Chapter 398: Hitching a Ride (4)

“Hnnng~...”

Jo Gyu-Min was in a good mood and hummed loudly to himself.

'This is why I can't quit this job.'

He seemed to find himself in various fun things while working for Kang Jin-Ho. It felt like incidents kept happening all around Kang Jin-Ho! And each of those incidents was stimulating enough to entertain Jo Gyu-Min.

A regular nine-to-five salaryman would never experience anything even remotely close!

'Of course, everyone will stone me to death if I say solving children's bullying issues is fun...'

Then again, what did it matter? No one was in the car with him to hear his random mutterings, anyway.

To be more precise, Jo Gyu-Min didn't find solving the problem fun. No, being able to play several roles while dealing with issues that no other salarymen would encounter in their lives was what made things so interesting for him.

No matter how multi-talented an individual was, there would be a clear limit to how much they could do in their job. And, the longer they did the job, the more simplistic and repetitive it would become.

Jo Gyu-Min hated the idea of living a boring life like that.

'In that sense, I got lucky.'

Well, he was accompanying a walking disaster, after all! And this 'wonderful' troublemaker would never make Jo Gyu-Min feel bored!

Sure, things could get... a bit dangerous sometimes. However, without danger, there wouldn't be much thrill, either!

'Wait, isn't this line of thinking a little... perverted?'

Apparently, modern humans all suffered from a psychological condition or two, and it seemed Jo Gyu-Min was no exception. However, he didn't care. Things were too enjoyable for him, after all!

Jo Gyu-Min guided his car toward the distant school gates. He drove past the wide-open gateway and honked the car's horn.

Honk!

When that short but loud honk resounded in the air, all the kids near the windows of their classrooms turned their heads and stared at Jo Gyu-Min's car. At least, that was what his senses had told him.

'Well, then. I've let them know I'm here, so...'

Kids with discerning eyes should have realized by now that Jo Gyu-Min was in an extraordinary vehicle. Not even the school's principal should own a better car than this.

But that made sense, really. This particular vehicle was purchased by Chairman Hwang Jeong-Hu recently. Perhaps agitated by Kang Jin-Ho's new-car-buying spree, Hwang Jeong-Hu suddenly decided to replace his own aging personal vehicle. He even went against his previous form and chose a car that suited his station much better, too!

Simply looking at its imposing exterior and the abnormal size would tell the onlookers that an absolutely-super-massive big fish had pitched up.

What's even more intimidating was that something this imposing and huge was spookily silent, too. Indeed, this large black sedan glided along like a phantom, as per its official name.

Jo Gyu-Min deliberately drove across the empty school field to reach the main school building's entrance. After parking it in full view of the building's entrance, Jo Gyu-Min leisurely climbed out of the car.

'Elegantly, Jo Gyu-Min. Elegantly...!'

And he also needed to put on a hint of arrogance about him. Every action he took, every movement he made... They needed to convey his superiority. Trying to act all friendly and unthreatening had no place here.

Jo Gyu-Min needed to tell the other party that he was on another level of status compared to them, so they should treat him like a VIP on their own accord. To do that, Jo Gyu-Min needed to stand tall and proud, his shoulders arrogantly quivering slightly. And also...

After closing the car's door, Jo Gyu-Min lightly dusted his shoulders once, then slowly pulled out a pair of well-known luxury brand's sunglasses from his breast pocket before coolly putting them on.

'Well, then... This level of performance is just about spot-on, no?'

Was it too over the top? Of course not.

Jo Gyu-Min wasn't trying to look cool with this exaggerated performance. What he wanted to achieve here was to make people think that he couldn't wait to act all haughty and self-important.

Only then would he get to spread the 'authority' of the individual backing him. Jo Gyu-Min had to repeatedly ram the point home that even some lowly secretary like him could act all important and the like from that individual's power.

What would happen if he did that?

The school's glass front doorway was shoved open, and a middle-aged man rushed outside.

'As expected...'

Obviously, the faculty room would have a clear view of the outside. Whoever was inside should have heard the loud honk, then witnessed this absurdly massive sedan entering the school premises.

...Which should've set off a state of emergency among the faculty members!

The half-balding middle-aged man panted heavily while addressing Jo Gyu-Min. “H-how can I be of your assistance?”

