Chapter 91: Appointing Kang Mu-sung as Our Advisor?

“Kang Mu-sung as our advisor?”

“Yes.”

Oh Se-hyun’s frown clearly mirrored his thoughts.

The position of a corporate advisor had long been reduced to a mere formality, but it wasn’t a role so insignificant that a former CEO with a history of corruption could simply occupy it.

“Since he’s surrendering all his shares, Advisor Kang will only have his salary to live on. Though, we’ll have to pay him quite a bit.”

“He definitely accepted those conditions?”

“With his entire family facing jail time and all his stock proceeds about to be seized as fines, he had no choice but to accept. He figured it’s better to share the wealth than to have it all go to the national treasury.”

“How much are you planning to give him?”

“Advisor Kang wants 30% of the stock proceeds. He said he’ll take it over ten years.”

Hearing 30%, Oh Se-hyun’s frown vanished. He must have expected at least half.

“Well, that’s a good bargain… Still, he’ll be making more than the president of Dae-ah Construction, won’t he?”

“Initially, yes.”

“Initially?”

“Yes. We’ll pay him as agreed for a couple of months, then drastically cut it back.”

Oh Se-hyun’s brow furrowed again.

“What kind of scheme is that now?”

“He needs to experience the misery of not getting paid.”

Oh Se-hyun threw his head back and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! Have you ever seen such a cruel bastard?!”

He laughed until tears welled in his eyes before finally sitting up straight.

“Pay him for the first couple of months, then claim the company’s finances are tight and cut his salary?”

“No, we’ll just postpone the payments. According to the contract, we have to pay him the full amount.”

“So even you don’t know when he’ll actually get all his money, or when his back pay will arrive?”

“The nation is facing tough times. Everyone at Dae-ah Construction needs to tighten their belts until we’re back in the black. Hehe.”

“Advisor Kang will be furious. It’s not that you’re not paying him, but that you *can’t*.”

“He knows the feeling well. Isn’t that what he kept telling the Dae-ah Construction employees? That he’d pay their back wages as soon as things improved?”

Oh Se-hyun grinned and looked me in the eye.

“Is this strategy? Or revenge?”

“Pardon?”

“That detestable man. Is this a ‘you get what you deserve’ kind of thing? Or is this a clever way to secure the shares?”

“Both, hehe.”

“What if Advisor Kang sues?”

“It’ll only make his suffering worse. We’ll drag out the legal battle for years. Eventually, he’ll wear himself out. And he won’t get paid during the lawsuit.”

“He avoided jail time, but a future without pay awaits him… I’ll gladly watch that man suffer.”

“Oh, right, Uncle.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“There’s something important to say when we drastically cut his salary.”

“What’s that?”

“We need to ask him to share the burden until the company is back on its feet.”

“I won’t forget that. Haha.”

We both felt a sense of small justice being served, and shared a pleasant laugh for a while.

“Oh, and I’m thinking of taking a short trip to Israel.”

“What? Israel? Why there all of a sudden?”

Oh Se-hyun’s laughter vanished, replaced by wide eyes. Even I thought it was a strange destination. Israel.

“I’m going to attend a lecture there. There’s a pretty outstanding professor.”

Oh Se-hyun even let out a disbelieving chuckle.

“A lecture? You? The guy who doesn’t even bother going to the university right next door?”

“Ah, this lecture isn’t about law. It’s a more challenging science and engineering lecture for me.”

“You’re not just going there to attend a lecture…”

“We need to plant the seeds for the future in advance.”

“When will those seeds sprout?”

“Honestly, I’m worried we might have missed the planting season. So, I can’t give you a definite answer.”

This was the truth.

I had noted the memory from the economic newspaper’s special feature in my notebook, but the exact timing was missing. Only the late 90s was mentioned.

It was something happening across the ocean. If we were late, the trip to Israel would just be a vacation. If not, it would be proper sowing.

* * *

“I-Israel, sir?”

“Yes. Why are you so surprised? You do have a passport, right?”

Assistant Manager Kim Yoon-suk scratched the back of his head, hesitating.

“Get your passport ready quickly and book the flights and hotel. We’ll be staying for about a week.”

“Yes, Chief of staff.”

Kim Yoon-suk, about to go abroad for the first time, rushed out of our living room, then quickly returned.

“Chief of staff, what kind of airline ticket should I get…?”

“Assistant Manager Kim, how about experiencing first class this time?”

This time, he practically flew out.

* * *

While students rushed back to school for the new semester, I flew to Israel.

The flight time from Korea to Tel Aviv, Israel, is over 14 hours. Since we had to detour to avoid the dangerous airspace over the Middle East, it took another three or four hours.

“Chief of staff, those flight attendants seem to memorize all the first-class passengers’ names.”

Kim Yoon-suk said, sneaking glances at the stewardess.

“A round trip to Israel takes about 24 hours. This seat costs over seven million won, right? If a customer is paying seven million won a day, I’d memorize their entire family history.”

“Ah….”

“Enjoy the service those ladies provide. It’s all our money. Order whatever you want, and let’s have a drink. It’s a long flight, so let’s have a drink and get some sleep.”

After a few glasses of wine, Kim Yoon-suk cautiously spoke.

“Chief of staff, about Department Head Jin Young-jun.”

“Older Brother Young-joon?”

“Yes. He’s been appointed as an executive director at Soonyang Construction. He threw a fit wanting to go to Soonyang Electronics, but Vice-chairman Jin Young-ki ignored him and sent him away.”

