Chapter 218. They Meet (3)

“Director Jung. I’ve been waiting for quite a while, you know?”
“What? Ah, yes. branch-president.”

Director Jung HyunTae didn’t know what Richard’s intentions were.
Originally, they agreed that Richard was not going to do much here, but he stepped up now… This wasn’t within his plans.
No matter how incompetent he was though, he did have some discerning eyes.
Richard smiled and urged Director Jung HyunTae.

“Hahaha. It looks like you were caught up in talking about past events. Won’t you introduce him to me?”

The flow of the conversation was interrupted thanks to Richard’s interruption.
KangYoon and Lee HyunJi whispered to each other.

‘Looks like he isn’t ordinary.’
‘I think so too.’

Just as the two whispered to each other, Director Jung HyunTae cleared his throat and introduced Richard to the two.

“This person is Richard Tracson, and he’s the greatest investor to our company. Branch president, this is…”

Along with Director Jung HyunTae’s introduction, KangYoon and Lee HyunJi shook hands with Richard.

“Hello, I’m Lee KangYoon.”
“Hello there. You can call me Richard. I heard a lot about you. Although the relationship between MG and World is complicated, I’ve always wanted to meet you.”

Richard smiled.
His expression, though, contained a hint of coldness.
Regardless, KangYoon smiled as he replied.

“Your Korean is really good. Although MG and World have different goals, I hope we can continue to be in a good relationship.”
“I tried my best to learn. I hope we get along. I’ll invite you out sometime.”

Although they both had smiles on their faces, sparks could be seen between the two.
Turning around, KangYoon and Lee HyunJi discussed the impression they got from Richard.

“This man named Richard, I can feel something’s cold about him. I personally find him scary.”

KangYoon agreed to Lee HyunJi’s words.

“I think so too. I got the impression that there’s something hidden behind that smile of his.”
“Maybe I’m biased since he’s an investor in MG but… I don’t think he’s an easy person to deal with. Director Jung HyunTae was easy to deal with since I could basically read what he’s up to but that Richard guy doesn’t show what he’s thinking at all… I think we need to be careful of him. We don’t know what he’s up to by investing in MG either.”

KangYoon nodded in agreement.
The party continued after that.
Lee HyunJi and KangYoon greeted various people.
Many people that were invited to the party wished to meet KangYoon and KangYoon did not reject anyone. Thanks to that, he was able to get to know a lot of people and he gained a lot of information as well.
Not long later, KangYoon was able to find President Kang ShiMyoung in one corner.
He, unlike everyone else, brought Jin HyeYoung of Wincle, a new group, rather than someone from their most famous group, Cranbugs.

“Oh, President Lee. It’s been a long time.”

President Kang ShiMyoung extended his right hand out as he greeted KangYoon.
No matter how much of an eyesore KangYoon was, he couldn’t show that here.
Next to him, Jin HyeYoung, who was eating some vegetables, also took a deep bow.
KangYoon replied with a smile and talked about China, a hot topic for everyone here.

“I heard that you were going to China.”
“Haha, you’re quick to the news. We are moving around quite busily. Oh, does World have any plans to go to China as well?”

President Kang ShiMyoung’s eyes gleamed.
President Choo ManJi alone was a strong competitor. If KangYoon decided to step in as well…
Fortunately, KangYoon shook his head.

“It would be a lie to say that I don’t have any plans, but it won’t be happening for the foreseeable future. Hm.”
“You don’t have any plans right now? Right now seems like the biggest opportunity.”

Of course, he was just probing him out.
KangYoon replied with a smile.

“Even if it’s the biggest opportunity, it will be the worst opportunity if I decide to jump in without any preparations.”
“Hahaha. I learned something new today.”

KangYoon had no foreseeable plan to go to China.
President Kang ShiMyoung toasted KangYoon with joy.

‘Now I just have to push YoonSeul out of the picture.’

He had heard that MG had no plans to go to China either.
As long as DiaTeen was out of the picture, he would be able to monopolize the huge Chinese market.
Just as he was fantasizing, KangYoon’s gaze turned around to where JooAh and Jung MinAh were.
But it didn’t seem that normal there.

“Heheheheh. Unni~.”
“Wh, what’s wrong with you? Hey.”

KangYoon could see that a lady wearing a black dress was trying to hug the lady with the white dress.

‘Those girls?’

Jung MinAh, with a rather flushed face, was trying to hug JooAh, while JooAh was trying her best to break away from her.
It was clear that some alcohol had a role in this.
He apologized to President Kang ShiMyoung and headed towards the two.

“JooAh, MinAh. What are you two doing?”
“Oppa, you’re here! This girl’s completely out of her mind.”
“Whoaaa? Ajji, it’s the ajji I like.” (T/N: Ajji – she’s basically slurring ‘ahjussi’.)

Jung MinAh, who was in JooAh’s arms, ran into KangYoon’s arms immediately after she saw him.
He wasn’t able to hide his shock in this situation.

“MinAh? What’s wrong with you? Are you drunk?”
“Druuuunk? Nooo, I’m completely fiiiiine. Hehehe.”

