Chapter 59

“Secretary Officer Choi Gi-woong. Choi Gi-woong. Yes. You heard me correctly. You seem quite surprised.”

The Managing Director nodded.

“The young man seems all excited after solving the Ilseong case… I was debating whether I should tell you this, but I decided to call.”

Now he was even calling me a “young man.” I crossed my arms, wondering how far he would go.

“…You’re coming over? Oh my. You don’t have to go that far. In any case, I understand. Yes. I’ll see you later.”

After hanging up, the Managing Director sat down again.

His voice was much more relaxed than before.

“Head of department Kim Yoon-joong is on his way here.”

“Is that so?”

“From the sound of his voice, he seems furious. Will you be okay?”

I was the one who wanted to ask that. If he would be okay.

“I think I might have blown this way out of proportion.”

“You did blow this way out of proportion.”

The scale of this was now much bigger than if I had handled it myself.

It was something that would have ended with a simple contract termination, but he just had to get Head of department Kim Yoon-joong involved.

Just because I could waltz in and out of the Head of department’s office without knocking, it would be a mistake to underestimate Kim Yoon-joong.

If he set his mind to digging into someone, even a corporate mogul would have to be nervous.

“Are you finally grasping the situation? You should take this chance to learn. That you’ll be in big trouble if you go around acting high and mighty just because you’re an Association agent.”

The sneering Managing Director took a recorder out of his pocket and shook it.

“From you admitting to assaulting our employee, to you abusing your power against a corporation. It’s all recorded here.”

It was then. The door burst open.

I thought Head of department Kim Yoon-joong had arrived already, but it wasn’t him.

“Pro Choi!”

The mountain of a man, Squad Leader Baek In-ho, waved his bear-like paw and greeted me cheerfully.

“Squad Leader Baek In-ho, you were here too?”

“Yeah. I had some business over here… Managing Director Kang is here too. But what’s with the atmosphere?”

Baek In-ho, who had been grinning, tilted his head.

Managing Director Kang Cheol-min let out a deep sigh as if to say, ‘good timing.’

“It seems we’ve thoroughly gotten on Mr. Choi Gi-woong’s bad side.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

The Managing Director repeated what he had told Head of department Kim Yoon-joong like a parrot.

Adding the part about me assaulting his subordinate.

“…Pro Choi. Is that true?”

Baek In-ho asked, blinking his eyes. I nodded.

“Yes. He was acting cocky, so I taught him a lesson, and it’s also true that I asked to terminate the contract even though there were no issues with it.”

At my affirmation, the Managing Director scoffed.

“Look at this. Still hasn’t come to his senses and is just showing off his pride…”

Cutting off the Managing Director, Baek In-ho clicked his tongue.

“If that’s what it was, you should have told me first.”

“It wasn’t a big deal, so I thought I could handle it on my own. If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would have contacted you sooner.”

“What. It’s not resolved yet? Why? What’s the problem.”

I gestured with my chin toward the man in front of Baek In-ho, who looked ready to pounce.

“Managing Director Kang says he can’t deal with a greenhorn like me. That’s why Head of department Kim Yoon-joong is on his way.”

“The Head of department? Here?”

Baek In-ho glanced at the Managing Director and said.

“Making a mountain out of a molehill…”

The Managing Director blinked.

He forced the corners of his mouth up and spoke haltingly.

“I think I may have explained it incorrectly.”

“No. The explanation was fine. I also took a quick look at the contract, and it’s true there are no issues.”

“……”

If you know that, then why are you reacting like this?

He stared at Baek In-ho with that exact expression.

“If the Head of department is coming, I guess I don’t need to be here.”

“You seem very busy.”

“It’d be nice if Pro Choi could help out a bit.”

“I’ll come see you sometime later.”

Baek In-ho nodded and got up from his seat.

“Pro Choi, you need to get your face out there and become famous. It’ll be a pain if this kind of thing keeps happening.”

“I’ve already scheduled a media day and an interview.”

“Good job.”

Patting my shoulder, Baek In-ho walked right out of the conference room.

The timing was perfect.

“He’s here.”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong came in, breathing heavily as if he had run.

“What is all this?”

I shrugged at the fierce growl.

“What trouble did you cause?”

“Exactly what you heard earlier. It seemed like something I couldn’t handle at my level.”

“What do you mean you can’t handle it at your level? That New Awakening place. Isn’t it just a small shop?”

“Yes.”

“Then why can’t you handle it. What’s the reason.”

“You’ll have to ask this person for the details. I saw him recording everything earlier.”

When I pointed at the Managing Director, Kim Yoon-joong’s murderous gaze turned toward him.

“Managing Director.”

“Yes, yes. Head of department.”

“Let me see the contract. Let’s see just how big of a deal this is that even Choi Gi-woong can’t handle it.”

Without waiting for an answer, Kim Yoon-joong roughly snatched the papers.

It took him less than 30 seconds to scan the contract in front of him.

“You didn’t touch Daehu directly, and it’s not even an affiliate. It’s nothing special, right?”

“Yes.”

“Tsk. Just how much of a pushover did you look like for him to call me?”

His words were directed at me, but for some reason, only the Managing Director’s face grew darker and darker.

“Managing Director. I believe I’ve failed to properly train my subordinate.”

“…Pardon?”

“How little this punk understands his place, to try and handle a matter so difficultly when it could have been finished with a single word.”

The Managing Director had been unable to process the situation for a while now.

“H-Head of department.”

“Ah, or did you call me, Managing Director, to handle this cleanly on this occasion? A whistleblower, something like that?”

As he spoke, Head of department Kim Yoon-joong sat down.

“If that’s the case, I can handle it for you, decisively. Starting with New Awakening, all the way to the main headquarters, to make sure there’s not a speck of dust.”

