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Chapter 2…
“Phew…”
A long sigh escaped my lips.
The three days of the funeral had felt like being trapped on a battlefield.
The portrait of my father, which I was seeing again for the first time in thirty years, still wore the same gentle smile.
I forced the emotions threatening to burst out back into my chest.
There would be time to cry later.
That wasn’t a place to grieve.
It was a gathering of hyenas circling the ownerless Seonjin Group.
“Sister-in-law, you’ll have many responsibilities from now on. Let’s finish the funeral first, and then we can discuss everything in due time.”
Wearing the chief mourner’s armband, I silently watched them.
My eldest uncle, Kang Taeyong.
My other uncles.
The sickening way they had stood before my father’s portrait, shedding fake tears, only to subtly pressure my mother the moment her back was turned.
“I saw that bastard Kang Jinho too.”
He still had the youthful face of a college student.
“He looked like he’d already won.”
In my previous life, I’d been grateful for Jinho’s words of comfort.
But when I looked closely at his face now, I realized he had been suppressing a smile the entire time.
I wanted to grab him by the collar and scream at him.
Instead, I bit my lip until it hurt.
It wasn’t time yet.
If I showed my fangs too soon, I’d be destroyed before I even got started.
“Still… I really came back.”
I dropped heavily into my desk chair.
It was my old room.
Everything looked exactly as it had in 2003.
In the mirror on my desk, eighteen-year-old Kang Sunwoo stared back at me, his baby fat not yet completely gone.
“This really is…”
There was no doubt anymore.
I had died.
And I had come back to life.
Why?
I’d thought about it throughout the funeral, but there was no answer.
The only thing that mattered was that I had been given a second chance.
“Let’s think.”
Father was dead.
The company had been crushed under massive debt, a political scandal, and relentless investigations from the prosecution.
Whether it was because of the pressure or simple overwork, he’d died of a heart attack.
Perhaps it ran in the family.
I’d met almost the same end.
“And those wonderful uncles of mine were behind it.”
I hadn’t known it back then.
But later, piecing together countless clues, I learned the truth.
Those brothers had been the ones who created the circumstances that pushed Father into a corner.
“Now Mother will take control of Seonjin Group.”
A woman who had spent her entire life as a homemaker was about to be thrown into the middle of the corporate jungle.
“…Sigh.”
The timing couldn’t have been worse.
If whoever had sent me back had waited another five years—
No, even three years.
If I’d been an adult with even a little management training, I’d have had far more freedom to act.
“Who’s going to believe an eighteen-year-old?”
As a minor, I couldn’t legally sign contracts.
I had no justification for sitting on the board of directors.
Who would’ve thought my age would become the greatest obstacle from the very beginning?
Even so…
I couldn’t just stand by and watch.
I had to prepare with what little I could do.
“There’s not much time.”
Time wasn’t going to wait for me.
Soon, the attack from the Kang family would begin.
People later called it ‘the Brothers-in-Law Rebellion.’
In my previous life, Mother had weathered the storm magnificently.
“But she had to sell all the crown jewels.”
Forced entirely onto the defensive, she had sold off Seonjin’s most valuable subsidiaries for bargain prices.
Every source of future growth disappeared.
In the end, Seonjin became nothing more than an empty shell that slowly withered away.
“This time will be different.”
Simply surviving wasn’t enough.
We had to strike back.
Why?
“Because they’ll never stop attacking.”
My father’s brothers would continue trying to tear apart the weakened Seonjin Group.
At the very least, our first counterattack had to hurt them badly enough that they’d think twice before moving again.
Knock. Knock.
A cautious knock sounded at my bedroom door.
“Sunwoo, are you asleep?”
It was Mother.
I took a deep breath before answering.
“No. Come in.”
The door opened.
Mother walked in, her face noticeably thinner than before.
She carried a warm glass of milk.
“You can’t sleep, can you? You barely slept these past few days… You worked so hard, my son.”
She gently stroked my hair with pity in her eyes.
It felt comforting to be embraced by her again after so long.
But there was a problem.
Her hand stroking my head.
That was the problem.
Right now, I wasn’t a dependable ally.
I wasn’t someone capable of sharing her burden.
To her, I was only her poor son who had just lost his father.
If I couldn’t break that image…
There was nothing I could do.
“Mother.”
“Yes?”
“You’re meeting Uncle tomorrow, aren’t you?”
Her hand froze.
“How did you…?”
“I overheard it at the funeral.”
Pretending it meant nothing, I calmly sipped my milk.
“You’ll do well.”
“…”
“You’re wise.
I believe in you.”
Mother remained silent for a moment before smiling softly and patting my head again.
“Our little boy has really grown up.”
“Of course.
Just look how tall I am.”
She smiled, looking somewhat reassured.
But I knew better.
