CTL 9

“Ah, who doesn’t know that the Executive Director is busy.”

“……”

This guy, for some reason, is starting to get long-winded again. Yoongeon looked at him with annoyance, then took out a card from his wallet and gave it to him. There was nothing better than this card to shut that bastard’s mouth.

“Take it and get lost.”

“Awesome…!”

No matter how I think about it, this bastard Im Seon-woong is definitely doing this on purpose. If he keeps talking, I get annoyed and irritated and just say ‘here,’ and hand him the card, so now whenever there’s something he wants to eat, he keeps striking up a conversation. Yoongeon sincerely thought so.

“Whatever you want to eat—”

“Eat all you want. Buy a reasonable amount and give some to the team members too.”

“And,” Yoongeon said, grinding his teeth as he looked at him.

“From now on, if there’s something you want to eat, just ask for the card. Don’t make me talk to you by saying weird things.”

“Aish… that’s not what it is.”

“It really seems like it is.”

“That’s not it. Well, but assuming it is, hmm, just asking for the card without saying anything makes me look like a bit of a materialist, you know.”

To Yoongeon, who was saying that if you want something, you should at least make some small talk, he just shook his head.

“Hurry up and go buy it. And please do some work when you get back. Ah, leave the phone you use to call Park Jinhoon here.”

“Yep!”

Im Seon-woong grinned and dashed out, then shouted, “The Executive Director’s card!” At that, the team members who had just started working got all excited and started jumping up and down and waving their hands from outside. Yoongeon, really, did not want to join in this atmosphere, so he just gave a half-hearted wave and turned his head away. Never mind all that, he just wished everyone would shut up and get to work.

“……”

After a storm had swept through, in the finally quiet office, Yoongeon looked over the article that Park Jinhoon had revised. Perhaps reflecting his feedback to fix the bland headline, a more provocative headline was visible than before. This was good, not too excessive. After checking all of the content, he called Park Jinhoon, who would be waiting with bated breath. As if he had been waiting for his call, the ringing was cut off before it could even sound once.

[Hello.]

“Where are you now?”

[I’m at home. I was told to be on standby at home for the time being.]

It seemed his company had taken measures to put him on standby, probably even without the CEO saying anything specific. Yoongeon looked at the clock.

“Let’s meet for a bit. How long will it take?”

[It will take about an hour.]

He couldn’t tell if the hour he mentioned was the time it would take to come by car or by public transportation.

“Are you planning to come by subway?”

[Probably.]

Otherwise, there was no way to get to his company in the middle of Gangnam within an hour. Yoongeon thought for a moment and then said.

“I’ll send a person, so come in that car. Let’s have a meal together. You can come out in front of your house by 11 o’clock.”

He hung up without waiting for Park Jinhoon’s answer. Just then, he saw Secretary Im coming in, holding a shopping bag with a café logo on it. Secretary Im distributed drinks and snacks to the employees and then entered the executive office.

“Executive Director, would you like some madeleines?”

“Send a person to Park Jinhoon. And I’d like to meet in a house with no people.”

Madeleines, my ass. Yoongeon didn’t even answer and just said what he had to say.

“There’s a small apartment on the outskirts of Gwacheon, should I send him there?”

Secretary Im, who was very used to him not responding to his words and just saying his own piece, answered nonchalantly.

“Yes. I’ve scheduled a lunch meeting there, so have the meal ready too.”

“Yes.”

“Tell them to be careful not to be seen by other people as much as possible.”

Secretary Im looked at his watch.

“Will you be going by 11:30?”

“No.”

It was a clean answer, meaning he would make the disobedient bastard wait.

✧ ✧ ✧

While working, a corner of Yoongeon’s nerves was on edge.

“……”

At first, he thought it was a misunderstanding…. Yoongeon turned his head to look outside, and he saw Seohwi. He was just turning his head away.

‘Could it be that he was looking at me.’

If so, it was strange. Why would a guy who doesn’t even know how to be nosy do that. The only times he steps up like that are when he has something to say. But no matter how much he thought about it, there was no way he would have anything to say to him. We are nothing to each other.

“Executive Director, you must leave now.”

Secretary Im came in, as it was time. Yoongeon organized the documents he was looking at and stood up from his seat.

“The car is waiting in front of the lobby, so you can go down to the first floor.”

He took the coat Secretary Im handed him, put it on, and went outside. As he came out, Yebin stood up and asked where he was going. Yoongeon spoke to the team members who were looking at him.

“It’s almost lunchtime, so enjoy your meal. And you know there’s a welcome party tonight, right? For the menu, Manager Go can ask the team members and book a suitable restaurant. You don’t have to worry about the price.”

