Vol 7 Ch 14

Joker Track 2

Eva Prinzessin von Schönburg-Hartenstein was Duke Hartenstein’s fourth daughter.

Above Eva, there was one brother and two sisters, and below her, two more younger siblings. Eva’s family, of noble lineage, lost their family rights with the end of World War II, but with the re-establishment of the German Noble Federation Association in 1956, they were granted legitimacy of bloodline. Of course, their vested interests as the ruling class had vanished. Eva did not face financial difficulties due to a considerable inheritance from her ancestors, but she was treated as the black sheep of the family compared to her siblings.

Eva could not speak properly until she was five years old, and even after entering school, she could not keep up with the class. The school educated students with a focus on free discussion and thought, but Eva always had too many thoughts, taking her longer than others to organize them.

When Eva was merely twenty-four, her father, Duke Hartenstein, brought forth a marriage proposal, and the groom was the second son of ‘STA Corporation’. Eva rejected the proposal on the spot, stating she did not want an arranged marriage. When her father asked if she disliked him because of his race, she shook her head.

To her, the groom’s race was not important.

Eva knew the true intentions of her father and all her family members who were rushing her into marriage. They were a rigid family who did not want the blood of true nobility to be diluted. To marry a man with East Asian blood, even if he were German, was tantamount to selling Eva off. And not to one of her older sisters who were of marriageable age, but to Eva, the most pliable one.

Eva declared her intention to have her marriage, at least, be her own decision, and from that day on, she became a ghost in her household. Ungrateful, a stubborn mare who kicked up a fuss without knowing her place after being introduced to a good match, a selfish woman who only cared about herself – these were the labels that clung to her for months. Twenty-four-year-old Eva could not bear their cold, sharp, dagger-like words. Being naturally submissive, she had no choice but to begin meeting Kwon Yijae with marriage as the premise.

She dated Kwon Yijae for only three months and had her wedding in the fourth. Even after marriage, people gossiped. They said the Hartenstein family’s fortune had finally run out, so they had sold off their daughter.

It was the truth. About a month after her marriage, her father reached out for money. He claimed she had to repay him for marrying into a prominent conglomerate thanks to him. Eva gave money to her family, and Kwon Yijae said nothing about it. There was no love between Kwon Yijae and her. He was a lunatic who could not love anyone, and her father, knowing the truth, had pushed her into a prison. With Eva’s sacrifice, STA gained the honor of noble blood, and her family received money.

After taking the surname Eva Kwon, she gradually changed. She was lonely and solitary. It was perhaps fate that she met Hyun Jungwon while trying to soothe her heart with art collecting. Eva became absorbed in Hyun Jungwon’s works and fell in love not with his paintings, but with the artist himself. And she became his sponsor, armed with immense capital. Until Hyun Jungwon lost his life in a sudden accident.

Kwon Jaehee was the child of the man she loved first and last. However, Kwon Taeha was born as a shield to protect his position. The truth of being born from his grandfather’s seed was a secret she had to take to her grave, and she accepted that she had become a member of this cold and calculating world.

The Hartenstein family, who had once despised her, now trembled beneath her feet, and Kwon Yijae was now dead. She knew Kwon Yijae had a successor, but Eva zipped her lips once more. For the sake of her sons, she could easily become a villain.

Eva loved both her sons equally, but her heart leaned more towards Kwon Taeha than Kwon Jaehee.

“Don’t you have any regrets?”

“Regrets about what?”

“Even if public opinion is favorable, there will surely be disadvantages.”

“When have I not faced disadvantages?”

Kwon Taeha adjusted his white gloves. Dressed in a single-button three-piece suit and a tuxedo tie, he looked like the darling of high society. The sleek black tuxedo contrasted with the white dress shirt, giving him a somewhat fastidious aura. He glanced down at his watch. It had the same movement as Joo Hawon’s, and the initials surrounded by gold trim were identical.

“The reason we’re having a formal gathering instead of ending it with just the two of us is because of people like you, Mother, who I consider family.”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“What is there to be afraid of?”

Eva rose from the sofa and straightened her son’s tuxedo tie.

“There was one time in my life I was afraid, and the person who made me experience that is standing right outside.”

She felt relieved that her son had the eyes of a resolute man. She had always worried. She feared that due to her own greed, he had inherited his grandfather’s bad blood and would never be able to love anyone, just like Kwon Yijae. She thanked God.

“Ihr seid das Salz der Erde.” (You are the salt of the earth.)

To her, Kwon Taeha was the salt and the light. If Kwon Taeha hadn’t existed, she might not be in her current position, and Kwon Jaehee might not have become the CEO of STA. And she considered Joo Hawon, whom her son loved, to be her salt and light as well.

“Please make your donations to the church moderately.”

Kwon Taeha smiled faintly and patted his mother’s back. As he opened the door to the preparation room, Joo Hawon was looking down at the floor with a displeased expression. He wore a tuxedo similar to Kwon Taeha’s, but the cummerbund around his waist made his body look even more slender.

