By Zephyria 
“Prosecutor? Prosecutor?”
Chief Oh’s voice snapped him back to reality. Kang Hee-shin looked at the face of the young, handsome man sitting in front of him. The man, who had appeared as a witness early in the morning, looked visibly exhausted.
Hiding his bewilderment, Kang Hee-shin slowly opened his mouth while looking at the man.
“Mr. Kim Hae-sung…?”
“Yes.”
“Is it really you…?”
How many times are you going to ask? The man frowned with an irritated expression. Kang Hee-shin told him to wait a moment, then called Chief Oh aside and stepped outside. He kept tilting his head in confusion toward Chief Oh, who had been dragged out without knowing why.
“Is that really Kim Hae-sung? Louis?”
“It’s Roy, not Louis. Our prosecutor is great in every way, but he really can’t remember people’s names.”
“So you’re saying it is Kim Hae-sung?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Kang Hee-shin ran a hand over his face. His looks have changed a lot. His build, too. When he mentioned that the man was taller, more handsome, and didn’t seem like the person he had met, Chief Oh nodded in understanding.
“It’s because of the makeup under the lights. To me, he looks exactly the same.”
Surely he wouldn’t fail to recognize someone to that extent. Once he became convinced that it wasn’t him, Chief Oh asked who on earth he had met then. He couldn’t answer readily. Since he had verified the other party’s ID as soon as he arrived, the man inside was definitely Kim Hae-sung.
…Then who was that slippery bastard I saw a few days ago?
“Should I look into the shop separately?”
“No. It’s fine.”
He convinced himself that no important conversation had taken place and that he had simply met a crazy drunk for a moment. In the midst of this, a phone call came in. Chief Oh frowned, seeing that the caller ID showed <Restricted>.
“They’re still calling? I told you to report it.”
“It’s fine. It’s probably just some bored bastard.”
Lately, calls from restricted numbers had been coming in frequently, and the problem was that they would hang up without a word as soon as he answered. It rang again, and as he checked it to block the number, it was none other than his mother. Chief Oh, standing beside him, glanced at him cautiously.
“I’ll head back first. Take your time.”
Her strength was her quick intuition. Left alone, Hee-shin didn’t answer, and the phone rang several more times. Should I just block her? He hesitated, unable to do so because of his younger sister. After the phone rang a few more times and finally stopped, a message arrived.
-Are you busy…? The deposit wasn’t made… I was wondering when it would be possible….
Leaning against the wall, he let out a low sigh.
…I’m sick of this.
As he closed his eyes tightly, the face of his father—the root of all these problems—came to mind.
Why couldn’t he just go die somewhere instead of showing up. He now hated even his mother for accepting such a father. But he resented himself more for being unable to shake off all this just because they were “family.”
Until the youngest graduates from high school. Just until then….
After that, he vowed he would never look back at this godforsaken household again. With that resolve, he entered the breakroom to get a cup of vending machine coffee, and the door opened as Prosecutor Park Tae-min walked in. Park Tae-min, his high school sunbae, habitually picked fights or made jokes whenever he saw him.
“Prosecutor Kang, what are you doing here? Coffee? Get me one too.”
When Hee-shin simply took his own coffee and brought it to his lips without responding, Park clicked his tongue, saying he expected as much.
“Right. I heard you have some good news?”
“What news?”
“You brat. Playing innocent. The rumor has already spread everywhere. That you’ve been chosen by the youngest daughter of the Seoil Group.”
“Chosen? Do you live in the Joseon Dynasty?”
“Look at that attitude. No wonder you have no friends.”
“The reason I have no friends isn’t because of my attitude, but because I’m a bastard who graduated from a mediocre university and luckily managed to pin on a prosecutor’s badge. Why are you pretending not to know, since you’re someone who should know?”
He threw back the exact words the man had shouted at him during a company dinner once. The man didn’t waver and smiled brazenly.
“You’re still holding onto those words? Kang Hee-shin, you really have a small heart.”
“Yes, yes, my heart is the size of a small dipping bowl.”
“Stop it, kid. You’re endless because I’m being lenient. Frankly, shouldn’t you be trying to get on my good side? If I get promoted first, I could pull you up since we’re from the same hometown. Don’t you think?”
Hee-shin scoffed inwardly. I’ll climb higher than you first. While you’re frantically running up the stairs, I’ll grab a rope and elevate my status in one go. Of course, he couldn’t say that openly.
As he threw the finished coffee into the trash and prepared to leave, Park Tae-min managed to get under his skin one last time.
“By the way, is your father still like that?”
He stopped for a moment and looked at Prosecutor Park.
“I guess. It’s better than him causing accidents like before—”
“Sunbae.”
“What.”
“Just worry about yourself. Don’t worry about me.”
He walked straight out the door. Before the door closed, he heard a mutter about him being a sensitive bastard, but he didn’t feel particularly bad. It wasn’t a lie, and it was something everyone in the neighborhood knew at the time.
At the sound of the navigation saying he was near his destination, he unconsciously straightened his back. Coming to a neighborhood where only wealthy people lived, it felt as if even the air was different. Looking at the expensive cars seen everywhere, his second-hand car felt pitiful.
As he climbed the hill and arrived, a woman was already waiting for him. Her name was Yoon Se-na. Behind her, a red wall that towered far above a person’s height stretched out like a backdrop, and he felt overwhelmed the moment he saw it.
“You arrived earlier than I thought. Was the traffic not too bad?”
“Yeah. It was fine.” He replied, picking up the gift placed in the passenger seat.
Seeing that, Yoon Se-na laughed.
“What is this—I told you to just come. It’s just a casual meal.”
“It’s nothing much. I thought your mother would like it.”
“Thank you. It would have been better if my dad could have attended today too.”
