Taeseok burst into the room without knocking, several employees clinging to both of his arms in an attempt to stop him.
The quiet office was suddenly thrown into chaos, yet Taejin did not even look at Taeseok, who had barged in without hesitation.
He simply continued with what he had been doing, still holding the fountain pen in his hand as though nothing had happened.
“Hey.”
“....”
“Hey!”
“....”
“You crazy bastard!”
When Taeseok shouted, the employees holding his arms panicked and started shouting as well.
“Sir! Please leave!”
“Soone call the police!”
“Why are you causing a disturbance here!”
A few of the employees were flung to the floor by Taeseok’s brute strength. Amid the turmoil, Taejin—who had remained calm the entire ti—finally spoke.
“Everyone, leave.”
“...Sir....”
“It’s fine. Go.”
Even at Taejin’s gentle command, the employees hesitated as if they were reluctant to leave. Taejin gave a short nod, emphasizing again that it was fine. Only after the last employee slowly stepped out did Taeseok imdiately stride up to him.
“You son of a bitch....”
“How much do you know? I was almost finished.”
“Is that really what matters right now?”
“It does matter. I thought I had handled everything so nothing would leak outside, but apparently a variable appeared.”
By now the smile had disappeared from Taejin’s face.
“Where did you hear it? What did you hear?”
“Ha... fuck....”
“President Gi. Since you don’t seem inclined to talk right now, I’ll give you so advice first. From now on, don’t rush in like this without thinking and throw your body into things. You seem very agitated. That won’t do.”
“What? You’re seriously saying sothing like that right now—”
“Today should be the last day you act without using your head.”
Taejin rose slowly from his seat.
“You’ll have many things to handle from now on.”
He held out the docunt he had just signed.
“Here. Take it.”
But Taeseok threw it straight onto the floor. It was obviously a bribe. He had no intention of accepting sothing like that.
The white papers scattered across the room.
Yet Taejin didn’t seem to care. He held out another docunt. Then another. And another.
“What the hell are you doing.”
“Soon, the ownership transfer docunts will be sent under President Gi’s na. The brewery and all of Hanamura’s businesses.”
Taejin picked up the papers that had fallen to the floor. Then he lightly shook them with one hand.
“My assets.”
For a mont Taeseok doubted his own ears. His expression clearly showed he didn’t understand what he had just heard.
“It may take so ti, but I would like President Gi to help distribute compensation first... to the families of the Joseon workers who were conscripted.”
Taejin placed an elegant leather file in the center of the desk.
“The list is in here. I tried to find as many as I could reach, but there are so many missing people that I couldn’t organize it cleanly.”
As though that were the most important thing of all.
“If you find them later... please.”
Taejin looked at Taeseok with sincere eyes.
That honest expression made Taeseok feel nauseated. He grabbed Taejin by the collar. The neat shirt crumpled beneath his rough grip.
“What kind of bullshit are you pulling right now.”
“So please cover up what Hanamura did. Make it as if it never happened.”
Even with his collar seized, Taejin’s expression did not change. He seed completely calm, as if he had expected everything.
“My wife.”
At the words my wife, referring to Huijae, Taeseok instinctively growled.
“She must have absolutely nothing to do with sothing this filthy and terrible.”
But Taeseok froze at Taejin’s cold words.
“She should not be rembered as the daughter of a collaborator. She should be rembered as a poor woman who was briefly deceived by the son of a collaborator. After all, she is the young and admirable night school teacher of the Joseon people.”
Taejin calmly pried Taeseok’s fingers from his collar one by one, then handed him the final thing he had prepared.
“I leave everything in your hands.”
The white pages were filled with ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) neat handwriting.
The very first page was a recipe for pear-blossom tea.
Pear blossom, pear peel, licorice.
– 1–2 dried pear blossoms (petals only)
– Half a handful of dried pear peel
– 1–2 pieces of licorice
– Two spoons of honey
Wash all ingredients in clean water for two minutes. Then add one and a half cups of water and simr on low heat for twenty minutes. After turning off the heat, let it steep quietly for five more minutes. Remove the ingredients, fan it gently, and allow it to cool until pleasantly warm.
