Chapter 56 Part 2

But as Chaeheon remained calm, Lee Jun opened his eyes in annoyance. If he suddenly got angry, Chaeheon should get angry too, even if just out of unfairness for being targeted.

“Do you know why I avoided you?”

“Of course… because of the baby.”

“No. Because you don’t know.”

Chaeheon frowned as if he couldn’t understand.

“You don’t know the anxiety I feel. That’s why I’m conflicted. Is there a need to continue this relationship?”

Lee Jun couldn’t look Chaeheon directly in the eye. He couldn’t let it show that his feelings for him were still unresolved despite what he was saying.

“Your uncle ran away with the Contract… Whose fault was that? His, or yours?”

“…”

“I thought he acted for profit, but it was for ethics? Is that right?”

He was bringing up something Chaeheon had said in a group meeting before. He was throwing back Chaeheon’s challenge to trace whether a businessman’s actions were driven by profit or ethics.

“That’s…”

“Don’t try to persuade me, just tell me.”

Chaeheon uncrossed his arms and touched his cheek. The moment he turned his head to look elsewhere, Lee Jun raised his eyes to see his face.

“The one at fault… is me. My uncle acted for ethics.”

As Chaeheon turned his head back, their eyes met. Amidst a gaze where their complicated emotions intertwined, Lee Jun pushed Chaeheon’s shoulder away.

He had nothing more to say to him. So, Lee Jun walked past him.

After Lee Jun left, Chaeheon, left alone, dropped his hands as if in despair.

“How did he know?”

He had hoped Lee Jun wouldn’t know at all, but perhaps that was too big a dream.

“I’ve had a lot on my mind lately anyway…”

It was as if Lee Jun had sensed it and delivered the perfect stimulus.

Lee Jun thought he had gotten angry, but Chaeheon, who didn’t perceive it that way at all, brushed back his wind-swept hair.

The last conversation with Jang Hyeon-seong, whom he met last night, must be coming to mind now because it’s connected.

‘No matter how hard I tried, the company didn’t change.’

At Jang Hyeon-seong’s murmur, Chaeheon leaned his upper body towards him.

‘One person isn’t enough, so I chose to expose the rot completely.’

He was a Jang family member, yet he chose to expose their family’s shame himself.

‘If they step down, one of those vacant spots will be yours.’

Chaeheon showed no reaction to Jang Hyeon-seong’s words. From the beginning, he knew why he was doing this.

Jang Hyeon-seong smiled as if genuinely pleased.

‘Don’t settle there; rise to the very top. Only then will my actions have been worth it.’

Until now, Chaeheon had lived the life he wanted. He wasn’t particularly interested when other siblings or cousins took company shares and executive positions one by one. If he could, he would have wanted to live like this forever…

“It was about time for a new deal anyway.”

Because he was used to getting something in return for giving something.

Chaeheon picked up his phone and called someone.

“I’d like to see my grandfather.”

Chaeheon, listening to the other person, checked the time and spoke.

“I’ll go right now. And I have a favor to ask.”

[Please speak.]

“Please look into someone for me.”

Chaeheon thought of Lee Jun, who had just disappeared. If he asked the Executive Secretary to look into him now, some of the frustrating feelings he’d had would be resolved, but…

“Haein.”

That still didn’t appeal to him.