Chapter 146: Chapter 149

At the free trade zone in the port of Pyongtaek, Hyongsoon Kim, the president of Sangwon Foods, noticed an interesting article while reading a magazine. Daily newspapers introduced her as the ‘faceless angel’, but she was identified as ‘Hyunwoo’s Mom’ in the title of the magazine article. It was sort of a breach of the contract.

“Hyunwoo’s Mom? Ansan City? Is it about Hyunwoo Jang’s family?”

His brother, Hyondae, playing a computer game nearby, asked back, with his eyes fixed on the computer screen, “Hyonwoo Jang? Was that bastard featured in a magazine article?”

“No, his mother. She was highlighted in the article. I didn’t know he was running a food factory. Looks like he made lots of money.”

Hyongdae got interested in the article to hear the word ‘money’. Stopping his game, he approached his brother and read the article together.

“Oh, this article. I read it before. By the way, was this ‘faceless angel’ Hyunwoo’s mother?”

Under the title ‘Faceless Angel,’ there was posted a picture showing the construction of a new factory. What was important was that Hyunwoo’s mother was its president.

Hyongsoon and Hyongdae looked at each other at the same time.

Smiling mischievously, Hyondae asked, “Are you going to sit idle?”

Hyonsoon replied, “I can’t. Let me first check out if that ‘Hyunwoo’ in the article is the same person that I know.”

Hyongsoon then called Hyunwoo.

“How come you called me all of a sudden like this?” asked Hyunwoo.

“Oh, I called you after reading the article about the ‘faceless angel.’ Looks like your mother is in the media limelight these days in newspapers and broadcasts. Congrats!” said Hyongsoon, sounding him out.

“Oh, it’s not a big deal man.”

Hyongsoon’s eyes glared. Obviously, the ‘faceless angel’ was Hyunwoo’s mother.

“Where are you now? If you have such a happy occasion like this, why don’t we have a drink to celebrate it?”

“I’m now in a shooting studio, and my office is in Seoul.”

“Did you quit the furniture company?”

“Almost two months ago I quit. It’s exactly two months coming this weekend.”

“Really? I’m not busy today. Can I come and see you?”

“I think I’m free around 5 pm. Can you come to Space Design? You can easily find out where it is by googling it.”

At Space Design’s office at 5 pm, Hyunwoo introduced Hyongsoon to several people in the office briefly before they sat on the sofa to chat.

Hyongsoon started off with the topic of the ‘faceless angel’ and ‘Hyunwoo’s Mom.’ And then he cunningly changed the topic to business. As soon as Hyongsoon began to mention it, he slightly raised his voice.

“My business is doing well. You remember the alumni that we met before? I made sure all of them got a return of at least 5% on their investment. As this trend goes on, I think I can guarantee them an annual return of 15%.”

Actually, Hyongsoon’s remarks were surprising. Little did he expect his friends could enjoy such a big profit by investing in Hyongsoon’s business. Rather, he was concerned they might be ripped off, but Hyongsoon mentioned 15% return. It was much bigger than that of banks or investment companies.

It was not only Hyunwoo but also another person in the office who now paid attention to what Hyongsoo said. Though she was looking at somewhere else, Minhye Park, CEO of Space Design, was listening to him.

By now, Minhye gave up Hyunwoo as her likely groom, but she was not focused on Yonggu alone.

In her mind, Yonggu was lacking in something compared with Hyunwoo. So, she felt she could find a better candidate to be her groom if she kept looking, and now Hyongsoon seemed like one. She liked his nice and expensive suit, handsome face and voice, and, in particular, she liked the fact that he was the president of Sangwon Foods.

Then, his mention of the astounding return grabbed her attention.

“That’s great, man. I feel good to hear your business is doing well.”

“I think the return will go up by the middle of this year because my local dealers are increasing quickly. If you are interested, why don’t you invest? I guess I need a little more funding to increase local dealers.”

In fact, Hyunwoo was interested, but his interest was not in investment but in the way he was making money. Though he mentioned the effects of a bonded factory, Hyunwoo wanted to confirm it with his own eyes.

“Can I take a look at your factory?” asked Hyunwoo.

“Of course. Do you want to see it today?”

“Today?”

“It is within only a couple of hours’ drive here. You can have a drink after that and report to work the next morning. Otherwise, you can tell the president you will be late tomorrow. If you feel uncomfortable, I can do it for you.”

Then, Minhye abruptly cut in, “Go ahead, Hyunwoo.”

As soon as he heard her voice, Hyongsoon stood up from the sofa and bowed politely, “You’re as kind-hearted as you are beautiful. I guess the future of Space Design will be bright with such a great president like you. Thank you on behalf of Hyunwoo.”

She loved his good manners and responded with a smile, “You’re welcome. By the way, can I ask you a favor?”

“Why not? I welcome even ten favors from a beauty like you.”

“Can I come with you to the port of Pyongtaek? I’m curious about what kind of business you’re running.”

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“Wonderful. I’d be honored if you can join us.”

“Okay, then. Let’s go now,” said Minhye.

