Chapter 96

　　Chapter 96

　　“What?”

　　Jungmyun was taken aback .

　　“I said I don’t want it . ”

　　Sungyoon repeated himself in a calm manner . The scout looked into his eyes . The eyes staring back at him looked like they were made out of gla.s.s .

　　However, Jungmyun re-centered his mind . As a scout, he had met all kinds of people . Of course, he had also met truly trash people over the course of his career . In comparison to them, Sungyoon’s cold and brusque manner was almost cute .

　　He was that much of a pro .

　　‘Is he playing hard to get? Or does he really have no intention of signing this contract?’

　　By the look on Sungyoon’s face, it seemed it was the latter . However, Jungmyun didn’t take Sungyoon’s words as his final answer . It was pretty common for clients to manage their facial expressions to get slightly more advantageous terms on the contract . There was a reason why it was called a poker face .

　　“May I know the reason?”

　　Sungyoon didn’t even look at the terms of the contract in front of him as he answered the question .

　　“I made a contract with my president . ”

　　“If you are worried about the contract you signed first, you don’t need to ponder on it . It doesn’t matter what clauses were added . I’ll be sure to break all of it . Of course, you won’t suffer any negative consequences from it . ”

　　Jungmyun’s words were overflowing with confidence . Small companies like Jimin’s company could be bullied by them, and he was working with this underlying belief .

　　He was trying to change Sungyoon’s mind, so he wanted to make his company look appealing . However, Sungyoon had experienced losing everything when a large corporation had come at him with the same att.i.tude . Jungmyun’s tactic backfired .

　　Sungyoon pressed down on the urge to cuss at this man .

　　“My president picked me up when I was struggling . I have no thoughts of leaving her . Please leave!”

　　Sungyoon gave his final decision, but Jungmyung was like a persistent door-to-door salesman . He continued to solicit Sungyoon .

　　“If your answer is rooted in a feeling of affection or indebtedness, it is all the more reason to move to a new company . This industry is strictly run on a business relations.h.i.+p . Your president picked you when she saw Mr . Sungyoon’s abilities . Even if you feel indebted, such emotions will only cause you harm in the long run . I’m sorry to say this, but if feelings of affection come into a business relations.h.i.+p, it never ends well . ”

　　However, Sungyoon wasn’t showing an ounce of interest in his words . Jungmyun became a bit discouraged .

　　“Life isn’t all about affection or indebtedness . From what I learned in life, such emotions aren’t as sacred as the world makes them out to be . ”

　　Sungyoon’s eyes twitched a little bit .

　　Life! That word got on his nerves .

　　The man in front of him looked to be of the same age as him . He might even be a bit younger than Sungyoon . However, Sungyoon didn’t think the man in front of him had undergone through the same degree of hards.h.i.+p as him . From the vibe he gave off, this man had lived the life of an elite .

　　He had walked a perfectly paved road in life, yet he wanted to lecture Sungyoon about life .

　　It was laughable . He almost snorted in derision .

　　Sungyoon pushed the doc.u.ments and the business card toward Jungmyun .

　　“Please leave . ”

　　“Mr . Sungyoon?”

　　“Please leave . ”

　　Sungyoon told this oblivious human being to leave .

　　* * *

　　A red foreign car drove into Sungyoon’s apartment complex . The eyes of the nearby residents were drawn to the foreign car . This was an apartment complex occupied by ordinary people, so an expensive foreign car would naturally draw their gazes .

　　Click!

　　The door to the car opened, and a person got off . The interest from the surrounding people intensified as a blonde beauty emerged from the car . She was more beautiful than most of the women in movies . She looked glamorous, and there was an inner radiance to her . People became entranced by her . There was something about this woman that made one develop a deep-seated fondness towards her .

　　However, the blonde beauty was deeply worried at that moment .

　　‘I can’t believe Jimin is doing this!’

　　Chelsea had borrowed Jimin’s car to come here .