“So are we having both a year-end party and a welcome party?”

At Inyeong’s question, Yoongeon shook his head.

“If you don’t like the year-end party, you can pass. Manager Go, about the restaurant you booked, is it possible to cancel?”

“Yes. But I have to do it by today.”

“Then, gather opinions on that too and decide. You don’t need to be considerate of others. Spend the year-end with your family or friends. That’s better than a boring company year-end party.”

Yoongeon, who would be spending the year-end alone himself, told others to spend it without being lonely.

“I have something to do, so I will be late. If there’s anything urgent, please call Secretary Im.”

“Yes, Executive Director. Have a safe trip.”

Yoongeon was about to leave the office while receiving the team members’ farewells. In a fleeting glance, he saw that Seohwi was looking at him.

“……”

He passed by Seohwi with an indifferent face. Just pretending that their eyes met by chance, his chest ached as he passed by. But he didn’t do something as ridiculous as putting a hand on his aching chest. This is fake anyway. It’s not like you die from a little heartache.

“Executive Director, the estimated time of arrival shows one hour and 27 minutes. It seems to be because it’s peak traffic time.”

“If he waits that long, he’ll probably learn his place.”

In truth, it wasn’t a distance that should take an hour and 27 minutes, but the roads were overflowing with cars, and there was no way to hop over the cars in front on the packed road. Yoongeon turned on his tablet to handle work during his spare time, and the car driven by Secretary Im had just exited the company’s underground parking lot.

“But Executive Director, is it just me who feels this way?”

Just as he started looking over the documents, Secretary Im brought up an unusual topic. Wondering what it was, he looked at him.

“Mr. Yoon Seohwi.”

“What about him.”

“He looks strangely familiar.”

“……Familiar?”

“Yes. My head knows that I’m seeing him for the first time, but strangely… he feels too familiar.”

Saying that he had actually been thinking about it quite seriously, Secretary Im let out a groan.

“Don’t you feel that way, Executive Director?”

“……”

“Hmm, have I really seen him somewhere before? …I feel like I’ve known him for a very long time. But you know, I slyly asked Mr. Yoon Seohwi earlier.”

At Secretary Im’s question of whether they had met somewhere before, Seohwi had tilted his head and answered no, but then, at Secretary Im’s remark that he felt overly familiar, he had answered like this.

‘Yes, me too.’

“So I thought about it for a long time, since we both said we seemed so familiar, wondering if we had really met somewhere. But it turns out there was no connection at all.”

At Secretary Im’s words, Yoongeon was so shocked he couldn’t say a word. The two people, who should have no memories, had recognized each other.

“……”

“But I actually got that feeling from you too, Executive Director. When I first met you, Executive Director, I felt like I was meeting someone I had known for a very long time.”

Only then did Yoongeon understand Secretary Im’s behavior towards him all this time. Come to think of it, from the very beginning, hadn’t Secretary Im been overly loyal and strangely friendly? It was all because of that feeling of familiarity.

“Is it a connection from a past life? Haha!”

“Instead of spouting such nonsense, just drive properly.”

At Secretary Im’s joke, Yoongeon was startled and rebuked him. Goosebumps ran down his spine. Yoongeon bit his lip hard. This is completely different from the lives he had experienced before. It’s full of things he can’t understand.

…Just what in the world is about to happen.

Yoongeon was afraid of this situation where people he knew were being reborn and recognizing each other. There is a reason for everything. So there must be some reason why they were born with their past appearances, why their names are the same, and why they feel a familiarity with each other.

‘……No way.’

Is what happened in the past, about to be repeated?

Yoongeon became excessively anxious. He felt like he was about to vomit, so he pressed his fist hard against his mouth, but his mind would not calm down at all.

✧ ✧ ✧

“I’ve looked over the revised article.”

He finally spoke to the anxious Park Jinhoon when he took a sip of the tea Secretary Im served after the meal.

“……”

However, Park Jinhoon did not hastily ask back. While sitting here and waiting, he had realized that Yoongeon did not like that he had contacted him first without permission.

“When to release it… I’m contemplating.”

“Yes.”

“Should we release it at the end of the year, it seems like it would be fun?”

Saying it was for no particular reason, Yoongeon spoke.

“Because I think it would be fun for me to ruin my hyung’s mood at the end of the year.”

Although his words were sarcastic and joking, his face had no particular expression.

“Hmm, or… how about January 1st. I think it would be good to brand the start of a new day so that he can never forget it again.”

At the remark that things that break at the beginning of the year are remembered for a long time, Park Jinhoon nodded his head.

