MFR 11

Chapter 11

“Interesting, Baek Hong-joo.” “When you don’t even have any memories, I wonder what you intended to do if I really was the culprit who smashed your head.”

Ji-hyuk sneered at her efforts of quitting being a trainee and trying to reach him.

“Did you give up, on being an actor?” “…” “If so, what was the catalyst for you to live as a dog for Myeongmun Group?” “…?” “Did the Chairman intervene when you quit being a prosecutor and joined the law firm?” “…?” “If not the Chairman, is it CEO Do Mu-jin? They say you two are close lately.”

She was suffocated by the sharp questions that followed consecutively, starting with the first question. Seol Ji-hyuk shouldn’t have been the CEO of an investment firm; he should have been a prosecutor.

“Hm? Has Seol Ji-hyuk changed a lot? Is he completely different?”

He’s different. Completely different. He’s a completely different person. My prince… doesn’t seem to exist in this world anymore. To her heart’s content. Really, to her heart’s content. After launching an offensive of questions bordering on torture, he said he got the answers he wanted and willingly accompanied her on the flight to Korea. It was such an absurd situation that she wondered if his goal wasn’t to obtain information but to put her in a difficult position.

“Hmm? Tell me.” “Just a little?” “A little? A little how? Hm? How has he changed?”

Hong-joo slowly swatted away Mi-ji’s hand, which was clinging to her and persistently dragging it out.

“Mi-ji, let’s stop here for today.”

She was tired. Having taken off her coat, Hong-joo picked up the handbag she had left on the sofa.

“I want to wash up and sleep.”

Fatigue was evident on Hong-joo’s face.

“You know too. I haven’t slept for almost five days. I couldn’t even wash up.”

Mi-ji shifted her gaze and examined Hong-joo’s condition. Then, she nodded with a face that said she understood everything.

“Right.”

Whenever she had clung and persisted, this time she pushed her back conversely.

“You’re right. You should quickly go in and wash up. You really are grimy and a mess.”

Leaving the urging Mi-ji behind and entering her room, Hong-joo paused while looking at the mirror right in front of her.

“Ha, what a state.”

Literally, her appearance was atrocious.

“I really am a mess.”

From the gloomy shadows cast under her pitch-black eyes to her haggard complexion. Her sleep-deprived eyes were red with bloodshot veins, and her unwashed hair was even tangled with waves.

“I stood in front of Seol Ji-hyuk looking like this.”

They weren’t anything to each other, and it wasn’t like they could become anything to each other now, but he was still her first love. Covering her face with both hands, Hong-joo rubbed her face roughly.

“You’ve lost it, Baek Hong-joo.”

Couldn’t you have tried to look a little pretty? You should have acted a bit demure, played coy, and all that. Hong-joo, who had been sweeping down her cheeks with eyes full of dissatisfaction, paused. Still…

“Still, as long as Seol Ji-hyuk returned, isn’t that enough?”

Did he just come? He took the first seat in the chief mourners’ section, the primary chief mourner’s seat. Then that’s enough. It’s done. Since the first button was fastened, she just had to move on to the next step now. Tossing her coat and handbag onto the bed, Hong-joo went into the bathroom while taking off her suit jacket. Because tomorrow’s matters could be thought about tomorrow.

Every channel turned broadcasted news of the funeral of Chairman Seol Byeong-joo of Myeongmun Group. Chairman Seol Byeong-joo’s life, his contributions to the development of the Korean economy, and the impact his absence would have on Myeongmun Group. Among them, the focus of the media was the succession issue. Analyses on how to raise the stock price, which had started falling from the moment the news of Chairman Seol Byeong-joo’s pancreatic cancer broke, also continued. In the midst of that, the family tree of the prestigious family was also revealed in detail. Was it just the family tree? Asserting the right to know, they were exposing their family affairs one by one.

Chairman Seol Byeong-joo had two sons and one daughter. The promising eldest son, Seol Jeong-hyuk, died 28 years ago without children. The second child, daughter Seol Eun-hee, was inherently weak and unable to properly engage in public activities. The only one left was the youngest son, Seol Ji-hyuk, but since he had been excluded a long time ago, the future of Myeongmun Group was truly shrouded in mystery.

• But his face looked like an actor’s? Right now, a Director Seol Ji-hyuk craze is blowing among young people. They say the suit he wore when he arrived is sold out.

The panelists of the news show were busy chattering.

