Chapter 23. Back to Mullae-dong Again (3)
The next morning.
Jinhyeok arrived in Mullae-dong early and climbed onto the rooftop to look over Creative Village.
He felt calmer than ever.
The relaxed confidence that belonged only to someone who had already found the perfect answer surrounded him.
His team members began gathering at the Daeyoung Precision intersection.
Originally, Jinhyeok had planned to run through Creative Village with them all day searching desperately for ideas.
Now there was no need.
He had confidently requested two full days of fieldwork for the entire team.
Yet somehow, all their work had disappeared before it even began.
The rough design in his head was already complete.
All that remained was preparing the Monday briefing.
Maybe coffee first.
Jinhyeok came down from the rooftop and stood before his team members.
The first thing he noticed was Park Jongil tightening his shoelaces.
“What is this? Are you going mountain climbing?”
“How long do you think I’ve worked with you, Team Leader? I came fully prepared. Just tell me. Where are we running today?”
It wasn’t only Jongil.
Oh Ilman and Choi Iseul were dressed normally, but their expressions were just as determined.
“Let’s talk over coffee first. There’s a place over there that opens early.”
“...”
After hearing about Jinhyeok’s work style from Jongil, the team members had mentally prepared themselves.
His relaxed appearance confused them.
They followed him toward the café.
“I’ll take this.”
Standing in front of the kiosk, Jinhyeok selected one of four Americano bean options.
Jongil, who had no idea what any of them were, blinked his huge eyes.
“What is that?”
“Yellow Bourbon. It’s a Brazilian bean. Nutty and smooth, I guess.”
Jongil lost his words.
This was completely unlike the Jinhyeok he knew.
“What are you doing? Choose.”
“I-I’ll...”
Jongil blankly read the names of the four beans.
Jinhyeok remembered feeling the same way recently and helped him.
“Assistant Manager Park, try this. Kenya AA.”
“What does that taste like?”
“Hmm. Complex flavor and a deep aroma. It’s probably closest to the Americano sold on the first floor of our company.”
Jinhyeok was selecting coffee like a professional barista.
The word "possession" that Choi Iseul had mentioned floated through Jongil’s mind.
“Um, Team Leader?”
“Yeah? What?”
“Do you remember when I first joined the company and got sick after eating that mushroom you gave me?”
Jongil swallowed dryly after asking.
The ridiculous possession theory he had heard from Choi Iseul.
This was a test.
“Ah! You mean the mushroom that looked exactly like a pine mushroom?”
“Y-You remember?”
“Of course. I remember perfectly. But I didn’t give it to you, did I? You secretly stole it from my drawer and ate it. I even told you it might be poisonous.”
Jongil had brought out an embarrassing memory for the sake of revealing the truth.
Choi Iseul gave him a thumbs-up for his noble sacrifice.
“Then where did you get that mushroom?”
At Iseul’s question, Jinhyeok searched his memory.
“A store owner who enjoyed hiking said he had found something rare and wrapped it in tissue before giving it to me. I wasn’t sure about it, so I put it in my drawer. Then this idiot insisted it was definitely pine mushroom and ate it. You know something? That was the first and last time an ambulance ever came to our company.”
Jongil’s face turned red.
Just like that, all suspicion that another person had entered Jinhyeok’s body disappeared.
“Enough about that. Tell us now. What are we doing today, Team Leader?”
“Hmm... Nothing special. The Field Inspection Team agreed to update the basic data and send it to us. I also gathered some recent information myself.”
“What? Then why did you tell the entire team to come? You said we wouldn’t return to the office until tomorrow.”
Jinhyeok thought for a moment.
The homework had been finished before it even began.
He only needed to prepare the presentation materials based on the picture already in his mind.
That was the problem.
He had secured promotions for everyone.
He couldn’t let them do absolutely nothing.
“From now on, instead of commercial district analysis done only with our feet, let’s try analysis through experience.”
“What? How do we do that?”
“Walk through the alleys like ordinary people passing through Creative Village. Go into restaurants and cafés like visitors. Spend time there. It isn’t difficult, right?”
Not difficult.
But extremely strange.
Park Jongil couldn’t understand the order.
“Isn’t that just telling us to waste time in Creative Village? What exactly is this? We don’t even write an analysis report?”
“No. There’s nothing you need to submit. But there’s one thing you need to think about while moving around. Not a massive mixed-use shopping mall. Think about what kind of landmark could be placed in Creative Village. Then we’ll meet back here at five. I hope you can find the same thing I did.”
Receiving Jinhyeok’s strange order, the team members slowly stood up.
Jinhyeok watched their backs with satisfaction.
It wasn’t only because he had nothing else to give them.
Through this incident, Jinhyeok had learned something.
Running around blindly didn’t always solve problems.
He hoped the others could feel that too.
After sending the team away, Jinhyeok returned to the rooftop and pulled the stylus from his tablet.
Scratch. Scratch.
Looking over Creative Village, Jinhyeok transferred the image in his head onto the screen.
A concept drawing he would show the team that evening.
Gateway structures using a diagrid framework rose above old metalworking buildings.
Between the two gateways lay the streets of Creative Village.
Jinhyeok was curious how his team would react when they saw his plan to use the entire street itself as Seongun’s landmark.
At the same time, in the Future Strategy Office.
After finishing the morning meeting, Head Choi Taesik called Director Baek Kangjin.
“Director, this is Choi Taesik.”
