The next day, 1:50 PM.
Jeong Minha looked up at the company building with its blue windows shining brightly.
From the company name written like a logo on the side to the people hurrying back and forth as lunch break was ending, it was clearly that famous company no matter how you looked at it to be a cult building. In the first place, he’d searched for it on a map app before coming, so it had to be real.
After looking at the building for a moment, he lowered his head to check his appearance. He was a bit worried whether it was okay to dress like this.
Well, the only places he’d gone to in buildings like this were school (dressed casually), practice ranges and competition venues (dressed casually), so he had no sense of what to wear to a company like this. Formal wear seemed a bit off, so from his wardrobe full of athletic wear, he decided on a sweatshirt that at least looked neat.
And he roughly wore the black crossbody bag he usually carried when exercising over his left shoulder. Inside the bag were plenty of self-defense tools he’d brought just in case. He still couldn’t shake thoughts of gangsters, loan sharks, cult members, and organ trafficking from his head.
“…”
Should he go back even now? But he was the one who wanted to tour the company in the first place, and he’d suddenly received 1 million won, so he had to go to verify.
More than anything, seeing how they’d come all the way to the cafe yesterday, even if he ran, he’d probably get caught right away. Rather than experience the fear of not knowing when they might run into each other, it was much better to go see them first from this side.
Before he knew it, it became 55 minutes, so he made up his mind and entered the company entrance.
There were people in suits, but he was relieved to see quite a few people dressed like him too.
He passed through the gate with the keys Seo Sihan had given him the day before and called the elevator. When he pressed the 16th floor button as instructed, the few people who got on with him swallowed their gasps of “huk.”
‘…What? Is this not it?’
People stared right at him. But even looking at the note he received yesterday, this location was correct.
He waited for the elevator to arrive while calming his heart that started trembling again because of people’s reactions. People all got off on the floors before.
Soon the elevator quietly announced “sixteenth floor” in English and the door opened. Jeong Minha, who readjusted his crossbody bag firmly, was startled the moment the door opened but pretended not to be. It was because the scary secretary-setting man he’d seen yesterday was standing there holding a tablet.
“I’ll escort you.”
Seems he wasn’t just a setting but a real secretary. Minha followed the man down the corridor. There was a large, round-shaped lobby on the entire 16th floor, and at the very end was the director’s office.
Immediately after, the secretary who had gone to the door knocked lightly.
“Director-nim, Jeong Minha-nim has arrived.”
“Please come in.”
When he entered through the door the secretary opened, he could see Seo Sihan sitting at a desk on the left side of the room. He’d never met an executive so he didn’t know, but he was relieved to see the kind of atmosphere desk, monitor, and center table commonly seen in dramas. No matter what, all those numerous employees outside couldn’t all be cult members, right? …Right?
“Welcome, Minha-ssi.”
Minha, who thought as far as “he smiles prettily like yesterday,” came back to his senses wondering what kind of thoughts he was having in this situation.
“You really… were a director.”
When he reacted with a dazed expression, Seo Sihan smiled even more brightly and answered.
“Yes. Are you convinced now?”
Feeling awkward, Minha looked around this way and that, then discovered the contract placed inside the glass covering on the desk.
“Why is that there…”
“Ah, Minha-ssi should have one too. Here’s a copy.”
“Oh, yes.”
Do people usually store contracts like that? Well, if you’re putting it somewhere visible, it is reassuring for me.
“And this… I put it in like an autograph.”
“What?”
“I told you I’m Minha-ssi’s fan.”
No. He’s definitely a bit crazy after all. Who on earth keeps a contract signature as autograph merchandise? Minha managed his expression with effort and said,
“Well, no… The autograph, I’ll do it again later…”
He was going to say he’d do it properly again later if that’s the case, but thinking about it, if the other person was just joking, it seemed like he’d be embarrassed alone, so he stopped mid-sentence.
However, Seo Sihan said with surprise as if truly happy,
“Really? Please… definitely do it.”
Embarrassed either way, Minha quickly tried to change the subject.
“But Director-nim…”
“You can use a comfortable form of address.”
“Ah, how old are you by any chance?”
“I’m twenty-seven.”
