The Baby Seizes Fortune - Chapter 32

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

Episode 32

 

“….”

 

With a creaking sound, the door opened. The child who walked in with heavy steps was Seungcheol’s only son, Gi Min-woo.

 

Min-woo, who seemed to have just finished tutoring, was holding a thick notebook in his hand.

 

After being expelled from Edinburgh Kindergarten, he had started attending another English preschool nearby.

 

Even at this place, there had been two or three calls about problematic behavior, but since the new preschool didn’t have as many distinguished parents as Edinburgh, it felt easier to attend than before.

 

“Ah, Father, today’s homework.”

 

When Min-woo held out the notebook with a tense expression, Seungcheol received it with cold eyes devoid of any affection and flipped through it page by page.

 

“Your handwriting is crooked.”

 

“…I’m sorry.”

 

Though Min-woo was like a tyrant among his peers, he couldn’t even properly make eye contact with his father.

 

“You even got the spelling wrong.”

 

“….”

 

“Rewrite this part twenty times.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Min-woo took the notebook back without complaint.

 

Seungcheol stood up from his seat and put on the suit jacket that had been hanging behind his chair as he spoke.

 

“Get out.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

The drooping child’s back looked particularly small.

 

* * *

 

“Cut, okay!”

 

A satisfied smile appeared on the PD’s face.

 

“That was very good.”

 

“Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your hard work.”

 

Hospital lobby set. Junho bowed his head in greeting to the other actors and staff.

 

The PD, who had been patting Junho’s shoulder encouragingly, suddenly hardened his expression and said.

 

“Um, Junho. I’d like to have a word with you for a moment….”

 

A little later, the PD who had seated Junho in a quiet space opened his mouth with difficulty.

 

“You know, when I judge people, I always judge based on what I see and experience myself rather than what I hear. And Junho….”

 

The PD’s eyes looking at Junho were filled with conviction.

 

“You’re a truly genuine person. I don’t know why someone like this is only now getting recognition, you’re really a good person.”

 

“Thank you for thinking well of me.”

 

Junho, with a smile on his lips, bowed his head.

 

“Thank you for what, but….”

 

The PD who was continuing his words slightly furrowed his brow.

 

“Sigh… So, I got a call from the director. After the article about Junho came out in the weekly entertainment news.”

 

At this, Junho’s eyes darkened.

 

“Having an unmarried father actor appear on the show, isn’t it still a bit much for our national sentiment. Well, it’s not like he got married and had a child, so they’re making an issue of it. That frustrating old man.”

 

“…Yes….”

 

Though he was speaking indirectly, it was tantamount to recommending his departure from the show.

 

“So I….”

 

Junho’s hands clenched tightly.

 

Agency President Hoyeong had said he should be prepared for departure from the work he was currently appearing in.

 

If such pressure came from above, the PD would have no choice either.

 

“…I said absolutely not.”

 

But at the PD’s following words, Junho’s eyes widened greatly.

 

“I said I’d rather end our successful sitcom early than make Junho leave!”

 

Junho’s pupils shook violently.

 

“I happened to be drinking with our Actor Yeong-il at the time. Actor Yeong-il took the phone and started shooting at the director.”

 

“…PD…sir….”

 

“There are so many bastards in this world who get women pregnant and run away, right? Those are the ones who should be socially buried… Is it right to look at a father who takes responsibility and raises his child that way! He was so angry, raising his voice… I’d never seen Actor Yeong-il like that before.”

 

“….”

 

Junho stared blankly at the PD, replaying what he had heard.

 

So… the higher-ups recommended his departure, but the PD and senior Yeong-il firmly blocked it?

 

“So even if you hear anything from people around you, absolutely don’t be shaken.”

 

The PD reached out and patted Junho’s shoulder again as he spoke.

 

“That’s what I called you to say.”

 

“….”

 

“Hey, why are you crying? A man should only cry three times in his life….”

 

“Sniff….”

 

As if relieved of his worries, Junho’s shoulders trembled finely as he was overcome with emotion.

 

* * *

 

“Dong-ho from Typhoon Internal Medicine. Actor Gu Jun-ho. He’s an unmarried father.”

