Ch 55

<Chapter 55>

 

The Beginning of a New Time (16)

 

Thanks to the IV drip, the nausea subsided, so Eunho managed to eat breakfast. After showering and changing, the pants that used to fit perfectly were now so loose at the waist that they could practically spin around. He usually wore elastic-waist pants because he didn’t have to go out, so he didn’t realize he had lost weight. It wasn’t until he tried on a hook-type pair of pants that he realized how much weight he had lost.

 

As he put the clothes he had been wearing in the laundry basket, his eyes went to the phone he had placed on the nearby drawer. The phone, which he had used to contact coworkers and friends, albeit infrequently, until just a month ago, was now off, as if its life had ended. Now that the shareholders’ meeting was over, should he turn it on? He picked up the phone, sat on the edge of the bed, turned it on, and waited for a moment. Messages came flooding in. Among the messages indicating missed calls, unknown numbers were mixed in with familiar ones.

 

Among them, Suyeong and Hyukpil Sunbae’s urgent messages particularly caught Eunho’s eye. Eunho picked up his new phone and pressed the call button.

 

“Hyukpil Sunbae.”

 

-……Eunho…?

 

“Yes, Sunbae.”

 

-Where are you now?

 

“I’m in America.”

 

-America? Why? Are your parents sick?

 

As soon as he heard Eunho’s voice, an agitated tone came out. Eunho realized that it was past midnight in Korean time while talking, and he bit his lip in embarrassment.

 

“No. I came here for various reasons, but I’ll be back soon.”

 

-You little punk, do you know how worried I was when your phone was off? If you’re going somewhere, you should at least tell someone! I asked the company, and they said you quit. Ah? Is it because of Executive Director Choi, by any chance?

 

“……Yes.”

 

Hyukpil noticed Eunho’s situation faster than he expected. It was the sharpness of a reporter. With just a few clues, Hyukpil realized the reason for his disappearance and let out a long sigh as if the ground was sinking beneath him.

 

-Then you should have told me in advance! Do you even know how worried Suyeong was?

 

“I’m sorry. Sunbae…….”

 

-I’m glad you’re doing well, but if you do this one more time, I’m cutting ties with you.

 

He was letting off steam by threatening him, which was felt throughout the conversation. Eunho pressed his earlobes with his thumb and forefinger and apologized in a barely audible voice. Even though he had plenty of time to contact them, he made excuses that he was physically exhausted and worried many people.

 

-By the way, did you hear about Executive Director Choi’s shareholders’ meeting? You’ve probably already searched the news, so you know everything, right?

 

“Yes.”

 

Of course, he knew. He had been waiting for it more than anyone else. When Yoonjae’s story came out of Hyukpil Sunbae’s mouth, Eunho’s aegyo-sal, which had been roundly rising, was stunned as if he had been hit in the back of the head by the following words.

 

-Yeah. The shareholders’ meeting was delayed due to a car accident, but I’m glad he wasn’t hurt too badly. Still, he won for sure, so we’re just laughing it off.

 

At the word “car accident,” Eunho’s thoughts paused, and he missed a series of Hyukpil’s following words. Although there was no subject, it was clear that it was Yoonjae, but it was hard to understand what he was saying. Eunho stammered.

 

“Ca… car… accident?”

 

-……Huh? …Didn’t you hear? Ah, I guess you don’t know because they took down the car accident article.

 

“When? How badly was he hurt?”

 

As he clung to the end of the sentence as if he was going to pounce, a gap was created in the conversation as if he was flustered. Rather than choosing his words, Hyukpil paused, wondering why he didn’t know this, took a breath, and explained as it was.

 

-It’s been about a month? A drunk driver on the other side crashed into him, so he had surgery. It’s a relief he wasn’t seriously injured considering the car was totaled.

 

“Yes? To… totaled?”

 

-……I guess he kept it a secret because he was worried about you. Ah, I guess I shouldn’t have said anything. But he’s okay now. I was at the shareholders’ meeting, and Executive Director Choi looked fine. Eunho?

 

Hyukpil, who was flustered by Eunho’s stammering, rather anxiously tried to soothe him. His heart was pounding loudly as if it was hanging on the tip of his ear. When exactly was the car accident? As he recalled his thoughts, he remembered the video call he had with him at the hospital not long after he arrived here. He looked fine on the outside at the time, but surgery?

