2 The Money Lover

*Eight Years Later*

Minho's vein was throbbing in his forehead. His secretary, Lee Jongin, was sweating hard. The files in front of them were not showing favorable numbers. Profit fell by 0.5% from last week, which was enough for Secretary Lee to think of packing his bags and leave the country.

"Sir, as you can see, the profits only fell by 0.5% from last week, but we are anticipating a 2% increase next week," he said nervously.

Instead of being amused, Minho's vein became more visible. It was now reaching the danger point.

"Two percent?" he repeated. "The profit has reduced by point five percent from last week but we are making two percent next week. Which means that the overall profit for three weeks will be only one point five percent whereas last month it was two point five percent. That's a one percent drop."

Jongin cowered as he saw the vein in his boss' head was about to pop any minute.

"One percent profit drop for my company while my rival JK Limited got a whopping three percent increase from last month," Minho gritted, throwing him a disgusted look.

"Sir, they are still behind us!" Jongin said at once. "By four percent!"

"You mean to say they were seven percent behind us and have eliminated three percent from it in a month?" Minho's temper was now at boiling point.

Jongin was shaking on the spot while secretly hovering his finger on his phone's send button. The message read 'SOS'.

Minho stood up and strode towards the window. He pointed at a large ten storey building opposite the street.

"Look at that!" he yelled. "JK Limited even made their office right opposite to ours! That guy has been competing with me since our childhood and even made the building taller than our one. I had to add three more storeys to this building to be higher than his crappy company and now you're telling me he's only four percent behind me in profits?"

The vein popped and Jongin sent the SOS signal. Within seconds, the message was circulated to the entire staff of Hwang Constructions.

"SOS signal!" one employee announced. "Vesudas has exploded!"

"Again? This is the second time this week!" another employee groaned.

"Call your families and tell them we'll be stuck at the office for another week!" a female executive exclaimed. The new interns, who had just joined the company that day, were visibly confused by the overreaction. One of the interns named Jinri approached a marketing executive, Ms. Lia.

"Umm...Ms. Lia, why is everyone reacting like this?" Jinri asked. "What does this SOS signal mean? And what is Vesudas?"

Lia, one of the most senior employees of Hwang Constructions, sighed. "Have you heard the story of Pompei?" she asked.

"The city which was destroyed overnight?"

"Yes," Lia replied. "It was destroyed by a volcano called Vesuvius. The 'Vesu' part of the name comes from the volcano because when he erupts like that, he'll burn all of us down through extra work and overtime. The 'das' part of his name comes from the Greek king Midas, the one who used to turn things to gold just by touching. Together it makes, Vesudas, which is the nickname of our CEO. Even if his temper is nasty, he could make money within seconds. The guy isn't the most influential man in the country for no reason ya know."

"But he seems to be fixated with JK Limited," Jinri frowned. "Are they rivals?"

"Well, the CEO thinks of Jang Kanji as a rival but in reality Jang Kanji is his only friend," Lia sighed. "Unlike our CEO, Kanji is a fun loving guy who really enjoys pissing him off. He even forces the CEO to go out on drinks with him so the rivalry is really one sided."

"How did it even start?"

"Well, you see, our CEO is really competitive," Lia recalled. "He hates to lose. The only time he lost to Jang Kanji was in elementary school when Kanji won an art competition. Since then, the CEO has been trying to outsmart him in everything."

"Wow the CEO sounds like a nasty piece of work," Jinri remarked.

"He's not entirely bad," Lia assured her. "As long as he has the two most important things in his life, he'll stay calm."

"What are those?"

"Number one is money," Lia pointed out. "Make money for this company, he'll treat you well. Don't make money, don't come back here."

"And the second one?"

"Second one is actually the most important one. Even more than money."

"Which is?"

"That's-"

Just then the door of the CEO's office burst open. Everyone scurried back to the seat as the Lord of Hell emerged from his room. A dangerous aura emitted from him as he passed by, intimidating everyone around him. Jongin meekly followed him, trying not to provoke the angry dragon.

"Order all the heads of departments to come to the meeting room!" he ordered out loud. "They have two minutes."

"Yes sir!" Jongin said at once. He had already prepared a message for the department heads, summoning them to the meeting room. Within two minutes, they had gathered there. The CEO's stern gaze scrutinized every one of them, making them extremely nervous and scared.

"We made one percent less profit," he stated. "Care to explain why?"

One of them raised his hand, shaking in fear. "S-sir that's because we had a big product launch last week. Our new shopping mall has just started its operations and we spent quite a bit on it."

"Where are the profits from the shopping mall?"

"Sir, it's only been one week-"

"And it's still not making money?"

His sharp tongue cut through the room, increasing the tension. Even though Minho was in his mid thirties and also younger than most of the department heads, they shrunk in front of him, not daring to reply.

"The famous makeup brand Piero will open tomorrow!" one of them piped up. "By next week, the profits will double. We're already getting a lot of orders."

"How much money are we expected to make?" Minho demanded.

"Five hundred million!"

Minho began to calculate on his hands. "That's an additional two percent profit," he muttered. "So JK Limited will remain six percent behind us. That's still one percent."

The meeting attendees watched in despair as Minho spoke gibberish. He was lost in his own world, counting money. Jongin suspected the guy probably had numerous vaults of money stashed away in his mansion. The guy was crazy about making money and only saw the value of everything in monetary terms. It was nearly impossible to dupe him when it came to revenue. The guy probably counted money even in his sleep.

"JK Limited will manage to cover one percent gap," Minho realized. He threw a menacing look at the heads of the departments who shivered. "No one goes home until that one percent is covered," he ordered.

"Daddy!"

A cheerful voice rang through the room. Everyone turned to see an eight year old girl with a schoolbag running towards the CEO. Her black hair was tied into little pigtails while her wide brown eyes sparkled innocently at her father. Her cute demeanor broke the icy money loving CEO as he burst into a smile.

"Jina!" he laughed, scooping his daughter in his arms. "Aigoo my precious daughter!"

The employees heaved a sigh of relief at her sight. Jongin inwardly rejoiced. He had informed the CEO's live-in nanny about the situation at the office and begged her to help out. There was only one way to calm down the CEO.

"Daddy, won't you come home tonight?" Jina asked, her big eyes looking at him pleadingly. "It's my doll's wedding tonight. You're supposed to give away the bride."

"Of course daddy will attend!" Minho said at once. "I won't miss my precious angel's doll's wedding!"

He turned to the meeting attendees, his expression changing back to being icy and cold. "Let's call it a day," he reluctantly said. "Give me the reports tomorrow."

The employees tried to keep a straight face as they saw their intimidating CEO becoming a docile dad in front of his daughter. If anyone dared to laugh, they would be fired on the spot. Minho was carrying his daughter in one hand and her schoolbag in another hand as they walked towards his private elevator. Jina was chattering about her day at school while Minho listened obediently.

Jinri was shocked at the turn of events. The man who had everyone on their edges completely changed for a little girl. Lia leaned towards her and whispered, "And the most precious thing for him is his daughter."