“Jae Kyung hyung!”

“Ah, it’s Kang Pil Seung hyung from Business Administration, right?”, “He called him Jae Kyung hyung, that’s so cool.” The gathered students each shared their impressions.

Pil Seung was already famous at school as a rich young master, but calling Kang Jae Kyung “hyung” earned him unprecedented envious glances.

“I didn’t think you’d really come to pick me up! Wow, weren’t you returning home tomorrow?”

Pil Seung’s voice was highly excited as he clutched his textbooks. Jae Kyung opened the passenger door for him as he caught his breath from running.

“You know my schedule well. Get in.”

Meanwhile, all sorts of mobile phones captured photos and videos of the two.

The amicable chaebol brothers would surely be uploaded to SNS or video platforms.

If Bang Mi Mi, who was obsessed with media play, saw this, she’d have a fit. In her eyes, Kang Jae Kyung would look like a villain kidnapping her child.

The sedan carrying the two slowly left the campus.

After getting in the car, only silence lingered. The noticeably lower temperature wasn’t just due to the high-performance air conditioning.

Fidgeting with the textbook on his lap, Pil Seung glanced over his shoulder at the yellow and blue thing reflected in the rearview mirror.

“Take it.”

“Pardon?”

Pil Seung asked back feebly, thinking he’d misheard.

“It’s a business trip gift.”

“What…? Oh… Thank you. Hyung.”

He expressed gratitude, but somehow his expression was strange. Pil Seung awkwardly smiled as he turned his body to bring it to his chest.

“They say playing is the best.”

“Huh? Ah, haha.”

A penguin-shaped doll with a yellow hat and beak, wearing a blue suit. The president of children and spokesperson for working adults who love to play.

The colorful plush doll was a bit odd as a gift for a college student.

It was even more so given that Kang Jae Kyung was giving it and Kang Pil Seung was receiving it.

What could be his intention? Waving the doll’s arms, Pil Seung lowered his gaze and pondered Jae Kyung’s strange behavior. Meanwhile, his molars ground behind the forced smile on his lips.

He thought Jae Kyung didn’t even know his number, but suddenly contacted him saying he’d come pick him up. Then he gives him a children’s doll as a gift. And what’s with the kindness of opening the car door himself?

The turn signal’s ticking sound echoed in the quiet space. Jae Kyung’s low voice rose over it as he leaned his arm on the window frame.

“Play. Like it does.”

“…”

“Don’t mind the adults’ business.”

Was it a warning? Or a check? The faint smile had now completely disappeared from Pil Seung’s face.

It was due to the overwhelming feeling that sharply honed, venomous claws might grab his neck at any moment.

Was this the beginning of Cinderella’s awakening? Even so, what could a princess do?

Pil Seung, who had been quietly staring at Jae Kyung’s profile, turned his gaze out the window.

“I’m not interested in management. I don’t need wealth either.”

Oh really? A sneer tugged at the corner of his firmly set lips. The index finger that had been tapping his chin moved back to the steering wheel.

“That makes me even more curious. Why you went to my house when I wasn’t there.”

Boredom tinged his voice, with laughter underlying it. As if expecting an interesting story.

Pil Seung’s pupils shook helplessly.

Hugging the penguin doll to his chest, Kang Pil Seung resented his sister-in-law at that moment. I didn’t think she’d tattle like that.

As they passed the final stretch heading to the main house, palatial homes each flaunting their grandeur lined the markedly different atmosphere.

“That’s…”

“You should think of your mom who goes crazy over public opinion.”

The gradually slowing wheels stopped in front of a familiar gate.

Resting his head on his arm on the steering wheel, Jae Kyung impassively gazed at the pale face.

“If rumors spread that hot-tempered Jae Kyung hyung did something bad to his young brother.”

Only then did Pil Seung’s eyes, which had been cast down, turn to the driver’s seat. As their gazes met, sharp eyes smiled faintly.

Chewing on the corner of his lip, Pil Seung bowed his head slightly and got out of the car. Textbooks under his left arm, the penguin in his right hand.

By then, streetlights had spread widely in the dusk-fallen air.

The penguin doll was painfully crumpled in Pil Seung’s hand as he stood rooted to the spot, watching the sedan’s headlights recede.

“…This is so damn fun. Jae Kyung hyung.”

It wasn’t the first time he had visited Pil Seung’s school.

A long time ago, when Kang Pil Seung was 10 and Kang Jae Kyung was 22, in the distant past.

Rather than visiting, it’s more accurate to say they happened to run into each other while passing by. It was on the way home after being discharged from the military.

