The Person I'd Wanted to Meet

Kim Jiyun — valedictorian of her university, valedictorian of law school, then five glittering years at a major firm. The attorney everyone was talking about.

"Kim, you're looking bright today."

As someone riding the elite track well ahead of the colleagues who'd joined around the same ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time, she spent most of her hours with the senior attorneys.

"Ah — I'm finally going to meet someone I've been wanting to see."

"Someone you've been wanting to see? A man?"

"Well, it is a man. Just not the kind you're thinking."

The senior who knew exactly how ruthless she was found it startling that the word man had come out of her mouth at all. A monster of a junior who'd done nothing but charge straight ahead since the day she walked into the firm. A woman who'd never shown the faintest interest in men, dating, or marriage — and now she was mentioning the opposite sex. Whatever the context, it was impossible not to be curious.

"Alright. Drive safe."

Still, he could hardly press her on her private life. He smacked his lips, swallowed the rest of his questions, and sent her on her way.

We said three o'clock, so I'll get there a little early.

Jiyun checked the time, slid into her car, and pulled out. Yesterday her father had called out of nowhere, and when Dohyun's name came up she'd nearly jumped out of her seat.

I wonder if he's been doing well.

The truth was, Dohyun almost certainly had no idea she even existed. At most he might have heard her name through her father, who never missed a chance to brag. But she remembered stopping by the convenience store every so often, just to watch him.

I was actually disappointed when he quit.

It wasn't as if she'd had some particular reason. She simply liked the way he always looked bright and diligent, even when he was clearly going through something hard. At first it had been nothing more than curiosity. Her father would go on and on about this part-timer of his, and she'd thought — he's just a convenience store clerk. Why does Dad talk about him like that? So she'd started dropping by the store in secret. And every time, even when there wasn't a single customer, he was always diligently doing something. It left quite an impression.

I should've at least said something to him.

She didn't really know why that thought occurred to her. She just felt a pang of regret. When she heard he'd quit, she suddenly realized she'd wanted to have a proper conversation with him, even just once. But after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that there was no reason they'd ever run into each other, and even if her father knew Dohyun's personal information, she could hardly ask him for it. So she'd given up. She never imagined an opportunity to meet him again would simply fall into her lap like this.

Should I tell him I used to watch him sometimes and wanted to compliment him for being so hardworking? No — that would sound weird, wouldn't it?

She'd heard Dohyun was twenty-three this year.

And I'm thirty-one this year... uh. Hmm.

The age gap alone was almost ten years.

...What am I even thinking about a kid for. No — wait. What was I thinking? I just wanted to compliment him, right? As someone older! As a senior in life!

For some reason, she found herself making excuses to nobody at all.

After a short drive she arrived at the cafe they'd agreed on. As expected, she was a little early — 2:40.

"A venti Java Chip Frappuccino, please."

"Of course. I'll take care of that for you."

She paid and sat down. Around the time her drink was about to come out—

"Nuna, come on in."

"Mm, thanks."

A cute-looking young couple walked inside.

Wow. That hair is something. An idol, maybe?

Jiyun found herself thinking the woman was extremely eye-catching — and no wonder. She had pink hair, the kind of color most people would never dare try.

Bzzzt—

She was thinking the girl was rather pretty when she noticed her phone ringing.

"Ah, yes. Dohyun."

"We're at the cafe. Where are you?"

"I'll come out toward the entrance... ah?"

She picked up her drink and headed for the door to greet him — and that was when the man standing next to the pink-haired woman came into view. The way he was talking on the phone, and that rather familiar face... anyone could tell it was Dohyun.

...I didn't even notice he was there. The woman was just too flashy.

The man in the cute couple she'd spotted was Dohyun.

"Hello. I'm Attorney Kim Jiyun. We were scheduled to meet today."

Smoothing away the dazed expression she'd been wearing, Jiyun put on a thoroughly professional face and stepped forward to introduce herself.

"Ah! Hello. I'm Choi Dohyun."

After watching him bow in greeting, Jiyun glanced toward Dayeon, who'd come in with him. Catching that look, Dohyun spoke up again.

"This is the actual client for this matter."

From what she'd been told — a hidden-camera incident — she'd already figured it probably wasn't Dohyun himself.

"Hello. I'm Lee Dayeon."

Dayeon bowed her head in greeting, and Jiyun returned it. After they ordered drinks, the three of them headed to a table together.