“With all the executives leaving for Dae-ah Construction, there must be many vacancies. They could have given him a managing director position, but they were stingy.”

“I’ve heard that while a position at Construction isn’t bad, it’s not exactly a plum job either. Is that right?”

“What do you think, Assistant Manager Kim? Between a director at Soonyang Electronics and an executive director at Soonyang Construction, which position holds more power?”

“W-well, wouldn’t the director position at Electronics, being the flagship company, be more influential?”

Kim Yoon-suk said hesitantly.

It was time for a little nagging. People tend to become complacent without a sense of urgency.

“What qualities do you think are needed for someone who drives, runs errands, and informs me about company changes?”

“Yes?”

“Anyone among the tens of thousands of Soonyang employees could do that.”

Kim Yoon-suk slowly put down his wine glass and straightened up from the reclined seat. He sensed the reprimand. If he didn’t notice that, it would be a serious issue.

“Didn’t I say that Chief Shin and Assistant Manager Kim, our relationship is a business transaction? Beyond that transaction, what do you think is needed to build a relationship of trust?”

“……”

“Don’t just report the situation as it is. Analyze it. Why did this happen? What will change because of this? What will happen next? I want to hear your thoughts on these things, Assistant Manager Kim.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Trust builds when your judgments and thoughts are correct, and when those accumulate. Business partners can be replaced at any time. But there’s nothing that can replace trust.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Seeing Kim Yoon-suk’s stiffened posture made me chuckle.

“No, I’m not going to grade you, so stop making that face. Haha.”

“No, it’s just that I haven’t shaken off my errand-boy mentality. Thank you for the advice, no, the warning… Thank you.”

I hoped that the words Kim Yoon-suk just spoke would be kept.

Many people make resolutions, but few act on them.

“Alright, let’s get some sleep. We still have a long way to go.”

The plane sliced through the night sky, heading west.

* * *

Ben Gurion International Airport, located in Lod, 15km from Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, was where we arrived after 14 hours of flying.

Kim Yoon-suk and I loaded our luggage onto a cart and exited the airport. Kim Yoon-suk, though a bit hesitant, even asked something in English at the airport information desk. He seemed to have no problem communicating the destination to the taxi driver. It seemed he hadn’t been completely idle all this time.

We arrived at the Sheraton Hotel on Hayarkon Street and unpacked our bags in the room.

“Do you like the room?”

Kim Yoon-suk watched my reaction.

“Yes, it’s nice.”

It wasn’t just a polite remark.

The clear Mediterranean Sea visible from the window was dazzlingly blue.

“You’ve worked hard. Let’s get some rest early today. My legs are stiff.”

It was already almost 10 PM local time. I wasn’t even hungry after the decent in-flight meal in first class.

“If you get hungry, order some room service. Don’t hesitate.”

“Yes, then please rest.”

Left alone, I wondered if I would be able to meet that person. And if I could have a pleasant handshake with him before falling asleep.

* * *

Kim Yoon-suk seemed excited as he enjoyed the hotel breakfast.

It was understandable, as it was his first morning in a foreign land.

“Assistant Manager Kim, feel free to do whatever you want until I finish my business here. You can even hire a guide and go sightseeing.”

“Oh no, how could I do that? I’ll assist you, Chief of staff.”

“No. There’s not much to assist with. It’s just visiting the university here. Look at my outfit. Don’t I look like a student?”

A hoodie, jeans, and a backpack.

Anyone would mistake me for a student.

“Are you sure it’s alright?”

“It’s fine. Let’s have free time until tomorrow morning. Haha.”

After breakfast, I went straight to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

This university is the oldest in Israel and a world-renowned institution that has produced four prime ministers and eight Nobel laureates.

Known for its outstanding research achievements, the Hebrew University has over 7,000 patents registered in its technology transfer company. It is particularly known that Einstein greatly contributed to the establishment of the Hebrew University.

The first place I knocked on was this technology transfer company.

I had to ask the employee at the information desk a somewhat absurd question.

“Excuse me.”

“Good Morning.”

Seeing the employee’s bright smile eased my tension.

“I’m looking for a professor, but I don’t know his name. He did research at MIT….”

The female employee at the desk chuckled slightly.

“We have over a hundred professors with research experience at MIT.”

Damn it, I gave them an opening to brag about being a world-renowned university.

“Um, among them, he’s someone who has made significant achievements in the fields of artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Can you find him?”

“Please wait a moment.”

As the employee looked at the monitor, one more fact came to mind.

“The person I’m looking for is in his late 30s.”

She glanced at me and then back at the monitor. She scribbled something on a notepad.

“It’s probably this person. He has a lecture right now. This is the lecture hall, and this is the professor’s office.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I lightly bowed to the information desk employee and went outside.

The name was written in block letters on the memo. Looking at the memo, it seemed vaguely familiar, but not quite certain. If it wasn’t this person, I would have to search every engineering college in Israel. Hoping that wouldn’t happen, I murmured the name.

“Amnon Shashua.”

And I asked for directions to the lecture hall he had pointed out.

I quietly opened the back door and peeked inside, but no one turned around. Only the backs of the students’ heads, engrossed in the lecture, were visible. The professor at the podium was also busy writing something on the chalkboard with chalk.

I stealthily took a seat in the corner of the lecture hall.

Engineering and science are definitely hard to adapt to.

I didn’t understand a single formula written on the chalkboard. All I could do was quietly observe Professor Amnon Shashua.