#056
Sung-ha had disliked Gyo-ha more than Jung-hye since childhood. It wasn’t because Gyo-ha had done anything wrong; it was just easier to deal with him than Jung-hye. Jung-hye wouldn’t be affected no matter how much he hated her, but Gyo-ha would at least react when bullied.
At some point, Gyo-ha awakened as a madman who wouldn’t cry even if Sung-ha cracked his head with an ornament. Sung-ha felt a real sense of crisis then. What? Was he always like this?
As Gyo-ha, once the weakest in the family, transformed into someone who didn’t even blink at Sung-ha’s words after fourteen forced regressions, Sung-ha grew increasingly anxious. Although Sung-ha was the most outgoing among the three siblings, he actually had nothing to boast about.
He lacked the responsibility to achieve excellent work performance and start a family early to provide grandchildren like Jung-hye, and he didn’t have the courage to say “Goodbye, everyone!” and leave for America without any regrets like Gyo-ha.
Moreover, Sung-ha had long since fallen out of favor with his family due to his numerous misdeeds. His father’s disappointment in him for cracking Gyo-ha’s head when they were young was just the beginning, and his maternal grandmother often said that Sung-ha should be sent across the water as he would bring harm to the family.
So Sung-ha stubbornly stayed in Korea. Why should I go across the water to America? He harbored resentment, thinking his family hated him without considering his own actions.
Typically, when there are three children, the middle child sandwiched between the eldest and the youngest becomes sensitive. It’s even worse when the eldest is an iron fortress that doesn’t bleed even when stabbed, and the youngest is a late-born child loved just for breathing.
If he had been an only child, he wouldn’t have had to face his unpleasant siblings, and he could have had all the inheritance to himself. Sung-ha was even irritated with his parents for having three children due to their good relationship. His hatred for the world was bordering on illness at this point.
However, Sung-ha could live with this growing hatred without any major problems. While his family was strict with him, others cowered before him due to his status as the eldest son of a chaebol family.
No matter what people said behind his back, everyone revered Sung-ha to his face. Not just those he considered friends, but even his subordinates trembled before him. Everyone had to be kind to him because they never knew what kind of mischief he might cause.
Sung-ha had nothing to fear except for Baek-gyeong and Jung-hye. Since everyone around him was careful with him, he could live as a tyrant without harm to his limbs. At least until Hwi-kyung appeared, the world was peaceful for Sung-ha.
Hwi-kyung wasn’t afraid of Sung-ha at all. It was natural. To Hwi-kyung, Sung-ha was nothing more than a troublesome customer. He didn’t even consider being moderate because Sung-ha was Gyo-ha’s brother. Hwi-kyung wasn’t kind enough to overlook an adult man using violence against a middle-aged woman.
Moreover, while Hwi-kyung’s physical age was 27, his actual age was several times that. Sung-ha, not even 40 yet, was less threatening to him than Park Bong-joon’s nagging.
So to Jung Hwi-kyung, Lee Sung-ha was just a troublesome customer not even worth numbering. If it weren’t for Lee Gyo-ha, Hwi-kyung might have been cautious of Sung-ha’s “chaebol” background, but with his greatest ally being a chaebol as well, what was there to fear?
He neither revered nor feared him. There was no flattery or backbiting. As time passed, Sung-ha became more interested in Hwi-kyung. Above all, the fact that Hwi-kyung was acting as Gyo-ha’s lover was most intriguing.
He couldn’t help but be curious about the person Gyo-ha, who had never shown any particular preference, had deliberately brought in. In Sung-ha’s memory, Gyo-ha was someone who had never particularly liked anyone due to his kindness to everyone.
Although his younger brother was a flower garden dreaming of fateful love, Sung-ha didn’t believe Gyo-ha could genuinely like someone. Love was the privilege of selfish people, but Gyo-ha showed kindness to everyone equally.
So even if they weren’t really dating, if Gyo-ha was willing to set up a corporation for Hwi-kyung, Hwi-kyung must have something special. To begin with, he was the first person to fearlessly break his nose. Even to Sung-ha, Jung Hwi-kyung, who had regressed fourteen times just because he got a job at a black company, seemed to have something peculiar about him.
Moreover, Hwi-kyung easily caught Sung-ha’s eye wherever he was. Even Jung-hye, who was strict with everyone, was lenient towards Hwi-kyung, so it seemed all three siblings were attracted to him in their own ways.
Even luxury goods generate interest when new products come out, so why would it be different for people? When Hwi-kyung finally joined BK International, Sung-ha started thinking differently.
He joined International where I became vice president? Does he… like me?
As brothers, Gyo-ha and Sung-ha had similar thought processes. It was the mysterious power of genetics.
It was fortunate that Hwi-kyung didn’t notice Sung-ha’s logical jump. Otherwise, he might have hit Sung-ha one more time.
