Chapter 28: Who the Hell Is Her Grandfather?

The night before leaving for America, I had gone out drinking with Lee Ujin. When he heard I was being sent to the States, he gave me a strange, knowing grin. I hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now everything made sense.

The number displayed on my phone belonged to none other than Tracy Bongard. Of course, I could have pretended not to notice, like before, but this time I had no choice. With her aggressive personality, she might actually march straight to my hotel.

I stepped off to a secluded spot and answered.

"Tracy, long time no see."

"Really? I thought you'd run away from me again. Did the sun rise in the west today?"

"..."

"I'm in the lobby right now, so hurry down."

"...Wh-what?!"

A cry close to panic escaped my lips. Tracy lived in New York, yet she'd come all the way here just to see me. How could I not be shocked?

"I'm giving you ten minutes. If you don't come down, I'll come up to your room myself."

At that moment, the shock sobered me up completely. If Tracy barged into my room, it would be a planetary-scale disaster. Rumors would spread, and the higher-ups definitely wouldn't pat me on the head for that. In my situation, it could ruin my chances of becoming a permanent employee.

A chill ran down my spine, and I hurriedly continued.

"Tracy, our meeting just ended. There's no way I can get down in ten minutes."

"Fine. Then you get twenty."

"How about this? There's a steakhouse called Peter five minutes away from the hotel. Let's meet there in half an hour."

"Okay. But if you're even a second late, don't blame me. I'll leave the consequences to your imagination."

"...I'll run with everything I've got, so don't worry."

Click.

After hanging up, I stared blankly into space and muttered to myself.

"Ah... Why the hell did I take that herbal sedative back then? What a mess."

***

"Going somewhere?"

Deputy Manager Woo Changhun watched me change clothes with undisguised curiosity in his eyes.

"Ah, yes. I unexpectedly arranged to have dinner with someone."

"Isabella?"

'Wonder how Mr. Woo would react if I told him it's another woman?'

"Well... I can't exactly deny it."

"Didn't she say she took the day off today?"

At the moment, Woo Changhun firmly believed that I was seeing Isabella to gather secret information about Endivia and its competitors. One lie led to another, but I had no other choice.

"Isabella is Chairman Hudson's niece and a major Endivia shareholder. There's a good chance she knows everything that happened this afternoon."

"Now that I think about it, you have a point. By the way, are you planning to spend the night outside the hotel again?"

The chances were one hundred percent. Tracy wasn't going to let me go easily.

"Mr. Woo, you know what pillow talk is and how useful it can be, right?"

"Sigh, you're out there enjoying yourself alone. Ever think about my loneliness?"

"I'll ask Isabella if she has any suitable friends."

"Thanks for that much. Alright, one foot here and one there. Get moving."

***

Peter Steakhouse.

I arrived early. As soon as I pushed open the door, Wallis greeted me with a pleasant smile.

"The young lady who looks a lot like Isabella should have arrived already. Could you take me to her?"

"Ah, that lady? She's in the VIP room. Please follow me."

I followed Wallis into the private room and immediately found myself in an awkward situation. Without a word, Tracy flew at me and wrapped me in a tight embrace.

"Jiham, I missed you so much!"

"Ahem... Tracy... Manager Wallis is watching us."

"Let him watch. I don't care."

After somehow prying her off me, I sat down at the table. Wallis respectfully addressed me.

"Sir, what would you like for dinner?"

"How can a poor office worker afford this? I'm paying," Tracy cut in.

However, Wallis paid no attention to her words. How could a poor office worker drink a five-hundred-thousand-dollar vintage wine? Shaking his head in confusion, he turned back to me.

"Bring us your signature steaks, and the most expensive wine you have."

"Sir, our most expensive vintage wine costs five hundred thousand dollars. Will that be acceptable?"

"Are you implying that's expensive for me?" Tracy interjected, clearly offended.

"To be honest, yes, ma'am."

With an insulted expression, Tracy took out her credit card and coldly handed it to Wallis.

"Run the payment first."

Then something happened that no one expected. The moment Wallis saw the card, his face turned pale and his entire body trembled. I watched the scene with great interest.

His voice became even more respectful than before.

"F-forgive me... May I ask what relation you are to Chairman Bongard?"

"He's my grandfather."

"...Please forgive me for failing to recognize you! I sincerely apologize for my rudeness. As a token of our respect, tonight's dinner will be on the house."

"Manager, I'm not a beggar who accepts charity."

"I-I'm sorry..."

Under Tracy's icy gaze, Wallis did nothing but bow repeatedly and apologize.

"Manager, we can pay after the meal, right?" I asked.

"Of course! As you wish!"

"It's still early, so we'll enjoy dinner at our leisure."

"As you wish. Please call for me when you're finished."

After returning Tracy's card, Wallis hurriedly retreated from the VIP room. Once he had left, I curiously asked,

"So why was he shaking like that? What exactly is so frightening about your grandfather?"

