Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
"It's only two in the afternoon; it should be fine if I ask to meet later tonight, right?" I had discovered all of Korea's dungeons, and I wanted to get to Japan as soon as possible.
I dialed the number on the business card Song Haein gave me. She picked up after a couple of rings.
"Hello, this is Song Haein."
"This is Lee Jiwon calling."
"Mr. Lee Jiwon! You're calling earlier than I expected."
"Yes. I finished my errands faster than I thought."
"Would you be able to meet today?"
"Yes," I replied. It seemed Song Haein wanted to make the appointment by today. I wanted to, as well.
"Perfect. How does four PM sound? We can all grab dinner after our talk, as well."
"Yes, that sounds good."
"Shall I send a car over to you? Or would you like to make your way to the office yourself?"
"I'll get there on my own by four."
"Do you know where to go?"
"Yes, the building is pretty famous." Sunbin Group's headquarters building was the second tallest in Seoul. Everyone knew where it was.
"True. I'll notify the front desk; you just have to give them my name."
"I understand." I put down my phone after hanging up.
"I have about two hours…if I take into account the time it'll take to get there, I'll have about an hour to spare." I decided to prepare for my trip to Japan so that I could leave right away after meeting with Song Daechul.
After some time, I put the suit I just bought back on and took a cab to Samsung-dong, Gangnam Province, where the Sunbin Group headquarters was located.
"3:45. Just in time." The time I left the cab was perfect.
I confidently entered Seoul's second tallest building through the front lobby.
If I had come in wearing jeans, t-shirt and sneakers, I most likely would have been stopped by security. They let me in thanks to my new suit.
I walked over to the front desk and asked the secretary behind the counter, "I have a 4:00 appointment with Song Haein."
"Are you Lee Jiwon?"
"Yes, that's me."
"One second, please." The secretary picked up her desk phone and dialed.
After waiting less than a minute, one of the elevators in the back opened and Song Haein exited.
"You're here early."
"By only ten minutes."
"That's early. Shall we go?"
I followed her to the elevator. The elevator she took only had four buttons. This must be a rumored VIP-only elevator!
It took us straight to the eighty-ninth floor.
"We're here." I followed Song Haein out to the lobby. She led me to a door with a plaque stating Chairman's Office.
"The chairman and four others are waiting inside. They're only curious about you, so there's no reason to be nervous."
"I see. You don't have to worry about me." I was about to meet people that I would never have been able to, had the world not changed, or had I not returned to the past.
But I wasn't nervous. Right now, everything was different from before.
Back then, they were the all-powerful and I was a nobody. But right now, I was all-powerful. I wasn't about to go flaunting my power, but I wasn't about to let myself be stepped on. I stood up straight and opened the door.
The thick door slid open without much resistance. Song Haein followed me inside.
Inside, I recognized Song Daechul, whose face I had seen so many times before, and his son and Song Haein's father, Song Myungsoo. There were three others inside, as well.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Song Daechul," the chairman introduced himself with a chuckle. He rose from his seat and extended his hand to me.
It felt weird and interesting to have someone of such caliber speak so formally to me, who was so much younger than him.
"Yes, sir. The pleasure is mine. My name is Lee Jiwon." I accepted his hand and shook it. I didn't want to sour our first meet and greeted him the same way.
He doesn't have it. I didn't see a token of knowledge on his left wrist, telling me that he was a deva.
"Please, have a seat. This old man was curious about a few things, and had to call for you like this."
"I understand. Please, you don't have to be so formal with me. I won't know how to present myself here."
"Haha. Will that be alright?"
"Yes." I expected to carry on a conversation as equals. Besides, I was younger and of a lower social standing than him, and all this treatment was making me a little uncomfortable.
There are always older people that should be respected no matter what, and others that don't need such respect. Song Daechul was the former.
"Very well, then. Lee Jiwon."
"Yes." I sat down on the sofa the chairman gestured to. Song Haein sat opposite of me.
Song Daechul watched Lee Jiwon as he sat down.
Song Daechul had an uncanny ability to know the importance of every minor thing, and was a very quick learner. People didn't know this about him, but it was because of these abilities that he got to where he was now. He could pick something out that others might miss with just a single glance.
Others said that he bulldozed his way through obstacles to reach success, but that was all a load of crap.
He succeeded because he knew exactly how to get there.
