When he woke up in the hospital, my brother didn’t recognize his stepmother, my mother.

That means Kwon Seung Joo is now at most eighteen years old!

“……”

As Seung Hyun lost his words for a while due to overwhelming joy, sobbing sounds were heard from the other end of the phone, as if his mother wanted him to hear.

“But why does your voice sound like that, mom? Did something happen?”

Seung Hyun tried to calm his excitement and belatedly asked about Ji Yeon Hwa’s well-being.

– Your father or whatever, there’s not a single person in this world I can trust.

“Why, did you fight with father?”

– The only one I can trust is you. So you must succeed no matter what. You must become the heir to Daewon Group, do you understand?

Ji Yeon Hwa said tearfully.

– You said you’d find out what that Seung Joo bastard is up to, have you found anything?

Not realizing that her son was wearing a meaningful smile on the other end of the phone, Ji Yeon Hwa rattled off her thoughts.

– I think that Seung Joo bastard has fallen for a much older woman, but since his father would be furious, he can’t tell us and they’ve set up house somewhere together. If that’s really the case, couldn’t you find evidence to make him fall out of favor with your father?

Seung Hyun barely held back his laughter.

‘It’s an even bigger deal than that, mother.’

With this alone, kicking him out of the company would be child’s play. But outwardly, he played dumb.

“I’m working hard to find out now. Trust me and wait just a little longer, mom.”

– Alright, I’ll only trust you.

After hanging up, the laughter Seung Hyun had been holding back burst out.

“Hahaha!”

He was glad he hadn’t laughed earlier. It was worth trusting his instincts and waiting.

‘My God, he’s turned into a child!’

This was an incredible scoop that could take down Kwon Seung Joo in one shot, far outweighing any scandal about living with a female employee. After all, they can’t put a child in the CEO position or make him the group heir, can they?

Amnesia.

It turned out to be such an easy answer that it was laughable, but there was a reason he hadn’t thought of it until now. On the day Yoon Eun Seo was dragged to the security team for investigation on charges of leaking data, Kwon Seung Joo had acted too perfectly.

How could he have even slightly suspected that his infuriatingly smug behavior was all an act?

Anyway, with this, Seung Hyun had completely grasped victory.

Nevertheless, there was a reason he hadn’t told even his own mother just now.

…That woman, Yoon Eun Seo.

At this moment, the most precious thing in the world to his half-brother was neither the company he had worked hard to build up, nor the position of heir, but that very woman. Anyone who saw the way his brother looked at that woman would have thought so.

Until now, Seung Hyun had lived with the goal of taking everything that belonged to his brother. Wanting to take the position of heir wasn’t because he particularly wanted to become the group chairman. Rather, because business was troublesome and gave him headaches, he would have preferred to just live comfortably like now if possible. He simply wanted to take it because it belonged to Kwon Seung Joo, nothing more.

But how could he not take what his brother cherishes the most?

Of course, he would take the company and the heir position one by one, but the most urgent matter now was Yoon Eun Seo. If he couldn’t take that woman, taking everything else would be meaningless.

Seung Hyun headed to the office with a smirk.

Yoon Eun Seo, sitting and working next to him, looked especially pretty today. Was it because she was the woman Kwon Seung Joo cherished so much?

“Senior, how about dinner together tonight?”

Yoon Eun Seo replied without even glancing this way, just staring at her monitor.

“I remember telling you that I have to go home early because I have a dog to take care of.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Seung Hyun bent down and whispered in Eun Seo’s ear.

“But I wonder if our brother knows?”

“…!”

“That he’s being treated like a dog.”

Seung Hyun watched with great pleasure as the color slowly drained from Yoon Eun Seo’s face.

*

Thinking he wouldn’t come home that night, busy comforting the young second, Chairman Kwon surprisingly returned home less than an hour after Ji Yeon Hwa had come back.

Ji Yeon Hwa, who had been furious to her core, felt her anger subside a little.

“What brings you here? I thought you’d sleep at that woman’s house tonight.”

“This is our home, where else would I sleep? Besides, my wife is so angry like this.”

Chairman Kwon retorted glibly, then added in a slightly stern tone.

“Still, you went too far smashing up all the furniture like that.”

Ji Yeon Hwa didn’t deny that she had done it. Back then, Kang Hye Sun would have also claimed she didn’t do it, but Chairman Kwon didn’t believe her, and it would be the same now.

So there was no use in crying and protesting that she didn’t do it, that it was unfair.

At times like this, it’s an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you come at me with fox tricks, I’ll do the same. It seems you’re quite good at playing the fox, but I’m a thousand-year-old nine-tailed fox.

