MWFL 15

15. Suspicion

At that same time.

Soo-hee, who was sitting inside Chairman Han Hae-shik’s executive suite, let out an annoyed sigh.

“Dad. Are you really not going to call Oppa to come up?”

Chairman Han, sitting at his desk working, stared deeply at his daughter.

“It seems he was extremely angry because Chairman Cha made the contract behind his back. It’s better to meet him after that filthy temper of his dies down a bit.”

“Then what are you going to do if he goes ahead and terminates the contract?!”

Chairman Han, who had been sitting upright, slouched back into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Chairman Cha won’t let that happen. No, he can’t let it happen. I’m the one who dragged his pathetic, no-name company straight up from the bottom, after all.”

Despite her father’s confident boasting, the anxious look on Soo-hee’s face didn’t fade away.

“Soo-hee, men—when they’re young, they live high on their own horse with useless, excessive passion and bravado, but a moment eventually comes when they realize something.”

“…”

“The fact that in the end, money is the only thing that can seat you where you want to be.”

A smile filled with confidence appeared on Chairman Han’s face.

“Even if he goes off, plays in the Major Leagues getting paid a huge salary, and plays his whole life, he can never earn as much as the wealth I hold.”

“…”

“Yet like an idiot, he ran right out of there, too. Still, right now he might delusionally think he’s the hotshot running the show. But that won’t last long. In the end, he has no choice but to follow the money. So just wait a little.”

Finishing his words as if soothing a child, the man looked back at his monitor.

“Then how long do you expect me to wait?! He doesn’t even treat me like trash tossed on the side of the street! You expect me to endure that?!”

At his daughter’s screaming, shrill voice, Chairman Han slowly furrowed his brows.

“Han Soo-hee. Stop it.”

At her father’s heavy, tightly spat voice, the edges of Soo-hee’s eyes stiffened completely.

“Stop what? You can just call Oppa up and tell him yourself to marry me, Dad!”

Yet she didn’t stop, spewing out a sharp, piercing voice instead.

“Are you telling me to threaten him or something?”

“Who told you to threaten him?! You just said money solves everything! Tell him you’ll give him everything you can give!”

“Stop it.”

“Whether you give him a building or give him the company, you can just talk to him while saying you’ll give it all! What’s so hard about that…”

“Shut your damn mouth!!”

Gasp! Startled out of her skin, Soo-hee’s body jerked violently as if having a seizure.

Having spat out a voice close to a roar, Chairman Han let out a rough sigh.

“D-Dad… What’s wrong? I’m scared.”

“Scared? A scared girl says shit like that?!”

Tears began to pool thickly in Soo-hee’s eyes.

Chairman Han rarely raised his voice at his daughter. Even if he did, if she showed tears like this, he would quickly cool off his anger.

“What did you do so well that you’re crying?! Fuck, because of you right now…”

Yet unlike usual, he spat out harsh profanities and stared at his daughter with eyes even more inflamed.

“What did I do?! What did I do wrong that you’re like this to me?!”

Wiping away the tears spilling over, Soo-hee screamed out in a voice poisoned with rage.

“What did you do? You’re asking because you really don’t know?! Because you messed with that bastard Cha Shin-woo with that stupid, reckless move of yours, everything turned out like this!”

Thud! Chairman Han slammed his fist down on the desk as if he were going to smash it to pieces.

“That’s why I’m groveling like a dog in front of those damned bastards!! And you’re saying you did nothing wrong?!”

“What do you expect me to do about something that already happened?! You said it was fine before! You told me not to worry! If you’re going to act like this, why did you give birth to me and raise me?! Just kill me instead!!”

Spewing out words that should never be uttered, Soo-hee grabbed the flower vase sitting on top of the table and threw it down to the floor.

Shatter! Right as the loud sound scattered in all directions, the door to the executive suite swung wide open.

A female secretary who had rushed inside checked Chairman Han’s condition first before quickly approaching Soo-hee.

“Miss. Please calm down.”

“Do I look like I’m in any state to calm down?!”

“Come step outside with me for a moment and let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to! Let go!”

Grabbing the struggling Soo-hee, the secretary stole a glance at Chairman Han. Flushing bright red, the man waved his hand in the air, signaling her to take her out.

“Chairman, sir. Are you alright?”

A male secretary who had been standing by at the door hurriedly stepped up to the desk.

“I’m fine. Go out, calm her down, and have someone take her home.”

“Yes, sir. Understood.”

The female secretary was someone who had known Soo-hee since she was young, and she had calmed down her fits more times than anyone could count.

“No, wait. She’ll handle it on her own. Leave her be, and call Professor Shin to have him prescribe her medicine again and send it over.”

“Yes, sir. Understood.”

