A Schedule He Never Asked For
"Married? To Yoon Jae-gyeom?"
"No, ma'am. The man she intended to marry was someone else."
The back of the document containing Ji-su's basic information was crammed with details about a Kim Young-baek. Watching Mrs. Jin study the photo and personal data of a thirty-five-year-old unemployed man with nothing to recommend him, a look of contempt crept into her eyes.
"I couldn't care less about how commoners scramble and pair off with each other to scrape by. Whether this girl was planning to marry Yoon Jae-gyeom or some other man is irrelevant. What matters is that she quit a perfectly good job with marriage on her mind—and she's currently dating Yoon Jae-gyeom."
"Yes, that much is certain."
With a chilly smile fixed on her face, Mrs. Jin went over the materials once more, line by line.
The point where Im Ji-su and Yoon Jae-gyeom intersected was Gyechon High School. Ah, so it's some tender first love, a precious bond from the past, is it? A rough sketch of how to exploit the situation took shape in Mrs. Jin's mind with startling speed.
"Chief Secretary Cho. Do you remember your first love?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Reuniting with a first love and even thinking of marriage... If we were to sever a bond like that, how heartbroken do you think our Jae-gyeom would be? He'd be writhing in anguish."
Having grasped his superior's true intentions from just a few words, Chief Secretary Cho answered with silence. Mrs. Jin's gaze came to rest on one line in Ji-su's current status: currently job hunting. Then she picked up her phone and dialed her husband, Chairman Yoon Dong-man.
"Chairman, do you have a moment to talk?"
In a bright smile and the gentlest of tones, she conveyed her business.
"I've been thinking—Jae-gyeom must feel awkward around Sung-shik and me, because he keeps declining everything you offer him. I believe it's time I stepped in and did my duty as his mother. Would it be all right if I contacted Jae-gyeom directly, without going through you or your office?"
— I truly don't know how to repay you for looking after Jae-gyeom so devotedly.
"Oh, please, don't mention it. Jae-gyeom is my son too. Then I'll take it upon myself to look after the details of his move as he prepares to join Daeyun Motors—housing and all the personal arrangements."
Once the chairman gave his blessing, a vicious, frosty smile spread across Mrs. Jin's face.
"Chief Secretary Cho. Find me a headhunter who does good work and knows how to keep quiet. Someone well-known in the field Im Ji-su worked in, if at all possible. As soon as you can."
"Understood."
"And I know you'll be busy, but you'll need to go down to Gyechon yourself. I find myself wanting to show that I'm personally looking after our Jae-gyeom."
"As you wish."
At the thought of creating a tragic memory that would make Yoon Jae-gyeom ache and suffer for the rest of his life, Mrs. Jin's heart fluttered with anticipation. She was fully prepared to tear Im Ji-su and Yoon Jae-gyeom apart in the cruelest way possible. She moved to the window to calm her excitement and steadied her breathing as she gazed outside.
"The start of October really is brimming with delightful things. I'm counting on you, Chief Secretary Cho."
Looking down at the Han River, its banks beginning to blush with autumn foliage, Mrs. Jin's face glowed with pure jubilation.
"I apologize for calling on you without notice."
Chief Secretary Cho, a man about the same age as Jae-gyeom's parents, bowed to him, and Jae-gyeom returned the greeting with equal courtesy. However much the man belonged to his stepmother's camp, an elder was an elder—returning a bow was simply good manners.
"What brings you all the way out here?"
"With Daeyun Motors operations set to begin, I've come to deliver messages from the Chairman and Madam."
"I was told I'd hear about that through the HR team. I wasn't aware the Chairman's board secretary would come in person."
On his last trip to Seoul, Jae-gyeom had been given a pointed nudge to wrap up his life in Gyechon as quickly as possible, so he'd assumed, as his father had said, that someone from HR would show up. But he hadn't expected Chief Secretary Cho—Mrs. Jin's right hand—to come down personally, and it caught him a little off guard. Seated across from the man in the auto shop's office, he decided to hear him out first.
