PHUW 126

The angry professor immediately called Jeong Mok.

“It’s me.”

As soon as the other side picked up, he started with a blunt “It’s me,” unleashing the live performance of an enraged elder’s aura.

“Vice Chairman Jeong, do you have any sense at all? I’m disappointed.”

The scolding that followed wasn’t even loud, yet somehow it made Haeri’s heart drop.

In his years of part-time work, he had met plenty of bastards who abused their power, but this was the first time he had encountered someone who radiated such an untouchable authority from the bone. His mouth that usually spouted nonsense so easily was glued shut. Haeri wasn’t the only one left just darting his eyes. For some reason, Gom-i was quiet too, and the bodyguard, the chef, and even the housekeepers upstairs had all gone silent.

“Fine, let’s talk face-to-face.”

The call even ended with formal speech. Something was definitely off.

Bzzz.

Two phones rang at the same time. One was, of course, Haeri’s, and the other was the bodyguard’s.

“Yes, Team Leader.”

The bodyguard answered and quickly headed toward the entrance. Haeri, however, hesitated, unsure if he should answer Jeong Mok’s call in front of the professor.

“Answer it.”

Noticing his dilemma, the professor gave permission first. Haeri nodded his head awkwardly and pressed the call button.

–I’m on my way home now.

“Yes.”

–The professor isn’t normally like this. I don’t know why he’s reacting that way. Did something happen?

“I’m fine…”

Haeri answered cautiously while watching the professor’s stiff expression. Just then, someone on the other end spoke to Jeong Mok.

–The bodyguard at the residence just reported that Professor Choi raised concerns about Mr. Ahn Haeri’s education. He was furious, saying leaving him with no tutor and only a phone amounted to abuse.

–Ah.

Jeong Mok sighed. It wasn’t really Haeri’s fault, but somehow he felt like it was. Was not studying…or rather, choosing not to study such a crime?

While Haeri was on the phone with Jeong Mok, the professor also began making a call.

“It’s me. Please get in touch with Teacher Kim Yeongeun. I have a student who dropped out of high school, I need to prepare a curriculum. Male, age 24 by Western count. We’ll have to test his basic academic level first. The sooner the better. Today if possible. Thank you.”

That was about him, wasn’t it?

–He’s just requested Teacher Kim Yeongeun.

Within three seconds came a report on the other end to Jeong Mok. Haeri’s eyes met the bodyguard’s, who was standing by the entrance watching him.

–If it’s Teacher Kim Yeongeun, I think that was my admissions coordinator.

Ad… admissions? That admissions? Haeri was too flustered to speak.

–Haeri, whatever the professor says, don’t respond. Just stay quiet. He’s not angry with you, so don’t worry.

“Yes.”

When Haeri ended the call, the professor also hung up.

“What did Vice Chairman Jeong say?”

“He said he’s on his way…”

“And he knows how important this is. So why—tsk.”

The professor clicked his tongue as if he truly disapproved.

Haeri couldn’t understand why some outsider had to make a fuss when he himself was fine, and even the one feeding and housing him was fine with it too. But then again, when had the world ever moved according to the understanding of those directly involved? If someone at the very top said so, then it had to be taken as truth.

While they waited for Jeong Mok, the professor began a full interrogation.

“Do you have any memories of your parents?”

Jeong Mok had told him to say nothing. Did that include this too? It was hard to believe anyone could sit in such tense silence under these circumstances.

“My grandma… I mean, my grandmother raised me, so I remember her. But my mother, hardly. We were separated when I was a baby.”

“I see. You must have had a hard time at such a young age.”

“No, not really.”

Haeri thought of his life as unlucky, but not exactly as suffering.

Among the children around him, there were plenty worse off, saddled with loan sharks or constantly beaten thanks to useless parents or siblings. Compared to that, his grandma hadn’t left him property, but at least she hadn’t left him debts either. Her tongue had been rough and cheap, but she had never hit him. While she was alive, he’d lived without big worries.

“And your mother, no contact at all?”

“Yes. I don’t even know if she’s alive.”

“Your father?”

“I don’t even know his name. Grandma never told me.”

The professor nodded slowly with a look of pity. It felt strange. Did he really seem that pitiful?

“Professor, maybe you see it that way, but I’m not so pitiful as to deserve that look. Before the accident, I was working part-time jobs and managing alright. I just couldn’t save money, that’s all.”

