Episode 1
“Seojun oppa…….”
As soon as Chaerin opened her mouth softly under the second-floor bed in the daycare center, Seojun, who was on top, suddenly stuck his head down.
“Can’t sleep again?”
“Yeah, I’m scared because I think a monster might come out.”
To reassure the frightened Chae-rin, Seo-jun confidently lowered his voice to a manly tone, as if his voice was about to change.
“Don’t be afraid of that. I’ll always protect you.”
Chaerin raised her small body towards Seojun.
“Really? You promise to protect me there every day, right?”
Seojun, who had been smiling brightly and holding out his little finger, suddenly had a cold expression.
“You still believe in that promise.”
“Brother. What’s wrong…?”
An icy sneer escaped from the corners of Seojun’s lips, which had been strangely curved.
“Why am I your older brother? You’re not even my real sister.”
Yeongseo woke up screaming as the boy’s face became distorted beyond recognition.
At 2 a.m., Yeongseo, who was suffering from nightmares as usual, wiped the tears that had flowed down her cheeks on the damp pillow with the back of her hand.
“오빠는 무슨, 개새끼…….”
Sitting alone in a windowless room, Yeongseo’s fingertips trembled as she clutched the end of the blanket, and her memories were drawn back to her childhood when she was Chaerin.
It was 14 years ago that day when the great older brother who had promised to protect me with his pinky linked to mine was adopted away alone…
Even on the morning of the adoption, Seojun told me to wait. He said he would definitely come pick me up.
But neither the promise to meet under the cherry blossom tree in front of the school on my birthday nor the promise to come back soon were kept. The letters I sent, diligently written like a diary, were all returned.
Still, I waited like an idiot for three years.
Even though the children at the orphanage teased her, asking why she would come to pick up a man who didn’t share a single drop of blood with her, she held on with only faith in her brother… … The result of that faith was disastrous.
There must be circumstances, the letter will arrive tomorrow, I was worried that my brother might not be able to find me if I was adopted overseas, so I stubbornly stayed at the orphanage.
Meanwhile, the orphanage closed due to financial difficulties, and she was eventually sold and adopted to this island, becoming the daughter of the Lee couple.
Because it was difficult to pronounce, her name changed from Chaerin to Yeongseo, and her once white face became dark and unattractive.
“Lee Young-seo! Get ready and come out quickly.”
Because of her stepmother, Myeongja, who had been swearing since 4 a.m., Yeongseo came out wearing a navy blue jumper and a black hat pulled down low.
“You’re so lazy! Why did I bring that guy here and make him suffer like this?”
In the dark kitchen, where the sun was still a long way from rising, the usual verbal abuse and shouting were piercing to the ears.
The only silver lining, however, was that the father who had been so filthy about my body, as depicted on the papers, had passed away two years ago in a boating accident. Since then, Myeongja’s frustration has only grown, but Yeongseo, who no longer has to button up her shirt all the way to her neck even in the middle of summer, has found a way to live.
“Catch 50 kilos of clams!”
“yes…….”
Even though I had to roll around in the mud all day, I didn’t complain. It was much more comfortable out on the mudflats than in this house.
“In the evening, go to the village chief’s house and show off some cuteness in Yongcheol’s arms!”
“no, I do not want!”
I knew that my stepmother had already received money from the village chief. And I knew full well that the money was in exchange for marrying the village chief’s old son.
“You’re getting married soon, so why are you acting so expensive?”
Yeongseo shuddered at Myeongja’s double-crossing attitude instead of raising her voice.
“I’m not getting married!”
Myungja, whose complexion had completely changed, snorted and pushed Yeongseo’s forehead.
“If you hate it that much, I told you to go to the teahouse. You know the older sister there covets you, too, right? She’s fed and clothed me for over ten years. Don’t you owe her some filial piety?”
“I earned so much money, and you’re still talking about money!”
When she was young, there was nothing she could do but get hit, but now that she didn’t have a stepfather, Yeongseo couldn’t stay still and stood up to Myeongja.
“You’ve finally gone crazy!”
“Yeah, I’m crazy, so don’t think about doing whatever you want with me.”
“That’s funny. What can a little guy like you do here?”
Yeongseo’s body trembled at Myeongja’s ridicule.
“If you keep doing that, you’ll fall into the sea and die!”
“Or so you say.”
I went outside after yelling at the man who didn’t even fart, but I was frustrated again because I saw a small island that was visible at a glance.
As Myeongja said, there was nothing I could do on an island with only 17 households.
The only boats that entered the island were those managed by the village head, and it was impossible to sneak onto the mainland on them. Furthermore, the islanders, who were a close-knit family, always seemed to be watching him.
Yeongseo, who was biting her molars in despair, fixed her gaze on an unfamiliar ship coming into the harbor in the distance.
This was already the second ship I’d seen this month. I’d heard that the ship, coming into this uninhabited island, was being surveyed by a large company for the purpose of building a resort.
“If only I could get on that boat…….”
These days, Yeongseo’s attention was completely focused on that ship. For someone who had never dreamed of escaping, the unfamiliar ship felt like a lifeline.
“Are you going to Yeongseo to dig clams?”
