Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: A Flower Blooms Amid the Ashes
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After dinner, during coffee time, I wrecked one cup just like that.
In front of Haneuli, the sky acted out a perfectly plausible family scene where "Auntie" suddenly dropped by the house for a visit.
Once Haneuli returned to her room, I took Go Yuna up to the second-floor terrace and sat down.
I lit a cigarette and tossed out a question to break the awkward silence.
"How old are you?"
Instead of answering, Go Yuna pulled a thick envelope from the bag clutched tightly to her chest and held it out to me.
It was the bundle of checks I'd left in that rundown house yesterday.
"Tch. Broke-ass bitch acting all high and mighty? Or do you want to squeeze more money out of me?"
As I spat the words laced with contempt, her head, which had been bowed low, snapped up.
A gaze just like mine—fiercely defiant—locked onto me.
And from her lips burst raw, unfiltered rage I never saw coming.
"You think you can just keep pushing, and I'll take it? What the hell do you take me for?!"
"...What?"
"High and mighty? Money? You think my mom lived like that her whole life just to take dirty cash from scum like you?! We got by just fine without your shitty money, you bastard!"
She shoved the envelope hard against my chest, tears welling in her eyes as she screamed.
"Get out! Go choke on your own money and never show your face in front of us again, you son of a bitch!"
What a crazy bitch.
That reckless temper of hers, charging headfirst without a second thought...
I sat there on the second-floor terrace, blankly watching her stomp down the stairs and storm across the garden, huffing and puffing.
In the yard, Yoon Chaewon—with her kind, gentle face—approached the fuming Go Yuna to calm her down.
Beside her stood Haneuli, who had been playing with Ttangchili in the yard and was startled by the whole scene.
The perfectly peaceful scene had turned into total chaos because of that one girl.
I rubbed my dry face at the sight, stubbed out my cigarette, and headed down to the first floor, sauntering casually.
By then, Go Yuna—who had been dragged back inside by Chaewon—was still seething, glaring daggers at me.
At that moment, Haneuli, who had watched everything, ran up to me and asked,
"Daddy, are you fighting with Auntie?"
"Urgh..."
I was at a loss for words for a moment, then forced a smile and made an excuse.
"No, we're not fighting... Auntie’s just sulking a bit."
Haneuli toddled over to Go Yuna, tugging at her clothes.
"Auntie~ Why are you sulking?"
At the child’s innocent question, Go Yuna’s face twisted—she couldn’t snap or laugh, just her lips trembling.
"...Ugh... Th-that's..."
She barely swallowed down the sob or rage threatening to erupt.
With a small sigh at the sight, I grabbed her arm and dragged Go Yuna to my study.
I couldn’t let Haneuli see any more of this.
Once the study door closed, we glared at each other in silence for a moment.
Her unresolved fury clashed with my bafflement at it all, tension thick in the air.
Then the door creaked open lightly, and Chaewon entered with a tray of juice glasses.
She set cool orange juice in front of us with a nonchalant expression, came to my side, slapped my shoulder with a loud smack!, and flashed Go Yuna the kindest smile in the world.
"She’ll understand. He’s just... got a really twisted personality."
With that one line, all the tension in the study melted away.
A small laugh escaped as Chaewon softly closed the door behind her.
Once she left, awkward silence filled the room again.
I let out a small sigh and shoved down the asshole inside me by force.
"Hoo... Fuck... I’m just... kinda blunt with my words."
That was the best apology I could manage.
Go Yuna stared at me for a moment before opening her mouth, as if resolved.
"...My mom."
"Yeah."
"She left me at the orphanage 'cause she had to, you know."
She stammered desperately in her Busan dialect, defending something fiercely.
"...What are you trying to say?"
At my cold question, she bit her lip for a second.
Then, staring straight into my eyes, she said what she really wanted.
"I don’t... need your money..."
"...Just show your face... every now and then."
Her voice was soft, but the weight in it was immense.
A plea not for money, but for connection.
I couldn’t respond, just stared at her.
I had no idea what to say.
I’d never learned how to handle something like this.
"Hoo... Fuck..."
With a long sigh and a curse, I unilaterally declared an end to the awkwardness.
"Sleep here tonight. I’ll get someone with a car for you tomorrow."
With that, I stood and left the study.
I couldn’t face her anymore.
As I walked down the hall, I tried to erase the faces of those two women from my mind.
