episode_0273

Squeak!

“Wait a minute!”

“Who are you! You can’t do that here!”

A loud brake sound like something out of a racing game can be heard from outside.

Moreover, the moment the security guards’ commotion is heard, Senior Joo-hee, who was in the living room, runs out.

“What’s going on?”

“I think someone came looking for me.”

I felt a little embarrassed listening to the conversation between Choi Jin-ah and my younger sister-in-law.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I jumped up and went outside.

“Vicky!”

There was a red-haired woman, Oh Yoon-ji, surrounded by bodyguards and being restrained.

My eyes opened wide as if they were being torn apart.

The moment I saw her being forcibly handled by numerous bodyguards.

“Get out!”

I shouted and ran forward without realizing it. I pushed away the bodyguards and pulled Oh Yoon-ji towards me.

“The chairman is a guest!”

The bodyguards were surprised.

Since they couldn’t treat me, the chairman’s son, rudely, everyone hesitated and backed off, or immediately bowed and apologized.

“Your Majesty.”

Only Senior Joohee looked at me with a cold gaze and responded.

“I understand that the Chairman does not have any other guests visiting today.”

“… … .”

“What the chairman asked us was to never let in a guest who didn’t have a prior appointment, even if that guest was the president.”

Senior Joohee’s voice, calm yet cold, felt awkward to me, but it suited me.

A senior who used to be called the captain.

No, more than that.

“This is not simply the chairman’s personal disposition, but the name value and weight of a CEO leading a company. Even if you are a young master, it would be problematic if you ignore it and act however you want.”

As expected, it’s senior Joohee.

A straight back and shoulders without any hunching. The cold-hearted logic was indeed sharp.

That doesn’t mean I had any intention of losing.

“This child is a responsibility that the Chairman must shoulder. Rather, if he just leaves here, it will only seem like the Chairman is trying to hide his own shortcomings.”

If you are on top, you must not back down.

Because that’s your responsibility towards those who are watching your back.

It was something my father had been saying for a long time.

“I’ll take responsibility. Everyone, go back to your seats.”

He firmly declares that he will not listen any more and takes Yunji inside.

Senior Joohee slowly bowed to me without any change in expression and there was no more conversation.

Seeing my senior like that, I wondered if I had made him a bodyguard for nothing. I didn’t know our relationship would become so strained.

But it’s already spilt milk.

I had to take care of Yoonji first.

“Why are you here?”

As I asked her as we went inside, Yunji shook my hand away and answered.

“To argue.”

“Haa, so that’s what Lee Seo said.”

“Is the chairman here?”

“Yoonji, I… … .”

“Enough. I’ll talk to the chairman first.”

I think I heard recently that Yoonji has no strength.

I really don’t know where the strength is.

I feel like I’d tear anything I could get my hands on to shreds right now.

It felt a bit nostalgic, as if I was seeing the old days again.

First, I took Yunji and headed to my father’s study.

In the middle, my mother, Choi Jin-ah, and my younger sister-in-law came towards us, but we passed by without saying anything.

Rattling.

As I opened the door and went in, my father was already waiting with his book closed.

“Long time no see.”

“You know why I came here, Mr. Chairman.”

“Hmm. I guess that kid finally spoke.”

I know my father doesn’t have a very good image of Choi Yi-seo.

I was a little worried that things might get worse this time.

“Chairman, I agreed to the bet with you.”

“… … .”

“In the end, I was wrong, and I admitted my mistake and stepped down. But, Chairman, if the game was a fraud from the beginning, wouldn’t it have been foolish for me to just let it go without making a fuss?”

If the gambling table itself was rigged, it would be natural to lose.

Yunji was arguing like that, but her father responded with a look of no interest in her eyes.

“So what do you want to do?”

“Yes?”

Rather, because it was so firm and heavy, Yunji’s burning momentum was dampened.

“Are you asking for another chance right now? I think that’s something you should be saying to my son, not me.”

“… … .”

“Whether that board was a scam or I cheated. What does it matter? It’s all over now. Now my son is looking at someone else, not you.”

“That’s-!”

I tried to ask her something, but Yoonji was speechless, clenching her fists tightly and grumbling.

“I know that lucky guy is running a business with you. I hope you know that that alone is already a favor to you.”

“… … !”

“A woman with nothing. No, rather, a woman with nothing but flaws was put in the CEO’s seat. Now give up and be satisfied.”

“Did you think I would forget my purpose for the sake of the seat?! Why am I sitting here!”

“I was too greedy for something too big.”

“Don’t you have any remorse for playing with people? You know how hard it was for us back then!”

“Remorse?”

For the first time.

My father slowly got up from his seat.

