Chapter 626. Feeling It (1)

After his return to the modern era, Kang Jin-Ho never longed for his past life.

The life in Zhongyuan eventually granted him untold wealth and influence. However, it also took so much more from him in return. The cost of the unwanted riches and power had been unimaginably cruel.

As a man who had experienced all that, Kang Jin-Ho knew better than anyone how precious his current life was. Even if he was given a thousand chances to return to his past life... He'd never choose that offer.

However, he was actually missing that life right now, just a tiny bit at least, ever since his third stab at life had begun!

Jo Gyu-Min loudly cried out, “No, hang on a minute! Okay, so!”

The usual barrage of griefing had begun, it seemed. If people wanted to swear, they should just come out and say it openly. Why did they always start their yelling with a forceful 'No' first?!

Such fundamental questions swam around inside Kang Jin-Ho's mind, but he had zero confidence in asking them. How could he do that when Jo Gyu-Min's face was flushed red with all the blood rushing to his head? While his tie had been flipped around unbeknownst to him? And he was clearly getting stressed out of his mind!

“How can you say you're going to China while knowing we're in a crucial phase of our operation! There are clear orders of things, Mister Jin-Ho! I thought you were the type of man who seems a little unfriendly on the surface but still knows what to prioritize over anything else! So how could you say that!”

Kang Jin-Ho silently turned his head and stared at the distant skies above.

'...Yes, things used to be like that.'

Although it was a bit embarrassing to say this out loud, there was a time when everything under the sun had to be mindful of Kang Jin-Ho's moods. The entire demon cult shuddered in dread and fear when Kang Jin-Ho showed up to 'work' in the morning with a hint of a frown on his face. And the whole world would suck in their breath and keep their head low to avoid getting noticed by him!

Even Azure Demon, who was the de facto second-in-command, watched what he said when Kang Jin-Ho was clearly in a crappy mood.

Did anyone rebuke him for his bad behavior? Such a thing was unthinkable back then.

One was judged by the era's rules and regulations, plus behaviors not matching up to the morals of the day. However, Kang Jin-Ho was an existence capable of setting those rules and regulations of Zhongyuan. If he said red was blue, it'd be known as blue from that moment on. With the situation like that, who would dare take Kang Jin-Ho to task?

'That's how things were like back then, but now...'

“Are you even listening to me, Mister Jin-Ho!”

“...Yes, I am listening.”

“Even though I'm trying to explain everything to you!”

“...”

Ah, ah, the good old days...

A hint of remorse entered Kang Jin-Ho's expression. Of course, it wasn't as if he was truly longing for his past life here. Even so, all things in this world were affected by this principle, weren't they? Just like how the existence of light signified the presence of darkness lurking around the corner, going all-in on a choice didn't mean one side was more correct than the other.

If only! If only he got a tiny bit more respect!

“Are you really listening, Mister Jin-Ho?!”

“...Yes, I am,” Kang Jin-Ho solemnly nodded away.

Of course he understood why Jo Gyu-Min was acting this way.

Chairman Hwang Jeong-Ju's participation had greatly accelerated the matters involving Kang Jin-Ho's foundation. Simply put, things were progressing at a much-faster rate than anyone had expected. Although that should be worthy of a minor celebration, fast progress wasn't always a good thing.

For instance, Kang Jin-Ho and Co. still hadn't found and hired trustworthy individuals, so all the work resulting from the fast progress would inevitably be dumped on the desks of the existing workers. And the existing 'workers' in this case were... Well...

“I’m dying here, Mister Jin-Ho!”

...It was one person: Jo Gyu-Min. The dark circles below his eyes drooping all the way down to his chin, and his coarse, pale skin were enough to tell the torrid tale of suffering he had been under all this time.

“Don’t you know I'm way too busy to lecture you like this, Mister Jin-Ho!”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly while thinking, Then, why don't you stop?

“Did you say something, Mister Jin-Ho?”

“...I haven't said anything, though?”

Did Jo Gyu-Min read his mind? Kang Jin-Ho hurriedly rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. The usual him would have ably accepted all these complaints with a brief chuckle and moved on. That didn't mean he was annoyed by this situation. Even though that was the case...

'Gee, whiz. It feels like I'm dying...'

The damage he received yesterday was too extensive, even for Kang Jin-Ho. And he also got to learn that a half-hearted serious attitude was worse than not being serious at all.

Kang Jin-Ho's mother and little sister, who had been on a strategic retreat, seized the opening created by Kang Jin-Ho's stupid slip-up and pounced on him like a school of ravenous piranhas. Of course, their method of assault still remained 'verbal'.

