"So now you’re going to protect him?"
Han Dongshik’s question carried a lot of meaning.
Han Jinheon hadn’t openly defended Han sol until now.
Since Han sol came into the family at fifteen, Jinheon treated him strictly rather than protecting him just because he was ten years younger.
If Han sol did something wrong, he was scolded. if he crossed the line, he was punished.
Since Han sol himself wasn't an easy person, this traditional approach didn't quite work.
The more Han sol was scolded, the more rebellious he became, and the more he was nagged, the more he tried to pick a fight.
Though skinny enough to collapse at any moment, he tried to win against anyone he confronted. He was nothing short of a bantam rooster.
Especially when it came to matters involving Kim Gyu young. Han sol and Jinheon never reached a peaceful compromise.
Han sol lost his temper and went off the rails, and Jinheon was left to clean up the mess. Over time, his feelings toward Cha Seonmin shifted from fondness to pity.
From Cha Seonmin’s perspective, Han sol was undeniably a bad person. There was a time when Jinheon considered giving up on Han sol to focus on Seonmin instead.
As an older brother, he thought about no longer guiding or managing him, but a somewhat cliché attachment held him back. It was lingering, reluctant affection.
As the saying goes, "give an extra rice cake to the one you hate," he couldn't give up on Han sol and ended up going all the way to Jeju Island to bring him back.
It wouldn't have been different even if Han sol had gone to America. He had thought of going there to bring him back.
In Han Jinheon's view, Han sol shouldn't be far away. It was troublesome when the kid was around, a constant source of worry, but it was just as troublesome when he wasn't, a different kind of constant worry.
If that was the case, it was better to keep him in sight. It was a protective instinct that was hard to define.
"Rather than protect him, I've decided to look after him a bit more."
“I don’t understand. Why look after someone who pounces on you like a hawk whenever he sees you?”
“You might not know, Chairman, but the kid is quite docile now.”
“What? Docile?”
“Yes. And I don’t ask for anyone’s understanding when I look after family.”
“Anyone’s understanding? It sounds like you’re saying I’m not your family.”
Han Jinheon stared intently at Han Dongshik. No words of affirmation or denial came from his firmly sealed lips.
Not even empty pleasantries like, "Of course not, Chairman, you are also my family."
It had been eight years. For Han Jinheon, Han sol had become more like family than his own father.
Han Jinheon wanted to consider someone who frequently visited and spent time with his mother, wherever she was, more family than his father, who had pushed his mother to the brink of death through unilateral imprinting cancellation and never looked at her again.
The former made him feel more human emotions.
Human emotions.
"Chairman, don't you feel sorry for Han sol?"
He should have asked a different question. Like, whether the Chairman even considered Han sol family.
"What's this all of a sudden?"
The reason for the sudden question lay with Han Jinheon himself. He felt sorry for Han sol.
If Han sol had been an Omega, he could have achieved anything. Whether falling in love with Kim Gyuyeong who rejected him, or receiving affection from the father who ignored him.
He could have lived doing what he wanted without craving attention through twisted methods, but somewhere along the line, he had lost his way.
From Han Jinheon's perspective, the problem was the manifestation that had been blocked right before it could happen.
The average age for manifestation was 18 to 20. Despite expectations of manifesting as an Omega, Han sol passed those years uneventfully and was confirmed to be a Beta.
Then, Han Jinheon learned from Han sol’s family doctor that Han sol was an unmanifested individual, and under Han sol’s initiative, this was kept a secret.
If born an Alpha, one must become an Alpha. if born an Omega, one must become an Omega.
Han sol was born an Omega, so he had to manifest as an Omega. Even if he wished to remain unmanifested.
Leaving his trait unclassified was physically taxing, and in this society, living as an Omega offered far more benefits than living as a Beta.
Above all, it was frustrating not to know oneself.
Why are Alphas so selective about partners? It's because they're drawn to someone who possesses Omega-like qualities, often more so than an individual's personality.
"Feel sorry? Just thinking about the financial losses he caused and the trampled pride makes my blood boil and my teeth chatter, and you ask if I feel sorry?"
Han Dongshik's eyes gleamed. His pheromones even surged, but because he was imprinted, others couldn't feel them.
Only the imprinted partner could feel the pheromones, regardless of their gender type.
People often said that's how one possessed intangible pheromones.
Just thinking about Han sol made him furious. He downed a hot cup of tea as if it were water.
Still not feeling relieved, he called the secretary outside and asked for cold water.
Only after drinking down the cold water the secretary brought did he let out a sigh and begin to compose his emotions.
Han Jinheon gazed at his father with a meaningful look, then slightly bowed his head.
