Hye-yoon's Heart, Young-hoon's Mind, and Deputy Hong's Arrogance
"Hello, PD Shin Hye-yoon."
"Really, not a single phone call in a whole week, Mr. Kim?"
"Excuse me? Well, I didn't exactly have any reason to call you, and things have been busy at work, so…"
"There's no need for excuses. You're coming to the pre-production showcase this Friday, aren't you?"
"That's still… couldn't I decide whether to attend after checking my schedule?"
"Please come if you can. What am I supposed to do if the owner of Girin Entertainment doesn't show up?"
"And who told you that?"
"Why? Curious? Do you have any idea how many informants I have? I hear you practically became the owner just yesterday?"
"You seem to know everything about me, PD Shin. I'd better not try hiding anything from you."
"Exactly, so come on Friday. Just be at the Castle Hotel by five in the afternoon."
"I'm not sure it's a must-attend event for me, but I'll let you know whether I can make it around Thursday."
"Fine. Then I'll take that as a yes."
Hye-yoon had been restless lately. In the middle of the chaotic days spent getting the drama off the ground, thoughts of him would drift into her mind unbidden. A nicely above-average height and figure, a face resembling a famous actress, and a career as a drama PD — by any reasonable measure, she was hardly a woman men could afford to pass over.
And yet something was genuinely strange. She hadn't met Young-hoon more than a handful of times, but he kept popping into her head. She couldn't yet say precisely what the feeling was, only that he needled at her attention for no good reason.
The real problem was that this man seemed to have absolutely no interest in her. The first time they'd met, he'd showered her with every compliment imaginable… and then the phone call just now had been nothing but briskly businesslike.
Truthfully, Young-hoon didn't need to come to Friday's pre-production showcase at all. She had pushed him purely out of a wish to see his face one more time. However busy a man was, if he wanted to talk to her, he could find the time — but he cut every conversation off with brutal efficiency. Which only made her temper flare all the more.
Young-hoon, for his part, didn't dislike Hye-yoon either. With that poised personality and a face like Song Hye-kyo's, he simply assumed she had to have a boyfriend already, which left him without the courage to make a move. Getting shot down after sticking his neck out would be mortifying. Since she was someone else's prize anyway, there was no point pestering her — or so he'd reasoned, which was why he'd answered that last call so curtly.
And yet, in that phone call just now, he had sensed something subtle. Could it be she actually likes me? But being hopelessly oblivious in such matters, the odds of him detecting Hye-yoon's feelings were less than one percent.
Time slipped by, and soon enough it was quitting time. Now it was off to the team dinner. Kim Jin-man, who lived in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, would drive as the designated driver. Public transit between Yongin and Yeouido being unreliable, he commuted in his own car, and his SUV had plenty of room for five.
It was nearly seven by the time they reached the restaurant on the 25th floor of the InterContinental on Teheran-ro in Gangnam. Deputy General Manager Cho and Deputy Hong were already there, sipping wine. The steak Deputy Hong had pre-ordered was, by even Young-hoon's standards, decent — though something about it tasted faintly lacking. This was a premium steak running 300,000 won per person, yet the flavor fell short of the price. It had to be the influence of all the knowledge the archmage Hains had passed down to him.
Deputy Hong went on and on about the wine's French pedigree as he ordered, but the only thing Young-hoon properly caught was that it was a 2003 red. Over a million won a bottle, apparently. Divided among their glasses, one bottle yielded about seven pours — upwards of 140,000 won a glass. Young-hoon, a soju-and-beer man, had never tasted anything this expensive or refined in his life.
And the taste? Not much to write home about. Of the seven people seated at the table, perhaps one or two were genuinely savoring it.
Why does it taste like this? I cannot for the life of me understand people who pay a fortune for wine this bad. It's nowhere near as good as the Magic Additive wine I made two days ago. They charge a million won a bottle for this? Outright thieves. Is the brand name really worth that much?
Just then, Deputy Hong decided to stick the knife in. "So? Is the food edible? And how's the wine? Smooth going down, isn't it? First time for you, isn't it, Assistant Manager Kim? Not much call for eats this pricey out in the sticks, eh? Best you've ever managed is probably makgeolli. Kek kek kek."
Deputy Hong, that little punk, was utterly contemptuous of him. But making a scene here would accomplish nothing. Smoothing the man's ego over was, arguably, the wise office worker's way.
"Deputy Hong, honestly, this is my first time tasting a wine like this. There's a bit of an astringent bite to it… I prefer something sweet, so it doesn't really suit my palate."
"Figures. You wouldn't know good wine if it bit you. The finer the wine, the more tannin it carries. Aigoo, ignorant country hicks — everything's just different with them, isn't it?"
Of course, Young-hoon let it all slide right off him. What set his heart pounding instead was the thought that his own plans had just gotten considerably easier. Heh heh heh. If you like it bitter, knock yourself out. It doesn't hold a candle to the Magic Additive wine I make. From now on, the premium wine market is all mine!
Deputy Hong, preening at full tilt, ordered another expensive bottle. Meanwhile, Young-hoon quietly tallied up the evening's bill in his head. Food, 2.1 million won. Wine, 2 million. Service charge, 410,000. Call it 4.5 million all in — that punk's about to drain our prize fund dry. Wait, hold on. The prize is 4.5 million, and last month we were 500,000 in the red, so that's… a 510,000 shortfall! Are we supposed to split that one-Nth and pay it back ourselves?
Suddenly, the math was getting complicated. While he was lost in such thoughts, dessert arrived. He glanced across the table at Jin-man, whose face had gone pale as a sheet. Apparently the man had done the same arithmetic.
