Park Jin-hyuk gazed quietly at Hyun Yi-soo, who was smiling to himself.
After bowing his head for a moment in thought, Hyun Yi-soo looked up and met Park Jin-hyuk’s gaze.
“I think I finally understand what Madam meant by her words.”
“Madam? Are you talking about Director Oh?”
“Yes. Madam visited me before meeting with you. She asked me to look after you, and she left me with the phrase ‘gyulhwauiji.’”
“Gyulhwauiji?”
Park Jin-hyuk muttered the word ‘gyulhwauiji,’ lifting one corner of his mouth.
‘What on earth is that woman up to?’
If it was Oh Seo-young, there’s no way she meant that in a positive sense, but judging by Hyun Yi-soo’s reaction, he seemed to have taken it differently.
Park Jin-hyuk quietly waited for Hyun Yi-soo to continue.
“So far, I think the reason you got swept up in so many bad rumors was because you weren’t fully aware of the position you held. But once your position changed, you broke out of your shell.”
“Those are good words.”
“But Director, I’m not someone who pledges loyalty to a person. I’m loyal to DS as a company.”
The faint smile on Hyun Yi-soo’s face had vanished.
His tightly closed lips seemed to express his true feelings.
Park Jin-hyuk liked that look even more.
“Deputy General Manager Hyun, I appreciate those words. Loyalty not to a person but to DS itself… If others, especially my father, heard that, they’d be thrilled. But I’m not so sure that’s entirely right.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“At first glance, it sounds like you won’t be swayed by anyone, but to my ears, it’s something else.”
Park Jin-hyuk stood up from his chair.
He walked to the glass window overlooking the wide Gangnam street outside.
The sun was setting, and darkness was beginning to creep in over the city.
People hurried by, and the streets were packed with cars—a busy scene laid out before him.
Gazing out at it all, Park Jin-hyuk spoke.
“To me, it sounds like you’d pledge your loyalty to whoever takes the helm of the group, no matter who it is.”
“That’s not the case.”
“You must have sensed it, but DS is about to undergo a major upheaval. Or rather, it’s already begun since I started moving. You’ve felt it, haven’t you?”
Park Jin-hyuk turned and looked at Hyun Yi-soo, who still hadn’t answered.
The setting sun cast its glow behind Park Jin-hyuk, making him appear almost radiant for an instant.
‘Good. Look at me. Look at me with the sunset at my back.’
Park Jin-hyuk had intentionally changed his position to create a visual effect for Hyun Yi-soo and the other three team leaders.
He remembered reading that when Hitler spoke before Nazi Party members, he always had the sunset at his back.
Even during his days as Yoo Jung-geol, Park Jin-hyuk had been careful about lighting when meeting with business partners.
Through experience, he knew that combining auditory and visual effects could maximize persuasion.
“When you’re at sea and the waves are rough, staying still won’t make the waves avoid your boat. Sometimes, you have to surrender to the waves just to survive. There’s also a saying that trees want to stay still, but the wind never ceases. Think carefully. Change is coming, and you must make a choice. The sooner you choose, the greater your gains will be in the end.”
Hyun Yi-soo looked at Park Jin-hyuk, who stood with his arms outstretched.
In that moment, Park Jin-hyuk no longer looked like a child to him.
Moved by the sincerity of Park Jin-hyuk’s invitation, Hyun Yi-soo’s heart wavered.
After turning forty, as his standing in the company grew, he found himself increasingly targeted by others.
Except for him, most executives were busy trying to align themselves with someone—or had already done so.
He’d vowed to stand tall and alone, but now he understood why people said such things in the first place.
And now, the hand reaching out to him.
Hyun Yi-soo felt like a girl receiving a confession from her first love.
Just as he was about to reach out and take the offered hand, Park Jin-hyuk turned his body aside.
“Go home, think it over, and let me know. As I said earlier, the sooner the better. There’s no one around me yet, so if you join first, your share will be much bigger. But I can’t wait for everyone forever. If you hesitate and weigh your options too long, there might not be any shares left when you decide.”
