The Chairman Who Wants to Play and Eat

Chapter 36. You can think of it as having been beaten in advance.

The start of the semester was approaching.

‘It’s been a while. Has it been three months?’

Lee Beom-seok had come to the Korean University campus early in the morning because there were a few things he needed to take care of before the new semester began.

First, course registration.

The fate of a semester is decided in just one day.

It is undoubtedly the most important and critical task for a college student.

Of course, for the young master Hyun Sang-yoon, whom he had to help with course registration, it was a somewhat different matter.

Why, you ask?

Because no matter what subject he took, he was sure to get an A+ anyway.

The first exam paper of the bar exam that the young master had solved,

The result of grading it on the first day back home, while fighting off fatigue, still lingered in his mind as a shock.

There wasn’t a single wrong mark.

When he came to his senses, there were red circles drawn over every question.

It was a perfect score.

‘Is that even possible?’

Was the bar exam that easy?

Absolutely not.

Even for the first round, it was the same.

No matter how much higher the average score is compared to the second round, for someone, it is the lifelong goal of their studies, and it is a real battlefield where joy and despair hinge on just one point.

Let’s set that aside for now.

‘Sure, I can understand getting a good score in law subjects since I studied them, but what about the elective foreign language subjects like Chinese and Latin? Why are those perfect scores too?’

I had never seen him studying.

I knew he was a genius, but it was still astonishing.

I didn’t even think to ask.

“If there’s a problem, there’s an answer. I wrote the answer in Chinese for the Chinese question, and in Latin for the Latin question, so what’s the problem?”

It was obvious he would say something like that. It was pointless to listen.

As I got lost in various thoughts,

the car passed through the main gate of Korea University and approached the law school’s main building, where course registration was taking place.

I had already reported the schedule to the young master in advance.

That was true.

“You can take an additional 6 credits starting this semester. Your GPA from last semester was high.”

“Really?”

“I recommend that you fill out the application with all the extra credits. There’s a clear difference between being able to choose early graduation and not. It will be tough on your body, but…”

There wasn’t a second of hesitation.

“Go ahead and do that.”

Wasn’t that how it was?

Six credits were nothing to him. Lee Beom-seok shrugged.

“You came early.”

A staff member from the academic affairs office greeted him with a smile.

He was first.

“It’s important to me.”

“Everyone says that. It’s rare for a student to arrive exactly on time; usually, it takes about a minute or two for the line to form.”

“That seems to be the case. Here you go.”

I handed over the punch card with the registered courses.

“Yes, it’s been processed.”

The next destination was the student union building.

It was for the second task.

This was before the start of the vacation.

While handling the remodeling of the law school’s exam preparation room, I received additional instructions from the young master.

Since we were at it, he asked not to spare any expenses and to do other areas as well.

Benefits should be distributed evenly, or so he said.

So that’s what I did.

The first targets were the school broadcasting station and the school newspaper.

I equipped the broadcasting station with all the latest sound equipment, and replaced the old printing press and binding machine at the newspaper with brand new ones.

This was before the break.

It was my first time seeing it with my own eyes, though.

When I stopped by,

“I’ve been struggling with broken equipment for so long, but now it’s worth coming to the club room!”

“Thanks to you, we can distribute the school newspaper in a much prettier format from now on. Thank you. We’ll work even harder.”

Everyone was grateful. It felt good.

And then, the final destination.

It was Erbinjae.

I wasn’t too keen on it. Still, I went anyway.

However,

that feeling completely vanished once I arrived.

I gasped. The entrance had changed completely from before. I wondered if I had come to the wrong place.

I opened the door.

Even at this hour, the place was packed with friends studying with their backs turned.

I quietly headed to the lounge.

“Whoa.”

Another gasp escaped me. It felt like some kind of magic had been cast.

Everything had changed.

The only thing that remained the same was the disheveled appearance of my classmate, Jang Joo-sang, who was sprawled out snoring loudly.

“Joo-sang.”

His name and his actions were both a mess.

“Ah, um. Who’s that?”

“Your classmate. Lee Beom-seok.”

“Beom-seok? Why is he here? He’s living well in America, what are you talking about?”

He was mumbling in his sleep.

“Living well, my foot. Did you wish he’d never come back? Anyway, I came to check if the renovations were done, and I’ve seen it, so I’m leaving now. Oh, and congratulations on passing the first round. So get up and study instead of sleeping, you brat. Don’t whine about failing the second round again.”

Lee Beom-seok teased his friend by kicking his butt.

Majin-sang slowly lifted his body.

“Wait a second.”

I called him to a halt.

“Why again?”

“Just hold on. I actually had something to ask you when you came.”

“What is it? Is it urgent?”

“Not really.”

Majin-sang lowered his voice.

“Last time, you said you got the first exam questions, right? Why did you get them? Was it for your young master to solve? Am I right?”

It was a question I couldn’t answer, nor should I. I kept my mouth shut.

“Correct.”

He was sharp.

