novelraw Chapter 88: Invitation (1)
Chapter 88: Invitation (1)
The meeting reached its final stages, and the end was in sight.
As everyone was organizing materials, I looked at General Manager Yu Hyeon-seok and spoke.
“General Manager Yu, please form a working-level group and carry out an on-site inspection in parallel.”
The atmosphere inside the conference room was subtly shaken once again.
“Unlike seeing it through documents like this, the air felt at the site will be quite different.”
General Manager Yu took a short breath and then lowered his head.
“I understand, Representative. I will prepare and move soon.”
I slowly nodded my head and added words.
“The real start is from now. Good work.”
It was advice containing reality as well as encouragement.The meeting was concluded, and the working-level staff left the conference room one by one.
While I also remained for a moment and was organizing materials, the door opened quietly, and someone slipped into the conference room.
“Representative, is a moment okay?”
The owner of the voice was Director Choi Seo-jun.
He looked full of curiosity about something.
“The last words you said to GM Yu in the meeting just now. Is there something to that?”
I laughed briefly and put down the documents I was organizing.
“Your intuition is quick as expected.”
“Well, rather than intuition being quick, should I say I noticed it because I have spent a lot of time with you, Representative. Hahaha.”
I sat in the chair and crossed my arms.
“General Manager Yu will suffer a bit from now on.”
“…….”
I continued speaking calmly.
“Much more than you think, Director.”
“More than I think?”
“The reality faced at the site is much rougher than these documents. One only knows after bumping into things directly and meeting people.”
Choi Seo-jun nodded and recalled the face of General Manager Yu Hyeon-seok.
He was a sharp person who always worked diligently.
Then, because he occasionally put forward principles, there was quite a bit of emotional fluctuation.
“Will GM Yu be able to endure without much trouble?”
I laughed quietly.
“So, please look after him well, Director.”
I raised my head and looked at Choi Seo-jun.
“Please give him some support whenever it is hard. That becomes a surprisingly big strength.”
Choi Seo-jun was silent for a moment.
Only then did he realize.
That all of this was something the boy in front of him had devised.
He nodded and murmured playfully.
“I pray for General Manager Yu's soul.”
I chuckled and said.
“He is alive, so praying for his soul… is that not too much?”
“Even if one is alive, the heart can die several times.”
Choi Seo-jun trailed off and stood up.
However, unlike his expression, his gaze was not light at all.
“I should meet him often and support him. And Representative, I do not know if I can say this.”
I looked at Choi Seo-jun.
“You are quite frighteningly mature today.”
I only smiled instead of answering.
The door closed, and remaining alone in the conference room, Choi Seo-jun's last words still remained in my ears.
I slowly closed my eyes.
‘You are quite frighteningly mature today.’
It was as if those words knocked on a memory buried deep in my heart a long time ago.
I remember that day was also very cold.
A day when the office was unusually quiet to a strange extent.
“Assistant Manager Jeong, the manager wants to see you today. Go quickly.”
I could not forget what kind of result a single word quietly offered had produced.
When I entered the personnel office, the supervisor's expression looked lethargic as if he were forcibly hiding something.
I could sense it in advance from the gaze that seemed to avoid my eyes.
A prepared recommendation for resignation was placed before me.
“I know the company is in difficulty, but is this not too sudden?”
The supervisor held out a pen to Jeong Taeshik without a word.
It felt as if all of this was already a set procedure.
The white paper placed on the table was colder than I thought.
I did not realize then that it would become a stigma that would cut off a person's livelihood and even their future in an instant.
“I am sorry, Assistant Manager Jeong.”
That one word hurt more.
Even guilt was not contained in the eyes of the supervisor who struggled not to meet my eyes.
Perhaps he resigned.
After that, Jeong Taeshik was busy here and there with his resume.
But what returned to him was only indifferent rejection.
The job market was gray itself, following the flow of the economy.
Of course, it was not only Jeong Taeshik who was like that.
News of colleagues reached his ears through word of mouth.
Rumors circulated that someone got divorced, and someone said they started designated driving because of their parents' hospital bills.
Every time I heard such news, I, as Jeong Taeshik, made a resolution alone.
That if a power to do something ever arose one day, I would not take the choice of discarding someone like that for granted.
I opened my eyes again.
A gentle ripple arose in my gaze and then soon subsided calmly.
I murmured to myself.
“We must endure more. We must protect them.”
I began to slowly organize the pile of documents placed on the desk.
The weight of the past remained as it was in my heart.
That weight had become the sturdiest core supporting me at present.
***
Contact came that the private jet received takeoff permission.
While walking to the boarding gate, the airport was very quiet as it was before the sun had even risen.
However, even in that silence, the meaning of today's flight was special.
This time, it was not a simple business trip.
I was invited to a place commemorating the birthday of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Hakim al-Zaidi.
In the Republic of Korea, only one person.
Only Lim Hyunjun, the representative of HJ Partners, was invited to that spot.
My calm yet dignified voice split the air and spread.
“Chief Jeong, Assistant Manager Moon, let us go now.”
Chief Jeong Jin-woo and Assistant Manager Moon Jong-beom moved simultaneously.
They were both wearing tailored suits with dark gray ties.
Since both of them were tall and had broad shoulders, their clothes fit quite well.
Moreover, Chief Jeong Jin-woo's sharp yet gentle eyes were revealed even more clearly under the dawn light.
Since Director Choi Seo-jun could not accompany us this time, Assistant Manager Moon and Chief Jeong decided to escort me like shadows.
