"Mr. Kang?" his secretary's voice hesitantly crackled on the intercom. Sighing, the man in question turned away from the office window and slowly sat down in his desk chair. He had lost his voice after a particularly nasty cold the previous day, and so had been forced to resort to a sort of morse code to communicate through the intercom. After a set of "dots" and "dashes" that carried his answer, she continued with the news she needed to bring. "Mr. Park Bi Dul is here to see you. Apparently there is some paperwork you need to look at," in the background, Ji Suk could hear the Pigeon muttering about something. Probably how long it was taking for him to come in, or perhaps that he needed to wait for Ji Suk's permission while the man's nephew could walk in whenever he wanted.

     Good, let him be annoyed! Ji Suk was more than happy to spread his bad mood to the obnoxious COO. Sitting back in his seat, he tapped out a reluctant "send him in" and then waited patiently for Bi Dul to enter. He didn't need to wait long. Shouldering his way past Ji Suk's secretary, who had been kind enough to hold the door open for him, Bi Dul stomped into the room with his face set in stony determination. Apparently there was more he wanted to talk about than papers and the weather.

     "Wonderful," Ji Suk thought, knitting his fingers together and resting them on his stomach. After slapping the papers down on the desk, and sending a few skittering onto the floor, Bi Dul sat down across from him. "How can I help you?" Ji Suk inquired, his voice raspy and barely audible.

     "Just some papers that you need to look over and sign, nothing special," Bi Dul hummed arrogantly, crossing his legs so he could watch more comfortably as Ji Suk casually rifled through the papers. He would look at them properly later, as it was impossibly to concentrate with Bi Dul's beady little eyes staring at him. "I hear that Mr. Goo's daughter is paying a visit to the office today with her daddy. Your nephew planning on hitting on her?"

     So that's why Bi Dul had looked so smug. Taking in a deep breath, Ji Suk forced himself not to respond, instead rubbing at his sore throat. At least he had his voice as an excuse for not answering Bi Dul's question. The COO was not about to take a hint, though, and instead acted as though Ji Suk's tense silence was an invitation for more ridicule. Leaning forward with a barely disguised eagerness, Bi Dul rested his elbows on his knees and smirked.

     "Don't be like this, Mr. Kang," when he pronounced Ji Suk's name it dripped with spite, "you know that my question isn't all that crazy. Who knows, maybe lechery runs in the family!" Ji Suk tightened his grips on the paperwork and forced himself to read each letter very carefully. He was not going to let the Pigeon win. "Plus, he has an advantage that your brother didn't. The current CEO might want him to take over the company, but that desire is barely acknowledged by any of the board members. He doesn't hold any "power" over the young ladies like his father did, so nobody will be able to use the same excuse twice when he... well, you know. History repeating itself and all that, we can both imagine what the ending to any little tryst will be."

     He was enjoying this. The COO of the company was enjoying making a mockery of the CEO, his boss! Unable to remain silent without exploding, Ji Suk carefully set the papers down and fixed Bi Dul with a warning glare. "Mr. Park, get out of my office," he snarled, though the intimidation he had been going for was lost in the fact he could barely bring his voice above a rasping whisper.

     "Tell me, was his grandfather also a skirt-chaser?"

     "I'll chase you out if you don't shut that dirty mouth of yours and leave my office this instant, Mr. Park!" Ji Suk roared, his voice cracking mid-way because of the effort. To try and counter this laughably pitiful ruination of his threat, Ji Suk slammed his fist down on the desk. "Out!" He snapped, watching with satisfaction as the Pigeon scurried out of his office. The feeling of victory didn't last for long, though. Sighing, Ji Suk rested his elbows on his desk and massaged his temples. Why did it have to be that the company wasn't the only thing Youngjae's father had left behind for his son? Why did he have to make such a difficult reputation?

