#100
While Hwi-kyung was enjoying a pleasant shopping trip at the department store with Marcia, Gyo-ha was being thoroughly scolded by Jung-hye.
“Do you have any sense at all?”
In every iteration, Jung-hye would nag Gyo-ha like a broken record. Although Gyo-ha had acted in a way that deserved scolding, looking back, there wasn’t a single iteration where he wasn’t scolded. Taking a leave of absence from graduate school wasn’t a mortal sin, but Jung-hye would jump up and down whenever he took an unannounced break and returned to Korea without notice.
However, Gyo-ha felt wronged too. Whether he told her in advance or came back secretly, Jung-hye reacted with similar anger. If he was going to be scolded anyway, he had delayed informing her of his return to get it all over with at once, but his sister lacked flexibility in this regard.
“At least I didn’t drop out.”
“Drop out? If you had, I would have dumped you in the Pacific Ocean.”
“I’m telling you, I came back with a plan.”
In reality, he hadn’t thought it through much.
Gyo-ha’s biggest advantage was being a chaebol. His next advantage was his lack of overthinking. People shouldn’t think too much. Living without too many thoughts leads to less depression.
If you live with a mind full of flowers, those around you might burst with frustration, but you yourself can maintain good mental health. Gyo-ha swiftly dodged Jung-hye’s attempts to kill him. Her anger was like an annual event for Gyo-ha as a regression returnee.
“You’re making me age, I’m aging because of you!”
“No way, you’re always young. You still look young now.”
“You brat, I told you to go study in America, but you only learned how to sweet-talk.”
“I’m not sweet-talking.”
“…Did you do drugs?”
“Is that all you can say to me?”
That damn drug talk! Sister really knows nothing but drugs! Gyo-ha wept internally. Why would Lee Gyo-ha touch drugs that even Lee Sung-ha wouldn’t touch? It’s prejudiced to think that being rich means a higher likelihood of doing drugs.
“Fine, as long as you didn’t do drugs. I thought you’d gone crazy suddenly flattering me.”
“Even when someone says something nice…”
“I don’t want to hear nice words from you. Just please don’t cause trouble without warning like this.”
“So if I warn you, it’s okay to cause trouble?”
“Do you want to die?”
“…”
“So why did you come back to Korea? What’s your plan?”
“I want to learn about work a bit.”
Now that the system window was gone, Gyo-ha had no reason to wander around looking for the Shaman with Jung-hye’s help. Remembering that Gyo-ha had inherited his maternal grandmother’s blood most strongly, Jung-hye would surely keep him by her side and grind him down.
Jung-hye was a person with clear goals and great ambition. Working beside her would bring many gains, but it would mean working until death. Gyo-ha didn’t plan to live idly forever, but he wanted to avoid working alongside his sister.
“Can’t I work at BK Entertainment for a while and then go back to America?”
“Why? Didn’t you run away because you didn’t want to work?”
“I’ve become curious about the practical side of things.”
“You?”
“Am I not allowed to be curious? I’m not interested in management rights, I just want to experience working at a company.”
“…Are you sure you didn’t do drugs?”
“That damn drug talk again. I’m telling you, I don’t need that kind of dopamine.”
Jung-hye’s intensity subsided a bit at hearing that he hadn’t come back aiming for management rights, but just wanted to try working. In reality, he hadn’t returned to Korea because he wanted to work, but had hurriedly come back fearing Hwi-kyung might get a job. But Jung-hye couldn’t know all the inside details.
Did he have a hard time in America? Jung-hye looked at Gyo-ha anew, thinking he seemed more mature than when she last saw him. It wasn’t surprising that she felt this way. Not only had Gyo-ha gained intelligence from repeatedly graduating graduate school, but with the accumulated time from forced regressions, he was actually older than Jung-hye now.
“Alright, I’ll talk to father about it. For BK Entertainment, you’ll start as an Executive Director.”
“Ah, about that. I don’t want to be an Executive Director. I’m sick of it.”
“What?”
“It seems too much like nepotism.”
“You’ll be seen as getting in through connections no matter what position you take.”
“Well, still, how about starting as a team leader instead of Executive Director? Something more modest.”
A conversation that would have made Hwi-kyung slam the ground, calling it the complaints of the well-fed, passed between the siblings.
“Why specifically team leader? If you’re going to start from the bottom, enter as a regular employee.”
“Didn’t you say it would be obvious I got in through connections no matter how I enter? If that’s the case, I should at least enter with a position.”
That made sense too. After pondering deeply about something, Jung-hye finally nodded in agreement. Still, she found it more admirable that he wanted to work as a team leader in an affiliate company rather than running off to model abroad.
“Since you’re just taking a break and not dropping out, I guess it can’t be helped. Now that it’s come to this, just work hard.”
“Okay.”
“And while you’re at it, try to find a marriage partner too.”
“Okay… Huh?”
“You’ll be thirty next year. Sung-ha is hopeless for marriage. At least you should.”
“But sis, you’re the one who continued the family line.”
“That’s a separate issue.”
Korea, his home country, was too conservative for Gyo-ha, who had lived with an open mind without much hardship until now. He had half-forgotten, but one of the reasons he had fled to America was also the pressure to marry.
