Chapter 2 — A Collision at the Funeral Hall
"Ugh, seriously, what is your problem!"
Jung Hee-joon, Tae-kyung's executive secretary, finally managed to grab hold of the tall man striding out of the funeral hall with long, impatient steps.
The man stood well over 180 centimeters tall, his athletic frame wrapped in a sleek black suit, his leaf-cut hair perfectly styled as if by habit. Beneath it sat long, deep-set eyes that lent him an air of dark, decadent allure. It was Kang Tae-kyung.
As the second son of Kang Min-chul, Vice Chairman of Taeyu Group, he had come to pay his respects at the funeral of his father's old mentor — in place of his older brother, Kang Han-kyung.
"Well, since you're already here, you could at least stay until the mourners arrive."
Tae-kyung scratched his ear as if the nagging were a physical irritation, blinking at Hee-joon with a look of profound indifference.
"You could comfort the chief mourner, sign the guest book — you know, the usual."
The one who's supposed to stamp his name on that book hasn't even shown his face. Why should I?
Irritation surged up in Tae-kyung.
But Hee-joon's insistence on the guest book wasn't without reason. The Vice Chairman's acquaintances would be arriving at the hall soon enough.
"And what good would signing it do? What, is their condolence going to make me CEO? And comfort him? Have you even looked at the chief mourner's face? I could understand if it were a celebration."
Tae-kyung turned his head away with a sniff of disdain.
"If he was sick for five years and passed past ninety, that's a ho-sang — a blessed death, isn't it?"
At the sight of Tae-kyung muttering under his breath, talking as if it were somebody else's business entirely, Hee-joon clapped a hand over his own mouth and jabbed a finger at him.
"Are you a psychopath, sir? Who calls anything a blessed death at a funeral? And the funeral hall still looks so bare. Are you seriously going to act this heartless?"
Keeping the tall, wiry Hee-joon in check was no small feat — Tae-kyung stood a solid 187 centimeters and was built like a linebacker. And nagging him about every careless, flippant thing he did had long since worn Hee-joon down to the bone.
"If you want to stay so badly, go find Kang Han-kyung. The two of you can hold hands and guard the altar together. Won't that be lovely?"
Insufferable. Absolutely insufferable!
It was a phrase Hee-joon uttered several times a day. From where he stood, Tae-kyung was an enormous dog — a large, stubborn breed that simply refused to listen. No, not even a large dog. Just... a dog.
"Good grief. I should've kept my mouth shut."
Hee-joon clamped down on his arm so he couldn't slip away again — and Tae-kyung shook him off in one motion, smoothing out the crumpled fabric of his sleeve.
"I said get off. Nicely."
The low warning rumble of Tae-kyung's voice sounded even more grating today than usual.
"Sir, I swear my lifespan keeps shrinking because of you."
"That's your imagination."
At Hee-joon's hurt grumbling, Tae-kyung — long past the point of caring — simply ignored him and kept walking.
"Ugh, you are impossible!"
"What, you in love with me? Forget 'feelings.'"
The sight of Hee-joon gaping, mouth opening and closing wordlessly, was a treat in itself. Tae-kyung glanced sideways at his scowling face and let out a short laugh.
The two men's association now stretched back a full ten years.
Tae-kyung had taken Hee-joon on as his personal secretary six years ago, right out of technical college. And two years ago, when Tae-kyung transferred from Taeyu Motors headquarters to the overseas business team at the India branch, Hee-joon had chosen to follow him — the long bond between them unbroken to this day.
"Sir, are you really never coming back to Korea?"
"......"
"You rejected the transfer order again, didn't you. Are you seriously planning to end your career as a branch business team leader overseas?"
"......"
"Argh, this is so frustrating. Say something!"
Despite Hee-joon's exasperation, Tae-kyung said nothing.
Exhausted by his older brother, India had been his choice — his escape. And with it came a single resolution.
He would make Taeyu Motors the people's car of India.
It was a dream that had been blocked in Korea by Han-kyung's sabotage, forever out of reach there.
Considering India's stark wealth gap and its vast impoverished population, Tae-kyung targeted the middle class with laser focus. He pushed affordable, value-packed entry models with low running costs, backed them with a ten-year free warranty, and more besides.
Thanks to that strategy, in less than a year after entering the Indian market, Taeyu Motors succeeded in establishing itself as the nation's car of the people. Tae-kyung's strategy had struck home, precisely as designed.
But his blazing trajectory came to an abrupt halt in his first year at the overseas branch, when his paternal grandfather passed away.
It all came down to the will of Chairman Kang Chul-hwan.
