Chapter 67: Interference (3)

“Hey, Eun Gayoung! What do you think you’re doing? How dare you…!”

“Quiet.”

“But Father, that bich doesn’t know her place…”

“Quiet!”

Bang!

My father’s spoon slammed down on the table.

The sound made us all hold our breath.

“The more you dig into SC Electronics, the more the entire group will ultimately suffer.
The same goes for the future of the players you want to protect.”

I can’t back down.

No, I shouldn’t back down.

If I take even one step back here…

The documents the ‘ajusshi’ gave me will become nothing more than scraps of paper.

And without those documents, my agency was still just a small pebble against the huge mountain of SC Electronics.

She met her father’s eyes with a sharp gaze.

“Your words sound different to my ears, Father.
‘If you dig any further, your player has no future’… that’s what it sounds like.
Am I misunderstanding?”

“So what if you are?”

“Father, when I left home, you made a clear promise.

That even if there was no support, you wouldn’t interfere.

And I clearly promised that if the company failed, I would quietly return under your shadow as you wished.”

My father’s expression remained as hard as a rock.

“Was the word of the chairman of SC Group so light?”

“You damn bich!”

Sung-joon oppa shot up from his seat.

“Sit down.”

“Hah, but Father! That half-breed…”

“This is your last warning, Eun Sung-joon.
Sit down.”

At his father’s warning, Sung-joon oppa sat back down as if he were a puppet.

“Gayoung.”

My father’s voice dropped a notch.

It was a dangerous sound.

“Is this matter so important that you dare to speak of the weight of SC Group’s word?

If I put my mind to it, a company like yours could disappear without a trace in an instant.
It seems you still don’t know that there’s nothing SC Group can’t do in this country.”

I gave a bitter smile.

How could I not know?

I grew up watching from the side how powerful the SC Group was in this Republic of Korea.

“No, I know very well.

With a single word from you, Father, my agency would disappear without a trace overnight.

But you clearly promised.

That you wouldn’t touch it.

And that promise should have included your companies… that is, my brothers.

You were the one who broke that promise first.”

The air in the dining room froze.

Even Ki-joon oppa, who would normally have thrown a sharp remark in such a situation, kept his mouth shut and only watched his father’s expression.

Sung-joon oppa looked as tense as if he were looking at a powder keg about to explode.

“What do you want?”

“Please reaffirm your promise.
And… I would appreciate it if you would provide fair compensation for breaking it first.”

‘The moment I publicize SC Electronics’ corruption… Father will truly mobilize all his power.
This is about right for now.’

From the beginning, I had no intention of bringing down my brother with these documents.

I just wanted to receive fair compensation and have my father’s promise reaffirmed in front of everyone.

If my father promises publicly like this,
the moment my brothers touch me, it will be an act of defying their father’s word.

“…Fine.

From now on, our SC Group will never interfere with your business.

And… I will also compensate you for breaking the promise first.”

Strangely, I felt a hint of satisfaction in my father’s voice.

But she quickly dismissed the thought.

‘That’s ridiculous.
The feeling of satisfaction… is something you feel towards someone you have expectations for.’

“I’ve lost my appetite.
You all eat and go.”

As soon as he finished speaking, my father got up from his seat and left the dining room.

“You’ve finally lost your mind.”

Sung-joon oppa spat out cold words and left his seat immediately.

Ki-joon oppa also got up from his seat without a word.

He looked at me for a moment, then gave a slight nod and went outside.

“Hah~ My heart is pounding…”

Outside, I’m a capable agent called the Queen of Yangmyeong,

but inside this house, I was still just the unloved youngest daughter.

“Driver, please prepare the car.”

***

“Was I wrong…”

Eun Kang-hyuk, the chairman of SC Group, was a man as cold as iron, known in his family as the ‘iron-blooded’,

but now, with a rare, distant expression, he was watching the car leaving his house through the window.

If anyone who knew him had witnessed this moment,

they probably would have doubted their own eyes.

They wouldn’t have believed that such a human emotion could be contained in the face of the icy Eun Kang-hyuk.

After confirming that the car was getting farther away past the gate,

he took out a photograph from the depths of his desk drawer.

It was a picture of a woman who looked exactly like Eun Gayoung and a young Eun Kang-hyuk together.

