TF | Chapter 1.1

“–”

An airport unusually crowded with people.

In that crowded, noisy space, a man walked out leisurely.

A head taller than everyone else, with a sturdy build. He had only just gotten off the plane, but his hand, empty of even a single bag, was carelessly brushing back a few strands of hair that had fallen forward, and in every one of those gestures and in his gaze there lay a thick layer of fatigue and boredom.

The handsome man with the sharp features wrinkled his deeply cut facial lines and muttered, “fuck.” The voice slipping from his twisted mouth was as fine as his lips, but what came out was not at all. He slowly rolled his stiff neck and chewed on the curse irritably over and over.

“Damn old man. Why did you have to die now of all times……”

Saeon muttered darkly, making a face as if he wanted to grab his deceased grandfather by the collar and shake him. To drag a man who had already been doing just fine all the way here. He had been annoying to the very end.

“Young master!!”

The one who hurried over in front of Saeon bowed quickly. As the loud apology for being late and that unusual address drew people’s eyes for a moment, Saeon, who had suddenly become a zoo monkey, frowned harder and pressed a hand to his forehead.

“That damn young master crap, fuck. How old do you think I am……”

“S, sorry!”

“Just guide me. And don’t make a fuss.”

“Yes!”

He said not to make a fuss and the guy really did not understand a word. Saeon almost felt like smacking the back of that flustered head, but gave up out of annoyance and let himself be led. Having to hear young master at thirty-four years old made him realize he was back in his homeland, and it felt fucked up in every way.

A little later, another man who had brought Saeon’s luggage joined the group, and before he attracted any more attention, he got into the waiting vehicle. Then, from the person waiting for him inside, he received a thick bundle of documents.

“This is the will and the shareholder register. If you look in back, the inherited assets list and the board meeting minutes are organized as well.”

Both the lawyer handing over the documents and Saeon, who received them, had blank faces. In particular, Saeon skimmed the first page, the will, as if he were reading it and not reading it, then let out a snort. It was clearly a sneer, unmistakably mocking the one who had written it.

His grandfather was a man impossible to feel affection for. His greed was beyond compare with anyone else’s, and he was so obsessed with sex that even at that age he was busy spending his time pawing at young things, with no interest in work or anything else. Every time they met, he only showed ugly sides, so there was no need to even think about how he behaved normally.

But unexpectedly, there was nothing like a bastard child when it came to Chairman Yoon. There was no agreement on dividing inherited property among the papers the lawyer had just handed him either. The desire not to split his own wealth among several people had beaten out that filthy, disgusting desire.

“How impressive.”

In any case, thanks to that thoroughness, Saeon would inherit everything Chairman Yoon had. The share that had belonged to his parents, who had died in an accident when he was young, was no different. The wealth and power Chairman Yoon had held in life would all become Saeon’s as of today.

He had even sent his orphaned young grandson abroad to keep him under watch, and every time the boy showed talent in management he had been torn apart with jealousy. In the end, he would have to put everything into the hands of the grandson he hated so much.

He must not have wanted to return it to society, not with that greed. It would have been the better choice to give it to someone connected by blood, at least.

“It’s hilarious……”

How resentful he must have been before death. It must have infuriated him that he could not take what he owned with him into the pit of the underworld.

He probably cursed himself until the moment his breath ran out. Saeon thought, without much care, that he must have closed his eyes while cursing the grandson who would inherit everything he left behind. That was the kind of man he was.

Or maybe he had been busy taking young things to bed until then.

The cause of death might even have been sex.

As Saeon made such a prediction, one that had thrown every shred of courtesy toward the dead into the trash, and flipped through the documents with an indifferent attitude, he found a sentence among the crowded lines and lifted one eyebrow. Something strange had shown up in the inherited assets list.

What is this now?

“Annex resident?”

When he raised his eyes to the lawyer, she made a slightly troubled face. Seeing her reaction, unable to meet his eyes, he lifted the corners of his mouth and spoke with interest for the first time in a while.

“Turn the car around.”

At that, the one in the driver’s seat did not ask twice and turned the wheel at once. Toward Pyeongchang-dong, where Chairman Yoon’s mansion was.

“You need to attend the funeral right away. We’re already running out of time……”

Since he had not kept vigil at the deathbed, he at least needed to get to the funeral hall quickly. Even if succession was obvious because he was the only heir, it was better to make the picture look decent to outsiders.

“Everyone is waiting.”

“You can just brush it off by saying the flight was canceled.”

The lawyer beside him, and even the secretary in the passenger seat, tried to stop him, but Saeon only smiled and answered as if nothing mattered. It was not as if he cared if he was late to some boring funeral. If he had to choose what appealed to him, it was obviously this side.

“Our Chairman Yoon said he was going to leave me a person. Real estate, stocks, and company shares still weren’t enough, he wanted to leave me a ‘person’.”

“……”

“Then I should at least see that face once, right?”

He had thought there would only be fucked-up things, but this was an unexpected event. An annex resident. He was very much looking forward to who it could be, someone Chairman Yoon had taken into the house and kept with such skill in using people and throwing them away.

Thud-

After signing countless documents, Saeon lazily crossed his legs and leaned back against the seat. He had not liked the idea of going to some gloomy funeral hall the moment he arrived in Korea, but if he went and saw a face and exchanged a few words, he would probably get amused quickly enough that even if he had to participate in the funeral afterward, it would not be so boring.

Until then, he was thinking lightly about the annex resident. He laughed at the current situation, imagining questions like, So you’re the one who made my grandfather die from sex? and enjoying the idea of what reaction the other person would show the moment they learned that the ownership of their body had passed to him.

He did not know that all those predictions would be shattered an hour later.

❤︎ • ❤︎ • ❤︎

Saeon stepped onto the family home grounds he could not even remember the last time he had visited and strode toward the annex. The secretary and lawyer, sweating bullets, followed behind him as he walked on the lawn with his polished shoes instead of taking the obvious neat path.

“Wait a moment, young master. First, please hear the explanation……!”

“What is there to explain? And even if there were, isn’t this something I can hear directly from the person?”

“That is impossible! I, I’ll tell you everything right now……!”

“What do you mean impossible. Are they mute? Has our chairman’s taste really gone that far already?”

“No! It’s not that…… You’ll be very surprised! If you go like that, gasp, wheeze……”

“Who’s the one getting surprised. Me? Or that side.”

“Both of you!”

Ignoring the people who kept begging him to at least hear the story first, Saeon stretched out his long legs and soon reached the annex entrance.

It had been built with a feeling similar to the main house, but it was much smaller and stood apart in a corner. A space that did not exist in his memory. In other words, it meant his grandfather had personally built the annex for the one inside.

If he liked him that much, he should have just brought him into the main house and kept him there, so why the hell had he gone and built a whole new place and thrown such a fit? Saeon thought that as he flung open the annex door. It was a very rough hand, with no hesitation at all even though he knew someone was inside.

Bang-!

Ignoring whatever they were doing behind him, Saeon opened the door and stepped into the annex without even taking off his shoes, leaving his soles still dirty with grass. And then……

At the sight in front of him, he stopped before he could go any farther.

“……”

The inside of the annex had been painted entirely white. Unlike the main house, which felt solemn and heavy but still warm with the feeling of people living there, this was a space that made him feel as if he had come to a psychiatric ward.

There was a large window, but it had been blocked off by iron bars. There was no second floor, so it was not for preventing a fall. It looked exactly as if it had been set up to keep someone from leaving.