Taejin returned ho around dawn. Even though it was far later than usual, the lights in the house were brightly lit.
Walking quietly so his footsteps made no sound, Taejin discovered Huijae busily making sothing.
“My lady?”
Startled by the voice calling her, Huijae looked up. There was paint sared on her white cheek.
“You’re back.”
“What has you so absorbed?”
“It’s nothing special... I was making teaching aids for the night school. So people have trouble rembering the letters, so if I show them pictures along with the sounds, they seem to recall them right away during the next class... it’s quite effective.”
Huijae’s face shone brightly as she spoke.
“Everyone can write their own nas now. When they first receive a work instruction sheet, they still have to sound the words out slowly, but after reading it a few tis they beco used to it. And then later... perhaps they’ll be able to read # Nоvеlight # books too.”
Joy clung to the hands that pasted the cut-out papers onto the large board.
“Maybe they could even teach the people around them who cannot attend night school because of their circumstances. Writing is difficult at first, but once you keep doing it, it becos very easy.”
Taejin watched his smiling wife silently.
“...Does it please you that much?”
Huijae answered without even looking at him.
“It’s simply... sothing I’m capable of doing.”
Taejin lowered himself onto one knee on the floor. Then he placed the piece of paper Huijae had been about to attach onto the board for her.
Next to the double-giyeok, the written word was flower.
As if making sure it would never fall off, Taejin pressed the paper flower down several tis with his fingertips.
“Co to think of it, it feels like it has been a long ti since I saw my wife’s face like this.”
“You’ve been very busy with work outside, haven’t you?”
“...Yes. Various things.”
“Please don’t overwork yourself.”
Looking into Huijae’s clear eyes, Taejin felt as though his heart were collapsing.
Because she was a clean, honest, upright wife.
Because she was a person so white that none of these matters touched her in the slightest.
“I’m almost finished. It’s late, so please go inside and rest.”
“No. I still have sothing to look over in the study.”
Leaving his wife behind, Taejin entered the study and collapsed into the chair.
The first thing that caught his eye was a small fra.
Looking at the wedding photograph placed where it was most visible, Taejin murmured quietly.
“...It seems I’ll have to tell my wife a lie.”
His voice carried a trace of bitterness.
Hanamura was arrested alone a few days later.
The charges included tax evasion, illegal foreign currency transfers, unpaid wages, distribution of diluted alcohol, the addition of harmful ingredients and poor hygiene managent, collusion with local organized cri, destruction of evidence, and bribery.
But among all those charges...
the mobilization of Joseon people was not included.
As if it had never existed in the first place.
That item alone had been completely erased.
Out of Hanamura’s countless cris.
Only that one.
* * *
Huijae remained calm even after hearing that her father had been arrested. She taught her class at the night school as usual and returned ho.
Taejin, who had been sitting on the sofa, hurried out to greet her.
“My lady.”
“...I’m the one who ca ho later today.”
Huijae spoke as she always did while Taejin took her bag from her.
“As if nothing had happened.”
“Would you like to go?”
“....”
He did not need to explain where.
He ant visiting Hanamura in prison.
Huijae thought for a mont before shaking her head.
“It has nothing to do with .”
It was a clear line being drawn.
“I’m only sorry that you have to see such an ugly side of my family. I worry that it might bring you trouble.”
So indescribable emotion surged inside Huijae.
Good.
That man had deserved punishnt long ago.
The cris he committed were countless.
He was a wretch who beat people like dogs whenever he was displeased.
But she could not reveal those feelings.
The world would consider it sinful for a daughter to feel such things toward her father.
Taejin, who had grown up in a warm and harmonious family, could never understand it.
Unable to speak honestly about anything, Huijae simply stood there.
Taejin pulled her into his arms.
“Yes. There’s no need for you to see sothing so unpleasant.”
“....”
“You made the right decision. I will take care of everything.”
Holding Huijae in his arms, Taejin gently patted her back.
A silent reassurance that she need not worry.
Taejin swallowed Hanamura’s wealth whole.
From the brewery onward, all that money fell into his hands.
He had moved before it could all be reclaid by the national treasury.
Because Taejin was not like Taeseok.
He was a giant figure whom corrupt politicians could not touch.
Taejin’s father had admired Western noble families.
He had devoted his entire life to becoming like them.
A distinction separating them from re nouveaux riches.