His eyes lingered on the tattoos on his middle and ring fingers as he spoke softly.
"Still, isn't he your son, Father?"
"…"
"Even a hedgehog knows its own young are precious, but you seem to regard him as less than that."
Because Han sol was a useless Beta. Because Han sol only caused a string of troubles.
Even if he had come to dislike his own child due to inherent distrust and aversion, it couldn't be a proper reason.
Han Dongshik had a prior reason for hating Han sol and not accepting him as his child.
Han Jinheon already knew the reason Han Dongshik was hiding from him.
"If I were to cause harm to the company and trample on your pride like Han sol did…"
"…"
"Would you also make me choose between going to America or going on blind dates and getting married?"
He wasn't arrogant, he knew that wouldn't happen. Because he was his blood relative.
But Han sol was not.
Han sol was not the child of Han Dongshik and Lee Geum-yeong. When Han Jinheon found out this fact, he had even conducted a DNA test to confirm it with his own eyes and had been pretending not to know for years.
He had no intention of blabbing about it to anyone, nor did he intend to reveal that he knew.
Whether he was his younger brother or not didn't matter. Han sol was already an undeniable presence in his life.
While he, the son, thought this way, his father treated Han sol with open disdain and contempt, as if wanting everyone to know Han sol wasn't his child.
Every time he acted immaturely, not only did he look pathetic, but Han Jinheon was genuinely curious. If he was going to be like this, why did he accept Han sol as his child in the first place?
Why accept him when he knew he wasn’t his biological child from the moment Lee Geum-young brought him home?
In the end, he wasn't going to love him. He wasn't even going to call his name and embrace him.
He had said earlier that he was taking care of family. Han Jinheon felt like he was Han sol's only family.
Unlike Han Dongshik, who wouldn't love him for the simple reason that he wasn't his blood, or Lee Geum-yeong, whose very act of bringing him in as her child despite him not being of their bloodline was wrong from the start, he treated Han sol simply as Han sol.
In a way, it might be a repayment for Han sol spending time with his deceased mother, Ryu Seon-hwa.
Han Jinheon was still curious. What did that young kid know?
Why would he visit his mother, who had been kicked out of the main house and was living in the Hannam-dong mansion, and act like a son to her?
How did the kid who was so good back then end up only committing bad things?
Was Han Dongshik the problem? Was Kim Gyu-yeong the problem? Or was his unmanifested state the problem?
"Enough of this nonsense…”
Han Dongshik touched his forehead. The barely visible wrinkles between his brows showed how uneasy he was.
“He’s the kind of kid you can’t save by trying to save him. He hasn’t even manifested as an Omega and still causes trouble every day, damaging the company’s image... He’s nothing like you, who’s so composed. He’s a completely different kid.”
Completely oblivious to the fact that his son in front of him knew Han sol's secret, Han Dongshik handled the situation smoothly.
He was so natural that one wouldn't suspect he was hiding anything.
Han Jinheon was puzzled. Why didn't he even think he might know? Did he think he was that good at deceiving him? Or perhaps, having hidden it for several years and never having had his suspicion raised, the lie itself had become a part of daily life.
Han Dongshik's eyes, after downing the remaining cold water, moved away from Han Jinheon towards the plane ticket and the document envelope.
"How long are you going to keep him? You must be busy with your own work. Don't keep him by your side, send him to America or back to the main house on his own."
"I don't want to send him to America just to let him cause trouble. As for the main house… I know if I send him there, you'll make him go on blind dates with any of those people. Does stepmother know about this matchmaking list?"
"If she knew, I wouldn't have been able to send him. Your stepmother isn't objective about her own child. No one wants to take a Beta, but her standards are so high that she'll try to send him off according to her criteria... Tsk tsk."
Han Jinheon shrugged. Rather than not being objective, it was more accurate to say Lee Geumyeong was greedy.
She was overflowing with ambition, having pushed out the main wife and taken her place.
To solidify her position, which might have been shaken by Han sol, she would readily agree to marry Han sol off.
However, she wouldn't agree to the matchmaking profiles Han Dongshik had prepared.
She would surely throw a fit, saying she couldn't marry him off to such places because she needed to get some benefits from it.
Whether he sent him to America to cause trouble alone, or to the main house to let the mother and son cause trouble together, if he had to choose between the two, he would choose to keep Han sol with him.
Han Jinheon, who had already made his decision, idly stroked his fingers and spoke.
When speaking to his father, he brought up other reasons, specifically ones that would provoke him, rather than his true motivations.
"I'll keep Han sol by my side for a while. I also want to protect him from you, Chairman."
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