Haeri scratched his face with his index finger and put up a pointless front. He had lived on his own without parents since his late teens, wasn’t that mature enough?

“I know. You lived very diligently.”

“You know?”

He almost asked “how”. If they wanted, they could easily whip up an X-file on him, including information about the delinquent father and foreign grandfather he himself didn’t know about. In that case, maybe it was better to ask directly about what he wanted to know. Jeong Mok tended not to give details. It was probably to keep Haeri from being stressed, but sometimes it felt frustrating.

“Professor, do you perhaps know Lee Sangjin?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“He was my friend. He died unfairly not long ago. The Vice Chairman is looking into it for me, but he doesn’t say much. I thought maybe you might know.”

“I don’t know much about that matter. More things are tangled in it than you think. Even if I did know, if Vice Chairman Jeong didn’t tell you, then it isn’t my place to mention it.”

So even for a conglomerate like Hyeonsan, crushing one thug company was difficult?

“Vice Chairman Jeong will handle that issue properly, so don’t worry too much.”

“Yes.”

They didn’t tell the directly affected person, whose life had been threatened, anything about what was going on. If that wasn’t abuse, what was? That was abuse. It irritated him. But he couldn’t risk upsetting the exalted one, so he kept his expression in check.

What he usually did during the day, whether Jeong Mok treated him well, since when he had kept a dog, what food he liked. He was being drained by the endless probing when finally the master of the house, and of the two pets, arrived.

“Professor.”

Jeong Mok strode in. Haeri and the others immediately stood and nodded slightly. Even Gom-i went up and licked his fingertips. But the professor stayed seated, silently glaring at the tall man. In this place, Jeong Mok was the boss, but to him, the professor was the boss.

“Sit down first.”

At the boss’s order, Jeong Mok sat. As soon as Haeri sat next to him, the bodyguard gathered the chef and the housekeepers and left. Only three people remained in the house.

“You’ve been living with Ahn Haeri-ssi for quite some time now, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

It hadn’t even been close to half a year, but Jeong Mok obediently said yes.

“You also knew he hadn’t finished his studies properly, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”¹

He was using polite speech, but not out of respect. It was more like the polite tone an adult used with a child. Jeong Mok didn’t even lift his eyes, staring at the floor. The incongruity stood out all the more with someone who, despite his gentle manner, radiated such an exceptional aura.

“Our Hyeonsan,” the professor began suddenly about the company.

“It may not look it, but it is a family of educators. I don’t mean myself. The late maternal grandmother founded an educational foundation to support underprivileged students. It was later turned into a public foundation, but she spent her life commuting to school to teach Korean to children. Even your mother. She did not enjoy her artistic talent alone, she often volunteered to teach art. She never took up a teaching position, but she completed teacher training and had a Level 2 teaching license. Had she not had you, she would have finished her doctorate and become a professor of fine arts.”

A family of educators? Nothing like that came up in searches.

And isn’t it too greedy to be both a conglomerate and a family of educators? Just keep things moderate. These conglomerates never did only one thing. They had to do everything.

“I know.”

Jeong Mok kept his head lowered and listened to the scolding. Beside him, Haeri also sat like an innocent criminal, sneaking glances.

“Do you know why I sided with the Chairwoman when Director Choi suddenly quit the company? Because I believed some kinds of study must be done at the proper time. The Hyeonsan family members who didn’t join management devoted their lives to society as educators. If you brought a new family member into such a household, even if not as an educator, at the very least you should support them through ordinary studies. How can you leave it like this?”

Who was Director Choi, and what did “bringing in a new family member” mean? Did they consider a pet human like him family, the way they did with a pet dog? Not that Haeri disliked being recognized as family, but this didn’t feel like something he could be simply grateful for.

“You must have heard, I’ve called for Teacher Kim Yeongeun. She’ll be arriving soon.”

“Well, Professor.”

At last, Jeong Mok raised his head.

“I fully understand what you’re saying, but for Haeri, stability must come first. For the sake of his recovery, I believe it’s not too late to consider studies gradually.”

“People recover faster when they engage in productive activities. Don’t worry too much. It’s not as though I’m planning to throw him into an admissions academy immediately.”

Admissions academy? One of those places south of the 38th parallel that eagerly promoted stargazing at dawn? And him, a middle school dropout with an empty head? Saying “not immediately” only meant they might throw him in later.

Haeri couldn’t be more dumbfounded.

1. 네 (ne), the standard polite “yes.” ↩︎