“How many points did you get?”

“······.”

“You’re not answering. Could it be a perfect score?”

“······.”

“······I was joking.”

“······.”

“I said it was a joke!”

“······.”

*

The day of the semester start had arrived.

‘After a good sleep, I feel refreshed.’

Mornings at my family home are always nice. It feels invigorating.

I even set my wake-up time thirty minutes earlier.

At four in the morning,

Now that I was back in Korea, I planned to return to my old morning routine that I hadn’t been able to keep up for a while.

I had rested a lot during the break.

It’s not that I didn’t exercise at all in America, though.

The environment was just a bit different.

The United States is a good country, but still, my home is the best for me. Where else could I find an environment that fits me as perfectly as my own lane?

It starts with freestyle.

I loosen up with 3,000 meters.

As I slowly adapt to the water, I recover the functions I had lost, and with the new semester beginning, I plan to head towards my goals with a fresh mindset.

I always say, consistency is life.

Exercise is one of those means.

I must not miss a single one until I get kicked out of the company in my grandfather’s eyes and become the owner of a building in Gangnam.

‘This gig won’t last much longer, though.’

It was encouraging.

My grandfather definitely said it.

He made it clear that he would finish the story he couldn’t tell later.

Even without saying it, we both know that it refers to the movie, Future Killer, in which he invested two million dollars.

So, I need to stick to my routine even more.

To avoid any negativity.

Splash,

I jumped into the pool.

At the same time, the timer I had set began to count down.

[00:35:00]

[00:34:59]

⋮

Starting from 35 minutes,

I aim to cut it down to 30 minutes by the end of the year. That’s my goal for this year.

At five o’clock, I finished my workout precisely.

I went up to my study.

“Sir, did you sleep well?”

Assistant Lee Beom-seok was waiting for me at the door. His expression was slightly tense. Perhaps it was the early hour.

“You’re here early.”

“I have something to discuss with you, sir.”

“I’m curious about what you have to say so early in the morning. Let’s go inside and talk.”

I sat down and turned on the news I always watch. I spread out a few morning papers.

It’s the usual routine.

Having prepared everything, I decided to listen to what this assistant had to say.

He opened his mouth.

“First of all, I should apologize.”

Suddenly?

“Apologize? For what?”

“You solved the first exam questions on the plane while returning home, didn’t you? At that time…”

“That’s in the past. You can forget about it.”

It was unexpected.

I didn’t think he would bring this up.

On the first day back home,

I was just about to mention my film to my grandfather after waiting and waiting for him to scold me. Of all times, Director Joo Yong-hoon had to intervene.

It was because this assistant had let slip my story to him.

Thanks to that, my plan almost fell through.

But something feels off.

This assistant still doesn’t know my real plan. I’ve never told him.

Since he did it without knowing, there’s no need to apologize.

Wait a minute?

Could it be that he knows?

“That’s not what I meant…”

As I shot him a suspicious glance, the assistant hesitated before speaking.

“Actually, on the day you returned, I regret to say that I took the exam paper you solved and graded it.”

Thank goodness. That’s a different story.

Relieved, I asked,

“Was it a perfect score?”

He nodded silently.

“But why? Did you come all the way here this early just to tell me that?”

“No, that’s not it.”

From noble mtl dot com

He hesitated, then seemed to make up his mind and continued.

“You know Mar Jin-sang, right? I actually met him the other day. He asked me how I got hold of the first exam paper. He wanted to know where I wrote it. As we talked, he figured out that you got a perfect score on everything you solved.”

“Hmm, so that happened.”

“You were inconvenienced because of me last time, and I thought if it got out as a rumor, it would cause you more trouble, so I wanted to let you know. I’m sorry. I should have handled it better, but I didn’t.”

He bowed his head deeply. He really looked sorry.

I said.

“It doesn’t matter much.”

“Pardon?”

“There’s no reason to spread rumors, but there’s also no need to hide it with lies. If it happened, it happened; you don’t need to apologize to me.”

I wasn’t trying to comfort him; I genuinely believed that.

Of course, rumors can be a hassle.

That’s true.

If word got out that I scored a perfect on the first round of the bar exam, it would be obvious that the president, the dean, and the professors would make my life miserable again.

But so what?

Even if that hadn’t happened, they would have bothered me just the same.

Debating which scenario is better is pointless.

The assistant looked moved by my words. It seemed he had gone through quite a bit of mental anguish over that incident.

“Thank you, young master. Thank you.”

“If you’re grateful, then do better. Understood?”

I patted him on the back.

*

The rumor spread.

Word travels fast, indeed.

“Did you hear about Hyun Sang-yoon? They say he got a perfect score on the first round of the bar exam. And he did it on a plane.”

As the days went by, the story grew.

So it went like this.

“Hyun Sang-yoon, you know, the third generation of the Seonghyeon family studying law. They say he passed the bar exam this time?”

“I heard he was in the U.S. the whole break. But how did that happen?”

