Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Head-on Confrontation (3)
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Do you know the feeling of your head going cold?
It’s when the crude thought, ‘I’m screwed,’ hits you, and all the haziness vanishes.
That was happening now.
For some reason, my mind cleared, and I could finally, belatedly, recognize that I had been drunk until just a moment ago.
‘Huh.’
So, what should I do now?
The looks I was getting were… colorful.
Above all, Han Seo-rim, who was shooting daggers—or something like them—at me, was the biggest hurdle.
A way to break the tense atmosphere.
I thought about it… but it wasn't easy.
Of course it wasn't.
Viewed objectively, my previous words were ripe for misunderstanding.
I tried to put myself in her father's shoes.
1. His daughter brought a strange man home after 10 PM.
2. The man's face is quite red. He also smells of alcohol.
3. In that state, he gets on his knees and says, ‘Please give me your daughter’s hand.’
Let's imagine it was my daughter.
‘Death penalty.’
The guy gets the death penalty, and my daughter gets house arrest. That seems appropriate.
But my execution would be a problem.
Han Seo-rim's confinement would also be a problem.
Without me, the Hellic project would be permanently shelved, and without Han Seo-rim, it would forever remain an incomplete work.
This regret-based problem-solving, where one only seeks a solution after realizing something has gone wrong, must be an old human habit.
I was no different.
Only after regret set in did I ponder a way out of the situation, and soon, one came to mind.
‘Let’s go with the ‘I was drunk’ defense.’
In fact, I think I was quite drunk until just a moment ago.
And even if I wasn't, who would know? I must reek of alcohol right now.
A simple ‘I made a mistake because I was drunk’ should be enough to smooth this over.
This is that kind of country, after all!
The moment I parted my lips to speak.
“…Director Cheon Yeon-ho. I didn't expect to see you like this. It's a pleasure. My daughter is quite indebted to you, isn't she?”
“?”
“I'm Han Jun-o, Seo-rim's father.”
“???”
Her father cordially offered a handshake.
* * *
In a typical situation, when an unexpected action is met with an unexpected reaction, one is bound to suspect an ulterior motive.
But it's never easy to know the true intentions.
You see as much as you know.
And you have to step back to see the big picture.
That's why Yeon-ho couldn't help but be flustered by Jun-o's hospitality.
However, Jin-gyeong, who met both conditions, was seeing the situation quite clearly.
To sum it up, it was like this.
‘Ah.’
I can hear it.
The sound of a calculator running.
Jin-gyeong saw his father's smile.
It was a purely business-like smile.
It was only natural.
Not wanting to air the family's dirty laundry is a desire shared by most heads of households.
This was even more true for a father who valued social standing and prestige.
The reason his father had stopped his second attack on Rewind was along the same lines.
It was because he couldn't tolerate the name 'Hanul Construction' being associated with a title like 'delinquent eldest grandson.'
He knew I wouldn't stop, so he had no choice but to quit.
Anyway, that was the primary reason for that business-like smile.
But there was a special circumstance that made the smile even wider.
‘Is he actually going to marry them off?’
Marriage is the oldest contract since the dawn of human society, and its utility continues to this day in its most common form.
Especially in a family like this.
Jin-gyeong knew that as well.
‘He sees a benefit, is that it.’
Yeon-ho was a prime catch in the marriage market.
The kind of catch who possessed the intangible asset of 'public opinion,' something that couldn't be bought with money, yet wasn't lacking in wealth either.
“Well…”
“Haha, please, stand up. What would that make me, keeping a guest on his knees like this?”
“Dad…?”
“Seo-rim, if you were going to bring him over, you should have told me. I would have prepared something.”
A warm atmosphere was created.
An atmosphere that was warm only for Han Jun-o.
Jin-gyeong let out a hollow laugh.
Being out of the spotlight was a welcome development.
But, no matter how he looked at it, Yeon-ho's intention surely wasn't marriage.
Living with Seo-rim, he hadn't seen the slightest sign of them dating (Seo-rim wasn't thick-skinned enough to lie about it), and even if their relationship had changed, it was too soon to say they'd decided on marriage and come for permission.
Jin-gyeong was quick on the uptake.
‘It's probably about her quitting.’
Yeon-ho must have heard the story from Seo-rim and come over on a drunken impulse.
He must have been anxious after hearing she'd started a new project in the first place.
I can smell the alcohol from here.
