Chapter : 10
“What else is there?”
At her son’s question, Junghwa let out deep sighs as though the ground itself might cave in before answering.
“Seol Insu.”
Jaejun slightly narrowed his eyes and asked again.
“Seol Insu? You mean my younger uncle?”
“Yes. Your youngest uncle.”
Jaejun briefly lifted his gaze toward the ceiling.
Seol Insu.
The youngest of his father’s siblings, and the only one who was not involved with the group.
Until Jaejun was in middle school, he would occasionally see him at family gatherings, but afterward, Insu had gone to America, saying that he wanted to become involved in theater.
The shock at the time had caused his grandfather to collapse, and he never recovered, eventually passing away.
Because of that, Insu became hated by his father’s siblings and cut off contact with the family.
“Did Uncle come back?”
“Yeah, someone came back. But it wasn’t Seol Insu. It was his son.”
“…What did you say? Your younger uncle’s son?”
“Yes. Apparently, he secretly had a child with a Korean woman over there and raised him. But that woman had recently been battling cancer and died, they say.”
“No way.”
“Exactly. Seol Insu was your grandmother’s favorite, wasn’t he? She always doted on him because he was the youngest.”
“…….”
“She didn’t want her son to live as a widower, so she brought that grandson back to Korea. Yesterday, of all days.”
“Ah. Please treat him well. He must be devastated after losing his mother.”
“You!”
Junghwa’s face turned red as she shouted.
“How can you be so carefree right now?! Do you know where your grandmother brought that child? She brought him to Seongbuk-dong!”
“He came to the main house?”
“Yes! She says we’re supposed to keep him here!”
“Hmm.”
Jaejun slowly crossed his arms and thought.
The arrival of Insu’s son—his cousin—wouldn’t diminish his own position.
Wasn’t all he had to do focus all his efforts on growing the hotel as soon as he took office?
Of course, he would have to produce results in an even shorter amount of time than he had originally planned, but that wasn’t impossible.
“Listen carefully. He’s your rival. He’s someone who could put a knife to your throat at any moment.”
“Even so, isn’t he just my cousin?”
“My dear. What won’t people with a hunger for power do? Anyway, from now on, keep your head straight and don’t do anything that gets you on your grandmother’s bad side. Understand? I’ll also start looking into daughters from families who might be helpful to your business as soon as possible.”
Perhaps because he was about to get married unexpectedly, without it ever having been part of his plans—
“Whenever Mom tells you to come out, you come immediately.”
The area around Jaejun’s chest, which had been fine until then, began to feel tight.
He was already busy enough putting all his effort into growing the hotel, and he could foresee even more troublesome matters piling up.
There was something else he needed to think about before that.
“I’m sorry again about the assignment. If there’s any way I can repay you, I’ll do whatever I can, so please contact me.”
Jaejun stood up as he spoke.
“For now, I understand. Get plenty of rest.”
Junghwa, who had been pouring out her grievances, became restless like a kitten that had lost its mother when Jaejun was about to leave.
“…Are you leaving already?”
“I should go. There are a few things I need to think about.”
Jaejun headed toward the door but stopped and asked,
“So when are you being discharged? We don’t know how long Grandmother plans to keep that child at the house.”
“…Ah, right. Well, I don’t know. I think I’ll rest here for a few days.”
Jaejun told her to do that, then was about to leave before stopping once again.
“Oh, right.”
“Hmm?”
“What’s my younger uncle’s son’s name?”
“Ha-neul… I think.”
“Seol Haneul? How old is he?”
“Ten.”
Jaejun’s brow furrowed in disbelief.
Had Junghwa seriously thought that a ten-year-old child could become a rival capable of putting a knife to his throat?
“Are you going straight home…?”
“I should. I need to greet Grandmother after her return. Get some rest.”
With that, Jaejun left the hospital room.
While driving home, Jaejun first received the information Yongil had managed to find out so far.
—Kim Byeongtae. His company is doing fairly well, but his private life is seriously messy.
“What happened?”
—He’s been arrested and released several times on drug charges. He probably got out by throwing money around. And over the past five years, he’s been married to two women.
“Two? In five years?”
—Yes. One was a woman who was well-known in the underworld, and the other was a graduate student of overseas Chinese descent, but….
Jaejun pressed the brakes at the red light that had just changed and continued the conversation.
“What is it? Why did you stop?”
—Both of them are dead.
Jaejun’s eyes twisted.
“…What? What were the causes of death?”
—The first wife died after falling while hiking, and the second wife committed suicide. In the second case, there was no autopsy. Suspicious, isn’t it? Someone like Kim Byeongtae has enough connections and conditions to cover something like that up.
