CHAPTER 9 – Sehyun (Part 1)

Sehyun, standing in front of the door to the Hanseong Department Store president’s office, looked neatly dressed. The secretary standing next to him knocked twice and said.

“Mr. Lee Sehyun has arrived.”

Without waiting for a response, Secretary Kim turned the bronze doorknob.

“Please come in.”

Sehyun nodded at Secretary Kim’s words. The door opened to reveal a long, rectangular room. President Lee Jang-soo was sitting at the head of the sofa set for the reception, reading a newspaper. When the sound of the door closing was heard, Jang-soo and Sehyun were the only ones left in the space.

“Have a seat.”

Jang-soo folded the newspaper in half and placed it on the table as he spoke.

“How’s your health?”

Sehyun comfortably took a seat beside Jang-soo and asked. Jang-soo was suffering from a chronic gastrointestinal illness and was only eating porridge continuously.

“Mother worries a lot that you can’t eat properly.”

“What’s there to worry about?”

Although they lived under the same roof, they had lived separate lives for over ten years. His current wife was the daughter of a founding member of the Hanseong Group, someone he chose to advance his career, leaving the woman he loved.

“It’s true. She told me this morning to take good care of you, father.”

Sehyun smiled gently as he spoke. Jang-soo looked at his neatly dressed son. He looked just like his mother. He was quite popular at work and had a pleasant personality, getting along well with his colleagues.

“When is she going back to the US?”

His wife, Eunjung, was traveling back and forth between the US and Korea to take care of their youngest child, Jia, while she studied abroad. Although he knew she was using childcare as an excuse to take a break and have some time for herself, he let it slide.

“She said she’ll be back after the New Year’s party. She’ll be back before the Lunar New Year.”

Jang-soo nodded. Eunjung’s schedule always aligned with the Hanseong main family’s schedule. She enthusiastically immersed herself in the affairs of the main house due to her role as the second daughter-in-law of Ji Hyun-mi in the Hanseong Group.

Although their marriage began without affection, no other couple moved in unison like them. This is because their relationship is not based on such empty emotions as love, but as economic and social partners whose interests always move together.

“Next week, we’re going to announce some personnel changes.”

Sehyun was aware of the regular personnel transfers carried out at the group level. It was also one of the reasons why Jang-soo visited the head office for several days.

“Sehyun, you’ll be moving to the marketing team.”

Jang-soo said, pulling a stomach pill from his pocket and tearing off the end.

“The marketing team?”

Jang-soo squeezed out a thick, opaque gel and gulped it down in one gulp, then picked up his water glass and rinsed his mouth with water before swallowing hard. He set the glass down on the table with a clatter and said.

“You’ve been promoted to a manager, so do well.”

Manager. A smile crept onto Sehyun’s lips. After being promoted as the fastest supervisor among his peers who joined together, he would become a manager by the age of thirty-three next year. This was solid progress. Sehyun leaned back comfortably on the sofa, clasping his hands together.

“The vice chairman took special care of you.”

“I’ll thank him personally.”

Sehyun said with satisfaction.

“Do well. Don’t tarnish your father’s name.”

“Of course, “I’ll polish it rather than tarnish it.”

Sehyun joked with a grin. His father usually laughed and dismissed such banter as nonsense, but this time, he didn’t laugh.

“Are you worried about anything?”

“I’m worried… … .”

Jangs-oo furrowed his brow.

“Why, Father? Are you perhaps moving somewhere?”

“No, that’s been shelved.”

Shelved. Sehyun’s eyes widened. 

Didn’t shelved mean that it almost happened?

“Hwang Dojun will be coming as vice president.”

“Really?”

Who’s coming? 

Sehyun couldn’t believe the words coming from his father’s mouth.

“Hwang Dojun? The CEO of Hanseong Hotel?”

Jang-soo nodded.

“When?”

“March.”

Sh*t. 

Sehyun cursed silently.

“Surely he’s not taking over the main branch?”

“He is.”

Sehyun tilted his head again and swallowed his curse. The main branch in Gangnam was always bustling with people, even if left alone.

All the renowned luxury brands were present, and there were many brands exclusively available only at the Hanseong Department Store flagship store. 

The geographical advantage of being directly connected to a subway station with a high volume of foot traffic, along with the integration with Hanseong’s business hotel, Hanseong B&B, and duty-free shops, attracted customers from the local area and foreigners.

Above all, the main branch was a place where future chairmans passed through.

“Isn’t the chairman being too much? Putting a young guy in the vice president’s seat? Ha!”

Dojun is thirty-three, just a year older than Sehyun. It wouldn’t be like this if Hwang Dojun was just an executive or managing director. They’re only a year apart in age, but one is a vice president of a department store and the other is just a manager. Though they were born with different silver spoons in their mouths, there was no resentment, but the sense of unfairness was unmistakable.

“This is a critical time for the vice president. If you fall behind here, it could be the end.”

Jang-soo sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead. If things continued like this, he couldn’t even guarantee his own position. His own man, Vice President Kim Euncheol, was demoted to Hanseong Food. And in his place is Hwang Dojun.

People in the world said that Chairman Hwang was trying to see who would win between the uncle and the nephew, but to Jang-soo, it wasn’t about that.

