Jin-hyeok talked to Yoo Se-ra more often than he did with Hong Soo-jung. Even that was barely once a week.
“Ah, is Soo-jung exercising again?”
– Don’t even ask. She’s gone completely crazy lately, learning some Deux dance or something… I wonder how much she’s grown since winter? She’s probably as tall as me now. No, maybe taller? She brings so many friends over every day…
Jin-hyeok, who had called to check in, felt like his soul was being sucked out through the phone.
This must be what they mean by eardrum terrorism.
– I’ll switch her over, but can you wait a bit? It’s kind of scary to call her. She’s so aggressive these days, like she’s hit puberty or something…
“No, it’s fine. Really, it’s fine.”
Please save me.
At this point, I’m not even sure if I’m talking to Hong Soo-jung or Yoo Se-ra. Who am I talking to more?
– But when she plays with Soo-hyeok, she’s an absolute angel. Soo-hyeok has been calling her “noona” properly lately, and she’s completely smitten…
“Ah… I see…”
– Let’s talk more in detail when we meet.
“Okay…”
Click.
Whew, I’m completely drained.
The call was just 30 minutes of business.
After all, the chairman of the foundation and the athlete don’t have much reason to communicate directly.
Contracts can be handled through staff, but since they have a personal relationship, they handled it directly.
Any necessary conversations can go through Min Yong-rak, who’s been handling such matters.
“Uncle, your belly beats Gomgom (a teddy bear).”
“At least it’s better than a teddy bear.”
Min Yong-rak, sitting with Son Yoo-jin on his lap in Jin-hyeok’s room, showed off his positive mindset.
It’s beyond positivity—it’s outright optimism.
In the past, Jin-hyeok had admired Min Yong-rak’s personality. Although Jin-hyeok had never outwardly shown his pessimistic nature, his negative view of people had gradually changed after meeting Min Yong-rak.
Not just their personalities, but even their potbellies were similar. Min Yong-rak had argued that he used to be slim when he was young, but the rough world of men had led him to drink, resulting in his beer belly. But now, it’s clear that was just a lie.
“Should I help you lose weight before you get married?”
“Oh no, I don’t like that. I’ll live as I am.”
Min Yong-rak often came to Jin-hyeok for business-related matters rather than fitness topics.
At least in South Korea, no one could interfere with Son Jin-hyeok’s track training, so Yoo Se-ra had instructed him to focus solely on support.
Thus, the tasks Jin-hyeok requested from Min Yong-rak were limited to researching various materials and understanding economic ecosystem trends.
Including the ambitious preparation for managing the research lab’s personnel.
“Manager, how’s the recruitment for the Sakdo Research Lab going?”
“They’re still looking. It’s not easy.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
It’s almost like living in exile, so not many people would want to come. Even though there’s a boat, if bad weather hits, you can’t leave the island. The only advantages of working at Sakdo are near-perfect safety and high pay.
It’s a place suited for reclusive scientists who dislike human interaction.
“It’s a place where you live completely alone.”
“Living alone must be boring~”
Yoo-jin, nibbling on a fish-shaped bun on Min Yong-rak’s lap, chimed in.
“Well~. Being alone can be boring. But some people like being alone.”
“Why is that?”
Yoo-jin tilted her head like a chick that had found a shiny piece of glass.
A child who loves spending time with family and friends. An energetic eight-year-old who plays with uncles and dogs whenever she can. Young Yoo-jin couldn’t yet understand people who enjoy solitude and dislike being disturbed.
Jin-hyeok, wiping the red bean paste from his sister’s mouth with his thumb, turned back to Min Yong-rak.
“Would it be difficult to set up a research lab in Seoul?”
“If you tear down a building and build a new one, it’s not hard. It’s just a matter of money.”
That damn money, money. Moooney~.
“That scale is beyond what I can request. Even the vice chairman is hard for me. You know?”
“Yes.”
Difficult conversations are ultimately Jin-hyeok’s responsibility.
While personal requests are hard, when it comes to business, Jin-hyeok confidently makes demands to Hong Ki-jun.
