Still Remains in My Memory
After a brief exchange with Director Lee Gyeong-deuk, Kim Seong-ho followed Team Leader Yun Gi-seok of Team 2 in the Strategic Planning Office toward his new desk.
"Your seat's right here. You can work from this one. And…"
Yun Gi-seok glanced around, then tapped the shoulder of the man sitting next to Seong-ho.
"You can learn the ropes from Section Chief Jeong here. Hey. Section Chief Jeong."
At Yun's call, the man called Section Chief Jeong turned in his chair. He looked up at Yun with a thoroughly displeased expression.
Yun waved him up.
"On your feet. Introduce yourself."
"Come on, Team Leader."
Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju scowled and rose from his seat. He looked Seong-ho up and down before speaking.
"What is this all of a sudden? Didn't I already say I don't want this? Not me—send him over there."
Jeong pointed at a man sitting on the opposite side of the room.
"Give him to Section Chief Chu. Chu will teach him better anyway."
Section Chief Chu, just named, turned his head away. He, too, was making it clear with that single motion that he wanted nothing to do with Seong-ho.
Yun Gi-seok draped an arm around Jeong Byeong-ju's shoulders and dropped his voice.
"Come on, Jeong. This is a good opportunity for you too. Think about it. How long do you really think the Chairman's youngest son-in-law is going to sit around as an Assistant Manager? He's going to climb a lot faster than the rest of us and end up in a royal-family seat before you know it. When that happens, do you think he'll forget the man from Strategic Planning who taught him well?"
Yun began working on him gently. Jeong's expression wavered for a moment under the plausible pitch, but he shook his head.
"Even so, he's still just a live-in son-in-law with no real backing. He's not like the other members of the royal family."
At that, Yun released Jeong's shoulder and took a step back.
"Fine, forget it. Do whatever you want. I clearly handed him off to you."
When the soft sell failed, Yun threw up both hands as if surrendering and dusted them off, declaring the matter closed.
"You can't just leave it like that, Team Leader!"
"Walk him through the basics this morning, then head straight over to Hi.com in the afternoon. The acquisition proposal documents are already finished, so just take those and get the seals. And I'm telling you again—I clearly handed him to you, so handle it yourself."
"Team Leader!"
Jeong called after him desperately, but Yun Gi-seok left without so much as a glance back.
Seong-ho watched the two of them, then quietly smiled.
Back then I was so tense I didn't even realize how ridiculous this whole scene was.
Before he had been transferred here, Seong-ho had belonged to Ilhyeon Distribution—treated as the black sheep even within the Ilhyeon Group. And Sales had been a department with almost no presence even inside that already-marginal company. He knew full well that the reason he had been moved into a core group division had nothing to do with ability and everything to do with marrying Lee Gyeong-eun. That was why he had been so thoroughly cowed at the time.
If some guy with no backing and no real skill drops in like a parachute, of course no one is going to be happy about it. I wouldn't have been either.
And he had landed in Strategic Planning, of all places—a core department. Of course he had felt like dead weight. On top of that, he had been so intimidated he couldn't do a thing, which only made the people in Strategic Planning look down on him even more.
"Honestly. Dumping this dead weight on me… what am I supposed to do with him…"
Having finally been stuck with Seong-ho by Team Leader Yun, Jeong Byeong-ju grumbled his way back to his desk. He looked Seong-ho over from head to toe again.
"You're Assistant Manager Kim Seong-ho?"
"Yes. You're Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju, correct? I look forward to working with you."
Jeong waved a hand dismissively at the greeting and pointed at Seong-ho's empty desk.
"Go to General Affairs and get your station set up… then sit down and wait. We'll head straight to Hi.com later, so be ready."
"Yes. Understood."
When nothing followed that single word of acknowledgment, Jeong, who had been about to turn away, paused.
Shouldn't he be asking where General Affairs is, or how you even set up a desk?
Certain the man would come back later with questions, Jeong stood up out of sheer irritation, ready to give him a few words.
"Hey. You don't even know where General Affairs is—"
But Seong-ho had already set his bag on the desk and, as if he knew exactly where he was going, turned and walked toward General Affairs.
"…He already knows?"
Jeong could only stare blankly at Seong-ho's retreating back.
Feeling that gaze on him, Seong-ho allowed the corner of his mouth to lift. For a man reporting for his first day at a place where he had already worked for twenty years, his steps felt lighter than anyone else's.
Behind the wheel, Jeong Byeong-ju spoke without so much as glancing at Seong-ho in the passenger seat.
"I don't care who Assistant Manager Kim married. And I have zero interest in riding your coattails, so don't expect me to go easy on you. I'm warning you now—if you hold me back, I won't let it slide. You live your company life, I'll live mine. We clear on that?"
"Section Chief Jeong. Can you see this, by any chance?"
Seong-ho, who had not been listening to a word of the long speech, simply opened a diary and held it out toward him.
