The results were in: Youngjae was losing.

     Groaning, he placed his head in his hands and slowly shook it from side to side. The news hadn't officially been broken to him, but he had seen the e-mail his uncle had left open. It didn't give the names of those who "voted" against him, but it did give the numbers. The majority of the Nalgae company's shareholders were, when pushed to make a choice between the two prospects, siding with the COO they had all spent years getting to know. It was natural for them to instill someone they already trusted into the position of CEO, which made the results unsurprising, but Youngjae had still been hoping that he would be able to win over more than his uncle's personal friends. He had been putting a lot of effort into making this work, but it didn't seem to matter how much he tried.

     They simply didn't want to side with him.

     Behind Youngjae, the office door opened and his uncle entered the room. He had been very specific about the time he wanted Youngjae to be here for their get-together, so despite knowing that his uncle's meeting would go longer than was scheduled Youngjae had shown up promptly. This had left him plenty of time to wallow in the hopelessness his future contained, but also gave him time to think. Maybe he was going about all this the wrong way. Maybe, if he simply asked his uncle for the money, the man would prove to be more charitable than Youngjae previously thought and would be happy to help his sister-in-law.

     "He was happy to see me, after all. There's a good chance that he really did take my dad's side during the falling out, but just didn't have the power to protect him." After standing to greet his uncle properly, Youngjae nervously settled back into his seat. Fixating his eyes on his uncle's face, Youngjae tried to read beneath the crow's feet and warm smile to see how his uncle really felt about the entire situation. His uncle was impossible to decipher, though. The man had devoted years of his life to the world of cut-throat business and had become good at protecting his vulnerable feelings. Youngjae couldn't see anything but a loving, long-lost uncle sitting in front of him, but he couldn't tell if that was a facade or the real thing.

     Leaning back in his seat, he drummed his fingers on the arm rest- like a warrior pounding on his drums before going into battle- and gathered his courage. "Sir-"

     "There's no need to be so formal with me, Youngjae. I'm not going to disown you because of one small misstep," Ji Suk reassured his nephew. Apparently the fact that Youngjae had been reading his e-mail had not been hidden well, and his uncle had already figured out that Youngjae knew just how badly they were doing. "Besides, we aren't doing as poorly as the numbers make it sound. Many of the board spoke on behalf of Mr. Park," Ji Suk grimaced disdainfully, "but for the most part it was only after they had been pushed to decide between one or the other. Many of the members were ambiguous about their opinions, and very few made their final decisions. We did lose the battle, but we are far from losing the war." With a triumphant smile, Ji Suk settled down into his seat and gestured for Ms. Nan- who had been waiting patiently in the doorway- to enter.

     Her heels alternated between clicking against the wooden floor and silence when they were muffled by the sprawling rug, as she had chosen a path that straddled both. The effect was somewhat disconcerting, with every other footstep simply vanishing into thin air. Almost as though she were slowly hopping towards them, instead of confidently striding. When she had reached Ji Suk's desk, she produced a coaster and tea cup and rested both on the wooden top. "Would you like anything, Mr. Yoo?" Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she said his name, but her voice remained level and professional. The business world truly was the place to be if you wanted to learn to hide everything about yourself with ease.

     "I'm fine, thank you," Youngjae answered dismissively. Nodding, Ms. Nan bowed to both CEO and heir before turning to go. Before she took her first step, though, she smiled at Youngjae and mouthed a quick congratulations to him. Once again, the one person in this company who should be the most ignorant to it's inner workings was more informed than the majority of the high-ranking employees. Snorting quietly, Youngjae shook his head in amusement and watched from the corner of her eye as she exited the room, her feet taking the same disconcerting path they had previously.

     Both men remained silent until she had closed the door behind her, gently enough to barely make a sound. Then, not wanting to lose the opportunity to ask his uncle about assistance, Youngjae straightened his back and opened his mouth. The words simply wouldn't come, though. No matter how desperately he scoured his mind for something to say, the suddenly empty cavern produced nothing. From across the desk, Ji Suk watched his nephew's brow furrow in thought and waited patiently for Youngjae to arrive at what he wanted to say.

