Chapter 18: Yes? Me? Me? – (3)

Mari’s father didn’t talk much during the meal.

“……”  

“Eat this too.”

“Ah, thank you.”  

Mari’s father unexpectedly offered me the dessert that came at the end of the course. Of course, I graciously accepted it.  

It was some kind of luxurious dessert with gold flakes and dried fruits sprinkled on a chocolate bread. This dish, which had a very complicated name, was delicious.  

‘Actually, the entire course meal was delicious…  

Something like minced seafood dumplings.  

Something like meat soaked in sauce.  

Something like vegetables beautifully cut and arranged.  

Something like spaghetti with a unique sauce.  

Something like porridge, but with a strong smell of spices.  

Etc…  

‘It’s delicious, but…’  

Honestly, I’m not sure if I can call it exactly delicious.  

I could tell that the ingredients were evenly cooked.  

I understood the depth of the taste.’  

Hmm, how should I put it?  

‘It’s food I’d feel reluctant to pay for myself.’  

Luckily, the meal I had at a restaurant located in Jongno, Seoul, was one I could enjoy on someone else’s dime. Of course, it was Mari’s father who paid.  

I glanced at Mari’s father, Han Taejin.  

‘After spending two hours with him, he just seems like an ordinary man. Is he really a conglomerate heir…?’  

Wearing a wine-colored suit, he had been looking at me kindly and smiling since earlier. His smile was like that of any ordinary man sitting at a fortune-teller’s office.  

‘Why is he looking at me with such a satisfied smile…?’  

That gaze.  

That kind gaze.  

Honestly, I was starting to feel a little scared of those kinds of looks. The fact that every passerby smiled so kindly and treated me well… it felt awkward.  

In my past life, I had been a target of fear and suspicion due to my huge body, but now, as a girl, receiving this kind of love without reason felt strange.  

‘It seems like the dorm seniors are misunderstanding something about me.’  

Anyway.  

After the meal, the restaurant staff handed me the menu wrapped in a thin paper and placed it in a luxurious envelope. They also gave me some very expensive-looking foreign chocolates.  

The staff who saw me off also looked at me with warm smiles.  

‘Why…?’

Unwarranted kindness felt somewhat scary.  

Once we left the restaurant, Han Taejin personally took me to the main gate of the building. Just before leaving, he spoke through the car window.  

“Please keep being good friends with Mari.”  

“Of course! Thank you for the meal… Mari and I get along really well, and I genuinely want to stay close to her.”  

When I said that, I noticed that Han Taejin’s eyes seemed to tremble slightly.

“Thank you.”  

“…….?”

“Then, I’ll be going now.”  

“Ah…! Goodbye.”  

And with that, Han Taejin’s car drove off.

*

Mari’s father, the second son of the HU Group conglomerate, and the president of the group’s entertainment company, Han Taejin, was on his way back after meeting with a girl.  

“……..”

Later, he recalled events from a few months ago in his mind.

So much had happened…….  

Really.  

Back in April, I never expected that I’d be this late in delivering my thanks.  

At the time of the accident, I thought I’d first take care of the urgent matters and then send my gratitude through Manager Kang.  

– First, I need to find a hospital to perform Mari’s surgery.  

I couldn’t let my daughter, who still had so much potential to show off, live with a permanent disability. I desperately searched for a trauma treatment center, looking for the best expert.  

– “Taejin, I think I can help with that.”  

– “Thank you, Father!”  

Luckily, Han Taejin was able to contact a doctor at a university hospital with connections to HU Pharmaceuticals. The doctor was a veteran who had worked for years in a severe trauma center.  

– “I’ll do my best.”  

– “Thank you, doctor.”  

He immediately made a large donation to the hospital’s VIP ward and arranged the surgery schedule for his daughter.  

– “When should I go see her?”  

– “Well… let’s talk to Manager Kang first…”  

– “I want to see Mari quickly!”  

And just as he was thinking about properly thanking the child who saved his daughter—  

The accident happened.  

Han Taejin unexpectedly found himself in charge of another company.  

HU Group’s next chairman, Han Taeyoung, called him.  

– “Taejin, you need to take care of the HU Construction matter for now.”  

– “Huh…? Brother, what does that mean…?”  

– “The situation flipped upside down. If we don’t make adjustments to the group, it seems like they’ll be coming at us with knives.”  

– “But Mari… she…”  

– “Taejin, please.”

The unexpected result of the 2004 April elections led to the ruling party securing a majority, calling for reforms. Amid this sudden shift, the company had to quickly reorganize, and Han Taejin, who had once given up control of the management, now found himself stepping in.  

Still, Han Taejin adapted quickly.  

‘From now on, it’s going to be chaotic, so I’ll have to say my goodbyes for a while.’  

And so, after barely making his way through the situation, another crisis arose.  

The chairman of HU Group, Han Taegang, called him again.  

– “Taejin, the situation in China is unusual.”  

– “Huh…? Father, what do you mean…?”  

