Chapter 9 — The Son of a Chaebol Family

The man answered again in a casual, yawn-laced voice. In truth, even he had found it a little difficult to get his hands on this necklace. Just a little. For him, it was probably no more trouble than lifting a spoon and bringing it to his mouth.

How had he gotten the necklace?

Someone could hire an open-run buyer to purchase the item and then resell it at a high price. All he had to do was pay a little extra and buy it. He had pretended it was somewhat difficult, but in reality, for him, it was no harder than eating a meal.

“Hmm. Did I buy it for nothing? I don’t think it suits you very well.”

“What are you talking about? You went through all that trouble to buy it for me. Anything suits me, you know? And it’s pretty.”

Park Na-young, Lee Jin-ho’s wife and Lee Min-hee’s mother. The person who had answered the phone so happily earlier that afternoon had not been her husband, but another man.

“Pretty? You’d have to be an idol to be pretty.”

“Could you try saying something nice for once?”

“I’m joking. Just joking.”

The man who had brought her the necklace could casually do things that even an ordinary person with a great deal of determination might or might not be able to afford.

Who was he?

“You must have had quite a lot going on. Did you take care of everything?”

“A lot going on? Oh, come on. Is it the first time I’ve had a popular girl interested in me?”

He was in a position where, if he wanted, he could even meet famous celebrities.

“Well… she was pretty and nice, but she was too young, so I wasn’t interested. Besides, I have Na-young.”

“Seriously. When you threw me away, you didn’t care, and now you’re saying this? You know you’re a real bastard, right?”

“Hey. Don’t call me a bastard. I really loved you, you know? It’s just that my father didn’t approve of you. If you were so unhappy about it, you should’ve been born into a better family.”

“Ha… You crazy bastard…”

“Don’t be like that. I really do love you.”

The bastard reached out and took Park Na-young’s hand. She sighed at his touch and relaxed her body.

“Yeah… I’m not some young girl with dreams anymore. I should accept it. I should accept that I love a bastard like you…”

Their conversation was rough, but comfortable. They looked like lovers who had been seeing each other for years, who had already seen every good and ugly side of one another.

“People are always jealous when they hear ‘second-generation chaebol’ or ‘third-generation chaebol,’ you know? But it’s not all that great. Honestly, I’m jealous of you, Na-young.”

“What’s there to be jealous of? A cold husband, a young daughter I have to take care of every day, and countless things to worry about.”

“Doesn’t your husband make things fun for you?”

Park Na-young picked up the crystal glass in front of her and drained the water in one go. The glass, once full, was soon empty.

And the love she had shown Lee Jin-ho that morning had likewise ebbed away, leaving nothing behind, like mudflats exposed when the tide recedes.

“Fun? Do you think there’s any of that? I feel like I’m living with a robot.”

“A robot?”

“Yeah, a robot. Every time he gets dressed, he has to brush off his sleeves. Who does that? A robot?”

The very traits she had praised Lee Jin-ho for being cool about had become flaws in front of this new man.

“There’s plenty more, too. My mouth hurts just thinking about it.”

“Then let’s stop talking about things neither of us wants to hear.”

“What about you, Soo-hyuk oppa? Do you feel like you can finally breathe now that you’re divorced?”

This time, the man took a sip of his drink.

“Yeah. I can finally breathe. Marriage on our side was never exactly destined for a happy ending.”

“True. Still, most people don’t actually get divorced. They separate, maybe. There’s the company image to think about.”

“I was going to do that, but do you know how crazy that woman was? You know her too.”

Many years ago, a marriage between two chaebol families had been the subject of endless news coverage.

But the attention had lasted only briefly. The bride’s identity had been described merely as an ordinary office worker, and not a single photograph of her had been published. The reporters had clearly been silenced.

And Kim Soo-hyuk had been one of the two people at the center of that marriage.

“Hmm. Then isn’t it my turn now? There’s an empty seat beside you, after all. Divorced old man.”

“Haha? If you can convince my old man… I’ll marry you twice. No, dozens of times. You sure you can handle that?”

“I don’t know…”

The two of them had been lovers more than a decade ago.

They had once been desperately in love, but ultimately, they had been unable to overcome the wall of social status.

Yet perhaps their love really had been genuine.

After all, they were still secretly meeting like this.

When it came to the complicated circumstances of grown adults, there was never only one side to the story.

“Your appetizer, please.”