Meanwhile, Choi Seo-jun, who was watching my appearance through the glass window of the VIP lounge, knit his brows.
“My heart is not at ease since I am sending you alone for the first time. Please return safely.”
He fiddled with the watch on his wrist like an anxious person.
Until now, he had necessarily accompanied all of my overseas schedules.
Especially if it was a place with deep political implications like this time, it was even more so.
“The Representative will return safely and well.”
Despite the cautious consolation of Director Choi Seo-jun's secretary, Kim Ji-seok, his expression was still stiff.
“Even so, Iraq is a place with many variables. No matter how deep the friendship with the Prime Minister is, it is dangerous.”
He watched the private jet heading slowly toward the runway until the end.
***
As I climbed the stairs and went inside the private jet, I let out an exclamation.
The interior, where leather seats of a calm cream tone and luxurious-looking solid wood harmonized, looked cool to anyone's eyes.
On top of that, the sky at dawn, gradually brightening outside the window, boasted its elegant appearance.
The cabin was perfectly organized along with a subtle fragrance.
A dedicated invitation sent from the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office was placed on the table, and next to it, a short phrase written by Prime Minister Hakim himself was also written.
[There are few people in the world whose sincerity resonates. To me, you are such a person.]
I looked at that phrase and then smiled quietly.
The smile that spread on the corners of my mouth was restrained yet warm.
Chief Jeong Jin-woo, who usually did not speak much, has become quite talkative lately.
“The Prime Minister is very delicate.”
I nodded my head.
Meanwhile, Assistant Manager Moon Jong-beom sat blankly in his seat with a fully tense face.
He was very unfamiliar with this, as he was not yet used to it.
On top of that, the fact that he was accompanying a state-guest-level invitation made him nervous.
I asked Moon Jong-beom.
“Are you okay?”
“That is… I am a little nervous.”
“I was like that in the past as well. You will soon get used to it. They are not much different.”
At my one word, Assistant Manager Moon let out an awkward laugh.
There was something in my voice that was not authoritative yet gave a sense of stability.
The private jet soon moved slowly toward the runway and then took off smoothly.
The flight attendant poured coffee for me.
Even in the midst of that, I opened the tablet and looked at the data on high-ranking Iraqi officials in advance.
Chief Jeong Jin-woo was the same.
After examining the data, he soon opened his mouth.
“Looking at the schedule, it is a place to celebrate the birthday, but it seems to be an informal gathering related to the political reorganization within Iraq.”
At Chief Jeong Jin-woo's words, I nodded and said.
“That is probably why they only invited us from the Republic of Korea.”
I moved my gaze out the window.
The sky, which had become bright before I knew it, had clouds flowing quietly.
It was a landscape I could not even have imagined in my previous life.
The light that flowed in through the window shone brightly on my face.
A sharp jawline, deep eyes, and a smile lingering on the mouth.
Despite being eighteen years of age, an unapproachable dignity overflowed from my face.
***
Even though it was winter, it was a day when the sunlight shone quite calmly.
At a quiet golf course, two elderly figures dressed in thick clothing instead of suits were moving their steps leisurely.
“It is a loss not to play golf on a clear day like these days. Is that not so, Chairman Lim?”
Chairman Lee Jin-cheol of Hanmyeong Group said with a laugh.
Lim Man-seok was heading to the next area with only a nod without any particular response.
It was then.
Chief Secretary Kang Cheol-woo, who was following quietly behind, approached softly.
“Chairman, it is Young Master Hyunjun.”
When Lim Man-seok looked back, Kang Cheol-woo held out a tablet.
On the screen, a plane that had just arrived at the runway of Baghdad International Airport in Iraq was visible.
Soon, a scene where I, Hyunjun, was slowly descending from the private jet was flowing out on the screen.
The Iraqi protocol team and high-ranking officials from the Prime Minister's Office lined up on both sides were visible.
And the appearance of people welcoming while scattering flower petals was reflected intact.
Subtitles flowed out at the bottom.
[Sole Invitee from the Republic of Korea - HJ Partners Representative Lim Hyunjun]
[Provided with a protocol vehicle directly under the Prime Minister. Reception at state-guest level]
Chairman Lee Jin-cheol, who saw this scene together from the side, murmured in a dignified voice.
“Haha, this is truly something. Does this not mean Hyunjun received treatment that even the President could not get?”
He asked the caddie for a water bottle and then drank it refreshingly.
While doing so, he glanced at Chairman Lim and made a joke.
“By this point, should today's golf bet not be invalidated? No, Chairman Lim should treat us.”
Lim Man-seok stared at the tablet screen as if he would pierce through it without saying anything and then returned it to Kang Cheol-woo.
There was no change in his expression, but the wrinkles that spread faintly around his eyes could not be hidden.
“A bet is a bet. One should not change their words.”
He picked up the club again.
Strength entered the fingertips holding the grip, and his posture became even more solid than before.
As if energy that was not in his waist had come alive.
The swing was drawn sharply.
The golf ball flew vigorously toward the green while drawing a smooth curve.
Lim Man-seok said while placing a smile on his mouth.
“Hmm, the ball is going out a bit today.”
Lee Jin-cheol burst into laughter as he saw that.
“Hey, when you are in a good mood, the grip does not come out like that. Look, honestly, you are in a good mood, right? You are just beaming. Hahaha.”
“It is because you keep wagging your tongue.”
Lim Man-seok spoke with an indifferent face as always, but behind that expression, an unhidden satisfaction was spreading gently.
The laughter of the two people on the green where the wind stopped for a moment spread softly in the winter sun.