Yes, It’s Me. The Obsessive Side Top

#033

In the end, all four of us drove to the café together.

When we arrived, it was the same café I’d been to with the grandmother and with Sun Woo.

Right. This makes three times now.

“You come here often.”

Thinking about it, I probably came about once a month. Is that considered frequent? I just smiled back at the employee’s friendly business smile.

“Do you come here often? Oh, we’ve discovered one of Ha Jin’s regular spots.”

Beom-jun said this while starting to choose bread. He filled a tray with bread and still added sandwiches from the display case. When I returned to the table after finishing all the orders, Mi-eun was smiling and talking to Sun Woo. Sun Woo was just nodding his head.

‘Sun Woo is warm on the inside, but he acts so cold.’

As memories of whispered words and touches while half-asleep naturally came to mind, I quickly erased them and sat down. Somehow I ended up sitting next to Mi-eun. Beom-jun, who was following behind, stood there with a slightly awkward face before sitting next to Sun Woo. It seems Beom-jun isn’t comfortable with Sun Woo.

“The owner looked really busy. Must be nice that business is doing well.”

Mi-eun showed a sour smile at my words.

“Ah, don’t even mention it. They should be giving me a gift for making their business so successful, but instead they keep talking about dying from exhaustion. It’s annoying. Today they asked me to come help out but I refused. If they need help, they should properly hire and pay someone, right? Ah, I should have been born even one day before my sister.”

“Didn’t you take down the post now? Are they still busy?”

“Yeah. I took down the post after our presentation. But somehow the photos got copied somewhere and still show up sometimes. I report them and ask for the photos to be taken down whenever I see them. Ha Jin, I’m sorry. I didn’t know the photos would spread like this.”

Mi-eun puts her hands together apologetically.

“It’s okay.”

Ha Jin’s face was already circulating well on the internet anyway. As the heir to one of Korea’s leading conglomerate families, at least photos were bound to be online. Looking at the uploaded photos, it was like a growth album. Except for very early childhood, there were photos from around elementary school onwards.

Since he lived abroad when young, is that why there aren’t any earlier ones?

While thinking about this and drinking my ordered espresso, Mi-eun shook her head vigorously.

“No, no. Sweet drinks suit our Ha Jin oppa better.”

“Ha Jin doesn’t like sweet things.”

At Sun Woo’s words, Mi-eun made a sad face.

“Espresso doesn’t suit you!”

Is that so? I think it suits me well. Crazy Ha Jin and strong espresso.

After chatting at the café for a few hours, we had dinner together at Beom-jun’s suggestion before parting ways.

After returning home, finishing studying with Sun Woo, and seeing him off, it suddenly occurred to me that while I knew Sun Woo inside and out, I didn’t really know much about myself, that is, Ha Jin. It was still surprising that Ha Jin was treated that way by his father, and strange that Baek Su-ah, clearly his birth mother, acted so coldly.

“Can I find out?”

Then thinking that family photos would be best for understanding family relationships, I searched the room for albums. I found one untouched album on the neatly organized study bookshelf. When I took it out, it looked brand new, as if it had never been opened.

Somehow my heart was pounding as if I’d found evidence while playing detective.

The album was ordinary. Inside, it was filled with his photos.

Family photos seemed professionally taken, with very deliberate composition and expressions, but there was no sense of warmth – more like roommates who happened to live together.

“It was a strange household from childhood.”

Young Ha Jin somewhat resembled me but wasn’t identical. Compared to my childhood, he looked absolutely angelic. As he grew, he gradually came to look more like me. By the time he fully matured, he had my exact face.

It was fascinating how a somewhat similar-looking young Ha Jin gradually came to resemble me more.

Either way, young Ha Jin was cute, unfitting his reputation as a jerk. With his white face and large sparkling eyes, he was simply pretty. There were even photos of him smiling with rosy cheeks. But despite Ha Jin’s adorable smile, not one parent was smiling in any photo.

I unconsciously smiled upon finding what seemed to be an elementary school entrance ceremony photo taken in the school auditorium. Ha Jin stood in the front row due to his small stature, beaming brightly. Among many children, he stood out for being particularly pretty and tiny, with a smile full of excitement.

The cute Ha Jin in those photos gradually became expressionless as he grew taller. In his high school graduation photo, his expressionless face stood out due to his height being above his peers. The graduation photo was the last one. There were no photos after that.

After examining the album, I looked through it again in puzzlement.

But nowhere could I find photos of Ha Jin before elementary school.

Not even the common first birthday photos.

I had no way of knowing if they were just missing from this album. I thought I should check if I ever visit the main house, and closed the album.

* * *

After the whirlwind weekend passed, ordinary daily life continued.

The life of a regular college student. I was in the middle of taking unremarkable final exams. Studying daily with Sun Woo had been quite effective. He had transformed empty-headed Ha Jin into a decent business student. Enough to fully keep up with academics from the second semester.

In just 4 months, I caught up on years of their studies. Amazing, Ha Jin. An engineering graduate really struggled to adapt to a barely related liberal arts field.

