Chapter20，Part2: You Don’t Want To? (2)

Kang Chan and Kang Dae-Kyung got out of the elevator and walked toward the bench on one side. Kang Chan didn’t say a word. Kang Dae-Kyung didn’t have to ask him why he wanted to leave the house to know why, and he had no intention of forcing him to do anything.

“I was planning to import cars from France. I decided to get 50 of them first. They are going to be display and test drive cars. After that, there was a high chance we’ll make huge profits since we’ll be submitting customers’ orders separately.”

Kang Dae-Kyung let out a long sigh.

“You know Suh Jeong Group, right? They have a subsidiary called Suh Jeong Motors. They made an offer to import the cars I was going to import, clearly greedy for the market I pioneered.”

Kang Dae-Kyung looked slightly relieved.

“Then I received a call from France. They said if I were to purchase 500 cars in one go, they would give me exclusive rights to import them. Since we made a deal with them first, they claimed it was the best offer they could make. They made that offer knowing I couldn’t do that, essentially forcing me to work together with the big corporation.”

“What kind of cars are you importing?” Kang Chan asked.

“It’s called Chiffre. You’ve heard of it, right?”

Kang Chan exhaled cautiously. Chiffre was a luxury sedan. The local price was approximately 90 million Korean Won. If they were 90 million won each, 500 of them would cost… a huge sum of money.

“Will you suffer a huge loss if you were to back out of the deal?”

“We’ll have to forfeit the down payment we made for the 50 cars, or we have to pay the remaining sum of money and buy them before reselling them. Either way, the losses we’d incur are about the same. I feel sorry for you and your mother, but I got a loan using our house as collateral. If things go south, we’d be in a very tough situation. I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Kang Chan responded.

Kang Dae-Kyung looked at him for a moment and smiled sadly.

“I’m worried about you and your mom. I tried everything I could to hide it from you two, but I failed. It’s especially harder for me when it comes to deceiving your mom.”

“It was very obvious.”

“Was it?”

“Yes.”

Kang Dae-Kyung couldn’t control his facial expressions.

“Your mom barely managed to survive you getting into an accident. If something happens to me this time around, your mom might…”

Did Yoo Hye-Sook have any chronic illness?

“Her doctor said it would be very dangerous if she were to have a bloody discharge again… If your mom collapses or seems to be having a bloody discharge when I’m not around, you need to do whatever it takes to rush her to Sam Jeong Hospital’s emergency room. They have your mom’s chart, so they’ll know what to do.”

If she risked her life and bled in the ICU to give birth to Kang Chan, then…

Kang Dae-Kyung covered his face with his hands.

“The French executives we have an appointment with next week are arriving this week. Suh Jeong Motors made a very attractive offer to the Korean branch manager. They’re probably hoping to wrap things up with us quickly so they can proceed with the offer they made with the branch manager.”

Kang Dae-Kyung only talked about it briefly, but it sounded like it was already a done deal. If they were on a battlefield, this would be the perfect time to quickly gather the survivors and order them to retreat.

“It’ll all work out,” Kang Chan said.

“Hoo! There truly are times when sons can be a pillar of strength. You’re still young, so it must be a huge shock to you, but I didn’t want to lie to you either. If things become difficult for us for some time… It’ll be all my fault. Your mom hasn't done anything wrong, so if you want to resent someone…”

“Thank you for being honest with me.”

Kang Dae-Kyung forced a smile.

“So they’ll be arriving tomorrow or the day after, huh?” Kang Chan remarked.

“They’re arriving tomorrow. We decided to take the day off and meet with them on Sunday at lunch.”

“Didn’t we plan to go together?”

Kang Dae-Kyung shook his head.

“Since this is the final stretch, I’ll come with you,” Kang Chan suggested.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll do well.”

Kang Dae-Kyung didn’t want Kang Chan to see him bow down to them or witness the deal fall apart.

“The only thing I can do is interpret for you. Considering mother seems to have been calling around asking for help, we should join forces and give it our best shot. If it doesn’t work out, at least we did everything we can. Please let me go with you.”

Kang Dae-Kyung looked into Kang Chan’s eyes and exhaled heavily.

“Alright. Even if it doesn’t work out, help me out until the very end. Your mom…” Kang Dae-Kyung clenched his teeth hard, keeping his emotions in check.

“Let’s pretend everything’s alright so your mom wouldn’t worry… Let’s do our best.” Kang Dae-Kyung shifted his gaze to the seventh floor, where their apartment was.

“I’ll head up first,” Kang Chan said.

There were moments when men needed time alone.

When Kang Chan walked through the front door, Yoo Hye-Sook looked behind him.

“Father said he wanted to get some fresh air before coming back.”