The waiter broke their brief silence as he brought out the first course.

For a while, they ate in silence.

“But, Soo-hyuk oppa.”

“Yeah?”

She hesitated, unsure whether she should speak.

“What is it? Why are you taking so long? Just say it.”

“You could roll your tongue, right?”

“Roll my tongue? Of course I can. Are there people who can’t?”

Kim Soo-hyuk stuck out his tongue and curled it into a tube.

“Oh, right. You couldn’t do it before, could you? I remember teasing you about it all the time. But why?”

“Wasn’t that genetic?”

“Hmm. I think so? Or something like that. What’s going on?”

Her expression darkened. She didn’t answer his question immediately.

What was she thinking?

“Oppa, what would you do if Min-hee were your daughter?”

“What?”

“I’m just asking. Hypothetically. What would you do?”

His expression darkened as well.

He seemed to be thinking through several possibilities.

“Phew… I’d have to ask my father first. No… How could I deal with the storm that would cause?”

“Are you a mama’s boy? You can’t do anything without your father’s permission?”

“Hey, don’t talk like that. Put yourself in my shoes.”

As one of the heirs to Dawoo Electronics, he began explaining his situation to her piece by piece.

And every explanation ultimately ended with him leaving the decision to his father.

“Phew… So the risk is huge. Why? Do you think Min-hee might be my daughter? Because of the tongue-rolling?”

“Wouldn’t it obviously bother me? I looked it up, too, and apparently it’s not 100 percent genetic. Training has something to do with it, too. Kids can learn it by practicing while playing around at school…”

The atmosphere between them grew heavy.

“But if I think of her as my daughter, she does look a little different. It’s strange… But that can’t be the case. I had my sperm tested. Apparently, I’m like a seedless watermelon. They said my sperm activity was so low that having a child would be difficult.”

Kim Soo-hyuk had been unable to have a child with his former wife.

Despite countless attempts.

Attempt after attempt.

But in the end, failure.

“Ugh, that killed the mood. Na-young, since we’re already here, let’s go hit the casino.”

“Okay.”

They hurriedly finished their meal.

Park Na-young and Kim Soo-hyuk each thought about something without showing it to the other.

Whether they were dreaming the same dream or completely different ones was impossible to know.

By now, darkness had fallen outside.

Family man Lee Jin-ho’s time to go home had arrived.

“Mr. Lee, did you call your wife? To tell her you’d be having dinner out?”

“Yes. I got permission earlier. I feel a little bad about it.”

“I’m so jealous. I want to meet a man like you, too… It isn’t easy for a man to say he’s sorry like that… You really have honey dripping from your eyes when you talk about your wife.”

“My wife treats me well, so I try to treat her well too.”

He couldn’t believe such shamelessly devoted words had come out of his mouth.

He was embarrassed, but at the same time, he felt a little proud.

A wonderful man devoted to his family despite a few doubts.

That was Lee Jin-ho.

After eating chicken feet and reminiscing about the past, he wanted to see his wife right away.

“Oh, sorry, Anna. My wife is calling.”

I excused myself from Kim Anna for a moment and stepped outside the restaurant to take the call.

“Hey, are you done with work?”

“No. Something came up at the center we’re opening in Gangwon Province… I think I’ll have to stop by there and stay overnight.”

“Is it serious?”

“No. I think we can work things out by adjusting the conditions a little. Min-hee is going to stay with my mother tonight. Until she goes to school tomorrow.”

“I hope everything gets sorted out. It’s dangerous to drive at night, so don’t. Get some good rest there and come back.”

“Okay. Got it. You take it easy tonight too, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

There was something subdued in his wife’s voice, and it worried him a little.

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

There was a strange sense of unease in Na-young’s voice.

A rough, unpleasant feeling born from an unusually strange day.

“Ah! Mr. Lee! I said I was buying today!”

Kim Anna’s words stretched out as she became slightly drunk.

“Come on. I can’t let such a cute junior buy me dinner. All right, see you tomorrow.”

“Ah… No…”

A pale sigh drifted into the cold winter evening.

We said goodbye a little earlier than expected.

My mother-in-law had said she would look after Min-hee, but by now, Min-hee was probably whining that she wanted to see me.

Just thinking about it made me uneasy.

“But can’t we have just one more drink? I want to hear more about your younger days, Senior…”

“Sorry, Anna. I’m a father, so I have to get home.”

All the doting fathers in the world probably felt the same way.

