YHP 42
by Cherry“No. That’s not enough.”
Jeong-in’s face fell at the curt rejection. Hyun-wook smiled leisurely and continued.
“Why is smart Jeong-in being like this? Even if you sell your stake to cover it, you’re just getting back what was lost from our total market capitalization.”
In truth, he had been planning to push Yoo Ho-jin no matter what. According to Hyun-wook’s research, unlike public opinion, he was still considered the most promising player among experts. It didn’t seem impossible for him to perform well again if he could somehow resolve the psychological issues he was currently facing.
He was a player who had inevitably entered a phase of undervaluation due to his early peak. Buying him at a bargain price and putting him back in the spotlight would be easy, and even if he retired as Joo-young said, there were countless ways to profit by using the image he had built up so far.
And above all, if he was going to be involved with Jeong-in, he needed to raise his status even higher.
“…”
Yoo Ho-jin was the only son of a wealthy farmer in Chungcheongnam-do. Moreover, his maternal family was a family of artists with indirect ties to Hyun-wook.
Without going far, the scale of his own and his parents’ assets was not bad, and his private life was clean and without flaws. He had only focused on sports during his school years, and Jeong-in was the only person he had met recently other than those involved in sports. His appearance and personality were not unbearable. But he still didn’t meet Hyun-wook’s standards. First of all, he needed to maximize his potential and create a plausible image before he could even consider him favorably.
Frankly speaking, Hyun-wook was planning to spare no support for Yoo Ho-jin, whether Jeong-in wanted it or not. He would continuously pour money into him until his dependence was close to one hundred percent, and if he ever hurt Jeong-in’s feelings, he would throw him into the depths of hell at that very moment.
Even though he had already finished calculating that far, he was just being mischievous because he was interested. He hadn’t seen Jeong-in want something this much since he was very young.
“Then….”
After waiting for a moment, his small, pretty lips opened.
“I’ll sell the Samsung-dong building.”
The answer Jeong-in gave was unexpected.
“Choi Jeong-in.”
“I’m just assuming the worst-case scenario.”
Jeong-in took a small breath and continued.
“Even if we expand the scope to professional models, there’s no one who can earn as much as the Samsung-dong building’s price through advertisements or events. In the first place, it’s impossible to estimate the actual profit and loss of something like this…”
“…”
“The reason you’re hesitating is probably because of the opportunity cost, the value of the image you can gain by pushing another player with the same capital.”
Jeong-in turned his head and looked at Yoo Ho-jin on the screen.
“I haven’t done any research yet, so I can’t speak based on concrete data.”
“…”
“But you just saw it, didn’t you, what kind of player he is.”
A smile spread across his clean cheeks.
“Please think of it as managing my investment for me. I’ll take responsibility.”
Seeing the baby who was always fair-skinned speaking his mind so intelligently, Hyun-wook couldn’t help but smile with admiration. Trying hard to control his expression, Hyun-wook patted the sofa.
“Come here and sit down.”
Then, Jeong-in, who had been cautiously watching, carefully approached. Just as he was about to sit next to him, he leaned his head on Hyun-wook’s shoulder.
“I’m sitting.”
Then he looked up at him with a face like a baby rabbit. Knowing that he loved him, he seemed to be determined to act cute and get something out of him.
“What’s the reason you want to push that player so much?”
“…Actually, I know him a little personally.”
“Oh, really?”
Jeong-in readily confessed. He already knew everything, but he decided to pretend not to know for now.
“We’re not close… but we’ve eaten together before.”
He had only eaten with him? Recalling the scene he had seen through the garden’s CCTV, he felt another fire burning inside him.
“He’s a promising person, and he works hard at sports.”
As he said that, Jeong-in hugged Hyun-wook tightly.
“You know I don’t invest just anywhere…. Right?”
How could he say no when he was smiling so brightly with such a beautiful face? Hyun-wook reluctantly nodded.
“…Alright.”
“I love you, Uncle.”
He hugged his nephew tightly, who was so lovely that he was already desperate for him, even without resorting to such tricks.
“But you shouldn’t get into the habit of using connections to build a line so early on.”
In any case, he felt like he would have to set a day to re-educate him on character someday.
***
“Ah…. I’m screwed.”
And as soon as he left the mansion, Jeong-in rubbed his forehead.
“I was crazy, I should have just used an apartment or something…. What was so pretty about it.”
The medical building in Samsung-dong was a building that belonged to a trust that his Grandfather had set up around the time Jeong-in was born.
Of course, Jeong-in had many cleaner and more valuable buildings. But nothing could compare to the first gift his Grandfather had given him to celebrate his birth.
The reason he put up something so precious was because Hyun-wook also knew what that building meant to Jeong-in, and he wanted to use that to show that he was making a confident bet on Yoo Ho-jin.
