To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 53

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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 53
Pregnant. She was pregnant.
The word burrowed relentlessly into Hee-jo’s consciousness.
It couldn’t be. It simply couldn’t be.
Just two months ago, under Chairman Beom’s watchful eye, I’d received confirmation that I wasn’t pregnant.
“….”
But since that night, the countless nights I’d spent with Kwon Yeol flickered through my mind like a carousel of memories.
Nearly every evening, we’d tangled together with an intensity that was almost feverish—heat and warmth intertwined.
“Do whatever you want with me. Even if you break me, even if you destroy me, I don’t care… Just hold me tighter.”
Now that I thought about it, my period hadn’t come in quite some time.
Since it had always been irregular, I hadn’t given it much thought.
Surely not….
‘Could it have been that night?’
That time, not long ago, when we’d been together without protection.
The thought that it absolutely couldn’t be and the possibility that it might be collided violently in my mind.
If I really were carrying his child….
My heart began racing wildly.
With trembling hands, I gripped the edge of the counter and barely managed to speak.
“…A single pregnancy test isn’t accurate, is it?”
“That’s right. Different tests can have different sensitivities, and there’s always the possibility of a defective one. Usually people buy two or three different brands to cross-check. Would you like me to get some for you?”
Hee-jo, who had been hesitating, nodded.
* * *
“Still nothing today?”
At Kim Jung-yeon’s sharp voice, the secretary bowed her head deeply.
“…I apologize, Executive Director.”
“What kind of salary are you drawing just sitting in that position, and you bring me reports like this!”
Thwack—!
The tissue box Jung-yeon irritably hurled struck the secretary’s head and clattered to the floor.
As the tissues scattered weakly, so too did Jung-yeon’s patience, laying bare on the ground.
“I said money isn’t an issue. Spend whatever you need—just make her show up!”
“Yes, but… no matter how much I persuade her, she keeps saying she can’t hurt her daughter again. She says she has no right to play the mother now….”
Ha, what sanctimonious nonsense!
Kim Jung-yeon let out a derisive laugh.
If she’d been such a devoted mother, she wouldn’t have abandoned her alcoholic husband and young children to a hellish abyss and fled alone.
“Yoon Hee-jo takes after her mother perfectly. That same talent for enchanting people, that same hollow pretense.”
Kim Jung-yeon would stop at nothing to obtain the perfect weapon to destroy Hee-jo.
She’d dug through the relatives of Yoon Hee-jo’s deceased father, spent vast sums from her own fortune on information brokers, and pursued the trail relentlessly until she finally uncovered Ha Ji-young, Hee-jo’s biological mother.
Because of this obsessive madness, she’d neglected her actual duties for months, and sharp criticism of her had poured forth throughout the company.
But Kim Jung-yeon didn’t care.
Her mind held only one thought: to utterly destroy Yoon Hee-jo.
According to the investigation, Ha Ji-young had crossed over to America and built a new family, but returned to Korea a few years ago and now lived as the wife of a small business owner.
However, when her husband’s business recently went bankrupt, their financial situation had deteriorated rapidly.
Despite being desperately short of money, the woman had been stubbornly refusing Kim Jung-yeon’s outstretched hand of salvation for several months now.
‘I need to drive her out as soon as possible.’
As Kim Jung-yeon gnawed at her nails in anxiety, a conversation she’d had with Father a few days ago flashed through her mind.
Father had returned from lunch with Chairman Beom Hun-young, and his expression was darker than usual.
“The Chairman seems quite positive about your remarriage with Beom Executive Director.”
“Really? Is that true?”
“However, there’s a condition. He said that you must prove you can properly support the household by creating your own position rather than simply stepping into one. That cunning old man.”
It meant that an incompetent daughter-in-law who couldn’t excavate a stuck stone with her own hands was unnecessary—she needed to prove her capabilities.
At those words, Kim Jung-yeon’s anxiety reached its peak.
‘Should I reveal it now?’
Not long after Yoon Hee-jo’s inauguration ceremony ended, a secretive phone call came through.
It was a proposal to sell astonishing information.
The demand for hundreds of millions was laughable, but the content of the information was worth every penny.
It was intelligence that Yoon Hee-jo might be pregnant.
“According to a journalist investigating Beom Ho Group, the child might not be Beom Gwon-yeol Executive Director’s, but rather the result of a chance encounter with Han Young-sook’s grandson. Apparently they had a secret meeting not long ago.”
