TO 24

Chapter 24

Seven years ago, after sending Seo-ah away, Junghyun confronted Seunghi with eyes burning with rage.

‘Didn’t I tell you not to let Go-eun into this house?!’

‘I—it had been a while… She just stopped by after her trip. She and I have a history, so how could I just cut her off like that?’

‘You invited her over even when Seo-ah was here? Do you have any idea what today is?’

‘That’s…’

‘This isn’t the first time, is it?’

‘N-No, it isn’t! This is the first time. Truly, I hadn’t seen her in—’

Junghyun’s expression remained rigid as he thrust his phone toward her face. Playing on the screen was the recorded footage from the house’s security camera.

The color completely drained from Seunghi’s face.

The video captured the entire scene—including Go-eun violently shoving Seo-ah away.

— Right! It’s utterly ridiculous that you still think what happened back then was my fault! Do you have any proof I did it?! Do you?!

— I smelled your perfume. And… why did the working security camera footage suddenly vanish? Is that all? Right after it happened, you practically fled abroad and stayed away for so long…

— You really are out of your mind. Did losing that baby completely ruin your head? You should know when to stop writing fiction. Who do you think you’re framing?!

— If you have a clean conscience, why did you run away? Why?!

— Get a grip. Do you honestly think anyone cares about a nobody like you? I wouldn’t even bat an eye if you had died that day instead of that baby. Got it?

— A-Are you saying you actually did it then?!

— Fuck! So what if I did?!

After listening to the exchange between Seo-ah and Go-eun, Junghyun glared daggers at Seunghi. The furious thumping of her own heart felt like a hammer pounding away inside her chest. She felt as though she might be crushed into dust right then and there.

‘Do you still have anything left to say for yourself?’ Junghyun demanded.

Seunghi was a woman who had never dared to defy Junghyun’s word in her entire life. As he glared at her with terrifying intensity, she finally confessed everything—including the truth about what happened a year prior.

She then handed over the original footage she had hidden away—the very clip she had lied to Seo-ah about having deleted.

‘I really had no part in this. Look! It was all Go-eun’s doing…’

Seunghi tried to wriggle out of the blame even now. But there was no escaping Junghyun’s fury.

‘How dare you. Do you honestly think you can do something this horrific to my own flesh and blood in my own home and walk away unscathed?’

‘C-Chairman… I genuinely didn’t know this time. I didn’t have the slightest clue she was pregnant…’

‘Then what about last time?’

‘I didn’t know she was pregnant back then either! And th-that time too… Go-eun was…’

BANG!

Junghyun slammed his hand down on the table. Seunghi paled and let out a shrill scream as if he had just fired a gun. Junghyun stared her down with a chilling glare.

‘Listen closely. You will take this to your grave—no, you will keep it buried even after you die. Understood? The only reason this ends here is because you happen to be my son’s mother.’

Following that incident, Junghyun practically banished Taehyuk by sending him off as the head of the European branch. While K Asset Management was already a massive, well-established investment firm in Asia, its European presence was virtually a wasteland at the time. Sending Taehyuk there was nothing short of exile.

On top of that, Junghyun had laid down a strict condition.

‘If you can’t establish a solid foothold within ten years, don’t even think about coming back.’

Junghyun’s word was absolute law. Remembering how Taehyuk had left the country without putting up any resistance, Seunghi spent those seven whole years with her heart constantly in her throat. She lived in constant terror that she might never see her son again. She had tried to visit him several times, but Junghyun flatly refused to give his permission.

Unable to see Taehyuk—the single ray of light and hope in her life—Seunghi withered away day by day like a sunflower deprived of the sun. Junghyun, who had always been stern but at least shared his inner thoughts with her, stopped speaking to her altogether after that incident.

Go-eun’s family, having drawn Junghyun’s wrath, didn’t escape unscathed either. All existing investment capital was pulled out, and any additional funding was frozen. Go-eun’s family was forced to lie low and hold their breath, waiting for Junghyun’s fury to subside.

The agonizing era finally came to an unexpected end.

News broke that Taehyuk, who had been sent to Europe, was returning after achieving massive success. The European Central Bank had purchased an immense volume of bonds as part of its effort to stimulate the eurozone economy, and K Asset Management had successfully secured a spot in that investment deal. Not only that, but he had also paved the way for domestic businesses to expand into Europe while securing backing from the European Central Bank itself. Taehyuk’s venture in Europe was an unqualified triumph.

Taehyuk had accomplished in seven years what Junghyun estimated would take ten, and now he was back.

“I’m back, Father.”

Heading straight into Junghyun’s study, Taehyuk offered a calm greeting. Though he looked a bit leaner, Taehyuk remained largely unchanged. If anything, even the lingering warmth he once possessed seemed to have completely vanished.

