Start-Up

Acqhire

In-jae tried to focus on her computer screen, but the commotion in the hallway was too distracting. Heaving a frustrated sigh, she got up from her desk and went out into the hall.

"What's going on?" she asked a member of her team.

"It's bad in there, Ms. Won," her staff member shook her head, "2STO fired Samsan Tech's CEO and designer. Only the three developers are going to Silicon Valley."

In-jae's eyes widened. How could this have happened?

She stepped away from the crowd and rushed down the hallway as she dialed his number.

"Where are you?" she demanded.

"Rooftop," came his short reply, and she knew immediately that things were bad indeed.

In-jae hung up and practically ran to the elevator, impatiently shifting her weight from one foot to another as she willed the elevator to take her to the rooftop faster.

Finally, she pushed her way out into the rooftop and found Ji-pyeong pacing angrily.

"What the hell happened?" she asked as she realized she had never seen him this angry before.

"Dal-mi didn't run the contract by me," he said as he paced back and forth. "It's a fucking acqhire."

In-jae blinked. Suddenly the events of Demo Day made sense.

"You mean if we had won, he would've taken my developers?"

Ji-pyeong shook his head in frustration, "No, because you would never have agreed to sign that contract."

He reached into his coat pocket and practically shoved into her hands the copy of the contract he had borrowed from Sa-ha.

In-jae scanned the contract quickly and clucked her tongue, "So many red flags here. You're right, I never would have signed this. Alex clearly took advantage of their inexperience."

Ji-pyeong's hands were on his head and he gave out a frustrated scream. "I could have prevented this! This shouldn't have happened!"

She looked through the contract more thoroughly, and shook her head, "Damn it, there's a penalty. I'll bet they didn't think anything of this clause."

He stopped pacing and stood in front of her. "Do you see any way out of it? Tell me there's something you see that I might have missed," he practically pleaded.

Even if this was her sister's company they were talking about, In-jae knew how much this meant to him, that Ji-pyeong saw this as his personal failure as their mentor. So she took a look at the contract again from the very beginning. She combed through each and every paragraph, until finally she looked up and slowly shook her head.

"This contract is iron-clad. If only they hadn't signed yet, there are some things they could have negotiated. But the fact that it's signed, there's nothing else they can do," she said sadly.

Ji-pyeong's shoulders sank in defeat. "I know, that's also the conclusion I came to. If you can't beat them, join them," he said dejectedly.

With a sigh, In-jae went up to Ji-pyeong and hugged him tight. She felt him tuck her head under his chin as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I could have stopped it, you know," he said sadly, "But Kim Yong-san thought I was just trying to bring them down, like I had done with his brother. So they refused to call Dal-mi and Do-san to stop the meeting."

In-jae held him tighter, "Well then, there really wasn't anything you could do. You and I both know that the real world isn't always a good place and you can't trust everyone. It's a lesson they now had to learn the hard way."

He sighed deeply and she rested her head against his chest to listen to the steady beat of his heart. "They're going to look to me for a way out of this. And I'm going to have to tell them that there's nothing they can do."

She pulled away so she could look up at him. "I'll be here when you're done," she promised, and he leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips. 

"Thank you," he said, and she nodded, resting her head on his chest again. "For now, let's just stay this way until you're ready."

And as they held each other tight, neither of them noticed Ms. Yoon close the door to the rooftop with a small smile on her face.