Phew. Chairman Han let out a sigh steeped in heavy anger and pulled down his tie roughly.

“I’m sure he’ll handle it properly, but tell him not to leave a record. You can leave now.”

“Yes, sir. I will call the facilities team right away to clean up the office.”

Bowing his waist low, the secretary hurriedly left the executive suite.

Chairman Han immediately picked up the intercom phone and dialed the agency CEO.

—Yes, Chairman, sir! Please speak!

“I heard Cha Shin-woo dropped by. What did he come for?”

—He came by saying he wanted to rewrite the contract.

He had heard from both Chairman Cha and the agency CEO that Cha Shin-woo held hostility regarding the contract made without his consent.

Therefore, Chairman Han had also assumed, just like Soo-hee, that he had visited the company today to terminate the contract.

“Rewrite the contract? Why?”

—It’s a bit much to call it a total rewrite, but he added a single condition.

“What condition?”

—The condition of assigning an exclusive personal agent.

Chairman Han furrowed his brows with a puzzled look.

“Is that really a condition that needs to be put in a contract? Isn’t that a given?”

—Yes, that’s correct. However, because the employee currently assigned to Cha Shin-woo was brought in suddenly, the players she was previously handling hadn’t been sorted out yet. He seemed a bit bothered by that part, so he asked us to include it in the contract.

It was a puzzling move, but there didn’t seem to be any need to attach deep meaning to it.

“Was there any mention of terminating the contract?”

—No. None at all.

“Got it. Good work.”

The moment he hung up the call, he let out a twisted, scoffing laugh.

“A guy with nothing to his name acts so damn picky.”

His lingering anger was giving him a headache. Pressing firmly on his temples with his fingertips, he took slow, deep breaths.

Soo-hee was his only daughter, whom he had raised delicately without her lacking a single thing. Was that the problem?

Because of his daughter, who went out of her mind whenever she couldn’t get her hands on what she wanted, the man had been walking down a dark path for years.

“Damn it. What a mess.”

Yet because it was a matter involving his child, the only thing he could do was chew over profanities like he was doing right now.

. . .

Shin-woo headed straight down to the parking lot without hesitation.

“Hyung, are you really just going to leave without meeting Chairman Han?”

Walking side-by-side, Dong-goo asked with a troubled expression.

“You set that appointment, not me.”

He always has to say it like that. Left with nothing to say, Dong-goo glared at him sideways.

“I gave both Chairmen what they wanted. Isn’t that enough? Do I really have to go as far as meeting him, too?”

“They’ll like that part, but that’s not what they want from you.”

Staring stubborly ahead, Shin-woo turned his head and locked his gaze onto Dong-goo.

“Are you saying I should march up to Chairman Han and declare that I’ll marry his spoiled, self-centered daughter?”

“No, that’s not it… I was just worried Chairman Cha might get put in a tight spot.”

Shin-woo stopped in his tracks. He then slowly turned his body around to face Dong-goo directly.

“Dong-goo. Doesn’t something feel a little strange to you?”

“…What does?”

“Thanks to Chairman Han, my dad went from being the head of a tiny small business to suddenly becoming the chairman of a major conglomerate.”

The two men—who previously had no real connection—had developed a strangely tight bond starting a few years ago.

Thanks to Chairman Han’s overwhelming business support, his father’s company grew at a breakneck speed, entering the ranks of major conglomerates two years ago.

“You said they got close because his daughter was a long-time hardcore fan of yours, didn’t you?”

“Backing a business just because of that? Sure. Let’s say that sounds like crazy talk, but maybe it’s possible. But right now, he’s hell-bent on making me marry that daughter of his.”

“That part is coming way more aggressively from Chairman Han than from your father, too.”

“That’s why I’m saying it’s strange.”

Harboring deep suspicion, Shin-woo’s eyes sank dark and cold.

“A chaebol chairman whose eyes are set at the top of the world has no reason to obsess over me when he could have his pick of eligible heirs from prominent families.”

Is that so? Dong-goo muttered to himself in confusion.

“Lee Dong-goo. You know something, don’t you?”

“Huh? Me? Know what?”

Receiving a relentless gaze that seemed to peer right through him, Dong-goo tilted his head back and forth.

“Never mind. Forget it.”

Dong-goo quickly caught up to Shin-woo’s side as he started walking once again.

“Hyung. But why did you say something like that earlier?”

“Say what?”

“When you asked Director Ju if you two had met before, and said that you might have.”

Shin-woo remained silent, slowly closing and opening his eyes.

“Back then, the situation called for it, but there’s no reason to hide it anymore, is there?”

Asking in a calm voice, Shin-woo locked eyes with Dong-goo.

“Losing my memory in an accident isn’t some shameful secret I have to hide.”