CHAPTER 7 – Dojun

The quarterly meetings in the chairman’s office are usually held over a light dinner. Some days he invites all the representatives from each of Hanseong Group’s subsidiaries, other days he sits them one by one, facing them alone.

“Is it the third day today?”

Chairman Hwang, who was looking down at downtown Seoul through the large window, spoke. Jang Jin-soo, the chairman’s chief secretary, replied.

“Yes.”

“You’re having a hard time, Mr. Jang.”

“No, not at all.”

As Mr. Jang replied, the intercom in the chairman’s office rang. Mr. Jang picked up the receiver.

— Vice Chairman is coming up.

Mr. Jang lightly bowed to Chairman Hwang and opened the door to the chairman’s office. When the door opened, a large room with a long wooden table and chairs where twenty people could comfortably sit came into view. It was the conference room where Chairman Hwang presided over the board of director’s meetings.

Mr. Jang walked, scanning the table with his eyes. Each seat had a nameplate, and sushi, soup, side dishes, water, and utensils were prepared.

When the door to the conference room opened, a long corridor with a thick gray carpet appeared. To the left was the secretary’s office where the chairman’s secretaries worked, and to the right was a large window overlooking downtown Seoul.

Mr. Jang opened the door to the secretary’s office for a moment and said.

“Stand by.”

At Mr. Jang’s words, the secretaries stood up and moved out into the corridor, lining up to wait. At the end of the long corridor was an elevator. It was an elevator exclusively for the chairman’s office that went to the top floor of Hanseong Group’s headquarters.

Ding-dong.

The buzzer sounded. Vice Chairman Hwang Yeongchan, Hanseong Department Store President Lee Jang-soo, Hanseong Mart President Kim Jung-seok, and Hanseong Food Vice President Park Ki-tae came down from the elevator one by one. Mr. Jang bowed at a 45-degree angle and said,

“The chairman is waiting for you.”

Hwang Yeong-chan walked in step with Mr. Jang. He casually greeted Mr. Jang, whom Chairman Hwang trusted and relied on more than his own son.

“Is Dojun still not here?”

Mr. Jang merely flashed a light smile. 

He’s a questionable bastard who never answers anything properly. 

Yeong-chan cursed under his breath.

Still, he had learned something over the years of dealing with Mr. Jang. If Dojun didn’t show up today, Mr. Jang would say that the Chairman would not be attending.

Yeong-chan heard that Dojun attended the board meetings two days in a row. It was common to be summoned, but attending consecutively was unusual.

The first day was meetings with the hotel and duty-free shop, but the second day was with the logistics subsidiaries. It was unprecedented for the hotel CEO to attend a logistics meeting. Furthermore, it was mentioned that they had a meal alone with the chairman at Yeonwoo Mansion.

Today marks the third consecutive day.

Yeong-chan had a bad feeling about this.

“Where’s Dojun?”

Chairman Hwang asked Mr. Jang.

“He’s on his way up.”

At Mr. Jang’s reply, Yeong-chan bit the inside of his lip. Everyone was seated, yet Dojun’s seat was empty. 

The little bastard’s already cocky.

“Let’s eat first. You must be hungry.”

Chairman Hwang said, then picked up a piece of sushi himself and put it in his mouth. Yeong-chan also picked up sushi. Just as he was about to eat, the door swung open wide.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

Dojun’s stride was brisk as he approached the table.

“Let’s begin.”

At the chairman’s words, Mr. Jang nodded lightly.

“In the third quarter, Hanseong Hotel’s sales profit was KRW749.1 billion, and operating profit was KRW46.7 billion, marking a 38% increase in revenue and a 29% increase in operating profit compared to the same period last year. The stock price rose by 12%.”

Mr. Jang’s voice was pleasant with a soft bass. Chairman Hwang, Dojun, and the department store executives all recognized and acknowledged the facts as Mr. Jang smoothly delivered them.

Chairman Hwang nodded his head as if to punctuate each sentence, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as if he were listening to a pleasant song.

“What was the date of the reopening of the Jeju Hotel?”

Chairman Hwang asked. Mr. Jang replied,

“We’re looking at May next year.”

“And Hanseong B&B?”

“We’re preparing for the opening of the Mapo branch.”

The same report on the third day. The same questions. The same answers. Dojun popped a piece of sushi into his mouth as he listened to Mr. Jang’s answer.

“Continue.”

Mr. Jang continued his report with his gentle, bass-filled voice.

“HS Duty-Free Shop. Revenue 38.96 billion won. Operating profit 17.4 billion won. We are on the brink of final selection as the operator for Changi International Airport duty-free business.”

A pleased smile crept onto Chairman Hwang Ilhyun’s lips. The hotel, which had struggled to make significant profits, had been handed over to Dojun with a simple instruction: “Do as you wish.” And in four years, he had achieved this much.

“Chairman Hwang, you’ve been feeding him sushi for three days straight. He must be tired of it by now.”

“No, it’s delicious.”