"Well, my grandfather is just a little famous."

"Ah, I see."

Apparently, Tracy had expected me to ask for more details. But contrary to her expectations, I simply let the matter pass. The scenario she had prepared instantly fell apart, and she had no choice but to change the subject.

"Jiham, you barely spoke English before. When did you become so good?"

I couldn't exactly tell her it was a side effect of a miraculous herbal medicine.

"The result of hellish training."

"Or maybe you were a genius all along?"

"Well, I suppose that's true too."

"Haha, of course. By the way, Tracy, don't you live in New York?"

"I do, but the man I love is in San Francisco right now..."

"What?! The man you love?" I interrupted in genuine surprise.

"What? Am I not allowed to love you?"

"It's not that, but didn't our story end that night?"

"Maybe it ended for you, but it didn't for me."

"Tracy, I'm just an ordinary, poor office worker. We come from completely different worlds. It'd be better if, after tonight, we became strangers."

"Do you want to know why I've become so attached to you?"

'It's probably because of those pheromones in the herbal sedative.' Since I already knew the answer, there was no point wasting time listening.

"We're never going to see each other again anyway, so there's no need."

"I don't think so. Sit there and listen."

"...Fine, go ahead."

"Actually, I was suffering from an incurable disease."

'What? Where did that come from...?'

"Come on, stop joking."

"Jiham, have you ever heard of retinitis pigmentosa?"

"Never."

"It's a severe eye disease. Over time, it causes complete blindness. And no cure has ever been found."

"So you're saying you had it?"

"Until recently. But a few months ago, I was completely cured."

'Don't tell me... because of me?'

"But you just said there isn't any cure."

"Exactly! Isn't it a miracle?"

"Maybe... spontaneous remission? It healed on its own?"

"No. And you know perfectly well why I recovered."

"How would I know?" I asked, pointing at myself in disbelief.

"Because of the disease, everything looked blurry to me. That's why I wore contact lenses that night. But the morning after our passionate night together, I woke up and realized I could see perfectly without them."

"...What kind of nonsense is that? Maybe it was temporary?"

"I thought so too at first. But when I put my contacts back on, I got terribly dizzy. So I went to a clinic and had a full examination. The doctors confirmed that the disease had completely disappeared. You can't imagine how shocked I was when the professor told me."

After finishing, Tracy held out her arm.

"See? I still get goosebumps just thinking about it."

"...Yeah, I see them. Go on."

"And that's not all. It's like my brain started working better. My Korean used to be terrible, but suddenly I could speak it fluently. So how do you explain that?"

At that moment, good old human greed stirred deep inside me. {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Tracy had definitely been cured thanks to the miraculous ingredients in that Korean herbal sedative I had taken. She was incredibly wealthy, and someone who had escaped blindness might very well reward me with an astronomical amount of money. My financial situation couldn't even be compared to hers.

'Ah... I'm still just an ordinary, materialistic man.'

But could I shamelessly ask her for money?

"What I'm about to tell you must remain between us until we die."

"I swear on my grandfather's health. Is that enough?"

'Who the hell is her grandfather anyway?'

"Believe me or don't. That's up to you."

"Alright, alright. Tell me."

"The day we met was the day of my interview with Hangang Group. An acquaintance of mine gave me a special traditional herbal sedative to boost my confidence. He said it gave unbelievable self-assurance."

"Wow, there are medicines like that? Then what?"

"The thing is, it wasn't bought at an ordinary pharmacy. It was made by a mysterious master using a secret recipe."

"Don't tell me..."

I immediately understood where Tracy's thoughts were headed.

"It seems that this medicine does more than boost confidence. Just smelling it makes people smarter and causes the opposite sex to become irresistibly attracted. But I only learned from you just now that it can cure incurable diseases."

"So there could be other hidden effects you don't even know about?"

"I can't deny that."

"That's unbelievable. It's practically a miracle. I promise I'll keep your secret forever."

I waited, thinking she'd naturally bring up compensating me for curing her. But Tracy didn't even seem to be thinking along those lines. A slight disappointment scratched at my heart, but I kept a straight face.

"Should we call the manager and order dinner?"

"Wait, there's something else."

"What is it?"

"When we first met today, you looked awful. Did something happen?"

'Guess I still can't forget former Vice President John Addams threatening Chairman Hudson.'

"Just work problems."

"Problems involving Endivia? Tell me."

"Hold on, I never told you why I came to America. How did you know?"

"Want to know where I got my information? Lee Ujin let it slip."

'That bastard is dead when I see him...'

"Our team came to America to secure a contract for manufacturing high-bandwidth AI chips ordered by Endivia. But our competitor, the American semiconductor company Micron, is doing everything it can to sabotage us."

"And how exactly are they interfering? Tell me everything."