A Gift
"...Chairman, regardless of the circumstances, trusting him blindly is dangerous."
"What are you talking about?"
Inside the black sedan sat two middle-aged men and their driver.
"I'm talking about General Manager Han. He may be a good person, but I believe business is a separate matter."
"Hmm..."
"..."
While there were certainly merits for the company, there was no reason to go out of their way to promote him. Things could proceed just fine as they were. However, after a moment, the Chairman spoke.
"If someone has received something, they’ll want to return the favor. That is, if they’re truly a good person."
"Even so, I have my doubts..."
"It’s fine."
"...?"
The car arrived at the company, and they began to disembark. As they did, the Chairman added,
"My daughter happens to know that General Manager Han Suhyun is a good person."
"...?"
"They’re quite close. The two of them."
"Uh..."
Even so. And what was the meaning of this? He said it was his daughter. Why were they close?
"Surely it’s not that strange... or, you know, that kind of relationship I’m thinking of?"
"Oh, come now, don't go belittling my daughter like that!"
"I apologize. I was just worried that..."
"That’s why my eldest daughter is working there, isn't it? Even when I tried to send her abroad, she refused to go. My daughter seems to like General Manager Han more than her own father. She praised him so much while I was on leave."
As the Vice Chairman listened to the Chairman, he tentatively asked,
"Still, that man is married... Ah. You don't mean 'like' in that sense,"
"You said his wife was at that drinking party the other day, didn't you?"
"Yes. That is correct. She didn't have separate contact..."
"You must have heard the rumors that he’s divorced."
"Ah... I just thought those were baseless rumors. When I saw them, they seemed to have a good relationship..."
The Chairman walked into the building, and before the Vice Chairman could finish his sentence, he stopped in his tracks.
"Do you really think they looked happy?"
"...?"
"Could it be that what you saw back then wasn't just General Manager Han’s wife being affectionate?"
The Vice Chairman couldn't say a word. Only then did he seem to understand why, and what the reason was.
"Logically, what kind of person would want their wife to come to a business entertainment setting? They would tell them not to go to such places."
"...."
"She came because their relationship is at a point where she wouldn't listen even if he told her not to. Didn't you say she originally hated him?"
"That is correct."
"Right. There must be some circumstances that led to that state."
With that, the Chairman slowly headed back upstairs. The Vice Chairman followed him. After taking the elevator all the way up and arriving at the office, the Chairman slowly sat in his chair. Unable to suppress his curiosity, the Vice Chairman asked,
"Then, handing over the company or things like that..."
"It’s the truth. General Manager Han Suhyun has great drive. He’ll be able to cover this company well. Of course, the higher he goes, the less he’ll be able to focus on every single department. But isn't he excellent?"
"Still, it’s too early. And there was a major problem with the business he was conducting previously..."
"..."
The Chairman stared intently at the Vice Chairman, who had paused mid-sentence.
"It had a major problem, but it didn't fail, did it?"
"Ah..."
"Problems pop up when you're doing things. But that man handled the aftermath well. It wasn't just about scraping money together from somewhere to fix it. He built the infrastructure and processed it so that the business could operate on the right track as a business. Even if it wasn't in construction."
"....You are correct. You seem to have looked into it quite a bit."
"Of course. My daughter was calling me every day back then, telling me to help him, saying how good he was—she wouldn't stop talking about it."
The secretary brought in drinks, and upon hearing that the Chairman had arrived, the construction company president knocked and entered. With a slight nod, the Chairman said,
"A profitable bankruptcy isn't necessarily a bad thing. No? If anything, it must have been a sufficient lesson for General Manager Han."
"..."
"That when you handle things, you have to look far ahead. You don't get that feeling unless you've failed yourself. Didn't you do the same? You were always telling me to do this or that, but once an accident happened, you started playing it safe from then on."
"...Th-that is..."
"Right. Since then, you haven't experienced a similar failure, have you? That’s what you learn from experience."
The president also stood to the side, listening to what they were talking about.
"Because of those things, I think he has been sufficiently vetted."
"..."
"And his upbringing is sound."
"..."
"My daughter is deeply longing for General Manager Han. And—there is a rumor going around that he is 'divorced'."
The president, hearing the conversation, realized they were talking about Doowon and straightened his posture. He had heard that something had gone well there, but he had come to find out the exact details.
