After a brief conversation with Director Gyeong-deuk Lee, Seong-ho Kim was shown to his seat by Ki-seok Yun, team leader of Strategic Planning Team 2.

“Your desk is here, so you’ll work from this spot. And…”

Team Leader Ki-seok Yun glanced around for a moment, then clapped the shoulder of the man at the desk beside Seong-ho Kim’s.

“You can learn the ropes from Manager Jeong here. Hey. Manager Jeong.”

At Ki-seok Yun’s call, the man addressed as Manager Jeong turned around.

He looked up at Ki-seok Yun with a thoroughly displeased face.

Ki-seok Yun beckoned to him.

“Get up and say hello.”

“Come on, Team Leader.”

Manager Byeong-ju Jeong furrowed his brow and rose from his seat.

Then he looked Seong-ho Kim up and down and said,

“What’s this all of a sudden? Didn’t I say I didn’t want to? Not me — him, over there.”

Manager Byeong-ju Jeong pointed a finger at the man sitting across the way.

“Send him to Manager Chu. Manager Chu will teach him better.”

At that, the Manager Chu whom Byeong-ju Jeong had singled out turned his head away.

He too was making it clear, by turning away, that he had no wish to take Seong-ho Kim on.

Team Leader Ki-seok Yun draped an arm around Manager Byeong-ju Jeong’s shoulders and said in a low voice,

“Now, now, Manager Jeong — this is a good opportunity for you, too. Think about it. How long do you suppose the chairman’s youngest son-in-law is going to sit around as an assistant manager? Won’t he get promoted way faster than us and slide right into the royal-family seats before long? And when he does, you think he’ll forget the man who taught him so well back in Strategic Planning?”

Team Leader Ki-seok Yun began gently reeling Byeong-ju Jeong in.

For a moment, Manager Byeong-ju Jeong wore a wavering look at the plausibility of it — but then he shook his head and said,

“Even so, he’s a live-in son-in-law with no backing whatsoever, isn’t he? He’s not like the other royal-family members.”

At his words, Team Leader Ki-seok Yun unwound his arm from the man’s shoulders and took a step back.

“Ugh, fine, whatever. Do as you like — but I’ve clearly handed him off to you.”

His reeling-in having failed, Ki-seok Yun threw up both hands in surrender and made a dusting-off gesture to signal that his part was done.

“You can’t just do that, Team Leader!”

“Give him a rough rundown of the work this morning, and head straight over to Hi-Dot-Com in the afternoon. The acquisition proposal’s already finished, so you just take it over and get the stamp on it — got it? I’ll say it again: I’ve clearly passed him to you, so handle it yourself.”

“Team Leader!”

Byeong-ju Jeong called after him desperately, but Team Leader Ki-seok Yun left without so much as a backward glance.

Watching the two of them, Seong-ho Kim laughed quietly to himself.

‘Back then I had no idea how funny this situation was — I was just wound up tight with nerves.’

Ilhyeon Distribution, where Seong-ho Kim had belonged until coming here, was a division treated like the black sheep even within the Ilhyeon Group.

And the sales department, on top of that, was a place that carried barely any presence even within Ilhyeon Distribution.

Seong-ho Kim himself knew perfectly well that the reason he’d been moved from a place like that to the group’s core division wasn’t ability — it was his marriage to Gyeong-eun Lee.

Which was exactly why he’d been so cowed at the time.

‘A guy with no backing and no ability dropping in out of nowhere like some parachute hire — even I couldn’t be happy about that.’

What’s more, since he’d landed in a core division like Strategic Planning, it was only natural he’d felt like pure dead weight.

And because he’d been so intimidated that he couldn’t do a thing, the people in Strategic Planning had looked down on him all the more.

“Seriously, what am I supposed to do with a piece of dead weight like this…”

In the end, having had Seong-ho Kim foisted on him by Team Leader Ki-seok Yun, Manager Byeong-ju Jeong grumbled his way back to his seat.