“Well, he’s from a wealthy family, right? He could have flown in, taken the exam, and gone back.”

Once a rumor goes wrong, it spreads like wildfire without correction. In the end, I ended up passing an exam I hadn’t even taken.

“Good grief.”

I clicked my tongue.

But soon I changed my mind.

‘Since it’s an exam I’ll have to take anyway, it wouldn’t be so bad if rumors start circulating in advance.’

I don’t plan to take it right away.

But someday, I will. If it’s an exam I might fail, I won’t take it, but if it’s one I can pass, there’s no reason not to.

So I can think of it as having been punished in advance.

More than that,

‘What kind of class did I sign up for?’

When I received the report on course registration, I had said this to my representative.

‘It’s not bad to build a foundation with a first-year course, but if we only focus on the basics for an entire semester, it might get a bit boring.’

I heard they mixed in some advanced topics for an additional 6 credits.

And this is the result.

“Alright, everyone, let’s take our seats. Since it’s the first class, let’s call the roll.”

Inside the lecture hall,

Professor Shim Ho-chan, who was in charge of the advanced civil procedure law class, raised his voice. The senior students in their fourth year sat down in unison.

“Gang Do-sik.”

“Yes!”

From the very first class, the professor’s nagging began.

“You, your score on the first test was too low.”

“No, it wasn’t!”

“It’s not too late, so make sure to stay focused for the second test.”

“Understood!”

Attendance was like that.

It was a bit different from the first-year classes. After all, everyone knew each other too well.

Then it was finally my turn.

“Hyun Sang-yoon.”

My name was called.

At the same time, people began to whisper.

‘Is that Hyun Sang-yoon? But didn’t they say he was a first-year?’

‘Why is a first-year in a fourth-year class?’

It was a familiar situation. I calmly raised my hand to respond.

“Sure.”

The professor looked at me.

‘Those eyes again.’

They are sticky eyes.

The same gaze I saw often last semester. The greedy look that had chased me all the way to the airport was here as well.

I can hardly get used to that.

“I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“I heard the rumor that you scored full marks on the first exam, so I reviewed your answers from the last test. Truly impressive. It was astonishing.”

“······.”

“So, what are your plans for the upcoming second exam?”

Huh?

What is he asking me right now? Is he suggesting I take the exam?

His explanation continued.

“As you know.”

I don’t know.

“This class isn’t just about memorizing statutes. It’s an advanced course that comprehensively examines legislation, case law, and applies them to real-life scenarios.”

Now I understand.

However, regardless of my thoughts, Professor Shim continued speaking.

“So, I was thinking, when the questions for the second bar exam come out, how about trying to solve them like you did for the first? The truth is, I’d like to see your answers. What do you think? It would be good practice, especially for civil procedure law.”

······Ah, that’s what you wanted to say.

‘Damn.’

Even if there hadn’t been any rumors, it would have been just as annoying; I think I’ll have to cancel that.

“We want to see them too!”

“Me too! Me too!”

It’s uncomfortable.

This is even more uncomfortable.

Dozens of eyes looking at me were literally burning with intensity. If I refused, they seemed ready to flex their skills.

“Understood. Let’s do that.”

Cheers erupted.

I thought for a moment that South Korea had won the World Cup.

Meanwhile,

“Thank you for letting me know.”

At the Seonghyeon Global Semiconductor Research Institute,

Director Jo Young-dae had just received a call from a colleague from Bell Labs who was now a professor at Stanford.

It was the news he had been waiting for.

His words were as follows.

‘A friend named Mr. Hyun took this summer session. I looked over the essay he wrote, and just as you said, it’s amazing.’

It wasn’t just empty praise.

It came with the specific news that he had received A+ grades in two senior major courses.

‘He remembered my words and kept his promise.’

It was as expected.

No, it was beyond his expectations.

‘This is definitely a signal that, while it’s difficult right now with so much to do, he will walk the path of majoring in semiconductor engineering as I had encouraged him to do.’

Finally, certainty washed over him.

He had been completely oblivious to his true feelings all this time. Guilt crept in.

“I’m sorry, young master.”

There was only one way to repay him.

To hasten the success of mass production of the nation’s first 64K DRAM, surpassing the two rivals, Jeongsang and Geosan.

After that, the chairman would no longer be able to obstruct the young master’s engineering major,

He clenched his fist tightly.

He vowed once more.

“I will do it. I will definitely win.”

A firm resolve blazed brightly in his two eyes.

It was then.

– By the way, have you heard?

The voice continued from the receiver, which he thought had been disconnected.

“What are you talking about?”

– You know the CEO of Apple Computer, Steven Jackson?

“Who wouldn’t know that person? Yes, I know. But why is he relevant?”

The conversation continued.

– I heard that person might be going to Korea soon? They say they need a custom chip for the new personal computer lineup? Apparently, they’re looking for a reliable partner. But it’s just a rumor, so don’t take it too seriously. I’m just sharing what I’ve heard.