4. HARD WORK PAYS

Everyone at the station was shocked when Puppy accepted to lead the team for training and knowledge exchange in Australia. He texted me to keep me updated.

Yeobo Sr Sup almost fainted

Lol did u expect any different

I repeated 4 times before any1 believed

Record n play it

The 2^nd option already had her bags packed

Must be upset with u

Nah. Actually kissed me in thanx. Didn’t want to spend her summers in a cold place

Did u finally get to kiss an adult woman?

Yes. It was delicious

What flavor gloss did she use

Lemme go n kiss again. need to confirm

Give her 1 from me also. I need to open my account too

Find your own woman. I have the dibs on her

Ummm let me see. will a blond wig suit u?

I m not wearing a wig to bed

A red lace dress?

No. erted tokki

Always, for u

R u in 1^st hagwon

Yes why

Been long since we used its couch

After ur shift?

Now?

Work

Can do later

Meeting with mayor in an hour

Think of me in u

Jaggggiii don’t

Oh yes yeobo oh yes

need to concentrate cant sit with a red face

want to kiss ur sweet lips

stop I hav work

your fault for having such kissable lips

puppy

always for u

your sup calling?

Forgetting that I m the sup now?

Meet me at the café in ur lunch break

An early lunch. now?

1^st hagwon 10 min

On my way

He made it in eight minutes, giving us exactly thirty two minutes together. We found that the old couch’s springs needed replacement and I was too old for the floor.

Heechul knocked as we were adjusting each other’s ties. I finger combed my hair while opening the door. He took one look at our red swollen lips and pouted.

“Why doesn’t Simba visit me at work?”

“Because you kept him here for over two hours last time?” Puppy answered helpfully.

“That’s immaterial.” Heechul waved it away.

“He missed an important staff meeting.” Puppy elaborated.

“Yahhh. Get lost know-it-all puppy. Jinx we have a meeting.” Heechul pouted even more.

“We have twenty minutes Cinder. Puppy was just leaving.” I tapped my watch.

“See High and Mighty Princess. It’s all about timing.” Puppy smirked at Heechul, winding him up even further.

“Jagi I need Cinderella in a good mood for the meeting. Stop teasing him. Go kiss your noona some more. I like the taste of her gloss.” I pushed Puppy towards the door.

“Love you yeobo. Behave and don’t go gaga over our young mayor.” Puppy kissed my cheeks and picked up his keys.

“I plan to seduce him right here. Don’t worry.” I winked at him.

“I should order you a new couch. He will be more comfortable then. Good luck and remember to pout your kissable lips when you look at him. He will agree to whatever you say in a snap. Bye Princess.” Puppy snapped his fingers as he gave his last words of wisdom before disappearing out of the door.

Heechul barely waved a bye to him. He was rooted to the spot with his jaw touching the ground. I walked over to him and closed his mouth with a fingertip.

“Eww go wash your hands first. God knows where they have been on Puppy.” Heechul came to his senses in a jiffy.

I laughed and pulled him to the couch to sit with me. We really needed to prepare for the meeting. We only knew that the meeting was about our Public Servers’ hagwon. We had our files ready and after one final checking of each other’s appearance, we entered the conference room.

Though we had three hagwons running in Daegu, Heechul and I primarily used our first one as the head office. We got our sponsors, my father and Taemin’s firm, to install an elevator and construct our offices, staff room and more rooms on the fourth floor and an auditorium plus a conference hall on the fifth floor. Tae had personally supervised the construction a year ago.

We used the auditorium to hold our annual seminars for all our franchisees. In the past two months many of the political guests from the dinner party had visited our academies. Their wives, daughters and daughters-in-law had become honorary members of the mother’s clubs as well. JinHee Hagwons had hit the media headlines once again.

The Mayor had a single point agenda. Daegu was hosting a symposium for country’s mayors in a week’s time. He wanted Heechul and me to speak about JinHee Hagwon in it because he had been approached by many of his counterparts in different cities to find out how our academy helped the Public Servers. He also wanted to schedule tours for interested mayors to see the hagwon in person. We discussed our presentation in detail before ending the meeting.

When alone, Heechul and I did a victory jig. We were not surprised by the renewed interest because not only did our enrolled students perform well academically, they also were happier. Their parents were satisfied and there was less stress on the entire family. We used best teaching aids that we imported from all over the world to make learning easy and fun for the students.

Over dinner that night at our home, everyone agreed that if we expanded more, Heechul and I couldn’t manage it on our own without putting in longer work hours. That was something neither of us was willing to do. Family was our priority.

Siwon suggested taking in Kibum as our partner for the Public Admin hagwons also. Puppy held my hand on seeing the sudden tension in my body. He knew that I still had trust issues where my family was concerned. He suggested Hyukkie’s and Soo’s name but we knew it was not possible. Hyukkie was busy with his own expansion plans. Soo was busy with the research hospital that Leeteuk owned.

“Jinki are you dissatisfied with Kibum’s administrative capacity in your general hagwon?” Uncle asked.

