Only then did Taesung exhale the breath that had been oppressively pressing on his chest and stepped inside. Jang Hyeokjin, sitting in the seat of honor with an arrogant posture, greeted him warmly.
“Oh, President Han is here. Come on, say hello.”
At these words, a young man who’d been perched on the edge of the sofa in an awkward posture, respectfully holding a whiskey bottle with both hands, brightened up and stood. Taesung glanced at Director Yoon sitting on the opposite side of the man with her back ramrod straight. Director Yoon was a talent Jang Hyeokjin had brought in purely for practical work. Since she didn’t think Jang Hyeokjin was a clean person anyway, when she joined the company, Director Yoon had set a condition that she would absolutely not be involved in “those kinds of meetings.” She was planning to create an escape route in case she got caught up in any dirty scandals.
So the fact that this woman was here meant this gathering was truly a “business meeting” unrelated to “sordid” purposes.
With a much lighter heart, Taesung offered a handshake to the man.
“Han Taesung of Hansae Construction.”
“Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m…”
At most late 20s? What business does this guy whose head isn’t even dry yet have meeting with Jang Hyeokjin?
In the meantime, the man who’d wiped his alcohol-splattered hand on his Hermès suit pants quickly grasped Han Taesung’s hand. The man looked up at Taesung with a servile smile on his face flushed red from however many drinks he’d already had.
“I’m Han Yunseong, newly appointed as executive director at Yeonggang Steel. I look forward to working with you.”
Yeonggang Steel.
Taesung’s relaxed face instantly hardened again. Taesung withdrew his gaze from the man and glared at Jang Hyeokjin. Jang Hyeokjin smirked and emptied about half of the whiskey that had been full in his glass.
“Come to think of it, President Han and I have similar names too, wow, it’s like fate. I grew up as an only child so I don’t have any siblings—would it be alright if I considered President Han Taesung as my older brother?”
Taesung roughly shook off Han Yunseong’s hand. The unfavorable glare that had been directed at Jang Hyeokjin was transferred entirely to Han Yunseong.
“What the—are you doing business to play family?”
“Ah, well…”
“Hey, President Jang. What the hell is so urgent that you’re calling me back and forth? You’re saying there’s a fucking shortage of ready-mix concrete in Icheon. Are you telling me to paint over that whole company with thinner or what?”
“Taesung. Shut your mouth and sit down.”
Jang Hyeokjin switched the hand holding his glass. That meant if he ran his mouth wrong one more time, he’d smash his head with that glass, so Taesung obediently shut his mouth and found a seat. Next to Director Yoon, that is.
“……”
Director Yoon gave him a displeased look as if asking why he had to squeeze in next to her specifically. Taesung didn’t want to stick close to Jang Hyeokjin’s lackey either. But he’d rather die than sit next to Han Yunseong, so what choice did he have?
“Taesung, we’ll be meeting often from now on, so pour him a drink.”
Taesung reluctantly picked up the bottle. Han Yunseong grinned obsequiously, trying to please him, and held out his glass with both hands. Whether it overflowed or not, Taesung poured the whiskey in a torrent, then filled his own glass before Han Yunseong could make a show of pouring for him. Han Yunseong’s hand flailed in the air. And only then, perhaps irritation rising, did he look down at his table overflowing with whiskey with a stiff expression.
Seeing that expression, I finally get it.
That he’s the spitting image of his father.
President Han Yongwoo of Yeonggang Steel.
The person who once played the role of Taesung’s adoptive father.
And the person who threw Taesung away again when he became useless after his “real” child was born.
The baby born back then was Han Yunseong.
Han Yunseong probably doesn’t know. He can’t even imagine that Han Taesung was living under the same roof when he could do nothing but whine and cry all day long.
“From now on, Yeonggang Steel will handle the rebar supply for Wonin Construction.”
“What about the existing companies?”
“You’ll have to persuade them well and clean things up. That’s why I called you.”
Fucking hell, is this just telling me to wipe Jang Hyeokjin’s ass all day? Put me in charge of the Icheon site, put me in charge of Baekjin Shopping Complex, now you’re changing the rebar supplier so you’re telling me to go around the factories and get my head smashed by those feisty presidents.
“What is Director Yoon doing? You should assign a rational person for this kind of thing.”
“Why use your head for manual labor?”
