A Strange Day for Everyone
After his secretary left for the day, he headed down to the underground parking garage. "I will pull the car around immediately." As expected, seeing him standing there alone, a black sedan that had been idling nearby slowly approached. A man who appeared to be the driver stepped out, bowed deeply, and then, after bowing once more as he approached, took the briefcase from his hand.
"You don't need to be so formal with me."
"...Thank you, sir."
The driver felt different from his own. Even when he spoke, the man kept his eyes fixed firmly on the road, driving with the utmost caution. The way he pressed the brake pedal softly, the way he accelerated so slowly that the person in the back seat wouldn't even feel the motion—it was clear he had been thoroughly trained. It felt a bit stifling, but he decided to put up with it. He took out his phone and sent a single text to her: I'll be late today. Work.
A little more time passed as the car moved, perhaps ten minutes or so.
"We have arrived."
The driver moved with practiced speed, opening the back door so carefully that not even the sound of the latch could be heard. He stepped out slowly, and with his briefcase in hand, the driver guided him. He walked inside. Located in Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu, far from the city center, the car had stopped in front of a quiet, traditional hanok house.
As he entered, a staff member dressed in a hanbok bowed to him and said, "Please remove your shoes. We will look after them for you."
"Ah... yes."
He had never been to a place like this before. He did as he was told. The staff member led him further inside. The same employee in the hanbok walked at the front, guiding the way. There wasn't a single sound to be heard. However, judging by the faint yellow light filtering through the traditional paper screens on the doors, it seemed the place was full of people. He thought to himself that it looked older than his own home, yet the soundproofing was remarkably good, and he felt a twinge of envy.
They turned a corner and walked to the left. It was a wooden floor, but not a single creak could be heard. It seemed like a place for entertaining very important people. Soon, the woman stopped in front of a room, turned around slowly, and knelt. Then, opening the door gently, she said, "Please, go in."
A soft yellow light illuminated the room, and inside, a middle-aged man and a man slightly younger than him were sitting on cushions. As the door slid open without a sound, the driver finally stepped in, placed the briefcase next to what appeared to be his seat, bowed, and slowly exited.
As soon as they saw him arrive, the two men sitting on the cushions scrambled to their feet.
"Ah! You've arrived. It must have been a long and tiring journey..."
"Not at all. Thanks to you, I had a comfortable ride. Please, sit."
"Ah. Yes, shall we? Haha."
While speaking, he handed over his business card first. The two men were so flustered that he had offered it so readily that they received it with both hands, as if it were a lump of pure gold, treating it with the utmost care. As soon as he gave one to the man who appeared to be the Vice President and another to the one who seemed to be the working-level manager—
"Ah...! I am so sorry, this is..."
"It's fine. I'm just a bit impatient. Haha."
Startled and embarrassed, the two turned pale and quickly handed him the crisp-looking business cards they had prepared. There was a table in front of them, but the era of strictly observing such formalities had ended with his father's generation.
"I am Cho Seong-hwan, Vice President of Seongjeong Construction. I look forward to working with you."
"Nice to meet you. I am Park Seung-tae, a Deputy General Manager. I belong to the Architecture Headquarters. It is an honor to meet you."
"Yes. Ah, Vice President, I see you are also serving as the CEO."
"That is correct. However, it felt rude to state my titles in such detail to the Head of the Division. I should have visited you to pay my respects, but things moved so radically... I apologize."
It was a bit uncomfortable to hear them keep apologizing. Judging by their behavior, one might think it was a meeting between a small business and a conglomerate, but Seongjeong was a company of considerable scale in its own right. He hadn't come here just because he didn't have to go see her; it wasn't a wasted meeting. They were a major company with a famous apartment brand, excellent construction track records, and a reputation for paying close attention to defect repairs and quality control. He hadn't expected the CEO to come in person, though. Regardless, he handed over his own card and introduced himself.
"I am pleased to meet you as well. Now, let's sit..."
"Yes. Division Head."
With that, he placed his documents on the empty table. At the same time, a voice calling out to them leaked in from outside the room. It was about when they should prepare the meal.
