The Highest Level Son of a Chaebol Family - Chapter 286



Only Noblemtl

A damp breeze blew gently under the shade of the pine tree.

The sound of insects chirping could be heard from all directions, and the scent of grass and sunshine filled the air.

‘My maternal grandfather too.’

My grandfather kept clenching and unclenching his fists, his butt slightly resting on the edge of his seat.

He hardly ever looks at me.

“Khuh-hum!”

Whenever he felt embarrassed or awkward, he would just cough in vain.

I smiled broadly.

“My name is Cha Jeong-hyeok.”

“······.”

“Surely my mom and dad haven’t even told me my name yet?”

“······.”

My grandfather still stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

Even the ‘ahem!’ coughing sound that had been audible until just now has become quiet.

‘When your heart is closed, your mouth is also closed.’

In other words, when you open your mouth, your heart also opens.

‘Let’s start with a simple answer. Let’s go step by step.’

Because it is not easy to release the lump in your heart that has hardened over a long period of time.

“You look a lot like your mom, don’t you?”

“······.”

“No? Do you hate me because I look like my father?”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

My grandfather turned his head sharply.

“Anyone can see that you look exactly like our Soojin when she was little!”

“is it so?”

I moved slightly towards my grandfather and sat down.

In an instant, the distance of three steps was reduced to two steps.

My grandfather just pretended not to know and didn’t say anything, only making an ‘ahem!’ sound.

“Did you enjoy looking at the album my mom brought?”

“Album? What album?”

“It’s a newspaper article clipping album. Whenever my father and I saw something in the newspaper, my mother would cut it out nicely and make an album.”

“Newspaper clippings? You too?”

“My mom was really happy and said the pictures turned out well.”

“Ahem!”

My grandfather glanced at me.

“What good does it do for a child to be in the newspaper?”

Although his tone was indifferent, his sparkling eyes showed great interest.

I counted my hands.

“I donated the money I received on New Year’s Day to Taesung Hospital.”

“what?”

You don’t have to look so surprised.

“Thanks to the fact that executives from Taesung’s affiliates also participated with good intentions, the donation amount unexpectedly increased. Reporters also wrote good articles to encourage a culture of donation.”

To be honest, it wasn’t something that would make a big fuss on the front page of the newspaper.

I never thought the day would come when I would be able to boast about this with my own mouth.

It’s something you’ll see only if you live long enough.

I pretended not to notice my earlobe getting hot and counted on one more finger.

“And when I participated in the demonstration by the Woo Kwang Union, it was a big deal then too.”

“What? A protest?”

“We held a group sit-in protest in front of the Wookwang headquarters building. I read the declaration as a representative at that time.”

“Will you read the declaration on behalf of the representative? You?”

“Yes. It must have been quite noisy for a while.”

Some of the declarations I read unintentionally became trendy.

“I feel so guilty and miserable because I created the Wookwang Foundation for this reason.”

“What? Are you saying that bratty brat back then was you, Jeong-hyeok?”

Oh! You remembered my name.

My grandfather grabbed the back of my neck.

“A young child with blood still on his head! Not even Taesung, but to the Ukwang union sit-in! Sending him to that dangerous place? My son of a bitch······!”

“You got the wrong number. I did this for my mother, not my father.”

“What? For Soojin? Why?”

“The place where the Wookwang union caused a commotion was Taesung Chemical. Taesung Chemical is my mother’s business.”

“······!”

My grandfather’s eyes widened.

He tries hard to keep his lips from quivering.

‘good!’

I counted one more finger.

“There’s more.”

“also?”

“I took the oath as a representative of the students entering Wookwang School this time.”

“Woogwang School? Isn’t that a really famous place?”

Woogwang School was the best private school in South Korea, with children of famous figures in politics and business competing to enroll there.

“That school’s entrance ceremony is so famous that it’s broadcast live on TV.”

That’s what they said.

“This year, it was especially noisy because the president himself came to encourage the new students.”

“Yes. I took a picture with the President at that time.”

“What? You’re taking a picture with the President?”

“I told you I was the representative of the new students.”

Before I knew it, my grandfather was shaking his butt loudly.

As if asking when I had avoided his gaze, he looked straight at me and urged me to continue speaking with a silent gaze.

‘That was a really effective keyword.’

If you have expectations, it’s your duty to live up to them!

I decided to elaborate a little more.

“After the entrance ceremony, I went to eat Jajangmyeon with the President.”

“You ate Jajangmyeon with the President?”

“Of course. The Chief of Staff of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Chief of Security at the Blue House sat together and ate a bowl of Jajangmyeon that the President bought for them. It was incredibly delicious.”

“Huh! Sitting with those gentlemen who are so famous······!”

My grandfather’s eyes sparkled and he clenched his fists.

He wiped his dry lips with the tip of his tongue, as if he was in love.

“My dad was on the front page of the newspaper, arm in arm with the president?”

“······!”

My grandfather opened his mouth wide.

“You’ll be surprised when you see that. Every newspaper has given my dad a huge feature story.”

I winked one eye.

“Taesung created the domestically produced tank and the world’s first large-caliber dot sight.”

“Was that Taesung’s work?”

“sure.”

My maternal grandfather was very moved.

After all, national defense and security must have been quite sensitive issues for the elders who experienced the Korean War.

“It must have been so great that the President specially praised him for his achievements and provided 100,000 pyeong of land for the construction of a tank base in the Yeocheon National Industrial Complex and the Taesung Research Institute site in Suwon.”

“oh!”

“They decided to send research engineers affiliated with the Ministry of National Defense from all over the country and provide support by returning part of the Ministry of National Defense’s budget.”

“Oh!”

My grandfather muttered softly.

