BYB 7

Chapter 7

That night.

Seeing Song Dong-young come out to the living room after staying late in the study, Woo Young-hee spoke sharply.

“There will be no more.”

Her face was cold, all traces of a smile erased.

“The last favor I bestowed upon that child was putting him on my family register, and that’s exactly where it ends. So don’t cross the line. Everything at Songhwa belongs to Ju-ho.”

Song Dong-young stared at Woo Young-hee without a word.

“I’m warning you, even if you promote him above managing director, I won’t tolerate it. I’ll spill the secret of Eunho’s birth all over the company. Do you understand?”

Legally, both sons were of Woo Young-hee’s bloodline. Woo Young-hee prided herself quite highly on her generous heart that had embraced an illegitimate child, but to Song Dong-young, it was all just a ridiculous act.

He had never once felt anything for Woo Young-hee as a woman, the one who had driven out Han Yeo-jin, the only woman he had ever loved, and ultimately taken her place. If it hadn’t been an arranged marriage intertwined with corporate interests, he would have ended it long ago.

“Don’t cross the line. It’s amusing hearing that from your mouth.”

Song Dong-young coldly received Woo Young-hee’s glaring gaze. Then he thought of his second son, whom he had sent away to the provinces as if driving him out.

A son he loved deeply in his heart, yet had never expressed that love.

Woo Young-hee was a vicious woman. If he had openly favored Eunho, she would have undoubtedly used every means to cruelly torment him. Fearing that torment, Song Dong-young had deliberately kept Eunho at a distance. Even knowing what wounds Eunho was receiving, he believed that acting indifferent was the best thing for Eunho.

He conspicuously favored only Song Ju-ho and neglected Eunho. Though anyone could see he was openly discriminating against his illegitimate son, he didn’t stop. His plan was to appease Woo Young-hee like that and then divorce her.

He wanted to bring Han Yeo-jin, Eunho’s biological mother, back to her rightful place. He was steadily laying the groundwork for divorce, and if everything went according to plan, he would be able to file the lawsuit within the year.

But Eunho, who knew nothing, would think everything was unfair.

He would surely think it was absurd. Recalling Eunho’s back as he left on his business trip, shooting his unspoken grievances through his eyes, made his mouth taste bitter. But knowing that the boy would give his best to any task, he planned to wait and see.

This was a kind of test.

Just as Chairman Song Jong-ui had done with Song Dong-young in his youth, Song Dong-young was forcing his heir-apparent son to experience commoner life. Though not quite a grand tradition, there was no better way to gauge an heir’s grit and capacity.

Of course, Song Dong-young hadn’t been able to have such relaxed reflections back then either. Only with the passage of time did he understand his father’s intentions; at the time, he had gritted his teeth and cursed his father. Even now, remembering the two months he spent working until his bones ached, thrown penniless and bare-handed into a factory in China, sometimes made it hard to breathe.

So he sent Eunho down an easier path. He prohibited the use of credit cards and assets, but gave him one million won in cash to at least allow some breathing room, and even arranged for him to take a car. Thinking this probably counted as a super-luxury commoner experience, Song Dong-young smiled wryly.

That was it. In fact, the trademark issue was ultimately irrelevant.

Song Dong-young’s goal was for Eunho to survive the two months and become a stronger person.

The successor of Songhwa Foods, no matter what anyone said, was Song Eunho. Along with the divorce, he planned to officially announce Eunho as the successor.

The next day.

After showering before work, Eunho came out to the living room and sat on the edge of the bed.

When would he ever get used to that tiny bathroom where both hands touched the walls when he stretched his arms out? Annoyed for no reason, he glared at the innocent wall.

Even before entering the Songhwa family, he had lived alone with his mother, so it had been lonely, but he had never lacked for anything financially. Eunho didn’t know material deprivation. With only one million won in cash to his name, could he live well from now on? Anxious thoughts continued.

A week had passed since he came to this house, but he still couldn’t believe reality. He never imagined a one-room would literally be a house with just one room.

He had been expecting a reasonably sized small apartment, so the shock was great.

This place was a small one-room on the second floor of the <Bravo Youth Beer> building. The first day he came to this house, guided by his former secretary, Eunho had the novel experience of two adult men filling the entire room. At the same time, he was astonished that the one-room was smaller than his own bathroom. That astonishment continued to this day.

The luxury suits that once filled his dressing room were a thing of the distant past. Eunho got up from bed and frowned at the wardrobe where cheap sweatsuits with tricolor stripes were hanging. Are these even clothes? He found himself amusing, choosing which of these would suit him best.

