Chapter 39

Joo Jeong-hui ran across the parking lot, breath ragged.

Fortunately, news of her father Chairman Joo Tae-baek’s condition hadn’t leaked anywhere yet, so she didn’t have to deal with reporters.

The place she was headed wasn’t her father’s hospital room, but the café inside the hospital.

[I’m with Sae-i. We’re at the café.]

She’d gotten a text from Do-gyeong saying Sae-i still hadn’t been able to see her grandfather and was sitting in the café.

Chairman Joo’s health was an issue that could shake not just the stock price but the Korean economy itself. That was exactly why, for a situation like this, only family members registered on the list were allowed in and out of the room.

Father’s going to tear this whole system apart the moment he wakes up…

Joo Tae-baek’s youngest daughter was skilled at reading her father’s affections.

Unlike Seohae Group, Dongwoo Group’s whole culture was built around shielding family — and even within that, Joo Tae-baek’s sorest spot had always, unquestionably, been Joo Jeong-wol.

Or more precisely, the child her short-lived sister had left behind: Joo Sae-i.

Ever since that girl had come back to Jaedamjae, their father’s expression had visibly brightened.

He’d even once asked Jeong-hui to go watch Sae-i’s acting on set in his place — that was how much Joo Tae-baek doted on her.

And if he found out that, because of a mere list — a process he himself had set up — his granddaughter hadn’t been able to cross the threshold of his room even with him lying right there…

Ugh…

She couldn’t even begin to guess how much he’d blame himself over that.

So Jeong-hui headed for her niece first. Well — hearing that the girl had been crying weighed on her too.

When she walked into the café, Seohae’s heir, Ryu Do-gyeong, was sitting beside Sae-i.

“…Sae-i, sweetheart.”

Sae-i lifted her head as Jeong-hui approached. Her eyes were still red and swollen, as though she’d been crying for a long while.

Jeong-hui caught her breath and looked back and forth between her niece and Ryu Do-gyeong, then asked quietly.

“Did they shove you? Those men?”

“…I was the one who wouldn’t stop trying to go in.”

Her niece defended the very guards who’d pushed her.

Soft to a fault, honestly… This kind of thing didn’t come from her sister at all — it was her father, gentle as some herbivore, that she took after. Jeong-hui bit down on her lip.

After a few more questions, Sae-i finally explained what had happened — that she’d been sitting there helplessly, unable to get in, when Joo Su-deok and Joo Su-yeon had walked right past her.

Jeong-hui, who’d been listening quietly, cut in at that point. A doubtful look crossed her eyes as she asked.

“…My brother saw you and just walked past?”

Sae-i nodded instead of answering. Jeong-hui clenched her teeth.

How could he.

Walking past a niece who couldn’t get in because of some absurd structural technicality — that alone was already beyond Jeong-hui’s understanding.

And that was setting aside who Joo Sae-i even was. Wasn’t she Joo Jeong-wol’s only blood child?

As the eldest daughter, Joo Jeong-wol had been the one who looked after both Su-deok and Jeong-hui. She’d taught them manners, taught them how to live as second-generation chaebol children without giving anyone grounds to pick at them — a mentor in how to live, for both of them.

How could he see the daughter of the sister who’d once looked after them struggling, and simply ignore it…

No name could be added to the registry without Chairman Joo Tae-baek’s own authorization. Not just her brother — even Jeong-hui herself had no way to get Sae-i in right away.

Still, if the child was crying like that, the least he could do was comfort her. At the very least, tell her how Chairman Joo was doing. That was simply what family owed each other.

“…Has he genuinely lost his mind?”

A string of angry, ugly words slipped out of Jeong-hui’s mouth one after another.

She knew well enough that Joo Su-deok — her own brother — had his small share of problems.

Until now she’d always chalked up his rough words and conduct to simple temperament.

After their sister died, he’d suddenly been pushed to the top of the succession line himself — the stress on him must have been considerable. So she’d tried to understand.

But not anymore.

This was clear malice.

Malice aimed at shutting Joo Sae-i — her own sister’s only daughter — out of the Joo family.

Honestly, I knew it would come to this eventually…

Her brother was greedy. It showed even in the quiet way he coveted the department store and the Atrium shares Jeong-hui held, along with her stakes in the other subsidiaries.

