Managing Stress Through Business (2)
"Wait, what did you just say?" Choi Cheol-gyu’s brother, Choi Cheol-min, asked, his facial muscles twitching with confusion.
"Huh? I told you I’m helping build that department store, so I could find you a spot at the hamba (construction site cafeteria)," Cheol-gyu replied.
"You... you’ve been helping with the department store work from the beginning?"
"Yeah. Oh, did I not mention that?" Cheol-min stared at his younger brother, who chuckled as if it were nothing, and suddenly, a conversation they’d had in the past flashed through his mind.
"This bastard is playing me for a fool!" Just as he was about to foam at the mouth and lunge at his brother, two police officers suddenly burst out from inside Choi Cheol-gyu’s gate.
"Who does this guy think he is?"
"You want to die?" In an instant, Choi Cheol-min was pinned to the ground. He was too stunned and bewildered to even process what was happening.
"W-what! Who are you people!" A man wearing the rank insignia of a police lieutenant struck the back of Cheol-min’s head hard and replied.
"Who are we, you punk? We’re the people’s police. How dare you try to assault a citizen? You want to spend three months eating nothing but prison rice?"
"Let go! I said let go!" It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the situation, but the sheer injustice of it all made Cheol-min scream like a wounded animal. The officers didn’t loosen their grip, and Choi Cheol-gyu knelt down to look his brother in the eye.
"Brother, so what are you going to do? Are you going to give up on making your wife work at the hamba? I can make sure you don’t starve, but if you don’t like it, suit yourself."
Choi Cheol-min realized, at least to some extent, that he had been dancing in the palm of Yoon-gi’s hand, and tears began to stream down his face.
"Uwaaaaaah!" All he could do was let out a scream-like wail. A long while later, Choi Cheol-min eventually agreed to let his wife work and trudged back to the inn.
"Lieutenant Seo, thank you for your help." Back in his living room, Choi Cheol-gyu didn’t bow, but he offered his thanks to the man with the rank of police lieutenant sitting in the guest seat.
"Oh, don’t mention it. It’s only natural that I help you." The name on his nametag was Seo In-pyo. He was a connection Cheol-gyu had cultivated at the Jongno Police Station by leveraging his ties with JSD. Unlike connections made solely through money, this one had the advantage of providing swift support upon request without requiring him to debase himself.
"Oh, and this is a small gift, a token of my hope that we can continue to work well together." As Cheol-gyu held out a slightly yellowish envelope, Seo In-pyo shook his head, feigning surprise.
"Oh, no, no. You’re someone I’d help regardless of things like this."
"Come now, isn’t it only right to provide some support for operational expenses? A man has to eat to live, so please use this to treat your subordinates to a meal."
Choi Cheol-gyu stood up, folded the envelope in half, and tucked it into the front pocket of Seo In-pyo’s shirt. Seo In-pyo accepted it, pretending to be reluctant.
"Since you’ve thought of us so kindly, I will accept it with gratitude." With a grin that stretched almost to his ears and the three deep wrinkles on his forehead deepening, the subordinate officers standing nearby knew exactly how thick that envelope was.
"Oh, and whenever the detectives want a meal, they are welcome to come to the hamba anytime. It’s no trouble at all to treat them to a bowl of rice."
"Oh, really? That would be great. My boys’ pockets have been a bit thin lately."
"Of course. Just keep an eye on the surroundings while you’re coming and going; that’s all I ask."
"I’ll make sure to tell my boys to pay extra attention." Watching Lieutenant Seo In-pyo bow his head slightly without even realizing it, Choi Cheol-gyu chuckled to himself.
'Ha, I wish Yoon-gi could see this himself.' But Yoon-gi was already watching.
The second son of the Samwoo Group Chairman. The second daughter-in-law of the Samwoo Group Chairman. The grandson of the Samwoo Group Chairman. But none of this meant anything when it came to slicing radishes. Preparing a meal for 450 people in the sweltering summer heat was no easy task, and because of it, Park Gyeong-ja’s clothes were already soaked through with sweat.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!
