In Search of Our Destiny - Chapter 211

Once everyone was gathered inside his office, Ji-Won declared the meeting open.

Glancing around the table, Su-Jin suddenly noticed one person was missing.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Jung Seok as well?” she asked, pointing at the man’s empty chair.

“He’s gone to the accounting department to discuss some documents. He’ll be there for a while, so we should start first.” Ji-Won replied nonchalantly.

Su-Jin was a little startled at first.

Since she had come to work at Kangji Tourism Jung Seok never missed a morning meeting before. Especially one that seemed to be extremely important. And since he was the person who worked most on the financial analysis and reports, all the more reason why he should be there as well.

But after considering Ji-Won’s natural response and explanation, Su-Jin concluded that Jung Seok’s absence had already received the boss’s approval. More importantly, since Director Kang already knew the situation, there wasn’t anything for her to worry about.

Under these conjectures, Su-Jin was gradually able to put the matter aside.

The moment she sat down at the table, Su-Jin suddenly recalled the hype from earlier.

“So, what was the fantastic news all about?” she asked at once.

“Ah, yes! About that, you see…”

Seo-Jun opened his mouth to speak, but he was instantly rendered speechless by Ji-Won’s death glares.

The two men stared at each other for a couple of seconds, seemingly in a power struggle.

In the end, Seo-Jun was the one who averted his eyes first. He swallowed the rest of his words and shrunk his neck in submission.

Once the boss had won the silent argument he could speak at his leisure.

“The deadline for submitting the proposal has been extended.” Ji-Won replied.

“Really?” Su-Jin and Yeon-Ah both shouted excitedly at the same time.

“Yes.” Ji-Won’s tone didn’t fluctuate as he continued. “Apparently, something happened to Team 2. It seems to be something big, because they weren’t able to submit the proposal for this month either. For some reason, after finding out, the upper management decided to extend the deadline until the 7th.”

Hearing that last part, Su-Jin’s eyes widened. She quickly pulled out her phone to look at the date.

“The 7th… That’s next Tuesday.” she said after checking the calendar.

“That means we have another chance to finalize the concept proposal and secure a contract with the inn owners. If we work hard, we should have enough time until Tuesday to do this.”

“About that…” Su-Jin hesitated.

“What is it, Miss Park?”

After hemming and hawing for a while, Su-Jin finally decided to bite the bullet and tell everyone her new concept idea. Worst case scenario, Director Kang dismisses her suggestion. She could definitely live with that.

What she didn’t want to live with, though, was the regret at having hesitated to speak up. After all, she had been in the hospital when they came up with the first concept. That time she couldn’t do much to help her teammates, but now it was different. This time she wanted to work hard in order to produce an even better final proposal.

As such, Su-Jin sucked in a deep breath and began to speak.

“About the project… As a matter of fact, I came up with another idea we might use for this project.”

“Is that so? Is it a new concept?” Ji-Won’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Yes. I thought it might be suitable for our target, namely creating affordable packages for middle-class people.”

Seeing Ji-Won’s inquiring gaze, Su-Jin swallowed hard and continued in a more professional tone.

“What I’ve found out during my tourism related classes in college is that families sometimes enjoy going to festivals together. At the same time, young people only have a vague idea about some of the traditions that are still kept in some remote places. So, why not take this chance to provide all these people with an opportunity to experience fun closer to home? After all, tourism doesn’t always need to happen out of town. For example this…”

Next, Su-Jin pulled out the presentation she made and told them more about the new concept.

By the time Su-Jin’s speech ended everyone could almost envision this new and refreshing idea. Consequently, they were all eager to begin the implementation of this project.

Looking at Ji-Won as if asking for approval, Su-Jin pointed at the papers she had scattered on the table.

“Now, if you decide to go with this plan, all that would be left is for Jung Seok to look over the presentation and check the financial aspects. When he comes back from the Accounting department I will ask him to do a preliminary financial analysis, so we can see exactly where we’d stand money wise.”

To Su-Jin’s surprise, though, instead of saying yes, Ji-Won shook his head and remained silent.

His gesture clearly indicated that he was rejecting something, but Su-Jin couldn’t figure out whether it was her concept proposal or her last sentence that he disapproved of.

After thinking for a short moment, Ji-Won finally gave a curt reply.

“Everything sounds good so far. I think this new idea has a very good chance to work to our advantage if we implement it right. With proper research behind them, our offers might become quite popular.” He took a short break to breathe in slowly. “However, that last part you mentioned won’t be necessary.”

“What do you mean?” Su-Jin asked in apprehension.

“I was waiting for the end of the meeting to let everyone know but, since it’s come to this point, I guess it can’t be helped.” Ji-Won sighed, then simply stated. “After today, Jung Seok will take some time off in order to stay with his mother. He won’t be coming to the office for at least two weeks. Which means that he won’t be able to handle the analysis you mentioned.”

“But rest assured, all is not lost.” Seo-Jun suddenly chimed in.

This person’s cheerful tone contrasted greatly with Ji-Won’s somber demeanor. With the former’s sparkling smile and the latter’s subtle darkened eyes, the two men appeared as opposite as the sun and the moon.

‘It’s truly a wonder how these two can be such good friends..’ Su-Jin mused for the umpteenth time.