"You'll be provided with a company vehicle. A driver will be assigned as well. You need only choose between these two options—though Madam did mention that this vehicle here is the safer and more refined choice."
"I'll drive my own car up. And I'll be doing the driving myself."
"...Even so, you'll need a formal vehicle for official duties. Might I suggest deferring to Madam's judgment? As for housing in Seoul, Madam has personally recommended apartments in Yongsan, Mapo, and Seongsu. If it's difficult to decide right away, I'll arrange a viewing in the next few days—and of the three, Yongsan is closest to the company, so—"
"Chief Secretary Cho."
Jae-gyeom cut him off.
"You can skip everything that's already been decided according to Madam's wishes. Just tell me the parts where my actual opinion is needed."
An awkward look crossed Chief Secretary Cho's face, and at the sight of it, Jae-gyeom let out a hollow laugh. It meant, in the end, that there was nothing for him to decide or choose at all. There was something almost pitiable about this middle-aged man who had driven all the way down to Gyechon just to deliver a stack of decisions already made.
"To continue, then: the Chairman and Madam have set your first day as CEO for December first, and internal work directives have already been issued accordingly."
"...CEO? Are you referring to me just now?"
Having listened with the utmost politeness up to that point, Jae-gyeom rose from his seat first. He already had plenty to deal with winding down the shop and moving to Seoul; having his time eaten up by this nonsense felt almost insulting.
"Chief Secretary Cho, is there anything else?"
"Yes, actually. There's more."
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I have anything left to hear. If anything, it's I who should be doing the talking now."
Jae-gyeom spoke in a firm voice.
"Starting in the CEO's chair with no hands-on experience is absurd. Naturally, I'll begin as a rank-and-file employee. A company car and a house are more than I deserve. Tell them I'll handle everything on my own."
"..."
"And I understand it may be difficult to keep my family connection under wraps, but I'd like the number of people who know to be kept to an absolute minimum. Please pass that along when you go back up."
Pulling on his gloves to get back to a customer's car under repair, Jae-gyeom opened the office door. The conversation was over—a wordless invitation to leave. A gust of mid-October wind swept into the office through the open door.
Chief Secretary Cho rose, bowed once more with meticulous formality, and delivered his final piece of business.
"...If you look at the very last page of the file, there's a schedule of arranged meetings that Madam prepared for you herself."
"I'm sorry—a schedule of what?"
"This Saturday at two and four, Sunday at eleven and two—four meetings in total. Since these are first introductions, we assumed a modest greeting with each of the four would suffice, so the times were set accordingly. Should you require any adjustments—"
"Yes. I will need... adjustments."
He'd been put off from the moment Chief Secretary Cho barged into his shop without so much as a phone call. But it was the man's parting words that soured Jae-gyeom's mood the most.
He was already stressed enough from rarely seeing Ji-su thanks to the long-distance arrangement—and now they wanted him to spend his precious weekend on arranged meetings he'd never asked for. Besides, he had made his position perfectly clear: he would take on his responsibilities within the group, but marriage was his own business.
"How would you like to adjust it?"
"Cancel all of them."
"Ah... I'm afraid that's difficult. Madam personally screened each candidate with preliminary interviews before choosing them—"
"Oh, is that so?"
Jae-gyeom smiled pleasantly. For the briefest moment, softened by that expression, Chief Secretary Cho's face brightened slightly—
"If I actually show up at those meetings myself, things will get far more difficult for you. One way or another... I'll embarrass Madam. Consider that a promise."
If Mrs. Jin had no respect for him, then Jae-gyeom saw no reason to obey her dictates unconditionally. The color drained from Chief Secretary Cho's face. Jae-gyeom felt a flicker of sympathy for the man, but he couldn't afford to spare him the concern. Meeting Ji-su on the weekends was the only joy he had these days, and he had no intention of letting anyone take that from him too.
"I'm rather busy, so I'll have to ask you to go now."
At a dismissal now stated point-blank, Chief Secretary Cho bowed deeply once more and set off on the road back to Seoul.