12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

“Then while I’m away, I’d like you to take good care of the company.”

“Yes, boss. Don’t worry.”

I patted my vice president on the shoulder and said, “Yes. I’m not worried. You have been doing well.”

“Thank you for your words. Have a good trip then.”

“Yes.”

As I nodded, he said goodbye to Ah-young behind me, too. “Ms. Ah-young, have a good time.”

“Yes, Vice President Jang.”

After saying goodbye, Jang got back on the elevator and pressed the button. Soon the elevator went back up, upstairs where the company was.

I turned around and said, “Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Ah-young took her carrier in one hand and held my hand in the other. I walked through the parking lot with one hand holding her hand and the other hauling a carrier. In our building’s underground parking lot, there was my own private parking lot separate from the company’s. There were six cars in all in my private parking lot: a Porsche Panamera, a Bentley Bentay, a Lamborghini Aventador, a Ferrari 812 SuperFast, a Bugatti Divo, and a Rolls Royce Ghost.

I was not interested in collecting cars, but I bought the six of them whenever there was a big deal. Every car had become a milestone in time, honoring some accomplishments. I had bought the Porsche when I had started my business, the Bentley when I had taken over OH Entertainment, and the latest Rolls-Royce when I sold Kai Games to Tencent.

Ah-young asked me, “What are you driving?”

“Today… this.” I took the key out of my pocket and pressed the button. The Bugatti Divo lit up. It was one of forty limited cars in the world, and cost about seven million dollars. At the time of production, they were completely sold out to the owners of Bugatti Siron, but one of them came to me when a rich American died. I got into the Bugatti and started the car.

The AI asked me, “Nice to meet you, driver Han Sang-hoon. Please tell me where you’re going.”

“Incheon International Airport.”

“Incheon International Airport confirmed. The estimated travel time is fifty-eight minutes.”

‘Fifty-eight minutes will be enough time to look around the duty-free shop.’ I stepped on the accelerator.

Br-br-br-. Bugatti Divo roared down Gangnam Boulevard.

In July 2020, I made a two-billion-dollar big deal with Tencent and went on a trip to Europe with Ah-young. It had been almost a year since I had gone to Hawaii with her. In the meantime, my assets had increased by several billion dollars, but no matter how much money I had, I had been too busy to move. But this July was a good chance.

First of all, the company’s workload had been reduced a lot by selling Kai Games, and because of the introduction of algorithm sales for the stock trade, it was able to trade stocks in just one or two hours overseas. After screening with the future news, there was nothing important going on. In recent weeks, I’d been putting my name and Vice President Jang’s name in the People Search and found nothing there.

So I boldly planned a month-long trip to Europe. It was a thirty-day trip going from Italy to Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal. It was the same trip I sent my family on last summer. At that time, I couldn’t go out because of this or that, but I ended up going a year later.

Ah-young, who was sitting next to me, was quite excited. “What a trip to Europe with oppa! I’ve always wanted to go, and my dream came true!”

Even though she was studying as an announcer, she immediately accepted my proposal to go abroad. I didn’t know if it was an expression of confidence that she could become an announcer even if she coasted along, or if she didn’t want to be an announcer. Anyway, I liked it, as I didn’t really want her being an announcer in the first place.

“That’s right. It’s good to be out of work, too. Guide me well, and translate for me, too.”

It was my first time in Europe, but she said she had been there a couple of times already; once when she was young, and once when she was in college. She was the daughter of a rich family, after all. Now her fortune was only a hundredth of what I had, but when we arrived at Incheon International Airport, we took a step on from leaving the country and walked into the duty-free shop a little early.

She grabbed my arm and said, heading somewhere, “Let’s go to the Gucci store first.”

‘How does she know this big duty-free store? It’s just amazing.’

‘Can’t we just pay taxes, doing the shopping in Korea?’ It was my thought, but she enjoyed shopping at the duty-free shop like it was a great game, so I had no choice but to join in. She said that it tasted like making money if she bought the same thing cheaper. I hadn’t looked at the price of anything I’d wanted to buy since my fortune had reached over a billion dollars, with or without taxes.

Then, while walking through the duty-free shop, Ah-young suddenly pointed her finger and said, “Oh, that sister.”

“Hmm?”

I turned my head and there was Oh Hyun-joo’s face big up there.

“She is a good actress then, isn’t she? She’s from your company, right?”

I nodded, “Ah… yes.” Oh Hyun-joo was my old ideal type. Having been on a stormy activity for any drama or movie until early this year, she had recently taken a little break from her work and often shot advertisements. One of them seemed to be hanging in this duty-free shop.

