Hyunwoo made a bright smile at that.

Ha now emphasized, “As we have started, let’s explode the bombs properly this time. What can I do for you?”

Hyunwoo quickly replied, “Please check out who is serving as a honey bee for Mr. Hwang. I think I can find the right method when I get to know who is.”

As if he didn’t need to go to the trouble of finding out the honey bee, Mr. Ha replied clearly, “The biggest honey bee is Munsik Choi, CEO of Singyong. He is the guy who has been doing his business, relying on political lobbying from start to finish, not only in the past regimes but even now.”

Hyunwoo heard a lot about his lobbying efforts.

A typical example of that was the so-called overseas resources diplomacy.

In particular, he did intensive lobby to get the right to develop oilfields in Vietnam. The previous government gave the right to Singyoung without any particular reason. Though there was a big loss at the level of the government, Singyong made a huge amount of money

That was not the sole example.

For some time there was a big controversy over that decision on resource diplomacy.

As the president and political big shots kept quiet about the matter, however, it was forgotten in the minds of the people gradually.

Ha continued, “Ohsung Group and OneStar are also cited as the best honey bee companies. I hear Mr. Hwang is meeting the Korean chief of OneStar often these days. It was at the instigation of OneStart that the authorities did the tax investigation of your KOVE DREAM and other companies.”

“At the instigation of OneStar?”

“I don’t know the details, but to the best of my knowledge, OneStar has been investigating your weakness for a long time, and this time they found out something.”

Hyunwoo’s jaw dropped at that.

“How did you know all this, Mr. Ha?”

What’s more surprising was Ha’s next reply.

“Well, how did I know all that? That’s simple. I have made one of his men my mole. Maybe Mr. Hwang did the same thing to me.”

Hyunwoo realized that the political world was really a scary place.

What was important was Ohsung, Singyong, and OneStar.

Now it was Hyunwoo’s turn. He had to find the excuse to disgrace corrupt politicians including Hwang.

It might take several years or even dozens of years to drive corrupt politicians from the National Assembly.

As long as Hyunwoo didn’t give up, he would find the golden chance someday.

“Let me find the way. I’ll get back to you when I find one.”

“Good. Let me work on that on my part. I feel like I am ten years younger now after I have met you, Mr. Jang. Let’s work together in a strong partnership.”

With a bright smile, Hyunwoo left the restaurant.

Hyunwoo went back to the KOVE office.

Usually, he stopped by STM Research Center or Haenim School whenever he had free time, but he spent more hours at the KOVE office since the incident involving EBS broke out.

After the incident broke, the credibility of KOVE DREAM dropped drastically. As some of the consumers deserted, its sales also dropped.

But the ratio of sales reduction was not that big, less than 2% of the existing sales.

That was because of the consumers’ strong confidence in KOVE.

The problem was the member companies of KOVE DREAM.

When they read the reports on KOVE’s tax investigation, they asked for the lowering of the fees KOVE collected from them for its sales agency activities in Korea.

The reason was that the fierce competition among large companies was driving down the fees. As they entered the market and created sales agencies for them, they drastically lowered fees to invite the target companies.

Accordingly, the sales fees were lowered overall.

Hyunwoo agonized over that matter for a long time.

And he finally made the decision.

He called Sonjong and said, “Try to find out the breakeven point of the commission charges. And lower the fees as soon as you find it.”

“Got it,” said Sonjong, bowing to him.

Hyunwoo felt strange about her actions at that moment.

Given her strong personality, she might have argued with him about why.

For KOVE DREAM would generate little profits if it lowered the fees down to the breakeven point. But she didn’t.

KOVE DREAM was the leader in the sales agency business in Korea. It boasted of high consumer confidence, and all the processing ranging from taking orders to shipping products was well organized. Accordingly, its breakeven point was lower than other rivals.

If KOVE’s fees at the breakeven point were 4%, other companies’ was 5.2%.

Nonetheless, Sonjong didn’t raise any objection to Hyunwoo’s direction.

Hyunwoo watched her quietly.

Come to think of it, she seemed to be downcast since the incident involving the tax investigation broke recently.

With a bright smile, Hyunwoo approached her and patted her on the shoulder, “Are you still depressed by that tax stuff? Your behavior is not really like you. It’s not a big deal. So, forget about it!”

