Chapter 19
When living in dorms during his idol days, even though conditions were somewhat poor, the agency took care of all basic necessities. Back then, he didn’t need to carefully consider each small household item one by one while shopping around.
After busily furnishing his living space and attending academy classes, another week quickly passed and it was Saturday again.
Saturday morning, as soon as day broke, Cheong-yeon rushed to the supermarket and bought handfuls of Korean beef. This was to neatly fill the empty space in Ji-han’s freezer where he had taken meat without permission to cook before.
Before meeting Do-heon, Cheong-yeon went to Ji-han’s house and immediately opened the freezer door. Filling the empty meat compartment with Korean beef made him feel much more at ease.
Then, to kill time before going to see grandmother, he woke up Ji-han and chatted briefly. Since Do-heon didn’t know he had moved, he would come to pick him up here just like last week.
As soon as it turned eleven o’clock, Cheong-yeon left the house. Do-heon had precisely parked his car in his usual spot. Having had an exceptionally busy week, Cheong-yeon suppressed a yawn and rubbed his sleepy eyes.
As soon as he sat in the front seat and fastened his seatbelt, Do-heon handed him the ring. He glanced briefly at Cheong-yeon’s outfit—a sweatshirt and jeans—but this time made no comments about changing clothes or dyeing his hair.
“Let’s stop by a flower shop on the way. To get a gift for grandmother.”
Cheong-yeon said to Do-heon as he turned the steering wheel to enter the road. He stared straight ahead without answering. Accustomed to his dismissive behavior and assuming he had understood, Cheong-yeon didn’t bother adding anything more.
“Grandmother, did you sleep well today?”
Cheong-yeon asked as he crossed the entrance hallway into the living room upon arriving at grandmother’s house. He made eye contact with grandmother, who was sitting on the sofa receiving a shoulder massage from an employee.
She put down the remote control she was holding and beckoned to Cheong-yeon.
“You’ve arrived right on time.”
“Of course.”
“Well, that Do-heon is really punctual when it comes to appointments.”
“Here are flowers for you. I wanted to give them to you, so I bought them on the way.”
When Cheong-yeon presented the large bouquet packaged from the flower shop to grandmother, she bent her head to slowly smell its fragrance.
“They’re beautiful. The scent is nice too.”
“Right? Wouldn’t it look pretty if we put these in a vase in front of the balcony where they’d get good sunlight? We could also place some beside your bed.”
“That sounds good. You’re the only one in our family with such thoughtful ideas.”
Although Cheong-yeon wasn’t sure how Do-heon had explained things, fortunately grandmother didn’t seem upset about what had happened last week. She handed the flowers to an employee and slowly rose from her seat.
“I have a special sense for these things. But what’s that smell? Samgyetang?”
“You have a good nose. I wanted to feed you some nutritious food. You haven’t had lunch yet, right?”
Cheong-yeon said, supporting grandmother as they headed to the dining room. Do-heon, who had been watching from the side, approached to support her from the other side.
“Let me help you.”
“It’s fine, young man. I’m not dying. Cheong-yeon’s help is enough.”
Grandmother brusquely pushed away Do-heon’s hand and leaned more on Cheong-yeon.
“Of course I haven’t eaten lunch yet. Please sit here.”
As Cheong-yeon and grandmother reached the dining table, Do-heon naturally pulled out a chair. When grandmother sat down with a faint smile, Do-heon and Cheong-yeon exchanged glances and quietly sat down.
“What did you do this week? You seemed quite unwell last time, but you look fine today.”
“That time… my stomach was actually really upset, but I was so flustered that I think I made up some strange excuse.”
“Oh my.”
“After resting at home later, I could barely remember what I’d said.”
“Tsk, such a frail young man. Moon Do-heon, what kind of husband are you if you’re not taking care of Cheong-yeon’s health?”
Grandmother scolded Do-heon as she picked up some side dishes with her chopsticks.
“You’re always out working, keeping things cold at home, no wonder there’s still no news of a baby.”
“No, that’s not true. Director Do-heon has been good to me recently.”
Cheong-yeon stepped in with a lie to shield Do-heon. Grandmother looked at him disapprovingly and scolded him.
“You always take Moon Do-heon’s side. You’ll spoil him that way.”
“It’s true. These days he goes to the hospital with me and makes time for drives.”
“Really?”
Just as grandmother was about to question him more skeptically, an employee working in the kitchen came in with the food.
She placed a large, well-cooked samgyetang, one per person, on the table.
“Do-heon has been all about studying and work since he was a child, so he’s too mechanical and lacks emotion. Just like his father.”
The Chairman Moon that grandmother was referring to was someone who had driven away even his wife due to extreme distrust toward everyone around him. Growing increasingly anxious about finding an heir to pass his business to as he had no children, he discovered that he had an illegitimate child.
