AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 53

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"Real life has no guarantees virtue will triumph... I'd be damn certain the woman I loved knew how I felt... to convince her it was true love." -- Kim Sun-Dal

 

 

MBS HQ, YEOUIDO, SEOUL ...

 

"I don't want to hear it!"

 

Hyung-Chul's response is adamant, but Sun-Dal persists. "It's not like you're spying to listen to this."

 

"Then what would you call it?"

 

"Being aware, from a distance?" Sun-Dal ventures an acceptable phrasing. "What can it hurt to know what's going on?"

 

"Because it's obvious Sun-Mi doesn't want me to know, or she'd tell me herself," Hyung-Chul retorts.

 

"Not about this..."

 

"I said, I don't want to hear about it," Hyung-Chul repeats.

 

"It's not an ‘it' but a ‘he'..." Sun-Dal hints.

 

"Okay, you'll find a way to tell me eventually," Hyung-Chul gives in with a sigh, "so out with it."

 

"He's Min-Cho ‘Michael' Atwater -- Bureau Chief Kim's nephew," Sun-Dal reads from the papers in his hand. "Currently a researcher in Cambridge's Theoretical and Applied Linguistics department, he has an IQ of 140, and read undergraduate degrees in computer artificial intelligence and neuroscience from Edinburgh University. Besides graduating First Class, he's crewed and played rugby for both Edinburgh and King's College. On the side, he dabbles with vintage sports cars, holds an amateur's pilot license, keeps a racing boat at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, and owns multiple properties around the globe, including a villa in Santorini..."

 

"Hold on," Hyung-Chul interrupts. "How does anyone maintain a lifestyle like that on a university salary?"

 

"He doesn't have to," Sun-Dal replies. "His deceased father held investments in South African diamond and gold mines..." He puts the pages down. "Basically, Min-Cho Atwater is a richer, younger, smarter, more athletic... and more handsome... version of you," Sun-Dal sums up the dossier, tossing the last item out in jest.

 

Hyung-Chul doesn't laugh. "And I should care about this Mr. Atwater because..."

 

"Since Sun-Mi arrived in London, he's arranged to see her almost every day after she gets off work," Sun-Dal informs his boss. "At first, it was at the office door, but now they rendezvous more discreetly at a nearby bus stop."

 

... then and there ... Hyung-Chul recalls Sun-Mi's code words for their pre-established rendezvous place and time away from the MBS headquarters.

 

Hearing this piques Hyung-Chul's curiosity. "So... what are they doing during all this time together?"

 

"So... NOW you want to know more?" Sun-Dal chides.

 

"Okay, I'm curious," Hyung-Chul admits.

 

"Supposedly he's instructing Sun-Mi for an intensive 3-month English course..."

 

"That's all?"

 

"Officially, that's the purpose... but I have suspicions something else is up, too," Sun-Dal airs his misgivings. "Besides the English lessons, Atwater is wining and dining Sun-Mi at the finest restaurants, playing tennis several times a week, escorting her about London on weekend theatre, shopping, and sightseeing jaunts, and..."

 

"Wait a minute," Hyung-Chul stops him. "How do you know all this? Are you paying some private investigator?"

 

"There's no need... Sun-Mi's sudden departure attracted special attention from certain paparazzi covering you, who put the word out to their stringers in London. I just tap my media contacts for updates," Sun-Dal explains.

 

"And what is the point of telling me all this?" Hyung-Chul asks the obvious. "There's nothing I can do about it, but accept the possibility that Sun-Mi is seeing someone else. I may not like it, but a person can't force love where none exists."

 

"Are you saying you're giving up on Sun-Mi?"

 

"No. But until she marries someone else, I'm willing to wait and see what can happen. I'm not giving up hope, just yet. But I'm also not going to interfere with her life, and whom she chooses to associate with."

 

"I get your point," Sun-Dal replies. "And if it were just about you, I'd agree. But we have to consider the possibility that Mr. Atwater isn't all that he seems to be at first glance."

 

The assertion puzzles Hyung-Chul. "Why is that?"

 

"Think about it: Sun-Mi is barely off the plane, and immediately, from all appearances he's aggressively courting her. Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Sun-Dal makes his case. "With his connection to Chief Kim, it's plausible he might know of Sun-Mi's imminent arrival. But why would a man of Atwater's means be interested in Sun-Mi in the first place, when he probably has a line of women behind him that's a block long?"

 

"You're asking the wrong person that question," Hyung-Chul laughs.

 

"Maybe it's time you took off those rose-colored glasses regarding Sun-Mi," Sun-Dal suggests seriously, "and look at this objectively."

 

"What do you mean?" Hyung-Chul asks warily, not liking Sun-Dal's tone of voice.

 

"It appears that I'm not the only one at MBS keeping tabs on Sun-Mi since she left Seoul," Sun-Dal reveals. "Director Kim is also requesting regular updates."

 

"And you know this because?"

 

"I have unimpeachable sources," Sun-Dal declines to name them.

 

"Sun-Mi worked for Kim before, and does now, too," Hyung-Chul reminds his subordinate. "It's natural that he take an interest in her long-term career, as an asset of the Company."

 

"It's not Director Kim, but his sister -- your stepmother -- that is behind every move that Kim makes," Sun-Dal argues for his point. "Kim Eun-Hee will do anything to freeze you out, and see that her son succeeds his father. Chief Kim, who runs the London Bureau, is their distant cousin, and years ago, Eun-Hee did a big favor for his sister. Maybe she's calling in her chits."

 

"So you think Kim, his sister, Chief Kim, and Atwater are all involved in some kind of indefinite conspiracy to hijack the future of MBS?" Hyung-Chul is incredulous. "You've watched too many TV dramas, my friend."

 

 

"No, I'm just doing what you intended, gathering intel, when you asked your father to hire me in the first place," Sun-Dal confirms his role. "I've done my job; now it's up to you to decide what to do with the knowledge..."

 

"Do you just happen to have any opinion of your own?" Hyung-Chul gives his permission for Sun-Dal to dispense advice.

 

"Yeah... I'm not the only one who's watched too many TV dramas," Sun-Dal returns the accusation. "Real life has no guarantees virtue will triumph in the end... I'd be damn certain the woman I loved knew how I felt about her, and do anything to convince her it was true love..."