“Do we really have to?”

Joo Hawon put his hands in the pockets of his tuxedo suit. This was a bespoke tailcoat that a master tailor had spent nearly two months crafting for their civil union, and it was already creased in the pockets. If the artisan who had managed STA’s clothing for generations saw this, they would faint.

“You’ve done it once before.”

“That’s true, but…”

Kwon Taeha took Joo Hawon’s hand. Martin Miller, watching them beside Eva Kwon, made the sign of the cross with a troubled expression. Just a few hours ago, they had finished signing the civil union documents. Martin Miller recalled those few hours and wished that moment had been a dream.

The formal civil union took place at Kwon Taeha’s German residence before the banquet, with only the parties involved and Martin Miller present.

As the two sat side-by-side in the drawing-room, Martin Miller spoke.

“In Germany, a civil union is equivalent to a marital relationship, guaranteeing legal benefits such as rights as a spouse, inheritance, insurance, and adoption.”

Joo Hawon had already confirmed the detailed terms and criteria in the first instance.

“However, if Mr. Joo Hawon dissolves the civil union, all rights will be forfeited, and you will not be able to receive inheritance.”

This, too, Joo Hawon was aware of.

“If the CEO were to dissolve the civil union…”

Martin Miller glanced at the ceiling as if making the sign of the cross and barely managed to continue.

“All of the CEO’s shares in STA Corporation will be inherited by Mr. Joo Hawon. If the CEO sells the shares within a minimum of 10 years of dissolving the civil union, Mr. Joo Hawon will be entitled to claim and receive the sale proceeds.”

In other words, it was a convoluted way of saying, ‘Live by my side for the rest of your life.’ Martin Miller truly felt like making the sign of the cross. If there was a devil inside Joo Hawon who had bewitched CEO Kwon, he prayed that God would cast it out.

“No matter how I think about it, there’s no need to go this far, is there?”

‘Good, that’s right,’ Martin Miller thought, ‘Even couples who register a marriage don’t go this far.’ Martin Miller cheered Joo Hawon on.

“Let’s die on the same day. If you want no issues with inheritance.”

“I’m four years younger than you, CEO Kwon.”

“What’s the point of living four more years without me?”

Joo Hawon chuckled, “That’s true,” and took a fountain pen from his tuxedo pocket. Without hesitation, he signed the document first. Kwon Taeha ran his hand over his round crown, then received Joo Hawon’s fountain pen.

As his signature was drawn and Martin Miller’s notarization followed, the civil union process concluded. With a single sheet of paper, the two were completely bound.

“May you two… live happily ever after.”

Martin Miller forced his stiff jaw to relax.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Kwon Taeha offered Martin Miller a handshake. He also shook hands with Joo Hawon, but Martin Miller merely closed his eyes tightly, like a mourner.

Martin Miller opened his eyes, which he had squeezed shut. He had repeated it several times, but it wasn’t a dream. That CEO, that ruthless man he had watched since childhood, had truly entered into a civil union with Joo Hawon. And under terms that were extremely disadvantageous to himself.

Soon, the doors leading to the STA Corporation’s banquet hall in Frankfurt began to open.

“Go wild today, too.”

Kwon Taeha whispered into Joo Hawon’s ear.

“I’ll pass.”

“If things hadn’t gone so awry, you would have become the heir to Dae-young Joseon Corporation. Just think of it as working for a slightly larger company.”

“In that case, we would have met as business partners, as superior and subordinate.”

“Hmm, even then, I would have somehow persuaded you and taken you, Joo Hawon.”

“Before you took me, you didn’t even know I was a virgin, did you?”

“It’s not that being a virgin is good, it’s that Joo Hawon being a virgin is good.”

Joo Hawon averted his gaze from the front, which he had been watching with slight unease, and then feigned a composed expression. In the end, the world was no different from a casino table. Wasn’t it enough to maintain a poker face while gauging each other’s hands? Even if someone dared to throw a stone, he had the ferocity to throw a bigger one.

Kwon Taeha found Joo Hawon new and surprising every time he looked at him. If Joo Sangkyung hadn’t fallen, Joo Hawon would have become a rather formidable businessman. Still, wouldn’t they have ended up in this kind of relationship? Well, he imagined it, uncharacteristically.

Like entering a casino, dazzling lights enveloped them. The eyes of the Kwon family members and executives in the banquet hall turned to them all at once.

In any case, they had stepped onto another game board.

The weather in Frankfurt was as capricious as Macau’s.

The diurnal temperature range was severe, and in winter like this, one couldn’t even step outside without a thick coat. The terrace of Wacker’s Kaffee, where the sun shone brightly, was Joo Hawon’s favorite spot.

The cafe, not far from Römerberg, was visited by Joo Hawon once a week, specifically every Wednesday. Even on weekends, if Kwon Taeha had a schedule, Joo Hawon’s days off inevitably fell on weekdays.