“Yeah. What is it?”
“I’m calling about the landmark site selection. Have all four teams begun?”
“Yes. I gave the same instruction to the other team leaders. Why?”
“I’m too curious. Did the Commercial District Analysis Team really go to Mullae-dong?”
Taesik had heard the surprising news from Kangjin one day earlier.
Kang Jinhyeok believed he could find a solution in Mullae-dong.
The same man who had strongly declared Mullae-dong unsuitable.
And now he had shown enough confidence to demand promotions for his entire team.
Something felt strange.
As Kangjin recommended, Taesik had read every report Jinhyeok had written.
Jinhyeok was someone who always reached conclusions through thorough data analysis.
The situation didn’t match that personality.
He said he needed to take his entire team outside to investigate.
Yet he behaved like someone who already knew the answer.
“Why? You sound anxious.”
“...Actually, my second brother came to see me last night.”
“Taebong?”
“Yes. He told me to stop wasting time and hand the project over if I couldn’t do it. He also said the chairman was becoming frustrated.”
President Choi Taebong of Seongun Construction.
A man constantly looking for an opportunity to seize Seongun Development.
If Kangjin hadn’t intervened, Seongun Development would probably have belonged to him already.
Kangjin had removed the previous president, division director, and department heads because they were practically Taebong’s faction.
This visit had an obvious purpose too.
His sudden boldness despite disliking Baek Kangjin was probably because Seongun Construction’s performance had recently collapsed.
“Second must be cornered pretty badly if he’s openly aiming for Seongun Development. What did you tell him?”
“He said some things that crossed the line, and I ended up shouting. I told him everything would be decided Monday, so he shouldn’t even look at Seongun Development. I also said I wasn’t thinking about what comes next either.”
Kangjin was silent for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Hahaha! Good! Well done! Does Taebong’s ears still turn red whenever he gets embarrassed?”
“...I-I don’t know.”
“Hahaha. What a shame. I missed something entertaining. So that’s what worries you? You talked big, and now you’re afraid there still won’t be an answer Monday?”
“Yes. Monday absolutely has to finish this. I just received a message from Chief Secretary Yoon Yeojin. The chairman will attend Monday’s briefing.”
“Oh. That must be Taebong’s work.”
“I think so. That’s why I need to know in advance what Department Head Kang is planning in Mullae-dong.”
Kangjin understood Taesik’s anxiety.
But Kangjin didn’t know either.
Jinhyeok had refused progress reports because the schedule was too tight.
They wouldn’t know what the Commercial District Analysis Team found in Mullae-dong until Monday.
“That may be difficult. They only just arrived at the site. We might only interfere if we bother them.”
“I know, but...”
“Why? You have a much easier option, don’t you? Just call your little sister.”
“You know what kind of threat she made. She joined the company on the condition that we never involve her in anything connected to her brothers.”
The youngest daughter, who repeatedly rejected marriage partners chosen by the family and demanded freedom.
Even Chairman Choi, who rarely changed decisions, couldn’t break the stubbornness of his beloved youngest daughter.
Because she had threatened to return to America.
And never come back.
Chairman Choi’s compromise was to make her work for the group.
His calculation was that once she experienced corporate life, ambition would naturally appear.
There was a huge difference between an ordinary employee who could never change anything and an owner-family member who could become company president whenever she chose.
He wanted his youngest daughter to understand that world.
But she was different.
She remained in a lowest-level employee position for more than a year.
A position everyone expected her to abandon within a month.
And she never complained.
If anything, she learned fieldwork more seriously than most new employees.
Kangjin had a vague suspicion.
She probably understood what he was trying to accomplish through Seongun Development.
The fact that she, who liked Taesik more than her biological older brothers, had joined the Commercial District Analysis Team was probably for the same reason Kangjin remained in the company.
“At least an ordinary greeting call should be okay. You could probably learn where they are and what they’re doing.”
“Would that really be okay? She told me not to call during working hours either...”
“I think it would. From what I see, she almost seems to be waiting for you to contact her first.”
“No. I’d rather directly call Department Head Kang Jinhyeok. That’s the proper procedure.”
“Haha. You choose the difficult path when an easy one exists. But that works too. Tell me if you learn anything.”
“Me? Shouldn’t Department Head Kang be reporting directly to you?”
“Hmm. That’s true, but...”
Kangjin couldn’t admit it.
He was in the slightly embarrassing situation where he could no longer demand progress reports from his subordinate.
“Can’t you just tell me? If the chairman is attending too, I need to mentally prepare.”
“No. That would also violate procedure, Director.”
Kangjin’s fist trembled.
Taesik had inherited Chairman Choi’s stubborn personality far too perfectly.
After ending the call, Taesik immediately called Jinhyeok.
He didn’t receive the answer he wanted.
Only vague statements that analysis was proceeding well and there would be no problem with Monday’s report.
Taesik’s anxiety didn’t decrease at all.
An opportunity he absolutely couldn’t lose.
With Chairman Choi now attending, Monday’s meeting felt like Taesik’s final chance.
He didn’t want to interfere with the Commercial District Analysis Team running around in Mullae-dong.
But time was too short.
In the end, Taesik personally headed to Mullae-dong.
He planned to at least watch from a distance without disturbing them.
Unfortunately...
The Commercial District Analysis Team members were making pottery.
And Jinhyeok was sitting in a reclining chair drinking fruit juice.
