CH72 | DI

The next day.

Still sighing heavily, I was engrossed in research when suddenly a printed document appeared in my field of view.

I looked up to see Dobby standing there.

“This is a rebuttal to Medallion’s report. Take a look at it.”

Medallion is the most recent shark to approach Epicura. They presented an 85-page management improvement proposal, demanding its full implementation. They claimed that accepting this proposal would raise the stock price from $48 to $80.

Of course, it’s an absurd claim.

They had merely employed investment banks skilled in reverse engineering to inflate the figures.

Goldman is the reverse engineering expert hired by Epicura.

Therefore, we must counter this report with our own reverse engineering.

In other words, it was a battle of reverse engineering versus reverse engineering.

Dobby was asking me to review the draft of this document.

How bothersome.

Understanding the CEO’s intentions takes precedence over these trivial tasks right now.

I glanced at the seat across from me.

There sat Chris, the associate assigned to the same team.

“Wouldn’t it be better if Senior Chris reviewed this? You have more experience than I do.”

“Once you’ve reviewed it, I’ll take a look,” he snapped without even turning around.

He still couldn’t admit his defeat.

Pierce had sided with me during the meeting, and I was the one who got to meet the CEO.

But hey, why argue about hierarchy?

Things are such a mess that it needs organizing anyway.

“Please, I need to prepare for my business trip.”

“This document is the preparation for the business trip.”

“I need to prepare materials that will help in the meeting with the CEO.”

Right, I’m the one meeting the CEO.

My situation is different from yours.

Even after I reminded him of this, Chris didn’t seem willing to back down easily.

Frowning deeply, he strode over to my desk.

“What exactly are you preparing?”

His attitude suggested he wanted to oversee my materials.

After scanning my screen, he scoffed.

“Why are you looking at restaurant reviews?”

I was combing through various review sites for information related to Harbor Lobster.

Sometimes, casting a wide net like this leads to unexpected clues.

“Shouldn’t you be refining materials that the CEO will actually read, rather than wasting time on nonsense like that?”

Well, he’s not wrong.

But I replied confidently.

“If the CEO asks, even casually, whether I’ve been to Harbor Lobster, it’d be incredibly rude if I know nothing.”

“Just say what little you know.”

“I know nothing. I’ve never been there.”

“What?”

“I have a shellfish allergy.”

Harbor Lobster is a lobster restaurant chain.

I have no reason to go there.

“At the very least, I need to know whether the restaurant is a buffet, what’s on the menu, and the overall ambiance so I can come up with a convincing lie.”

Chris frowned sourly and nodded at Dobby.

He meant he’d review the materials himself.

‘Having this guy around isn’t all bad, after all.’

Sure, it’s annoying to constantly establish the hierarchy, but if managed well, it’s like having twice the manpower.

It’s like having two Dobbys working for me.

“By the way, have you been to Harbor Lobster?”

“No.”

When I asked once, Chris furrowed his face as if he had been insulted and flipped through the papers roughly.

It seemed he didn’t even want to talk to me.

So, I asked Dobby instead.

“You?”

“Back in the day? I haven’t been there recently. That kind of place is for students, but now…”

Dobby trailed off.

I was curious about what he would say next, but it didn’t seem like he’d voluntarily reveal it.

“What kind of place?”

“You don’t know?”

“I told you, I’ve never been there.”

“Oh…”

Dobby darted his eyes around and then shrugged as he answered.

“It’s just a value-for-money restaurant, right? I make decent money now, so I don’t really need to go. If I feel like having lobster, there are much trendier places.”

For Epicura, it’s a lamentable situation.

Harbor Lobster was once a symbol of luxury in the 90s.

That was back in the heyday of family restaurants, though.

‘Still, it’s somewhat natural to look down on an outdated trend…’

But Dobby’s reaction bothered me.

It seemed like more than just the place being out of trend—there was a deeper sense of distance.

It was as if he felt he didn’t belong in such a place anymore.

‘Should I ask someone else?’

