I recalled memories of my father.
In my memories, my father had a stern demeanor.
Being a small business owner is no leisurely position. When delivery deadlines approached, he spent weekdays and weekends at the company, and whenever he finally came home after a long time, he would just sleep.
Yet, there were times when he made an effort for the family to dine out together or take trips to amusement parks or the beach.
When I was young, I sometimes visited my father’s company. The uncles in their oil-stained work clothes would call me the little boss and secretly give me pocket money.
As I became a university student, I was busy hanging out with my girlfriend and studying, and my father was also busy with work, so we didn’t see each other much.
You only realize how important someone is when they’re gone. It was only after he passed away that I understood what my father meant to me.
If he were alive and saw me now, what would he say?
Even if I gained the ability to see the future, I can’t change the past. So I can never meet my father again.
Eunsung ruined our family and caused my father’s death. And Park Si-hyeong affected not just me but my mother, Taek-gyu, and senior Sang-yeop, all the precious people around me.
So, these two are undoubtedly my enemies.
One is the chairman of a leading conglomerate in the country, and the other is the president. Ordinary people might feel some pressure in front of such figures.
Didn’t a reporter once say that President Park Si-hyeong had an aura like having 100 fluorescent lights turned on?
I had hoped to feel that aura upon meeting him, but unfortunately, it was absent.
Anyway, those reporters…
Furthermore, I found it quite uninspiring.
Thinking back, I’ve met even more impressive individuals. James C. Goldman, CEO of Golden Gate; Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway; Ronald Stampler, the President of the United States, and more.
Compared to them, Park Si-hyeong is nothing.
“Enemies? That’s quite a statement…”
Perhaps because I called them my enemies to their faces, both Han Min-goo and Park Si-hyeong looked taken aback.
Park Si-hyeong laid down his chopsticks as if he had lost his appetite.
“Well, I guess only I can think that way.”
The one who hit doesn’t care much; it’s just the one who got hit who feels wronged.
I looked at Chairman Han Min-goo and asked, “You know DHK Engineering, right?”
He sighed and replied, “I’ve heard about it.”
“Did you give direct orders?”
Chairman Han Min-goo shook his head at my question. “I didn’t know such things were happening.”
This statement was probably true.
In Korea, it’s common for large corporations to steal technology from small businesses and cut off supplies. DHK Engineering is just one of many companies supplying Eunsung Motor’s third-tier vendors.
There likely wasn’t even a need to report to the chairman. How many small businesses have Eunsung Motor ruined in this way?
If it weren’t for me, they wouldn’t even have had to know such companies existed.
Park Si-hyeong spoke as if giving advice. “When I was younger, I went through a lot of things. I know from running a business that I’ve experienced plenty of unfair situations.”
“…”
Is he pulling out his classic ‘I’ve been through it’ series?
To struggling small business owners, he’ll say, “I’ve run a business before,” to unemployed youths, “I’ve worked before,” and even to flood victims, “I’ve been homeless before.”
Is it any wonder people say the only thing Park Si-hyeong hasn’t done is serve in the military?
“Why don’t we forget all the bad things and focus on doing well moving forward?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
“I’m not sure what you expect from me. I don’t understand why I have to forget all the bad things that have happened until now.”
There are things in the world that cannot be forgotten, even if you want to.
“And shouldn’t these words come from the victim? If the perpetrator who hits says to forget and move on, what does that make the victim?”
Park Si-hyeong pressed his thin lips tightly together.
Wait… Could he really think of himself as the victim?
“If there’s a misunderstanding, shouldn’t we resolve it right here?”
“Is that so?”
I asked him.
“I heard that Secretary Lee Il-seon from the Blue House directed the Parents’ Association to rally in Dongtan. Do you have something to say about that?”
Park Si-hyeong looked regretful.
“I had no idea that was happening. This is a farcical result of the secretary’s excessive loyalty. What era are we in for such things to happen? In any case, the mistake of my subordinates is my mistake, so I will apologize.”
