stocks of 41 affiliated companies.

“A stamp of praise? Do teachers receive those, not young masters?”

“Once you’ve completed your assignment, you should be evaluated. Depending on the number of praise stamps you receive, your performance bonus for the next month will vary.”

The private tutors all gaped in amazement.

“Since you’re doing a task, wouldn’t it be nice to get a bonus on top of it?”

“her······!”

“For your information, this stamp of appreciation will be due every quarter, and I will send it to President Shim, who is sitting here.”

I smiled brightly.

“Because it will be helpful for the job interview.”

“Okay. By the way, I am the type that favors competent employees. I really like to push, pull, and develop talented people who show promise.”

At those words, the private tutors’ eyes changed.

He looked back and forth between the praise stamp and President Shim with hot eyes.

‘Happiness is not in order of grades, but salary is in order of grades.’

They knew the principles of competition well.

So, after fierce competition, he must have worked his way up from a low-level employee to the position of president of an affiliate company.

* * *

After kicking out the private tutors.

I had a private meeting with President Shim.

“Your Majesty, to be honest, I’m a bit surprised.”

“There are quite a few sprouts, right?”

“Yes, you chose well. Especially the friend who presented the graph of the Wookwang Group.”

It seemed like Mr. Ha Seon-woo had properly stamped his seal.

“It would be normal if everyone else was just average, but you alone are showing off your skills like a military leader. That’s why I’m asking.”

President Shim smiled meaningfully.

“Why do you take care of that guy alone, Master? I don’t understand.”

“Did you notice?”

“Even our Taesung Chemical representative can’t submit a report like that in a few days. But it’s not like one of our close acquaintances, a team leader or a section chief, can do it for us.”

The reason why President Shim was smiling was obvious.

“What team leader or manager spends that much time and effort on miscellaneous tasks? There must already be a mountain of work to do at the company.”

President Shim tapped the desk in front of me with his fingertips.

“So naturally, I can’t help but look to the person closest to him, the very capable person who has time to spare. Why did you help him? There must be a reason, right?”

Instead of refuting, I nodded.

“Because the arms are supposed to bend inward.”

“hmm?”

“While everyone was struggling to do their homework somehow, that teacher was the only one who came to see me without telling me.”

“hmm?”

“He swore allegiance to my line and asked me to please raise him?”

“You come to tutor and swear allegiance to me? Ask your eight-year-old student to raise you······. Heh, heh heh heh.”

President Shim let out a hollow laugh.

Whatever.

“Can I treat someone who volunteers to be my servant the same way as everyone else? I have to take care of them at least one more time.”


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“So how did you take care of it?”

“I gave one piece of advice to each family tree.”

“pedigree?”

I took a piece of paper tied with rope out of my desk drawer.

“These are stock price charts and graphs for Taesung Chemical and Taesang Construction.”

“I gave it to you to reference.”

There’s no need to look so hard.

Because it’s a summary similar to what I announced earlier.

Since I’m organizing the important information in a separate ledger, it’s just a diagram that I occasionally look at for reference, so there’s not much to be gained from it.

“Did you write this yourself, Master? But why are there only these two companies?”

“Because that was the company my father said was his.”

President Shim looked down at me with admiration in his eyes.

“Then what is that advice?”

“Nothing much. I just told you that you can’t do company work alone.”

I placed a stack of contracts I had signed with my private tutors on my desk.

“You paid the tuition in advance, and you paid me a monthly salary, which was a lot. You gave me a sneaky tip that I should use that money to buy other people’s time and effort.”

“her······!”

“Honestly, this is something I can’t do alone. There’s just too much work to be done within a given time frame.”

“Knowing that, why do you insist······.”

President Shim, who was reading the contract, suddenly looked at me with surprised eyes.

“Did you deliberately give him such a difficult task because you expected him to cling to you, Master?”

“Among private tutors, I think he is the type that is particularly quick to judge situations and good at using his wits.”

I’ve met all sorts of people as I’ve rolled through the back alleys.

Among them, there are some types who have particularly ambitious eyes and quick wits. They are generally resourceful and do not care about the means and methods, so they achieve their goals by any means necessary.

I would say he is the type who achieves his goals by going back and forth between legal, expedient and illegal methods.

Talent like that is rare.

“When I realized that I could never do it on my own in time, I wondered how I was going to tackle it.

“That is the standard that distinguishes between incompetence and competence, between the ordinary and the extraordinary.”

