Chapter 2

Chairman Yeo stood, putting the rifles back in place.

“Un-rok still can’t focus, just tinkering with the piano. Now that he’s in middle school, he should be studying more… It’s good he’s good at other things, but tsk.”

“He’s doing all his studies while playing piano diligently. If you say that, both the young master and Madame will be hurt. He entered your alma mater as the top student.”

Back in secretary mode, Baek Seongyeong rattled off facts smoothly.

“I should check if Madame is taking her medicine and resting. She’s frail and sensitive, so she’ll look for me if I’m not around.”

Secretary Baek stood, bowing politely to Chairman Yeo. As she left the study, a recurring question echoed in her mind.

With such fragile nerves, how does the Madame survive without breaking? Maybe if Chairman Yeo and her own relationship, and the existence of Un-ha and Un-seong, were revealed as accidents, the Madame would finally overdose on sleeping pills or throw herself off the cliff at the Gangwon villa or the group’s 37th-floor hotel.

On the opposite side of the main house, a familiar sedan was speeding toward the front gate, leaving the vast mansion grounds behind. The eldest son of Seogwang Group, just finished with school, was off to meet his tutor. She remembered tonight was the invited performance by Leif Ove Andsnes at the group’s arts center.

She had no intention of touching the eldest son. Chairman Yeo cherished and adored his firstborn. If that son were destroyed, Chairman Yeo would collapse, too. He was still strong and had much to offer her.

Not yet. At least not until her children grew up and gained full strength. Chairman Yeo must remain unwavering, holding his position firmly.

So, Un-rok… just play the piano you love and live happily. As long as you keep playing piano and living happily, that’s enough. Don’t bother with the business.

All support and honor will be spared for you. For the fame and safety of the world-renowned virtuoso Yeo Un-rok.

Baek Seongyeong walked slowly toward the main house, gazing at the gravel underfoot, glowing in the sunset.

***

The genes of the grandmother, first among the German-educated, skipped her daughter and passed directly to her grandson. Yeo Un-rok first sat at the piano at age three. Aside from the top-notch guidance from renowned professors, the young master had extraordinary talent for music.

Not just music; in every aspect, Un-rok was far ahead of other children. In all areas of academics, sports, and arts, he occupied an extremely unfair position. Born with a golden spoon, not just in family and wealth but in every way, his existence served as a reminder to ordinary people that sometimes God is unfair.

Among all, the most classic Western instrument, with 88 keys and three pedals, completely captivated and fascinated young Un-rok. The media, eager to report, praised the birth of a piano prodigy at Seogwang, a company that spared no national support for cultural and artistic projects.

Under her mother’s enthusiastic support, Un-rok began formal lessons at the age of four. His first official award came when he was nine, winning the grand prize at a national youth competition hosted by Geumhwa Group, a rival of Seogwang Group. If he had entered and won a competition hosted by Seogwang Group, his home ground, no one would have believed the results were fair.

Even though his personal information was thoroughly concealed from the start at the Geumhwa Group competition, the organizers surely knew. After all, even among rivals, blood is thicker than water—people whispered that the grand prize must have been pre-assigned to him once they knew he was a Seogwang Group child. Behind the classical world’s chorus of praise, there was no shortage of rumors.

That’s why, this time, his mother, Choi Sujeong, and his instructor took extreme security measures and even changed his name to a pseudonym, sending him to an international competition. At thirteen, Yeo Un-rok achieved a remarkable victory by winning the youth division of the Tchaikovsky International Competition.

Ironically, it was just as her young son’s genius began to shine on the world stage that Chairman Yeo’s anxiety first arose. He thought it was a waste for her eldest son’s extraordinary talent to be focused solely on the piano.

“A world-class maestro, a world-class virtuoso… Sure, that’s nice. But it’s best to keep things in moderation, Un-rok. Someday, you have to steer the great ship that is Seogwang Group. No matter how amazing you are, it’s a shame for your abilities to end as a solo pianist. The world will bow at your feet.”

The higher Un-rok’s talent soared, the more Chairman Yeo’s dissatisfaction and anger grew, and even his mother, who had served as a bridge for his maternal genes, came under pressure. The seemingly harmonious, flawless royal family, with no apparent problems, was in fact standing on a fuse that could explode at any moment.

