The following morning, Hee-dae returned from running along the riverbank. After showering, he went into his dressing room.

He pulled out the first shirt he touched, started to put it on, then hung it back up. Resting his chin in his hand, he carefully examined the shirts in front of him.

Having worn a grey suit the previous day, he wondered what to wear today.

“When in doubt, nothing beats the classics.”

His meticulous gaze eventually settled on a particular shirt. Crafted by a master tailor during a business trip to Italy, it was one of Hee-dae’s favorites. He slipped the crisp shirt over his upper body and paired it with his most classic suit.

Standing before the mirror, he inspected his appearance from every angle. For no particular reason, he flexed his chest muscles and checked that his Adam’s apple was prominent enough.

‘I was using my lunch break to check where the departments on each floor are located.’

Yesterday, when he demanded to know why she had joined the company and fixed her with a fierce gaze, Yeon-seo pulled out her phone and showed him the office map. A moment later, she snapped at him as though warning him not to jump to conclusions.

“I believe I sufficiently explained why I joined the company during our meeting this morning, Executive Director.”

“Then why were you hiding? Why were you hiding there, eavesdropping on someone else’s family shitshow? That’s suspicious.”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping on anyone’s family shitshow. Nor do I have any interest in it.”

Ha……

Hee-dae broke off his thoughts and released a sharp sigh. That infuriating Sim Yeon-seo had clearly heard everything, yet she had shamelessly pretended otherwise, leaving him with nothing more to say.

“I should get going. I’ve been away from my desk for too long.”

She certainly knew how to seize an opportunity. In the brief moment he hesitated, Sim Yeon-seo had slipped away. Ha. Just thinking about it again made his blood pressure rise and the back of his neck stiffen.

He wrapped the tie around his neck and tightened it with force, as though he were grabbing someone by the collar.

“I guess I won’t have to worry about low blood pressure for a while. At this rate, high blood pressure will be saying hello any day now.”

He changed his watch several times and carefully chose a cologne. He spent thirty minutes fussing over his appearance—something that would normally have taken him less than ten.

Then, suddenly realizing how absurdly he was behaving, he let out a sigh deep enough to make the ground sink beneath him.

“Look at you making a f*cking fool of yourself. You’ve completely lost your mind.”

Carrying a completely empty briefcase that served no purpose beyond appearances, Hee-dae trudged out of the dressing room. Waiting outside was a live-in staff member holding a neatly prepared bowl of deer antler tonic.

“Don’t bring this to me anymore. I’m not going to drink it. Just dispose of one serving every day.”

“Pardon? But you must drink it, Executive Director. Madam specifically instructed us—”

“I’m specifically instructing you too. If it seems too wasteful to throw away, drink it yourself.”

When Hee-dae walked past her, refusing to drink it, the hesitant staff member scurried after him.

“Madam told us to call her if you refused to drink it and ordered us to throw it away.”

“Then call her. Once she hears the news, Mother will be heartbroken, fall ill, grow old, and waste away.”

“Ah……”

The staff member stopped following him and lingered there awkwardly. After taking a few more steps, Hee-dae came to an abrupt halt.

“You’re putting us in a difficult position, Executive Director. Madam ordered us to make sure we watched you drink it. She said that if you didn’t, we should expect to be thrown out…….”

Ha……

Hee-dae turned around and glared fiercely at the bowl of deer antler tonic. For some inexplicable reason, it looked particularly like a bowl of poison today.

“Of course Madam is suffering. She’s spent all these years watching her husband have an affair right before her eyes.”

Whew. Hee-dae exhaled and walked back to take the bowl. He swallowed its contents in a few gulps, then immediately grimaced.

Ugh. This tastes f*cking awful. Seriously.

“Have a safe day, Executive Director.”

“Thank you. Have a good day.”

He wanted to rebel, if only in a small way, but he could not bring himself to become just another person who made his mother the subject of pity. The whole world already viewed her with sympathy.

For now, the only thing he could do was drink a bowl of deer antler tonic every morning, dutifully. To Hee-dae, this was the greatest act of filial devotion he could offer.

After arriving at work, Yeon-seo attended the morning meeting.

“It doesn’t seem as though the controversy surrounding the sudden unintended acceleration lawsuit involving the ZA6 and Choi Dae-sik will die down anytime soon. He remains extremely aggressive about the matter.”

Yeon-seo listened attentively to her colleagues as she leafed through the documents. Six months earlier, a car carrying a married couple had been involved in a devastating accident. The wife, who had been sitting in the passenger seat, died instantly. The driver subsequently filed a lawsuit, claiming that the vehicle had suddenly accelerated on its own.

At the time, his wife was pregnant, and Choi Dae-sik exploited the media and various social media platforms to draw attention to the case. His anguished cries as a bereaved husband captured the public’s attention, and Baekmun Motors faced widespread condemnation regardless of the truth of his allegations.

Losing someone he loved must have been unimaginably painful. Nevertheless, from Baekmun Motors’ perspective, the situation was a serious problem. Choi Dae-sik claimed that the vehicle had suddenly accelerated on its own, but this allegation was based solely on his testimony.

As is often the case with such incidents, he could not prove that sudden unintended acceleration had occurred, and Baekmun Motors could not prove that it had not.

The two sides remained locked in a tense stalemate. It was an exceptionally delicate and sensitive matter.

