A Genius Speaks with Money

Chapter 42

HJ Partners headquarters.

The time when the sun was setting.

As the elevator doors opened quietly, a boy wearing a school uniform walked out with a clack-clack.

Carrying a school bag, I, Lim Hyunjun, looked exactly like a high school student.

I headed toward the top floor where security was tight with familiar steps.

Employees who were waiting in the lobby greeted me all at once.

"Hello, Representative?"

"Good work. You may leave for the day."

"Yes, thank you."

I, Lim Hyunjun, nodded briefly and then completed the entry authentication with familiar hand movements.The fingerprint recognition worked and the door opened smoothly.

The inside was a quiet space completely separated from the outside.

This was a representative-only space that only a very few people could enter even within HJ Partners.

As soon as I, Lim Hyunjun, put down my school bag on the sofa, someone entered as if they had been waiting.

It was Choi Seo-jun.

"Representative, you have arrived at the right time."

"Did something happen?"

Choi Seo-jun was someone who usually dressed in a neat suit and did not have many changes in expression, but a heavy energy was reflected somewhere today.

I, Lim Hyunjun, sat in the chair and met his gaze silently.

"...Something did happen."

It was a word closer to confirmation than a question.

Choi Seo-jun quickly took out the tablet he had brought.

"I heard Center Head Kim Jongseok went to Daehan Shipbuilding &

Marine Engineering today. It seems he finally found out that fact."

My complexion, as Lim Hyunjun, gradually hardened.

I slowly leaned my back against the chair.

"Please tell me in detail."

Choi Seo-jun put the tablet down on the table and slowly flipped through the screen.

The details of the transfer notification from the hospital appeared there.

"The notification was sent to Center Head Kim Jongseok from the hospital side this morning. It was about Ms. Ha-yun being transferred to a partner hospital in Geoje this Wednesday."

My gaze, as Lim Hyunjun, headed downward.

My fingers moved slowly on the desk.

"Of course, it must have been a process carried out without prior consent."

"That is correct. Kim Jongseok himself claimed that he never requested a transfer as a guardian, but the company side had already finished the paperwork."

My voice, as Lim Hyunjun, was low and calm, but it was sharper than usual.

"They are out of their minds."

"Exactly. They are the worst among the worst. I heard Center Head Kim Jongseok went straight to the headquarters. A scuffle broke out with the secretaries in front of the Vice President'

s office, and even the security team was deployed."

Choi Seo-jun closed the tablet screen and spoke carefully.

"Representative, what are you going to do now?"

A short silence flowed and I, Lim Hyunjun, raised my head slowly.

There was neither anger nor urgency in my eyes.

Instead, a calm and deep resolution was contained.

I, Lim Hyunjun, stood up from the seat and slowly walked to the window to look down at the city.

After a moment, a low and firm voice flowed from me.

"...Now is the time to move."

Weight was added to that one sentence as if it cut across the space, digging deep into Choi Seo-jun'

s heart.

I, Lim Hyunjun, added without looking away from the window.

"The person called Kim Jongseok. He did not collapse today;

he held on until the end."

Choi Seo-jun swallowed his breath.

***

Kim Jongseok arrived at the hospital while holding the steering wheel with difficulty.

He caught his breath for a moment in front of the main gate and bowed his waist to rest his forehead on the back of his hand.

He felt like his whole body was swollen.

There was no place that did not throb.

He barely raised his body and entered the hospital.

Having arrived in front of the hospital room door, he stood still in front of the door for a long time.

When he finally reached out and opened the door, Ha-yun appeared.

An IV line was attached to the back of the child'

s hand, which was thin without even a trace of blood.

Kim Jongseok was about to reach out to tidy up the child'

s hair when a cold voice was heard from behind his back.

"Is this the result you talked about?"

Kim Jongseok turned around slowly.

Standing there was his wife, Jung Yu-jin.

Her appearance as she glared at him with a gaze full of sharp edges was also very exhausted.

"How... How can you do that? Do you know what I felt when I suddenly received the transfer notice from the hospital?"

At his wife'

s words, Kim Jongseok could not make any reply and took her out of the hospital room.

Then, outside the hospital room, his wife pushed him even more.

"Are you the father? You clearly know Ha-yun'

s condition.... Even the doctors and nurses were all surprised. A sudden transfer? What kind of nonsense is that. That hospital is a long-term care hospital. Did you even know? Say something!"

"……."

No matter how much his wife pushed him, Kim Jongseok could not say anything.

Perhaps frustrated by her husband who only listened, his wife'

s voice gradually became colder.

"Do you know what I expected from you? It wasn'

t money or fame. I just... wanted you to be a father our child wouldn'

t be ashamed of."

At those words, Kim Jongseok collapsed.

His vision blurred and his lips trembled.

Having slumped down, he barely opened his mouth while sobbing.

"Ha-yun... I wanted to protect her. That was all."

"If so, you should have protected her. This is not protecting her."

Jung Yu-jin took a step back and threw words with a cold face.

"Act as if nothing happened in front of Ha-yun. Don'

t pointlessly say you'

re sorry or anything like that. Think about how anxious our child will feel hearing those words."

Along with those words, she opened the hospital room door and went inside.

His wife carefully grabbed the slender hand of the sleeping child and spoke in a low voice.

"Ha-yun, Mommy is here. It'

s okay, it'

s nothing."

Jung Yu-jin was also shedding tears just the same while saying those words.

She knew as well.

Why did her husband end up going to Geoje?

She was not unaware of who the most struggling person was right now.

However, she was also very exhausted.

It was too burdensome to even imagine the child, who had become the reason for living, disappearing.

That was why she pushed her husband.

Because she felt like she would collapse first if she did not do that, she had done it even while knowing it was wrong.