Hyunwoo and Minhye followed Hyongsoon to the port of Pyongtaek. The exact location was the free trade zone in Posung town.

Hyongsoon’s factory, Sangwon Foods, was located there. It was true that his company imported red peppers, onions, and ginger from China to produce mixed seasoning and then sold them to the domestic market.

In short, Hyunwoo couldn’t find any lie in his remarks, and the bonded factory of Sangwon Foods was bigger than he expected. The factory was in full operation. Even though it was almost 7 pm, nobody showed any sign of getting off work.

Hyongsoon boasted, “I’ve got so many orders. Even working through the night is not enough to satisfy the overflowing demands. I feel so sorry for my employees.”

Suddenly, Hyunwoo got confused. On the one hand, Hyunwoo felt sorry because he thought ill of Hyongsoon all along. This fixed his negative perception of his friend in high school.

“What do you think? Don’t you think the future of my company is very promising?”

Hyunwoo couldn’t agree more. Minhye couldn’t open her mouth, surprised.

“This is wonderful. I thought it would be small and dirty when you mentioned a food factory, but it’s so clean,” said Minhye.

“Well, sanitation and cleanliness are essential in food. If you miss that, you can’t compete.”

Each word of Hyongsoon’s remarks didn’t look like what he used to say to Hyunwoo before. It looks as if a completely different soul was in his body.

“You must be hungry. There are no delicious restaurants near this place. Let me drive to the bay of Asan where there are some good restaurants.”

Hyongsoon drove to a raw fish house in Asan bay with them.

While having dinner, he continued to talk about investment opportunities, furtively suggesting their investment. Hyunwoo became more and more interested but, at the same time, hesitant.

It was not a matter of funding because he could take out a large loan with his stocks as collateral. The real issue was the personality of Hyongsoon. No matter how hard Hyunwoo thought about Hyongsoon, he couldn’t trust him. Regardless, it was time for Hyunwoo to focus on Ani & Funny.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t have idle money to invest. If have some later, let me think about it.”

“Now or never, dude. If you’re not interested, that’s it. Actually, there are a lot who want to invest. Given the choice, I wanted to give you the chance first.”

However, Minhye seemed to think differently. Glaring her eyes, she said as if it was regrettable not to have invested earlier, “I wish I had met you several months earlier. Then I would have invested in Sangwon Foods rather than Space Design.”

“I agree. I feel sorry about that. If I received funding from a beauty like you, Sangwon Foods would have prospered much more.”

“Oh, don’t say that. I’m flattered,” said Minhye.

Was it because Minhye had good feelings about Hyongsoon? She looked more womanly than usual. And her eyes were full of good feelings and interest in him.

Besides, she even cast an amorous eye at him, suggesting that her groom could inherit her father’s business Aurum once he got married to her as she was the only child.

Of course, she was the object of tragic love, who would be married off to someone for the succession of his father’s business.

Hyongsoon said, comforting her, “Well, you can love someone with excellent entrepreneurial skills. Don’t you think your father will accept him then?”

“Perfect solution! Do you think I can meet such a man?” said Minhye, as if she felt happy just imagining such a man.

Hyongsoon said with a confident smile, “I’d like the chance if possible.”

“Oh, the door of opportunity is open to everyone. Ho ho ho.”

Hearing their conversation, Hyunwoo got confused again. It was not clear who was seduced by whom first. What was clear was that their meeting would be over once and for all today. Minhye’s interest in Hyongsoon meant she could break with Yonggu anytime.

In fact, Hyunwoo could not understand Yonggu as he was now dating her. Why was he so desperately trying to woo her? Yonggu could find many other fine women.

When Hyunwoo thought as far as that, he suddenly hit upon a good idea. It could make Yonggu get the upper hand from now on in terms of dealing with Minhye.

At last, Friday, Hyunwoo’s last day at Space Design, came. By 3 pm, Hyunwoo began to say goodbye to some of the staff.

“I wish for the prosperity of Space Design,” said Hyunsoo.

Only then did Minhye seem to have completely given up on Hyunwoo. She didn’t show any feelings when she said goodbye to him.

She said in a businesslike manner, “Thanks a lot for your work here.”

But Youngsu Park, the executive director, expressed a good deal of regret about his leaving.

Yonggu congratulated Hyunwoo. They would contact and meet often even in the future anyway.

Hyunwoo said, patting him on the shoulder, “You know I have a lot of stock in this company, right? Give me a return of 1 billion won within one year, okay?”

“Hahaha. Got it, man. Don’t worry.”

Hyunwoo left the office and all the staff saw him off at the elevator. Yonggu followed him out of the office. Then Hyunwoo told him about Hyongsoon, with a cautionary note that Minhye could be dating Hyongsoon. Yonggu frowned. Yonggu felt Minhye became his woman already. There were no more competitors, and she slept with him often, but that was it. Suddenly, she was a different woman who was ready to desert him anytime.

When Yonggu complained about her, Hyunwoo quietly said, “There is one sure method that can make you control her completely.”

“What’s that? Let me listen,” said Yonggu, coming closer to him.