Descent of the Demon Master

his company into an even bigger titan or totally ruin it.”

Jo Gyu-Min sighed and shook his head without saying anything.

’

“And this is a good opportunity to gauge that boy ’s ability.
Make sure to get everything ready.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hwang Jeong-Hu seemed to have thought of something.
“Oh, and there ’s something else.”

“Sir?”

“Exclude the fried chicken franchise idea.”

Jo Gyu-Min blinked his eyes in confusion.
Exclude the fried chicken? But, why?

Hwang Jeong-Hu smiled bitterly at his subordinate ’s confused expression.
“I told you to exclude any business ideas where Jin-Ho will definitely succeed, didn ’t I?”

“B-but, sir? There is no guarantee that a fried chicken store will succeed in this day and age.”

“That ’s true…
but we ’re talking about Kang Jin-Ho here.
Listen, a store that can cook and deliver its fried chicken in just over a minute will never go out of business.”

“…Ah.” Jo Gyu-Min ’s mind was suddenly filled with the image of a certain man jumping and dashing across rooftops in the darkness, only faintly illuminated by the cold moonlight.
And that man was carrying a fried chicken delivery bag.
“…You ’re right, sir.
A store that delivers its goods seems unfeasible for Mister Jin-Ho.”

“It might be a jackpot for all the fried chicken lovers in that area, but it ’ll be like a calamity for us.
So, exclude all the business ideas that involve some form of delivery.
But if he insists on opening a store in that field, get him to promise that he will not be involved in the delivery.”

“Understood, sir.
I ’ll engrave it on my heart!” Jo Gyu-Min ’s expression became solemn after realizing that he had just escaped failure by a hair ’s width.
He briefly nodded, then got up to leave.
“Sir, please excuse me.
I will return to my office and finish my planning.”

“Alright, you ’re dismissed.” Hwang Jeong-Hu coolly nodded, and once Jo Gyu-Min left his office, mouthed a cigarette.

’Time for a change, huh… ’

The emotion Hwang Jeong-Hu initially felt after getting up from his sickbed and returning to this position was delight.
However, he soon came to realize something else.

’It ’s the end of the road for me. ’

He could certainly ’maintain ’ Jaegyeong at its current trajectory.
However, even he had to admit that he was too old to mount a new challenge or bring about a revolutionary change to the industry.
Of course, his passion, his drive, still rivaled that of young people in their twenties.
No, maybe his desire burned even stronger than theirs.
However, what he lacked was energy—enough stamina for him to manage every facet of a new business venture, just like what he had done in the past.

Nowadays, he could feel his concentration dropping rapidly after only one hour of work, even though he used to be able to maintain his focus for over twelve hours back in the day.
And this was why Hwang Jeong-Hu realized that the current him couldn ’t possibly reform Jaegyeong.

It wasn ’t that he felt a great attachment or affection to Kang Jin-Ho.
That young man was…
easily the most original human being Hwang Jeong-Hu knew.
Not only was Kang Jin-Ho not restrained by the old-fashioned rules of society, but his thought process also didn ’t seem all that rigid, either.
In that case, it would be correct to distance Jaegyeong from Kang Jin-Ho for it to continue existing as a fairly successful company.

’

However, Hwang Jeong-Hu personally felt that Kang Jin-Ho ’s strength was necessary for Jaegyeong to transform itself into a top global player.

’But, why… ’ 

Hwang Jeong-Hu stubbed his cigarette on the ashtray before shuddering softly.
“…Why am I so worried?”

It felt like something was amiss, that he was trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.
Hwang Jeong-Hu couldn ’t decipher the identity, the root cause, of this worry, but…
Soon, he ’d come face-to-face with it.

***

Kang Jin-Ho blinked his eyes.
“A contract?”

Jo Gyu-Min nodded.
“Yes, Mister Jin-Ho.
We might not have settled on the type of business, but that ’s not important right now.
I wanted to hear your thoughts on the matter as well, anyway.”

“I haven ’t given it much thought, though.”

“Well, you can always start now.” Jo Gyu-Min grinned while pushing the contract in Kang Jin-Ho ’s direction.
“This contract simply states that our side will foot the startup cost, Mister Jin-Ho.
You can return the investment cost in six months ’ time when you ’re ready to call it a day.”

“Hmm…” Kang Jin-Ho contemplatively nodded.

“Please, have a read-through.” Jo Gyu-Min offered his advice.

“I will.” Kang Jin-Ho picked up and slowly perused through the contract.

Jo Gyu-Min watching on sneakily smiled with an unreadable expression.

’Even if it ’s Mister Jin-Ho, I ’m better at this kind of thing than him. ’

Jo Gyu-Min had been reading and dissecting various documents all his adult life.
Compared to him, Kang Jin-Ho had only spent half a semester in Business Management, listening to some basic theories.
So, it was safe to assume that he had absolutely no clue regarding contracts and operating a business.

This opportunity had to be utilized in full to teach Kang Jin-Ho the bitterness of society.
Of course, the amount of money he was about to lose would be trifling to Kang Jin-Ho.
Still, experiencing total failure would be a good life lesson for him.

After all, the purpose of this…
’test ’ wasn ’t to see how much money he had made at the end but how he had managed the business.

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes.
“By the way…?”

“Yes?” Jo Gyu-Min responded while still grinning away.

’

“The conditions listed on this part are a bit weird, don ’t you think?”

The grin on Jo Gyu-Min ’s face froze up.
“…I ’m sorry?”

“Well, you said you ’d help me out with the startup cost, didn ’t you? And I have to return every dime after six months.”

“Yes, that ’s correct.”

“And it says here that you ’ll take into account the store premium, too.”

“Yes, that is also correct.”

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes.
“But what about the interior decoration costs?”

“Mm…?”

“According to this contract, I need to recoup the cost of interior decoration in six months, even though it should be several dozen million won.”

Jo Gyu-Min stared at Kang Jin-Ho in a daze, wondering how this young man managed to figure that out so soon.

“Since we ’re thinking of joining a franchise, we ’ll have to foot the initial joining fee, too.
The joining fee and the decoration cost combined should be well over a hundred million, yet you want me to recoup that in six months alongside the initial startup fund?”

“Well, uh…” Jo Gyu-Min forgot what he wanted to say as his hard work wrapping up this deal in a nice-looking package was torn to shreds in mere seconds.

Kang Jin-Ho pulled out a cigarette, mouthed it, then leisurely lit it up.
He took a long puff before releasing the smoke into the atmosphere.
He then stared straight at Jo Gyu-Min.
“I thought Jaegyeong was more upstanding than this, but I guess not.
This must be your standard practice, then?”

Jo Gyu-Min panicked and hurriedly denied it.
“N-no, of course not!”

“But isn ’t this contract basically a scam? I ’m quite disappointed in you, Mister Gyu-Min.”

“I ’m telling you, it ’s not true!”

Kang Jin-Ho tutted, unimpressed.
“Looks like I ’ll have to speak to Chairman Hwang directly.”

“Aigoooo! Mister Jin-Ho, please don’t kill me!” Jo Gyu-Min desperately clung to Kang Jin-Ho after his intention to perform his first-ever counter-offensive in the five years they had known each other just went out the window.

’Kids these days are so scary! ’

Especially this kid! Jo Gyu-Min held back his tears and trudged back to his office like a dejected puppy to revise the contract.

1.
’Fancam ’ is a slang term originating from South Korean idol fandom, and it means amateur footage of a celebrity filmed unofficially by a fan.
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