“Since you helped me. Now it is my turn, is it not? Tell me whatever you want. I can listen to at least one thing.”

McCain’s tone sounded like words spoken to a subordinate rather than gratitude for repaying a favor.

As if testing my reaction, he slightly narrowed his eyes.

I raised the glass again, moistened my lips, and asked composedly.

“For example, what kind of thing are you talking about?”

McCain put down the glass on the table as if he had been waiting.

“Are you not ahead of the Synapse Tech listing? I also have ears that listen. Hearing about it, the technological prowess seems quite good. But no one can guarantee what kind of attitude Wall Street will show. Still, if I lend a hand, it will roll along much more smoothly. How about it, will you take my help?”

He smiled, full of confidence.

But I burst out laughing inwardly.

‘That is a matter that will go well on its own even if you do not help.’

But without a single change in expression, I calmly put down the glass.

“Regarding that matter, you do not need to worry. I have already prepared hard.”

McCain’s expression hardened somewhat.

However, he smiled leisurely again and looked at me as if it were interesting.

“Hmm. Your confidence is great.”

I spoke while wearing a smile on my lips.

“Instead, there is a person I want to meet. If it is the Chairman, it seems you could sufficiently connect us.”

McCain slightly raised his eyebrows.

Even more interest was stained in his expression.

He looked at me with a curious gaze and asked.

“Who is it? Is it a figure I know?”

The heavy air in the room eased somewhat.

The sight of each testing the other was like two generals in a battle of nerves.

I spoke while leaning back in the chair and wearing a leisurely smile.

“Since you are now the Chairman, you will be going in and out of the White House often from now on.”

It was a tone mixed with a joke.

However, my gaze was sharp for some reason.

McCain opened his eyes wide and shrugged his shoulders.

“Haha, surely you are not asking to meet with the President. Who is it?”

He even added exaggerated gestures on purpose.

However, my expression did not change at all.

Rather, the smile disappeared and changed into a serious face.

“I want to meet the President of the United States directly.”

A short and resolute sentence.

McCain lost his words for a moment.

Soon he burst out laughing and even hit his knee with his palm.

“Hahaha! Look here, asking to meet the President, it is truly a novel joke. It was the most fun one I have heard.”

But his laughter did not continue for long.

It was because my gaze was looking straight at him.

I was not joking.

The acrid cigarette smoke wrapping around the room had settled heavily before anyone knew it.

McCain narrowed his eyes while taking the newly pulled out cigar from his mouth.

The words he had dismissed as a joke approached with a weight that could no longer be lightly ignored.

“…You were serious.”

Tension flickered on his face.

I gazed without speaking.

Even in the silence, an overflowing charisma flowed out.

At this moment, it was difficult to distinguish who was the person in power here.

McCain flicked the ash from the cigar while keeping his gaze lowered for a moment.

Bitterness lingered at the corners of his mouth.

“Representative Lim, is the act of meeting the President directly not a price that is too expensive to demand from me in return?”

His voice contained a subtle pressure.

He had clearly drawn a line, saying it was an excessive demand.

However, I did not even move a muscle.

Rather, I quietly leaned my body forward and sharply questioned back.

“Is the value of being Chairman only worth that much to you?”

A split second.

The air froze.

One of McCain’s eyebrows shot up.

He almost instinctively looked away but barely managed his emotions.

I spoke with a calm voice.

“What I want is a meeting with the President. If that is impossible, is there a reason for me to come looking for the Chairman?”

McCain’s fingertips froze for a moment.

He tried to force a smile, but he could not clear the tension lingering in the room even a little.

The provocation I sent to him worked properly.

‘This fellow is testing me.’

McCain muttered inwardly and looked at me once again.

Whether he was reckless due to his young age, or whether he possessed that much capacity.

But for sure, he knew properly how to pressure an opponent.

At that moment, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Chairman, there is an old folk tale in Korea. It is a story that even a magpie who received a favor definitely repays it.”

McCain’s gaze began to waver slightly.

I did not miss that gap.

“I believe those words. I will never forget a favor received from someone. Rather, it is my way to continue a relationship while returning more than what I received.”

In my appearance of speaking calmly, an unwavering confidence was also dwelling.

“So, if the Chairman establishes a good relationship with me, there will never be an occasion where you suffer a loss while living. Since I will definitely return as much as I received, no, even more. Of course, if you touch me and my people, that will also be the same.”

Once I closed my mouth, the room fell into silence again.

However, that stillness was no longer a one-sided pressure.

McCain began to seriously contemplate while holding the cigar.

The ash attached to the end shook and then fell indifferently.

After letting out a long breath, he spat out words as if he had made a decision.

“Fine. I will help.”

In his low voice, the lightness seen a moment ago was not remaining at all.

