章 2: Chapter 2. The Merge pt. 1
I thought it was just a dream. A nightmare of some kind. I did try to analyze it, but too bad, just like many dreams, it started to fade from my memory.
You'd think it will stop there but it didn't. The weird dream was only the start. It got weirder.
One week from the start of that dream, I communicated with an unbelievable being. Well, communicated was probably not the correct term. Tell me, how would you describe a booming voice in my head suddenly saying, "Human Shi Huicheng, you have open the first door to my realm. I am your god!"
Yes, you read correctly, it's God.
Alright, the fast forward was too fast. Let's start from the beginning. The day after the weird dream happened.
**************
"Phin, Catch!"
Startled by the call, I became alert. I was sitting in front of my office desk when a can of soda flew toward me. It was slow and I managed to catch it easily in time. Looking at the person who threw it, I nodded. "Thanks, Stu!"
"What's wrong, buddy? Didn't get enough sleep?" Stu slapped my shoulder.
"Yeah, terrible nightmare. Woke up and can't get back to sleep."
"Wow, must be some nightmare huh. Me, I slept very soundly last night," he laughed.
"Good for you," I stretched my arm. I had never been so sleepy during office hours. It was the first time I felt troubled by a dream. That's the truth.
My name was Phineas and I had been working for this company for a year. I had never stayed for too long in a company. The term long was relative, I knew. The longest working period in any particular company was around three years. The rest were between around two years. That was why I had a decently long resume.
Every time I was asked by interviewer why I wanted to leave my current company my answer was one between two. 'I don't feel the company is going in the same direction as me' or 'I need more challenges'.
When my close friends knew about those answers they asked what my direction was. I would then answer, "Global domination." I gave the same reply when asked about the second answer. I was too lazy to think of different reply.
For a period of time, this reply became a source of joke for the people who knew me. My personality did not exactly scream 'global domination'. At all. Not even small scale domination. I enjoyed window seat on the train but I gave-in right away whenever a girl asked whether she could take it.
I prefered to think that I was an easy going person and did not care too much about the vision of the company I worked for. What was the point of sugar-coating it as anything else? I worked for the money. That was it.
However, the real reason why I moved company the first time had totally nothing to do with the company direction or ambition.
I moved from my first company because of a girl. I first found her to be pretty and very friendly to me. As a fresh graduate and new comer, I was serious on my job and idealistic. Other than those, I was quite open, to the point of being naive. I was getting closer to the girl. I enjoyed our time together and assumed, from her reaction, that she liked it too. Then I learned the hard way how mistaken I was. I was merely a toy. After learning that truth and feeling humiliated I decided to resign.
From the string of subsequent companies, as time went by, I learned more and more about the cruel world of office politics. It was hard maintaining my neutrality and easy going personality. I was often forced to take side inside the politics of company. When I could not stand it or it's probably better to say that when I did not want to be bothered by it anymore I switched company.
Luckily, every time I switched company it was to a bigger and more prestigeous company. That was why my friends say that I was a lucky fellow. To this my only respond was a snort. Well, if you considered only this small part of my life then I guess I did do pretty well and pretty lucky.
"Hey Phin, you're really lucky. You hit the jackpot this time," said Stuart, my colleague.
If I had to name anyone as my friend in this current company then it would be him. We joined the company at the same time and was at the same age so it was easy to get along. Plus, we were not in the same department so our work never conflicted each other.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Don't play coy. You're about to go on almost two weeks business trip with Susan, our celebrity. THE Magnificent Susan Xu!" said Stuart with envy.
"So what?" I asked again.
Susan Xu was one of the company best upcoming management of our generation. I heard that she showed tremendous trait as leader and thus was nurtured to be part of management. Unlike me, Susan had been with the company right after her graduation. Top of her class I heard. She was also quite friendly to people even when she was already a vice director despite of her young age. She seemed ambitious, like that girl from my first company. With only one exception, a major upgrade in terms of appearance.
Well, who was I kidding, I should have not even compared Susan to her. Susan Xu outclassed her in every way.
"Don't tell me...," Stuart gave a suspicious look below my waist before he continued, "You're not a man if you're not even slightly interested in her!"
"I have to be interested in her to be a man?"
Stuart nodded while trying to pierce my head with his squinted eyes.
"She has a boyfriend, doesn't she?"
"That's not a reason not to be interested in her," said Stuart, sternly. "Or at least admire her."
"Ok, I do admire her," I said, which was enough to make Stuart stood down.
To be honest, I really did admire her a bit. She was blindingly shiny not to be noticed. Of course, just like most successful young people, there were rumors surrounding her. But from what I myself saw, she really did become who she was today because of her own effort. That she became girlfriend of the heir of this company was only recent development. Personally, for me, the big bonus point was that anyone who could stay in one single company for such a long time was to be admired.
"And don't do anything weird to her if you don't want to be fired. Her boyfriend is really a jealous type," told Stuart.
"Relax, won't you? I told you I'm not interested in her," I said. And that was the truth. From previous experience I became wary of pretty woman. And Susan Xu was at the pinnacle of beauty.
"Beside, I'm only an errand boy to her," I added.
"Hm, pretending to be a humble?" Stuart snorted, "Doesn't suit you at all."
I laughed and drank my soda.
I was not entirely correct about being an errand boy, though I personally felt it's not that far from reality either. I was assigned to assist her by providing my knowledge of the business process of the type of company we are going to visit. We just bought the company from its local owner and it had a unique flavor that was going to add to our business line.
It was not the first time I went on a business trip however it was the first time to go abroad. So my grandmother made a fuss of it and tried to stuff too many things into my bag. I have to take some of them out so I did not end up with more than one luggage. When she inspected my luggage, she again went full-power filling it.