Since he hadn’t yet mastered German perfectly, Joo Hawon assisted him only with schedules in Macau, the US, and Korea. In between, he received business administration tutoring and accompanied Kwon Taeha on his schedules, spending time that was less than 24 hours a day. STA was connected to at least thousands of companies internationally, and with his good memory, memorizing information about the people involved in daily tasks usually took only a few hours.

Joo Hawon savored the rare moment of leisure after a week, sipping a warm café latte. Perhaps because the weather was excessively chilly, Wacker’s Kaffee, usually bustling with customers, was quiet. For some reason, he was the only one on the terrace.

Joo Hawon pushed his chair against the wall and opened his laptop. Kwon Taeha’s exclusive STA hub had been opened to him months ago. However, he had accessed it only once. That hub was his WikiLeaks, filled with the vast information of a Big Brother.

The mastermind behind BM was Kwon Taeha, and the heir to Dutch Shell, the oil company that secured the Arctic drilling rights, was also included within it.

Regarding the collusion with the US Democratic Party…

Someone gripped the back of his chair. At the weight, Joo Hawon turned around, and his lips lightly brushed his cheek.

“Ist es nicht kalt?” (Aren’t you cold?)

“Es ist ertragbar.” (It’s bearable.)

They had agreed to speak in German until Joo Hawon became accustomed to it.

“Ich hoffe dass du dich nicht an Deutsch gewoehnst.” (I hope you don’t get used to German.)

“Warum?” (Why?)

“Deine falsche Aussprache ist niedlig zu hoeren.” (Your pronunciation is cute to hear.)

“That’s a strange thing to find cute.”

Joo Hawon rubbed his suddenly flushed cheeks and spoke in Korean. Kwon Taeha kissed his cheek again and removed his hand from the back of the chair.

Joo Hawon watched him quietly as he entered the cafe.

“…and XX Duzel recovered its capital during the collusion process. The 12 businesses are organically linked as the masterminds behind BM, and their top priority is to prevent the appropriation of oil money related to future oil shocks.”

“Texa operates a corporate donation organization that makes no political or religious claims, providing funds to Israeli Zionists for military purposes. The large container ship Eternal entered the port of Hokkaido, supporting the development of military weapons in preparation for the XX civil war.”

“The enforcement decree for the Korean shipbuilding industry related to the XXX assassination case has been eased. Sales orders to each company are prohibited. All STA ships of Korean Maritime Enterprises exceeding 10 years of age are to be scrapped. Trade with South Korea suspended, count 230.”

The first day he accessed his hub, Joo Hawon closed it without being able to see further, starting with the details of a third-country president’s assassination. Kwon Taeha’s WikiLeaks still contained content he could not handle.

His father’s WikiLeaks were limited to domestic matters and those who deserved retribution, but Kwon Taeha’s were meticulously organized from a third-party perspective. He calculated the probability of future events compared to the present and derived results based on tens or hundreds of hypotheses. By organically linking STA’s choices accordingly, he prevented the butterfly effect.

By obtaining Joo Sangkyung’s WikiLeaks, his own WikiLeaks remained a hidden holy grail. He had never mentioned that he was collecting secrets as a Big Brother.

Kwon Taeha came out holding a coffee in one hand and a tart for Joo Hawon in the other. Seeing him sit opposite, Joo Hawon closed his laptop.

Suddenly, the wind blew. It was the strong German wind, carrying weather as capricious as Macau’s. He picked out a piece of tart with his fork and offered it to Joo Hawon.

“It’s hilarious that our great CEO is just cutting tarts.”

Joo Hawon opened his mouth and took the tart from the fork.

“It’s okay. Whatever the CEO does, it looks good.”

He smiled charmingly as he said this.

Kwon Taeha took off his scarf and draped it around Joo Hawon’s neck. Joo Hawon buried his face deep in the scarf and looked at him. The strong wind ruffled his hair. Kwon Taeha, with eyes like the north wind, met Joo Hawon’s gaze. Strangely, this winter didn’t feel cold.

“On a day like today, wouldn’t body talk be more fitting?”

It was a signal to leave the cafe and go to bed. Joo Hawon had no objection. He poked the tart deeply with his fork and put it into his mouth in one bite. It was a small tart, so it barely registered.

“Let’s buy more tarts to take with us.”

He chewed and swallowed, then washed it down with coffee before continuing.

“To our place.”

Life is a casino table.

To survive, one deceives others and creates a fake hand. You hid your cards, and because of that, you became the ultimate winner. However, there are jokers (variables) in the game.

The variable that even Kwon Taeha himself could not foresee was probably me. But the joker sided with the king. No one on the game board thought the joker would side with the king.

Having a joker does not guarantee victory, but there is only one answer.

When anyone reveals a cheating hand, they are the loser, and when they hide it perfectly, they are the winner.

[The Foul (Joker Track) fin]