Chapter 58: Retirement and Rebellion

After the call ended.

‘What the hell is this guy thinking?’

Assistant Manager Hwang Young-sik tilted his head repeatedly. It was simply too out of the blue.

Seo-jun had ignored him and Shinhwa to sign with Sekyeong, scored a mega-hit, and now he wanted to talk about a contract again?

‘Is he enjoying this?’

After a moment of thought, Hwang Young-sik nodded. Indeed, how many chances did an underdog get to act like this toward a major corporation?

“Arrogant bastard. Ah, seriously. I need to find a day to properly strip him bare.”

Hwang Young-sik suppressed the boiling anger inside. For now, Seo-jun wasn’t the priority.

‘Everyone is here.’

In his father’s large study, the siblings had finally all arrived. All ten competitors were present, without exception. Of course, this included his current boss, President Hwang Hye-gyeong.

‘But how is Father going to bring it up?’

The illegitimate child. Serving a prison sentence on someone else’s behalf.

Both were topics that were difficult to even mention. However, if Hwang Young-sik’s guess was right, both had to be brought up here.

“I am planning to prepare for my retirement soon.”

“!”

And when his father finally spoke, Hwang Young-sik literally felt a shiver run down his spine.

‘This is it!’

Yes. No further explanation was needed.

Retirement. That one word was enough.

‘Father has never once spoken about a successor until now.’

Naturally, he never mentioned outdated principles like primogeniture. Biting, fighting, and killing—he wanted them to survive through competition, even with their own flesh and blood. Of course, the evaluation of that process was entirely subjective.

“I must also decide on a successor to follow me. I intend to look at not just personal ability, but also company loyalty.”

His father took it even further. “Company loyalty” was just a nice way of putting it.

— Shinhwa is me.

That was something his father always said like a habit. In other words, another name for company loyalty was personal loyalty to him.

‘My father isn’t going to make it easy until the very end.’

Hwang Young-sik glanced around. Naturally, his siblings’ reactions were no different. Soon, one of them would place a bet with their life on the line.

‘He’s the best avoidant personality I’ve ever seen.’

Hwang Young-sik nodded. This was something he really should learn.

‘Well, it has nothing to do with me anyway.’

As he said repeatedly, he had absolutely no intention of going to prison on someone else’s behalf at his prime age. Therefore,

‘I have to prove my abilities even more desperately.’

The chances were low, but what if no one stepped up? Then his father would try to send the most useless relative.

—

I quietly looked around the vast field.

‘As expected, the apple trees are growing well.’

They hadn’t borne fruit yet, but as expected, any crop here grew rapidly day by day. It was enough to make me think I might actually see fruit during the fall. Especially since the weather had become much hotter recently due to global warming, and the peak season was still more than one month away.

“Seol-ah! Let’s play!”

“!”

My body flinched for a moment. This was one of the changes in our house lately—ever since Seol-ah had started staying here in earnest. Rumors had spread quickly, and the neighborhood kids her age would come to visit at any moment.

“Okay!”

The important thing was that Baek Seol, the rising star of Goseong, welcomed the children quite warmly.

‘Am I jealous?’

Actually, this was normal for Seol-ah. She was at the age to mingle with peers. Furthermore, there were only a handful of children in this rural area. Didn’t some village in the countryside throw a festival just because a newborn was born?

‘Unlike the various terrible cases and accidents I dealt with as a prosecutor, there were quite a few stories that naturally touched my heart.’

The most memorable anecdote was an anonymous donation sent to the local district head.

[Expecting the laughter of grandchildren who are being forgotten.

The alleys where I lived as a child.
The scenery of the elementary school.
Even the playground full of people.

Times were hard, but it was a town where many children’s faces were filled with laughter. However, at some point, the sound of children’s laughter stopped in this town. It has clearly become a better era to make a living, but now it is not even easy to see a child in the neighborhood. Therefore, I would like to cast a small seed to overcome this crisis.

I am sending a small angel birth celebration fund for this new life, so I hope this seed will become a fertilizer…

P.S.: I will continue to send celebration funds for the birth of children in our neighborhood as long as I am alive.]

Currently, there are less than ten children around Seol-ah’s age in our neighborhood. So, it’s not that I hate this situation.

I definitely don’t, but…

“You’re pretty today too!”

“I brought steamed potatoes from home. Want to try some?”

“I have a flower… Of course, this can’t be eaten, and it’s not as pretty as Seol-ah, but!”

A faint smile formed on my lips.

‘No, I do hate it.’

Yes. I denied it because I felt like a pathetic adult, but let’s admit it now.

‘Should I kill those little brats? Or let them live?’

The gazes of the older boys looking at Seol-ah were particularly unusual. Of course, I didn’t mean I’d actually kill them, but if I just kicked them out saying we had an appointment…

‘Ah, what am I doing?’

Feeling pathetic, I wiped my face with my dry hands. A parent’s top priority should be the child’s emotions, not their own feelings!

‘She wants to hang out with her friends, and if I step in and make a mess, would that be right?’

Of course, our Seol-ah is a good child who would shout “Okay!” as long as her uncle is by her side.

