Abyss
Abyss
"So? In the end you couldn't say anything to Mom and just left the house?"
"Yeah... what should I do?"
Had Hojun always been this clueless, to the point of asking something like this?
Sure, I looked after the younger kids, but a wave of regret washed over me — maybe I should have taken better care of the ones just below him, who would soon be heading out into society.
I'd figured I could take care of it before they graduated and went off to college...
Looks like I misjudged.
"Of course you should ignore it! You're not actually thinking of going just because they offered money, are you?"
"But they said if I just take the fall... they'd help find jobs for the younger ones too..."
"Who told you to worry about stuff like that?!"
For a moment, I ended up raising my voice.
I hadn't meant to get angry, so I pressed my hand against my forehead and let out a sigh.
"Sorry."
"No... why would you apologize, hyung."
"First, let's go to a cafe or somewhere and talk."
I pressed the start button to turn on the car and pulled out of the school parking lot.
Since it looked like we'd be talking for a while, I should let A-ra know I'd be late.
***
We arrived at the cafe, ordered drinks, and sat down.
I thought about picking up the conversation where we left off, but first, I needed to ease the tension.
I couldn't hold back a moment of anger and snapped.
As his hyung, I shouldn't have done that.
Now I would proceed calmly and relaxedly.
"Is your phone comfortable to use?"
"Yeah. I feel kind of well-off now."
Hojun tapped the phone sitting on the table.
I'd bought phones for the middle schoolers and younger kids this time, but I'd already gotten phones for the high schoolers and older ones before.
Of course, since they were still in school, I'd bought phones that could manage casual games at best.
"It's an entry-level model, doesn't it feel a little sluggish?"
"If it can call, text, chat, and go online, there's no problem, right?"
Smiling slightly, Hojun said just being able to use a phone like this was something to be grateful for.
Him thinking that way made me grateful instead.
"How have you been lately, hyung?"
"Me, I'm doing fine. Aren't you the bigger problem, not me?"
"Yeah... that's true."
Since it was rotten from the roots, it must be a company headed for delisting.
What kind of insane bastards hire a new employee as a section chief, keep them shelved for half a year, then plan to pin window-dressing accounting on them?
And on top of that, since he obviously looked like a broke orphan, they treated him like a disposable item — use him once or twice and throw him away.
Without even knowing who might be around him.
"Hyung..."
"You didn't accept that offer, did you?"
"No... I haven't yet."
"Phew... good, that's fine then."
No matter how many hundreds of millions or billions they offered, what would be left if he took the blame for a crime?
I couldn't imagine how much they'd embezzled and were trying to pin on him.
This wouldn't do.
I couldn't just let this incident slide.
"Hojun. Listen carefully to what hyung says."
"Okay. As much as you want."
"First, call that interviewer and tell them you'll do it."
"Huh? Say I'll do it?"
"If you say you'll do it, they'll want to meet separately, won't they? They'll want to draw up a contract or something to put themselves at ease, won't they?"
Usually, that kind of contract had no legal force.
So it wouldn't be admissible as evidence in court either.
Unless Hojun brought a proper lawyer with him, that is.
So, our goal was to flip it around and obtain a contract that was absurd and legally worthless.
If we teamed up with the lawyer and the Director, we might be able to pull off quite an entertaining act of messing with them.
"Hojun, follow me."
"Ah... okay."
Suddenly getting angry, then telling him to accept...
Hojun's head must be in chaos.
Still, I thought he'd understand.
I might look calm right now, but I was considerably pissed off.
***
"Director!"
"You startled me. What brings you here so suddenly, Seong-hwan-ssi? And who's the boy in the school uniform behind you?"
Full of curiosity, or maybe just a lot she wanted to know about me, the Director asked this and that.
Of course, common decency said I should answer her,
but that could wait until we were sitting down.
"This is my younger brother."
For a moment the Director tilted her head, but as if remembering, she clapped her hands and beamed brightly.
"Ah~ an orphanage younger brother, right?"
"Yes."
Nodding that she understood at once, she went to the fridge and brought out three glass-bottled drinks.
She held one out to me and one to Hojun, so I popped the cap right off and gulped it down.
"Phew..."
"You seem to be in a bit of a bad mood today, Seong-hwan-ssi?"
"Director, you'll be shocked when you hear this too."
