Chapter 71 - Change of Scenery

After a while,Ryu looked up to see his assistant sitting quietly and staring at the tablet with a blank expression on his face.He smiled looking at the stupefied face and softly asked,"So?"

Assistant Yang just looked at Ryu stood up and with a deep bow said,"No Sir,I have no suggestions or objections.Thank you is all I can say."

Assistant Yang composed himself and quickly left for the conference room to finish preparations.He felt as if he was walking on cloud nine and nothing could bring him down!Twelve years ago,he had chosen loyalty towards his young boss over his own ambition and career.Today,Ryu Long had proved once again,he was a man of his words.He reminisced to that day which he clearly remembered to this day.

12 years ago in a small office.

An 18 year old man was sitting and staring at him.In a quiet but lethal voice he asked, "Mr Yang,what do have you decided?Are you going to take up the offer that the Board Of Directors have offered?Or are you going to come over to my side?You have trained under my father for a while now.Does that mean you can take his place?"

The country had been seeing a surge of talented youth that year and the Board of Directors at Lance Inc. had wanted to use the opportunity of Elder Long's death to give a new face of youth to the company.Assistant Yang had then been then working as Vice President and was chosen to be the contender for this.In reality Mr Yang was only a front.The directors had actually planned to use him to kick out the Long heir from the company.By making use of his ambition ,they actually wanted their desires fulfilled.

Yang had no desire to be a puppet.He was a smart man and had no need to get into company politics.He had already typed out his resignation and was on his way to hand it over when he was apprehended by this young man an hour ago.In this last hour,Ryu Long had changed his perspective.The fore planning and detail oriented proposal along with the employee benefitting approach that he had laid out was enough to change his mind.He was indeed going to participate in company politics.But not on behalf of the Board of Directors.He was going to side with Ryu Long

Taking a deep breath,he put aside his own career and prepared to stand by this man and his broad thinking.In a calm voice he said,"I am with you...Boss"

Ryu Long had then given a smile and acknowledged this gesture for the respect it was.After this Ryu explained his plan to slowly overtake the reins back and together they gained back what actually belonged to Ryu.

As he had prepared to leave,Ryu Long had said one thing to Mr Yang's back,"I will remember the sacrifice you have made for me.You had no reason to.I promise you one thing,just like you will help me gain what rightfully belongs to me,I will see that you get the place that rightfully belongs to you."

Back to the present.

Assistant Yang had never brought up the promise because he never needed to.Ryu had always treated him with utmost respect and generosity.Not once had he had a chance to regret his choice.

But somewhere,in the darkest corners of his heart that he had not been aware of,it seems he had remembered this promise and expected a return.As he had read the email,he had felt joy but he had also felt a bit ashamed when he remembered the promise.All these years he had been proud for standing with Ryu Long selflessly but who knew his heart had indeed harbored a selfish desire.By fulfilling this unknown desire Ryu Long had unintentionally made Assistant Yang self reflect but also made him even more loyal to Ryu Long.

The contents of the email were very simple and divided into 2 parts.The first part contained a share agreement.Over the last 12 years,Ryu Long had transferred 1% of the company's shares to Assistant Yang's name each year.So now he was the owner of 12% of the company's shares.

The second was an agreement making Assistant Yang the Interim CEO for the next 2 years while Ryu moved to country A.

Ryu Long had long planned to move to country A once he had absolute guardianship of his son.But with Alicia's entry,Assistant Yang had expected a change in plans.However he had thought that Neil Long would be taking the post of Interim CEO.Shaking himself out of his jumbled thoughts,Assistant Yang continued to work.

Ryu Long was currently in a conference call with his director and the person who was being accused of embezzlement.The local police had already been informed and investigation was to be started.Unaware of the turmoil he had created within his assistant,Ryu spoke a little more and put an end to the call.He was very sure that the director was using that man as a scapegoat and already privately messaged the police to conduct a thorough and deeper investigation.

Putting aside his work hr thought back to his plan for moving to country A. Lance Inc. had developed tremendously over the past decade.But he had lost a large part of his youth in bringing the company to where it was.Now he planned to take a break.He wasn't going to leave business until his last breath but he wanted to spend some quality time with his son and now his beautiful wife.This place held many sad memories for all of them.A change of scene was required.He had started planning his move more than a year ago knowing that Leona Knight would certainly try to fight back and take Ru.Now that threat had been terminated.His son needed a change of scenery and so did he.