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“Chief! Something terrible has happened!”
The moment Chief Seok received a call saying there seemed to be smoke coming from the house, he didn’t hesitate any longer and immediately drove to the main residence.
Since he happened to be nearby, he was able to arrive at the scene a step ahead of the fire truck.
Even as Seok Ji-hyung watched with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe the scene before him. The Taesung main residence building, which had seemed like an impregnable fortress, was engulfed in raging flames.
It was fortunate that the building was isolated on a large plot of land on the mountainside with a good view, and there were no other houses nearby.
Arriving at the scene, Chief Seok connected through the emergency contact network of the head office’s public relations department and ordered media control. They were already undergoing a succession process with the risk of the owner’s family, and it would be problematic for any more ominous rumors to spread.
“Vice Chairman.”
Having dealt with the urgent matters first, Chief Seok called Taehoon while waiting for the fire truck.
-What’s going on at this hour?
“There’s a fire at the main residence.”
-What?
Taehoon’s voice was filled with shock but quickly regained composure. After all, that house had long been as good as empty.
-First, find out if there are any casualties.
“From what I heard, the young master ordered all the employees in the house to be dismissed today. Thanks to that, there were hardly any people left inside, so it seems there are no casualties.”
-That’s a relief.
“Most of them quickly evacuated as soon as they smelled the smoke.”
Chief Seok, who had also received a report from the public relations department that they would prevent the news from spreading widely in the media, calmly ended the call, leaving Taehoon relieved.
Seok Ji-hyung’s feelings as he looked at the Taesung residence engulfed in flames were complex and subtle.
Many of the things that Park Yoon-hwa had built up were rapidly disappearing. This house, too, was scheduled to be sold or completely demolished and rebuilt after all the employees were dismissed.
The fierce flames soaring above the main residence building, enough to dye the dark night sky red, looked as futile as Chairman Park’s last moments, collapsing emptily.
‘Was this for the best anyway?’
They would find the cause of the arson later, but it felt like it wouldn’t matter what it was. Chief Seok’s gaze as he watched the flames was indifferent, like watching a fire in someone else’s house.
“...Um, Chief.”
One of the guards nearby approached Chief Seok and spoke cautiously.
“I think the young master might still be inside.”
“What?”
“Actually, he came to the main residence a few days ago, and I don’t remember seeing him leave...”
“What are you talking about!”
Chief Seok hurriedly took out his phone and called Soohyun. An automated message saying the phone was turned off played.
After receiving a call from Chief Choi and hearing the words of several employees who had seen Soohyun drinking in the house, Chief Seok looked back at the building engulfed in flames with a blank expression.
“No way...”
The siren of a fire truck could be heard in the distance. A faint red light moved, dyeing the lower part of the hill, but it would take at least several more minutes for the fire truck to arrive.
Without hesitating any longer, Chief Seok kicked open the main gate of the residence and ran inside.
________________________________________
“Haerin-ah. Haerin-ah.”
Haerin, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly woke up startled by the sound of someone calling her name. She sat up in bed, and Soohyun was standing at her feet.
“Sunbae? How did you get here?”
She had clearly chased him out from the gate in the morning, so Haerin couldn’t understand how he was standing at the foot of her bed. When she asked back in a surprised voice, Soohyun just smiled faintly.
“I told you I didn’t want to see your face again, so why did you come? Why are you always doing as you please?”
Haerin had been confined to her room, unable to shake off her gloomy mood after sending Soohyun away, constantly on the verge of tears.
She had been going through such painful days, so she was angry that Soohyun had come to surprise her in the middle of the night so nonchalantly.
‘…Haerin-ah. Thank you.’
A voice that seemed to hum resonated in the air.
It was strange. His lips weren’t moving, but she could hear his voice.
Haerin narrowed her eyes and looked again at Soohyun’s figure standing in the darkness.
‘I’m sorry. Truly.’
Watching Soohyun repeatedly apologize to her, Haerin suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine. Just like the hallucination she had seen right before her sibling died, Soohyun’s appearance felt somehow unreal.
“Sunbae!”
As if shouting a single word, Haerin jumped up from her spot and crawled to the foot of the bed, but Soohyun, who had been standing there, had vanished without a trace.
“Sunbae...?”
Haerin, who had been looking blankly at the spot where Soohyun had been standing just a moment ago, couldn’t tell whether what she had just seen was a dream or a hallucination, so she hurriedly got out of bed and turned on the light in the room. The door was closed, and Haerin was alone in the room.
“...What was that?”
Still not fully awake, she wondered if she had seen things, standing there blankly, when the door burst open.
“Haerin-ah!”
Her mother, who had entered the room, hesitated for a moment seeing her daughter standing blankly with the light on in the middle of the night, then grabbed Haerin’s hand tightly.
“Haerin-ah. What should we do? Huh?”
“...Why, why?”