Deputy Hong called the waiter over for the bill. Sure enough, it came to 5.1 million won. With a haughty air, Hong produced his card and handed it over.
A moment later, the waiter didn't return — instead, a middle-aged man of some years came over and bowed politely to Deputy Hong. The hotel's general manager, most likely.
"Thank you for honoring our hotel restaurant. I only hope our VIP received the care he deserves. If anything fell short of your satisfaction tonight, I humbly ask your forgiveness."
"No, it was cleaner than I expected for the price. I'll put in a good word with my mother for you."
"My name is Jung Myung-hwan. I'll be counting on your kindness."
"Sure, sure. What's the bill?"
"With your VIP discount applied, 3.5 million won. Just sign here, please."
The manager produced a payment terminal and handed it to Deputy Hong, who signed and passed it back.
Several people at the table were floored by the sight. Staff members Kim Jin-man and Lee Ji-young were stunned by the sheer stature of Deputy Hong's position — while Young-hoon was stunned by the size of the VIP discount. Deputy General Manager Cho and Park Dae-ri already knew who Hong really was, so their faces didn't so much as flicker.
The strange thing was that Manager Kim's expression didn't change either. Did Manager Kim already know what Deputy Hong is? Or could it be that Manager Kim is a rich family's son too, just like that punk?
But at that moment, Deputy Hong came looking for trouble again. "Hey, Assistant Manager Kim. First time eating food this fancy, huh? Since you'll never get the chance again as long as you live, be sure to write it in your diary when you get home tonight. 'October 31st, 2017 — ate the most delicious meal of my life.' Hahahaha!"
Deputy Hong threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Ugh, what a repulsive bastard. All he's got going is the price tag. Stir in a bit of my Magic Herb Powder and I could make this taste better than it ever dreamed of being. And you're the one who'll never taste such a delicacy, not in a hundred lifetimes.
Completely unaware of what was going through Young-hoon's mind, Deputy Hong simply kept basking in his own amusement. The truth was, Hong had wanted to flaunt his status today. You people and I play in different leagues. If he kept his head down until his promised promotion to manager, everything after that would be a smooth glide path. A few years down the line he'd make executive, and probably end up running one group affiliate or another. His mother had even promised him a department store or two if it came to that — he hadn't a single worry about the future. Besides, Deputy General Manager Cho had already pledged to push his promotion through. In two months' time, he would be a manager.
It seemed like the right moment to start advertising his rank, which was exactly why he'd picked this place for the team dinner. His mother ran this very hotel, so he might as well indulge in a little showing off while he had the chance. And he wanted Kim and Park to witness the gulf between dirt-spoon and diamond-spoon with their own eyes — to learn to grovel to him the way Cho did.
But that was Deputy Hong's delusion and no one else's. For one thing, Young-hoon's heart had already left LK Electronics; he was merely biding his time for the right excuse to walk out. For another, Park Dae-ri's family was hardly a rung below Hong's. The Hong family might have somewhat deeper pockets, but the Parks were every bit as well known. With a fortune ranking comfortably inside South Korea's top thirty, the Park household had nothing to envy.
The moment dinner ended, Deputy General Manager Cho and Deputy Hong pleaded another engagement and bolted from their seats. The remaining team members seemed a little disappointed. There was still about 500,000 won left in the team fund anyway, so they knocked back a few simple beers and then stampeded off to a noraebang to finish the night.
Young-hoon wasn't much of a noraebang man. He didn't particularly enjoy singing, and — the decisive point — he couldn't sing. In a word: tone-deaf.
The instant they walked in, Park Dae-ri grabbed the mic. He ritually made Manager Kim sing a song or two, then proceeded to hog the microphone for himself from then on. A full-blown solo recital.
"Park Dae-ri, give Jin-man and Lee Ji-young a turn, would you?" Manager Kim finally stepped in, unable to watch any longer.
After Jin-man and Ji-young had each sung a couple of songs, Park Dae-ri snatched the mic back yet again — then caught Young-hoon's eye and held it out with an apologetic look. Tonight, for some reason, Young-hoon didn't feel like passing. All the rage he'd swallowed in silence over Deputy Hong's insufferable behavior seemed to have built up somewhere inside. He needed to let it out, one clean burst.
He calmly cleared his throat… and then he flat-out belted it.
The moment Young-hoon finished, spectacularly, the room went dead silent.
"You… have you been taking vocal lessons or something?" Park Dae-ri asked, as if moved to his core.
"What kind of nonsense is that? Where'd a vocal school come from out of nowhere?"
"I honestly thought a professional singer had walked in. You're a certified tone-deaf, man. And then you bust out singing like that — of course I'm shocked. Bizarre, honestly. Do one more."
Young-hoon figured this, too, was the influence of the archmage Hains. "Well, if the audience demands it… and since today happens to be October 31st…"
Without hesitation, he punched in the number of a song he'd been keeping in mind. As soon as the backing track began, he worked the room for all it was worth and sang. A voice so honey-smooth it should have been impossible for the Young-hoon of any ordinary day filled the noraebang. From a corner of the room, Lee Ji-young was silently weeping. Even Manager Kim wore an astonished look.
Once again it was Park Dae-ri who spoke, as if beholding a marvel. "Man, Assistant Manager Kim, I'm seeing you in a whole new light. You could go pro, seriously."
"Really? Should I actually give the singer thing a shot?"
"Ah, nah, you're not quite that good."
After that, the crew poured out every emotion the restaurant had bottled up, and saw the last night of October off in style.