In truth, there was no complicated reason why Tae-kyung had failed to win Taeyu Motors. It was simply that Han-kyung was the eldest grandson — and that he resembled his grandfather, the Chairman, to a striking degree.
The Kang family had never once broken the principle of primogeniture, generation after generation. As a result, the Taeyu Group could do nothing but rise and fall with each new head, according to the abilities of the eldest son.
It was the eldest son of that generation — Vice Chairman Kang Min-chul — who had rescued Taeyu from the brink of bankruptcy during the Chairman's own tenure. The episode gave Chairman Kang's conviction wings, and his expectations of and trust in his eldest grandson deepened by the day.
But Han-kyung had always been tormented by an inferiority complex and a poisonous jealousy utterly at odds with his life of perfect abundance. It went something like this:
Having everything in the world, he still couldn't rest easy until he'd snatched away even the little toy car in Tae-kyung's hand.
As he grew up, he seemed to develop relatively cheerfully and well — but that was only the surface. In truth, he embodied every trait of the textbook narcissist.
A case in point: the moment he took office as CEO of Taeyu Motors, he unleashed a storm of the knife. He gutted headquarters staff on a massive scale, reached all the way into the overseas branches to impose sweeping budget cuts, and — just to twist it in — made a show of killing Tae-kyung's scheduled promotion to branch director.
Every one of these moves was made because he knew exactly how much Tae-kyung yearned for Taeyu Motors.
"Fun, isn't it? A fight where the winner's already decided — and still it squirms and kicks every time you step on it."
That said, most of the executives at headquarters had hardly stood by and watched Han-kyung wield his blade in silence. They demanded alternatives for everything he forced through, and they recommended Kang Tae-kyung as Head of the Future Strategy Division.
And then — surprisingly — Han-kyung agreed without protest.
He pushed it through purely for his own amusement, knowing full well it was a post his younger brother would never accept.
"Okay, that's it, I can't take this anymore. Either go to war with the CEO, or at least think about me for a change! I lost over eight kilos in two years in a foreign country — do I look invisible to you? The food, the weather, not a single thing agreed with me!"
"So picky. Who told you to follow me to India?"
As Tae-kyung shook his head, Hee-joon planted himself squarely behind him, rooted to the spot.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you can't stand me. So shut up already."
The words Hee-joon was clearly thinking to himself — Tae-kyung beat him to the punch and sealed his mouth in the same stroke.
"Argh, seriously, hyung!"
Hee-joon wailed at the top of his lungs and stamped his feet on the floor — then, startled by a piercing cry that nearly split his eardrums, clapped his hands over his ears.
"Oh, my baby — oh, my baby—!"
"My precious grandson, only heir of three generations!"
"Take your poor grandmother with you, you wretched boy!"
They had reached the funeral altar in Room 2.
Elderly people, visibly advanced in years, lay sprawled across the floor, flailing and wailing.
"Was the deceased young?"
Hee-joon glanced around, surveying the funeral hall — then froze, his eyes widening at something he saw.
"What, someone you know?"
When Tae-kyung asked, Hee-joon nodded, dumbstruck.
"Yes — the chief mourner there. He's the CEO of a supplier partner of Taeyu Motors headquarters. It looks like his son is the one who passed."
The man Hee-joon pointed to was Lee Se-jung, CEO of Dongha Motors, currently in partnership with Taeyu Motors.
And this was the funeral altar of his son — Director Lee Dong-ha.
"Good heavens. What happened?"
"Wait — how do you know the CEO of a headquarters supplier? Is he famous?"
"Not exactly. We just know each other, that's all."
Hee-joon drifted past the altar in Room 2, the color drained from his face.
"Hee-joon."
Tae-kyung had just grabbed the shoulder of his unresponsive secretary, who kept walking without answering —
— when a woman came flying into the funeral hall, her long hair streaming behind her.
"Uh...?"
The instant his gaze flicked toward her, the woman — stumbling as she ran — hurtled straight into Tae-kyung's chest.
"Hy— hyung!"
And just like that, before anyone could lift a finger, the two of them collided.
What the... just flew into me?
Tae-kyung stood frozen, still processing nothing, staring at Hee-joon.
"Uh... um... she's..."
Following the flustered waving of Hee-joon's hands, Tae-kyung slowly lowered his gaze.
As if trying to identify what had been buried in his arms, he lightly gripped the woman's shoulders and eased her back.
Perhaps it was the shock of the impact. The woman seemed to have lost consciousness for a moment, her body going limp.
He tilted his head to see her slack face — and loose strands of her long, unbound hair spilled lifelessly across it.
The woman was Jin Seo-ah, who had come running the moment she heard the news of Lee Dong-ha's death.