MHFM 73

Chapter : 73

“So there is nothing for you to lose, Teacher. Oh, and our Taeheon has already dug up half the truth. If I lend my strength to digging up the rest, we should be able to uncover everything in no time.”

Baekwoon’s face turned deathly pale.

“…Chairman.”

“……”

“If you confess everything now, it will end with you having deceived only me. I’ll quietly cover it up for you. But if you keep denying it until the day I catch you red-handed…”

Chairman Kang paused before continuing, driving his point home.

“The reputation you’ve spent half your life building will crumble in a single day.”

Baekwoon’s fingertips trembled.

Terrified as though he were facing a demon, his mind raced.

‘Is there really no point in holding out any longer…?!’

If Chairman Kang truly decided to pursue the matter, everything would come to light.

And if he got caught, he would become a man who had not only been bribed to do someone’s bidding but had also deceived a major regular client. His career in this field would be finished forever.

‘But if I confess now…’

He had promised to quietly cover things up, even if it meant losing a client like Chairman Kang Deokheung.

It didn’t take long to calculate which option would be more profitable.

At last, his trembling lips parted.

“…I-I have committed an unforgivable sin, Chairman!”

Baekwoon prostrated himself on the floor.

“That couple… they made me an offer. In exchange for paying off my gambling debts, they asked me to tell you that. They said that the child born later would bring misfortune, so the firstborn had to be the one…”

“……”

“Everything I said… I was paid to say it.”

Something inside Chairman Kang crumbled.

It wasn’t the fortune-telling prediction that had fallen apart.

Whenever he had faced a crisis, he had relied on this man’s advice and received his help.

The trust he had built over all those years was now collapsing because of a mouth that had sold itself for a little money.

And based on those lies, Chairman Kang had personally pushed away his own lucky charm.

The wound left by losing Taeseung had never healed. Terrified of losing someone again, he had ended up pushing away the very blessing that had come to him.

“…I…”

Chairman Kang’s voice cracked.

“I was the one who was wrong… What on earth have I done…?”

He pressed his forehead with his wrinkled hand.

Regret pierced him to the bone.

Perhaps even that feeling had come far too late.

Chairman Kang sat there in a daze for a while before finally rising to his feet, his body heavy with remorse.

Even if it was too late.

Even so, there was one face he had to see at least once.

When Soyul returned to the penthouse, she was sitting on the sofa.

While she caught her breath, Taeheon approached with a glass of water.

He had his phone in one hand and appeared to be in the middle of a call.

He set the glass down in front of Soyul without ending the conversation.

“Yes. Defamation, insult, and attempted aggravated assault. Understood. Please proceed accordingly.”

He was discussing the charges that could be brought against Minchae.

The camera had captured all the madness at the scene, so both defamation and insult could be established. And the fact that she had charged at someone while holding a liquor bottle upside down constituted attempted aggravated assault.

Soon, Taeheon ended the call and sat beside Soyul.

“They’ll handle it just as you heard.”

“…Okay.”

Remembering the face of the person who had charged at her, Soyul unconsciously wrapped both hands around the glass of water.

“There’s one more thing I want to talk to you about.”

Taeheon turned toward her and met her gaze.

“Let’s get your inheritance back through a lawsuit. I mean the share they took from you.”

Previously, when Taeheon had suggested filing a civil lawsuit, Soyul had refused, saying she would consider the money payment for the fact that they had given birth to her.

But this time, Soyul didn’t hesitate.

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

Before, she had genuinely intended to let the matter go.

But after learning what those people had done to Taeheon, her mind had changed.

They had paid someone to hurt him.

That was something she simply couldn’t overlook.

“I can never forgive them for what they did to you, Oppa. So from now on, I’m not going to let them get away with anything so easily. Even if they are the people who gave birth to me.”

Taeheon watched Soyul nod with a determined expression and smiled faintly.

“You’ve made the right decision.”

He reached out and gently stroked her head.

