God-Given Business Genius - Chapter 152

Choi Min-hyuk stood in front of the restaurant, looking at his phone with his hat pulled low. The group chat showed that the others had already arrived and were having drinks.

After taking a deep breath to calm his strange mix of tension and excitement, he opened the door and went in.

As he turned his head, he immediately saw familiar faces.

"Oh! Choi Min-hyuk!"

The person waving cheerfully was none other than Kim Si-a, who had been the vice class president of Ganghyeon Middle School's Class 3-4.

"Hey~! It's been so long. Come over here!"

It felt nice to be welcomed so warmly. Choi Min-hyuk made his way towards Kim Si-a, trying his best not to appear awkward.

There was one empty seat at a table formed by joining two four-person tables.

'Were there about twenty people meant to gather today?'

Back then, there were about 40 students in a class. Half of them couldn't be contacted or couldn't make it, and the remaining twenty or so had agreed to meet.

As soon as he sat down, Kim Si-a greeted him enthusiastically.

"Come on. Now that you're here, have a drink first~ You remember all of us, right?"

"Yeah, I remember. You and you were the class president and vice president."

Even if he didn't remember others, he at least remembered Ahn Si-heon and Kim Si-a. Choi Min-hyuk exchanged a brief nod with Ahn Si-heon sitting across from him.

"Hey! Don't you remember me?"

The person sitting next to Ahn Si-heon interjected suddenly. His voice was already full of playfulness.

"Bae Yu-kyung. Right?"

"What? You do remember? I thought you'd forgotten me and was about to feel hurt."

"You and I were desk mates. We had a lot of group work back then, always pushing our desks together."

"Wow~! That's incredible. How long ago was that?"

Hahaha. The atmosphere was quite good. Choi Min-hyuk let out a relieved sigh as he watched Bae Yu-kyung and Kim Si-a laugh at his words.

"But what's with the hat?"

"Can't you tell just by looking?"

Ahn Si-heon smirked as he looked at Choi Min-hyuk.

"He's a soldier."

Choi Min-hyuk fidgeted with his hat unnecessarily.

'Why did he have to point that out...'

Feeling strangely intimidated, Choi Min-hyuk held his tongue. He desperately wanted to snap back at Ahn Si-heon, but wasn't he basically the organizer of this gathering?

'Just endure it, endure.'

There was nothing to gain from causing a disturbance.

"Oh? That's right? Are you on leave now?"

"Yeah. Just out for a short while, going back the day after tomorrow."

"I guess. Everyone's busy going to the military these days. Si-heon, when are you going?"

"I'm planning to go after finishing my second year."

You're in for a tough time. Choi Min-hyuk thought as he took a swig of beer.

Just then, the door slid open and another burst of noise erupted.

"Hey~! Look who it is!"

The remaining people who hadn't arrived yet came pouring in. After the commotion of adding a few more tables subsided, it finally felt like a proper class reunion.

"Who's still not here?"

"I think almost everyone's here."

Ahn Si-heon scrolled through the attendance list on his phone. Excluding those who suddenly changed their minds after saying they'd come, and those who said they'd be late from the start...

Ah.

"This person still hasn't arrived."

"Who?"

"Song Woo-yeon."

At those words, the table fell silent for a moment, then quickly became noisy again.

"Oh? That Song Woo-yeon?"

"Is she coming too? Isn't she busy?"

"Yeah. I've been seeing her on TV a lot these days."

The scattered topics of conversation suddenly converged on Song Woo-yeon.

Choi Min-hyuk also pricked up his ears while pretending not to. Why wouldn't he? They used to jokingly call her Ganghyeon Middle School's top output.

"When she first appeared on <Cold Cooking>, I was really shocked!"

"I almost fainted when I saw her clip video floating around on Facebook~"

"When I told people she was my middle school classmate, no one believed me. I had to dig up our graduation photo to show them."

"Yeah. I saw her on <Survival Law of the Jungle> recently too. Who would've thought she'd become so famous?"

It's a strange experience when someone you know becomes a celebrity, so it seemed everyone had looked up various things about Song Woo-yeon.

"So she's the CEO of a company called <The Song> now? That's crazy. CEO at this age?"

"Some of us are still part-timers~ But Song Woo-yeon is already being called 'CEO'."

"How much do you think she earns? I heard she has tons of franchise stores. I often eat snow flower bingsu at <Bingwa> too. I must have bought at least one brick of her company building, right?"

The conversation topics gradually became more provocative.

"Woo-yeon must have eaten and slept with Do-kyung for days while filming <Survival Law of the Jungle>, right? I wonder what he's like in person? I'm so jealous~"

"Isn't their company's sales figures published somewhere? I'm curious."

"Hey. Should I open a <Song Cafe> too? The <Song Cafe> in our neighborhood is doing really well. Don't you think I could hit it big if I opened one near our school?"

That's when someone casually threw out:

"Wasn't she really quiet in middle school?"

As if they had been waiting for this, everyone started talking about the Song Woo-yeon they remembered from middle school.

Choi Min-hyuk thought to himself that they looked just like a school of fish swarming to eat bait.