“Choi Dae-sik is no ordinary man. I only met him briefly, but whew.”

When the attorney sitting opposite Yeon-seo tried to speak, the attorney sitting next to him gently tapped his arm to indicate that he should be quiet.

The case had already been assigned to two other attorneys, but they were unable to endure Choi Dae-sik’s fierce protests. He was so notorious that no one else wanted to take the case, which was ultimately assigned to Yeon-seo, the newcomer.

The department head asked Yeon-seo,

“Attorney Sim, what do you think? Have you reviewed the case?”

“I’m still reviewing it. I’ve gone over the case history, but I believe I’ll need to meet with Mr. Choi Dae-sik in person.”

The attorneys all raised their eyebrows at Yeon-seo’s composed response, but refrained from commenting. The department head nodded and offered her some advice.

“Bear in mind that he’s extremely volatile. As you know, he isn’t someone you can reason with. Whenever he sees us, he starts screaming about killing us or dying himself. Nothing he says is rational. Just be careful.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“All right, next.”

The department head continued the meeting, while Yeon-seo remained focused and took brief notes occasionally. Despite having spent the entire night reviewing the materials handed to her and having barely slept, she looked brighter and more alert than anyone else that morning.

***

Upon hearing that an emergency executive meeting had been called, Hee-dae made her way to the main conference room. The grim expressions on the executives’ faces as they filed in and took their seats made the reason for the meeting painfully obvious.

When Chairman Yoon Guk-seong entered the room, everyone rose to their feet. The moment he took his seat at the head of the table, his furious voice thundered through the room.

The problem was the company’s falling stock price.

“The stock price is in turmoil! What on earth are you all sitting around doing?”

Everyone listened with their heads bowed, but Hee-dae merely sat there with a sullen expression, idly tapping his fingers.

It had been a long time since he last saw his father, and he was not at all pleased by the reunion. Even worse, hearing his father’s booming voice made him feel sick.

“Play the video!”

“Yes, Chairman.”

At his command, the secretary displayed the video on the screen. Hee-dae glanced at it sidelong. The video concerned the sudden unintended acceleration of the ZA6 and had amassed an astonishing number of views on social media.

Dressed in mourning clothes and holding his wife’s memorial portrait and a pair of baby shoes, a man criticized Baekmun Motors. Time and again, it had been proven that every new video he uploaded caused the company’s stock price to dip slightly.

“How long are you planning to sit back and watch? Come up with a countermeasure!”

The executives looked away from the screen and lowered their heads. Hee-dae alone continued staring blankly at the video.

“This company is in such a sorry state because upper management does nothing but sit back and watch! Come up with a plan! Now!”

Although the case fell under the jurisdiction of the legal department, Chairman Yoon continued to berate the executives. This was partly because he did not fully trust ordinary employees, believing that they lacked senior management’s sense of responsibility.

However, the executives were well aware of how challenging the lawsuit was. They exchanged wary glances and remained silent.

Even if they handled it successfully, they would receive little credit. If they failed, however, they would be forced to shoulder the blame.

“Why isn’t anyone saying anything? Has the cat got your tongues? I told you to come up with a plan! What on earth are you all doing?”

Chairman Yoon continued to rage, the veins in his neck bulging, but the room remained silent. To Hee-dae, in particular, it all sounded like a problem from another world. Assuming it had nothing to do with him, he wondered which unfortunate soul would be singled out and thrown to the wolves this time. He watched as the video ended and the name of the attorney in charge appeared.

[Attorney in Charge: Sim Yeon-seo]

D*mn it. He had been sitting there in a daze, only to see something he wished he had not.

“Ha…….”

Hee-dae squeezed his eyes shut and ran his hands over his face. Only then did he realize how serious the situation was, as he recalled the deranged look in the eyes of the man he had been watching with such indifference only moments earlier.

“Is there no one? Is there really no one here who can come up with a solution? Are you going to assign the case to a salaried attorney and wash your hands of it? You utterly useless bunch of—!”

Rubbing his temple, Hee-dae raised one hand above his head. Chairman Yoon’s voice, which had been thundering throughout the conference room, abruptly cut off. Only then did the executives cautiously lift their heads.

“I’ll do it.”

When the executives saw that the person raising his hand was none other than Hee-dae, their faces filled with shock. Chairman Yoon blinked several times.

“……What? You’ll do it?”

“Yes. I said I’ll do it.”

“Why, all of a sudden?”

“What else should I do? Keep fooling around?”

Chairman Yoon closed his mouth as he stared at Hee-dae, who had shown interest in a meeting agenda for the first time. Silence descended over the room, and Hee-dae slowly lowered his hand as he looked around.

“I might as well give it a try. I can’t spend the rest of my life as Baekmun Motors’ figurehead.”

“…….”

“I’ll do it. I’ll oversee Choi Dae-sik’s case.”

Chairman Yoon stared at Hee-dae’s nonchalant expression for a long moment before thumping the desk.

“Then do it! And all of you had better get your acts together!”

“Yes, Chairman!”

Once everyone had answered in unison, Chairman Yoon left the conference room.

Hee-dae let out several short breaths, overcome with resignation. It seemed as though his life had begun to spiral out of control the moment Sim Yeon-seo reappeared.

Well, the damage was already done. Whatever happened next was beyond his control.

What would Sim Yeon-seo’s reaction be when she found out that we would be in the same boat for a while?