"At that rate, when are you going to finish slicing!" The hamba owner struck Park Gyeong-ja’s arm with the back of a knife, and she let out a sharp cry of pain.
"I-I’m sorry..." Unlike before, there wasn’t a shred of malice in her expression. In fact, Park Gyeong-ja’s face was so dark it seemed to be nothing but shadows. It was fortunate that her parents were 'reluctantly' taking care of her son, Jeong-gi; otherwise, she would have been worried sick about him being alone.
"Slice faster! Ugh, so frustrating!" The hamba owner, a woman in her early 50s, had a powerful voice that clearly showed her experience in the construction business, but anyone watching would wonder 'why' she had hired the inexperienced Park Gyeong-ja. But hiring her was a given. Because she was 'free.'
Park Gyeong-ja and Choi Cheol-min were paid only 'enough wages to keep body and soul together,' and since the construction office was covering even that, the owner had no reason to refuse. The construction office had only one request for the owner:
[Harass them as much as you can. Just don't kill them or cause any major injuries.]
Thanks to this, the hamba owner was inwardly thrilled, even while acting angry on the outside.
"Hey, wash it faster! At that rate, when are you going to finish shredding!" The owner even slapped Choi Cheol-min’s back for good measure. Startled, Cheol-min increased the speed at which he washed the radishes, which soon led to rapid physical exhaustion.
"Huff! Huff!"
"Ugh, how little have you worked in your life to have such pathetic stamina? What a waste of your manhood." Because of the threat that they would be fired the moment it was revealed they were the son or daughter-in-law of the Samwoo Group, the two kept their mouths shut and worked, even as tears threatened to spill. If not for this, they would have starved to death. They had tried to find work elsewhere, but for the past month, they had only been treated like communist sympathizers. Perhaps it was a stroke of misfortune in their luck that Cheol-min had finally managed to work at the hamba alongside her after begging his brother until his hands and feet were worn out. Even then, the wages were mere pennies.
From Yoon-gi’s perspective, it was a 1+1 deal, so he had nothing to lose.
Creak-!
Suddenly, the kitchen door of the construction site hamba opened, and Yoon-gi appeared with Ryu Geun-tae. Hot steam and heat washed over them, but Yoon-gi didn’t show the slightest sign of discomfort; instead, he looked at Choi Cheol-min and Park Gyeong-ja with a sneer. Ryu Geun-tae did the same.
"Oh my, President. Welcome!" Ryu Geun-tae nodded at the owner, who was bowing, but he soon frowned.
"The President is so polite, but it really bothers me that those people don’t even look at us." At that, the owner went behind Choi Cheol-min and Park Gyeong-ja and smacked the backs of their heads with her large, kitchen-hardened hands.
Thwack! Thwack!
"The President is here, why aren’t you greeting him!"
"A-ah, hello."
"Hello..."
But Ryu Geun-tae shook his head. "There’s no sincerity."
Choi Cheol-min and Park Gyeong-ja greeted them again, but Ryu Geun-tae picked at them once more. After this was repeated several times, the two realized who they were supposed to be greeting, and eventually, with tears welling up, they made eye contact with Yoon-gi and bowed deeply.
"Yes, that’s how you greet someone." Ryu Geun-tae looked at the hamba owner with a satisfied expression. "Do the police come by often these days?"
"How many could there be from the detective division? Still, a few come by every day to eat. Sometimes they come in the morning, sometimes they eat dinner."
"If you think there’s food left over in the evening, pack some up for the police to take home as side dishes."
"Pardon? That’s a bit..." As the owner hesitated, Ryu Geun-tae offered a warm smile.
"Just calculate the cost of the side dishes and bill the office. That’ll do, right?"
"Oh, of course!"