It felt as though everything that had gone wrong was gradually falling back into place, one thing at a time.

Except for one thing.

Soyul looked around the unfamiliar living room.

‘So from now on, Oppa and I will be living here together. Of course, that’s nice too, but…’

Even so, there was a persistent emptiness in one corner of her heart.

‘Does that mean… I can’t go back to that house anymore?’

Thinking that she might never be able to sit at that dining table again, Soyul simply ran her fingers over the glass of water.

Taeheon noticed the change in her expression.

When she had agreed to the lawsuit, her face had been resolute. But after looking around the new home, her expression had turned melancholy.

Did she want to return to the house where she had lived with her family?

‘Honestly, I’m happy that it’ll be just the two of us living here.’

Deep down, he rather liked the idea of having Soyul all to himself like this.

But it seemed that the house meant more to Soyul than he had expected.

Even after seeing her looking so sad, he couldn’t think only of himself.

“Soyul.”

Taeheon gently took the glass from her hands and placed it on the table.

“Do you want to go back to that house?”

“…N-no. This place is nice too…”

Soyul quickly shook her head. But her voice trailed off weakly at the end.

Taeheon didn’t bother to challenge the obvious lie.

“Grandfather, I’ll try to persuade him again.”

“…What?”

“I’ll keep trying until I succeed, no matter how many times it takes. In the end, Grandfather won’t have any choice but to change his mind.”

Soyul’s eyes wavered.

He was willing to try again, even against Chairman Kang, who had been so unyielding.

‘How does this man keep…?’

How did he always notice the things she swallowed down inside and offer to do the things she hadn’t even dared to hope for?

Her heart tightened with a tender ache.

Taeheon raised his hand to Soyul’s cheek. His thumb slowly brushed the corner of her eye.

“So don’t make that face. It hurts me to see you like that.”

He whispered softly before slowly leaning closer.

As the distance between them narrowed, Soyul’s breath caught.

Taeheon’s lips gently settled on her rounded forehead. Then they moved down toward the bridge of her nose, gliding softly over her skin.

His kisses were tender and careful, as though he were trying to comfort her, and a warm feeling spread through Soyul’s chest.

His lips lingered affectionately against her skin before pausing just in front of hers.

When he stopped so close that she could feel his breath, Soyul’s heart began to pound wildly.

After a brief hesitation,

Taeheon pressed his lips against hers.

“Mm…”

His lips slipped through the slight gap between Soyul’s parted lips.

The kiss, which had begun gently, gradually grew deeper.

Taeheon wrapped an arm around Soyul’s waist and pulled her closer to him, deepening the kiss even further.

As though searching for something to hold on to, Soyul clutched his arm.

Her head began to feel dizzy from the lack of air, but she didn’t want to pull away.

Taeheon felt the same way. He hadn’t intended for things to go this far when he kissed her.

Yet he pulled Soyul even closer by the waist.

Ding-dong.

The doorbell rang through the wall-mounted panel.

Taeheon froze.

“……”

His ragged breath scattered over Soyul’s moist lips.

As though forcing himself to suppress his reluctance, Taeheon took a short breath.

“…Just a moment.”

He pulled away and stood up.

Only then did Soyul come back to her senses. Her face instantly flushed, and she covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

‘Did I just completely lose myself…? This is so embarrassing… But why am I disappointed that it stopped…?’

Her face turned red all the way to the tips of her ears.

She tried to calm herself by taking several deep breaths, hoping to cool her burning face, but her racing heart simply wouldn’t settle down.

Meanwhile, Taeheon checked the screen on the wall-mounted panel and merely ran a hand through his hair. For a while, he didn’t react at all.

Puzzled by the way he stood there motionless, Soyul finally managed to calm herself down a little before approaching him and asking,

“Who is it?”

“No, don’t worry about it.”

Taeheon turned around and subtly blocked the screen with his body, as though he didn’t want Soyul to see it.

But over his shoulder, Soyul caught sight of the person on the screen.

It was Chairman Kang.