‘You endured it well, our youngest. Were you very lonely all by yourself?’
‘Uh-huh, it’s okay.’
Finally, the day Joo Tae-hyun stepped out of the isolation room and reunited with his family, the day he got to go home.
The family embraced young Joo Tae-hyun and showered him with endless praise. And for good reason, the medical staff had been full of compliments, saying how admirably our little one had received treatment.
‘Fishies? Turtle?’
‘The fish and the turtle are all waiting for our youngest at home. When we get back, shall our youngest feed the fish himself?’
‘Uh-huh…’
‘That’s right, that’s right. Look, this is our youngest’s favorite outfit, right? Your brother brought it.’
The third brother, Joo Kyung-han, smiled brightly with an exaggerated expression, saying they had a fierce rock-paper-scissors tournament on the way to decide who would change our youngest’s clothes.
‘…Tae-hyun-ah.’
However, when the third brother was about to take off Joo Tae-hyun’s patient gown, no, not even completely, just after loosening the front. The family couldn’t say a word and just stared blankly at their young youngest.
More precisely, at the countless needle marks and bruises on his small body from injecting suppressants in every way possible, they just stared blankly, for a long time.
‘Hyung…?’
‘What is this, Tae-hyun is only three years old. He’s only three years old, what on earth…’
‘…It must have hurt a lot, our youngest.’
‘Uh-huh? Nuna, why? Why are you crying? Does Nuna hurt too?’
‘No. Nuna is okay. It doesn’t hurt. It’s just that our baby must have been in so much pain all alone, it’s upsetting…’
‘Uh-huh, I’m okay too. The teacher said I can go home soon… And now I’m really going home, so it’s okay. Nuna, don’t cry. Hyung, don’t cry either.’
To Joo Tae-hyun’s addition that he endured it even when it hurt, even Chairman Joo Il-wook, famous for being stoic, broke down.
‘Dad…?’
‘My baby, my little one, our little one…’
Dad didn’t know anything, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… Chairman Joo knelt at the foot of the hospital bed, sobbing heavily, his shoulders shaking. The other family members were no different. Only young Joo Tae-hyun, who was excited about going home after being discharged, feeding the fish and turtles in the small pond in the yard, playing with clay with his brothers and sisters, and going on outings with his mom and dad, just tilted his head, bewildered.
‘It would have been better if our youngest had cried and screamed because he didn’t like getting the suppressants and it hurt. But the hospital always said he was so, so well-behaved and good?’
Chairman Joo still recalls that time with a voice that breaks his heart whenever he drinks.
‘Your mom and I were worried about giving the child any bad influence, so we just wandered around the hallway where the isolation room was every day and went back… Without knowing why, he couldn’t see his family for three months, and that little thing just endured it, thinking only about going home.’
A good child who stayed still when unfamiliar adults hurt him, because he was told that if he just finished this, he could go home.
Everyone’s precious finger, who had to endure pain that he didn’t even need to experience due to the ignorance of adults, so painful that even a gentle breeze would feel like it was cutting his flesh, let alone biting it.
Fortunately, the high fever he suffered from the onset was only at that time, and he grew up without any major problems since then. Now, at the age of twelve, he is quite tall compared to his peers, but his family still calls Joo Tae-hyun our baby, little one, or youngest. This will probably not change even after Joo Tae-hyun becomes an adult and gets much older, becoming an uncle or grandfather. To his family, Joo Tae-hyun is forever frozen in time at the age of three, when he collapsed with a high fever, moaning and groaning, and eagerly waited in the isolation room for the day he could meet his family.
‘Our youngest, what do you want to do with Nuna this weekend?’
‘What is it. I’m going to go eat something delicious with him, right? Go to Gangneung and see the sea too.’
‘Second Oppa, don’t you have work? This weekend is Tae-hyun’s day to play with me, okay?’
‘Youngest. Let’s go see the sea with Hyung.’
‘Baby, let’s go skiing with Nuna. We have a villa near the Gaema Plateau, so let’s sleep there for one night.’
‘Oh? Should we?’
‘Ah, why do you keep butting in, Oppa! Go do your work!’
Anyway, Joo Tae-hyun grew up in the love of his family.
‘Tae-hyun-ah!’
‘Uh-huh? What’s wrong? What are you all doing here? What’s going on?’
‘Where have you been until now…! No, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?’
‘Oh? Uh-huh… I was just over there, looking at Hyungs’ books in the storage room…’
‘Baby. Even if you’re just going to the bathroom, always tell someone when you leave your seat. And take a babysitter with you when you go to places like the storage room. Got it?’
‘…Uh-huh.’
Sometimes, because of that love that was so overwhelming it felt like he might drown, Joo Tae-hyun had no complaints because he knew very well that his family really loved him very much.
When it was decided that he would be homeschooled due to his family’s concern that he might experience Pheromone shock if he encountered an unspecified number of people, well. He wasn’t that disappointed.
He couldn’t attend various gatherings that other family members usually attended, but that was okay too.
