Chapter 3

The Successful Eldest Daughter (3)

I hoped it wasn’t true.

There was no way such a small girl, and not just one but three of them, could have been left behind in those flames.

I felt like begging God to please stop playing such cruel jokes on me.

But.

The moment the smallest child burst into tears,

I realized.

This was a reality worse than hell.

‘First, I need to calm the children down!’

If I panicked and moved around carelessly, they could get badly burned by the fire.

Children could do anything because they did not know what to do in a situation like this.

I raised my voice as much as I could through the gap in the door.

“Kids, no matter what happens, this uncle will definitely save you. So stay there quietly, okay?”

The children stared at me and slowly nodded.

Their eyes were filled with fear.

The small children were holding each other tightly and relying on one another.

I had to save them no matter what.

Even if—

‘Even if it costs me my life!’

I pushed my left hand through the broken door.

The moment I grabbed the doorknob,

“Ugh……!”

The intense heat came straight through.

Earlier, while rescuing people, I had taken off some of my protective equipment and given it to someone who had been burned so I could protect them.

That had caused this problem.

Even so, I somehow managed to turn the doorknob.

Only then did the tightly locked door open wide.

“Haah, haah…….”

The smoke was slowly filling the house.

First, I grabbed some towels soaked in water and gave them to the children.

“Who is the oldest?”

I asked the girls in the gentlest voice I could so they would not become even more frightened.

Then, a girl with her hair tied in a ponytail timidly raised her hand.

Her small face was stained with ash.

There were even dried tear marks from the tears she had secretly shed so that her younger sisters would not see her cry.

Seeing the girl who had gathered her courage to remain strong as the oldest sister, I gently patted her small head.

“What’s your name?”

In response to my question, the girl answered in a trembling voice.

“……Lee Jinhye…….”

This was my first meeting with my eldest daughter.

Early in the morning.

After waking up, I headed to the apartment where I worked, just in time for my shift.

I changed into my work uniform.

Then, whenever I picked up a broom and swept up the fallen leaves and trash,

“Hello!”

“Good morning.”

“You’re working hard from early in the morning.”

The apartment residents would greet me like this.

I smiled and greeted them back.

‘When I was working as a firefighter, every single day felt like walking on a tightrope.’

A tightrope that could break at any moment.

I had always lived dangerously on that thin line.

But what about being an apartment security guard?

It was peaceful.

Of course, life in this world was not always easy.

Sometimes I had to deal with apartment residents who were famous for being difficult.

And I also had to deal with parking problems that happened all the time.

Just last week, someone had parked a car in front of another car and left the gear in Park, so another resident could not move their car for thirty minutes.

I had to listen to the angry complaints of the resident who could not get their car out.

At the same time, I had to find the person who had double-parked their car and run away.

‘It was complete chaos.’

Even so—

‘It’s still better than being inside a burning building.’

Maybe it was because I had met my eldest daughter yesterday after such a long time.

The events from the time I first met Jinhye had appeared in my dream last night.

First meeting.

When most people hear those words, they think of ‘excitement.’

But.

Unfortunately, that was not the case for Jinhye and me.

I met that girl at the boundary between life and death.

And that little girl eventually grew into an adult and appeared before me again as a successful young businesswoman.

After finishing my cleaning, I returned to the security office and took out my smartphone.

Then I searched my daughter’s name, ‘Lee Jinhye,’ in the internet app.

The first thing I saw was a list of news headlines.

―CEO Lee Jinhye opens a new era with her coffee business!

―From a dirt spoon to a diamond spoon! CEO Lee Jinhye, the woman who created her own success story.

―Breaking sales records every day! What is CEO Lee Jinhye’s secret to success……?

As I looked through the articles, one headline especially caught my attention.

―CEO Lee Jinhye: “I was able to succeed thanks entirely to my father’s support.”

The interview also specifically mentioned me.

Although we were not related by blood, she said that her father, me, and her younger sisters were connected by a bond stronger than blood.

A faint smile appeared on my face without me realizing it.

“She used to have such a hard time saying things like this in front of other people.”

Seeing her speak so openly in front of reporters, it seemed that many of the emotional wounds in her heart had healed.

Even though I could only see her grown-up self indirectly through the internet, I felt proud.

Just then—

“Little brother. Did you get home safely yesterday?”

The older man who had helped me leave work early yesterday appeared.

“Yes. Thanks to you, hyung, I got to have a meal and coffee with my eldest daughter for the first time in a long while. Hahaha! Thank you, hyung.”

“What are you thanking me for? By the way, I forgot to ask you yesterday. Your eldest daughter, isn’t she CEO Lee Jinhye?”

At those words, I showed him my smartphone screen as if I had been waiting for him to ask.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“No wonder. Yesterday, when you left with your eldest daughter in that car, a young resident asked me if the person who had just arrived was CEO Lee Jinhye. Thanks to that young man, I heard a little about your eldest daughter too.”

I guess my daughter was quite famous as a businesswoman.

After all, she was famous enough for the apartment residents to recognize her.

“But you must be happy. Your daughter became so successful. You said your eldest daughter was living with the second and youngest daughters, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then your eldest must be helping her sisters a lot financially.”

“That…….”

I had thought so too.

But it was not exactly like that.

“The second and third daughters are earning just as much as the eldest.”