The Managing Director’s dark face turned deathly pale.

From then on, it was swift and decisive.

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong made a call somewhere, and a man called the Vice President came running in, out of breath.

And the Managing Director was dragged away somewhere with a pale face.

“Vice President, do you also think our kid crossed the line?”

“Oh, not at all. I had no idea such an unfair contract existed. Truly.”

“You know we have the upper hand if we spin this to the media, right? If we dig into not just this, but other things as well…”

The terrified Vice President quickly nodded his head.

“Of course. I know all too well.”

After saying that, the Vice President smashed the recorder in front of me.

“We will immediately rectify the contract issue with New Awakening and other retailers. To have Head of department Kim come all this way for such a trivial matter. I am deeply sorry.”

I knew it already, but it was a moment where I once again felt the extent of the Association’s power.

At the same time, I inwardly clicked my tongue.

Because my career was short and my name wasn’t well-known, I was getting picked on for every little thing.

As I came out of Daehu, I spoke to Head of department Kim Yoon-joong.

“That interview I was supposed to do, I’d like to move it up.”

“…My god.”

Park Do-jin said, stammering.

He was looking at the flood of Skill Books as if they were gold.

“A-All of this is coming to our store?”

“How’s the merchandise?”

Park Do-jin shook his head and said.

“From low Rank to high, there’s nothing to throw away. We won’t have to struggle with matching Skill trees anymore.”

Park Do-jin’s eyes, which had been lifeless just yesterday, had changed. They were the eyes only a person who took pride in their work could have.

I’d been feeling it since yesterday, but the more I saw, the more surprising he was.

I was just going to solve it quickly and be done, but my thoughts had changed a little.

Maybe I should entrust our kids to him, too.

“From now on, only merchandise of this quality will come in. Right?”

I said to the two Black Market employees who were in the middle of carrying things.

They were familiar faces.

The two punks who had messed with me when I went to the underpass to find Wi Jeong-rak.

“Yes, yes! Of course! Naturally, only the best goods should come in. Skill Books, equipment, all of it. We’ll provide only the highest quality.”

He said that, but his eyes looked like he was dying of regret.

He must be thinking it was a waste to supply such goods to a piddly little shop like this.

But I thought differently.

If Park Do-jin’s ability was real, he wasn’t a vessel meant to run a small shop here.

The problem was that as the vessel gets bigger, things will get that much harder.

“If the merchandise is this good, sales are practically guaranteed, we can use word-of-mouth for marketing, then expand and relocate…”

The female employee standing next to him muttered as if possessed. It seemed I had worried for nothing.

With these two, they would continue to do well in the future.

The usual commute to work.

As I was climbing the stairs, someone approached me.

“It’s so hard to see your face.”

Reporter Kim Joon-yong from Media Day greeted me with a wide grin.

A few days ago, he was someone I would have completely ignored and walked past, but things were a little different now.

“I’ve been so busy with work. More importantly, weren’t you in the editing room?”

The interview had been finished a few days ago.

Originally, we were going to publish it in newspaper format, but I changed the plan.

Let’s make it a video.

The look on Reporter Kim Joon-yong’s face, like he was about to die of happiness at my suggestion, was still vivid.

After the interview, Reporter Kim Joon-yong had excitedly said he was canceling all his other schedules to edit just my piece.

“The editing was finished as of yesterday, and I even uploaded it. It should be up by now.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Aren’t you going to ask how it turned out?”

“I can tell just by looking at your face.”

The skin under Reporter Kim Joon-yong’s eyes was dark. The muscles around his lips were twitching.

As if he wanted to quickly tell the world that the emperor has no clothes.

“It came out fantastically. It’s going to be even harder to see you from now on.”

Then, annoying things like what happened at Daehu would probably decrease.

“But will it be okay? It seems like the schedule overlaps a bit. With Mr. Seong Yo-han.”

The reporter’s flushed face fell.

“I heard the preview for the talk show he filmed last time is also coming out today. Usually, you don’t release things at the same time.”

I nodded and replied.

“Yes. It’s fine. Are you okay, Reporter? Won’t you get an earful if they’re released together?”

“I will. I will, but I have to endure it.”

The reporter shrugged and extended his hand.

“You’re only supposed to ride one line.”

“You’re going to make me that line? It might be a bit risky.”

“The riskier it is, the greater the reward. And from my perspective, there’s no better material than a new face.”

“That’s good. Then.”

I bowed and continued up the stairs. All the while, my phone vibrated several times.

I checked, and it was the trio. They were making a fuss, telling me to hurry up.

It looked like they had even prepared popcorn.

I sent a reply telling them to wait and then looked up.

Speak of the devil.

Seong Yo-han was coming out of the lobby.

As if it was good timing for him too, Seong Yo-han spotted me and immediately headed my way.

When he was two steps away, he clicked his tongue and said.

“I heard you messed with Daehu.”

“Yes. It just sort of happened.”

“You should have told me beforehand if you were having trouble. I heard even the busy Head of department was called over?”

He wasn’t called over. He came on his own.

“I thought you were busy with a designated request, Seonbae. I’ll be sure to tell you next time.”

At my words, Seong Yo-han shut his mouth.

Surely, if you have any conscience, you shouldn’t be opening your mouth to me.

“I told you before. If you don’t listen to me, things won’t be very good for you.”

Nope.

He was a more shameless person than I thought.

I’d only seen his good image in the media, so I still get confused sometimes.

I was about to answer, but Seong Yo-han’s team member next to him spoke first.

“Team leader. They said the preview for the talk show you filmed last time is up now.”

“Let’s see it.”

“Yes. One moment.”

The team member, who was fiddling with his phone, tilted his head.

Soon, his expression began to be colored with bewilderment.