Joker 1 (Side story) Ch 2

As they drove around a large fountain towards the hotel lobby, he spotted a tall man in the distance. It was Kwon Taeha, dressed casually instead of in a suit, waiting for someone.

 

Was it his lungs, or his heart? Somewhere in Joo Hawon’s body, his organs suddenly felt squeezed. As he drew closer to Kwon Taeha, his fingertips and toes tingled.

 

The moment the car stopped in front of the lobby, Kwon Taeha, not a staff member, opened the back door. Joo Hawon stepped out towards him, dressed in a black cardigan.

 

“Why are you waiting outside?”

 

“I was impatient, wondering when you’d arrive. Or perhaps excited.”

 

He spoke so freely, making Joo Hawon worry about who might overhear. It was fine in Germany, but he wished Kwon Taeha would be more discreet in Korea. Ultimately, he knew Kwon Taeha wouldn’t listen anyway.

 

Joo Hawon gently shook his head when Kwon Taeha reached for his hand. Even if those who knew understood, it wouldn’t look good for two men to hold hands in public here. Moreover, today was the STA family gathering.

 

With Kwon Yijae dead and even Felix having stepped down from the front lines, Kwon Aeil’s maternal relatives now held significant positions. Their gaze, in particular, was the least favorable towards the two of them.

 

“CEO…!”

 

Kwon Taeha grabbed Joo Hawon’s hand and held it.

 

“My hands are cold from waiting for you.”

 

He worried Joo Hawon’s hands might be cold, but the car had been warm, leaving a moderate warmth. Joo Hawon’s hands and feet were usually not warm, and they had become even colder since his health declined. He didn’t outwardly show the rage that boiled within him towards the person who had caused Joo Hawon’s condition. After all, such sentiments were a waste on someone already dead.

 

As they walked through the lobby, he had secretly wondered if Joo Hawon would be wary, but to his surprise, his poker face remained as strong as ever.

 

“What, you’re enjoying it but pretending not to?”

 

“If I frown and get caught by paparazzi, it’ll be a scandal about divorce or something.”

 

“If some scumbag writes that article, I’ll end their life.”

 

Joo Hawon smiled softly and walked in the direction Kwon Taeha was leading.

 

“Did you eat?”

 

“Lightly. You?”

 

“On the plane. Is CEO Jaehee coming today too?”

 

“Why my brother?”

 

From Lee Eunjun to Kwon Jaehee, Kwon Taeha was subtly jealous. Or rather, overtly jealous. Joo Hawon stepped into the elevator, heading for the top floor. Since there were other people in the elevator, he didn’t answer Kwon Taeha’s question and stood quietly.

 

“Why are you asking about my brother?”

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

As if on a family trip, one of the children in the elevator looked at Kwon Taeha with curiosity. His mixed-race appearance was peculiar to the child’s eyes. When the child raised a hand to point at Kwon Taeha, the parents, embarrassed, pulled their child’s hand down. Then, seeing the two men holding hands, they covered their child’s eyes. Joo Hawon’s fingers twitched slightly.

 

Generally, those who knew them looked with curiosity, while those who didn’t looked with displeasure.

 

“Do you want a child?”

 

Interpreting Joo Hawon’s gaze in some way, the response was unexpectedly random. As the family exited on an intermediate floor, Joo Hawon, who had been holding the door open button, let go of his hand.

 

“A child?”

 

“You were looking at them so cutely.”

 

“Aren’t all children cute?”

 

“Really?”

 

“You must have been cute as a baby too.”

 

Joo Hawon let out a breathy laugh.

 

“Babies are all wrinkled when they’re born. You must have looked like an alien.”

 

“My secretary has a habit of underestimating himself.”

 

“Alright. Let’s go with that.”

 

“You’re responding like I’m throwing a tantrum.”

 

“Get off.”

 

Kwon Taeha felt the unspoken words, “Just do it without complaint.”