That’s how Do-heon, who had never been publicly known until he was ten years old, suddenly became the heir to the JT Group when Chairman Moon unexpectedly introduced him one day.
Currently, Chairman Moon rarely showed himself in business or family matters. Although Cheong-yeon had only met him a few times, from what he had gathered, after numerous major and minor power struggles with Do-heon, he seemed to have decided that his son met his expectations and had withdrawn from the frontlines at some point, losing interest in worldly affairs. It seemed that as JT’s inner circle began to trust Do-heon more and more, like they had trusted the founder himself, the Chairman was preparing to completely hand over the business.
Of course, the process wasn’t smooth. The excessive performance demands that Chairman Moon had required were still talked about like legends. And Do-heon had passed these unreasonable tests each time, leaving behind impressive accomplishments.
“This is why bloodlines are frightening. How could he inherit only the flaws so perfectly?”
Grandmother tasted a spoonful of the rich broth and continued discussing Do-heon. Cheong-yeon listened attentively, nodding vigorously.
“So he’s been like that since childhood…”
“Even when I collapsed, everyone else was busy bringing medicinal herbs and crying, but that boy just called and coldly asked if I was okay.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I was fine, what else could I say when I wasn’t dying? Then Do-heon said he could see why I was so rude and hung up. A heartless bastard.”
“Wow, that’s too much.”
Cheong-yeon stared at Do-heon as if wondering how such a person could exist.
“If I don’t feel like crying, should I force myself to?”
Do-heon, who had been silently listening to the criticism about himself, finally retorted.
“Look at him! Such a cold-hearted fellow. Would it hurt to speak more kindly?”
I understand your feelings completely, grandmother. How can a person behave like that even to his elders?
Cheong-yeon grumbled internally as he slurped the samgyetang broth. Then he nudged Do-heon’s arm.
“Director Do-heon, why did you do that? You should speak more gently. You were actually quite worried inside, weren’t you?”
At this made-up statement, Do-heon’s lips twitched slightly.
Noticing this change, Cheong-yeon felt somehow twisted inside.
Seriously? He asks me to act, but he doesn’t even like this minimal contact?
“Oh right, Cheong-yeon. Didn’t you say you liked that painter before? The one from New York?”
“That’s right. Antonia Thomas. I have several of her paintings in my room.”
Cheong-yeon answered, pausing as he was picking up some meat. Indeed, when living with Do-heon, he had collected the painter’s works one or two at a time whenever possible.
“I hear there’s an unofficial exhibition by that artist at Sohwa Art Museum.”
“Ah… Sohwa Art Museum?”
“I’ve received two invitations, so you two should go together later and have a nice time.”
Grandmother gestured to a nearby employee, who brought two invitations with an official seal.
“You like the desserts they sell at that museum, don’t you? I’ve already ordered a cake, so pick it up when you leave to take home after visiting on the specified date.”
Cheong-yeon quickly put down his chopsticks and accepted the invitations with both hands, expressing his delight and gratitude. However, his true feelings were exactly the opposite.
Jeon Jun-ho, the director of Sohwa Art Museum and the second son of the Daeguk Group Chairman, was someone with whom Cheong-yeon could never have a good relationship.
Jeon Jun-ho was a well-educated Dominant Omega, befitting the child of a corporate executive, and Cheong-yeon had heard that he had wanted to marry Do-heon for a long time.
Perhaps for this reason, Jun-ho had expressed hostility without restraint from the moment he first met Cheong-yeon at a party.
There was no way Cheong-yeon could view favorably someone who showed such dislike. The deterioration of the relationship between Cheong-yeon and Jun-ho was a natural progression.
However, due to various complex reasons, the two had to face each other periodically. Among the several hobbies suitable for saving face among the children of conglomerate families, collecting artwork was the most accessible hobby from Cheong-yeon’s perspective.
Paintings increased in value the more one collected them, and they made it easier to join conversations at gatherings. Since Do-heon didn’t mind Cheong-yeon buying paintings worth tens of millions to billions of won per piece, he increasingly sought works by more expensive artists to hang at home as decoration.
Perhaps he became more fixated on this because the attitudes and gazes of people who had dismissed him changed as he spent more money on paintings.
Cheong-yeon, who was fascinated with Antonia Thomas’s paintings at the time, had personally requested to purchase her work several times from Jeon Jun-ho, the director of Sohwa Art Museum who had an exclusive contract with the artist.
Jun-ho repeatedly acted as if he would bring the artist to introduce to Cheong-yeon right away, only to postpone appointments time after time and eventually let the deals fizzle out without resolution.
Since Cheong-yeon’s interest was merely to appear favorable to Do-heon and the JT family, rather than a genuine love for art, Jun-ho’s impolite attitude didn’t affect him too much.
However, Do-heon must have perceived that Cheong-yeon really wanted those paintings, because he later personally purchased several of Antonia’s representative works for him.