“But where do these people even come from? People with middle school diplomas show up with strange machines like spiders and approach the Olympics officials. Last month, someone came with an engine that runs on water using a tractor. Ah, you must’ve seen it on the nine o’clock news.”
“I think their talents were just buried because they had no use for them.”
From the world’s perspective, they were errors.
An overly advanced system prioritizes safety and stability, labeling exceptional talents as errors. In a system designed to cultivate and control people to fit its needs, how many talents have withered away because they possessed abilities the system didn’t require?
In the past, Jin-hyeok survived by memorizing and conforming to the system, never thinking he succeeded because he was exceptional. He just had good memory and comprehension skills, along with the minimum empathy required for work.
In the end, he realized early on how to succeed within the system and adapted. With a bit of luck and blatant favoritism on his side. Thanks to that, Jin-hyeok’s adulthood was neither unfortunate nor unlucky. It was just that the emptiness he carried made his life unsatisfying.
“How many people do you need at Sakdo to be satisfied?”
“It’s not about satisfaction. The more, the better, so we’ll keep recruiting.”
Research personnel are never enough.
The goal is to reduce the time needed to develop robots that can replace humans by increasing manpower.
‘Can we cut it down to 10 years?’
Time flies, but humans are slow.
Without looking overseas, people are already dying from absurd accidents all over the country.
“I’ll keep looking for people. If we follow the usual corporate recruitment process, we won’t find those oddballs. After trying a few times, I think I know how.”
“By asking around and going to them?”
“Hehe. Exactly. It’s easier if you think of it as sales. ‘I’ll sell you the future, so give me your talent.’ Surprisingly, they’re naive, so it works well. The S brothers are good at finding people, so I don’t have to search myself. Jin-hyeok, you just focus on getting the money.”
Is there a more reliable partner than this?
Min Yong-rak, who had always been the right-hand man of a lower-ranking team leader, never shied away from dirty work, and he showed that side of himself fully.
“What’s an oddball?”
“It means someone unusual.”
Yoo-jin’s interruptions were now familiar, and Jin-hyeok had reached a point where he could answer appropriately while staying focused on the conversation.
“Don’t worry about the money. I’ll keep pushing for setting up a research lab in Seoul and recruiting personnel.”
The money issue had already been settled with Hong Ki-jun last year.
He had asked for investment for the next 20 to 30 years, and Hong Ki-jun brought in a global investment firm based in New York to pour money into it.
「RB Partners」
After having Min Yong-rak investigate RB, Jin-hyeok almost fainted.
RB, whose meaning or acronym he didn’t know.
This monster-level investment firm not only held shares in world-renowned companies but had also been quietly acquiring stakes in domestic companies for years. Daejeong, Sein, Seokyung… It’s no exaggeration to say that most of the major corporations are caught in RB’s net.
Moreover, using its exceptional intelligence, it had been swallowing up companies with undisclosed technologies. Among them were technologies that would never be known and would eventually fade away.
Of course, the aggressive moves of a global investment firm aren’t surprising.
What shocked Jin-hyeok was that the name of RB’s representative was all too familiar.
「Steve Sohn」
It was the English name Jin-hyeok had used in the past.
He had even inserted an ‘h’ into the family name to honor his mother, Han Yu-young.
Why wasn’t the representative Raymond Hong?
Why did Hong Ki-jun use the name Jin-hyeok had used in the past?
Why did he start a monstrous investment firm and pour money into it without hesitation?
Why-.
At first, Jin-hyeok thought it was Hong Ki-jun’s quick thinking to hide himself.
But if that were the case, there was no need to use Jin-hyeok’s name.
Hong Ki-jun answered plainly.
「A bet reward of 40 million won. And imagine where the dollars I send every month go. Money? Money breeds when you let it roam, and it lives longer than humans. If you think the world might suddenly end one day, you won’t want to hold onto it. Read and erase it.」
Using just 40 million won as seed money to do such a thing was an absurd explanation.
Clearly, it was set up with Sein Group’s capital, and the excuse was just a cover.
Does this man owe me something? Or is he trying to burden me with something? Jin-hyeok, harboring such suspicions, asked for the reason, but Hong Ki-jun didn’t respond.
‘This man ignored my email.’
He probably wants me to figure it out on my own.
