Chapter 1145. Opening for Business (5)

“Seriously now!”

Kang Jin-Ho maintained his silence and focused on the road ahead rather than responding to Lee Hyeon-Su’s yell coming from right next to him.

“Sir! Don’t you know how embarrassing that was?!”

“...”

“The roof is right above your office, so why! Why!”

Kang Jin-Ho resolutely refused to look at the passenger side and continued to depress the accelerator.

‘I didn’t know things would escalate like that.’

He and Lee Hyeon-Su unexpectedly got tied up and couldn't leave the company on time. However, it wasn't because their workload had suddenly increased.

“Sir, didn’t you see the faces of all those firefighters?! Sir! Did you not see them!”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho clamped his mouth shut. Even if he had ten mouths, he’d still not be able to say something to defend himself.

“We're living in the 21st century, sir! Not in the eighties! How could you smoke indoors and trigger the fire alarm?! And give me a chance to witness firetrucks rushing over with my own two eyes! I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t say anything to them! Not a thing!”

Kang Jin-Ho told himself not to turn his head. He had zero confidence in looking Lee Hyeon-Su in the eye right now!

“

Kuh-hmm.

Maybe the sensors were too sensitive, given that the building is still new,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a new or old building, sir! Smoking indoors is prohibited, you know!”

“...But you also smoke inside the Assembly’s HQ, though?”

“How can here and there be the same, sir?!”

This had to be an example of double standards. There were no two ways about it!

Despite being convinced of hypocrisy in this situation, Kang Jin-Ho still found it hard to say something in his defense, knowing his guilt wouldn’t go away regardless of what!

Lee Hyeon-Su continued to grumble while sinking deeper into the supercar's passenger seat. “Besides, why do you still smoke, sir? It's not even good for your health. Please quit as soon as possible. Look at what your dedication to smoking has gotten us today!”

“...My health will be fine.”

“You might be, but what about us? Secondhand smoking is still considered smoking, you know!”

A cultivator’s physique could be very convenient. Cultivation techniques of mind and body helped the cultivators to maintain their best physical condition. They automatically expelled harmful elements entering the cultivator’s body. They even boosted the natural recovery rate and healed various injuries to the cultivator, too.

Thanks to these advantages, Kang Jin-Ho didn’t have to worry about lung problems no matter how much he smoked.

‘Sure, quitting smoking is a good thing.’

Even a three-year-old would know that. Although that was true, Kang Jin-Ho's spirit still hit rock bottom after being nagged by Lee Hyeon-Su, who was neither his girlfriend nor his family member!

“I’ll be more careful in the future,” Kang Jin-Ho muttered quietly.

“Smoking in your office is strictly forbidden, sir. I still can't forget the look on the firefighters' faces even now. They are already very busy as-is, yet instead of helping them out as good citizens, we forced them to rush over for absolutely nothing, sir! Nothing!”

“...”

Lee Hyeon-Su continued to hit Kang Jin-Ho with painfully correct assertions.

Even Kang Jin-Ho was flustered by the sight of the firetrucks showing up at MK's building, their sirens blazing. And once he figured out what happened...

He oh-so badly wanted to hide in a hole out of sheer embarrassment!

“H-however, why did the fire trucks come? Shouldn’t someone call them first?”

Lee Hyeon-Su testily explained. “They are automatically summoned once the fire alarm goes off, sir. Buildings are often left completely empty at night, after all. And we don’t have the night watch set up yet, either.”

“Mm...”

“Yes, we’ll modify the system soon. Even so, you mustn’t smoke indoors, sir!”

Kang Jin-Ho sheepishly grinned. “Well, about that...”

“Yes, sir?”

“How about removing the fire alarm from the chairman’s office...?”

“Come on, sir! Please!”

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly depressed the accelerator. It felt like nothing went his way today.

***

Kang Jin-Ho muttered weirdly. “Didn’t you say you want a luxurious feast...?”

“Where can I get something like that at this hour, sir! All the restaurants are closed by now, you know.” Lee Hyeon-Su grumbled again.

Inside a shabby little diner...

Kang Jin-Ho stared, somewhat unconvinced, at the pot before his eyes. It contained lazily-boiling

gamja-tang

. Funnily enough, though, his embarrassment level was also boiling even higher at the moment.[1]

Lee Hyeon-Su pouted. “You say you'd treat me to a meal, but what you gave me were fire trucks. I hope that’s not your way of trolling me, sir...”

“...”

And they thought things were going well. Of course life wouldn't be that easy!

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled hollowly at the sight of the bubbling stew.

In the morning, he had a serious talk with his father. During lunch, he went through MK’s launch while attending to many dignitaries. And in the evening, he caused a scene. Now that the hour was deep into the night, here he was, sitting across from Lee Hyeon-Su over a pot of cheap

gamja-tang

.

What an eventful day today was, indeed.

