As Hea-Jung came inside, she already spotted Joon-won sitting by a window having a local delicacy. It seemed like he didn't even bother waiting, but she had no problem as she just went and sat opposite to him while calling for a waiter to order for herself and Han Ju.
She said as she sat opposite Joon-won, who was silently enjoying the food, "Little brother, you didn't even bother to show me some face by waiting. It feels so bad brother." With an eyebrow raised.
Joon-won didn't bother to immediately reply either. He slowly chewed the food in his mouth while enjoying the flavor and only said after drinking some water.
"Did you forget I haven't eaten anything until now? I had no breakfast and you want me to wait while you and your assistant talk something about me behind my back? I'm not that gentlemanly." He knew both of them spoke about him just now when Hea-Jung said they needed to speak about shooting. It was easy to see through her lie and not only that, but he saw the stares he got from Han Ju herself during the morning ride and when they got down before. So it was pretty obvious to him.
Hea-Jung, a grandmaster at the art of being thick-skinned, simply smiled and replied, "What are you talking about, little brother? We obviously spoke about the shooting schedules, as they had to change a little. Now, do you like the local dishes? I enjoyed them a lot." Trying to also skillfully change the subject.
As Joon-won responded, even Han Ju got closer to them and heard the conversation, "Don't think you can fool me like others, Hea-Jung. I obviously know that both of you talked something bad about me just now and honestly, I don't care. And the dishes? There is a pretty good variety of meat here. So all is well." And continued to eat some more.
Han Ju stepped forward and said, "Don't think too much, Joon-won. We only talked about the shooting and schedule she has. After all, her role is important." Even after Hea-Jung telling her to calm down and not talk, she didn't like Joon-won at all. He was arrogant and didn't even bother to hide it. She felt Hea-Jung was losing her mind a little and so didn't think about her warning earlier.
Joon-won didn't respond or even look at her, he simply continued to chew the food and after he did, he looked at Hea-Jung who was a.but worried about the situation. She didn't know what Han Ju was up to and knew her words won't get through anymore.
"Hea-Jung, it looks like you don't even know how to manage your people at all. They really have no basic manners at all. Even if you feel like they are family and respect them, you should still correct them and if needed, punish them a little too. Since you aren't teaching this delusional assistant of yours, I'll do it for you, as a little brother." With a small smile on his face.
He looked completely different as he said that, it was the king inside him who just spoke, the king who laid dormant until then. He looked over an entire kingdom and knew a thing or two about managing people, so he didn't like the attitude Han Ju just showed. Before this when others looked down on him in the past months, this didn't come out as he didn't care, but he started to realize that people were taking his easy-going self a little too leniently, especially people like Han Ju who had a good look of the outside world unlike the kids back at University.
Joon-won stood up and slowly walked towards Han Ju, who was a few feet away from them. He stopped right before her and looked down at her, as she was a few inches smaller than him. His eyes glowed a little as the small smile widened, too. He slowly spoke as his voice carried immense power and pressure unlike ever before after he came into the world.
"Little girl, who do you think you are to lie in front of me like that, even after I said let it go. Do you want to continue your dilly dally actions that much? Do you want me to tell you what you guys might have said about me out there? I tried to be lenient and easygoing as this one week is pretty important to me but it looks like bugs like you are everywhere in society. So do you want me to tell you what you said?" He looked like a beast ready to pounce on Han Ju.
Han Ju, at that point, was scared. She didn't know what got into the kid in front of her but he seemed like a completely different person. As a person from a fairly good background and had her fair share of meeting with powerful people when following Hea-Jung and her mother before that, she felt scared and dread when facing Joon-won. It was like she was a puny ant before him and just wanted to kowtow for forgiveness.
She tried to reply but her mouth just went dry and she stood standing like that, petrified. Joon-won noticed her state, so he continued, "I have been noticing your actions since morning. Earlier today when you picked me up, you already had some kind of resentment towards me as if I stole your favorite doll. And it got worse on the ride here. So you must have spoken about me being 'disrespectful' towards Hea-Jung and wanted her to put me in place. Am I right? Now Hea-Jung, do you think I am disrespectful towards you" he asked Hea-Jung at the end while turning towards her. Hea-Jung just blankly shook her head in response. Her mind still didn't fully register his sudden change.
"See that girl right there has no problem with it. So who the f*ck are you to squeeze between and try to reprimand me? Seeing how idiotic you are, you must have also thought, I like her or she likes me. Do you think I would go around liking girls on random? Do you think I'm like other men? So you better throw those ideas in a trash bin before things get out of hand. The only reason I'm still talking to you is that you are Hea-Jung's assistant, if not your nothing. So keep that in mind when you are around me." And slowly walked back to his seat before he continued to eat in silence.
He took the time to calm down a little and get his mind back to normal. He hated this side of him. It was not Joon-won or his old self, Zhen Su, who spoke. It was the King of Zen. As the King, he had a different aura and persona to show in front of his people and it was more domineering than the artist Zhen Su or the dead Joon-won.
The waiter came out with the food after a minute and noticed the awkward atmosphere around the table. He noticed Han Ju, who stood with a pale face, and Hea-Jung, who also had a blank look. He contemplated a little if it was the right time to serve the food, but did so after noticing the calm Joon-won enjoying his food.
Hea-Jung woke up from the blank state when she heard the plate being kept and the food aroma. She looked at Joon-won, who was still calmly eating his own food, and then at Han Ju, who stood there like a ghost. She knew Han Ju got struck very hard. Han Ju was a nice woman who cared a lot about her, but there were also times she took things too far because she cared about her and she got schooled this time when she did.
So she simply stood up and shook Han Ju a little, waking her up before taking her to another table a bit far away. She asked the waiter to bring her food there instead of the other table and also told Han Ju to take her time to calm down as they were eating. After making sure Han Ju was doing better she sat back in her seat and took a deep breath to once again calm herself a little before she started eating her own food.
In the middle of the dead silent dinner, she decided to break the ice and said to Joon-won, "I think we should open up a restaurant back at Arios for exclusively this food. What do you think, little brother?" She was testing the waters after that huge tsunami.
Joon-won took the final bite of his food and said after drinking some water, "We can try to open one. The food in this town looks good and there might be quite a lot of people who would want to try it too." With a small smile like he always had. Hea-Jung felt relieved when he responded normally like he always did.
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