Free Web Novel* * *
“Wow... this is insane.”
“Right? It’s insane. Completely insane.”
This was Daily Media, located in Jongno District. The article about yesterday’s broadcast of 〈The Great Garland〉 was once again pulling in explosive view counts today.
“What is this... did Ja Sokhwan make some kind of deal with the devil or something?”
“Maybe the contract was for his ability to stir up attention.”
〈The Great Garland〉 had always dominated the conversation as if that level of buzz were the most natural thing in the world, but this episode was different. Reporter Wi let out a sigh.
“...How do you think this will end?”
His senior, the one who could predict the first-episode ratings with eerie accuracy, simply shrugged.
“No matter how it ends, it’ll be legendary.”
If it ended well, it would remain the greatest legend in the history of Korean dramas.
And if it failed...
...it would still remain the greatest legend in Korean drama history.
“This... this... seriously... ha, damn....”
Reporter Wi let out a hollow laugh when the words refused to come out. His life as a drama fanatic flashed before his eyes like a montage.
He had watched countless works.
And now he thought back to yesterday’s unforgettable episode of 〈The Great Garland〉.
* * *
Taejin obtained information about Taeseok without any difficulty. If someone asked who the most successful businessman in Seoul was right now, everyone would say the same three characters without even thinking: Lee Taejin.
For someone like Taejin, digging up this level of background information was nothing.
“Hmm....”
The eyes that had once looked gently at Huijae were gone. The gaze scanning the documents was sharp, like the crisp collar of his shirt.
Taejin read the papers with one hand while tapping the desk lightly with the other.
Tick. Tick.
The watch on his wrist was an expensive foreign luxury piece—one that had supposedly been imported as a single unit into the country.
Things that Taeseok could never obtain even if he tried...
were things that came effortlessly to Taejin.
Knock knock.
A polite knock sounded from beyond the door.
“You’re here?”
Without even looking at Taeseok, Taejin focused on signing papers with his fountain pen.
As usual, he wore a faint smile.
But he offered no greeting.
Not even a simple invitation to sit.
It had been a long time since Taeseok had received such open contempt, yet he was familiar with it.
After all, it had been his everyday life during his boyhood.
Taejin sat comfortably in a high-end leather chair.
Taeseok stood silently.
The wide table between them felt like the physical embodiment of their difference in status.
A gap in birth that could never be overcome seemed to divide them.
“You should sit.”
“Yes.”
It took quite a long time before Taejin finally allowed it.
Taeseok sat down in the chair placed before the table.
The sound of Taejin’s footsteps approaching slowly was strangely hard and heavy.
“Our President Gi. I respect you very much, and I care about you quite a lot....”
Taejin held out the documents in his hand and lightly tapped Taeseok’s shoulder as if telling him to read them.
“So why would you do something like this? It really pains me.”
Suppressing his irritation, Taeseok accepted the paper.
“...What is this?”
The contents were unbelievable.
It described something Taeseok supposedly did—something he had no memory of.
“What do you mean what is it? It’s a mistake made by President Gi.” freёweɓnovel.com
It was an incident that had occurred during a period of reckless business expansion.
A few young factory workers had momentarily lost focus due to exhaustion from excessive working hours.
A fatal accident that occasionally happened in industrial factories.
Even if Taeseok had not intended it, his current position meant it could easily become a weakness others exploited.
There were many people competing for the position responsible for distributing UN relief supplies.
If a few powerful figures decided to target him, the issue would snowball quickly.
Taeseok struggled to decipher the words on the paper.
“Or perhaps... was it intentional?”
According to the document, Taeseok had embezzled company funds to pay off the victims’ families in order to cover up the incident.
“If you’re going to fabricate something, doing it like this—”
“Fabricate? Me?”
Taejin replied coldly with a gentle smile.
“Your way of thinking is fascinating....”
“....”
“Answer me. Why would I, of all people, need to fabricate something just to dirty President Gi’s affairs?”
The question sounded like he already knew the answer.
Taeseok clenched his teeth.
His sharp jawline stood out.
Silence fell heavily between them.