At nineteen, Un-rok announced to Chairman Yeo his decision to finally embark on the overseas studies he had postponed for so long. That declaration became the spark that finally ignited the fuse that had been so precariously maintained over the past few years.

The fire raged nearly to the point of collapse, placing Un-rok and his mother in danger and shattering the Bösendorfer, a piano as precious as his own flesh and blood, into pieces. The grand piano, crafted with exquisite care by the finest artisans, could never be restored.

From that day onward, the fate of Un-rok and his mother was not so different from that of the Bösendorfer. Many things changed. They had crossed a point of no return.

***

After returning home from a bizarre arranged meeting, Sejeong immediately headed to the study at the housekeeper’s message that her father was waiting. There was no time to change clothes or even wash her hands. Former chief prosecutor and current district attorney Eun Seokhyeon was not just hot-tempered but explosive, like an active volcano.

“What on earth are you doing? Hm?”

As soon as she opened the door, an eyeglass case flew straight at her. Sejeong instinctively twisted her body to avoid being hit squarely in the face. If it had come from the left, she would have been struck.

“Honey! What if you scar her face? Are you okay, Sejeong?”

Her mother, Joo Hyesuk, came over and checked Sejeong’s face. Unlike her mother’s perfunctory concern, Eun Seokhyeon finally showed a trace of worry in his eyes. But his concern was more about the damage to her value as a product than for his adopted daughter’s safety. Sejeong knew it, he knew it, everyone knew it.

“Yes, I’m fine…….”

She had no idea what had caused such sudden anger. Before Sejeong, trembling, could even sit on the sofa, Eun Seokhyeon forgot his concern and started shouting again.

“Why did you say you couldn’t get married? I can’t believe it, I kept asking if my ears had gone senile already. Hm?”

“Huh……?”

Sejeong looked at Eun Seokhyeon with dazed eyes. Madame Joo whispered beside her.

“Just now, Seogwang Group’s Secretary Baek—no, Madam—called. She said you told her you couldn’t go through with the marriage? She hasn’t informed Chairman Yeo yet. She said she needs to figure out the situation before she reports…….”

“She even indirectly asked if you had another man! D*mn it, that b*tch… A lowly secretary who wiped asses and waited on people, how dare she talk to me like that… That wretched woman. Just wait until I become Prosecutor General as promised. I’ll expose her dirty secrets first.”

Sejeong unknowingly shook her head slowly.

“I… I… never said that.”

“What?”

“I didn’t say it… that person…….”

Eun Seokhyeon, who had been fuming, and Madame Joo, who had been nervously biting her nails, both changed their expressions. Sejeong, feeling as if she were tattling, couldn’t continue speaking. Eun Seokhyeon, frustrated, pounded his chest with his fist and shouted.

“If it’s that person, Yeo Un-rok? Why? Ah, d*mn it! Aren’t you going to open your mouth? Do I need to call Secretary Baek again and make you face each other? Hm?”

“That person… said he couldn’t get married…….”

“What? Wait, Yeo Un-rok said he couldn’t get married? But according to Secretary Baek—no, Madam—she said you told her that.”

Sejeong looked at Madame Joo and finally confessed.

“He told me to go home and say… that I couldn’t get married.”

“So, Yeo Un-rok told you to say that? And then lied to Secretary Baek, saying you were the one who said it? Is that b*stard out of his mind?”

Eun Seokhyeon, more furious than before, his face dark red, looked back and forth between his wife and Sejeong.

“You, Sejeong, if you’re making things up, you know you’ll die by my hand. You understand?”

“Honey, Sejeong’s not that kind of girl, is she? From what I see, Seogwang’s son must be up to something. Sejeong, tell us. He wouldn’t have told you to say that for no reason, he must have explained.”

“I don’t know.”

Sejeong couldn’t bring herself to relay exactly what Yeo Un-rok had said. It was such a shocking statement that even she could hardly believe it. Surely, it must have been something he made up because he didn’t want a political marriage or didn’t want to marry her.

“Maybe… he just doesn’t want to marry me.”

“What nonsense, d*mn it. Everything’s already decided between the Yeo family and me! You know how much I helped cover up Seogwang Group’s tax evasion and all kinds of corruption again this time. Besides, that chairman’s younger brother is aiming for the chief prosecutor’s seat right after the general election. I gave him votes, and to avoid losing in a contest with me, I stepped aside again this time.”

Eun Seokhyeon, overwhelmed with resentment, vented without pausing for breath.