I passed by the crowd of elderly people without saying a word.
“That’s the person I am these days.”
“Yeah. It’ll be pretty if you decorate it.”
“A teahouse is better than marriage. Let’s at least hold hands!”
I pulled my hat down lower at the sound of giggling.
Because of those stares, I deliberately avoided dressing up. I always kept my hair roughly cut with kitchen scissors, and I deliberately wore only baggy clothes to hide my ever-growing breasts.
The gazes of the old men looking at the only woman in her twenties left on the island were stark, and for Yeongseo, this place was hell.
It had long been a fact, not a threat, that if she refused to marry the village chief’s son, she would be sold to a teahouse.
I’ve been feeling anxious every day lately, feeling like I’ve been pushed to the edge of a cliff.
‘Please, someone help me… … .’
Yeongseo, standing on the cold mudflats that were submerged up to her calves, looked out at the endless sea and cried out desperately inwardly.
* * *
“I want to go to Korea.”
Eun-sang, who was looking down at the ocean from the highest officetel in New York, quietly muttered to Secretary Yoon, who was replenishing her necessities.
“Because of your graduation thesis? So why did you choose that topic?”
Secretary Yoon, who had filled the refrigerator compartment with fruits that purify the blood, closed the refrigerator door and stood up.
“Do I need permission to write my thesis?”
“That’s not it, but the chairman doesn’t like you coming to Korea.”
“It’s probably because of Eunwoo, not the chairman.”
Eun-sang, who had been unable to take her eyes off the sea, slowly turned around to show her face to Secretary Yoon, and every time she did, she was breathless with admiration.
A pale face that seems to have never seen sunlight, and contrasting red lips.
Wasn’t her mother an unknown actress? She took after her beautiful mother, with her thin double eyelids and deep brown eyes, and was strikingly beautiful, even for a man. However, her high nose and sharp jawline detracted from her beauty, giving her a unique, almost mysterious look.
Secretary Yoon paused for a moment as Eun-sang, the only one who had inherited the superior bone structure of the chairman of the Dogang Group, approached with long legs.
“You know Eunwoo’s personality, don’t you? Don’t get criticized for nothing. Just stay in America.”
“No. I have to go this time.”
“What’s wrong? That’s not like you.”
It was Eun-sang who had been taking care of me since I was twelve.
The child who had never complained, let alone sulked, and who had endured all alone in America after undergoing major surgery and had never once caused any trouble, now became a man and became stubborn for the first time.
“I don’t know either. But I think I absolutely have to go this time.”
It felt like the first time I’d seen Eunsang’s sad eyes. He was always so expressionless, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
“I’ll report to the chairman, but don’t expect anything.”
As Secretary Yoon, who had checked her blood pressure, which was now unnecessary, went out, Eun-sang took off her black hoodie and went into the shower room.
He hadn’t been able to sleep well lately due to the recurring nightmares, and perhaps because of that, he’d even been suffering from a headache. He turned the shower handle all the way to the right, drenching himself with the freezing cold water. He touched the long scar on his abdomen, faintly red, and bit his lip.
It felt like we were being kept in cages and bred, and I was starting to get sick of this kind of life.
“It’s time to end it…….”
Eun-sang, who had been looking into her brown eyes in the bathroom mirror for a long time, covered the mirror with her large palm when her cell phone, which rarely rang, rang loudly.
Knowing there was no way I could call back from the US at this hour, I leisurely put on my bathrobe and picked up my phone from the table next to the sofa. But then I saw the name on the screen and urgently picked up the phone.
“Yes, Chairman.”
Although he was clearly my biological father, I never once called him “father.” To me, from the beginning until now, he was just the chairman of a large corporation, someone I found difficult to deal with.
“You must be busy.”
“no.”
The two people’s speech was dry, like toasted bread.
“I heard about it from Secretary Yoon.”
Just hearing Secretary Yoon’s story and calling gave me hope. Normally, I would have just let it go in one ear and out the other.
“I am asking for help with my graduation thesis.”
“Did you say hotel management?”
“Yes, I am currently working on a thesis on the construction of a resort complex and the local economy…….”
Do Jin-tae, the chairman of the Dogang Group, cut off Eun-sang’s words with a cough.
“Enough of the nonsense. I think you said you were a Cornell scholarship recipient. I’m curious about your abilities.”
“yes?”
Eun-sang’s eyes, which had been silent the whole time, began to stir.
“We’re planning to build a resort on a small island in the West Sea. Return to Korea and consider whether it’s feasible.”
“All right.”
I pretended not to care and hung up the phone, but my hands holding the phone were shaking.
Is this the reason why I chose a major I had no interest in and dug so hard into it that it’s finally coming to light?
Although Dokang Group ranked among the top conglomerates in both construction and electronics, it had long struggled to gain traction in the hotel and resort business. This was the sore spot for Dokang Group.
He decided that it would be impossible for him, who was like a hidden son, to enter an affiliate with a well-established system, so he decided on hotel management.
It was a moment when a faint hope arose that he might have a chance to squeeze into the hotel business division, which was always neglected by the Dokang Group.
‘I’m finally going to Korea.’
It had been 13 years since I came to America, or rather, since I was trapped in America.
