WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Conglomerate Heir Just Wants to Fail ◈
Chapter 25
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“Yes, Vice Chairman. This is Lee Jinju. Is something urgent?”
Her voice over the phone was as calm as usual, though her surroundings seemed faintly noisy.
I hurried to the point.
“Are you free right now? It’ll only take a moment...”
“Yes, that’s fine. Please go ahead.”
“The... the black card you gave me. What’s the password? I’m trying to make an online payment...”
Even to my own ears, my voice was pathetically weak.
“Ah, if you haven’t changed it, the default password is 0000. Four zeros.”
Thankfully, Chief Lee Jinju did not ask why I needed the card password at this hour. She simply gave me the answer I wanted.
“Th-thank you. Really. But why are you still up this late? It sounds a little noisy around you.”
Once the crisis had passed, I felt both guilty and curious.
“Ah, yes. I’m out at the moment. I was having dinner with employees from our securities firm while coordinating the practical details of yesterday’s agreement with Hanseong.”
“You’re working hard so late. Get home and rest soon.”
“It’s nothing, Vice Chairman. Please don’t concern yourself.”
I hastily wrapped up the call and hung up.
Only a little over fifteen minutes remained until the banner ended.
With trembling hands, I opened the payment window again.
Card number, expiration date, CVC... and finally, I entered “00” into the password field.
Please.
The screen changed.
Had it worked?
But what appeared before me was not a payment confirmation.
[This card has been temporarily suspended by the card issuer. Please contact the card issuer’s customer service center for details.]
Suspended?
Why?
I clutched at my hair.
Just as despair washed over me, a call came in from an unfamiliar number.
The caller ID read, “Daeseung Card VIP Concierge Center.”
“Yes, hello?”
[Hello. This is Manager Kim Miyeon of the Daeseung Card VIP Risk Management Team, working to protect your valuable assets. We apologize for contacting you so late.]
The voice over the phone was calm and polite, almost like an AI.
[We detected a payment attempt from your card with a spending pattern entirely unlike your usual activity. Our fraud detection system has therefore automatically placed an emergency suspension on your card.]
Unlike my usual spending pattern?
“What do you mean?”
[Yes. Payments on your card are normally made in the millions or tens of millions of won. However, a highly unusual payment of only 1,500 won was attempted moments ago. This is a typical method used by card fraudsters. They first make a small payment to verify that a card is valid, which is highly likely to lead to large-scale fraudulent use. Our system therefore immediately identified it as a risky transaction and...]
I shouted before the manager could finish.
“No, that’s not it! I really did use it! It was me, so please lift the suspension quickly! Please!”
The manager seemed briefly flustered by my desperate voice, but soon responded according to procedure.
[Ah, so you did use the card yourself. Understood. Then I’ll ask a few questions to verify your identity. Once verification is complete, we’ll immediately lift the suspension.]
The clock already read 11:55 PM.
[Could you please tell me the address where you currently reside?]
“Uh... this place...”
I knew how to get here, but I didn’t know the address.
“...Can’t you give me a hint?”
[Seoul, Gangnam District... What is the rest of the address?]
I hurriedly opened a map app and read out the building address of the house where I was staying.
[You must also provide the building and unit number.]
I immediately ran out barefoot and checked the unit number posted outside the front door.
[Yes, customer, your identity has been verified. The card suspension will be lifted immediately...]
Before the manager could finish speaking, the clock on my smartphone changed to 12:00 AM.
I hung up weakly and reopened Code: Evolution with shaking hands.
-Loading resources...
After the loading screen passed, the main screen appeared.
The Pink Eyes collaboration event banner that had once decorated the top of the screen was gone.
In its place hung a dull, utterly unappealing banner that read, “New Equipment Banner Rate UP!”
Everything was over.
I stared blankly at my smartphone screen.
I had lost again.
At ruining the company.
At pulling a limited character in my only hobby.
I had suffered a crushing defeat because I could not buy a single item that cost 1,500 won.
‘Kang Daeun.’
Where in my life was this supposed great fortune?
.
“Well, I suppose my greatest fortune is working with someone like Vice Chairman Kang Daeun.”
At the same time, an interview with Jo Eungsu, President of Daeseung Shopping, was wrapping up in front of the brightly lit checkout counters of Daeseung Mart.
“President Jo Eungsu, thank you so much for the interview despite the late hour! Thanks to you, I think we’ll have a great article.”
A satisfied smile hung on the young magazine reporter’s face as they politely bowed and turned off the recorder.
Today’s interview had exceeded expectations.
“Not at all. You’re the one working hard so late.”
President Jo waved a hand.
“Ha ha, this is normal for us. Our goal is always to cover the hottest and most influential people of the moment. That means many of them are busy, so whenever they say they have time, we have to rush over.”
The reporter deftly played along, lightening the atmosphere.
“So Economic Insight is influential enough that people would carve out time just to meet the magazine, even when they have none?”