Shame boiled through his entire body.
Just like the day he was first invited to Taejin’s house.
Just like the moment he saw Huijae’s wedding photo—smiling brightly as another man’s wife.
It felt as if everything around him was collapsing.
“I’m not such a heartless husband that I would do something so cruel to someone my wife values.”
Taejin pinpointed Taeseok’s current position with cruel precision.
Seeing Taeseok frozen in place, Taejin spoke softly.
“I only told you because it seemed our President Gi didn’t know.”
Taejin let out a short sigh.
It was a clear signal that their conversation was over.
Taeseok stood up in response to the elegant dismissal.
“Ah. If things eventually reach the point where your garment factory gets involved, please contact me. As you know, my wife has a soft heart... so I’ll offer the highest price possible. Considering all the effort you’ve put in.”
“That won’t happen.”
“I believe you’ll handle things well.”
Behind Taeseok, who had already grasped the door handle, Taejin spoke each word with deliberate emphasis.
“But just in case.
In case.
Our President Gi makes another mistake.”
It was an order.
Give up on your feelings.
Do not nurture them.
Do not confess them.
Do not let them be discovered.
* * *
Taeseok gripped the steering wheel of his luxury car.
Then he slammed the accelerator like a madman.
It felt as if a landmine had exploded in his head.
Fragments of artillery shells seemed to be flying through the air, tearing scratches into his heart.
His eyes turned red.
It felt as if he had been dropped back into the middle of a battlefield.
His burning vision blurred.
He couldn’t see the road properly.
Screeeech—!
He stopped the car violently in front of his office and strode up the stairs.
It had taken so much to climb this high.
But even then, it had never felt lonely or exhausting.
Because he believed that once he reached the top—
you would be there.
Taeseok’s polished leather shoes shone sadly as he climbed the stairs.
The glossy cowhide looked pitiful.
He wanted to become a wealthy man.
He wanted to become a great man.
Because only then...
could he become the man standing beside you.
Only much later did he realize it.
“There are fireworks here too? In the mainland they always had them in the summer.”
That the thing you had mentioned that day...
was fireworks.
A corner of the sky you must have watched from afar because no one ever took you there.
He wanted to tear off that corner of the sky and give it to you.
Each time the fireworks exploded—
he wanted to see your face glowing warmly in their orange light.
That desire had carried him through hell.
Now you had a man who could take you to see fireworks.
A truly wonderful man.
A man who loved you deeply.
And...
a man who was not me.
Bang!
Taeseok burst into the office and strode toward his business partner.
“Tae—Taeseok? What’s wrong with you?”
White papers scattered across the man’s stunned face.
“Explain this.”
Even without reading them, the man understood immediately.
“I—I was going to handle it myself somehow... Taeseok, listen to me for a second.”
As if he had always known this day would come.
Seeing his attitude, Taeseok suddenly remembered something.
“Taeseok!”
“...If it’s not urgent, don’t bring it up right now. I’m busy.”
“Well, you see—”
“Get out.”
“...Alright. I’ll deal with it myself....”
Taeseok’s fists trembled with rage.
Why hadn’t he noticed sooner?
Disgust for his own incompetence surged inside him.
It felt as if every blood vessel in his body had expanded.
Every cell throbbed violently.
“How did I come this far? With what kind of heart did I live all this time?!”
He could never reach her.
No matter what he did—
as long as Gi Taeseok was Gi Taeseok—
he could never reach her.
That fact drove him into despair.
“I was wrong a hundred times, a thousand times... Taeseok. I—”
His business partner fell to his knees in front of him.
“I was scared. I was afraid of going to prison. My child’s about to be born... I was scared my wife would have to raise the baby alone without a father....”
It couldn’t be undone.
Realizing that, Taeseok swept everything off his desk in a violent motion.
The expensive American desk lamp shattered.
Papers scattered everywhere.
His nameplate rolled across the floor.
The chaos looked exactly like Taeseok’s life.
* * *
Knock knock.
At the light knock, Taejin smiled.
“Come in.”
It was a completely different expression from the one he had shown Taeseok earlier.
