Chapter 4 : The Beginning of the Parachute Legend (1)
The Beginning of the Parachute Legend (1)
No way, what is happening?
I had already left work and come home.
To give myself some healing time after a tiring day, I was making a theme park in a game.
Then I received a message.
["I'll be going to a cafe near your home. Even if you don't have time, make it and come out."]
What's with this coercive message?
It was bothersome and made me feel rebellious, so I didn't want to go out. 2
But I couldn't not go.
Why?
Because it was from the chairman.
I went out to the cafe politely.
Soon, the chairman strode toward me.
A brief moment of awkwardness.
The coffee we ordered had already come out, but the chairman just stared at me intently without saying a word, his eyes piercing.
It was overwhelming.
I cautiously opened my mouth.
"I heard you were in America..."
"I canceled the rest of my schedule to come to Korea to see you."
Even more overwhelming.
"But, for what reason..."
"Didn't you rile me up with your report?"
"No way. How could I ever irritate you, sir?"
"Hmph! Didn't you write that if I want to save my hometown, I have to be prepared to be hated by the locals?"
"That wasn't to irritate you..."
"Then what was it?"
"I simply mentioned what you'd have to give up to achieve your goals, sir. Technically, I did it because you instructed me to."
Am I being too argumentative?
It's not like I've ever talked to someone as high up as the chairman before. I have no clue how this conversation is going.
The chairman stared at me even more intently.
Now it was even scary.
Suddenly, the chairman smirked.
"Well, someone has to have that much guts to accomplish big things."
Did he say I showed guts?
I appreciated the positive interpretation...
The chairman pulled out his phone.
- Ding!
My phone buzzed.
"Check your account. As promised, I deposited 10 million won."
Flustered.
He actually sent the money on the spot.
The problem was that every action of the chairman was just so overwhelming.
"I especially liked that part—the way you checked how much the people of Nonsan love our theme park by visiting the shops in the city yourself."
I nodded without realizing.
I worked hard to do the research, but it was absolutely necessary.
When it came to the chairman's theme park, the people of Nonsan said this:
["Our theme park has to succeed."]
Their opinions were remarkably consistent—it was amazing.
It's harder than you'd think for a conglomerate-backed enterprise to be loved by local residents.
Those who don't benefit usually protest.
There are such cases.
A certain group, disgruntled with a theme park, tried to disturb hotel guests managed by that park by playing loud noises every night around the hotel.
There are more cases like this than you'd think.
But the chairman's theme park was different. It was loved by the locals. That's undeniable.
The affection of local residents is powerful.
There will likely come a time when that affection becomes an obstacle to changing the theme park.
But in the end, it will become a major strength.
I was convinced of this.
"You'll be processed for resignation as of tomorrow."
A shocking statement from the chairman broke my train of thought.
Resignation processing?
All of a sudden?
For what on earth?
Did I hear that right?
Is this a dream?
I submitted a great report and now I'm getting fired?
After the denial stage, I suddenly felt a surge of anger.
Why do I have to be fired?
All I did was what the chairman asked!
Should I go to the labor union?
No... what good will it do me to argue with the chairman?
So what do I do now?
Should I at least ask for a hefty severance pay?
Just as I was passing from denial through anger toward compromise, I heard the chairman's voice.
"I must have spoken too hastily and caused a misunderstanding. Sorry, I apologize."
The chairman raised his left hand and bowed his head slightly.
"The original plan was to form a TF team within the company, then transfer that team to the theme park company once we made some progress. But after reading your report, I changed my plan. Your abilities exceeded my expectations. So, I concluded it was better to send you to the theme park immediately. And it's not like we have other applicants anyway..."
"I understand that, since it's a different corporation, resignation processing is required. But you want me to resign as of tomorrow?"
"Is there any need to waste time hesitating?"
"Well... but..."
Unbelievable. Is this the perspective of a manager?
"Chairman, it's been a while since you were directly involved in operations, so maybe you forgot about something called a handover."
The chairman then picked up his phone. I heard him make a call somewhere.
"Yeah, it's me. Lee Hyunmin will be processed for resignation tomorrow. No need for separate handover, right? To what I saw, the materials are so well organized that his successor can handle things."
He looked through all my work?
Even the documents I organized?
A man that busy?
"The gap caused by Lee Hyunmin will be compensated by me paying a performance bonus to your team next month. Okay, take care of it."
The chairman grinned.
"I handled this in a way that makes everyone happy. No complaints, right?"
Feels like he just solved it with money.
Ah!
Maybe that's a way for everyone to be happy.
Anyway, why did things progress so quickly?
Is it blazing fast, or reckless?
I can't decide.
"Shouldn't you at least hear my opinion?"
"You, who is always on partial combustion, are finally fully combusted. Would you refuse?"
He hit the nail on the head.
So I had nothing to say.
The chairman extended all five fingers.
"No matter how much power I have, I can't keep running this deficit-ridden theme park forever. I plan to operate it just five more years. Now you know what your job is, right?"
"Don't tell me I have to turn the theme park profitable within five years? Is that the only way it'll survive?"
"Correct."
