My Company Is Black

#027

However, Lee Gyo-ha was unaware of his father’s misunderstanding.

Despite living fourteen lives, Gyo-ha didn’t fully understand how his actions appeared to others. More precisely, he didn’t need to care about it. He wasn’t the type to be concerned about what others said about him.

While he knew that negative rumors or scandals could be troublesome, Gyo-ha had little interest in managing his reputation. He was mentally healthy enough to ignore what others said as long as he felt fine.

But such robust mental health was useless in Korea. Gyo-ha was intimidated by his family’s intense stares. What’s this, did noona really spread rumors that I’m doing drugs? The memory of Amy, who had reported him as a drug offender, briefly crossed his mind.

“Who is that man?”

“Man?”

“Yes. Jung Hwi-kyung, or whatever his name is.”

He had expected Jung-hye to report him as a drug offender or to be scolded for returning to Korea without wrapping up his life in America. Gyo-ha was confused by his siblings’ piercing stares and his father’s rare display of anger.

More precisely, he felt at a loss about how to explain Jung Hwi-kyung to his family. Saying “He’s a regressor” here wasn’t a good choice. That would be the fastest way to be treated as a madman.

“He’s someone I already knew.”

“How?”

“Just, from America…”

“That’s not true. Jung Hwi-kyung has no immigration records.”

“You’ve already investigated all that?”

The youngest son who registered a separate business and used company money, and the only man he officially hired. Gyo-ha knew a background check would come eventually, but he felt a bit sick of it.

Lee Gyo-ha had no intention of getting involved in chaebol power struggles since childhood. He could live well enough without doing so anyway. Even in the twelfth cycle, while Jung-hye was driving out Sung-ha and taking the position of the next chairman, all he did was receive BK Entertainment and become independent.

Gyo-ha had no ambition beyond that. Receiving just one small business was enough. Moreover, he was someone who could lead a business on his own without inheriting what his father had built. Hadn’t he done enough of that in the twelfth cycle?

However, his siblings didn’t understand Gyo-ha’s nature. More precisely, they knew but didn’t acknowledge it. Sung-ha often suspected that Gyo-ha would someday turn greedy and covet what was his. He frequently made absurd claims that not only did he have to deal with his sister, but now his younger brother was also trying to take what was his.

Gyo-ha disliked his brother Sung-ha too. He could forgive Amy who reported him as a drug offender, but forgiving Lee Sung-ha who had cracked his head for no reason would be difficult even for an immortal.

No matter how easily Gyo-ha forgave others, it was hard to embrace a brother who disliked him. Only saints like Buddha or Jesus could love a sibling who prayed for their demise.

As the cycles repeated, the relationship between Gyo-ha and Sung-ha grew increasingly distant, unlike how Gyo-ha had grown closer to Jung-hye.

It was inevitable. Lee Sung-ha had never been helpful in Lee Gyo-ha’s repeated life cycles. Considering that Lee Jung-hye occasionally acted as a positive factor, Sung-ha was an astonishingly absolute negative. Sung-ha took every opportunity to belittle Gyo-ha. He didn’t just do it alone; he attacked with the help of journalists.

Not only that, but he also constantly provoked Jung-hye, threatening their already hypertensive father’s health. Sung-ha’s inheritance of fewer businesses than Jung-hye was due more to his lack of character than lack of ability.

Gyo-ha recalled one by one the things Sung-ha had done to him. Business hijacking was just the tip of the iceberg; he bought off the media to spread strange rumors or indiscriminately attacked people around Gyo-ha to harass him.

In every cycle where Gyo-ha showed his face in Korea even briefly, Sung-ha made things difficult for him. While Gyo-ha wasn’t afraid of Sung-ha like he was before starting the regressions, he knew well through fourteen cycles of regression experience that Sung-ha was a truly troublesome time bomb.

And now, it was this Lee Sung-ha who had first looked into Jung Hwi-kyung.

“I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, but it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“What do you mean it’s not? I don’t know what that man did, but you’re thoroughly bewitched now.”

“What?”

“Come to your senses and break up quickly while father is giving you a chance.”

What?

Lee Gyo-ha was truly perplexed. He was surprised to be under such suspicion just for hiring Jung Hwi-kyung. He suddenly understood why Hwi-kyung had suffered from baseless rumors and regressed in the previous cycle.

