Chapter 6: Strange People

“…….”

“You won’t even say ‘hello’ to me now?” Min Woo said, his tone solemn.

“Yes, it’s been a longtime,” Jin Woo answered faintly, forcing himself to smile.

He wanted to make the best impression.

‘Is it because you don’t like me?’ Min Woo thought. His eyes sank for a deep moment. It was a set of emotion comparable to Yoona’s.

‘No, no, no, no, no, no….’

There must be a lot of things Lee Jin Woo did wrong.

Jin Woo sighed inwardly. He felt like he was going to die of stress before he was killed.

That’s right. Although beautifully scary, at least he could trust Yoona. Hopefully.

Yoona coughed slightly when she looked in Jin Woo’s eyes. Her lips parted and said, “Excuse me, the chairman is waiting.”

Jin Woo nodded and hurried out of the awkward position he had placed himself in. Danger was everywhere. Now he had to meet the chairman. He certainly would not be normal either.

Min Woo looked at Jin Woo’s back.

‘You don’t even know that your grandson has become a monster.He’s become abnormal.’

To Jin Woo, the characters in the novel were too extreme. It was quite difficult to describe a three-dimensional character. Moreover, their behaviour was too extreme. Something hardly believable.

But…

But wouldn’t it have changed a little since he’s now living inside a novel? Wouldn’t it be more of a reality? At any case, it seems to be a mixture of reality that he knows of.

***

The chairman’s office was spacious. Rather than an office space, Jin Woo felt as if he was looking at the courtyard of a mansion. Looking out the window, a panorama of the city was in full view. As he walked further inside the courtyard-like office, the view of the city had long turned to a mountain view top.

If felt like the glass was a display of the near future.

This was expected of a leading technological company.

‘This is crazy money.’

Looking at the pottery lying randomly on the floor, Jin Woo saw that its price ranged from tens to hundreds of millions. That one potted plant had an appraisal price of 90 million won. Selling one of them wouldn’t cause the chairman to flinch.

‘90 million won, huh…’

This kind of money was unthinkable for him in his past life. Jin Woo began to think of how unfair the world was for some reason.

“Are you here?” said a gray-haired old man with strong physique.

When Jin Woo saw the old man, he could tell at first glance that he was the chairman, Lee Hee Jin. It was no exaggeration to say that he’s a living legend in the business and financial world and more so as the man who played a part in the World Legislative Association.

Chairman Hee Jin was sitting on a pavilion in the middle of a garden. He looked at them with tender beauty as if he were seeing the beauty of the gods. Rather than being the chairman of one of the world’s top conglomerates, he looked much liked a Daoist — like the kind of man who thought that there were mountains beyond mountains.

“Sit down.”

“Yes.”

Chairman Lee Hee Jin’s expression was solemn. “Do you not like that child?”

“What?” Jin Woo tried to think, but he couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.

“I’m talking about that child, Choi Hee Yeon. Didn’t you want to have her? I’ve even arranged…”

“Ah…..”

Choi Hee Yeon. She was a woman of one of the most prominent families in Korea, a daughter of the best swordsman amongst the sword-wielding users and a promising figure in Korea.

‘She’s a pitiful woman.’

All the women involved in Lee Jin Woo’s life were pitiful, but hers, it was full of tragedy.

From the beginning, Lee Jin Woo’s only purpose was to have Hee Yeon’s body and the technique of her family. He thought that Choi Family was a family of hooligans, so he despised and ignored her, not hesitating to treat her as mere prostitute.

He’d even leaked the techniques of her family overseas, the status of her family drained. And she in the end had been given the worst weapon. She was a pitifully tragic character.

Lee Jin Woo once even said, “That side of the fence went pretty well.” indicating that he had used her up ‘till she had no more to offer before throwing her off the boat.

After Lee Jin Woo spent money like water to buy off loyal henchmen and after acquiring the power of hypnosis, he grew more vicious. He was a true pillager and many women’s nightmare.

Anyways, it was an obvious story.

Jin Woo recalled that He Yeon fell in love with the main character in the middle of the story, but even so, she remained a good-hearted woman and attended Lee Jin Woo’s funeral. Despite the treatment she received, she was as kind hearted as ever.

It seems that Lee Jin Woo had struck an important promise with Choi He Yeon. What that was, Jin Woo had forgotten.

‘He Yeon, you’d be much happier not getting involved with me. I might end up becoming a promising star that’ll shine all over Korea in the worst way possible.’

And Jin Woo really should get as far away as possible from the main protagonist and the plot.

If he proceeds through the plot without facing his death, he’ll live happily ever after. He should avoid the women too, but that might be too difficult… there are far too many who admire him.

And even now Jin Woo’s barely able to protect his own self.

‘I’ll play dumb.’

“What…?”

Jin Woo nodded, somewhat satisfied.

He needed to come up with excuses that would distance himself from the characters of the novel.

All he knew, however, was that his own inner network was bad. There were too many mouths ready to speak his wrongdoings at any moment.

He needed to get away.

Jin Woo sighed… he really should have read the comments of other readers to gain a greater insight.

Realizing that he had barely spoken after much agonizing with his inner mind, he spoke again.

Only

“I want to reject…”

“Why?”

“…..I’m not interested.”

“You’re taking my name lightly.”

A chill went up Jin Woo’s spine. Fortunately, he quickly recovered and donned a free smile as he looked at Chairman Lee Hee Jin. Just by eye contact, he felt like he’d lose his mind at any moment.

Why was he so scared of an old man?

He couldn’t let go of the ice-chill feeling in his back.

But he remained confident in his words, or at least tried out. He even spat out the brevity to look at the chairman in the eye.