Chapter 4
In truth, it was only a natural course of events.
His exceptional ability was one thing, but more importantly, he was the right-hand man of Chairman Jin Seungje of Taehwa Construction—and the eldest grandson of a deeply rooted shadow family that had, for generations, handled the Jin family’s dirty work.
In such a situation, the sudden existence of a younger brother he hadn’t even known about was nothing but a liability.
Even under normal circumstances, things were already troublesome enough—and now he was told the brother wasn’t even “normal”…
To escape the noose tightening around him, he couldn’t afford to have even a single flaw.
To someone like him, Song Yuhan was a weakness that must never be exposed.
And of all places, his abandoned brother had ended up at Hope Orphanage. It was thoroughly unpleasant.
“Song Yuri… Song Yuhan.”
At his low murmur, Jaeeik, the secretary turning the steering wheel in the driver’s seat, responded.
“They say Ms. Song Yuri personally gave the young master his name.”
“…”
“She also had a younger brother who couldn’t use his legs due to polio. Perhaps he reminds her of the brother she lost.”
Is that why she devotes herself so completely? To a child who doesn’t even share a drop of her blood?
The first thing Shinwoo had looked into after seizing the orphanage land from its previous owner wasn’t his newly discovered younger brother, Song Yuhan.
It was Song Yuri—the deputy director of Hope Orphanage.
To him, the orphanage was nothing more than an eyesore, yet Song Yuri was struggling to run it alone in place of the director, who had collapsed from a stroke.
What could she possibly gain from that?
“She’s a strange woman.”
“Yes?”
It was an emotion he couldn’t understand.
No matter how much the boy reminded her of her own brother, how could such devotion even be possible? It was baffling.
If that were the reason, would she look at him with pity as well?
A faint smirk tugged at Shinwoo’s lips.
Song Yuri was the kind of woman who made him want to peer into the emotions reflected in her round, clear eyes.
It was hard to believe she had grown up in an orphanage—she was naïve, almost ignorant of the cruelty of the world.
Perhaps that was simply her nature. Even if she were to be stained, she would remain unstained.
That was probably why she drew his attention all the more—because she was entirely different from him, who had been drenched in filth.
To think that someone who had been abandoned could still hold onto compassion and pointless sympathy.
‘I’ll protect Yuhan as far as my strength allows. I won’t send him abroad for adoption.’
That recklessness, that pure conviction—it kept irritating him.
“By the way… it seems Ms. Song Yuri met with a lawyer yesterday through an acquaintance.”
“…”
“Most of the consultation was about the young master, and the rest concerned responding to the eviction regarding the orphanage land.”
“Clever…”
He hadn’t thought she was the type to simply drift along helplessly.
But to think she’d already run off to consult another lawyer.
“Then she must have realized nothing will change. I suppose there’s no need to put in any more effort.”
“Well… she sent us a reply to our certified notice through that lawyer.”
As if to say it wasn’t quite so simple, Jaeeik immediately handed over the response.
“I figured someone would write one for her.”
Surely there would be at least one person—someone foolish enough to take a swing at him.
But to Shinwoo, this was nothing more than feeble resistance.
After all, from the very beginning, this was a fight where victory was already his.
And he wanted her to keep fighting him.
It would be far more satisfying to take everything from her if she struggled like this, rather than simply submitting.
With a smooth curl of his lips, he asked Jaeeik,
“No more schedules today, right?”
Jaeeik rolled his eyes before nodding.
“None for now. The department heads did invite you to dinner, but… you’re not going anyway, are you?”
“Then let’s go.”
“Huh? Where—to Taehwa?”
“No.”
“…Don’t tell me… the orphanage?”
Jaeeik stared at him in disbelief.
“Sir, is there really any need for you to go personally? You have plenty of people to handle it, and more important matters to attend to—!”
Ignoring the string of perfectly reasonable objections spilling from Jaeeik, Shinwoo kept his gaze fixed on the response letter before speaking.
“Before that, there’s somewhere we need to contact.”
“Yes? Where?”
“The nursing hospital where the director of Hope Orphanage is admitted.”
At his instruction, Jaeeik’s face turned pale.
“Contact them immediately.”
Stepping out into the orphanage yard, Yuri looked up at the sky and exclaimed cheerfully,
“A day like this calls for washing blankets!”
Perhaps because the monsoon hadn’t arrived yet, the sky was high and crystal clear.
“Huh? Yuhan, you want to help too? Did the sun rise in the west today?”
Yuhan, who had been quietly beside her, raised his hand.
She felt proud, but since his body was weak, he couldn’t step on the laundry.
“Alright, then you can sit in the basin and wash by hand.”
She didn’t want to deny a child who finally wanted to do something after so long.
Yuri gently patted his head, pleased.
In the meantime, the other children brought over a large rubber basin together.
“We want to help too, teacher!”
Smiling brightly at the children lined up before her, Yuri replied,
“Of course. Let’s do it together.”
The children nodded and gathered around Yuhan.
Though he couldn’t fully blend in due to his condition, the children of the orphanage took good care of him.
Watching the scene with warmth, Yuri began washing with the children.
Before long, their laughter filled the yard.
Their bright, cheerful voices seemed to soothe her troubled heart.
“You look like you’re having fun, Ms. Song Yuri.”
“…”
Until Tae Shinwoo appeared.
A black car cast a shadow at the entrance of the orphanage—it was his.
“Kids, I’ll finish the rest. Why don’t you go inside and rest now?”
The perceptive children seemed to sense something off about the stranger’s visit and began to grow frightened.
“…Yuhan too. Go with the others, okay?”
“…”
But Yuhan showed no intention of leaving the basin.
She tried to coax him out and pass him to the other children, but the more she tried, the more stubbornly he clung to her, putting her in a difficult position.
Moreover, Yuhan—who usually couldn’t keep his gaze steady—was now staring fixedly at Shinwoo.
Had he instinctively recognized the man before him as someone connected by blood?
Yuri felt strangely unsettled. The child had never looked at a stranger like that before.
“Yuhan, you need to listen to me.”
But she couldn’t let the two of them face each other like this.
As she hurried to pull him out of the basin, Yuhan resisted.
“Uuuh… Aaah!”
“Y-Yuhan!”
Water splashed everywhere, soaking her clothes completely. The damp fabric clung tightly to her body.
“Just leave him. It doesn’t seem like he’s capable of understanding our conversation anyway.”
Yuri couldn’t hide her shock at his cold assessment of Yuhan.
No matter what, he was still his younger brother—yet there wasn’t even a trace of affection.
“Watch your words. He understands everything.”
“…”
Kneeling down, Yuri pulled Yuhan into her arms and covered his ears with her hands.
The more Shinwoo watched her, the more fascinating she became.
The child wasn’t hers, nor did they share blood—yet she insisted on holding onto him like that.
“…You know the child understands, yet it seems you didn’t understand a single thing I said.”
“…”
“That response letter you sent—it was quite interesting.”
At his composed remark, Yuri clenched her teeth.
Did this man have any idea how difficult it had been for her to send that letter?
Whenever she took his certified notice to a lawyer, most would turn her away the moment they saw his name.
As if they lacked the courage to face Tae Shinwoo.
Through a chain of acquaintances, she had finally managed to plead her way into getting a response drafted.
Yet he dismissed all her effort as nothing more than laughable resistance.
“…I’m glad you found it entertaining. I sent it quite seriously.”
“It looked like a child wrote it.”
He pulled the letter from inside his jacket, holding it between his fingers and waving it slightly.
“But do you know something?”
“…”
“In truth, something like this has no power at all.”
Rip.
