Chapter 4.2

Chapter 4.2

In contrast to Hajun’s sunny disposition, Seojun was a cold and relentlessly rational man.

The only time Seojun looked different was when he was with his wife. Even now, he was carefully picking the bones out of a piece of fish to place it on his wife’s rice bowl first.

Hajun acted out an exaggerated look of disgust.

“What is this? Did Professor Jung order you to do this? Are you trying to give me a stomachache so you can get me married off faster?”

Seojun nodded at Hajun’s remark. Moonkyung, who was chewing the fish meat Seojun had cleaned for her, seemed to be silently stifling a laugh.

“Are you envious?”

Hajun grumbled as he spooned up seaweed soup packed with abalone.

“Need you ask? Even love bugs would run away in shock at that sight.”

When Seojun held out his empty soup bowl, Moonkyung asked endearingly, “Do you want another bowl?”

Seojun said yes, and Moonkyung hurried to rise from her seat. Her movements looked exceptionally warm.

The moment Moonkyung was out of earshot, Seojun looked toward Hajun.

“I thought you were just playing around, but your first-quarter sales were better than I expected.”

Hajun reacted with indifference to Seojun’s praise. Everyone was trying to mold him into a new power player, yet he himself had no interest in the power struggles.

Hajun sometimes envied Seojun, the young head of the family, but only because he had built such a happy family.

It was an arranged marriage, but the story that his brother and sister-in-law had fallen deeply in love was a famous legend within the Ihan family.

“The company pays me a huge salary. I have to at least work for what I’m paid.”

“You definitely have talent. Stay in the automotive sector for about three years, then move over to electronics. I’ll pave the way for you.”

“Forget it, I’m not interested.”

Seojun half-covered his lips with his hand to hide a smile at Hajun’s lack of interest. It was absurd that he hadn’t laughed at anything else, but laughed at that.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I wasn’t interested at that age, either. Exactly like you.”

“So how did you end up like this?”

“A man usually starts running once he has something to protect.”

As he said this, he made warm eye contact with his wife in the distance. It was so sappy it made his teeth ache.

Feeling stifled, Hajun, who had left his tie on the chair beside him, brought it up to the table.

“So, why did you call me at this hour? Get to the point.”

The moment the conversation turned to business, the look in Seojun’s eyes changed. Leading Ihan, a major domestic conglomerate, surely meant carrying that much weight on one’s shoulders.

Hajun felt a twinge of tension at his Hyung’s suddenly serious gaze.

“I need you to go to Germany this time.”

“Germany?”

“Yes. Secure the exclusive rights contract with Wolf.”

Hajun doubted his ears. Secure what?

What was this man saying while eating perfectly normal seaweed soup? Who was he asking to handle something that important? Him? He’d only been in this position for two years—what did he know? Why give him such a critical task?

He was about to ask if his brother had lost his mind, but chose to phrase it a bit more politely.

“Hyung, you aren’t trying to tank the company, are you?”

“Why? Not confident?”

“If this were something that could be done with confidence alone, I’d have built the Great Wall and stuck the Eiffel Tower in Paris by now.”

“Give it a try. The company will back you with everything it has.”

“Don’t go blaming me later if I blow the contract.”

Seojun’s gaze swept over Hajun with ease. He was a guy with such brilliant features that he wouldn’t look out of place as a group model, let alone a general manager.

He knew that because of the curse circulating in the Ihan family, Hajun had been kept away from even dangerous sports since he was a child.

Yet, Hajun had stubbornly broken his parents’ resolve and spent his entire high school career learning hockey.

The kid who had stumbled around, unable to keep up during his first game, had shown immense skill, leading his team to win the final match.

Hajun’s parents were worried about his tendency to become obsessively fixated on things he loved, but to Seojun, it was a passing grade.

The fact that he had quit the hockey he loved so much and entered a prestigious university right away also proved he was a guy who knew clearly when to win and when to yield.

Unlike himself, having grown up receiving such overflowing love and being free of prejudice in all things would eventually become a strength.

It was a massive misconception to think that business must be viewed only through a lens of cold, rational essence.

Behind every AI, there were people. No matter how much the era changed and how tech-centric the future became, the core was human networking.

Moving people’s hearts was, after all, the foundation of negotiation.

“Kim Hajun.”

“Yeah?”

“You have a habit of underestimating yourself sometimes.”

“What are you talking about? I’m the kind of guy who thinks he’s the best person in the world.”

Seojun laughed out loud at Hajun’s words. That supple, brazen personality was surely innate, too. The fact that he could appear charming to others without saying much was truly Hajun’s greatest strength.

The sharp and jagged things of this world often had a great need for something rounded and soft. Just as his wife’s love was for him.

“Anyway, you’re the one going.”

Hajun had no choice but to bow his head slightly. Inside that mature, slick exterior, there was still an innocent boy.

He had spent his school days acting like a ball that kept bouncing away, but he had always returned to where he belonged.

That was Hajun’s true nature.

“Yes, Chairman. I shall do as you bid.”