A few days later, it was the morning when Ha-yun was moving to the hospital in Geoje.

Ha-yun was lying on an ambulance bed.

Jung Yu-jin, who held her hand tightly, struggled to put on a bright expression even by force.

Kim Jongseok returned after quietly submitting the transfer procedure documents.

The medical staff had come out to the front of the hospital.

They were grateful people who had worked hard for Ha-yun for a long time.

They said a word each to the departing Ha-yun.

"Ha-yun, you must receive treatment well after going there too."

The attending physician stroked the child'

s hair affectionately while hiding sadness with effort.

The nurse'

s appearance trying to make a bright voice was evident.

"Our angel Ha-yun must definitely get healthy and come back to play. Now, it'

s a promise."

Ha-yun nodded with difficulty.

Her small and thin lips moved slightly.

Kim Jongseok bowed his head to express his gratitude to the medical staff who had worked hard during that time.

After a moment, the ambulance door closed and the vehicle started slowly.

Inside the ambulance, his wife and a doctor from the Geoje side were together.

Kim Jongseok got into the driver'

s seat.

Then he followed behind the ambulance.

While driving, the ambulance entered a different direction unlike expectations.

To go to Geoje, it clearly had to go south, but for some reason, it headed in a completely different direction.

Kim Jongseok fell into confusion for a moment.

'

Could it be.... Did something happen during the transport?'

He called his wife, but for some reason, she did not answer.

His heart was burning, but he comforted his mind with effort as there was also a doctor inside the ambulance.

Anxiety surged up his neck, but as it would be a big problem if he were to miss the ambulance, Kim Jongseok put strength into his hands holding the steering wheel.

"Please... just let her be safe. Please...."

As time passed, the ambulance slowed down.

Then, upon arriving at a certain place, the car stopped altogether.

Kim Jongseok was bewildered, and only then did the sign enter his eyes.

'

...Taeseong General Hospital?'

Something must have happened to the child while moving.

He got out of the car with his heart in his mouth and ran toward the ambulance.

His heart hammered like crazy.

Whether something was wrong.

Whether the child'

s condition had changed suddenly.

Tens of thousands of thoughts weighed down his head.

At that moment, the ambulance door opened.

It was the medical staff who opened the door.

Behind them, his wife Jung Yu-jin was visible.

It was a face that looked somewhat tired, but she looked calm.

Kim Jongseok checked the child first.

Ha-yun was lying with a peaceful expression.

Kim Jongseok carefully asked the doctor as if he were still not relieved.

"Is she okay? Did anything happen?"

The doctor spoke calmly.

"Guardian, please do not worry. Nothing happened while coming here."

"If so, why did we come here? Without going to Geoje."

"Ah, that is...."

Before the doctor could even answer anything, someone ran hurriedly from the hospital side.

"Are you Center Head Kim Jongseok?"

A doctor wearing a white gown and with hair tinged with gray approached and greeted him warmly.

Following behind him, several hospital officials appeared together.

"I am the Director of Taeseong General Hospital, Oh Hyung-man. You worked hard coming all the way here."

"Ah, yes?!"

Kim Jongseok looked around with a bewildered face as he still hadn'

t grasped the situation.

The Director nodded with a warm smile and said.

"The treatment plan had already been passed to us since a while ago. It is a matter decided by the hospital'

s supreme board of directors. We will take responsibility and continue the child'

s treatment."

Kim Jongseok, who was bewildered without knowing the reason, only nodded at the hospital director'

s words.

It was an unbelievable thing to the extent that he did not want to wake up if it were a dream.

He felt as if the thing that happened suddenly was like winning the lottery.

However, what was clear was the fact that the child could receive treatment in a better environment.

He bowed his head deeply while looking at the hospital director.

"...Thank you very much."

Jung Yu-jin quietly held Ha-yun'

s hand, got off the ambulance, and headed inside while receiving the guidance of the medical staff.

Tears also welled up in her eyes.

This time, they were tears of relief rather than tears of fear.

With the guidance of the hospital officials, Ha-yun was moved to the VIP ward of Taeseong General Hospital.

The hospital room on the side of the window, which was spacious and sunny, was quiet and cozy to the extent that it was more than enough for staying alone.

Latest medical equipment and a nursing station were equipped there.

While Ha-yun was carefully moved to the bed and the nurse organized the IV line attached to the back of the hand, Kim Jongseok and Jung Yu-jin stood dazed inside the hospital room.

All of this was unbelievable to them.

Jung Yu-jin opened her mouth toward the hospital director first.

"Director, I am sorry, but we do not have the ability to handle this hospital room. Such a high-end hospital room is... burdensome for people like us to use."

Kim Jongseok also added immediately.

"Whether there is some mistake. I was only notified a while ago of the fact that the transfer would happen. And it was clearly a hospital in Geoje."

Then, the Hospital Director Oh Hyung-man smiled quietly and shook his head.

"There is no mistake at all, so please do not worry. It is correct that Center Head Kim Jongseok'

s daughter is coming here. The hospital room was also assigned correctly."

At those words, the two became even more bewildered.

Jung Yu-jin carefully asked again.

"Then who on earth took such measures...."

The hospital director spared his words for a moment and then signaled to go outside the hospital room.

They went to one side of the hallway, and the hospital director looked around.

Having finally confirmed that no one was nearby, he opened his mouth with a lowered voice.

"The list of sponsors is, in principle, confidential. It is to protect the privacy of the patient and respect the wishes of the sponsor."

The two listened with bated breath.

Director Oh looked around once more as if it were a top secret and quietly continued speaking.

"However, what I can tell you is that our hospital recently formed a cooperative relationship with HJ Partners. Exactly up to here. Shh! It will be a big problem if you know more. Ahem."