“According to what you said, Executive Director, today is December 16th… so by that count, there isn’t much time left.”

“Reporter Park, you will be reporting an exclusive on the first day of the new year. That’s great, it will be meaningful too.”

“……”

“But it will be difficult to spend time with your family.”

“My daughter is at her prettiest age,” he added, and Park Jinhoon’s face turned deathly white. Yoongeon frowned as he looked at that face.

“Who do you think you’re looking at as a despicable bastard right now.”

“…Aren’t you threatening me?”

“Me? Why?”

“……”

It was a ridiculous thing to say.

“Even without doing that, handling someone like you is no trouble for me at all.”

“…Can you promise me that you won’t touch my family?”

“Why. Are you going to betray me if I don’t?”

“N-no! That’s not it!”

Park Jinhoon jumped up from his seat.

“It’s just, you know…. Who doesn’t know that the moment you get involved with a chaebol, it ends dirtily.”

Considering it, he wasn’t wrong. But did he have to be considerate of even that?

“……”

Kids these days are so tiring….

They had a strangely strong ego, and an excessive belief that the country, the law, would protect them. Yoongeon knew the world had changed and was living while compromising on many things, but at times like these, his old temper would suddenly pop out. A desire to make them unable to even dare to meet his eyes boiled up.

“You have a family to protect, and I have a bastard to take down, so we just joined hands.”

“……”

“There’s nothing illegal about what we are doing right now.”

Bang! Yoongeon slammed the teacup he was holding down on the table.

“……”

The shattered teacup flew in all directions. The pieces that couldn’t fly out were held tightly in Yoongeon’s hand.

Right, I want to squeeze it tight like this and crush it.

Yoongeon looked down at his hand, from which blood was dripping, then only lifted his gaze to look at Park Jinhoon.

“We’re just adjusting the speed of his self-destruction. Not trying to cover up that bastard Ko Yoonchul’s crimes.”

“……”

“Right?”

“Yes, yes!”

As he said, they hadn’t done anything illegal. How could just adjusting the publication date of an article be illegal?

“But if you act like a scared-to-death dog, what do you think I’ll think, Reporter Park Jinhoon.”

“I-I….”

“Ah… this bastard might betray me if he gets a little scared, wouldn’t I think something like that?”

“Th-that’s not it. I didn’t say that, th-that with such an intention. I just wanted to make a proposal and was trying to get permission.”

“A proposal?”

Yoongeon asked back. He nonchalantly shook off the teacup shards embedded in his hand a few times and took a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

“Speak.”

As he lit the cigarette soaked in blood and told him to go ahead and show his little trick, Park Jinhoon hastily took out a few photos from his pocket and showed them.

“……”

“It’s a bar that only VVIPs can enter. It’s a place you can join by membership, and Vice President Ko Yoonchul is a member here. I believe you already know.”

“Yes, I know.”

As he said, the old building in the photo was a place Yoongeon knew well. The old three-story commercial building made of red brick was built in 1979, and his cousin, Ko Taejeong, had purchased it when the owner put it up for auction.

“However.”

“Please let me investigate and report on this as well.”

“Ha!”

At the audacious words, Yoongeon couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud at him. He pressed the cigarette he was smoking firmly onto the photo Park Jinhoon had brought. The smell of burning paper was foul.

“Weren’t you doing this whole thing to protect your family in the first place? If you touch this, you could die.”

This lounge bar was a place where Yoongeon was already working behind the scenes. It was because this was the place where the children of the social elite, including Ko Yoonchul, gathered to do drugs and receive sexual favors.

“I know.”

Park Jinhoon said.

“But as a reporter, I am greedy for it.”

“……”

“That is why I am asking you. So that I can survive safely.”

“Ahh….”

Yoongeon said, leaning back against the back of the chair.

“You want me to be your sponsor, is that it?”

Park Jinhoon looked at Yoongeon, who deliberately chose a word with a blatant connotation, with a deathly pale face. Yoongeon snorted lightly and looked him up and down as if sizing him up.

“Well, for one thing, no matter how I look, you don’t look like someone I’d want to fuck.”

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that. What, were you going to spread your legs or something?”

“Your words… are harsh.”

Unable to digest the humiliation, Park Jinhoon’s body trembled. Yoongeon just looked at him with no expression on his face.

“You reveal your inner thoughts so easily over just one little comment like this, how on earth are you going to investigate that lounge bar?”

“……”

“That, for now.”

As Yoongeon stood up from his seat, Secretary Im, who was standing in the corner, quickly approached and helped him put on his coat.