And filled the void with familiar anger.
That fucking Cheon Myeonghwan bastard. How the hell do I screw over that old prick?
Yeah.
All this shitty situation was that old fox’s fault.
I decided to focus on the war again.
Grinding my teeth, I went down to the first floor, scooped up sleeping Bada in my left arm, and Haneuli—who was playing with her toys—in my right.
I lightly kicked the Ttangchili bastard eyeing my ankle from under the sofa, then sat next to Chaewon, who was reading a magazine on the couch. Her gentle smile turned to me.
"Did you show the girl her room?"
"...There are rooms everywhere. She’ll figure it out."
At my curt reply, instead of a "tch," Chaewon sucked in air with a "Sssip—..."
That was the sound she made when she was truly disappointed in me, scolding me.
The stern face of this weird woman who dreamed of being summoned to her in-laws and slaving all day without straightening her back.
Even scrunching my eyes at that face, a smile tugged at my lips somehow.
Fuck...
The world’s full of dysfunctional families, but ours... has to be pretty normal, right?
Lost in that thought, I buried my face in the hair of my two daughters in my arms.
From their soft hair came the most peaceful scent in the world.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Friday afternoon, at the Taeseong Group headquarters towering in the heart of Seoul.
On the 27th floor of that massive building, where the asset management team handling group stocks worked, the morning was astonishingly quiet.
The group’s market cap had evaporated nearly a trillion won amid piling bad news, but not a flicker of unease showed on the team members’ faces.
The blue numbers and graphs on the giant monitors were just their everyday routine.
Team Leader Park Jaeyoung took a sip of hot coffee as he analyzed the morning market flow.
A trillion won stung when considering the group’s total market cap, but it was merely a small ripple against a gigantic aircraft carrier.
Right now, there was noise from citizen boycotts, hardline union strikes, and all sorts of commotion.
Stock forums burned with vulgar insults and mockery aimed at Taeseong.
But that was the retail investors’ problem.
A company’s true value and control structure didn’t waver from such ripples.
Park saw this situation as a "buy-the-dip" opportunity and was monitoring institutional investors’ moves.
Everything remained within controllable bounds, as always.
That’s when it happened.
"Team Leader."
A rookie team member called out without taking his eyes off his monitor.
"There’s some odd movement from the Blue Sky Investment brokerage."
At that name, Park’s mind flashed to the direct order from the chairman’s office a few days ago.
‘Park, ignore everything else. Report Blue Sky’s moves down to the second. Got it?’
Park set down his coffee cup. His expression hardened instantly.
"Odd movement?"
"Yes. They’re buying and then selling hundreds of shares in our five major subsidiaries at 0.1-second intervals. No profit, no loss—just meaningless trades. It’s like..."
The rookie trailed off, searching for the right word.
But Park knew exactly what it meant.
‘Like testing the water’s depth.’
‘Or probing the fish school’s movement before casting a massive net.’
For the first time, a chill ran down Team Leader Park Jaeyoung’s spine.
He sensed something enormous stirring beneath this tiny ripple.
"Where’s Executive Director Cheon?"
One team member answered.
"She hasn’t come in."
"......"
Cheon Hye-yeon, who clocked in precisely at 8:50 a.m. every day, hadn’t shown up?
Park suddenly recalled the rumor quietly circulating on the company messenger lately.
The unbelievable story that Executive Director Cheon—seen as a top successor candidate—was being effectively exiled to the Philippine branch.
Unrelated puzzle pieces in his head began snapping together in a flash.
The sudden demotion of Cheon, the presumed heir.
The bizarre surveillance order on some no-name investment firm straight from the chairman’s office.
The group stocks declining amid nonstop bad news.
And... one word that explained it all.
‘Succession battle?!’
Park remembered the cancer-like rumors of Chairman Cheon’s hidden children floating around the group.
No way—those rumors were true?
And this chaos was a bloody war among those invisible princes and princesses?
Then Blue Sky’s meaningless trades were...
Team Leader Park Jaeyoung’s face drained of color.
This wasn’t a "wave."
Beneath the ocean surface, a colossal tsunami was approaching to swallow the entire island called Taeseong.
Park couldn’t even imagine that the massive wave he’d witnessed.
Was nothing more than...
A petty prank born from Kim Cheolsu’s small-scale revenge.
‘Damn old bastard, hope you shit your pants from the morning.’