She’d thought he might someday grow wary of Sae-i, who held her mother’s shares — but to check her this openly while the girl was still a student…

And her own daughter was the same age, no less.

I can’t just stand by and watch either.

Even staying neutral between her brother and her niece could, for Sae-i, amount to harm.

The only people left to protect her niece were Chairman Joo and her brother-in-law.

But with Chairman Joo unconscious as he was now, there was no adult left to watch over Sae-i. Her brother-in-law was still, after all, an outsider in the Joo family.

After a long moment of agonizing, Jeong-hui steadied her resolve.

If no one else will, then I will — she’s my sister’s daughter.

She would become another guardian for her niece. She would protect this child — who was even now watching her with such gentle, wary eyes — from her own brother.

Having made up her mind, Jeong-hui turned her gaze to Ryu Do-gyeong.

The moment I mentioned Sae-i, Ryu Do-gyeong said he’d come straight to the hospital.

Seohae Group’s one and only heir, concerned for her niece — if she played this right, she could bring Seohae Group itself onto Joo Sae-i’s side.

Jeong-hui slowly parted her lips.

“Jukseonjae has plenty of spare rooms, doesn’t it, Do-gyeong.”

Jukseonjae. The private residence of the Seohae Group’s owning family.

“Take her and let her stay there for just one night. I need to have a talk with my brother first.”

The moment the words left her, Joo Sae-i’s eyes went wide with shock.

“What?”

It was Sae-i, not Ryu Do-gyeong, who asked again.

“Even I can’t get you into that room right now. That only gets resolved once the Chairman wakes up.”

“Then…”

“I’m worried my brother might try something before the Chairman regains consciousness.”

Sae-i shook her head, stammering.

“I could just… stay at my old house for a while, that’s fine too…”

Before she could even finish, Ryu Do-gyeong, sitting beside her, cut in firmly.

“I’ll take her.”

Jeong-hui nodded. Jukseonjae’s security was every bit as tight as Jaedamjae’s — more than enough to keep her niece safe.

“…What about Dad?”

Sae-i asked weakly. Jeong-hui answered at once.

“We’ll just get your father a room somewhere, that’s all. To begin with, it’s you my brother’s watching — he won’t care about your father at all.”

Her niece flinched at the firmness of her tone, but it couldn’t be helped. For now, protecting her until Chairman Joo woke up had to come first.

“Go pack your things. Skip school tomorrow.”

Jeong-hui said it in as steady a voice as she could manage.

Watching Sae-i nod, Jeong-hui felt a brief flicker of relief.

Jukseonjae.

The moment I stepped out of Ryu Do-gyeong’s car, the scenery in front of me made the name feel completely apt.

A pond set into the garden rippled gently, koi gliding through it at their leisure. Bamboo swayed in the cool breeze, rustling with a pleasant sound.

A chaebol family’s mansion, traditional on the outside and modern within. It carried a different kind of weight than Jaedamjae, and without meaning to, I let out a shallow breath.

Following Ryu Do-gyeong into the main house, I found Chairman Ryu waiting for us. He studied me with deep-set eyes as I greeted him.

“There you are, Sae-i.”

Chairman Ryu looked at me for a long moment before speaking slowly.

“…That old man won’t go that easily.”

His voice carried a heavy certainty.

“He’ll insist on living to see his own kid succeed… he’ll claw his way back in the end.”

“That old man” seemed to mean my grandfather.

Is he trying to put my mind at ease?

As I rolled my eyes about, trying to work out what he meant, Chairman Ryu laughed lightly. Grunting, he went on.

“Sae-i, you—”

“…”

“You’re the shackle holding onto that old man’s lifeline.”

My heart dropped.

Not knowing what to say, I lowered my head.

“Joo Tae-baek will stay in one piece until you’re firmly on your feet.”

“…”

“So don’t worry too much. Just rest easy while you’re here, all right.”

Grandfather’s lifeline. To think that I was the shackle holding him to it.

Unlike in my first life, it struck me all at once just how much Grandfather was staking on me now.

If Chairman Ryu — Grandfather’s rival and old friend both — was willing to say this much, could I let myself wait in peace? Could I really believe that Grandfather would recover soon…

“Snap out of it and come on.”

It was Ryu Do-gyeong who flicked my forehead, pulling me out of my thoughts.