Jung Hwi-kyung had originally entered this thorny path for Kang Moon-chul, not Lee Sung-ha. He hadn’t considered Sung-ha even the slightest bit.
However, Hwi-kyung’s intentions weren’t important to Sung-ha. Sung-ha had even reframed the incident where Hwi-kyung broke his nose as “You’re the first man to hit my face.”
“Have you been here before?”
“Yes.”
“What? When?”
“Before.”
Unable to overcome Sung-ha’s persistence, Hwi-kyung shuddered at the identical pattern of the brothers. The route of pestering him to have lunch together and then bringing him to an upscale traditional Korean restaurant overlapped perfectly.
The only advantage Gyo-ha had over Sung-ha was that he didn’t ask questions like “You’ve never been to a place like this before, right?” Hwi-kyung followed Sung-ha into the restaurant without much enthusiasm.
This traditional Korean restaurant was inevitably familiar to Hwi-kyung. First of all, being a high-end restaurant near BK International, it was impossible for Hwi-kyung, who had worked at BK International for three iterations, not to have been here.
Do you know how hard it is to make group reservations at this restaurant at the end or beginning of the year…? Hwi-kyung listened to Sung-ha’s annoying chatter with one ear and let it out the other.
To begin with, it was in a room in this restaurant that Gyo-ha had asked Hwi-kyung if he was a regression, so it wasn’t easy for this place to feel new. Hwi-kyung ordered the lunch special course more skillfully than Sung-ha.
“Looks like you didn’t live poorly?”
“……”
“Or did you only seduce rich guys before Gyo-ha?”
Earning a hundred lashes with one word is a talent if you can call it management talent. Hwi-kyung mentally threw a glass of water at Sung-ha’s face. He wanted to snap back, asking if that was all he could think about, but his opponent was now his superior. Not just an executive director who symbolized parachute appointments, but a vice president, so he couldn’t speak carelessly.
A meal with an uncomfortable companion always seemed to cause indigestion no matter what was eaten. Hwi-kyung let out a sigh small enough for Sung-ha not to notice.
“Vice President. About the injury I previously inflicted on you…”
“Why are you bringing that up?”
“…Wasn’t that why you wanted to have this meal?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Then why on earth…”
“You, you never returned my handkerchief.”
“What?”
The chopsticks stirring the salad that came as an appetizer stopped abruptly. Lee Sung-ha’s handkerchief had long been washed and handed over to Lee Gyo-ha. Hwi-kyung couldn’t even remember when he had given it to Gyo-ha.
It was strange that Gyo-ha hadn’t returned the handkerchief to Sung-ha when it had been several weeks already. Unless the two had no occasion to meet separately, as far as Hwi-kyung knew, Gyo-ha had met Sung-ha recently.
“I washed it and gave it to Mr. Lee Gyo-ha.”
“To Gyo-ha?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange. I haven’t received anything back.”
“I’ll ask him again.”
“Okay. Get it back and return it to me directly.”
Hwi-kyung decided not to think too deeply about it. What was the point of pondering why Gyo-ha hadn’t returned the handkerchief to Sung-ha? It was possible for the thoughtless Gyo-ha to forget about returning a handkerchief.
But he wasn’t keen on getting the handkerchief back from Gyo-ha and returning it to Sung-ha. No matter how ruined the iteration was, he wanted to avoid personal encounters with Lee Sung-ha in the company if possible.
Being embroiled in scandals or forced to regress was problematic, but Hwi-kyung was also annoyed by Gyo-ha speaking informally to him. Although he was physically much younger, Hwi-kyung’s mind had already aged to about twice Sung-ha’s age.
Even Lee Gyo-ha, who had aged with him, spoke formally to him, so it wasn’t pleasant to hear Lee Sung-ha, who was mentally about half a century younger, speak informally to him.
“Vice President.”
“Yeah?”
“You shouldn’t speak informally like this anywhere without permission.”
“What?”
“I’m saying that someone of your position as vice president should watch your words.”
Words he would never have said in another iteration came out abruptly. Hwi-kyung didn’t avoid Sung-ha’s eyes, which were looking at him with an expression that said, “What the hell is this?”
Soon he’ll stand up angrily, asking who I am to tell him what to do. Hwi-kyung vaguely guessed Sung-ha’s behavioral pattern and stuffed a freshly fried lotus root into his mouth. He had to put something in his mouth before it became an uncomfortable meal. That was the only way he could hold back his curses.
“If you give me permission, can I speak informally?”
“……”
“Hey, I’m thirty-five, you know?”
“I see…”
“Can I speak informally? You’re twenty-seven, right?”
However, instead of throwing his usual tantrum, Lee Sung-ha quite docilely asked Hwi-kyung for permission to speak informally. Jung Hwi-kyung was so surprised that he swallowed the lotus root he was chewing without finishing. Although he didn’t know him well, he couldn’t help but be confused when the expected reaction didn’t come.
