A few days later.
Dragging my exhausted body, I headed to the office once again.
As soon as the Chief Planning Officer entered my office for the morning briefing, he sighed at the sight of my face.
"Did you not sleep properly again? You look exhausted. Perhaps it's time to reduce your workload. If that's not an option, you should consider taking a sleep aid. With the Chairman absent, if you also collapse, Taewoo Group will be in serious trouble."
"I don't need sleep aids. It's not that I can't sleep—I simply don't have time to."
There was a reason for my sleepless nights.
Every night, I found myself on the phone with Chu Min-jeong.
She constantly came up with new ideas, and we spent hours discussing how to apply them to different industries. By the time we were done, morning had already arrived.
"If this continues, I'll have no choice but to report it to the Chairman."
"I was already planning to fix it starting today. By tomorrow, things will be better, so don't worry too much."
"For the sake of Taewoo Group, please take better care of yourself. Remember, you carry the weight of hundreds of thousands of employees on your shoulders."
Today, the Chief Planning Officer's nagging seemed worse than usual.
But I couldn't argue with him.
Even in the mirror this morning, I had looked utterly drained.
"Any other reports?"
"Seo Jeong-jun has requested a meeting."
"Bring him in now. I want to wrap things up this morning and get some rest in the afternoon."
It seemed like he had been waiting since early morning—he entered my office in less than five minutes.
His eyes were swollen and dark, evidence of countless sleepless nights spent deliberating.
He looked just as exhausted as I did.
"You must have struggled with this decision."
"I had long discussions with my team and gave it a lot of thought."
"And what conclusion did you reach?"
"Would it be possible to accept only part of your proposal?"
"Of course. We can negotiate. How would you like to adjust the terms?"
"My team believes that a 40% stake is too much. Would you consider reducing it to 30%?"
It was understandable.
Even though I had promised to be an ally, holding 40% gave me enough power to pressure management at any time.
"I'm fine with reducing it to 30%, under one condition: if you ever decide to sell shares, I get first negotiation rights."
"Agreed. And since we've reduced the stake, we'll also lower the investment amount."
"No need. I'll still invest the full 10 billion won. You'll need sufficient funds to travel the world, meet industry experts, and treat them to proper meals."
"Thank you! I truly appreciate it!"
Losing 10% of the stake didn't really matter.
Seo Jeong-jun's company would need a few years to grow, and during that time, I could always acquire additional shares.
"Any other conditions? I'll do my best to accommodate your needs."
"It's not a condition, but rather a request. Connecting with professors and experts in the bio industry has been quite difficult."
"So, you're asking me to build a bridge for you. That's an easy favor. Just give me the names of the experts you want to meet, and I'll arrange the meetings."
For now, Seo Jeong-jun still had Taewoo Group's executive title on his business card.
But the moment he left, that card would be gone, making it harder for him to secure key meetings.
"Thank you so much for doing this."
"You were part of our family. It's only right to help you as you start your own company. If you ever run into difficulties, just reach out—I'll assist however I can. I can even arrange meetings with U.S. pharmaceutical companies."
Through David, I could easily set up meetings with top executives in the pharmaceutical industry.
Not just in the U.S., but also in biotech powerhouses like Germany, Japan, and across Europe.
I planned to introduce him to high-profile figures beyond his imagination.
Since I had already decided to help, I might as well go all in.
The more I helped now, the greater my returns would be later.
"I don't even know what to say. I never expected this much support."
"I think we need to add one more clause to our contract—no more saying thank you."
"I will definitely repay this kindness!"
"Just make sure your company succeeds. That's all the reward I need."
After all, that would only increase the value of my shares.
Even as we finalized the contract, Seo Jeong-jun kept bowing in gratitude like a broken record.
He had no idea that all I wanted was to wrap this up and finally get some sleep.
***
"For the next three hours, do not let anyone in. No calls either, unless it's an emergency."
After finishing the meeting with Seo Jeong-jun, I leaned back in my chair and fell asleep.
For the first time in days, I slept soundly for three hours.
Once my afternoon tasks were done and the workday was nearly over, I didn't head home.
Instead, I made my way to the Taewoo IT building—
To see Chu Min-jeong.
"How's everything going?"
"Vice President! I was just about to tell you—there's a way to increase the ad exposure range on SNS!"
As expected, Chu Min-jeong was brimming with ideas again.
She was like an idea-generating machine.
It was almost unbelievable how a person could come up with dozens of ideas a day.
"Let's talk in the car. You look exhausted—you haven't been getting much sleep, have you?"
"You don't look so great yourself, Vice President."
If I wasn't sleeping much, that meant Chu Min-jeong wasn't either.
