I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 302

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 302

Taejin returned home around dawn. Despite it being much later than usual, the house was brightly lit.

Walking quietly to muffle his footsteps, Taejin discovered Huijae diligently making something.

“Madam?”

Startled by the voice calling her, Huijae looked up. She had paint smudged on her white cheeks.

“You’re home.”

“What are you so absorbed in?”

“It’s nothing much… I was making teaching materials for the night school. Even people who can’t remember giyeok, nieun, and digeut well can recall them right away in the next class when I show them with pictures like this… It seems to be effective.”

Huijae’s face lit up brightly as she spoke.

“Now everyone can write their own names. When they first receive work instruction sheets, they have to read them haltingly out loud, but after reading them a few times, they seem to get used to it quickly. Eventually, they’ll be able to read books too.”

Joy was evident in her hands as she pasted the cut-out papers onto a large board.

“Maybe they could even teach reading directly to people around them who can’t come to night school due to circumstances? The beginning is difficult, but once you get the hang of it, writing is really quite easy.”

Taejin’s gaze was complex as he stared at his smiling wife.

“…Does it make you that happy?”

Without even looking at Taejin who had quietly spoken, Huijae answered.

“It’s just… something I can do, so I do it.”

Taejin knelt down on one knee on the floor. Then he helped paste the paper Huijae was about to attach onto the board.

The position was next to Ssanggi Station, the written character was flower.

Taejin pressed the paper flower firmly with his fingertips a couple of times, as if to ensure it wouldn’t fall off.

“Come to think of it, it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Madam’s face like this.”

“You must be very busy with outside work?”

“…Yes. This and that.”

“Don’t overwork yourself.”

Looking into Huijae’s clear eyes, Taejin felt his heart crumbling.

Because she was a clean, honest, and upright wife. Because she was a pure white person who had nothing to do with any of these affairs.

“I’m almost finished. It’s late, so please go inside and sleep.”

“No. I still have business to attend to in the study.”

Leaving his wife behind, Taejin entered the study and slumped into his chair. The first thing that came into his view was a small picture frame.

Taejin gazed at the wedding photo placed in the most visible spot and muttered.

“…It seems I’ll have to tell Madam one lie…”

His voice carried a bitter tone.

Hanamura was arrested alone a few days later. The charges were tax evasion, illegal foreign currency outflow, wage arrears, distribution of diluted liquor, addition of harmful substances and poor hygiene management, collusion with local organized crime, destruction of evidence, bribery, and more.

However, among all these charges, the conscription of Koreans was not included.

As if it had never existed in the world from the beginning…

That particular item was completely erased.

Among Hanamura’s numerous crimes, only that one.

* * *

Even at the news of her father’s arrest, Huijae remained calm. She taught at the night school as usual and returned home. Taejin, who had been sitting on the sofa, hurriedly came out to greet Huijae.

“Madam.”

“…I was later today.”

Huijae spoke as usual to Taejin who took her bag, as if nothing had happened.

“Would you like to go see him?”

“…”

Even without explaining where, she could understand. It was a question asking if she wanted to visit Hanamura who was imprisoned.

Huijae thought for a moment and shook her head.

“It has nothing to do with me.”

It was a clear drawing of boundaries.

“I’m only sorry for showing you such a disgraceful sight. I’m worried there might be some harm to you.”

An indescribable emotion swept through one corner of Huijae’s heart.

Good. He was a person who should have been punished long ago. The crimes that man committed were countless. He was a bastard who would beat people like dogs when things didn’t go his way.

But she shouldn’t show these feelings. The world considers it sinful for a daughter to have such emotions toward her father.

It was beyond the scope of what Taejin, who grew up in a harmonious family, could understand.

Unable to speak honestly about anything, Huijae just stood there blankly. Taejin pulled his wife’s shoulders and embraced her in his arms.

“That’s right. There’s no need for you to see such harsh things…”

“…”

“You thought well. I’ll take care of everything.”

Taejin, holding Huijae in his arms, gently patted her back with affectionate hands. Conveying that she shouldn’t worry about anything.

Taejin devoured Hanamura’s assets. Starting with the distillery, all that money fell into his grasp. It was thanks to having made arrangements before everything could be recovered to the national treasury.

Because Taejin was different from Taeseok.

Because he was a big shot that corrupt politicians couldn’t touch.

Taejin’s father admired Western aristocratic families. He devoted his entire life to becoming like them.

The specialness that could draw a line from simple nouveau riche.

Culture, refinement, and connections.

All those things Taejin had held since birth protected him.

Taejin, who held the sugar import distribution rights, was not simply wealthy. He was a link to the United States and a valuable foreign currency provider.

No one could touch him carelessly.

“Right, that’s how a man should be. You should share what’s yours, but never let it be taken away.”