Instead, it was full of interest like a person possessed by curiosity.

“If I introduce you to the President, what will you do for me? I would like to hear specifically what it is once. Tell me the reason why I should connect you even while going as far as taking a risk.”

At the very blatant question, I almost burst out laughing for a moment but held it back.

I smiled lightly and considered whether to offer a prepared answer as if I had expected the question McCain threw.

However, I did not answer immediately.

After picking up the glass full of ice and drinking slowly, I quietly put it down on the table.

“Specifically….”

My gaze looked straight into McCain’s eyes.

“Would that not depend on how the Chairman treats me from now on.”

I spoke calmly, but a strange resonance was delivered.

“As I told you, I am of a personality that does not forget favors. I will definitely return more than what I received.”

I tilted my head slightly and wore a leisurely expression.

“So, what I can give is not something to be promised right now. It is a matter that will be determined according to what kind of path you choose.”

Silence flowed for a moment.

The air in the room became heavy again, but this time, it was not the tension of McCain having the upper hand.

Rather, every single one of my words stimulated the opponent’s curiosity.

McCain stopped as he tried to bring the cigar to his mouth and let out a hollow laugh.

“…Heh.”

Soon a faint smile spread across his lips.

“This is the first time for a person at that age to handle people so leisurely. Fine. It is very interesting.”

He laughed out loud boisterously.

McCain thought.

If it is this much guts and leisure, he is not a mere businessman.

On the outside, it could be dismissed as still being young blood, but in reality, he was using the way to shake and suppress an opponent like an instinct.

He could not gauge how far Hyunjun would rise from now on.

He even thought that he might instead be the one who gets caught if he messes with him wrong.

So he reached this conclusion.

That a person this interesting is fully worth watching.

McCain lightly tapped the end of the cigar to drop the ash and then looked at me while wearing a leisurely expression.

“Very well, I will grant that request.”

This time, there was no sign of testing or pushing at all like a moment ago.

“I will do as you said. Instead, let us make one thing clear. Can I look forward to what you can give me someday?”

Those words could have been dismissed as a joke, but in them was a provocation and at the same time a declaration that he would accept Hyunjun as a partner.

When McCain held out his glass to me, I also held out mine.

The clear sound made by the glass cups clinking resonated in the room.

I replied calmly while wearing a smile.

“You may look forward to it. Since it will be much larger than what the Chairman imagines, after all.”

At my unwavering gaze, a significant smile spread across McCain’s mouth as well.

In that way, the two ended the meeting at the club with a promise made.

When I opened the door and came out of the room, Choi Seo-jun, who was lingering on one side of the corridor, approached hurriedly.

On his face, an anxious look was evident.

“Representative, did anything happen? Your expression somehow….”

Instead of an answer, I lightly nodded and only showed a grin.

At the leisurely expression without even a single word, only Choi Seo-jun became more frustrated.

In the end, without hearing any answer, he followed me.

Once we got outside and into the car, the suppressed curiosity burst out.

Choi Seo-jun spoke cautiously at first, but now he could not hold back and asked as if hounding.

“What on earth did you talk about? The atmosphere seemed unusual. Representative, do I have to be the only one who doesn't know again?”

Anxiety and curiosity were heavily mixed in his voice.

However, I replied composedly while looking out the window.

“It was nothing much.”

“What do you mean nothing much? What is that….”

“We just talked about what each other wanted.”

Choi Seo-jun’s eyebrows furrowed deeply.

In his yearning heart, he wanted to pry more, but my attitude was so calm that his words were blocked.

Hong Jang-gun spoke with a voice full of curiosity.

“Then how did the result turn out?”

I said slowly while yawning.

“He said he would give an answer soon. He will contact us if we wait, I suppose.”

It was a truly peaceful answer.

After I said those words, I closed my eyes as if tired and fell asleep.

Only Choi Seo-jun stared intently at my sleeping face as if he were frustrated to death with curiosity.

***

The next morning.

While checking his cell phone, Choi Seo-jun answered a call from an unfamiliar number.

After listening for a moment with a half-believing, half-doubting attitude, he wore a face as if he were dumbfounded by surprise.

After hanging up the phone, he muttered like a fool.

“A Christmas party invitation….”

Unlike me, who was composedly sitting on the sofa reading an article on a tablet, Hong Jang-gun asked Director Choi.

“Director Choi, what kind of call was it for you to be like that?”

Choi Seo-jun slowly turned his head, looked at me, and answered slowly.

“Vice Chairman McCain’s secretary just called. He told us to come to the White House.”

“What?!”

Hong Jang-gun asked back while wearing an absurd expression for the first time.

I spoke to Choi Seo-jun while taking my eyes off the tablet.

Too composed, for that matter.

“I told you he would give an answer if we wait. He gave an answer faster than I thought.”