When ordinary people get drunk, they operate on the premise of ‘I’m not drunk’ and act on irrational judgment.
Jin-gyeong knew this from personal experience.
‘I have to break this up.’
It wasn't a good situation.
His father was plying a man who already seemed drunk with more alcohol.
Jin-gyeong put on a brave face.
He grabbed the whiskey bottle from the table (the one his father was pouring for Yeon-ho) and chugged from it.
His father shot him a glare.
He didn't care.
Thud!
A loud noise echoed.
“Keuh! Yeon-ho!”
Jin-gyeong shouted loudly and threw an arm around Yeon-ho's shoulders.
“If something like this was going on, you should have told your big bro here first!”
“Seon…”
“Wow, you've gotten so handsome since I last saw you! No, wait, were you always this handsome?”
Yeon-ho’s bewilderment was palpable.
Ignoring it, Jin-gyeong staggered, leaning his body as he led Yeon-ho outside.
“We're just gonna talk for a bit! He's my junior, after all!”
He didn't wait for his father's reply.
And just like that, Jin-gyeong was able to get Yeon-ho out.
* * *
It was a bit warm outside.
Early summer. The night air wasn't particularly pleasant due to the heat.
But Jin-gyeong felt a sense of liberation.
It felt a little strange, too.
‘Feels like it’s been a while since I’ve been out.’
He had his meals delivered.
He spent most of his waking hours watching TV or playing games.
He found fewer and fewer reasons to leave the house.
He had been living the life of a picture-perfect recluse, and because of that, he hadn't even properly felt the changing of the seasons.
The last time he had gone out was in March.
It had been during the last cold snap of winter, but now the weather was too warm even for short sleeves.
Jin-gyeong's gaze turned to Yeon-ho.
He looked a little troubled.
Seeing that, a laugh escaped him.
“You okay?”
In truth, he wasn't a junior he was particularly close to.
Aside from a few guys from his university days with whom he'd started a business, he had maintained a certain distance in all his relationships, including the one with Yeon-ho.
So this was a new sight.
He knew Yeon-ho was close with his sister, but… he never knew the guy could be this entertaining.
“Geez, and here I thought you were a model student.”
“I am a model student.”
“Model student, my ass. You're the biggest success story out of Hankuk University's computer science department.”
“Not the biggest.”
“Are you supposed to talk back to your senior like that?”
When he asked playfully, Yeon-ho let out a long sigh.
He seemed even more troubled.
I shouldn't tease him any further.
Jin-gyeong pulled out a cigarette and spoke.
“You went through a lot. My old man's like that sometimes. You want one?”
“…I don't smoke.”
“Taking good care of your health, I see.”
No reply came.
He glanced over and saw Yeon-ho with his head bowed low.
Silence filled the bench.
With every exhale, the smell of cigarette smoke spread damply through the humid air.
Jin-gyeong smacked his lips as he faced reality.
An unexpected accident.
But this made one thing certain.
‘Ah, I guess I have no choice but to take over the company now.’
His father would no longer force Seo-rim to inherit the family business.
No, even if she wanted to, he would try to stop her.
Because he would assign her a role that was even more profitable.
He would probably urge her to stay at Rewind.
He would try to solidify her relationship with Yeon-ho.
‘No way out. No way out.’
There was no escape.
If he lived as a bum, he would be silenced for life.
If he tried to do something, he would be stopped with full force.
His father was capable of that.
So, did he hate it?
Was he in despair?
Or did he resent it?
He asked himself and found the answer.
It was a rather unexpected, or perhaps, an obvious answer.
‘…No.’
Jin-gyeong was wise.
That meant not only that he had good judgment, but also that he was capable of self-reflection.
Only after asking himself this could Jin-gyeong admit it.
Slowly, Jin-gyeong began to accept the conclusion he had reached.
The words slipped out.
“…Thanks.”
It wasn't something to say to a man who could barely respond.
Nevertheless, Jin-gyeong offered his thanks first.
What followed was a lament.
A lament, as the word implies, was not said with Yeon-ho in mind.
It was purely a reflection of his own past and emotions, and it began like this.
“You know, I'm a stubborn guy. I have to do everything with my own two hands. A lot like Seo-rim, right?”
“…”
“No outside pressure. No cheating. It had to be all mine, from the ground up. That's why I did a startup.”
He took a long drag of his cigarette, and it felt like his head was clearing up.
