Chapter 1

“So, what do you think this is?”

“Hey. If you guess this one too, I’ll give you ten thousand won.”

“Isn’t ten thousand a little cheap?”

“Okay. Fifty thousand won!”

I closed my eyes for a moment and focused on the bag.

Soon, a sharp, fresh scent, almost like the smell of grass, stung my nose.

“You brought cucumbers, didn’t you?”

“!?”

“What? Judging by this guy’s expression, it looks like he got it right. Are they really cucumbers?”

“All I could smell was the scent of a single old man. Are you sure? Hurry up and open it.”

The older man who had proposed the bet to me opened the bag with a stunned expression.

Inside was a plastic container wrapped in a thick plastic bag.

When he opened the lid, the sharp scent of fresh cucumbers filled the air.

“Wow. He really got it?”

“No way. How did you guess that?”

“Even if cucumbers have a strong smell, there’s no way you could smell them through all that packaging inside a bag, right?”

I gave an awkward smile.

“I guessed it because it was a cucumber. If it had been something else, I wouldn’t have been able to tell.”

“Ha. This kid really has a dog’s nose. How the hell did he know? Here. Fifty thousand won.”

“I was just joking. You don’t have to give it to me.”

“Hey now. A man has to honor a bet once he makes it. Take it. When an older person gives you something, you say thank you and accept it.”

“Hehe. Then I’ll gratefully accept it.”

I happily took the fifty thousand won.

For an unemployed guy like me, that was quite a lot of money.

“Hyungs, you’ll have to head back down the mountain soon, so don’t drink too much, and make sure you take all your trash with you.”

“Right. Everyone gets exactly one cup of makgeolli and then we’re heading down. If anyone gets drunk, we’re just going to leave him behind, so watch yourselves!”

Everyone answered loudly at the words of both the club president and me.

“Yes, sir!”

As he said that, the president casually draped an arm around my shoulder.

“Suho. How did you do that just now? You already knew what was inside that bag, didn’t you?”

“I really smelled it.”

“Hey. How could you smell it? Say something that makes sense.”

He wasn’t lying. It was really true.

My nose was several times more sensitive than other people’s, allowing me to detect smells with incredible accuracy.

The problem was that it was so severe that I could barely live a normal life outside unless I wore a mask.

“Come to think of it, I heard your nose was so sensitive that you even received treatment at a hospital.”

“Yes. But it didn’t have any effect. They said there might be something wrong with the part of my brain that processes smells. I don’t know the exact medical diagnosis either.”

“Well, at least you can breathe comfortably when you’re in the mountains.”

That was why I liked the mountains.

Hiking was honestly exhausting, but simply being able to breathe as much as I wanted was enough for me.

I had even seriously considered shaving my head, becoming a monk, and living in the mountains forever.

“You’ve been coming with us for about two years now, right?”

“Yes. Time really flies.”

I hadn’t actually intended to join a hiking club.

I had simply been hiking as usual when I met these people, and before I knew it, I had been recruited—well, not exactly on the street… more like along a mountain trail—and somehow ended up hiking with them for two years.

“There aren’t any young people here at all, and you’ve had to put up with a bunch of eccentric old men. You must have had a hard time.”

“Not at all. Everyone took good care of me because I was the youngest. I actually enjoyed it.”

I wasn’t just saying that to be polite.

Thanks to these men, hiking had become much more enjoyable.

I guess people really do prefer doing things as part of a group rather than doing everything alone.

More importantly, this club consisted entirely of middle-aged and older men.

There were no private gatherings or anything like that. We had all gathered for one purpose only: hiking.

“But, Chairman…”

“Hmm?”

“I… don’t think I’ll be able to come to the club for a while.”

“What? Why? You little punk. Don’t you know you have to give up an arm if you want to leave our organization?”

I gave him a faint smile, and the chairman realized that I wasn’t joking.

“You’re serious? Is it because you’ve had enough of hanging around with us old guys who make nothing but lame jokes every day?”

“Oh, come on. I told you that’s not it.”

“Then why all of a sudden? Did we do something to upset you?”

“No. I’m always grateful because you’ve all been so good to me.”

I let out a short sigh before continuing.

“I think I need to seriously focus on preparing for employment.”

“Ah…”

I was starting to feel the pressure at home, too.

I’d been preparing for a job ever since I returned from the military and even before graduating college, but just as the news kept saying, the job market had literally frozen over.

“I’ve heard about it. Apparently, finding a job these days isn’t easy.”

“Yeah. But I feel like I need to get into a decent company somehow before I get any older. So I’m planning to give up all my hobbies for the time being.”

“Hmm… So that’s what was going on. I didn’t realize. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s something I have to deal with myself.”

“Have you gotten anywhere yet? Is there anything you actually want to do?”

Something I wanted to do?

When I was young, I simply wanted to become rich.

The protagonist of a drama I’d watched back then was a genius investor, and I thought he was incredibly cool.

But now that I’d grown older and seen the realities of the world, I realized just how unrealistic that dream had been.

Something I wanted to do?

The job I wanted to do was whatever job a company willing to hire me told me to do.

“No. I’m still sending out applications. I do have a few places where I’ve been scheduled for interviews, but nothing is certain.”

I was doing my best and preparing as hard as I could.

The problem was that countless young people in exactly the same situation as me were also preparing for jobs.

As a result, the competition was becoming fiercer, and the door to employment was getting narrower and narrower.

“You’re still young, so you should keep working hard.”

“So you’re not going to come to the club for a while? You’re not going to disappear forever, are you?”

“Well… I think I’ll have to see how things go. That’s why I wanted to tell you first today, Chairman, and then tell the other hyungs as well.”

We had built up a lot of camaraderie over the years.

I thought simply disappearing without saying anything would be rude.

