"Sin, please take a seat"
Hina motioned to me as everyone sat at the large U-shaped table. The seats were almost full with 24 people attending including Hina and myself, and 23 of them were already seated, so everyone but me.
As a formality, Hina exchanged the business cards with everyone. Most researchers here probably won't ever get to talk to Hina or dare to call the CEO of the Chan Group directly. Besides, Hina's business card was very simple and elegantly designed, the only text on it being "Hina Chan, Chief Executive Officer, The Chan Group". There were no email addresses or phone numbers here. People are not meant to contact her directly. Every communication was to be directed to me first and we'd set up a meeting as necessary. If you don't know or can't find a way to contact me, then you are not ready to talk to the CEO of the Chan Group. It was just as simple as that.
"It's okay, Miss. I shall stand here"
I could tell Hina wanted to insist, but fortunately, she read my expression telling her to just leave it as it was, so she just shrugged a little and faced forward again as she was sitting at the very front seat of the table, on the right side, hence the away side from the entrance. Just another customary arrangement here. The head of the guest sits on the far side of the entrance. Hosts sit on the near side to the entrance.
As I have always done with Chairman Chan, I stayed behind Hina, two steps behind and two steps to the right. One of my nicknames was Shadow Sin, but there were also people who called me 4 O'clock due to my positioning as I am the shadow in the 4 o'clock direction from Chairman Chan, and now Hina.
Dr. Jeong opened the 'seminar' with a brief presentation of what the Propulsion R&D team does, which I already went through with Hina in advance. This was not a material I should have at hand, but I did.
Since we were the only guests, Dr. Jeong's presentation was solely for us, or more accurately, for Hina. Hence she was taught to show her appreciation and thank him, which she followed well.
"Now, please allow me to introduce Miss. Chan and a brief summary of our company"
Now is the time for that Shadow Sin.
Nobody needed a brief summary of our company unless you are a real greenhorn in this field, and if you were such you would not be in this seminar room. But again, it was Hina's first time here so it had to be done.
"Sin, I shall do it myself"
What?!
Hina was pulling off this surprise shit on me again! It was pre-arranged and agreed that I would be the one presenting and she was to just stand up and politely bow to the room when she was introduced in the beginning.
Instead, Hina was already getting up from her seat and walking towards the front of the room. There was nothing I could do at this stage. How can I, a 'Perosnal Assistant' of the CEO stop her from doing something in public?
This was already too late. I just hoped she didn't fuck up…
As she got to the front, stood, and turned to face the audience, I adjusted my position accordingly, just like how a shadow moves as its master moves.
"My name is Hina, and it is a pleasure and honor to meet everyone here. I'd first like to thank you for your kind invitation"
Hina then bowed her head, slightly lower than you would normally do if it were a one-on-one meeting.
There was a round of short applause. Hina lifted her head up and continued.
"So, most of you are probably familiar with the content, so let us proceed swiftly"
Hina was already starting to skip the first few pages of the presentation, which had the general introduction to our company. These pages go into every single presentation we make for the first time to a specific audience.
Gees… what are you doing…?
And I spent about two weeks making those pages too until Chairman Chan was happy with it and she just skipped them like that?
"Now, please take a look at this picture"
Hina then stopped at a slide which was about halfway into the PPT file. This was a page showing the concept design computer graphics render of our…
WHAT?! When did she sneak THAT into it!!!
I was just about to do the unthinkable and stop her in the middle, but it was too late.
"This is one of the newest systems we have been working on. An AI-assisted remote-controlled small missile launcher, that can be mounted on naval vessels and ground vehicles alike. We are designing not just the launcher itself, but the guided munitions that would be fired from them"
Jesus. This stuff isn't meant to be shown to any outsiders yet.
I looked around the room in panic and all 23 Dr. This and Dr. That were taking notes, some of them obviously sketching what they were actually seeing, not just writing them down. I know there are more than a few here that are "on Wanda's side", just as some of them here were on our side. This news is gonna reach Wanda as soon as the seminar is over. What's probably worse than that is that this news will immediately alert KAK, who was the leader in autonomous technology at the moment and they'd want to keep it that way. I already told Hina this over… the bean bags. Just what is she even thinking…
I was both nervous and angry at how Hina pulled this one off without talking to me first, but at the same time, I had to admit there was one small thing that was positive out of this disaster.
Everyone was intensely focused on Hina and her presentation now.
Was that what this was all about? This is immature and unprofessional. She might have grabbed the attention, and then what? How is she going to turn this into furthering the Chan Group's interests?
"Now, this is where I'd like us to cooperate-"
Miss… you do not propose cooperation with the public audience in the seminar room… this is something you discuss with the Department Head somewhere quiet.
Hence naturally, everyone was intrigued. I looked over at Dr. Han. Could he be offended that Hina's doing this without discussing it with him first?
He did not seem annoyed in any way though. Instead, he was listening with a keen expression on his face just like everyone else in the room, except me, struggling to hold myself back from wincing.
"Are you aware of how the cooperation between civilian companies and government agencies is initiated in this field, Miss. Hina Chan?"
A cynic pointed out what many others were thinking. Unfiltered.
That Miss. Hina Chan sounded offensive. I didn't like it one bit.
"Sin has a very good idea about how we can proceed from here"
Hina turned to face me with open arms to invite me to speak and enlighten everyone with a grand plan, which we did not have.
Fuck. Now everyone was looking at me. Hina cast light on the Shadow.
"I am aware a Fast Track Acquisition Program is close to being approved within the next three months"
The whole room was silent, with everyone's eyes still fixated on me.
"That is no secret or surprise to anyone here. I believe this idea can be a candidate to become the first product to be developed through the Fast Track Acquisition Program. I think it is only right for the NDDC to be involved in the management of such a program, where a new product needs to be developed in a short period of time"
I felt a single drop of cold sweat run down my spine.
"National Defense Procurement Department is only looking to sanction the budget for development and procurement of the finished good. They are meant to go to the commercial sector. As I understand, currently NDDC is not involved in the process of establishing this new program"
Some people raised eyebrows. Some people stroked their chin. Some people scratched the back of their heads.
And I clenched my fist.
"What Miss. Chan is proposing is that we turn this around so that we can adhere to the spirit of the Fast Track Acquisition Program, which can only be achieved under the supervision of the most expert agency in defense technology development - NDDC"
I stole a glance and Hina and she was grinning and nodding her head in approval.
"The program is close to being approved, which means it will be extremely hard to make any changes once it's stamped. That is why there was a need for urgency in bringing this topic to you today. We are not asking to cooperate with just us instead of other developers. We are only suggesting that IF we could arrange the program to run under NDDC supervision, this particular system is what we'd like to work together with NDDC"
There was a moment of silence, which was only broken by Dr. Han as he loudly announced.
"I like it. Gentlemen, let's get on this"
"Welcome abroad", Hina chimed in with a warm smile.
I literally pulled that out of where the sun doesn't shine. But things started to make sense a little.
Hina had enough guts and naivety of a young girl to do something unexpected.
And I was hired all those years ago because I could deal with something unexpected.