#151

Side Story Episode 2

Pulling away, Jung-hyun cast a glance toward his room, which he hadn’t visited in a long time. It was a room he had used for barely a year before leaving for the United States. There were hardly any special memories or cherished belongings inside. Nevertheless, Ho-jae looked around at the various things in the room with great interest, as if he found it fascinating.

“The sunlight comes in so well. My room in Suwon faces north, so it doesn’t get any sun.”

“…I see.”

“Why are you talking as if you didn’t know?”

Jung-hyun simply smiled. He had hated this room as a child. It was too far from the room his mother used, and the nights he spent falling asleep alone were lonely and difficult.

“Do you have any photos of yourself when you were little, Hyung?”

“Photos from when I was little?”

“I want to see them.”

Hmm. Clearing his throat, Jung-hyun stood up from the bed and opened a drawer that stood against one side of the wall.

The inside of the drawer was filled with childhood belongings. When he lifted the scrap of cloth that had been placed over them to keep the dust off, he found his clothes and items neatly and carefully organized.

Since there was no way he had done this himself, his mother must have done it after he left for America. Feeling a dull ache in one side of his chest, he sifted through some new clothes that had barely been worn. Beneath them appeared notebooks, workbooks, and sketchbooks from that time.

Shin Ho-jae, who had been standing quietly behind him, had eyes that sparkled with light. After flipping through a few pages of a notebook, he beamed, saying that even his childhood handwriting seemed like him. It was the first time in his life he had heard that his handwriting was characteristic of him, but it didn’t feel bad.

“Can I have this?”

“This? It’s just a half-used notebook.”

“There are doodles you drew here, too.”

“Do whatever you want.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Hmm.”

Jung-hyun reached deep into the drawer. His hand caught on something hard. It was a desk frame with a vintage design that could hold a single photograph.

In the photo, his mother and a young Jung-hyun were pressed cheek-to-cheek, smiling brightly. The young Jung-hyun was being carried on someone’s shoulders, wearing a collared t-shirt. His mother, in her younger days, was also dressed up to the nines. Did such a photo exist? Just as he was staring blankly at the frame, feeling a sense of unfamiliarity…

“……Is that you, Hyung?”

“Ah, yes.”

Shin Ho-jae stared intently at the frame. Since his already large eyes looked as if they might pop out from staring so hard, Jung-hyun handed it over and told him to look comfortably; Ho-jae even swallowed hard.

“……You’re so cute.”

“Am I? I’m just a child.”

“Look at that smile. You had dimples back then, too. It’s exactly the same. Looking at it like this, you resemble your mother as well. So cute.”

“I bet you were cuter when you were little, Ho-jae-ssi.”

“……So cute.”

“Do you realize you’ve said the same thing three times now?”

“What can I do when it’s so cute? You must have been loved a lot. There’s no trace of hardship in your smiling face.”

Jung-hyun let out a hollow chuckle. The phrase ‘no trace of hardship’ didn’t suit him at all, but hearing Shin Ho-jae say it, it really did seem that way.

“Do you want it?”

“Really?”

If he was taking a half-used notebook, there was no reason he couldn’t have a photo. When Jung-hyun nodded, Ho-jae flipped the frame over and carefully removed the wooden support. It seemed he intended to take only the photo.

“You can just take the whole frame.”

“The frame looks very expensive. Huh? …There’s another photo inside?”

At his words, Jung-hyun turned his head, and indeed, an old black-and-white photo popped out from inside the frame.

It was a photo of two men. With a folding screen as the background, one man wearing a white durumagi was sitting in a chair, and another man wearing a Western-style suit was standing behind the chair.

Jung-hyun furrowed his brow. It was because the folding screen serving as the background was familiar.

Since it was a black-and-white photo and the quality wasn’t as excellent as today’s, it would have been hard to tell without looking closely, but the folding screen in the background was definitely the one in the hanok annex.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the photo, feeling a strange sensation, and it seemed Jung-hyun wasn’t the only one.

“The man sitting here looks like you, Hyung.”

“What?”

“Doesn’t he? His lines are a bit thinner and his expression is much darker, but his eyes, nose, and mouth look exactly like yours.”

“…….”

It was true. If he had grown up without ever exercising, perhaps he would have looked similar to this.

“And the person behind him looks like Grandfather in his youth.”

“…Grandfather?”

“Grandfather Kwon Deuk-jeong. The way his eyebrows soar upward like mountains is exactly the same. And the way the corners of his mouth droop when he’s expressionless, too.”

He was referring to Jung-hyun’s grandfather, the late chairman of Myeong-jeong.

It was only natural that Shin Ho-jae recognized the grandfather before he did. While Jung-hyun had been close to his grandfather for barely a year, Shin Ho-jae had shared a special bond with him since around the age of eight, when the sponsorship began.

“…Why would this man have taken a photo with Grandfather? And in front of this folding screen, of all places.”

“Maybe he’s a relative on Grandfather’s side? Back then, taking photos wouldn’t have been as easy as it is now, so they probably took a family photo.”

