HCP Pharmaceuticals, Noejead (Daejeon)
Main headquarters
"He is gone along with the boy. Han Byung-chul is not revealing the place to anyone." Secretary Yoon Seol-Ah said, as a matter of fact.
"When did he leave?" Chairman Kim Joo-Hwan asked, not practically shocked at the news as he rummaged through the files.
"Two hours or so after the meeting. He went to the hospital Park Hyun-So was admitted to and picked him up. After that moment on, we have no insights into where he took him." She reported looking through the screen in her hand, standing beside the chairman on the dining table of his house.
Both of them were lost in their own work; still, without any eye contact, their conversation was going smoothly. With their voices calm yet cold, with a professional tone to it.
Yoon Mi-Ran—Kim Do-Jin's mother—walked to the table with a plate in her hands filled with nicely cut fruit that she put in front of her husband.
She had heard their conversations just a little to get the scope of everything. Despite that, she had talked to her son a few little times in the past month to know what he had done to upset his father again.
He always let his feelings slip the moment she asked him in a little worried voice. Spilling out every secret he had to his loving mom.
Because he knew he could always rely on her to keep them secret.
And she did; she always did, including this time.
Even if the situation looked a little out of hand to her.
That was just what distressed her husband.
They had a fight, a long one, when he found out about Hyun-So.
He asked her, why? Why did she never tell him?
But the answer was obvious enough that it didn't need to be said out loud.
He looked up from the table to glare at her before going back to his file.
"I think you should give him some time." Yoon Mi-Ran said, gently, like even a loud voice would trigger something in this very quiet room.
"Time? He still needs time after all those years he hasn't been at home?" But it still triggered something, apparently, as Kim Joo-Hwan yelled, not too loud, just enough to make a point.
A point like it was anything meaningful, the reason their son hadn't been home was well known to every single person even slightly close to their family.
Mi-Ran breathed out after sitting on a chair.
"He is all grown up now; he can figure it out by himself. You can't control him forever."
The choice of words was great indeed.
Great for starting a fight.
Joo-Hwan looked at her with a dead face. "What did you say? Now it's me who is the problem. I just want him to focus on the company instead of those useless experiments of his."
He was booming with anger, throwing his hands around in the air.
Secretary Yoon held her tablet by the side, watching them quarrel.
"See, the problem is that you never acknowledge his achievements. He has done so many things, even for the company. He has earned his own name." Mi-Ran wouldn't back away from her point.
The chairman fell silent, like he was trying to work with his words to make them look more powerful.
But they weren't.
"The current project, he has brought a whole man from another world, or that's what he calls it. The project he spent years on but got nothing out of except more expenses. That was his achievement?"
Mi-Ran took a slice of apple out of the plate, chewing it fast to calm herself down. She was aware of the fact that this conversation isn't going anywhere good.
"You know the reason why he was so dedicated to this project despite it being so hopeless. This project was the reason he studied so hard and worked so hard all those years."
Joo-Hwan grunted.
Mi-Ran was so done, she got up to walk away.
"But I know you can never see things from others' perspectives."
She stormed out of the room. No longer feeling the need to continue explaining.
Her husband was selfish and dumb.
Maybe a moment in her garden will help calm her down.