With that, Park Jin-hyuk sat back down.
Hyun Yi-soo wanted to immediately accept the hand, but since there were others who followed him, he simply bowed his head to Park Jin-hyuk and left the president’s office.
Park Jin-hyuk watched Hyun Yi-soo’s expression as he left and felt certain he would soon come around and join him.
“Honestly, it’s a simple method, but it works so well.”
Park Jin-hyuk pulled out a cigarette.
He’d used the same approach on Hyun Yi-soo as he’d used with past business partners, and judging by Hyun Yi-soo’s expression, he was confident the outcome would be the same.
“I used to wonder why I bothered with this kind of thing in sales, but it’s turning out to be really handy.”
He had sweated through summer and shivered through winter.
Sometimes, seeing the researchers comfortably seated in their air-conditioned offices, he envied them.
Moreover, salespeople were always the first targets during layoffs, and the job itself wasn’t exactly easy to move to another field, so he’d often felt dissatisfied.
But looking back now, all the time spent dealing with people and learning how to read their intentions and package himself had become more valuable than anything else.
Smiling in satisfaction, Park Jin-hyuk put the cigarette back in his mouth and gazed out at the office as night fell.
Just as Park Jin-hyuk expected, Hyun Yi-soo didn’t take long to decide.
The very next morning, Hyun Yi-soo and the three team leaders appeared in the president’s office, looking determined, and promised to join him.
Park Jin-hyuk hugged each of them, thankful for their decision.
Do your utmost to recruit talented people, and when they come to you, treat them with respect.
It was a basic principle written in countless sales manuals he’d read back in his Yoo Jung-geol days—and he expressed it with his whole being.
Even such a small gesture seemed to make a big impression.
Hyun Yi-soo and the other team leaders were so moved by Park Jin-hyuk’s attitude that they threw themselves into their work with even greater enthusiasm.
Park Jin-hyuk watched them with joy from his seat in the president’s office.
“Not bad. With everyone working below me… All that’s left for me is to ride shotgun in the car Hyun drives down the highway, huh?”
But such leisurely times didn’t last long.
*****
After loafing around his spacious home, Park Jin-hyuk finally went in to work, prodded by Onsan-daek’s nagging.
But his daily routine was little more than walking around the company with a takeout coffee in hand.
After all, Hyun Yi-soo would handle all the work, and all Park Jin-hyuk had to do was approve or reject Hyun Yi-soo’s proposals.
He spent his days comfortably, going home as the sun set.
After about a week of this lifestyle—
One evening, as Park Jin-hyuk was putting on his coat to leave the president’s office, Hyun Yi-soo and the three team leaders came in.
Park Jin-hyuk looked at them as they entered.
“Perfect timing. So, do any of you have time for a drink tonight?”
Craving a drink after work, Park Jin-hyuk casually suggested it, but instead, Hyun Yi-soo directed the team leaders to place documents on the small conference table, then turned to Park Jin-hyuk and spoke.
“Director, there’s a problem.”
“A problem?”
Looking at the pile of documents stacked on one corner of the table, Park Jin-hyuk had a bad feeling.
Hyun Yi-soo took Park Jin-hyuk’s coat and hung it back up, guiding him to a seat.
Once Park Jin-hyuk sat down, Kwak Seok-gi, the finance team leader, spread out the documents and began explaining.
“It’s about the Basmaya Project.”
The documents were filled with information about the Basmaya Project.
Details from each sector and forecasts had been added since being transferred from headquarters.
After skimming through the documents handed to him by Kwak Seok-gi, Park Jin-hyuk turned to Hyun Yi-soo, seated to his right.
“Is there a problem?”
“Yes. A problem has come up.”
Since he’d delegated most matters to Hyun Yi-soo, Park Jin-hyuk immediately sensed this wasn’t an ordinary situation.
He realized his easy days were over and looked at Hyun Yi-soo with a troubled expression.
“What’s the problem?”
“Payment for the Basmaya Project is stuck.”
“You mentioned that before, didn’t you?”
“The reason it’s stuck is strange.”
