“All set, Mr. Park?”

Chanyeol looked up from unbuckling his seatbelt, smiling at the Operations Manager of Seomse in Japan, Tony Rogers, who kindly drove him to Haneda airport for his flight back to Seoul.

He spent the last week visiting all five of his family’s restaurants in Sapporo, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Osaka and finally, Tokyo, since the Tokyo branch received the much-coveted 3-star Michelin rating recently, due to an experimental takoyaki dish that combined kani, satay and mussels with cheese.

“Too bad I didn’t get to meet the person responsible for the SOO CHEF dish,” Chanyeol murmured in English, almost regretfully, as he alighted the car. “Are you sure that wasn’t a typo on the menu?”

Tony laughed, taking young Mr. Park’s luggage from the vehicle’s compartment. “Nope. It was a play on the name of the sous chef who invented that takoyaki flavor, and it became our best runaway hit to date! He would be back to work tomorrow.”

“Well, maybe I’ll get to meet him the next time I visit.” Chanyeol extended his hand, which the Caucasian Operations Manager shook with his own sincerely.

“Again… I am very sorry for your loss, Mr. Park.”

Chanyeol pressed his lips together and only gave a nod. His father unfortunately passed away from a heart attack when Chanyeol was serving actively in the army four months ago. He was granted a week-long leave to grieve and had to defer taking over the CEO position in order to complete his military duties.

Once discharged, he put another personal project of his on hold, one that involved music. Judging by the grim situation, it was the polar opposite of what was expected of him. So at the age 27, Park Chanyeol became the youngest member of the board of Seomse group of companies, to continue his father’s legacy.

“Thank you,” was all he could say as both men bade each other goodbye. Chanyeol missed his iron-fisted father, who was certainly tough on him growing up as the only child and heir, but at the same time, the older Mr. Park no doubt loved him with all his heart.

This trip couldn't have been better timing, though. Apart from delving into the business