Taejin’s father poured a drink for Taejin with a benevolent smile.

“So, Taejin. How did you do it?”

“The distillery and several business sites were registered as Japanese corporations. There were separate puppet presidents, so a few were easy…”

Taejin respectfully received the liquor bottle from his father. Then he filled the glass with careful hands.

The strong alcohol flowed into the glass with a transparent light.

“When I brought up the Korea-US Food Aid Agreement, they couldn’t say anything. The post-war industrial normalization plan is important, after all.”

Taejin didn’t simply leave the massive distillery as just a business site. He made it into infrastructure necessary for national industrial reconstruction.

The supply route to the US forces in Korea that Hanamura had solidly built while paying bribes became poison.

“Still, some guys wouldn’t have just stayed quiet, right?”

“I created a puppet president and shell company that Hanamura had set up.”

Taejin used the exact route Hanamura had used to create slush funds from the distillery in reverse. He penetrated between opaque accounting and carried out manipulation.

The biggest portion of Hanamura’s business was Taejin’s sugar.

“I disguised Hanamura as a creditor and said we had to pay back unpaid imported sugar costs.”

Traditional methods take a long time for fermentation. To make large quantities of products in a short time, sugar was absolutely necessary.

Taejin, who supplied over 1 ton of high-grade sugar per month to Hanamura, could even create debts that didn’t exist.

“Yes, yes! You’re finally showing your manly side. Right, that’s how it should be! If you’re my son, that’s how you should be!”

Taejin’s father laughed happily with a flushed face from drinking. The harmonious father and son’s glasses clinked cheerfully.

“Think long-term in life! Build big schemes! That’s what makes a man!”

“Yes. I’ll pour another drink, Father.”

The bottle was already empty. Taejin took out a new bottle and poured alcohol according to proper etiquette.

Again and again, glasses filled with cloudy alcohol clinked together.

His father’s eyes, wearing a satisfied smile, gradually closed. Even when he tried to force them open with strength in his eyelids, it wasn’t easy.

“We’re going to bring more glory to our family… You understand, boy. We’re becoming the nobility… no, the royalty of the new era…”

Taejin’s father, his face flushed red, gradually lost control of his body.

“You learned very well. You did splendidly just as I taught you! Yes. Keep doing that from now on. With what I’ve passed down to you… With dignity, okay?”

“…Of course, Father.”

Taejin, supporting his father’s shoulders as he was about to collapse onto the table, spoke as if making a resolution.

“I definitely will.”

His gaze toward his father was subtle.

* * *

The next day. Taejin’s father frowned after taking a spoonful of the bean sprout soup the housekeeper had prepared.

“My body isn’t what it used to be… Haha. In the old days, this much would have been nothing. To think I’d collapse before you do, tsk.”

Taejin, who remained perfectly fine despite drinking together all night, smiled with raised corners of his mouth.

“That’s right. Our father has gotten old.”

“Hey, you rascal! When I say this, you should say ‘No, you’re still in good health’.”

The conversation between the affectionate father and son was heartwarming. Taejin, who had been eating bean sprout soup, suddenly spoke as if something had occurred to him.

“Father, how about getting a medical checkup?”

“What checkup? Forget it. I know my own body well.”

“Don’t say that. Originally, it’s best to discover anything before abnormal symptoms appear, right?”

Clack.

Taejin put down his spoon and spoke with a serious expression.

“You need to live a long, long time.”

At his son’s words, the father’s nose tingled with emotion as he smiled brightly.

“Alright. I’ll make time to go later.”

“You’ll forget if you do that. Shall we go to a nearby place now? There are plenty of hospital directors who would come running barefoot if you said you were coming. I’ll escort you there.”

“Look how impatient this kid has become! Haha. Are you that worried about this old man? I guess I really have gotten old.”

With his well-dressed father, Taejin got in the car. Taejin, gripping the steering wheel, smiled with his eyes through the rearview mirror.

“This reminds me of when I first started driving.”

The sleek black luxury sedan carried the two men forward smoothly.

“You said back then, Father. That driving is like life.”

“Yes. I did say that.”

“Don’t be too impatient, and don’t be scared either. Whatever happens, it goes according to the will of whoever holds the steering wheel…”

“You really do have a good memory, kid.”

The father looking out the window seemed happy.

It was truly a perfect life that everyone would envy, one that couldn’t be more successful.

“I’ll drive well and take good care of you. Close your eyes and rest for a moment.”

Following his son’s words, the man who closed his eyes enjoyed this moment. He felt like he had become the king of a kingdom.

The car carrying the two men entered the pristine white hospital.

A short while later, only one person was in the vehicle leaving the hospital.

Clang. The sound of a metal door closing could be heard faintly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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