He bit his lower lip and opened his mouth.
“Do you have any requests regarding this deal?”
“Don’t be silly. Just do as usual. I’m satisfied with just confirming it.”
“I have a feeling that we shouldn’t proceed .”
“Hey, we’re already in too deep to quit. I really won’t do anything, okay?”
Yoo-hyun shrugged his shoulders with a playful smile and raised his palms up.
Danaka threw a suspicious question at him.
“Then why are you telling me this?”
He had a reason, but he couldn’t tell him right now.
Yoo-hyun made up a plausible excuse.
“So that you can recognize my value.”
“Do you want to trade with me?”
“Not now, but someday. Give me your business card.”
Yoo-hyun snapped his fingers and he handed him a business card after a brief silence.
It was a simple card with only his name and number on a white background.
It seemed like nothing special, but only a few people owned this card.
Most of them were key executives of prominent IT companies in Korea, Japan, and China, and Yoo-hyun just joined their ranks.
This would be an important asset for Yoo-hyun in the future.
It was time to wrap things up, so Yoo-hyun looked him in the eye and said firmly.
“Keep this number. I’ll call you later.”
“I’ll decide the timing. At least after the deal with Director Lee Taeryong is over.”
“Huh, I can’t understand. Why did you come all the way here…”
“I told you, it’s an investment for the future.”
Danaka could never understand Yoo-hyun’s actions right now.
He had shaken him up badly, and on purpose, Yoo-hyun acted differently from his usual pattern.
Becoming someone incomprehensible to him.
It might sound strange, but that was what Yoo-hyun wanted from today’s meeting.
Danaka asked with a hidden confusion.
“How much can you sell yourself for?”
“Even if you spend all your fortune, you can’t buy me, so stop thinking about that and focus on the current task.”
“Are you sure we can proceed ?”
“What are you worried about? We’ve eliminated all the risk factors. Why are you so cautious?”
Of course, Danaka’s eyes seemed to see Yoo-hyun as a risk factor.
But Yoo-hyun was confident that he would soon come to his senses and make a rational judgment.
There was no way this deal would go wrong because of Yoo-hyun’s involvement.
This deal was not that kind of confidential deal.
Yoo-hyun got up from his seat before Danaka realized the reality.
“That’s it, I’m leaving. I have an important appointment.”
“Can you at least tell me your name?”
“Just remember me as Steve.”
Yoo-hyun showed him the hand holding the card behind his back and walked away.
He felt his burning gaze behind his back.
How would the seed he planted in him grow?
He would soon see an interesting scene.
His eyes sharpened at the intriguing thought.
Yoo-hyun didn’t need to watch the meeting between Lee Taeryong and Danaka.
He just hoped they would work together smoothly.
What Director Lee Taeryong would leak now?
It was nothing much when it came down to it.
It was just a chance for some Japanese companies that were dying out to play with the media for a while.
That information wouldn’t change the core of the matter even if it came out.
Rather, he needed that information to come out at the right time.
That way, he could force Apple’s choice.
The reason why Yoo-hyun left Director Lee Taeryong alone was just because of that.
That was when he thought so.
He saw Lee Taeryong’s car entering the alley through the side mirror.
He used to sit next to him in that car once.
-When the rabbit hunt is over, the hunting dog is discarded. Of course, I’m not talking about you, Director Han. Haha.
Lee Taeryong’s babbling echoed in his ear like a hallucination.
As a subordinate of Han Kyung-hoe, he sacrificed a lot under him.
The reason was only one.
He struggled to climb up somehow.
He made achievements through that struggle.
But what he got in return was his contempt and restraint.
In the end, he threw Yoo-hyun away like a dog.
In the end, only Yoo-hyun survived until the end.
But he lost too much in the process.
He had no choice but to make a wrong decision in the massive layoff incident because of that reason.
It was time to break that chain completely.
Yoo-hyun sneered at Lee Taeryong’s car hiding in the alleyway behind him.
“Just finish what you’re doing. I’ll throw you away like trash then.”
Then he stepped on the accelerator pedal.
It was time to push away the dark memories.
Yoo-hyun drove the car to meet someone much more important than Lee Taeryong.
He headed to the house of his friend Oh Min-jae, who lived on the outskirts of Busan.
He welcomed Yoo-hyun, who had left work early and was at home.
“What did you buy this for?”
“I can’t come empty-handed when I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
Oh Min-jae took the paper bag that Yoo-hyun handed him.
There were a lot of appetizing homemade cookies in it.
“Hey, how did you know I ?”
“You ate it a lot during the new employee training, you idiot.”
He entered the room and greeted Yoo-hyun with a full table.
“Why did you prepare all this?”
“I have to do this much for Yoo-hyun.”
He chuckled and sat down on the floor after unpacking his luggage.
Then Oh Min-jae asked bluntly.
“Yoo-hyun, are you guys okay?”
“Hey, did you know that Director Lee Taeryong, our supervisor, went to the Ulsan factory where you work?”
“Yeah, I know. He’s our next-door supervisor. But why?”
“He’s such a jerk, you know…”
Oh Min-jae, who belonged to the home appliance division, vented his anger about his former supervisor.
Yoo-hyun spat out a laugh at his words.
Trash was trash wherever it went.
And he didn’t want to think about such a guy anymore.
Yoo-hyun waved his hand and picked up a bottle of liquor on the table.