One of the family members always stayed behind to protect Joo Tae-hyun, and Joo Tae-hyun also gradually became aware of his social position as he grew up.
Aside from everyday language, the first word Joo Tae-hyun learned was ‘chaebol.’ And he also learned that chaebol doesn’t just mean a person with a lot of money.
Now, Joo Tae-hyun knows very well that even if his family members just go to get IV drips due to overwork, the stock prices of the affiliates and the fate of the company fluctuate that day.
He also knows that there’s a global uproar over the news that celebrity’s shapeshifter children have been involved in crimes such as kidnapping and drug terrorism and died, and that’s why his family is even more on guard and protecting him sensitively.
‘Dad. How do you do this?’
‘Violin? Oh my, our baby wanted to play the violin too.’
‘Yeah… I was just curious what it feels like.’
‘Wait, I’ll find a good teacher right away.’
He also knows very well that other people don’t live like him, doing everything they want to do. He also knows that they don’t invite the best instructors in the field to teach him just because he’s curious and wants to learn something, that they don’t buy him the best instruments when it’s obvious that he’ll only dabble in it for a few days, and that they don’t go on picnics to villas all over the country just because he’s bored of playing at the main house.
‘I believe the youngest young master will be old enough to go to middle school next year-.’
‘Mr. Woo, I told you I’m uncomfortable with that story.’
‘But I think it would be good to send him to school soon.’
His parents, who used to scoff, saying that they would keep their baby in their arms for the rest of their lives, no matter what the doctor advised, and that even if they sent him to school, they would send him to a place with good air and no people like Switzerland, eventually gave in to the advice that immunity improves when people interact with others frequently.
‘Security is the top priority. It has to be a place with good security facilities, to the point where people say it’s excessive. Where did the Crown Prince graduate from?’
‘Wouldn’t it be better to go to the place where Lee Hwangja graduated? Anyway, Lee Hwangja was also an Alpha, so I think it would have everything well-equipped.’
‘That’s Jeju Island. It’s too far.’
‘First of all, I think Tae-hyun’s opinion is important when it comes to school. He might want to go to an international school, or he might want to go abroad altogether…’
‘How can we send our baby abroad alone!’
‘Are you crazy, are we sending our youngest alone? If he’s going, shouldn’t about two people go as resident staff?’
‘Okay, okay, let’s decide where to take Tae-hyun first. I’ve narrowed down a few…’
His parents, brothers, and sisters put their heads together and carefully searched for a place to first introduce Joo Tae-hyun. Since there was still some time before school admission, the plan was to gradually increase the time the youngest spent in contact with the outside world to help him become familiar with others.
The event chosen after the family’s deliberation was a summer concert hosted by the Empress.
As it was an event led by the Imperial Family, only properly vetted guests would come, and being a concert held at the palace, security was a given. In addition, the scale was not very large, so it was concluded that this would not be too burdensome for the youngest, who was attending a public event for the first time.
“Still… These clothes are a bit much.”
Joo Tae-hyun pouted for no reason, grumbling timidly. He hoped that if anyone passing by heard him, they would know that this fancy tailcoat was not his choice.
The things he wore were always expensive and good, but the clothes his parents gave him today were a bit… too much. Even Joo Tae-hyun, who didn’t yet know how to tell which tailor-made clothes were good or bad, could tell that these clothes were extremely good.
His attire was so flashy that the passing maids and eunuchs even mistook his brothers for his nannies or secretaries. Even the Empress, whom he met for the first time today, started by saying that the clothes he was wearing today were truly beautiful…
To ordinary people, it would seem like he was trying too hard with his clothes, making them reluctant to approach him.
Even though the brothers who had been standing guard like defenders had left their positions, no one was approaching him, so it seemed that his guess was correct.
Joo Tae-hyun carefully examined their faces, keeping a little distance from the people.
That person is the grandson of the remaining art museum director.
That person is the principal dancer of the National Dance Company.
That person is the granddaughter of the National Gugak Association…
He had memorized the faces and names of the people attending the concert a month in advance. So Joo Tae-hyun was confident that he could immediately recognize who that person was just by looking at their silhouette from afar.
However, the adults were busy talking among themselves, and his peers seemed to already have close groups. Although they all seemed much older than him to be called his peers…
Since his brothers and sisters had always approached him first without hesitation, Joo Tae-hyun didn’t know how to approach others first.
Should he go and say hello first? After hesitating for a moment, Joo Tae-hyun quickly gave up.
It was a pity that he couldn’t use the personal information he had memorized… But anyway, the purpose of today was just to let people know that the youngest of the DH Group will be showing his face here and there from now on. So even if he went home as it was, he would have achieved his goal. Above all, since it was an event hosted by the Imperial Family, he didn’t want to make any mistakes here.
“Wow, your expression is amazing.”
While he was fiddling with his swallowtail coat jacket, a long shadow suddenly fell over the top of his head.
“Joo Tae-hyun. Right?”