Chapter 99
- That Damn Grandson
2023.08.07.
In front of the K Electronics Home Appliance Division CEO's office.
Seok-hwa returned to his seat after finishing a meeting, and his secretary rushed to him.
"CEO, now."
"Huh? Why?"
"There seems to have been a commotion in front of the Chairman's office."
"What commotion?"
"Director Kim Tae-joon came and grabbed the Chief Lee Han-sung of the secretarial office by the collar, I heard."
The secretary whispered quietly so that others wouldn't hear. Seok-hwa, who was heading to his office, stopped abruptly.
There was no way Tae-joon would grab the Chairman's secretary by the collar without thinking. It meant that his father and the secretary were involved in Han So-eun's disappearance.
"I'll be back in a bit."
Seok-hwa hurried away.
\
Jaepil's office.
While the people gathered in the office were bewildered, rolling their eyes and looking around, wondering who Han So-eun was, Jaepil had no choice but to change his mind. If his grandson opened his mouth any further here, the family affairs would spread far and wide.
"Let's wrap up today's meeting like this, and let's all have a meal together sometime."
At the Chairman's words, the employees rose from their seats in unison. Jaepil personally opened the office door for them. The employees all politely greeted Jaepil as they left the office. Jaepil also kindly accepted each and every greeting.
The generous smile of the Chairman, who was kind to everyone, disappeared like a lie as soon as the door closed.
"What are you talking about?"
"I know everything. You've been hiding it, Grandpa. Han So-eun."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I confirmed that Chief Lee Han-sung was taking a bag out of Han So-eun's house. I also know that Yang Hee-wook contacted you, Grandpa."
As Jaepil pretended to be ignorant, Tae-joon pulled out the clues he had.
"You're the cruelest person, Grandpa."
The woman I said I liked the most in the world. The woman who said she wanted to give me everything.
The woman who said it was okay for me to torment her, okay for me to hate her, okay for me to keep her under my thumb.
To that woman who poured herself out so honestly, you made her lie. To abandon her grandson and leave.
That resilient woman was eventually broken by your force.
"She has nothing now. What did you do to someone who has nothing?"
She was someone who was hurt by the world and had nowhere to lean on.
"She's a person, how can a person disappear like a bubble?"
Unable to bear seeing Jaepil turn his head and sigh quietly as if he didn't understand what he was saying, Tae-joon was forced to dredge up the past.
"You lost your only son, your only daughter-in-law, and your unborn granddaughter, how can you do this when you know that loss better than anyone else!"
"Yes. It was definitely a loss! I suffered that loss because of that kid's father!"
As expected, Jaepil reacted immediately when his wound was touched. A blue rage settled on his gentle face.
A bloodshot shout that I had never heard before.
"You remember everything too. How much you suffered. Losing your parents overnight, losing the sibling you were eagerly waiting to be born, leaving to study abroad at a young age to avoid the eyes of your peers who pitied you. How hard it was for you. How can I forget that terrible thing, I'm your grandfather!"
That resentful cry seemed pitiful even to the vicious grandson who was prepared to stand against his grandfather.
I remembered 20 years ago. At that time, my grandfather said that we couldn't do anything to the driver who caused the accident. We couldn't make the driver live in prison for the rest of his life, and we couldn't demand that the driver compensate for the huge loss of property. We are people with social status, so no matter how unfair it is, we have to forgive.
Even my grandfather, who persuaded Tae-joon like that, had a heart like soot that couldn't be removed.
Yes. That's human.
Tae-joon wondered what it would have been like if he had known his grandfather's true feelings, which he now knew properly, 20 years ago.
Would we have been a little closer then?
"I'm okay now."
But now, his grandfather's place in Tae-joon's heart is like a clock that has disappeared. It's nice to have it, but it's not particularly inconvenient without it.
We've grown so far apart. It's no one's fault.
"I'm okay. Grandpa."
"……."
"Your trauma is your burden. How can you pass your burden on to that little woman?"
Tae-joon, who drew a clear line between Jaepil and himself, demanded.
"Hand over Han So-eun."
Jaepil also drew a line.
"She left you. She'll never come back. As soon as she found out what kind of person her father was, she said she would sort things out immediately. That's her."
"Enough, just tell me where she went!"
"I don't know! I don't know!"
It was the moment the door opened with a creak.
Seok-hwa, who carefully opened the door and came inside, couldn't move forward any further due to the two men's voices, and stuck his back to the door.
"Do you think you'll be happy if you find her? You'll only make yourself and her unhappy. Blood is thicker than water. It'll be harder to bear as time goes by."
Jaepil's anger subsided a little because Seok-hwa came in. Jaepil persuaded Tae-joon by putting forward realistic problems.
"That's not all. It'll be hard to breathe if it's known to the world. All the things you did to get her will be exposed."
"……."
"Do you think you can be happy if you throw away your social status, face, and pride?"
Tae-joon's lips twisted at Jaepil's subtle warning disguised as persuasion. Tae-joon chuckled and muttered lowly.
"Social status, face, pride. What the hell are those things? Screw them."
Seok-hwa and Jaepil's jaws dropped at the same time like broken nutcrackers.
"Why do you stubbornly only want to see what you want to see, only want to hear what you want to hear, Grandpa?"
"Kim Tae-joon! You, what kind of language is that? To your grandfather!"
