Chapter 20: Disillusioned Love (2)

Chapter 20 – Disillusioned Love (2)

Flashback

After a long, cold shower, he wrapped a robe around himself and exited the bathroom. Standing tall by the window, he looked at the Jinseong River. The very one that had devoured his father. The dark, still waters were unsettling, making him want a cigarette. He walked over to the table and picked up a pack and a lighter. The moment he had lit one, his cell phone buzzed. He checked the caller’s name before answering.

-Hello. Where are you now?

“Hotel Jinseong.”

-Why the hell are you there? We get nothing good if President Jin knows.

It was the boss of LJ Partners. Tae-jun called him ‘Jay’.

LJ Partners was an investment firm on the papers, but in reality, it held a strong footing in M&A*. In particular, Jay had an outstanding ability in money flow and was an astute businessman. He went to the same university with Tae-jun. And both recognized the value of partners at the very first meeting. Since then, their partnership had only flourished.

[*M&A is Mergers and Acquisitions.]

-Oh, is today your father’s death anniversary?

Jay asked as if he had only just remembered. Instead of answering, his friend changed the topic.

“President Jin isn’t here right now. I checked his schedule. What’s your situation now?

-Panic.

Tae-jun smiled ever so slightly, the other side continued.

-I’m going crazy trying to figure things out somehow. Mr. Jin, this man, as we expected, has dragged In-bae Lee into the ‘Star Road’ betting game.

“Of course, he will not be able to get the land without Lee In-bae’s power.”

‘Star Road’ was a large-scale shopping mall project that Yuseong, a mid-sized construction company, was working on in collaboration with Jinseong Construction. Located in the Q area where the complex transfer station was, since the onset, this project was touted as the proverbial ‘goose that lays golden eggs’. Needless to say, it had garnered a lot of attention.

Tae-jun did not miss the point that Star Road was situated around a traditional market. It was obvious that there was bound to be a conflict during the process of doling out the demolition compensation due to poor business registration and lease contracts.

Jay had sent out the so-called “nail house*” people to the merchant association in secret. The effect was dramatic. In the form of a “Star Road fire incident” the entire nation was enraged.

[*Nail house is a private home whose owner refuses to move to clear way for new real estate developments despite offers of huge monetary sums from a private developer or expropriation attempts by the government.]

-What shall we do? Shall we take action right away?

“Don’t play the joker yet. It’s no fun finishing the game now.”

-It reminds me of our hunting days. What about Yuseong? It’s not the main target, but it’s fallen into the trap.

“It’s too risky to catch it even though it is trapped now. Just focus on the game as planned.”

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-Ugh, that’s too bad. Speaking of hunting, how about hunting in Canada..it’s been a long time? Bear hunting is the best.

“By all means.”

Upon wrapping the call, Tae-jun stubbed out his cigarette. His gaze went back to the Jinseong River outside the window again. Like Jay had asked, tomorrow was indeed his father’s death anniversary.

His father was a man who’d abandoned everything for love. The woman his father loved was an orphan sponsored by the Seoin Group and personal secretary to Tae-jun’s grandmother.

He’d fallen in love with her since childhood. However, Tae-jun’s grandfather, who was obsessed with mergers through marriage, did not approve of their relationship. He separated the sweethearts through force. His grandfather sent away the woman, leaving his father,  who did not what had transpired, deeply disappointed.

Then, in desperation, his father married his mother and Tae-jun was born. Though it didn’t start with love, their marriage was not bad. They respected one another and did not intrude on personal turf.

However, their marriage ended with the return of the woman who was in a wreck. His father, without any hesitation, abandoned everything he had for her. Property, status, family, and in the end, even life. It was a ridiculous cliché.

Tae-jun became deeply disillusioned when he recalled his father. He felt the same about the great “love” his father had dedicated to the woman. Tae-jun never meant to follow in his father’s footsteps. The “love” may have been great, but it brought him and his mother nothing but desolation. Had his father never loved him? One day, early in the morning, his father went to the field of reeds for a walk. He never returned. But it seems he got his answer.

It was the first time he’d visited here since his father’s death. On the first anniversary of his death last year, Tae-jun was abroad. However, this time, it’s not clear why he came to this place without stopping by his home as soon as he returned to Korea. He didn’t even contact Jin-wook who’s always by his side.

This morning, he had somehow found himself walking along the river. Every time he stepped forward, reeds made a sound. Beyond this field was the villa where his father and his woman had lived together.

After his father threw away everything he had and hid in the city of Jinseong, Tae-jun had once come here alone. He was only twelve at the time and could not fully accept his father, who’d on one night, simply disappeared from his life without so much as a word. He did know the reason but from what he heard, it seemed to be because of a woman. He set off in search of his father… to bring him back.

When he found the house they now lived in, his father was away. He saw her for the first time then. The woman, who was so skinny that she was about to fall down, was sitting in a chair in the garden. He was unable to understand why on earth his father loved that woman who was dying. She was far behind when it came to beauty compared to his mother.

…Hello?

She recognized Tae-jun and was at a loss. He looked at the woman in the eye and spoke.

Give me back my father!

As soon as his words fell, the woman had an asthma attack. He didn’t know what triggered her, but he assumed that it was because of his eyes that looked just like his grandfather’s.

And that day, his father, who came to the emergency room for the woman, slapped his son on the face for the first time. It was the last time he had seen his dad.

People said he would come back when the woman died, but he did not return even after 10 years had passed, nor did he find his father anywhere. So, it was the first and last time Tae-jun saw his father as a picture at his funeral.

Where Tae-jun stopped walking was quite far from the trail. The water of the lake fluttered in the sun. He was standing at the place where his father jumped in. It was also where only anglers visited.

Sadly, his dad was already a long-lost person to the Seoin Group, and the media did not make a hue and cry because the Seo patriarch quickly worked on it to hide things. Chairman Jung-ho Seo dismissed his son’s death as an accident, but his family did not believe him. Neither did they investigate it.

After the woman’s death, unable to cope up, his father had relied on psychiatric help. There were witnesses who saw him jump into the river on his own. Without a doubt, Jung-ho must have bought the witnesses’ silence. The truth never saw the light.

“Be careful! It’s deep there.”

Tae-jun turned to where the sharp voice came from. He could see a familiar face.

It was the woman whom he met in the room yesterday… Hye-yeon.

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