MOON Ch 12

In the middle of the long marble table, a centerpiece of subtle-colored summer hydrangeas and silver candlesticks of varying heights were tastefully set.

With Chairman Jang seated at the head of the table, Jang Ikhyeon, Vice Chairman of Jungwang, sat to his right, followed by his son Jang Taeha, and next to him, Jang Yeonjun. Opposite them sat Jang Seongju—the representative of the JK Department Store headquarters and Chairman Jang’s second son—alongside his wife.

Gazing at the empty seat beside Yeonjun with a scowl, Chairman Jang asked in a displeased tone,

“How about your mother? Is she saying she is unwell today as well?”

“It seems she took quite a bit of headache medication. I went to fetch her, but she said she was sleeping.”

Tsk. Before Yeonjun could even finish his sentence, Jang Ikhyeon clicked his tongue briefly and downed a glass of cold water.

“Ah, honestly, that woman. Even though I told her so many times to cut back on the medicine.”

“…”

Even with the blunt display of displeasure, Yeonjun merely smiled with a calm face. Seeing the mood turning cold, Ms. Gwon, who was in charge of the kitchen affairs, tactfully stepped up to Chairman Jang’s side and bowed her head.

“Mr. Chairman, two days ago you mentioned wanting truffles, so I prepared stir-fried beef brisket with truffles for you. The grilled tilefish was sent by Manager Kim of the Laon Jeju branch.”

“Oh, Manager Kim did?”

“Yes. He said that when you visited the Jungmun branch before, you really enjoyed the tilefish at the Korean restaurant.”

“Manager Kim has a good eye for that sort of thing.”

Smiling with a satisfied face, Chairman Jang picked up a piece of neatly deboned tilefish with his chopsticks, and Ms. Gwon also smiled warmly. Soon, those gathered around the dining table all began their meal in unison, and after gently explaining the neatly arranged side dishes on the table for a moment, Ms. Gwon respectfully stepped back.

Over the dining table, where only the sound of utensils clinking against bowls had echoed for a while, Chairman Jang’s voice rang out.

“Representative Jang.”

Cough. Named all of a sudden, Jang Seongju swallowed a sip of water in a hurry, coughing softly as if something had gone down the wrong pipe.

“Yes, yes. Father.”

“This isn’t something to talk about at the dinner table, but there has been no progress at all throughout this entire quarter. You ambitiously brought in a watch store, only for it to become a white elephant. That’s a headache, so shouldn’t you wrap it up quickly or something?”

“Cough, yes, well…”

Craftsmanship, a watch imbued with the soul of an artisan. A watch brand that had gained explosive popularity both domestically and internationally at some point through repeated promotions emphasizing craftsmanship had entered JK Department Store two months ago due to Jang Seongju’s biased support.

However, a massive report exposed that the products costing tens of millions of won were actually produced in factories rather than crafted by hand, and the fact that the cost of production was less than 100,000 won became known worldwide, resulting in utter humiliation.

The only in-store brand in the country. They had brought it in at an astronomical cost, puffing up their promotional copy as if gilding it with gold, but in the end, it only made Jang Seongju look ridiculous after he had boasted so loudly with veins bulging on his neck. Suddenly having that fact pointed out again at the dinner table, Jang Seongju’s face flushed bright red in an instant.

“To make up for that loss, Representative Jang, you need to run until the soles of your feet catch fire. Instead of wandering outside all the time playing rounds of golf or whatever.”

“Father, that was all for business…”

“While you were running around bragging like that, do you know that your nephew, wanting to cut off things that give his grandfather a headache, listed up promising brands and sent them through Manager Gwak?”

At the quietly dropped bomb, the eyes at the dining table, which had been cast down while listening attentively to Chairman Jang, flew to Taeha in unison.

“…”

Even amid the silent commotion, Taeha, who was quietly continuing his elegant meal alone, neatly set down the utensils he was holding. During the brief silence, even as everyone shot him looks demanding an explanation, his series of actions were exceedingly leisurely, as if it were a matter taking place far away.

“…You, is that true, Taeha?”

Unable to watch any longer, Jang Ikhyeon signaled his son with his eyes and asked. Dabbling his lips quietly with a napkin, Taeha leisurely answered his father’s question only after taking a sip of water to rinse his mouth.

“Yes.”

Grit. As Jang Seongju gritted his molars tightly and glared at his nephew, who looked more obnoxious the more he saw him, Taeha’s smooth face met his gaze calmly without any particular agitation. Chairman Jang let out a low cough, ahem, and warned in a stern voice,

“There’s no need to glare like that. Because you didn’t do what you were supposed to do on time, an innocent person stepped up and resolved it, didn’t he? Then you should rather be grateful to Taeha.”

Tsk. As if he had been waiting for that exact moment, Jang Ikhyeon tapped his lips with a napkin and smirked.

“Indeed, when bringing in rising brands, I told you so many times to stack up reports repeatedly.”

That damn bastard… Usually, he treated his own son as if he were an enemy he shouldn’t even share a room with, yet the way he gloated obnoxiously just because Chairman Jang took his side was the very definition of “like father, like son.” Fortunately, his son was an utter enigma, keeping his mouth shut tight throughout it all.

