Elixir Sales Representative
Chairman Jang had first met Young-hoon here at Uncheonggak just last Thursday.
The boy was on the tall side with a face that seemed a bit big for his frame(?), but he had an easygoing air, a depth in his eyes, and some indefinable charm that drew people in.
He looked like the sort of young man women would flock to, no matter what.
As they ate and talked, Chairman Jang discovered that beneath the boy's honest, unassuming exterior lay a genuinely funny conversationalist with a startling breadth of knowledge.
Measured against his own seventy-odd years on this earth, the young man's knowledge and thinking were nothing to sneeze at — not even close.
And so he had found himself sinking, quite naturally, into the sway of Young-hoon's charm.
What was more, this young man seemed to be opening his eyes to the business world in earnest, and Chairman Jang had even caught himself considering taking him on as his successor.
His one and only daughter had apparently decided life in America was the only life worth living — she'd gone and obtained her citizenship without so much as a word to him.
Well, to be fair, she'd been saying for years that she had no intention of inheriting his fortune.
She wanted him to give it all back to society — as if he would ever hand over the fortune he'd scraped together with one foot in the grave. Not in a thousand years. Not even 0.000000001% of it.
Instead, he had resolved to actively help Young-hoon from now on and sharpen the boy's business instincts.
But if he pushed for Young-hoon this blatantly, there was a hundred-thousand-percent chance that old Choi would come sniffing around.
Still, the right of first refusal was his.
For old Choi, today was their first meeting — whereas this was already his third time seeing Young-hoon, wasn't it?
Of course, old Choi wasn't the type to step aside over something like that. It looked like a fierce tug-of-war over Young-hoon was in the cards.
The war begins now.
A war no one could stop.
Perhaps the final war he and old Choi would wage in their lifetimes.
He already felt a thrilling surge of excitement.
Let's see who wins. Game on.
"Do you have any idea how many people in this country are sitting on piles of money with nowhere to spend it? Land barons and chaebol chairmen across the nation — I'd say a good thousand, maybe more. What do you think men like that want? Youth, that's what. A man's ultimate dream is to run the race of his life right up until the day he dies, wanting for nothing. What do you say, Jang? Where do you stand?"
"Same as you, Choi. Even by the most conservative count, I'd guess five hundred at least?"
In that instant, Young-hoon ran the numbers in his head.
If five hundred people each bought around five bottles a year: 15 billion won × 500 people × 5 = 37.5 trillion won.
It was an absolutely astronomical sum.
And if it expanded to the global market, it would be beyond reckoning.
He couldn't hold back the laugh that was trying to escape.
Hehehehe……
Watching Young-hoon drift off into thought for a moment, Chairman Jang struck straight at the heart of it.
"You were calculating how much you could sell just now, weren't you? But didn't you say you can't mass-produce the elixir yet?"
"…Ah, yes. The Taebaek Mountain Taoist Master says the other herbs he can get his hands on easily enough, but there's one ingredient that's hard to come by, so he's growing it himself. He said once that's sorted out, he'll be able to make a great deal more of the elixir."
Young-hoon had no choice but to lie on the spot.
After all, he couldn't exactly admit he made the stuff with a magic circle.
"So mass production is off the table for the moment, then. Winter's coming — the moment he's ready, old Choi and I will throw our full weight behind you. An elixir like this has to be sold through people like us if you want credibility. Ahem. We'll take responsibility for selling the elixir, so don't even think about selling to anyone else. Now, on another note — can you meet Director Park tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow's a bit difficult — how about we set something up for the day after?"
"Fine, let's do that. So the elixir's price — shall we call it 20 billion? For us it's 15 billion, but you must never sell it to anyone else at that price. You understand that, right? We're not just sales agents, we're test subjects too. Isn't that so, Choi?"
"That's right. We're special customers. And since we're going to be your sales force anyway, think of it as a commission — knock off about 5 billion or so for us."
And just like that, the two chairmen had found themselves appointed as Young-hoon's elixir sales representatives.
But their eyes blazed like fire.
Like two old men who'd just discovered a fascinating new toy.
Chairman Choi had two sons.
Both of them were pushing fifty, and neither had ever done a single day of honest economic activity. With a fortune as vast as Chairman Choi's, the two had lived far more lavishly than the heirs of most chaebol families.
At the moment he had them managing his buildings, but even that they showed no intention of doing themselves. They simply handed everything over to professional property managers and spent their days wallowing in wine and women.
There was nothing to expect from those boys.
As far as he could tell, all they wanted was for their father to hurry up and die.
If he handed his business over to them, the odds that they'd squander every last bit of it within ten years of his death exceeded one million percent.
It was about time he started cultivating a successor — and now Chairman Jang had his eye on Young-hoon.
Like himself, Chairman Jang had an exceptionally keen eye for people.
If that old fox had set his sights on the boy, there had to be something there.
Then I can't afford to lose either.
One way or another, he would steal Young-hoon away for himself.
He'd have to wage a battle for the boy against old Jang.
The war begins now.
A war no one could stop.
Perhaps the final war he and that old Jang would wage in their lifetimes.
His heart was already pounding.
Let's see the end of this long contest, shall we.
Meanwhile, Ki-jin sat watching the whole scene unfold, quiet as a sack of barley someone had told to hush.
He had already secured the staggering sum of 300 billion won from Chairman Jang.
Thanks to that, his company had recognized him, and he was due a performance bonus of 6 billion won.
Granted, 3 billion of that was earmarked for Young-hoon.
But now he'd been promised another 500 billion won from Chairman Choi.
Which meant a mind-boggling 10 billion won in bonuses.
Separately, come year-end, a promotion to Vice President looked highly likely.
