Gift (4)
I was someone who observed the Nano World.
Someone who saw a new world different from everyone else's.
What's more, in my pocket sat a circuit board sent by Illys—a board steeped in magic that made it feel as if I had fully stepped into the Nano World itself.
I was used to seeing completely new things.
I never imagined that simply looking at something here on Earth could make me feel I had crossed into an entirely different world.
Yet beyond the Nano World, I felt another world unfolding right here.
"Whoa……."
When the elevator doors opened, the scenery was as if I had stepped into another realm. The twentieth-floor penthouse overwhelmed with its sheer scale. The ceilings soared high, and beyond the glass walls the city's lights poured in without end.
Most homes only rose about three meters, didn't they?
"Ah… looks like they knocked out the entire second floor here."
"Yes. It's a duplex structure. They opened up roughly half the living room to give it that wide-open feeling."
"You're right. It really does feel open."
The exterior was clean, the interior already fully finished. This wasn't an ordinary remodel—it had been done solely for me. The floor wasn't hard; it had a slight give, so the wheelchair rolled without a sound.
"There are no thresholds inside the house. The bathroom has about five millimeters, but we marked the boundary with silicone."
"Nice."
The sink area held two counters—one at standard height, the other lower, built for me. I wheeled over to the lower one. The space beneath was empty, sized so the wheelchair and my legs could slide right in.
"Whoa. This is a whole new world."
Until now, using a sink meant stretching my arms as far as they would go. Now my hands reached it naturally.
"But why two sinks? One would have been enough, right?"
Chief of Staff Jang smiled.
"One is for the housekeeper."
"Ah."
A housekeeper. I hadn't even thought of that. Right—I was rich now. A wide, high, comfortable home.
"Come this way. The living-room view is excellent."
"Is it?"
I pushed the hand rims and rolled toward the living-room window. Beyond the vast pane of glass the Han River spread out at a glance. The window was like a giant movie screen, and within it the river flowed unhurried. The bridges spanning the water stretched long, and the cars looked like toys lined up in a row.
"Until middle school I used to go hiking quite a bit."
"Is that so?"
"It feels just like those days."
"Yes. You can take in all of Seoul at once."
I rolled right up against the living-room glass.
"Hmm… looking at it this way, it really feels like I've climbed a tower."
"A tower?"
"A mountain gives you a view from a little distance. Here it feels like you're looking straight down from above."
Jang pressed close to the glass as well and peered downward.
"You're right. Looking straight down is a little dizzying."
"At my old place I could see people's feet as they walked by. Here the cars look like toys."
"You've already hit the jackpot twice, Representative. It's only right that you live in a fine space now."
"True. Seeing the Han River down there… I really do feel like a rich man."
"Haha. You are rich."
"You said the money belongs to JH Corporation, not me."
"Then take dividends. You own one hundred percent—draw as much as you like."
"Really? Then I'll just yank it all out at once?"
"Ah—don't yank the employees' salaries too."
"Heh. I won't."
"Shall we look at the second floor as well?"
"How do I get up there?"
"We installed an elevator."
"Wow!"
"And over this way we've built a ramp that connects to the second floor."
A wheelchair ramp and an elevator inside the house. The place was so vast I hadn't even noticed them.
"It's so big I didn't even realize they were there."
"Stay here starting today. I'll bring over everything from the old place."
"Shall we?"
From today on, this was my home. After touring the house I headed to the company. It was already around two in the afternoon.
"Chief Jang. This is really nice."
"Does the new house suit you?"
"That too, but I also like being able to come in whenever I want."
"That's a representative's privilege. Other employees can't do that."
"Yes. I'll still try to arrive on time. I should set an example."
"And the staff say they have a few things to report."
My work mostly consisted of receiving reports—listening, thinking, then giving orders.
"Hello, Representative."
The three female employees waiting for me. We currently had twenty staff in total; seventeen were men. So it made sense that the three women stuck together.
Secretary Hwang of the executive office, Manager Ran Zhao-ming who handled China, and Sales Deputy Ju were waiting. Hwang looked as if she had stepped straight out of a magazine. Her long limbs filled a perfectly tailored suit that fell in sharp lines, and her polished shoes tapped the floor lightly. Her makeup was neither heavy nor light—just natural on her face. An oval face with hair parted as if by a knife, a slightly long pin fixed at the back. The overall impression was of a flight attendant.
Hwang held a diary and pen and asked me,
"I would like to know your detailed schedule, Representative. If you share short-, mid-, and long-term plans, I will prepare accordingly."
As a secretary, grasping my schedule was only natural.
"I've been working only with Chief Jang too much, haven't I? I'll share the schedule with the whole secretarial team. You already know about this evening's meeting with the Minister of Science and ICT, right?"
"Yes. I understand you will be heading toward Gangnam."
Sharing the schedule with the secretaries. Only then, they said, could they coordinate with the other side's staff. Protocol, security, reservations—there was a great deal to sort out. If I told Jang in advance he would handle it with the team, but I tended to move whenever I felt like it, schedule be damned. What Hwang meant was: if I suddenly wanted jjajangmyeon, don't just go to a Chinese restaurant—tell them first that I wanted jjajangmyeon. Then they would either bring it or move with the security detail. I was no longer a free agent, apparently. I still hadn't fully acquired the habits of a company representative. When had I ever freely ordered people around? Of course I coordinated carefully when meeting someone of a minister's rank. She simply wanted me to inform them of smaller matters as well.