“Marriage is a bit difficult. I’m seeing someone.”
“What? Who? Which group?”
“Group? There’s nothing like that…”
“Don’t tell me you started dating in America? I told you to marry someone of your level.”
“No? It’s not that either.”
“Then when? How did you meet someone when you’ve only been back for a few days?”
When did they meet? In the thirteenth iteration, in front of BK International.
But he couldn’t explain that in detail to Jung-hye, so Gyo-ha just vaguely said:
“Well, you know, it exists. We met fatefully.”
It was maddening that he couldn’t honestly say they met through regression. Jung-hye’s expression twisted terrifyingly again. The scolding that seemed to have ended resumed when the word ‘fate’ came up.
“This kid still hasn’t come to his senses!”
If I tell her that my ‘fated partner’ is a man, I’ll get scolded even more. Gyo-ha kept his mouth shut and offered his back to Jung-hye. In any case, he had achieved his goal of entering BK Entertainment, so getting scolded and beaten by Jung-hye wasn’t entirely a bad deal.
* * *
Hwi-kyung was momentarily flustered when he heard the news of Gyo-ha’s entry into BK. Someone who had been back in Korea for less than a month had secured a job before him.
Of course, comparing himself to the youngest son of a chaebol family was meaningless. But Hwi-kyung felt an inexplicable sense of urgency. If even Lee Gyo-ha is working, is it okay for me to be doing nothing like this?
Though he said he was doing nothing, Hwi-kyung was living quite busily. To begin with, he found it awkward to rest. Even the dramas and novels strongly recommended by Gyo-ha quickly became boring after watching or reading for a while. The only things Hwi-kyung didn’t get tired of were things like Excel work, which he was already so tired of that he couldn’t get any more tired.
Excessive workplace regression makes regression returnees crazy about work… It wasn’t surprising that Hwi-kyung, who had been hunting for all sorts of certifications even in situations where he didn’t need to do anything, citing the reason that it would be troublesome if he missed the timing, decided to get a job following Gyo-ha. If Gyo-ha hadn’t stopped him, Hwi-kyung would have already been wearing a new employee ID around his neck.
“This time, I’m starting as a team leader as I mentioned before.”
“Will that be okay? Managing a team will bring you closer to practical work than being an Executive Director who just signs approval documents.”
“To be honest, I don’t think they’ll entrust me with any really important work.”
“…”
“I wouldn’t trust myself either.”
That was true. Unless he was a chaebol heir aiming for succession rights, Gyo-ha had no interest in management rights. That’s why Jung-hye had readily arranged a position for Gyo-ha to work.
“Thinking about investing in programs and recruiting Kim Tae-pung, and various other things, team leader seemed about right.”
“Should I follow you? I saw they had job openings.”
“BK Entertainment? I’d be happy to work at the same company as you, Hwi-kyung.”
Hwi-kyung briefly pondered Lee Gyo-ha as a superior. Gyo-ha would rank about 7th in a list of bosses you’d want to fry in hell fire. He wasn’t entirely terrible, but he had too many flaws to be considered a good boss.
Liking someone as a person and having them as your superior were completely different issues. Hwi-kyung liked Gyo-ha, but he didn’t think Gyo-ha would make a good boss. Still, Gyo-ha, who simply did nothing and thought nothing, was marginally better than someone who was incompetent and had a terrible personality.
In any case, Lee Gyo-ha had the “regression returnee advantage.” He knew which programs would succeed and who would become popular for at least the next 10 years, so he couldn’t be considered completely incompetent.
“If we end up working together, will you make me your personal secretary and be spiteful again?”
“Ah, back then, that was… out of revenge for graduate school.”
“…”
“…I’m really sorry. I won’t make you a personal secretary or be spiteful.”
Gyo-ha quickly lowered his tail, feeling guilty under Hwi-kyung’s stare. With the system window that had jumped at the idea of office romance gone, Gyo-ha had to give up his dream of office romance at BK Entertainment before it even began.
If they entered the same company, it was clear that Hwi-kyung wouldn’t even properly look at Gyo-ha. At least during work hours, he probably wouldn’t even speak to him except for work-related matters. Although this was natural, Gyo-ha already felt disappointed.
“Still, don’t go to other competing companies. Come to BK.”
“Well, I suppose a large company would have better benefits.”
“Even if that weren’t the case, I’d like to be with you for a long time, Hwi-kyung.”
“…”
“And I don’t want to send a capable employee to another company.”
He says such embarrassing things so easily. To avoid showing his awkwardness, Hwi-kyung handed Gyo-ha the department store shopping bag he had set aside in a corner.
“Just take this for now.”
“What is it?”
“It was just a gift, but it’s unexpectedly become a job congratulations gift.”
At those words, Gyo-ha unhesitatingly tore open the shopping bag and gift wrapping. After checking the gift, he immediately said:
“Hwi-kyung.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s get married after all.”
Hwi-kyung’s hands, which were tidying up the empty wrapping paper, suddenly stopped. This guy… it seems he’s fixated on ‘marriage’ this time…
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