Though she wanted to expose it immediately, Kim Jung-yeon squeezed every ounce of patience she possessed and waited for the right moment.
If she acted rashly, Kwon Yeol might shield her as his own blood.
Moreover, if it turned out to be false information, not only she but the entire household would be in danger.
Chairman Beom Hun-young was a man who never forgave anyone who touched his bloodline.
That was precisely why she had become obsessed with finding Yoon Hee-jo’s biological mother.
To expose Yoon Hee-jo’s immoral conduct through her mother’s testimony and turn her pregnancy into evidence of sordid infidelity.
That was the scenario Kim Jung-yeon had devised—the most devastating way to eliminate Yoon Hee-jo.
Even if the child truly was Kwon Yeol’s, it didn’t matter.
During that hellish waiting period until the genetic test results came back, she would brand Yoon Hee-jo as ‘an immoral woman who played with Han Young-sook’s grandson’ and drag her down to the depths.
Chairman Beom valued family honor above all else.
No matter how obsessed Kwon Yeol was with Hee-jo, Chairman Beom would never continue to accept a woman the entire world pointed fingers at as family.
In fact, if she were pregnant, that would be even better.
The weight of her fall would be that much heavier.
Given Chairman Beom’s cruel nature, he might even erase the child from existence.
There was no way that ruthless old man would tolerate an unsuitable woman carrying the eldest son’s child and tarnishing the family’s honor.
There was even a well-known secret related to this.
Decades ago, a villa employee who had borne Chairman Beom Hun-young’s illegitimate child died instantly in a mysterious traffic accident on a rainy national highway.
Everyone knew that Chairman Beom’s influence had worked behind the scenes to close it as a simple accident.
“Yes, I should spread it gradually. That way, the dramatic effect… wait.”
Kim Jung-yeon’s eyes gleamed.
‘Does it really have to be that woman?’
What Chairman Beom Hun-young wanted from her was to prove her capabilities.
The truth didn’t matter.
No, rather, if I can present a fake as real and suppress the other party with it, I might evaluate it even more highly.
It’s the kind of acumen that the mistress and executive of Beom Ho Group should possess.
“Dig into everyone around Ha Ji-young. There’s definitely a card worth using. Friends, acquaintances, everyone. Find someone close enough that she’d bare her soul about her daughter.”
And not long after.
Kim Jung-yeon became convinced that heaven itself was on her side.
“Apparently, there’s one hometown sister that Ha Ji-young has opened her heart to since returning to Korea. She’s drowning in gambling debts and has even resorted to loan sharks. Despite her own difficult circumstances, Ha Ji-young remembers their old bond and frequently sends her living expenses, taking special care of her.”
“She sends her living expenses? How touching. And here she abandoned her own children.”
Kim Jung-yeon sank deep into her chair’s backrest, her manicured nails tapping rhythmically against the armrest.
“Bring that woman to me. Tell her I’ll pay off her loan shark debts and let her reign like a queen in the gambling dens for the rest of her life.”
* * *
Two lines.
Unable to believe the reality before me, I used up all the remaining test kits over several days.
The result was—
‘I’m pregnant….’
I gently cupped my still-flat lower abdomen with my palm.
There’s a child here.
Between Kwon Yeol and me… a baby has come into being….
I drew a deep breath.
My heart seemed to race wildly, yet at the same time felt completely still.
I would need to get a detailed examination at the hospital to be certain, but somehow I knew instinctively.
This small, quiet tremor was no illusion.
I forcibly pushed away the image of Kwon Yeol that immediately came to mind, my trembling hands reaching for my phone.
-Hello? My goodness, I was just about to call you, Hee-jo. How strange.
I steadied my parched throat and barely managed to respond.
The warm, gentle voice of my teacher—so familiar and comforting—made my heart swell with emotion.
“…Is that so?”
-Yes, I just woke up from a brief nap and had the loveliest dream.
Han Young-sook chuckled softly as she spoke.
-A white, lovely bird suddenly spread its great wings and flew toward me, and it reminded me of you when you were little. Do you remember playing with knots in both your hands, fluttering them like wings?
“Yes, I remember. You laughed so hard at me that you fell out of your chair.”
-That’s right. Even now, it seems foolish. Anyway, that bird was so beautiful, and I found myself yearning for our Hee-jo so deeply. I thought it might be a good omen.
My heart trembled violently.
I gripped my chest tightly, my voice quavering as I spoke.
“Master, would it be alright if I came to the Transmission Hall now? There’s something I need to tell you.”

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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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