Chapter 39

#39 <New Future (4)>

***

[What’s your dream, young… athlete?]

[A farmer.]

[Ah… Ahaha.]

The reporter on TV laughed awkwardly. His face looked even more embarrassed than when he hesitated to call the young athlete. He was a reporter from Daegu MBS, a public broadcaster, and he was about the same height as the athlete.

“Heh, looks like they couldn’t stop him over there.”

Must be because it’s a local broadcast. Hong Ki-jun muttered while stubbornly stroking his chin. His eyes gleamed with a strange intensity.

[But your talent is too precious. Don’t you want to contribute to the nation and the development of sports?]

[I really love athletics, but if someone has to be compared and abused because of me, I don’t want that. I could also be treated like that someday, and it could become a bad tradition passed down to the next generation. That’s not contributing to the nation; it’s just using the name of talent development to physically punish young athletes.]

Beep-. Hong Ki-jun pressed the pause button.

He let out a long sigh and tapped the remote with his index finger.

Min Yong-rak was fidgeting. He had only done what he was told, which was to get the broadcast video. The usually smiling department head’s face was unusually dark.

After pondering for a moment, Hong Ki-jun picked up the phone. He seemed to have forgotten that Min Yong-rak was right beside him.

“Yes, it’s me, hyung.”

Who could it be? Min Yong-rak quietly furrowed his brow and turned his head.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, hyung, it’s been a big help.”

As far as Min Yong-rak knew, there were only two people Hong Ki-jun would call “hyung.”

“Just one more favor, please. Yes. Tell the guy who properly investigates the physical punishment situation in sports academies that we’ll give him activity funds and pour ads his way. Send some honey to Daegu MBS too. If you do that, other areas will move on their own. Yes, I trust you, hyung. Did you go to Japan as I told you? Well done. After that…”

The person in charge of advertising budget execution and media relations, who Hong Ki-jun calls “hyung.”

Min Yong-rak nodded inwardly, thinking he knew who it was.

‘Chairman Yoo Mun-sik.’

The eldest son of the chairman, CEO of Sain Chemical and also the group’s PR director.

Hong Ki-jun’s voice paused for a moment in the air.

Hong Ki-jun glanced at Min Yong-rak and the door, his eyebrows twitching.

Min Yong-rak, who had bowed deeply, quietly took out the video tape and left the department head’s office.

‘Whew-. I can’t breathe.’

Department head Hong Ki-jun is always smiling and gentle, so all the employees like him, but strangely, he has a sharp side. It feels like his eyes can see right through your thoughts.

If I told the employees that this gentleman, Department head Hong Ki-jun, is the real power behind the chairman’s eldest son, what kind of reaction would they have?

‘No one would believe it.’

Thinking of the trust placed in me, I shouldn’t tell anyone. The fact that he let me hear such a conversation even though I was right there must mean he’s testing me. Min Yong-rak tightly pursed his lips and walked back to his desk.

The department head’s ears are donkey ears.

***

“Wow, that’s amazing! At the national competition?”

It was the same story for two days.

After work, Hong Ki-jun had to listen to Son Kwang-yeon’s bragging.

Back in college, his friend had been quiet, but now he kept calling to boast. While thinking that a guy without a son must be living a sad life, he also felt happy seeing his friend, whom he hadn’t seen in over 10 years, so joyful.

Since he was the one who introduced him to his wife, Hong Ki-jun was also his benefactor. He just smiled and congratulated him, ending the call with words of envy.

“Kwang-yeon oppa? What’s this about a national competition?”

“Jin-hyeok won three gold medals at the national competition.”

Yoo Se-ra, who was hanging Hong Ki-jun’s jacket on the hanger, widened her eyes.

“Wow. He was running around with the dog every day during vacation. Is he going to do athletics?”

She had heard he was good at studying. In a rural area with few students, she thought that wasn’t a big deal. But winning a national-level athletics competition was surprising news.

“It seems he doesn’t want to join the sports team.”

