MMB Chapter 2 Guests
Chapter 2 Guests
Jung Do-hoon hurriedly left Minatozaki Sana's apartment and bought a pack of cigarettes at a nearby convenience store.
"The taro popping boba one..."
"I'll take 60,000 Korean won from you."
Just as he was about to leave, he caught a glimpse of an orange bear pendant near the cashier and turned back.
"How much is this?"
"This isn't for sale; it's a free gift with any purchase of 200,000 won."
"Add three more packs of cigarettes."
When Jung Do-hoon returned to the apartment, the rain had stopped.
His shirt clung to his back, a chill creeping up his spine; the orange bear pendant was fastened to his keys.
Just as he was about to open the door, it opened from the inside, and a small face peeked out.
Then I heard a murmur of Chinese.
"Jung Do-hoon... reeks of alcohol. Who else could stand you?"
The younger sister, Zheng Yaxian, speaks Chinese quite well, even better than her brother Zheng Daoxun, who is a diplomat. She also often teases him in Chinese, either behind his back or to his face.
Ya Xian is sixteen years old, but she doesn't resemble Zheng Daoxun at all. She is only about 1.6 meters tall, with a cute bun hairstyle, and has the pure and innocent look of a girl next door.
He gave a drawn-out "hmm," squeezed open a crack, and lay down directly on the sofa:
"You don't need to worry about me, just get some rest."
"Ha...who cares about you!"
Ya Xian picked up her suit jacket, and the key with the teddy bear hanging from it slipped out. She couldn't help but glance at Zheng Daoxun:
"Oppa, why did you suddenly buy such cute little things?"
It was a free gift with purchase at the convenience store.
She said, "How could Zheng Daoxun buy something like this for no reason? It couldn't have been a gift from some girl, could it?"
Ya Xian sniffed his suit jacket; the strong smell of smoke still lingered.
She shuffled to the window in her slippers, opened a crack, hid the lighter Zheng Daoxun had placed on the coffee table, boiled some water, and then stopped her busy work.
"The hot water is boiling there, remember to drink it when you're thirsty..." Zheng Yaxian turned her head and looked over, only to find that he had already fallen asleep on the sofa, his shirt still half wet and half dry, and he was wearing it like that.
They really aren't afraid of getting cold!
The girl had no choice but to take out a dry towel, throw it at Zheng Daoxun, and then turn and go to her room.
When Zheng Daoxun woke up again, it was already past seven in the morning. After washing up, he had to go to work.
Ya-Hsien had to make a contact at the company, so she left early. At this moment, he could be a little more relaxed and took off his shirt, which was already dry but smelly, outside the bathroom.
Water poured down from the showerhead, steam rising. Zheng Daoxun braced his hands on the tiles, letting the water wash over the back of his neck, washing away the pain and fatigue of the hangover, while the memories of last night became clearer.
He has terrible drinking manners; he actually did something like sleeping in front of his ex-girlfriend's house.
Jung Do-hoon turned off the tap and wiped his face with a towel. In the mirror, though he had dark circles under his eyes, his handsome features were undeniable; a light stubble appeared on his chin, and his stomach was relatively flat.
Suddenly, that soft voice rang in my ears.
"If I keep drinking like this, I'll get a beer belly."
He stared at himself in the mirror for two seconds, then draped the towel over the rack, turned around, dressed, picked up his briefcase, and went out.
There weren't many people in the subway station.
After his rebirth, Jung Do-hoon tried to commute by public transportation as much as possible and avoided driving unless absolutely necessary.
On the subway, Jung Do-hoon checked his unread messages and discovered that he had made several phone calls the night before.
One of the phone numbers was from an unknown number and had no name on it, but Jung Do-hoon knew who the owner of the number was.
Fortunately, the other party did not answer.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs building is located in the Jongno district, and it's a ten-minute walk from the subway station.