“Ah, please hold on,” Jo Gyu-Min raised his hand to stop the middle-aged man, then smoothly pulled out a case of business cards from his pocket. He took out a business card and lightly tapped it with his fingers while presenting it to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man cautiously accepted the card, then his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after reading the letters embossed on the card. “Y-you're from Jaegyeong, sir?”

Jo Gyu-Min said nothing and just smiled 'gently' at the question. Only after giving the middle-aged man plenty of time to... 'savor' the name of Jaegyeong did Jo Gyu-Min leisurely address the man.

“Is the school principal in his office? Actually, it'll be better if I can talk to your director. Ah, hang on. This is a private school, yes?”

A refreshing smile spread on Jo Gyu-Min's face.

***

'...What kind of a situation is this?'

The director of the Hyoseong Foundation, Jeon Sang-Cheol, stared tensely at the sunglasses-wearing man sitting opposite him.

That younger man was treating Jeon Sang-Cheol's office as his own, with his legs relaxedly crossed as he sipped on the coffee.

If this was any other situation, Jeon Sang-Cheol would've expressed his displeasure and asked the other party to not forget his manners, but... But the word 'manners' had already been erased from Jeon Sang-Cheol's mind quite some time ago.

Who would care about manners and being polite in this situation, anyway?!

Being polite and respectful was an attitude a person in an inferior position displayed to a higher-up. Some Confucius-spouting fools would say higher-ups should still remain respectful to those of lower standing, but Jeon Sang-Cheol thought that was a foolish notion.

If someone at the top had to act all polite to their juniors, why would anyone in South Korea want to struggle so hard to reach the top? Such a foolish notion was nothing more than whining from those who got booted from the career ladder in their attempt to feel better about themselves.

Besides, this young man couldn't be viewed as Jeon Sang-Cheol's 'junior'. A Chief Secretary of Korea's top corporation, Jaegyeong, occupied a much higher standing in society than a mere director of a school foundation, after all!

What about the age, in that case? No commoner would argue about age and whatnot with an aristocrat. What did one's age matter when their status was simply too different?

Jeon Sang-Cheol always viewed himself as an exceedingly logical person. Other people sometimes criticized him for being too servile, but they all had no freaking idea!

Going by their example, was every vassal bowing their head and figuratively dying to suck up to their king the embodiment of servility?

That was what one's status meant in reality. And maybe... Maybe a chance to upgrade Jeon Sang-Cheol's status might have landed on his lap today.

This man from Jaegyeong certainly held a loftier status than Jeon Sang-Cheol. However, the giant of a man backing this young man occupied a realm so unfathomably high that Jeon Sang-Cheol would never dare look up.

“S-so... What brings you to our school?”

“Ah, can you wait for a couple more minutes? Let me finish this coffee first.”

“Oh… Of course.”

Jeon Sang-Cheol had to wait quietly until this rude young man finished his coffee.

Despite knowing he was being stared at, Jo Gyu-Min deliberately took his time drinking the coffee. Once he was done, he loudly placed the cup on the table, then stared back at Jeon Sang-Cheol. “It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Jo Gyu-Min, a Chief Secretary of the Jaegyeong Group's Office of Secretaries.”

“A-ah, yes. Hello, I'm Jeon Sang-Cheol, the director of the Hyoseong Foundation.”

“The reason for my sudden visit is actually... To check something, Director Jeon.”

“To… check?” Jeon Sang-Cheol tilted his head. Why would Jaegyeong want to check 'something' in this school?

Jo Gyu-Min relaxedly leaned against the couch. “I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but…”

“Yes?”

Jo Gyu-Min smiled deeply while testing the waters. “Our Chairman does a lot of charitable work without letting others know. Since he doesn't like revealing his private affairs publicly, our Chairman has been strictly limiting the exposure of his good work to the media. Of course, those in the know already know, so even I cannot understand why he is still insisting on keeping all this hush-hush! Hahaha!”

“...Hahaha. Yes, that's true.”

What's true here, Mister Director?

Jo Gyu-Min smirked inwardly. Usually, no one would dare to reply,?

'I've never heard about that before,'?

in this kind of situation.

If the other party was a full-of-airs type, they would've hated being excluded from the 'those in the know' category. However, even if they were not, they still would never say anything contrarian to derail the conversation.

...Which meant the trap had been laid now.

“Yes, I see. So, you knew,” Jo Gyu-Min slowly nodded. “The truth is… One of the charitable works our Chairman focuses on is providing financial support to various childcare facilities.”