I nodded.
“I see. Then what about the National Intelligence Service employee who commented that my mother was spending her son’s money at host bars? Is that also just excessive loyalty?”
“Did that, did that happen?”
“The prosecution that arrested my friend, the National Intelligence Service surveilling employees, the National Tax Service conducting tax audits. There are many civil servants in this country whose loyalty overwhelms their judgment.”
Thinking I was being sarcastic, Park Si-hyeong’s expression hardened slightly. I was just speaking the truth.
“And speaking of excessive loyalty, exactly whom are they being loyal to? The president doesn’t break open a piggy bank to pay their salaries. They are all paid with taxpayers’ money.”
Of course, the ones they should be loyal to are not the president but the nation and its people.
Corruption related to power cannot be committed alone. It is only possible with the collaboration of subordinates. Time and again, they willingly acted as shields for the president whenever problems arose.
When the illegal surveillance issue of the National Intelligence Service arose in the past, there were suspicions that the Blue House was involved. At that time, Deputy Director Lee Myung-ho claimed he was the mastermind, taking full responsibility.
Later, in the first trial, he received a one-year prison sentence with a two-year suspended sentence for abuse of power. Both the prosecution and Lee Myung-ho did not appeal, so the sentence was finalized. Eventually, it was forgotten by everyone.
Where is Lee Myung-ho now, and what is he doing?
Surprisingly, he started a subcontracting company supplying PAS and became a proper CEO.
Hong Man-ho, who stepped down from the prosecutor general position due to the excessive investigation, was approached by a law firm that counts Eunsung Motor as its biggest client. Yoon Se-won, the director of the NIS, found a position as an outside director for Eunsung’s primary vendor.
It’s likely that Lee Il-seon, the Blue House secretary currently in hiding, has also secured a position somewhere.
Burying someone who needs to be silenced in concrete or on a mountain is an old method. With money and power, most things can be resolved.
However, Park Si-hyeong’s term has only a few months left. By February next year, after the presidential election, the president’s term will also end.
If not Eunsung Motor and PAS, how can any promises of compensation be made?
Silence lingered in the room for a while.
I broke the silence and asked, “What did you want to see me about?”
Chairman Han Min-goo replied, “I heard you’re conducting crash tests with Eunsung Motor at Carros.”
“Yes. What went wrong?”
Analyzing competitors’ products by purchasing them is something every company does. Seosung Electronics, for example, thoroughly disassembled and analyzed the Enphone when they first made smartphones, leading to the launch of the L1. Subsequently, NPL sued Seosung Electronics for $2.5 billion in patent infringement.
Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors’ products is normal, but conducting crash tests is unusual. It’s essentially a public declaration of intent to identify weaknesses.
Other automakers are paying close attention to this incident. They are simply waiting to see what happens, as if one competitor falls, it may benefit them in this already tough market.
“What is the reason?” I asked frankly.
“I’m suspecting a faulty airbag. We want to keep this in mind when we receive the airbag supply later.”
Chairman Han Min-goo drank water, his throat dry. I had been thirsty as well but hadn’t touched the cup before me.
“Please stop the crash tests.”
“Why must we do that?”
“If Eunsung Motors shakes, the entire domestic manufacturing industry will shake. I’m sure CEO Kang Jin-hoo knows this well.”
Most small to medium enterprises in our country are subcontractors for large corporations. So when a big corporation coughs, small businesses catch a cold.
Consumer sentiment has stagnated due to the shock from Big One, and car sales have plummeted. If issues arise at Eunsung Motors during this time, companies already at their limits will go bankrupt one after another.
For those companies, it’s unfair damage without any wrongdoing.
Park Si-hyeong spoke up.
“Shouldn’t we consider the national economy?”
To think we’re still being business-friendly in such a situation!