“He is doing well Uncle. In fact he manages more than his share, giving Cinder and me time to look after our franchise business.” I responded thoughtfully.

Puppy raised his brows at that. I nodded in understanding. We discussed his share in the Public Admin academies. We didn’t want to increase the percentage of our share. Finally we decided to keep it the same 10% divided into the three of us equally. We called up Kibum and invited ourselves over for dinner next day.

Siwon and Heechul met us outside my parents’ house with a bottle of champagne. I wondered aloud if it was too early to celebrate. Siwon was quick to point that we were celebrating the birth of a new partnership.

This time we had our family meeting before dinner. Kibum was doubtful about his ability to manage a bigger franchise. One academy was different. It gave him time to balance the family and work. Appa, umma and Tae urged him on to say yes. Finally Kibum smiled and nodded at us. The three of us got up and hugged. Siwon opened the bottle of champagne. We informed him of his 3.33333% share. Everyone laughed at my stress on the threes after the decimal.

I could see Tae’s mental wheels turning and calculating how much it will convert to when multiplied by 50. “Tae take it at about 20 for the first year.” I advised him. He nodded but still grinned.

Appa and Tae began discussing how to get enough finances to buy more buildings for us to lease. Uncle’s printing and PR work would increase as well. None of our franchisees had any issues with using Uncle’s services as it made it easier for them to deal with someone who already knew what to do. All the press releases and other related matters were dealt with by Uncle. Even our demo videos were prepared by his firm. It made it easier for us also.

Over the next week, Uncle supervised creation of demo videos for our Public Admin hagwon. Presentations were made to show and give the symposium attendees to take back as well.

Puppy and Siwon came to give us moral support. Kibum told Tae to stay away as he tended to become nervous with Tae staring at him. Working in tandem the three of us gave a powerful presentation which led to a standing ovation for us. We even had the contracts ready for signing. Immediately after the presentation was an hour’s break and then an hour’s interaction with us.

The mayors were huddled with their aides and delegations during the break time. When we sat on the stage for answering their questions, the first one took us by surprise.

“Jinki-ssi, don’t you think having homoual owners for something as important as a hagwon sends out the wrong message to our impressionable children?” Mayor of a small town asked.

Since the other two were immobile in shock, I took the mic. “In the nine years of operation of JinHee Hagwon, the question of our ual orientation has never come up. Our students come to our academies to study and prepare for a global future. Our hagwon parents are happy because their children are performing well in school and life and their families are less stressed. None of our students have as yet shown any inclination towards same-gender relationships. When our students will go to USA or other countries for further studies and work, no one will ask for the ual orientation of their professor or boss.”

I could see most heads nodding at that and continued, “The three of us did not study in JinHee Hagwon and neither did our life partners. What does this say about our schools then?”

“Are you asking us to recognize same-gender relationships in our society and change our laws for them?” The mayor continued.

“Going to a hagwon is a matter of personal choice. Parents are not forced to send their children to our hagwons. They decide on their own to do it. If any parent has any objection to our ual orientation, we have not heard of it. They do have options of other academies for their children. We are just one choice amongst many. JinHee Hagwons are not political. We provide a community service by providing expensive private tuitions at affordable cost to the members of our Public Administrative and Police Agencies.” I emphasized our non-political nature.

I signaled Heechul to put on the slides of our teaching aids.

“Our students come to us for the fun that we make their usually dreary studies. If you do a survey of private academies across Korea, you will find none of them using imported teaching aids like we do. Our classrooms are interactive learning sessions not parrot or rote memorization. Our students score in the top ten percentile in their schools and classes. Our alumni have gotten admissions in the universities and courses of their first preference. Does their success matter more or our ual orientation?”

Kibum handed Heechul the slides to show our success rate for university and overseas admissions.

“Our hagwons closely resemble community centers. We have mother’s clubs running in each one. I request you to think back on the Miran amendments of few years ago and JinHee Hagwon’s efforts in getting those laws amended to prevent domestic violence. We have Miran Therapy session in each one of our hagwons. All new academies will have to agree to the same.”

Kibum quickly handed Heechul slides showing details of our signature campaign and photo slides of amended laws.

“What about abused husbands?” One attendee called out causing ripples of laughter all around the large auditorium.

“You are welcome to join the therapy sessions as well provided your wives don’t beat you to it.” Kibum answered with a smile.

We continued to answer more questions. It was two and a half hours before the interaction ended. We handed out packets of our demo material and contracts to each Mayor. The first one to sign the contract and approach was the mayor who had asked us about gayness.

He grinned at my surprised look. “Jinki-ssi, I just wanted answers for questions back home. I lead a small community after all.”

We shook hands with him as all three of us signed and a copy of the contract was handed back to him.

By the end of the symposium, we had 39 signed contracts with us. Seoul alone had signed 17 contracts.

We declared a week’s bonus for all of our Daegu Hagwons' staff. We don’t know who danced harder at the celebration party, the staff, the kids or us.