Episode 215: Epilogue 3
“Have a good day.”
“You too, Mingming.”
I hummed cheerfully as I walked to work after dropping her off at the restaurant.
“Another day, another opportunity.”
A year had passed since we started dating.
Since she had also cut ties with her family and was working far from home, we naturally started living together. And thanks to that, I was now certain that my father had completely abandoned me.
“What kind of father doesn’t react when his son starts living with a woman? He’s abandoned me.” It had been five years since I was left here.
My life had stabilized significantly after I started living with Mingming.
Lower living expenses, someone waiting for me at home… it had given my life a new sense of purpose. And I had even started saving money. “Just a little more, and we can move to a better place.”
I had fallen from grace, a chaebol heir reduced to a common laborer, but my anger at my father and my love for Mingming fueled my ambition.
My father had also started from nothing, building Chunha Group from scratch. I could do it too. I would become successful and make him regret abandoning me.
I raised my arms and shouted,
“I’ll succeed! I’ll show him!”
“Dinner’s ready,” she said. It was a cramped room, barely enough space for the two of us, but it was filled with warmth. “Wow, this looks delicious.”
“It’s nothing special,” she said, but her cooking was surprisingly good.
And she was kind and gentle, never losing her temper.
I was falling for her more and more each day.
“Let’s eat,” I said, picking up my chopsticks.
“Okay.” I glanced at her as we ate, thinking,
‘I’ll make you happy. I’ll give you everything you deserve.’
My ambition grew stronger, seeing her devotion to me, a man with no prospects and no future.
‘I should start a business.’
I couldn’t achieve my dreams by working as a day laborer.
‘Mingming is a great cook… maybe we should open a restaurant?’
I could handle the front of the house, and she could handle the kitchen.
It was a good idea.
“What are you thinking about? You’re not eating,” she said.
“Just thinking about… our future,” I said, and she blushed, flustered.
“Don’t say such things! It’s embarrassing!” I was also surprised.
“I-I just… it’s…”
It seemed like she had misinterpreted my words, but I didn’t deny it.
It felt… right.
I cleared my throat, trying to dispel the awkwardness. “L-let’s just eat.”
“Okay.”
Would I marry her?
Would I be successful?
I had many questions, but one thing was certain:
I wanted to be happy.
And she was a part of that happiness.
“…Thank you,” I said suddenly.
“For what?” she asked, puzzled.
“For everything. Just… thank you.”
“You’re being strange,” she said, chuckling. As we were enjoying our meal, someone started banging on the door.
I opened it without thinking.
“Who i— Ugh!”
A kick to the stomach.
I doubled over in pain, my vision blurring.
“Jin-ho!”
She rushed to my side as a man’s voice sneered from behind the attacker,
“Well, well, if it isn’t Mingming. Long time no see.”
She looked at him, her voice trembling, “C-CEO Cheon…”
He patted her head condescendingly.
“If you borrow money, you should repay it. Running away won’t solve anything. Did you think you could hide forever?”
Borrowed money?
I groaned, my face contorted in pain. “M-Mingming, what’s he talking about?”
“I… I borrowed some money before coming here… for living expenses.” Her eyes teared up. He took out a piece of paper. “’Some money’? Don’t be so modest. This is an IOU. With the interest, it’s… a little over 100,000 yuan.”
“1-100,000 yuan?”
That was 16 million won. She shook her head at my shocked expression. “N-no, I only borrowed 300 yuan! I was going to repay it immediately! But he kept avoiding me, and the interest kept accumulating…”
It was a classic loan shark tactic.
She had borrowed the money before coming here, when she was only 20 years old.
He had taken advantage of her naivety and trapped her in debt.
“Avoiding you? I was just busy. Anyway, you owe me 100,000 yuan.”
“I don’t have that kind of money! I can… I can give you 1,000 yuan, please…”
He scoffed. “1,000 yuan? After two years of searching? Are you kidding me? If you don’t have money, you can pay with your body.”
He grabbed her roughly, and I, finally recovering, stepped in front of her.
“Wait!”
“Who are you?” He was an old man, at least 60.
“This is usury! I’ll call the police! Ugh!” One of his men kicked me before I could finish my sentence. I would have retaliated, but there were three more men behind him, and I had to protect Mingming.
“The police? The police? Do you think the police care about a beggar like you? You worthless piece of trash.”
“Ugh.” The Chinese police always sided with the wealthy.
The reality of my powerlessness was a bitter pill to swallow.
“Grab her!” They seized her, and she looked at me with pleading eyes.
I shouted, “Wait!”
“What now?”
“I’ll… pay you.”
He sneered.
“You have 100,000 yuan?”
“Just give me some time. A week, and I’ll pay you everything. Please… let her go.”
“That’s what they all say.” He wasn’t convinced, so I closed my eyes and said, “My… my parents… my father…”
I hadn’t mentioned them before, wanting to prove myself. But my pride didn’t matter anymore.
“He’s… he’s the chairman of Chunha Group. I’m… his son.”
He stared at me blankly. “You’re… Chairman Park’s son?”
“Yes! So please, give me some time, and I’ll…” They stared at me in silence, and then they started laughing.
