Chapter 119: Fireworks for the Fallen

Then the grandfather’s face truly showed shock.

It was the face of someone hearing such words for the first time in their life.

He took several deep breaths.

Then spoke with a face enveloped in betrayal.

“…I am on your father’s side.

Negotiation? Nonsense.

I will prepare for a lawsuit immediately.

And where do you think you’re going?

Stay right here without moving until I decide!”

I closed my eyes once.

Then looked at the ceiling for a moment.

In the end, it came to this.

“No.

If the Haewon family history makes the front page of the Korea Daily.

You will probably change your mind.”

At the same time, astonishment spread across the old man’s face.

He asked back with an incredulous look toward me.

“Are you… threatening me right now?”

“You hate it when family matters hit the press, Grandfather.

All the women Father touched giving interviews one after another.

The eldest son of the Haewon family actually born from the wife’s affair.

And his real father killed by the enraged Vice Chairman Choi Younggil.

But in fact, that person was Vice Chairman Choi Younggil’s secretary in the past….

If stories like this come out, our family will become much more famous than Hansung.

People will mock us for generations.”

“You… you…!”

In the end, the grandfather struck my arm with the cane he was holding.

I didn’t dodge on purpose, but it hurt enough to bring tears.

I tensed my whole body to avoid staggering and said.

“If you don’t want to lose the eldest son you like so much.

It would be best to handle it today.

Father has many enemies, so his physiognomy isn’t one for a long life anyway.”

My explosive family insult detonated.

I hadn’t planned to go this far….

I bowed my head briefly and turned around.

The grandfather shouted for me to come back immediately, but I ignored him and stepped out the door.

And met Seunghee, who was pale and terrified.

“…….”

Ha, I hadn’t thought of this.

Seunghee, unusually, couldn’t say anything and just stared at me.

With eyes wide as if about to pop out, she was asking if what she just heard was true.

Seeing Choi Seunghee frightened was something to see in a long life.

I scratched the back of my head a few times and said.

“How much did you hear?”

“From… when Manager Jo came out.”

She heard everything.

I decided to just smile.

“Please take care of me from now on, Noona.

You… will definitely become the chairman.”

Then I walked up to my room stiffly like an unoiled robot.

After packing only what I needed, I left the main house immediately.

Everything I needed was already at the house where I originally lived, so it didn’t matter.

The dark night sky looked just like my future.

I got in the car and gripped the steering wheel, but my hands were shaking.

At that moment, the ladybug-shaped diamond keyring that Doyoon gave me sparkled.

I gripped the keyring tightly in my hand for a moment and took a deep breath.

I thought my heart would feel lighter after saying everything….

But thinking of Grandfather’s final expression, something felt blocked in my chest.

I must have grown quite attached to this family.

I let out a sigh.

‘I’ve gone crazy.’

Really crazy.

The secret I had struggled so hard not to let slip, I spilled from my own mouth.

Even submitting evidence in case the other party didn’t believe….

“Is this what they mean by twisting your own fate?”

I laughed hollowly.

But strangely, after saying it, it felt like nothing.

When I think about it….

From the beginning, I had been waiting only for this very moment.

With this, the threat Father made to Mother—telling Grandfather nothing and leaving with all the assets—would no longer hold.

Because I had already blown it.

Grandfather would do his utmost to make the negotiated divorce happen.

He wouldn’t want such a messed-up family tree known to the Korea Daily.

In truth, it wasn’t just about whether it hit the press or not.

The Korea Daily already had a hold on us because of the Julia incident.

If they learned of our family’s domestic affairs, they would definitely use our weakness.

Especially since I, the one who almost married Ria, was not a child of this house—that was fatal.

Grandfather would never tolerate such a situation.

Then Mother wouldn’t have to kill Father in a dirty way.

Madam Shin Miseon….

A bit late, but now she could live well on her own.

“Yeah, this isn’t bad.”

I encouraged myself.

Then steadied my mind and started the engine.

At the same time, on the way home, I blocked Doyoon’s number.

And for the first time in a while, I called Julia.

Ria picked up my call right away.

[What’s up at this hour? Isn’t it night in Korea?]

“Are you doing well?”

