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nChapter 48

nYang kept expressing his thanks to his friend. Completely drunk, he was not aware that he had already repeated the same words more than one hundred times.

nWas it because of that? Yang’s friends started praising Hyunwoo’s driving skills to change the atmosphere.

n“Did you say your name was Hyunwoo? Your driving is really great!”

n“I agree. I didn’t even know our car was moving.”

nIn response to their praise, Hyunwoo said humbly, “Actually my car runs softly.”

nThen, Yang took part in the changed topic.

n“No, no. This car is a very outdated, and it doesn’t give a comfortable ride. It’s because his driving ability that this car rides comfortably. He is probably the only chauffeur in Korea who can drive so comfortably like this.”

n“I recognize that, too. I feel like calling for him when I treat VIPs.”

n“I mean it. Can you do so when I contact you when I need your service?”

n“Oh, it’s difficult because I work at a company.”

nHyunwoo declined his offer politely.

nIn the meantime, his car arrived at Green Apartments in Bundang, the first destination.

n“Great time. Your name is Hyunwoo, right?”

n“Yes, sir.”

n“Okay, this is my tip. I’ll see you sometimes.”

nIt was 30,000 won.

n“Thanks, president.”

nHe gave the other three a ride to their homes respectively. Each of them gave a 30,000 won as a tip. Finally, his car arrived at Hyundai Apartments in Bugokdong, Yang’s house.

n“Nice job. How much?”

n“As I received the tip, just give me 30,000 won.”

n“No, no. Let me pay separately.”

nHe gave Hyunwoo 50,000 won. Combined, the total amount of the chauffeur service was 140,000 won for the day.

nAs far as he knew, Yang was pretty frugal. Even though he received 200 million won from his friends, he was not the type of person who would tip easily.

nWhen Hyunwoo declined the tip, Yang said,

n“Well, I’m not a free spender, but I just want to give you a tip for some reason, so take it as I don’t give a tip all the time.”

n“…Thanks, sir.”

nOnly then did Yang walk to his house with a light heart.

nHyunwoo drove back to the place where Gyungsu was waiting.

nInside the car, he was asleep, snoring a lot. He didn’t wake up when Hyunwoo opened the door.

nOnly when he closed the door with a bang did Gyungsu wake up.

n“Um. it’s you, Hyunwoo.”

n“Take this.”

nHyunwoo gave him 70,000 won, at which he opened his eyes wide.

n“Oh, how come you gave me this much?”

n“They gave me a lot of tips today.”

n“We’re lucky today.”

nAt that moment, he had a service request call. The destination was a karaoke bar about 1 km away from them. Gyungsu quickly turned on the engine.

n“I hope we can meet a customer generous about tips.”

nSitting next to him, Hyunwoo grinned.

nA little later, he stopped before the karaoke bar, and Hyunwoo went inside.

n“Oh my god! You must be Hyunwoo!”

nIt was Min Suji. Standing next to him was a tall and handsome man.

nBoth of them looked very close to each other.

n“It’s small world here in Ansan since we met here,” said Hyunwoo.

n“How come you are here?”

n“Me? I’m a chauffeur. Did you call me?”

nAt his words, Suji’s eyes opened wider because she didn’t know he was a chauffeur in the evening after working hard during the day.

nKim, looking at them quietly, cut in, “Who is this man?”

n“Oh, he works at the same company with me. Assistant manager Jang Hyunwoo, this is Kim Hyungdae”

nMin hesitated for a moment when she introduced him. She felt it awkward to introduce him as her boyfriend because she had met him only today, but at the same time she felt it discourteous to say he was her acquaintance. She also felt uncomfortable telling Hyunwoo she had a blind date with him.

nAt that moment, Kim introduced himself,

n“How are you? My name is Kim Hyungdae, sales executive at Sangwon Foods. I’m her boyfriend.”

nHe then gave his name card to Hyunwoo, which seemed very luxurious because it was plated with gold.

n“Oh, I see. Nice to see you.”

n“I called for your service. She wanted to go home, so please give her a ride.”

n“Sure. Where is your car?”

n“Outside the bar. Let’s get out, Suji.”

nKim went out the bar, walking ahead of them. But Hyunwoo could feel a kind of arrogant air from his gait. It looked like Kim walked like that on purpose as if to show “I’m such a great guy.”

nKim’s car was a foreign car that cost more than 200 million won.

nHanding his key to Hyunwoo, Kim asked, “Can you drive it?”

n“Yes, I’ll drive carefully.”

nKim liked to boast furtively.

n“As you’re a chauffeur, you know things about foreign cars. Do you know the German maker F company’s model Rockfad?”

n“Rockfad? It’s a very good car. As I understand, there are only a few of them in Korea. I myself have never driven it.”

