You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 536

As the conversation continued, dinner time soon arrived.

With a single call from Go Sang-jun, the head chef of the hotel’s French restaurant personally came to the suite.

Go Sang-jun made the head chef stand at attention and began to list the chef’s career achievements to Kim Chan-young.

He explained that the chef had started his career as the head chef in a quiet provincial town in France.

And soon after his recruitment, word spread that the food had dramatically improved, and customers began traveling from afar to dine there.

Within a few months, the restaurant had earned two stars in the Michelin Guide.

Since then, several global luxury hotel chains had offered him positions, but he ultimately chose this hotel.

The head chef, expressing his ambition to receive three stars once the Michelin Guide expanded to Korea, where no restaurants were yet listed, began to describe the dishes being served.

“How is it? Is it good?” Go Sang-jun asked, swallowing the grilled scallops that were served as an amuse-bouche [a small, palate-awakening appetizer], with a satisfied expression.

Even if it hadn’t suited his taste, Chan-young knew he would have to say it did, judging by Go Sang-jun’s pleased expression.

But, to his surprise, it was quite delicious.

“It’s a taste perfectly suited for celebrating the day I become a member of the Go family.”

By the time the hour-long meal was over and he had finished the chocolate dessert, Go Sang-jun was in a noticeably good mood.

The combination of the whiskey he drank before the meal and the wine paired with each course had clearly affected him.

He didn’t seem outright drunk, but his judgment was definitely impaired.

“My uncle said it was okay, but putting me in my uncle’s registry is just the first step towards my father acknowledging me as his son. But I’m worried about my aunt. And my older brothers and sister….”

“It’s my decision. I don’t care what anyone says.”

“Yes, but I’m worried about unnecessary conflicts. You know what I mean by bringing this up.”

Go Yoon-ho and Go Yoon-seok had raided Jo Yeon-dong’s hideout because they were worried that Go Sang-jun might divorce their mother.

Of course, at first, they only intended to make some petty threats to Kim Hwa-young, but they assaulted her when the housekeeper wouldn’t let them in, and even tried to frame Kim Hwa-young for murder after she died.

The Go family members are capable of anything once they feel threatened.

“It was Yoon-soo who first told me that you were being recognized in the strategy office. Yoon-soo cares about you quite a bit, even if he doesn’t show it.”

The reason Go Yoon-soo cared about Kim Chan-young wasn’t because he thought that even if Kim Chan-young was an illegitimate child, a brother was still a brother.

As his younger siblings were being investigated by the Ministry of Justice one after another, he had to think of an alternative, and Kim Chan-young happened to be a very talented individual.

Moreover, Kim Chan-young, being an illegitimate child, was like a time bomb that could explode at any moment, so he probably calculated that he should keep him close and under control.

Knowing this, Go Sang-jun’s attempts to sugarcoat the situation were meaningless.

“Your aunt will be persuaded by Yoon-soo. Anyway, your aunt has no real right to object. Isn’t she the one who made things worse by saying strange things in front of her children? And Yoon-seok and Yoon-ho? What can those guys even say?”

“Then what about Yoon-sung and Yoon-joo….”

As soon as Go Yoon-sung’s name was mentioned, Go Sang-jun sighed.

“Yoon-sung was excluded from parole consideration because he caused an incident in prison. I don’t care whether that kind of guy objects or not. Yoon-joo is always on your aunt’s side, so of course, there will be a big backlash.”

Among Go Sang-jun’s children from his legal wife, Yoon Sung-hee, the only ones who could be considered truly capable were the eldest son and daughter, Go Yoon-soo and Go Yoon-joo.

However, Go Yoon-joo had long been uninterested in corporate management and had publicly stated that she would only work for the foundation run by her mother, Yoon Sung-hee.

Go Sang-jun, who had planned to give his eldest daughter a large affiliate in the future, tried to pressure her into a position, but Go Yoon-soo, who had returned from completing an MBA program overseas, intervened, saying that he had even obtained the degree his father wanted, so he would live his life as he wished.

Go Sang-jun regretted her choice, but soon thought it was rather fortunate.

From the moment she first learned about Go Sang-jun’s affair until now, Go Yoon-joo was filled with deep pity for her mother, Yoon Sung-hee, and resentment towards Go Sang-jun.

“But if Yoon-soo succeeds in persuading your aunt, Yoon-joo won’t cause any major problems either. Yoon-joo thinks her mother is the most pitiful person in the world. Since her mother has accepted it, she won’t try to do anything that would harm the family.”

Yoon Sung-hee may not be the most pitiful person in the world, but Go Sang-jun certainly shouldn’t be the one saying that.

She was born into privilege as the precious daughter of the owner of Iljung Ilbo [a major newspaper], and she was in a position to be respected no matter which family she married into.

When you think about it, she was only pitiful in that she married the wrong man.

Of course, Yoon Sung-hee had tried to send Kim Chan-young abroad for adoption immediately after he was born, and even tried to sell Kim Hwa-young to an overseas brothel.

However, if Go Sang-jun hadn’t had an affair in the first place, she wouldn’t have even considered doing such heinous things.

It was all an abnormality created by Go Sang-jun’s own actions.

“Don’t worry too much.”

“I’m not worried. Of course, I have to endure it, but I’m just worried that my father might experience unnecessary stress.”

Go Sang-jun smiled faintly.

He was clearly thinking that same old thought: ‘how great would it be if that kid was a legitimate child’.

“Then, Father, isn’t there a Go family welcome kit or something?”

Kim Chan-young thought it would be good to change the subject and spoke with a smile.

“Welcome kit?”

“They gave me a welcome kit when I joined Wooshin Corporation. Isn’t it a way to inspire new employees’ loyalty to the company?”