 

Joo Hawon would sometimes lower his eyebrows and smile with an expression of unavoidable acceptance regarding his own words and actions. Each time, he felt as if he were a child, but that expression, seen only occasionally, contained boundless affection.

 

“Because I like you, I’ll reluctantly endure it.” Something like that.

 

“If you treat me like a child, I might act out to defy your expectations.”

 

“CEO, why are you talking about children? Is it you who wants a child?”

 

“Ah, I can’t stand children. Even if they resemble you, I wouldn’t want one.”

 

He replied as if it were a nuisance.

 

“You really don’t want one?”

 

Joo Hawon slowed his steps, looking at a hall with an open door about midway down the corridor.

 

“CEO,”

 

“I don’t need one. Am I an emperor? Will there be a rebellion if I don’t have an heir?”

 

“CEO Jaehee also doesn’t seem to be thinking of marriage…”

 

His words trailed off. He hadn’t intended to use Kwon Jaehee as a scapegoat, but it sounded exactly like that.

 

“Now I see, Joo Hawon, you’re quite rigid.”

 

“Did you just realize? I’ve always been rigid.”

 

“No, I mean downstairs.”

 

While holding hands, he playfully smacked Kwon Taeha’s thigh. Kwon Taeha laughed out loud for some reason. Unlike him, who seemed pleased, Joo Hawon was, as usual, deep in thought.

 

Kwon Jaehee.

 

He had seen him significantly less often lately. Although Kwon Jaehee had said he was a figurehead, he hadn’t completely detached himself from practical matters. Yet, recently, it seemed he had completely stepped away, as documents that Kwon Jaehee should have handled ended up on Kwon Taeha’s desk.

 

Kwon Taeha should have been the actual CEO of STA. However, he had put Kwon Jaehee forward because of himself, incurring significant losses to hide how Kwon Yijae had died.

 

People said Kwon Taeha was a shadow that followed him, but in reality, it was because of his own shadow that Kwon Taeha remained only Chief Operating Officer (COO).

 

“Joo Hawon.”

 

“…Yes?”

 

Kwon Taeha, with a smiling face, turned his gaze only to Joo Hawon.

 

“It’s fine to visit other worlds, but don’t bring back anything strange. And if possible, can’t you take me with you?”

 

“How can we share thoughts?”

 

“If it were possible, I would want to.”

 

“You know your words don’t sound like jokes when you say them.”

 

“Yes, it’s not a joke.”

 

He pulled Joo Hawon’s arm and gently bit his ear. The earlobe, bitten, felt like a fuse, and heat spread rapidly.

 

Joo Hawon opened the door and glanced at the banquet hall, hoping the hotel staff wouldn’t see. He gave a slight nod of his head in greeting. As expected, Kwon Jaehee was nowhere to be seen today either.

 

Around an oval table resembling a roulette table, Anton and three other relatives from Kwon Aeil’s maternal side, along with Eva, Kwon Taeha’s mother, and Kwon Aeil’s mother, were seated. A palpable tension, enough to make one feel suffocated just by looking, hung in the air.

 

Eva, who was in the heart of enemy territory, smiled warmly as she saw the two men enter.

 

“You’re late.”

 

As Joo Hawon bowed first, Aeil waved his hand.

 

“Welcome. No need to apologize. The protagonist always arrives late.”

 

Kwon Taeha and Joo Hawon sat side-by-side in their assigned chairs, following the staff’s guidance.

 

Every time Joo Hawon faced them, he felt a dizzying sensation, as if the table were spinning. Today, mental fatigue gnawed at his brain, but his expression was no different from usual.

 

“So, Aeil.”

 

“Speak, Eva.”

 

“What is the reason you insisted on calling us here?”

 

Aeil clapped his hands.

 

“It’s because of Grandfather’s will, isn’t it?”

 

Joo Hawon, who had been letting Aeil’s words drift in one ear, looked up. As expected, their eyes met, and Aeil slightly narrowed his eyes. It was a look that seemed to say, “This is not a place for you.”