　　The previous day, Jimin had pretty much fled from Sungyoon’s house . She had locked herself in her room . Usually, Jimin got up at 6 AM in order to get ready for work, and would be out of the house by 7:30 AM . She lived an almost mechanical life, so the fact that she was breaking her schedule was a big deal .

　　Jimin had expected scouts to offer contracts to Sungyoon, but she had underestimated the shock she would feel .

　　‘Mr . Sungyoon is a problem too!’

　　He saw her leave like that, yet he hadn’t called her . Wasn’t it his duty to call and inquire after Jimin? The fact that he hadn’t contacted her made Jimin all the more afraid .

　　A day had pa.s.sed . He would have made his decision . He would have either accepted or declined the scout’s offer .

　　Chelsea quickly headed toward Sungyoon’s house .

　　Ding dong!

　　She pressed the doorbell . She didn’t hide her displeasure as she crossed her arms . She waited for him to answer the door .

　　The front door opened immediately . If she saw Sungyoon’s face, she would give him a piece of her mind . However, Chelsea quickly relaxed her face .

　　“Unni!”

　　s.h.i.+nhae had come out to greet Chelsea .

　　Even if she was in a bad mood, she couldn’t show such an expression in front of s.h.i.+nhae . s.h.i.+nhae glommed on to her leg . Chelsea lightly petted her head as she asked the question .

　　“h.e.l.lo, s.h.i.+nhae! Is your dad home?”

　　“Yes, he is!”

　　s.h.i.+nhae called out to her father as she ran into the house . Chelsea followed after her and entered through the front door .

　　The first thing that greeted Chelsea was a sweet and fragrant smell . Chelsea liked sweet things, so her nose reflexively twitched .

　　“You are here, Ms . Chelsea?”

　　Sungyoon had come out . He looked like his normal self . In contrast to him, Chelsea and Jimin had stayed up all night in worry and fear . Chelsea felt anger rise when she saw no change in the man .

　　“Unni! Unni!”

　　This time she really was going to let her discontentment be known to him, but her attempt at giving him a piece of her mind was foiled once again . s.h.i.+nhae was hovering around her .

　　The child pointed towards the oven .

　　“We are making cookies!”

　　It seemed that was the source of the sweet and fragrant smell filling the house .

　　For now, she pressed down on her grievance . She went to the front of the oven with the little girl, and she listened to her enthusiastic ramblings . s.h.i.+nhae didn’t even pause as she continued to speak . However, her high spirits became a bit dampened in the next moment .

　　“Hey, s.h.i.+nhae! Unni has to go have a little talk with your dad . I’ll be back . ”

　　“Yes!”

　　Fortunately, it didn’t hurt the feelings of the child . There was great antic.i.p.ation in s.h.i.+nhae’s eyes as she refused to move away from the oven . Chelsea left her and headed towards the master bedroom, where Sungyoon was present .

　　“What’s wrong?”

　　Sungyoon had his usual expression on his face as he asked the question . Chelsea had calmed down significantly while she played with s.h.i.+nhae, so her voice remained relatively normal .

　　“You were scouted yesterday, right?”

　　“Yes!”

　　“… what do you plan to do?”

　　She felt nervous . Jimin’s future changed depending on how he answered this question . She gulped .

　　“I’m not going . ”

　　It was as if Chelsea had become nervous for nothing . There was no excitement or disappointment in Sungyoon's voice as he spoke in a calm manner . Chelsea was like a suspect waiting for a verdict . She had been staring at Sungyoon’s mouth, and the tension dissipated in an instant .

　　“What’s wrong?”

　　When her nervousness went away, her body became awash with exhaustion . Unlike the relieved Chelsea, Sungyoon’s expression didn’t change . In fact, he looked at Chelsea as if she was acting oddly, and even asked if she was alright .

　　She wanted to pinch his expressionless face hard, but Chelsea barely held herself back . However, a funny thought came to her mind . In the past, she had really hated the idea of Jimin continuing to run her company . But now, she was panicking at the thought of Sungyoon quitting Jimin’s company .

　　“If you made the decision, you should have contacted us . We were worried . ”

　　“Worried?”

