Chapter 138: Between Insects and Animals

Nevertheless, the woman didn’t seem willing to back down.

Without lowering her raised voice, she spoke toward Jinhyuk Park.

“Do you know who I am and still act like this? Hah! If I tell them to write just one article, this whole department store will shut down. You know that? I can ruin everything here.”

The woman didn’t seem to care about the stares of others.

Though many people had gathered in the VIP room, she raised her hand and swept it through the air as if showing off, then looked around at the other women present.

“It’s going to be ruined, you say?”

“Yes, I’ll contact them right away.”

Jinhyuk sat calmly and spoke to Junwoo Kim, who quickly made a call somewhere. Seeing this, the woman wore a triumphant expression and said loud enough for those around to hear.

“You know? I’m that kind of person. Hey. Bring me some ice cream. Is there no ice cream?”

She seemed to be shouting at no one in particular.

But as if this wasn’t the first time, a uniformed employee quickly appeared from somewhere carrying a glass cup of ice cream.

“Here it is.”

“I’m so angry I can’t stand it. What kind of day is today? Why do such unlucky things keep happening?”

Just as the woman was about to take the ice cream from the employee, Jinhyuk snatched the glass cup mid-way.

Then he handed the cup back to the employee and said.

“Don’t do things like this. Only do what the regulations allow. Understood? A customer who demands things not in the regulations is not a customer.”

• The female employee stood blankly, having received the glass cup back from Jinhyuk Park.

She knew who the woman being rude was, so even though she knew the woman was making unreasonable requests, she complied.

But she didn’t know who the man was.

From what he had shouted at the woman a moment ago, she thought he must be someone with some influence.

However, the woman in front was the daughter of Silla Ilbo.

It was one of the major domestic daily newspapers, which also owned a cable broadcasting station.

There was some exaggeration in her words, but it was true that if an article was written badly, the department store could face trouble for a while.

“Ma’am, it’s fine.”

“Even if you say it’s fine, the person next to you is uncomfortable. Understood? Don’t do it.”

“But…”

She tried to say it was someone she had to oblige, but Jinhyuk’s firm tone left her no room to argue.

Still, as the employee hesitated between Jinhyuk and the woman and tried to hand the glass cup back to her, the manager rushed out holding a walkie-talkie.

“I’ve been contacted. Are you here?”

The manager bowed nearly to the ground toward Jinhyuk and spoke in that position.

“The president said he’ll be here shortly. He was already on his way to visit, and he apologizes for being late.”

“That’s fine, but… no matter what customer comes and makes such absurd requests, don’t comply. Just provide the services listed in the terms. Understood?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I’ll be careful from now on.”

The manager quickly snatched the glass cup of ice cream and pressed down on the employee’s back.

It was a signal to apologize to Jinhyuk.

The employee gave the manager a confused look, but at the expression ordering her to bow quickly, she bowed without understanding.

“What? Why aren’t you apologizing to me? Do you know how much money I spend here in a year? You have the VIP of VIPs right in front of you, and what are you doing? Have you all gone crazy?”

Jinhyuk’s expression was twisting, as if he was getting annoyed.

He disliked her high-pitched voice, so he scratched his ear with his finger.

Just as he was about to speak to her again, someone else sat down next to the Silla Ilbo daughter first and tapped her knee.

“Hey. Are you still like this? I always thought you’d cause trouble someday, and today you’ve really done it.”

The Silla Ilbo daughter was startled by the sudden tapping, shifted her body to the side, and looked at who had tapped her.

There sat Han Ji-yeon, who had arrived unnoticed, pulling the Silla Ilbo daughter, who had moved back.

“You really have a lot of energy. No matter where you go, your voice is the loudest. I could hear your voice even from outside. Probably everyone here now knows who you are without an introduction?”

At Han Ji-yeon’s words, most of the women gathered in the VIP room laughed.

As Han Ji-yeon said, the Silla Ilbo daughter had become famous enough that people could recognize her just by her voice.

