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Chapter 12
Tae-geon let out a weary sigh and slumped against a nearby chair.
He had wanted, even briefly, to check on Hyun-jung’s condition since coming here, but it seemed impossible for today.
He knew his grandfather’s temper too well. If he didn’t leave right away, it was certain that the old man would dig up the truth about the woman he had spent the night with.
Since this was the first time he had ever reacted to a woman, his grandfather would go to any lengths to keep her near him—Hyun-jung’s situation be damned.
He hadn’t even been able to confirm her leg injury, nor exchange the words of the past they should have shared. And now, with his grandfather badgering him relentlessly, fatigue washed over him. Tae-geon pressed his long fingers against the bridge of his nose.
While waiting for Seon-woo to arrive, his gaze drifted toward the mirror beside him.
The reflection staring back was a wreck. His hair, damp with sweat and snow, clung messily over his forehead. His coat was heavy with moisture, his face and hands streaked with soot—the day’s ordeals plainly etched into his appearance.
“…I look a mess.”
No matter how many videos of him had circulated on social media, he couldn’t allow his grandfather to see him in this state.
He headed to the washroom, turned on the tap, and let lukewarm water run over his hands.
“……”
The hands that had saved Hyun-jung trembled faintly. The delayed realization struck him: if he hadn’t arrived at that precise moment… what would have become of her? A chill crawled down his spine.
Staring at his reflection, Tae-geon made a silent vow—he would never let Jo Jae-seok stay by Hyun-jung’s side.
* * *
The road back up to Seoul was a nightmare, blanketed in heavy, ceaseless snow. Cars crawled like tortoises, but the fact they were still moving at all was a blessing.
“Secretary Kim, you’ve done well today. You must be exhausted. Go home and rest.”
“It’s nothing, sir. I’ll see you safely in first.”
Seon-woo had likely waited outside the hotel all night for him yesterday. Today, he had followed him onto the highway to rescue Hyun-jung and the others, and then driven tirelessly through the snowstorm. His fatigue was obvious.
And yet, Seon-woo insisted on waiting loyally. Tae-geon finally issued a firm order as the car pulled up beneath the mansion’s high stone wall, signal light blinking.
“Grandfather may not let me leave tonight. Go home. Get in touch with the hospital staff, and report back. Tomorrow I’ll go alone—take the day off.”
Obedient as ever, Seon-woo stepped out, opened Tae-geon’s car door, and bowed.
His own clothes were in disarray, streaked with soot from the rescue and crumpled from the drive to the hospital where Hyun-jung was admitted. Straightening his coat, Tae-geon rang the mansion bell.
Though no one came and went from this sprawling estate, the garden paths were already cleared of snow. At the front steps, Kang Ho-baek was waiting. Hands clasped behind his back, he tried to look composed, but the eagerness in his eyes betrayed him. He looked as if he barely restrained himself from shouting at Tae-geon to hurry.
“Why are you waiting outside?”
At Tae-geon’s question, Kang Ho-baek replied at once.
“I was too curious to sit still.”
“Let’s go inside first.”
Though his hair was white, Kang Ho-baek’s physique was still robust, nearly rivaling his grandson’s. His health wouldn’t have faltered from a short conversation outdoors, but Tae-geon knew the old man wouldn’t let him go until his curiosity was satisfied.
As soon as they sat on the sofa, hot tea was set before them.
“I don’t need the details. Just get married before the year ends.”
His endless prying was exhausting enough, but now he was ordering marriage outright.
“You wouldn’t involve yourself with a married woman. If she’s caught your eye, then her looks are surely worth noting.”
“No matter what, marriage is out of the question.”
“But if you were close enough to sleep with her, I’d hardly call that casual.”
Tae-geon smirked coldly at his grandfather’s deliberate choice of words. The old man knew perfectly well he wasn’t so easily baited.
And claiming nothing had happened would never convince him, so Tae-geon answered bluntly.
“I used protection.”
“There’s no such thing as one hundred percent foolproof protection!”
“I take it you already asked your physician about that.”
“Ahem… Whatever the case, set the date this year.”
Kang Ho-baek, who had risen from back-alley thug to loan-shark magnate, was unyielding. Once the words left his mouth, Tae-geon knew he would stop at nothing to make it happen.
The reason? A shaman called Chae-ryeong Bosal had declared that Tae-geon must marry before year’s end for his grandfather to live a long, healthy life. Absurd as it was, Kang Ho-baek had taken it to heart. He had already arranged blind dates, and even sent women to the bars Tae-geon frequented, though he never exchanged more than a word or two with them.
And Tae-geon knew full well that mere excuses would never sway his grandfather.
“If I meet someone I truly care for, I’ll consider it.”
“Wasn’t Seo Hyun-jung the one you cared for? Isn’t that why you saved her from that car on the verge of exploding?”
“…Grandfather.”
He had suspected the truth might already be known, but since nothing had been said, he had convinced himself his grandfather was sparing him. Yet at Hyun-jung’s name, Tae-geon’s expression darkened with unmistakable hostility.
Kang Ho-baek pressed on, words rattling out like gunfire.
“There’s been talk of her engagement with the youngest of Jo Construction for years, but the fact they’re still not married means something’s off. Whether it’s politics or feelings, something’s wrong there.”
“My marriage is my business. And I trust that you, knowing everything you do, will not make things harder for Miss Seo.”
He deliberately kept his words distant regarding his childhood ties with Hyun-jung, knowing they weren’t easy to trace.
“You’re my only blood left. Is it too much to want to see a great-grandchild before I die?”
“I’ll decide my marriage. Perhaps you’ll see children from your own sons first.”
“You mean to tell me you don’t even covet my fortune? No one else can lay a finger on it, and I’ve sworn to give it all to you!”
Tae-geon had toiled through countless ordeals to help build the empire from loan-sharking into a legitimate second-tier financial institution. But he had never desired the inheritance—he only wanted to preserve the honor of the mother who raised him alone. His grandfather knew this well.
And precisely because of that, Kang Ho-baek only hungered for him more.
“You’ll live long and well even if I don’t marry this year.”
With that, Tae-geon rose and walked toward the room he had used as a boy.
“You stubborn mule…”
Kang Ho-baek slammed his fist onto the sofa armrest, but as he watched his grandson’s broad back retreat, a smile tugged at his lips.
Stubbornness was in their blood. And Tae-geon, a spitting image of him, was his greatest pride.
He pulled up his phone gallery and replayed a video his secretary had saved for him.
Against a flurry of heavy snow, his stalwart grandson appeared like a scene from a film, rescuing victims one by one from the wrecked car.
“Ha! A superman, that’s what he is. Look at him—my grandson!”
Though the video was filmed from too far away to catch his face in detail, his striking presence seemed to leap through the screen.
Over and over, Kang Ho-baek replayed it, all the while plotting how best to link Seo Hyun-jung to Tae-geon.
“A proper girl would never turn down my Tae-geon. Compared to that rat-faced Jo Jae-seok, my boy is a thousand times better. No—ten thousand times!”
In his mind’s eye, Tae-geon and Hyun-jung were already married with two or three children, growing strong and tall.
* * *
“Doctor, is Hyun-jung going to be all right? She hasn’t woken since the injection earlier.”
“Don’t worry. The surgical pain must be severe. We’ve administered narcotic painkillers and a sedative, so she’ll wake once it wears off.”
“A sedative… But when she was awake earlier, she didn’t even recognize her family or her fiancé. She will once she wakes again, won’t she?”
Young-wook and Myung-hee looked anxiously at Hyun-jung’s still face as they questioned the attending physician.
“…We’ll likely need to run additional tests.”