On the other hand, my grandfather was calmer, "Take good care of yourself, kid." That's all he said. I think I inherited my easy-going personality from him.
"While you're there, probably you can find a girlfriend too. You're so picky maybe you'd like foreigner more," grandmother chided.
"Listen to your grandmother."
"You're not young anymore. When your father was the same age as you, he already had you," grandmother continued.
32 was considered old? I sourly smiled.
My grandparents took me in when my parents were killed in an accident. I didn't really remember my parents now. I was very young when it happened. I knew their faces from the pictures but that just about it. Sometimes I would ask my grandparents about my parents like how was their personalities or what's their favorite food. Unfortunately, these questions made my grandmother's eyes teary so I stopped asking.
My father was an only son and my mother grew up in orphanage. That was why I did not have other close relatives. But I did not really need big family. My grandparents showered me with their love. Although we were not rich but we got by just fine.
I made agreement with Susan that we could meet at the airport. It was more efficient that way because we lived at different part of town. And I found out that she was very easy to talk to.
At the airport, I met with her and we both checked in. I did not notice it earlier, but when I was checking in I just realized that I got first class seat.
"Was the company giving me bonus?" No Way!
Then I looked at Susan.
"What's wrong?" she asked me. She acted like nothing special happen.
Then it dawned on me. It was because of her! My seat was upgraded because of her. Feeling good, I shook my head and said, "Nothing."
"Let's go then," she said, not giving me a second glance and just left toward the boarding waiting area.
When Susan and I arrived at Incheon Airport some people were already waiting with our names on a big hard-paper template. It was our welcoming committee.
Being efficient and not wanting to waste time, Susan asked for us to be delivered to the office instead of the hotel even though it was already 4:10 PM. It's not a big deal for me. If I was alone or in-charge, due to the time, I would just go to the hotel and went to the office tomorrow morning, refreshed and energized. But that's probably why she was top upcoming leader while I was only an errand boy.
The people were friendly. There was a staff among the people that fetched us who spoke in Chinese. Apparently he was chosen to pick us up because of his foreign language speaking ability. At the office, we were welcomed by the group of top management of the company. Their manner were modest and docile to say the least. After all, unlike the usual hostile take over, this was the company that we bought in more or less peaceful way.
The time we spent at Seoul was really efficient. We would work until late at night, only stopping to eat and sleep. We don't really socialized. Susan was always hard at work.
Honestly, I thought she was a bit abnormal. She was not even a bit interested by the many chances to meet Korean pretty boy idols. This company was, after all, one of the major management company of many well known artists.
Did she have the same bad experience as me? I thought to myself. Any woman at the office always go gaga over those idols. Some people go overboard, some showed a bit restraint but still interested, others pretending to not be interested but collecting the pretty boys pictures on their phones. This Susan was different.
There was this commercial about the upcoming Mixed Martial Arts Contest. The biggest ever held in Asia, so they said. Many top tier champions of their respected area joined this contest. Traikun Praves, the universally acclaimed ultimate expert of Muay Thai, and Davi Brito, the Jiujitsu expert who was titled The Undefeated because he was never defeated in his entire arena life, were amongs the one who join this competition. I personally felt that it was not possible to be undefeated at all times but what did I know.
This event was also in line with the K-wave Universal, an event meant to reinvigorate and refresh the Korean wave globally. Biggest names from entertainment industry such as actress Min Songhee, singer-actress Jeong Yewon, singer Seo Daho and actor Choi Doowon were included in this event.
Choi Doowon had always been dubbed the most popular celebrity in recent years. He was nominated by his fans as the hottest actor ever. Seo Daho was also no less famous. His name was not as phenomenal as Choi Doowon but well-known enough. His songs often dominated the top ten charts in South Korea and other country such as Japan. They were so famous that even someone like me knew their faces.
Susan, however, just took a simple glance when I pointed at the commercial about this event on the street screen and went back to her laptop. It could not get the slightest interest from her.
'This woman is a bit too cold', I thought to myself. But, looking at her from side while we're sitting in the car, I got to admit that Stuart was right. This woman was gorgeous. In terms of face, she was exquisite and sensual. It did not look like she did anything special to her hair but it accentuated her goddess-like face. It was even less a need to say anything in terms of her figure. She was curvaceous and explodingly hot. Everything was perfectly placed. Any woman would kill to have a figure like hers. No wonder she was courted by the heir of our company.
If I had to say anything imperfect about her, it was that she is workaholic. And she dragged me down in it as well. Let alone fulfilling my grandmother's wish on finding a girlfriend, I could not even go to simple shopping.
It was not that Susan was strict or harsh with words. It was, in fact, very pleasant to hear her spoke. She had a friendly yet authorative aura. She did not use words to force me to work late with her. But if she, the leader, kept working till late hours how could I just leave the office by myself?
Even though she was friendly we rarely talked about personal things. On the only company dinner we had during our stay there I got the chance to ask her about her lineage a bit.
"I heard that you are half Korean. Don't you have any relative to visit here? I think we can make time for it," was what I said to her in my attempt to get free time for myself.
"My father is full Chinese. My mother is half Chinese, a quarter Korean and one eighth Caucasian, not sure which country. That's what I was told, I don't know if that's the truth anyway," she replied while drinking her tea.
"Told?" I was suddenly interested, my mouth could not stop before I blurted that out.
"I never met my parents. Nor any family for that matter. I grew up in an orphanage," her answer was precise.
"Oh I see. Sorry, I didn't know that," I said. She was really an open person, I never thought she would share such personal information. I knew I won't.
Wait a minute, if she grew up in an orphanage how did she knew about her lineage?
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