[I’m always doing well the same. Why, something wrong?]

Lately, Ria had been frantically busy preparing for an exhibition and seemed unaware of my recent news.

That actually made me feel more at ease.

“I’m hurt. Do we only contact each other when something’s up?”

[Your voice totally sounds like something’s up.]

Was it that obvious?

I felt a bit embarrassed and got to the point.

“…I’m thinking of moving into the house you bought for me.”

[Ah.]

Julia let out a short sigh.

She seemed to intuitively understand that something bad had happened.

I smirked and said.

“Can I go into any of them? There were five, right?”

[Of course. But they’ve been empty for so long, they’re probably filthy….]

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll clean when I get there. Cleaning is my hobby.”

I said something Doyoon would scoff at if he heard, without a care.

But right now, I really needed that.

Labor to erase all my random thoughts.

[When are you coming?]

“Well, the earliest flight. Tomorrow maybe?”

[What really happened?]

“I’ll tell you later. Send the house contracts by email. Let me check the addresses in advance.”

[…Got it. Let me know when the ticket is confirmed. I’ll find someone to help.]

“No need for that. Anyway, I’ll tell you where I’m going.”

I hung up the phone.

When I got home and checked my email, the houses Julia had bought were in Malaysia, the United States, France, Morocco, and Canada respectively.

‘Quite a variety….’

I thought for a bit and chose Canada as the destination.

For one, an English-speaking country felt less burdensome.

The distance from Korea was also appealing.

Of course, the most familiar was the United States, but I didn’t want to go there because I might run into people I knew.

Even though I knew the United States was almost 100 times larger than Korea, my heart just felt that way.

I quickly booked a flight to Canada and hurriedly packed my trunk.

But after hours of packing clothes and daily necessities, suddenly everything felt meaningless.

I flopped onto the sofa and stared blankly.

Why not just buy everything new there?

Yeah, Choi Seunghyun, live coolly.

When else would I play chaebol if not now.

But then.

Someone rang the doorbell noisily.

In the middle of the night?

‘Who?’

The person on the intercom was, surprisingly, Mother.

My mind reeled.

Come to think of it, I had been too excited earlier and left without any explanation….

When I opened the door, Mother stood in front of the entrance with tears streaming down her face.

Before I could even be surprised, Mother collapsed, pounding my chest.

“Why did you do that, why….”

She was crying wildly, not caring that her makeup was ruined.

It was the first time I saw her like this—usually maintaining a proud and cold face no matter what Choi Younggil did to her.

I closed the door and brought Mother inside.

A bitter smile came.

“Grandfather said he would help, right?”

“Choi Seunghyun!”

Mother shouted sharply.

She looked at the clothes and trunk scattered messily around our house, then spoke with a face mixed with guilt, anger, and despair.

“Why do you have to leave! Just that bastard needs to die…!”

“…There’s no need to become a criminal because of him.”

I held Mother’s hand.

I said with a serious face.

“Live happily. I mean it.”

“You… didn’t have to sacrifice this much.”

I let out a short sigh and spoke to Mother in a gentle voice.

“When Noona becomes chairman, she’ll take good care of you, Mom.”

She wailed at my words.

“It’s not about the chairman! You! Why you… why….”

Mother finally collapsed to the floor.

Then, hanging her head, she muttered as if vomiting in a very small voice.

“Because of me….”

I slowly knelt on the floor and hugged Mother.

I could feel her trembling and crying in my arms.

And suddenly, I made a truly out-of-the-blue confession.

“Mom, I like Doyoon.”

For a moment, Mother’s trembling stopped.

She lifted her head and looked at my face.

Mother stared at me with an expression of doubting her ears.

But I offered no further explanation.

The two of us looked at each other’s faces without saying anything for a while.

Finally, Mother, carefully examining my face, covered her mouth with both hands.

“Good heavens….”

“So leaving is partly because of that too.”

Mother’s upper body slumped as if the strength had drained out.

“So don’t feel too guilty. It’s not one hundred percent because of you.”

Hearing my words, Mother began to sob quietly again.

This time, I couldn’t even think to hug her again.

Perfectly timed, from outside came the bang, bang of midsummer fireworks.

It felt like they were celebrating this utter mess.