MBFWM 04

Chapter 4

Jin Ae-ran had three sons.

All three were children she had carried and given birth to herself, but among the three brothers, her youngest, Moon Kang Hyun, was exceptionally headstrong and did whatever he pleased.

Her eldest son, Moon Sung-hyun, had taken over the group after his father suddenly died from overwork and a cerebral hemorrhage. He was currently the chairman of Moonseong Group.

Her second son, Moon Jung-hyun, was the president of Moonseong Holdings, the largest company among Moonseong Group’s affiliates.

Her two older sons, who had established themselves as powerful figures with considerable influence within Moonseong Group, were Jin Ae-ran’s pride.

Compared to them, her third son, Moon Kang Hyun, had absolutely no interest in the group’s affairs.

“How fortunate that I have two sons who are willing to do as their mother wishes.”

He had an iron will that never bent, and he was so eloquent that she had lost count of how many times her blood pressure had risen while arguing with him.

“What about you? You’re my son too, aren’t you?”

“Of course I’m your son. I’m not a criminal or some good-for-nothing delinquent, and I’m saying I intend to work hard and make a living for myself. Surely you’re not going to get angry about that?”

Remembering the conversation she had once had with Kang Hyun, Jin Ae-ran let out a sigh.

Still, there was a limit.

He had actually run away from the group’s founding anniversary event.

Even thinking about it again made her blood boil.

She regretted that everything seemed to have begun when he made friends with someone he never should have associated with during his school days.

She should have been stricter with him back then.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, followed by Secretary Kim’s voice.

“Chairwoman, your youngest son has arrived.”

“Tell him to come in.”

Jin Ae-ran took a deep breath before rising from her seat.

After learning that he had run away from the event yesterday, she had summoned him to her office.

“You don’t seem very busy today.”

Kang Hyun entered the office with an indifferent expression.

His shameless face, as though he had absolutely no idea what he had done wrong, made Jin Ae-ran’s insides churn.

Why did he have to be so annoyingly handsome, too?

The spring sunlight streaming through the window made his face gleam like a finely carved statue.

There was no doubt that his face was the reason her resolve weakened every time.

Looking at her youngest son—the most handsome of her three boys—Jin Ae-ran steeled herself.

How long could that event possibly have lasted?

Was it really so difficult for him to stay until the end?

He had given her a perfectly good reason to scold him this time, and she absolutely refused to let him off easily.

“Do you think I called you because I have nothing better to do?”

“Then did you call me because you missed me? You saw me yesterday too.”

He casually sank into the sofa as though he were sitting in his own home.

Seeing how relaxed he was, Jin Ae-ran raised one eyebrow.

“Why did you leave yesterday without saying anything? It’s not as though I call you to every single group event.”

“No one knows that I disappeared halfway through except you, Mother.”

“What? Do you actually hear yourself right now?”

Jin Ae-ran raised her voice in disbelief, but she couldn’t deny what Kang Hyun had said.

Although architect Moon Kang Hyun was famous publicly, very few people knew that he was a member of the Moonseong Group owner family.

Even so, Jin Ae-ran wanted him to appear at company events and stay until the very end.

That was her real wish.

She wanted him to take part in the group’s affairs instead of devoting himself solely to architecture.

As her voice grew louder, the light in Kang Hyun’s eyes slightly darkened.

“Mother, do you still not understand my personality? I told you that I’m not going to get involved in the group’s affairs, and once I make a decision, I don’t go back on it.”

How could she not know?

That damned personality of his.

Jin Ae-ran narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

At times like this, he felt less like her son and more like an enemy.

“Who on earth did you take after to be like this?”

“Obviously, I take after Father and you. Unless you picked me up somewhere? You should know better than anyone, Mother.”

Jin Ae-ran could do nothing but glare at her son, who was nearly twice her size.

“It was my mistake for leaving you alone back then.”

The words escaped Jin Ae-ran like a sigh.

At that, the light in Kang Hyun’s eyes darkened even further.

This wasn’t the first time he had heard those words, so he understood exactly what she meant.

She was blaming herself for the time when, instead of associating with children from families similar to theirs, he had become best friends with Seo Hwan and spent his school days engaging in all sorts of eccentric behavior.

Even calling it eccentric was ridiculous.

It was only eccentric from Jin Ae-ran’s perspective.

From Kang Hyun’s point of view, he had simply been an ordinary, well-adjusted student.

Instead of learning how to throw money around and abuse his status from a young age, he had spent his days playing basketball on the school playground and buying tteokbokki from snack shops while covered in dirt.

But to a wealthy chaebol family’s matriarch, such behavior had looked like sheer eccentricity.

“You stayed out of contact with me for five years because of that regret of yours. And thanks to that, I ended up seeing my friend’s face in a funeral portrait. Is that still not enough?”

Kang Hyun’s words made Jin Ae-ran flinch.

