Chapter 216
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 216
Chapter Title: The Door Scratch Confession
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I called Kim Jinsang.
Told him to come to the clinic right now.
“Ah, the chauffeur said he’s tired and taking the day off today…!”
So that’s why he’d snuck in.
Of course, I brushed off Park Sunyun’s attempts to dissuade me and summoned Kim Jinsang anyway.
Tired or not, nothing would ease my fatigue like a proper three-way confrontation.
“Don’t go anywhere. Just wait right here.”
I pointed to a corner of the waiting room.
Until Kim Jinsang arrived, I had to treat patients.
Luckily, he showed up soon enough.
“Director, what’s going… Huh? Young master!”
“Oh, hello.”
I brought him into the exam room along with the embarrassed Park Sunyun.
I signaled the front desk not to disturb us for about ten minutes, then closed the door.
“What’s going on here? Why is the young master…?”
I hadn’t explained the reason, so Kim Jinsang shot me a look like he was blaming me.
“I didn’t call Park Sunyun. She came out of worry for you, to ask what was wrong.”
“Ah…”
“Now’s your chance! Tell her everything yourself, Kim Jinsang!”
What chance? I created it, so spill it already!
I pressed him relentlessly.
“You already know about the temporary blood pressure spike, so just lay out the stress trigger in vivid detail.”
“No, Director. You promised to keep it secret, and now this…!”
“Please, chauffeur. Just tell me.”
His attempt to escape was swiftly shut down.
“I understand wanting to hide it, but I’m still on the board of directors. If there’s any way I can help, I want to do my best.”
Still convinced he had a serious illness, Park Sunyun pleaded earnestly.
“Yes? No, I mean, that’s…!”
Kim Jinsang startled and glanced around, but no one here would help him.
“I’m sorry!”
In the end, he bowed awkwardly.
Park Sunyun simply nodded calmly. She still thought he was apologizing for hiding a sickness.
“I, well… The car next to mine got door dinged, and I got mad… Turns out that jerk—no, that guy—was an executive at some JS… whatever. A foreign company.”
“The GMCL division head? The door ding incident you mentioned last time—that was him?”
How do the details not match up at all?
Still, Park Sunyun pieced it together seamlessly.
“You remember.”
“Of course I do. I had it repaired…”
And for a moment.
Silence fell.
Park Sunyun waited for Kim Jinsang to continue.
Kim Jinsang looked somewhat relieved after his full confession.
“So, what did that guy do after?”
After nearly ten seconds of quiet, Park Sunyun spoke first.
“Pardon?”
“There was the door ding, and then what happened next? Blackmail? Or did he try bribing you to steal something? Gasp, or was it that someone in your family is sick, not you? That must have been so stressful…”
“Your imagination is vivid, Miss Park Sunyun, but no.”
Does she watch too many chaebol soap operas?
I cut off her wild speculations on Kim Jinsang’s behalf.
“That’s the whole story.”
“...?”
“...?”
Park Sunyun looked utterly baffled, glancing from me to Kim Jinsang.
“So the car got scratched, you got angry, the secretary apologized and paid up… Isn’t that all settled?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“I was worried it might cut off our deal with GMC…”
“Pardon? No way.”
Once Kim Jinsang spilled even his ongoing worry, Park Sunyun panicked too.
I explained how that led to symptoms like bloodshot eyes, insomnia, and high blood pressure, and she waved her hands frantically.
“Absolutely not! GMCL handled a lot of our overseas distribution, sure, but we cut ties because they crossed the line this time!”
“...Really?”
“I can’t go into details, but they kept demanding we sever ties with competitors if we wanted to keep dealing with them. Of course, we tried negotiating, offering other terms whenever we could. But they pushed hard, assuming we’d cave, and the board decided after the last meeting.”
“Ah, really…?”
Kim Jinsang mumbled, mouth agape.
Ah, ah. He let out a few gasps of admiration, then hung his head.
Yeah, I knew it couldn’t be Kim Jinsang’s fault. That’s exactly the kind of issue that can’t be solved with words.
Thoroughly flustered, Park Sunyun kept explaining.
“It’ll be a hassle rebuilding the distribution network, but it’s doable. A competitor offered better terms anyway, and this is our chance to stop being pushed around and build our own system—”
“No need to share any more confidential details.”
Good thing it wasn’t a big deal. It must’ve been sorted within weeks.
In a situation like that, cutting ties was PK’s choice, right? Holding out might’ve put that foreign company in a tough spot instead.
“I-I see. I had no idea, and here I was thinking you were angry at me for no reason, young master…”
“Angry? You know everyone’s swamped with those guests coming from the Middle East these days, right? On top of that, I was worried you might be sick, so the GMCL thing slipped my mind completely. How could this…”
“That’s true…”
“Why didn’t you just tell me? To think you were having such ridiculous worries…”
“I’m sorry, young master!”
Yeah, Park Sunyun. You didn’t handle this well either.
She should’ve just asked straight up instead of coming to the clinic!
“Park Sunyun said she drove herself because she noticed you seemed tired lately.”