No matter how special a bulldozer was, it still needed to exert and force its way through the toughest roads. Not even the best bulldozer could force its way through a giant boulder.
He knew that he had the uncanny ability to find the road to success. He was bold and decisive.
When his granddaughter told him about her encounter with Lee Jiwon at the Store, he felt a slight jolt through his body. That jolt felt something like déjà vu, or like an omen of danger in the future.
It was the same jolt that warned him of the politician's investigation when his business grew at fast pace, that told him converting to an electronics company was a smart investment while his colleagues scoffed at the idea.
He had a habit he developed from running a conglomerate of letting his subordinates' reports flow through one ear and out the other. Sometimes, however, he would pick up on something he deemed important. The report on Lee Jiwon was like that.
It was because he didn't ignore those subconscious warnings that he believed he succeeded in life. That was why he wanted to meet this man, no matter what.
That feeling wasn't wrong this time as well, it seems! He felt the same jolt again when his granddaughter entered the office with Lee Jiwon.
He was a young man barely in his thirties, but he had a mysterious aura around him. Song Daechul knew that there was much more to this young man than met the eye….
What is this? I couldn't help but feel a little out of place at Song Daechul's intense stare. I couldn't really tell him off, either, so I just sipped at the coffee in front me.
"It really is good to meet you, Jiwon. I am Haein's father, Song Myungsoo." The man in his forties seated next to me extended his hand to me.
"Yes, sir. Likewise." I shook his hand and greeted the other three people that were in the room in order. They were Kim Soochul, the executive assistant; Park Manho, the head of the Planning committee; and Han Kyungchul, the head of security.
If there was a similarity between everyone in this room, it was that everyone was a deva.
As expected of the Sunbin Group. Pretty soon, everyone would be scrambling to become a deva. Right now, people were wary about becoming devas. People didn't know about devas; they didn't know what they were, exactly. That made them very afraid. Right now, there were unused Don Gates all around.
It was commendable for the Sunbin Group to be able to have most of its members and employees become devas in this time of fear, including the chairman. I couldn't help but commend them.
"The reason I wanted to meet you, Jiwon, was that after Haein told me about you, I felt there was more to you."
"I'm just a normal deva, sir."
"Hahaha. I've never been wrong about a person in all my seventy years. I can see you have an aura like no other. There's no way you're normal. Hahaha."
"Haha." I couldn't think of a reply and could only laugh awkwardly.
The chairman stopped laughing and looked at me once more with a serious expression.
"I want to ask you for your help."
"My help?"
"That's right."
"I don't think someone like me could do much to help the chairman of the Sunbin Group." I decided to play the weak card for now.
"No. I am positive that you know something. My employees and I may have become devas, but we are still afraid. What is about to happen to the world, that we were granted eternal life? Just how much is the world about to fall into chaos, that we were given this option? I believe that there is more to devas than just eternal life." The chairman took a sip of his tea before continuing.
"But, you, on the other hand. Do you know what I felt when I saw you first enter my door? Confidence! The confidence that you would be able to overcome any sort of situation you were thrown in. You have that confidence that you can break through any obstacle in your way! That's what I saw."
"….." I didn't have anything to reply to what he said.
"There can only be two types of people with that confidence. You'd have to be either crazy or…" Song Daechul looked at me with watchful eyes. I didn't look away and met his gaze.
"You've completely adapted to your current situation and are prepared to conquer your fate!"
I flinched slightly at his sentence.
"I see you as the latter. I don't want you to tell us everything. I just want you to help us a little to start, if you truly do know something. Of course, I won't ask for it for free. I will make sure you are properly compensated."
"Hmm." I thought about it for a moment. I knew I would have to reveal some sort of information coming here.
I had no problem doing that much for the Sunbin Group. I had received a lot of help from the Group in the past. I just wondered how much I should reveal.
I wasn't going to reveal everything, nor was I going to reveal my future plans. I may have somewhat overcome my obsession to be greater than everyone else, but that didn't mean I was going to give up on becoming the best. I still wasn't about to share everything I had with anyone else.
All the good things are mine! I don't care if people call me selfish; I'm not about to start sharing yet.
Song Daechul and everyone else remained silent as I thought.
"I don't know too much about what's going on, but I'm sure I know the most out of anyone out there."
"I knew it! I knew that was the case!" Song Daechul exclaimed, nodding with a more relaxed expression.