“Strange?”
“Yes. Payment is supposed to be made by the Iraqi government after they take ownership of the completed housing, using those houses as collateral to borrow from the state bank. In other words, there’s no real reason for the payment to be blocked. We didn’t ask for payment in advance, and since the completion rate has reached 30%, the government could use those finished units as collateral and get the loan.”
“So, is there a problem with the completed houses?”
“That’s not it either. The residents who moved into the new city are very satisfied—in fact, demand is so high there’s competition to move in. Take a look.”
Hyun Yi-soo showed Park Jin-hyuk photos of the ongoing Basmaya Project.
Of course, seeing it in person would be best, but since that wasn’t possible, he explained the project through photos.
“This looks just like Korea in the 1990s.”
“Yes. The concept itself was based on Korean new towns.”
Park Jin-hyuk nodded and looked back at the photos.
Rows of apartment buildings shaped like the Korean letter ‘ㄷ’ were neatly arranged in blocks, filling the photos.
What was being phased out as “matchbox apartments” in Korea had become well-organized new towns in Iraq.
Park Jin-hyuk tore his eyes from the photos and looked at Hyun Yi-soo.
“If there are people living there, it means the government has taken ownership. So why hasn’t payment been made?”
“There’s a block in the middle. The government has taken possession and allowed residents to move in, but the state bank isn’t approving the loans.”
“How can that be?”
“What’s been reported is that the state bank should approve loans using these apartments as collateral, but they’re refusing to follow the government’s orders.”
“The state bank is defying the government? Is that possible?”
“Apparently, it’s because Iraq currently has a provisional government. That’s why these absurd situations are happening.”
Now Park Jin-hyuk understood why Hyun Yi-soo said there was a problem.
Leaning back in his chair, he asked,
“What happens if we pull out?”
“We’ll lose 680 billion won in receivables, plus all the money we’ve already invested. The total loss would be about 750 billion.”
“750 billion…”
Park Jin-hyuk crossed his arms.
He couldn’t just give up and walk away from 750 billion.
But he couldn’t keep pushing the project either.
With only 30% completed and payment stuck, continuing would just lead to losses in the trillions before long.
DS Construction was truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
“Director, have you heard anything from the Chairman about what he thinks of DS Construction?”
“What do you mean?”
Park Jin-hyuk didn’t understand what Hyun Yi-soo was getting at.
Hyun Yi-soo seemed to struggle with what he was about to say, opening and closing his mouth several times.
After thinking for a while, he bit his lip and spoke as if making a firm decision.
“It just doesn’t make sense why this blockage is happening.”
“You mean it doesn’t add up?”
“Yes. It’s as if someone intentionally blocked it. I tried every avenue to get in touch with the Iraqi state bank. But off the record, they told me they want to approve the loans, but they’ve been told to wait, so they can’t.”
“Didn’t you just say the state bank is refusing?”
“Yes. Outwardly, that’s the story—the state bank is refusing. That’s why I tried to make connections over there… but the reality is different. It feels like someone is blocking the funds, hoping DS Construction will go under, and has asked the Iraqi government to delay payment for now.”
“Told them to delay payment…”
Park Jin-hyuk crossed his arms and turned away for a moment, lost in thought.
Then he looked back at Hyun Yi-soo.
“So if payment remains blocked, what happens next?”
“Other than the capital increase I mentioned at the last meeting, there’s no way to put out this fire right now.”
“A capital increase…”
“If we go for a rights offering to existing shareholders in this situation, the stock price and company image will plummet—that much is obvious. The most realistic option is a third-party allocation of new shares.”
“So, we need to find an investor for DS Construction?”
“Yes. But since DS Construction is an affiliate of the group, we can’t bring in just anyone. Most likely, another affiliate with surplus funds will become the third party and participate in the capital increase.”
“Which company is most likely?”
As if he’d anticipated this question, Hyun Yi-soo held out his hand, and finance team leader Kwak Seok-gi handed him the relevant documents.
The documents contained detailed information about the situation of DS Group’s affiliates.