     "My mother..." No, that wasn't the right way to start things. Snapping his mouth shut, Youngjae rubbed at his temples and tried desperately to come up with a way to address the issue. "You see, the reason I came to Seoul..." He could feel Ji Suk's eyes burrowing into his skull, searching for the words that wouldn't come out of Youngjae's mouth but may be tucked away in some hidden corner of his brain. Squirming uncomfortably in his seat, Youngjae was suddenly reminded of the position he was in. No matter how his uncle may personally feel towards his sister-in-law and nephew, there were things about the past that simply couldn't be taken back or ignored. If his uncle were to try and do either, it could mean both of them losing their chances of keeping the company.

     He would just have to do things the right way. No short cuts.

     "If you're only here for the money then I would like to ask you to go home, Youngjae," the icy edge Ji Suk's voice had suddenly taken startled Youngjae. He hadn't been expecting a reaction like this to the awkward half-statements he had stammered out. "I have no intention of babysitting a child that came to me because he wanted to get rich quick, no matter how noble the reasons behind it. I am looking for someone who is willing to put forth the work necessary to take over this company and run it successfully after I have retired."

     A true business man, Ji Suk had successfully avoided discussing the elephant in the room while still calling attention to it. There were no more secrets between the two of them- in fact, it appeared there never had been. Youngjae had no idea how this knowledge had come to his uncle, but it was obvious now that Ji Suk had at least some idea of the bad turn his sister-in-law's health had taken. He was aware, and yet he was doing nothing to help her.

     Suddenly, all the words that had previously evacuated Youngjae's brain decided to come back for one final stand, forcing Youngjae to literally bite down on his tongue to keep back the torrent of angry outburts. His gaze hardened as he stared at Ji Suk, but the business man sitting across from him remained unfazed. In fact, he was behaving rather flippantly towards Youngjae. Turning away so that he wouldn't have to watch his nephew's face struggle to hold back from glaring, Ji Suk sipped at the tea Ms. Nan had brought him and waited for the air to stop crackling with tension. This was not how he had been planning for this meeting to go, but it was good that they had cleared the air. This whole business of keeping things hidden from Youngjae- and of his nephew unsuccessfully trying to hide things from him- had been creating a quiet rift between the two of them. Now that both he and Youngjae had laid their cards out on the table, they would either be able to move forward together or break apart and go their separate ways.

     He sincerely hoped for the former option. Despite the problems rooted in their families not-too-distant history, Youngjae was still the only blood relation he had. If his nephew were to walk out now, then Ji Suk would have no choice but to find someone outside the family to take over.

     "You've already come this far, Youngjae. It would be a waste for you to give up on everything you've worked for now," Ji Suk gently pointed out as he rested the tea cup on its coaster. "I know why you came here, but I'm not holding that against you. No matter what, you are my nephew and I cannot think of anyone else I would rather have inherit this company." He was nervous. For a very brief time, he was out of control of the situation. Both their futures now lay in the hands of Youngjae, and he wasn't exactly pleased with that. Ji Suk kept his expression repentant, though. Show remorse for not being able to assist his mother, but remain firm on the fact that Ji Suk did not intend to give away free hand outs.

     "If only he could see that I'm doing all of this for his sake. If only he realized that simply mentioning his mother is the equivalent of cursing within this building's walls." Clenching his fists beneath the desk, Ji Suk waited with baited breath for Youngjae's answer.

     "I'm willing to work, sir."

     Ji Suk let out his breath, but it caught briefly in his throat as the gravity of those five words hit him. He had gained an heir to the company, but he had lost a nephew. Lowering his eyes, Ji Suk allowed a brief expression of indecision to cross his face. Although he had gotten what he wanted, he wasn't sure if he felt very happy about it. There was no time to reflect on his troublesome emotions, though. Ji Suk had called Youngjae in for a very specific purpose, and despite the bumps along the way he fully intended to continue moving forward until that goal was reached.

     "I'm glad to hear it," some sort of acknowledgement to Youngjae's statement was necessary, he supposed, "and I've already come up with the next step." After pausing for dramatic emphasis, he grinned- an expression that had to force its way through the tension- and spread his arms wide. "The Nalgae company is going to send Ms. Cha on a tour around the country, a sort of nation-wide book-signing event. Promoting strictly in Seoul is not going to allow us to reach a broad enough audience; we need to expand to fans outside the city and bring attention to the book on a national scale."