She knew all too well how cold and frightening her usually smiling, easygoing son could become once he wiped the smile from his face.

“Do you think I want to have thoughts like that? What am I supposed to do when seeing you makes me think that way?”

The smile completely disappeared from Kang Hyun’s face as he stood up.

“If those thoughts keep coming to you, there’s a way to avoid seeing me altogether. Wouldn’t it be better to change your way of thinking before I resort to that?”

“What are you saying right now…?”

Even as Jin Ae-ran trembled, Kang Hyun calmly bid her farewell without blinking.

“Instead of expecting something from me, it would be faster for you to change your own heart. I’ll be going now.”

Kang Hyun left the office without even looking back.

He had always been that kind of person, but for some reason, today it felt as though her heart had completely collapsed.

Where on earth had a son like that come from?

Jin Ae-ran muttered the same lament she had uttered countless times before and pressed firmly against her throbbing temples.

After accepting Kang Hyun’s proposal, Lee Jin stopped taking new class reservations.

Since she was only conducting classes that had already been booked in advance, she suddenly had much more free time than usual.

The sunlight streaming through the large glass windows of the pottery studio was so bright that Lee Jin walked over to the windows to pull down the blinds.

The street trees outside the glass and the occasional spring flowers looked fresh and vibrant.

She stared blankly at the scenery outside for a while before finally coming to her senses.

Just as she was about to lower the blinds, a car stopped in front of the pottery studio.

Thinking it might be a customer, she looked more closely.

Then she recognized the person inside.

“Ji-hoon, sunbae?”

An older friend from university had come to visit without contacting her beforehand.

Lee Jin hurried toward the entrance.

The clear sound of the doorbell rang as Cha Ji-hoon stepped inside.

“Sunbae, what brings you here without even calling first?”

Lee Jin welcomed him with wide eyes.

“It’s been a long time. You’ve been doing well, right?”

“Thanks to you.”

He came inside while carefully examining Lee Jin’s face, as though checking whether there was still a shadow of grief lingering there.

“The studio looks even prettier than it did when I came last time.”

After exchanging greetings, the two sat across from each other at the worktable in the studio and drank coffee while chatting about this and that.

“You actually became a professor, sunbae.”

Lee Jin laughed as though she still couldn’t believe it.

Ji-hoon frowned and asked,

“Do I really look that unsuited for it?”

“Yeah. Didn’t the club members have the same reaction as me?”

Her guess must have been correct because deep wrinkles appeared between Ji-hoon’s brows.

Seeing his expression, Lee Jin let out a small laugh.

“I was worried about you, but I’m glad you look cheerful.”

Lee Jin understood that his words were referring to Seo Hwan’s death.

She paused for a moment, and a bitter smile briefly crossed her lips.

“Everyone worried about me, so I’m doing much better now. The living have to keep living.”

The people who had been involved with her in the university club had all stopped by the funeral, even if only briefly, to pay their respects.

Ji-hoon had been among them.

Not wanting the atmosphere to become too gloomy, Lee Jin quickly changed the subject.

“But what brings you here? Surely you didn’t come all the way here just to brag about becoming a professor.”

“Why? Am I not allowed to come and brag?”

Ji-hoon deliberately grumbled as he took out a document envelope and placed it on the table.

“What’s this?”

Seeing Lee Jin’s puzzled expression, Ji-hoon explained.

“They’re hiring a part-time lecturer this time, and I thought of you. Why don’t you apply? With your qualifications, I think you have a good chance. I might even be able to help a little.”

“A part-time lecturer?”

“That’s what they call it, but from the students’ perspective, you’re basically a professor. If you get good evaluations from your students, there’s even a chance you could eventually be hired as a full-time professor.”

Watching Ji-hoon explain everything so earnestly, Lee Jin gave him an apologetic look.

“Sunbae, I’m grateful for the offer, but what should I do? I have a project I’ve been commissioned to work on this time, so I don’t think I can.”

“What? What kind of project?”

“It’s…”

Lee Jin was about to explain when the clear sound of the doorbell rang again.

“Hmm, you had a guest. Should I come back later?”

Kang Hyun had entered the studio and asked with a slightly surprised expression.

“No, come in. He’s not a customer. He’s a senior from university.”

“Oh, is that so?”

He strode toward the table.

With every step he took, his tall stature and striking appearance seemed to make the pottery studio feel smaller, as though his presence alone filled the entire space.

Cha Ji-hoon instinctively became wary upon seeing the man who radiated such a powerful aura, almost like a predator.

Lee Jin, completely unaware of the looks passing between the two men, introduced them from between them.

“Sunbae, this is Moon Kang Hyun, my older brother’s friend.”

“Kang Hyun-oppa, this is Cha Ji-hoon, my senior from university.”

Both men paused for a moment at the titles she used.

Oppa and sunbae.

For some reason, it felt as though the winner and loser had already been decided simply by those forms of address.