– “It seems like there’s a hole in the rice barrel. Information is leaking to Chinese pharmaceutical companies.”  

– “But Mari… she…”  

– “Please, Taejin.”  

Han Taejin used the excuse of attending the ‘HU Entertainment Shanghai Branch Opening’ to secretly go to China to investigate the situation. The amount of pressure he felt was overwhelming, and he was suffocating from the tasks at hand.  

Eventually, after barely getting accustomed to Chinese, the Athens Olympics began.  

– “Taejin, you need to go to Athens now.”  

– “Huh, yes…”  

Of course, HU Group was involved in Olympic partnerships, and he was the only one who had the freedom to travel as a top executive who had given up his official position.  

He boarded the plane to Athens.  

“Ughh…! Please, I can’t take it anymore…!”

As the days passed, Han Taejin found himself in a daze.  

By the end of August, he finally regained his senses.  

‘So much happened… in just four months.’  

Too much for someone who almost lost their daughter.  

His mental state was almost shattered.  

Luckily, Manager Kang was there, taking care of Mari. The second bit of good news was that, despite the sudden accident, his daughter was regaining emotional stability and making good friends.  

He had rarely seen his daughter so bright in a long time.  

Despite the age gap, he had seen his daughter meeting with a friend who she could speak to sincerely.  

“………..”

Mari’s father had learned a lot about her friend, even though he had never met the girl. He knew what foods she liked and how she lived.  

Her friend had even entered the same school, the youngest student to be admitted. He had heard she wanted to attend school with Mari.  

And that girl’s achievements were remarkable.  

– Youngest student to be admitted.  

– Winner of the Hanul Youth Art Competition.  

– A genius featured in various media.  

Anyone could tell.  

Even someone who didn’t know anything about art could see she was a genius.  

Just like his daughter.  

The girl appeared before his daughter as if by fate, and Han Taejin had a strange sense that the girl had a special destiny.  

“………..”

“Hello,” the girl said.  

“Oh, hi.”  

“Yeah, it’s… it’s me.”  

Her shining appearance was truly surprising.

But despite everything, she was surprisingly timid.

She was such a remarkable child.

A child who had accomplished so many things.

A child who could be a little arrogant and still be fine.

A child born with such a special fate.

But she was so small.

Like a timid heir to a conglomerate.

Han Taejin somehow felt a sense of familiarity with this appearance. And, just like himself, this mature child who was struggling somewhere, he felt a sense of relief that she was his daughter’s friend.

‘Please continue to be good friends with Mari’

He thought with that feeling.

He had his first meal with his daughter’s friend, and throughout the meal, he couldn’t stop smiling contentedly.

Even the restaurant staff’s gazes were drawn to her—her neat appearance.

Despite her young age, she was strong-willed, mature, and polite, making her humility and modesty stand out even more than her genius. When he heard that his daughter, who had some wild streaks, was having fun with her, he had thought of her as a bit of a tomboy, but…

‘She seems more like an older sister…?’

It felt fulfilling.

He was glad that he hadn’t brushed it off despite the time that had passed.

It made him happy that such a child was Mari’s first friend.

“…I’m relieved.”

It felt like he had been rewarded for all his struggles over the past few months.

Han Taejin then returned to his usual position.

“………”

“Hey, you’re ditching us after saying you’d eat with the seniors?!”

“Did you secretly eat outside?”

“That’s it! We need to make sure you have dessert now…”

“Hey, you already brought snacks with you?”

“You little rascal! Hold her down, everyone!”

“Catch her, you guys!”

“Hehe, you can’t run.”

“Sniff—let’s smell it, smell it!!”

When I returned to the dormitory, the seniors were even more eager to get physical with me. Like a prisoner enduring corporal punishment, my limbs were grabbed by their frantic hands.

‘Was it because they were upset that I ate outside…?’

I wandered down the dormitory hallway like a popular rock singer, surrounded by the hands of my audience.

“Khaaa!”

“Hehe, I’ll play with the seniors all day today…!”

“Relieving exam stress by acting like a little girl…! How terrifyingly mischievous!”

“Someone…!”

“Someone help me!”

At that moment, a high school student wearing glasses called out from the end of the hallway.

“Hey, you guys, stop bothering the youngest. She doesn’t like it.”

“Yujin, did you finish the study abroad class?”

“Having lessons even during vacation, huh?”

“Yujin…?”

“Study abroad…?”

Something… something felt familiar.

The voice of the high school student wearing glasses was strangely familiar as well.

It felt like I had heard it before…

– Author Ko Hoon!

‘Oh Yujin, the author…?’

I instinctively looked at the girl with glasses.

“…?!”

Her face was familiar, but younger than I remembered. And on her name tag was a name I knew all too well.

‘Oh Yujin’

“Oh Yujin, the author…”

Oh Yujin tilted her head and spoke.

“Hmm? You’re already calling me ‘author’? I’m not at that level yet.”

Her voice was younger than I remembered.