Bringing up a welcome kit ultimately implied that becoming a family was also a business transaction.

It wasn’t just about being grateful for being accepted into the Go family, but also a suggestion that he should be motivated to dedicate himself to the family’s interests.

Go Sang-jun crossed his arms and looked at his audacious son.

“So, what do you want to receive?”

“Actually, it’s something I’ve been planning for a while, but since things have turned out this way, I thought it would be nice if I could get my father’s help.”

“Tell me.”

“Do you remember me saying before that I wanted to build a house to my liking and live in it?”

“I remember.”

He didn’t seem to remember, but it didn’t matter.

“There’s a detached house up for auction in a nice neighborhood. It’s close to the company, and it’s also close to your main house. So I’m thinking of bidding on it. The lot size is quite large, and the floor area ratio isn’t bad, so I think I can build the house I want.”

“Really? If it’s near the company and my house, the necessary funds will be quite substantial.”

“Yes. The lot size is about 200 pyeong [approximately 7,200 square feet], and it will cost about 2.8 billion won [approximately $2.1 million USD] to win the bid. But since I’m going to tear down that building and build a new house, I’ll need about 4 billion won [approximately $3 million USD] if I consider construction costs and various registration fees. I’m still thinking about the materials, but it might cost up to 4.5 billion won [approximately $3.4 million USD] if I use expensive ones.”

“That’s quite a shortage of funds. Are you asking me to support those funds?”

“No. I have the funds.”

“You have the funds? Are you going to sell the villa you’re living in now?”

“That villa is in my mother’s name, how can I sell it? I’ve been saving the allowance you’ve been giving me little by little, and I’ve saved quite a bit.”

“The allowance I gave you? I did give you Myunghwa Pharmaceutical stocks, but that’s….”

The Myunghwa Pharmaceutical stock became worthless.

It was Cha Joo-han’s doing.

Go Sang-jun couldn’t continue and closed his mouth.

It was a long time ago, but he seemed quite upset.

“You didn’t just give me Myunghwa Pharmaceutical stock. You also gave me cash.”

“The cash wasn’t much. So are you going to sell the stock?”

“No, I’m not going to sell what you gave me. I just sold the stocks you gave me a long time ago at a high price and bought them back at a low price, and I’ve been saving seed money little by little. I reinvested that money elsewhere. So I’m maintaining almost the same amount of stock you gave me.”

Go Sang-jun liked this smart son even more.

He already knew that he had been good at studying since he was young and that he had a pretty quick mind.

Kim Hwa-young had occasionally told Go Sang-jun that his son was like a genius, but Go Sang-jun laughed it off, thinking it was a common delusion of parents with children.

You can’t call someone a genius just because they’re a little smart.

There are already so many people that smart in the entire Wooshin Group that you can trip over them.

But he didn’t know that his son, who wasn’t even thirty, in his late twenties, had managed to raise billions of won by trading stocks.

Moreover, the stock he had given him as a gift was still there.

“Where did you invest?”

“Ah, it’s a trade secret. What should I do?”

As Kim Chan-young smiled shyly, Go Sang-jun burst into laughter.

He still didn’t think Kim Chan-young was a genius.

However, he had no choice but to admit that he had underestimated him too much.

He regretted even more that Kim Chan-young was not a member of the main family.

There are many children who try to act like they know what he’s thinking, but Kim Chan-young and Go Yoon-soo are the only ones who don’t irritate him.

Of course, Go Sang-jun didn’t think that Kim Chan-young always told the truth.

He suspected everyone and didn’t fully believe anything, no matter how sincere it seemed.

Nevertheless, the fact that he had gained a certain level of trust from Go Sang-jun was proof that he knew how to read people’s minds.

“Then what kind of help do you want to receive?”

“It’s about the design.”

“Design? Don’t you have an architect you like?” Go Sang-jun asked, as if surprised.

Knowing the construction cost, he thought he had already contacted a design office.

“Um, no. That’s not it, but what I want are people who will keep secrets. I want to create a space in the house that only I know about. But I can’t do everything from designing to building myself, so I have no choice but to entrust it to someone I can trust.”

“If it’s a space only you know about, does that mean you need a safe or something?”

“It will serve that role, but a safe is just something you can install. I don’t mean that. I’d like the space to be a bit bigger. I also want to store important documents……. I’ve thought about bank vaults or private vaults, but no matter how I think about it, it seems inconvenient. And you might think it’s just a worry, but something might happen to me in the distant future. It seems that even if you hide it well, it will be revealed if the investigative authorities come in.”

Go Sang-jun immediately understood what Kim Chan-young was saying.

When you build a building, you must submit the design documents to the district office.

But Kim Chan-young wants to have a space that even the district office doesn’t know about.

It was a familiar concept for Go Sang-jun.

He created two sets of blueprints not only for his main residence but also for some of the villas located throughout Korea, and when building the Reborn Medical Center and Okashima Hospital.

Selecting an architect to carry out this task was not an easy task either.

He put his heart and soul into choosing someone who would never betray him, even if something big happened and everyone turned against Go Sang-jun, or even if they were promised a great reward.

The same was true for the workers who would be involved in the construction.

The workers would just do as they were told, but in the case of buildings that were not very large, the blueprints could easily be seen on site.

So he had to find an architect who would handle the work while sharing only the minimum amount of information with the workers.

“Really?”

“I’m not saying that I don’t think I’m worrying too much. But it’s never bad to prepare in advance.”

Kim Chan-young said casually, but at that moment, Go Sang-jun became curious.

Was Kim Chan-young simply asking Go Sang-jun, who had the widest network of contacts around him, because he wanted to be introduced to a trustworthy architect, or was he doing this because he knew something?