"She was quiet. Wasn't she always in the library?"

Well, that's true. He remembered that during lunch breaks, she would always be the first to finish her meal and then sit at her desk reading a book.

'I thought she was just a quiet girl.'

Seeing her recent appearances on TV, it seems like maybe she just didn't have close friends at school.

"Back then, our school lunches were really bad, but she got close with the lunch ladies and the food gradually got better. I think that was the first time I saw her smile."

"I don't think she had anyone you could call a best friend in 3rd year. She was almost always alone. Well, it could happen if your close friends from 1st and 2nd year aren't in the same class. Or was she just aloof?"

"I don't think that's it. She was just alone from the start."

"I was in the same class as her in 1st year too, but she practically lived in the Wee Class back then, so I barely saw her face."

Choi Min-hyuk tilted his head.

"Why in 1st year?"

"What? You don't know?"

Kim Si-a made a fuss and patted Choi Min-hyuk's shoulder.

"I transferred in 2nd year, remember? I don't know. Did something happen?"

"Ah~ Right. You were a transfer student. Well, it was pretty well-known in our neighborhood."

Kim Si-a seemed to hesitate for a moment whether to speak or not, then lowered her voice and whispered to Choi Min-hyuk.

"She missed school right after enrolling. Her parents passed away."

"...Huh?"

"From what I heard, there was an accident on the way to the entrance ceremony... It's really unfortunate."

Something like that happened? Choi Min-hyuk felt a bit dazed.

Of course, he had eyes and ears, so he knew that Song Woo-yeon was self-made. But he never dreamed that she had experienced such a loss at such a close time.

"To have that happen on her own entrance ceremony day. It must have been really hard for her. Is that why? In 1st year, she barely attended classes, saying she was getting some kind of mental counseling."

"......"

"You really didn't know? It was quite well-known."

"Yeah. First time hearing this."

"Well, everyone kept it hushed up."

It was a sensitive and emotionally charged middle school period, but there weren't many kids mean enough to deliberately stir up trouble for a friend who was quietly keeping to herself.

While there was often whispering among themselves behind her back, it seems there was rarely any open commentary about Song Woo-yeon.

'Even I had no idea.'

But even without speaking, everyone was aware that Song Woo-yeon was on everyone's mind, knowingly or unknowingly.

Back then, he just thought it was strange that a pretty girl who was good at studying always walked alone. Now that he thinks about it, it seems it was more of an observational gaze.

The kind of look that says, "Is that the girl?"

Maybe Song Woo-yeon had to hide herself even more because of those gazes, Choi Min-hyuk thought to himself.

It was right at that moment.

Ding-a-ling~

As the shop door opened, the bell chimed cheerfully.

At that instant, everyone stopped talking and looked towards the door. It seemed like everyone sensed it intuitively.

Song Woo-yeon was seen entering, brushing her black straight hair behind her ear.

After looking around, she spotted their group and greeted them with a bright smile.

"Sorry. Work finished a bit late. Am I too late?"

That appearance,

So bright that it didn't remind him at all of the gloomy shadow that had hung over her face throughout their 3rd year of middle school.

Choi Min-hyuk inadvertently let out a short "Ah" in admiration.

Even though they had just been talking about Song Woo-yeon. Meeting Song Woo-yeon again after several years, she seemed like a completely new person we didn't know at all.

While everyone was hesitating, unsure how to act familiar, it was then.

"No, thanks for coming even though you must be busy. Want to sit over here?"

Ahn Si-heon, who had been the class president, took the initiative to make room for her.

"The remaining seats are a bit awkward. Want to pull up a chair and sit here?"

"Sure. Why not."

While everyone was staring blankly, Song Woo-yeon joined the table where Choi Min-hyuk was sitting.

'Wow. It's like watching TV.'

Maybe it's because she was a classmate we weren't particularly close with. That thought came first.

"I'm not sure if you'll remember. I'm Ahn Si-heon."

"I was the vice class president. Do you remember, Woo-yeon?"

"Have you been well? You look good~"

Song Woo-yeon also seemed a bit flustered by the outpouring of friendliness. But amidst mostly ordinary college students, Song Woo-yeon, who had already established her own successful business, was nothing short of the center of everyone's attention.

"Wow. Do you get camera massages or something? Your skin is amazing."

"Yeah. Do you go to a dermatologist?"

As Kim Si-a and Bae Yu-kyung brought up the topic first, a cheerful atmosphere continued. Choi Min-hyuk just fiddled with his hat and sipped his beer.

'The atmosphere is better than I expected. Well, we're not middle schoolers anymore.'

Everyone had matured enough to know that it was more beneficial to try to get on Song Woo-yeon's good side rather than antagonize her.

'I'm not sure if this is good or not.'

It's just a bit different from middle school. But in the end, aren't they still looking at Song Woo-yeon through colored glasses?

Just as he was thinking this.

There was someone who shattered the half-forced harmonious atmosphere in an instant.

"Woo-yeon. It seems you're making good money these days. Are you treating us to this gathering?"

At Ahn Si-heon's casually thrown words, the air suddenly turned chilly.