The ruthless assault continued into the early dawn, but Kang Jin-Ho eventually found his chance to flee to his room when his two female family members exhausted themselves and tried to recuperate for another round of attack. While on his way, Kang Jin-Ho encountered his father shuffling toward the bathroom. However, Kang Yu-Hwan coldly avoided meeting his son's gaze.

'That... was clearly betrayal!'

That was the moment of the bond of the Kang family shattering into a million pieces.

That was what happened yesterday, so Kang Jin-Ho's mind was as exhausted as it could get. At least this experience taught him that his mentality, which he firmly believed was tougher than forged steel, was shockingly weak against a constant barrage of small but sharp attacks.

“Mister Jin-Ho, colleagues and allies aren't supposed to do this!”

As for this dude... Kang Jin-Ho had discovered Jo Gyu-Min's hidden talent. This dude used to give off this vibe while acting as the proxy of the education foundation's director, and it was happening again!

As for what that vibe was... Rather than a hands-on administrator, the role of a boomer who loved to lecture and nag other people suited Jo Gyu-Min much, much more!

Maybe him joining a military academy would've been a great career move. Even now, it felt like he'd suddenly mutter the line, 'This company commander is bitterly disappointed by your conduct, gentlemen!'

“Of course! I get that you being here won't radically decrease my workload. Realistically speaking, this work isn't something you should be doing anyway due to your position in the foundation. And I also know that splitting work between you and me could lead to a disaster where my workload suddenly increases instead. Yes, I already know all that!”

“...”

“However! Isn't there an old saying like this? Sharing happiness will double it, and sharing sadness will halve it? Or something like that? Since you can see my suffering, isn't the decent thing to do here staying put and pretending to be suffering alongside me?! But now, you're going to China?! Chinaaaa?!”

It seemed that the diplomatic relationship between China and Korea had become a lot more strained than before while Kang Jin-Ho wasn't looking. That had to be it, otherwise it'd be hard to explain why people, whether it was Jo Gyu-Min or Baek Hyeon-Jeong and Kang Eun-Yeong combo, got upset at the mere mention of China!

“...All I can say is I'm sorry,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“Urgh...” Jo Gyu-Min slumped in his chair.

Guilty conscience sharply stabbed Kang Jin-Ho's heart at the sight of the Chief Secretary of Jaegyeong looking like a defeated soldier watching his mother nation burn down. Even though he technically wasn't guilty of anything!

'If only Lee Hyeon-Su was here to lend assistance... That would've been great.'

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly realized that he didn't have many capable administrators around him. Simply having Lee Hyeon-Su help out could have decreased Jo Gyu-Min's burden by at least half, but... Unfortunately, even Lee Hyeon-Su was stuck in an eerily similar situation as Jo Gyu-Min right now.

The purging of the elders and directors meant all their workload had to be redirected to Lee Hyeon-Su's desk. Even if the contribution made individually by those people was equivalent to... a rat's tail, a whole stack of them would still weigh quite a lot. So much so that it verged on being terrifying!

To make matters more complicated, Lee Hyeon-Su wasn't only restructuring the Martial Assembly but also finding and recovering all the official and unofficial assets of the dead elders. As far as the amount of work was concerned, even Jo Gyu-Min would have to take a bow at how unforgiving things had been for Lee Hyeon-Su.

At least Wiggins, who had nothing better to do until additional educators joined him on this side, and Elena assisted him to lighten the workload somewhat. Without that, the poor man would've keeled over from stress and exhaustion by now! Even if Elena was only helping out because she was loitering around her father's vicinity...

'...Now that I think about it, this isn't a good look.'

Indeed, this timing was rather weird. Kang Jin-Ho's trip to China had been in the works for a while now, something that had to be pushed back several times. But now... It looked like he was jetting off to a nice little vacation in a foreign land while dumping all the work on the shoulders of everybody else.

Of course, Kang Jin-Ho staying in Korea wouldn't have changed this situation all that much. At least he was aware of that. Even so! This was the matter of how people perceived this situation, wasn't it!

“I won't ask why you're going there, Mister Jin-Ho...” Jo Gyu-Min sharply glared, his eyes silently yelling, I already know what you are planning to do in China!

This was almost verging on the territory of horror movies at this point. Kang Jin-Ho uncharacteristically flinched and sneakily avoided meeting Jo Gyu-Min's glare.

“...Since you insist on going there, I will begrudgingly look the other way. Here!” Jo Gyu-Min pulled out an envelope from his inner pocket, then pushed it toward Kang Jin-Ho. “This is your plane ticket, Mister Jin-Ho. When you get to China, a guide from our branch office will help you.”

“No, wait. You don't have to go that far. I can procure a plane ticket myself, and...” Kang Jin-Ho hurriedly spoke up as a guilty conscience of making an already-busy man do something unnecessary washed over him.