Of course, rather than ruining the mood, I added words to bridge their misunderstanding.
Since she wasn’t here as a patient, a little rephrasing was fine.
“Ah?”
Kim Jinsang was deeply moved.
“Gasp, did you think we were sidelining you from work?”
Park Sunyun even realized he’d been anxious about being fired.
“Embarrassing as it is… I just thought I’d caused you major trouble.”
“No, absolutely not! And even if it were an issue, we wouldn’t penalize you over something so minor.”
“Well… Fair enough, but it didn’t affect the outcome, but I still did wrong…”
Park Sunyun spoke firmly, but Kim Jinsang kept his head bowed.
His face was etched with deep guilt.
The misunderstanding was cleared, but the weeks he’d spent fixated on his own fault had changed him profoundly.
“Even aside from this, as someone serving the young master, I shouldn’t act in such an undignified way.”
In the martial world, this would’ve been the moment for “Please punish me!”
But Kim Jinsang just kept apologizing.
“What are you talking about? You’ve always done great!”
“Thank you for saying that. Sigh, if I want to keep serving you well, I have to fix this damn temper of mine.”
A spark lit in Kim Jinsang’s eyes.
Guilt and shame lifted, replaced by new resolve.
He’d mentioned wanting to control his temper during our consultation weeks ago, but he’d been too dejected to even get angry back then.
Now, with Park Sunyun clearing the air, he’d pulled himself together.
“Come on, now. Fixing your temper isn’t a bad thing. For Park Sunyun, of course—and for you too, Kim Jinsang.”
I jumped in before Park Sunyun could protest.
“Yes. Even when I first came here, I yelled before understanding the situation. I regretted it later and apologized, but… I’ve lost many connections in life by not doing so. You and your staff forgave me that day, or I wouldn’t be opening up like this…”
He even brought up our old history.
He meant the time after his first treatment when shingles flared up, and he accused the clinic of misdiagnosis.
Hmm, I was angry too back then. I called and chewed out the doctor—not Kim Jinsang.
I had nothing to forgive him for.
“That must have been rough.”
But Park Sunyun seemed more upset about that incident than GMCL.
Well, if I’d chased him off then, her back and Chairman Choi Guija’s adductor would’ve hurt a lot longer.
“I swear, I’ll become a new man with iron resolve.”
Kim Jinsang clenched his fist and declared.
“From now on, even if I feel the urge, I’ll remember my place and never snap…”
“...Yeah. They say constantly getting angry isn’t good for your health.”
Park Sunyun agreed without pushing back this far.
“No, that’s not it.”
I stopped her.
“Forcing yourself to suppress anger isn’t healthy either.”
“Uh, then…”
“But that doesn’t mean venting every burst of rage or anxiety like now. You need to cultivate your mind so you don’t snap over something this minor.”
“Ah.”
“Holding back anger once is easy. Honestly, if you’d known he was a foreign exec, you’d have controlled yourself that day, right?”
“Y-Yeah, probably.”
It was an undeniable fact.
Anyone’s survival instincts kick in when they sense a threat.
“So you’re planning to hold back by always thinking, ‘This guy might be some foreign company exec, so I’d better not snap’?”
“Uh…”
Kim Jinsang’s words caught in his throat.
Park Sunyun cut in instead.
“That won’t do. No matter how powerless someone seems, you shouldn’t do wrong.”
Hmm, right and wrong. Confucian thinking.
Excellent morals.
But not quite what I meant.
“Best not to get angry over trivial things in the first place. With strong mental fortitude, you can stay calm anywhere, anytime.”
Let anger flow past. Emotions don’t dictate actions.
Inner strength allows outward gentleness.
...Of course, I called them today out of frustration, but it was still a rational decision to resolve this!
“Ah!”
Kim Jinsang clapped like he’d had an epiphany.
“Like how the director didn’t snap at me back then, thinking it was possible as a patient.”
“...Something like that.”
No need to dwell on the embarrassing parts.
“You don’t gain the ability to hold back anger overnight. If we compare the mind to the body, right now you’re like a scrawny guy with no muscle. Every time you need strength, you pour all your mental energy into it and burn out fast, getting sick. You have to build muscle through steady training.”
They both nodded as I explained calmly.
“Got it. I’ll build it up till I can compete in a bodybuilding contest!”
“Well said. I’ll work on not stressing over little things too… And I’ll support you, chauffeur.”
Kim Jinsang’s eyes burned with determination, and Park Sunyun’s face shone with inexplicable respect.
“Director, how did you cultivate your mind?”
Having leveled up from enlightenment alone, Kim Jinsang asked me point-blank for methods.
Me? Well.
I built inner energy through breath control and meditation.
Swung a sword ten thousand times a day, trained by tightrope walking on cliffs.
After that, even yelling at a frail civilian right in front of me feels trivial…
“I was just about to recommend an exercise for you.”
I couldn’t exactly suggest my methods.
“Oh?”
Wonder if pairing Teacher Kim Jaegyuk with a training buddy would work.
Not as intense as mine, but having a senior and junior brother keeps you motivated.