Yoon Se-na gave her characteristic eye-smile and linked her arm with his. “Let’s go in.” With her short bob and ivory-colored dress, Yoon Se-na was a woman with clear features and a beautiful smile. She was a woman of a level that was not only more than he deserved but one he dared not even look at.
After handing the car keys to the staff guarding the main gate and heading inside, a well-maintained stone staircase appeared. Stepping on them and reaching the end, a meticulously tended garden unfolded before his eyes.
On one side of the garden, koi fish, which her father reportedly raised as a hobby, were swimming in a pond. Yoon Se-na mentioned that her mischievous half-brother had once poured alcohol into the pond. She said she saw her father almost collapse, clutching the back of his neck that day. Yet, seeing that he wasn’t scolded, she said her father cherished that half-brother very much.
As they crossed the yard, chefs moving busily appeared on one side of the garden. A large table was placed in front of them, and family members were sitting on both sides, chatting.
She had four siblings in total, but their mothers were different. The first three were born to Chairman Yoon’s first wife, the fourth to the second wife, and the youngest, Yoon Se-na, was born to the current wife. As the youngest daughter, Yoon Se-na monopolized the affection of her father, Chairman Yoon.
If he were an ordinary person, he would have been cursed as a degenerate, but perhaps because the company’s public image was good, Chairman Yoon was packaged as a capable man. There were even articles in the press comparing him to a king, saying he was doing his best to leave heirs.
As the table drew closer, he felt as if his tie were strangling him, but he tried his best not to show it. As the gazes of the family members pierced him, he intentionally straightened his back further and maintained a gentle smile on his lips.
“Nice to meet you. I am Kang Hee-shin.”
While everyone else just gave a slight nod, only Yoon Se-na’s mother welcomed him particularly warmly.
“Welcome. Our prospective son-in-law.”
At the words “prospective son-in-law,” mocking smiles flickered across the faces of some of the siblings. It was different from the way Prosecutor Park had smiled at him during the day. It felt less like they were curious about their half-sister’s boyfriend and more like they were inspecting him—to see if he was a guy who would be useful to their family or not.
The siblings gathered there were three, excluding Yoon Se-na, and their spouses.
The only one missing was the fourth. The fourth was born between Chairman Yoon and a woman who was a second-generation Zainichi Korean; that woman was the daughter of a powerful Japanese businessman. They called it a business, but rumors circulated that she was a famous Yakuza.
At the time of the divorce, Chairman Yoon tried everything to get custody, but in the end, the court ruled in favor of the second wife rather than Chairman Yoon.
After the introductions, they sat down and light conversation flowed.
“I was surprised at first when Se-na said she was dating a prosecutor.”
“Right. I thought things were going well with the youngest of the Jinseong Group.”
Yoon Se-na frowned at the unexpected story. “Oppa, stop it.” She snapped that bringing that up here was extremely rude. Everyone seemed to be joking and laughing, but Kang Hee-shin knew all too well that there were bones and blades hidden in every word.
“By the way, what about your adoptive parents? I heard they live abroad?”
He tightened his grip on the knife in his hand.
While he was unable to open his mouth, Yoon Se-na stepped in first.
“They’re in Toronto. They’ll come back briefly when we get married.”
“Did you say they’re in the food business?”
“Yes.”
This time, Yoon Se-na’s mother chimed in.
“I prefer a son-in-law who catches bad guys over one who does business. It’s cooler.”
She smiled brightly while holding her wine, and Kang Hee-shin smiled along.
The existence of his father, who had engaged in gambling and domestic violence and left home after having an affair, was as if he didn’t exist. Furthermore, Chairman Kim, his guardian, had now been transformed into an adoptive parent. He swallowed his meat, trying to suppress the feeling of nausea rising in his throat.
In the midst of this, someone looked toward the opposite side and let out a sound, “Uh—?”
Gazes shifted there one by one, and as if by appointment, silence fell. Looking at the man who had suddenly appeared, a sigh and a small curse escaped the second son’s mouth. Yoon Se-na’s mother set her wine glass aside and stood up elegantly.
“Without even contacting me, when did you come to Korea?”
The man who approached held out flowers.
“Last week. I’m leaving soon.”
Receiving the flowers, Yoon Se-na’s mother wore an excessively touched expression. Perhaps because she was a former actress, she was a person with very rich expressions. The quick-witted Hee-shin realized through their conversation that the man was Chairman Yoon’s fourth son.
With the man’s appearance, the atmosphere changed instantly.
The smiles were disappearing from the faces of the eldest and second sons, who had been laughing leisurely.
Yoon Se-na introduced Hee-shin, and just as he was about to greet him—
He felt a strange sense of déjà vu from the man.
Huh…?
This man, he looks familiar.
Where have I seen him…? Did I meet him at the Prosecutor’s Office?
While digging through his memories, he felt a shock as if he had been struck by lightning.
The man, who had come right up to him, held out his hand.
Still wearing that obnoxious face.
He felt like he had definitely thought that on that day, too.
…Definitely on that day.
“It seems we’ve met before, haven’t we?”
The eyes of the entire family turned toward him. He gripped his fading consciousness. It wasn’t a mistake. He wasn’t the host? Damn it, what did I pour over him that day…. His mind went blank, and he couldn’t make head or tail of anything.
“What? Do you two know each other?”
Yoon Se-na’s mother looked back and forth between the two with a face full of curiosity.
Many thoughts raced through his mind in an instant, but the best he could do right now was this.
“I wonder? I don’t think I’ve met him….”
As he brazenly played innocent, the corners of the man’s mouth curled up.
“Ah—is that so? I must have been mistaken.”
Soon after, the man extended his hand refreshingly.
His kind and upright gaze was quite different from that day.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Im Gyeong.”