“Father! Are you really going to proceed with this?”
“Just wait. It’s noisy inside.”
Even their father, who had been the only one to accept this marriage positively, seemed greatly shocked. He was just keeping silent without being able to refute the backlash from the three older siblings surrounding the living room.
His father’s firm resolve had cracked. Seeing the gap, the siblings began to run even wilder.
“Even if Young brought home something like that from somewhere as someone he truly loves, we’d roll up our sleeves to stop it, but this really isn’t it!”
“Right! Honestly, isn’t a political marriage about both sides gaining? But this is only their gain and our loss!”
“No matter how much I think about it, it’s something we can’t do to Young!”
Why didn’t they know that the more they made a fuss saying they cared for him, the more he wanted to leave this house somehow? Young watched the situation with a slightly regretful heart.
“No, no. I really can’t watch this with my two eyes wide open.”
And when his eldest hyung rose from his seat as if he would use any means, Young couldn’t hold back any longer and raised his voice.
“Ah, enough!”
At the irritably shouted sound, the noisy living room quickly quieted down. Young roughly swept his hair back while looking around at the gazes focused on him.
“I said I’d do it! I said I’m okay with it. But why are you making this fuss every time over something that’s already settled? I’m doing it, doing it! Should I say it a hundred times? I’m doing it! I’m going to do this marriage!”
Up until now, shouting this much had settled most situations. But this time, somehow, it didn’t work at all.
“Lee Young, stay still. Is marriage a joke? Do you just do it because you want to?”
His noona, who would give even her heart for the youngest, flashed her father’s chilling eyes. Of course, that didn’t mean he was flustered. Young immediately retorted.
“Am I insisting on this marriage because I love Joo Kyung-heon to death? No. Anyway, this is all a contract and…”
“Right, because it’s a contract! That’s the problem. Why make an unfair contract!”
It was a truly bewildering obstacle for Young, who had grown up being indulged. Most things were permitted if he stubbornly insisted a couple of times, and things quickly went his way if he just closed his eyes and acted cute once. But his noona, who had been most lenient with him, was being resolute.
Young closed his mouth for a moment and scanned the other family members. His hyungs weren’t saying anything different but were firmly exuding an energy of supporting their noona, and their father had a conflicted complexion.
This was definitely an unusual flow. Having grown up doing whatever he wanted and having whatever he wanted since childhood, to face such fierce opposition at this timing? At this rate, Lee Young’s first failure in life might really collapse this golden opportunity.
He couldn’t let that happen. Because Young desperately wanted this marriage more than anyone.
It was as he had told Kyung-heon. After his mother passed away, the overprotection became severe and he couldn’t comfortably make even one friend.
Still, that was the good old days. After the guy he had liked enough to give his liver and gall bladder and even decide to elope turned out to be trash, it became difficult to enjoy any freedom worthy of the name. It was safe to say he was permanently deprived of the qualification to declare he would form an independent household on his own.
In the midst of that, Joomyeong’s proposal was like a lifeline to become independent from this suffocating household. They had officially opened the door to marriage, so Young just needed to obediently grab the rope and enter as a member of Joomyeong Group.
Of course, just because the marriage was established like that didn’t mean his family’s extreme interest would be completely cut off at once. Still, it was judged that it would be much better than now anyway. At least he could escape the curfew.
Moreover, the fact that Kyung-heon was a bit simple wasn’t bad either. No, it was rather good. He didn’t seem like someone who would needlessly scratch his insides by being mouthy about gangster families and such, nor did he seem like someone who would scheme about how to use Young to gain more benefits.
In other words, it meant they could get along moderately amicably and peacefully during the contract period. So there was no way he would obediently give up this opportunity to fulfill his wish to escape overprotection.
Young quickly turned his head. Since doing things as usual wouldn’t work, a different method was needed.
Should he act cute here? No, it wasn’t that kind of atmosphere right now.
Should he honestly say he wanted to run out of this damn household he was sick of? No, if he did that, he didn’t know what kind of aftershock would come.
Then how could he change their resolute minds?
Young bit his lower lip firmly and released it. Then he swallowed dry saliva and parted his lips. In a calmly settled tone, unlike just before when he had been arguing fiercely.
