CHAPTER 79

Siyeon was busy all afternoon. This was because she had invited Manager Yang, Team Leader, and Yoonsoo over for dinner tonight. Upon hearing Siyeon’s invitation plan, Ijun mentioned that he would also return home early

While expressing his dissatisfaction and suggesting excluding Yoonsoo from the guest list, Siyeon explained that the three were a set and it wouldn’t be possible to exclude anyone.

Still grumbling, Siyeon shared the first digit of her laptop’s password with him. His expression brightened instantly, and he chuckled.

“Siyeon!”

“Unnie! Team Leader! And Yoonsoo oppa, come on in.”

Siyeon warmly welcomed them at the entrance. The three had left work early at Yeongjin and arrived a bit ahead of time in Samseong-dong. Naturally, Yoonsoo was their driver.

“Didn’t father say something about going out instead of working?”

She asked with a forced smile, hiding her discomfort. It had been well over a week since she last spoke with her parents.

“What would he say? He readily agreed when I said I was going to see you. Oh, and this. It’s food your mother prepared. She was worried that there are good cooks here and she might feel out of place, but she still packed your favorite dishes for you.”

“…Thank you.”

Siyeon accepted the food package Manager Yang handed. It seemed quite heavy, indicating there was a fair amount of food inside.

“By the way, I noticed your mother didn’t look too good earlier. Do you know anything about it?”

In response to Manager Yang’s question, she smiled faintly.

“Sukhee, stop talking nonsense. And Siyeon, I’m really, really thankful that you thought of our Dayeon.”

Team Leader blushed deeply as she held Siyeon’s hand and spoke.

Ijun sent three professional chefs and several food trucks to the drama filming set where the Team Leader’s daughter was shooting, as he had promised Siyeon. The chefs took orders on-site and prepared Korean, Japanese, and Western dishes, delighting the actors and filming staff.

“I didn’t even do anything, but you’re welcome.”

“Our Dayeon loved it so much. Thanks to you, even the staff and actors who didn’t know her name now know Dayeon’s name. But people are asking what the connection is between Dayeon and Baekya Foods’ Executive Jeong Ijun, and Dayeon said that the executive’s wife and her mom are close friends… Is that okay?”

“It’s true, so of course it’s fine.”

Instead of hiding his presence, Ijun even sent a food truck prominently displaying the Baekya Foods logo. The rumor that Baekya Foods’ Vice President Jeong Ijun had sent a food truck for the rookie actress Dayeon spread like wildfire.

“They said Baekya Foods also sponsored the drama. Dayeon found out because the director told her. Vice President Jeong called the director himself and said his wife’s friend’s daughter was in the drama, so he asked him to take care of her. When I heard this from Dayeon yesterday, I was so nervous… I wondered if I should really accept it.”

“Before I got married, you always provided me with meals. Compared to that, this is nothing.”

Seeing the people she cared about happy made Siyeon genuinely happy. She felt grateful to Ijun for his thoughtfulness. At this rate, she felt she might eventually just give him her four-digit password without much thought.

“That was at the request of the Boss. I didn’t plan on taking money, but the Boss always paid me generously. Looking back, at that time, I didn’t even know you were his biological daughter, Siyeon. Bloodlines can be truly scary.”

“Yes, it seems so.”

Siyeon smiled broadly but felt a pang in her heart. Since that day, she hadn’t contacted her parents. It wasn’t that she couldn’t but that she didn’t. She learned last night through Ijun that her parents ultimately did not give the file to Eunhye.

“Send a food truck for us too! Send it right to Yeongjin’s front yard!”

Manager Yang complained, but Siyeon knew she was secretly pleased about the Ijun’s gesture.

“Oh, stop it. Don’t just stand there; show us around the house.”

“I was planning to do that anyway. Come on in, everyone.”

With those words, Siyeon showed the three around her house and then led them upstairs to the rooftop. The smile never left her face.

“Wow, this place is amazing!”

“Could we live here?”

They marveled one after another as they toured the spacious rooftop with a log cabin and lush green grass.

“Wow, there’s even a low table here? Did you buy it yourself?”

“No, Ijun bought it for me.”

“Really? Wow. It feels different looking down from up here. Do you still lie down here every day?”

Manager Yang, upon spotting the low table, hurried over and sat on it.

“These days, I don’t lie down here anymore but sometimes eat something here. So now when I come up to the rooftop, I think about what to eat on the low table. After dinner downstairs, I come up here again.”

Siyeon’s response made Yoonsoo glance at her. When their eyes met, he shrugged as if it were nothing.

After having an early dinner, the four of them returned to the rooftop. They sat on the low table, enjoying some beer and catching up on the things they missed. While the three women chatted away, Yoonsoo leaned back with one hand behind him, looking at his phone.

“Oh…”

Suddenly, he sat up straight and started scrolling through his phone screen with his thumb, reading something intently.

“Yoonsoo, is there something interesting?”

Manager Yang asked while munching on fruit.

“The top trending search term is Baekya Foods.”

Yoonsoo’s words made Siyeon turn to him with a puzzled expression.