And then Chairman Jang, thanking him for introducing Young-hoon, had announced he would buy him a luxury villa — a full 100-pyeong (~3,300 sq ft) penthouse in Gangnam — as a gift.
And the villa would be right on the floor below Young-hoon's place, no less.
Which meant the elixir would flow without interruption.
Everything was falling into place.
Truly a win-win.
But human greed, it seemed, had no bottom.
Chairman Jang had gifted him the luxury villa — so what would Chairman Choi give him? Just thinking about it put him in a fine mood.
He was quietly looking forward to Chairman Choi's present, but the man said nothing at all.
Dinner was nearly over, too… tch.
And so the pleasant dinner for everyone drew to a close.
The two chairmen would now dash off to wherever their young lovers were waiting, while Ki-jin and Young-hoon would head to Ilsan and share a round of draft beer outside his building.
When they stepped out of the restaurant, a pair of high-end foreign sedans stood waiting to carry the chairmen off.
But to Young-hoon's eye, the two old men didn't seem in any particular hurry.
When he'd met Chairman Jang last week, the man had bolted for his young lover the instant the meal ended, like a puppy desperate for the backyard — but now that he knew the elixir's effects lasted so long, he seemed to be minding his dignity a little.
Before long, Young-hoon and Ki-jin had seen the two chairmen off and called designated drivers to take them to Ilsan.
Chairman Choi was in high spirits.
First of all, he'd liked the young man Young-hoon enormously from the moment they met.
He knew how to respect his elders, knew when to bow his head just enough, and he was knowledgeable to boot.
And most decisive of all — the boy had not given them the elixir at a discount.
How could anyone not like a young man like that?
He looked ten thousand times better than his own sons.
And crucially, he now had a rivalry to wage against old Jang.
They'd gone through two whole bottles of elixir again tonight, and Young-hoon and Executive Director Lee had barely touched theirs — old Jang and he had drunk nearly all of it between them.
Which meant he'd be firing on all cylinders for the better part of a month.
He really did need to give serious thought to his young lover's suggestion that he find another woman.
Of course, tonight he'd have no choice but to sweet-talk the young darling into another full marathon anyway.
Well — he'd just saved a cool 200 billion won, hadn't he? He'd simply hand her a fat allowance tomorrow and send her off to the department store.
Around 100 million won or so ought to make her pretend to lose and come snuggling in.
But during dinner, he'd caught the look on Executive Director Lee's face — the man seemed sulking, somehow.
Chairman Jang had given him a luxury villa in the form of a referral fee, while he himself hadn't said a word. No doubt the man felt shortchanged.
Then what should I give him? The question began to gnaw at him.
Ah, whatever.
Wouldn't a trillion or so do the trick? He'd be getting a performance bonus through the company anyway. No more thinking tonight — tonight was for staying up until dawn with the young darling.
The laughter came unbidden.
Hehehehehe……
Chairman Jang, too, was in high spirits.
First of all, he'd gotten to drink free elixir.
Young-hoon and Executive Director Lee had barely put their lips to their glasses, so old Choi and he had polished off nearly a bottle between them.
In effect, he'd drunk roughly 15 billion won worth of elixir on the house — from that penny-pinching skinflint Choi, no less.
Granted, he'd paid for dinner, but that amount didn't amount to an ant's whizz.
He felt sure he could run the race with Ji-hye at full gallop for the next month, easy.
And the mess he'd made with Director Park yesterday — it looked like Young-hoon would be able to clean that up without a trace as well.
Ever since meeting the boy, everything had been falling into place, one thing after another.
The only wrinkle: he'd been planning to groom Young-hoon as his successor, and old Choi seemed to have caught on.
Well, it was early days yet. He'd simply run his recruitment campaign slowly and carefully.
And most importantly, he'd been worried about running short of elixir — but if he could buy it regularly from now on, he reckoned he'd be going strong for at least another ten years.
The only headache was having to find a lover besides Ji-hye.
Well, Ji-hye didn't seem to mind, so it'd be bump-bump time again tonight.
The laughter started bubbling up all on its own.
Hehehehe~
Young-hoon and Ki-jin stopped by the draft-beer joint in front of the building for a quick round.
Sure enough, Hee-joo came urging her husband to hurry up and come inside.
But Ki-jin showed no intention of standing up.
"Brother-in-law, your wife's telling you to come in. Shouldn't you go?"
"It's barely ten o'clock. The kids aren't even asleep yet. Eleven is plenty early enough to go up. Tch — can't even hold out a few hours and she's already rushing me. You know, this might be the last beer we ever have out here, won't it?"
"I was thinking the same. Honestly, I still can't wrap my head around it — going from an officetel to a luxury villa out of nowhere… A hundred pyeong? That's basically a sports field. You could play soccer in there."
"Same boat as you. I can't wait to see my wife's face when I walk in and tell her. But she won't even tell me where it is? Shouldn't we go take a look in advance, at least once?"
"Ask Chairman Jang about it. Let's go tomorrow evening — you and your wife together. And after that, we'll all go out for dinner."
"Deal. By the way — are you really going to live in that huge place all by yourself, brother-in-law?"
"Good question. Honestly, I'm still torn. Thirty pyeong would be fine for a guy alone, but a hundred? I can't even picture it. I'll probably have to sweet-talk Su-jin into moving in with me."
"Our youngest cousin? That'd work out nicely. Gangnam's close to the hospital, too. Give her a call."
Since it had come up, Young-hoon called her right then and there, and they agreed to meet the following evening.
Su-jin, delighted to see her oppa after so long — or maybe pleased at the prospect of seeing her cousin and her cousin's husband — happily accepted the invitation.
In the middle of all this, Hee-joo sent her husband a text that bordered on an outright threat.