More than the satisfaction of drinking with someone, and more than the pride of being cared for by a much younger female junior, I wanted to see my daughter.

“Okay. But can we have a drink again next time? I’ll really pay next time.”

“Hmm… Sure. I’ll look forward to it.”

“Oh, and… about your friend, Senior.”

Kim Anna spoke as if something had suddenly occurred to her.

“There’s a boiling point when water boils, right? The critical point. The point where a liquid becomes a gas.”

She was slightly drunk and rambling.

“To reach that state, energy has to accumulate. I think your friend may have been accumulating suspicions without even realizing it. And then… boom. It all exploded. Isn’t it incredibly painful to live with suspicions? According to my scientific brain, I think it’s a hundred times better to resolve them and move on…”

Drunk yet sober, clear yet scattered.

That was the conclusion of her wandering scientific mind.

“Yes, yes. I understand. Don’t worry, and let’s have another drink sometime.”

“Really? Hehe.”

Another time.

I didn’t know when that would be, but if I had the time, I didn’t think I’d refuse.

The way she’d taken care of my badge that morning, and the way she’d behaved during dinner tonight, had both left me feeling rather good.

“Taxi!”

I put Kim Anna into a taxi and sent her on her way.

Just in case, I memorized the taxi number.

And just then, my daughter called.

“Hello?”

“Daddy!”

Her adorable little voice came through the phone.

As expected, Min-hee seemed unable to bear being without me either.

“Yeah, sweetheart. Were you having fun playing with Grandma?”

“Yeah, but I miss Daddy. Do I have to sleep at Grandma’s house tonight?”

My heart skipped a beat.

“No. Daddy’s coming now. I’ll come pick up my Min-hee. Tell Grandma.”

“Really? Okay. You have to come quickly, okay? Promise.”

“Okay. Just wait a little.”

I changed my plans.

Rather than going all the way back to the company and waiting for a designated driver, I decided to take a taxi straight to my daughter.

So what if I had to take another taxi tomorrow?

I shoved my cold hands and phone into my pocket.

“Taxi!”

“Oh, my son-in-law! You’re here.”

“Yes, Father-in-law.”

“Haha. This little thing kept asking for her daddy so much that Grandpa almost got offended.”

I looked at my daughter’s face.

The moment I did, she buried her face against my leg.

“You little rascal. Even though Grandpa buys you so many presents, you still only ask for Daddy? Strange thing is, she hasn’t asked for her mother even once.”

“I don’t really miss Mommy today.”

She had always been more attached to me.

I bent down and hugged her, then greeted my in-laws before heading home.

Her cheek, warm with the smell of alcohol, nestled against me happily.

Min-hee was still so small that she was practically a baby in my eyes.

“Does Min-hee like Daddy?”

“Yes! Especially today!”

“Why?”

She hesitated for a moment.

Normally, I wouldn’t have pressed her.

But today was different.

One unusual event after another had happened, and something—whether instinct or intuition—urged me to ask.

“What happened?”

“Yeah… Actually, Mommy keeps getting mad at me for sticking out my tongue. But Daddy is always on my side. And you know what? Mommy got really angry even after Daddy left. But it’s all okay now… I told Daddy, but that’s our secret, okay? Min-hee’s all better! I’m not upset anymore!”

Something was strange.

What was such a big deal about rolling one’s tongue?

If she’d scolded the child even after sending me off to work, didn’t that mean there was something she was hiding?

My suspicions began racing.

Was she reacting that way because she felt guilty?

Why had she scolded the child so severely?

But she’d never done anything to give me reason to suspect her.

Was it simply that she hadn’t been caught?

Maybe it was because I trusted her too much.

No way…

With trembling hands, I pulled out my phone and made a call.

She didn’t answer.

“Daddy, what’s wrong?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing…”

For some reason, I couldn’t look my daughter straight in the eyes.

Was it because I didn’t want her to see the cowardly expression of a man who suspected his own wife?

Or was it because I was afraid that she might not be my daughter?

“Let’s go inside.”

After that, I don’t remember how I ended the day.

I vaguely remember drying my daughter’s hair after her bath and watching the animated movie she liked with her.

But everything else was hazy, like a dream.

“Daddy, what’s wrong? Today isn’t fun. You’re just thinking about something else.”

I clearly remembered only my daughter’s pouting face.

My wife still hadn’t called.

I had reached my critical point.