The man who entered carried a document envelope.
“Did everything go well?”
“Thanks to you.”
The man who had investigated Taeseok placed the envelope gently on Taejin’s desk.
“I don’t recall asking for this.”
“I wanted to become closer with President Lee, so I prepared a small gift myself.”
Taejin raised one eyebrow slightly.
For some reason, he had the instinct that he should not open this envelope.
“President Gi won’t find anything no matter how hard he searches... but you never know how things might turn out.”
He had heard before that Taeseok had been investigating him.
But he hadn’t cared.
There was nothing for someone like Taeseok to uncover.
“....”
But as soon as he read the document, Taejin’s face turned pale.
He had always believed he had lived fulfilling his duty.
Whenever someone with wealth could help those with less, he had done so without hesitation.
“...Thank you. You may leave.”
Once the man was gone, Taejin covered his face with one hand and sighed.
He didn’t want to believe it.
But the first page of the document read:
[Plan for the Mobilization of Joseon People]
At the bottom of the document—written more than ten years ago—were two seals that Taejin recognized all too well.
One belonged to Hanamura.
The other...
belonged to his father.
-???
-What the hell
-Someone call Gaksital, damn it
-Is this psycho completely insane
The forums exploded.
Director Ja drove viewers relentlessly, as if warning them not to relax for even a second before the finale.
Aetami stared blankly, unable to process the shock.
As soon as the episode ended, every community erupted.
The viewers, caught in a storm like a raging typhoon, cried out desperately like people clinging to a single raft.
“Y-you...”
Just like this.
“Finish the ending properly, you bastard!”
* * *
IP 85.152 still hadn’t recovered from the shock.
The 〈The Great Garland〉 gallery looked as if it had been bombed.
[The Great Garland Gallery]
[How the hell are they going to end this? The writer and director must be insane]
How are they supposed to fix this
Anonymous (17.1777) Fix it? Is that even possible?
Anonymous (42.2) Does Huijae attract pro-Japanese men or something ffs
ㄴAnonymous (175.20) Fact: anyone that rich in that era was basically pro-Japanese anyway
Anonymous (3.11) Honestly it would’ve been cleaner if Taejin had just died earlier...
[Yeah... I think it’s over]
We’re screwed
Anonymous (23.45) My thoughts exactly
Anonymous (18.133) I still trust the writer and director. If they want to keep living in Korea they must have done it right
ㄴAnonymous (59.9) How many Korean dramas have collapsed like this before lol what a waste of time
Thinking about it again, Taejin’s father had joined hands with Hanamura.
Even though he had nothing to gain.
“Actually Taejin’s family was in the stronger position compared to Hanamura...?”
No decent person would buy the daughter of a pro-Japanese collaborator like merchandise.
The realization sent chills crawling down his arms.
They had been completely fooled by the carefully constructed image.
Taejin had been the perfect husband.
Watching that gentle and refined man, everyone had naturally assumed his father must also be honorable.
“So it wasn’t just a simple marriage alliance....”
Marriage had simply been the easiest way to guarantee absolute trust between them.
They had bound Huijae and Taejin together to protect their secret forever.
“They’re destroying a secondary male lead that was built so carefully....”
This was an unprecedented disaster in Korean drama history.
“He should’ve just cheated instead....”
IP 85.152 checked the reactions of the GiYeon couple supporters celebrating in the forums.
[I knew it from the moment he gave that to kid GiYeon lol]
[Get out already, Taejin stans. Your time’s over]
[Yeah your Taejin just fell into hell. Come back in four weeks after the divorce is finalized]
The overall reaction in the gallery was clear.
Huijae should divorce Taejin and choose Taeseok.
“Of course....”
The moment Huijae chose to stay with Taejin, the beautiful story of her growth would twist into something ugly.
No matter which direction the story took, one side would inevitably collapse.
“But is it really going to end like this?”
IP 85.152 remembered the Taejin he had seen before.
The first time he politely asked Huijae for her name.
That moment couldn’t just shatter like this.
“No.”
IP 85.152 decided to trust Ja Sokhwan.
“I’m watching until the very end.”