Dojun replied. Chairman Hwang smiled softly. He resembled his father in having no discernible flaws. No, he was even stronger and more tenacious than his father. Dojun never threw tantrums or acted out while growing up.

That’s why, even though it was sometimes frustrating, it was also reassuring. No matter how heavy the burden, Dojun never uttered a complaint. Chairman Hwang picked up a piece of sushi, dipped it in soy sauce, and said, 

“The hotel is fine now. We should start preparing for the department store. Yeong-chan, arrange a seat for Dojun.”

Yeong-chan, who had remained silent with a stiff face until now, finally spoke with a slightly resentful expression.

“Chairman, I think it’s still a bit early for that. The hotel hasn’t even been stabilized yet…….”

“Too early?”

Chairman Hwang asked bluntly. Yeong-chan nodded in response.

“Dojun is barely thirty-three now.”

“He’ll be thirty-four soon. Your eldest brother went to the department store at thirty-five.”

Yeong-chan’s face hardened even more at the blatant reminder. It meant not to say he was early just because he was only a year ahead. Chairman Hwang’s sense of time seemed to be based on Hwang Yeong-guk.

From food to hotels, from hotels to department stores. Dojun was now following the path that Hwang Yeong-guk, the former vice-chairman, had trodden. The term “following” may be an understatement. Dojun was actually forging ahead with bigger and broader strides.

“Dojun is well prepared.”

Chairman Hwang said with a look that indicated further objections wouldn’t be tolerated. Dojun bowed his head slightly and replied.

“Yes, sir. I will prepare further.”

“You’ll do well. Just like your father.”

The chairman smiled as he looked at Dojun. He knew he was seeing a reflection of himself and his father. There was expectation and affection in his eyes. As long as he didn’t disappoint that expectation, Dojun knew no one could clip his wings. 

“I’ll continue with the report.”

Mr. Jang smoothly proceeded. After the reports were exchanged, it was time for Hanseong Mart and Hanseong Food to take the stage. After the reports on the mart and food concluded, it was time for the grand finale – the department store. Dojun listened attentively to the state of department store operations over cold sushi and lukewarm soup.

“The business currently in question is led by Executive Hwang Min-jun. Due to anti-Japanese sentiments, sales have sharply declined…”

For months now, the Japanese brand stores they ambitiously imported have been struggling. The chairman’s expression, sitting across from Yeong-chan, turned dark.

The thought of a chairman son’s poor management skills being exposed in front of his nephew must be rotten to the core, and the fact that the chairman has told Yeong-chan to find a place for Dojun in the department store must be causing him a sense of crisis.

Dojun looked at Yeong-chan across the table. By now, he knew Yeong-chan wasn’t someone who would sit idly by. No one welcomes with open arms a nephew who’s creeping up on them and threatening them. He would be ready to fight back, no matter what.

Yeong-chan had struggled in his brother’s shadow all his life, but he wasn’t someone who had wasted his time. Yeong-chan was preparing himself thoroughly, so he should be prepared for this.

At the end of his thoughts, Dojun’s eyes met with Yeong-chan’s. His lunchbox was almost untouched. With a smile, Dojun said to him,

“Please have some, Uncle. It’s quite tasty.”

His father’s life had stopped at forty-four. A life lived yet dead, dead yet living, shadowing his own life. Therefore, Dojun had to live out the life his father should have lived.

It wasn’t far off. Dojun set down his chopsticks.

The time of reprimand and reflection passed. It was a tedious time. Dojun listened to Yeong-chan’s explanations, veiled in justifications and glanced up at the sky. The letters embroidered on the signboard of the building across the street were a luminous red.

It was a color he hadn’t seen in a long time and it stung his eyes. Due to his mother’s genes, he couldn’t distinguish between green and red. He could tell them apart by their intensity, but he didn’t know the beauty of leaves or the redness of blood.

It didn’t bother him much, just made the world monotonous for him. He didn’t think it was something significant enough to hide. So, although it was a colorblind lens he usually didn’t wear, he wore it on important days when he couldn’t afford mistakes. On days when he wore special lenses with a red dot in the center, red colors stood out especially.

He sees red, but there’s no way to tell if it’s the same red as other people’s red. He just realizes that what he normally sees as yellow with a bluish tinge is actually green or red.

‘I’m color blind.’

Even as he said those words, Dojun was looking at something red. Yoon Seo-yeon’s lips. Her smell. Her touch. The way she glowed, shone like a beacon and stung his eyes.

The white fingers that moved lightly on his neck, the faint scent of her flesh, the clean nape of her neck that he wanted to bite off, the plump lips that he wanted to crush with his fingertips, the meticulously calculated smile and the way her eyes flickered once in a while.

So it was Yoon Seo-yeon.

Even with a brief thought, she vividly came back to life.

Dojun glanced down at the watch on his wrist. It was now 7:40. By the time they finished the meeting and reached Yeonnam-dong, it would probably be around 9 o’clock.

It was late, but not too late.