Let’s just grab anything. They all look the same anyway.

There was nowhere to run anyway. Since he had to do it, the most efficient way would be to resolve it as quickly and swiftly as possible and return. He couldn’t just keep complaining.

Eunho made an effort to switch his identity.

There is no Songhwa’s Song Eunho. I am an employee of <Bravo Youth Beer>.

Soon, Eunho looked in the mirror with an indifferent expression. Had the brainwashing worked? Nowhere to be seen was the favorite grandson of Songhwa Group Chairman Song Jong-ui and the managing director of Songhwa Foods—instead, a decent-looking semi-unemployed young man stared back at him.

“What are you looking at.”

After frowning along with his reflection, he lay on the bed irritably and picked up his phone. He thought about doing some shopping. He opened the shopping app that his former secretary had personally installed and even taught him how to use.

Let’s see.

The flashy banners moving frantically were disorienting, but he calmly examined the screen.

Having lived in a world where he only had to flick a finger to choose items brought by a shopper, he had never used anything like this. But there were too many things missing in this one-room, and he didn’t have time to go to a department store.

Ah, of course, it’s not just time that’s tight. I have no money.

Remembering that he only had one million won in cash in his possession, he felt like laughing out loud.

“Damn…”

But what exactly was he supposed to look at and choose?

The online shopping he encountered for the first time wasn’t as kind to Eunho as a department store.

Just flick a finger and the cart comes to your house? Bullshit.

“Do you even know what real finger-flicking shopping is? So annoying.”

In the end, Eunho gave up after one minute, tossed his phone aside carelessly, and lay on the bed. Even the bed was small and creaky, deepening his irritation. As he lay there, the coffee Jiwoo had made for him came to mind.

It’s probably because I’m hungry. He tried to calm himself, insisting that what came to mind was the coffee, not the woman. But when the image of her eyes, trembling with embarrassment, followed, he could no longer insist that the source of this confusion was coffee.

Maybe, just maybe, he wanted to see her. Even though it was still a long time until work.

The sensation of catching the woman who had collapsed without warning came to mind, and blood rushed to one place. What was that scent that spread more sweetly than coffee? A person’s scent shouldn’t be that sweet—he wondered what perfume she used.

It was the first time in his life he had been curious about a woman. To Eunho, women had always been noisy and uncomfortable beings, but that woman was different. A strange and ticklish sensation dominated his entire body. He recognized it as a dangerous feeling, but it wasn’t easy to shake off.

Unlike his mind that tried to deny it, his body was honest. As he imagined the woman’s scent, his lower body grew heavy. His hand instinctively went there.

Fuck. What am I doing?

Feeling deflated in the face of uncontrollable desire, Eunho shook his head, sprang up, and grabbed his clothes.

It was time for a run.

A convenience store appeared before Eunho’s eyes as he returned after exhausting his energy. Tissue. Detergent. Ramen. As he mentally listed the things he needed, Eunho hesitated for a moment before walking toward the door. The convenience store looked much easier than online shopping.

Ding.

As he opened the door and entered, the part-timer sitting at the counter with a languid expression, looking at his phone, yawned and stood up.

“Welcome… Huh? Huh?”

The clean-cut part-timer looked familiar somehow. Thinking the same thing, he pointed a finger at Eunho with wide eyes.

“You’ve been to Cheongmaek, right? Aren’t you the suit guy from back then?”

“What’s Cheongmaek?”

“Youth Beer. You came when I was working the weekend shift!”

“Ah.”

“Oh man, it was totally badass when you ordered every single menu item. But hey, what brings you to this neighborhood?”

It seemed they abbreviated <Bravo Youth Beer> to ‘Cheongmaek.’ He liked the shortened name, but remembering how he had grabbed the woman’s shoulder and pulled her behind him, his mood soured.

The young part-timer who had been with the woman that day.

“How many part-time jobs do you have anyway? You should stop coming to Cheongmaek.”

Eunho said without hiding his displeasure.

The fact that this grinning guy and that woman seemed quite close grated on his nerves. To make matters worse, the faces of those vixens who had wagged their tails saying ‘Noona, noona’ began to surface as well.

“I work there.”

“Eh? No way! Why?”

The part-timer’s mouth dropped open in surprise, and he quickly sent a message somewhere. Then, after a moment, he muttered ‘Whoa. It’s true.’ while looking at his phone screen.

“I asked Jiwoo noona and she said it’s true? Crazy. Why? Why would you get a job at a place like that? Ah, not that noona’s shop is weird, I mean…”

“That woman’s name is Jiwoo?”