“Thanks, Hyunwoo,” she said, bowing to him again.

But she still looked sullen. Obviously, she was shocked by the tax investigation.

“You may go now,” said Hyunwoo.

She came out of his office with a depressed look.

A little later, Hyonwoo’s chief secretary came into the office.

In fact, Hyunwoo created several teams directly responsible to him.

They were the secretary’s office, the intelligence team, and the security team.

Those belonging to these teams were mostly scouted from other companies.

Hyunwoo’s chief secretary was hired three years ago because of his competence.

When he came to Hyunwoo’s office, the chief secretary said something unexpected.

“Sir, many employees are wondering about the management’s disciplinary action with respect to the results of the tax audit team’s investigation of KOVE DREAM.”

“Disciplinary action? What are they curious about? What do you mean?”

Hyunwoo asked with a curious look himself.

With a cool posture, the chief secretary said, “As you know KVOE suffered a huge amount of loss after the tax audit team’s investigation. We were imposed additional taxes, and KOVE’s credit also dropped drastically. Then, it is only natural that somebody has to take responsibility. But the management hasn’t yet taken any disciplinary action.”

Hyunwoo seemed to know why they wondered and what the atmosphere of the office was.

The heart of the matter, however, was not a matter of the corporate tax audit, penalty tax or disciplinary action. The real matter was the position of CEO of KOVE DREAM.

Currently, the official CEO of KOVE DREAM was Hyunwoo.

But the substantial CEOs were four. They were Sonjong Kim, Juhwan Moon, Jaegyong Kang, and Sungrak Sohn. Each of them were in charge of their own team and handling all affairs on their own.

Of course, they reported to Hyunwoo about important matters, but unless they needed Hyunwoo’s special attention, the four executives usually reported to him later.

If Hyunwoo relieved himself of that post, they would compete to win that title.

It was natural that they were trying hard to hold each other in check.

So, when any of them made a mistake, they would want the top management to take the due disciplinary action against him or her. That way they could drop the competitors from the CEO race one by one.

And that’s why they wanted to take issue with the KOVE DREAM tax evasion issue. And their conclusion was for the management to punish Sonjong Kim.

But Hyunwoo didn’t want to punish her.

Anybody could make a mistake while doing their work. What mattered was how to solve it by minimizing the aftereffect of the case instead of escalating it.

In particular, Hyunwoo didn’t want to take issue with the EBS tax penalty. The tax office imposed 40% additional tax, arguing KOVE dropped it intentionally, which was outrageous.

After all, that happened because nobody noticed it in advance.

Accordingly, it was the ultimate responsibility of the top management, which was Hyunwoo.

How can they put the blame on the planning team led by Sonjong?

But Hyunwoo was not to blame for it, of course.

It was Hyunwoo’s responsibility and his fault.

Anyway, it was inevitable that someone from the planning department had to be punished.

If Hyunwoo had to take disciplinary action, what would be the appropriate level of her punishment?

Hyunwoo agonized over it.

“Got it. Let me think about it. You can go now.”

After letting the chief secretary out, Hyunwoo sat on the sofa and turned it over in his mind.

Two days after the secretary visited Hyunwoo’s office, an official announcement about the opening of a disciplinary action committee was made through KOVE’s in-house broadcasting.

Sonjong stood up with a calm expression.

She already made up her mind to quit her position. In fact, she should not have coveted the CEO position. Even her current title of ‘director’ was undeserved.

‘I have come to this position thanks to Hyunwoo’s kind consideration. Let me lighten his heavy heart by quitting from my current position.’

When she was coming out of the office to attend the disciplinary committee meeting, her staff members stood up.

“Sorry, Director Kim. It happened because of us…”

“What should we do now?”

Advisor Kang also looked grim.

“I’m sorry, too.”

All her staff members below the rank of the manager seemed crestfallen.

But Sonjong made a bright smile. As she had rid herself of greed now, she couldn’t feel more comfortable.

Come to think of it, she couldn’t point her fingers at her staff.

“You don’t have any responsibility. It’s all my fault. I’ll make sure you aren’t put at any disadvantage because of this. So, just focus on your work.”

Then she headed for the conference room.

There were eleven executives there waiting for her.

As the presiding officer of the committee, Hyunwoo entered last.

“Let me start the disciplinary meeting now.”