Culture. Refinent. Connections.
Everything Taejin had possessed since birth protected him.
Holding the sugar import distribution rights, Taejin was not rely wealthy.
He was a link to the United States.
A supplier of precious foreign currency.
No one could touch him carelessly.
“Of course a man should live like that. You may share what’s yours, but you must never allow it to be taken from you.”
Taejin’s father poured him a drink with a benevolent smile.
“So, Taejin. How did you manage it?”
“So of the breweries and businesses were registered under Japanese corporations. There were a few shell presidents, so handling those was easy...”
Taejin received the bottle respectfully and filled his father’s glass with careful hands.
Strong liquor flowed into the glass, shining clear.
“I invoked the Korea–U.S. food aid agreent, and they had nothing to say. Postwar industrial normalization is far too important.”
Taejin did not leave the massive brewery as rely a business.
He turned it into infrastructure necessary for national reconstruction.
The supply line to the U.S. military—one Hanamura had secured with countless bribes—beca poison instead.
“But surely so people didn’t stay quiet?”
“I created a ghost company alongside the shell president Hanamura had already installed.”
Taejin used Hanamura’s own slush fund route against him.
He manipulated the opaque accounting structures.
The largest portion of Hanamura’s business had always depended on Taejin’s sugar.
“I disguised Hanamura as a creditor and claid unpaid debts for imported sugar.”
Traditional ferntation thods required too much ti.
To produce large quantities quickly, sugar was essential.
Since Taejin supplied more than a ton of premium sugar every month, he could create debts that never existed.
“Yes! That’s it! Now you’re finally showing the qualities of a real man. That’s right! My son should be like this!”
Taejin’s father laughed happily, his face flushed with alcohol.
Their glasses clinked cheerfully.
“Life must be played long! The board must be expanded! That’s what a man does!”
“Yes. Let pour you another drink, Father.”
Before long the bottle was empty.
Taejin brought out another one and poured again.
Again and again the cloudy liquor filled their glasses.
His father’s eyes slowly closed as satisfaction spread across his face.
“Our family must shine even brighter... understand, boy? We will beco the nobles of this new era... no, the royal family....”
His father could barely hold himself upright.
“You learned well. You did exactly as I taught you! Continue like that. With everything I gave you... with dignity, understand?”
“...Of course, Father.”
As his father began to collapse onto the table, Taejin held his shoulders.
His voice carried the weight of a decision.
“I will.”
His gaze toward his father was strange.
* * *
The next morning.
After taking a spoonful of the bean-sprout soup the housemaid had prepared, Taejin’s father frowned.
“My body isn’t what it used to be... In the old days this would have been nothing. Yet I collapsed before you, hmph.”
Despite drinking all night together, Taejin looked perfectly fine.
He smiled lightly.
“Seems our father has grown old.”
“You rascal! If I say sothing like that, you’re supposed to say ‘No, Father, you’re still strong.’”
Their warm conversation continued over breakfast.
Suddenly Taejin spoke.
“Father, why don’t you get a checkup?”
“A checkup? Nonsense. I know my own body.”
“Please don’t say that. It’s always best to catch problems before symptoms appear.”
Clack.
Setting down his spoon, Taejin spoke with a serious face.
“You should live a long life.”
His father’s nose stung with emotion at those words.
He smiled brightly.
“Alright. I’ll make ti later.”
“You’ll forget. Shall we go now? If they hear you’re coming, hospital directors will line up barefoot to greet you. I’ll take you there myself.”
“Look how impatient you’ve beco! Haha. Were you that worried about this old man? I must really be getting old.”
After dressing well, Taejin escorted his father into the car.
Holding the steering wheel, Taejin smiled through the rearview mirror.
“This reminds of when I first learned to drive.”
The sleek black luxury car glided forward.
“You told back then. Driving is like life.”
“That’s right.”
“Don’t be too impatient. Don’t be afraid. Everything goes wherever the one holding the wheel decides...”
“You really do have a good mory.”
Looking out the window, his father appeared content.
It was a perfect life.
The kind everyone envied.
“Rest your eyes. I’ll drive you safely.”
Following his son’s words, the man closed his eyes.
He felt like a king.
The car carrying the two n entered the white hospital.
A short while later, only one person remained inside the vehicle leaving the hospital.
Clank.
The faint sound of a tal door closing echoed.
User Comments
0 comments from readers