When Zheng Daoxun arrived at the office, there weren't many people inside yet; a few early-arriving staff members were scattered around their workstations.
The Cultural Exchange Department's office area is on the fifth floor. Only a few lights are on in the open-plan room. Zheng Daoxun's seat is by the window, and the table is piled with documents that are taller than the computer screen.
The previous secretary was sent to Africa, supposedly for a promotion, but in reality, it was because he had failed to handle the application for the World Expo.
It was thanks to this vacancy, coupled with Jeong Do-hoon's excellent resume at the UN Security Council, that he was able to become a secretary at the age of twenty-five.
However, the World Expo is ultimately a long-term project that will last nearly a year, and the most important thing now is to organize the materials handed over by the previous secretary.
Around nine o'clock, the office area gradually filled up. Zheng Daoxun was reviewing the project approval documents from the previous administration, his face filled with worry—
In his view, many of the previous administration's project approval processes were inadequate, lacking contingency plans and budget management, leaving him with a mess.
Suddenly, someone patted him on the shoulder.
"Clerk, so early?"
The speaker was a middle-aged man, in his early forties, slightly overweight, with a receding hairline.
He held a cup of Americano in one hand and a folder in the other, standing smiling next to Zheng Daoxun's workstation.
Bae Dong-young, 43 years old, is an administrative officer in the Cultural Exchange Division, equivalent to Jeong Do-hoon's deputy.
Zheng Daoxun didn't have a deep impression of him—in his previous life, he only stayed in this position for less than a year before being promoted again, and he didn't have much interaction with Pei Dongyong.
He only remembered that this person's professional skills were average, but he had the advantage of seniority and extensive connections. He could handle all kinds of miscellaneous matters in the class, so he did not regard Pei Dongyong as just his subordinate.
"How did you rest yesterday?" Bae Dong-young placed the coffee on his table, pulled up a chair, and sat down next to Jung Do-hoon. "I got scolded by my wife when I got home last night, so I spent the night in the living room."
"I'm pretty much the same as you," Jung Do-hoon smiled helplessly, "I also fell asleep right on the sofa."
"It's good to be young; I can still come to work so early the day after a hangover. I can't go to the banquet with you, Secretary, tonight; I really can't drink anymore."
That was a dinner hosted by the wife of the Argentine embassy ambassador, who invited representatives from the cultural, manufacturing, and financial industries, as well as high-ranking officials from other embassies in South Korea…
Jung Do-hoon also had his own mission at the dinner – to campaign for the 2030 World Expo.
Zheng Daoxun told himself that he should only have a small drink tonight and not drink too much.
Pei Dongyong handed over the folder in his hand: "By the way, this is a project that Brother Zaiyong didn't finish before he left. It's your first day on the job, so get familiar with the project first, so we can have a meeting later."
It was the information from the cultural exchange season held with Indonesia that showed that Kpop's growth in the domestic market had long since hit a bottleneck. While the US and European markets had huge potential, the competition was fierce, and the preferences were not entirely the same as those in South Korea.
Many groups have failed in their attempts to enter the US and Europe, and have even lost their domestic base.
In retrospect, focusing on developing markets in Southeast Asia or South America might be a viable solution.
Jung Do-hoon opened the document; it was a mixed-gender concert in Jakarta, spearheaded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and organized by MBC television and a local Indonesian operator.
Jung Do-hoon first checked the printed copies of the emails exchanged between the two parties and the performance approval process form—
Perhaps the previous clerk's mind was no longer on his job, but was preoccupied with getting promoted to the North American Division, and various documents seemed incomplete.
"Has the time been set?" Zheng Daoxun asked.
"It's settled, this weekend." Bae Dong-yong pointed to the schedule. "The venue is the GBK Stadium in Jakarta."
Jung Do-hoon gave a faint "hmm," turned the page to the next page of the document, came to the cast list, and then his left eyelid twitched—
The headlining act was TWICE.