“Our family wanting to somehow transform the business—it’s because of me, isn’t it.”
If insisting didn’t work, he intended to stimulate emotions. Fortunately, this time it seemed likely to work. The flow of air becoming solemn in an instant was exactly that. Probably because everyone was hit at their sore spot.
In fact, their father, noona, and hyungs were people who had been satisfied with their lives as emperors of the underworld. But as for how they came to harbor ambition for honor, it was all because of anecdotes related to Young.
The first incident occurred when Young was a preschool child. It was the day he stubbornly insisted despite being told no and finally went to play at his father’s office. He had gone happily calling “Daddy—” but cried hysterically after seeing a subordinate come out beaten to a pulp. For several days after, he didn’t even hug his dad, saying he was scary.
Starting from when he entered school, he got into frequent fights. He couldn’t stand those who ignorantly said, “Your dad’s a gangster boss, right?” Those who openly showed contempt, guys who got caught cursing and disrespecting him behind his back… Whatever he could catch them for, he would ram right into them.
And at the momentous age of twenty, his first love dealt the decisive blow.
It was right after his first love, who belatedly learned the truth about this family, declared their breakup.
‘I can’t even date because I’m a gangster’s son!’
The words thrown out while crying and wailing stabbed like daggers into the family members’ hearts.
As a result, a family meeting was convened excluding Young, and movements to rise into the light began.
“But it’s not easy, there’s no results, so you’re always blaming yourselves. Everyone’s suffering like that—do you think I can be comfortable just watching?”
“……”
“Dad, Noona, Hyungs. If it’s something everyone wants to achieve, then it’s my dream too. So if it’s something I can do, something I can help with, I’ll gladly do it.”
His noona’s eyes, which had been ready to shoot lasers at any moment, completely subsided. His hyungs, who had been firmly standing by their noona’s side, were on the verge of shedding tears. Their father, who had been agonizing over whether to bend his will, also gazed at Young with proud eyes.
It meant the strategy had worked. Although he had deliberately and persistently poked at their weak spots to distance himself from their excessive affection, about half of it was sincere. That’s probably why it worked so well.
Riding the flow, Young delivered the final blow.
“Everyone’s working hard, but I haven’t done anything until now. I want to do something too. Let me do it.”
The living room, which had been in the midst of an anti-marriage sit-in, fell into a cauldron of emotion.
“Come here, our youngest.”
“When did you grow up so much, Lee Young.”
“Pretty on the outside and deep on the inside—what a mess.”
As expected, it seemed no one in this house could beat Young.
***
He thought he just needed to manage his extremely extreme family members well, but he was mistaken. Young, who visited the Joo household for greetings like Kyung-heon had done, encountered an unexpectedly big mountain here.
First, President Joo, who had proposed this marriage, and Kyung-heon’s hyung and younger brother were no problem. As expected, they fully displayed their well-learned manners. They greeted Young politely without any particular display, and showed a similar attitude toward Kyung-heon.
‘You must have known… that the other party was me.’
It was exactly as he had guessed from Kyung-heon’s words. A beta in a thoroughly alpha-centered family. They inwardly looked down on him for having no particular use, but since he wasn’t even competition in the power struggle, they just acted moderately kind.
Witnessing that attitude right before his eyes didn’t make him feel comfortable. Still, since he had anticipated it, it wasn’t so unpleasant or bothersome that he needed to worry about it, but…
The appearance of an unexpected ambush turned his seat into a bed of thorns.
“Are you in your right mind? Sending Kyung-heon where?”
“Father, Kyung-heon is anyway…”
It was because of the grandfather, who was the only one to send an affectionate gaze when Kyung-heon entered. Looking exactly like Kyung-heon, when he heard which family’s child Young was, all color drained from his face, and he eventually called President Joo aside separately and began to berate him.
If someone who had learned and knew enough was doing this after inviting a guest, it must be no ordinary big deal. Though he seemed to have moved locations out of consideration, his voice was so loud that the shouting echoed throughout the entire house.
“How many times have I told you that Kyung-heon needs to be watched for a long time!”
