Chapter 211.2: My Kind of Country (1)
After Kang Chan hung up after speaking to Cecile, he looked at Woo Hee-Seung.
“Woo Hee-Seung,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Woo Hee-Seung responded.
“Give Choi Jong-Il and Cha Dong-Gyun three hundred million each, and one hundred million to each of the soldiers in Jeungpyeong and agents who guard my parents. Lastly…”
Woo Hee-Seung gasped in surprise.
“... Give two billion won to General Choi Seong-Geon’s family. That man was the general of South Korea’s special forces. Let’s make sure his descendants at the very least won’t have to be running a restaurant because they’re short on money,” Kang Chan firmly ordered.
“Yes, sir…” Woo Hee-Seung barely managed to reply.
Kang Chan sipped his lukewarm coffee and looked outside the window. Just then, Woo Hee-Seung asked, “I-I’m sorry, but what do you think about withholding the money that you want to give to the agents who are currently assigned to your parents?”
Under Kang Chan’s gaze, Woo Hee-Seung remained firm.
“The other agents don’t get paid that much, so if they learn that only the agents who work here are compensated, it may lead to misunderstandings. They could feel relatively deprived.”
Woo Hee-Seung paused for a moment, then steadfastly continued, “Unlike General Choi Seong-Gon, the injured Captain Choi, and the special forces, the agents of the National Intelligence Service are paid well. So please take my suggestion into consideration, sir,”
There was pride in Woo Hee-Seung’s eyes. Perhaps it was pride in the fact that someone recognized the work he was doing.
People working in the field understood this emotion the best.
“Got it. I guess I let my emotions take over,” Kang Chan replied.
“No, sir. I just…” Woo Hee-Seung trailed off. Seeing Kang Chan smirk, he smiled subtly in return.
“Can you stop by the home of General Choi’s family?” Kang Chan confirmed.
“I’ll make sure to do that, sir,” Woo Hee-Seung replied.
Kang Chan felt a bit relieved now.
Fifteen minutes later, the phone rang, and Kang Chan, Seok Kang-Ho, and Woo Hee-Seung headed to the first floor so Kang Chan could sign the papers. The money was handed over to him afterward.
“All right. You can head out now,” Kang Chan told Woo Hee-Seung. He understood why the man was hesitating, though.
“Don’t worry about things you don’t have to. You have Doo Hee with you too, don’t you? I’ll go around with you if it’s necessary, so hurry up and go already,” Kang Chan urged.
Only after Kang Chan said that did Woo Hee-Seung finally say goodbye and head down to the building’s underground parking lot.
“Channy! I heard you were overseas!” Cecile exclaimed now that Kang Chan was free, surprise evident in her expression. She looked happy to see him.
The branch manager, who was by her side, gave Kang Chan his business card and bowed politely.
“Thank you for coming all the way here, and I’m sorry I can’t offer you anything. I’m going through something at the moment,” Kang Chan apologetically said.
“Please don’t be! Feel free to contact me whenever you need me in the future,” the branch manager replied.
They parted ways not too long after exchanging farewells. After saying goodbye to Cecile, Kang Chan immediately went up to the office on the seventeenth floor.
He and Lee Doo-Hee were the only ones left in the office. Kang Chan made himself a cup of americano and sat down facing the window.
They had to establish an organization as soon as possible. Things like this shouldn’t be taken care of with emotions. There had to be an organization with a structure that could systematically sort this out.
Looking out the window, Kang Chan thought of Lee Yoo-Seul. Despite having broken fingers, her father ran without end only to die after having a last meal of a C-ration. Amid all of that, he didn’t even groan out loud once so the other soldiers wouldn’t feel burdened. Kang Chan hoped the soldier could live proudly in his daughter’s memory forever.
“Fuck!” he cursed.
If only I was a little stronger! Maybe I could’ve saved him if my judgment was a little faster.
The child he left behind needed her dad far more than the money that she would receive.
Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—. Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—. Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—.
Kang Chan hadn’t even calmed down yet when his phone rang.
“Hello?” Kang Chan answered.
- Channy! Are you in the building?
It was Michelle. Considering the way she asked the question, she had clearly spoken to Cecile on the phone.
“Where are you?” Kang Chan asked.
- The seventh floor! We’re all on the seventh floor. Are you really in the building?
“Yeah. I’ll go down there now,” Kang Chan responded.
He could hear her let out a loud sigh over the line. After hanging up, Kang Chan told Lee Doo-Hee that he was going down to where Michelle and the others were. He didn’t have his own keycard yet, and even if he did, he still didn’t know how to use it. There shouldn’t be any problems going down, but he didn’t want to run into any troubles on the way back up.
They stepped into the elevator and got off on the seventh floor. Only after using the keycard to open the door was the normal part of the building revealed.
Standing in front of a giant sign that read “DI,” he pressed the bell at the entrance. The doors automatically opened.