At least I could catch a quick nap in my office, but she didn't even have that luxury.
For both of our sakes, we needed to change our routine.
"From now on, let's talk while we're on the move. If that's not enough, we'll finish our discussions at a café. Staying up all night talking on the phone is costing us too much sleep."
"Meeting in person would be faster anyway."
Explaining things over the phone was inefficient.
Even if the message was the same, face-to-face discussions conveyed ideas far more effectively.
That's why I decided to personally meet Chu Min-jeong—to cut down on the time spent talking.
"Let's continue at a café near your place."
"There's a 24-hour café nearby. I'll guide you."
We talked for over an hour in the car, but it still wasn't enough.
So, we headed to the café to continue our discussion.
"Merging a messenger app with a retail system is a brilliant idea."
"The idea is to send push notifications for friends' birthdays and integrate a gifting system. With just a few taps, users can send presents—it's bound to attract a lot of customers."
I already knew about this concept from my past experiences.
But the fact that Chu Min-jeong was thinking of it at this stage was impressive enough to keep me engaged in the conversation.
"Let's wrap it up for today—it's already past midnight."
"But I still have so many ideas I haven't shared yet!"
"Then let's save them and go over everything on the weekend. Since I won't be at the office, we can start brainstorming in the morning."
"Alright, I'll organize everything properly."
Finally, I had secured some time to sleep.
Usually, I finished work around 8 PM, so on weekdays, I spent four hours discussing ideas until midnight.
On weekends, though, we went all out—
from 9 AM to midnight, a full 15-hour brainstorming marathon, hopping between cafés and restaurants.
***
A few days later
Early in the morning, my chief secretary came rushing in—something he hadn't done in a while.
"Young Master! No, I mean, Vice President! You need to read this newspaper!"
"Did something happen? Don't tell me—was there a fire at one of our factories?"
Whenever my secretary brought me a newspaper like this, it was always bad news.
Swallowing nervously, I took the paper from him. But as I scanned the headlines, I let out a dry chuckle.
"What… is this?"
"Who is this woman you're seeing? An actress? A news anchor? As long as it's a legal relationship, there shouldn't be any issues."
The headline read:
[Romantic Whispers Around Taewoo Group's Crown Heir]
There have been multiple sightings of Taewoo Group's heir, Vice President Kim Min-jae, enjoying café dates with a mysterious beauty.
Attached to the article were several photos, making it look as if I was indeed dating someone.
Even my secretary, who knew everything about my life, was misled by how convincingly the article was written.
"A dating scandal? Seriously? We were just brainstorming ideas for work. The meetings ran long, so we grabbed meals and coffee together, that's all."
"According to the article, you meet at cafés after work on weekdays and spend your weekends hopping between restaurants and cafés from morning till night."
"Well, we have to discuss ideas on weekends too."
"…Isn't that basically dating?"
I could see why people might get the wrong idea.
But in reality, we only talked about work—nothing personal.
"I don't mind, but Chu Min-jeong might find this problematic. Please take measures to prevent further exposure."
"Understood. I can't stop the articles completely, but I'll make sure her personal information doesn't leak."
I didn't think much of it.
Some employees whispered among themselves when they saw me that morning, but I ignored it and went about my work as usual.
And just like any other evening, I drove to Taewoo IT to meet Chu Min-jeong for our idea meeting.
As soon as she got into the car, she asked hesitantly,
"Vice President… are you okay?"
"About what?"
That was an odd question.
Was she asking if I was okay with our dating rumors?
"I saw the newspaper today. But… if we keep spending so much time together like this, won't your girlfriend get the wrong idea?"
"…Who do you think would get the wrong idea? Chu Min-jeong, are you misunderstanding something yourself?"
"No, why would I misunderstand anything?"
I sighed lightly before clarifying.
"Well, first of all, I don't have a girlfriend. And secondly, the person in the article? That's you, Chu Min-jeong."
Min-jeong was undeniably brilliant—but intelligence didn't always come with sharp intuition.
Maybe it was because she had grown up in difficult circumstances, constantly having to fend for herself. Her way of thinking often differed from that of ordinary people.
"The beautiful woman mentioned in the article… is me?"
"That's right. But don't worry—I've already taken steps to ensure your identity won't be exposed. I also explained that we were just having work meetings, so there shouldn't be any more articles like this."
"…That's a relief."
Min-jeong smiled brightly—a sight I had never seen from her before.
For a moment, I found myself staring.
"What exactly is a relief?"
"It's nothing."
She quickly waved off my question, then her eyes sparkled as if a new idea had just struck her.
"More importantly! I suddenly came up with a new idea! What if we combine messaging services with financial transactions?"
And just like that, we dove back into brainstorming.