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“G-grandfather!”
Seeing Woosik’s hand flying towards her face, Seyoung squeezed her eyes shut. She hunched her shoulders, bracing herself, but for the next few seconds, nothing happened.
She cautiously opened her eyes and saw Woosik with his hand stopped in mid-air, trembling violently.
“You, you utter fool!”
He clenched his raised hand into a tight fist, barely managed to lower it, and took several rough breaths.
“You! Is there nothing in that thick skull of yours? Huh?”
Instead of slapping Seyoung, Woosik flicked her forehead with his index finger.
“Daeho’s wife is the daughter of a media company owner. Do you think she’ll let you get away with this?”
“But I heard she’s having an affair anyway.”
“Her having an affair and her knowing her husband is having one are two different things.”
“She’s no saint either, so why should she care if her husband is cheating?”
Normally, Seyoung would have been trembling in front of the enraged Woosik, but today she was out of her mind.
Already having been ignored by Yoon Haein and humiliated at the hospital, the suspicion that Haein might be pregnant had pushed her slightly over the edge.
Woosik was so dumbfounded by Seyoung’s nonsensical and continuous questions that he couldn’t even hit her as usual, and just pounded his chest in frustration.
“Doesn’t that tarnish his reputation! Reputation! How much gossip and rumors do you think will spread! They value their reputation like the sky, they’ll go ballistic if everyone finds out!”
“He’s having an affair himself, so why is reputation so important?”
“If he’s having an affair, he’ll keep an even tighter leash on his wife! Because rumors will spread together!”
“You crazy bitch.”
Woosik clicked his tongue, watching Seyoung talk about her own situation as if it were someone else’s problem.
No matter how much he educated and controlled this girl, he couldn’t fix her inherent lack of sense. She was unbelievably clueless.
“And do you think Jung Jae-eun will just let you be? Do you really think she’ll accept you as a daughter-in-law?”
“......Why not? I thought Grandfather would take care of it...”
Whack.
Contrary to before, her face turned again. She had been off guard, thinking he wouldn’t hit her, but Woosik’s hand, as fast as lightning, mercilessly delivered a second slap.
“You idiot. As long as you’re playing around with Daeho, you’ll be nothing but a mistress for the rest of your life!”
“Then what am I supposed to do? Soohyun Oppa won’t even look at me.”
“Ha, frustrating.”
“You said we shouldn’t let either of them go. Wouldn’t it work out if I just got along well with Daeho Oppa now?”
Seyoung sobbed, her voice choked with tears.
“Tsk, tsk.”
Leaving Seyoung sitting and crying, Woosik paced around the room, lost in thought.
In fact, it wasn’t entirely Seyoung’s fault. Among the Taeseong children, Soohyun was the only one who had always been wary and kept her at arm’s length.
Even now, not only Jung Daeho but also Jaehoon’s son, Hyukjae, would follow Seyoung around with infatuated looks whenever she gave them a flirtatious smile.
Seyoung had been the closest girl to them when they were teenagers just starting to become interested in the opposite sex. And those vague feelings were something Woosik had artificially cultivated since their childhood.
He had taught the naive young Seyoung guidelines such as wearing short skirts or deliberately getting close to the high-spirited boys, making her circulate around them.
For teenage boys just starting to mature, having a well-figured, pretty girl who was even friendly to them visiting their house every weekend was a huge deal.
The problem was that Seyoung didn’t have the capacity to manage them properly. And it was also true that Soohyun hadn’t been caught in her net.
‘Hmm. What clever trick can I use?’
He couldn’t predict at all what the fickle Chairman Park would do to the pregnant Haein.
He had clearly told her that her fortune didn’t indicate pregnancy this year, so if she had gotten pregnant like this, Woosik’s own position would also be shaken.
She had been getting angry lately, saying that everything he said was wrong, so Woosik felt like he was in a desperate situation.
“Grandfather, but...”
Seyoung, who had been silently shedding tears, spoke as if she had just thought of something.
“If I get pregnant, wouldn’t Daeho Oppa accept me?”
“Pregnant?”
His busy footsteps stopped.
“Even then, you’d be nothing but a mistress’s child! Daeho’s wife would tear you to shreds!”
His angry face roared as if spitting fire. His pupils were already dark and filled with venom, and his face, contorted with rage, became horribly grotesque.
Woosik, who had raised his hand to deliver a third slap, suddenly lowered it as if a thought had struck him, and began to laugh sinisterly.
“Hehe, I see. That might actually work.”
“Grandfather?”
Seyoung, not understanding, blinked and looked at Woosik. Then Woosik smiled slyly and said quietly,
“Let’s make the child she’s carrying yours, Seyoung.”
“Huh? Mine?”
Seyoung asked back, not understanding Woosik’s words. Then Woosik, chuckling, continued,
“I’ll find a way to put Soohyun in a hotel room, and all you have to do is go lie down next to him.”