“Kikik.”
“Kekeke.”
“Hahahahahaha!”
“You? Chairman Park’s son? Then I’m Bill Gates’ father! You’re spouting nonsense now that you’re cornered!”
“It’s true!”
“Bullshit! And stop mentioning Park Sol! I…” he smiled cruelly “…hate that bastard! The very mention of his name makes me sick!”
“Just give me some time, I’ll ask my father… ugh!”
He kicked me again.
“I told you to stop mentioning his name. You… you actually look a bit like him…”
I said, struggling to stand, “I told you, I’m his son! Please believe me!”
But he just rolled up his sleeves. “Even better, a punching bag that looks like Park Sol. It’ll be even more satisfying.” He started punching me.
“This is for all the suffering you’ve caused me, you Park Sol bastard!” He continued punching me until he was out of breath.
“Huff… huff… I’m getting too old for this. You’re lucky I’m being lenient.” He said to his men, “Take her away.”
I couldn’t just stand there and watch them drag her away.
“I’m Park Ji-ho of Korea!”
I had been beaten to a pulp. I might have been a decent fighter in high school, but I was no match for several grown men.
I lay on the floor, bruised and battered, filled with despair and regret.
“Why? Why me?”
Because I was poor, because I was powerless… why was I suffering like this?
And I couldn’t even protect Mingming.
I had to do something. I couldn’t let her be taken away. What would they do to her? But what could I do?
There was only one answer.
“Father! Please! Are you listening?! Help me!”
I had given up on the idea that he had people watching over me, but I clung to that sliver of hope.
“Tell my father I’ll do anything! I need his help!”
I shouted, tears streaming down my face.
“I need his power! His money! Anything! Please… time is running out… tell him to save me! I won’t forgive him if he abandons me now! Please!”
But there was only silence.
I had been foolish to expect his help.
I struggled to my feet.
“I’ll save her. Even if it costs me my life.”
“Feeling sorry for yourself?”
My father’s voice. I looked up, my eyes widening. “F-Father?”
He smiled.
“Feeling pathetic?”
“How… how did you…?”
I had given up on the idea that he had people watching over me.
He was a busy man, what was he doing here at a time like this?
“D-don’t tell me… you were…”
He helped me up.
“Of course not. I might deceive the world, but I wouldn’t deceive my own son. I just let things… unfold naturally. Mingming, CEO Cheon, everything.”
“Then help me! We have to save her! She’ll be in danger!”
He said calmly, “What do you need?”
“Power! Money! Anything! Please!”
“You’ll do anything?”
“Yes! Just… please hurry…”
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “That… is desperation.”
“What?”
“The willingness to do anything, even commit a crime, to achieve your goal. That’s what you’ve been lacking.”
I didn’t care what he said. “I don’t care! Just save her!”
“How far are you willing to go?”
He smiled. “What will you do for me if I save her?” Even now, he was talking about deals and transactions.
“Anything! I’ll even grovel before my brother, just please save her!”
“Even if it means leaving Mingming and never seeing her again?”
“What…? What are you talking about…?”
“If I save her, you’ll leave her?”
He was offering to save her, but it meant giving up on my future with her? “Why? Why should I do that?”
“The position I have in mind for you requires… that kind of desperation. That’s why I pushed you to the brink. You’re ready now. But she’s not.” He smiled. “She’s not good enough for you.”
“You don’t even know her! She’s the one who kept me going all these years! It was you who abandoned me!”
“Then you don’t need my help?”
I couldn’t answer. “Choose. Her or me.”
I trembled. “Father.”
“Yes, son.”
I glared at him. “This… position… will it give me the power to challenge you one day?”
He smiled. “It will.”
“Fine. Save her. But I’ll take that position and then crush you and take her back. Is that acceptable?”
“You’re free to do as you please, if you have the power. Alright, I’ll save her.” He snapped his fingers, and men emerged from the shadows.
“Go and rescue Mingming.”
“Yes, sir!” They bowed and hurried away.
“You’ll regret this!” I shouted after them.
“I’ll take everything from you! And I’ll take Mingming back!”
Park Sol, watching his son rush away with his men, chuckled.
“His desire to be with her, that’s also desperation. And that desperation will make you stronger.”
He hadn’t intended to separate them.
He valued loyalty, in his wife and in his subordinates. And for his son, Mingming was a source of warmth and support.
He was just using it as motivation.
“You can’t inherit my position without understanding the depths of desperation. That’s what this organization is built on. By the way…”
He chuckled.
“…is Chen Fei running a loan shark business now?”
He had been surprised to hear that Chen Fei, his former rival in the used electronics parts business, was involved.
It was a similar operation, just on a smaller scale. He said with a cold expression,
“It’s time to settle some old scores. How dare he touch my son?”
“J-Jin-ho…” Mingming stared at me in disbelief, as I arrived with dozens of men and rescued her.
“What’s going on? Who are these people?”
My father’s men were beating up CEO Cheon and his thugs.
“Please! Please! Have mercy!” CEO Cheon, lying on the floor, pleaded.
I turned to Mingming. “Listen.”
“What…?”
“I have to leave. For a while.”
Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about?!”
“It’s… part of the deal. But don’t worry!” I said with a confident expression, “Just one year! Wait for me, and I’ll come back for you.”
“What?! Explain yourself!”
“I can’t tell you now. I… I don’t even know myself.” I hugged her. “Just trust me and wait for me. That’s all I ask.”
“…You’re asking me to wait for a year… without any explanation?”
“I know it’s a lot to ask. I’m… sorry I can’t tell you more. But you know me, don’t you? I’m Park Ji-ho!”
She whispered, nestled in my arms, “Just wait, you said?”
My face brightened. “Really? You’ll wait for me?”
“…Yes, I will.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
One of the men who had been beating up CEO Cheon approached me. “Let’s go, he’s waiting.”
I glared at him and then said to Mingming, “Trust me. One year. I’ll be back in a year.”
She smiled.
“I’ll try.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go on a blind date?”
“I have a boyfriend,” Mingming said, shaking her head at her colleague’s suggestion.
Her colleague scoffed.
“That boyfriend who hasn’t contacted you in over a year? You call that a boyfriend?”
“…”
It had been over a year and three months since he had left.
“I trust him. He’ll come back.”
“You’re so naive! Men are all the same! You should at least meet him, you might change your mind. I heard his father owns a big restaurant in the city.”
She shook her head firmly.
“I’m fine, really. I know you don’t understand, but there must be a reason he hasn’t contacted me.” Then Wei Ming, the restaurant owner’s daughter, sneered, “Why are you so obsessed with that laborer, Mingming? You’re so loyal.”
“Is his job that important?” she said with a hardened expression.
“Of course it is! Look at me!” she boasted, showing off her designer clothes and jewelry. “I married well, and now I’m living comfortably.”
Her husband was a successful businessman in the construction industry.
“……”
“Tell me when your laborer boyfriend comes back. I’ll ask my husband to give him a job. But seriously, do you really want to go back to living in that cramped little room with him?”
She ignored her taunts and focused on her work. Wei Ming, losing interest, turned away.
The restaurant was quiet for a moment, and then, suddenly,
The door burst open, and a dozen burly men with clubs entered the restaurant.
“Where’s the owner?!” one of them shouted.
The owner, startled, came out of the kitchen.
“Wh-what is going on?”
The man shoved a contract at him. “Sell me this restaurant.”
“What?”
He slammed his club on the table. “I said, sell me this restaurant!”
“But you can’t just… barge in here and demand that I sell…” he said, trembling.
“You talk too much. Are you selling or not?”
Wei Ming, seeing her father in trouble, stepped forward. “Do you know who my husband is?!”
“Who cares? Who’s your husband?”
“He’s Li Han, the CEO of Lihan Construction!” she declared proudly.
The man scoffed. “Li Han? Is this his in-laws’ place? So what?”
Her confident demeanor faltered.
“My husband is Li Han…”
“So what? He’s under our protection. We should have a little chat with him sometime.”
Her face turned pale, and he shouted to his men, “Smash everything!”
“Yes, sir!”
As his men started destroying the restaurant, he spotted Mingming in a corner and approached her, a predatory glint in his eyes.
“Hey there, pretty lady.”
“S-stay away from me,” she said, her voice trembling.
“You’re even more beautiful when you’re scared. I like you. Come and live with me.” He grabbed her hand.
“Come with me!”
“Let go of me!” She struggled, but he was too strong. He dragged her outside.
“Heeheehee, let’s have some fun.”
She said, her eyes filled with despair, “Please… I have a boyfriend…”
“I don’t care. Tell him to come and see me if he has a problem!” Just then, a convoy of identical black sedans approached the restaurant.
“What’s this? A VIP?” he said, impressed.
He still held her hand tightly. “Be quiet.”
“Please… let go of me…”
“You bitch! You want to die?!”
He waited for the cars to pass, but they all stopped in front of the restaurant. And then men in black suits started pouring out of the cars, dozens of them. He watched them, puzzled, still holding her hand, when the driver of the car in the middle opened the back door. A man in an expensive suit and sunglasses stepped out and approached them.
“Wh-who are you?” he stammered, intimidated by the man’s presence.
The man took off his sunglasses. “The one you asked to come and see you. The “boyfriend”.”
“Ji-ho!”
“That bitch boyfriend?” he said, flustered.
“’You…” He approached him, his eyes blazing. “You want to die? How dare you talk about her like that.”
“I-I didn’t mean…”
“Let go of her hand.”
He instinctively released her hand, and Ji-ho said, “I wanted to make a grand entrance, but things got a bit hectic. Sorry.”
“…Why are you so late?”
“It’s a long story. But first…” He clapped his hands twice. “Get them.”
His men attacked the gangsters, and amidst the chaos, he scratched the back of his head.
“Sorry, I was a bit… delayed. I had to… take care of something.”
“…How did you know?”
“…I was listening. Anyway, I’m sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay. So… is everything alright?”
He smiled.
“It is.”
“You’re back?”
He smiled brightly.
“Yes, I’m back.”
She smiled back.
“Welcome home.”
<The End>
Read ahead to finish and spent 27$. It was worth it 🤣