MinAh was creating an embarrassing scene in front of many eyes.
Although not many people had seen them yet, KangYoon was worried.
KangYoon called out to Lee HyunJi who wasn’t far away.
She was surprised to see what was happening and hurried towards them.

“I think I’ll have to take MinAh home first. Please take care of the aftermath so that no one talks about this in the future.”

Lee HyunJi nodded at KangYoon’s request.

“Okay. But there aren’t any drinks here with high alcohol content, but she’s turned into a koala now. No, maybe a panda suits her better? Pfft.”

Lee HyunJi giggled as Jung MinAh had locked her hands around KangYoon as to never let him go.
While JooAh and Lee HyunJi were giggling, KangYoon was not in a good mood.

“MinAh, MinAh? Let go of me first and..”
“Hehehehehehe. Dis ish good. It’sh the ajji I like.”

Seeing KangYoon sweating profusely, JooAh was laughing out loud.

“Hahahaha. Oh man. My stomach hurts.”

KangYoon sighed a little before lifting Jung MinAh. It was the so-called princess carry.

“Oooh, you’re quite strong, oppa.”

JooAh joked with KangYoon.

“KangYoon-oppa.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t do something indecent.”
“…Hey.”

KangYoon frowned and hurried to the parking lot.
Some people looked at him and Lee HyunJi immediately went up to them and started talking.

***

FinesTok, located in a building in Geumcheon digital district, was getting bigger and bigger.
As the number of users increased, the company’s scale was getting larger and larger as well.
In this situation, FinesTok was putting its effort into launching its music service.

“So we’re being stopped at the final moment.”

President Ha SeYeon clutched her head while reading the report in her office.
The deterioration of relationships between them and the companies listed in the report made her expression dark.
Senior chief Jeon HyungTaek, who was responsible for business related to the music service, continued his report with a grim voice.

“The existing music distributors, that is, the telecommunication companies, are objecting to our launch. All of those companies are saying that they will not provide their services if someone works with FinesTok’s music service.”
“Isn’t that considered collusion? If we went into a lawsuit… oh.”

She was almost reckless, but she soon calmed down.
A lawsuit was a long process. Although FinesTok was getting bigger, they were still lacking compared to bigger companies.

“If we raise the ratio of our shares to 40%, then we’d be no more competitive than others… the distribution is holding us back at the last moment. Alright. Looks like I should talk with World first. Okay, Senior chief Jeon, you can do what you were doing.”
“Understood. I’ll first tell the developer team to keep programming per the original design.”
“Yes.”

After Senior chief Jeon HyungTaek left, President Ha SeYeon fell back on her chair.

“Just what’s so good about this music business?… Sheesh, it isn’t easy to break the norms.”

Her sighs filled the office.

***

Even during his manager days, where everything was a war with time, KangYoon rarely drove past the speed limit.
He never made a situation where he needed to drive fast, and if such things happened, he tried to look for faster routes. KangYoon put a lot of effort into providing a safe and fast service for the celebrity he was in charge of.
Thanks to that, his driving habits were very gentle.
However, today was an exception.
Vrooooom!

“Hehehehehe! Go, go!~~ I love you~ I love you– my president~ I love youuu~~”
“Ugh.”

KangYoon was barely calm while listening to the screeches coming from Jung MinAh.
His GPS navigation repeatedly told him to slow down, but KangYoon ignored all of them.

“My ahjussi, ah, you’re so pretty…”
“MinAh, I’m driving!”
“Ah~n Let’s go somewhere good. Who cares~.”

Speaking some scary words, Jung MinAh, who was on the back seat, tried to hug KangYoon.
Even though her eyes were practically out of focus, she didn’t seem like she would go to sleep anytime soon with all her energy.
Thanks to that, KangYoon had to stop midway several times and take her off him.

“Heheheheh.”
“*Sigh…*.”

Jung MinAh clung to him like a child.
The faint smell of alcohol as well as the faint smell of shampoo tickled his nose, but that all didn’t matter to him.
Thankfully, there was an end to his agony.
After wrestling with her for over two hours, KangYoon was able to take her to her residence.

“MinAh, let’s get off.”
“Hehehehehe.”

Jung MinAh jumped right into his arms.

“Fine, sheesh.”

KangYoon carried Jung MinAh into the residence.

‘There!’

Having made it to Jung MinAh’s room, KangYoon practically threw her on the bed like he was throwing luggage.
His throw contained his frustration towards her.
She fell asleep as soon as she was in bed, as though nothing had happened.
KangYoon powerlessly walked out of her room and sat on the sofa.

“Fuu, there just had to be no one at the residence at a time like this…

KangYoon sighed as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead.
Murphy’s law said that there was no one at the residence today…

“Krrrhhhhh.”

KangYoon laughed hearing the rough(?) breath noise coming from the room.

“Alcohol turned that girl strange. Just what did she drink? Phew.”