Still gripping the wheel, Jeong flicked a glance at the diary Seong-ho was offering.
"See what?"
"You don't see the writing here?"
"Writing? There's nothing there. What are you talking about?"
"Is that so? Hmm. So you really can't see it."
"Are you messing with me right now? I don't have time to play games with—"
Ignoring the man ranting beside him, Seong-ho looked down at the diary, its pages filled with writing, with an expression of genuine interest. He had just confirmed once more, through Jeong, whether the diary entries visible only to him were also invisible to people other than Lee Gyeong-eun—or whether they truly were for his eyes alone. And just like Gyeong-eun, Jeong could not see a single character. Seong-ho smiled like a child who had been handed an especially fun new toy.
Heaven even sent the diary along so I could take proper revenge. Yes. With this, I can crush them that much more thoroughly.
After Gyeong-eun's death, her final request had left Seong-ho handling the Ilhyeon Group's major and minor affairs—including its ugliest corners—for twenty years. He had resolved a great many things. And yet, when his own death had come, it had come at the hands of none other than the Ilhyeon Group itself. He had known most of the group's dirty stories, but he could not possibly remember every single detail down to the exact dates. Only the broad outlines remained; human memory was not built to retain every fine point. With a diary in which he had recorded everything out of habit, however, the story changed completely. Dates, details, all of it written down. The confidence that he could move forward with absolute certainty, without even a flicker of doubt, settled firmly in place.
"Did you hear what I said?"
Jeong scowled at the man who kept staring at the diary without answering him.
Seong-ho closed the diary, slid it into his bag, and spoke.
"Section Chief. Right now you're debating whether or not to take your child to the hospital."
"Huh?"
"Take them. There's no harm in getting checked."
"What are you talking about…"
Startled by Seong-ho's words, Jeong whipped his head around to stare at him. Seong-ho calmly pointed a finger forward, telling him to keep his eyes on the road, and continued.
"I know you're worried there'll be a lot of work with this Hi.com acquisition. Don't be. There won't be that much. So take them to the hospital tomorrow and get the tests done. Understood?"
"You… what the hell are you even saying?"
Seong-ho did not answer the flustered man. He simply turned his gaze out the window. While they had been talking, the car carrying the two of them had already reached Teheran-ro, where Hi.com was located.
"Over there. You can pull in that way."
"…I know."
Jeong already knew they had arrived near Hi.com. He set his curiosity aside for the moment and focused on driving. When he parked in front of the building that housed Hi.com, Seong-ho got out of the car. Jeong followed, intending to ask how Seong-ho had known what he had just said. But the sight of Seong-ho walking without the slightest hesitation toward the Hi.com building made Jeong swallow the question.
Inside the elevator, Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju looked up at the changing floor numbers and spoke.
"When we're done here, you and I are going to have a talk."
He wanted to know how Seong-ho had known he was wrestling with whether to take his child to the hospital.
Seong-ho looked at Jeong's face and smiled.
"I'd like that too, but I doubt we'll get the chance."
"What do you mean, we won't get the chance?"
"You'll be too busy dealing with something else. But thanks to that, you'll have time to take your child to the hospital, so you don't need to worry. Just make sure you take them tomorrow."
"I'm asking you what that even—"
Ding.
The elevator chimed its arrival and the doors opened. The people waiting for Jeong and Seong-ho in front of the elevator cut Jeong off before he could finish.
"Oh my, welcome. I should have come down to greet you myself. I'm sorry to make you come all the way up."
Kang Hyeong-jin, the president of Hi.com, offered a warm welcome to Jeong and Seong-ho. He gestured toward the interior as he spoke.
"This is where Hi.com—soon to become part of the Ilhyeon Group family—makes its home. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kang Hyeong-jin, founder, CEO, and the face of Hi.com."
Faced with Kang's over-the-top self-introduction, Jeong managed an awkward smile and returned the greeting.
"Yes, good to meet you. I'm Section Chief Jeong Byeong-ju of the Ilhyeon Group Strategic Planning Office, and this is Assistant Manager Kim Seong-ho."
"Ah~ So this is Chairman Lee's youngest son-in-law. It's an honor to meet you."
Even more effusive than Director Lee Gyeong-deuk had been, Kang seized Seong-ho's hand as if he had encountered a rare and precious guest. He began pulling Seong-ho inside as he talked.
"I've heard so much about you. I've been wanting to meet you, and here we are at last. Our Hi.com is…"
Drawn along by Kang Hyeong-jin's nonstop chatter, Seong-ho stepped into the Hi.com offices. Looking at the man, he allowed the corner of his mouth to rise.
I know exactly why you're going this far. Unfortunately for you, things won't go your way this time. The memory of what you did to me is still perfectly clear.
Turning over the memory of what Kang Hyeong-jin had once done to him, Seong-ho smiled at the man's transparent intentions and walked deeper into Hi.com.