     Youngjae had no idea how to respond to this. His uncle had obviously put a lot of thought into this plan, because now he was talking about how much it would cost to send Hei-Ryung around the country, how they would offer bonuses to Ms. Lee and a few other employees for accompanying Hei-Ryung, how he had already picked out a few venues and just needed to get into contact with the managers... he had thought of everything. He had also ignored every red flag and alarm bell this entire scheme was setting off.

     "This is never going to work!" Unsure whether he should laugh or cry, Youngjae settled for an exclamation mixed with both. Incredulous, he gaped at his uncle with wide eyes and slowly shook his head. "This is Ms. Cha we're talking about! She couldn't even finish an event that took place maybe a block or two away from her apartment, and now you expect her to travel the country?" Ji Suk looked put out by Youngjae's lack of enthusiasm in regards to the plan, but listened patiently to the problems he was bringing up. "She'll never agree to it, not in a million years! I don't think she would even agree to it if we threatened to sacrifice Ms. Lee's soul to the Gods!"

     Holding back his laughter, Ji Suk contorted his face into a serious expression and settled on an amused sigh. "We need to reach a broad range of people, though. Ms. Cha's books are in book stores around the country, of course, but the further from Seoul you get the more sparsely distributed her books become. We advertise every book that comes out as much as we can here in Seoul, so she has a strong-enough fanbase within the city, but you leave these streets and suddenly her name becomes much less common place." Leaning back in his seat, Ji Suk steepled his fingers. "If we aren't going to send her around the country, then we need to find another way to get her name out there."

     It took them nearly an hour of bouncing ideas off one another, but the pair eventually came up with a plan that, at least on paper, would have a good chance of being successful. Between television appearances, more magazine interviews, and idol group promotions, Ji Suk and Youngjae realized that they lived in the digital age and could easily take advantage of that. So, though the details were hazy, they decided to begin a promotional campaign involving a Dear Abby-esque website.

     "Ms. Cha s a romance novelist, so we should limit the questions to those of romance. The more familiar she is with the subject, the more willing she'll be to go along with the plan," Youngjae suggested, glancing over at Ms. Nan to make sure she was writing everything down. At some point in their discussion the woman had come in and been put in charge of recording every idea that was voiced so that they could look it over later. Now, though, she was mostly limiting herself to the details of the plan they seemed most likely to go with. "We should also offer some sort of incentive for writing in. I can't imagine many people will be scrambling to send an e-mail to an author they've never seen before."

     "I don't know, some men might be attracted to her writing. There might even be some out there who fantasize about her and already have a picture in their heads. They might be willing to participate based on appeal alone," Ms. Nan pointed out, reaching across Ji Suk's desk for another pen. The one she had previously been writing with had just died, and despite intense scribbling in the margins of the paper, it refused to be revived.

     "Still, an inventive couldn't hurt. Perhaps a free, signed copy of the book Ms. Cha is currently working on? First edition copies of anything always are popular," Ji Suk suggested, nodding towards Ms. Nan. Taking notice, she quickly jotted down a few notes in regards to the reward that would be offered for participating. "We'll leave everything else to marketing, though I would suggest you try and work with them on it, Youngjae. The more you involved yourself in all aspects of the company, the better you'll look."

     "Should I visit Ms. Cha and tell her about what we're planning?" Youngjae asked, standing to leave. Ms. Nan was already heading out, though he noticed by the clicking of her heels on the floor that she had slowed her pace so she would be able to listen to the conversation.

     "Better we don't tell her about all of this until it's been finalized. We don't want to worry her unnecessarily," Ji Suk disagreed, standing and reaching across the table to shake hands with Youngjae.

     "So we're going to surprise her. I'm sure Ms. Cha will be thrilled when she finds out we've decided for her what is going to happen." Taking Ji Suk's hand, Youngjae went through the motions of a familiar handshake. "He knows about Ms. Cha's problems, yet he chooses to ignore them in favor of boosting her book sales. He knows about my mother's illness, but he does nothing to help her because it may upset the board members. It's no surprise he's made it this far in the business world." His mouth went through the motions of saying goodbye and promising to meet again soon, but Youngjae's brain was somewhere else entirely.

Author's Note

Thus ends the loving relationships between Youngjae and his uncle. I'm a little sad about it, but hopefully things turns around for the two of them and they can go back to being close. I really liked writing about their relationship with one another...