TPG 9

His father always decided everything as he pleased.

Lee Si-woo walked on the path his father had set for him. Without even being able to think whether it was bondage or a prison named protection, he was tamed by him.

When he realized he was trapped, too much was already bound, and nothing changed immediately. In the past, he had escaped by taking Han Soo-hyeok’s hand, but this time was different. This time, he wanted to save himself.

‘Maybe moving out of that house comes first.’

It wasn’t just because of Han Soo-hyeok’s words. Having already experienced breaking free once, his longing to stand up by himself again had grown stronger. That’s why, more than ever at this moment, he clearly expressed his opinion to his father.

Lee Jeong-gyun’s temples began to bulge. Silence flowed, and that silence was as heavy as dark clouds foretelling an approaching storm.

“You’re speaking impudently.”

As his voice flowed out sharply, the foretold rain began to fall.

“I’m beginning to wonder if attaching Han Soo-hyeok to you was a mistake.”

Si-woo bit his lips. The person who always thought his decisions were the best directly mentioned a mistake while subtly cornering him.

“He’s the person father chose. So being compatible with him means…”

“From beginning to end, you have only one thing to do.”

As Lee Jeong-gyun calmly entered the living room, an employee who had been listening from one corner of the room quietly approached. The sound of the employee taking his father’s coat and stepping back was the only noise breaking the silence.

“Do nothing and only do what I tell you to do.”

Lee Si-woo’s back was stiffening under his father’s snake like cold gaze. Just because he had lived separately for a few years, he was suddenly afraid of his father again.

“Now I see you’re getting expectations.”

“That’s…”

“Erase the vain hope that you’ll live as you please after marriage.”

His father stared at him for a while, then muttered lowly through his tightly closed lips.

“Anyway, you won’t be any different from now.”

Lee Si-woo stood there calmly, but the emotions stirring below his throat wouldn’t settle easily.

He stood there for a long time even after his father disappeared.

‘Still far to go.’

He let out a bitter smile at the self-deprecating thought.

Breaking free from ingrained fear was much harder than he thought. Though he believed he had pushed away the fear, the terror his body remembered first reacted faster than reason. When anxiety surged from deep in his chest, it was hard to even breathe.

Should he be proud of himself just for not backing down? This was really the last bastion. Since a breakthrough called Han Soo-hyeok had appeared. There wasn’t much to be disappointed about from this incident, so it seemed he could move in his own way.

***

“Stay still for a moment.”

Familiar hands touched his neck. The appropriately firm yet gentle force pulling the necktie, the calm continuing motion. Han Soo-hyeok easily fixed the half-undone knot, then trimmed the appearance with his fingertips as if accustomed to it.

“When will you be able to do it yourself?”

“Can’t you do it for me for life?”

Lee Si-woo laughed and responded to the lightly thrown joke. Han Soo-hyeok breathed shortly and shook his head.

“No.”

Despite his seemingly cold tone, his hands fixing the necktie were careful. Lee Si-woo’s heart warmed at the gentle touch that soothed his father’s indifference.

“I think I might cry from being moved.”

Though he wasn’t actually going to cry, he showed a reaction that he was moved by Han Soo-hyeok’s warmth. When he even wiped his completely dry eyes, Han Soo-hyeok flinched.

“You can’t cry.”

At his unexpectedly troubled reaction, Si-woo unconsciously lowered his head further.

“What should I do to make you stop?”

“…What would you do for me?”

Though his questioning voice had no moisture, Han Soo-hyeok didn’t immediately notice. Or maybe he knew and was playing along.

“Tell me anything you want.”

“You’re talking as if you’ll grant everything. If I ask, will you pluck the stars from the sky for me?”

Even he thought it was childish, so he raised his lowered head. He wanted to show there were no tear marks, but Han Soo-hyeok remained the same.

“Would stars be enough?”

“…The moon too?”

“Sure.”

Perhaps because of Han Soo-hyeok’s calm voice, he found his shoulders unconsciously relaxing.

***

“Do you know why people live life earnestly?”

He drew circles on the window with his fingertips and rubbed them away while asking a contemplative question.

“To live well?”

Han Soo-hyeok briefly answered while checking the distance from the car behind through the side mirror.

“Because we can’t return to the past.”

Lee Si-woo brought his face close to the window and breathed lightly to create fog. He drew another circle with his finger on the misty mark.

“Do you know why people have regrets?”

“Because the results of choices don’t meet our expectations?”

