At the End of That Memory Chapter 19

The tall walls had not changed at all from what I saw when I was young. When I first came here, the gray walls were so scary. I think I felt the fear that once I entered this place, I would never be able to come out again.

As it turned out, my fears were only half correct. At first, my life was like imprisonment, but I was eventually kicked out. Fortunately, the thought of living within this fence for the rest of my life eluded reality.

“Director.”

Chief Kim, who was standing next to me, spoke carefully. Are you okay? At that question, I barely managed to tear my gaze away from the top of the wall.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

It was the original home. The main house where my father, mother, Minjae, and Seoyoung lived. My father’s house, where I have lived since I was young and left out of my own will as soon as I turned 20.

“Let’s go in.”

‘I think you should come home soon.’

I didn’t know how much my thoughts spiraled that day after hearing Chief Kim’s words. Why was my father calling me? Could it be that Minjae had an accident? I wondered if Kwon Yido was trying to send me back because he didn’t need me.

However, contrary to such expectations, Chief Kim spoke without being able to hide his nervousness.

‘With family… He said let wanted to have a meal.’

It was a random statement. It was so unexpected that I was even embarrassed. A place to eat with family. There was no reason to call me there. I couldn’t join the family my father was talking about.

‘…I think he has something to say.’

Well then. There must be a separate business. It was that those weren’t the words to be conveyed through Chief Kim’s mouth.

Anyway, for that reason, I arrived at my hometown after a long time. As soon as I asked Kwon Yido if I was going to meet my family, he replied that it was no big deal.

‘I’ll take you there.’

A person who was busy with work, how could he find time to spare? Even worse, it would not be Kwon Yido who would be driving that car, but his driver.

‘No, Chief Kim decided to come pick me up.’

I think the reason his expression didn’t improve when I said it was because he simply saw things wrong. It was an unpleasant feeling that would disappear without a trace the moment I blinked.

‘I’ll sleep for a day, so please tell Lee Taeseong to rest. The welfare system is a mess.’

It was said as a joke. If possible, I wanted to come on the same day, but I couldn’t ignore the possibility that Minjae would catch me. Rather than having to go twice, it was better to solve it all at once.

Kwon Yido laughed as if my words were amusing and came up with a very simple solution.

‘I guess I could give money for welfare.’

Anyway, for that reason, it had been a while since I wore a suit. It was prepared in the dressing room, and somehow I knew that the size fit my body perfectly. As I put on a shirt, tie, and jacket, I felt like I was back when I was Director.

“Young master, are you here?”

After passing through a large gate and a well-landscaped garden, I found the entrance to the house. It wasn’t as big as Kwon Yido’s house, but it wasn’t small either. I smiled happily at the old man who came to meet me at the front door.

“It’s been a while since I saw you, deacon.”

The old man in the loose skirt was the person who raised me as a child instead of my busy parents and also raised Minjae and Seoyoung. He was also the person who secretly prepared me food when all the employees ignored me. Since I left home, I haven’t had any contact with him, so it’d been several years since I’d seen him face to face.

“Oh, I guess your married life is going well. The color of your face has improved a lot.”

“Haha… Maybe it’s because I ate so well there.”

I bent my waist slightly so that Deacon Moon could touch my face. Now that he was older, the hand that touched my cheek was rough. Deacon Moon, who patted his face like he was handling a child, quickly backed away as soon as he heard another person’s voice behind him.

“Sejin?”

It was my mother. Her long hair was neatly tied up and she was wearing a tight-fitting dress, without even an inch of disarray. She was always like that, like a peacock who liked decorations.

“You must have had a hard time coming. The Chairman is in the study, so come and greet him.”

My relationship with my mother has always been ambiguous. If someone asked her if we had a bad relationship, she would say no, but if they asked her if we had a good relationship, she would remain silent. Even though we lived together for ten years, we had very few conversations.

“I’ll be back. Chief Kim, you can give that to the staff.”

I winked at Chief Kim and entered the house. Chief Kim, who was standing in the back, handed out the shopping bag he was holding to a staff member waiting nearby. It was a gift that Kwon Yido told me to take home.

“It’s wine, you can leave it at room temperature. Kwon Yido gave us this to share during meals.”

The wine, which seemed expensive at first glance, was stored in the wine cellar at his house. Was collecting alcohol a hobby? In a spacious warehouse, wines were separated by country, year, and type. It was a rare sight that made my eyes wander, but I probably wasn’t as surprised as I was when I saw the bottle he took out.

‘…You want to give this to me now?’

‘Yes, do you hate wine?’

It was a wine with a market value of over 50 million won. It wasn’t just the price that was the problem, it was also a rare drink that was impossible to find even if I tried. I could tell by looking at the label on the bottle and the number written on the front.