The smoke came out in broken puffs along with his words.
“It was good. Back then.”
Looking back, he had been happy.
The desire for achievement was more stimulating than he'd thought.
It had a drug-like addiction, more potent than the lukewarm stimuli of lust or appetite.
The happiness of achieving things one by one, the thrill of looking back at what he had built and seeing how much it had grown.
Those were feelings that only someone who had experienced them could understand.
Perhaps that was why he couldn't break free.
…But all things come to an end.
When was it?
When he slowly started to become numb to achievement.
Jin-gyeong mulled it over and came to a conclusion.
“There's a threshold for the feeling of achievement. You know that, right?”
Yeon-ho thought for a moment before slowly nodding.
Jin-gyeong continued.
“Once you reach a certain peak, the second time is less thrilling. Stagnant results breed impatience.”
It was around that time.
When his startup was reaching the limits of what one person could do.
It was a crossroads where any further progress would be a slow climb, or a single mistake could bring everything crashing down.
It was a view only a manager could see.
The sense of accomplishment, having already passed its threshold, had turned into a thirst, and impatience soon grew into anxiety.
That was when.
“Then suddenly, I saw my father.”
He saw something further beyond.
“I started to covet it, belatedly. Ah, this looks like it would be much more fun. I think I've done everything I can on my own.”
It was a selfish and ugly thought.
A thought so shameful he had averted his gaze from it.
Even back then, Jin-gyeong had hidden those feelings.
Of course, could hiding them ever work?
Greed was exponential.
Being greedy at 2 would only double it to 4.
But being greedy at 100 would multiply it a hundredfold to 10,000.
Back then, Jin-gyeong was mad with greed, beyond the desire for achievement.
“And right then, things blew up. Seo-rim suddenly says she doesn't want to inherit the company. Now the arrow's pointing at me, right? Wow, this'll be fun. It was around the time I was thinking that, that I realized something.”
Jin-gyeong had fallen into self-loathing.
“I'm a fucking piece of trash.”
And yet, he had continued his actions.
“I had an excuse to quit the startup, so I did. I even helped my employees find decent new jobs, so my conscience is clear. In the end, I didn't fail! I was forced by outside pressure! I quit for my sister's sake! Now I can get what I want. But Dad still wants Seo-rim. You've known my sister for a while, she's ridiculously good at her job.”
Yeon-ho nodded.
Jin-gyeong chuckled dryly.
“Wow, that really hurts my pride. If it comes to me like some charity handout, can I really run it happily? It just doesn't look good. I'm Han Jin-gyeong, after all. The Han Jin-gyeong who built a company without his parents' help. The eldest grandson of this family.”
What came next was the ugliest part.
For a moment, his lips refused to form the words.
Jin-gyeong looked out at the dark park in front of the bench.
It looked just like his own dark heart.
Only after hesitating was Jin-gyeong able to slowly continue.
“So then I thought, ah, I should just live recklessly until the old man comes begging to me.”
Jin-gyeong knew that Seo-rim felt indebted to him.
He had used that.
Surprisingly, he felt no guilt.
At the time, he hadn't been using Seo-rim.
Looking back, he realized he had been lying to himself.
He had subconsciously created the excuse of 'for my sister's sake' to turn away from his own pathetic self.
“I told myself that. I'm going to let my little sister live the life she wants! Even though I'm the one who lived however the hell I wanted!”
The moment the words were out.
Jin-gyeong felt his face flush.
A confession must feel like this.
The feeling of liberation comes before the shame.
He wanted to confess this sin somewhere, just to ease his heart.
And it actually worked.
Jin-gyeong had never felt so liberated in his life.
“…Probably. Just probably.”
His voice trembled slightly.
What came next was the realm of imagination.
But as he'd said, Jin-gyeong was a wise person.
No, a cunning person.
He knew what would have happened if he had ignored his true feelings until the end.
“If you hadn't come today. If you hadn't presented another profitable possibility to my father, I would have never taken over the company. Seo-rim would have inherited it, and I would have remained a wreck. Then, in the very distant future, I would have regretted my decision. I would have been filled with self-loathing.”
What he would have done then, Jin-gyeong himself didn't know.
He didn't even want to imagine it.
“…So, thank you.”
Only now, with another possibility presented, did Jin-gyeong feel he could say these things to someone else.
If Yeon-ho hadn't come, he would have never done it.
