Hyunseung visited the VINCIS office building to pack up his remaining belongings.
“Huh?”
Stopping in the middle of the garden, his thick eyebrows twitched as if he were seeing a ghost.
Why is he… here…?
Wondering if he was hallucinating, he walked closer toward the man sitting on a bench under the lush green trees.
Step, step.
The man, dressed in a linen modified hanbok that didn’t quite suit the weather, was leisurely fanning himself with a hand fan.
The eyes visible beneath his silver-rimmed glasses were framed by benevolent wrinkles, but they were by no means ordinary.
Yes.
There was only one person like that.
“Elder?”
It was Lee Duseok.
“What on earth brings you all the way here…?”
Hyunseung pinched his thigh, wondering if he was still drunk. After all, there was no reason for Lee Duseok to visit this place in person.
Surely he hadn’t crossed the ocean to the United States just for a game of baduk…?
Or had he?
Instead of answering, Lee Duseok took a slow look around.
“With such a beautiful garden, I can see why you wouldn’t want to leave.”
He slowly stood up, adding with a groan of effort.
“So, I came to find you myself.”
Hyunseung walked toward the office building with Lee Duseok.
“Let’s go inside and talk first. The air is chilly.”
Perhaps due to the long flight, the man’s face looked quite haggard.
“Please, have some.”
Hyunseung gave Lee Duseok the seat of honor and handed him a teacup.
He had visited the man’s residence and been served tea several times before.
However, since the elder had never visited his own space, Hyunseung felt a strange tension throughout his body, out of a lingering sense of unease.
Slurp, slurp.
Lee Duseok sipped the steaming tea for a while.
Then, only after carefully setting down the teacup did he speak.
“How about a match?”
Did he really come all the way to America just for a game of baduk?
Just as that thought crossed Hyunseung’s mind.
“If I win, grant me one wish.”
There was a hint of desperation in his added words.
“I will.”
Though curious, Hyunseung nodded without prying.
The man claimed to be a retired old man relegated to the back rooms, but he was still someone who held immense influence.
Right.
Even if he had nothing but time, he wasn’t the type of person to cross over to America just to ask a favor.
Therefore, he could hear the details through the match.
Clatter, clatter.
Soon, the two sat facing each other across a table set with a baduk board. This time, Lee Duseok took the black stones.
Clatter, clatter.
He must really want to win.
Clatter, clatter.
Seeing how long he took even for the first move.
Clatter, clatter.
Lee Duseok looked down at the board with a profound expression for a moment.
Clatter, thud!
He placed a black stone on the board. His hesitation was long, but it meant he had taken a very deliberate first step.
In comparison…
Thud!
Hyunseung picked up a white stone with a steady hand and placed it.
And so Lee Duseok and Hyunseung continued to place their stones in turns.
Clatter, thud!
However, Lee Duseok’s moves took so long that one might need a stopwatch.
His style has changed.
His style had shifted significantly from before, reflecting the time he spent contemplating.
Slow, yet aggressive.
Quiet, but persistently clinging.
A style that overtly displayed a greed to win.
“Elder.”
Hyunseung, pushed into a corner, spoke while keeping his eyes fixed on the board.
“What you’re planning to ask of me must be quite a big deal.”
Considering how desperate he seemed.
However, he didn’t bother adding any more words.
“A big deal…”
Lee Duseok muttered while stroking his beard for a moment.
Clatter, thud!
He made another sharp move and added.
“If you call it a big deal, then it is.”
Hyunseung looked at him and joked.
“I’m already scared of what kind of favor you’re going to ask.”
“I’ve been trembling with fear all the way here myself.”
But he still only looked down at the baduk board.
“You, elder? Afraid?”
Then, Lee Duseok slowly raised his head.
“When an old man in the back room harbors greed, wouldn’t it be natural for him to be afraid?”
He locked eyes with Hyunseung.
You’re lying.
Hyunseung stared straight at him and couldn’t help but chuckle.
It might have seemed rude, but he couldn’t hold it back.
Why?
Because although Lee Duseok described it as greed, his eyes were boiling with ambition.
“What kind of greed are you harboring?”
Pushing those thoughts aside, Hyunseung asked casually as he gripped a white stone.
Clatter, clatter.
The white stone was soon placed in an unexpected spot.
“I want to be with you, helping you.”
The answer came from Lee Duseok’s mouth.
“Let me be of use at VINCIS while you are gone.”
“What does that…”
“I may be old, but surely someone like me could be of use somewhere, couldn’t I?”
Behind a gentle smile, his eyes sparkled as clearly as a young man’s as he added.
“Do I need a resume, by any chance?”
“You’re joking too much.”
“I’m serious. If you tell me to prepare one, I will.”
Hyunseung suppressed a laugh and asked back.
“Elder, what suddenly made you reach such a decision?”
At those words, Lee Duseok adjusted his glasses and let out a low groan.
“Hmm.”
Then.
“I suddenly felt it was a waste.”
As he replied, a fleeting expression of bitterness crossed his face.