"Please prepare it when I tell you later."
"Yes, thank you."
"I think we need to be especially careful with this section, as there seem to be difficulties in the progress."
"A little higher up... about 5 meters below ground level, there are some drainage pipes and underground power lines."
"There's also a line connected to the telephone office, so we'll need to be careful."
"Then, when we proceed with the Science Park Station, we won't use the TBM; we'll use the conventional method."
"How much time will that take compared to the TBM?"
"It will take about two days longer. The section is roughly 700 meters... What do you think, Deputy General Manager Park?"
"I agree. However, if we use the NATM method instead of the cut-and-cover method for this section, it should be faster and more certain."
They continued to talk about work. Unlike the image of a jovial middle-aged man, once the Vice President started speaking while alternating between the blueprints and the maps, it was clear he was a veteran of the construction industry. His focused eyes and cold expression were characteristic of someone in the field.
"If explosives are detonated underground, there will be some vibration, so I think we'll need an environmental impact assessment. Do you have any successful case studies related to this?"
"Seongjeong performed the work on sections 3, 4, and 5 of Myeong-dong Station on Seoul Subway Line 4. The construction records from when we used NATM back then should be at our headquarters."
"Say no more."
"Haha, thank you."
He had contacted her earlier, but the '1' on the message had disappeared long ago. Seeing no reply, he wondered if she was sulking, but that wasn't something he should be worried about. If he succeeded in this, his competence would be undeniably recognized. Until now, he had been pushed around here and there, but under the guise of being a headquarters employee and the Chairman's son, he had studied everything the affiliates did. While she would wash up and fall asleep after getting off work, he would put her to bed and then go into his study to study until dawn; it was finally time for that to pay off.
"For now, it's not important that we participate in the consortium itself; as I mentioned, we want to build our portfolio. So, if you give us various difficult tasks, we will go back and research them."
"Just hearing you say that makes me trust you. Honestly..."
If the other party is being humble, I should show a bit of sincerity as well. "When I heard the Vice President had contacted me, I just thought you were someone who had spent your career in management. I judged too easily."
"I hear a lot that I look like a Finance Team Manager."
"I agree with that opinion."
"Eh... I joined Seongjeong Construction when it was an architectural firm and learned the ropes. I stayed at the first company I joined after becoming an architect for a very long time."
The Vice President shared stories he hadn't asked for, and he listened with a smile.
"27... maybe 28 years. I wanted to work in the Architecture Department like Deputy General Manager Park here, but they sent me to the Facilities Department. Then they told me to go up to Seoul and do sales. I remember being transferred to the General Affairs Department later on. Truly, nothing in this world goes the way you want it to."
Around that time, the Deputy General Manager stepped out of the room slightly to cautiously ask for the alcohol and simple snacks to be prepared first, then returned. The two were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even notice the door opening and closing.
"One day, I went to the Chairman—he was the President back then—and argued with him. I told him we should build apartments, try to win nuclear power plant projects, and build skyscrapers. At the time, well... our main work was landscaping or facility construction. Architectural design was almost being pushed to the back burner."
It was similar to the information he had checked beforehand.
"If I was going to get fired for speaking the truth in this company with no vision, I thought I might as well just charge ahead and die... So, we built 600 apartment units in Seongsu-dong, and it was a huge success. In the company, I constantly tried things others hadn't. We'd never built a hotel, but let's design and build it ourselves. A hospital? I don't know much about it, but let's make it our way. A university building? Let's make it a space where we'd feel comfortable attending classes. That's how I climbed up like this over the last 30 years."
"I had verified that to some extent, but I was curious while looking into it. How you could grow so quickly in such a short period. I am glad to meet the person who achieved that."
Around that time, the door opened slowly, and a bottle of soju, a bottle of beer, sushi, and grilled skewers were brought in. He smiled inwardly while looking at the liquor bottles. These people.
"Considering how abruptly this meeting was arranged, you must have looked into me quite a bit."
"...I apologize if that was offensive. I just wanted to treat you to something you like."