“Wait. Don’t tell them yet.”

“Yes?”

“Suho. If I told you that you could start working right away, would you do it?”

I looked at him, completely bewildered.

“If you’re going to work at a company anyway, wouldn’t it be better to work somewhere with someone you know? How about trying the company I work for?”

“Y-Your company, Chairman? Didn’t you retire?”

“Kid. How old do you think I am? Do I look old enough to have retired already? Are you making fun of me?”

As he spoke, the chairman handed me a business card.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve given this to someone.”

Daesung Group

Director Geum Ga-ho

“!?”

It was none other than Daesung Group.

Wasn’t it one of the country’s largest conglomerates, big enough to be considered one of the three major financial groups in Korea?

And if his surname is Geum…

Daesung Group had been founded by the Geum family, and they had continued to run the company ever since.

“Chairman, don’t tell me you’re part of the royal family?!”

“Shh. Nobody here knows.”

I had never noticed at all.

Who would have imagined that this man, who always dressed plainly, casually hiked with us, and drank makgeolli with us, was a member of a chaebol family?

“I told you I used to be pretty successful.”

“Well, that…”

I’d simply assumed it was the kind of boast older people liked to make.

Everyone always talked about how successful they’d been in their younger days.

“Anyway, wait here.”

The chairman made a phone call to someone.

“Yeah, it’s me. What are you so surprised about? Did you see a ghost? Stop making such a fuss and give the HR department a call.”

True to his usual personality, the chairman handled everything on the spot with his usual forceful, bulldozer-like efficiency.

Then he turned to me and issued an ultimatum.

“Suho. Make your choice.”

“My choice?”

“If you want to leave our organization, give up one of your arms. Otherwise, quietly come work for our company.”

“……”

At that moment, the employment door that had been firmly shut suddenly swung wide open.

“What the hell is all this? Director Geum Ga-ho?!”

People called something like this a bolt from the blue.

A sudden order had fallen upon the peaceful HR department of Daesung Securities.

And it was an order that had come directly from the group level.

“Director Geum Ga-ho… Didn’t he retire?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, he suddenly called the headquarters’ HR department and told them to find out whether there was a suitable position available.”

“And that’s how Daesung Securities got involved?”

“Yes. The other affiliates aren’t hiring new employees right now, but our securities firm is recruiting interns this time. I think he’s trying to slip someone in through connections.”

Securities firms recruited interns fairly often.

It was the perfect position for making them do miscellaneous tasks and then getting rid of them.

But this intern was different.

This was an intern who had practically descended from the heavens.

“Why complicate things like this? They could just give him a position at headquarters quietly.”

“It’s the trend these days. When recruiting new employees, quietly slipping in one person through connections prevents people from talking. Unless you’re a senior executive, the lower-level employees won’t know about it. And there’s no unnecessary risk of it getting into the media.”

“But an intern is pretty novel. Isn’t this the first time we’ve had someone parachuted in as an intern?”

“Yes. And the fact that it’s Director Geum Ga-ho…”

Director Geum Ga-ho was quite famous within Daesung Group.

Only a few years ago, he’d even been considered the strongest candidate to become the next chairman.

But after losing his only son in an unfortunate accident, I’d heard that he’d completely fallen apart.

“Ugh. The atmosphere at that funeral was absolutely terrible.”

“Team Leader, you went to the funeral too?”

“How could I not go when an executive’s son died so young? Everyone at manager level and above went.”

I never wanted to recall that bleak and somber atmosphere again.

“Didn’t he leave the company after that?”

“I thought so too. But he’s still part of the royal family, after all. And he was highly capable, too. If only his son hadn’t… Ahem. Anyway, did you receive his résumé?”

“No. Apparently, he only gave them his name, age, and the university he graduated from. He said he’d send the rest of the information separately.”

Was this their way of saying that they didn’t need to know the identity of the young master being parachuted in, let alone ask for any details?

[Kang Suho]

Age: 27

“His surname is different?”

“Well, having a different surname doesn’t mean he can’t be part of the royal family.”

It was possible that he was sending his nephew into the company.

“Did he say which department he wanted him assigned to?”

“He said he’d like him to be somewhere he could gain a lot of experience and broaden his perspective.”

A place where he could gain plenty of experience and broaden his perspective.

If they were looking for such a place within a securities firm, there was really only one option.

“Research.”

“Yes. The Research Operations Team would probably be suitable. There’s relatively less performance pressure there, and he can broaden his financial perspective by researching various sectors.”

If the goal was to accumulate diverse financial knowledge, there was no place better than the Research Operations Team.

The department researched and analyzed every field and produced forecasts about future value.

“Our precious young master can’t exactly be subjected to intense performance pressure, either.”

Of course, there was performance pressure in research as well.

If they failed to produce proper reports, it could cause serious damage to the firm’s reputation, driving away everyone from institutional investors to individual clients.

So naturally, they had to produce good reports and make accurate predictions.

That was how they attracted clients and made money through commissions.

“But trading has several times more performance pressure than that.”

There was no way they could put their precious young master in such a chaotic environment.

“Then should we assign him to the Research Center?”

“Yeah. Tell the center director to take good care of him. That’s as far as our responsibility goes.”

This wasn’t some ordinary connection-based placement.

It was a parachute appointment coming directly from the group itself.

There was nothing to gain from getting unnecessarily involved.

After all, it was widely known that many members of chaebol families were spoiled brats.

“The Research Center is going to be shocked, too.”

“Their performance hasn’t been great lately, either. Maybe this will finally get them to pull themselves together. Heh.”

The department head closed the HR documents with a satisfied smile.

From here on, the Research Center would take care of everything.

Still, they had to keep a close eye on things.

There was no telling what might happen at Daesung Securities with their young master at the center of it all.