My father, who had been walking briskly with his backpack on, opens his mouth while touching the paper.

“Don’t you think you should feel guilty?”

“What did you say?”

“If we accept you, the very foundation of our company could be shaken. Do you know how many wolves will bite us just because we brought a death row inmate’s daughter into our home?!”

“That, that-!”

“You don’t know! You’re still young! You can only see an inch ahead of you! If you’re in a high place, most people will try to knock you down! Do you have any idea how much damage you’ll do just by giving them one thing to find fault with!”

My father’s voice grew louder.

No, it was a rebuke as a chairman, not as a father.

“You’re not at fault at all? You’ve never met your father? Do you think I don’t know that? Do you think I don’t know that you’re suffering like this because of a father whose face you’ve never even seen properly!?”

“… … !”

“You must be upset, you must be suffering, you must have been the only person you could rely on when you had nothing!”

Us back then.

They were leaning on each other.

That’s why we were able to survive, and it was okay if we were alone.

“How many times will I take it away? With just one tear! If the employees at my company can have a normal day! I will always do that!”

“… … .”

“Did you say you felt guilty? No. I protected my son, my company, and my people. That’s enough.”

After saying that, father turns around and returns to his seat.

“That’s what the modern-day guilt-by-association system is like. Instead of simply cutting off someone’s head, it distorts everything around them.”

Journalists would never miss this prey. No, even if they did, a nearby competitor would somehow find a way to get it for them.

That’s why my father kicked out Yunji even though he knew she had done nothing wrong.

“If there’s one thing you two have in common.”

Father sitting on a chair.

“I guess I met the wrong father.”

He closed his eyes, exhaled, and gave us the order to leave.

“Get out.”

But Yunji didn’t move.

I just stood there, gritted my teeth, and barely managed to light a fire.

“An apology is… …! Shouldn’t an apology be something like that!”

“Ask for forgiveness means repentance. If the same thing happens again, I will do the same.”

That was the end.

Even the slightest gap was not allowed for Yunji by her father.

* * *

“Ha.”

Yunji came out and laughed bitterly while holding her forehead.

“He came with a lot of energy and got beaten up and left.”

“Yoon Ji-ya.”

“Don’t comfort me. I know I’m not wrong.”

The reason she couldn’t say anything in response to her father’s words was because she understood what he said well enough.

He also knew exactly what he had to do as chairman.

Well, that’s why you came up to this position.

“Let’s go outside. This place… …isn’t very nice.”

I take Yunji out of the house.

We went out, receiving the attention of our family and security guards.

I sat in the passenger seat of the sports car that Yoonji drove and stared at her.

She was still catching her breath, perhaps trying to gather her thoughts. Then, sensing my gaze, she glanced to the side and replied.

“Go. I don’t want to show my shameful appearance.”

“How can you just leave a kid who comes and gets beaten up and leaves?”

“Do you want to die?”

“I’ve been beaten like that by my father a lot, so that’s why. If I just think about it alone, it’ll be even harder.”

Then, Yoonji let out a deep sigh and replied in an annoyed tone.

“It means don’t give it room.”

“… … .”

Still, when I didn’t move, Yunji banged her head on the steering wheel and started complaining.

“Phew, I worked and earned money so that you could live without any problems even if you left the house.”

“Ahem.”

“Now that you’re gone, I wonder what I’m going to do.”

“No, isn’t it that you’re too obsessed with me?”

I tried to comfort her awkwardly, but Yoonji just snickered and covered her eyes with her hands.

“Because there was only you.”

“… … .”

“That doesn’t mean I blame you. If your girlfriend suddenly disappears, of course you lose interest.”

That time comes to mind.

Summer vacation of the first semester of the first year.

The day when Yunji, who had been doing well, suddenly disappeared.

He said he left a letter, but since my father threw it away, I was left alone and didn’t know anything.

“I think because I liked it so much, I felt that much more betrayed.”

Let’s laugh self-deprecatingly, Yoonji glances at me and asks.

“Did you cry?”

“… … very much.”

Probably more than you think.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to cry.”

“What are you sorry about? I’m sorry.”

A moment of silence.

I could see Yunji’s hands shaking slightly. It seemed as if she was holding back her desire to touch me.

“Woojin, can you do me a favor?”

With such restraint, Yunji exhales deeply.

Very carefully, with a trembling voice.

“I’m going to meet that guy named Father.”

“Yoon Ji-ya.”

“I just want to go and hear what the hell was wrong. I want to know what made me suffer like this.”

“… … .”

“Can you go with me?”

Yunji tightly closed her eyes to hide her tears.

I asked, trying to hide my trembling voice.

“This is our last date.”