AAE -- For Better For Worse

Chapter 12

by LoveCR2

edited by All-About-AAE

 

 

After work, Hyung-Chul met up with Kim Sun-Dal at a nearby watering hole, where the jilted suitor had come to immerse his sorrows in a fifth of Jim Beam.

 

"I always knew it was too good to be true," Sun-Dal laments as he swigs down the dregs and shoves the empty glass across the bar as a signal for the bartender to supply another.

 

Hyung-Chul motions for the same, as he encouragingly pats Sun-Dal on the back. "Hang in there, my friend, and be patient. This isn't over yet"

 

"Really? You'll stand up to your father? Give up your mother's legacy?" Sun-Dal is doubtful. "Can you fight against Fate?"

 

"My fate -- if there is such a thing -- is with Sun-Mi," Hyung-Chul states firmly. "I've told you how we met, and I don't believe in coincidences. Once our fathers see that, I'm sure they'll relent, and let Joo-Hee come back to you."

 

"That'll never happen," Sun-Dal disagrees. "Regardless of how hard we try, we can't cheat Fate. I'm just getting what I deserve, for trying to fix things so I could get between you and Joo-Hee."

 

Hyung-Chul is curious. "What do you mean, 'fix' things?"

 

"I wanted Joo-Hee to quit waiting for you, and give me a chance," Sun-Dal confesses. "So that's why I did it."

 

The drinks arrive, and Hyung-Chul wets his throat first, before he prompts, "Did what?"

 

"Helped set you up ... with Jin Sun-Mi."

 

 

Hyung-Chul coughs, spitting out a mouthful. "You what?" he exclaimed, staring at Sun-Dal incredulously.

 

"I knew Sun-Mi's aunt in London was itching to find a good match for her niece, so we conspired together. I figured if you had a girlfriend, Joo-Hee might give up waiting for you, and I'd catch her on the rebound. So Sun-Mi's aunt persuaded her father to send Sun-Mi to Cambridge for a summer English course. The plan was for you to meet Sun-Mi at the restaurant, and encourage things from there. On this side, I promised to make sure Sun-Mi passed the training program and got into MBS, so that you'd connect here too, when you came back.

 

He stops for a sip, then apologizes, "I'm sorry that you had to find out this way."

 

 

After a few moments to consider what Sun-Dal had revealed, Hyung-Chul asks, "Was Sun-Mi in on the plan, too?"

 

"No. If she'd had the slightest hint we were matchmaking her, she'd have had nothing to do with it."

 

Hyung-Chul's eyes narrow. "And how did you 'make sure' Sun-Mi got hired?"

 

"I fixed her entrance test score for the training class so she was accepted, and then passed her on every assignment she failed, including scheduling her report for the Morning Show on a day she was guaranteed to get the highest ratings. As the Training Coordinator, it was easy, and nobody was the wiser," Sun-Dal relates his underhanded methods.

 

Hyung-Chul challenges him, "Are you saying, that without you 'fixing' things for Sun-Mi, she'd have failed the training? That she is unqualified to be an announcer?"

 

"Not at all! Sun-Mi is a smart girl," Sun-Dal replies, thinking back. "Normally, she did fine on the daily assignments. But on some important tests, she'd clutch. When I asked, she'd have excuses like her paper had gone missing, or her floppy disk got erased. For one exam, she even claimed that her speaking notes had been deliberately destroyed."

 

He shakes his head with disbelief. "After a while, I stopped listening to her tales, figuring she was careless or had test anxiety. Nobody could have that much bad luck! So I nudged her scores just enough that she passed the training class."

 

"Did anyone suspect? Joo-Hee?"

 

"What do you think? Joo-Hee's such a stickler for the rules, I couldn't let her in on it," Sun-Dal answers. "But I think some had suspicions. At times the other students grumbled that Sun-Mi seemed to have extraordinary good luck. But since she was last in the batch, no one was harmed by keeping her in the program. Actually, as Huh Young-Mi set the bar so high, it made everyone else look better by comparison! But I do feel a bit sorry for Sun-Mi. Being last, there is always the nagging doubt if what she accomplishes is by her own ability."

 

"Then Sun-Mi didn't know anything?" Hyung-Chul wants to confirm her innocence.

 

"She did nothing wrong," Sun-Dal avows.

 

"You're confessing to falsifying information for the purpose of nepotism," Hyung-Chul reprimands him testily. "That could get you fired."

 

"Maybe that's a good thing," Sun-Dal shrugs. "Right now, I'd rather not be in a place I have to see Joo-Hee every day." He takes a sip from his new drink, and continues thoughtfully, "Still, it wasn't just for my sake. Didn't you get Sun-Mi in the deal?"

 

Hyung-Chul recalls again how meeting Sun-Mi in England had brightened his unhappy life. After those few weeks together, when she returned to Korea, England had seemed all the more dreary. He hadn't wasted a day in completing his studies so he could rejoin her in Seoul.

 

"Yes," Hyung-Chul admits. "Every guy should have a friend like you looking out for him!"

 

"So you'll cut me some slack?"

 

"I'd like to keep it our secret, so Sun-Mi isn't tainted," Hyung-Chul justifies his decision to grant amnesty. "Besides, I have just one lifetime drinking partner, and I'm not about to let you off the hook so easily. I need someone with your conniving skills to help keep GM Kim at bay."

 

"Thanks. So do you have a plan for dealing with your situation regarding Joo-Hee?"

 

"Yes, but I can't say anymore right now," Hyung-Chul replies cryptically.