The Chaebol Family’s Youngest Daughter Doesn’t Hide Her Acting Skills - Chapter 43
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 43
***
Chairman Ju Taeback, awakening from his long sleep, first called for his secretary.
How long had he been lying there? Had anything happened to Dongwoo Group while he was unconscious?
Watching his secretary rush over urgently, Ju Taeback assessed the aftermath of his absence.
Fortunately, he had prepared various contingency plans for such situations, so there shouldn’t have been any direct impact on the company.
“…So that’s what happened.”
Ju Taeback received a full report from his personal secretary about everything that had transpired.
From how Ju Sae-i, his true blood relative, had been denied entry to the hospital room, to how his son had simply ignored his niece despite witnessing her situation.
He didn’t particularly blame the security guards who had blocked Ju Sae-i.
If an outsider not on the approved entry list tried to enter the hospital room, they would stop them by any means necessary. That was the manual he himself had established.
Though Ju Taeback regarded Ju Sae-i, who had left Jaedamjae to live elsewhere, as his granddaughter, he hadn’t expected her to visit in such circumstances, so he hadn’t added her to the approved entry list.
After Ju Sae-i returned to Jaedamjae, he had been too busy handling the agency establishment and his duties as Dongwoo Group’s chairman to think about updating the list. It was his oversight.
However, when he heard that Ju Suduk, his son, had simply passed by his niece who had been chased away by security, his head throbbed.
Something was strange.
Though he was his son, Ju Suduk was greedy. He was someone who clearly distinguished between subordinates he could order around and superiors he needed to serve.
Still, he had been reassured by his son’s apparent willingness to look after his niece who didn’t live at Jaedamjae, so what was this about?
Ju Taeback first blocked access to the hospital room and concealed the fact that he had awakened. He had his secretary investigate Ju Suduk’s actions regarding Ju Sae-i.
He had certainly tried to send gifts to Ju Sae-i’s house in Gyeonggi-do every holiday and Christmas. Even though they lived apart, even though his granddaughter was afraid of him, family was still family.
Each time, Ju Suduk would take the gifts, saying he would deliver them to his niece personally.
However, after the secretary’s investigation, he discovered that those gifts he thought had been properly delivered to his granddaughter had actually ended up with his son and his family.
The embezzlement had been so blatant that it took less than two hours to uncover. Ju Taeback reproached himself for not knowing about this until now.
It had been his complacent mistake.
Humans could be healthy yesterday but suddenly leave this world today. He was at an age where dying at any moment wouldn’t be strange.
What if he were to die?
His son Ju Suduk would live just fine. He would call back his grandson who had been sent overseas and inherit Dongwoo.
His youngest daughter Joo Jeong-hui would grieve but would be able to survive. She had the position and power to protect herself.
However, Ju Sae-i, the daughter of his deceased eldest daughter…
If he died, his granddaughter would easily crumble. Having left Jaedamjae early, she had no decent connections, wealth, power, or anything else.
‘I need to take action.’
Another day like this might come when he couldn’t protect his granddaughter. To prepare for that, Ju Taeback made his decision.
“Prepare a contract.”
The contract he had postponed, planning to recruit her once Ju Sae-i’s first work was released. Wave Actors, which Ju Taeback and his trusted associates had prepared.
Though it was earlier recruitment than planned, Ju Taeback proceeded to prepare a contract for Ju Sae-i.
If she just signed it, if he could make her an actress under Wave Actors…
Even if he suddenly died one day, this contract could serve as a protective shield for his granddaughter.
Though he had awakened some time ago, it took quite a while to assess the situation and review the contract.
Finally, a clean contract came into his hands.
After thoroughly examining the contract, Ju Taeback smiled with satisfaction.
For a businessman, it was a thoroughly uncharacteristic contract that focused on protecting his granddaughter rather than profit.
“I should meet with Sae-i.”
