Chapter 114

<DEEP> It was the deranged stalker who had shown up in front of his family on the day of the showcase.

He had definitely been told there had been no particular problems since then.

Had the company staff simply been keeping her away while she continued lurking nearby all this time?

“I told you, I’m his mother!”

“.......”

The buoyant feeling that had carried him only moments ago curdled into disgust in an instant.

She’s still spouting that insane bullshit?

By now, the fact that Gowon had been raised by his grandparents was fairly well known. For her to make a claim like that anyway felt like nothing but malice.

As his thoughts went cold, a man in a suit slipped past the people trying to stop him and approached Gowon.

“Perfect timing. We really should discuss something like this with the person involved.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m the attorney your mother retained to represent her.”

“...Ha. Listen, my mother died years ago—”

“No, no! Hey, you! Listen to me!”

The woman, restrained by the employees, shouted at the top of her lungs, her eyes flashing.

“I lived with your dad, so that means... what did you call it again? Anyway, that makes me your mother!”

“...A common-law relationship.”

The man struggled to conceal his exasperation as he looked at Gowon.

“We have records showing that she once lived with your father. And more importantly... records showing that she gave birth to Go Suhyeon.”

“...What?”

“Choi Jinhwa’s common-law relationship with your late father can be legally recognized. In other words, she would effectively be your stepmother.”

He heard the sound of wind.

It sounded like he had been climbing through the clouds one step at a time, only for the ground beneath his feet to vanish and send him plummeting.

Through the wind sharp enough to tear at his cheeks came a mocking voice asking whether he had enjoyed the dream while it lasted.

“Suhyeon is... what?”

“Choi Jinhwa is the mother of the son born between her and your father.”

“.......”

Gowon looked back at the stalker.

His eyes instinctively picked out the shape of her eyes, the line of her jaw—features resembling his younger brother Suhyeon—and he wanted nothing more than to squeeze them shut.

Neither of Gowon’s parents had been particularly responsible people.

The moment their first son, Gowon, was born, they had dumped him on his maternal grandparents. Then the two of them had gone off, breaking up and getting back together whenever they pleased, and somewhere along the way they had had his younger sister Sua and dumped her off too.

So Gowon had naturally assumed Suhyeon had been born and abandoned in exactly the same way.

After all, his mother had died after Suhyeon was born.... 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Ah.

A hollow breath escaped him.

So that’s why they didn’t leave Suhyeon with us until he was already over three.

Because Mom was dead by then, and there was no way to confirm what had actually happened....

Even in death, the bastard who had been his father remained a shackle on Gowon’s life.

The employees hurriedly got the situation under control and led everyone involved into a conference room.

Gowon.

The woman claiming to be Gowon’s mother.

The attorney she had hired.

Chief Manager Park Jonghyeok.

Kwon Taeyoung, head of Miracle Label.

And a member of the legal team who had been summoned in a rush.

With the six of them gathered together, the room was filled with nothing but an icy chill.

Amid the heavy silence, the attorney spoke in a tone bizarrely at odds with the atmosphere.

“Well, it seems everyone has roughly pieced together the circumstances, so why don’t we get down to the actual discussion? Gowon is a popular singer, so he must be earning quite a bit. Surely it would be unreasonable for him to neglect an elderly stepmother with chronic health problems. Just imagine the fuss reporters would make if they found out.”

“.......”

“And if word got out that he coldly threw out a mother who came because she missed her children... wouldn’t some of his fans be disappointed?”

His face was arranged into an expression of concern, but his voice dripped with sleaze. To that man, Gowon seemed less like a person than prey—a chance to make a quick killing.

Back near the end of <Debut Chart! 100>, when an employee from an agency affiliated with Rnet had looked at trainee Gowon and Baek Hanje, it had been exactly like this.

Except Baek Hanje was not beside him now.

“Listen. If you’re an attorney, you should know this already. Gowon is legally an adult. He has no blood relation to this woman, has never even met her, and is perfectly entitled to continue living with no connection to her whatsoever.”

The K-Dom legal team employee responded in disbelief.

Then, after briefly checking Gowon’s complexion, the employee continued.

“A common-law relationship does not automatically create a parent-child relationship. Naturally, that means it creates no parental rights or obligations either, including any duty of support. For that to happen, there would have to be a formal adoption process, and as you can see, Gowon is an adult who doesn’t need to be raised by anyone. There is no reason whatsoever for him to accept such an arrangement. So stop this absurd claim that she’s his mother.”

...So what she was claiming really was nonsense.

Gowon listened to the clear, methodical rebuttal being made in his defense.

Just as he had once been unable to understand even a single simple sentence in English, there was still so much he lacked as a functioning adult.

Until moments ago, that lack had been the driving force pushing him to sprint down the endless road stretching ahead of him.

Now it became something that made him ashamed of himself.

As though they had already anticipated the rebuttal, the two people across from them exchanged looks.

And then—

“Then give me my son Suhyeon.”

His little brother’s name came up again.

“I’m his biological mother. I’m going to raise him from now on. So send him to me.”

“You didn’t even know whether he was alive or dead all this time. Why should anyone trust you?”

At last, Gowon let out an incredulous breath and asked through barely suppressed fury.

“Do you even know how old Suhyeon is?”

Chief Manager Park clicked his tongue inwardly at the look on Gowon’s face.

When he had first met Gowon last winter—

It was the same expression Gowon had worn back when he trusted adults not at all.

They had spent a little over half a year finally getting him to look his age again.

The woman flinched at Gowon’s ferocity as well.

But she soon delivered the next line with all the shameless predictability of a third-rate actor.

“I’ve reflected on what I did. That’s why I want to do better from now on.”

The argument, awkward as though she had memorized it in a hurry, kept coming without a shred of shame.

