Corporate Villain
Copyright© 2025 by K.W
Chapter 15
“I knew our Executive Yoon would be like this. That’s why I told you to come quickly.”
“What are ... you talking about?”
The chairman wants to see you.
Instead of Manager Noh Gyu-hyung, I went to the distribution headquarters to personally escort Executive Yoon to Pyeongchang-dong.
The reaction Executive Kang Moon-jung showed upon seeing me.
“I bought you too many clothes at once, didn’t I?”
“ ... Yes?”
Knowing full well that he dislikes being questioned, I still blurted out that response, clueless about what the real issue was.
“It’s my fault for making Executive Yoon worry every morning about what to wear to work. Sigh ... Does this suit even go with this tie?”
What exactly is the problem?
A navy suit with a yellow-toned tie.
Isn’t that supposed to be safe enough?
“I should have attached numbers to them. For this suit, wear this shirt, these shoes, this tie, or ties of this color palette. I was short-sighted. This won’t do, Executive Yoon.”
“Yes.”
“Starting tomorrow, you know what? Before you leave for work in the morning, take a picture of your outfit and send it to me. Get my approval before you head out.”
“You’re joking ... right?”
“Does it look like I’m joking?”
I asked because it didn’t seem like a joke.
“How can you work so well with this sense of style? It’s not like there are many options for coordination. It’s just suits. But how can it not work out? You handle everything else so efficiently, even before enlisting, but when it comes to coordination, even after three years of nagging, there’s no sign of improvement.”
Before escorting Executive Yoon to Pyeongchang-dong, I made a quick stop at Daeyeong Department Store in Jongno.
There, Executive Yoon picked out a shirt and several ties that matched the suit I chose today with the speed of light.
No matter how I look at it, I just don’t understand.
I wonder what makes the shirt chosen by the executive any different from the one I wore all day at work, and why I must wear a purple tie with this suit today...
But even if I don’t know much about styling, I’m an expert on Executive Kang Moon-jung.
It seems he’s finally satisfied.
“Should I not prepare a separate gift?”
“What gift?”
“Is it okay to go empty-handed?”
“You heard me. I’m not sure if it’s sincere, but the reason Executive Yoon wants to see you today is not about marriage, but rather, he wants to have a meal with a well-performing employee ... something like that.”
During my time as an executive assistant right by his side.
There were occasions when I had to perform special tasks beyond accompanying the executive.
Such as when the executives of the subsidiaries were summoned by the chairman to Pyeongchang-dong for a meal.
It wasn’t frequent, but usually once a month? Sometimes once every two or three months, the chairman would invite the subsidiary executives to Pyeongchang-dong for dinner.
For presidents and executives with personal assistants, it didn’t matter, but for other executives, I often had to wait until late to drive them home because even a light drink would be exchanged at the meal.
It would be enough to call a substitute driver, but it was the chairman’s stubborn style to have Daeyoung’s employees conduct the protocol directly, so I waited until the meal was over and drove the executives myself.
Naturally, no executive prepares a separate gift for such occasions.
That’s why I asked.
If I was really invited to such a gathering, who would take me home today ... that was the question.
I wasn’t thinking any differently from the executive.
On the surface, it’s about having a meal with a well-performing employee, but that can’t be all there is to it.
“Why are you looking so nervous? Come sit here, sit next to me.”
The Pyeongchang-dong family home.
The meal started immediately.
As I was just assessing where my place at the table would be, the chairman, as always, using his wheelchair as a chair, took his place at the head of the table and spoke to me.
“Do you think I called you here to help finish off some leftover rice at home? Come sit next to me.”
This house in Pyeongchang-dong, where I’ve been coming to work for over three years.
Until the story of a contract marriage with the executive came up, I never even dared to think I could sit at this table, but now, for the first time, I was seated right next to the chairman.
Executive Kang Moon-jung gently pushed me into the seat right next to the chairman and then took his place beside me.
With Chairman Kang Ki-young in his wheelchair at the head of the table, Chairman Kang Man-ho and his wife Koo Young-sook sat to the left, and Executive Kang Moon-jung and I sat side by side to the right.
As usual, Vice Chairman Kang Young-jin and his spouse were nowhere to be seen today.
It’s been quite a while since I last saw Vice Chairman Kang Young-jin.
He had lived in the Pyeongchang-dong family home until he married Director Joo Yeon-hee in a political marriage.
It was a face I saw every day.
After getting married and moving out, he started living away from Pyeongchang-dong, attending breakfast with Director Joo Yeon-hee only once or twice a week.
Since I stopped being the official executive secretary, I had no chance of seeing him for a while, but sitting at this breakfast table reminded me of the plant he sent to my office to congratulate me on my promotion to head of the European region for Mulsan.
“Let’s eat. Take your time.”
The meal began with the chairman picking up his spoon.
Pyeongchang-dong.
Such an interesting house.
Of course, I’ve never actually met her, but the late Mrs. Ahn Young-hee, mother of Executive Kang Moon-jung and your maternal home, Hanshin Newspaper, was a powerful ally for her daughter.
Between Mrs. Ahn Young-hee and Chairman Kang Man-ho, there were no children for a long eight years after marriage.
Unable to let go of Hanshin Newspaper, a powerful ally, but also unable to give up on an heir, the Daeyoung family chose surrogacy.
And that surrogate was Mrs. Koo Young-sook, who caught the current mistress of the Daeyoung family.
Perhaps the person most similar to me within the current Daeyoung family is Mrs. Koo Young-sook?
Vice President Kang Young-jin, born a year earlier than Executive Kang Moon-jung between Chairman Kang Man-ho and Mrs. Koo Young-sook.
To put it a bit bluntly, siblings sprouted from the same seed but different fields.
One side has the only legitimate heir but only half a stronghold, while the other has enough stronghold but lacks external legitimacy of birth.