GITDS 07

Chapter 7

“……”

“People aren’t going to look kindly upon you, Ms. Min Jungwon.”

He spoke somewhat arrogantly, as though he knew exactly how people had been talking about Jungwon all day and what kind of looks she had been receiving.

Jungwon frowned.

“If I cared about what other people thought, I wouldn’t have come back here. It doesn’t bother me.”

Perhaps he liked her answer, because a faint smile appeared on Tae-kyung’s face.

“Really? Even though people are openly pointing fingers at you, saying that three years ago you stole blueprints, moved to an American company for a salary in the hundreds of millions of won, and then shamelessly came crawling back? You’re really fine with that?”

At Tae-kyung’s words, Jungwon bit down tightly on her lip.

Three and a half years ago, an accident occurred when a ship that was nearing completion exploded.

Fortunately, there were almost no casualties.

Except for Jungwon’s father, Min Tae-san, who died at the scene.

Jungwon and Hye-won had found the accident suspicious and had once gone to Haesin to ask them to investigate the incident again.

But at the time, Haesin Group’s lawyer had instead told the two sisters this:

Min Tae-san had received an offer to move to a Chinese shipbuilding company and had intended to sell Haesin’s core technology.

Furthermore, according to the investigation, the explosion had occurred because of a design error made by her father.

The lawyer then suggested that if they agreed to keep quiet about the fact that Min Tae-san had been trying to leak technology and change companies, Haesin would also keep the matter confidential.

In return, they wanted to agree on making it public that the entire accident had been caused by Min Tae-san’s design error.

And that very day, her older sister collapsed.

In order to save her sister, Jungwon immediately left Korea.

After that, strangely enough, the news coming out of Haesin was no longer about determining the truth behind the accident.

Instead, articles began appearing about blueprints being leaked based on information provided by an anonymous source.

The reports said that an employee identified only as M, who had been recognized for her abilities within the design team, had received a large sum of money from an American company and had repeatedly sent them blueprints of transport ships in exchange.

When rumors followed that the employee had also been offered an annual salary worth hundreds of millions of won and had changed companies, people naturally began to suspect Jungwon, who had abruptly quit her job and left.

Haesin made no official statement whatsoever.

Jungwon had thought that perhaps this was better.

The accident, which had been blamed on her deceased father’s mistake, had been buried.

That alone was enough.

She didn’t care if her own reputation was ruined.

“What exactly are you trying to tell me?”

Jungwon stared at Tae-kyung with cold eyes.

Not long ago, this man had lost both his older brother and his father in an accident identical to the one that had killed Jungwon’s father.

Whatever his intentions had been, after becoming chairman, Han Tae-kyung had issued a correction stating that Jungwon had never leaked the blueprints.

What on earth is he hiding behind that cold face?

“I’d appreciate it if you could just get to the point. Why do you keep calling me here separately to say things like this?”

“How far are you willing to go to achieve your goal, Ms. Min Jungwon?”

After saying that, Tae-kyung suddenly stood up and walked over to Jungwon.

He sat down beside her and looked down at her at an angle.

Jungwon looked up at him and swallowed hard.

Then, as though trapping her, he placed both hands on the armrests of her chair and abruptly closed the distance between them.

Under Tae-kyung’s suffocating gaze, Jungwon unconsciously held her breath.

Could he have found out?

That I stole the blueprints because I intend to shake Haesin Group to its foundations?

Jungwon moved her lips.

“I can do anything. Even if that means… sleeping with the chairman.”

“Ha.”

Tae-kyung let out a derisive laugh at her words.

Jungwon simply looked at him with an expressionless face.

“I think you’re strange. You act as though you don’t have any grand purpose, yet you behave like someone who’s hiding something enormous.”

“I believe I already told you. All I need is a lot of money. I have no other purpose at Haesin.”

Her voice almost trembled when she said that she had no purpose.

“And besides, you’re the one who reached out to me first, Chairman.”

Tae-kyung stared intently into Jungwon’s eyes.

Jungwon didn’t avoid his gaze either.

After a brief silence, he released Jungwon from between his arms and stood up.

“There is something I want to accomplish by using that program and you, Ms. Min Jungwon. I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish by coming back here… but since we’ve decided to work together, I’d like you to do your job without causing any problems.”

Jungwon’s brow furrowed slightly at the word use, but she soon decided not to let it bother her.

He continued slowly.

“So… if you’re hiding anything, it would be best if you don’t let yourself get caught. When I want something, I accomplish it by any means necessary.”

“May I ask what your goal is, Chairman?”

Tae-kyung seemed caught off guard by Jungwon’s question and remained silent for a moment.

Then he answered quietly.

“To build a company that makes the best ships in the world—ships that no one else can even hope to challenge.”

“Haesin is already the best in the industry.”

“I’m someone with big dreams.”

His pitch-black eyes suddenly shimmered like moonlight sparkling across the surface of the night sea.

