To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1
“Wasn’t it you who said the Hotel’s bread was delicious?”
Beom Gwon-yeol—the man who had just exposed the corruption of a Major Bank headquarters director and extracted his surrender in a mere twenty minutes.
Yet from his lips came a question far too mundane and utterly unexpected for someone of his stature.
Despite the abruptness, his secretary Hong Se-gi responded with practiced ease.
“Yes, Executive Director. Last time I brought some home for my wife, and she was quite fond of it—not overly sweet, but with a depth of flavor that was truly delightful.”
Kwon Yeol nodded slowly before speaking.
“You may return first. I have somewhere I need to stop by.”
The meeting had ended far earlier than scheduled, leaving me with unexpected free time.
Dismissing my secretaries, I made my way alone to the first-floor Bakery.
‘This should be something Yoon Hee-jo would like.’
Though she didn’t care for anything overly sweet, her palate favored soft, understated desserts—and this seemed perfectly suited to her taste.
As I unconsciously lifted my gaze while mentally cataloging the kinds of bread Hee-jo might enjoy.
My eyes froze in an instant, turning glacial.
“…What is this?”
At a window-side table in the Cafe along the path to the Bakery sat Hee-jo.
Wearing that characteristic smile of hers—polished and courteous, the kind she wore when reluctant but obligated to maintain propriety.
And across from her sat some contemptible fool, his gaze raking across her smiling face and exposed skin with unmistakable lust.
In that instant, a wave of revulsion consumed me, savagely gnawing at my rationality.
Something scalding surged up my throat, shooting through to the crown of my head.
…This is infuriating.
My long legs moved toward them without hesitation.
* * *
“Yoon Hee-jo?”
Hee-jo, who had been gazing out the window, turned at the sound of approaching footsteps.
“Hello, my name is Kim Shin-woo.”
“Ah… I’m Yoon Hee-jo.”
Hee-jo offered a courteous smile.
Kim Shin-woo’s eyes raked across her bright gaze and delicate frame with brazen intensity, his ears flushing red.
‘So she lost her family in childhood?’
Yet that fact mattered far less to Kim Shin-woo than the rumor that she shared an exceptionally close bond with the Beom Ho Group’s founding family.
Even the formidable and terrifying Chairman Beom Hun-young reportedly deferred to Yoon Hee-jo.
Not to mention his children and grandchildren.
In fact, just last month, Yoon Hee-jo had been invited to a family gathering commemorating the promotion of Beom Gwon-yeol, the chairman’s eldest grandson, to executive director.
The Beomho Faction had risen from the shadows to become the Beom Ho Group, and blood had flowed like rivers during that ascent.
He couldn’t fathom how this delicate, pure-hearted woman connected to such a fearsome family….
But what mattered was this: if he let Yoon Hee-jo slip away, his family would have no intersection with the Beom Ho Group for the rest of their lives.
‘I must marry her.’
And if possible, he wanted nothing more than to ascend to a hotel room with her as soon as possible.
Yoon Hee-jo was more beautiful than any woman he’d ever bedded, and her body was nothing short of exquisite.
Despite her delicate frame, her chest was quite full and voluptuous.
Her waist was narrow, her hips were wide, and her limbs were long.
Kim Shin-woo swallowed hard, crossed his legs, and forced a genteel smile.
“My mother praises you every day, Hee-jo. She says her quality of life has improved dramatically thanks to the knot-tying class lately.”
“It’s only because you follow along so well, Director Lee.”
Hee-jo responded with a composed smile.
Yet she couldn’t help the hollow feeling that washed over her.
Hee-jo conducted a “Traditional Knot-Tying Class” at the Beomho Cultural Foundation Art Center under the Beom Ho Group, catering to the owner’s family, executives’ spouses, and VIP clients.
Originally, the class had been taught by her mentor Han Young-sook, a holder of the National Intangible Cultural Property designation for knot-tying, but after Han Young-sook suffered an injury to her hands, Hee-jo took over the instruction.
Among the members—all of whom were accomplished in their own right—there was no dissatisfaction.
She was the sole disciple of the famously exacting master craftsman Han Young-sook, and a beautiful young woman whose identity was vouched for by the chairman of the Beom Ho Group himself.
Especially for those like Kim Shin-woo’s family, who barely had a foothold in both the business and political worlds, Hee-jo was an irresistibly attractive prize.