“And do you have any sense? Don’t you know who the representative here is? You know how much you spend at this department store in a year, but do you know how much the DS Group spends on advertising with your company? The advertising cost for just one day is probably more than what you spend in a year. Isn’t that right?”

Hearing Han Ji-yeon’s words, the Silla Ilbo daughter seemed to realize something.

At that moment, someone burst into the VIP room.

“Gasp, gasp. I’m sorry. There were a lot of people in the elevator, so I came up the escalator and was delayed.”

The man, sweating as if dripping broth, entered the VIP room and immediately bowed almost double toward where Jinhyuk was.

Seeing this, the VIP room manager, employees, and even the floor managers from each floor who followed behind all rushed in and began bowing to Jinhyuk.

The people who had been watching the scene in the VIP room with amusement now looked at Jinhyuk with surprised expressions, having never seen such a sight before.

They seemed curious about who he was to create such a spectacle.

“President. It’s been a while.”

“What do you mean, a while? I saw the representative just a few days ago. Though there were so many people gathered that the representative probably didn’t see me.”

“Ah, right. There was a meeting a few days ago. I hope I’m not coming at a bad time when you’re busy at the end of the year.”

“I’m just grateful you visited. If you had told me in advance, I would have prepared better. I’m sorry to show you such an embarrassing sight.”

“Not at all. Normally I would have just come and gone, but today I happened to see something uncomfortable.”

“Why? Did we do something wrong?”

The president of DS Department Store started jumping in surprise as if he had committed a mortal sin.

He was in a situation where his reappointment in the regular executive reshuffle had not been confirmed.

And the thought that he had shown Jinhyuk a bad side made him anxious.

“Do you know who this person is?”

Jinhyuk pointed at the Silla Ilbo daughter, and the president shook his head with a confused expression.

“No matter how important customers are, let’s take care of the employees. If customers make excessive demands and the employees have to comply with all of them, what then? The employees aren’t emotional trash cans. Understood? Oh, and this person says she’ll write an article to shut down the department store. Is there anything wrong on our end?”

“No? There isn’t. We’re actually doing a year-end event to help the less fortunate, with extensive media coverage. How could there be anything wrong?”

“There isn’t, right? She says there isn’t. Then I’ll trust the president’s word.”

Jinhyuk finished speaking and snapped his fingers to call Junwoo Kim.

“Block all our advertising with Silla Ilbo and their cable channel.”

“Should we help too?”

“You mean Cheongwoo?”

“If I tell my father, I think he’ll block it together right away.”

“Is there a reason for you to do that?”

“From my father’s perspective, I think he’d want to help the representative and create a favor.”

“I won’t consider it a favor, so do as you wish.”

“Even if you don’t consider it a favor, having another connection won’t hurt.”

Han Ji-yeon picked up her phone.

Then, as she dialed, she looked at the Silla Ilbo daughter, who still hadn’t grasped the situation, and spoke.

“What now? This person isn’t someone to be trifled with. Of course, neither am I.”

Han Ji-yeon briefly explained the situation to Junhwan Han and suggested blocking the advertising going to Silla Ilbo.

On the other end of the phone, without any further questions, he simply agreed, and Han Ji-yeon hung up.

“Representative. Let’s move somewhere else. There are too many people watching here.”

“Move somewhere else? Why should we move?”

“Stop here. Your point has been made well enough.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you don’t know, don’t follow me. If you do, follow.”

Han Ji-yeon finished speaking and stood up.

She seemed uncomfortable with the crowd swarming around and all the attention.

As Han Ji-yeon stood up, the Silla Ilbo daughter, still not having come to her senses, tried to grab Han Ji-yeon’s sleeve.

But Han Ji-yeon slapped her hand away and said.

“How dare you touch my clothes with your unworthy hands? How does that feel? I was just watching because your behavior already displeased me, but since you’ve turned against DS, I have something to say too. Who do you think you are, acting so high and mighty with your barely Silla Ilbo status? And you’re only the second daughter at that. If you had any sense, you should have been careful when coming to a place like this. This was a chance you’d never get again in your life, and you threw it away like that? Your life is truly pitiful.”