“Well, the truth is...” Jo Gyu-Min chuckled helplessly. “I was just messing with you for a bit, Mister Jin-Ho. I mean... Everyone knows about how you've been running nonstop without a single break since the end of your military service. We get that you want to get some much-deserved break now that one of the biggest questions haunting us has been resolved.”

'Uhm, actually, no. I'm only going there because, if I don't, someone scary might beat me up to death. Much-deserved break?! How could you be so oblivious to your fellow man's plight?!'

Kang Jin-Ho's emotions welled up, and he oh-so-badly wanted to say something right now, but whatever he'd say at this point would only sound like an excuse... An excuse designed to piss off the listener!

“...Anyways. How is your side of work going?” Kang Jin-Ho carefully asked in the hope of changing the topic.

Despite knowing Kang Jin-Ho's intentions, Jo Gyu-Min still decided to humor his boss. With a brief chuckle, he began explaining the situation on his side. “Well, there isn't much to report to you. Even if things are going well, it won't translate into a massive sea change. And things not going well still won't lead to anything massively bad, either. How should I say this...”

Suddenly, Jo Gyu-Min turned his head and glared in sheer dissatisfaction at one of the walls in his office. Kang Jin-Ho realized that the chairman's office lay several walls behind in that direction.

Jo Gyu-Min unhappily tutted. “Even if he wants to act like a bulldozer... Shouldn't he do it in moderation? Maybe old-school bulldozers were never fitted with functioning brakes or something!”

“I'm sorry?”

“Every single freaking day, he... He nags the hell out of me, you know what I mean?! At this rate, I will die before the chairman does! Holy cow... Did you know how dissatisfied I used to be at the directors being treated so nicely despite not doing anything important? But now! I have nothing but pure respect for them after realizing they must've endured the chairman in his prime...!” The debut release of this chapter happened at N0v3l_B1n.

“...Oh.”

Jo Gyu-Min shuddered in clear dread. “Yes, it's wonderful that Chairman Hwang has regained his drive, his passion, but...! If this keeps up, I might get run over by his drive first! Mister Jin-Ho!”

“Still, isn't it great news that he's regained his drive?”

“...You are making fun of me, aren't you?”

“No. Of course not...” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled softly.

“In any case...” Jo Gyu-Min coughed to clear his throat, seemingly indicating that he wanted to move on and end this chat here. “I've already made preparations to ensure you won't encounter many problems during your sojourn in China. Originally, it should've been my duty to escort you, so allow me to apologize first for failing to do my job. I'll strive to finish the matters at hand as quickly as possible and join you on that side.”

“...Sorry?” Kang Jin-Ho was flustered by that revelation. “I'm pretty sure you don't need to force yourself, though?”

“I can't do that. Mister Jin-Ho, sending you to a foreign country all by yourself is not what a faithful adjutant should be doing.”

“N-no, hang on. You don't...”

“Mister Jin-Ho!”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head at that resolute-sounding voice. “Mm? What's wrong?”

“...Please. Please let me join you,” Jo Gyu-Min pleaded as tears began pooling in the corners of his eyes. “I'd like to get away from the chairman's side for just one week. That's all I ask! This isn't the issue with the workload, but... At this rate, I will really wither and become a dead husk soon! Listen to this! He ordered me to do something yesterday afternoon, then started nagging me for not finishing it after checking the progress this morning! How is that reasonable?! Don't you agree that's immoral?! The related department hadn't even opened their counters at the time when he did his checking, so what did he expect me to do?!”

“Stay strong, Chief Jo.”

“That is why! Please! Pleeeease! Speak to the chairman and convince him that you must take me with you!”

“...I'll try.” Kang Jin-Ho gravely nodded, knowing he could never plead ignorance to a man's passionate tears.

“T-then! I'll do my best to wrap up my work as soon as possible!”

Kang Jin-Ho grimaced slightly. “However...”

“Y-yes?”

Without saying anything else, Kang Jin-Ho turned his head and scanned the state of Jo Gyu-Min's desk.

After regaining his fervor, Chairman Hwang resumed his old ways of demanding physical copies of the reports to peruse them. Once he was done with those documents, they were passed along to Jo Gyu-Min. Every. Single. Page.

And all those documents were stacked up high to resemble tall towers on Jo Gyu-Min's desk as if it was done on purpose.

Kang Jin-Ho quietly asked, “...Will your work be finished on time?”

“...!”

“As in, before I'm done with my business in China?”

Jo Gyu-Min wordlessly took off his glasses and fiercely massaged the bridge of his nose.

Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head, his heart rapidly filling with sympathy.

'I should send him on a long vacation later.'

If only the situation allowed, that was.

If only...