 

“You don’t cherish the one life you have left, do you?”

 

Kwon Taeha whispered to Joo Hawon with a sneer. Joo Hawon remained silent, deciding not to stir up trouble.

 

“Grandfather said we should have a sibling gathering once a month, no matter how busy we were. He said we should foster such close bonds of brotherhood.”

 

Aeil had unilaterally arranged the meeting, and his maternal relatives’ faces were not particularly bright. The woman sitting next to Aeil was the daughter of an entrepreneur whose business was based in semiconductors, married to Felix in an arranged marriage. Their only child was Aeil.

 

Their relationship was worse than a marriage of convenience, so she had gradually drawn her relatives to Tex to solidify her own position. Even though Felix had been ousted and her son became CEO, she looked as if she were facing poison, with deep hollows under her eyes.

 

“Ah, you’ve come to pity me. You pity me like my own mother did. My relatives, who only plot to send me to a mental hospital because they think I’m so pathetic. Some mischievous ones even hid my medication somewhere. Because I was the most backward among them, I was confined to the garage all day, even though I was older than them. Well, that was a long time ago.”

 

Joo Hawon scoffed inwardly. Perhaps Aeil had succeeded in his own revenge. The relatives who had plotted to send Aeil to a mental hospital were sitting right there.

 

Anton, whose face was ashen, was Aeil’s cousin, whom Aeil had chased away as soon as he took the Tex crown. He had heard recently that Aeil had called him back, but unlike before, he dared not utter a word in front of Aeil.

 

Aeil was squeezing his maternal family, as if to show them that he could control Tex. Perhaps because of this, the maternal side’s momentum seemed to have waned.

 

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen CEO Kwon Jaehee lately. Has he been kidnapped?”

 

Aeil suddenly played his attack card.

 

“You arranged the fortune-telling, didn’t you?”

 

“Me? Taeha, it’s problematic to call me that. If Grandfather heard you, it would be a big deal.”

 

“Aeil.”

 

Eva, who had been moistening her lips with her teacup, spoke.

 

“Is your noble game fun?”

 

“Well, aren’t you the noble one, Eva?”

 

“Everything you’re saying and doing right now is like a ridiculous noble game. You use indirect speech, filled with pretense.”

 

“At least I don’t play the noble game of luring young artists with patronage.”

 

After her arranged marriage to Kwon Yijae, Eva, unable to bear her loneliness, became engrossed in collecting art. It was through this that she met the painter Hyun Jungwon, Kwon Jaehee’s biological father.

 

Joo Hawon glanced at Eva’s expression, sensing the conversation had crossed a line, but she appeared calm.

 

“I think there’s another lonely person here, like Eva.”

 

Aeil smiled and looked at Joo Hawon.

 

Joo Hawon also let out a faint smile. It was a remark Aeil had intended to use against Eva, but it was aimed at him. However, one thing was puzzling: Kwon Taeha’s attitude. Normally, he would have played a counter-card to pressure Aeil, but he rested his chin on his hand and watched only Joo Hawon.

 

Joo Hawon had a suspicion.

 

‘He’s not mistaking my sponsorship of Lee Eunjun for loneliness, is he?’

 

Joo Hawon picked up the cup in front of him and took a sip of black tea. He had long grown accustomed to the taste of the black tea he favored. With so many days spent together that even his palate had changed, why did Kwon Taeha still not trust him?

 

Kwon Taeha, you who meticulously investigate my every move, you shouldn’t be like this.

 

“Regrettably, the CEO hasn’t given me the opportunity.”

 

Joo Hawon turned his chin to look at Kwon Taeha. In other words, stop the pointless jealousy. He had conveyed his inner thoughts, but he didn’t know if Kwon Taeha understood.

 

“Wow, cousin. Hawon, give him some breathing room. He must have a hard time breathing even normally.”