• Do we decide the successor by their face? I still think the son-in-law, CEO Do Mu-jin of Myeongmun Construction, is the strongest candidate. Since he has assisted Chairman Seol Byeong-joo for a long time, wouldn’t he be different in every way from the son who wandered overseas?
• If that’s the case, the eldest daughter-in-law, Vice Chairwoman Lee Ji-sun, should be the stronger candidate. Didn’t she serve Chairman Seol closer than anyone else? She became Vice Chairwoman because her abilities were recognized.
• Even so, isn’t she a woman.
• Professor Seong, you’re going to cause a big problem. What era is this that you’re harping on about women?
• No, I didn’t mean it like that; I said it because she’s a daughter-in-law. Daughter-in-law.
• Then isn’t CEO Do Mu-jin a son-in-law, a son-in-law!

Someone who had only been listening to the other panelists’ words from one corner finally opened his mouth belatedly.

• About Director Seol Ji-hyuk. Do you know why the title of Director is attached to him when he doesn’t belong to Myeongmun Group?

At the gentle voice, the panelists’ attention focused.

• Do you remember the Myeongmun Construction incident 2 years ago?
• You mean the large-scale investment made in the United Arab Emirates. The one where things went wrong in the middle and even Myeongmun Holdings, the holding company of Myeongmun Group, almost blew up?
• Yes, the person who resolved that was Director Seol Ji-hyuk. When the youngest son, who was twenty-eight at the time, joined the ranks as a private, Chairman Seol Byeong-joo gave him the titles of Investment Advisor and Outside Director so he could work wearing a Myeongmun Group title.
• …
• It means his abilities are more outstanding than anyone else’s.

Just then, the host interjected.

• Now, now, won’t it be useless for us to just chatter among ourselves here? Today is the last day of Chairman Seol Byeong-joo’s funeral, and the farewell ceremony is currently in full swing at the ceremonial hall at the burial site.

On the screen, the aspects of the funeral hall over the past five days and the burial site where the farewell ceremony was taking place were shown one after another. The faces of the bereaved family seated in the very front row of the chief mourners’ section at the farewell ceremony hall slowly passed by on the screen. Seol Ji-hyuk, Lee Ji-sun, Seol Eun-hee, Do Mu-jin. Even the camera paused for a moment at the sight of Seol Ji-hyuk quietly wrapping his arm around Lee Ji-sun’s shoulder as she dabbed away her tears with a handkerchief.

• It is reported that once the funeral is over, the direct descendants, collateral relatives, and executives will gather at Baek-un-jae, Chairman Seol Byeong-joo’s residence in Pyeongchang-dong.

The appearance of Baek-un-jae in Pyeongchang-dong was shown again via an aerial shot.

• Chairman Seol Byeong-joo’s will will be revealed at Baek-un-jae.

The panelists nodded.

• Ultimately, isn’t the key point who will inherit the shares of the group’s holding company?

In that moment, the television power clicked off. As Hong-joo, who had been watching the news, turned her head, Won Jeong-do, the representative lawyer of Joongwon Law Firm, sent her a look. It was a signal that the funeral schedule had just concluded.

“Lawyer Baek, we should slowly start moving now.”

At his words, Hong-joo took a deep breath and steadied her breathing. Standing up from her seat, she straightened her back and nodded.

“Yes, Representative.”

Following behind Won Jeong-do and leaving the waiting room, Hong-joo checked her reflection in the mirror at the entrance. It was an appearance that had changed quite a bit from when she went to Macau to catch Seol Ji-hyuk. She was washed clean, and even wearing makeup.

[Lawyer Baek Hong-joo]

Dressed befitting her status engraved on the luxurious business card, Hong-joo gripped the briefcase in her hand even tighter. Now it was time to move in earnest. Taking another deep breath, Hong-joo moved her steps.

The grand mansion on the hill of Pyeongchang-dong. The front of Baek-un-jae was covered with a procession of black cars. The people who had finished the funeral flocked here as one. The servants of Baek-un-jae, who couldn’t attend the funeral, greeted them with heavy faces in the house that had lost its master. Even the air flowing through the vast space seemed to flow heavily, having lost its master.

Creak, creak.

The wooden corridor leading to the reception room made sounds as if shedding tears at the heavy footsteps of the people. Like that, one by one. The spacious reception room of Baek-un-jae filled up with people wearing black clothes. The union of Chairman Seol Byeong-joo’s direct descendants, collateral relatives, and Myeongmun Group executives. The faces of those who had lost their focal point were steeped in sorrow. Watching them, Won Jeong-do turned on the microphone.

Beeep-.

A connection tone was heard, and the sound of tapping the microphone, tap-tap, followed.

“We will begin the revealing of the will. First, let’s watch the video left by Chairman Seol Byeong-joo.”