Seok-hwa, who came to his senses first, shouted.
"Then apologize to Han So-eun and bring her here! If you just find Han So-eun, I'll shut my mouth and play the role of a good grandson again!"
Tae-joon also screamed the same way.
"If you keep hiding her like that, I don't need you, Grandpa, or Aunt."
Jaepil shouted, pointing at Tae-joon with one hand on his forehead and the other trembling.
"I've never seen such a parricidal bastard. I'm going to fire you right away. I'm going to cut off all your money!"
"Yes. That's what I wanted. I don't need your help, Grandpa. I have enough to live on with the property I inherited from my deceased parents."
Once again, the two men's mouths dropped open. Taking advantage of the two men's stunned silence, Tae-joon pressed again.
"Hand her over quickly. Where is Han So-eun?"
"I don't know! I don't know!"
"Do you think I can't find her if you deny it?"
Tae-joon was a person with the same nature as his grandfather. He was fearless. He was a person who could push even stronger against the strong.
Also, a man who puts curses before begging if it's no use.
"That's why K Electronics can't become a global company."
"What? You bastard! K Electronics is already a global company!"
"What global are you talking about when the Chairman himself is being held back by such outdated thinking? Give it to the dogs."
"What, what?"
"I've been diligently erasing the rumors that you're an old man who's earned enough money and only has a desire for fame whenever I see them, but I won't do it anymore."
Seok-hwa couldn't close his open mouth and covered it with both hands. Jaepil staggered in shock, and Tae-joon left the office without even looking back at the two of them.
Jaepil, who had learned what kind of rogue his only grandson was, staggered and slumped down on the sofa.
"……A guy who would kill his grandpa if he gets in his way."
Seok-hwa also calmed his surprised heart and approached Jaepil, handing his father a bottle of water.
"Who did he take after to be so damn difficult?"
"……I don't know."
"He's rich even if he doesn't inherit."
Jaepil thumped his chest as if he was particularly resentful of that point.
"Just leave him alone today. He comes back the next day. ……But the next day will be more shocking, Father."
Seok-hwa, who had experienced a fierce nephew once, gave a short piece of advice.
Once he started talking, he became curious.
"Father, did you really take Han So-eun away?"
His father also knew about Han So-eun.
Should I just tell him what I heard? It seems like my nephew is already broken enough. Should I save a person?
"Where did you send her?"
"I don't know. Really."
However, the answer that came back from Jaepil was vague.
"I gave her a plane ticket to New York. But she didn't show up at New York Airport."
\
Tae-joon, who had a fight with Jaepil, dragged his body, which had become as heavy as wet cotton, back home.
He was so tired that he felt like he was going to stick to the ground, but his head still seemed to be burning brightly.
He thought he should rest a little as Mun-gyeong advised, but he couldn't go into the bedroom.
Because the things Han So-eun had done to him, that air, still filled the space.
Because that tender body that had acted so sweetly still seemed to be scratching at his eyes.
She left after making me crazy, as if she was giving me everything, as if she was betting everything on me.
I didn't know until the end. Foolishly, stupidly, I didn't know anything.
I was so happy that this woman liked me so much. You liked me so much. Yes, you liked me so much.
Can you abandon me like that?
I came back after turning everything upside down, but I still can't accept reality.
How can you just spend another summer and leave? Are you a summer migratory bird?
A legendary summer migratory bird that appeared after 20 years.
Haha, I'm going crazy. The hand that was on my forehead slid down and covered my eyes. A self-deprecating laugh burst out weakly.
I can just report that my watch was stolen. But I couldn't do that.
Because if I put the charge of theft on a woman who had already been accused of being a Femme fatale, I could damage her noble reputation.
You knew that. You knew I could never report it.
He was very angry that she knew him so well and that he couldn't do anything about it.
A moon jar caught his eye in the gaze that stared blankly ahead. It was a jar that had been fixed with a stone underneath as a lever, as she had said that it would fall off soon even if it was glued with glue. It was because she wanted it that way, even though it didn't look good.
Tae-joon walked over to the moon jar and stared inside for a long time. He looked inside every day, checked the few candies inside, and smiled. He had never taken them out to eat. Because he felt like it was a waste.
I cherished it so much.
Suddenly, the colorful and cute sweets disappeared, and only a note like a lie was left, and the letters that I read and read as if they would wear out, but didn't disappear, rustled in my heart.
Now it was all useless.
Tae-joon pushed the tray supporting the moon jar.
The moon jar, which fell with a thud, scattered into several pieces like fragments of a meteorite that had mistakenly found its way to Earth. The white pebbles also rolled to the floor.
The whites of his eyes were stained with blood.
A hateful woman who showed me everything inside out, saying that she would give me everything, not play hard to get with me, and only give me love, but threw it all away and left.
I resent you so much. But.
"That's why I hate Director."
"I hate you, but I like you."
Yes. I'm the same.
I hate you for leaving me so suddenly as if I was nothing, I hate you to death, but I still like you like an idiot. This is so wrong.
Ms. Han So-eun, who fixes everything well.
You broke me, so now you have to come and fix me.
He stepped on the fragments of the moon and the pebbles scattered on the floor without a care and moved his steps without a goal. The memories hurt more than the soles of his feet with the fragments embedded in them.
He remembered what she said the day he glued the moon jar together and showed off.
"Anyway, what's gone doesn't come back. Director."
