ITDW 31

“This is the material related to the agenda to be discussed at the 10 a.m. executive-level meeting.”

Secretary Lee brought the materials that Jungyoon had instructed him to investigate separately regarding the meeting agenda he had been briefed on in advance. Jungyoon was wary of the executives he had not yet won over deceiving his eyes with their old-fox-like rhetoric.

“Alright. Leave that there, and call Chief Gu.”

Not long after Secretary Lee left, Chief Gu came in. The Vice President’s office, impeccably tidy and faintly imbued only with his cologne scent, was no different from usual. He suddenly called his junior’s name.

“Jihyun.”

His voice was unusually affectionate, making Gu Jihyun slightly nervous.

“Yes, sunbae.”

“The conference room table for the 10 o’clock meeting later. Change it to one where you can’t see underneath, and put a fluffy blanket and a cushion in front of my seat.”

Chief Gu replied with an expression that said he was curious but wouldn’t bother asking.

“…Well, I understand.”

“Have it set up by 9 o’clock. Run.”

Under the desk, a boy with short hair rested his head against the desk owner’s leg. Jungyoon tousled his hair. The desk in the Vice President’s office was also blocked in front, so the space inside was not visible.

He had offered to give his younger brother, who was struggling to even eat fruit, a tour of the company as an incentive. That carrot was very effective. In the morning, Jaeri ate everything Jungyoon told him to eat. He finished the fruit, a slice of bread, and a glass of milk.

Chief Gu’s sense, honed by rolling under Jungyoon for several years, was almost at a master level.

The seating was arranged so that Jungyoon sat alone at the narrow end of the long rectangular table, and directly in front of him, four seats on each side were left empty. He even had a tablecloth draped down from the fifth seat, where the other people would start sitting, creating a tent-like boundary.

Under Jungyoon’s seat, a thick cushion was laid, and there was a blanket too. It was spread out wide enough to lie down on. And, though he didn’t know their purpose, there were a few small dolls. Jaeri threw those cotton lumps far away from his spot.

The smell of carpet fibers was unavoidable from the floor, but Jaeri didn’t perceive it with much sensitivity. Just, the smell of gray. Familiar gray.

It was still morning, the space under the table was dim, and the meeting proceeded in a quiet atmosphere. Jaeri dozed off, nodding. Even so, he tried not to fall asleep. He was worried he might talk in his sleep.

After dozing for a while, Jaeri keenly noticed a sound.

Jungyoon had lowered his hand and was tapping, tap tap, under the table. As Jaeri crawled closer, his hand came down. Jaeri pressed lightly on the bulging veins on his hand.

Jungyoon snatched Jaeri’s hand, placed it on his lap, and stroked it. Jaeri’s captured hand felt ticklish and he wanted to pull it away, but he endured.

From inside the conference room, the voice of the executive director of Hanyoung Heavy Industries speaking could be heard. In this gathering of twelve people, this situation of touching each other’s hands without anyone else knowing felt a little hazy. The executive director’s voice was clear, but to Jaeri’s ears, it also sounded like mumbling.

When Jaeri leaned his body against Jungyoon’s leg, he immediately stroked his hair. The touch was slow.

When his fingers slid down to the nape of his neck, Jaeri flinched his neck slightly, but he thought it was okay for his hyung to touch him anywhere. Now the hand that reached his earlobe fiddled with it, then pressed it painfully. Even though only one ear was being tormented, both of his ears became very hot. Fearing he might make some kind of sound if his ears got any hotter, he grabbed his knee as a sign to stop.

He lowered his hand from his earlobe, and again that hand disappeared onto the table. Jaeri, while rubbing his tingling ear, felt a sense of loss for the disappeared hand.

As if in response to that sense of loss, Jungyoon’s neat voice was heard.

“Does Hanyoung Heavy Industries see the possibility of winning this LNG carrier contract?”

“It seems there is a significant possibility. The bidding is fierce, but the ordering company, Keido Shipping, set a tight delivery deadline, so they’ve placed a high weight on the construction period during the evaluation.”

The executive director of Hanyoung Heavy Industries answered Jungyoon’s question that followed his statement. His voice was confident. However, Jaeri’s ears couldn’t hear what he was saying well. The noise created by various afterimages in his head was only eliminated when Jungyoon spoke.

“What was the scale said to be?”

“It’s a scale of 180,000 square meters, and the contract value is 198 million dollars.”

“The LNG spot price is currently up 76% compared to the same quarter last year. What do you predict will happen in the future?”

At Jungyoon’s question that followed without giving any leeway, the executive director of Hanyoung Heavy Industries became slightly nervous, but without showing any sign of it, he answered with a display of professional knowledge at a common-sense level.

“Since the price of alternative resources has upward rigidity, wouldn’t it stabilize soon? There’s also shale gas,”

“If there’s upward rigidity, how can it rise 76% in just one year?”

“……”

The executive director of Hanyoung Heavy Industries had something to say, but he remained silent as it would seem like making a lengthy excuse. It was his mistake to have said something that could be so easily refuted in the first place. It was because he was very nervous in front of the young successor.

“The tide seems to be turning in our favor. Make sure you win the LNG carrier contract.”

Jungyoon said neatly.

“I will do my best.”

Jaeri, who was right in front of his legs, was about to move a little further away. But then, he saw a large hand beckoning as if to say ‘come here.’ He held Jaeri’s hand and then let it go. A chocolate was placed in his hand. Jaeri quietly unwrapped it and ate it.