Jin-gyeong would have clung to the excuse he had maintained for years, ignoring his desire to take the company while holding emotional superiority over his father.
Jin-gyeong lowered his head.
Half a dozen cigarettes he had smoked while talking lay at his feet.
Silence fell.
Jin-gyeong felt it like a boulder pressing down on his shoulders.
Filled with guilt, he glanced at Yeon-ho.
Immediately, a hollow laugh escaped Jin-gyeong's lips.
“…Are you sleeping?”
Yeon-ho was nodding off.
For a moment, he worried if Yeon-ho had even heard him.
But it was a meaningless worry.
“…I'm listening.”
It seemed he had been listening.
The consideration was appreciated.
Though it didn't change the fact that his face was burning.
He felt a weight lift from his chest.
Jin-gyeong decided to put an end to this childish stubbornness.
Furthermore, he decided to accept himself for who he was—a person who only acted after every justification was in place, even at this very moment.
“The company, I'm just going to take it. Even if my father disapproves, I'll have to get on my knees. What else can I do when it seems there's no other way?”
Admitting his own ugliness meant he could consciously stop that behavior.
He could be better from now on.
As he spoke, Jin-gyeong wondered.
Would this truth ever reach Seo-rim's ears?
If Yeon-ho told her, she would know. If he didn't, it would remain a secret forever.
Because Jin-gyeong was not the kind of person who could tell her this himself.
Yeon-ho didn't answer.
Feeling awkward, Jin-gyeong added a playful comment.
“You can take Seo-rim.”
Yeon-ho reacted to the name ‘Seo-rim.’
“I will.”
Jin-gyeong froze.
A strange light flickered in his eyes.
‘Does this bastard really like Seo-rim?’
He couldn't tell.
He clearly seemed drunk, but looking closely, maybe he wasn't.
As bewilderment filled him.
“Senior.”
“…Huh?”
“It's a construction company, right? And a real estate company.”
“…Yeah?”
Why was he suddenly talking about this?
As the thought crossed his mind, Yeon-ho spoke.
“The steel frames. You have to make sure the count is right.”
“…?”
Yeon-ho had said something strange.
Jin-gyeong tilted his head.
…There was no way for Jin-gyeong to know that he was a regressor who happened to be drunk.
* * *
The next day dawned.
I only vaguely remembered going to Han Seo-rim's house.
Fortunately, the key parts… like my conversation with Jin-gyeong-hyung, remained in my memory.
Conclusion.
‘The siblings both have glass hearts.’
Han Seo-rim was the type to show it, while Jin-gyeong-hyung was the type to hide it.
Fundamentally, there was no difference.
If I had to point out one thing that had changed, it was this.
[Jin-gyeong Hyung: Call me if you need help. I'll help you out once.]
It seemed Jin-gyeong-hyung had finally decided to take over the company.
Looking at the message, I saw the puzzle pieces finally fall into place.
I thought for a moment.
‘When did Seo-rim retire in my past life…?’
There were at least five years left.
But this problem was already surfacing.
It would have happened even without my intervention.
That left one unanswered question.
‘Jin-gyeong-hyung would have lived like that for at least another five years.’
Han Seo-rim would have watched him like that for five more years.
She retired after that.
If you just look at the cause and effect, she would have inherited the company.
‘But…’
But.
There was something that made me unable to think of it so simply.
—If you hadn't come today. If you hadn't presented another profitable possibility to my father, I would have never taken over the company. Seo-rim would have inherited it, and I would have remained a wreck. Then, in the very distant future, I would have regretted my decision. I would have been filled with self-loathing.
Jin-gyeong-hyung was someone who could break down faster than expected.
What would five more years have been like for him?
And one more thing.
‘Why.’
Their father, Han Jun-o, was famous enough that I had seen his face in news articles, so why.
Han Seo-rim, who would have inherited such a company, why.
‘Why.’
—That art director retired and then vanished like a ghost.
How could Han Seo-rim, who should have been making public appearances after inheriting the company, become someone who was never seen in the media again?
A long breath escaped me.
‘…No need to think about it, I guess.’
I erased the unpleasant speculation.
Whatever it was, it wouldn't happen now.
There was something more important.
“…Senior.”
Han Seo-rim spoke to me in a small voice, uncharacteristic for her in the morning.
“What.”
“…Come here for a second.”
My instincts sensed danger.
‘…Come to think of it.’
How did I get home?