100: Chapter 100 Return to Seoul

On October 23rd, the sunlight in Sanya was still as beautiful as ever.

Chairman Wang Shunyi stood in the hotel lobby checking out. The receptionist said, "Welcome back next time," and he nodded without responding.

Park Min-ji sat on the lobby sofa with two suitcases at her feet—one hers, one his.

She held that straw sun hat in her hand. She had carried it from Seoul all the way to Sanya, and now she was carrying it from Sanya back to Seoul. She kept pressing the cloth flower on the brim, but it never fell off; the quality was surprisingly good.

Kim Young-jun was waiting in the parking lot. After the black Mercedes business van started, the cold air from the air conditioner gave everyone goosebumps. It was a sudden transition from Sanya's summer into... Sanya's summer, but the atmosphere in the car was different.

She didn't speak, and neither did he.

When they were packing together last night, they had agreed that after returning, they would each go home to rest and start work tomorrow. However, during the drive to the airport, a long silence hung between them, and neither was the first to break it.

The VIP lounge at Sanya Phoenix Airport was on the second floor. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, several planes could be seen on the tarmac being loaded with luggage.

Luggage carts scurried around beneath the wings. The staff in reflective vests moved quickly, as if racing against some invisible timer.

Park Min-ji ordered an orange juice. She didn't drink it immediately after receiving it, but set it on the table and stirred it slowly with a straw, the ice cubes clinking against the glass.

Chairman Wang Shunyi ordered an Americano. He waited until it was lukewarm to take a sip, but it still numbed his tongue slightly with heat.

In the lounge, several business people were holding video conferences on their laptops. Their voices weren't loud, but the content was audible.

It was all about KPIs, budgets, and quarterly reviews. He glanced at them, thinking that he used to be just like that, eager to fill every single minute.

But not anymore. He couldn't say exactly when the change began—perhaps that evening by the sea in Sanya, or maybe even earlier.

Halfway through his Americano, he picked up a tablet and flipped through an in-flight magazine. A picture showed an island reef surrounded by light blue seawater, looking like a nail frozen in amber.

He looked at it for a couple of seconds longer before putting it down.

In the duty-free shop, she bought some dried mangoes and coconut candies for her colleagues at the company. She also picked out a bottle of perfume, smelled it several times, and then put it back, saying the scent was too strong and didn't suit her.

He stood behind her without saying much, and then they entered the boarding gate.

As the plane climbed, she leaned against the window and looked down. The coastline of Sanya gradually turned into a thin white line before disappearing below the horizon.

The clouds were thick. Above the cloud layer, everything outside the window was white. She pulled down the window shade, put on an eye mask, and fell asleep before long.

He turned his head to look at her profile. When she slept, her mouth was slightly open, and she snored very softly.

He hadn't noticed her snoring before; perhaps she was exhausted from the past few days of playing in Sanya.

Kim Young-jun walked over from his seat in the rear cabin and asked softly if he should make a call to the Guangzhou side.

Chairman Wang Shunyi shook his head and pointed at the sleeping Minji. Kim Young-jun nodded and retreated to the rear cabin.

His phone vibrated twice in his pocket. He didn't look; he didn't need to look to know who it was: Kim Sang-woo reporting on the contract progress for the Wuhan Warehouse, Lee Jung-hoon asking about the stock preparation for Double Eleven, and Kim Young-jun forwarding Sanya photos for the marketing department to share on social media.

None of it was urgent. The plane flew steadily above the clouds, with blinding sunlight reflecting off the sea of clouds outside the window.

He closed his eyes for a while.

It was raining when they landed in Seoul. The sky was gray and gloomy, a completely different world from Sanya. As Park Min-ji stepped out of the cabin door, her body shrank slightly as the wind swept across the tarmac, and rain splashed across her face.

He held an umbrella and quickly walked over to pull her along as they ran toward the shuttle bus. After a few steps, she suddenly laughed out loud, though it was unclear if she felt pathetic or just found it funny.

The shuttle bus was crowded and people were jostling. He frowned when someone's suitcase wheel rolled over his foot. Park Min-ji stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "Your shoes are dirty." Her voice wasn't loud, but he heard her clearly.

It took nearly twenty minutes at the baggage carousel before her suitcase appeared. A Asiana Airlines luggage tag was stuck to the white hard shell; the one from their last trip to Jeju Island hadn't been removed yet.

