Chapter 225
Chapter 225
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Faith
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Se-eun's career dilemma made me ponder the issue of succession once again.
The reason I kept agonizing over the succession structure was that there simply wasn't a proper heir.
"In a way, this worry is ridiculous. Designating a successor in a democratic country."
Pushing for democracy while calculating succession lines was a contradiction in itself.
However, considering the weight Lee Seong-jun carried in Daehan, simply handing the choice to the people was risky.
What if they ended up elevating my daughter or son based on "blood ties"?
"If that somehow happened, Daehan could become the reincarnation of the Kim clan's Joseon."
I couldn't shake off that concern easily.
The root of this contradiction stemmed from my inability to trust people.
In truth, the Daehan I'd lived in for the past twenty years or so wasn't an environment that made trust easy.
Coups, power struggles, the seat of supreme power.
Days filled with suspecting people, staying vigilant, sharpening my edge.
It made me understand why the paranoid demon king Stalin, who couldn't trust anyone, acted the way he did.
I couldn't fall asleep easily and poured myself some brandy.
Alone, as I filled my glass, my wife approached quietly.
"Prime Minister, what worry has you drinking this late at night?"
"Well."
I wasn't even sure myself.
My wife fetched another glass and set it down in front of me.
"Pour me one too."
I silently filled her glass with brandy.
We clinked glasses and emptied them.
"It's because you're worried about Se-eun, right?"
"Maybe."
"She'll do just fine."
My wife was off the mark on what I was worried about, but I didn't deny it.
"Se-eun will manage."
"She's more like you than she is like me. You know that, right?"
Was she?
I didn't understand Se-eun all that well.
I hadn't even had many conversations with her.
"Se-eun's very ambitious. Once she sets her sights on something, she never gives up. Just like you."
So that was what she meant by father and daughter taking after each other.
If what my wife called ambition was what she meant, it was hard to deny.
I too was the type who didn't scruple over methods when pursuing something.
"If what Se-eun dreams of is this seat, I can't allow it."
But hereditary succession was something I could never tolerate.
"You've told me that plenty of times already. Se-eun knows too."
I was startled by my wife's words.
"You told Se-eun about this?"
"Yes. She needs to know."
I fell into thought upon hearing my wife's words.
If Se-eun knew I disapproved of hereditary succession, could she be wearing a mask?
I recalled the conversations I'd had with Se-eun.
"Noblesse oblige. It felt like she was piercing right into my heart."
If it was a daughter's love for her father, it was endlessly admirable, but I had to consider the possibility that it wasn't.
Lee Seong-jun was the type better suited to suspicion than trust.
I tried to read her thoughts by revisiting Se-eun's gaze.
But soon, I shook my head.
"Suspecting my sixteen-year-old daughter. I'm not some paranoid patient like Stalin; I'm going crazy."
I decided to confront the issue head-on.
The next day, I called Se-eun.
My daughter sat demurely in the seat I offered her.
She looked every bit the proper young lady, but what lay beneath was beyond even my knowledge.
"About when you mentioned wanting to go to the military academy before."
"Yes. Go ahead."
"Were you thinking of politics when you brought that up?"
At my question, Se-eun flashed a cheeky smile.
"It could be."
Right, it could be. What?
Her response was so unexpected that I was at a loss for words for a moment.
"Prime Minister. Can't I dream of politics?"
Her gaze felt challengingly defiant.
I met her eyes and answered firmly.
"Anyone else, maybe. But not the daughter of this Lee Seong-jun."
"Because it's hereditary succession, which isn't allowed in a democracy?"
"Yes. Hereditary rule is poison that ruins a nation. As Daehan's leader, I can't permit such a possibility."
It was easier to talk since my daughter was being straightforward.
"I heard it from Mom, but you really don't leave any room, do you, Prime Minister?"
Se-eun said in a whiny tone.
"I'm sorry about that."
"But it doesn't matter. I never wanted to go into politics anyway."
"Really?"
I felt a great weight lift from my mind.
If my daughter had insisted on her ambitions to the end, I would have had to send her abroad to study or marry her off to a foreigner to cut off her path.
It was a huge relief that it hadn't come to that.
