Chapter 28:
Chapter 28:
“Are you done with the call?”
Choi Yujin, who had left the banquet hall to answer a work-related call on a holiday, frowned at her brother who had followed her.
“Where is father? I wanted to greet Chairman Yoo after a long time.”
You don’t want to greet him, you want to flatter him and get a good position. And Chairman Yoo has no reason to be here. Choi Yujin sneered.
“Is that all you have to say after following me?”
Choi Yujin hated her brother. It was Choi Sangjin’s reckless business expansion that caused the downfall of Ajin Daily. He was incompetent and clueless.
In the end, Choi Yujin had to rely on Juseong’s help to grow the company to this extent. When her brother ignored her while she was struggling, but acted arrogant and claimed the vice-chairman position after JSENM grew, it was pathetic.
“Father and him are busy.”
“Really? You don’t seem to have a good relationship with your father-in-law. Why don’t you try to be more affectionate with him?”
She couldn’t understand why he brought up her father-in-law. Choi Yujin had made Ajin into JSENM with her own abilities.
The help she got from Juseong was not because she was sweet to Chairman Yoo. It was because she had given several presentations to him when she was newly married.
“Still, you must be proud of your grown-up sons. You and your second son seem to get along well now. Is Eunho still single? Do you want me to introduce him to a nice girl from a good family?”
He was trying to use his nephew, who was not even his son, to gain some benefits. And he was acting like he was doing him a favor. Choi Yujin sighed.
“Actually, I didn’t want to come. Father begged me to save your face. You have nothing without me.”
Choi Sangjin’s face turned red at Choi Yujin’s blunt words.
“You must really like Juseong. You’re so rude to me.”
“Why not? It’s because you ruined the company and I became Juseong’s daughter-in-law and vice-chairman, right?”
Choi Sangjin clenched his fists. He opened and closed his mouth several times, then smiled wickedly as if he had thought of something.
“What do you think your friend would think if she saw you in her place? You were so close to her. Lee Heeseo.”
‘What?’
Yoo Yeon Seo, who was eavesdropping, swallowed his breath. Choi Yujin and Lee Heeseo were friends? He had never heard of that.
“Come to think of it, the timing was really… strange. Right? She died right after you left the company to save it.”
“…”
“Wasn’t Lee Heeseo’s death a suicide?”
Choi Sangjin’s venomous words wrapped around Choi Yujin like a snake. She closed her eyes tightly. She seemed to hear Lee Heeseo’s voice in her ears.
[Yujina.]
“Did you kill her?”
Choi Yujin bit her lower lip. She felt heat rising to her head, but she knew she would lose this argument if she lost her temper.
“Stop crawling up without knowing your place. I can take away even the position you’re barely holding on to.”
“What? How are you going to take it away?”
“Take it away? You should speak properly. You never had anything to begin with.”
He was a blood relative she would have abandoned long ago if it weren’t for her parents. Choi Yujin exhaled and brushed back her hair that tickled her face.
Choi Yujin looked at her brother, who had a stiff expression from his wounded pride, and smiled brightly.
“The engagement ceremony is private, but the article came out right away. Did you leak it?”
A reporter who was taking pictures near the entrance, a security guard who pretended to stop him. Choi Sangjin, who was a nominal newspaper president, wouldn’t miss this golden opportunity to be associated with Juseong. He wanted to show off his blood ties at this occasion.
“But what about this…”
Choi Yujin searched for the news that the reporter had just posted on the portal site and shoved it to Choi Sangjin.
“The headline is Jihun, Juseong’s nephew. You get it? And JSENM is…”
Being the eldest son of Ajin Daily was nothing compared to Juseong. As soon as the photos of Juseong’s family were uploaded, the portal was flooded with the names of Yoo Eunho and Yoo Yeon Seo, not Choi Jihun and Park Sehwa. Not only Juseong’s name, but also their unreal beauty contributed to that.
“It’s mine.”
“Really? How long do you think it will be yours?”
Choi Sangjin, who had been silent for a few seconds, forced himself to speak. Choi Yujin laughed out loud.
“Why? Oh, because of Jihun? Why would I give my shares to Jihun? Brother, I have a son too.”
“Yeah, your best friend’s son who doesn’t share a drop of blood with you.”
Yoo Eunho was already following Yoo Geonmin’s footsteps to become Juseong’s successor, so the only one left was Yoo Yeon Seo. Choi Sangjin bit his tongue in disbelief.
“You’re going to hand over the company to that bastard?”
“Oh, you think I can’t? Do you really not know why Yeon Seo is an actor? He’s learning how to manage the field.”
Yoo Yeon Seo hadn’t fully synchronized his memories yet, but he could easily tell that Choi Yujin’s words were bluffing.
But Choi Sangjin didn’t know. He widened his eyes in disbelief and shivered. If Yoo Yeon Seo inherited JSENM…
“Yeon Seo, do you think he can run a proper company? No way.”
He acted like a kindergarten kid who didn’t want to share his toy. He couldn’t get the company by just whining.
Yoo Yeon Seo was getting tired of listening. He had some side effects from the automatic mode, and he felt like the hotel manager was looking for Choi Sangjin over there.
