CHAPTER 78

Even though it was late at night, Ijun didn’t invite Siyeon’s parents to have them sleep in their house. He appeared quite cold-hearted, considering he was the same person who had asked them to visit Siyeon in Samseong-dong to hang out.

“Did you give them everything?”

After her parents left, Ijun watched the recorded video and listened to the recorded sound until the end, then asked Siyeon.

“No. I just cut out the part of the conversation I had with Gwihyeon-oppa and gave them that.”

“I thought it was supposed to be fifty-fifty, why did you feel inclined to give it to them?”

“I just suddenly felt like… I was blindly clinging to the role of being a good daughter, a loved daughter. And I thought, let’s just do whatever I want, let’s do whatever makes my heart comfortable.”

“Alright. Live however you want.”

Saying so, Ijun pulled up a chair next to Siyeon, who was working, and sat down to read a book.

“You’ll become a flounder eye if you keep it up.”

Siyeon warned Ijun with a stern voice whenever he glanced at her sideways, but that was all. Ijun closed the book and with one hand on his chin, he started watching Siyeon work in earnest.

“How much longer until it’s finished?”

“It will take about six months to complete Part 1.”

“Let’s go on a honeymoon once the manuscript is submitted.”

“Hmm. I have trauma about honeymoons. But I’ll try to overcome it.”

Ijun initially frowned at Siyeon’s words, then asked in a bored tone.

“How long do you have to do that for?”

“Until I fall asleep.”

“What will happen if you don’t finish it today?”

“I’ll just say what I want to say.”

“Come on.” 

Ijun leaned in and kissed Siyeon’s lips lightly, making her frown.

“Go to sleep first.”

“I don’t want to.”

Then this time, he pressed his lips firmly against hers. Siyeon eventually had to resign herself and close her laptop. She knew she couldn’t beat Ijun’s stubbornness.

And so, another night of a different color began.

* * *

It had been a week since her parents visited, but nothing unusual had happened. If Eunhye had received that file, there would have been a fuss by now, but everything remained quiet.

She had asked Ijun to let her know if anything happened, but every time he got home from work, he would say that it was a nice day and that nothing had happened.

Although curious about what happened, she didn’t feel the need to call her parents and inquire about the file.

Ijun cleared the round table and chairs from the master room and replaced them with a long wooden desk and a comfortable chair. He sometimes worked sitting against the headboard of the bed while Siyeon worked, and sometimes he read books. And at the end of the night, they always embraced each other in bed.

As a result, Siyeon’s routine changed. She mainly worked in the mornings and afternoons, keeping her work hours shorter after Ijun returned from work.

After vigorous physical activity at night, she found herself sleeping until morning, feeling much less tired compared to before. Stable and regular days continued.

However, peace did not last long. An article suddenly appeared in the financial newspapers stating, 

“Scandal at Food Company A: Second Son Steals Eldest Son’s Fiancée After Accident, Weds Her!”

The puzzle was too easy to solve; it was almost mundane. Food company, eldest son’s accident, second son’s marriage. With just these three keywords, the protagonist of the rumor was unmistakably revealed to be Jeong Ijun, the executive of Baekya Food.

“We’ve found the author of the anonymous letter.”

When the secretary entered the room, Ijun was sitting facing his father in the President’s office.

“He’s a journalist from an online newspaper. He claimed that he received a submission email and wrote the article himself. We obtained the email address of the submitter and investigated…”

He stopped speaking and glanced at the President.

“Who is it?”

The President asked in a deep, heavy voice. His expression darkened as if he had already guessed the answer that would come from the secretary’s mouth.

“…It’s been revealed to be the nephew of the head of the Logistics Headquarters Distribution Management Team.”

“Who is the head of the Logistics Headquarters Distribution Management Team?”

“It’s Manager Seok Gwanyoung.”

The secretary replied cautiously. Manager Seok was the younger brother of Gwihyeon’s deceased mother.

“The chairman…”

“I think by now the news might have reached him.”

“…”.

There was no way the Chairman’s information network hadn’t found out what the secretary had discovered. Chairman Jeong must have already received a report in his hospital room.

“You can leave now.”

After dismissing the secretary, President Jeong, Ijun’s father, placed his index finger on his temple with a grim expression. He had called Ijun to his office not to discuss countermeasures for the incident, but in reality, to soothe and persuade him. The first person who came to mind upon hearing about the article was Gwihyeon.

It took him a while to speak with a heavy voice.

“…Can you forgive this incident?”

Although he asked if he could let this incident pass, the underlying meaning was to forgive Gwihyeon and move on.

“To forgive after labeling my wife with a dirty stigma that will follow her for a lifetime? No.”

Ijun casually spoke, his gaze fixed on the cup he held in his hand.

“Ijun.”

“I will do as I please. If you are not pleased with that, then dismiss me and call Gwihyeon to the company. I can leave without any lingering attachment.”

“Isn’t Gwihyeon still in an unstable state due to not having regained his memory?”

“Gwihyeon has regained his memory, Father.”

He placed the cup he was holding back on the table as he spoke.

“What are you talking about?”

“When he woke up, he remembered everything from the start. He’s just pretending to have lost his memory to gain an advantage. There’s evidence.”

“…Are you saying that Gwihyeon is deceiving our family right now?”