"Uh... you're entrusting such a big responsibility to me? Really to me?"
"Did you know? With great responsibility comes great reward."
"Death by overworking?"
I blurted out.
The chairman showed a briefly flustered expression, but quickly replied, as befits a founder of a large company.
"Why so pessimistic before a big task? I meant your salary. I'll pay double your current amount. Excluding extra allowances and benefits, of course. Your title will be Head of Theme Park Reform Division. You'll be treated on par with a corporate executive."
Wait, double my current salary?
That would mean over 100 million won in real wages.
And I'm not even in finance, just from a humanities background. Is it even possible at my age?
But hold on, salary isn't everything.
"E-executive treatment at the headquarters? I'm not even in my mid-thirties! Wouldn't that make me the youngest executive?"
"Strictly speaking, you're not an executive at headquarters, but treated as one... Anyway, I have to give you at least that much to motivate you to work hard."
The chairman looked pleased, as if he had played a decisive move.
It was as if he was saying this was an offer I couldn't refuse.
He was right.
There was no way for an ordinary office worker to suddenly receive such huge benefits. Since he said "executive treatment,"
I would probably get an officetel and a company car, too.
"Work as if it's your own company."
That's the kind of thing managers say when they want to extract more from employees...
"Carefully check the contract options. It's pretty complicated. To explain simply: if you turn the theme park profitable within five years, then 5% of the company shares are yours."
5% of the shares?
And I'm not even an original member?
If I owned 5% of a listed company, wouldn't I be classified as a major shareholder?
And, as far as I know, I'd have rights regarding firing executives too.
"If you do so well that our theme park becomes third in annual visitors nationally, I'll add another 5%."
That's 10% of the shares.
My head started to spin.
The theme park market in Korea isn't small.
The top two parks are at a world-class level, but even the third-placed Daegu's 'W World' could fetch a 100 billion won market cap if listed.
The figures were so unrealistic my vision blurred.
Any office worker can relate.
The maximum you can make as a salaried employee is capped.
Even if you work at a big company your whole life, maybe 3 billion won is the upper limit?
And that's not paid out at once.
But that upper limit was shattered just now.
Because the man in front of me was giving me a chance.
No, "chance" was too weak a word—it was more like a stroke of fate.
It was a chance of a lifetime that most people would never even dream of.
"And then..."
I couldn't quite hear the rest. It just sounded too unrealistic.
In summary, if I fulfilled all the CEO's conditions, I would acquire 50% minus one share of the company's equity.
Not exceeding 50%—that was strangely realistic.
As I picked up my cup, my hands trembled.
I gulped down my bitter decaf coffee, trying to gather my thoughts—or, more accurately, tried to.
Even if not for the chairman's unbelievable offer, I would have taken the job at the theme park.
I probably made up my mind when I visited the park for research.
But because his proposal was so mind-blowingly unrealistic, my head was unexpectedly cool.
What I had really wanted was a reasonable position—something like a team leader.
I wanted to learn the theme park business slowly, step by step.
Then, by demonstrating ability, reach as high a position as I could.
Maybe become an executive in my mid-forties? Retire at a reasonable time after that.
I thought that was as high as I could hope. Honestly, others might call that delusional if they heard it.
So I voiced a question I'd kept in my heart.
"Why me?"
The chairman looked at me even more fiercely than before.
Strange. Those eyes no longer felt intimidating or frightening.
Why?
It couldn't be that the chairman had changed. Was it me who was changing?
"I have no experience in theme parks, obviously. I haven't even led a small team as a team leader. How could I suddenly become at executive level? Just because I wrote a decent report, putting me in such a heavy position doesn't make sense. To be honest, I don't know if I'm even capable of anything at that level."
The chairman, as if he'd expected this, spoke in a calm voice.
"I searched all over the world for people with talent in the theme park industry. I put them in as CEOs, cFOs, C-level officers. But it never worked. Later, I created all sorts of positions—chief of innovation, chief of restructuring, you name it—but all attempts failed. This isn't really a conversation for a cafe, but rather over soju, but it's a bit of a shame."
He had a bitter look. Smacking his lips, he continued.
"I've never failed in life before. But with this theme park, I failed—honestly, flat out. I agonized over it... then I started remembering the old days."
"Like what...?"
"Back when I was making games in a musty room where sunlight barely came in... the days scrimping for a piece of fried chicken with my friends. You know my wife now? I used to borrow money from her while being scolded, just to fill my stomach. After eating, we'd work through the night again, coding."
To what I know, those who worked with the chairman back then are now all giants in the Korean gaming industry—the so-called golden generation of Korean game developers.
"I miss those days so much. A time I can never return to, even if I wanted to."
He was silent for a while.
"I tried people with experience, great careers, brains. But when that didn't work, there was only one thing left. Someone who could go crazy for something the way I did back then, out of sheer love for it. I forgot that."
Why was it? That crude phrase stirred my heart more than his outrageous proposal.
"Five years. If you truly love this, go crazy for it. Just like we did back then."
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Damn, chairman is an amazing dude...
In MC's case, he's a parachute hire, because he went from an ordinary employee to the director of Theme Park Restructuring...
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