"It’s not that I’m trying to gain an advantage by connecting with that family. It’s truly because I want to rest. Goodness, my daughter, who never once said 'I love you, Dad' in her whole life. Truly. They say when you raise a daughter, they all try to leave the nest like this. She doesn't even seem interested in me, and yet she’s still so hung up on someone she even married... I should talk to her about it when I get home today."
"Are you still living together?"
"Of course! I raised her strictly. ...Anyway, so... one day I was quietly listening to my daughter talk, and I realized I had never given her a gift. I hadn't even given her pocket money directly. My wife always did it all."
"Ah... Yes."
The Chairman looked out the window, lost in thought for a moment, then spoke softly as if to himself.
"So, I thought I’d give my daughter a gift for the first time... and that’s why."
While watching TV, she had sat quietly in the study, just as she had been until his call. Her ears were pricked, ready to run to him the moment he called. However, no matter how much time passed, he never called for her after dinner.
'I want to do something for him...'
The thoughts she had harbored during their dating and married life still remained, but something had now arisen to block those thoughts.
'Until Master calls for me, let’s do nothing.'
Even though they had had intense sex yesterday, his silence was even more hurtful to her. Very occasionally, when he would insert himself with force and have a rougher encounter, he would wipe away the fluids with a tissue afterward, hold her gently, and ask if she was hurt, if she was scared, and apologize. At those times, she would put on a feigned look of sadness before nestling into him and whispering that she was fine, bringing it to an end. But now, that was...
"Ah! Yes, Executive Director! Yes... haha, I'm at home. I've finished work. Yes, it seems that went well."
Gone.
"Uh... the supply, yes. Ah, it's a bit difficult... If we bring it in from the US... I'll turn on my laptop now and tell you about it. Just a moment. Ah! It's fine, haha... I actually like working 24 hours a day!"
Never again. Gone.
"I will contact the purchasing department and request this. Since it's through another company, it won't take long. Yes. It's 99% identical. Ah... because of that, yes, I understand. We also noticed it was missing from the required items list, so I was wondering if I should contact you again... Yes, yes. Yes. Ah. Yes. That's right. Then should I just have this sent down to Suwon entirely? Eh, well... yes,"
Never again, never, completely gone.
"Yes! Ah... then how would Thursday be? Aha... then it would be better to do it tomorrow. Shall I go down to Suwon? Ah, are you coming up? Then I will, yes. Yes. I will book a separate Korean restaurant. Ah, I should be the one buying, but you always take out your card, Executive Director... Hahaha, yes! Have a good day, yes, thank you!"
He typed something on the laptop he had brought. He had received a call from the executive director who was the factory manager of the pharmaceutical affiliate in Suwon. So, he requested the purchasing department to send the resin (needed for pharmaceutical manufacturing) and filters (needed for the post-processing of pharmaceutical manufacturing) to the site. By doing this, he would see the document status as [Processed] when he went to work tomorrow and conclude it. This was his job: handling the special requests of other departments and affiliates in this way. Meanwhile, realizing that the house was quite quiet, he didn't think further about the reason for her change, pressed his back firmly against the sofa, and took a slow, deep breath. It felt good, a strangely good feeling. Then, an idea occurred to him, and he called out to her.
"Seo Jia, come out."
"Yes."
She slowly opened the door and came out. Her actions were quick, as if she had been waiting, but her expression was not at all like that. Traces of dried tears were faintly visible, and there was a hickey on her neck. Above all, her overall expression had turned pale.
"You called? Is there something you need me to do..."
"I don't really like breakfast. I’d like it if you didn't do it from now on."
Thud—as if something had fallen, her heart ached.
"Don't prepare breakfast separately... and the lunchbox, I enjoyed it, but don't do it anymore. It’s become more comfortable to just go out and buy something."
"...."
"I’ll eat well if you prepare dinner. But, however..."
He was looking at his laptop and couldn't see that her expression had turned even paler.
"I’ll be eating dinner out tomorrow, so eat on your own and go to sleep."
"..."
"That’s all. Go."
She couldn't say or do anything for a moment, then slowly nodded and went into the study.
"...Yes, I understand."
On her face as she turned around to leave, new tears fell, tracing the paths of the dried ones.