“You’ve grown up to look just like her…”

He muttered, looking at the old photograph.

The confident smile of the woman in the picture overlapped with the image of Gayoung who had confronted him today.

Her defiant eyes, her unbending attitude, it was as if he were seeing her.

“Gayoung… please take good care of Gayoung, my love…”

On that spring day when the cherry blossoms were scattering, she left those words with her final smile.

His own trembling hand holding her cooling one.

The moment when tears he had never shown in his entire life streamed down his cheeks.

And the cry of a small baby who had lost her mother just days after being born into the world.

Even in the face of the immense power of being the chairman of SC Group, on the path he had walked while suppressing countless enemies, his heart, which had never once wavered, shattered into pieces that day.

That was why.

The reason he had taken her to social parties since she was young.

He wanted to create another fence for her, one that corresponded to, but was not, the SC Group.

But the world did not go as he wished.

All his plans came to nothing,

and in the end, she chose her own path, not his shadow.

When Sung-joon touched Gayoung’s company, the reason he didn’t stop him might have been his wish for her to live safely under his shadow in this harsh world.

He knew very well that this ideology was a twisted love.

But as someone who knew the ruthless reality of the SC Group better than anyone, he couldn’t help but worry.

He himself had mercilessly removed anyone who stood in his way to get to where he was.

Even if it was family…

And his sons resembled him to a chilling degree.

“Father…”

Eun Kang-hyuk gave a bitter smile at the sudden memory.

He had become no different from the father he had so resented and hated back then.

The only difference was,

that he genuinely wanted to protect Gayoung.

Even if the method was twisted and distorted.

He called his only close friend.

-Chairman’s call received.

“Do as you always do.
As usual…”

-Ahem… well, did you call because of Gayoung?

“Yes.
I have a favor to ask.”

-A favor…

“Yes.
I know you’re retired… but I’d like you to look after Gayoung from time to time.”

-Tsk, tsk… you pathetic fool.
You could just show your true feelings…

Chief Kim’s voice was tinged with the warm rebuke that only a friend of several decades could offer.

-Why do you hide and beat around the bush so much?

“You know… my true feelings for Gayoung… would just be an excuse.”

“Tsk…”

Chief Kim let out a sigh-filled laugh.

-Sometimes that one excuse is so important.
Anyway, I’ll look after Gayoung, so don’t worry.

It’s not easy for a young kid to grow a company like that despite the family’s interference.

“Yes… please take good care of her.”

After hanging up, he looked at the picture again and muttered to himself.

“You fool… if it were that easy, I would have done it long ago.”

***

Jeong Tae-woo.

At first, his name was simple.

An Asian prospect who had transferred to the Premier League after a brief flash of brilliance in the Olympics.

He was nothing more, nothing less.

But as time went on, things changed.

One by one, people started to have expectations for his name, and in the end, he rewrote the history of Manchester City with his legendary achievements.

He surpassed the record of the legendary goalkeeper Leo and created a new legend in his own name.

An incredible 17 consecutive clean sheets.

Although that record was broken when he conceded a goal to Liverpool in the 18th game, his current consecutive clean sheet record will not be easily broken.

No, if someone does break this record… it will probably be Jeong Tae-woo himself.

-Michael Harrison, BBC Sport, UK

No one expected it.

When Manchester City signed an Asian goalkeeper in the Premier League transfer market, most experts dismissed it as a purely commercial decision.

But Jeong Tae-woo was different.

His super saves are no longer surprising.

It’s gotten to the point where people say it’s more surprising when he makes a mistake.

His concentration, especially in big matches, is truly shocking.

The match in the Manchester derby where he made 15 super saves and still scored a free-kick goal has already become a Premier League legend.

Now people ask, “What are his limits?”

To be honest, I don’t know either.

But one thing is for sure: we are witnessing history in the making.

-Alex Brown, The Daily Mail, UK

[The final match of the first half of the season is between Manchester City and Chelsea]

[Who will be the winner of the long-awaited Park Seo-joon vs. Jeong Tae-woo match?]

[Who will be the winner of the Korean Derby?]

In Europe, it was just another clash between big clubs, but this match had a slightly special meaning in Korea.

It was a derby.