The office was sophisticated and neat, just like Michelle’s personality.
“Hello!” everyone greeted.
The moment Kang Chan stepped inside, the actors’ eyes widened. They covered their mouths with their hands. Lim Soo-Sung and Kim Ji-Tae rushed over to greet him.
It was nice to see them, but it wasn’t enough to alleviate his dampened spirits.
“Boss!”
Michelle dashed toward him and jumped into his arms like he was some long-lost family. Kang Chan embraced her and patted her back.
“When did you get here?” Michelle asked.
“Just now,” Kang Chan replied.
The two were in front of all the employees.
Michelle straightened up and led Kang Chan inside. On the walls were posters and pictures of the trainees posing elegantly, which Kang Chan had never seen before, and the drama title in large letters.
Michelle’s office was next to a window on the seventh floor, giving it a spectacular view.
The bookkeeper, Choi Yu-Jin, left after serving them coffee. Michelle sat down across from Kang Chan, her expression a mixture of happiness and concern.
“What happened, Channy?” she asked.
“Nothing in particular. I guess the training was just a little tough,” Kang Chan replied.
Michelle peered at him and tilted her head.
“What is it?” Kang Chan asked out of curiosity.
“You’ve changed. Something about your aura has changed, but I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like you’ve tucked in rough edges but at the cost of the bitter feelings inside you growing even bigger,” Michelle replied after giving it some thought.
Kang Chan took a sip of his tea, grinned, and then put his cup back down. Since she produced a drama, her ways of expressing herself improved.
“Michelle, there’s something I want to talk to you about,” Kang Chan opened. He then repeated what he told Seok Kang-Ho to Michelle.
“That’s actually even better than what I had in mind. We have already set up the corporation last time, so I can just redirect your dividends there,” Michelle replied. “I think that’s the best way to help you execute your plan as properly as possible. Oh, right! What should we do about the first floor?”
“I’ll discuss that with my father today, so let’s decide on that some other time.”
“All right, Channy,” Michelle replied. Carefully observing him, she asked, “Are you really okay?”
“Yes, I really am. It’s just that my emotions are a bit jumbled up right now because of my colleagues,” Kang Chan replied.
“Is there anyone who can comfort you during times like these?” Michelle sounded worried.
Kang Chan just gazed at Michelle in silence.
“Channy, nothing good will come out of bottling up your emotions like that for a long time. While I was designing the interior of this building, I could somewhat understand how difficult things must have been for you. If there’s someone who can offer you comfort, then you should meet up with them as soon as you can. It’s a bit unfortunate that that person isn’t me, though.”
Seeing Kang Chan grin, Michelle scrunched her nose and playfully laughed.
“It’s that girl named Mi-Young, isn’t it?” Michelle asked.
“Yeah,” Kang Chan replied. He didn’t want to deny something like this.
“Why don’t you go meet her, then?”
Kang Chan glanced outside the window. After a moment, he quietly replied, “Some of the soldiers I was working with died.”
Michelle looked at Kang Chan in surprise.
“They won’t leave my heart. For the first time, I had to meet the family members that the soldiers left behind. This may be hard for you to believe, but I’ve never had to see anyone’s family when something like this happened before. This is why I tried not to let my colleagues get into my heart. It’s not easy to shake this feeling off, and I don’t know how to handle this either.”
Kang Chan didn’t know why he was telling Michelle all of this. To be honest, he didn’t even know that this was what was on his mind. However, the moment he opened his mouth, everything that was weighing down on him just poured out.
“How was it before?” Michelle asked.
“In the past? Well, I guess my eyes started to glint whenever something like this happened. I ended anyone who touched me while I was feeling this way, too,” Kang Chan answered.
“Did meeting Mi-Young make you feel a bit better?”
Kang Chan nodded.
“Tsk! You really don’t know anything about love, Channy,” Michelle playfully replied.
Kang Chan just chuckled in response.
“Love is also just staying next to someone when they’re tired and hurt. If I were Mi-Young, I would be grateful and glad that you come to me during times like these,” Michelle continued.
That would probably be the case if they were the same age and lived similar lifestyles. But they didn’t.
He missed Mi-Young when they were apart. But if they truly wanted to understand each other, he would have to tell her everything from the very beginning—being reincarnated.
The human heart was hard to understand. He was glad to see her whenever they were together, but when they were apart, those questions always lingered in his mind.
This is a different matter from accepting Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook.
Seeing Kang Chan’s expression, Michelle made a sad, pitying smile.
“I can’t even hug you since you haven’t seen Mi-Young yet,” she said.
Fortunately, opening up about what happened with the soldiers made his heart feel a little less heavy. It also made him realize that this had been weighing in the corner of his mind for a while now.
Kang Chan turned to look back outside the window.
A South Korea that the fallen soldiers wouldn’t be ashamed of… A land that Lee Yoo-Seul could be proud to live in… Kang Chan wanted to make that kind of country.
This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com