 

“Where’s the child’s mother then?”

 

“My goodness, abandoning the woman and only raising the child?”

 

“An actor is someone who lives off their image, so that person is finished now.”

 

“I saw in the article that he was rude to his seniors too, so would someone like that raise a child well?”

 

Inside the neighborhood real estate office, well-dressed ladies who had gathered with interest in redevelopment were adding their comments about Junho’s unmarried father issue that had become a hot topic recently.

 

Chaea’s landlady, who had been looking at a map posted in a corner of the real estate office, narrowed her eyes and glared at them.

 

Then she put her hands on her hips and walked over to stand in front of them.

 

“Who are you people?”

 

“It’s unpleasant to listen to. How do you ladies know whether Gu Jun-ho raises his child well or not to be running your mouths?”

 

“…What?”

 

The women exchanged glances as if asking who this person was.

 

The real estate office owner was startled and tried to stop the landlady, but she continued speaking without caring.

 

“I know Gu Jun-ho very well. You don’t know how sincere and thoughtful that young man is. Rude? That Im Su-yeon or whatever, that woman spouting strange lies is a hundred times ruder.”

 

“What exactly are you, lady?”

 

“Gu Jun-ho is a young man who rents a room from us! He’s very upright, and he raises his child wonderfully… The child is so smart and pretty! Stop talking nonsense!”

 

“My goodness, ma’am, please stop.”

 

While the real estate office owner tried to stop her, worried the fight might escalate, the women hurriedly left the real estate office.

 

“No, let me go. When they’re talking like that without knowing anything, just believing articles, I have to clear up the misunderstanding!”

 

“My goodness, ma’am, would it be cleared up just because you say so?”

 

“Ugh, how frustrating.”

 

The landlady hit her chest a couple of times as if frustrated.

 

At that moment, the real estate office door opened again.

 

“Landlady!”

 

The child who opened the door and peeked her head out was none other than Chaea.

 

“Oh, oh. Chaea.”

 

The landlady lowered her raised eyebrows, and the real estate office owner finally let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Minsu is looking for you!”

 

* * *

 

Watching the landlady’s back as she ran home, I let out a small sigh.

 

I had heard all the commotion from a distance earlier.

 

In the late 1990s, the perception of unmarried mothers and fathers was different from the time I had lived through.

 

Of course, there was a kind of stigma even in the era before my possession, but it wasn’t as severe as now.

 

The normal family of this era consisted only of married couples and their children, and all other forms were ‘broken families.’

 

Being revealed as an unmarried mother or father was tantamount to a career death sentence, especially for celebrities.

 

Tomorrow evening, Junho was scheduled to appear on 【Truth Talk Box】.

 

It was a format where celebrities opened up about themselves on a live broadcast program, and what Junho would say was obvious.

 

He truly cherishes the child. Please take good care of her.

 

‘Junho won’t open his mouth about me.’

 

Junho would never speak the truth that I’m not his biological child.

 

‘Because he’s afraid I might get hurt.’

 

As I mentioned earlier, the normal family in this era consists of parents and children, but there’s a difference between a child living with their biological father in a broken home and an orphaned child dumped on a mother’s acquaintance who isn’t even their real father.

 

The looks from others that I might feel as I grow up, and the treatment too.

 

“Father is strong…”

 

That’s why he’s the kind of person who would try to carry everything alone on those broad, scarred shoulders.

 

‘I can’t let that happen.’

 

Junho fears in advance the things that might hurt me, but I’m not afraid of such looks.

 

‘I won’t be intimidated by things that aren’t my fault. There’s only one thing I fear.’

 

I was afraid of seeing Junho break his barely bloomed dream while trying to embrace a parentless child with warm goodwill.

 

If the truth isn’t revealed, there’s a high probability that the work he’s currently filming will end up being Junho’s last.

 

Junho’s face when he was happy about passing the audition is still vivid in my memory,

 

So today, something interesting is going to happen.

 

Woof, Noah came carrying an envelope in his mouth.

 

[Mail has arrived.]

 

“Let me check it.”

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