     "Hyo Suk, you fool. Why did you have to go chasing after Chohee? You told me that she was your new dream, that you didn't want to become the CEO of Nalgae, but I saw the devastation in your eyes when you were forced to eat those words, and your dream turned to dust right in front of you. I've always wondered, though. Were you upset because you had lost out on the opportunity to inherit the company, or because you were finally realizing the consequences of your actions and how they would affect father and I?" Raising his head just slightly, Ji Suk's eyes landed on the photo of his older brother. He was grinning up at the camera, all decked out in a freshly pressed suit, his arm slung around their father's shoulders. They were standing in front of the company; the company that Hyo Suk had, at the time, thought would be his one day.

     "Knowing you, it was probably the former, selfish option," Ji Suk sighed in defeat, allowing his head to sink back down. He would have stayed like that for an eternity, but a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye forced Ji Suk to move. Honestly, if Bi Dul hadn't understood the first time that Ji Suk didn't want to see his sniveling face again then the man truly was a fool. Rising to his feet, Ji Suk set his face in the most ferocious expression he could muster and opened his mouth to holler at the troublesome COO.

     It was no Pigeon standing in his office doorway, though. "Youngjae!" Ji Suk exclaimed in surprise, watching as his nephew tried to quickly wipe away the expression of mild terror he had. Chuckling apologetically, he gestured for his nephew to take a seat. Just like when they first met, Youngjae instinctively avoided the chair that had just been used by the dirty Pigeon. His pleasure quickly turned to worry, though, as the room fell into awkward silence. Had Youngjae heard the conversation between him and Bi Dul? Ji Suk genuinely hoped not, because while the Pigeon's words had been hurtful to him, the brother, they would be devastating to the son.

     "So, how did your meeting with Ms. Cha go? I managed to schedule her an interview with a local magazine, if you think that she's ready for another debut into the public eye. They might ask some difficult questions," Ji Suk chattered, trying to break the tension in the room.

     "It didn't go exactly as planned," Youngjae admitted, his eyes lowering as he went on to outline the events that had transpired during his time with Hei-Ryung. Frowning, Ji Suk listened to his nephew's tale of woe. It seemed more like the two had gone out on a date, and then been interrupted by a kid who could possibly befriend the Devil himself, than that Youngjae had forced her to get over this silly anxiety she felt. "She seemed excited to be leaving her apartment, though. Isn't that progress?" Youngjae tried hopefully, briefly making eye contact with his obviously disappointed uncle.

     "Temporary progress. If her eagerness were any sort of indicator that she was prepared to face the real world, Seulki would have accomplished that years ago," Ji Suk sighed, going back to rubbing his temples. "You have to really force her out of her comfort zone. Take her down town and then abandon her or something," he suggested, glancing up at his nephew. Youngjae didn't appear to agree with his idea.

     "She would freak out. I don't want to make her do something like that," Youngjae insisted, disliking even just the idea of doing something like that to Hei-Ryung.

     "That's the point. She has to learn to deal with these panic attacks of hers, and you have to be the one to make her do so. She isn't your girlfriend, Youngjae, she's your job!" Ji Suk hadn't meant to lose his temper, but after that conversation with Bi Dul it seemed like anything could set it off. Unfortunately, that "anything" had ended up being his nephew. "Youngjae, you need to stop thinking of Hei-Ryung like- this is going to sound terrible- like a person-"

     "You're right, that does sound terrible," Youngjae agreed, standing up to leave. "I'll call her and set up another 'appointment', alright? I'm not going to do anything that will hurt Hei-Ryung, though," he was already on his way out, and Ji Suk's voice hurt too much to try and call the boy back. Sighing, he watched as Youngjae stormed out of the office. It seemed that, more and more, things were beginning to spiral out of control. Except this time it wasn't Hyo Suk who was running around doing whatever he felt like.

     Like father like son, Ji Suk supposed.

Author's Note

So I had this story reviewed (there's a link to the full review in the foreword if you want to read it) and apparently I've dragged this out to the point of being boring. So I'd like to apologize if this is the case (because it seems it is, since nobody is really reading anymore). I was trying not to move too fast, and in the process it seems I went the other way. Hopefully things will get more interesting from now on! *crosses fingers*

Updated: TT^TT Youngjae, you are making me have such a dillema with how to develop your character! It was so easy to plan things out when I had forgotten how good you were!