A director of a major corporation at 27? Just looking at his face, he looked young, but he was surprised he was really that young. Aren’t executives usually in their 40s or older? Is he really from a chaebol family or something?
“Uh… Then…”
Actually, Minha had thought to just call him hyung since Seo Sihan had told him to speak comfortably first. However, he seemed more impressive than expected, and on top of that, he was in a position of sponsoring him, so he briefly worried whether it was okay to call him that comfortably.
But he couldn’t particularly think of any other form of address. Calling him Sihan-ssi the same way didn’t fit his mouth and seemed somehow more impolite.
“Sihan hyung…?”
He tried calling him while gauging his reaction, but when Seo Sihan’s expression hardened for a moment, Minha quickly apologized. Was this more impolite?! Just before he was about to prostrate himself alone, Seo Sihan spoke.
“It’s fine, I like it. Please call me that…”
“Y-yes…!”
Looking at his expression, he seemed simply surprised because he liked it. At that sight, Minha continued the conversation in a slightly relaxed state. First, he had to solve the most important problem.
“Um… If I’m going to start being an athlete again as you said… I need a place to train. I can’t really go to the place I used to go anymore.”
“What about the shooting range you always go to?”
“…That’s just a hobby shooting range close to an arcade. I deliberately went to a place with no people, so honestly the equipment performance is… Anyway, I don’t mind if that’s what hyung wants. But if we’re going to aim for the Olympics, I need a proper training facility. But there are only a few such places, and they’re all people I knew from before…”
Minha stopped mid-sentence again. He was in a position of receiving money, so should he just endure that kind of thing and go? Well, if not here, he’d have to travel several hours to another place, but what could this person do about that. He was about to say “I’ll just figure it out and go on my own” when Seo Sihan said as if it was no problem,
“Would you like to come to my house?”
“…What?”
“I have a shooting range at home.”
“What?”
“I made it for Minha-ssi to use.”
“Yes… What?”
What is this? Chaebols must joke on a different scale too. Haha.
“I’m serious though…”
“…?!”
Flustered at 1) having his thoughts read, 2) really having a shooting range at home?, and 3) a sparkling face suddenly approaching right in front of him—a total of three types of panic—Minha hastily grabbed his crossbody bag and ended up dropping the items inside the bag with a clatter.
“…!”
The self-defense spray looked like a regular canister so it was fine, but the problem was that a black pistol that would cause misunderstanding no matter who saw it had also fallen.
In a country where gun possession is illegal, and moreover, from the bag of a former national shooting team representative, a gun appeared, so all three people including Minha froze.
What broke the silence was Seo Sihan’s question.
“…A gun?”
“N-no, that! That is, it’s absolutely not a real gun! Th-this is…”
…I’m fucked! Minha was so shocked he couldn’t speak properly. Because of the self-defense gun, he was about to be arrested on misunderstandings like illegal gun possession, gun rampage terrorist, etc.
Hmm, thinking about it again, it actually wasn’t really a self-defense gun either. That requires properly getting permission from the country, filing reports yourself, and it’s complicated anyway. In contrast, this was just an airsoft gun that only looked plausible on the outside. Even if you got hit, it wouldn’t hurt.
Why would he carry around something like this while calling it self-defense? Well, even with an airsoft gun like this, with his skills, couldn’t he accurately shoot right next to the opponent’s eye to make them scared for a moment, then quickly run away? Of course, he’d never actually executed this until now; it was just imagination.
More precisely, it was something he’d purchased for a change of mood when he was holed up alone at home in shock from being scammed by his coach right after the Olympics, not wanting to go out but wanting to hold a gun.
In short, the conclusion was that it was a toy for Jeong Minha’s peace of mind. In the first place, real athlete pistols had to be stored separately in a management facility, and you had to pay management fees, so Minha, who had no money, had disposed of it long ago.
If he got reported like this and dragged to the police station, it would be quite embarrassing.
[Former National Shooting Team Representative, Reported to Major Corporation Executive for Unlicensed Gun Possession… Actually a Toy Gun?]
…He absolutely didn’t want his face on the news like that!
But to say the truth now that “this is just a toy!” seemed scarier to say since even the secretary beside them appeared to be preparing for some kind of battle.
As Minha was worrying about how to handle this, Seo Sihan spoke first again.