Jaejun’s expression turned colder than ever.
—Apparently, he’s always had a violent temper. Even when he went to bars, he would assault everyone indiscriminately, whether they were employees or women. He probably treated his wives the same way.
Jaejun could imagine Yumin, always living in fear of being beaten by Byeongtae.
That makes no sense.
Even if it was only for a moment, she was so nervous that I might break her just by touching her hand.
—This is just my opinion, but I suspect he may have sadistic tendencies… or perhaps psychopathic tendencies. Just look at how he ignores everyone around him and goes around searching for another woman to marry.
“Then.”
—Yes, Young Master.
“If he succeeds in marrying for the third time.”
—I imagine that third woman would probably meet the same fate as the previous two wives….
Jaejun felt as though his breath had suddenly been cut off.
—I’ll report back as soon as I get any additional information.
Without realizing it, Jaejun rolled the three syllables of the name Hong Yumin around in his mouth.
He didn’t even notice whether the name had escaped as a sound.
—Ah. I’ve also more or less finished investigating Hong Yumin—
“Send me Hong Yumin’s phone number first.”
—Yes, understood.
“And I’m going to the main house now. Send the rest of the information by text.”
After ending the call, a chill hung over Jaejun’s expression.
He’s already old enough as it is, and he still has his eyes on a woman more than ten years younger than him?
When the image of Byeongtae handing Yumin a room key at the hotel and trying to drag her away by force came to mind, anger began spreading inside him like a storm.
Then another image surfaced—the photo of Yumin eating tteokbokki with Byeongtae after he had gone all the way to her house.
His anger boiled so fiercely that it felt as though it might burst his veins.
Why on earth did Hong Yumin agree to a blind date with a bastard like that and even eat with him?
You, who barely agreed to eat tteokbokki with me.
“Ha.”
Just as he let out an irritated sigh, a message arrived.
It was Yumin’s phone number, sent by Yongil.
Without giving himself time to think, Jaejun entered the number exactly as it was and pressed the call button.
What is she going through right now that made her agree to a blind date with Kim Byeongtae?
He wanted to at least tell her not to meet that man because there was something seriously wrong with him.
After the ringing tone sounded several times, a familiar voice came through.
—Hello?
“It’s me, Seol Jaejun.”
Click.
“…….”
Jaejun was momentarily stunned.
Did she recognize it was me and deliberately hang up? Because she’s uncomfortable with me?
He alternated his gaze between the road ahead and the screen of his phone.
Then he let out a disbelieving scoff.
“This is really something.”
Perhaps it was so absurd that he wasn’t even angry.
“Technically speaking, we’re not even going to be seeing each other in the future, so I don’t have to tell my senior all about my personal life.”
Apparently, Yumin was reluctant to have any further contact with him.
But what am I supposed to do?
There’s no way in hell I can just watch you marry some guy like Kim Byeongtae and get beaten by him.
Bzzzt—.
Just as he arrived at the main house and was finishing parking, a text message came through.
It contained some of the information about Yumin that Yongil had sent.
She had dropped out of university, and the only thing she was doing was working at a children’s piano academy near her home.
Why did she drop out after even going abroad to study?
Wondering about that, he entered the house.
The moment he stepped through the entrance, he heard someone hurriedly running away toward the living room.
Soon, a head cautiously peeked out from inside the living room.
It was a boy.
“Seol Haneul?”
When Jaejun called his name, the boy flinched and revealed himself.
He was a little shorter and much skinnier than one would expect for a ten-year-old.
Did they not feed him properly in America?
How could Mother possibly have thought this child was a threat? He looks like he’d collapse if I even gave him a light kick.
Jaejun walked through the hallway and into the living room.
The boy had snow-white skin and clear, innocent eyes like a calf. The moment he saw Jaejun, his entire body stiffened, and he merely blinked.
“Kid. You should say hello.”
“H-Hello. Jae, Jaejun… hyung.”
Jaejun gave a small laugh.
“Grandmother told you my name.”
Haneul nodded and added,
“She said… to get along well with you….”
“Yeah. Where’s Grandmother?”
Haneul nodded again.
“It’d be better if you answered instead of just nodding. When do you start school?”
“Next year….”
“Okay. Get some rest.”
Is she planning to let him adjust to Korea this year and send him to school starting next year?
Jaejun turned toward the second floor, where his room was.
But the moment he placed his foot on the stairs, the contents of Yongil’s message flashed through his mind.
He immediately turned around and called Haneul.
“Hey, kid.”
Haneul blinked.
“Do you want to go to a piano academy?”