n“I want to buy it, but I’m agonizing over it at the moment.”

n“Why? Is it too expensive?”

n“Money doesn’t matter. I’ve got three cars now. My father wants me to sell one if I buy another one. I just don’t know which one I have to sell because I love them all. This is the cheapest of the three, so I’m thinking about selling this one”

nHe then gave Min some options to choose.

n“Shall we get a couples ring? Would you like a diamond ring or a gold ring? I prefer a diamond ring rather than a heavy gold ring”

n“It’s too early for us to make a couples ring”

nThey soon arrived at Min’s house. Kim got off with Min.

n“Can you wait a moment? Let me take her to the door of her house.”

n“Of course.”

n“No, let me go alone.”

n“Oh, how can I let a beautiful lady like Suji go alone?”

nKim put his arm gently around her shoulder before walking together, but she pushed his hand gently and said,

n“I told you already. I want to slow down. I wish you wouldn’t put your hand on me without asking first. And I feel uncomfortable if you follow me like this.”

n“Really? I’m sorry.”

nKim was a bit embarrassed. Looking at him inside the car, Hyunwoo chuckled.

nLooks like they just met. Did they meet today?

nMin disappeared at a rapid pace, and Kim hesitantly walked up to get inside the car.

nHyunwoo quickly managed his expression and started the car.

nKim was silent inside the car, and Hyunwoo had nothing to say. He just focused on driving to Kim’s destination in the port of Pyongtaek.

n“Here is the car key, and the fare is 50,000 won.”

nKim took out the money and then said, “Thank you.”

nThe following morning, Hyunwoo started his day as usual.

nA bucket full of soybean juice in his car, he reported to work early in the morning.

nHalf of the team members drank soybean juice for breakfast, and among them were Park Youngsu and Suji.

nThat morning was a bit different from other typical mornings, though.

nAfter emptying a soybean cup, Min suddenly took out a 50,000 won note and gave it to Hyunwoo.

nWith eyes open wide, Hyunwoo looked at it and asked,

n“What is this?”

n“Well, my payment for it. I enjoyed your soybean juice for one month, and that’s my monthly payment.”

nNot only Hyunwoo, but the other members were also surprised. If Min was paying for her soybean juice, they would have to as well.

nHyunwoo laughed heartily as if to break the ice,

n“Ha ha. Nice joke. Do you think I’m giving you this juice to make money? Just take it back as I don’t need it.”

n“I don’t want to have it for free. I would just feel comfortable if I paid for it, so please take the money.”

nHyunwoo wondered why Suji acted like this so abruptly. Suddenly, last night’s episode came to mind. She came to know he was a chauffeur until it was early in the morning. In fact, Hyunwoo didn’t do it as often as before. These days, he was a chauffeur three times at most a week. But Suji might think he was doing it every day to overcome his economic hardship. In other words, she might think he was wretchedly poor.

nOf course, it was true he struggled to make a single cent in the early days of his chauffeur service, but he was not that desperate these days. As he could afford it financially, he didn’t necessarily work as a chauffeur often.

n“Please take the money. Otherwise, I won’t have soybean juice tomorrow.”

nHyunwoo scratched his head and then took the money.

nAs expected, other team members reluctantly approached Hyunwoo and gave him money.

nSome of them said that they would wire the money in his account, saying they had no cash.

nPark then said,

n“Okay. We should not have this for free. Give me your account so that we can wire the money automatically.”

n“No, sir. I don’t intend on selling soybean juice for money”

n“I know, but you have to think about your mother”

nHyunwoo had no choice but to follow Park’s instruction and reveal his account number.

nIn the meantime, Min didn’t stop there. While Hyunwoo was away from the office for a moment, she went to Park with an abrupt proposal.

n“Manager, I would like to help Hyunwoo.”

n“Help him? Something happened to him?”

n“In fact”

nExcept for his blind date with Kim, Min told Park about Hyunwoo’s working as a chauffeur after office hours. Park’s face increasingly became serious as he listened to her explanation.

n“Is Mr Jang in such financial difficulty?”

n“I think so.”

n“Hummmm.. I’m not a good manager because I was not aware of his situation. So, how can I help him? Any good ideas?”

nMin explained to him her idea. Park said it was good and then went out of the office.

nPark headed to the president’s office.

nWith a smile, the president greeted him. These days, he was just happy about seeing him.

n“What’s up?”

n“Uncle, please do me a favor.”

nThe smile on the president’s face disappeared momentarily, but he smiled again.

nIt’ll be alright. He won’t ask me a strange favor. He is not the man of the past any more. Let me trust him. I have to trust him.

n“What is it?”

n“What about offering breakfast to all the employees as part of our company’s welfare benefits?”

n