Saving Pil Seung, who was smaller and weaker than his peers, from being bullied by older students was also a natural action.

When he returned home with Pil Seung silently following, no one was there. Just as with enlistment, he was alone for discharge too.

A savory, delicious smell wafted from the kitchen where Jae Kyung had entered after changing into comfortable clothes.

Fluffy kimchi fried rice. A modest fried egg on top.

“If you’re hungry, sit down too.”

Pil Seung, who had been peeking from behind a pillar, timidly sat down.

The omurice, remade to suit a 10-year-old’s palate, was moved to the table on a snow-white plate.

As Jae Kyung sat down across from him, Pil Seung, who had been waiting without eating, asked:

“Why doesn’t hyung hire a housekeeper?”

“Because I have hands.”

“But… Mom said that as the grandson of the Three Great Families and son of Kang Chul Won, I should know how to enjoy.”

Jae Kyung paused briefly before scooping up some rice. If that was Bang Mi Mi’s ideology, it wasn’t surprising.

When no answer came, a spirited voice spoke up bravely.

“She says paying people to work for you is also a virtue of the rich.”

“That’s some virtue.”

Kang Jae Kyung thought. The kid is really pitiful.

After he finished eating first and left the table, Pil Seung, left alone, hopped off the chair.

Then his pale, tiny hand picked up the omurice plate. It was untouched, the shape still intact.

The end of those steps was…

“Idiot.”

Clatter, thud.

The trash can.

The elementary schooler who coldly dumped the plate in the trash bit his dry lips hard.

“…Acting all high and mighty when you’re abandoned. So annoying.”

Jae Kyung, who had returned feeling uneasy about leaving a child alone in the kitchen, witnessed that back view from afar.

Calmly and detachedly.

* * *

8:30 PM. Samsung Station Convention Center, 11th floor.

In the end, Da Hae had to take the car sent by Chairman Bae, change into the “elegant” dress she had prepared, and even send a proof photo.

Choosing and sending clothes was unprecedented fussiness.

Worried that her granddaughter, like a lone deer in the Serengeti without her grandmother or groom, might feel intimidated among the glamorous women, Da Hae willingly complied, understanding that sentiment.

Moreover, her grandmother’s taste was trendier than her granddaughter’s.

A pure white off-shoulder dress revealing the shoulder line, and pumps with freshwater pearl accents.

Thanks to the silk fabric tightly hugging her slender waist, her smooth legs were accentuated.

She thought she could endure the air conditioning blowing through the exposed areas for just a little while.

Of course, that was assuming things went according to plan.

Business cards piling up in the palm-sized clutch. A binary phenomenon where if she missed one person, two more would come to greet her.

Even before meeting Chairman Kim of S Corporation, people who recognized Da Hae came to greet her one after another.

As the wife of CEO Kang Jae Kyung and granddaughter of Chairwoman Bae Jung Soon, it was a luxury to even sit down as she received greetings on behalf of their absent selves.

Someone carefully lowered their voice and called Da Hae the queen consort.

Saying that as the future head of Sammyeong Group’s wife, she only had to rule over the world now. Da Hae responded with a smile, thinking how hard everyone was working.

Since Chairman Kim of S Corporation would only appear to read the congratulatory message due to health reasons, she had no choice but to wait.

Da Hae had just sat down in a less crowded corner to catch her breath.

“Did you come alone?”

She thought it might pass quietly for once.

High heels approached with a famous line from a crime movie.

Kim Yeon Woo, who had put on airs in a toned-down wine-colored dress, haughtily raised her eyes like an actress at an awards ceremony.

Her minions followed beside her.

“Our Da Hae. Your face looks so dull… Oh my, your hair’s become like a dog’s fur. How pitiful.”

It was childish provocation worthy of an American teen movie.

The minions snorted derisively. Da Hae rested her chin on her palm, staring into the distance with a disinterested face.

Despite being blatantly ignored, Kim Yeon Woo’s taunts didn’t stop.

“You should be radiant and blooming during your newlywed days. How is it, not so smooth?”

Thanks to the red lipstick filling in her lip line flawlessly, her vicious smile stood out. She seemed to have something she wanted to say.

Finally, as if the time had come, an announcement signaling the start of the event spread through the microphone. Kim Yeon Woo suddenly lowered her waist and brought her face close to Da Hae’s ear.

Her brows furrowed involuntarily as the perfume scent stung her nose.

Soon after, majestic background music played softly. Pressing one hand to her cleavage that threatened to spill out of her neckline, her lips moved closer and sneered as she whispered:

“You, you’re Kang Jae Kyung’s insurance policy, aren’t you?”