Reconciliation and Unexpected Gifts
I woke up early the next morning, showered, got dressed, and headed out. Where to? To deliver a letter to Miju’s house. After talking with Madame Lee yesterday, my mind felt strangely clear and my body light. But as time passed and I approached Miju’s place, my hands started trembling for no reason. It felt like I was a student going to confess after causing trouble.
I arrived in front of the house and rang the bell. The chime echoed, and her mother came to the door.
“Who is it?”
“Hello. Is Miju home?”
Wham! I was shut out right at the doorstep. I never expected her mother to look at me with such cold eyes. She must have heard the story too. It’s a misunderstanding… It wasn’t even my fault…
After waiting about ten minutes, I slipped the letter into the mailbox by the door and turned to leave. Someone seemed to be watching from upstairs, but I pretended not to notice and headed home. Sincerity should get through eventually.
Back at the house, just as lunch was approaching, an apologetic text arrived from my law school junior. I blocked the number. Before blocking, I sent one last message: “Sorry, but I’m dropping Marriage and Family.” Grades didn’t matter anymore.
From that afternoon onward, I spent several days catching up on missed classes, assignments, and studying. When I had a moment, I sat in the living room having tea with Madame Lee. We’d been doing this whenever we had time since that day. She spoke well, had her own philosophy, and made for good conversation.
“Is there anything you’re lacking?”
“No, I have the corporate card. Director Ha said the chairman told him to give me unlimited use for anything related to him.”
She was already taking good care of things. Still, I told her to buy the kids something nice to eat and send them to academies. Even small talk felt different with Nakamura compared to Madame Lee. The biggest difference was the tension, but there was also something about her that felt sharp and perceptive. And strangely comfortable.
We were chatting about the children’s school when an interesting topic came on the TV. I had left it on as background noise, but the subject pulled my attention. It was about a major conglomerate, explaining the group’s history from the Japanese colonial period to the present. Perhaps because it was public broadcasting, the report wasn’t biased. It covered everything from the distribution of enemy-owned assets, political marriages, and inheritance issues to the darker sides, as well as the group’s contributions to economic development, export share, and GDP impact. It also discussed the leadership and systems of the entrepreneurs and the crises the group had faced. One part struck a chord.
“The late chairman’s Frankfurt Declaration is famous as the turning point that elevated the group to a world-class company.”
“The late chairman gathered over two hundred executives in Frankfurt, Germany, and gave a stern order: ‘In this era of internationalization, if we don’t change, we will remain forever second-rate or even 2.5-rate. Change everything except your wife and children.’”
“After the Frankfurt Declaration, the group shifted its core management value from quantity to quality and grew into a world-class company through quality management.”
“It is regarded as a model case where an entrepreneur’s vision led directly to growth.”
“Two years after the Frankfurt Declaration, the so-called ‘burning ceremony’ took place, in which 150,000 mobile phones produced by the group were set on fire.”
“Under the slogan ‘Quality is my character and my pride,’ the mobile phone burning ceremony was held at the athletic field of Samsung Electronics’ Gumi plant. Four months later, the group’s domestic mobile phone market share had risen to an astonishing 50 percent.”
“He was truly remarkable, wasn’t he?”
The conversation paused as we watched the TV, then the topic shifted again.
“Yes, that family employs hundreds of thousands of people. I find that part truly impressive.”
I didn’t expect the next words to linger in my mind.
“What’s your vision as chairman?”
I had thought it was simply to make money and live comfortably, but that goal had already been achieved. When the senior with the sparkling eyes connected me to the US military contact, that problem had already been solved. Now, even if I did nothing, over a hundred people beneath me were making money, and most issues were handled without ever reaching my desk. That had become my daily routine.
The next day, I went jogging along the nearby Han River to loosen up, came home, showered, and turned on an online lecture. The low hum of the connection filled the room. Non-face-to-face classes really had this downside. I couldn’t concentrate on the lecture.
I told him to accept it for now and have it delivered to the nearby Haman Factory. I quickly contacted Yeoni and instructed her to have someone reliable at the factory open the container. Three hours later, a photo arrived. The container was an armory. It looked as if they had sent exactly the items I had ordered last time. I wished they had at least turned on their turn signals before showing up. Still, this man had already known I would accept when he leaked the information last time.
I told Yeoni to arrange a truck and seal the container before sending it to the newly established training ground, then contacted Chief Kim to let her know weapons were coming and to make good use of them. While I had her on the line, I asked how the security team organization was progressing. She said they had already gathered fifteen people and formed three teams. The survival training ground was being handled by the injured staff sergeant, she was overseeing the security team overall, and they were selecting deputy team leaders from the new fifteen to coordinate.
When I asked how she had recruited so quickly, she gave a story that was both pitiful and fortunate for me.
“Discharged soldiers don’t have many big opportunities once they return to society. And there are many people connected to the friends who died.”
“You pay well, after all. Haha.”
Suddenly, the faces of the friends I had met during that operation flashed through my mind.
“Thank you for looking after the juniors. We’ll work hard.”
When I had asked Director Ha to take care of the bereaved families, he must have done so properly. It was only natural after they had died helping with our work, so it didn’t even feel particularly rewarding.
I tried asking more questions for additional information, but no reply came. As always, both this person and the senior were remarkably careful with their words.
In the evening, we had plans to see the cherry blossoms. Who else but Miju? Now that I thought about it, the plan I had made with my law school junior could just as easily be done with Miju. She had ended our week-long separation and contacted me yesterday. She apologized for misunderstanding. I apologized too. It was understandable that she would misunderstand in that situation. I was sorry for creating the situation in the first place.
A sudden thought occurred to me—how should I introduce this house? Should I claim to be a hidden chaebol son from a drama? For now, I decided to extend the lease on the Noryangjin place and say I lived there.
We agreed to meet at Yeouido Station. It was my first time experiencing this—meeting a lover again after a fight felt incredibly awkward. We had already resolved things through messages, but the awkwardness remained. We greeted each other briefly and walked toward Yeouinaru Station. But this didn’t feel right. There were far too many people. We couldn’t even take photos without bumping into others while walking.
“Miju, want to go somewhere else? There are too many people.”
“Okay, Oppa. I didn’t know it would be this crowded since it’s my first time here.”
In the end, we returned to Noryangjin. Still, it felt good. This was what relationship recovery looked like. And when Miju mentioned that eating tteokbokki reminded her of our first date…
“Oppa, I’m going on my internship next semester. Everyone wanted to go, but I got lucky.”
“Where are you going?”
“A company that makes biosimilars. I’m joining as a research assistant.”
“Oh, congratulations. If they’re making biosimilars, it must be a fairly large-scale operation?”
“It’s the company my professor founded after leaving. They’re still in the research stage.”
“He must have a good reputation and solid skills.”
Hearing such high praise made me curious too. I should ask Director Jo to look into it.
After eating in Noryangjin and walking along the Han River for a while, I took Miju home. She seemed to have something to say and hesitated. I waited. It didn’t seem like she needed prompting. When we arrived in front of her house and I was about to say goodbye, she grabbed me.
“Oppa, I have something to say.”
“Oppa, do you want to live together?”