“I get that as an economic president, you prioritize the economy…”
I can’t tell if they’re worried about the national economy or PAS.
I found it ridiculous and laughed.
“It seems both of you are under some grand misunderstanding.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Convincing me to stay quiet isn’t going to solve anything. There have been quite a few cases of Eunsung Motors’ airbags exploding and malfunctioning. More than a dozen people have died. I checked, and these incidents were mostly in older cars and regions with high humidity. The PAS airbag was installed about six years ago, right? If there are no defects, there would be no issues, but if there truly are defects, the explosions are just beginning.”
They must have understood my words.
Up until now, the incidents have only been the beginning. How many more airbags will explode in the future? Can they keep hiding this indefinitely?
What I’m trying to express isn’t about social justice or a strong conscience.
A company is a group that seeks profit. So how can a company achieve profits?
When the recalled L6 exploded again, Chairman Lim Jin-yong made the decision to discontinue without delay. The damages at the time were enormous, but ironically, that decision saved Eunsung Electronics.
If they had delayed and responded passively, they would have had to truly withdraw from the smartphone market.
Chairman Han Min-goo spoke in a heavy voice.
“We need time.”
“Time should have been sufficient until now. Didn’t you already recognize the airbag defect five years ago?”
Given various circumstances, Eunsung Motors recognized the problem with the airbags relatively early. If they had responded quickly then, there would have been no issue.
So why did they take no action? The reason is, of course, that the supplier of the airbags was PAS.
Toyota also recognized the unintended acceleration defect but concealed it for six years. When this fact came to light, the U.S. Department of Justice imposed a fine of $1.2 billion, and brand trust plummeted.
If it is revealed that Eunsung Motors also knew and concealed the facts this time, a similar situation will occur.
A company can produce defective products. However, concealing it while being aware of it is something that’s hard to forgive.
Park Si-hyeong looked me straight in the eye and asked, “What exactly do you want?”
“Well…”
Chairman Han Min-goo looked at me and said, “I sincerely regret and apologize for your father’s situation. I would kneel and apologize in front of his grave.”
The Chairman of Eunsung Motors apologizing to my father… What would my father have thought if he heard this?
“My father is not at a grave, but in a columbarium.”
These days, don’t most people choose cremation? Well, chaebols might prefer burial since they have ancestral graves, but…
Anyways, both of their thoughts are messed up.
‘Instead of apologizing to my father who has passed away, shouldn’t we be worried about the customers of Eunsung Motors who might face similar fate in the future?’
Business people calculate everything in terms of money.
So, how much is a human life worth? If dozens are to die in the future, is it enough to just avoid the immediate losses from a recall?
I pulled out a few photos from my pocket and placed them on the table.
They were photos of fragments pulled from the crash test vehicle. Metal shards were embedded in the chest, neck, and face.
‘These are the photos I received before coming here. I confirmed that shards flew up towards the upper chest depending on the airbag deployment direction. The metal shards completely pierced the neck. Airbags are the last safety device to protect the occupants’ lives in an accident, but this is just a lethal airbag. At this point, it might be safer if the airbag doesn’t deploy at all.’
Park Si-hyeong and Han Min-goo looked at the photos with shocked expressions.
The collision tests were conducted under expert supervision and were fully recorded.
Now, it just needs to be revealed that this isn’t merely a coincidental accident but a structural defect. Professor Park Pil-hyun is already working on it.
What will happen if this matter comes to light?
Eunsung Motors may not be affected, but PAS will surely go bankrupt. And the relationship between Eunsung Motors and PAS, and whose PAS actually is, will come back into question.
I stood up.
‘I’ll be leaving now. I have an appointment.’
As I was about to leave the room, I heard Park Si-hyeong’s voice from behind.
‘Do you really think you’ll be safe after this?’
Is he still acting like he’s the president?
I appreciate his concern, but…
‘Wouldn’t it be better to worry about yourself first?’