Yes. It was just a kind of showmanship. He thought that if he acted cute and showed some charm, it would be as if nothing had happened by the time he left the mansion. But Hyun-wook went so far as to sign a written pledge on the spot.
Around the time the first quarter of the contract with the affiliate company was completed, if the big data analysis showed that more than 60 percent of users were using positive words for Yoo Ho-jin, it would be considered a success, and he would receive a portion of the profits for that quarter. However, if it was lower than that, Jeong-in would have to sell ‘that building without fail’ and pay all of the marketing costs retroactively. Of course, interest was included.
This meant that he couldn’t secretly hold onto the ownership of a few units and slowly buy the rest. He had thought about selling it first and then buying it back later at a premium, but if the owner said they wouldn’t sell, it would really be over. In short, if Yoo Ho-jin’s performance was poor, his Grandfather’s building would be gone.
“Ah….”
Why did he do that? What was so pretty about it that he made such a huge deal with Hyun-wook without looking back?
He had asked for trouble. It was truly crazy. But now there was no way to turn back. The validity of the written pledge could be legally challenged, but if he dared to start a dispute in that way, he would lose not just one building, but his entire fortune.
“Cash….”
Should he move the cash to Switzerland right away? Jeong-in shook his head.
“I have to do it, no matter what.”
Anyway, the deed was done. First, he needed to figure out what kind of reputation Yoo Ho-jin was getting now. He needed to find out what people were saying about him personally, and he also needed to commission an analysis company….
“No. I have to make him work out first.”
From now on, he had to keep him from doing anything else and make him work out so that he would definitely participate in some kind of competition.
Jeong-in immediately took out his cell phone. He saw that there was one unread message. Of course, it was from Ho-jin.
「I’ll wait until you’re done with work.」
“No, you crazy…”
At least three hours had passed since he had entered the mansion. Wondering if it was possible, he called him.
-Hello.
“Where are you?”
Ho-jin answered as if it were obvious.
-The same place as before.
Jeong-in was speechless.
Instead of the curse that rose to the tip of his throat, he took a deep breath. Then he immediately started running. He pried open the automatically opening gate as if he were going to tear it apart and ran hard along the wall.
At the alleyway where the sun was setting, he saw Ho-jin’s car, standing like a stone statue in the same place as before.
“Hey.”
He strode up to the car and threw the door open. As the interior lights came on, he met Ho-jin’s eyes, who was spreading out a bunch of papers and reading them.
“Ah…. You’re here?”
“You’re here?”
Panting, Jeong-in snapped at him.
“Do you have any sense at all? What time is it, and you’re still here?”
“Did you run here?”
Ho-jin, who had been quietly looking at Jeong-in, suddenly asked. He immediately got out of the car and approached Jeong-in. Then, he tried to take off his watch and put it on Jeong-in’s wrist,
“What’s this?”
He pointed to the wristwatch that Hyun-wook had given him just before he left the mansion. Jeong-in coldly pushed his hand away.
“It’s none of your business.”
He had received it because he had given it to him, but in fact, Jeong-in didn’t know exactly what it was either. Judging from the familiar logo on the back, he thought it was one of the smartwatches from the electronics affiliate.
“That, does it show your heart rate?”
Ho-jin persistently grabbed Jeong-in’s wrist. He tapped the screen a few times with his long fingers, and the time, heart rate, and number of steps appeared in turn.
“Hyung, your heart rate shouldn’t change too much suddenly.”
“Why?”
“I just read a paper…. No, about 1/36th of it, but anyway, it said you shouldn’t.”
“What nonsense are you talking about.”
1/36th meant he hadn’t even read the abstract. Jeong-in ignored Ho-jin and turned his eyes to the LCD screen.
If an emergency situation arose, press the button on the side more than three times, and the hospital would be contacted immediately. He remembered Hyun-wook putting it on his wrist himself, saying that.
“…Come to think of it, it’s unsettling.”
“What is?”
He looked at the smooth screen. He didn’t see anything special. But since it came from Hyun-wook’s hand, it wouldn’t be strange if there was something in it.
If it could contact the hospital in an emergency, it would have a GPS and, of course, a communication module. Could there be a listening device or a camera? He carefully looked at the black bezel and asked Ho-jin.
“Have you ever seen the same model as this?”
“Um…. No, my friends use a lot of smartwatches, but this is the first time I’ve seen this.”
Jeong-in immediately took off the watch.
“Give me a piece of paper.”
“Ah…. Yes. Just a moment.”
Ho-jin reached into the still-open car, tore off a blank sheet of paper, and handed it to him. And Jeong-in wrapped the body of the watch with it completely and put it in his pocket.
“Start the engine first.”
“Yes?”
He said it again to Ho-jin, who was standing there blankly.
“Let’s go work out right away.”