“I did it because I was angry. What woman wouldn’t lose her mind when someone touches her man?”

Grabbing Chairman Kwon’s necktie and lightly tapping his chest with her fist as if resentful, Ji Yeon Hwa whimpered.

“Do you want me to just stand by like a cow or chicken while you meet other women?”

“Of course not. A woman without jealousy is just a corpse.”

Chairman Kwon’s mouth gaped open, immediately falling for Ji Yeon Hwa’s coquettish tantrum.

This fool really believes that women are still dying over him at over sixty years old, fighting over him.

Suppressing the urge to rip that gaping mouth, Ji Yeon Hwa glared resentfully.

“Still, you went too far this time. How could you even set up a household for her?”

“No, I didn’t buy her a house, it’s just a monthly rent. 100 million won deposit with a few million won monthly rent.”

“Really?”

“Of course, why would I lie to our Yeon Hwa about something that would show up right away if you check the property registration?”

Boasting confidently, Chairman Kwon tried to appease his wife.

“If I had known our wife would be this upset, I wouldn’t have even done that much.”

If ‘concubine’ was the word Ji Yeon Hwa hated most in the world, then ‘our wife’ was the word she loved most. Adding to that, hearing it was just a monthly rent made her feel a bit relieved. Money follows the heart, so this meant the woman was only worth that much to him so far.

“A great man like you, how can I stop you from going out a little? Just don’t make it so obvious. Word gets around behind our backs. It’s embarrassing with our grown children.”

Ji Yeon Hwa deliberately didn’t tell him to break it off. Trying to forcibly separate them would only fan the flames. Why create a Romeo and Juliet situation?

“I understand, don’t worry. The kid was getting a bit stale anyway, so I was thinking of wrapping things up soon.”

Hearing Chairman Kwon say he would take care of it himself, Ji Yeon Hwa finally softened and nestled into his arms.

“If you stray again next time, I’ll punish you. Hmm.”

She cooed, mixing in a nasal tone while putting on insincere aegyo.

*

“It’s really hard to have dinner with you, senior.”

Despite being brought to a fine dining restaurant that supposedly requires three generations of good deeds to get a reservation, Yoon Eun Seo sat pale-faced the entire time, not even trying to pick up her cutlery.

For Seung Hyun, it was one of the rare delicious meals he’d had in his life. How could everything taste so sweet?

“But don’t you feel a bit guilty? No matter what, he’s mentally a minor, doing things like that.”

“…!”

“Or maybe the sense of taboo makes it more exciting?”

Seung Hyun watched with delight as her face, which had been pale white, slowly turned bright red starting from her delicate neck up to her face. Who knew she was this bad at lying?

After a long while, Eun Seo finally managed to speak in a voice that sounded like someone being strangled.

“It’s not that kind of relationship.”

“Come on, his body is an adult, right? Living in the same house?”

Retorting as if he couldn’t believe it, Seung Hyun suddenly remembered.

That day, when they met at the bus stop and walked home together, the two didn’t even hold hands, let alone link arms.

He recalled wondering why they kept their distance while walking, even though he looked at her with such loving eyes.

“Puhah!”

Realizing it wasn’t a lie, laughter burst out.

What are these idiots? They’re serious!

“Ah, this is fun. I can understand senior Yoon, but to think our brother was such a devoted lover.”

Eun Seo bit her pretty lips until they turned white. Suppressing the urge to rush over and bite them for her, Seung Hyun put a piece of Korean beef sirloin in his mouth and chewed slowly.

“You’re curious, right? How much I know.”

Eun Seo didn’t deny it.

“Actually, I don’t know much. Just that you two are living together in the house where my brother used to live, and that he’s become mentally a minor due to amnesia from a car accident… something like that?”

Eun Seo closed her eyes. The word ‘despair’ was clearly written on her small, pretty face with paint. The letters saying, ‘It’s all been found out.’

After a long while, Eun Seo opened her eyes again and abruptly asked.

“So, what do you want from me?”

“Hm?”

“You could run right now and tell the chairman to kick your brother out of the company, but you’re not doing that. So that means you want something else, right?”

Seung Hyun was impressed. I thought she was just pretty, but she’s quite smart too? He could somewhat understand why his brother was so crazy about her.

“You didn’t sit me down here just to mock me. Stop beating around the bush and tell me what you want.”

This is good, it makes the conversation faster. Her boldness is charming too.

Seung Hyun put down his fork and wiped his lips with a napkin. Looking at the woman glaring at him fiercely as if he were her parents’ enemy, he adjusted his posture and spoke in a serious voice.

“Date me.”