The misunderstanding was so absurd that he was at a loss for words. When Gyo-ha couldn’t respond immediately, Lee Baek-gyeong clicked his tongue softly. He was sure his son had been badly influenced during his short stay in America.

“We send him to America for a bit, and he comes back a gay bastard.”

“Lee Sung-ha. Watch your language.”

“What, did I say something wrong?”

“…”

“Hey, Lee Gyo-ha. You think we don’t know what you’re doing and are just quietly watching?”

This is really unfair. Gyo-ha felt a bit sad. Do Koreans… not think someone’s a regressor when they suddenly hire someone? Do they think it’s love?

Of course, nine out of ten would think the chaebol’s youngest son had fallen in love and set up a strange corporation. And this issue would also impact BK Group. Even if the family was okay with it, the shareholders certainly wouldn’t stay quiet.

Lee Gyo-ha rubbed his forehead at all these complex issues. For the first time, he felt sorry for his father who was saying nothing. He had expected to be cursed at for setting up a corporation, but this was beyond his expectations.

In this situation, denying it wouldn’t solve anything. Fourteen regressions had given Lee Gyo-ha more than just intelligence and refinement. Gyo-ha had also become skilled at acting expressions through his modeling work.

“Father.”

“Yes.”

“I… love that person.”

“…Are you crazy?”

“I can’t break up with Hwi-kyung-ssi.”

So he could say such things with a straight face. If Gyo-ha had something like a system window, his ‘shamelessness’ stat would probably be S-rank.

Jung-hye, sitting to the right of their father, rubbed her forehead, while Sung-ha, sitting on the left, pointed at Gyo-ha and shouted “gay bastard” at the top of his lungs. Between them, only Lee Baek-gyeong and Lee Gyo-ha were quietly observing each other.

Gyo-ha’s words were about half sincere. While he wasn’t in love, it was true that he couldn’t break up with Jung Hwi-kyung. They were bound by fate. The family would forget this moment if they regressed, but Jung Hwi-kyung would remember everything Gyo-ha had done even after regressing.

So it was rational to take Jung Hwi-kyung’s side. Gyo-ha didn’t want to regress once more and take another flight from America to Korea. Plane rides are only fun in moderation; after regressing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it was just a means of transportation filled with terror.

“You’ve been talking about fated love since you were young…”

Jung-hye, whose blood pressure had risen instead of their father’s, stood up first. Jung-hye, being much older than Gyo-ha, didn’t criticize him as harshly as Sung-ha. She seemed to have judged that being homosexual was better than doing drugs.

“Right. These days, even that can be a marketing tool…”

“Noona, are you crazy?”

“Lee Sung-ha, shut up for a bit. Gyo-ha dating a man… in a way, it could be positive for the group.”

“…”

“We could use this opportunity to create a minority-friendly image…”

“Enough. Don’t drag Gyo-ha’s love life into business.”

Lee Baek-gyeong, who had been quiet, finally spoke.

“Fine. If you love him and can’t break up, there’s nothing we can do.”

“Father…”

“I agree with Jung-hye to some extent. Rather than you going out and causing trouble, it might be better if you date a man here. And you’ve dated women before, so who knows what might happen in the future.”

“…”

“I acknowledge it. If you say you can’t break up, what can we do? Date him.”

Lee Baek-gyeong’s love for his youngest son reached its peak in understanding even his son dating a man. Gyo-ha was deeply moved. Father is the only one… Having chaebol parents who would cover for you even if you killed someone was beneficial in situations like this.

“Father, what are you saying? You’re going to bury such a marketing opportunity?”

“You’re going to acknowledge a gay bastard, now?”

But unlike the touched Gyo-ha, Jung-hye and Sung-ha were horrified for different reasons. Watching Jung-hye foam at the mouth about why they were missing the chance to create a friendly image without artificially writing articles, Gyo-ha felt reassured. Thanks to his sister, BK Group would continue to thrive in the future.

“Fuck, really… only loving that bastard.”

However, unlike Jung-hye who was only worried about the company, Sung-ha seemed displeased with Lee Baek-gyeong’s decision. His brother, leaving like a villain saying he’d be watching… Gyo-ha wasn’t afraid of him at all.

He only wondered when his brother would grow up. It couldn’t be helped. Lee Gyo-ha was no longer afraid of anyone. He had lived several decades more than his actual age, too long to fear people. Only Jung Hwi-kyung, who had lived through that long time with him, was somewhat scary.