　　“Yes . I was worried you would accept the offer and move to a different company . Jimin was also worried . ”

　　Sungyoon thought for a brief moment .

　　“I see . I didn’t think this through . I thought I only needed to reaffirm my commitment to the company a little bit on my next trip to her office . ”

　　“You should have told us as soon as possible . Jimin is especially worried right now . ”

　　She was beyond worry . She was in a state of shock, and she had basically locked herself in her room . Of course, Chelsea didn’t reveal this to Sungyoon .

　　Sungyoon became a bit surprised .

　　“The president is cool-headed . I thought she would be making her next plans in an objective manner . ”

　　Sungyoon had seen Jimin laugh and play with s.h.i.+nhae, but she wasn’t usually like that . Normally, she was a cold and determined woman . He never expected her to be so worried over a scout .

　　Chelsea shut her mouth . Jimin wasn’t as strong as Sungyoon thought . Her surface was covered with a s.h.i.+eld of ice, but there was a brittle woman inside . She wanted to immediately fix the image he had of Jimin, but she would probably be overstepping her bounds .

　　“Still, you should contact her . ”

　　In the end, Chelsea shut her mouth . She didn’t talk about Jimin’s true self .

　　“Understood!”

　　Sungyoon picked up his handphone .

　　Chelsea stood up . She planned on giving him s.p.a.ce, so he could talk to Jimin . She planned on using that time to play with s.h.i.+nhae .

　　However, it seemed Chelsea had taken the man named Sungyoon too lightly .

　　Sungyoon fiddled with his handphone . His fingers awkwardly moved as he tapped at the display, then he put his handphone down .

　　“You aren’t going to contact her?”

　　Chelsea had been about to leave the room . She sounded puzzled as she asked the question .

　　“I already did . ”

　　Sungyoon showed her the display of his handphone . A familiar SNS app was open on the phone .

　　“… you sent an SNS?”

　　“Yes . ”

　　He stood tall as he said this . Chelsea had to close her mouth . She once again had this thought, but the person named Woo Sungyoon was a tough nut to crack .

　　In the end, Chelsea decided not to talk about the scout anymore . He did contact Jimin, so she no longer had to be worried about her .

　　When things were starting to wrap up, Chelsea became curious about something .

　　“So why did you turn down the offer from the scout? In terms of benefits, it must have been much better than what Jimin had offered . ”

　　“I have no idea what the benefits are . I didn’t look at it in the first place . ”

　　Chelsea became a bit surprised at his words .

　　“You didn’t even look at it? Why?”

　　Sungyoon had a small frown on his face . It seemed he was a bit annoyed at Chelsea being too nosy . However, he couldn’t get the shameless researcher to drop the subject .

　　“I felt a debt to her . But above all else, I made a contract with the president . ”

　　“… is that all?”

　　“Yes, that is all . ”

　　Sometimes saying one short sentence was far better than a hundred words of nothing . He was able to clearly express his true feelings .

　　Chelsea looked at him with an odd look in her eyes . Sungyoon just walked past her . He walked toward his daughter, who was waiting for her cookies to finish .

　　* * *

　　He was having a hard time keeping his heavy shoulders up today . It was as if he was carrying all the world’s pain, hards.h.i.+p, grief, and sadness on his shoulders . It felt as if a heavy weight was pressing down on his chest .

　　“Whew!”

　　He let out a sigh . He already sighed a couple thousand times, yet it just made him feel more frustrated . His worries weren’t showing any signs of disappearing .

　　The man named Kim Soobin went into a high-rise building in Gangnam . In the past several years, this building had allowed him to walk around with pride . It was the building owned by the preeminent conglomerate that he was contracted to . However, the building felt oppressive today . It was stressing him out . His feet didn’t want to move . He had to practically drag his feet forward as he continued to move .

　　He went past a familiar lobby . He took the elevator and pressed the floor he wanted to go to, and when the elevator opened its door, he walked towards the room he wanted to visit .

　　He gulped once again, and then, he opened the door .

　　“Welcome, Mr . Kim Soobin . ”

　　The person who would inform him about his future was inside this room .