Just as I felt a bit concerned, the call waiting tone began to ring.
It was the secretary.
“I’m getting a call, I’ll hang up.”
– Okay, go ahead and work.
After finishing his call with Suhyuk, Jaehyuk immediately connected to the next call.
Although there’s commotion coming from all directions, this matter isn’t actually a big deal.
Just a happening, nothing more, nothing less.
And Uncle knew that when he did it.
His purpose must have been to irritate like a fly buzzing around one’s ear.
Both Uncle and himself had thrown countless punches at each other, but they were merely light jabs.
They never deliver fatal blows.
That was the implicit rule between them.
So he probably thought this was just another jab too…
Unfortunately, this time he crossed the line.
To Jaehyuk, his uncle is like the final barrier protecting those beneath him.
Uncomfortable and troublesome, but absolutely necessary.
That’s why until now, he hadn’t engaged in a sincere war, but that ends here.
Even in their inseparable relationship, there’s no need for him to be so domineering.
It’s time to deflate his power a bit.
Simply put, he just needs to remain alive and nothing more.
Finally having made up his mind, Jaehyuk changed lanes and began the call.
“Please speak.”
* * *
Good dreams may not come true, but bad ones always do.
Whether that’s truth, or simply a matter of feeling.
“Old sayings are never wrong…”
Seeing numerous messages beginning with “You crazy bastard,” Junghyun ignored all the notifications and called Yongwoo, who is most helpful in these situations.
And sure enough, a refreshing greeting erupted.
— Hey! This is about you, right?
It was indeed Heo Yongwoo.
If there’s only one person perfectly enjoying this situation, it’s this guy.
“Why ask when you already know? So how far has this spread?”
— How far could it have spread? It just broke out.
“Not that, I mean the mood.”
— As for the mood, it’s not like you guys are celebrities or politicians. This kind of thing won’t even make a pinprick in the stock price. It’ll just be annoying, cumbersome, irritating, frustrating, and noisy.
“Really?”
— That’s usually how it is. We’ll know more details when the market opens tomorrow, but…
“Then it’s fine.”
As Junghyun was about to hang up since there was no impact on stocks, Yongwoo urgently stopped him.
— Hey! Hey hey! Wait a minute!
“What?”
— That’s just about the stock impact! It’s different for you! Haven’t you heard from your family yet? And what about Hanju?
“I don’t know. I’ve blocked all their calls.”
Junghyun thought if it was urgent, they would contact him through another number, so he hadn’t unblocked them yet.
After all, they hadn’t been in contact for the past month, so they wouldn’t find it strange that he wasn’t answering now.
— Wow~ Indeed, a truly crazy person has different tactics from the start. No matter what, I never block calls.
“You’re the one who calls first to fight.”
When Junghyun sarcastically remarked that there’s a reason his nickname is Yorkshire, Yongwoo immediately retorted.
— Chihuahua or Yorkshire, whatever. And don’t think this is over just because there’s no stock impact.
“Then?”
— The stock might be fine, but wouldn’t this affect your father’s successor position?
“That’s for him to figure out. If he doesn’t have that much ability, he deserves to be kicked out.”
— Would your father think the same?
“He probably would. And he never had a son like you, so get lost, traitor.”
— Who told you to stand out? Do you know how much my dad has been suffering?
“Shut up.”
After cutting off the call abruptly with a harsh rebuke, Junghyun picked up a dried anchovy from the plate in front of him.
While chewing the anchovy, he sent a message to Yoonho.
[Find the site where the article was first uploaded. Also, enhance the resolution of the photos and restore them as much as possible, then send them to me.]
He’ll understand with just this much explanation.
Yoonho hyung had also sent messages, ranting about what to do with this situation, saying didn’t I tell you there are no eternal secrets.
He’ll probably find the initial distribution site quickly by running a few programs. Same goes for the photos.
The photos already uploaded have been enhanced quite a bit to make the content visible, but with a little touch-up, they can be seen even more clearly.
They would have definitely erased the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format, a metadata format for image files that includes information such as photo date, time, and camera model) for an operation of this scale, so it would be useless, but still worth checking.
Something feels off.
“It’s chaos everywhere.”
As Director Jang, who was stir-frying anchovies for Junghyun, casually remarked about the incessant notification sounds, Junghyun smiled awkwardly.
“Indeed.”
He had already confessed everything to her.
