She probably can't understand Korean anyway. Just tell her to clear the plates.
Laughter moved around the table.
The waitress did not join it.
Instead, she set down the folder.
She answered in Korean.
“다 알아들었습니다. 처음부터 끝까지요.”
I understood everything. From beginning to end.
The room went silent.
And now, standing in the middle of that silence, she was beginning to realize that the billionaire's humiliation of her might expose a much larger problem than either of them had anticipated.
He stared at her with an expression that shifted rapidly from surprise to irritation.
For a man who could negotiate billion-dollar contracts without appearing nervous, he seemed remarkably unsettled by the discovery that a waitress could speak Korean.
“You should have told us,” he said.
The waitress kept her voice calm.
“You didn't ask.”
Several executives lowered their eyes.
The billionaire's face tightened.
“If you understood our conversation, why didn't you say so earlier?”
“Because I was working.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the answer, sir.”
He placed his glass down harder than necessary.
“You allowed us to speak privately.”
The waitress glanced around the room.
“You were discussing business at a dinner table while I was serving food. I did not ask to participate in your conversation.”
The general counsel leaned forward.
“Perhaps we should clarify something. Have you been listening to confidential matters?”
The waitress turned toward him.
“I heard what was said while I was performing my job. I haven't recorded anyone, and I haven't taken any documents.”
The billionaire looked offended by her composure.
“Then what do you think you heard?”
She hesitated.
It would have been easy to repeat every suspicious sentence.
It would have been satisfying to watch the executives panic.
But she understood that overheard words could be misleading without context.
She also knew that an argument in a restaurant was not the proper place to resolve a disputed international transaction.
So she chose her next words carefully.
“I heard concerns about original temperature records, a technical annex, and an American analyst whose credibility you believe has been addressed.”
The youngest executive's eyes widened.
The billionaire remained motionless.
The waitress continued.
“I also heard you say that the originals were supposed to remain with the technical team.”
The chief financial officer shifted in his chair.
The general counsel spoke quickly.