Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Chapter 45 The Tail Was Too Long (1)

"I've brewed some tea, and you've arrived at just the right time. Come, have a seat."

As soon as I knocked on the door of the executive office after being summoned by the Chairman, a hearty voice welcomed me from inside.

As I sat across from him after such a warm reception, the fragrance of a tea I'd never encountered before tickled my nose.

"Thank you for the other day. The gifts were so generous that I almost feel sorry my return gift was so modest."

"Too generous? You turned that good-for-nothing son of mine into a decent human being, and it still wasn't nearly enough! Oh, and I enjoyed that kimchi. After eating it, I even dreamed about my late wife for the first time in ages, you know? Still, I was a little disappointed that you didn't give me a call and tell me in person like this."

"I'm sorry. I thought it would be presumptuous for an ordinary employee to contact you over such a personal matter."

"Is that so? Hahaha! Other brats will do anything to get hold of one of my business cards, but you have no greed at all."

"May I ask why you called me here, Chairman?"

"Hm? Oh, I just felt bad about exchanging things without any personal contact, so I thought I'd see your face. By the way, are the things I sent you useful?"

"The computer is so good that the other team members almost discovered you bought it for me. Though they found out eventually."

"Couldn't you have just made up some excuse?"

"I'm not particularly fond of lying."

"So if someone asked who bought it for you, you were planning to tell them my name then?"

"Yes."

"You're quite something yourself, aren't you? If a person could live without telling lies, he'd be an immortal!"

"Actually, I hear things like that quite often."

"Really? Hahaha! Seems my eye for people hasn't failed me yet!"

There was something he seemed to want to say beneath our meandering conversation.

It was probably related to the National Intelligence Service. That was the only thing involving me that Daechun Group couldn't uncover.

But he didn't ask.

Just as I hadn't gone out of my way to tell those around me about my connection with the Chairman, it seemed the Chairman had no intention of asking questions that would be difficult for me to answer.

Instead of such an awkward question, a small business card appeared on the table.

"Now we've exchanged contact information. If anything comes up, don't hesitate to contact me. I'll do the same."

"Yes, I'll do that. Thank you."

"Good. Let's have a meal together with my son sometime. What do you like to eat? Beef would probably be best, wouldn't it? Do you know Usanjeong? Their cattle are raised on ginseng in Gangwon Province..."

I'd expected to stand up after receiving his business card and exchanging the customary empty promise of having a meal together sometime, but the conversation unexpectedly veered toward food.

I'd already lost half the morning dealing with those online posts, so it seemed I was destined to work overtime today.

____________

Not long after Jinseong left, Director Shin Jicheol took his place.

"Has Manager Kim Jinseong left?"

"What good would it do to keep a working man here for so long? He said he was leaving, so I let him go."

"Did you find out what happened?"

"No. I just asked whether he'd been doing well."

"As expected, he's not an easy man to deal with."

"I thought he'd answer if I pressed him, so I didn't ask."

"Pardon? What do you mean by..."

"Hahaha! You don't understand what I'm saying either, do you?"

Chairman Joo Manho was so delighted by Director Shin Jicheol's bewildered question that tears nearly sprang to his eyes.

"I was curious, but somehow I felt I shouldn't ask. He made even the great Joo Manho chatter away about this and that without a shred of pride, like a man bewitched by a ghost. That young fellow really is something remarkable, the more I see of him."

Since his assessment of Jinseong consisted entirely of vague expressions, Director Shin Jicheol still looked puzzled.

Unfortunately, Chairman Joo Manho could think of nothing more to explain to him.

It had been years since he last met Jinseong alone.

Although Chairman Joo Manho rarely changed his mind once he'd made a decision, entrusting an employee with teaching his son while observing him only through rumors had been a considerable source of concern.

But seeing his son gradually change, followed by today's private meeting, had swept away every last trace of that anxiety.

Jinseong hadn't changed in the slightest since their previous meeting.

No, if anything, the composure with which he conversed before the Chairman seemed to have grown far greater than before.

A depth of character beyond description.

It was an accurate conclusion reached without knowing that Jinseong, who spent every day among divine beasts that had lived for thousands of years, possessed a presence that ordinary humans could never compare to.

"Oh, right. I got so excited that I forgot what I actually meant to say."

Suddenly remembering something, Chairman Joo Manho slapped his knee and called his son.

"Have you finished work? The smell of kimchi has finally left the containers at home, so take them back to your teacher tomorrow. What kind of family manners is it to return empty containers? Fill them to the brim with Korean beef!"

A merchant to his very core, Joo Manho was quick enough with his calculations to use even empty kimchi containers as part of his son's education.

____________

(Is Jinseong sleeping?)

(Yes! Today's the day he sleeps in.)

(But I'm hungry. I have a packed schedule today, so I need to eat quickly.)

(What schedule?)

(I'll eat first and think about that later.)

(Then you don't have one.)

The comic exchange coming from outside my door replaced the alarm I'd turned off for the weekend.

Apparently, Sani had arrived early this morning.

I considered pretending to sleep a little longer, but I felt sorry for Lia, who would have to struggle to keep Sani from barging in, so I quickly sat up.

"I'm awake, so come in."

-Bang.

No sooner had I finished speaking than the door swung wide open, and Lia and Sani rushed in and jumped onto the bed.

"Good morning!"

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Hungry?"

"My stomach is stuck to my back!"