 

“Whe… where was he hurt?”

 

-I don’t know the details, but I only heard about a rib fracture. He couldn’t straighten his body until he appeared at Chairman Choi’s funeral, but he was much better yesterday.

 

The hand holding the phone trembled. He didn’t know at all. He acted as if nothing had happened, and he thought he had gone to get his body in shape for a health checkup. Ah, right. He was not the type to be hospitalized even when he was sick. He would summon the medical staff, not lie down in a hospital gown, but he believed it without thinking and glossed over it.

 

-Executive Director Choi has been going to work for about a week. He’s gotten that much better, so don’t worry too much. Okay?

 

“…….”

 

-When you come back to Korea, be sure to stop by Suyeong’s cafe.

 

“…Yes, I will.”

 

His vision became faint and then clear again. His mind was in ruins as if a typhoon had swept through. Eunho slapped his forehead with his palm to clear his head and first checked the news of Chairman Choi’s death on the portal screen.

 

“Ah…….”

 

It was the third day after he arrived here, and the day he had a video call with Yoonjae. Then the accident must have happened on the day he left or the day after.

 

Suddenly, Yoonjae’s voice, which was terribly subdued on the day he first talked to him after arriving, came to mind. His breathing was too rough and faint for a voice that had just woken up, and his heart strangely wavered that day. As the situation roughly matched, the water droplets that had been pooling in his eyes fell in a flurry. A terrible heat swept through his body.

 

He was tormented by the fact that he was hanging on every second alone. He felt like 10 minutes was like an hour, so he knocked on Olivia’s studio door and went in without thinking. Strangely, when he came here, his mind calmed down and he felt comforted. The unique smell of oil paint stimulated the tip of his nose, but it didn’t lead to nausea.

 

Eunho walked to the fabric sofa for two people placed in one corner of the studio, lay down, looked at the paintings that filled the wall, and then lowered his eyes to look at the painting on the easel. The unfinished portrait that was faintly visible looked like him. Brown hair, white skin, and a slender line were smiling brightly. Eunho stared blankly at the painting and then slowly closed his eyes. It was as if he would be sucked into the painting and dream.

 

“Uncle.”

 

When he opened his eyes again, his vision was dark with the shadow of a little lady. The pigtails that were tied in two braids came closer and then moved back a little. Eunho was embarrassed and got up from the sofa, roughly sweeping his crumpled hair, and checked the time. Judging from the length of the sun seeping through the window, he could guess that a chunk of time had been swept away.

 

“Give me your hand.”

 

“Hand?”

 

Eyes so clear that he couldn’t gauge their depth urged him to show his palm. Eunho smiled weakly and held out his hand, and Olivia placed a colorful bag with a famous brand logo on his palm. Eunho put the bag on his lap and checked the contents.

 

“Jelly?”

 

“I went to the jelly store with Grandma earlier and bought it.”

 

Olivia smiled brightly, shaking the bag, saying there was one more bag. Eunho looked at the various kinds of jelly and slightly raised the corners of his lips.

 

“Thank you.”

 

When he only looked at it and didn’t take the next action, her curious face tilted slightly.

 

“Does the baby not like it?”

 

“Ah… should I try eating it?”

 

Candy was fine like carbonated drinks, so jelly wouldn’t be much different. Eunho was still cautious, just in case, because he didn’t want to show Olivia a disheveled appearance. He put the smallest jelly, shaped like a bean, in his mouth and chewed it.

 

“It’s okay?”

 

The refreshing pineapple juice stuck to his tongue and mouth and was swallowed. It was a small amount, and it wasn’t an unpleasant scent, so his stomach quietly accepted it, so he put another color in his mouth.

 

“Is that painting me, by any chance?”

 

“Yes!! I’ll give it to you when I finish it.”

 

Olivia clapped her hands and shrugged her shoulders, saying he had guessed the painting correctly. The child’s innocent smile lightened his heart. Olivia, who had been smiling brightly, suddenly perked up her ears and ran to the window.

 

“It’s Dad!!”

