It hadn’t been long since Seyoung Oh had entered the room growling as if she would devour him, but now she was acting as affectionate as if he were her own child.
“There’s a nice girl among Seo-eun’s friends. You know Jeong Hospital, right? The one famous for spines. That’s their daughter. They say the son will inherit the hospital, so they made him study and kept the daughter at home to educate her. She’s sweet. What do you think? Should your mom set up a time?”
She was now even calling herself his mother.
Jinhyuk Park just stared at Seyoung Oh silently.
Taking his gaze as a sign of refusal, Seyoung Oh shook her head and spoke.
“Right. She doesn’t seem right. How could I match you with someone from Jeong Hospital? Then… you know Prime Minister Park, right? That’s his granddaughter. Yes. His granddaughter should be around your age. Even though Prime Minister Park has been retired from the front lines for a while, his disciples still form a major faction. Even if not now, won’t they seize power someday?”
“I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine. It’s enough that Grandmother and Sanghyuk look out for me.”
“Sanghyuk? What does Sanghyuk do?”
Seyoung Oh’s smiling expression gradually darkened.
Jinhyuk Park watched her face change like a painting and said.
“Sanghyuk seems to think a lot about me too, so he’s been introducing me to nice young ladies. So I don’t think ‘Mother’ needs to worry about it.”
“This punk—I thought it was strange he’s been coming home at dawn lately. So he’s been using his brother as an excuse to play around with women and come home late. What if Chaeyoon finds out… Fine. I understand.”
As soon as Sanghyuk Park was mentioned, Seyoung Oh picked up her bag and stood up as if something urgent had come up.
“I should head home quickly.”
“Is it because of Sanghyuk?”
“Huh? Yes. That punk has been coming home drunk every night lately, and it seems he’s using you as an excuse to have fun.”
“I see. Then I’ll talk to Sanghyuk and tell him to stop introducing women to me. So please don’t worry.”
“Would you do that? Thank you.”
Warmth even seemed to glimmer in Seyoung Oh’s eyes now.
Her gaze looked as if a wave of emotion was about to rise—if a stranger saw them, they wouldn’t find it strange to call them a loving mother-son relationship.
Unlike when she entered, Seyoung Oh looked back several times and smiled at Jinhyuk before leaving the room.
“What time is the appointment?”
As Junwoo Kim, who had seen Seyoung Oh off to the elevator, entered Jinhyuk Park’s office, Jinhyuk asked him.
“Time’s almost up. You should head out now.”
“Really? Why is every day so packed? I feel like I’m cutting time into pieces.”
“By the way, Director Oh told me as she left to take good care of you. What exactly is going on?”
“Didn’t I tell you? That from now on, Director Oh will start actively supporting me. Just casually drop the information—that Director Oh is trying to use DS Group to save her own family.”
Junwoo Kim approached Jinhyuk Park with his coat.
Then he asked with a curious expression.
“So are you planning to acquire the Anseong Factory after all?”
“Didn’t you come with me to see it? It’s fine there. Good. Acquiring it will be a huge boost for DS Pharmaceutical. According to President Kyung, if we just supply raw materials after the acquisition, it can be operational right away. So the acquisition will bring great benefit to DS Pharmaceutical.”
“But didn’t you tell me to spread the word that Director Oh orchestrated this to help her own family? If Chairman hears that, he won’t be happy.”
Jinhyuk Park slipped his arms into the coat Junwoo Kim held up and said.
“If we want to fight the Chairman, what should we do? The best way is to make many allies and reduce the Chairman’s allies, right? In that sense, it’s good to drive a wedge between Director Oh and the Chairman. Of course, only temporarily—after they split, she’ll side with us… though only for a while.”
“Sir, will something like that really make the Chairman and Director Oh fall out? She’s done so much for Hansung Group over the years. Can just the Anseong Factory cause that? He might be upset, but falling out seems a bit far-fetched.”
Jinhyuk Park and Junwoo Kim left the office while talking.
Outside, the secretaries stood up and greeted Jinhyuk as he came out.
“I’m off for the day. Wrap things up and go home.”
Jinhyuk Park lightly greeted the secretaries and walked toward the elevator.