“Still, a

gamja-tang

? Come on, sir! Miss Lee told me she went to an exclusive restaurant by a five-star hotel and enjoyed a scrumptious full-course meal! But look at us, sir!

Gamja-tang

? Seriously?”

Lee Hyeon-Su was also being rather colorful today. His dissatisfaction was somewhat understandable, but wasn’t Kang Jin-Ho the Assembly Master as well as the Chairman of MK? In other words, his boss? So, how could he nag his boss like this?

Kang Jin-Ho felt more sorrow wash over him. He testily asked, “What’s the matter? You don’t like

gamja-tang

?”

“No, sir. I do like it. I often enjoyed it in the past,” said Lee Hyeon-Su with a deep pout. However, he still expertly took out a neck bone from the stew and transferred it into his plate.

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled at this sight.

When he thought about it, he had to admit that this was a strange turn of events.

The first real enemy Kang Jin-Ho ‘met’ after his return to the modern era was Lee Hyeon-Su. Yes, there had been various other troubles getting in Kang Jin-Ho’s way before that. However, Lee Hyeon-Su was the first one to go all-in in his effort to kill Kang Jin-Ho.

Thanks to this man’s efforts, didn’t Kang Jin-Ho find himself in life-threatening danger?

According to Kang Jin-Ho's usual way of handling his enemies, Lee Hyeon-Su should've been a dead man. But here he was, alive and busy unloading his dissatisfaction on Kang Jin-Ho! Not only that but with the force no one would dare imitate, too!

Trying to make sense of this bizarre relationship made Kang Jin-Ho reflexively chuckle.

“You worked hard to get us this far, Chief Lee.”

“Not at all, sir,” said Lee Hyeon-Su while chewing on the food. “Most hard work was handled by Miss Lee, after all.”

“But I know you've always been working like crazy behind the scenes.”

“Well, since you know, I won't pretend to be humble and all that. However, now that we're on this subject, I'd like a raise, sir.”

“...Isn’t your current salary enough?”

“Sir?” Lee Hyeon-Su’s gaze grew scary-sharp. “No matter how well you’re paid, it’ll never be enough.”

“...”

“In this day and age, it's not unusual to see billionaires trying whatever methods possible to reduce costs, including cutting the wages of their workers or outright firing them! Even if doing so will only save them a few pennies!

“That's because you can never have enough money, sir. It'll always be in short supply, and you will always thirst for more. I mean, you are also trying to make more money, aren't you? Despite being rich as heck?”

“I didn’t start this whole thing to make more money, you know...”

“I know, sir. But that’ll be the end result.”

“

Mm

...” Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded.

Lee Hyeon-Su was right about this.

All the enormous fortune Lee Jung-Geol had amassed over the decades had been completely absorbed into the Martial Assembly. How did that happen, you ask?

Lee Hyeon-Ju was responsible for dumping every single cent of that fortune into the Assembly’s coffers. It was as if she wanted to erase all traces of her grandfather from existence.

Her actions meant that the Assembly's current financial muscle easily surpassed that of most chaebols.

During the legalization drive, almost half of that fortune was converted into MK’s assets. And Kang Jin-Ho was the owner of MK.

Of course, the state of ownership was engineered to be as murky and entangled as possible to avoid various legal hurdles and exorbitant taxation, which outwardly meant MK’s fortunes didn’t count toward Kang Jin-Ho’s assets. But it still didn’t change the fact that Kang Jin-Ho had full control of that enormous wealth.

Yes, most of it was in the form of company shares, so Kang Jin-Ho didn't have a lot of cash in the bank account compared to how much he owned. Even so, it still didn't change how wealthy he really was.

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t we raise your salary not too long ago?”

Lee Hyeon-Su sighed under his breath. “Assembly Master, sir.”

“Yeah?”

“Will the wonderful day of us devouring East Asia, taking care of the Round Table, and conquering the world ever come?”

“...Not sure if that will qualify as wonderful, but we'll become safer, so sure. It'll happen one day.”

“Safer, you say...? Yes, that’s not incorrect, either. But sir...” Lee Hyeon-Su grinned bitterly. “What you have in mind will inevitably be different from what your subordinates are thinking about. Those things might be your ultimate goal, but to people under you? To them, making a bit more money today and being happy takes greater priority.”

“...”

“Don’t think of it as disappointing, sir. Because it only makes sense when you think about it. Even if regular workers are aware of the incoming crises, there isn’t a whole lot they can do about them, you see? It’ll only become an unnecessary worry for them.

“Telling your regular office workers to worry about the company’s future is just plain dumb, in my opinion. If you want to dump that responsibility on the shoulders of your workers, why are the directors and presidents getting paid so much every year? Aren’t they being paid handsomely for that exact purpose?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So, the preparations for the future should be handled by the higher-ups. As for their subordinates, they should just focus on living fulfilling day-to-day lives. However, to do that, they need money.”