“A relative….”

If he were a relative, it would make sense that this man resembled Jung-hyun. Genetics do not always descend in a straight line.

However, if it were a family photo taken among kin, it would be more common for more people to appear. As Shin Ho-jae said, taking a photo would have been a special event in those days, and there would have been more family members than there are now.

And yet, a photo of only the two of them, and in front of the folding screen that the grandfather cherished so much.

“…….”

Ho-jae seemed to have lost interest in the photo after discovering the sketchbook Jung-hyun used as a child. Jung-hyun stared intently at the black-and-white photo alone.

The posture of the man wearing the long white male durumagi that reached his knees caught his eye. Normally, someone sitting in a chair for a photo would have their hands resting on their lap. However, the man was lightly cradling his lower abdomen with both hands.

Because of the baggy hanbok, his body shape wasn’t clearly visible… but to Jung-hyun, it felt very similar to the way he naturally cradled his own lower abdomen when sitting or standing.

If he hadn’t been pregnant, he would have just overlooked it like Ho-jae. While he was continuing to stare at the photo because that image felt strangely familiar, a hurried knocking sound was heard.

“Young Master, I think you need to come out now!”

It was Suncheon-daek.

Jung-hyun visited the hanok annex again with Ho-jae. Just as Suncheon-daek had said, someone was waiting for Jung-hyun there.

“Mr. Jung-hyun, it has been a long time.”

A man in his early sixties with snow-white hair and round horn-rimmed glasses. He was his grandfather’s personal lawyer.

Giving a slight bow, Jung-hyun looked to the side and saw his mother sitting with a tense expression. It wasn’t hard to deduce that she must have been very surprised.

His father was with her, but his father had an expression showing he didn’t understand what the current situation was.

Jung-hyun spoke up on behalf of his father.

“My father is currently in a state where conversation is difficult. If there is something you wish to discuss, later….”

“I have come today to reveal the will of the late Chairman Kwon Deuk-jeong.”

A crease naturally formed between his brows. It was a situation that felt beyond déjà vu; it felt unpleasant. The hanok annex, the three family members facing each other after a long time, and the grandfather’s personal lawyer appearing as if he had been waiting for exactly this moment.

“A-Are you saying there is another will left by my father-in-law?”

His mother asked in a trembling voice.

“Yes, that is correct.”

“…I suppose this is also a will that will be revealed only after certain conditions are met. Surely it isn’t the death of Kwon Ki-hyuk.”

“That is correct.”

The lawyer nodded with a formal attitude.

“The condition for the will to be revealed was a gathering of the four members of Myeong-jeong after Mr. Kwon Jung-hyun manifested as an Omega. With the death of Vice President Kwon Ki-hyuk, the condition was met by the gathering of the three family members.”

“……Are you saying there was a separate will with the condition of me manifesting as an Omega?”

“Yes.”

“…Hyung. Are you okay?”

Ho-jae grabbed his arm from behind as if to support him. Only then did Jung-hyun realize he was standing as if leaning against the back of a chair. It seemed the strength had left his body. Jung-hyun gripped Ho-jae’s hand in return and gave a small nod. Ho-jae’s face, looking at him, was full of worry.

He wanted to tell him he was okay, but it didn’t come out well. Because the previous will had been written with a ‘Alpha’ or ‘Beta’ Kwon Jung-hyun in mind, Jung-hyun, being an Omega, had been able to slip into the blind spot of the will. To think he had even anticipated that he would manifest as an Omega.

Even if he were already a person with no relation to Myeong-jeong, that was only a promise made when his father was in good health. He was worried about what kind of absurd story would be written in that will this time.

In the previous will, wasn’t his grandfather hell-bent on erasing him, a Beta, from the family? He was a man who usually didn’t treat anyone other than Alphas as human beings. To such a grandfather, the Omega trait would be even lesser than the Beta trait.

What if an arranged marriage or something similar was written this time? Of course, even if an arranged marriage were written, he had no intention of keeping it, but there would be more things to resolve than there were now.

Lawyer Kim received a sealed envelope from his secretary and opened it in front of everyone.

“This will concerns the succession of management rights for Kwon Jung-hyun.”

His mother’s eyes widened. A bewildered expression appeared on Jung-hyun’s face at the unexpected content.

Lawyer Kim slowly read the contents of the will. There was nothing like the arranged marriage that Jung-hyun had feared.

Instead, what was written inside were the details of the inheritance regarding the ownership and management rights of Myeong-jeong. The surprising thing was that the scope of the inheritance was identical to the conditions if Jung-hyun had manifested as an Alpha.

“…According to the procedure, management rights are to be shared equally with Kwon Ki-hyuk. That is all. All these contents were stipulated on the condition that Mr. Jung-hyun manifests as an Omega.”

“Shared? But Ki-hyuk is….”

As his mother cautiously brought it up, the lawyer nodded.

“Since he has passed away, the management rights that were Kwon Ki-hyuk’s share will automatically return to Mr. Kwon Jung-hyun.”

– Puck Drop