Having summoned his granddaughter through his secretary, he put down the documents and looked out the window.
Though he hadn’t waited very long, he could see his granddaughter running toward the hospital entrance in the distance. The sight suddenly filled his heart with emotion.
He heard urgent footsteps, and soon the hospital room door opened. And then.
“…Grandfather!”
With tear-soaked eyes, his granddaughter rushed toward Ju Taeback. Ju Taeback’s eyes widened as he caught Sae-i in his arms.
Grandfather.
The child who had consistently called him ‘Chairman’ even after they reunited… had she just called me grandfather?
“Finally.”
The moment he realized this fact, Ju Taeback felt as if his breath had stopped. He had never been happier.
“You’re calling me grandfather, at last…”
Patting the back of the breathless child, Ju Taeback secretly swallowed his tears.
***
Seeing Grandfather sitting upright in the hospital room, my vision blurred.
The worry that I might lose Grandfather earlier than in my previous life melted away, and tears flowed naturally.
That’s why it happened. Why I unconsciously called Grandfather ‘Grandfather.’
In my previous life, because we had lived apart continuously, when I thought of Ju Taeback, the image of Chairman Ju Taeback of Dongwoo Group was stronger than that of my grandfather.
After returning to the past, though I was grateful to Grandfather who was favorable toward me… it felt awkward to say the word ‘grandfather’ out loud.
So I had been calling him Chairman all along.
You’re calling me grandfather, at last.
Grandfather had been conscious of me calling him Chairman too. What feelings had Grandfather been waiting with for the day I would call him Grandfather like before?
My heart felt heavy. The trembling hand stroking my back made it even more so.
I cried in his embrace like that for a long time.
When I pulled away and caught my breath, Grandfather handed me a folder of documents he had set aside. I wiped my eyes and checked the documents.
“This is…”
As I spoke, unable to believe what I was reading, Grandfather simply nodded. As if to say it was exactly as I had read.
It was a very strange contract.
No matter how much Grandfather cherished his children, he was someone who valued profit, yet this seemed to be written thoroughly for my benefit…
“It’s a contract. From now on, those clauses will protect you, even without me.”
When I first tried to make Grandfather my ally, I had been prepared to let him use me.
I had planned to join Wave Actors and consistently prove my talent and show my usefulness to survive.
But that wasn’t it. Now Grandfather was trying to have Wave Actors protect me.
The plan had gone awry. Grandfather’s caring heart for me was becoming the key that would twist the future.
Was there any need to delay further? I was about to sign immediately. It was Grandfather who stopped me.
“There’s something we need to address before the contract.”
He spoke in a low, firm tone. It was a voice tinged with guilt somewhere.
“…I’m sorry.”
I doubted my ears. Why apologize to me? What had he done wrong? When he had changed this much for my sake…
“I’ve been sending gifts through your uncle all this time. But none of them reached you. I wasted years like that.”
“…”
“I only found out now. This foolish grandfather only realized it now.”
I couldn’t say anything.
This was the first I’d heard that Grandfather had been sending me gifts all along.
If what Grandfather said was true, Uncle must have intercepted them. In my previous life, I lived without knowing this until I died.
“It’s the fault of a father who raised his child wrong. I should have paid attention…”
“…”
“I’ll step in, so that bastard Suduk won’t be able to touch you anymore. He shouldn’t.”
My body froze.
Would Uncle really not bother me anymore?
Uncle was someone who would do that and more. You could tell just from how he had driven a wedge between me and Grandfather until death.
If I told him now that Uncle was the one who had ordered my death in my previous life, would he believe me?
The truth I couldn’t bring myself to speak lingered on the tip of my tongue. I just looked at Grandfather quietly and slowly nodded.
Right now, all I could do was rely on this contract.
Grandfather took out a pen and placed it in my hand. Though my hand trembled, I carefully wrote my name on the document.
It was the moment I became Wave Actors’ first actress.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————