He helped her lift it onto a trolley. She grabbed the handle and said, "No need, I can do it myself."

He didn't let go. The two of them walked side-by-side, one pushing the trolley. While passing through customs, a middle-aged man in front of him was stopped for an inspection. The contents of his suitcase were scattered all over the floor; the man crouched down to pick them up one by one with a very sour expression.

Park Min-ji turned her head and whispered that the man was so unlucky. He hummed in agreement, but his gaze fell on the luggage tag on her suitcase: Jeju Island, last autumn.

At that time, his relationship with her hadn't reached this point. They had gone on a business trip together to inspect the local specialty market in Jeju Island; she stayed on the floor below, and he stayed on the floor above.

The car was parked in the parking lot. The driver got out to help them put the luggage in the trunk and opened the car door.

She got in first, and he followed.

The heater in the car was on full blast, and a layer of mist formed on the windows.

"Ah, drop off Park Min-ji first."

The car drove onto the airport expressway, and the windshield wipers swung back and forth across the glass.

She looked out the window at the rain-soaked Seoul. The light from the streetlamps became soft as it refracted through the mist.

"It feels like we've been away for a long time, but it's actually only been a few days."

"Next time we'll go somewhere else. Not Sanya."

"Where to?"

"I haven't decided yet. We'll see when the time comes."

The car stopped downstairs at her apartment. She didn't get out immediately, but sat in the passenger seat watching the lines of rain drift diagonally through the headlights before being scattered by the wind.

She turned to look at his face and said, "You've gotten tanner these past few days."

"So have you."

She smiled, her eyes crinkling. She pushed the door open and got out, running a few steps through the rain with her bag over her head for cover. At the entrance to the building, she turned back and waved at him.

The rain grew heavier. She disappeared into the hallway. The lights in the stairwell lit up to the third floor, then went out.

He withdrew his gaze and told the driver to go. His phone vibrated; a message from her said:

"Home safe. Get some rest early."

He replied with a "Mhm." He typed another line, deleted it, typed again, and deleted it once more. Finally, he just typed two words: Good night.

She replied instantly with a smiley face. He placed the phone face down on his lap. As the car drove on, he couldn't tell if it was the sound of the wipers or if something in his mind was swinging back and forth.

After arriving home, he didn't turn on the lights. He stood in the entryway and took off his shoes; the floor felt a bit cold against his bare feet.

The suitcase lay in the middle of the living room, but he didn't open it to unpack. He sat on the sofa, found the remote, and turned on the TV. There was no sound; the screen showed a shopping channel selling juicers.

He stared at the apple being sliced for a while and realized he was still thinking about her: thinking of how her eyes lit up when she saw the coral underwater at Wuzhizhou Island, and how she didn't care that her dress was half-soaked while stepping in the water barefoot on the beach at Yalong Bay. The shopping channel on the screen switched to an advertisement, and he turned off the TV. He made a bowl of fire chicken noodles for a late-night snack; the spiciness exploded in his mouth, making sweat break out on his forehead.

His phone lit up. It was a confirmation of the signing time for the Wuhan Warehouse from Kim Young-jun.

Another notification was the final version of the Guangzhou factory investment plan from Kim Sang-woo, asking the Chairman to review it.

After replying to these two messages, he sent a message to Park Min-ji.

"Let's have lunch together tomorrow. The usual place."

She replied quickly: "Okay."

He finished the noodles and went to shower, the sound of the water drowning out the rain outside. After drying his hair, he lay on the bed; the pillows were still arranged exactly as they were before he left.

The sheets had been changed, and the scent of laundry detergent hadn't fully dissipated—it was citrus-scented.

The coconut scent from the sheets in Sanya was gone. He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, smelling only citrus.

He didn't know when he closed his eyes. He woke up after 2 AM and couldn't fall back asleep for a long time.

The rain was still falling outside. He picked up his phone again and scrolled through the investment plan Kim Sang-woo had sent; he had only skimmed it earlier.

He confirmed a few figures and sent a reply to Kim Young-jun confirming the signing time.

He replied to Kim Sang-woo:

"Reviewed. It's fine. Sign the Wuhan Warehouse first; we'll push the Guangzhou factory after the Wuhan Warehouse is established."