Then he looked Seong-ho Kim over, up and down, and said,

“Assistant Manager Kim, was it?”

“Yes. You’re Manager Byeong-ju Jeong, correct? I look forward to working with you going forward.”

At his greeting, Byeong-ju Jeong waved a hand as if it were all a bother and jabbed a finger toward Seong-ho Kim’s desk.

“Go tell General Affairs to set up your desk and… sit and wait a bit. We’ll be heading straight over to Hi-Dot-Com later, so bear that in mind.”

“Yes. Understood.”

When nothing followed the understood, Byeong-ju Jeong, about to turn away, faltered.

‘Isn’t he supposed to ask where General Affairs is, or how to get his desk set up?’

Figuring the man would only come back to ask later, Byeong-ju Jeong rose from his seat, feeling put-upon, to say a word to Seong-ho Kim.

“Hey, you — where General Affairs is—”

But Seong-ho Kim had set his bag down on his desk and was already turning to walk toward General Affairs, as if he knew exactly where it was.

“He knows…?”

Byeong-ju Jeong could only stare blankly at his retreating back.

Feeling Byeong-ju Jeong’s gaze, Seong-ho Kim curled up the corners of his mouth.

Reporting for his first day at a place he’d worked for twenty years, Seong-ho Kim’s steps were lighter than anyone’s.

Gripping the wheel, Byeong-ju Jeong spoke without so much as glancing at Seong-ho Kim in the passenger seat.

“I don’t care who you married, Assistant Manager Kim. And I’ve got no intention of being dragged along on your coattails, so don’t expect me to go easy on you. I’m warning you — trip me up, and I won’t let it slide. You live your work life your way, I’ll live mine my way, and that’s how we’ll do this. Understood?”

“Manager Jeong. Can you happen to see this?”

Not having listened to a word of Byeong-ju Jeong’s lengthy speech, Seong-ho Kim opened the diary and held it out toward him.

Hands on the wheel, Byeong-ju Jeong shot a sidelong glance at the diary.

“See what?”

“You don’t see any writing here?”

“Writing? There’s nothing there. What are you on about?”

“Really? Hmm, so you really can’t see it.”

“You’re messing with me right now, aren’t you? I don’t have time to play around with—”

Ignoring Byeong-ju Jeong squawking beside him, Seong-ho Kim gazed at the diary packed with writing, a look of fascination on his face.

He’d just confirmed, through Byeong-ju Jeong, whether the journals only he could see were invisible to Gyeong-eun Lee alone, or truly visible to no one but himself.

And having confirmed that Byeong-ju Jeong, like Gyeong-eun Lee, couldn’t see the writing, Seong-ho Kim smiled like a child handed a fascinating new toy.

‘Heaven sent the diary along with me so I could take my revenge properly. Right — with this, I can stamp them down for good, and then some.’

After Gyeong-eun Lee died, at her request, Seong-ho Kim had spent twenty years handling the Ilhyeon Group’s affairs great and small — the dirty parts included — resolving a great many things along the way.

But when his death date came, he’d had to meet his end at the hands of none other than the Ilhyeon Group itself.

So while Seong-ho Kim knew most of Ilhyeon’s grubby secrets, he couldn’t possibly remember every last thing, right down to the dates.

He recalled only the rough shape of the big picture; no human memory could hold every event in fine detail.

But if he had the diary, in which he’d recorded everything out of sheer habit, that was another story.

Because he’d noted down everything — dates and all the fine details included — Seong-ho Kim now had the confidence to move forward with absolute certainty, without even a flicker of doubt.

“Did you hear what I said?”

Byeong-ju Jeong scowled at Seong-ho Kim, who kept staring down at the diary without answering him.

Seong-ho Kim closed the diary, slipped it into his bag, and said,

“Manager. Right now you’re agonizing over whether to take your child to the hospital.”

“Huh?”

“Take them. There’s no harm in going and getting them checked out.”

