Parents of a Daughter

"You've arrived, my husband... This humble girl has finished preparing to wait upon you."

She was breathtaking. The clothes themselves were surely expensive, but anything Oh Se-eun put on transformed into the finest luxury imaginable. Jinwoo had felt something like this many times before — that strange illusion that whatever she wore, draped herself in, or so much as touched became something extraordinary.

Oh Se-eun sat with her head slightly bowed, her eyes gently lowered, her posture impeccable. He had only ever known her in her usual fiery mode, but this side of her wasn't bad at all. Even if he could see straight through the act.

"That's enough..."

"A promise is a promise. This girl belongs to you now, my husband. Take me and do with me as you please."

Had she been reading too many R-rated webtoons?

"I said that's enough."

"I cannot. As promised, this body of mine — I shall offer you everything."

This was exactly why kids shouldn't watch Japanese anime. Picking up weird concepts from who knows where.

"Hah... what even is this concept? This isn't seventeenth-century Joseon. Did you study abroad in Japan instead of America?"

"Because a promise is a sacred thing."

"That concept doesn't suit you. And why would you have lost money? It went exactly the way you predicted. Didn't you make a profit?"

"Well... in the end, I invested in the opposite direction of my original forecast. Please, look over the investment records."

Oh Se-eun slid a tablet across to Jung Jinwoo. On the screen were the investment records of a company called Global Investment — a ledger of positions taken in the exact opposite direction of what she had told him, and the enormous losses that had followed. According to those figures, Oh Se-eun had lost 286 billion won.

"So it says you lost 286 billion won."

"Yes. That's how it turned out."

Oh Se-eun, who had been watching him, dropped her head toward the floor at a perfect ninety degrees.

Who did she think she was selling this to?

That figure was forty percent of what she had actually invested. With the remaining sixty percent, funneled through World Investment, she had made close to 500 billion. Even after subtracting the 286 billion, she was still up more than 200 billion.

"And this is really the result of your investments?"

"Yes. These are the results of my investments."

Shameless. Making 200 billion and then playing dumb.

But to prove it, he would have to reveal that he knew her entire investment history. That was something he must never do.

"My husband, what shall we do? You guaranteed the loan — you borrowed the money from Vice Chairman Ko Yoon-seok on my behalf..."

"Drop the 'husband.'"

"But you are my husband. A promise is a promise."

"Forget the money. I want a real answer. Are you doing this for the money, or do you actually like me?"

As much as Oh Se-eun loved money, this didn't feel like a scheme to pocket 200 billion. He could be wrong about a lot of things, but he knew how to read people. And the Oh Se-eun he knew would never back someone into a corner out of greed.

"Both. The money matters, but if my dad finds out I broke a promise... he'll kill me."

"Don't give me that."

"Don't you know my dad? Chairman of Daebang Group. Oh. Jang. Seok."

"What? Who?"

Jung Jinwoo's eyes flew wide.

"O-Oh Jang-seok is your father?"

Oh Se-eun nodded.

He should have caught on the moment he learned that Oh Hyeongseok of Daebang Construction was her uncle. Even then, he had figured they were distant relatives, maybe a collateral branch of the family. The chairman's daughter?

And who was Oh Jang-seok? A man who believed fists were closer than the law — more gangster than businessman. Not an actual gangster, perhaps, but a legend of this age who would charge through the door with a baseball bat whenever he saw something unjust.

There was a famous story from the time Chairman Oh Jang-seok was summoned for questioning by a senior prosecutor who had clearly taken money from a rival company.

He had rolled up his sleeves as he said it, looking ready to pummel the prosecutor on the spot. That told you everything you needed to know.

The anecdotes surrounding Chairman Oh Jang-seok were endless, and yet people didn't dislike him. He lived by a code of chivalry — generous to the weak and the powerless, and unyielding toward anyone who threw their weight around.

A man like that, if he found out even his only daughter had broken a promise, might well give her a beating. No — he absolutely would.

Jinwoo's eyes narrowed as the thought ran its course. But that whole scenario rested on one premise: that she had actually lost the money and had nothing left. She hadn't lost a thing.

"Let me think about this."

At his words, Oh Se-eun lowered her gaze.

"Whatever you decide, this girl shall follow your word, my husband."

"Please stop calling me that..."

Every time she said my husband, his heart melted. A girl this stunning calling you husband and telling you to do as you pleased — an ordinary man would lose his mind.

"Very well. My lord husband..."

"Wha—!"

So she was expanding her vocabulary.

Vice Chairman Ko Yoon-seok paused.

"Hahahaha..."

The laugh burst out of him. So that was her game. That little rascal Oh Se-eun.

She wasn't a child. Did she honestly think that clinging to him like this, by force, was how you got married? It was a transparent, adorable little scheme — tangle their lives together somehow and turn it into a half-forced marriage.

"And the six billion? That's interest, I take it?"

Ko Yoon-seok seemed thoroughly smitten with Oh Se-eun. And Jinwoo, for his part, didn't dislike her either. He liked her. Liked her a great deal.

If he had to describe how he felt right now, it was like waving cotton candy in front of a five-year-old who adored the stuff. If he simply followed his desires, he would want to live with Oh Se-eun. Just thinking about it was like a dream.

He had just finished the call with Ko Yoon-seok and returned to the office when it happened.

"Um, Manager... over there."

Team Leader Ji Jeong-eun caught Jung Jinwoo's eye and jerked her chin toward the conference room.

"Who is it?"

"See for yourself."

Ji Jeong-eun's expression was dark.

No. It couldn't be. There was no way.

He approached with care and opened the conference room door.