Yoo Hye-Sook nodded grimly. There were mixed emotions written all over her face—fear of the difficult times ahead, concern for Kang Dae-Kyung, and pity toward Kang Chan.

Kang Chan went into his room. He had to look for the money he kept in his bank account in France. He didn’t have much, but he had hardly touched it, so he probably had approximately 150 million Korean Won.

‘I would’ve been regarded as dead, so will my biological parents receive the sum of money instead? No, it’s my personal individual account. I know the passcode.’

If everything went according to plan, he’d find it.

At that moment, Kang Chan received a text message, so he called the sender.

–– ‘ello, Channy!

“Let’s push back our meetup by a week, Michelle.”

–– Channy, this is too disrespectful.

“Something important came up at home. Let’s meet next week.”

A loud sigh came from the other end of the line.

–– Monday.

“Got it.”

–– Don’t reschedule it again.

“Text me the time and location. I’ll definitely be there.”

–– Alright.

After hanging up, Kang Chan scoured the internet.

“There it is!”

He found Crédit Paris’ website. Contrary to his expectations, however, there was no way for him to access his bank account since he didn’t apply for internet banking in the first place. And he also couldn’t remember his account number.

Kang Chan heard Kang Dae-Kyung entering the apartment and going into the master bedroom with Yoo Hye-Sook. Kang Chan wanted to help him in any way possible, even if it was just a little.

***

Kang Chan went to school that Saturday. He told Seok Kang-Ho about Kang Dae-Kyung’s problem.

“Oh no. I don’t have any of my salary left in France.” Seok Kang-Ho quickly turned his head and stared into the void. “Wait, I might be able to get a loan using my house as collateral.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Finding my savings in Crédit Paris is the best thing we can do right now, but their only branch office is in Hong Kong. I’ll call them on Monday and look into it first,“ Kang Chan responded.

“I’m worried about your mother.”

“She’ll be fine.”

He was fortunate to have Seok Kang-Ho by his side.

Kim Mi-Young sent Kang Chan a text message that Saturday evening, but he lied to her, saying he had a cold, so they only talked on the phone. Kang Chan was so worried about Yoo Hye-Sook that he had no time to think about anything else.

‘If I pray, will my prayers be answered?’

Despite enemies attacking him in the countless battles he had fought, he never did resort to praying.

***

The next morning, Yoo Hye-Sook was on the brink of tears during breakfast. Even so, she put on a strong front and held it in. She looked like she felt bad for Kang Dae-Kyung and sorry for Kang Chan at the same time.

Kang Chan didn’t want her to eat because he was afraid she would get indigestion, but he couldn’t stop her since he thought it would make Yoo Hye-Sook feel even worse.

After having a tension-filled morning, Kang Dae-Kyung and Kang Chan stood at the front door. Kang Dae-Kyung was wearing a suit, while Kang Chan had neat cotton pants and a shirt on.

“See you later,” Yoo Hye-Sook finally burst into tears.

“We’ll give it our all. I’m sorry, honey.”

While Kang Dae-Kyung was hugging her, Kang Chan quietly walked out the front door.

Moments later, Kang Dae-Kyung left the house. His eyes were red.

Kang Dae-Kyung was silent the entire time they were taking the elevator down to the underground parking lot. He remained silent even when the car left the apartment complex and entered the main road.

~

Kang Dae-Kyung finally broke the silence after pulling over at the hotel at the bottom of Namsan Mountain.

“I feel like I can maintain my confidence until the end. My son’s with me, after all.”

Kang Dae-Kyung smiled at Kang Chan with every ounce of energy and courage left in his body.

“There will be two executives and an interpreter from my company. I’ll be upfront with them about you being my son. I’ll also tell the French executives that you’re assisting with the interpretation.”

Even though it was bound to fail, Kang Chan really hoped everything would be okay.

Kang Chan glanced at the sky just before they entered the lobby.

‘Help these two people in exchange for my life.’

They walked through the revolving door. Kang Chan flew into a rage.

‘This is the first time I’ve ever asked you for anything since I was born. After dealing me a bad hand, a fucked up life, the least you can do is grant my wish just this once! Do this for me, and I’ll die smiling even if the price I have to pay is to be hacked to death in Africa.’

Kang Chan clenched his teeth. They were already in the lobby, and the lounge was just inside it.

"They’re already here, huh,” Kang Dae-Kyung said.

The executives and interpreter got up when they made eye contact with Kang Dae-Kyung. By the time Kang Dae-Kyung approached the table, the two French executives had also gotten up from their seats.

“Bonjour.”

It was Sharlan, the commander that briefed them about the operation that day. And the person next to him was Smithen. Both of them stood up to greet Kang Dae-Kyung.

Kang Chan felt as though his heart and brain had froze.