The attendants near the elevator followed him and contacted outside to coordinate his departure.
Jinhyuk and Junwoo took this for granted and continued their conversation.
“Wouldn’t the Chairman know? Logically speaking, if he were the Chairman, he wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking Director Oh is using DS Group for Hansung Group.”
Junwoo Kim spoke with certainty.
But Jinhyuk Park glanced at him, lightly tapped his arm, and leaned against the back wall of the elevator.
“Manager Kim, do you like history?”
“Excuse me?”
Junwoo turned around at Jinhyuk’s words.
Jinhyuk, leaning casually against the elevator, looked at Junwoo and spoke.
“When you study history, there are plenty of times you can’t understand. Even though someone sits on the throne as a supreme ruler, they often fail to realize things anyone would know if they thought for just a moment, and instead listen to slander and kill loyal subjects. And this isn’t just in our history—foreign history is full of such cases. Stories of a kingdom falling because they killed loyal subjects are too numerous to count.”
Junwoo Kim silently stared at Jinhyuk, who had suddenly brought up history.
Receiving that gaze, Jinhyuk continued calmly.
“When I was young, I thought that when a nation was about to fall, a foolish king emerged, and that foolish king simply lacked the ability to recognize loyal subjects. But as time passed, I saw it. Why it really happened.”
“Why is that?”
Junwoo had been curious about this too.
So even though the story seemed completely unrelated to their previous conversation, he asked Jinhyuk with interest.
Jinhyuk tapped Junwoo’s arm once and stepped out of the elevator.
As Jinhyuk exited, employees all bowed their heads to greet him.
Jinhyuk nodded back to each of them, returning their greetings.
Unless he was with a client, he always acknowledged the employees’ greetings.
It was such a simple action, but the employees looked at him, moved.
Even executives didn’t acknowledge employees’ greetings, yet the representative—the son of the group’s supreme leader—was personally returning each greeting, and they sincerely admired him.
Jinhyuk crossed the lobby and got into the waiting car.
Only then could he continue the conversation.
“Where was I?”
“You said you saw it as time passed.”
“Right. As time passed, I saw it. That it wasn’t that the foolish king couldn’t recognize loyal subjects.”
“Then why was it?”
“Slander isn’t about logic. If it were logical, the monarch wouldn’t fail to understand the loyal subject’s actions. So why does the monarch kill or exile the loyal subject? Because slander doesn’t persuade the monarch with logic—it touches their emotions. Get it? Slander works through emotion, not logic.”
At Jinhyuk’s words, Junwoo’s expression showed he half-understood.
“The Chairman isn’t illogical either. He knows that acquiring the Anseong Factory would benefit us and that we can afford that much effort. But what I know and what I hear through others feel different to the recipient.”
“So you think the Chairman will drive Director Oh away?”
“Drive away? What drive away? Just because I gave an example, do you think this is the Joseon era? That she can be driven out that easily?”
“Then?”
“It’s not about hoping she gets driven out. It’s about making Director Oh realize the Chairman’s heart. We just need to make the Chairman look at Director Oh with different eyes. Then she’ll feel that gaze and move first on her own. People are like animals—they have survival instincts.”
While they talked, the car arrived at the department store, the meeting place.
Jinhyuk got out and told the following attendants to keep their distance.
Since it was a place with many ordinary people, he didn’t want to cause any trouble for the store.
Junwoo Kim was still trying to understand Jinhyuk’s words.
But to Jinhyuk, it seemed like a topic already passed.
“Who’s the girl I’m meeting today?”
“She’s the second daughter of Silla Ilbo.”
“Silla Ilbo?”
Jinhyuk tilted his head and headed to the department store’s VIP room, the meeting place.
“But sir, the VIP room at the department store…”
Junwoo Kim wore a troubled expression, debating whether to stop Jinhyuk.
Jinhyuk rode the escalator up, smiling at Junwoo.
“What’s wrong?”
“I went ahead to check the VIP room since you chose it as the meeting spot… but it wasn’t a suitable place for a meeting. The atmosphere was such that I wondered if you might have preferred a quiet art gallery like last time.”
“What’s so wrong with it?”
“Well… it’s completely full of middle-aged women, so if you go in, you’ll easily draw attention.”