I was just a creator affiliated with an agency, and even I was this dumbfounded and incredulous — how ridiculous would it sound from the perspective of a major corporation CEO?
I told the Director everything that had happened to Hojun.
What company had made what kind of offer, and even the name of the person who made the offer.
Since Hojun had kept the business card and phone number, it was easy to identify.
The name written on the business card they'd shown us was someone whose name I felt like I'd heard somewhere before.
To the point where it would come up if you searched it on a search engine.
"Huh..."
The Director was also wearing an expression of disbelief and bewilderment.
Then she took out her phone and started scrolling through something for a long while.
I wondered what it was about, and she was scrolling through her chat friend list this way and that.
Could they be acquaintances?
Having found it, she held out her phone plainly.
On the Director's phone was the face of the person I'd seen on the search engine earlier.
"Is this the person?"
"Yes... that's the person."
"Hah... just a while ago they were running their mouth off to me, saying if I knew anyone decent around, they'd parachute them into the company..."
Apparently, she and the Director were acquaintances to some degree.
They must have been searching around for prey and said something like, if you know anyone around, please introduce them...
Unbelievable.
How on earth could you even make that kind of request to people around you?
"That son of a bitch..."
I flinched in surprise for a moment.
Because it was the first time I'd seen the Director curse.
No matter how much I trolled... even when the staff trolled, the Director who never once cursed...
Whoa, gave me chills.
"Hiccup..."
Hojun, who'd been sitting quietly beside me just listening, even started hiccuping.
Well, if he thought a person he was meeting for the first time was the CEO of a major corporation and she was getting that angry, it must be terrifying.
In my case, since we were close, and alongside the recognition of her as the company Director, the recognition of her as A-ra's close unnie was also very strong, so what I felt might have been a little different.
Anyway, this incident wasn't going to end as Hojun's personal matter — it would spread like a mountain fire and turn into chaos.
"Seong-hwan-ssi, for now I'll call the team leader and discuss this matter. And as you mentioned earlier, we may need to take action to gather evidence."
"What if it isn't accepted as evidence in court?"
"Recording during a written contract is originally legal and can be submitted to the court. The only difference is what you use to record the audio and video."
She said she'd tell us the details later and sent us outside, telling us to go to a cafe, have a cup of coffee, and then head back.
The door closed with a bit of a bang, so I was slightly startled.
"Hyung... that person is really okay, right?"
"Of course, she's my company's Director."
I thumped my chest, telling him to just trust me.
At that moment, neither Hojun nor I noticed.
That this incident would overturn the political world and multiple corporations...
We had forgotten that the person we tattled to was the daughter of a massive chaebol family.
The Director, for all appearances, is a chaebol family's daughter.
*
"Hojun~"
"Noona..."
Since things had turned out this way, I'd brought him to Minji's place to rest for about two days.
There were five rooms anyway, so it was spacious.
Well, since he'd be moving out soon and living here anyway, coming by early wasn't a bad thing.
Maybe because they hadn't seen each other in a while, the two hugged tightly and exchanged greetings.
Minji had said last time she went to see Mom, she hadn't been able to see Hojun.
"Shall I make dinner tonight?"
"Really!?"
"Sure, let's go to the mart and do some grocery shopping."
Minji, who didn't know what had happened, smiled brightly and took Hojun's hand.
It was really nice to see them getting along so well.
I hoped they'd stay close for life.
They were family, so they'd probably get along fine on their own.
Their relationship looked good.
***
The next day.
When I woke up in the morning and checked the news, it had turned into something enormous.
Whether the Director had spread the information or not, someone from the accounting side of the company that had made the absurd ho-gu proposal to Hojun
had filed a public interest report.
The stock, which had already been on the verge of collapsing and was about to be delisted, was turning into scraps of toilet paper,
and the graph was slammed into the ground.
"On top of that... attempting to pin the crime on a minor orphan who has lost their parents and has no one to rely on..."
Hojun's name didn't come out, but already investigative journalism news and the I Want to Know That Guy program had started looking for the person who had received that offer.
I'd have to discuss this with the Director later and either contact reporters or something.
"You're fucked now, just watch."
The person they messed with without a second thought, whose younger brother he was...
If you commit a crime, you should be punished.
They apparently didn't realize how sensitive society is to this kind of thing these days.
I'd just like them to be expelled from this society for good.