A few days had passed.
Yoo-hyun was sitting at his office desk, browsing through the IT news section as usual.
He wanted to keep track of Sharp and Ilseong’s movements.
He also had a purpose of checking if there was anyone behind the phone business that was barely running.
There was nothing better than the media to boost his work, just like he did.
As he was looking at the newly posted articles, one caught his eye.
It was a title that could easily come out, considering that Apple phones were about to be released in Korea.
He clicked on it and scanned the content, frowning.
It was already a situation where rumors were spreading in the phone business division.
This kind of remark could cause misunderstandings.
It was obvious that someone had intentionally written the article.
Yoo-hyun scrolled down to check the press company.
As soon as he saw the name, Yoo-hyun spat out a laugh.
It was clear that the moment the article came out, it was a signal flare.
At that moment, Yoo-hyun received a call.
Surprisingly, it was from Yeotaesik, the executive director.
“Yes, sir…I understand. I’ll see you later.”
Yoo-hyun met Yeotaesik at a quiet cafe on the outskirts of Ulsan.
“Yes. The preparation for the product evaluation meeting is going well.”
Yeotaesik smiled leisurely as he heard Yoo-hyun’s answer.
His thin silver glasses and calm expression suited him very well.
He said as he drank his tea.
“I heard that Mr. Shin is taking good care of you.”
“He pays a lot of attention to me.”
“That’s good. You must be having a hard time taking care of three departments, but he’s doing well for you.”
“It’s all thanks to the group leader who organized everything well.”
Yoo-hyun smiled and flattered him.
But Yeotaesik was not such an easy person.
He immediately got to the point.
“Mr. Shin thinks highly of you.”
Yoo-hyun backed off a step, but Yeotaesik pressed on.
“How about the Hanseilbo article?”
“It seems like someone moved from inside.”
“How do you know Hankyunghoe?”
Hanseilbo had a strong connection with Hankyunghoe’s line.
Only a handful of people in the company knew this well.
It didn’t make sense that a mere employee knew this.
Yoo-hyun looked straight into Yeotaesik’s eyes and opened his mouth.
“The group leader said that the process is not very important.”
“That’s right. True.”
“Then why do I know this rather than how to make the result more important?”
He could have explained it vaguely, but there was no reason to do so.
In this case, it was better to be strong and give confidence to the other party.
It seemed that Yoo-hyun’s intention worked well, as Yeotaesik’s attitude softened.
He probably believed that Mr. Shin had given him a hint.
“You’re right. You’re like Mr. Shin when I’m with you.”
It was a nice thing to hear, but Yoo-hyun joked back.
“Do I look that old?”
Yoo-hyun drank his tea leisurely as he watched Yeotaesik laugh loudly.
There was nothing more to see after confirming each other’s positions.
Yeotaesik brought up the main topic first.
“As you know, someone is definitely pulling strings behind the scenes.”
“It’s to shake up the LCD business division.”
“It’s because this place is still outside their influence?”
“Yes. It’s also politically important.”
The LCD business division was powerful after the home appliances and phone business divisions.
In terms of groups, it was bigger than most subsidiaries.
This meant that the LCD business division had a lot of influence on the selection of the next chairman.
Yoo-hyun went one step further.
“And its importance will increase in the future.”
Yeotaesik asked with curiosity, and Yoo-hyun told him without hesitation.
“The LCD business division will soon be spun off.”
Yeotaesik’s mouth opened wide at the story that was too big in scale.
Yoo-hyun did not stop talking.
“The time is not far away.”
“There will be a lot of resistance. It’s not easy to make a company independent.”
“It has to be one of two things. Either it’s a burden on the company because of its severe deficit, or it has enough power to survive on its own.”
In the past, it was the former, but this time he intended to make it the latter.
Yoo-hyun sent a determined look, and Yeotaesik muttered his words.
“Enough power to survive on its own.”
“Yes. It has to be strong enough to stand on its own without Hanseong Electronics’ help.”
Yeotaesik’s head flashed with one thought as he heard Yoo-hyun’s answer.
“Is the prerequisite for that, this Apple phone panel?”
Yeotaesik lost his words in front of Yoo-hyun’s confident expression.
He straightened his posture and asked.
“What can I do to help?”
“There will be pressure from the phone business division, since the article came out.”
“I hope you can stop that.”
“I can do it for a short time, but there’s a limit.”
Yeotaesik was prepared for that, as he had expected.
But he couldn’t stop it if the phone business director stepped in.
That’s when Yoo-hyun reassured him.
“It won’t be long. Once the product evaluation meeting is over, they’ll shut up.”