 

Eva’s eyes sharpened. Kwon Taeha’s aura was also unusual, and it was clear that if Aeil provoked him one more time, an unprecedented war of nerves would break out.

 

Rather than watch those whales leap from the water and clash, Joo Hawon decided he would leap first.

 

“What’s suffocating is this space. This atmosphere where you ostracize and scorn me, even though the CEO and I have become legal family. Am I not family?”

 

It had been a long time since he had responded to provocation like this.

 

When he was a lead dealer, he always repaid in kind, using the Code of Hammurabi as his bible, but now he was cautious in every word and deed. He had witnessed firsthand how smoke could arise from a smokeless fire, thanks to the paparazzi. Joo Hawon did not want to cause any trouble.

 

“Joo Hawon is right. So stop provoking him. It’s annoying to see family like this.”

 

Kwon Taeha narrowed his eyes and brushed Joo Hawon’s bangs with his fingertips. Some of Aeil’s maternal relatives, who had been sitting like sacks of grain, frowned.

 

“I apologize if I offended you. Louis, or rather, Hawon.”

 

Even so, Aeil was digging deeper than usual.

 

They didn’t see each other often, but it hadn’t been this bad before. As if he held a Lottery card, Aeil’s face was filled with a confidence that bordered on arrogance.

 

“Aeil, everyone here is busy, so why don’t we wrap this up appropriately?”

 

Despite Eva’s cold tone, Aeil’s mother, Hannah, showed no intention of defending her son. She merely remained silent.

 

“It’s nice to see you all after so long, which is why I spoke a bit more than usual. Alright, the reason I asked everyone to gather today is because there’s something I want to celebrate here.”

 

Joo Hawon had no intention of paying Aeil’s nonsense any mind.

 

“I plan to adopt a sibling soon.”

 

Until he uttered that astonishing piece of nonsense.

 

Joo Hawon quickly read Hannah’s face, which was showing faint tremors. It was shocking news, yet her agitation was extremely brief. That meant she already knew. This time, he shifted his gaze and glanced at Kwon Taeha.

 

He was looking at Aeil with the same emotionless gaze he had shown when he saw Camellia Lady.

 

By the way, who exactly was Aeil planning to adopt? Had Kwon Taeha already known about this?

 

More than that, Aeil wouldn’t have gathered his relatives here just for congratulations. There was bound to be some disgustingly dirty scheme. Joo Hawon feigned indifference, as if unaffected, and looked at Aeil.

 

“What is it, everyone’s reaction is quite lukewarm. There’s no particular reason I asked you to meet in Korea. It’s because the person who will become our sibling is studying abroad in Korea. As adults, we can’t just summon a student who is still studying. Oh, but the atmosphere is so cold, our sibling must be very disappointed. Please smile and welcome them warmly.”

 

Aeil gestured to an employee, telling them to bring in the person waiting outside. Then, as if on cue, the hall door, which had been closed, swung open. Almost simultaneously, all eyes in the hall turned towards it.

 

Standing at the open door was a young man with his hands clasped neatly. Looking closer, he seemed to be at the transitional stage between youth and boyhood; despite his youthful face, his build was large. Joo Hawon couldn’t hide his surprise as he watched the young man bow.

 

The young man’s exotic features were subtly closer to East Asian, like Kwon Jaehee’s.

 

He looked familiar, yet not quite…

 

“Mailer.”

 

At that moment, a name colder than a winter chill escaped Kwon Taeha’s lips.

 

Ah…

 

Only then did a chill escape Joo Hawon’s lips.

 

As the young man straightened up from his bow, Joo Hawon could see traces of someone he had forgotten in his face. It felt as if gunshots rang out, and as if bubbles were scattering from his mouth.

 

Joo Hawon couldn’t tear his eyes away from the young man’s face. Apart from his seemingly friendly eyes, he bore a strong resemblance to the person who had tried to kill him.

 

Mailer Kwon.

 

Kwon Yijae’s only blood relative, and the joker card he had kept hidden.