“Aha… That doesn't sound surprising since this is Chairman Hwang we're talking about.”

“Yes, I agree.”

As Jo Gyu-Min expected, bringing up Hwang Jeong-Hu's name worked wonders. Thanks to the straight-arrow road of perseverance Hwang Jeong-Hu had walked throughout his life, his name alone carried a certain level of authority.

And this authority wasn't something a director of a random foundation could dismiss. In this case, the name of Hwang Jeong-Hu was like an all-purpose cheat key.

'And there are bastards like me who will freely wield that authority, too…'

How should he describe this...? Sure, this method was underhanded and deceitful. But, so what? Chairman Hwang wouldn't care even if he learned about this, anyway.

Besides, didn't Jo Gyu-Min already get permission to freely use Chairman Hwang's name to support Kang Jin-Ho's cause?

'Although, this is a bit different from that…'

Jo Gyu-Min faintly sucked in a breath, then began tightening the noose. “In particular, Chairman Hwang places importance on education. As Chairman Hwang greatly regrets never receiving any formal education, he strongly believes giving the children a chance he never had is one of his life's missions.”

“As expected of Chairman Hwang,” Jeon Sang Cheol slowly nodded in acceptance.

“Indeed. And that is the crux of my visit today.”

“I'm sorry?”

Jo Gyu-Min pushed the sunglasses up his nose. “Chairman Hwang thinks he doesn't have much time remaining as Jaegyeong's chairman. And, for his last accomplishment... He doesn't want to be remembered as a businessman who led South Korea's economy but as an educator who has built our nation's next generation of cornerstones. I hope you understand what I'm talking about.”

“...Well, yes. I do understand, but...?” Jeon Sang-Cheol could only frown a little. What did Hwang Jeong-Hu's wants and needs have to do with him?

Jo Gyu-Min continued to speak, “To facilitate this goal, he believes the assistance of teachers fighting in the frontlines is essential. As Chairman Hwang firmly believes all meaningful actions happen on the field, he does not trust any bookworm education specialists.”

“Ah...!” Only then did Jeon Sang-Cheol begin staring at Jo Gyu-Min with eyes dyed in both anticipation and tension.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

'Could this be...?'

Jo Gyu-Min slowly nodded. “Yes. Partners. That's what Chairman Hwang is searching for.”

Jeon Sang-Cheol's heart began madly racing. Hwang Jeong-Hu's partner? Just thinking about it was enough for him to nearly lose control from excitement!

“And this school has been chosen as one of the candidates. The purpose of my trip this time was to let you know that. Pretty soon, you shall hear more from us.”

“H-hold on!”

“Yes?”

“Why us? And, and… Is it okay to tell us ahead of time like this?”

Jo Gyu-Min coolly nodded. “Yes, it's fine. Chairman Hwang doesn't just evaluate how a school has been governed until now. He often mentions that the ability to identify and fix a problem in the shortest time possible is an essential skill for anyone hoping to carry the beacon of the new era's philosophy on education.”

“I-I see.”

“As for why this particular school was chosen… Mm, I'm not sure if I should divulge such information, but… Well… It's not like Chairman Hwang has forbidden me, so…” Jo Gyu-Min lowered his volume and leaned closer. “Actually, a child hailing from an orphanage Chairman Hwang is sponsoring attends this very school. One of the reasons why your school was chosen has to be that. To get an unbiased opinion and evaluation from a student attending the school, that is.”

“F-from an orphanage?”

“Yes. By the way, this is just an opportunity for the school. If you're not interested, you can always ignore this information. However, hmm…” Jo Gyu-Min scratched his cheek. “Even if it's not about a new philosophy in education... Chairman Hwang isn't the type to turn a blind eye on issues occurring in the frontlines of education, you see...? If there is any problem within your school, I recommend that you deal with it as swiftly as possible.”

“...!”

“Then again, what problem would there possibly be in this place! Besides, even if there are problems, what will Chairman Hwang do to this school, anyway! Hahaha!” Jo Gyu-Min heartily laughed before suddenly getting up. “Well, then. I must be on my way.”

“A-already?”

“Yes. I have many other schools to visit next, you see? Well, then. Until next time.” Jo Gyu-Min left the director's office without even looking back.

Jeon Sang-Cheol stared at the closed door in a daze before hurriedly snatching up the intercom. “Tell the dean of students to come to my office! And the principal, too! Tell them to hurry the hell up! Right nooooow!”