When Junghyun’s phone started ringing, Director Jang’s phone also began to ring, and as always, she pretended not to notice, but Junghyun couldn’t do the same.
Since there wasn’t really any trust to break between them, he quickly came clean, and she said she had already suspected it.
She knew Jaehyuk for a long time and said he’s not the type to decide on marriage so easily. So she had anticipated they had made some kind of contract-like arrangement to overcome an uncomfortable situation.
Thinking about it that way, Jaehyuk is quite transparent.
Surprisingly easy to read, Junghyun muttered to himself as he put a crispy anchovy in his mouth.
“Should I also stir-fry some nuts?”
“That would be appreciated.”
“I’ve also prepared various kinds of ginger tea and herbal tea. During pregnancy, there are many dietary restrictions after all.”
Junghyun’s hand briefly paused while picking up an anchovy at her naturally expressed concern.
But only for a moment.
Soon, he picked up the largest anchovy and looked at her while eating it.
“You’re quite perceptive.”
“Quitting coffee and your beloved alcohol. Sleeping twice as much as usual though you already sleep well. Eating better than normal. Not doing any of the exercise you claim to love, and a perfectly healthy 20-something suddenly taking handfuls of supplements. Plus, wearing oversized hoodies in this hot house—I’d have to be an idiot not to notice.”
“Someone in this house doesn’t seem to know.”
“Alphas are about as useful as dead phones when it comes to these things.”
Junghyun watched her with sparkling eyes as she smiled while delivering that cutting remark.
“We would get along well, wouldn’t we?”
“I’ll pass on that.”
“What a shame.”
As Junghyun continued chewing anchovies while looking down at his phone again, she spoke in a subtle tone while taking out almonds.
“So, why don’t you stop making everyone anxious and tell the truth?”
“…I’ve been hearing that a lot today…”
“When everyone tells you the same thing, it’s probably right.”
“True. Collective intelligence usually yields the correct answer.”
Just as he was about to offer what even he recognized as a petty excuse—that humans find it difficult to act on what they know—an email arrived.
It was from Yoonho hyung.
He must have worked on the files already, so Junghyun hurriedly opened the email, but before that, a call came in.
It was also from Yoonho hyung.
Sensing the call might be lengthy, Junghyun said he’d take it in the bedroom.
“Yeah.”
— Hey, you crazy bastard. What are you going to do about this?
“I haven’t legally changed my name to ‘crazy bastard’ yet.”
— Then use this opportunity to change it. What the hell is this? No matter how much we block and block again, it multiplies instantly like cockroaches. Is it an amoeba? Cell division?
“Surprisingly, frogs have faster cell division. Humans are also quite fast.”
— What do I care about what’s fast? Cell division or whatever!
“Right. That’s not our concern, so let’s drop it. Did you check the photos?”
— Hyunseok analyzed them since he guessed what you were looking for, but he says the metadata is completely erased. Can’t be recovered. Looks like they deliberately used software to process it.
While it’s natural for EXIF to be removed when uploading images to SNS, if even the photos in the articles are in an unrecoverable state, it’s clearly intentional.
His hypothesis was gaining more certainty.
As expected, bad premonitions have a good batting average.
If only Hanju’s batters had such a good average, Yongwoo wouldn’t be going crazy like this. What a pity.
“What about the photos?”
— I’ve restored them as much as possible and enhanced the resolution. Also adjusted the colors to match the original notebook model colors. But why?
“I have something I want to check.”
— What is it?
“I’ll let you know after I confirm. So are you working on it now?”
— We’re reporting and removing posts mentioning you and Jaehyuk hyung as soon as we see them, but you know SNS isn’t easy, right? Hyung will take care of the articles anyway.
“Alright then.”
— Alright? Which part exactly?
At his confrontational tone asking if Junghyun was seriously thinking that way, Junghyun sat on the bed and then lay down. Then he trailed off.
“It’s fine because I kind of understand what happened. This kind of thing is just consumed as gossip. Everyone will forget in three days.”
— That may be true… But will Hanju stay quiet? This looks like Director Cha Jinwoo’s work.
Kindly explaining that he meant the Hanju Chemical Director in case Junghyun didn’t know, Junghyun sweetly clarified that he was the root cause of this whole situation.
“Right. He must be really pissed off by now.”
— …Pissed off?
“I blocked every call he made, and when he called from Seojun’s number, I hung up and blocked that too.”
— …Uncle?
“Just because it’s Uncle’s number doesn’t mean it can’t be blocked.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