Son Kwang-yeon told Hong Ki-jun all the details, from how other school athletes trained to his disappointment with the coaches. Hong Ki-jun relayed everything to Yoo Se-ra without missing a beat. He didn’t mention that he had asked his older brother to investigate something. His wife looked down on his brothers.

“Remember when you watched the Olympics and lamented why our country doesn’t have athletes like that?”

“Huh? Yeah, I did.”

At Hong Ki-jun’s sudden words, Yoo Se-ra just blinked.

Seeing his wife’s expression, which was exactly like their daughter’s, Hong Ki-jun smiled like a dad.

“Do you want to give it a try? Fostering basic sports.”

“Me? I don’t know anything about sports.”

“I’ll help you. Just trust your husband.”

Basic sports fostering to someone who runs department stores and hotels.

Yoo Se-ra thought it was a sudden proposal, even though her husband had become more proactive.

Knowing her thoughts, Hong Ki-jun’s eyes sparkled as he spoke.

“Instead of doing something like a gallery like other group’s daughters, why not create a foundation? You said you didn’t like galleries.”

“Yeah, I did.”

Once, her father, Chairman Yoo Myung-sun, had suggested it, but Yoo Se-ra had immediately refused. Places lit by bright lights. Places that reminded her of the halls of the gods, decorated with the contrasts of the world. She didn’t want to know what words were exchanged or what foul smells lingered in the spaces set aside there.

“How about fostering and sponsoring talented future sports stars, instead of things you hate?”

At Hong Ki-jun’s added words, Yoo Se-ra’s eyes lit up.

They were a couple who understood each other in many ways.

“Creating something like a foundation?”

“Considering the sustainability of the business, a foundation would be necessary, right? The foundation is a framework issue, and the business I envision needs star players.”

“Star players? What’s that?”

Even though it was a combination of simple words and intuitively understandable, it sounded unfamiliar to Yoo Se-ra, who was a sports outsider.

Explaining in detail here could make things awkward. How many couples break up while explaining a stolen base to a girlfriend who asks, ‘Why is that player running?’ during a baseball game.

“It’s like luxury goods. Picking good players and supporting them. Giving them managers like celebrities, handling sponsor deals, and legal representation.”

An agency.

But somehow, Yoo Se-ra seemed to react to the word “luxury.”

“So, managing star players as real stars? You think Jin-hyeok is that kind of talent, oppa?”

Even though she usually called him “honey,” Yoo Se-ra sometimes called him “oppa.” It meant she was excited, and at times like this, there was no need to persuade her further. Just paint the image of a honey jar dripping with honey in front of her.

Though a bit eccentric, Yoo Se-ra was also a chaebol heir and a top executive. If there was something to gain, she would make bold decisions.

Hong Ki-jun knew Yoo Se-ra’s desires.

“Combining management and fostering will have a huge promotional effect and bring honor.”

“Honor…”

Yoo Se-ra muttered with unfocused eyes.

“Yoo Se-ra, who sponsors basic sports and fosters talent for the future of national sports. It won’t just end with fame, right? You’ll gain the honor of being the mother of Korean basic sports…”

Hong Ki-jun added more, but Yoo Se-ra had already entered her own world, completely disconnected from reality.

‘Honor…’

Once, she had wanted to be an actress, but her father opposed it, so she went abroad to study. The dream of becoming famous. There was a time when she dreamed of being Yoo Se-ra, a celebrity, not just the only daughter of the Sain Group chairman. She wanted to be famous, so she was managing department stores and hotels, but only the group’s name appeared in the newspapers.

Why her husband was suddenly so enthusiastic and why he was persuading her to do such things wasn’t important.

“If not Jin-hyeok, another athlete would be fine. Popular or unpopular sports. There’s plenty of time and many athletes, so we’ll see. I’ll push for it.”

“Pfft-, where does a department head get off pushing the CEO?”

She answered like that, but Yoo Se-ra was still trapped in another world.

‘A sports agency…’

It wasn’t just that Yoo Se-ra was looking at a big market and future with a pounding heart.

‘A sports agency.’

It just looked cool. The name itself had a global style.