‘It’s just a meal…It seems like too much.’

‘To say it’s too much…’

Kwon Yido shook his head, asking what I meant. He added something, which I didn’t know whether it was serious or a joke.

‘The person who deserves the most in that house is Jung Sejin.’

Knock.

“Father, this is Jung Sejin.”

Come in. My father’s voice came from beyond the heavy wooden door. When I carefully opened the door, I saw my father standing on the right side of the study instead of at the desk. It looked like he was in the middle of practicing putting with a golf club.

“You were asking for me….”

“Yes.”

The head of the golf club touched the golf ball. The ball rolled around and narrowly missed the side of the hole. Tsk, my father clicked his tongue and talked to me without sparing me a look.

“What about him?”

That was the main point. He put the golf ball back in place and moved his shoulders to get into position.

“How are you doing with that guy?”

“…Yes, well.”

In front of Kwon Yido, my father always addressed him by using honorifics. Now, he was ‘that guy’ without any hesitation. It didn’t feel like my father liked him from the beginning, but now it felt like he was full of hostility.

“It’s okay.”

The golf ball rolled straight and fell straight into the hole this time. Only then did my father smile with satisfaction and put his golf club on his shoulder.

“What about kids…?”

“…”

I slowly lowered his eyes. This was probably what he wanted to ask the most from the beginning. Should I be grateful that he asked about our relationship first, or should I be disappointed that he didn’t check up on our relationship more closely?

“We didn’t talk about it yet.”

“Huh.”

My father let out a loud sigh as if he was dumbfounded. His furrowed brow looked extremely annoyed. He tapped his shoulder with the golf club and slowly walked towards the desk.

“I even called you after your heat cycle passed…”

I kept my back straight and kept my mouth shut. Even though I was standing up straight, I felt like I was sinking into the floor. My shoulders slowly slumped, and my head was lowered without meaning to.

“Is that still…?”

“… That…”

“Tsk, can’t you at least pretend to understand.”

My father was rummaging around his desk with a frown on his face. It seemed like he was looking for something in the messy pile of documents.

“Even if you two haven’t tied the knot yet, since you two live in the same house, you two should go this far at least.”

Only then did I know what ‘that’ my father was talking about. In short, he was implying to ask if I had sex with Kwon Yido.

“Father.”

“Spit it out.”

My father was still shuffling through papers with his back to me. He picked out a few sheets and organized them neatly, then pulled out a few more sheets and put them aside. It seemed like he had no intention of talking to me after seeing my face.

“Kwon Yido…It seems like he doesn’t want me to get pregnant until the paperwork is done.”

He told me, ‘I don’t want that from you.’ It seemed like he had no intention of having children with me, as he stayed still even when my heat cycle came. However, since the father wanted offspring, it seemed like their wishes were the opposite.

“…What?”

My father was startled and looked back at me while holding the documents. The two wide-open eyes seemed to be asking what that meant. I clenched my fists and opened my mouth in a voice as calm as possible.

“When I brought up the topic of children, he said he didn’t want that…”

“He said that?”

The beaky eyes stared at me fiercely. If I didn’t give a straight answer right away, it seemed like there would be a big negative reaction. Of course, there was only one thing I could say.

“Yes. Kwon Yido said that.”

“…”

A suffocating silence descended on the inside of the study. It was a sudden silence, but I couldn’t open my mouth. I just lowered my gaze and waited for him to say something, but my father suddenly gritted his teeth.

“Damn you…”

Why was he so angry? What benefit would it be to my father if I had Kwon Yido’s child?

“So Sejin, you just said you understand?”

“…Yes.”

“What an idiot you are!”

The father shouted and threw the golf club on the floor. The fragments, cut in half, rolled around on the floor. He walked towards me with great strides and grabbed my shoulders with both hands.

“His opinion isn’t important. You have to have that child somehow. Okay?”

The two wide-open eyes were filled with nervousness. It wasn’t something to get this excited about, but it was a strangely excessive reaction.

“…It’s not something I can do as I wish.”

“Why can’t you do that as you wish, huh? What are you talking about? Didn’t you say that he is sexually motivated by pheromones? You are a dominant Omega…”

My father, who had said that far, paused for a moment. Maybe it was because I belatedly remembered that I normally didn’t have pheromones. Suddenly, the sound of teeth grinding penetrated my ears again.

“It’s not enough.”

“…”

I bit the flesh inside my mouth without making it noticeable. When I said things wouldn’t go my way, I wasn’t talking about pheromones. I opened my mouth to make an excuse, but

My father got nervous and cut me off.

“At least you should have done something during the heat cycle. Are you saying you can’t even lure an Alpha, being the dominant Omega you are?”

Strictly speaking, there was no effort to lure him out. No, even if I had done the work, I wouldn’t have been able to have a child if Kwon Yido didn’t want to.