The reporter’s face brightened at President Jo’s playful remark.
“Is that how it is? Ha ha ha. Thank you for saying so.”
“No, no. We always keep Economic Insight in the VIP lounges at every Daeseung Department Store branch. I think it’s the only publication that provides insights worthy of our customers.”
“So you’re one of our readers as well. Thank you. May I include that in the interview?”
“Of course. Ha ha ha.”
As the recorder was being packed away amid the friendly atmosphere, the reporter casually asked what seemed to be one final question.
“President Jo, there is one more person we’d really like to interview, though I suppose that would be difficult.”
“Ho ho, who would that be?”
“Vice Chairman Kang Daeun. But I hear he’s extremely busy and avoids media exposure whenever possible.”
The reporter smiled awkwardly, looking disappointed.
.
“...Those are the kinds of requests we’ve been receiving.”
Chief Lee Jinju reported carefully to Vice Chairman Kang Daeun.
With Daeseung’s remarkable recent growth, interest in its singularity, Vice Chairman Kang Daeun, had naturally increased. Interview requests had been arriving through various channels.
“...Hmm. I’d prefer to avoid having my face exposed in the media if possible.”
Kang Daeun thought about what would happen after he brought Daeseung down.
Even if he succeeded in destroying Daeseung as planned, he would become a wastrel heir who had ruined a thriving conglomerate, drawing ridicule and curses from the entire world.
If no one knew who he was or what he looked like, he might be forgotten as some anonymous rich wastrel. But if his face became known, he might get stones thrown at him while walking down the street.
However, Chief Lee Jinju seemed to take his answer another way.
‘Does that mean an interview would be acceptable as long as his face isn’t shown? Well, he does look far too young... and he really is that young.’
The Vice Chairman she served was a genius strategist who was shaking up the business world, but he was also only twenty-six, with an appearance to match his age.
The public already knew him as a conglomerate head in his twenties, but the vague image people imagined and the impression created by seeing his actual face would inevitably differ.
‘And an image with a tangible form governs people’s perceptions.’
The public would surely be more interested in the Vice Chairman’s appearance and age than in his astonishing ability.
The moment he was framed in shallow, consumable terms such as “young chairman” or “lucky young master,” his mystique and charisma could evaporate in an instant.
‘People believe what they can see, and they judge easily. They fear and revere what they cannot see.’
Outdated mystique marketing resurfaced every so often because the strategy had inherent advantages.
Having completed all those calculations in an instant, Lee Jinju perfectly understood Kang Daeun’s words and expressed her agreement.
.
“Making the Vice Chairman’s face public could instead become a negative factor for the group.”
...Jinju-noona?
Was I really that ugly...?
It was true that I didn’t want my face revealed... but did she have to say it so directly?
“Remaining shrouded in mystery as you are now will be far more effective in preserving the Vice Chairman’s authority.”
So this was a very polite way of saying my face was bad for the group’s image, and that people would take me lightly if it was made public.
I sank deeper into the sofa.
It was miserable enough that everything I did kept failing, but now my appearance had officially been judged a liability to the group.
And that judgment had come from the woman I had, even briefly, thought of as my first love when I was young.
I thought back to the praise I had received from Chief Lee Jinju.
No matter what I did, she had always praised me, saying things like, “That is amazing,” and, “As expected of the Vice Chairman.” For someone like her to say this much...
“Just... take care of it...”
I barely managed to answer in a weak voice.
I didn’t want to think about anything anymore.
.
That night.
I was tormented by nightmares.
In my dream, I stood on an enormous platform, and before me an endless crowd cheered wildly in my direction.
‘The great manager, Kang Daeun!’
‘Daeseung’s savior!’
They also held placards with embarrassing slogans I could not make out clearly.
And standing on either side of me were two grandfathers, smiling at me in satisfaction.
Chairman Kang Sinsu and Honorary Chairman Choi Geonyeong.
The two old men, who had snarled at each other their entire lives, were incomparably warm in the dream. They patted my shoulders and spoke.
‘Well done, my grandson!’
‘Just as I expected from my daughter’s son!’
Their praise mixed with the crowd’s cheers and crashed over me as a massive wave of noise.
A prison of inescapable praise.
I screamed and struggled to escape, but no sound came out, and my body felt as heavy as lead.
“Aaaah!”
The deafening cheers stopped as if they had been a lie.
Every gaze directed at me turned cold, and two women slowly emerged from the crowd.
One was Chief Lee Jinju.
The other was Pink Eyes’ leader from Code: Evolution, whom I had failed to pull.
“Ugly.”
“No talent.”
“Incompetent.”
“Ugly.”
Their voices overlapped like an echo, drilling into my mind.
.
“Ah, no!”
When I opened my eyes with a scream, my entire body was drenched in sweat.
Even the cozy, luxurious bed sheets were damp and cold against my skin. My joints ached as though they were creaking, and a headache washed over me.
I had come down with something.
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