Start-Up

Demo Day

Ji-pyeong watched the proceedings of Demo Day from the meeting room, but he could hardly focus as he kept touching his neck.

"Why were you so harsh on my brother? Tell me. Why did you kill my brother?"

He squeezed his eyes shut as he remembered how it felt to have Kim Yong-san's arm pressing down on his neck.

"I didn't expect anything from you, but I thought you'd at least remember him."

"Hello. I'm Won In-jae, CEO of Injae Company," he heard In-jae's voice so he opened his eyes. Ji-pyeong smiled as he watched her give a flawless presentation. Even if it had been interrupted, he was proud of the way she handled the situation.

As she stepped off the stage, Ji-pyeong found himself tuning out the rest of the presentations as Park Dong-Chun's words echoed in his mind.

"Kim Yong-san's brother is Kim Dong-Su, the CEO of Charging Partner."

"I heard Kim Dong-Su took his own life a little after Demo Day."

He shut his eyes again as he remembered his line of questioning on that fateful day. He had seen how nervous Dong-Su had been, but he had been relentless in his questioning. He chalked it up to nerves. He never expected that things turned out that way for him.

He tried his best to focus when Dal-mi came on screen for her presentation, and half-heartedly noted that she was doing well. His interest was piqued when Alex suggested a live demo between the two apps, and he had mixed feelings when he saw that Samsan Tech's app worked while Injae Company's app failed.

Ji-pyeong heaved a heavy sigh and gathered his things, including the folder that held Charging Partner's files. He left the meeting room before anyone could see him and drove home.

As he entered his apartment, he sank unto his couch and pulled out his phone.

"I need you," he typed, then tossed his phone aside and leaned back with his eyes shut.

In-jae felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, so she took it out and saw Ji-pyeong's text. She had known that something was wrong when she didn't see him at the judges' table and Ms. Yoon said he wasn't there because of a personal matter. It had taken all of her energy not to get distracted by that, but after her presentation, she fretted over what was wrong.

She faced her team now and said, "Let's all take the day off. You all deserve to take a break after working so hard for Demo Day, so go home and rest. We'll regroup tomorrow."

In-jae then walked to her car quickly. Ji-pyeong would never text her something like that if he was still at Sandbox, so she was sure that he was home. She drove there as fast as she could and let herself in his apartment. There, she found him sitting on the couch with his eyes closed.

She rushed to his side and touched his shoulder. "Ji-pyeong? What happened?"

He kept his eyes closed as he whispered, "I might have killed a man."

Her eyes widened in horror, "What?? What are you saying?!"

Ji-pyeong sighed and opened his eyes. He sat up straight, handed her the folder that held Charging Partner's files, and told her everything. How Kim Yong-San accosted him in the elevator, how he had acted on that fateful Demo Day, and how Kim Dong-Su had soon after taken his own life.

When he had finished, he looked at her pleadingly, "So tell me. Do I have a man's blood in my hands?" And he finally broke down in tears.

In-jae's heart broke for him as she tossed the folder aside and gathered him into her arms. She held him tight as he cried. "You couldn't have known that would happen," she said soothingly. "It's not your fault, okay?"

"But did I have to be so harsh?" Ji-pyeong asked brokenly as he looked at her with tear-stained cheeks.

She reached out and wiped his tears away. "Ji-pyeong, from what you've told me and what I've read in his file, you pointed out things that needed to be addressed anyway. If you hadn't, someone else on that panel would have. I would have done it, if I had been on that panel. It was your job to critique him. Not everyone has the stomach for criticism."

He took a deep breath as she cupped his face with both hands and looked into his eyes. "Han Ji-pyeong. You are the kindest, smartest, strongest, most hard-working man I know. There isn't an ounce of malice in your body. The only way you can say that you killed that man is if you went into that Demo Day determined to make his business fail. But that's not you and it will never be you," she said emphatically.

He gave a rueful smile, "I dunno. I've always told the Samsan Tech guys that they would fail. Isn't that bringing their business down?"

She smirked, "Yes, but they proved you wrong. They won today." She rolled her eyes and her competitiveness made him laugh a little. 

Seeing him laugh made her smile and she looked into his eyes earnestly. "So you see? There are people who are brought down by criticism, but there are others who are fueled by it. You can't know how anyone will take it, so you just have to keep giving it because that's your job. And you are damned good at your job."

He took a deep breath, then pulled her into his arms and held her tight. He smiled as he felt her arms wrap around his waist and she hugged him tightly. "Thank you," he said, kissing the top of her head. "And I'm sorry about Demo Day."

She pulled away from him and asked, "So you watched?!" He nodded, and she exclaimed, "Thank goodness. I've been dying to talk to you about it. Could you tell how angry I was over that live demo??"

Ji-pyeong sat back with a smile as he listened to In-jae tell him just how she felt when her presentation was interrupted and what she was planning to do moving forward. How did he get so lucky to have this amazing woman by his side?

"I love you, In-jae," he blurted out.

In-jae stopped mid-sentence, and felt her cheeks grow warm. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw how Ji-pyeong was looking at her with so much love in his eyes. She never thought that anyone would look at her that way, nor love her this way. But more than that, she never thought she was capable of giving back that kind of love. The way she thought of Ji-pyeong every day proved to her that she was capable of caring for someone other than herself.

"I love you too, Ji-pyeong," she said softly, then leaned in to give him a kiss.

It was a deep kiss, filled with so much promise, and they held each other tightly as they let the rest of the world melt away.