Two days later, on Friday afternoon, seven people from ProEdge arrived at a hotel in Jamsil. They included Kang Taejin, the CEO; Jung Jiheon from Marketing; Jin Kisuk, who headed the Strategy Support Office; Lee Yujeong, head of the Management Team; and no fewer than three lawyers. Jiheon could infer a few things from the fact that Taejin had brought not just one, but three lawyers. First, Taejin seemed quite uneasy about signing a contract with someone as famous as Jaekyung. The second was that Taejin did not fully trust Jaekyung as of yet. And third, Taejin was still determined to make sure the contract got signed today.
The other party seemed to feel the same. In addition to the three who had attended the previous meeting—Jaekyung, his mother, and Choi from Korea Aquatics—there was one unfamiliar face among them. He turned out to be a lawyer sent by Korea Aquatics to review the contract.
The fact that the lawyer had been hired by Korea Aquatics, not by Jaekyung, told Jiheon exactly how Korea Aquatics saw the contract. Clearly, they didn’t like what they saw. There was only one reason Korea Aquatics might be opposing ProEdge—they’d been financially persuaded by Kavva. They had taken a bribe from Kavva in exchange for encouraging Jaekyung to sign with them—and no doubt, they had been promised even more once the contract went through. It was all too common in the industry.
Taejin was probably well aware of it. As soon as he sat down, he quickly produced the contract.
“As you know, this is the version we drafted after a discussion with Mrs. Shim.”
Taejin said, putting a particular emphasis on the word discussion as he slid the document forward.
Jaekyung picked it up with little interest and flipped through the pages. From the speed alone, it was clear he wasn’t reading it thoroughly. He didn’t even bother with the final pages and simply handed it over to his mother.
“Take a look,” he said.
Mrs. Shim, in contrast, combed through the contract much more carefully than her son. Mr. Choi and the lawyer he’d brought with him were also examining the clauses in detail. Meanwhile, Jaekyung stood up from the sofa.
“Hyung, do you have a moment?”
Jiheon looked at him, puzzled. When their eyes met, Jaekyung gave a slight tilt of his head—follow me—then stood up and walked off.
A bad feeling settled in Jiheon’s gut. Why, of all times, was he asking for a private conversation? He wished he could just say, Let’s talk here, but that wasn’t an option. If Jaekyung, of all people, was asking for privacy, then whatever he had to say wasn’t meant for the rest of the room.
“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Jiheon said to Taejin, rising from his seat.
Jaekyung was waiting in the deepest room of the suite. It was the same room he’d come out of after his massage last time. When Jiheon opened the door and stepped inside, he found Jaekyung seated by the window, at a small table.
“What’s the matter?”
Jiheon asked, moving close to the table, which was cluttered with transparent plastic files and a few books. Jaekyung glanced in his direction, but didn’t ask him to sit. He went straight to the point.
“The CEO of Kavva showed up at the pool earlier.”
“Is that right? What for?”
“Not sure. I guess he heard I was leaning toward you. Said I didn’t have to go to the Olympics. He just wanted me to sign with them.”