To Love You Again

As soon as Shinichi Tanaka stepped out of the restroom, he saw a masked man standing not far away from the entrance of the restroom.

"..."

Shinichi wondered if there was a special event somewhere in this building other than theirs. Did this man got lost on the way?

But then the man turned to him. "Greetings, Sir Tanaka."

!!!

Shinichi jolted and looked at the man. "Yes...?"

The man took off his mask. A handsome and emotionless face was revealed. "My name is Lu Jin. I apologize for meeting you so abruptly like this."

"...Yes, it is indeed abrupt." 

Who would wait in front of the restroom just to talk to someone? It was not like Shinichi was hiding.

Being the gentleman that he was, Shinichi gestured to walk further to the hallway to distance themselves from the restroom. 

Lu Jin followed. 

Their steps were slow. 

Shinichi started speaking. "I deeply apologize, I am not a frequent visitor of Country C so I don't know a lot of people..." He politely hinted that he had no idea who Lu Jin was or what business he had with him.

Lu Jin expected it and nodded. "I have sent a couple of proposals to you before."

Shinichi: "????" 

His mind turned as he tried to recall the proposals he have read recently.

"Unfortunately, you rejected it."

"Oh."

"So I figured it is better to meet you personally and talk to you about my proposal." 

Lu Jin stopped. He looked at Shinichi. 

Shinichi halted as well.

He thought of the proposed projects that were sent to him but were rejected. There were too many to mention.

Lu Jin saw that Shinichi was still clueless about it. "I asked for your approval vote for the organization."

Shinichi's eyebrow rose. His vote? It did ring a bell. But that proposal did not have anything to do with his field, so it was brushed down.

"Unfortunately, the offer was not enticing enough and you rejected it. I believe it is because the benefits that I listed for you are not enough to get your vote. Am I right, Sir Tanaka?"

Realization dawned upon Shinichi. His eyes became firm as he shook his head. "I am sorry, Mister Lu, but I do not accept any kind of bribes. All proposals has to pass through the underwriting conditions. I prefer to have our company clean."

"Sir Tanaka, there are no dirty dealings here. My resources are clean and I am sure you will benefit a lot."

"That's not what I am talking about," Shinichi stubbornly explained. "I created my company with my own hands and with my partner's ability. Everything we got is through and from a fair deal. I don't want to use any outside help which has got nothing to do with the company without my partner's approval."

Lu Jin's eyes were quiet. "Even if the offer is to help you start in the South?"

..!!!

Shinichi was stumped.

'This man is offering me help to start my company in the South?'

The South was one of the places where Oriental men like him had a hard time to root in, unless they have a deep and expansive network linking them to the leaders in the South, who could lend them a helping hand in stabilizing their roots in the turbulent yet highly profitable market there.

This was very a tempting offer.

Shinichi fell silent.

However, it only took a minute before he declined the offer. 

Shinichi was a man of principles. He created Simsung while adhering to his principles and moral bottom line. Simsung was a very clean company that only depended on their company's top notch products and services. The partnership he had were very few, but he trusted them all.

To him, Simsung was a holy ground.

If Shinichi accepted the man's offer, it was the same as abandoning his principles which had been the foundation of Simsung. 

He did not know of the man and this was only a verbal offer. Moreover, the fact that Shinichi had declined the proposal previously meant that the other's proposal did not fit the suitable conditions for Simsung's partnership.

Shinichi shook his head. He said sincerely, "I deeply apologize, Mister Lu. I do not mean to offend, but I do have my own reasons for not accepting your offer. I hope you understand. However, if you have another offer that falls in the scope of my company's operations, I will try my best to consider it."

Lu Jin's thick eyelashes lowered.

Shinichi's answer was clear. 

Unless Lu Jin offered a fair deal wherein Shinichi's company and Lu Jin's side could benefit from fairly and reasonably in the industry, then Shinichi might take it. 

However, his company's scope did not fall on the other's field, but on entirely another industry. Lu Jin could not just make up an IT proposal out of nowhere.

Lu Jin's cold eyes stared at Shinichi. "Nothing can change your mind? I can still revise the benefits on the list."

"I am sorry, but my answer is still the same."

Lu Jin nodded. "Then you leave me no choice."

His cold yet polite tone changed. Shinichi sensed that something was amiss with what he said.

"I must get your vote of approval no matter what, no matter which method."

"...Are you threatening me?" 

Shinichi was no fool. Based from these words, this man was planning something against him. 

The gentleman looked alertly at Lu Jin's cold eyes.

Lu Jin nodded as if there was no problem about it. His tone remained unchanged like he was merely telling something everyone knew. "Yes. Every company has its dirt, even the so-called cleanest ones. I have the means to dig into the dirty laundry and present it to you. Depending on your response, I can see to it that everyone will come to know it..."

Shinichi frowned, feeling irked and indignant. "Mister Lu, please have some respect. I can't believe you are saying this to my face. How rude!"

"I am merely saying facts."

"No matter how much you dig, my company is clean," Shinichi said proudly. "Also, your words are merely verbal threats. You do not even have a material on your hands, yet you're already blackmailing?"

He was confident that his Simsung had never done any shady dealings.

"Tanaka Group is a big consortium. It surely has many dirts hidden within."

"You!" 

Shinichi's back straightened, alarmed.

If this lunatic was going to target Tanaka Group, then Shinichi was not confident to say the same thing.

As the man said, the bigger and more successful a business was, the greater the dirt they keep under the carpet.

Shinichi took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Then you're wrong. I am just an heir by name. The person who is in power in Tanaka Group is still my father. You should not hold this against me." He then added to make his statement stronger. "I don't care what you do to the Tanaka Group."

Lu Jin's face was still serene. The dim lighting fell on his handsome face. "We'll see to it. Based on my investigation, your father is quite controlling, isn't he? We are not sure what he is going to do once the Group's stock started falling, because his son refused to cooperate to something that can only be beneficial to them."

Shinichi's face turned dark. 

How long had this man been watching him and his father? Who was this Lu JIn? 

"I do not mean to offend you. In a couple of days, I'll send a notice again. If you change your mind, then please respond to us. The benefits I listed are still in effect. I hope you see the true value of this business deal." Lu Jin spoke to appease him as he saw Shinichi's dark face.