“Really?”
Jinhyuk chuckled as if amused and headed to the 11th floor where the VIP room was located.
Seeing that Jinhyuk didn’t stop walking even after hearing him, Junwoo followed helplessly.
As two young men entered the VIP room, all eyes turned to Jinhyuk, just as Junwoo had said.
But it was only for a moment.
Whatever had happened inside, their gazes returned to where they had been.
Jinhyuk sat down on an empty sofa and looked toward where people’s attention was focused.
A woman was standing there, pointing and shouting at a man on his knees.
“Didn’t I tell you not to step on the brake until we arrived at the department store?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you ignoring me? Do I look funny? Do you want to quit your job now?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’ll make sure you can’t drive anywhere after I leave here! Got it?”
“My daughter hasn’t finished school yet. Please, just this once.”
“This is already the third time. If you make a living driving, you should be good at it. You expect to get paid for driving like this? Have you sold your conscience for your child?”
“I’m sorry.”
The woman, still not appeased, continued swearing at the kneeling man for a long time.
Jinhyuk sat on the sofa, quietly watching the scene.
“I thought it was something big—just because she told him not to step on the brake and he stopped at a red light, she’s acting like this? There are plenty of crazy people in the world, but there’s all kinds of crazies.”
Jinhyuk let out a hollow laugh as he watched the woman and her driver.
He was about to tell Junwoo, standing behind him, to check when the Silla Ilbo daughter would arrive.
“Manager Kim, what’s wrong?”
Junwoo was also frowning at the same scene as Jinhyuk.
“Are you empathizing? Are you angry because a woman young enough to be your daughter is picking a fight with the driver over nonsense?”
At Jinhyuk’s words, Junwoo quickly snapped out of it and shook his head.
“I’m sorry. It’s not that.”
“Then what?”
Just as Jinhyuk was about to ask why, the woman who had been fuming finally felt the stares and looked around.
She spotted Jinhyuk sitting calmly among all the women and stared at him.
“Oh, you’re here.”
The woman, whose anger had vanished without a trace, hurriedly approached where Jinhyuk was sitting and began to act familiar.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d arrived.”
She casually sat on the sofa next to Jinhyuk and pointed at Junwoo.
“Are you the secretary? Go get some water. No, bring me an iced coffee.”
Junwoo looked at the woman, then turned his gaze to Jinhyuk.
Jinhyuk silently watched the woman casually ordering his secretary around.
There are plenty of crazy people in the world, but this woman seemed to surpass the bounds of craziness.
“Why aren’t you listening? Are you deaf? Is this how you work as a secretary?”
Junwoo’s face flushed red and pale at her words.
Knowing who she was, he just endured without reacting immediately.
“And you—who are you?”
Jinhyuk stared intently at the woman pointing at Junwoo.
The woman, not expecting this attitude, widened her eyes and spoke.
“Don’t you know me?”
“Do I know you?”
“Why are you speaking informally?”
“I thought you liked informal speech since you used it on a stranger. Hey, do they know each other? Is that why you acted like that in front of me?”
The woman seemed to grow angrier at Jinhyuk’s attitude.
But Jinhyuk showed no sign of backing down.
“Seeing you sitting across from me, are you the second daughter of Silla Ilbo?”
“Hey.”
“Why do you treat other people’s employees so rudely? Just because you treat your driver badly doesn’t mean you can treat someone else’s employee the same way, got it? And do that kind of thing where no one’s around. What’s in your head? Do you have to do it in a crowded place like this? Think about why bathroom stalls are divided. It’s so other people don’t see you taking a shit. If you’re going to take a dump, keep it to yourself. Why are you scooping up your shit and shoving it in other people’s faces?”
The woman, who had apparently never been insulted like this, stood with her mouth open, flustered.
But she soon snapped out of it and shouted at Jinhyuk.
“Don’t you know who I am?”
“What? Are you so eager to show off your pretty shit to others? Do you know who I am? I’m asking if you know whose face you’re shoving that shit into.”
At Jinhyuk’s words, the woman was speechless.
Because just as he knew who she was, she also knew who the man sitting in front of her was.
Omg haha his face slapping in on par with the chinese novels 😂