I'll Make You Chairman, Dad
Thump! Thump!
My heart hammered against my ribs.
My father—the man I had buried deep under grief and pain.
Only after he vanished before my eyes did I truly understand the hole he left behind.
The ordinary days when he played catch with me, when he kicked a ball around with me. The day I finally managed to ride a bicycle and he clapped with Mom, cheering me on. Every time school exams rolled around, he would gently ruffle my hair no matter the result and tell me to hang in there.
Life doesn't have to be hard, he always said. Drop the greed and just live happily—that's enough.
I was too young to grasp what those words meant. Living in a world without him finally taught me.
Even when you give everything to the reality in front of you, sometimes there simply is no answer. That is when you stop. Giving it your all is enough.
His advice became my strength every single time.
A man who threw away his place as the son of a massive conglomerate and boldly chose love. A decision almost no one else could have made. I take after that man.
Click.
I pressed the call button.
And then—
"Son~."
The bright voice I always heard when he was still alive. Hearing my father's voice again after years made emotion surge up my throat.
"Ah, Father…"
"Father? Hahaha. Son, you practicing for the army? What's with the sudden 'Father'? Makes me feel like I aged overnight."
His pleased laughter at the change of address rolled through the line. A smile tugged at the corner of my own mouth.
The father I had cut from my memories, the one I had refused to face—I was reuniting with him.
"Does it feel weird?"
"Yeah. A lot."
"Guess growing up early because of you is out of the question."
"After the army it'll feel natural. You're still in high school. Act your age. Everyone becomes an adult eventually. You change then whether you want to or not."
Solid advice. I had lived a full corporate life. I understood the weight of the words he was offering now.
"Still on the business trip?"
"Yeah. Busan."
"Mom must be lonely."
"Tell me about it. Making a living isn't easy."
Little conversations I never truly felt at the time. I was hearing my father's half-joking sincerity all over again. We used to talk like this often. We were parent and child, yet the daily conversation stayed free. He never crossed the line, though. When it came to basic respect toward elders, Dad had always been strict. Day-to-day talk, though—he let us speak freely. Strangers sometimes thought I was being rude to him. They were wrong.
I… loved my parents deeply.
Even now I respect the man who chose the woman he loved and boldly walked away from his place as the youngest son of the group.
"Hang in there. Thanks to you and Mom, this son of yours is growing up just fine."
"Haha. Yeah, hurry up and grow. Let Dad start collecting allowance for once."
Even in hard circumstances, Dad's hearty laugh was pure vitamins.
"How's it going these days?"
"Just you wait. Dad's prepping something big."
Hope filled his voice. Yeah—it had been the same back then. Unfortunately… that one was a scam!
I only learned the truth after he died. The so-called friend and his crew who thoroughly used a decent family man. And behind them… those people!
"Don't worry about a thing! This son of yours will handle everything!"
"What? Who are you?"
"Huh?"
"You're not my son, are you? My real son has been walking around with a dark soul because of school lately… What's this voice? Why so full of confidence?"
That's my dad for you.
"…You knew?"
"Cheonghwa High is famous. Holding on with a Sabaeja label stuck on you is impressive enough. I know exactly how the rich kids throw their weight around."
"Then why didn't you stop me more?"
"Because you wanted it."
"…"
"You grow as much as you hurt. Experience is real capital. Your personal asset."
Even high-grade life advice like that used to roll off his tongue without effort.
"I love you."
"I love you too. Hahahaha."
Dad laughed as if he had never been missing from my life for a single day.
"Dad! You trust me, right?"
"Of course."
"I'll be asking a favor soon."
"Need allowance?"
"No."
"Then?"
"If I take first place in the whole school, you have to grant me one request no matter what."
"First place? At Cheonghwa High?"
"Yes."
"Okay! It's a promise!"
In this life I refuse to lose my father. Mom too—I will protect her. The woman who stared only at the East Sea after he left. Both of them. I will keep them safe no matter what!