“Come on, let’s stop talking about this and have a drink.”
“Sure. But don’t we have to drink more tomorrow?”
“Today and tomorrow, we can drink both.”
That night, Yoo-hyun had a long chat with his friend Oh Min-jae, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time.
The members of the second class and sixth team of the new employee training course at the Innovation Center in Busan gathered.
They chose the center of the place where most of the members were gathered, since they were scattered here and there, and that was Busan.
Yoo-hyun greeted Seol Gitaek and Kang Changseok, who came from afar.
“Gitaek, you must have had a hard time coming from far away. And you too, Changseok hyung.”
“No, it’s once a year that we meet.”
Seol Gitaek said with a smile, but Kang Changseok’s expression was not so bright.
He felt the sharp eyes of the female colleagues because of his past mistakes.
He couldn’t say anything because he knew he had done something wrong during the training period.
Yoo-hyun pulled his arm and entered the restaurant.
“Come on, hyung, let’s go in. It’s delicious here.”
The place they entered was a famous intestine restaurant in Busan that Yoo-hyun recommended.
It was objectively better than the intestine restaurant in Ulsan.
Yoo-hyun finished ordering and confidently told his colleagues.
“The intestines here are really good. You won’t regret it.”
“I trust you, oppa. Even if you say you made soy sauce with beans, I believe you.”
“Seolgi, you know that soy sauce is made with beans, right?”
Oh Min-jae said incredulously at Choi Seolgi’s words.
But Choi Seolgi cut off his words sharply.
“Why are you so lacking in empathy? Do you know that you can’t get a girlfriend like that?”
Whether Oh Min-jae was angry or not, Jung Dabin was already shaking a bottle of soju.
“Come on, let’s have a drink since we ordered.”
“Don’t we usually drink after the food comes out?”
This time too, Oh Min-jae blinked his eyes as if he couldn’t adapt.
Then Choi Seolgi and Jung Dabin shook him one after another.
“What are you talking about? That’s your hometown way. Geoje is different, very different.”
“Oppa, you’ve lived too innocently. We’ll show you what company drinking is like.”
“What? Why did they become when I didn’t see them?”
Oh Min-jae sighed at Choi Seolgi’s endless nagging.
But Yoo-hyun and Seol Gitaek burst into laughter.
Kang Changseok just drank water as if he felt awkward in this situation.
Yoo-hyun took care of him.
“Hyung, have a drink.”
He lifted his glass and Yoo-hyun said to the others.
“I’m so glad to see you all after such a long time. Shall we have a drink?”
“Sure. I’ll let you do the toast first.”
“Thank you very much.”
Yoo-hyun nodded his head exaggeratedly at Choi Seolgi’s words.
He lifted his glass high in the cheerful atmosphere.
“Congratulations on your first anniversary of joining the company. To our first anniversary.”
“To our first anniversary.”
“The first drink is one shot.”
The first drink was just the beginning.
From then on, a fierce drinking session began under the leadership of Choi Seolgi and Jung Dabin.
They drank soju and beer quickly while grilling intestines.
The next target of the two female colleagues was Kang Changseok.
Choi Seolgi poured soju into his beer glass and urged him incessantly.
“Oppa, when I think about what you did during the training period…”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“It doesn’t matter. One shot.”
At Choi Seolgi’s words, Kang Changseok drank the alcohol like medicine.
As he got drunk, his characteristic bluffing kicked in.
“When I worked with Yoo-hyun…”
“Really? It sounds like a lie.”
At Jung Dabin’s question, Kang Changseok nodded his head.
Yoo-hyun was talking with Seol Gitaek and Oh Min-jae at that time.
Then, Choi Seolgi stuck her head out and interrupted.
“Yoo-hyun oppa, did you work with Changseok oppa?”
“Yeah. He helped me a lot.”
Choi Seolgi made a surprised expression at Yoo-hyun’s answer.
On the other hand, Kang Changseok, whose face was red from the alcohol, lifted his chin and boasted.
Of course, his boasting didn’t last long.
Choi Seolgi looked at him with a red face and mocked him.
“Yoo-hyun oppa, be careful. Changseok oppa might stab you in the back.”
“Hey, Choi Seolgi, aren’t you being too harsh?”
Kang Changseok flared up at her words.
“Why? Huh? Are you showing your true colors again?”
Kang Changseok couldn’t stand up to Choi Seolgi at all.
He sighed and kept flipping the intestines.
Choi Seolgi reminded Yoo-hyun again.
“Oppa, you have to remember what Changseok oppa did during the training period.”
“Don’t worry. If he stabs me in the back, I’ll pay him back ten times.”
“Yes. You have to do that.”
Yoo-hyun assured her and Choi Seolgi finally nodded her head.
It was a serious expression that Yoo-hyun couldn’t tell if it was a joke or not.
Kang Changseok was annoyed and continued to grill the intestines.
Yoo-hyun lifted his glass again to avoid awkwardness.
“Come on, let’s have a drink. The food is good too.”
That’s how the empty bottles piled up, and they each talked about their company life.
They spent most of their day at work, so they had nothing else to talk about.
Jung Dabin told them about her hardships.
“You wouldn’t believe what I went through in Geoje…”
Seol Gitaek also grumbled in response.
“I had to deal with TV filming…”
They all complained, but Yoo-hyun saw their pride in their words.