The first thing to address was explaining the chairman’s absence.

There was no way I could let anyone know the truth—that the pillar of Korea was now wearing diapers due to advanced senility. No matter how much we joked around, I wanted to preserve at least a shred of her dignity.

“So, she threw her back out again?”
“Yes. It’s not serious, but she decided to take this opportunity to rest and recover… after dumping all the work on me.”
“Well, that makes sense.”

It wasn’t a hard sell.
After all, I’d already been acting as her …