Han Ji-yeon finished speaking and turned to leave.

Jinhyuk Park looked back and forth between Han Ji-yeon and the Silla Ilbo daughter, then smiled and followed Han Ji-yeon out of the VIP room.

The president of DS Department Store tried to follow Jinhyuk out, but Jinhyuk raised his hand to stop him and quietly followed Han Ji-yeon.

“Where are you going?”

“Let’s get some coffee.”

“Coffee sounds good.”

Han Ji-yeon entered a coffee shop on the first floor of the department store.

And as if she was familiar with the place, she nodded to the manager and went to an empty seat in the corner.

“Surprising.”

“What is?”

“I didn’t know you’d like a place like this.”

“What kind of place is this?”

“I thought you’d prefer someplace quiet. This place… is too ordinary.”

It was a franchise coffee shop.

People chatting, people spreading out items bought at the department store to check them, people studying, people taking a break from their busy steps to cool down—all kinds of people were gathered, far from quiet.

Her, who seemed like the type to sip tea in an elegant, classical setting, sitting in such a mundane place felt like seeing a mismatched picture.

“This is our franchise. If we’re going to spend money anyway, isn’t it better to spend it on our company? Even if you bought items at the representative’s department store.”

Jinhyuk smiled faintly at Han Ji-yeon’s words, then got up when his vibration buzzer rang and brought the coffee.

Han Ji-yeon quietly watched him, then spoke as Jinhyuk placed the coffee in front of her.

“On the contrary, this side of you is surprising. I thought you were the type to have everything done by that person outside.”

Hearing Han Ji-yeon’s words, Jinhyuk took a sip of his iced coffee.

Then he set down the cup and said.

“When the vibration buzzer goes off, the person who ordered brings their own coffee. Isn’t that the rule?”

Han Ji-yeon smiled back at Jinhyuk’s words.

For a while, the two just sipped their coffee and looked at each other.

After a few minutes passed, Han Ji-yeon spoke first.

“Stop now.”

“What do you mean?”

“Meeting women.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t care, but my father is very concerned.”

“The chairman? I don’t understand why the chairman would be concerned about me meeting women. Does the chairman have feelings for me?”

Han Ji-yeon let out a small laugh at Jinhyuk’s words.

“That’s right. My father likes you. So he’s not pleased with you looking for another woman to marry.”

“Hmm.”

Jinhyuk quietly waited for Han Ji-yeon’s next words.

Because he hadn’t heard the answer he wanted yet.

“I know you’ve been going on blind dates and meeting women to pressure me. And I know you’re doing it to pressure my father. So my father will soon meet you with the answer you want.”

“What I want?”

“Representative. I’m not as stupid as you think. And I’m not dense enough to not notice you moving like this to tell me the answer. You said you wanted something with the DS name attached, right? My father heard that and is preparing to give you something with the DS name attached.”

“Is that so? That’s good then.”

It was what Jinhyuk wanted.

He thought someone like Junhwan Han would properly understand what he meant, and as expected, it seemed he had accurately grasped what Jinhyuk wanted.

And sending his daughter first was a message to stop pressuring him.

“Fine. Then I’ll stop as well.”

“Good. Then we’re satisfied too.”

Jinhyuk quietly looked at Han Ji-yeon, who seemed to have come as if to negotiate.

Although it sounded like they were talking about someone else, the true subject of the conversation was Han Ji-yeon herself.

Seeing the core of the Cheongwoo and DS deal sitting there and acting as if discussing another matter amused Jinhyuk.

“That aside, once that’s settled… Are you satisfied, Han Ji-yeon?”

“Would I be sitting here in front of you if I wasn’t satisfied?”

“It’s different from before. When we first met, didn’t you look at me with disdain?”

“Disdain? Honestly, your first impression was somewhere between a bug and an animal.”

“Hahaha. You’re honest.”

“Of course. I knew what your intentions were when you approached me. How could I have thought of you as a person?”

Jinhyuk was talking about when they met at the hotel, but Han Ji-yeon was referring to an earlier time.

He became curious about a past of his that he himself didn’t know.