## Chapter 348 – 34. Invitation to Me (10)
+++
I summoned Soo-ah as soon as I returned to Muyeol Land.
She came with a stack of reports, but was shocked by my words.
“L, Lord…! S, suddenly such…”
“This is the first time I’m telling you, but it’s not exactly sudden. I’ve been thinking about it all along.”
I had told her that I would send her for Prestige training in June, and when she returned, I would put her in charge of Korea Entertainment with a major reorganization. That’s why she was so shocked.
“You’re in charge of the practical work, so you know better than anyone else that our organization is being run in a terribly disorganized way.”
“That’s… true, but…”
“We have to clean it up someday. I think now is the right time.”
I thought it was a reasonable explanation, but Soo-ah’s face was more than just surprised; it was gloomy.
Could she possibly think that going from Chief Secretary to CEO is a demotion?
‘Well, being Chief Secretary is the closest position to me.’
It’s not an entirely incomprehensible thought.
In fact, the secretary of a person with strong power can wield much more power than the CEO of a single company.
Like Kang Hye-young, Chief Secretary to Ko Min-young, for example.
There are a lot of talented people under her, but in the end, Kang Hye-young, the Chief Secretary, is the second-in-command of the Ko Min-young faction (excluding her daughter, Ko Min-ji), so it’s not wrong for Soo-ah to think that way.
And my secretariat actually worked that way too.
Soo-ah, as Chief Secretary, was practically in charge of managing all the other businesses. So it’s no wonder she’s reacting like this.
“You have to get training sometime anyway, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Since you have to get it anyway, we’ll reorganize the organization at the same time. Why, don’t you like it?”
Soo-ah was startled and shook her head.
“I, it’s not that I don’t like it, Lord…”
“Then why the face? You seem to be misunderstanding something. This isn’t a demotion, okay?”
“Huh? It’s not a demotion?”
Look at her face brighten up.
“How can it be a demotion when the CEO is higher than the Chief Secretary? In a company, the CEO is next after the Chief Secretary.”
“No, that…”
But she lowered her head again at the following words.
Her facial expressions changed every second, like watching a musical.
“Just kidding. Seung-hee will be sent to Muyeol Finance as CEO after some time anyway. For the time being, my Chief Secretary position is just a stepping stone. Well, the order has to be properly established so that the positional relationship can be properly established. Right now, we’re almost a ragtag group. The Chief Secretary is just a jack-of-all-trades. Doing this and that.”
“I did feel that way sometimes… But the next Chief Secretary… is Seung-hee?”
“Yeah. She seems to be the most capable.”
“That’s true. Especially in calculations…”
“Anyway, that’s how it is, so don’t think unnecessary things and just focus on getting good training. Learn a lot as CEO too. That way, you’ll do better when you come back later.”
“! Yes, yes.”
“And anyway, even if you become CEO, you have to stick around. My sister and aunts take the executive team with them everywhere they go.”
“I understand, Lord. I’ll work hard.”
“Okay. Now report what you have to report.”
“Ah, yes!”
I had heard many reports while returning to Incheon, but there was still a lot to hear.
The items were also diverse. From the progress of the Nocono-Concert headquarters concert to the political trends in Incheon, Muyeol Finance investment reports, prison construction progress, Namdong Industrial Complex development plan progress rate, and so on… Every single one of them was a major, headache-inducing task.
I’m trying to train secretaries, including Soo-ah, to auto-run these things.
It’s definitely not a demotion. It’s actually a path to increased authority, okay?
I hope you understand my admirable heart, Soo-ah.
“…Don’t report the concert to me, leave it to Emilia and Tae-hee. No, just have you do it. You’re going to be the CEO there anyway. Get involved little by little from now on. Until you go into training, you listen to the kids, make plans, and try it out.”
“Ah… M, me?”
“Yeah. You.”
“Ah, I understand. I’ll do it.”
Hmm.
I feel a little more comfortable now.
I can just pass them on one by one like this.
.
.
It was about two hours after the reporting was over that Soo-ah left.
Even this would have taken longer if I hadn’t received some reports on the way.
I gulped down the coffee Baekseol made and asked.
