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Chapter 05
5 a.m., Hannam-dong.
After parking in front of the house, Ji-hyuk stepped out of the car.
It had already been a month since his brother’s funeral.
Time had never moved so quickly—and it had never felt so brutal.
Even more than the years he’d spent running nonstop, barely finding time to breathe.
Their father, who had run dozens of room salons across the country while managing multiple security-service outfits, had built a company called Sehan and grown it into a corporate group.
To escape the rough, thuggish image of a gangster-run, labor-service company, his father had forced Ji-hyuk to study.
During high school, Ji-hyuk was sent to the U.S. and had to study like a madman until he earned an MBA.
Even after returning to Korea, he immediately entered headquarters as the team lead of the Management Support Team and had to work himself to death proving results. Eventually he became director of Strategic Planning this year.
By years alone, he had spent close to fifteen years sprinting without rest.
So how could the past month feel even more exhausting than all those years combined?
Sigh.
Stopping in the yard, he took a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket.
He pulled one out, put it to his lips, and yanked off the necktie that had been choking him all day.
Even pulling it loose, he could feel how tightly it had been knotted.
He had started getting ready for work at 7 a.m. yesterday morning, and now—22 hours later—only just realized he still hadn’t taken it off. How absurd was that?
But given his situation, maybe it wasn’t so absurd.
Some shareholders already mistrusted his father’s background and were desperate to put a professional CEO they could control in his place.
Which meant he and his brother could never show a single flaw. They had to prove themselves as assets to the group.
In other words, show even the slightest weakness, and the enemy would attack.
And yet his competitor—but also his strongest ally—his brother, had died. While Ji-hyuk had been on a business trip in the U.S.
He had flown back the moment he heard, rushed through the funeral, and took over his brother’s urgent unfinished work.
It had been suffocatingly busy.
He inhaled the last drag of his cigarette, exhaled hard, and dropped it to the ground, crushing it beneath his shoe.
Turning toward the front door, he spotted someone glaring at him through the living room window—and swore in shock.
“Shit—what the hell!”
Once he calmed his racing heart and focused his vision, he finally saw who it was.
His father, Seo Jae-wang.
“Seriously…”
He was exhausted already—why the hell was his father here?
He’d told him so many times: stop barging into your grown son’s home unannounced.
Rubbing a hand over his tired eyes, he stepped inside.
The moment he entered, he flinched again.
His father was standing right at the entry, staring him down.
“Seriously, what are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Do you know what time it—”
“Shh.”
As Ji-hyuk’s irritation bled into his voice, Jae-wang hushed him sharply.
Only then did Ji-hyuk notice the baby sleeping in his father’s arms.
“Ha…”
After pulling an all-nighter and coming home without a minute of sleep, seeing his uninvited father and his troublesome nephew pushed fresh irritation up his throat.
He kicked off his shoes and stepped into the hallway.
“You come home from work and you don’t even hold your nephew once?”
It was obvious his father would nag him with the same line he’d been repeating for days—When will you bond? When will you grow close?—so Ji-hyuk just tossed his arms out half-heartedly.
“Fine. Give him here, I’ll hold him and then go sleep for an hour.”
But Jae-wang stepped back.
“Wash your hands and brush your teeth. And didn’t I tell you to quit smoking, you little shit?”
Trying to swallow his growing irritation, Ji-hyuk shut his eyes tight, reopened them, and turned away.
He headed to the nearest bathroom.
Washing his hands and brushing his teeth furiously, he glared at his reflection.
His eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion.
And now—with his nephew dumped on him at the busiest, most important moment of his career—the psychological pressure and physical fatigue were crashing down even harder.
After another deep, angry breath, he left the bathroom.
In the living room, Jae-wang was sitting alone on the sofa.
“Where’s the baby?”
“I took him to Madam Shim. Told her to put him back to sleep.”
So he needed him to wash before holding the baby—only to send the baby away?
Ji-hyuk wanted to yell but held it in and turned toward his bedroom.
