Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 4

4. 2nd. A New Button Sewn (2)

“Please take care going back.”

“Hmph.”

Park Tae-jin bowed politely to Jang Su-yeon as she left the hospital room. However, Jang Su-yeon didn’t respond, just snorted dismissively and stormed out.

She had barely managed to restrain herself from unleashing a torrent of abuse on Lee Sung-min, and she certainly wasn’t going to acknowledge the greeting of some insignificant employee from the Lee family.

The moment the elevator doors closed, confirming she was alone, Jang Su-yeon bit her lip and muttered venomously.

“That arrogant bastard…”

She hadn’t liked anything about him from the start.

Lee Sung-min, as if knowing his place, had entered Seoul National University’s business administration program at the top of his class, and his family was wealthy enough to exploit—a decent pushover. Such a high-end slave was hard to find.

“Did he hurt his head in the accident? Why is he suddenly acting like this?”

Jang Su-yeon frowned, her face twisted in annoyance.

“Does he have something to rely on? I need to look into this more. Why isn’t this closing?”

Jang Su-yeon gritted her teeth, hammering the close button on the elevator as if to break it.

###

After Jang Su-yeon disappeared in a huff.

Jang Ha-yeon and Park Tae-jin stood facing each other in the hospital hallway. Jang Ha-yeon subtly closed the door to the room so Sung-min could rest.

“I’m sorry, Senior. I’ll apologize for Su-yeon.”

Jang Ha-yeon lowered her head, her hands holding her handbag in front of her. Park Tae-jin waved his hand.

“It’s nothing, Miss. I’m just an employee. Don’t worry about it, haha.”

Jang Ha-yeon smiled at Park Tae-jin, who laughed as if it were nothing.

“Thank you for understanding, Senior. But… Sung-min seems to have changed a lot. He wasn’t like this before…”

Jang Ha-yeon trailed off, then carefully added as if getting to the main point.

“He’s not going to drive them again, is he? Sports cars.”

“You know how the Chairman feels about sports cars, Miss. Until now, he’s let it go out of sympathy for the young master who lost his parents, but after this accident, it’s over. Even if the young master insists, he won’t stand for it.”

Only after hearing Park Tae-jin’s words did Jang Ha-yeon breathe a sigh of relief, but her face still didn’t look clear.

“Seeing him today, I still feel like I have a long way to go.”

“What do you mean, Miss?”

“Sung-min was always reading history books. I was surprised when he said he was going to study business administration… I only realized the reason today.”

Jang Ha-yeon had thought Lee Sung-min’s entry into Seoul National University’s business administration program was just a whim. But today, she realized that he couldn’t break free from the constraints of being the eldest grandson, the expectations placed upon him, and that’s why he went to business administration.

Jang Ha-yeon felt a strange sense of kinship with Lee Sung-min, just as she had given up art and gone into business administration because she couldn’t meet her father Jang Ho-gun’s expectations.

“It can’t be helped. He’s not only the eldest grandson of the 70-year-old Haedong Group, but also a descendant of the Jeonju Lee clan.”

“Ah… that’s right.”

Only then did Jang Ha-yeon remember another fact she had forgotten.

The Haedong Group, a Jeonju Lee clan [a prominent Korean clan] that had entered the business world and amassed enormous wealth in both the legitimate and shadow economies.

Even though he had become a businessman, he was still the eldest grandson who would inherit the family and the group, so Lee Dae-soo couldn’t help but care.

Seeing Jang Ha-yeon let out a soft exclamation, Park Tae-jin continued in a calm voice.

“The Chairman allowed the young master to drive sports cars as compensation for giving up his own dreams while upholding his wishes. Moreover, how could any grandfather object when he said he wanted to drive the car he used to ride in with the late President and his wife?”

Only after hearing Park Tae-jin’s words did Jang Ha-yeon breathe a sigh of relief, but she also felt sorry for Lee Dae-soo. No matter how much she liked Lee Sung-min, could it compare to the deep affection between a grandfather and grandson connected by blood?