“Seol-ah, if I send Soo-ah for training and then put her in charge of Korea Entertainment, will it look like a demotion?”
“…It might look that way.”
“Hmm.”
This is a real problem.
Sometimes, in an organization, ‘how it looks’ is more important than ‘what it is.’
No matter how much I say, ‘This isn’t a demotion,’ if everyone perceives it as a demotion, that’s how it will work.
“I even gave her shares in Korea Entertainment?”
“They might think it’s a step towards retirement.”
“Ah~. Severance pay?”
“If you think about the cases of other owner families, the Chief Secretary usually has the most power. They’ll probably think about it based on those experiences, so there’s a high possibility that they’ll think it’s a demotion or a step towards retirement.”
“This is a problem.”
I repeat, it’s not a demotion.
It’s just a process of improving expertise.
“I’m going to bring her back to the secretariat later anyway.”
“As Chief Secretary?”
“Will my current secretariat have the same power as my future secretariat?”
The power of the secretariat is proportional to my power.
The secretariat of the current Go Muyeol, a poor beggar,
And the secretariat of the future Go Muyeol, who is selling RK-99 with great enthusiasm, has accumulated a lot of money, and has stabilized Incheon’s domination and holds immense political power, will have a different level of power.
Of course, the repercussions of the secretariat’s actions will be much greater.
Just make one mistake. The impact will be no joke.
So I have to prepare in advance.
“I’m going to do some work in advance when I’m a little more relaxed now, because it’ll be hectic later when I send the kids for training.”
“I see.”
“My secretaries are good at what they do, but they don’t have much field experience. They’re all kids who have only been trained, and their only practical experience is a few months in the secretariat, so I’m going to send them all out to various places to gain experience.”
“In that case, that’s a good thing.”
“What is?”
“Isn’t it an opportunity to confirm their loyalty? To see if they will work hard even if they are ‘demoted’.”
“Ah.”
I can think of it that way too.
“But I already told Soo-ah. It’s not a demotion. I’ve told Seung-hee roughly too.”
“You can also evaluate whether they are people who can completely trust the Lord’s words. Unlike me, a knight, the secretaries are ordinary people.”
“Hehe…. Yeah. That’s how it is.”
She’s subtly cold.
She also has a high sense of pride as an exclusive knight.
Looking at it, she has a bit of a discriminatory consciousness.
It’s not serious. She’s just been strongly influenced by the gaslighting I did.
“Okay. I’ll listen to our Snow White CEO’s opinion entirely. I’ll watch how my cute secretaries move.”
“Yes. I don’t think there will be any major problems as they are all loyal subjects.”
“Yeah. I think so too.”
+++
I gathered the secretariat team leaders and talked about the upcoming Chief Secretary replacement in June and the future major reorganization plan.
Soo-ah and Seung-hee, who had already heard the news, nodded without any change in expression, but the other team leaders looked quite embarrassed and looked at Soo-ah.
As expected.
They seem to think that going from Chief Secretary to CEO of Korea Entertainment is a demotion.
“It’s not a demotion. You guys don’t have much practical experience, right? Think of it as a process of developing expertise. You’ll all be dispatched somewhere someday.”
Everyone nodded and agreed, but it wasn’t like they were fully accepting it.
Do they think it’s just empty words? Or am I just thinking too much when they don’t have any thoughts?
‘No, is it right for me to be looking at my subordinates’ expressions? It’s absurd.’
I suddenly had that thought.
Why am I so concerned about their faces?
Really.
Can I still be called a tyrant after this?
“I’m only telling you guys this for now, so keep your mouths shut. The embargo will be lifted on June 1st when the Chief Secretary is replaced. At that time, we’ll start preparing for the reorganization in earnest with a briefing for the secretariat.”
“Yes.”
“Seung-hee and Soo-ah start the handover, and the rest of you prepare well in advance for the future and organize your data. And while you’re at it, bring the Incheon political line over here as well. So that my will can be conveyed smoothly. The Jojip Association can play that window role.”
“Yes, yes…”
I rattled off the words and conducted one-on-one interviews with the team leaders.
The interviews were actually closer to delivering more detailed instructions.
In addition, the end of that eventually led to a boji briefing, so I rolled around with the team leaders for quite a while.