Next came Ran Zhao-ming, the China specialist. She had a round, gentle face and always held a thermos of tea. The deep smile lines that appeared whenever she laughed felt approachable, and the way she constantly offered snacks to colleagues gave her the warm presence of a neighborhood auntie.
"Representative. China is proposing technical discussions. How should we respond?"
"Which part of China?"
"Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, da."
"Hmm… jumping straight into technical talks would be difficult."
"But Representative, that place holds considerable weight in terms of guanxi. If we want to leave a connection for later, maintaining a moderate relationship would be good, da."
"Guanxi?"
"In China personal networks are extremely important, da. Working with someone you don't know is hard. First is guanxi, second is also guanxi, da."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. It's a bit different from Korea. For example, I understand that when Korean couples break up they cut off all contact."
Korean couples… contact after a breakup?
"Some people call when they're drunk, but most block each other completely."
"But China is different."
"They stay in touch after breaking up?"
"Of course. Who knows you better than the person you dated? An ex is important guanxi."
Even an ex was guanxi?
"Isn't it awkward meeting an old flame?"
Ran lowered her voice.
"China's territory and population are enormous, aren't they? So there are a great many scammers. At least with an ex you can be sure whether they're a scammer or not, da."
"Ah… that makes sense."
"One Chinese province is the size of Korea. So if you pull a scam in one province and think you're about to get caught, you just move to the next. Keep scamming and moving like that and you can do it until you die, da. That's why guanxi matters."
What a country. Scam someone and take one step sideways and the place was so vast they couldn't find you. Vast land and population—and therefore countless scammers. So trustworthy people became essential. If Korea's culture of manners and affection grew because neighbors knew one another too well, China's guanxi culture seemed to have developed because not getting scammed was a key method of survival.
"Work out a plan for that part, Ran. It's not possible right now. But a cold refusal might offend them, so draw up a way to keep that guanxi going."
"Understood, da."
Next, Deputy Ju felt completely different from the other two women. Short bobbed hair, phone never leaving her hand yet information sorted at lightning speed. A clean, trendy suit. Large eyes, a high nose, a small face. What was the word—an efficient city beauty?
"Representative. I'm inquiring about the next new-product development trend. Several companies keep asking what's coming next. For sales I need to know at least something… could you give me even a hint?"
"Hmm… development trends are confidential."
Honestly, I didn't know either. I had no idea what would come out of the Nano World next. Ju's eyes narrowed; she drifted closer and drew out her words in a cutesy tone.
"Boss ma~an. Won't you just whisper it a little to me~?"
Whoa. The sudden drawn-out speech threw me in a whole different way.
"It's difficult to say."
Ju blinked her large eyes several times.
"That means… you don't really know either, Boss?"
"Well……."
"From what I've seen, you haven't made anything ready for auction yet. There must be another research lab somewhere, right? So they haven't decided on a direction yet, right? Right?"
"Deputy Ju."
"Yes?"
"Everything's fine, but… could you step back a little while you talk?"
"Ah……."
Her face had come within a handspan, staring straight at me while she asked this and that. For someone with little resistance to women, it was simply flustering.
"Ahem."
Understanding the situation, Chief of Staff Jang Dae-shik cleared his throat beside us and fired laser beams with his eyes.
"Tehe. Got it. Tell me later then."
Wink.
Hmm. I thought I had hired an employee, but it seemed I had hired a fox. I answered what I could and set aside what I myself didn't know. Handing out tasks and managing people wasn't easy either. Talking with the three women left me feeling somehow drained.
"Representative. You need to leave for the meeting with the Minister of Science and ICT."
"Yes. Understood."
Behind the JH headquarters building lay a small blind spot hidden in the building's shadow, hard to see. Wind-blown leaves tumbled across the ground. A female employee walked out slowly, suit jacket draped over her arm, conscious of her surroundings. Her expression was calm, her steps unwavering. She looked as if she had simply stepped out for a breath of air.
At that moment a man approached from the opposite direction. He too looked utterly at ease, phone in one hand, paper cup of coffee in the other, strolling as if nothing mattered. The instant their paths crossed, a natural greeting passed between them like old colleagues.
"Hey. Long time."
The man spoke casually. The woman adjusted her jacket and offered a light smile.
"It has been. Good to see you. How have you been?"
On the surface it was simple small talk. Yet the woman's gaze subtly tracked the man's hand movements. A short nod of the chin as a signal of agreement, a light gesture of the coffee cup that hid question and answer.
"So Z's schedule and route are unchanged?"
A low voice that sounded as if he were merely sipping coffee. The woman brushed her hair behind her ear as if tidying it and whispered,
"Correct. No changes."
Her expression remained serene. From a distance it was nothing more than colleagues chatting on the way home after work. But the air flowing between them was quietly heated with secret collusion.
"External meeting at eight this evening. Departure planned for seven. Location is… here. Perfect road for the operation."
She gave the man a playful poke while passing him a small note. The man who took the paper memo gave a short nod.
"Right. Perfect weather for work today."
"True. The weather's really nice. I hope today's job goes well."
"You know our team does good work."
"I know. You're good at your job too."
"Yeah. Take care."
Like old friends parting after a long-awaited reunion, the two spies finished their contact.