After tomorrow’s last exam, second year first semester would be over. Summer vacation would begin. A college student’s vacation period. Not only plenty of time, but now overflowing with money too. Therefore, I was looking forward to my true vacation life. I wanted to see grandmother soon too.

I was studying in the library with Sun Woo, who had decided to burn the midnight oil for tomorrow’s final exam. Just when it seemed like another unremarkable day was passing, Secretary Kim suddenly burst through the door, making my heart jump like a live fish.

“Oh my heart.”

Sun Woo stood protectively in front of me, wary of Secretary Kim’s sudden appearance. I pulled him back reassuringly.

“It’s okay. He’s not a burglar. This is Secretary Kim from our group.”

Secretary Kim looked at Sun Woo once, then reproached me with a worried face.

“Young Master Ha Jin, why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

“I usually keep it on silent.”

“Please answer my calls at least. I’m sorry for the rudeness of entering without knocking – I was urgently searching for you, thinking something was wrong.”

“What brings you here? Is there something urgent?”

Seeing Secretary Kim come all the way here… it must not be good news.

Secretary Kim looked at the books covering the desk, briefly showed a faint pleased smile, then quickly composed his expression.

“Were you studying?”

“Yes.”

Secretary Kim stood silently, seemingly reluctant to speak here.

It appeared this wasn’t a conversation meant for Sun Woo’s ears. I told the still-wary Sun Woo to wait alone for a moment and headed to my room with Secretary Kim. As soon as we entered, Secretary Kim wordlessly handed me a photo. I took it with many questions, having no idea what to expect.

The photo showed me dynamically posed holding a shotgun. The problem was that it was too dynamic.

“It’s quite a well-taken shot.”

“This is no joking matter.”

“Really? But honestly, it is well-taken. Makes me look like the perpetrator.”

Secretary Kim sighed deeply at my words. The photo indeed captured me appearing to brandish a shotgun at Jung Woo. Amazing how they caught such a perfect moment.

“They’re planning to release this to the media tomorrow.”

“Who is?”

“It was sent anonymously, we’re checking into it now.”

“What would it take to stop it?”

“They want us to hand over lobbying materials related to the Supreme Party congressman.”

“Are we going to give it to them?”

Secretary Kim made a troubled face at my question.

“The Chairman wants to let it be.”

“So he’s not going to deal with it?”

“He seems quite hurt by your recent actions, young master.”

What hurt? He’s probably just annoyed that I’m not doing what he wants.

But to not even try to block a photo like this… how narrow-minded. When this blows up, I won’t be the only one affected. Galaxy Group will obviously take a hit too. The stock price will fall, and they’ll face criticism for their association with me.

Seeing my lack of reaction, Secretary Kim spoke with a serious face.

“If this gets out, it will be difficult to recover your image. The tabloids are already full of negative stories, and this photo will be the final nail in the coffin.”

“I didn’t hit him. Secretary Kim, do you believe this photo?”

To anyone looking at the photo in my hand, it clearly showed me swinging a shotgun. Although I’ve been behaving well lately, Secretary Kim had long witnessed Ha Jin’s days of acting like a jerk. From our first meeting after my possession, he had come to clean up after Ha Jin who had hit someone. So naturally, he couldn’t easily say he believed me.

“I know you were threatened with the gun, but people will only focus on what they see in this photo.”

“If this photo gets out, everyone will think I hit him regardless of the circumstances.”

“They will.”

I took a moment to organize my thoughts at Secretary Kim’s words. After some time passed, Secretary Kim couldn’t hold back and tried to persuade me.

“Young Master Ha Jin, what if you met with the Chairman and asked him?”

“No need. Let them release it to the media.”

“This won’t blow over quietly. A gun, a chaebol, violence – these keywords will create quite a stir in Korea.”

“They’ll be busy chewing it up. Most people already know I’m a jerk. It’s like pouring oil on a burning house – no, more like dumping it.”

“I really think we should stop this one.”

“We should follow father’s wishes.”

Secretary Kim looked at me like I was talking nonsense.

He seemed frustrated by my strange stubbornness.

“When the photo gets out, everyone will tear me apart. How juicy is that story? Violence from a troublemaking chaebol.”

“If you know that… The Chairman probably wants you to yield just this once.”

Secretary Kim, looking full of worry, tried to convince me.

But I didn’t want to yield to a father who uses violence against his son.

“You know he’s not someone who easily changes his mind.”

“Then I’ll find another way. We might not be able to stop the article, but we could release an explanation.”

“No. I won’t explain. Once the photo’s out, they’ll be so focused on tearing me apart that any explanation will be met with ‘So what?’ It won’t be easy to convince people who have already firmly decided I’m in the wrong.”

At my words, Secretary Kim weakly asked, “Then what?”

“I’ll go down to the countryside and quietly spend time there until things calm down.”

“The countryside?”

“Yes, I’m planning to go somewhere with nice mountains.”

Secretary Kim said nothing more. He seemed dumbfounded by my casual talk of going to the countryside.