As Han Soo-hyeok answered while watching the road surface, Si-woo calmly gave him the answer.

“Because we can’t return to the past.”

“…”

Silence flowed in the car. Si-woo wiped the handprinted window with a handkerchief and straightened up. Only then did he feel Han Soo-hyeok’s gaze.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Since we only live once, we want to live more meaningfully and without regrets.”

He didn’t know what happens when we die. His ego disappears for now. In that sense, there were overflowing wise sayings about working harder at life before fearing death.

But he came back to life. The expression “came back to life” itself is a bit strange, but the ego that should have completely disappeared still existed. The time period of living had changed, and his body had become younger by a few years.

So he thought he’d write a lottery-level reversal story as a life lived once again, but that wasn’t the case either.

It’s quite a grandiose thought, but it was an expression of disappointment from not being able to overcome his father and not being able to commute alone.

“Even if we returned to the past, we probably couldn’t change much.”

The pressure from his father remains the same, so he wondered if there would really be opportunities in the future and felt somewhat deflated.

“If we couldn’t change it, would whoever sent us back to the past be disappointed?”

If there is a god, and that god sent him back out of pity for his situation, would they call him pathetic if he couldn’t change much?

Going round and round, the conclusion was one thing.

Even though he had returned to the past, he couldn’t change many things.

“Do you have to change everything?”

He unconsciously hesitated at Han Soo-hyeok’s words.

“If you could change even one thing, wouldn’t that make it meaningful to go back?”

While leisurely turning the steering wheel, he said that if he could go back to the past, he would think the same.

“For me, even being able to change just one thing would be enough.”

Listening to his words felt strange.

While thinking he just needed to escape from his father again, he had felt frustrated. He wanted to become independent with dignity, but it was vague.

The anxiety that if he ultimately couldn’t overcome his father, running away again would be all there was, was gradually being diluted by Han Soo-hyeok’s words.

“Just one thing…”

His voice gained strength as he repeated his words.

That’s right. There definitely was something.

The change that led to him now wearing a suit and becoming someone’s secretary.

“You’re not CEO for nothing.”

Han Soo-hyeok nodded and responded to his admiration.

“Hyung isn’t hyung for nothing.”

“You’re the most perfect adult I’ve ever seen.”

“Are you flattering me to buy you food?”

“As expected, you catch on quickly.”

When Han Soo-hyeok turned the steering wheel with relaxed eyes, Si-woo also looked ahead. His heart felt much more at ease.

***

“The CEO is coming.”

At someone’s shout, the secretarial office moved busily.

“Did you talk a lot with Secretary Lee yesterday?”

Secretary Kim, standing nearby, spoke to General Manager Yoo. General Manager Yoo glanced at the empty seat.

“No.”

“Then should we ask him to go for coffee together today? Or how about a welcome party?”

Others listening also nodded their heads one by one.

“Yesterday I was itching to talk to him, you know?”

“I was surprised such a pretty person came, and he seemed to have a good personality too.”

“How about asking him to have lunch?”

Whether their first impression of Lee Si-woo was good, they each added a word while showing subtle anticipation.

“Let’s do the welcome party later.”

At General Manager Yoo’s subdued response, Secretary Kim read the mood and closed her mouth. Meanwhile, Han Soo-hyeok and Lee Si-woo appeared. General Manager Yoo confirmed that Han Soo-hyeok had entered the CEO’s office, then quietly took her phone and came out.

General Manager Yoo headed to the emergency stairwell where no one was around. The cold steel wall of the landing reached her fingertips. In the place where fluorescent light reflected roughly, General Manager Yoo was catching her breath while gripping her phone tightly. Her heart was pounding like thunder.

“Yes, Executive Director.”

When General Manager Yoo answered with a slightly trembling voice, a low, firm voice flowed from the other end of the phone.

― I received it well.

After a long silence mixed with sighs, a smile spread across General Manager Yoo’s lips.

“I was lucky.”

― Indeed.

General Manager Yoo caught her breath and answered in a whisper.

“I sent the department store tenancy confirmation documents to someone else’s computer. The group headquarters will handle it as ‘preventing external leaks.'”

― That sounds plausible. If you say it was sent through the secretarial office’s internal line, no one will suspect anything.

General Manager Yoo nodded while checking the screen.

“Yes, but…”

The executive director’s voice lowered from the other end of the phone.

― Is there some problem?

General Manager Yoo quickly lowered her voice.