Or it’s a silent rebuke, asking why I’m questioning something I already know.
Recalling Hong Ki-jun’s actions so far, Jin-hyeok found only one answer.
But he didn’t voice it or think too seriously about it.
‘You never know with people.’
Not that it’s burdensome or unpleasant.
The ambition to become a powerful figure for his family had already taken root in his heart.
‘Find my grandfather, take down Daejeong-.’
Even while waging a silent war with Daejeong, Hong Ki-jun had left Jin-hyeok’s tasks separate. At the same time, he often advised Jin-hyeok not to get too attached and to live happily, as the world could end at any moment.
‘Why would a world that’s fine for at least 30 years suddenly end?’
Anyway, you have to humor old people’s worries.
That’s why there’s a saying about old people’s paranoia.
Chairman Hong Ki-jun, who always enjoyed playing the role of a helper and stepping back, remained the same after his return.
Jin-hyeok understood Hong Ki-jun’s intentions as wanting to do the dirty work for his friend and his son.
“Should I go to New York if needed? I can investigate RB further. Who knows what tricks they might have.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Alright…”
Min Yong-rak was clearly disappointed, but Jin-hyeok pretended not to notice.
This guy just wants to fly on company money.
“Uncle, do you want to go to New Yooork?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Knowing that RB Partners is a golden goose prepared for Jin-hyeok, there’s no reason to interfere or be wary. Operations can be left to the investment experts on-site, and management is more effective with Hong Ki-jun at the top.
What does Hong Ki-jun aim to gain by creating the fictional figure Steve Sohn? Beyond the superficial goal of conquering the world as a corporation.
「I’ll tell you when the time comes. Why I did it. For now, just trust what you see.」
In a world where all sorts of tricks are possible, it’s hard to believe that Hong Ki-jun, a returnee, would resort to such schemes, but his resourcefulness is intriguing.
‘People like that are really talented.’
Passive principled people like Son Jin-hyeok, who have internalized system compliance, could never keep up with the tricks of the cunning, even if they died and came back to life.
The practitioners would call it flexibility.
“Chairman Yoo should be a bit more flexible-.”
Cheon Gil-ryong pointed to the coastline with a bamboo fishing rod.
Sein Group’s Talent Development Center.
A single-story building surrounded by an area equivalent to three soccer fields was nearing completion.
Due to Son Kwang-yeon’s insistence on not disturbing the serene countryside, only some office buildings were constructed as three stories, while the neatly lined single-story buildings blended perfectly with the low mountains and coastline.
“It’s not a place where just anyone can come and go, is it?”
“Yes. It’s inevitable that outsiders will be restricted.”
“If Chairman Son gave the land for a reason, blocking even the locals would turn that place into a prison rather than a training center. It’s practically an island.”
Yoo Myung-sun wiped away cold sweat.
He had come down for an on-site inspection, keeping it a secret even from his children and Son Kwang-yeon, but Cheon Gil-ryong had caught him red-handed.
“From what I hear, Chairman Yoo will be living inside. Won’t you be lonely?”
Once the training center is completed, Yoo Myung-sun plans to stay there, giving lectures to new employees and spending the rest of his life. With personal medical facilities, a medical team, and a security team, all he needs to do is move in. He had already handed over group management to his son-in-law, but this would formally mark his complete retirement.
“Wouldn’t it be better to live freely, coming and going, rather than growing old like a zoo lion trapped inside?”
“Then I’ll find a way, senior.”
No matter how much of a group chairman he is, how can he outwit a detached old man? The best he could do was show some humility. Power only works on those it can reach. Yoo Myung-sun, having weathered many storms and observed the world, had that much wisdom.
As Yoo Myung-sun stepped back, Cheon Gil-ryong, with a victorious smile, tapped his tobacco pipe on his palm.
“Do you practice any religion, Chairman?”
“No, but why do you ask-.”
“Then come down and join this old man in going to church. Ohoho-. Be my companion. Not that I’m trying to get a ride in a fancy car or anything-. Ahem!”
“Church…?”
The old chairman’s eyes wrinkled in confusion.
He had heard from Son Kwang-yeon that this man was like a sage, so what was this talk about church?