“Hah…”
There’s no way Jang Hyeokjin would give work to one company for no reason. He’d definitely received huge bribes from Yeonggang Steel or had some other purpose.
Is he working on swallowing up Yeonggang Steel?
So did he think that by assigning Taesung this job, he’d be grateful to Jang Hyeokjin for giving him a chance to get revenge on the parents who disowned him before?
This is beyond treating someone like they have a goldfish brain.
President Han Yongwoo was a descendant of a family where children had been precious for generations. The president and his wife had devoted all their sincerity to have a child, from IVF treatments to touring traditional medicine clinics nationwide and even shamanic rituals—they’d tried everything. But it was all in vain.
When the couple reached an age where they’d be called geriatric parents, one powerful shaman said: You need to have a child in the house. A child needs to pave the way for your own child to enter.
From that point, the couple looked for a child to adopt. They didn’t want to bring in a newborn “for the purpose of paving the way” only to be bothered if they got pregnant. But if they brought in a kid whose head was too big, he’d rebel, so after much deliberation, they selected a four or five-year-old kid who was just starting to understand words. And they gave the name Han Taesung to him, who had a common name you’d only find in textbooks along with the orphanage director’s surname.
From now on, your name is Taesung. Han Taesung. Our child’s generation name happens to use the character Seong.
They told others they’d chosen the character Tae (太) meaning “great” and Seong (成) meaning “achieve”—meaning he should become a great person. But only much later, when it came time to issue his resident registration card, did he learn it was Tae (胎) meaning “conception.” From the beginning, they’d only thought of Taesung as priming water for a child who would continue their bloodline.
But ridiculously, Taesung had been happy in that house. Whether it was because the shaman told them to treat the child well or not, the couple would laugh and listen for a long while every evening as Taesung babbled about what he’d learned that day and what he’d played. There were no older brothers who constantly ordered him around and bullied him, and he could eat plenty of foods and fruits he’d never seen before. Though he can’t remember it now.
Less than a year after Taesung arrived, the couple had a child.
For the nine months until the child was born, the two cherished Taesung devotedly and told him he’d have to take good care of his younger sibling when they were born. From the time his mother’s belly noticeably swelled, Taesung looked forward to his younger sibling being born every single day. He really planned to be a good older brother. He’d share his chocolate in half, share his ice cream in half, and if there was only one Yakult left, he’d yield it to his younger sibling. That way mom and dad will continue to love me.
However, from the moment his beloved younger sibling was born and mom and baby returned home, his parents turned their backs on Taesung. They prevented him from even coming near the room. They said the baby was still weak and could catch bad germs, blocking him from seeing the child even from afar.
He learned the reason by chance when he overheard his mom’s phone call. While talking to someone, she grumbled irritably:
You know, that shaman is now saying the child we brought into the house is a scapegoat for misfortune, so it’s dangerous to keep them close. If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have done a formal adoption. They say disowning is difficult too, so how do I handle this.
If I prove I’m not dangerous, if I prove I’m a useful child, will they love me again?
When was it? When mom briefly left, the baby started crying loudly. Taesung took out a baby bottle from the sink. Just as he’d seen mom do, he put in formula and filled it with cold water from the water purifier. Then he ran to the room where the baby was and climbed up onto the baby’s crib. The baby he was seeing for the first time was so small and soft. When he gave the baby the bottle, the baby stopped crying. With one hand holding the bottle and one hand touching the soft hair. He hoped mom would come back before the baby emptied the bottle. Then she’ll know what an excellent older brother Taesung is.
But mom, just back from the mart, screamed as soon as she saw Taesung and the baby together and snatched the baby away. He eagerly explained that the baby was crying so he made formula, but she screamed like someone about to faint.
Of course, the baby got an upset stomach that day. The fragile intestines couldn’t withstand being fed formula made with cold water in a contaminated bottle from the sink. In the middle of the night, the couple rushed to the hospital with the feverish baby, and soon dad came home alone saying the baby had been hospitalized.
Dad screamed and slapped Taesung’s cheek as soon as he saw him sitting vacantly in the living room all night worried about the baby. He clung to the legs of the man who said he’d tried to kill his child, not knowing the gratitude for being cared for, and cried loudly begging for forgiveness, but Taesung was dragged to the orphanage the next day. In front of the director, he said Taesung had tried to kill the newborn baby out of jealousy. Taesung insisted on his innocence countless times saying it wasn’t true, but no one believed his words.
