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Imagining Hee-jin playing the fine violin he had received from his grandfather, Seok-hyun endured a dreadfully boring program. Whenever he said the words the adults wanted to hear, they all wore satisfied smiles.
However, upon returning home, Seok-hyun had to hear the news that Hee-jin had gone to America to study the violin more properly. He had said he wanted to bring her home to live with him, but instead, she had been sent even further away. He told them he wanted to go to America to meet Hee-jin, but his grandfather did not permit it.
He was furious that he couldn't see Hee-jin. Or rather, he was angry at the feeling of helplessness—the fact that he couldn't do things his own way. Until then, he had always done whatever he wanted. Everyone had been under Seok-hyun's control. But he realized through this experience that it had merely been his delusion; it was only possible because the adults had allowed it.
Seok-hyun had naturally assumed he could live with Hee-jin. Since he wanted it and his reasons were valid, he hadn't doubted it for a second. That was simply how he had lived his life until now.
Furthermore, despite the positive results of the behavioral correction program, his grandfather began to control Seok-hyun strictly. His grandfather's secretary, who had previously been a mere nanny, now restricted every single one of Seok-hyun's actions. He was forbidden from doing anything excessive and was forced to maintain etiquette and behave properly. On top of that, under the guise of needing continuous treatment and management, he was dragged to Canada every year to complete educational programs and undergo psychiatric counseling.
Within this rigid, framed life, Seok-hyun realized something. That without his parents and grandfather, he was nothing.
He needed power. The power to obtain what he desired without the help or interference of adults.
✾ ✾ ✾
“I’m going to target the online market. But not with the existing methods.”
Believing he should not live like his Hyung, who walked along the rails laid out by the family, Seok-hyun began conceptualizing business ideas as soon as he entered university.
Having grown up in a conglomerate family specializing in distribution, it was only natural that he took an interest in that field. While the offline market was in decline and the online market was growing, Seok-hyun saw that AI-curating methods were effective in attracting customers. While attending university, he succeeded in launching a shopping platform focused on fashion and expanded its scale faster than any other fashion platform.
It was inevitable that Chairman Go would take notice of Seok-hyun. He was filled with anticipation that Seok-hyun could breathe new life into the Gio Group, which had become insensitive to development and change due to its massive size.
Chairman Go stopped treating him as merely a clever grandson and recognized him as a businessman. He was of a different caliber than the eldest, Go Seung-woo, who had stably joined the group and did only what he was told.
Building a business independently from his grandfather was no easy feat. Things that would have been trivial with the family's help became hardships and tribulations when attempted alone.
Whenever he was tempted to reach out to the family for an easy solution, strangely, he thought of Hee-jin. Yoo Hee-jin, who practiced and practiced until her hands bled. Yoo Hee-jin, who glared at him while clutching a broken violin. Then, as if by magic, vitality would return to him.
In this way, Seok-hyun succeeded in achieving a life freer than anyone else's. He escaped the dominance of his grandfather, who had controlled him so strictly that he had to be granted permission even to breathe, and nothing stood in his way.
Despite such a successful life, strangely, he could not feel satisfied. His company had not only established itself as a powerhouse in the online market but was also opening several offline stores.
It was different from the past when he could do nothing without the family's power. Now, he possessed the money, ability, and power to the point where it wouldn't matter even if he stripped away the background of the Gio Group.
He should have been freer than anyone, yet he was inexplicably dissatisfied. While living without knowing what he lacked, his Hyung's girlfriend mentioned a welcome name.
“Actually, I have an Unni. Her name is Yoo Hee-jin. I don't know if you know her, but she's active as a violinist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.”
Yoo Hee-jin, Yoo Hee-jin. The moment he heard the name he had kept to himself for ten years from another person, Seok-hyun suddenly realized how to quench this thirst.
Just the name alone made him feel as if he had returned to that time. The image of her crying while clutching a broken violin played vividly, like a movie. His own reflection in her glass-bead-like eyes zoomed in, filling his entire field of vision.
Of course, he knew. That his obsession with Hee-jin was merely an emotion stemming from the fact that, as a child, he hadn't been able to have the first thing he ever wanted. However, that obsession had been the driving force that pushed Seok-hyun until now and the reason he sought success.
“Is that so? If she's that talented...”