“What are you talking about…”

Thrown by Seong-ho Kim’s words, Byeong-ju Jeong whipped his head around to look at him.

Seong-ho Kim calmly pointed a finger to tell him to watch the road, and went on.

“I know you’re worried there’ll be a lot of work with this Hi-Dot-Com acquisition, but don’t be. There won’t be all that much. So tomorrow, take them straight to the hospital and get them examined. All right?”

“You… what on earth are you talking about?”

Seong-ho Kim didn’t answer Byeong-ju Jeong’s flustered question, and turned his gaze out the window instead.

Somewhere in the course of their exchange, the car carrying the two of them had arrived on Teheran-ro, where Hi-Dot-Com was located.

“Over there. Pull in over there.”

“…I know.”

Byeong-ju Jeong knew perfectly well they’d reached Hi-Dot-Com’s vicinity.

So, setting his curiosity aside for the moment, he focused on driving.

When Byeong-ju Jeong stopped the car in front of the building where Hi-Dot-Com was located, Seong-ho Kim got out.

Byeong-ju Jeong got out after him, meaning to ask how Seong-ho Kim had known the things he’d said a moment ago.

But at the sight of Seong-ho Kim striding without hesitation toward Hi-Dot-Com’s building, Byeong-ju Jeong couldn’t get the words out.

In the elevator, Manager Byeong-ju Jeong looked up at the changing floor numbers and said,

“Once we’re done, let’s talk.”

Byeong-ju Jeong was dying to know how Seong-ho Kim had known he’d been agonizing over whether to take his child to the hospital.

Seong-ho Kim looked at his face and said with a smile,

“I’d like that too, but you probably won’t be able to.”

“What do you mean, won’t be able to?”

“Because you’ll have your hands full with something else. But thanks to that, Manager, you’ll end up with time to take your child to the hospital, so there’s no need to worry. So tomorrow, be sure to take them.”

“So what are you even saying—”

Ding.

Just then, with the sound of the elevator arriving, the doors opened, and the people waiting in front of them for Byeong-ju Jeong and Seong-ho Kim left Byeong-ju Jeong unable to continue.

“Oh, welcome, welcome. I should have come down to receive you myself — my apologies for making you come all the way up.”

Hyeong-jin Kang, president of Hi-Dot-Com, greeted Byeong-ju Jeong and Seong-ho Kim warmly.

Then, gesturing inward with his hand, he said,

“This right here is Hi-Dot-Com, soon to be a member of the Ilhyeon Group family. A pleasure to meet you. I’m Hyeong-jin Kang — founder, CEO, and, well, the face of Hi-Dot-Com.”

At the sight of Hyeong-jin Kang introducing himself with such a flourish, Byeong-ju Jeong smiled awkwardly and greeted him.

“Yes. A pleasure to meet you. I’m Manager Byeong-ju Jeong of the Ilhyeon Group Strategic Planning Office, and this is Assistant Manager Seong-ho Kim.”

“Ahh — so this gentleman is the youngest son-in-law of Ilhyeon Group’s Chairman Lee. It’s an honor to meet you.”

Putting on an even bigger show than Director Gyeong-deuk Lee had, Hyeong-jin Kang greeted Seong-ho Kim as though he’d met an honored guest, clasping his hand.

And drawing Seong-ho Kim inside, he said,

“I’ve heard so very much about you. I’d been hoping to meet you at least once, and here we are. Our Hi-Dot-Com is…”

Led by the hand of the ceaselessly chattering Hyeong-jin Kang, Seong-ho Kim stepped inside the Hi-Dot-Com offices.

And watching Hyeong-jin Kang, he curled up the corners of his mouth.

‘I know exactly why you’re going to these lengths — but unfortunately, this time it won’t go the way you want. The memory of how you got me still remains, clear as day.’

Chewing over the memory of how Hyeong-jin Kang had once gotten the better of him, Seong-ho Kim smiled at the man’s all-too-transparent scheming and carried his steps inside Hi-Dot-Com.

(End of Chapter 4)