He didn't really drink, but there were very rare occasions when he did—and that was somaek (soju-beer mix). Even then, the beer had to be Cass, and the soju had to be Iseul. If it wasn't that, he wouldn't drink it.
"I will make a drink for you."
He watched the Deputy General Manager mixing the somaek, wondering where they had found out all these details. Even though he didn't like alcohol and rarely drank, there was no reason not to in this atmosphere. He rarely got drunk; he just disliked it. Their glasses clinked, and they emptied them. As the alcohol kicked in, the tense atmosphere loosened little by little. The relevant blueprints and documents were well-kept in their respective bags. The Deputy General Manager must have moved quickly to ensure that.
"I heard you dislike places like this and don't enjoy alcohol, so I was very worried. I felt like I was being a nuisance..."
"Well, when it's time to enjoy, you have to enjoy. I'm having a good time today."
"Thank you. Ah, you haven't eaten yet, so the course meal will be served."
They moved on to other simple conversations, such as their ages and where they lived, and then he asked first, "Is the construction industry that difficult these days? For us, we can get by this year with the Seonyu New Town project and overseas SOC development projects..."
"That doesn't work out well. We are trying to expand overseas, but it's hard to find people who are fluent in foreign languages and have graduate degrees. Everyone who graduates just submits their resumes to Doowon, VP, or Cheongsol..."
"Hmm... well. Still, building some apartments..."
"The government says they'll lower housing prices while blocking the most urgent redevelopment, and when we finally find a site, they tell us to build higher because the floor area ratio is too low, so when we try to do that, the land acquisition costs alone break the bank in the hundreds of billions... It's too difficult."
Then they asked him, "I heard Doowon is building a lot of R&D centers these days."
"The Chairman told me to bring some overseas talent back to Korea, so I'm preparing for that."
"Is there any blue ocean area in construction? We've looked everywhere and can't find one... Could you give us some advice?"
"Haha... honestly, we're laughing like this, but there's no answer unless it's an SOC project. Most of the projects we carried out last year were highways, airport expansions, railroad lines, and things like that."
Around that time, the food slowly started to come out, and a bottle of liquor that looked quite expensive, even to him who didn't know much about alcohol, was brought in.
"...? This is..."
"Ah! Our Chairman brought this out when he heard I was coming to see you, Division Head. We didn't pay for it separately. Please, enjoy it without any burden."
It was a Royal Salute 38-year-old. The fact that it came in a box already set it apart from other liquors, and he, being a bit of a character, thought, I should take a picture when I see liquor like this. He took out his phone. The Vice President looked satisfied, and the Deputy General Manager looked relieved. They had been worried that if they burdened him too much at the start, he wouldn't meet them again, so seeing him take a picture with his phone, they even let out a sigh of relief.
"Have you ever tried this?"
"Never."
"That's a relief. Actually... I've never tried it either! Hahaha."
He looked at the photo he had taken while watching the Vice President laugh. Then he said, "Since the person who received it has to offer it... I'll have a glass first..."
"Oh my. Thank you. Um... Division Head, but by any chance, the... the entertainment..."
"Eh?"
Entertainment, something other than this. As if to say that, the Vice President gave a slight nod. Since he was still a young man, he might dislike such things, but it was a day when he wanted to feel the touch of another woman for the first time in a while. Maybe it was because of the somaek, but he felt a sensation different from usual. He stiffened his expression for a moment, and just as the Deputy General Manager next to him was making a face that said, 'Oh no, I went too far...' he said,
"Well. Call them in. Let's do it!"
"Ah...! Yes! Right away!"
The Deputy General Manager went out and came back in again, and while that was happening, he began to wonder how the women in a place like this would provide entertainment. Then, the Deputy General Manager returned, and soon the door opened slowly, and women dressed in hanbok entered. It had a Joseon Dynasty vibe, but anyway. One by one, they entered the room, sat carefully beside each of the men sitting in the large room, and greeted them. And the woman who entered last and sat down beside him said,
"...Honey, I'm here...♡"
This crazy bitch, seriously, what the fuck... What the fuck is this?