He rested his head on his knee again, and because the texture of his suit felt nice, he lightly brushed his lips against his knee. The large hand came down again and rested gently on his head.

All day, Jaeri slept quietly on the sofa in Jungyoon’s office, and when he woke up, he read a book he had chosen for him. For lunch, he ate food bought by Chief Gu with just Jungyoon in the Vice President’s office. He didn’t feel like eating anything, but he ate it all because he thought he would be scolded if he didn’t eat after coming all the way for a company tour. When people came in, he looked up at him, who somehow looked unfamiliar, from under his desk, and if that time grew long, he would lean against his leg.

Seeing a side of him he didn’t know was refreshing. He had imagined his hyung would have this side to him, but he was smarter and more passionate than he had imagined. He also called Chief Gu to ask when the intern interviews for YJ Construction were, and he had never known that his hyung, the vice president, would take care of something as minor as intern interviews.

Like that, it would have been a perfect day.

Two hours before leaving work, he got a sudden dinner appointment. Jaeri didn’t want to follow him there, but he took him without even asking his opinion. Jaeri’s lips felt parched all the way to the appointment location.

He took a deep breath in front of the Chinese restaurant room. A waiter opened the door with smooth manners. A room decorated in dazzlingly splendid red and gold revealed its interior.

“It’s been a while, Mother.”

“Are you going to greet your mother so formally?”

Madam Gye was there. Makeup with a subtle silver sheen, her signature hairstyle without a single flaw, a women’s suit tailored perfectly to her slender body. She looked terrifyingly perfect. Even her expression was gentle.

Jungyoon lightly ignored her words and spoke to Jaeri.

“You should say hello.”

“…Hello, …Mother.”

“It’s been a while.”

Madam Gye’s gaze fell on Jaeri. To avoid revealing the discomfort that was churning his insides, Jaeri lowered his head slightly and twisted his body slightly toward Jungyoon.

Jungyoon grabbed Jaeri’s wrist, entered the room, and sat him down in the seat next to him.

On the revolving table, a variety of Chinese dishes were laid out in an overwhelming spread. In front of all the greasy-looking food, Jaeri actually lost his appetite. He felt like he would die from his stomach bursting if he indulged in the various dishes.

“You two brothers, your affection for each other is always tear-jerking.”

Madam Gye said, looking at Jungyoon and Jaeri sitting side by side, with an affectionate expression on her face but a hint of displeasure in her voice.

“You said you wanted to talk about Yoonjae’s position.”

“Can’t I even say hello?”

“The time I’ve given you is limited to that matter.”

“You,”

“You don’t worry about it and just eat. Got it?”

“…Yes.”

Madam Gye’s lips tensed slightly. Jungyoon’s meaning was clear. ‘Mother, you are not in a position to call me ‘you’ and lecture me.’ While conveying that, Jungyoon lectured his own younger brother.

“Isn’t Jaeri moving out on his own?”

“Mother.”

As Jungyoon cut her off, she smiled leisurely again and looked at Jaeri.

“I asked Jaeri, why is there no answer? Jungyoon, it seems you’ve taught the child poorly.”

“…Mother, I, …I’m with hyung…”

“Shut your mouth, Kim Jaeri.”

At the voice that cut him off firmly while looking at him, Jaeri couldn’t say any more.

“Kim Jaeri.”

“…Yes, hyung.”

It was always like that when he called him ‘Kim Jaeri,’ but in front of Madam Gye, it felt even more like cold water was running down his spine.

“Go out and have dinner in another room.”

When he contacted Driver Yoon, Driver Yoon came immediately to pick up Jaeri.

Madam Gye watched Jungyoon and Jaeri with interest. It wasn’t that she had other thoughts. It was simply because she found Jungyoon’s personality, which resembled her own, amusing.

The relationship between Madam Gye and Jungyoon had become distant after she had strongly pressured him to go to law school. It was already more than 10 years ago.

Underlying that pressure was Madam Gye’s intention to use Jungyoon in the succession competition for Haesung Law Firm. Madam Gye is still engaged in a fierce competition with her younger brother for the position of successor at Haesung Law Firm.

If Jungyoon, who would become the future successor of Hanyoung Group, set foot in the legal world, Madam Gye would have a chance of winning against her younger brother. This would be proof that Jungyoon had not cut ties with his mother, and could be seen as an implicit sign that many of Hanyoung Group’s future cases could be entrusted to Haesung Law Firm.

However, Jungyoon could not stand being used as a tool, though he himself might use others as tools. He was not born that way in the first place.

At the time, Jungyoon had snubbed his mother by going to medical school, and at the same time, created a card to negotiate with his father in the future.

Madam Gye’s pressure was a torment that forcibly twisted Jungyoon’s nature. Although it was not ultimately twisted, the feeling of displeasure remained like a furrow between his brows, contorting his expression.

He was silent the whole way back. Jaeri thought his hyung was in a bad mood because he had met his mother.

However, that was not the reason for the occasional silences in the car. While waiting at a red light, he suddenly asked a question.

“Why do you think I brought you to that place today?”

“…I don’t know.”

“You need to think, and then answer.”

The light changed, the car started moving again, and Jaeri came up with the most plausible answer he could.

“…To see Mother after a long time… and say hello.”

He held the steering wheel with one hand and wiped his eye area with the other.

“She’s not even your mother, so why would you.”

“…That’s.”

“Jaeri, no matter how scared you are of my mother.”

“…Yes.”

“I don’t understand why you would listen to that woman instead of me.”