“I don’t usually approve of anyone else.”

“Hmm? What don’t you approve of?”

“Beauty. But I think she’s really pretty.”

I said as calmly as I could, “Ah. Yes.” I was afraid she would know that I used to be a fan.

Maybe it worked, and Ah-young looked at Oh Hyun-joo’s face for a moment and turned to Gucci’s store. “Let’s go, oppa. I have a lot of things I want to buy.”

“Oh, yes.”

———————————

The trip to Europe was really good. The exotic scenery, the food, the people, all were good. In Europe, we were treated like royalty if there was enough tipping wherever the tourist industry had developed. After seeing good things, eating delicious food, and doing something interesting, I spent my dreamy days with Ah-young.

Of course, in the midst of that, I never stopped watching the future news. It was like a ritual that I couldn’t help. Like the Muslims prayed three times a day, I had my own times; once at 8:55 a.m., and once at 8:55 p.m., as I made Ah-young not disturb me. So I received news continuously in Europe. I got stock-related news as usual.

[Jinsung Electronics was taken over by Susung Electronics.]

I searched for my name and received my news.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment visited the Children’s Cancer Center again this year and donated five million dollars.]

‘The last time I went there, the atmosphere was warm and nice. I am going again.’

By the way, it was unusual. It wasn’t that frequent, but during the month of my trip here to Europe, I had three wonderful news stories, surprising, but very close to my life.

———————————

I received the first surprising news in Italy, the first destination of the trip. We were eating authentic Naples pizza and pasta, and walking near the digestive and trevi fountains. I saw the news while she was in the bathroom. It hit me in the head.

‘No… wait… this… really? Is this possible?’

I read the news again. It was nothing to look at now. ‘Well… yeah… sure… it’s not impossible.’

Maybe it would be good news for me. I remembered the time of the incident on the news. ‘Next year, April 2021… So, it’s only about nine months from now.’

The first news was in nine months. Maybe it was a big opportunity for me.

———————————

I received the second amazing news in a hotel in the Swiss Alps. As usual, I was tired after an active night and fell asleep. I woke up early in the morning rubbing my eyes, took my cell phone and headed right for the hotel’s minibar. Then, I took out a bottled water and looked at the future news quietly. Phu-hub! I spilled water on my chest as I read the news from there.

The second was really amazing and important news. I thought for a moment with the news in front of me. ‘No, this is… do I have to go back home? Now?’

The price of a plane ticket was not a big thing for me. But as I watched the news again, I soon regained my composure. The second news would come true in just one year. That was because it was exactly July 2021. I thought, ‘Yes, this will happen in a year, anyway… even if I go home now, there’s nothing I can do…’ Thinking so, I quickly memorized the contents of the article and then closed the email. I couldn’t help it even if I got into a fuss from now on. I decided to memorize the contents of the article and concentrate on enjoying my overseas trip again.

‘Yes, it’s not too late to go back to Korea and take measures against this.’

But even as I enjoyed my trip, I couldn’t help thinking about the news. Perhaps this second news was a matter of great importance to our company…

‘Should I say something to Vice President Jang? No, it will be in twelve months. That’s too early. Rather, if I do it now, it will have side effects…’ I admonished myself like that. It would be after twelve months; I didn’t have to be too hasty.

However, Ah-young realized that I was different sometimes. “What are you thinking these days? What’s wrong with your company?” She asked.

Of course, whenever I got asked, I said, “No. I’m just… thinking it’s working well without me.”

That was how I cooked up a good reason. Ah-young didn’t say anything more to me. At this time, I could still look normal to her, until the third news came.

———————————

I received the third news in Barcelona, Spain, where we arrived at the end of the trip. It was a city of the oceans, the home of football with my favorite F.C. Barcelona team. I was fascinated by the beauty of Europe all over again; the beautiful city, the people, and the F.C. Barcelona Camp Nou. The two news stories I had read sometimes wandered through my mind, but even thinking about them, I traveled around the beautiful Barcelona beaches with Ah-young.

‘Oh, that’s next year. Let’s just enjoy our trip now.’

In the taxi back to the hotel, I accepted the email again, Ah-young having fallen asleep because she was tired. After getting the news as usual, I searched for ‘Han Sang-hoon’ in the People Search, and saw some very surprising news.

‘No… is this… possible?’ I looked at Ah-young sleeping next to me. ‘This is just impossible,’ I thought.