“R-Really? What do the two of them do?”

“I don’t really know the details either. I asked my eldest daughter, but she only said that they would come and tell me themselves later.”

I guess the sisters were preparing some kind of surprise event.

My hyung still looked like he could not believe it.

“Goodness, little brother! You must be incredibly happy! I wish my sons would learn from your daughters. Those guys live like they only care about today and just fool around all day…… Ah! Anyway, you really raised your daughters well.”

“No. The children grew up well on their own. I didn’t do anything.”

That was true.

I had done nothing.

If anything, I was only sorry because there were so many things I had failed to give them as a father.

Even so, the children treated me like their real father and loved me.

It was far more love than I deserved.

Of course, I was happy that my eldest daughter had become very successful.

But—

‘I’m happy enough that they grew up safely and well.’

Isn’t that what being a parent is about?

At least, that was what I thought.

Suddenly, my hyung seemed to remember something and asked me a question.

“Little brother. Why did your eldest daughter suddenly come down to Cheongju yesterday?”

She had come down because she wanted to ask me to move to Seoul and live with them.

That was what she had wanted to say.

But since nothing had been decided yet, I decided not to mention it.

“She said she just wanted to see my face. She knew that if she called me beforehand and said she was coming down, I would tell her not to come, so she came to Cheongju first and then called me. She said she would come down again with my second daughter later.”

“Later? When?”

“I’m not sure. She said she would make some time……”

“Then give her a call. We have a residents’ vote coming up soon, remember? We need to arrange the date in advance so it doesn’t overlap.”

“I guess we should. All right.”

I did not know if she would answer at this hour.

‘Still, I should give it a try.’

For the first time in a long while, I searched for my eldest daughter’s phone number.

Ifrit Gangnam Main Branch.

CEO Lee Jinhye always arrived here from 8 a.m. and personally checked the preparations for opening.

Since this was the main branch, she had no choice but to pay even more attention to it than the other branches.

Click, click.

The employees became tense at the sound of her heels.

She stopped walking.

Lee Jinhye narrowed her eyes.

“That window over there by the counter seems to have a lot of stains. Clean it before we open.”

“Yes, CEO!”

“Also, I noticed it when I came into the store earlier. The menu board arrangement I told you to change still hasn’t been fixed. Please adjust it so customers can see the menu at a glance when they enter the store.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll fix it right away.”

“And…… Manager Kim, which branches are opening today?”

“One in Gunsan, and two in Busan. Three branches in total.”

“As the number of branches increases, there will be more places where things can be missed. Some areas will naturally receive less attention. Don’t forget to manage every store carefully. If you think we don’t have enough people, tell me. I’ll hire as many as you need.”

“Yes. Understood, CEO.”

The atmosphere was so tense that it almost felt difficult to breathe.

One of CEO Lee Jinhye’s secrets to success was her ‘thorough management.’

Not only did she manage herself carefully, she also managed her businesses with the same level of care.

Everything had to be checked and checked again.

Without a proper management system, everything that had been built with so much effort could collapse in an instant.

That was why CEO Lee Jinhye came in early every day and personally checked the condition of the major stores.

“And also…… Wait a moment.”

A phone call came to CEO Lee Jinhye.

The moment she saw the caller’s name, she immediately pressed the answer button.

Then.

An amazing transformation took place.

“Oh my, Dad! What’s going on at this hour?”

Just moments ago, she had looked like an ice witch.

But in an instant, she had turned into a goddess of warmth.

Her voice was soft.

Even her expression had brightened.

“You’re asking when I’ll come down with my second sister? It hasn’t been decided yet, but I’ll make sure we can come down sometime this week. I need to check my second sister’s schedule first. Yes, Dad. Ah! And the red ginseng I gave you yesterday, make sure you take one every day, okay? Dad, I love you. See you later!”

Her voice was filled with so much affection that it seemed to drip like honey.

In front of her employees, she was a frightening CEO.

But in front of Lee Gichan, she was a daughter overflowing with affection.

The moment she ended the call,

“Ahem!”

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, CEO Lee Jinhye cleared her throat and spoke to the employees.

“I’ll just make one phone call and come back.”

Brilliant spotlights shone down.

A woman wearing her stage outfit walked onto the stage.

“Ah, Director, could you raise the volume by two more levels?”

At her words, the sound director nodded.

A nationwide solo concert tour.

Since it was a concert being held under her own name as a singer, she had to personally take care of everything from beginning to end.

“Please turn on the lights once in order.”

The woman watched the lights turn on one after another according to the opening sequence and smiled with satisfaction.

“Yes, that’s good. Next……”

The vibration of the smartphone in her pocket interrupted her words.

The moment she looked at the screen, one of the woman’s eyebrows twitched.

“Unni. I’m preparing for a concert right now…… Huh? What did you say? I can’t hear you well.”

When she gave a hand signal, the sound director lowered the background music without being told twice.

Only then could she clearly hear the voice of the person she called ‘Unni.’

―I’m going to see Dad this weekend. Are you free?

At the word ‘Dad,’ the woman on the stage, Lee Seonhye, immediately brightened.

“Of course I’m going! I’ll clear my schedule, so make sure you take me with you. Don’t be mean and go down alone like last time. Got it?”

The second daughter, Lee Seonhye, loved her father just as much as Lee Jinhye did.