Seok-hyun smiled, moving his long fingers one by one. It was a habit he had developed from imagining Hee-jin playing the violin every day. He had lost her helplessly in the past, but now he had the power to possess Yoo Hee-jin as much as he wanted. Just the imagination made him feel as if the long-standing thirst had been slightly quenched, and he felt good.
“I’d love to meet her soon.”
✾ ✾ ✾
- Unni, I'm getting married!
On the morning of March 15th, a refreshing voice woke the day as a spring breeze that still felt chilly blew in. Whenever Yoo Da-ae treated her like a real older sister in this way, Hee-jin felt as if hives were breaking out on her skin. Her hand rubbed her neck and shoulders with unnecessary roughness.
The daughter of the woman her father remarried.
Though they were strangers, they weren't completely strangers. Hee-jin recalled her father's face, smiling and saying it would be nice if they lived like sisters. She should have said congratulations, even if it sounded like she was reading from a textbook, but the words wouldn't come out, as if something were stuck in her throat. It seemed the happiness contained in Da-ae's voice was what was stuck.
Yoo Da-ae had obtained everything easily since childhood. If told this, she would probably say it wasn't like that from the start. She had also lost her biological father. However, a harmonious home, the warm attention of parents, and a good person to spend her life with—whenever Hee-jin looked into Yoo Da-ae's life, she felt an unbearable discomfort.
“Right. Congratulations.”
The words she let out sounded dry even to her own ears. Since it didn't matter to her whether she married or not, she just wanted to hang up the phone quickly.
- Unni, can't you come to the meeting between the families?
Hee-jin, who was about to wrap up the call, choked on the absurd request and burst into a coughing fit. It didn't stop easily, and she only calmed down after coughing for a long while. Da-ae, asking if she was okay with a nonchalant air, continued with a laugh.
- My fiancé's family really loves classical music. Whenever I'm invited to a family gathering, the venue is usually the Seoul Arts Center... In that case, I can't help but brag about you, Unni.
Bragging about her. Hee-jin was appalled. She forced herself to clear her throat and let out a sigh. *'The violinist Yoo Hee-jin of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is my sister.'* She could clearly picture Yoo Da-ae saying that. It was obvious, even without seeing it, how brightly she would be smiling while speaking.
“Even so, we aren't in a relationship where I would attend a family meeting for a marriage.”
- What do you mean by that? You're my Unni! What do you mean we aren't in a relationship to attend a family meeting? And if you come, Dad will be happy too. Besides, I've already told them everything. Everyone wants to see you. So please come, okay?
Dad too... At those words, a bitter smile formed on Hee-jin's face.
For ten years, from the moment she was first introduced to Yoo Da-ae, her father had consistently hoped they would get along like sisters. As if doing so would allow him to let go of the guilt toward the biological daughter whose upbringing he had abandoned.
But to Hee-jin, it was a request that amounted to a threat. A threat that if she didn't get along with Yoo Da-ae, he would no longer contact her.
Yoo Da-ae used that threat with such an innocent attitude. She probably didn't even think that she was forcing Hee-jin by using their father.
Considering the time and cost of going to Korea, as well as the mental exhaustion of playing a supporting role for her father's stepdaughter, the loss was immense. Just as Hee-jin was about to refuse, saying that no matter how much her father requested it, some things were simply impossible, she paused at the following words.
- Oh! Wouldn't it also be helpful for you to get to know my fiancé's family? I heard they provide a lot of support for musicians through their foundation.
“Foundation?”
- Oh, did I not mention it? My fiancé's family is the Gio Group. Can you believe he hid the fact that he was the son of such a conglomerate family when we first met? He just said he worked at a large company, so I just thought he was smart; who would have thought he was the Chairman's grandson? I was so surprised when I first found out...
Hee-jin couldn't hear a word of Da-ae's rambling. Gio Group. Gio Cultural Foundation. It was the place that had opened the path for Hee-jin to become a violinist.
She had used the violin she received directly from Chairman Go as a child until she graduated from university. The gratitude she owed was endless, so she was flustered to hear that the person Yoo Da-ae was marrying was that grandson.
“His name is Go Seok-hyun.”
The grandson of Chairman Go in Hee-jin's memory... As memories from the distant past surfaced, Hee-jin staggered with dizziness. She barely managed to steady herself by leaning on the music stand, but even the music stand was a medium that brought back old memories. Because he used to maliciously knock over the music stand.
“Gio Group... Chairman Go Shin-jae's grandson.”
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