“Please tell Sung-min I’m sorry. I stopped him because I didn’t want him to get hurt, but I was short-sighted.”

“It’s nothing, Miss. I’m just glad that the young master seems to understand your feelings. However…”

Park Tae-jin’s expression hardened as he continued.

“We’ll have to watch him more closely, but since the young master seems to have changed, I hope you’ll see him differently as well.”

“See him differently?”

Park Tae-jin smiled at Jang Ha-yeon, who blinked her eyes.

“I hope you’ll see the young master as a man, not just a younger brother. I know it’s presumptuous, but I ask you to do so.”

Seeing Park Tae-jin bow respectfully, Jang Ha-yeon hurriedly waved her hand.

“Please don’t, Senior. I’ll keep what you’ve said in mind.”

Only then did Park Tae-jin straighten his back.

“Thank you, Miss. And… you grow fond of what you see.”

Park Tae-jin gave a gentle smile as he watched Jang Ha-yeon quietly repeat his words.

“It’s the same for the young master, but if you’re going to see him in a new light, you’ll have to build new affection.”

Jang Ha-yeon knew what that meant. Wasn’t it a message that she had to change her attitude of only seeing Lee Sung-min as a younger brother in order to form a deeper relationship?

Jang Ha-yeon nodded and looked at Park Tae-jin. Thanks to the advice she received from him, who was not only a senior from university but also a senior in life, her face was brighter than when she had entered the hospital room.

“Thank you, Senior.”

“It’s nothing, Miss. I’m just grateful that you accepted my short-sighted thoughts. Please take care going back.”

Jang Ha-yeon received Park Tae-jin’s farewell and walked down the hospital hallway with a lighter step than when she had come.

Before leaving the hospital, Jang Ha-yeon turned her head and thought again about who she had just met.

Was it because she had listened to her senior’s words? It seemed like there was a man with piercing eyes there, not a younger brother to take care of.

***

I was sitting propped up in bed, lost in thought, when the door opened and Park Tae-jin came in.

“Did they both leave?”

“Yes, Young Master. Miss Su-yeon seemed to have something urgent and left the hospital quickly.”

Jang Su-yeon’s intentions were so transparent that I didn’t even feel like snorting dismissively. She came to make me a slave to her siblings, but now that things have gone wrong, she’ll try other ways to seduce me.

Keep trying. I’ve been through this for 23 years. Do you think I’ll fall for it so easily?

The corners of my lips twitched because of Jang Su-yeon, who must be racking her brains right now. I asked Park Tae-jin, who was chuckling at me.

“What about Ha-yeon?”

“Miss Ha-yeon was talking to me outside and went back.”

Jang Ha-yeon and Park Tae-jin already had a close friendship, unrelated to me. They were both from the same business administration department at Seoul National University, but also friends who recognized each other’s worth and stayed close. I wanted to hear what those two had talked about.

“What did she say?”

“She said you seem to have changed a lot. And…”

Listening to the story of what the two had said outside the hospital room, I felt like my heart was going to burst. She finally understood my feelings and even felt sorry…

Park Tae-jin looked at me, who was flushed like a teenager. His face was full of satisfaction as he looked at me, but…

“He seems to have matured, but also not… I don’t know what to make of it, haha.”

“You too, Hyung [older brother/male friend]…”

I scratched the back of my head out of embarrassment, but seeing Park Tae-jin’s bright smile made my heart lighter. I never thought I’d see that warm smile again after 23 years.

Nevertheless, there was something I needed to confirm with him.

“Hyung.”

Park Tae-jin opened his mouth, slightly nervous, as I looked at him with a rare serious expression.

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Did we ever go to the Incheon warehouse together?”

I asked cautiously, but Park Tae-jin just blinked.

“What are you talking about, Young Master? Incheon warehouse?”