"Don't be ridiculous. You'd have to starve for about a hundred years before that happened."

"That's how hungry I am! It's a figure... a figure... a figure of observation? Something like that!"

"It's an idiom."

"How did you know that?"

"I read it in a book!"

Lia ran downstairs and brought back a thin workbook that looked at least thirty years old.

Written across the cover in a bold, traditional calligraphy font was the title 『Elementary Korean Dictionary of Idiomatic Expressions and Proverbs』.

It had exactly the sort of cover and title that no elementary school student would ever want to read.

"Did you finish all the exercises in this?"

"It's fun!"

"I learned with her too!"

In fact, this wasn't the first time a workbook had appeared out of nowhere like this.

Occasionally, workbooks like these were mixed in with the boxes of storybooks I'd bought from secondhand bookstores.

They were still too difficult for Lia to read, so I'd set them aside to throw out with the wastepaper. How had she managed to find one and even complete it?

There wasn't a single incorrect answer on the answer sheet, either.

This was truly remarkable progress from the storybook about farts and diarrhea.

"Have you tried any others?"

"Yes! I did this one, this one, and this one too!"

The workbooks Lia brought were all yellowed with age. Some were even fairly difficult for an elementary school student to complete alone.

Perhaps I should send her to elementary school this spring instead of kindergarten.

"Will staring at those books put food on the table? Will it make rice cakes appear?"

"Don't start using what you've learned against me right away!"

"Owowow! That hurts! I'm hungry and it hurts!"

After all that commotion first thing in the morning, I was starting to feel hungry too.

"Since it's breakfast, how about something simple like rice with soy sauce and eggs?"

"Sounds good!"

"Ooooooh! That's delicious too!"

It was a perfect choice for breakfast.

Even if I made it half asleep, there was practically no chance of failure unless I emptied the entire bottle of soy sauce onto the rice.

Add a few drops of domestically produced sesame oil from the market, and it became a dish that could rival a hotel breakfast.

Simple, delicious, and requiring nothing more than kimchi as a side dish...

-Click.

"Huh?"

The rice cooker, which should have been full of rice, was completely empty.

"There's no rice."

"You're right."

"There's no uncooked rice either!"

The mistake was that I hadn't gone grocery shopping for the past few days because one major incident after another, including making kimchi, had kept me occupied.

But I couldn't feed the children ramen for breakfast.

In the end, I'd have to go grocery shopping.

On my precious weekend morning, no less.

"I'm going to the supermarket for a little while, so you two watch the house. Got it?"

"I'm coming too!"

"Don't be ridiculous. You can't even use shapeshifting arts. Just stay here and play with Lia. Lia, you can look after Sani, right?"

"Yes!"

Somehow, it felt as though their roles had been reversed, but Lia was the only one I could trust right now.

Whether I left Sani alone or took him with me, he was bound to cause some sort of trouble.

I was beginning to suspect that the shamans guarding the Divine Tree on Mount Gyeryong weren't actually raising the Divine Tree, but Sani instead.

"You said you're going to buy rice, so why haven't you left yet?"

"I'm going right now, you little brat!"

_____________

At the same time, at Dangsan Children's Home, iceboxes kept coming out of Dohyeok's car. He had personally visited Majang-dong at dawn to buy the meat.

Each icebox bore a large sticker marked 1++.

"To think you've donated all this precious meat. Thank you so much, as always."

"No, I just had some extra meat, so I brought it over. It would've been a waste to throw it away. Besides, when I came last time, your refrigerator was practically empty."

Perhaps embarrassed by the thanks from the director, who was old enough to be his mother, Dohyeok scratched his cheek.

As far as he was concerned, a few boxes of meat bought with what amounted to pocket change weren't worth this much gratitude.

"Wow! There's so much meat!"

"They say Mister I'm Joo Dohyeok brought it!"

"Really?"

"I want to see too!"

Fortunately, the children who spotted Dohyeok and the large quantities of meat being carried inside quickly dispelled the awkward atmosphere.

"Everyone, come here! Mister I'm Joo Dohyeok brought meat!"

Although this was only his second visit, the children ran toward Dohyeok with the brightest smiles and threw themselves into his arms.

But there was something strange about the name they'd given him.

"Hello, Mister I'm Joo Dohyeok!"

'Huh? Not just Uncle Dohyeok?'

Apparently, the memorable phrase(?) Dohyeok had left behind when he unexpectedly brought them a mountain of toys and pizza had made quite an impression on the children.

And so, after even the children's tiny hands joined in carrying the meat to the kitchen,

"You haven't had breakfast yet, have you? Please stay and eat. We have plenty of grills, so the meat will be ready quickly."

"Eat with us, Mister!"

"Well, I... No. I'm full."

Although he was hungry after going out to buy meat since dawn, Dohyeok lied to the children.

He had belatedly realized that the amount he ate far exceeded that of an ordinary person.

With one fewer mouth to feed, there would naturally be more meat for the children.

He couldn't bring himself to eat the meat meant for children who, by his standards, were painfully thin.

Hadn't he only recently learned that foods he ate every day, or refused to touch because he considered them cheap, were so precious to these children that they constantly wished aloud to eat them again?

"Well, enjoy your meal. Contact me if you need anything else."

Dohyeok roughly ruffled the children's hair and got back into his car.

The destination marked on his navigation system was Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse.

Where Jinseong was away.