Once she stepped into the company, she’d have almost no one she could truly rely on.
Most of the executives had already been bought by Kang Taeyong or the other relatives.
The rest would simply wait to see which side won.
She needed someone trustworthy.
A blade she could wield.
“Oh, Mother.”
“Yes?”
“Do you remember when Father and I used to go fishing together?”
“Of course. Your sister and I hated it. Your father always said men had things to talk about, so he’d drag you along every chance he got.”
I smiled nostalgically.
“There was something Father always told me in the tent.”
“He did?”
“Yes.
He said that once I was old enough to learn the company business, there was someone I absolutely had to pay attention to.”
“Who?”
Her curiosity immediately showed.
I clearly spoke the name.
“Team Leader Choi Dongsu.
I heard he’s in the Finance Department now.”
Choi Dongsu.
The man who would eventually become the Finance Director responsible for Seonjin Group’s finances.
In my previous life, Mother hadn’t discovered his talent until after she had already been battered and exhausted by countless attacks.
I still remembered something he’d written in his memoirs.
“If only the Chairwoman had trusted and promoted me a little earlier… we wouldn’t have lost so many of our best companies.”
“Choi Dongsu… I don’t think I’ve heard that name before.”
“Father told me he was so honest it bordered on stubbornness.
He had an incredible eye for numbers.
He kept getting passed over for promotions because he spoke the truth without caring what his superiors thought.
Father said people like him were the ones who truly cared about the company.”
Of course…
Father had never said anything like that.
But there was no guarantee stronger than the words of the dead.
“He said Mr. Choi was like an emergency fund he’d left behind.
Once you start working, please meet him first.
I’m sure he’ll help.”
Mother fell into deep thought before finally nodding.
“If your father thought so highly of him, there must have been a reason.
I’ll look for him first thing after I go to work.”
She stood up.
“Go to bed.”
“Yes. You should get some rest too, Mother.”
After she left the room, I let out a long breath.
“That should do it.”
Thinking back on my previous life…
Mother had never been weak.
The day she resolved to run the company, she called a board meeting herself.
She stood alone before the creditors.
Even when those beastly uncles threatened her, she never blinked.
She was a woman of iron.
“My mother.”
“I don’t need to tell her how to fight.”
If I interfered carelessly and changed the future too much…
I might rob her of the opportunity to become the leader she was destined to be.
Tomorrow’s confrontation with my eldest uncle…
That was her first trial as chairwoman.
A rite of passage she had to overcome herself.
“Mother…
You protect the headquarters.”
“I’ll support you from the shadows.”
The next morning.
A heavy silence hung over the living room of the Sunwoo family home.
Sitting across from Kim Jayoung was an unwelcome guest—
Kang Taeyong, Chairman of Seonjin Motors.
Thunk.
He opened the leather briefcase he’d brought and placed a thick folder on the table.
“What is this?”
Kim Jayoung asked.
With a solemn expression, Kang Taeyong answered,
“A list of recommended professional managers.”
“Professional managers?”
“Taejin passed away so suddenly.
Seonjin Group is the foundation of the Kang family.
At the very least, the company needs to function properly until my nephew Sunwoo finishes college.”
Kim Jayoung opened the folder with trembling hands.
The pages were filled with names.
Former government officials.
Financial executives.
Corporate restructuring specialists.
Every one of them possessed an impressive résumé.
Yet to her…
None of them looked like people who had come to save the company.
She stared silently at the list.
The grief clouding her mind suddenly vanished as if cold water had been poured over her.
So that’s what this really means.
Before his death, the late Chairman—her father-in-law—had already settled the succession.
The eldest son, Kang Taeyong, received the automobile business.
The second son inherited Seonjin Heavy Industries and Chemicals.
The third son took Seonjin Financial Holdings.
Her husband, Taejin…
Inherited Seonjin itself, the group’s original core.
And the family’s only daughter inherited the Seonjin Foundation.
Seonjin included the resort business, trading company, logistics, and other core businesses.
Everything had already been decided.
Then why…
Why was her brother-in-law, who was already thriving with the automobile division, interfering like this immediately after her husband’s funeral?
The answer couldn’t be more obvious.
Until Sunwoo finishes college.
Which really meant—
Strip Seonjin of every valuable asset before Sunwoo was old enough to take over.
Those so-called professional managers were nothing but Kang Taeyong’s proxies.
“Mother, you’ll do well.”
Her son’s words from the previous night echoed in her ears.
She almost smiled.
Instead, she looked straight at Kang Taeyong.
Without hesitation…
She closed the folder.
Then calmly slid it back across the table.
“…?”
His eyebrows twitched.
That wasn’t the reaction he’d expected.
“I’ll handle it myself.”
“What?”
“I said I’ll handle Seonjin Group myself.”
Her voice remained calm.
Firm.