However, Chairman Jang, who did not view Jang Ikhyeon favorably either, was not about to leave him be. Sure enough, furrowing his brow, Chairman Jang chewed and swallowed the rest of the honey-preserved chestnut set out for dessert, then spat out in an unsatisfied voice,

“The Vice Chairman is in no position to talk about others either. After singing about ESG, ESG so much, how could you let a report go out that even the selection of sub-materials was excessive? Did you listen with the bridge of your nose when I told you to review eco-friendly materials as much as possible for the duty-free shop expansion and release press materials accordingly?”

Even at an age pushing eighty, his gaze was piercing and his pronunciation crisp without a hint of weakness. All of those things were Chairman Jang’s spirit itself. Jang Ikhyeon, who had caught a cold shower while taking a bite, twitched his thick eyebrows and bit his teeth firmly.

Just when he thought they were doing well, they would make a misstep or do something foolish at the peak, so how could he be satisfied? Looking at their enemy-like faces made a fire rise up inside him. Chairman Jang’s displeased gaze scanned them one by one, then turned briefly toward Yeonjun, whom he was keeping an eye on for now since he couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

The seed of all misfortune in this house. An appearance that resembled his mother to an off-putting degree—the light brown hair, the pupils, and the bewitching eyes.

In truth, in Chairman Jang’s eyes, Yeonjun had been displeasing ever since he suddenly showed up at this house holding his mother’s hand, but after ‘that incident’ 16 years ago, he hadn’t particularly added any comments regardless of how Yeonjun conducted himself. His gaze darkened. Above all, there was that child’s last wish.

Chairman Jang’s gaze finally stopped on Taeha, who inherited his blood most strongly. His wrinkled eyes narrowed with a light of affection and satisfaction.

“Finish up your meal. It seems this fellow Taeha is done as well, so the two of us will take a walk.”

Though he framed it as saying he was done eating, it was virtually equivalent to saying he had no more room in his throat while looking at their pathetic state. With everyone ducking their necks like turtles, Chairman Jang motioned to Taeha and stood up from his seat, and Taeha quietly followed behind him.

The stares piercing his back were quite intense.

Well-manicured, fine grass was spread across the entire wide site. Crunch, crunch. With his hands behind his back, Chairman Jang took leisurely steps and inhaled the clear air coming over from the foot of Mt. Moga.

“The air is cooling down little by little, Taeha.”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“It means summer is gradually receding and autumn is coming. It was uniquely hot this year, so autumn needs to come quickly for us to see the autumn leaves and ginkgo trees turning yellow all around.”

The sharp insight that was only fierce when scanning the other family members turned into the warm eyes of an old man only in front of Taeha. Taeha also knew well how much his grandfather doted on him, so he simply bowed his head neatly and strolled through the vast garden with him.

For a long time, pointing his hand at the flowers blooming neatly in the garden and the well-maintained garden trees, Chairman Jang continued trivial stories, saying how old that one was now and when that one was planted, before suddenly stopping in his tracks.

“Now only the final hurdle remains.”

He turned to Taeha, who was standing beside him, and whispered softly,

“Gradually go over to the United States where Executive Director Bae is, and learn more practical work. I’m getting greedy and impatient, so this won’t do. If you stay firmly attached to the global marketing team, your eyes will open up a bit more to reading money flow as well.”

“Yes.”

And Taeha simply replied calmly, just like any other time.

“When you return, I will build you a very solid place of your own.”

“…”

If this story had been told in that dining room earlier, his uncle and aunt would probably have flipped out. Taeha suppressed a smirk that was about to leak out and replied neatly again,

“Yes. I will do so.”

At the sight of him replying without ruining his upright posture even once, Chairman Jang’s eyes narrowed with a smile. The face that faintly showed the atmosphere of his deceased mother, Hayeon, never revealed great emotional turmoil—despite having gone through all those events.

Hayeon was like that too. Recalling his daughter-in-law, whom he had cherished like a daughter and who was the daughter of his respected mentor, his face suddenly turned dark. Unlike the small-minded Ikhyeon, she had a broad mind, a brain that spun remarkably fast to the point where even Chairman Jang himself was surprised at times, yet a quiet wisdom that was never pretentious, grace, and an overwhelming presence that overwhelmed people with just a glance. Taeha was the one who inherited all of that.

In fact, she was a daughter-in-law who served as a strategist to Chairman Jang. Out of greed, he had settled her beside his son who lacked capacity, a decision he still regretted over and over again. Thinking of that precious child made a fire rise inside him.

Looking at Chairman Jang with a calm face, Taeha stepped closer.

“Grandfather.”

“Ah, I was lost in thought for a moment.”

“About Mother.”

A sharp-eyed fellow. His smiling face as he stretched his smooth lips was also purely calm, making his heart ache at times. Letting out a small sigh of agreement with a smile, Chairman Jang gently held Taeha’s hand.

“Just keep climbing up step by step as you are now. Although you say you are paving your path well on your own, I will clear everything away so that nothing trips your feet. I owe a great emotional debt to you and Hayeon.”

“A debt—I have never thought of it that way.”

“My heart feels differently. Whenever I think about it even now, my heart aches so much that I pretend she is living well in some far-off foreign country.”

“…”

Gazing at Taeha with deepened eyes, he instructed quietly,

“Go to a blind date sometime next month.”