"I really should have received you at the office. I'm sorry for asking to meet at a cafe — things are a bit chaotic there right now."

"Not at all! We're just grateful you made time for us."

Jiyun belonged to a major law firm, and she was a rather successful attorney at that. Going through official channels, you'd wait months just for a consultation with her. But between her father's request and her own desire to help Dohyun, she'd somehow carved time out of her schedule so they could sit down right away.

"Shall we start with the details, then? I've heard a brief overview of the situation."

The look in Jiyun's eyes as she prepared to discuss the case was that of a true professional.

While Nuna and the attorney were deep in conversation, I had nothing to do, so I just sat there quietly looking at the attorney's status window.

Except the window that had suddenly popped up left me thinking nothing except that this was the real deal. So this was the level you needed to be a successful attorney at a major firm? The numbers on those talents were the highest I'd seen so far.

Some of them overlapped with Dayeon nuna's — but apparently having the same stat names didn't mean the talents themselves were identical. They both had Eloquence and Presence, but in Nuna's case it was eye-catching charisma and a straightforward silver tongue. The attorney, on the other hand, had crowd-commanding conversation skills and razor-sharp charisma. Same stats, clearly a different field.

"Hmm..."

The other fields were one thing, but Academics at fifty... that really was no joke. How was a stat even at fifty...?!

Come to think of it, I remembered the manager bragging about her — valedictorian of college and law school.

...So you need a fifty to have monster-tier credentials like that.

Of course it wasn't as if there had been no hard work involved. But it was also true that high talent made everything far easier.

"Then let's go with that."

"Yes. Thank you so much, Attorney."

I'd been sitting there marveling at the status window, and by the time I looked up it seemed the consultation had wrapped — Nuna was already saying her thanks.

"Ah, you finished?"

"Yeah. She was so kind and thorough — I feel so much better. All that worry just melted away."

"I'm glad. Heh — then would it be alright if we caught up a little, starting now?"

Caught up? Out of nowhere? It wasn't like we even knew each other...

"Ah — yes. Of course."

She'd carved time out of a packed schedule to help us. If she wanted to catch up, I could hardly say no.

"Good, good. So, Dohyun — have you been well?"

"Ah, yes. I have."

"I heard you quit the convenience store. Something about finally going after the work you actually wanted to do?"

She must have heard it from the manager, and those were the parts she was curious about.

"Yes. I'd wanted to work in video editing for a long time, and a good opportunity happened to come along."

"Oh my. So video editing was what you wanted to do?"

I nodded. It had been the dream all along.

"Dad, honestly. He should have told me."

Huh? Why was the manager coming up all of a sudden?

"I run a YouTube channel myself, you know."

"Oh — really?"

"Yes. I upload the occasional vlog, but mostly I do art streams."

An attorney... doing art streams. Come to think of it, there'd been an Art talent on the status window I'd just been looking at.

"Being a lawyer was the dream since I was little, but I've always loved drawing too."

So she streamed art as a hobby. She had to be busy — that was impressive.

"Well, I barely manage to put up one video a week, and I don't have many subscribers. Dayeon, though — you're a fairly well-known YouTuber, aren't you?"

"Ah, I wouldn't say that...! I only have a little over a hundred thousand...!"

"I checked earlier and you're almost at a hundred and fifty thousand. 'Only'! I don't even have a thousand."

Giggling as she talked about YouTube, the attorney looked nothing like the professional from a few minutes ago. Just someone comfortably chatting about a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hobby.

"I'd been wondering how to handle the legal fees, and this works out perfectly. Dohyun, you edit a few of my videos and we'll call it even. How about it?"

"Huh? Wait — I'm the client, though. Why would Dohyun..."

No, that aside — she was a highly successful attorney. Her fees had to be enormous. Was a few edited videos really enough?

"I'm fine with it, but... aren't your fees expensive?"

"I was never planning to charge the full amount to begin with. I said I'd do this because I wanted to help. And besides — I don't know how good you are yet, but an editor working for a hundred-thousand-subscriber YouTuber has to be pulling a pretty high rate, no?"

I'm getting the base rate, though...

Well. The base rate itself was higher than what other YouTubers paid, that much was true.

"That's right! Dohyun's editing is incredible — his skill is no joke! Honestly, I catch myself thinking I need to jack up his rate every single day."

While I sat there not answering, still turning it over, it was Nuna who jumped in with a reply.