Every page was about Huijae.
On rainy days she often had nightmares, so she should not be allowed to sleep in a room that was too dark—leave a small lamp on.
Even when she had no appetite and skipped als, she would still eat stead eggs with milk.
Those pages showed just how long Taejin had loved and cared for Huijae.
Taeseok could not throw them away.
He steadied his breathing for a mont. His throat trembled as he drew in a deep breath.
“...What are you thinking.”
“Because the amount is so large, many people will target you. Wealth is always harder to protect than to accumulate, so be more careful from now on. One mistake and many things will vanish.”
“I asked what you’re thinking.”
“As for the sugar import matter, I have already spoken with contacts in the United States. Distribution should not be difficult. The people handling it are good friends, but... don’t trust them too easily. Though it’s a little embarrassing for to say that to a self-made businessman.”
“Answer !”
“After I leave, people will watch the situation for a while. But as you know, if you don’t seize control quickly, problems will inevitably appear. The scale of this shift is huge, so people will swarm like a pack of dogs.”
“You’re really going to throw everything away and take the bla alone?”
Taejin leaned against the desk as if casually sitting on it.
“I’m not throwing it away.”
At last his expression seed calr.
“It was never mine to begin with. I’m simply letting it go.”
A bitter smile touched his face.
“I thought if anyone would understand, it would be you.”
“? Understand you?”
Their lives had been different from the start. Taejin, who had been noble from birth, was in no position to say that to Taeseok, who had crawled through poverty.
But Taejin burst into laughter.
“A man never wants to appear pathetic to the woman he holds in his heart.”
Yet in one thing they were the sa.
They both loved the sa woman.
The day Taejin learned everything, he decided to give it all up. He chose to deceive Huijae and carry every sin alone.
Once he knew the truth, he could not bury it.
No human being could.
Even breathing felt unbearable.
The docunts, written in excessive detail, cut into Taejin like knives.
Manchuria. Sakhalin. Hokkaido. Kyushu. Construction. Railroads. Coal mines. Military industry. And—
Military Labor Supply List.
Taejin’s father had supplied Joseon laborers exactly where they were needed.
As the docunts continued, they beca shorter. Eventually even the nas disappeared, replaced by numbers.
The weight of the cris appeared as numbers.
Soone had to take responsibility.
Even if forgiveness could never be granted, soone had to beg for it.
That was what a human being must do.
But Taejin could not ask anyone to bear that burden with him.
He couldn’t.
Because at the end of his gaze, there was always her.
What she liked. What she hated. What she could not endure. What she dread of.
No one knew those things better than soone who loved her quietly.
So Taejin decided to move forward alone.
“Even if I can’t be a magnificent man... I’d rather not be a pathetic one.”
There were countless things he had wanted to give his wife as they grew old together.
But Taejin decided this was enough.
For the first ti since their marriage, he had seen her smile like that.
That alone made this decision worthwhile.
“Perhaps you could teach people around you to read—those who cannot co to night school because of their circumstances. Reading is difficult at first, but once you begin, it becos surprisingly easy.”
No matter who ca after him, this was sothing no one else could replace.
“I simply... do it because it’s sothing I can do.”
It was sothing only Taejin could do.
It had not been an easy decision.
Every ti he returned ho at dawn and looked at his sleeping wife, greed stirred inside him.
Sotis he wanted to pretend he knew nothing and continue living as Yeon Huijae’s husband.
But he did not want to stain his feelings for her.
He simply wanted to remain honest about his love.
So Taejin chose to give up everything.
Even so, as long as he could protect this one feeling until the end, it was enough.
If it was a choice that allowed him to face the woman he loved without sha, then anything was worth it.
Looking at Taeseok, who was staring blankly at him, Taejin joked lightly.
