Chapter 168 - Chapter 168 (1/2)

Yu Myung-Han spoke frankly about his current situation.

"Actually, I also suffer from the exact same illness as your mother, Hunter-nim."

That completely unexpected reply took Jin-Woo by surprise and he froze up momentarily.

"....Does Jin-Ho know?"

Yu Myung-Han shook his head.

"Aside from my personal physician, only three others know of my condition. Myself, my wife, and my secretary."

"And now, it's four."

"Indeed."

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

Only now did he understand why Chairman Yu didn't bother to go through Yu Jin-Ho and instead contacted him secretly like this. Yu Myung-Han wanted to hide his own illness from the rest of his family.

'But then again – his shoulders are carrying the fate of several tens of thousands of employees, aren't they....'

If the rumour of the days that Chairman Yu could freely move about being numbered got out, then it didn't take a genius to see what might happen to Yujin Construction as well as its subsidiaries in the near future.

The reason for hiding the status of his illness even from his family and keeping a tight leash on the information – Chairman Yu simply carried far too much weight on his shoulders to accept his reality as it was.

Even then...

'He revealed this secret to me.'

It was probably because he had figured out that he needed to take the risk this time.

Yu Myung-Han was a businessman. Not only that, he was someone whose vocabulary didn't include the word 'failure'. He was, simply put, a general undefeated in all of his battles so far.

Such a man would not jump into anything while carrying significant risk if there was nothing to gain from it.

Jin-Woo could pretty much guess what Chairman Yu was about to say.

Sure enough – the older man spoke up with a determined expression.

"I have been scouring the world for a cure, a method, to rid myself of this illness for a while. In the process, I was able to discover that a single patient has gained her freedom from this dastardly illness."

As Jin-Woo expected, the conversation was heading down the path he thought it might.

"I don't think it a coincidence that the sole patient recovering from the illness happens to be your mother, Seong Hunter-nim."

Jin-Woo had left many in sheer shock and astonishment with his never-before-seen mysterious abilities. Could he have somehow cured his mother's illness with his strange but wonderful abilities?

Chairman Yu had used various avenues to investigate Jin-Woo, which meant that him arriving at such a deduction wasn't so far-fetched at all.

'…....'

Jin-Woo didn't deny nor agree with the claim and quietly stared at Chairman Yu. The latter swallowed his saliva.

'I cannot afford to make a mistake here.'

If the talk so far was nothing more than a practice match, an appetizer, then the real game was about to kick off now. This was the most important moment.

Yu Myung-Han let out a deep but short breath and spoke up with some conviction.

"What I'd like to earn from you is the truth, Hunter-nim."

He then pushed the cheque forward a little bit more with his hand.

"And as your compensation, this is just merely a small part of what I'm willing to provide you with, Seong Hunter-nim."

Not everything, but merely a part, he said.

Meaning, he was prepared to hand over something else besides money if that's what Jin-Woo wanted.

"If you help me out on this matter, Hunter-nim, I shall never forget this favour for the rest of my life."

The tiger of the financial world lowered his head and asked for help. If those people who knew Chairman Yu saw this spectacle, they would have cried out in sheer shock just then.

However, perhaps surprisingly, Jin-Woo remained calm even though he was on the receiving end of this plea. His collected gaze quietly studied Chairman Yu.

'Doesn't seem like he's lying to me.'

The older man's raised heart rate, his quickened breathing, and the desperately pleading expression hidden beneath the facade of unflappable calm told Jin-Woo everything he needed to know.

Chairman Yu was being truthful here.

However, just because someone earnestly wished to get his hands on something, that didn't mean he'd be successful every single time. After a short deliberation later, Jin-Woo finally opened his tightly-shut mouth.

"I'm sorry."

That one short sentence caused Yu Myung-Han's eyes to tremble quite powerfully.

"It is unfortunate, but that's not something I can help you with."

"I-in that… case."

As his hopes riding on this talk had been far too great, Chairman Yu couldn't easily accept his defeat here.

"...How did... your mother become cured, Seong Hunter-nim?"

"Chairman."

Jin-Woo's expression became rather serious.

The surrounding air began to grow chilly all of a sudden. That was enough to remind Chairman Yu just what kind of a person he was dealing with right now.

Jin-Woo continued on.

"Hypothetically speaking, if I knew how the illness had been cured and I wished to get rich from that, why would I have kept my mouth shut until now?"

A handful of possible answers fleeted in and out of Chairman Yu's mind. Was it because Jin-Woo was scared of becoming a target of someone influential? But, that couldn't be.

Chairman Yu immediately shook his head.

Jin-Woo was the currently-active rank S Hunter. Not only that, he was an especially powerful one, too. Just who would dare to think of him as a target, then?

Did this mean he wanted something else besides money?

Unknown to himself, Chairman Yu's own head moved from side to side once more. The current Hunter Seong was capable enough to get all the fame and recognition one could desire, if that was what he wanted. But then, he hadn't done that, either.

'….Ah.'

Chairman Yu belatedly realised what his mistake was this time 'round.

One of the basics in negotiation was finding out what the other party wanted in advance. You'd bring in something the other side wanted and in turn, you got what you wanted from them. That was how a negotiation worked.

However, Chairman Yu didn't know what Jin-Woo wanted. Not even one thing. It was only obvious that the negotiation would fail like this.

'So, it must be one of the two possibilities.'

Either Jin-Woo really didn't know what cured his mother, or Yu Myung-Han simply didn't have what he wanted. Whatever the case may have been, it was still a despairing result for Chairman Yu either way.

"....I see."

Chairman Yu no longer clung onto Jin-Woo.

"Well, in that case."

The older man saw that Jin-Woo was getting up to leave, so he also got up in haste and summoned Secretary Kim. The latter guarding the door quickly entered the office.

"Chair..."

The moment he took his first step inside, he immediately read the frozen atmosphere flowing between Jin-Woo and Chairman Yu. This meeting was the final ray of hope for his boss so even Kim's complexion darkened rather quickly.

"Sir, have you called for me?"

Chairman Yu powerlessly nodded his head.

"Hunter-nim wishes to return. Please take him back to his residence."

"No, I'll be fine. Thank you."

Jin-Woo tactfully declined the offer, and after leaving short goodbyes to both Yu Myung-Han and Secretary Kim, he climbed aboard the elevator all alone.

Weeeiing...