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He had a cute smile, accented by the dimples of his cheeks – but that’s not the only thing that Jin Do Jun has going for him.
Rachel likes to think of herself as a realistic person, not a sceptical one. And there must be a reason why Mason would willingly uproot everything they had in New York to come over to South Korea.
Since Mason is not the kind of man who would be swayed just by the thought of his roots, or his hometown. That was not the boss she had come to know, who would boldly go against the flow of the market.
She doesn’t even remember Jin Do Jun until they meet again in South Korea, and then she recalls that day Mason made his movie investment decision after losing a donut.
As it turned out, sure, the Titanic was a great hit.
The cheerful youth, bright eyes hiding all his secrets, confesses to being the criminal, “But in exchange, don’t you think I’ve more than paid him back?”
She likes his sass, this young fellow, Mason’s ‘good Korean fellow’, and she almost tells him to call her ‘Noona’. But that would be overstepping and too quickly. He’s a bit young for her usual considerations.
Rachel mulls over her reply for a moment, before folding her arms and conceding. “I suppose this is the first time a recruiter has got Mason’s favourite donut shop for him.”
The New York native girl really isn’t completely sold on the idea of their new company, ‘Miracle’, but as she hands over the documents in the clipboard, “Well, Do Jun-ssi, if you sign here, you’ll be confirming Oh Se Hyeon as our CEO.” – as she does this, and he smiles, Rachel supposes that it doesn’t hurt to stick around.
Even if just to see what her boss has in store.
Maybe, just maybe, she’s a little impressed by this rich family boy who prepositioned an experienced Wall Street trader with a suitcase of bills.
It was a large sum of money, but in the grand scheme of things that she’s seen Mason do, was it really enough to entice her boss?
She’s also a little bit annoyed at her own slip-up, that the flowers she picked for her boss could be misused by the rich family that looms over her newest mini-boss.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel sees Do Jun tromp into Mason’s office, place the clipboard on the table and lean his whole body weight onto the table.
She can’t help the smile that leaks onto her face. The audacity of him, which knows no bounds, and her boss who humours him from start to finish.
A shiver runs up her spine. She can’t wait to see Do Jun press all of Mason’s buttons. It won’t go well, but it will definitely be entertaining.
This mini-boss would make the office very lively, and if he could stick around, that would be good. Mason was a good boss, in Rachel’s opinion, unfortunately, he saw the world in figures and made most people discardable.
Enough times, as an M&A man, he had arm-twisted hapless owners into giving him control for pittance and threats. In between his light-hearted jokes and complete faith in that particular sugar-glazed donut…
He wasn’t an easy person to work with, but here was a young man twenty years junior trying to be his partner.
Yeah. Interesting, is how she would describe it. Another part of, that Mason put up with him. Rachel’s never seen anyone try like this, in the bold manner of a young startup.
-
He’s Mason in New York, Oh-daepyo in Korea and Mason Oh everywhere else in between. So he has to give some credit to the young fellow who has given him a name here.
In the eyes of the Korean media, he’s clearly an American interloper come to strip their country of its assets. In the eyes of his American colleagues, he might be an American Dream man, but he’s not quite an American either.
Mason isn’t quite so sure when all of this ever mattered – so maybe he resented it a little when Jin Do Jun asked him, “Are you a Korean?”
Granted, because he was the one who cursed after losing his Midtown donut, he was the one who gave the game away. But he didn’t want to be reminded of how easily he would stand out.
Or maybe by his age he didn’t care so much anymore.
Rachel is different from him, because she’s always done her best to own her heritage. Though she never says it, Mason often suspects that she asked to be his assistant because he looked Asian.
She’s one of those Asian-American beauties who doesn’t mind explaining to the partner next door that she was born there, in America, that yes, she’s effectively bilingual because her heritage is important to her.
Anyway, he was the only one in the office that she could practice and keep her Korean up to date with. In the 1990s, where was there a chance of learning a foreign language for free?
He humoured her even as she learnt to sharpen her Korean against his wit, and the very way she code-switched between Korean and English began to stab at his existence.
Maybe he liked to torture himself, or maybe he recognised that she was putting in so much effort for something that she might never use with anyone else.
Now here in Korea – when she calls him “Boss” or “Mason”, she’s the only one to do so, again.
And they speak to each other in that same combination of English and Korean.
It’s like a code, something kept, something precious.
One evening they’re working and Do Jun has fallen asleep at their big table while doing his university pre-readings. Who knew that the star of Seoul National Law School was not only a genius, but also hardworking.
Rachel is earmarking the bundles with red and green based on the usual red and green flags, cashflow, operating leverage, price-to-earnings. These have to be ready before Do Jun wakes up and heads home.
Mason flicks through another set of company prospectus, where he decides if the company is worth considering, or not. If he does, Rachel will do more research and they can make a better decision.
While Do Jun speculates correctly, Mason decides the steady investments.
“Hey Boss,” his long-time assistant, speaking in English like she’s asking for permission. “Hmm?”
“Why did we come to Korea?” A million-dollar question, and wouldn’t he like to know too. “I mean, I’ve always been curious about the place, but what about you? I always thought you didn’t like it here.”
He looks up at her, mild and one eyebrow arched as if to say ‘do you have to go this way’.
“Why can’t I be curious?”
Rachel nearly snorts, reverting back midsentence to Korean, “Boss, you, moving because you’re curious? No way – that’s not my Boss.”
Mason shrugs, before handing her his coat.
With practised ease, she lays the coat over Do Jun, who unsuccessfully attempts to sink further into his casebook.
“But that’s all this is. Curiosity.”
She didn’t snort this time, but she actually laughed – “Curiosity?”
He hummed, pointedly avoiding her gaze, feeling the way her eyes sweep over Do Jun and the table, then him and the Seoul skyline and their neighbourhood which included a Midtown donut kiosk.
Rachel reached out to pat him on the shoulder. “Sure, let’s call this curiosity.”
She flashed him a winning smile before he could roll up his prospectus to smack her – because she says this in Korean for a reason “And don’t worry, I won’t say anything to our Do Jun-i.”