 

Olivia opened the door and ran out in an instant, shouting with thunderous joy. Eunho, who couldn’t hear any sound, tilted his head and stood in front of the window, and the figures of the two people getting out of the car were greatly enlarged in his vision.

 

It was him. A person who shines dazzlingly with his very existence, even from afar. Every time his broad and sturdy body moved like a sculpture, something welled up from Eunho’s chest. Eunho turned around and walked quickly, and from some point on, he ran frantically. The thought that he had to be careful because of the baby in his belly was cleanly erased at that moment. He strode down the Art Nouveau-style curved stairs without hesitation.

 

One hundred meters, ninety meters, eighty meters… Feeling the joy as the distance gradually decreased, Eunho opened the entrance door wide.

 

As the door opened, the immeasurable hot afternoon sunlight turned his vision white. Even in the blur of light, the perfect crystal entered and embedded itself in his eyes without the slightest disturbance. He smiled brightly and stretched his arms out to the sides. Come here, quickly. His eager heart to approach his call further spurred his steps.

 

Just a little more, just a little more.

 

The longed-for Wood Sage scent deeply pierced his lungs. His terrible stamina had reached its limit, his vision was dizzy, and the strength in his toes was gradually weakening, but he flew into his arms with all his might. Just as he was about to get closer, he lowered his body and lifted Eunho up, wrapping his arms around his waist and hips. His face touched his warm neck.

 

“Eunho.”

 

His subtle and deep voice melted his brain as it traveled through his eardrums. The desperately boiling emotions poured out moistness along his eyes. Eunho cried out like a child. Enough to deeply stain his shirt. Eunho poured out his love on his broad chest.

 

His breath, as if he had forgotten how to breathe, was mixed with his sobs. He didn’t know that he would miss each and every one of his gestures, which he was so used to, so much. Yoonjae, who had been stroking his back, waited for his sobs to subside and then whispered softly in his ear.

 

“Show me your face.”

 

“…….”

 

“Aren’t you going to show me?”

 

From his tear-reddened eyelids to his cheeks. Eunho, who was roughly wiping his messy, wet face with the back of his hand, was startled and twisted his body and stepped back. The location of the surgery came to mind, and he groped his chest hidden under his suit with his palm. When he touched the protector that was pulled flat instead of skin under his collarbone, his pupils shook finely.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“What?”

 

“I heard you had surgery. That you had a car accident.”

 

His tearful eyes were about to pull the trigger again and pour out a waterfall. Yoonjae wiped Eunho’s glistening cheeks as he looked at Eunho, who seemed to have become a child in the month he hadn’t seen him.

 

“Where did you hear that?”

 

“From a Sunbae.”

 

“It was a minor collision, but as you can see, I’m fine.”

 

He clearly heard that the car was totaled, but he glossed over it by saying it was a minor collision, and strength entered his eyebrows in disbelief. Unintentional anger suddenly burst out of his throat.

 

“Are you saying that a person who is fine has surgery and even wears a protector?”

 

“It’s a doctor’s recommendation……. I’m good at listening to the doctor.”

 

He said he was good at listening to the doctor, but he was inwardly pricked. He was thinking of taking off the protector, which he was supposed to wear for six weeks, early next week because it was stuffy. Yoonjae raised only one eyebrow and laughed it off as if it was nothing, and the tears that had been pooling in Eunho’s tear glands disappeared. Just as he was about to put a dislike on him that he didn’t even want, Taeoh’s voice with jeers rang out from behind him.

 

“If the tearful reunion is over, come inside.”

 

Taeoh, who had been watching, wondering how long they were going to film a melodrama while carrying Olivia on his shoulders, turned around because he was bored, and Eunho’s face flared up. He bowed his head in embarrassment and tried to follow Taeoh with quick steps, but Yoonjae wrapped his arms around his back.

 

“Let’s go together.”

 

His low-pitched voice rippled over the tip of his ear and moistened it. Eunho swallowed a hot breath as the corner of his heart throbbed with just his voice.

 

***

 

After talking to Chief Yoon, Isabella arrived while he was opening his laptop to check the approval documents. She wore a neat jade-colored two-piece suit and shook hands with Yoonjae happily, looking at them with affectionate eyes. She knew Yoonjae’s mother. Although they weren’t close, she had met her three or four times at business gatherings and remembered her impression.