Hwang Dojun had surpassed Hwang Yeong-guk. And Hwang Yeong-guk had surpassed Hwang Ilhyun. He remembered vividly how proud the chairman was of Yeong-guk.

Perhaps the chairman saw Hwang Dojun, his only grandson and the only blood relation left by his eldest son, as his own extension. He might be joyfully watching who Dojun steps on, how fast, and how far he’ll grow.

The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment at a single mistake.

The Vice Chairman said they should nip Dojun in the bud before he gets bigger. He’s just a kid with very little to his name right now, but when you combine his stake with the stake of the unconscious Hwang Yeong-guk and the chairman, he’ll become a monster.

“Are you meeting Manager Yoon well?”

Jang-soo suddenly asked Sehyun. Sehyun flinched slightly, then nodded in response.

“Yes.”

While Vice President Yoon Sangcheol’s role in the group wasn’t significant, his presence was not. It was Yoon Sangcheol’s grandfather who took in Hwang Ilhyun as a child when he was too poor to go to school or even learn Korean and raised him as his own.

Knowing how much Chairman Hwang cared about him, he deliberately asked Yeong-chan, the vice chairman, to give Yoon Sangcheol a chance.

“He’s someone the chairman cherishes. We should formally greet him now. We’ll come to the New Year’s party together. Let’s greet them together.”

After Jangsoo’s words, Sehyun bit his lip for a moment before answering slowly.

“Yes, we should.”

* * *

It was a little after 4 p.m. when Sehyun messaged. Seo-yeon was sitting in the branch manager’s office at the head office in Cheongdam-dong.

[What time do you get off work? Let’s have dinner after a long time. How about Carmen? I’ll pick you up at the hotel.]

Seo-yeon checked her messages briefly, then flipped her phone open and held it in her hand.

“If it’s urgent, answer it first.”

Kim Sooyoung said in a soft voice. Seo-yeon shook her head and replied.

“No, it’s okay. It was just a spam text. Ms. Kim, I’m not sure about the personal shopper thing.”

When Seo-yeon looked embarrassed, Sooyoung said with an embarrassed expression of her own.

“It’s not in my power to say no. It’s Hanseong.”

Hanseong was the only company in South Korea to have signed an agreement with the Heritage headquarters. The partnership is so strong that, aside from department stores and its flagship store, where its Korean branch is located, Heritage only had stores in Hanseong’s hotels 

“Hwang Dojun personally asked for it, so how could I say no to him? I know you’re too high up to be a personal shopper, but it’s not like you haven’t done it before, and it’s not hard.”

Seo-yeon couldn’t believe it.

He specifically designated me? He called the branch manager himself?

All weekend, she tried not to think about it. She flipped her house upside down, cleaning and doing laundry, deliberately avoiding the events of that night. But as soon as Monday morning came, she received a call.

To handle Hwang Dojun’s wardrobe. 

What can I say? Can’t I refuse because I’m too high up in the position? Or because I kissed that man a few days ago that’s why I can’t do it? I can’t do it because I don’t want to get involved with him again?

Her heart was heavy, but she didn’t know what to say, and couldn’t find a reason to refuse. So she deliberately went to the flagship office herself. Maybe if she talked face-to-face to the flagship store manager, they might accept her refusal.

“I need a reason to refuse too, right? Besides, we were the ones who originally suggested the personal shopper role.”

“I think Ms. Eun Jinyoung can handle it. Her rank matches as well.”

Seo-yeon said. The job, as a personal shopper, was a kind of purchasing agent and style consultant service offered only to a few customers at Heritage.

As of now, the only people receiving this service in South Korea are Chairman Hwang Ilhyun and Hwang Dojun of Hanseong Hotel.

The reason Heritage chose these two was partly due to their cooperative relationship at the group level and the fact that the Hwang family were VVIP customers, but the key factor was undoubtedly CEO Hwang Dojun.

A third-generation chaebol with wealth, good looks, and ability. He has a confident, even arrogant, demeanour, and bold moves that seem to prove his ability. For Heritage, he was a walking billboard.

Seo-yeon was a supervisor back then, serving as Chairman Hwang Ilhyun’s personal shopper, and Hwang Dojun, who had said he would rather die than make someone else do it, had been assigned to designer Choi Jihoon, who said he would take over as Dojun’s shopper.

“I recommended Eun Jinyoung too. But…”

At first, Sooyoung had recommended Eun Jinyoung to Dojun, but he insisted that he wanted Yoon Seo-yeon, not someone else. When asked why he specifically chose Seo-yeon, Dojun said that only Seo-yeon knew that he was color blind.

“He said that only you know that he is color-blind.”

Sooyoung said with a look that she didn’t want to bring up this conversation. Dojun said it casually, but it sounded different to Sooyoung. He didn’t want to reveal his weakness to others, so he insisted that Seo-yeon should be in charge.

“But…”

Seo-yeon started to say, but she didn’t have a reason. A reason to refuse.

“You’ve been assigned to handle Hwang Dojun’s wardrobe, but only until March. Just until the end of February. Two months will pass quickly, right?”

Sooyoung tapped Seo-yeon’s hand as she said it. Two months. It seemed like an eternity to Seo-yeon.