“I’m going to Manchuria. I hear there are no schools and no hospitals there... it’s a ss.”
The Joseon people his father had exploited and discarded had never returned. They remained there, struggling day by day near the border.
“Fortunately my father left quite a fortune. There is quite a lot I can do.”
“You’re saying you’ll spend your father’s wealth on Joseon people in Manchuria?”
“That’s right.”
“And the country will just watch that enormous amount of money leave?”
“They will. Not happily, of course... but I’m leaving my assets with President Gi. That gives them justification. Sothing like a Korean industrial developnt fund.”
Taejin had decided to use what his father had left him.
Education. Culture. Connections.
The United States naturally supported the idea of a Korean capitalist helping Joseon people in Manchuria establish independence.
The UN also had no reason to oppose the expansion of influence from the free world.
And Korea could not ignore the gaze of the United States and international organizations.
Taejin had already announced his donations abroad. Because he had acted first, the governnt could do nothing to stop it.
However, since the wealth leaving the country could have been reclaid and used dostically, they demanded compensation.
As a result, Korea gained priority participation in developnt aid programs, more flexible international loan conditions, and increased subsidy ratios from the International Cooperation Administration.
Taejin extended his hand.
“I’m sorry for acting so petty before. I was simply too jealous to endure it.”
Only after Taejin moved his hand impatiently did Taeseok finally shake it.
The rough hand gripping his made Taejin feel ashad.
How many hands had been torn, wounded, and broken—while his own had remained soft and clean?
“Well then. Goodbye.”
Taejin shook the handshake twice, as if encouraging him.
Taeseok slowly turned around.
Watching the back of the young, capable, promising man—above all the man his wife loved—Taejin spoke once more.
“Oh. Quit smoking.”
“....”
“She can’t stand cigarette smoke.”
Unlike when it had burst open earlier, the door closed very quietly.
In the silent office, Taejin sat down again and finished his remaining work.
He stamped the docunts.
A red seal blood on the white paper like blood.
It was his father’s seal.
Following his father’s teachings, Taejin had grown into a cultured man. Years of piano practice had made his movents smooth and fast.
Fast enough to steal the key to a safe from the arms of a drunken old man.
“I’m glad I studied piano for so long....”
Chuckling softly, Taejin picked up the next docunt and humd a tune.
A piece he had once played with his wife sitting beside him.
Salut d’Amour.
Usually he could play it easily, yet he had stumbled several tis that day.
He had been nervous, wanting to impress his wife.
The notes wouldn’t co easily, and he had awkwardly suggested they play together so she wouldn’t be disappointed in his clumsy performance.
But that embarrassing story would remain known only to Taejin forever.
Huijae paced beside the window.
Sothing felt wrong.
Her husband had not co ho for days.
A bad feeling crept into her chest.
“...!”
At that mont she saw a familiar car outside.
Her husband’s car.
Huijae ran outside imdiately.
The mont he stepped out, Taejin spotted her.
“It’s cold tonight.”
Seeing Huijae standing there in her pajamas, Taejin frowned and removed his scarf, wrapping it around her.
“Did sothing happen?”
“Did you run out here because you missed ?”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“My... how cold.”
Taejin pulled the sulking Huijae into his arms.
Huijae tried to push away, hitting his chest with her fists.
But for so reason, Taejin did not listen.
Instead, he held her even tighter.
“You must sleep well.”
Holding his wife, Taejin spoke words she could not understand.
“And don’t skip als.”
As if that were enough, Taejin finally released her.
From inside his coat he pulled out a small envelope.
It was about the size of a love letter.
“A lawyer will explain the details.”
“What do you an—”
“Being with you....”
The tip of Taejin’s nose had turned red.
Not from the cold.
“...made truly happy.”
Then he turned around and walked away.
Leaving Huijae behind.
Leaving her alone.
Standing there in ridiculous white pajamas with a red scarf, Huijae opened the envelope.
Inside was a divorce agreent.
Every blank for Taejin’s signature had already been filled in.
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