“That guy never said a word about something so important······.”

My father is like that, huh?

You haven’t even taken out your business card yet, let alone done a household survey, so there’s no way you’d start bragging about yourself right away.

I will put gold on our father’s face!

“The President, the Chief of Staff, and the Chief of Security at the Blue House love my father very much.”

I leaned toward my grandfather and whispered more secretly.

“Think about it. How did our father beat out his older brothers and become the successor to Taesung Group?”

Where is the position of Group Vice President usually located?

It is the next highest position after the head of a conglomerate.

That was our father’s current position.

“It’s all because the President pushed my dad so hard.”

“what?”

“Would you like to see it for yourself?”

I took out two personal letters from the President himself from my coin purse.

“The President wrote a separate letter acknowledging my father as the successor to Taesung Group.”

“······!”

One sheet is an absolute shield that authorizes the construction of a steel mill in Gwangyang in the name of the President, and tells the officials of the company not to touch it.

The remaining one was a secret letter ordering Taesung’s brain to be appointed as the next leader.

“Huh!”

My grandfather’s hands began to tremble as he received the President’s personal letter.

The more this happened, the more excited I became and the more I bragged about my father.

“Before my father became the vice president of the group, he was the president of Taesung Construction. Who got the contract to build subway line 2?”

“······!”

That’s right, our father!

“Who else won the enormous construction orders from the Middle East that allowed Taesung Construction to survive the construction stock market turmoil?”

“······!”

That too is our father······and President Lee Gyeong-seok!

But anyway, it is true that this is an achievement our father made when he was the president of Taesung Construction!

“Who is the person who received state guest treatment in Saudi Arabia and even pushed for the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates?”

“Until diplomatic relations are established?”

“There was a lot of noise on the news yesterday and today. Haven’t you heard the news that the Vice President of the United Arab Emirates is visiting Korea on his own national plane to explore establishing diplomatic relations?”

“no way······!”

I shrugged my shoulders as if nothing happened.

“Isn’t my dad really amazing?”

“Ugh······!”

My grandfather’s confusion and shock were palpable.

I secretly moved my buttocks closer to my grandfather.

‘There’s only one step left between my grandfather and me!’

My grandfather looked back and forth between the President’s personal letter and me.

My eyes were growing as wide as they could go.

But soon, with a ‘ahem!’ sound, he thrust the President’s personal letter towards me.

“This damn bastard! That bad guy! He should be killed!”

······Huh?

This isn’t the reaction I expected.

“You must have ignored my daughter until now because she’s so great!”

My grandfather ground his teeth.

“You messed with that kid who just entered college and ruined his body! You never once said anything about getting married, and now······!”

“It’s a misunderstanding!”

I waved both hands urgently.

“My father was in the military at that time!”

“······what?”

“He volunteered to join the army, refusing the marriage that was forced upon him by his family, not even knowing that his mother was pregnant! He left a separate letter for his mother, but she never received it······.”

“her?”

“My father only has my mother. He said he was prepared to break the decree and marry my mother!”

“······!”

“I am a witness. I was there when my father chose me and my mother over my grandfather and Taesung Group.”

“······!”

My grandfather muttered quietly, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“That can’t be······.”

“Do you know why my father bought the house next to my grandfather’s? He said it was because he thought my mother would visit her parents’ house at some point.”

“······!”

“In search of my mother who disappeared without a trace, my father searched all over the country for 7 years, even going as far as the Middle East.”

“······!”

My grandfather opened his eyes even wider and stared blankly at my face.

“To the Middle East?”

“There were reports that my mother’s last known whereabouts were lost in the Middle East.”

“her!”

“My father immediately flew to the Middle East to search for my mother. He ignored the urging to return home and searched and searched all over the Middle East, securing a lot of construction contracts there.”

“Our Soojin’s movements have disappeared in the Middle East······. What the······.”

Right?

Doesn’t that seem like it makes no sense?

I understand.

When I first heard it, I was so shocked.

I told you, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

‘I can’t bring myself to say that the Middle East was Mapo-gu Middle East!’

When you’re not getting enough points from your teacher, you can’t just criticize them for nothing!

I shrugged my shoulders, pretending not to know.

“In Taesung’s name, we searched every nook and cranny of the country, but we still couldn’t find our mother.”

“That’s why it was like that.”

My grandfather let out a long sigh.

“That’s why there was no way for our Soojin to find out the news.”

Yeah, that’s right.

My maternal grandfather also abandoned his farming work and traveled around the country for three years to find my mother.

“Yes, the Middle East… I’ve lost contact with the Middle East. You went all the way there to hide your young child and raise him.”

Ha, this damn Mapo-gu······.

“Raising a child alone while selling vegetables at the market. Huh!”

It won’t work!

What do you need at a time like this?

Quick change of mind!

“But my dad eventually found me and my mom.”

My grandfather looked at me with his eyes wandering aimlessly.

“It doesn’t matter if you throw everything away. But you can’t throw away me and my mom.”

Before I knew it, my grandfather’s eyes had become slightly moist.

“My mom loves my dad a lot too. But when I asked her why he doesn’t get married······.”

“Did you see it?”

“They say that no matter how much you love someone, there are cases where you can’t get married. They say that’s because the mother is lacking in many things.”

“her!”

“Does your grandfather think so too? Is my mother really that lacking?”

“What nonsense are you talking about! What does my daughter lack?”

My grandfather opened his eyes wide and shouted.

“Is it because you lack education, looks, personality, or family background?”

“Right? I think so too. But there’s just one thing that bothers me.”

“What is that?”

“Permission to marry.”

I smiled broadly.

“Will you allow me?”

End

ⓒ Osorok

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