‘Don’t ever stop playing with your uncle because you find him boring and only want to play with your friends, Seol-ah…’

As I tried to swallow my tears and let the children go.

*Vrrr!*

“…Hmm?”

My body jolted. A very welcome name had popped up on the vibrating screen.

“Brother?”

— The great me has returned!

It was finally my brother, who had returned to the country.

— You went through a lot of trouble taking care of Seol-ah! I’ve come back with both hands full, so look forward to it!

“…I told you that you don’t have to buy things like that.”

We’re rich now, Brother. You don’t have to go overseas just to buy things cheaper duty-free anymore.

— Gifts are up to the giver. Anyway, Seol-ah is next to you, right? I want to talk to her.

“You’re looking for your daughter quite quickly.”

— Did something happen?

Suddenly, I felt a playful urge.

“Yeah. Something happened.”

— …What?

The voice on the other end immediately became serious.

— What? Did something happen to Seol-ah? Is she sick? Or did she eat something wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything? You’re making me anxious…!

“Brother.”

— Yeah! I’m listening, so tell me quickly!

“The boys in this neighborhood are hitting on Seol-ah right now.”

— …?

The voice that had been chattering stopped. And after a moment.

— What did you just say?

“It’s exactly as it sounds. Right in front of me, an older boy is giving Seol-ah food and flowers. It’s total chaos.”

— …And you’re just watching?

“Then what should I do? Should I snatch the flowers and stomp on them like in a drama, or throw water in his face?”

— …

This time, it took a long time for a response to come back.

— I’m flying over right now, so keep a close watch. Make sure those males don’t do anything foolish to our Seol-ah!

“Yeah. You’re craving Korean food, right? I’ll have a meal ready.”

— Your answer?

“Got it.”

With that, the call ended.

‘Sorry, kids. It’s because I’m a pathetic adult.’

I looked at the boys holding Seol-ah’s hands on either side in the distance with a look of pity.

“Still, my parents will be happy to see their eldest son after a long time.”

“Is anyone home!?”

“!”

At that moment, the voice of an adult was heard for the first time. It came from the direction of our front gate. I had a guess as to who the guest might be.

‘He’s finally here, my sucker!’

I ran straight across the field toward the gate. However,

“…Huh?”

The moment I saw the guest, I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks. Aside from the fact that it wasn’t the person I expected.

“Director Bong Ha-gyun?”

The guest was someone completely unexpected.

“Ah! You recognize me.”

“How could I not? Bong Ha-gyun, Fake, Son Hong-min, DTS, let’s go!”

Director Bong Ha-gyun covered his face with an embarrassed expression.

“Please don’t do that.”

In any case, it was clear that the person in front of me was the pride of the Republic of Korea.

‘Why is such a big shot at my house?’

Naturally, my thoughts reached that point. And,

“Di-Director Bong Ha-gyun!?”

The person who recognized him… more accurately, there was another guest.

‘The person I expected has finally arrived.’

It was none other than Assistant Manager Hwang Young-sik of Shinhwa Department Store. In a way, his surprise was natural. Although he was a guest who had visited frequently, he had never once encountered the guests staying at my house. It was my own arrangement, and the layout of our house made it relatively easy.

‘My house is divided into the main house, the outer house, and the annex, which is also called the desk.’

For reference, meetings with Shinhwa Department Store officials were held only in the annex.

‘I didn’t want to let uninvited guests into the house.’

The house was originally built with the intention of running a lodging business. Right at the entrance, there was a small building used as the desk. It served as an information center where guests could check their reservations and pay on-site. Even if we lived under the same roof, there had to be a clear distinction between the workspace and the place of rest. That was why there was a long bamboo path between the main house and the outer house.

“I knew something was unusual…!”

At that moment, hearing Assistant Manager Hwang Young-sik’s voice, my expression turned serious.

‘Did he find out about my previous job?’

The relationship between Director Bong Ha-gyun and actor Lee Ji-hoon belatedly came to mind. Of course, my career could be easily found with a quick internet search. Before leaving the prosecution, I had held a press conference and made quite a fuss. It was just that the gap between Prosecutor Baek Seo-jun of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and farmer Baek Seo-jun of Goseong was too large, so most people couldn’t make the connection.

‘What if Assistant Manager Hwang Young-sik finally recognizes me?’

Well, unfortunately, the opportunity to fleece this sucker would fly away. It was related to his father, the conglomerate chairman. There was no reason for him to continue a deal with someone who made him feel uneasy.

“I knew it!”

At the same time, Hwang Young-sik glared this way.

“I thought something was strange!”

“…”

“Yes. This doesn’t make sense in the first place!”

Just as I let out a sigh and was about to speak.

“To grow crops of this caliber, there must be a backing. In other words, it’s only possible with the technology of a major corporation!”

“?”

“Representative Baek. You were a Sekyeong person from the beginning, weren’t you?”

Assistant Manager Hwang Young-sik shouted with a face full of indignation.

“Now the pieces are falling into place. Right! Unless you were shot in the head, there’s no way Sekyeong would invest as much as 3 billion won!”

“…”

A moment later, a bright smile finally spread across my lips.

‘Thank goodness.’

Because this guy is an idiot who exceeds even my expectations.