Kang Jin-Ho sheepishly scratched his cheek. “...Fine. You’ll get a raise.”

“Thank you, sir. However, the issue goes deeper than my salary. No one will argue that, objectively speaking, the Assembly’s members are being paid well. But the current system is just too ill-defined, sir. We’ll use this opportunity to re-organize everyone’s salary situation.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded in silence. Although the labor costs going up so soon after launching a new company was a bit concerning...

‘...Well, I’m sure Lee Hyeon-Su will do a better job at this than me.’

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t know anything, so he shouldn’t dare run his mouth off regarding money matters. Actually, that wasn’t quite correct. After all, Kang Jin-Ho’s money sense was as good as a little kid’s, wasn’t it!

During his first life, Kang Jin-Ho’s financial situation couldn’t be called abundant by any stretch of the imagination. However, it still wasn’t dire enough to impact his life negatively.

After throwing his lot in with the demon cult, Kang Jin-Ho no longer had to care about money. And in this life, he didn't have to worry about money troubles, other than right after his return to the modern era.

Although he did study business management, his contribution would be nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to Lee Hyeon-Su and Lee Hyeon-Ju’s efforts. They had been working together well until now, so they should also have no problem handling this issue.

“Then, I’ll leave it up to you, Chief Lee.”

Lee Hyeon-Su smirked and nodded confidently. “Thank you, sir! Auntie! Please give us a bottle of soju!”

It seemed he must’ve thought the discussion that needed to be done with a sober mind had concluded successfully, judging from how he immediately called for a bottle of alcohol.

While watching Lee Hyeon-Su pour him a cup of booze, Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly. “This is my first time drinking with you, Chief Lee.”

“It is, sir. I’m not a fan of alcohol, you see.”

“Mm? Are you bad at handling it?”

“Well, rather than that...” Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled bitterly. “I’ve too many grudges to worry about, you see? Even if that was in the past. Back when Lee Jung-Geol and Kim Seok-Il were busy fighting each other, I must’ve had at least a hundred people checking my every move just to find an opening to kill me. Lee Jung-Geol couldn’t wait to get rid of me, after all.”

“

Mm

, yes, that sounds about right.”

“With my situation like that, I got so scared whenever my judgment got a bit unsteady from booze, you see? What if assassins show up when I’m like this? Then, I’ll die without being able to do anything...

“But you know what the funny thing is, sir? If you think about it, my worries are for nothing, aren't they? If the hitmen after my life have been good enough to get near me, doesn't it mean I'm already dead? It's not like I could fight them off with my meager skills, anyway.”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled helplessly.

“But humans are never that rational, sir. After going through a panic attack like that a couple of times, it naturally got harder for me to enjoy drinking. That’s why I satisfied myself with drinking a few cans of beer at home, alone.”

Kang Jin-Ho quietly stared at Lee Hyeon-Su.

What an odd feeling this was. Although everyone was more or less in a good spot, even someone like Lee Hyeon-Su had to wade through so much crap and difficulty to reach this point in life.

This conversation reminded Kang Jin-Ho of that.

While sipping soju, Kang Jin-Ho asked a question. “Are you still anxious? Scared?”

“No, sir,” Lee Hyeon-Su firmly shook his head. “I’m fine now. Having said that, as it turned out, mental trauma isn’t that easy to overcome. But I’ll be alright, sir. Enjoying booze might still be a bit too much for me, but I’m still satisfied by the fact that I can sleep at night without worry.

“At the very least, I don’t have to worry about my fellow Koreans trying to kill me these days. In that regard...”

Lee Hyeon-Su, still seated, bowed deeply at Kang Jin-Ho.

“I’m deeply grateful, sir.”

“...What’s gotten into you, all of a sudden?”

“Hang on, sir. You have to accept this. I'm thanking you on behalf of everyone, after all. Not just me, but everyone in the Assembly is grateful.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression stiffened a little. This was... burdensome to hear.

“The Assembly’s members are grateful for various things. At first, we were grateful that you stepped up to open a path for us to grow even stronger. And then, we were grateful that we could finally hold our heads high even against the foreigners. But now, we’re grateful for something else as well.”

Lee Hyeon-Su gently grinned.

“Now everyone understands what it means to live a stable, peaceful life, sir. Now they know what it’s like to run into a random person in the street and not worry that this guy is out to get them. Thanks to you ending the war, everyone can finally go back to living their lives.”

Kang Jin-Ho sighed deeply. “It feels like I’m being thanked for nothing. This was not my intention, after all.”

“Intentions aren’t important, sir. What matters is the result.”

Lee Hyeon-Su grew somber as he stared at Kang Jin-Ho.

1. Gamja-tang (literally means potato stew) is a spicy Korean soup/stew made from the spine or neck bones of a pig, often containing potatoes—hence the name—plus various vegetables and noodles. ☜