Considering that he had forced Soohyun into a hotel room once before due to Chairman Park’s scheme, it wasn’t something he couldn’t do again. Of course, it would require a lot of cunning and take some time to persuade him, but it was a story that could be done within a month anyway.
“And then?”
“Fake a pregnancy. When the child is born later, we can just smuggle it out somehow.”
“Smuggle it out somehow? How?”
“Leave that to this old man. There’s bound to be a way, whatever it takes.”
Seyoung didn’t understand the series of words that followed, but she nodded as if she did.
“So, what you’re saying, Grandfather, is that I pretend to be pregnant and then later steal Yoon Haein’s baby and make it look like I gave birth to it?”
“That’s right.”
“Then what about the baby Yoon Haein gives birth to?”
“This old man will take care of that.”
Switching babies might sound like a huge deal, but it could be easy.
It wasn’t anything new that Chairman Park was obsessed with superstitions, and once Woosik managed to persuade him and get permission to be deeply involved in the birth, there was nothing he couldn’t do with Jung Jae-eun’s power.
‘It’s simple: turn Yoon Haein’s baby into Seyoung’s, and then make it look like the baby born that day was stillborn.’
From Jung Jae-eun’s perspective, it would be much better for Seyoung to stick with Soohyun than to remain in an affair with Daeho.
If Soohyun were to inherit the management, she would oppose even this, but if Jae-eun were to inherit, there would be no reason for her to oppose. From Jae-eun’s point of view, it would be like getting rid of two troublesome thorns in her side at once.
Even if Soohyun was stubborn, he wouldn’t cast Seyoung aside if she insisted she had given birth to his child. He always denied it outwardly, but Soohyun was more devoted to family than anyone else.
If there were doubts, they could do a DNA test. No, even that might be manipulated. In any case, with Jung Jae-eun behind them, deceiving Soohyun wouldn’t be a big deal.
It didn’t take much decision or time to concoct this enormous plan. Woosik smiled brightly and said to Seyoung,
“So, you need to prepare yourself to act like a pregnant woman from now on.”
“I’ve never even been pregnant...”
Seyoung grumbled, but she shut her mouth when she saw Woosik raise his hand as if to deliver a final slap.
Knock, knock.
“Is Teacher Im here?”
Just then, someone knocked on the door from outside and made their presence known.
“What is it?”
“The Chairman is looking for you.”
“Ah, let’s go now. Just a moment.”
Woosik tidied himself up in front of the mirror and said to Seyoung,
“Let’s go out together.”
“Yes.”
Seyoung, her cheeks still stinging from the multiple slaps, covered her face with both hands before getting up to follow Woosik.
***
Creak.
A few minutes after Seyoung and Woosik left, Seok Ji-hyung slipped into Woosik’s room. With familiar steps, he walked straight towards a certain part of Woosik’s room.
One wall of Woosik’s room was filled with books related to numerology and fortune-telling. On the bookshelves, there were not only books but also several models of yin and yang and the five elements.
Some of them were covered in dust, untouched for years.
Im Woosik extremely disliked people entering his room, so he even cleaned it himself.
‘Thanks to that, it was easier.’
Ji-hyung picked up one of the models lined up in the corner of Woosik’s study and pulled out a small camera. Then he poked the back and exchanged the memory card.
He glanced around the room once and quickly stepped outside.
Woosik would still be by Chairman Park’s side, so there was no need to rush, but since he was a sharp-witted man, it was best to be cautious in everything.
It was Ji-hyung who had sent someone to say the Chairman was looking for Woosik, even though he hadn’t actually been looking for him.
Seok Ji-hyung quickly left the Taeseong main residence and got into his car. Sitting in the driver’s seat, he took out a portable video player he had and inserted the memory card he had just taken out.
Pressing on the date-sorted files that appeared on the screen, Ji-hyung carefully examined the contents before pressing the file with the latest date.
‘Let’s make the child she’s carrying yours, Seyoung.’
‘Huh? Mine?’
‘I’ll find a way to put Soohyun in a hotel room, and all you have to do is go lie down next to him.’
A part of the conversation between Woosik and Seyoung flowed out clearly. The screen also clearly showed Seyoung sitting on the floor and Woosik standing and pacing beside her.
‘Im Woosik. I knew his insides were black as night from the start......’
Ji-hyung shook his head repeatedly as if he had expected it, while reconfirming the video.
He had assisted Park Yoon-hwa for 30 years. Now he was helping Vice Chairman Jung more than Chairman Park, but Im Woosik had always been a thorn in his side.
The Im Woosik that Seok Ji-hyung had seen was nothing more than a parasite who fattened himself by exploiting the gaps Chairman Park had, or rather, his anxiety about uncertain disasters or misfortunes.
And that appearance had been consistent for 30 years.
He had thought it was suspicious that Woosik was quiet when he was clearly plotting something, and sure enough.
Ji-hyung frowned deeply, as if Woosik’s wicked scheme gave him goosebumps, and then picked up his phone. It was now time to inform the person who needed to hear this news first in detail.
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