So this time, I asked people from other departments.

“Harbor Lobster? Well, back then, lobster was a big deal, but…”

“Why bother? The food there is just average, isn’t it? The ambiance too…”

“Haha, I graduated from places like that a long time ago. By the way, Sean, are you really not thinking about getting more fund investors?”

I sensed a similar vibe from others as I did with Dobby.

They seemed to look down on it while drawing a clear line of separation.

‘Did I pick the wrong people to ask?’

After all, Goldman employees are all high earners.

It’s natural for them to look down on a value-focused lobster chain.

So, I decided to go downstairs and ask the security guard.

He was a burly Black man in his 40s.

Perhaps out of boredom, he welcomed my question with enthusiasm.

“Harbor Lobster? I don’t go there much these days. Was it my birthday last time? Why?”

“I heard the vibe has changed a lot compared to before.”

“Not sure.”

The guard rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before shrugging.

“No idea. But do you go to Harbor Lobster? I thought you people eat fish raw.”

‘You people?’

It seemed he assumed all people with black hair were Japanese.

Well, it wasn’t surprising anymore.

“We eat it raw, steamed, and grilled.”

“Oh, you’re not Japanese? Then Chinese?”

“I’m Korean-American.”

I deliberately added the ‘American’ part.

My passport says I’m American, and I’ve lived here for over 20 years, yet I’m still treated as an outsider.

I’m used to it.

It’s a boundary drawn for all Asians.

“Haha, sorry! No offense meant. Still, you guys have it better than us, right?”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

Having black hair might be tough, but it’s not as tough as having Black skin.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind at all.”

“Haha, right. It’s just, Harbor Lobster has food people like me enjoy, so I was curious.”

“Food people like you enjoy?”

“Fried food.”

Food that ‘people like us’ enjoy, meaning fried dishes.

Somehow… I was starting to get a sense of it.

Returning to the department, I immediately grabbed my coat and informed Chris.

“I’m stepping out for dinner.”

“With a business trip around the corner, you have time to go out?”

“I’m going to Harbor Lobster. It’d be awkward to tell the CEO I’ve never been there.”

Once again, I used the ‘I’m meeting the CEO’ excuse to shut the associate’s mouth before leaving the department.

I had to see Harbor Lobster for myself.

As thick-skinned as I am, going to a restaurant alone feels awkward.

So I asked Rachel to have dinner with me, and we headed to the nearest Harbor Lobster location.

Surprisingly, there was only one branch in Manhattan.

“How many in your party?”

“Two.”

We were seated at a table near the entrance.

It was a pleasant spot by the window with an open view, but I frowned slightly and spoke cautiously.

“Sorry, but is there a seat further inside?”

“Inside? This is the best seat in the restaurant…”

The waiter seemed reluctant.

There was no obvious reason to refuse this table, so he didn’t want to put in extra effort.

If I left it at that, he would probably just say there were no empty seats.

“The airflow from the entrance is directly hitting this spot, and I happen to be very sensitive to cold.”

“…What?”

“It’s not great in terms of feng shui.”

“…What? Oh!”

The waiter initially looked baffled but soon nodded as if he understood and found us another table.

Sometimes being Asian worked to my advantage.

Ridiculous excuses like this often worked.

“Sorry, but this spot is also unsuitable. The partitions on both sides block the flow of energy. Could we try another seat?”

The waiter seemed to think I was peculiar but didn’t complain.

Rather than treating me as a troublesome customer, he regarded me as some curious species.

Framing feng shui as an ‘Asian cultural concept’ made him try his best to respect it.

After using feng shui as an excuse a couple more times, we finally settled at a table.

But as soon as I sat down, I had to bring up another awkward issue.

“Do you have any menu items safe for someone with a shellfish allergy?”

The waiter gave me a look as if I were insane.

He was probably wondering why someone with a shellfish allergy came to a lobster chain restaurant.

But he soon put on a professional smile and kindly responded.

“There are many items without seafood, but the equipment used may also have come in contact with other seafood. I’ll check with the kitchen to see if special preparation is possible.”