“Why are you surprised by something so obvious? It’s not the first time something like this has happened.”

With a sigh, the president asked wearily in response to Ijun’s words.

“…So, what do you plan to do?”

“We need to restore our honor.”

Ijun responded indifferently as if it were nothing significant. President Jeong looked at Ijun with a worried expression. He had plans to punish Gwihyeon as well, but Ijun’s idea of punishment was likely different from his. While he was considering a suitable punishment for Gwihyeon, he knew there would be a clear gap between what Ijun thought was appropriate and his own ideas.

“Even after his recovery, he will have to stay away from the company and maintain a low profile for a while. Of course, before that, we should also release a correction article stating that the rumors in the anonymous letter are false.”

When his father offered a compromise, Ijun smirked. Then, with a serious expression, he gazed at President Jeong.

“Even if we release a correction article, do you think people will believe it? When my future children are born, they will eventually hear that their mother, who gave birth to them, was involved in such a dirty rumor.”

“…”

“I just want to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. By the way, whether you call Gwihyeon back to the company or not, I have no interest whatsoever.”

Realizing he couldn’t persuade Ijun any further, President Jeong closed his eyes.

* * *

The next morning, as soon as the dawn broke, Eunhye’s family stormed into the hospital. The intensity of their entrance was beyond description.

“We came here knowing that Gwihyeon has regained his memory!”

A single cry echoed through the hospital corridor. Unable to enter Gwihyeon’s room due to the security guards, the grandmother shouted loudly as if everyone around needed to hear.

“We have evidence. If he continues to pretend not to know, we will make a scene in front of the whole world, so be aware!”

Besides Eunhye and Professor Kim’s family, there were also unfamiliar faces present. They stood a little further away, observing the situation unfolding in front of the room, but others paid them no attention.

Click- the door of the room opened, and a serious-looking Gwihyeon stepped out. He glanced towards the adjacent room, but Chairman Jeong was nowhere to be seen.

“You pretend not to know Eunhye even though your memory has returned. How can you call yourself a descendant of the Seorae Jeong family? How lamentable would Professor Baekya feel watching from up there!”

The grandmother scolded Gwihyeon in a harsh tone. In response to this astounding situation, Gwihyeon let out a bitter laugh and brushed his bangs back.

“Professor Baekya? Do you really know who that is?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Yes, my memory has returned. So, why don’t you understand the real reason why I refuse Kim Eunhye, grandmother?”

“What nonsense are you babbling about now!”

Despite Gwihyeon’s provocations, Professor Kim and his wife, along with the grandmother, were visibly upset and furious, but Eunhye remained unusually calm.

“Let me rephrase it. Is Kim Donghan the owner of Baekya?”

“What… What are you saying right now…”

In an instant, the faces of the grandmother and Professor Kim turned pale. They looked visibly flustered and confused. The first to regain composure was Professor Kim’s mother. She immediately lifted her chin and interjected.

“Are you going as far as to result in slander now? What’s this nonsense? How dare you speak such blasphemy against our Professor Baekya like that!”

“There is clear evidence that Professor Kim Donghan stole his disciple’s poem.”

“Nonsense! There’s no evidence, if there were any, it would have been brought forward long ago! If you’re thinking of presenting falsified evidence, you better wake up from your dream!”

Suddenly, both sides’ positions had completely reversed.

“There will be an official announcement soon. We will never allow the descendant of the thief who brought shame upon the Seorae Jeong family across three generations, Kim Eunhye, to ever set foot in Baekya Foods. How dare you consider making the descendant of the greatest thief our 18th successor! Such audacity is sickening.”

“If you, Gwihyeon, dare to come out like this, we won’t stay silent either. You who slandered Professor Kim Donghan and debased our daughter will not get away with it, so just wait and see.”

Professor Kim sent a furious glare at Gwihyeon, clenching his fists tightly.

“Eunhye.”

Gwihyeon called out to Eunhye, who had been silent since earlier, in a gentle tone. Eunhye gazed back at him with eyes devoid of any emotion.

“I’m sorry it had to come to this.”

“What are you saying to my daughter right now!”

Although Professor Kim interjected loudly into the conversation, Gwihyeon ignored him and focused solely on Eunhye.

“Did you… ever love me, oppa?”

“I tried to love the descendant of Baekya, but it was practically impossible.”

“….”

Upon hearing his words, Eunhye seemed to think that it was truly over between her and Gwihyeon, and she remained silent, refraining from saying anything further.

“Professor and Grandmother, now is not the time for this. You should go back immediately and hire a competent lawyer. There’s a joint press conference scheduled this afternoon at the Baekya Literature Museum and the Fine Arts Association.”

“A press conference…? How come we didn’t know about any press conference at the Baekya Literature Museum?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

With those words, Gwihyeon smiled faintly.

Yesterday evening, Ijun called him and informed him that there was an audio file for Eunhye. He also gave him preliminary information about the press conference scheduled for today’s afternoon.

Knowing that Ijun had a long conversation with their father in the office yesterday, he probably offered him a suitable compromise, which Ijun likely couldn’t refuse.

Gwihyeon knew that his father and grandfather, who were both heads of the family, couldn’t do anything to him. Although he found it somewhat strange that his grandfather didn’t show up despite the chaos, he could empathize with his grandfather’s discomfort in various ways.