Today’s meeting was the convergence of interests: Kim Shin-woo’s family’s desire to ascend to a higher sphere, and Jin Seo-ryeong’s—Kwon Yeol’s mother’s—wish to remove Hee-jo from her son’s side.
Hee-jo understood this perfectly well.
That the elegant and affectionate Jin Seo-ryeong regarded her as a thorn in her side.
‘She must have figured it out.’
The feelings I harbor for Kwon Yeol.
I tried to hide them as best I could, but somewhere along the way, my guard slipped and my emotions leaked through.
They say poverty, coughing, and love cannot be hidden.
‘How true that is.’
And Hee-jo wanted to add one more thing to that list.
Base desire.
The kind this man before me harbors for me.
From the moment we met until now, there was no way to ignore what this man—who continued to rake his damp gaze across my face and body—was thinking.
It wasn’t just him.
Most men who looked at me did so with that same gaze.
They marveled at my connection to the Beom Ho Group’s family, and their eyes gleamed when they heard I’d lost my entire family in childhood.
As if they’d found an exquisite toy they could manipulate as they pleased.
‘No… it’s not entirely wrong, is it?’
Hee-jo laughed at herself.
Kim Shin-woo, mistaking her laughter for affection, raked his gaze across her chest and body with an even more sinister gleam in his eyes.
‘…Disgusting.’
Her head throbbed.
She wanted nothing more than to bolt from her seat, but she couldn’t.
Eight years ago.
After my brother died, I couldn’t betray the Beom Ho Group that had supported me.
More than anything, I had to reassure Jin Seo-ryeong, who fretted endlessly over whether her eldest son might make a wrong choice.
That way, I could stay by Kwon Yeol’s side a little longer.
I could at least hold onto my place as the younger sibling of his deceased friend.
“I’ll be here instead of Hee-jae.”
In this world, there were only the two of us.
My older brother, who had shielded me from our alcoholic father’s abuse.
My older brother, who combed my hair in place of our mother, who had fled from that father long ago.
After our father’s death, my older brother who worked himself to the bone to keep his young sister out of an orphanage.
Coming home at dawn and leaving for work at dawn again, yet always preparing breakfast for his sister.
No matter how difficult things became, he would always smile brightly whenever he saw me, as if nothing were wrong.
It was the day of Hee-jae’s funeral.
To Hee-jo, who was wailing, Kwon Yeol spoke.
“I’ll be your father, your mother, and your older brother.”
At that declaration, those standing behind them drew in sharp breaths.
It was a promise far too heavy for the heir of the Beom Ho Group to make to a girl who had become little more than an orphan.
Yet Kwon Yeol paid no mind, merely cradling Hee-jo’s wet cheeks in his large palms.
His touch, which forced her to meet his gaze, was gentle, yet simultaneously an inescapable restraint.
“I will become every world you have lost.”
From that day forward, Kwon Yeol kept the promise he had made at his friend’s funeral.
Whether it was matters requiring a guardian or attending to Hee-jo’s schedule and special occasions, it all fell to Kwon Yeol.
Of course, unlike Hee-jae, he was not one for warmth, so he never offered tender words or embarrassing encouragement.
Yet he stood silently by her side, and even as he threw himself into his work at the company and grew busy, he always presented her with an elegant dinner and a carefully chosen gift on her birthday.
Beom Gwon-yeol, known for his coldness and reluctance to let anyone close, cared for only one person in this manner—Hee-jo.
It was likely due to a dead friend’s request and a measure of guilt.
He was simply a man of strong responsibility.
There were even times when she thought that if he were to marry and gain independence of a sort, perhaps Kwon Yeol might finally be free.
‘Perhaps Kwon Yeol oppa is hoping for my marriage meetings too.’
Toward him, Hee-jo could neither abandon nor confess the unrequited love she had harbored for so long.
After observing the first anniversary of Hee-jae’s death.
From that day on, I hid my emotions and always tried to smile.
To appear happy.
Wherever I went, my older brother would be watching from heaven.
Perhaps then, someday I would truly become happy.
Perhaps then, someday… I might be able to laugh away this deepened heart.
“I would like to treat you to dinner. How does that sound?”
So I offered a smile to the man’s sinister gaze.
‘Perhaps it might not be so bad after all.’
Just as I was about to part my lips, forcing myself to accept this notion.
“Yoon Hee-jo.”
I froze.
Surely not…
“What are you doing here? Without your brother’s permission?”

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