Meeting her mother’s eyes, Haerin was gripped by an ominous premonition.
“They say there’s a fire at Chairman Park’s house.”
“The main residence?”
“And it seems Jung Seo-bang is inside. What should we do?”
Thud.
Haerin slumped down as soon as she heard her mother’s words. And she looked blankly at the spot where she had seen Soohyun just a moment ago.
________________________________________
It was like being in hell, surrounded by scorching heat.
The building engulfed in flames amidst the high temperatures of midsummer was truly like a burning purgatory. Soohyun was watching the sweat droplets flowing down his half-closed eyelids and falling to the floor.
“...Soohyun-ah!”
Amidst waiting for death with his head bowed, he heard someone calling his name.
Who is it? Who would brave these flames to find me?
Due to his hazy consciousness, he couldn’t tell if what he was hearing was a real voice or an auditory hallucination. It felt like his body was melting in the heat. He wasn’t even aware if he was breathing or if he had stopped, so it felt like he was already dead.
“Soohyun-ah!”
Bang.
His pupils became cloudy, covered in pouring sweat. A black shadow flickered in the hazy scene. It looked like someone was running towards him, or maybe it was just the flickering of flames, not a person.
“Soohyun-ah!”
The same voice struck his ears again, and it took time for him to realize that human arms were shaking his body.
“...Who...”
His heat-drenched body wouldn’t move as he wished. He barely lifted his heavy eyelids and looked at the person shaking him. It was Chief Seok Ji-hyung.
“...Is this a dream...?”
“Soohyun-ah! Get a grip!”
Seok Ji-hyung held a long pole wrapped in a cloth soaked with water in one hand, and he also had a wet cloth wrapped around his head.
“...Chief. What’s happening here...”
Having already inhaled a lot of smoke, Soohyun could only gasp for breath, unable to control his heavy head.
It felt like a dream that Seok Ji-hyung wasn’t calling him CEO as usual. Wondering if it was a hallucination due to lack of oxygen, Soohyun blinked several times.
“Soohyun-ah! Get a grip. Let’s get out of here quickly. I came in to save you no matter what, so get up now.”
“Chief, why did you come here? Please get out quickly.”
“You foolish bastard!”
Chief Seok roared and grabbed Soohyun’s collar. Chief Seok shook Soohyun with tear-filled eyes and cried.
“Soohyun-ah. I’ve lived like Taesung’s dog for 30 years. I’ve devoted my life to the company, working so hard that I can’t even remember my own children’s faces. My child left, and my wife left me.”
“...Chief.”
The flames reflected in Seok Ji-hyung’s eyes as he looked at him with such earnestness, making them glow red. Only then did Soohyun realize that he had risked his life to come through these flames for him.
“Still, I’ve always thought of you brothers as my own sons. I don’t dare to act like a father, and I’m a man who ruined his own life, but I can’t let you follow your brother like this. Let’s go.”
“Chief...”
“Your wife is pregnant! If you die like this, you’ll make your child an orphan! You’ll make a kid just like you, without parents! Is that what you want?”
“...Ah...”
Having poured out a torrent of words in an agitated tone, Seok Ji-hyung gasped for breath as if he was suffocating and clutched his chest. The white-haired Seok Ji-hyung was already quite old, and it was a miracle that he had even made it here through the heat.
There was no time to think any further.
Soohyun, his mind suddenly clear, staggered to his feet. He snatched the wooden pole from Seok Ji-hyung’s hand and supported him, helping him up.
Leading him out of the office and back into the hallway, Soohyun frantically cleared a path with the object in his hand, moving forward little by little. His body felt heavy as if he were walking through water, but what kept Soohyun moving until the very end were Seok Ji-hyung’s words to him.
‘If you die like this, you’ll make your child an orphan! You’ll make a kid just like you, without parents.’
He thought of only one thing. His life, abandoned by Haerin, had already lost its meaning. He hadn’t even considered the other life living within her.
I’m a selfish bastard to the end.
Soohyun gritted his teeth and decided to live. Even if her child hated him, it was a separate issue whether that object of hatred was already dead or alive to receive all that hatred.
Soohyun himself knew better what was the better option.
Like his brother who had gone first, or like his mother, a vanished existence had no meaning. Even as an object of hatred, there was meaning in being alive and breathing. He couldn’t let Haerin bear that heavy burden alone.
Yes, that wouldn’t do.
Soohyun moved forward through the flames with all his might. Strangely, it felt like the flames had subsided compared to before. How long had he walked? He could see the end of the hallway and the courtyard beyond.
Just before collapsing from exhaustion, Soohyun heard another sound mixed in with the sound of the fire.
Thud.
Soon after, the sound of a large mass hitting the ceiling burst out. It was pouring rain. It was the same torrential rain as the day he had reunited with Haerin here.
“We’ve found two survivors here!”
At the sound of voices coming from afar, Soohyun collapsed with a sense of relief.
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