“Why not?”
Yoo Yeon Seo opened the door and entered.
“Yeon Seo.”
“At least he’s better than Choi Jihun, who was begging me to introduce him to an actress at his own engagement ceremony.”
“Our nephew must be immature. Did you clear up all the girls you knew before the ceremony?”
Choi Yujin didn’t miss this opportunity and mocked him. Choi Sangjin’s face, which seemed to have reached its limit of redness, turned red from his neck to his ears.
“Uncle, take care of your son. He might get dumped.”
“…”
“I haven’t seen you for a long time, but you have no manners. How about you behave yourself?”
“Hey, I don’t need to behave well. Juseong and ‘Ajin Daily’ are not the same, you know?”
Huh? He had turned off the automatic mode a while ago, right? Why was his mouth moving so smoothly today? Maybe he was enjoying talking like his original self.
“Juseong is nice. I can be rude to my uncle.”
Choi Yujin chuckled. She couldn’t hold back her laughter after dealing a critical blow to her brother.
“Oh, are you being cheeky? Should I tell grandfather?”
Choi Sangjin approached Yoo Yeon Seo threateningly. Yoo Yeon Seo didn’t back down and shrugged.
“Sir… The ceremony is about to start…”
The hotel manager knocked on the open door and called Choi Sangjin. Choi Sangjin looked back and forth between Choi Yujin and Yoo Yeon Seo, then spat out his tongue and went outside.
“Oh my! Yeon Seo, blood!”
And Yoo Yeon Seo bowed his head. He had bled so often that he had almost become an expert in not staining his clothes.
Choi Yujin took out a handkerchief from her jacket pocket and pressed it to Yoo Yeon Seo’s nose. It looked like a very expensive handkerchief.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m just a bit tired…”
Nosebleeds were common, so he was lucky. He had many excuses.
[Do you really think mom committed suicide?]
[Did you kill her?]
He felt dizzy and closed his eyes. The doubt he had kept in a corner of his heart crept out. Ah, he really didn’t want to care about it.
“Did I butt in for no reason?”
“You came at the right time. I was about to get beaten up by seven people.”
That would have been a scene worth seeing, though.
“But how did you find me here?”
“I felt sorry for you being so miserable alone.”
“Why did you bother? He could have escaped on his own. Maybe he stepped in because he hadn’t seen you for a long time.”
He sacrificed himself to divert the attention from his brother? I should treat him well when we get home.
“He takes after your father. That’s why he’s so popular.”
Yoo Yeon Seo shrugged his shoulders. He was popular among the general public, not to mention the chaebol families.
Choi Yujin returned to her usual cheerful self and poked Yoo Yeon Seo. She was completely different from when she faced Choi Sangjin.
“But what brings you here? You seem to have some ambition for the company… Should I give you some of my shares? Your grandfather would be happy.”
“What would I do with them now? I was just joking.”
She was willing to give them away as soon as he asked. He didn’t even raise him, but she didn’t regret it. Yoo Yeon Seo shook his head.
He could learn how to run a company by playing different roles, but still… Could he live all the lives that existed in the world before he died? Probably not.
“Just let me know if you ever need them.”
Choi Yujin made a pouty face.
Ah, he was too curious to hold back. Yoo Yeon Seo decided to ask her honestly about what he had overheard.
“But… I heard you say that she was your friend?”
He hesitated to bring up the topic of ‘mom’, since she was his current mother.
“Are you okay with talking about her?”
She stopped walking and opened her eyes wide in surprise. Why?
“Did you forget?”
“Forget what?”
“Yeon Seo, you used to scream and have seizures whenever you mentioned ‘mom’.”
“I did?”
“Yes. You even fainted once and caused a commotion.”
“Oh…”
That’s why Yoo Eunho was relieved this morning. He didn’t have a seizure after thinking of mom.
“Did it happen again after that?”
“No, you had one big episode and then you suddenly became normal and acted like you forgot about Heeseo…”
Choi Yujin’s voice trembled. She sounded like she was about to cry.
She hadn’t married Yoo Geonmin yet, but she had visited the children often because she cared about them.
And then, she witnessed her friend’s son, who looked like her, foam at the mouth and collapse in front of her.
“After that, I heard that the family banned talking about Heeseo.”
“I see…”
Yoo Yeon Seo nodded slightly.
“I didn’t expect you to bring it up first.”
“You can find everything online these days.”
“Yeah, you can.”
Choi Yujin resumed walking. Yoo Yeon Seo followed her pace.
“So you heard everything.”
“Everything? Oh…”
Did he mean the question ‘Did you kill her?’? He had wondered about it, but there was no point in digging it up now. He should focus on getting closer to Choi Yujin first… No, why did he care?
“Nah, of course not. Why would you do that?”
“Right! Why would I do such a thing?”
Yoo Yeon Seo made a resolution in his mind. He wouldn’t care about it anymore. Maybe he should take on a new role? Hmm, yeah, he had plenty of time until he went back to school.
“But I’m still curious. What if someone really killed her? She wasn’t the type to do that…”
This time, Yoo Yeon Seo paused for a moment.
[Do you really think mom committed suicide?]
Ah, really. He didn’t want to care!