To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 68

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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 68
Yet contrary to expectations, Kwon Yeol did not immediately answer Chairman Beom’s summons.
As a result, it was Chairman Beom himself whose insides burned with impatience.
“He said he couldn’t come again? Where on earth is he!”
“He’s in the Warehouse, sir.”
“What in blazes is he doing there! This won’t do—I’ll have to go myself.”
Chairman Beom climbed into the heavy sedan that Seok Ki-young had summoned, and soon arrived at the Warehouse where Kwon Yeol was.
“Welcome, Chairman!”
“Open the door.”
Those guarding the entrance flinched at Chairman Beom’s sudden appearance and bowed deeply.
“What brings you here, sir?”
Kwon Yeol’s face, though composed at the sight of me, had grown somewhat gaunt, yet his cold, piercing gaze remained unchanged.
“Since you’ve been ignoring this old man’s requests, I had no choice but to come myself. Did you not hear what I said?”
“I heard you.”
“About telling me that girl’s location?”
Kwon Yeol affirmed with silence.
“Then why aren’t you coming?”
Chairman Beom pressed his cane against the floor as if to provoke.
“Have you forgotten about that girl already?”
Yet even at those words, Kwon Yeol showed no agitation, merely turning his gaze back to the laptop screen to observe something intently.
“That can’t be. I know better than anyone how obsessive you are about her.”
Still, Kwon Yeol gave no response.
Chairman Beom finally realized it was time for him to yield ground.
“…Have at least three children.”
It was a condition offered after long forbearance.
“That way, there won’t be trouble over succession. Yes, with just one, who knows what kind of heir might emerge—better to have several. Surely one of them will inherit the Beom bloodline strongly.”
“….”
“Complete the Project you’re running simultaneously, finish the elevation to Holding Company status, and double the profits. Then I’ll cover up any scandal and commotion related to that girl—even her humble background.”
Yet despite these extraordinary conditions, Kwon Yeol remained unmoved.
Considering Hee-jo’s background, asking him to formally acknowledge her as family and even have children with her was, for Chairman Beom, a decision that cut into his own flesh.
For an old man who prized the purity of his lineage, there could be no greater concession.
And yet the eldest grandson showed no reaction whatsoever.
“Beom Gwon-yeol, are you now defying this old man—!”
“You still haven’t realized it, it seems.”
“What?”
“That such conditions are pointless.”
Kwon Yeol picked up the tablet he’d left beside the laptop and handed it to Chairman Beom without expression.
“What is this? Explain.”
As Chairman Beom furrowed his brow and demanded an answer from Kwon Yeol, Seok Ki-young, standing behind the Chairman and seeing the screen first, went deathly pale.
“Th-that’s…!”
What Kwon Yeol presented was the lifeblood of Beom Ho Group.
A ledger of secrets belonging to key figures in politics and finance that Chairman Beom had been keeping in strictest confidentiality. A perfectly hacked copy, with its digital security network completely breached, was already distributed across servers worldwide.
On the right split screen, a timer marked with red numbers ticked away with meticulous precision.
“If I press just one key, the empire Grandfather built over a lifetime will crumble in less than a minute. The moment those ledgers—his most powerful weapon—are leaked in real time, they’ll cease to function as a weapon and become a blade that pierces Beom Ho instead.”
“You… you’d destroy the entire group over one woman’s madness?”
Chairman Beom’s hand gripping his cane trembled violently.
Kwon Yeol replied to his grandfather with a tone devoid of emotion, yet cutting to the bone with its coldness.
“I heard that the last person Hee-jo met before leaving was Grandfather.”
“So you’re saying I drove that girl away?”
“When rumors spread about Han Teacher’s grandson and her, you could have easily stopped it. That you didn’t was because you had my divorce in mind.”
Kwon Yeol’s gaze deepened with intensity.
“You made that girl leave my side of her own volition.”
“Of course it’s the right judgment to think first of what benefits you and Beom Ho.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
At Kwon Yeol’s response, Chairman Beom’s brow furrowed.
“I can’t fathom what you’re trying to say. Stop dancing around it and get to the point.”
“Grandfather simply did your best. So I too intend to do mine.”
In Kwon Yeol’s eyes, there remained neither the duty of an heir nor deference toward his grandfather.
“Just as you spared no means or method to excise from my life the girl who was my everything, I too will throw every card I possess to bring down this empire that is your everything. That’s only fair, isn’t it.”
“F-fair?”
“Because the scales must balance by returning an equal weight for what was lost.”
Kwon Yeol was like blue flame.
Fury at its zenith, burning instead with a chilling, composed intensity.