“Sit. We need to talk.”
“Later. Your son hasn’t slept and is about to drop dead.”
“You won’t die from working that much, idiot. And watch your mouth. How long has it been since your brother passed, and you talk like that to your father?”
He had a point. That one was on him.
Keeping his displeased expression, Ji-hyuk sat on the sofa diagonal from his father.
“What.”
“Madam Shim will be commuting from today on.”
Ji-hyuk’s eyes tightened.
“Commuting? That makes no sense. If she’s not here full-time, who’s going to watch the baby?”
It was absurd.
As soon as the funeral was over, his father had made him a proposal.
Using his brother’s child—Do-ha.
“From now on, you raise Do-ha.”
“…”
“I know it’s shocking—”
“Not really. I expected you to say something this ridiculous.”
“You little—”
“Just say it.”
“Do-ha is inheriting all of your brother’s shares. And I’m naming you as guardian. Which means you’ll be the one exercising those rights on his behalf.”
“Even if I do that, once he becomes an adult, he’ll want his shares back. Then what—do you want me fighting for my position with some grown-up kid?”
“What would a barely-grown adult know? Just raise him well until then. When he turns eighteen, tell him to sign everything over to you. Out of gratitude, he’ll do it without question.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Use force if you want. Trick him if you want. I won’t interfere. Just raise him properly until he’s grown.”
Honestly, Ji-hyuk had no reason to refuse.
Raising a child would be a hassle, sure—but the housekeepers could handle most of it.
As his father said, all he had to do was build a good rapport with the kid, then get him to sign his shares over the year he became legally an adult.
Meaning: his nephew was a powerful weapon for climbing all the way to Chairman.
But now what?
The full-time housekeeper was being switched to commuting?
Meaning once she went home, all childcare would fall on him?
“Father.”
When Ji-hyuk called again, Jae-wang replied a beat later.
“Once Madam Shim leaves for the day, of course you’ll watch Do-ha.”
“God. You’re trying to kill me. I can’t even sleep because of work.”
“Parents don’t sleep when they raise kids. That’s normal.”
Ji-hyuk let out a disbelieving laugh.
“You need to hold him every day, change diapers, bathe him. Only if you put in the work will he grow attached to you.”
“…”
“Only then, when he’s older, will he sign whatever documents you put in front of him.”
“I’ll take care of that myself—”
“No. While you’re raising him, you raise him with love. That’s my condition. Aside from your working hours, you take care of him properly.”
“I’m not even married—”
“Right. Do you need a woman?”
He was going to lose his mind.
Forget a woman—he didn’t have the bandwidth to think about anything besides work. And now childcare?
“Fine. Even if the child isn’t yours, I’ll find a decent woman who’ll help you raise him with love. Get ready to start meeting candidates next week.”
Unbelievable.
Childcare wasn’t enough—they wanted him going on arranged dates too?
Find a woman, marry her if the conditions fit, and raise this kid together until he’s legally an adult?
This wasn’t an opportunity—it was a chain around his neck.
God… just collapse the sky on me. Flip the earth upside down. End this.
Ji-hyuk shut his eyes tight and prayed.
Then he heard Jae-wang stand.
A sharp smack landed on his forehead.
He opened his eyes to see his father shaking his hand.
“What?”
“Give it.”
“What?”
“Cigarettes.”
Ji-hyuk didn’t even have the energy to argue.
He took the pack out of his jacket and handed it over.
“You’re raising a kid, dumbass. No smoking from today.”
He said nothing.
Then a thought flashed through his mind.
That forehead flick had actually been helpful.
He could just secretly hire another helper for after Madam Shim left. Right?
Unaware of Ji-hyuk’s plotting, Jae-wang headed toward the door.
“Oh—and.”
He stopped and turned back, issuing a warning.
“If you hire another helper without permission, you’re breaking the agreement.”
…You’ve got to be kidding me.
“I’m leaving.”
Ji-hyuk clenched his fists, forcing down the surge of anger.