"I just wanted to fulfill my duty as the Prime Minister's eldest daughter."
I wanted to believe Se-eun's words.
I wanted to nod like any ordinary father would at his daughter's words.
Yet I couldn't do so easily, thanks to my habit of doubting everything.
"I always appreciate your feelings."
"But do you know why I thought that way?"
"Not really."
Se-eun pointed to the portrait in the room.
The Lee Seong-jun in the portrait gazed at us with a smiling face.
"It's because of the Prime Minister in there."
"Me?"
"You wouldn't know what it's like to live as the Prime Minister's daughter. No one who hasn't experienced the pressure of besmirching your face with a single mistake can understand."
Lee Seong-jun as a father?
Even I felt a lump in my throat thinking about it.
"So what can I do? I have to rack up some praiseworthy deeds in advance."
If going to the military academy was in that vein, sending her to the Army Academy wouldn't be so bad.
But the Stalin in my heart didn't fully believe my daughter's story.
"This is high-level deception. Treat her not as your daughter but as a rival to make an objective judgment. Suspect, and suspect again. It's because we've always suspected that we haven't been caught off guard."
That was excessive suspicion.
How could a mere sixteen-year-old girl harbor such political cunning?
If she could, it would mean Se-eun was a politician brilliant enough to fool Lee Seong-jun, which didn't make sense.
Sometimes my suspicions branched out too far.
"I didn't realize our daughter was living under that kind of burden."
"You've been too oblivious, Prime Minister."
There was nothing to say to that.
"I'm sorry."
"If you're sorry to me, grant me one wish."
"If it's something a father can do."
As long as it wasn't something outrageous, I intended to grant it.
Even as a child, Se-eun had wheedled gifts out of me this way.
"You're serious?"
"I swear it on the name of this Lee Seong-jun."
I'd broken countless promises as a deadbeat on credibility, but whenever I staked my name, I kept them.
Se-eun understood the meaning.
"Then, make it possible for me to become a pilot."
"You want to be a pilot? Isn't that determined by scores at the Air Force Academy?"
That was my understanding.
"I just thought there might be gender barriers in society."
Her words pricked my conscience a bit.
So I denied it strongly.
"There won't be any barriers. If there are, your father will clear them away."
If Se-eun had no intention of challenging for power, paving the way for her to soar as an Air Force officer wasn't a bad idea.
"As expected, the Prime Minister is the best."
Se-eun hugged me and spun around.
With the stamina of a healthy teenage girl, she tried to spin several times.
Stop. I'm getting dizzy.
"No one's around, so call me Dad now."
"I don't like that."
Se-eun said calling me Dad made it feel less weighty.
With the mood lightened, we talked more about Se-eun's life plans.
"You won't spend your whole life as an Air Force officer growing old and dying in the military, right? What do you plan to do after leaving the service?"
"After the military? I haven't thought about it yet."
"What about a chaebol?"
I'd prepared fashion conglomerates for Se-eun's share.
Chanel and Louis Vuitton made for a fine inheritance.
Hermès would have been nice too, but I couldn't acquire it.
"That seems boring. It's a track laid out by Dad."
"Others would kill for their parents to lay such a track."
"Of course, they'd think I'm whining from a full belly. But I'd rather be remembered as Lee Se-eun than as Lee Seong-jun's daughter."
Was that the driving force behind Se-eun's ambition?
She wanted to stand on her own under the name Lee Se-eun.
I understood.
Children raised in the shadow of giants often felt that desire strongly.
The Stalin in my heart whispered again.
"Remember she never said where she'd go after the Air Force. She'll cling to politics in the end. Don't fall for that innocent face."
I couldn't rule out that possibility either.
"Daehan's iron-willed leader, Lee Seong-jun. Has your heart grown so weak that mere negation sways you? Believe in the solid word 'certainty' instead of the vain value of 'faith.'"
My suspicions kept prodding without rest.
"She showed all her inner thoughts."
"Who would believe that? Even we're doubting it."
"I want to trust my daughter."
I suppressed the emerging paranoia in my heart.
I decided not to probe further whether my daughter's sincerity was genuine.
As a father, I chose to believe.