 

The child who had been holding on to his parents’ skirts and walking clumsily was now two or three spans taller than her and had to be looked up to, so she was filled with emotion and smiled happily, stroking his hands repeatedly.

 

“Executive Director Choi, or should I call you CEO Choi now?”

 

“You can call me whatever you’re comfortable with.”

 

Yoonjae didn’t know the situation. Since it was a memory from when he was too young, it was naturally the same as seeing her for the first time.

 

The meal was set up so that there was nothing lacking, so the meal was as friendly as if a large family had gathered. Taeoh’s daughter, Olivia, occasionally chimed in between the adults’ conversations, softening the static atmosphere. She pushed away the food that Eunho usually disliked with her small hands, or found carbonated drinks and placed them next to the cutlery, taking care of Eunho more than anyone else, so she monopolized the adults’ love.

 

“I usually can’t come down here because of the smell of food, but I’m sitting here thanks to CEO Choi.”

 

Eunho, who would run to the bathroom as soon as he smelled meat, was sitting still because of Yoonjae’s pheromones. It wasn’t that the nausea had stopped, but it wasn’t so unpleasant that it would turn his stomach upside down, so Eunho seemed to be amazed. Should he say that it was amazing that a child of only 1-2 centimeters recognized that her father was nearby?

 

Yoonjae wrapped his hand around Eunho’s clenched fist and gently looked at Isabella, who was sitting across from him.

 

“Thank you for your help.”

 

“Help? We joined hands because our interests aligned, so please don’t think that way.”

 

As she said, A Second was looking for a suitable investment destination, and the investment direction was suitable, so they moved forward with it. No one lost money or made a bad deal.

 

“Wow.”

 

Taeoh, who was next to him, was talking on the phone with someone and then drew attention with an exaggerated voice and gestures. As attention poured in, Taeoh winked one eye and gave a meaningful smile, then approached Yoonjae and gently handed him his phone. A familiar name was on the title at the top of the screen, which appeared to be a news article.

 

『CEO of Hanseong Pharmaceutical Arrested by Prosecutors for Allegedly Acquiring 107 Billion Won in Illegal Profits, Stock Trading Suspended.』

 

Isabella expressed her doubts at Yoonjae’s ambiguous hollow laugh and gestured, so Taeoh went back to his seat and searched for the news article on her phone and showed it to her. Isabella, who was focusing while keeping a distance from the glasses she was wearing because the letters were small, also read the news article and laughed hollowly like Yoonjae. Eunho, who was unable to join in the atmosphere, belatedly checked the news article on his phone, but he only tilted his head, not knowing what it meant even after reading it.

 

“Did you invest in this company, by any chance?”

 

“No, Vice President Choi Seryeong invested.”

 

“……Yes?”

 

The CEO of Hanseong Pharmaceutical was arrested by prosecutors for allegedly acquiring 107 billion won in illegal profits by acquiring 24 billion won in new share purchase warrants (BW) without his own capital three years ago, and for that reason, stock trading was suspended. If the CEO’s alleged acquisition of illegal profits is confirmed to be true, articles were pouring out as a follow-up, saying that investors should be protected because it falls under the requirements for delisting. Taeoh was handed the phone back, and he seemed satisfied and grabbed the wine glass next to him.

 

“I’m glad I didn’t invest in CEO Choi’s trust. But, could you see that?”

 

“……Rather than thinking of becoming one with the researchers, I saw the impatience to increase the size of the company by any means. But this is a result I didn’t expect either.”

 

Yoonjae, who had lost faith in Hanseong Pharmaceutical CEO Kim’s ambition, shook his head when he confirmed that CEO Kim had caused an even bigger accident than the alleged investment research inflation.

 

To think that he was a more despicable human being than a mere merchant. Due to one rotten CEO, Hanseong Pharmaceutical’s stock price was closed at the lower limit as institutional investors and pension funds, who had received information in advance at the end of the market, urgently sold off. Even if he is acquitted and luckily resumes trading, it will be tied up for at least half a year to 1-2 years, and if the charges are confirmed, it will be delisted and converge to 0. The 30 billion won that Choi Seryeong had put in was virtually the same as a piece of waste paper.