“It seems you did nothing but work yourself to the bone.”

At Junghyun’s remark, the corner of Taehyuk’s mouth flexed into a faint smile. “Isn’t that why you sent me there?”

“The deal was ten years.”

“It wasn’t about the number of years. Getting the European branch up and running was the condition for lifting my exile, wasn’t it?”

Taehyuk stared straight at Junghyun.

His eyes resembled those of an inmate who had broken out of a notorious high-security prison entirely on his own strength. What had driven him to push himself so ruthlessly? Junghyun felt he knew the answer all too well.

He must have worked like a madman—without any time or reason to look around him.

Thinking of the colorless, hollow life his son must have lived, the area around Junghyun’s heart grew icy cold.

“How is your health?” Taehyuk asked, scanning Junghyun’s complexion. One of the main reasons he had rushed his return to Korea was his father’s failing health.

“Blood pressure fluctuates as usual,” Junghyun replied casually, though his countenance was nowhere near what it used to be. Seeing his father for the first time in seven years, Taehyuk realized just how much the man had aged. While he still commanded authority and charisma as the chairman of K Asset Management to the outside world, in private, he was just an aging man showing his years.

Ever since he sent Seo-ah away like that, the purpose of Junghyun’s own life had dimmed as well.

“What do you plan to do now?”

“I intend to report to the office right away. I believe my position has already been prepared.”

Junghyun let out a soft snort at Taehyuk’s response. “This old man is still very much alive. If you’re planning to take my seat, you can wait another ten years before coming back.”

Taehyuk’s swift return to Korea was largely prompted by concerns over Junghyun’s health. With his father’s well-being declining, rumors were openly circulating within the group that Taehyuk needed to step into his shoes. Taehyuk had no immediate intention of taking over his father’s chair. However, he fully agreed that he needed to stand by his side and support him. To do that, he could no longer continue managing the European branch from afar.

Had it not been for Junghyun, he wouldn’t have considered returning to Korea at all. He had no confidence in his ability to come back here without being haunted by memories of his failed marriage.

Yet, as someone who never went back on a decision once made, Taehyuk had pushed the work forward relentlessly—arriving back in Korea much sooner than anyone had anticipated.

“Take some rest for the time being. We still need to wrap things up on this end.”

Taehyuk gave a subtle nod and stepped out of the study.

“Will you… stay for dinner?”

Seunghi, who had been waiting anxiously outside, approached him to ask. Taehyuk shook his head.

“I’ll eat at home.”

“There’s… no one there right now.”

Though Seunghi had kept an eye on the house Taehyuk used to live in, it had been sitting vacant for seven whole years.

“I just want to rest right now.”

Taehyuk spoke curtly and turned away. He was now in his late thirties. Though he still looked as young as he did in his early thirties, Seunghi couldn’t bear the thought of watching her son grow old all alone like this.

“Taehyuk.”

At her call, Taehyuk paused and turned his head.

“You’re almost forty now. And your father’s health isn’t what it used to be either.”

As if reading right through her intentions, Taehyuk’s lips curled into a faint smile. Seeing that empty, emotionless smile made a lump form in Seunghi’s throat.

“Shouldn’t you put the past behind you and make a fresh start?”

Seunghi’s voice trembled slightly as she uttered the phrase ‘the past.’ Taehyuk was still completely in the dark about what she had done. As far as he knew, Seo-ah had struggled through the friction of living with an overbearing mother-in-law who disapproved of her, alongside a cold, distant husband—relying on medication just to endure each day.

Then, after finally getting pregnant with great difficulty, she slipped, lost the baby in a tragic accident, and left because her mental state had completely shattered from the grief. The reason Taehyuk had willingly let Seo-ah go was out of deep remorse and reflection—a painful realization that he had offered her zero support when she was drowning in pain.

He felt a crushing guilt for never having been there for her when she needed him most. Because of that, Taehyuk believed he didn’t even hold the right to ask her to stay.

“I’ll think about it,” Taehyuk said.

It was an answer that was neither a yes nor a no, yet Seunghi’s face lit up instantly.

Taehyuk stepped into the empty apartment. Everything inside remained exactly as it was. The only thing missing was Seo-ah.

Her presence had vanished like a illusion, leaving behind only years of accumulated dust resting over the erased traces of her existence. Expressionless, Taehyuk walked across the living room. His eyes briefly brushed past an empty vase sitting on the coffee table.

Heading up to the second floor, he went straight to the walk-in closet. Here, too, Seo-ah’s clothes and belongings had been cleared out so thoroughly it was as if they had never existed in the first place. Yet, a faint whiff of her lingering scent brushed past his nose, striking his chest like a heavy weight.

Maybe I shouldn’t have come back.