“I thought I lived my life fiercely. So, I thought I should live out the rest of my days peacefully, without greed.”
But that was only for a moment.
“But whenever I look at you, that thing called greed coils up and keeps growing larger.”
As he continued, his eyes burned more intensely than anyone else’s.
“I lived my life without ever knowing failure. But, I tasted failure for the first time in this land called America.”
“Did you try to expand into the US?”
“Yes. I thought I was confident, but I suppose it was arrogance.”
Then Lee Duseok picked up a black stone and placed it.
Thud!
He continued with a smile of victory.
“Of course, even now, if I tried to stand alone in America, it would be out of the question. I don’t possess a peerless talent like yours.”
“But you have great business acumen.”
“Right. The Korean entertainment market is a place where numerous interests are intertwined and people survive by helping each other, which is how I was able to keep going.”
The flow of this match was already tilting toward Lee Duseok.
“But this place is different. A place where only skill and talent are the sole breakthroughs for survival.”
In the first place, Hyunseung had no intention of winning this match.
He intended to let himself be swept away by Lee Duseok’s momentum.
“In such a place, I want to support you from behind.”
If what he wants to ask of me…
“Before I die, I want to succeed in America.”
If this is the greed he’s talking about…
“Even if you go to Unice, won’t this place stay on your mind? Above all, since the companies merged, even if it runs as an independent system, you won’t be able to stop caring about it.”
If this is the ambition held in his eyes…
“I will make this VINCIS you created into a company that rivals Unice.”
Then he was more than willing to welcome it with open arms.
“Will you let me do that?”
At his question, Hyunseung slowly stood up.
“I lost this match, so what choice do I have?”
“Thank you for letting me win.”
“But, the personnel management is handled by Director Kim Woohyun, not me.”
“Is that so? If it’s Kim Woohyun, don’t worry. He might be good at his job, but his baduk skills are quite abysmal.”
At those words, both of them chuckled at the same time.
Then Hyunseung bowed toward Lee Duseok and added.
“This was a more valuable match than any other.”
Yes.
Because thanks to him, he could now move forward with a light heart.
Arriving at the parking lot inside the Unice building, Hyunseung looked for a secluded spot and finished parking.
There was a dedicated parking space for the CEO.
Screeech.
But he didn’t want to park there. Most likely, everyone would flock there to look at the new CEO’s car.
“Hmm…”
Hyunseung looked at the helmet sitting in the passenger seat for a moment.
Click.
He opened the car door and stepped out.
Right.
It wasn’t polite to show up for the first day of work wearing a helmet.
He didn’t want to give those who already disliked him in this den any excuse to nitpick.
Now…
He had to survive in this place where there was no one left to protect him.
VINCIS would be well-raised by those remaining and Lee Duseok.
I will…
He intended to build Unice even more solidly as a firm foundation that would allow VINCIS to grow.
“Phew.”
Before long, Hyunseung roughly adjusted his somewhat empty-feeling hair and headed toward the elevator.
There’s nothing like a helmet to hide a sour expression, though…
Step, step.
Just as Hyunseung came to a stop in front of the elevator.
“I’ve been waiting.”
Someone spoke, standing right behind him.
Glancing back, it was Killian, whom he had seen at the banquet.
To think he was waiting for me.
Those weren’t words he wanted to hear from a man.
“You should at least make some noise to announce your presence.”
“I was chasing after you in a hurry.”
“Why are you chasing me?”
Hyunseung asked back with a look of annoyance.
“I thought you would park in the CEO’s spot, but you suddenly parked somewhere else, so I almost missed you.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Why were you waiting for me, and why are you chasing me?”
“I want to get on your good side.”
“I have no intention of forming lines or factions within the company.”
“I like that about you even more.”
Killian just continued to joke around in a way that didn’t suit his appearance, just like last time.
“It’s not that I want to suck up to you because you’re the CEO.”
Just then, a voice announced the arrival of the elevator.
“But I know you have no intention of forming a line, but it would be wise to have at least one ally.”
Killian added, standing side by side with Hyunseung.
“I will be that ally for you.”
“I don’t need it.”
“No, you’ll need it soon.”
Then.
Killian reached out kindly toward the wide-open elevator doors and gave a smirk.
“Shall we get on first, then?”
Just as Hyunseung thought that face looked quite ominous.
Vrrrr, vrrrr.
The phone in his pocket vibrated violently.
[ An emergency executive meeting will be held in the grand conference room in 1 hour. Please attend without delay. ]
After checking the text message, Hyunseung furrowed his brows.
Good grief.
An emergency meeting on the very first day of work. And to be notified via text…
“Are you going to the CEO’s office?”
Killian, who had boarded the elevator first, asked.
“Yes.”
As Hyunseung gave a short answer and stepped inside, Killian pressed the button for the top floor where the CEO’s office was located and added.
“It seems a situation where you need me has arisen quite quickly. May I go up with you?”
Instead of answering the question, Hyunseung simply stared straight ahead.
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