“So here’s a tip. If you’re a senior at a Korean university, you’ll probably have a few juniors to mobilize and a lot of connections to ask for favors. If you bribe them a little and divide up the chores, it could be something you can easily accomplish.”

There must have been quite a few people who would gladly help me out if I bought them a drink.

“So, when you gathered the people, the first thing you taught them was how to bribe people and steal their achievements?”

“No.”

I waved my index finger from side to side.

“You should speak straight. It’s true that they bought the goods, but they didn’t steal the results. They’re not employees of Taesung, and they weren’t assigned the same tasks, right?”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“You said earlier. The word ‘best’ in company work should be attached to the result, not the process. Isn’t that illegal?”

“······.”

“I think it’s a bit of a trick and a bit of work. You get to drink and I get to do less work, so it’s a win-win relationship.”

“······.”

“When everyone else is short on money, if you open your wallet and win people’s hearts, that’s all goodwill and connections. So shouldn’t we encourage it?”

“······That’s right.”

“If you are a graduate of a Korean university, you are an elite who will be able to secure a good position in society. Is there any reason why you would not utilize your school ties, regional ties, and blood ties while living in this country?”

“······None.”

President Shim looked at me with a strange expression.

“If someone expresses interest in Taesung and wants to join the company, I would welcome it with open arms. I tend to be a bit greedy for talented people.”

Unlike the 21st century, South Korea at this time was experiencing rapid growth.

When the country’s wealth is expanding and the company’s size is growing rapidly.

Because the stomach was not blocked, promotion and advancement were achieved very quickly.

It was a time when one was guaranteed elite status in society based solely on academic background.

“After all, a company is made up of people, and when it comes to growing a company, one competent employee is better than ten incompetent employees.”

“That’s right. In fact, just studying hard isn’t enough to get you good at a company job. You need to have something to do.”

“He must also have a keen eye for detail, be able to use any means necessary to achieve his goals, and be able to work hard to please his superiors. I need several confidants like that.”

Even if miscellaneous tasks can be delegated to the corporate system, executives should not be immersed in the system.

‘What I want to raise is an executive who can suggest Taesung’s future, not an employee who will be in charge of miscellaneous tasks.’

When the soldiers row hard, the boat moves forward.

But if the captain and helmsman touch the rudder carelessly, the ship is bound to head in the wrong direction.

“Your Majesty, I cannot help but ask.”

President Shim asked seriously.

“No matter how promising they are, why do you waste your time raising these rookies who haven’t been groomed yet? You could have just asked the sergeants to raise them after they enter Taesung.”

President Shim’s voice was filled with regret and sorrow.

“You mentioned the line earlier, right? There are many people who are trying to take over the line of the Do-ryun, the direct descendant of Taesung Group. Even if you stay still, talented people who pledge their loyalty to the Do-ryun and volunteer to be your confidants will gather like clouds.”

“That’s right. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble.”

“So does that mean your current situation is not normal?”

“yes.”

I nodded.

“When I was negotiating with my grandfather, was Mr. Shim there too?”

“yes.”

“I had decided to take over several of Woo Kwang’s affiliates. Do you remember exactly what it was that my grandfather had agreed to hand over to me?”

“It was a share of an affiliate company to be acquired.”

“What about management rights then?”

“······hmm?”

“My grandfather decided to hand over the shares to me, but he never said a word about handing over the management rights of the affiliated company.”

President Shim’s eyes shook greatly.

“Do you remember what I asked you to do, Grandpa?”

“Umm, I decided to persuade the executives of Taesung Group to allow my lord to acquire shares in Wookwang’s affiliates······.”

“Did your grandfather say anything about it during the board meeting?”

“······.”

I’ve never taken it out.

“Instead of declaring my rights in front of the Taesung Group executives, my grandfather simply asked me about my experience touring the executive meeting.”

“Hmm.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that even if we can give up shares, we have no intention of giving up management rights.”

“Why do you think so?”

I poked my chest with my index finger.

“Because I’m only eight years old.”

President Shim couldn’t refute it.

“I’ll admit that you’re the major shareholder, so just quietly receive the dividends and take care of them. I have no intention of putting you at the forefront of management, so you should learn management properly from President Shim. That’s what I mean, right?”

President Shim kept his mouth shut.

“I have to take care of my own share. I don’t want to suck my thumb and have my rice bowl taken away from me. That’s why I had no choice but to do this.”

Finally, President Shim opened his mouth with a groan.

“What do you plan to do?”