A foundation that sponsors and manages athletes. Fostering young talents and separately contracting with promising ones. The money would come from the group, so naming it after Sain, it would be the SI Agency, SI Foundation. Later, it could be changed to SR.

‘Then am I the chairperson?’

The mother of Korean sports, Chairperson Yoo Se-ra of the SI Foundation.

In her imagination, Yoo Se-ra had already made the signboard and nameplate.

Hong Ki-jun squinted his eyes as he watched his wife walking on clouds.

In a situation where specific questions should have been asked, her imagination had taken off, making it hard to have a long conversation. After watching his wife’s face for a while, he shook his head.

‘Sigh. That hero complex again.’

In times like this, it’s best to change the subject.

“Where’s Soo-jung?”

“Chomp-. Huh? Who?”

Yoo Se-ra, who had just wiped her mouth, fumbled.

Then she blinked hard and returned to reality.

“Soo-jung is skipping rope in the garden.”

“Skipping rope?”

“Yeah. She said if she wants to follow Jin-hyeok around during vacation, her legs need to be strong. Ugh-. Who does she take after, chasing after boys already?”

Hong Ki-jun held back from saying she took after her mom this time too.

Well, he hadn’t seen Yoo Se-ra chasing after boys, so it was a fair point.

Starting the next day, Yoo Se-ra began running around and making calls.

She sought advice from her friends from her study abroad days in Italy, the UK, and Germany, and even requested papers. Since she didn’t know anyone in the US, Hong Ki-jun decided to look into it.

***

When vacation comes, the Great Magician arrives.

“Hello!”

“Our Soo-jung is here. What have you been eating to grow so much?”

Han Yu-young warmly hugged Hong Soo-jung and asked how she was.

But the conversation didn’t last long.

Hong Soo-jung was a child with a clear sense of purpose.

“Then I’ll be going now-.”

The little girl from Seoul bowed so low her hair touched the ground, then clung to Jin-hyeok’s side. Jin-hyeok’s vacation began with the role of babysitting the two kids.

“Oppa, do you know what a ghost is?”

“A ghost.”

“Then what’s a hemisphere?”

“A hemisphere?”

“You’re an elementary school student, how do you know?”

“……”

What is she talking about? She’s an elementary school student too.

From early education to gifted education, Hong Soo-jung received all the expensive private education available. But to Son Jin-hyeok, who had been a genius since childhood, Hong Soo-jung was just a little kid. Jin-hyeok found it cute that the little kid dared to stand on equal footing with him, so he patted her head. Every time he did, Hong Soo-jung closed her eyes like a puppy and leaned her head into Jin-hyeok’s hand.

“How come she hates anyone else touching her head but doesn’t mind Jin-hyeok?”

“Hoho. Really, unnie?”

“Yes, it’s true. She freaks out when her dad tries to touch her head or kiss her.”

Yoo Se-ra narrowed her eyes and glared at her daughter. It was a contrast to how she acted at home with her dad, and it reminded her of the incident last winter vacation when she had smeared lip balm.

Then.

“Soo-jung, what would you do if Jin-hyeok oppa asked to kiss you?”

What is this?

At those words, Jin-hyeok, who had been patting Soo-jung’s head, quickly withdrew his hand. What on earth is this lady saying?

‘Did I treat Soo-jung too much like a baby?’

Unlike the flustered Jin-hyeok, Hong Soo-jung was staring straight at Jin-hyeok’s face. Her reddish-brown eyes, like a cat’s, seemed to peer into his soul, making Jin-hyeok feel oddly restless.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to ask to kiss me?”

“……No?”

Hong Soo-jung was about to say something when Yoo Jin kissed Jin-hyeok’s cheek. It was a bold move, like a charging soldier. It was a common scene in this house, where the younger sister loved her older brother more than her mom or dad.

“Hehe-, I kissed you, right?”

Yoo Jin giggled and clapped her hands.

Was it a mistake?

Hong Soo-jung’s eyes showed a hint of disappointment before she slowly turned back to her book.