"Dad."
"What?"
"Get a little greedier!"
"I'm too old for greed…"
"Old? This son of yours is going to make you chairman!"
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the words at least. If my son makes me chairman, I'll work hard."
He brushed it off like a joke. Chairman. I will make him one.
The group Grandfather still holds—in the future I will rebuild, it will belong to my father.
The moment I decided, the grand plan unfurled crystal clear.
"I'll come down after exams. Kimchi jjigae packed with meat, please."
"Sure. Let's have some soju with the stew."
Dad had always treated me with an open mind, never fussing over formality.
"I love you~"
"Yeah, I love you too, son."
A call that felt like we had never been apart at all. Strength flooded both my fists.
The unfair years I had lived through once before.
Just wait… the counterattack is coming soon!
"Why is that guy walking around fine?"
"They're not punishing him??"
"He caused that whole scene in the cafeteria…"
School kids muttered every time they brushed past me. The second round of high school life was flying by. Today was the first day of midterms. Subjects: math and chemistry.
The workbooks at home had been more than enough. The math problems I had solved back then were still crystal clear in my head. For someone who had studied university-level math, this was a piece of cake. Even at a top-tier high school, the exams never left the high-school level. A few killer questions per subject, twisted two or three times at most. Memorization subjects needed no comment—I remembered the literature and non-literature passages word for word.
As I mentioned before, free lunch was my main reason for coming to school. And one more: golf.
"Teacher Park Donggeun got six months' suspension!"
"Six whole months?"
"But… what's the deal with Ha Taewoong?"
"Right? Does that guy have something on them?"
The kids whispered about me with every wild theory they could invent. An official disciplinary committee had convened, and Teacher Park Donggeun's punishment had been decided. Exactly the way I wanted.
Oh Gwangjun glared daggers every time our eyes met. The first chance I got, I would have to give him a proper life lesson. I planned to teach him that school was not a stage where he could run wild just because his father was a chief prosecutor at the district office.
"Unfair treatment of Sabaeja will be punished according to school rules! The principal even posted a warning notice."
"Then what fun are we supposed to have left??"
Fun? Looking at them again, they were thoroughly rotten kids. This was the true face of the ones who had psychologically treated Sabaeja like slaves. This time I would thoroughly rewire their heads before graduation.
"Will you all shut up? Are we taking the test or not?"
A sharp, icy voice cut through the classroom. Lee Hyoju, the top of the grade, delivering a razor-edged warning.
"…"
The room fell dead silent in an instant. That was the difference in power. A perfect miniature of Korea's ruthless survival-of-the-fittest structure, transplanted into one classroom.
"Leave them. Being talked about isn't exactly new for me."
I gave a light smile and calmly scanned the whispering kids. The moment our eyes met they whipped their heads away and avoided my gaze. Their momentum was already crushed. Every last one of them looked like pathetic little bastards in my eyes. To think I used to cower in fear of these types… Looking at them coldly now, they were even more miserable than I had been. Completely unremarkable kids. The only thing propping them up was the money and power of their parents.
"You ready for the test?"
Huh? Lee Hyoju…?
Two seats over and one row ahead, Lee Hyoju asked the question. Misread it slightly and it almost sounded like interest.
"…??"
The kids' bewildered faces proved my suspicion wasn't wrong. The great Lee Hyoju never tossed lines like that at male students. She had never shown even trivial interest. Always aloof, always lofty. She barely had any friends at school.
"Don't worry. I finished everything already."
I sipped the iced Americano I had bought on the way to school and enjoyed the spring morning. Unlike the other students, I was savoring leisure.
"Heh."
Lee Hyoju let out a soft snort of laughter and turned her head. The smooth, soft line of her cheek… even a brief glance was pleasant to look at.
First period math exam began soon after.
Riiiing!
The starting bell rang and I faced the test papers.
And then.
Perfect!!