It wasn’t that Jung MinAh was bad with alcohol.
Moreover, she was aware that today’s event was an important one, so she should have been careful.
Just why did she cause such a disturbance?
While he thought about many things the empty residence entered his eyes.

“It feels rather cold here, maybe because there’s no one here?”

Eddios’s residence was always bustling.
Now that everyone was given leave after the traffic accident, it was rather empty right now.
Thanks to that, Jung MinAh was all alone.
KangYoon went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

“…There’s some food at least. I guess it’s enough for one meal.”

KangYoon then had a look at Jung MinAh’s room again.

‘She’s had it hard… being all alone in a place like this.’

Of course, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t in the wrong for today’s incident. This and that was separate.
After thinking for a while, KangYoon took out his phone.

“…Looks like I should have HeeYoon help out.”

***

The next day.
Jung MinAh twitched due to the sunlight shining through her window and opened her eyes.

“Ugh…”

Her head started aching.

“I remember drinking with JooAh-unni yesterday… did the party go well? Huh?”

She was remembering what happened yesterday until she heard the sound of chopping outside her room.
Today wasn’t the day where the caretaker would visit, so Jung MinAh opened her door while rubbing her eyes.
The person she saw in the kitchen was someone completely unexpected.

“HeeYoon-unni?”
“You woke up?”

Jung MinAh’s eyes widened, but HeeYoon, wearing an apron, continued chopping vegetables as though nothing happened.

“Unni, what brings you here so early in the morning?”
“Well, let’s talk about that later, shall we? Why don’t you go wash up? I’ll have breakfast ready.”

HeeYoon made doenjang-jjigae and some side dishes.
As Jung MinAh rarely had home-made meals, she was touched.

“Unni… you’re the best. I’m touched.”

Jung MinAh ate greedily.
The jangjorim and the doenjang-jjigae were fantastic.
She was happy.

“Unni, seconds.”

Jung MinAh kept on eating without a word.
A while later.
Feeling full, she made a smile of satisfaction.

“Fuah. Thanks for the meal! Thank you, unni.”
“You’re welcome. Here, give me the dishes.”
“What? No. I’ll wash the dishes…”

Jung MinAh said she would do the dishes, but HeeYoon pointed at the table.

“You see that laptop over there? There’s a video on it.”
“A video? About what?”
“Watch it and visit my brother.”

Jung MinAh, who was rather worried because parts of her memories from last night were missing, nodded her head and went to see the video.
There was indeed a laptop in the living room.

“Is this it?”

She played the file that was titled ‘Jung MinAh video’, which was the only file on the desktop.
When she did, the video about how she clung on to KangYoon while he was still driving, started being played.

‘Wh, wh, wh… what is THIS!?’

Jung MinAh’s eyes turned into that of shock.
Her own self was clinging onto KangYoon while uttering nonsensical gibberish.
All filmed.

‘Did, did I make a mistake yesterday?’

The sky suddenly turned yellow.
She was supposed to be representing the company at the part!
Jung MinAh quickly got ready to get out and headed to World Entertainment.
When she arrived at the office, Lee HyunJi told him that KangYoon was on the rooftop and she hastily walked up to the rooftop.

“Ah, ahjussi!”

Slamming open the door, she called out to KangYoon who was looking down from the rooftop.
KangYoon waved at her and she hastily walked towards him.
As soon as she walked up to him, she immediately bowed.

“I’m so sorry! You had to go through much because of me…”

It was clear that an important event was ruined thanks to her.
Alcohol! The alcohol was the problem.
Then, KangYoon sighed before speaking.

“…Yeah, you should be.”
“…..”
“Just how much did you drink yesterday?”
“It was just four glasses of cocktail… I, I’m sure of it.”
“What cocktail?”

Jung MinAh then spoke with a whisper-like voice.

“Uhm… Blue… something? It was some kinda jewel… it was so tasty so I… heheh.”

Jung MinAh stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.

“Blue Sapphire? The drinks that appeared yesterday were all expensive. I think they all had high alcohol content…”
“Is that so? Maybe that’s why I started feeling good… and my memories stop there.”
“……”

KangYoon sighed.
Thankfully, Lee HyunJi managed to take care of the aftermath so that no one talked about it. If Jung MinAh accidentally did something?
KangYoon glared at Jung MinAh.

“MinAh. Although nothing bad happened this time. Yesterday… is a mistake, right?”
“…Yes. I’m reflecting.”

Jung MinAh became dejected, but KangYoon shook his head as he continued.

“Although nothing much happened, I don’t want to see this happening again. We were representing our company there. I hope you understand the significance of it.”
“…Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Okay. That’s enough.”

KangYoon no longer told her off.
He had faith that Jung MinAh would not do such a thing again.
He smiled and switched topics.

“Was breakfast good?”
“What? Yes. HeeYoon-unni’s cooking was the best.”
“Come around next time for a meal. It must be boring for you to be all alone at the residence.”
“…Yes.”

Jung MinAh looked down. She felt sorry and embarrassed by KangYoon’s consideration.
Was he even aware that his actions were stirring even more feelings in her heart?
She smiled while feeling the hand rubbing her head.