The service was excellent.

After consulting with the kitchen, the waiter recommended a pasta dish that posed no allergy risks.

“Are you sure about this? What if you have a reaction…”

Rachel asked worriedly, but I replied calmly.

“I have my EpiPen, so it’s fine.”

“But Sean, do you really believe in feng shui?”

We had eaten together many times before, but I had never shown this side of me, so Rachel was puzzled.

There was no need to lie to her, at least.

“No, not really. It’s just that this project is about Harbor Lobster, so I wanted to check a few things for myself.”

“Oh! You mean like their service? That waiter was incredibly nice earlier.”

Actually, all my antics were to observe the store’s atmosphere.

But there was no need to explain that in detail.

“By the way, Sean, I wanted to ask you something! Can you take a look at this?”

Rachel pulled a thick stack of documents out of her large tote bag.

As expected, it was about rapamycin—the first treatment we would recommend to patients.

“Well… I have to explain the side effects in my own words, but there are some things the documents don’t make clear… Having a med school graduate as a colleague really comes in handy at times like this!”

This had become a frequent occurrence lately.

Rachel would seize any opportunity to bring documents and bombard me with questions.

There was something I wanted to ask her as well, but I decided to hold off.

Discussing the treatment was an important matter too.

“Your orders are ready.”

When the food arrived, Rachel put away the documents and focused on the meal.

I took this opportunity to start extracting the necessary information.

“Have you ever met Kissinger in person?”

“Yes, a few times.”

That was a relief.

Although it would take more time for me to meet Kissinger directly, it was better to prepare thoroughly starting now.

What Rachel told me was quite intriguing.

“Actually, when I was deciding on my career path, he gave me advice. He said he could offer me a position at his consulting firm but encouraged me to chase bigger ideals while I was still young.”

“Ideals?”

“He said that while ordinary people live by mere calculations, there’s a need for those who look up to the skies. I guess I have a bit of an impractical side… But he viewed that positively, which really surprised me.”

Kissinger was renowned as a strategist who had navigated the complexities of the Cold War.

That someone like him would appreciate and encourage Rachel’s idealism surprised me too.

I had assumed he would dismiss it as a futile dream.

“Supporting those who strive for ideals, huh…?”

Perhaps that’s why he had such a favorable view of Holmes as well.

Publicly, Holmes had declared a mission to create a world without disease, positioning herself as a transformative figure.

‘This might actually be trickier than I thought.’

Kissinger was 91 years old this year.

If he wanted to leave something meaningful in the final chapter of his life, then Theranos might not just be a business to him but a reflection of a personal aspiration.

In other words, it wasn’t just about making money.

If that were the case, persuading him by discussing profitability would be difficult.

Furthermore, when ideals are involved, self-rationalization always tends to follow.

Perhaps that’s why he had so readily believed Holmes’s lies.

What Kissinger wanted wasn’t money but the realization of the utopia Holmes had envisioned.

Lost in such thoughts, we finished our meal.

The waiter brought the bill.

“Sorry for all the trouble today.”

I left a $20 tip for the waiter who had gone out of his way for us.

The waiter, seeing the tip, gave me a big smile.

“No, I actually had fun!”

Well, that was good to hear.

I hope this staff member continues to show kindness to future Asian guests spouting odd feng shui stories.

“Did something good happen?”

As we stepped out of the restaurant to hail a cab, Rachel asked.

I must have failed to hide my expression.

“Yes, I found a pretty important clue.”

“A clue? What kind of clue?”

“The key to solving an important puzzle.”

Indeed, I had finally uncovered the truth behind the ticking time bomb that had been troubling me.

‘Coming here in person was definitely worth it.’

Sometimes, there’s information that can’t be obtained online or through secondhand accounts.

The information I had gathered from the security guard and Harbor Lobster fell into that category.

So, what was that information, you ask?

It was none other than the main customer demographic of Harbor Lobster.

The restaurant was filled primarily with Black customers.