“Why? If it goes well, we’ll be more tied to Apple phones.”
“If it goes moderately well, yes.”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Yoo-hyun gave him a meaningful smile.
Yeotaesik asked him an absurd question.
“A new employee? Don’t make me laugh. The only thing I’m sure of is that you know something that even the top floor of our company doesn’t know.”
Yoo-hyun didn’t flinch at Yeotaesik’s sharp words.
“Whoever says what, I’m a new employee Han Yoo-hyun.”
Yoo-hyun smiled brightly.
Yeotaesik looked at him with disbelief.
Inside the Hanseong Electronics Sindorim Campus, a small meeting room.
There was a report on the next-generation phone going on.
Kang Changseok spoke based on the data he had organized.
“According to the roadmap of the LCD panel…”
The new team leader, Senior Manager So Byung-doo, nodded his head as he heard that.
“You’ve prepared a lot, Chang-seok.”
“But you can’t put a high-resolution panel like that. It makes us look unprepared.”
“You’re right. Should I delete it?”
“No. Don’t do that. What you should do is…”
As he listened to Senior Manager So’s explanation, Kang Chang-seok cautiously gave his opinion.
“I think changing the data might cause misunderstanding.”
“It’s all in the news. What’s the big deal? Let’s keep it simple and clean.”
“I’ll review it once more…”
As soon as Kang Chang-seok opened his mouth, Senior Manager So laughed out loud.
“Haha! If you do well, you can present this to the center director, you know?”
“Th-the center director?”
“Yes. This is the hottest topic these days. You can do it, right?”
Kang Chang-seok’s face was flustered by the unexpected offer.
He felt the envious eyes of his seniors around him.
It was a critical moment when the pressure from the mobile business division increased due to the Hanseilbo article.
Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik stepped forward and handled the situation.
He stopped the leak before it happened, so people didn’t even know there was a problem.
Even the team leader of the advanced product team didn’t know what was going on upstairs.
Yoo-hyun was able to hear a different story from behind, in a different place.
The voice of Assistant Manager Choi Min-hee rang through Yoo-hyun’s phone speaker.
-I attended a meeting led by the group director and…
Through her explanation, Yoo-hyun confirmed two facts.
“The center director filed a complaint?”
-They made such a fuss in the media. That’s why the executive director got involved.
First, the person who stepped forward was the development center director of the mobile business division.
As he had heard from Kim Sung-deuk, he was directly in charge of the panel.
-He seemed to have a very strong style. He even called our group director personally.
-Yeah. It’s good that our group director stopped him, or else it would have been a big deal.
“Is everything settled then?”
-It seems so. You don’t have to worry about this stuff, Yoo-hyun.
Second, the center director was more proactive than he thought.
It was not something that someone who had just become a center director would do.
Maybe there was a connection between him and Han Kyung-hoe.
Of course, it was too early to judge by this.
Yoo-hyun thanked her for telling him this.
“Thank you for letting me know this, Assistant Manager.”
-What are you thanking me for? You’re working hard down there, I’m sorry I can’t take care of you more.
“I know you’re taking good care of me, Assistant Manager.”
-Don’t say that again.
It wasn’t an empty word.
There was a reason why Kim Young-gil could go all-in on the Apple product review presentation.
It was because Choi Min-hee Find your next favorite novel on NovelHub today!
She must have been busy with the innovation planning contest with a small number of people, but she did her job quietly.
And she never showed any signs of it.
He was very grateful for that.
Maybe Yoo-hyun’s feelings reached her, because Choi Min-hee’s voice became softer.
-Yoo-hyun, why don’t you come up once? It’s time for your business trip anyway.
“I was going to go soon. There’s also Hwang’s wedding.”
-And we have to have a farewell party for Park too.
“Yes. I have a lot of things to do there.”
-Yeah. Everyone misses you here.
“What about you, Assistant Manager?”
When Yoo-hyun asked casually, Choi Min-hee answered cheerfully.
“Then I’ll go faster.”
Was it because they were far apart?
This kind of awkward conversation became natural to them now.
Yoo-hyun smiled and hung up the phone.
He returned to his seat and organized his thoughts.
Whether the mobile development center director had anything to do with Han Kyung-hoe or not, it didn’t matter much now.
He would find out after the product review was over anyway.
Until then, Executive Director Yeo Tae-sik would block him well.
It would be different if Vice President Hyeon Gi-jung stepped in, but that was very unlikely.
He was not someone who would move rashly without data.
There was nothing for LCD business division to be blamed for in this conflict situation.
They had prepared very solid evidence documents after all.
The rest was smooth sailing.
He was worried about Sharp, but he could check on that later.