Chairman Beom felt a suffocating pressure meeting those blazing eyes.
Even as he raged at the sight of the heir he had spent a lifetime cultivating turning a blade against him—
simultaneously, Chairman Beom felt a strange thrill and sense of defeat at his grandson’s growth, which had completely overwhelmed him.
Kwon Yeol, who carried his blood most deeply, was now moving to topple even the creator who had built his world.
All for the singular goal of keeping one woman by his side.
“If you merely wanted to find her location, you would have used other means long ago. There must be another reason you’re blackmailing me with the very fate of Beom Ho Group at stake.”
Chairman Beom exhaled a shallow sigh.
The eldest grandson was not causing this upheaval simply to discover Hee-jo’s whereabouts.
“When that girl returns, you want me to treat her as true family then. Since forcing her back would only make her flee again, you’re demanding I give you justification to go and bring her yourself.”
“….”
“You want to give her power so absolute that she need not fear my gaze or your mother’s, power that no one would dare challenge—so she’ll never have the courage to run again.”
Watching Kwon Yeol’s unwavering form, Chairman Beom swallowed a hollow laugh.
“Over one woman, you’ve brought this old man to his knees.”
As if intimidated by his grandson’s spirit, Chairman Beom shook his head, then suddenly spoke.
“What if that girl refuses to return? What if she rejects you to the very end—what will you do then?”
For the first time, a subtle tremor crossed Kwon Yeol’s steadfast eyes.
But it was brief; he opened his mouth as if it were obvious.
“I’ll keep it empty.”
“…What did you say?”
“No one else can sit beside me. Only Hee-jo. If she won’t come, then I’ll leave it empty.”
Until death.
Chairman Beom found himself speechless at this declaration—that he would spend his entire life foolishly devoted to a single woman, living alone in solitude.
He had hoped, at least, that this trait would not be inherited.
Chairman Beom thought of his late wife.
‘Young-sook. It seems this fool is indeed following in my footsteps.’
That fierce, uncompromising gaze—willing to cast aside an empire for a single woman.
It was chillingly identical to his younger self, when he would have surrendered everything he possessed to protect his wife.
In that same moment, Chairman Beom understood something instinctively.
His era was fading, and a new sun was rising.
* * *
A small island where the waters of Namhae rippled gently.
Inside the weathered Branch School Building where the sea breeze drifted in, a traditional knot-making class was in full swing.
“Teacher, is it like this?”
“Yes, you’re doing wonderfully.”
“Teacher, look at mine too. My fingers are so thick, I’m having trouble with it.”
“Your hands are so skilled though. How is everyone doing so well from the very start?”
At Hee-jo’s warm praise, wrinkled faces bloomed with bright smiles.
“Oh, my husband caught some octopus today. Should we bring some to your place? It’s delicious when boiled.”
“Ah…”
“Never mind, never mind! Seoul girls can’t eat such things anyway. We’ll enjoy it ourselves, and when we find something that suits your palate, we’ll bring it then.”
The grandmother sitting next to her, who had vaguely sensed that Hee-jo was pregnant, nudged the octopus-obsessed grandmother and gave a meaningful look.
Understanding their concern about possible morning sickness, Hee-jo bowed her head slightly in gratitude.
‘I should gift them some silk thread next time.’
After class ended, she made her way to the lodging house not far from the school.
Beyond the modest single-story house with its red roof, the blue sea stretched out in full view.
As she passed the low stone wall and entered the yard, Han Young-sook, who had been drying medicinal herbs on the wooden porch, welcomed her.
“Is class finished?”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“You worked hard again today. At this rate, you deserve to take my master craftsman title.”
Han Young-sook smiled brightly and tended to the knot cords and medicinal herbs spread across the porch.
“I’ve gotten so absorbed in drying these lately that I’ve left all the teaching to you. We didn’t have anything like this back in my hometown. I’m having such fun. Now I should probably call you Teacher Hee-jo instead.”
At Han Young-sook’s cheerful teasing, Hee-jo closed her eyes and laughed silently.
“Right, we should eat lunch.”
“I’ll prepare it, Teacher.”
“No, no. I’ve already dumped all the teaching on you—I need to do at least this much to feel right about it.”
Han Young-sook quickly prepared a meal with rough but meticulous care.
Hee-jo began eating as she habitually cradled her lower abdomen protectively with one hand.
Fortunately, the morning sickness wasn’t severe.
As Hee-jo sipped warm broth and picked at simple vegetable side dishes, her thoughts drifted.
‘Today will pass peacefully too, I think.’
The afternoon was crystalline and achingly serene.
Yet Hee-jo did not know.
That this tranquil moment was the calm before the storm.

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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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