For an instant, Kang Taeyong completely lost control of his expression.
“What could you possibly know—!”
He caught himself and quickly shut his mouth.
A mistake.
But the words couldn’t be taken back.
That…
Was his true opinion.
A housewife couldn’t possibly understand business.
His contempt had slipped out naturally.
“Ahem… What I meant was…
Running a corporation isn’t child’s play.
It’s not something someone who’s only managed a household can bear.
The creditors could show up tomorrow.
Do you really think you can face them?
I’m not trying to scare you.
I’m simply telling you reality.”
He launched into a long lecture.
About how dangerous the company’s situation was.
How ruthless management could be.
How much pressure she would face.
Kim Jayoung listened without flinching.
“I understand all of that.
And I appreciate your concern.”
“Then…”
“But Seonjin Group was the company my husband protected until his final breath.”
She took a slow breath.
“Until Sunwoo is ready…
I’ll take responsibility.”
Kang Taeyong stared at her in disbelief.
He couldn’t believe it.
The sister-in-law who had lived like a flower inside a greenhouse…
Had possessed such steel all along.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
His gaze turned cold.
“This could become dangerous.”
“…”
“You won’t survive on your own.
Don’t regret it later.”
It was a clear threat.
If you don’t take my hand… I’ll destroy you.
Yet Kim Jayoung merely smiled faintly.
“You should leave now.”
Kang Taeyong’s face flushed red with humiliation.
“Well…
Fine.”
He snatched the folder off the table.
There was no reason to stay any longer.
“Very well.
But the next time we meet…
Neither of us will be smiling.”
He stood, walked out without looking back, and slammed the front door behind him.
Bang!
Maybe I should’ve just stayed home today.
The teachers had told me I could take some time off.
But staying home meant running into even more troublesome people, so I’d come to school instead.
Still…
I couldn’t adapt.
I never imagined I’d have to live through high school again.
Resting my chin on my hand, I gazed out the classroom window.
My thoughts never left Seonjin Group’s corporate structure.
Seonjin Group.
No matter what anyone said…
Grandfather had been one of the giants who built this country’s manufacturing industry.
Even when he divided the conglomerate among his sons before his death, his principles never changed.
The eldest son inherited automobiles.
The younger sons took heavy industry and finance.
“And Father inherited the resorts and trading company.”
People had always claimed Father drew the short straw.
Compared to glamorous businesses like automobiles and heavy industry…
Resorts and trading sounded unimpressive.
Especially after the IMF crisis, when everyone declared that general trading companies had become obsolete.
Idiots.
I nearly laughed.
Just look at Japan’s general trading companies.
Iron ore.
Crude oil.
Even children’s toys.
They made money by connecting every corner of the globe.
South Korea had almost no natural resources.
We imported raw materials, processed them, and exported finished goods.
As long as that remained true…
Trading companies would never disappear.
And since Seonjin also controlled logistics and distribution…
It was nothing less than the bloodstream of the entire group.
“And Grandfather believed only Father deserved to inherit the Seonjin name.”
Grandfather had loved Father deeply.
He gave his favorite son the thing he treasured most.
“There’s no way Uncle doesn’t know that.”
By now…
Mother had undoubtedly rejected Kang Taeyong’s proposal outright.
That meant he’d have no excuse to move openly for a while.
“But the real problem comes one year later.”
Another face surfaced in my memory.
Grandfather’s younger brother.
My great-uncle.
Chairman Kang Byungchul of Seonjin Aluminum.
Far more cunning and greedy than those hyena-like nephews.
One year later…
When the group was struggling financially…
He would be the first to bare his fangs.
His target was Seonjin Trading.
He wanted complete control over the export channels for the aluminum his company produced.
“In my previous life, Mother stopped him.
But…”
It had been a pyrrhic victory.
Defending against that attack had forced her to exhaust every valuable piece of real estate and every reserve of cash the company possessed.
So when the global financial crisis arrived later…
Seonjin had nothing left.
It collapsed helplessly.
“I have to help.”
I couldn’t let us bleed like that again.
Before Great-Uncle even opened his mouth…
I had to create a situation where he wouldn’t dare.
“But me?
Right now?”
I looked at my reflection in the classroom window.
A messy-haired high school student wearing a school uniform.
If I walked up to Mother now and said,
“Great-Uncle is going to attack us next year. Prepare for it.”
She’d probably dismiss it as the fantasy of a grieving teenager.
“I need someone who’ll help me despite all my limitations.”
Someone who could legally move money…
Read the board…
And act with authority while I remained an underage student with no official title.
As I absentmindedly spun my pen…
Someone suddenly flashed through my mind.
Could that person do it?
Mother needs Choi Dongsu right now…
And if Executive Director Kim Seokjun is willing to help me…
I had to find him.
Immediately.