For an Omega to become pregnant, the alpha must be notified. It meant he would have to insert his penis deeply into me and keep it there for a while. What was more essential was that knotting must be done with Alpha’s will.

“How come he talks about paperwork?… A guy who can’t even tell people about his engagement, how dare he talk about filing paperwork?”

“… My engagement isn’t being announced?”

When I asked again, my father suddenly let go of my shoulder. It wasn’t that much force, but it was enough for me to stumble for a moment. He looked at me as I straightened my posture and frowned with a serious look on my face.

“Seonho Group is blocking every article about it.”

It wasn’t such a strange thing to say. In the first place, wasn’t the official announcement postponed until a long time later? But that wasn’t what my father was thinking, as he continued in an angry voice.

“Do you know how fast these rumors travel? The rumor should have started a long time ago, but the industry and media are making a fuss about it. For what reason should the Seonho Group have totalitarian control over everything, huh?”

“…”

“That guy has no intention of marrying you. Just an excuse for holding you hostage. That snake…”

Now, I felt like I knew why my father was obsessed with having offspring. My father wanted to have a link between the Haeshin and Seonho Group. Even though our marriage still hadn’t been exposed to the media, I believe our marriage and offspring would play a huge role in fulfilling his intentions.

“…Do they ask Haeshin for anything by keeping me hostage?”

But there was much more that I didn’t understand. First of all, the reason this marriage took place in the first place.

What did Kwon Yido gain by marrying me?

“The problem is we don’t know anything!”

My father shouted and walked around the study room with great strides. He must have felt quite uncomfortable spinning around in the same space.

“There is nothing free in this world. I’m not asking for succession or money, so why would Kwon Yido use an Omega like you?”

It was a valid question. It was also the question I always had at the end of our conversation with Kwon Yido. The problem was, my father was more anxious than me.

“I should have looked into it in the first place when they asked for an engagement, not a wedding…”

The words my father kept muttering were mostly about blaming his complacency and Kwon Yido’s cowardice. If I listened to it correctly, it was as if Kwon Yido gently cajoled my father, who was cornered, into a heinously unfair contract.

“Father.”

So I decided to ask the last question I never wanted to ask. Even though I knew that this marriage was a contract, there was one thing I wanted to see with my own eyes.

“What did Kwon Yido say he would give you?”

It really was something that had been handed over at a price. It was one of the business tools, and for my father, it was a card to seize an opportunity.

I did not want to know the value of people. I didn’t want to check for myself how much I was sold for, what terms were negotiated, or how much I was bargained for.

“Seonho Electronics’ security system.”

But my father answered in an indifferent tone. He stood tall and still, revealing his greedy eyes.

“They said that if I hand over our company’s Omega, Seonho will give us system permissions to introduce it into the application. Well…You don’t need to know anything else.”

The Omega of our company. Should I consider myself fortunate that the word ‘our’ is added?

“But days have passed and there hasn’t been any contact. When I contact them first, they always ignore me with the excuse that they are busy…”

“…Isn’t there a contract?”

I asked just in case. A contract that left evidence was essential in business. But my father took a deep breath with a thoughtful look on his face.

“That awful bastard gave me investment money. They told me to keep it in place of a down payment because it would be dangerous if the contract was leaked. I believed him with all my might because his words were flashy, and this disaster happened.”

Perhaps the father only believed Kwon Yido’s words and signed a verbal contract. It was a complacent behavior that was unbecoming of my father, but if the person he was dealing with was Kwon Yido, it was worth it. With his characteristic overbearing tone, he would alternate between trust and anxiety, pushing people to their limits.

Still, something was strange… 

“Do you know how many proposals have come in during that time? There were a lot of good places, even if they weren’t my favorite. Do you have any idea how much our image has worsened by rejecting all that?”

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand my father’s anxiety. It was an opportunity that came at a wonderful time, and if he missed it, it was an opportunity he would never catch again. However, he said that high performance comes with high risk, so there were many things to consider.

“If he continues to be like this…”

“…”

Even I felt cold at those last words. The scene of Kwon Yido throwing me out appeared in my mind. From the cold eyes to the impassive words that came out of his mouth.

‘I shouldn’t have trusted you.’

“Sejin.”

I flinched and raised my head. It seemed like I had my gaze down on the ground without noticing it. As I blinked blankly, my father came towards me again and grabbed my shoulder.

“Remember what I said about this being your last chance?”

I had an ominous feeling. As if I once heard my father say something behind my back. As if I could sense what these two greedy eyes were going to say to me.

“Listen to your father carefully.”

The soft introduction left no options whatsoever. He encouraged me with a generous voice as if I should nod with no questions asked.

“Please bring this one document for me.”