Come to think of it, Haesin had been thrown into turmoil after losing both its chairman and president in a series of accidents.

And it was this man, Han Tae-kyung, who had raised Haesin from that state and brought it to the number-one position in the industry.

When it came to ability alone, he truly was an extraordinary man.

Back then, I had desperately prayed for Haesin to collapse.

But how heartless the heavens are.

Why did they give this man another chance?

“So hang in there. I need you, Ms. Min Jungwon.”

The relationship between Han Tae-kyung and me is based entirely on our respective goals.

I need the blueprints that will save my sister, and you need the blueprints that I can draw for you.

So I don’t need to feel indebted to you.

You’re the one who said you’d use me first.

For the first time, Jungwon felt as though her thoughts about what she needed to do from here on out were becoming clear and orderly.

She gave a small bow of her head.

“I’ll do my best.”

Bzzzz.

The cell phone Tae-kyung had placed on his desk vibrated for a long time.

He had a ship blueprint displayed on his monitor while reviewing some documents. After checking who was calling, he picked up the phone with an expressionless face.

His short, deep voice quietly echoed through the spacious chairman’s office.

“Yeah.”

― Chairman Han! Where are you?

A bright and cheerful voice came through the speaker, and Tae-kyung gave an incredulous smile.

Who else in the world could speak so casually to the chairman of the Haesin Group, a man everyone else lowered their heads before?

“At the office.”

― Still?

“Yeah.”

― It’s been ages since working hours ended! If the chairman keeps sitting at his desk like that, the employees will hate it~ Did you send Secretary Yoo home?

“Yeah.”

As though he found long answers bothersome, he responded briefly to every question.

Then he raised his wrist and checked the time.

It was nearly nine o’clock, so it was indeed quite late.

He removed his glasses and placed them on the desk before leaning comfortably back in his chair.

Looking quietly out at the sparkling city lights beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, Tae-kyung asked,

“Why did you call?”

― Let’s have dinner together.

“It’s too late for dinner.”

― That’s why I’m asking whether you’re going to eat with me or not~

He had only just settled comfortably into his chair, but at the sweet, coaxing tone in her voice, Tae-kyung reluctantly stood up.

He grabbed the jacket hanging on the coat rack and left the chairman’s office as he spoke briefly.

“I’ll go to your place. Come out when I call.”

― Okay, got it.

Click.

The call ended, and the name Chaewon appeared on the phone’s screen.

Tae-kyung stared at the name until it disappeared, then continued walking.

“Has it been about a month now?”

“What has?”

“The specially recruited new employee. Ah, no. Since she was rehired, I guess she isn’t technically a new employee. An experienced hire?”

Chaewon spoke to Tae-kyung across the table as she picked up some of the salad in front of her with her fork.

Tae-kyung, who had been idly poking at his steak, silently lifted the glass of water in front of him and took a drink.

Watching him, Chaewon put down her fork, rested her chin in one hand, and tilted her head slightly.

Her short bob swayed softly along her jaw as she tilted her head.

“Why are you doing something so unlike Han Tae-kyung?”

“What did I do?”

Chaewon narrowed her eyes as if asking whether he really didn’t know what she meant.

Tae-kyung spoke bluntly.

“Eat. It’ll get cold. You said you were hungry.”

“When you said you needed to find a chief designer to manage the new program, I figured it was because whatever you were planning to start was important enough to the company. But from what I’ve heard, that person is his daughter?”

At Chaewon’s words, Tae-kyung placed the utensils he had been holding out of courtesy on the table, despite not having eaten.

He wiped his lips with a napkin and looked steadily at Chaewon.

“It doesn’t matter who she is. She just needs to draw the blueprints the way I want.”

“Even if you offered her an annual salary in the hundreds of millions of won, that’s still strange. I’m suspicious of why that woman came back to Haesin. Her father died because of a design accident, and she herself was heavily suspected of being an industrial spy after supposedly selling blueprints. In such a small industry, how could someone like that simply come back? How thick-skinned do you have to be to do that?”

Chaewon spoke as she cut into the steak in front of her.

Just as Chaewon said, Tae-kyung also found Jungwon’s actions puzzling.

Although he had been the one to scout her and ask her to come back, an ordinary person would never have thought about returning after everything that had happened.

A month ago, when he had asked Jungwon what her purpose was, she had said she had none.

She had simply continued saying that she needed money.

She was a woman who had even casually said that she would sleep with him if that was what it took to get it.

Whenever he looked into her eyes, she sometimes seemed as transparent as a clear sea, as though he could see straight through her.

And yet, at other times, Jungwon was impossible to read, as though she were hiding somewhere deep beneath the surface of the ocean.

Thinking of her, Tae-kyung quietly spoke.

“I hear she likes the high salary.”

At his seemingly casual remark, Chaewon’s face filled with disbelief.

Seeing her expression, the corners of Tae-kyung’s lips curled slightly.