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Jason snorted. “My car’s worth more than a billion won.” He’d guessed on the exchange rate, but at that level, it was close enough. “It merits a big tip.”
Seong Woo had asked Jason to meet him for lunch on his last day in town. Since he was staying at the Sunset Grand, it was easiest just to meet him there. Plus, their security was enough to satisfy even Seong Hyeon. There wouldn’t be anyone inside the hotel or restaurant that didn’t have any business being there.
Jason was excited they were having lunch, just the two of them, since so much of their time together during Seong Woo’s short stay had been business. It made sense that they were friends since Tae Hyun and Yoo Mi were so close. Plus, Jason really connected with Seong Woo. He figured it was because the man had spent so many years in California for college and grad school. He was still very much Korean, as opposed to Jason being Korean-American. But Seong Woo was Americanized enough that Jason related better to him than most other Koreans from Korea. It didn’t hurt that Seong Woo had a model’s good looks and athlete’s body, even if he was depressingly straight.
After Jason checked in at the hotel restaurant’s host station, he was led through the main dining room to a section of the pool deck set with outdoor seating. It wasn’t warm enough for sunbathing, but a few pasty, die-hard tourists were attempting it anyway. Maybe they were from somewhere that sixty-five degrees was considered warm. Seong Hyeon peeled off soon after they were outside to take a seat at the bar while the host brought him to Seong Woo’s table.
“Here you are, Mr. Park,” the host said as she pulled out Jason’s chair. “Enjoy your lunch.”
Seong Woo chuckled as Jason sat. “Does the service staff here always greet you by name?”
“I’m a movie star. A lot of people know my name.” Jason snorted. “Besides, you can’t tell me you don’t get the same thing everywhere you go in Seoul, Cho Seong Woo.”
Seong Woo graciously nodded. “Fair enough. I–” He stopped when the phone sitting on the table dinged. He glanced at it and frowned. “What? Already?”
Trouble in paradise?”
Seong Woo half-rolled his eyes and shook his head as he picked up his phone. “No, just wedding stuff.” He typed out a quick reply and set the phone down. “Sometimes I wish we’d just gone with a wedding castle.”
Jason chuckled. “I’m sorry. A what?”
“It’s a Korean thing. Weddings are different back there. All the stuff we’re doing? The big ceremony with the attendants and fancy reception? That’s all Western shit. Normally, we go to a place specializing in weddings, and we’re in and out in a couple hours. It’s a whole industry back home.”
Jason smirked. “Sounds romantic.”
Seong Woo shrugged. “I’ve been to American weddings. Don’t tell me it needs to take a whole day to be romantic.”
“I know, right?” Jason snorted. “I went to a Mexican wedding where they had a full mass in both English and Spanish. And they had an open tequila bar before dinner, which they didn’t even serve until ten PM. It was a long fucking day.”
Seong Woo laughed. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that with us. Yoo Mi may want a fairy tale wedding, but she knows her guests will get cranky if she keeps them too long.” He smiled. “Anyway, I appreciate you meeting with me today.
Jason frowned. “Meeting with you? I thought we were having lunch.”
“Alright. Thank you for meeting with me for lunch.”
Jason shook his head. “No way. Nobody says meetingwithme for lunch. Meetingwithme means business. And I know this can’t be business. Otherwise, Naomi will kill us for leaving her out.”
“Fine. Then call it personal business. I ordered you a Kingston, by the way.”
Jason had an uncomfortable flashback to the Kingston bottle Ji Hoon had added to his office bar for the express purpose of smoothing over Jason during their meetings. “So this is a bad news meeting, then?”
“Not exactly.” Seong Woo glanced over Jason’s shoulder. “Ah, here come drinks. How about we order lunch now so you don’t feel like I totally misled you.”
Jason snorted. “Okay, but I’m ordering the most expensive thing on the menu now.”
A server dropped off Jason’s neat Kingston and a vodka martini for Seong Woo. Jason didn’t order the most expensive thing on the menu because it was lunch, and he didn’t need all that food. He settled for the pan-seared tuna on a bed of steamed greens instead.
Seong Woo held up his glass to make a toast. “To successful business ventures.”
Jason lifted his Kingston in salute before taking a sip. “Okay, do we do small talk first, or do we get right to whatever’s going on that you had to trick me into meeting with you?”
Seong Woo chuckled. “Let’s save the small talk for after.” He took another sip of his martini before setting the glass down. “I wanted to meet because my analysts have been hearing about strange things happening in the market lately.”
“Strange things?”
Seong Woo nodded. “Nothing definite or official, mind you. But it seems like KBR might be liquidating some of its assets.”
Jason nodded. “Okay. Pretend I don’t have an MBA and explain why that’s of interest to me.”