“…Baekya Foods. Baekya Foods’ eldest son. Baekya Kim Donghan. Baekya Foods’ eldest son’s lover… What’s this?”

In his bewildered tone, Siyeon also opened her phone and read the internet news section. Finding articles about Baekya Foods was not difficult.

[Baekya Foods Vice President Jeong Gwihyeon (31), who has been in a vegetative state for over a year, miraculously woke up, causing a stir between him and his long-time lover, Kim Eunhye, due to their romantic relationship. Vice President Jeong Gwihyeon denies Kim Eunhye’s existence, leading to strong opposition from Kim Eunhye’s family. Kim Eunhye claims to be the biological great-granddaughter of Baekya’s Kim Donghan and says she had a long-term relationship with Baekya Foods Vice President Jeong Gwihyeon, with marriage promises made… ]

Reading the reported article, Siyeon was truly shocked. The other two also searched for and began reading the article on their phones.

“Until today, it was revealed that ‘Baekya,’ known as the representative work of Professor Kim Donghan during the Japanese colonial period, was actually a work by Choi Deokgu, a poet who was his disciple. Today, the Baekya Literary Museum and Fine Arts Association issued a joint statement and held a press conference. Despite multiple attempts to contact Professor Kim Hyun-sik, known as the direct descendant of Kim Donghan, to hear his perspective but were unsuccessful. Amid the literary world’s shock, contact was finally made with Kim Donghan’s biological great-granddaughter, who admitted that all of this was true… What’s all this about?”

Manager Yang read the article aloud in a loud voice but blinked in confusion, not understanding the situation.

Siyeon, too, couldn’t understand the English text. Although Ijun had hinted that her great-grandfather’s story would soon be publicized, she never imagined it would involve Gwihyeon’s story as well.

“Mr. Choi Won-dae, a direct descendant of poet Choi Deok-gu, who was revealed to be the real author of the poem Baekya, said in a phone call with this paper that he was very happy that the truth was revealed, and could not hide his excitement, saying that he was finally able to resolve his grandfather’s long-standing resentment… …  Choi Won-dae? Kim Eunhye? Baekya Food’s eldest heir? These three all seem like people I know… … ?”

Yoonsoo stared at Siyeon with wide eyes, his expression filled with bewilderment. But Siyeon was too engrossed in reading the updated articles to pay attention to him.

[..Choi Siyeon (27), the great-granddaughter of poet Choi Deokgu, is also the wife of Jeong Ijun (29), the current Vice President of Baekya Foods. Jeong Ijun expressed relief and deep sorrow as he learned of the unexpected truth coming to light, stating that legal issues will be resolved strictly by law, and he will strive to regain the honor of his wife’s great-grandfather, poet Choi Deokgu.]

“Oh my, I know all the characters mentioned in this article! Choi Siyeon, the great-granddaughter of poet Choi Deok-gu! Say something!”

Manager Yang couldn’t contain her excitement and jumped up from her seat. Just as everyone was trying to conceal their surprise and confusion at the sudden turn of events, the door of the log cabin opened, revealing Ijun. Manager Yang, who had been bouncing around, abruptly halted her actions upon seeing Ijun.

“Oh! Vice President, hello.”

“Yes, hello. I see everyone’s here.”

Siyeon quickly stood up upon seeing Ijun and approached him.

“I read the news. What’s all this about?”

“I was so tired today. Let me hug you first.”

Saying so, Ijun opened his arms and embraced Siyeon tightly against his chest. When the crowd started to boo, Ijun hugged Siyeon even tighter, as if to show off.

“As a condition for cooperating with me, I gave the audio file to Kim Eunhye.”

“You gave it to her?”

“Yeah. I asked your father earlier about what to do with the file, but he had already deleted it. After listening to the content of the file, I couldn’t bring myself to give it to Eunhye because I thought you might be in trouble with my brother if she had it.”

He whispered softly in her ear. In response, Siyeon buried her head deeper into his chest.

“I informed my brother in advance that an article would come out today or tomorrow. He was so happy, saying he could now confidently ignore Kim Eunhye. Thanks to that, there was quite a scene in front of the hospital room today.”

“Is Grandfather okay?”

“He was fine, but he just got upset. Kim Eunhye’s family pressed charges against Gwihyeon for “false” promise of marriage just now.”

Siyeon pulled away, her eyes widening.

“How can they press charges without any evidence or specific damages?”

Ijun smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“Of course, they can’t. They know that, but since the marriage won’t happen anyway, they want to embarrass him in court. Oh, and the victim of this marriage fraud, Kim Eunhye, is planning to do interviews with famous women’s magazines. She seems to have a subtle attention-seeking trait.”

“How did Eunhye manage to secure interviews with a women’s magazine?”

“I introduced her.”

“What do you mean?”

Ijun chuckled at Siyeon’s astonished expression.

“What are you going to do if the Suwon elders find out? What are you going to say if they ask how you plan to handle things if it escalates?”

“What’s with this level of worry? There’s still a lot more to come.”

“More to come?”

“Yeah. But did all of you finish eating everything? Give me something too, I’m hungry.”

“… “

Siyeon stared at Ijun with a bewildered expression as he casually walked towards the low table.