"Ghk—!"

Oh Se-eun sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap, the picture of composure.

"Please, attend to your work, my husband. This girl shall wait here quietly until you finish for the day."

He nearly frothed at the mouth.

"What are you doing?"

"Keeping my promise."

"You don't have to keep that promise! This is the company where I work."

"I had no choice. You wouldn't even tell me where you live. I meant to go to your home, my husband, but I don't know where it is."

She had been insisting she would stay at his house, and he had fled.

"Se-eun, please..."

She had grown since studying abroad. She used to be a chaotic little psychopath who charged in without a second thought. Now she was cosplaying as a demure young lady from a good family and tormenting people with surgical precision.

If it were someone he disliked, he would have shut it down without hesitation. The problem was that she was too cute, too beautiful — and that he liked her too. And Oh Se-eun was driving a knife into that weakness with unerring aim.

"Haaaah..."

"If you would only tell me where your home is, my husband... I won't trouble you here. I'll go there and wait quietly."

His breath caught in his throat. Couldn't she just live like a normal person?

"Fine. All right! Seoul, City of..."

Jung Jinwoo bit down on his lower lip as though steeling himself and began reciting his home address. So that was how she wanted to play it.

"I like Se-eun very much. If it were possible, I would want to look toward a more serious future with her."

WHAM!

He had merely brought his fist down, and the steel table now sat crumpled, humming and groaning as it shuddered in place. In that instant, Jung Jinwoo realized he had just said something extremely, extraordinarily, catastrophically dangerous.

"It's just my feelings — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my feelings. I mean it when I say I like her. What man could dislike a woman who has everything ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Se-eun has?"

"A w-woman?"

The middle-aged man across from him, his face flushed a deep red, echoed the word.

"She's twenty-three. That makes her a woman. Of course, to me she still looks like a child, but..."

He couldn't tell whether he was speaking or whether the words were simply bypassing his brain. Coming here had seemed like a brilliant idea. He was now realizing it had been a mistake.

"So. You lent our Se-eun money, she couldn't pay it back, and now she wants to live in your house instead. Is that it? How much did she borrow?"

"It isn't much. Haha..."

"If she went to your house over a sum that isn't much... then it would seem Se-eun likes you a great deal. But you... didn't you say you were a divorced man?"

In the hand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of Oh Jang-seok — Oh Se-eun's father — what had once been a mobile phone was being crumpled with a grinding shriek of metal and plastic. This was not human strength. The man was a giant, nearly twice Jung Jinwoo's size. He had to be in his fifties, but his face and his power belonged to the bandit chief of some deep mountain stronghold out of a wuxia novel.

"Th-that's exactly why I came. I was worried you might be concerned, Father—"

"Ah. Father?"

The phone, now a crumpled wad, vanished into the interior of that enormous palm. Didn't lithium-ion batteries explode if you crushed them?

"Right. I'm a reasonable man, so I understand what you're saying. Se-eun likes you so much she's making a nuisance of herself. I'll send someone to bring her home."

"No. She is absolutely not a nuisance. I like Se-eun far too much for that. She doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's just that if things continue this way... it isn't right. If this goes on, you and her mother will be displeased, and I don't believe in making the elders uncomfortable."

She was a little bit of a nuisance, if he was honest. But his feelings for Oh Se-eun were larger than that — large enough to take all of it in stride. How was he supposed to leave cotton candy waving right in front of his face uneaten? But he didn't want to have Oh Se-eun like this. That wasn't right.

"I-is that so?"

Something shifted in Chairman Oh Jang-seok's eyes. A moment ago, some dried-up divorced man had walked in seeming to speak ill of his precious daughter. Now it turned out the young man was looking out for her. As a father, he found himself grateful for that.

Oh Jang-seok settled, and took a slow second look at the young man in front of him. The build was decent. He didn't seem like a bad person. Thirty was a little old, and the decisive problem — a divorced man... that wouldn't do.

"Jung Jinwoo. How much did you say you lent Se-eun? I'll repay it myself."

"No. It isn't about the money. The money is truly fine."

"Just tell me. Clean numbers make for clean dealings."

"No, it's really all right. I can do without a sum like that. Please don't concern yourself."

One corner of Oh Jang-seok's mouth curled, as though he found Jung Jinwoo's words laughable.

"If you don't tell me... you're not leaving this room. Are you telling me to leave my daughter a deadbeat? I am Oh Jang-seok of Daebang Group. I don't know how much it is, but how many pennies could it possibly be..."

The money had, in fact, already been repaid in full. But saying so would mean neatly destroying the request Oh Se-eun had so earnestly made of Ko Yoon-seok. He had been forced to mention the loan in the first place just to explain how they had gotten here.

"You're not going to talk? Do I need to show you what happens when I get angry?"

Chairman Oh Jang-seok clenched his fist, and veins sprang from his forearms with a series of cartoonish pops. How was a man like this a corporate chairman? This was talent that belonged in an MMA gym as a grandmaster.

"Twenty..."

"Twenty million? I'll put it in your account right now. Give me the number."

"That's... that's not twenty million..."

"It's not twenty million?"

"T-two hundred billion won."

"......"

Their eyes met in the air between them. Jung Jinwoo saw it clearly — Chairman Oh Jang-seok's pupils wavered.

"How much did you say?"

"You don't need to take it. Please don't concern—"

"No. Say it again. How much?"

"Two hundred billion won."

If he did end up taking the money, he could always just give it straight back to Oh Se-eun.

"Ahem. Ahem... ahem."

Chairman Oh Jang-seok cleared his throat.

"Our Se-eun takes after me... she's got scale. Hahaha."