"But make sure you only report the amount you actually gave to the office. You know what I mean?" At Ryu Geun-tae’s slightly intimidating words, the owner, who had been calculating how much she could skim off the top, hurriedly nodded.
"Of course. I’ll make sure to report it properly."
"Then, I’ll leave it to you." Once Ryu Geun-tae finished speaking, Yoon-gi left the kitchen with him. Although the steam had left moisture and sweat all over his body, Yoon-gi’s face was the picture of satisfaction. A moment later, Ryu Geun-tae and Yoon-gi entered the construction site office, where the air conditioning was blasting.
"Haa, this is the life." Ryu Geun-tae looked around before speaking to Yoon-gi, and he saw a police lieutenant and a sergeant eating popsicles.
"Oh, Lieutenant Park. It’s heaven in here, isn’t it?" At Ryu Geun-tae’s words, Lieutenant Park, who had been eating a strawberry-flavored one, jumped up in surprise. The sergeant next to him did the same.
"Ah, President Ryu!"
"It’s fine. Keep resting, keep resting. It’s so hot out, I know how hard police work is."
"Oh, no, not at all. We’ll be on our way!" Lieutenant Park practically grabbed the sergeant by the scruff of his neck and hurried out of the office, leaving only Kim Jeong-seon and Yoon-gi’s closest aide, Yoo Jin-hee, behind.
"Have you been busy lately?" At Yoon-gi’s question, Kim Jeong-seon bowed his head.
"With the influx of capital, we’re hiring new personnel. It’s much better than before."
"Ho-ho, so you’re saying it was too hard before?" It was a playful remark from Yoon-gi, but Kim Jeong-seon shook his head in a panic.
"Oh, no, no! That’s not what I meant..."
"I’m joking." Everyone in the office burst into laughter as they watched Yoon-gi chuckle, and the tense atmosphere caused by the police officers dissipated.
"Anyway, how is the construction going? Is it smooth?"
"It’s very smooth. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about funds until completion." The funds newly injected into this construction project were 95 percent of the assets held by his father, Choi Cheol-ho, and the remaining shortfall was covered by his grandfather, Choi Ki-hyun. Of course, since Yoon-gi had received that money through inheritance, he still held 100 percent of the department store’s shares.
"I’m glad the construction is smooth. Should we expect the interior work to start around next year?"
"I think so."
"Then, we’ll have to move on to the next stage." The vast American landscape floated in Yoon-gi’s mind.
The autumn of his sixth year in elementary school. It was a weekday, so he should have been at school, but Yoon-gi was in the United States.
"Oh, God!" Andrew hugged Yoon-gi tightly, as if he were truly glad to see him.
"Is your studying going well?" Andrew looked surprised at Yoon-gi’s now fluent pronunciation.
"Have you been in the States all this time? Your English has improved so much compared to before."
"I’ve been going back and forth during vacations, but I was in Korea during this summer break. I was a bit busy."
"Wow, that’s impressive. When I see Korean or Japanese students coming to the U.S. to study abroad, they study grammar until they’re exhausted, but they go back without being able to speak a word."
"Well, that’s the downside of rote education." Yoon-gi shrugged and chatted with Andrew about this and that.
"I wish you’d grow up faster. I’m working as a postdoc because it’ll take time for you to become an adult." Yoon-gi smiled at the mention of preparing for a postdoc, often called the 'irregular worker' of the doctoral world.
"I’ll make sure the time you’ve invested in your postdoc isn’t wasted."
"Haha, I’ll look forward to it. I’m welcome anywhere I can study mathematics." It was a strangely dark laboratory, but perhaps because of the light of hope, the atmosphere was completely bright.
"Come to think of it, I’m building a department store in Korea these days."
"A department store? Oh, you’ve already started a business? But if it’s a department store, there’s no room for me there." Yoon-gi smiled and nodded.
"Please wait a little longer for anything related to mathematics. Anyway, I’m about to start the interior design, and I was wondering if there’s anyone around who studied interior design and is looking for work? Age doesn’t matter."