“You know, the one where I was beaten to a pulp…”

I spoke awkwardly about the things that had happened before, and Park Tae-jin, who had been listening seriously, suddenly frowned. Ho, could it be that Hyung is the same as me?

“Could it be that you still have aftereffects from the accident?”

Park Tae-jin hurriedly tried to call a nurse.

“No, it’s okay. It’s okay!”

“Are you really okay, Young Master?”

“Don’t worry. I was just joking.”

“Even in the Myeongdong loan shark market, such things are rare. Even if it’s psychological pressure, taking lives is extremely rare. Moreover.”

Park Tae-jin paused with a stiff face and continued.

“The lenders under the Chairman in Myeongdong are far from such low-quality work, Young Master. Even in the shadows, they maintain a minimum level of dignity, so I hope you don’t misunderstand.”

“Right, right? Haha.”

The fact that my family’s loan shark organization was a classy organization (?) was not important. I gave an awkward laugh, feeling bitter that I was the only one who had returned.

But.

From now on, things can be different.

I can live happily and stylishly with the people around me, without repeating the twisted past.

I no longer needed to be someone else’s hunting dog, and I didn’t need to be greedy to become the Chairman. The crown of Chairman is just a facade; all I need to do is seize the territory and power that suit that crown.

For me now, wearing the crown is a self-defeating move.

Considering my family’s hidden wealth, which only my grandfather knows, and the Haedong Group, which is insignificant in comparison, it would be bombarded and disappear by other groups, or politicians and high-ranking officials who are attached to them, before it even grows.

So, I have to wear the crown that I create and use when no one can restrain me, my family, or the Haedong Group.

At the same time, there were two things I had to do.

‘Jang Ha-yeon, this time I’ll make you my woman.’

I couldn’t miss her again. That foolish past where we realized each other’s importance only after becoming sister-in-law and brother-in-law was enough with just one time. And…

‘I’ll crush those Jang bastards bit by bit.’

Together with Jang Ha-yeon, who was oppressed by her in-laws except for Jang Ho-gun because she was an illegitimate child, I will devour the Shinseong Group with the Haedong Group that I will raise, and turn all the people in her in-law’s family into beggars under my feet.

To achieve all of that, I had to settle the car issue for sure.

“Hyung.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“You told Grandpa I woke up, right?”

“Yes, Young Master. He said he’ll come as soon as his schedule is over.”

Grandfather prioritizing work over his grandson lying in the hospital… In this era of the past, I resented him without reason, but after living enough and coming back, I could understand my grandfather.

So, disposing of the car had to be a gesture to give my grandfather confidence that I had changed.

I ordered Park Tae-jin to do something I hadn’t said in front of the two half-sisters.

“Draw up a written oath that I’ll sell the car. That if I personally drive a sports car in the future, I’ll give up my inheritance. Both from my paternal and maternal families.”

“Young Master?”

Park Tae-jin wanted to confirm my feelings with a surprised face, but I had no intention of taking back what I had just said.

“There’s no need to be surprised. If I’m still racing in this state, I’m an idiot.”

There was something I wanted to confirm out of concern.

“…Still, Ho-gun Uncle also touched it, so it’ll be caught… but he’ll buy it, right?”

“He’ll buy it. Even if Chairman Jang touched it, how can it compare to the touch of the President and the Young Master? Don’t worry, haha.”

I felt relieved when I heard Park Tae-jin’s refreshing laughter. He was the person my grandfather had raised like his youngest son, so I didn’t think I needed to worry.

“That’s a relief. This fact must never leak out. You know what I mean, right?”

“I understand, Young Master.”

Park Tae-jin, who had gotten up from his seat, bowed lightly and left the hospital room.

Only after confirming that I was alone did all the tension drain away, and I collapsed on the bed. It was a series of absurd events, so it still felt like I was dreaming, but now everything felt certain.

I had returned.

I don’t know what kind of divine prank this is, but I will never waste this opportunity.