“It broke my heart hearing that he was being raised by a grandma and grandpa who aren’t even blood relatives. So I’m going to take him and raise him myself now.”

“...Ha....”

“Parental rights over Suhyeon naturally belong to his biological mother. We appreciate the grandparents who have raised him until now, but they have no legal relationship to him. We intend to formally petition family court for his return.”

“Hold on. You need to prove that she is his biological mother first.”

The legal team employee drew their attention away from Gowon.

“Yes, well. If you still don’t believe us after seeing the birth record earlier, we can arrange a DNA test as well.”

“.......”

“His mother wants nothing more than to be reunited with her only son, even now, yet you insist on standing between such a devoted mother and child....”

“By the way, Gowon. You did grow up with him as your brother. You’ll at least help pay what it costs to raise him, right?”

At those words, revulsion spread across the faces of the K-Dom representatives. The attorney hurriedly lowered his voice and tried to stop her.

“I told you not to say things like that.”

“Why? What could be more important than this?”

“Don’t. Just—don’t. Stay quiet until we leave.”

The attorney turned forward again with the same shameless expression.

“She simply means that she is extremely eager to provide for Suhyeon in every way possible. And I suppose it also shows how certain she is that he is truly her biological child.”

“...For now, I think it would be best to prove that properly before we discuss anything further.”

“It will be a waste of time, but very well.”

“Then would you please leave for today.”

Kwon Taeyoung, who had watched the entire situation in silence, spoke in a low, weighty voice.

“From this point forward, if there is an issue, contact me as the person responsible.”

Kwon Taeyoung placed his business card on the table in front of them.

Before Gowon could even get a proper look at it, the two snatched it up as though seizing bait.

“There is one thing you need to understand.”

Kwon Taeyoung pressed his hand firmly against the spot where the business card had been and drew both their gazes.

“Gowon is an artist under K-Dom’s Miracle Label. And we do not overlook attempts to disparage our artists.”

“.......”

“Whether that means damage to his public reputation or physical or psychological harm. Depending on what happens, understand that we are fully prepared to pursue legal action for interference with business as well.”

The two, who had acted so brazenly until then, exchanged slightly cowed looks.

“Ahem. In any case, my client is the victim here. Her parental rights have been violated. That is the central issue—”

“.......”

“...We’ll meet again once the DNA results are in.”

With that, the two left in a hurry.

Silence settled over the conference room, now occupied only by K-Dom personnel.

“...I’m sorry.”

Gowon’s voice came out faint, almost as though it were fading away.

Kwon Taeyoung studied him for a moment before asking,

“Did you get into another fight with your friend and grab each other by the collars in a music-show waiting room?”

“......?”

“If it wasn’t something like that, then you have absolutely nothing to apologize for.”

“.......”

Even at the firm reassurance, Gowon could not bring himself to meet his eyes and lowered his gaze.

“Gowon.”

In front of outsiders, the legal team employee had deliberately addressed him as “Mr. Gowon” to lend him authority. Now the employee called his name in a gentle, familiar voice.

This was someone who had helped him through countless legal procedures, beginning with the first stalker incident when someone had smashed at the dorm door with a rock.

The employee clearly had many questions.

Instead, for now, they chose simply to pat Gowon’s shoulder before gripping it firmly.

“Your brother’s wishes matter most. In our legal system, overcoming a biological parent’s parental rights isn’t easy, but if your brother says he wants to stay with the family he has lived with all this time, no one can just drag him away. Your grandparents’ willingness to keep raising him matters too. So for today, talk things through with your family first.”

“...Okay.”

“And... everyone on this legal team has mainly handled company-related matters. We don’t have anyone with deep expertise in family law. So you should retain a specialist as soon as possible—”

“I’ll take care of finding one. Gowon, you focus on your family for now.”

At Kwon Taeyoung’s words, some of the guilt faded from the legal team employee’s face.

“Gowon, you’re going to your family’s place, right? I’ll drive you. The weather’s turning bad.”

Chief Manager Park stood, awkwardly tugging his cap lower.

The “home” he meant was a different place from the one he had called home when dropping Gowon off a few days ago.

Gowon turned toward the small window in the conference room.

Aside from the day of the Splash Night event, the stretch of clear weather had been brief.

As though asking whether he had enjoyed that short taste of sunlight, rain began streaming from the darkened sky.

***

The downpour clogged the roads so badly that by the time Gowon reached his family’s home, it was already late at night.

The one fortunate thing about everything that had happened today was that Suhyeon was already asleep.

“...You knew?”

Grandma and Grandpa sat on the old bed, unable to lift their eyes from the blanket.

“She came by a few times a year asking for money, but we never once saw her pregnant. So we knew the child couldn’t be Seonghee’s. But what had that tiny baby done wrong?”

“.......”

Gowon thought he finally understood the feeling behind Kwon Taeyoung insisting that none of this was his fault.

Why?

Why had those people earlier been so utterly shameless, yet his grandparents were the ones lowering their heads?

“Then... what the hell?”

After hearing the entire story, Go Sua let out a furious, disbelieving breath.

“Grandma, Grandpa—you could barely keep yourselves fed, and every time they dumped another kid on you, you just took them in? Even though you knew he wasn’t Mom’s child?”

“What were we supposed to do, tell that worthless bastard to take him back? The boy was three years old and so skinny he looked like he’d never had a decent meal in his life.”

“That’s not what I mean. God....”

Sua buried her face in both hands and muttered.

Then what about Grandma and Grandpa’s lives...?

“.......”

Gowon looked away from his family.

The corner of the ceiling seemed to waver.

The rain striking the window sounded unbearably loud.

As though misfortune itself had come all this way just to announce that it had found him.