Episode 22

The reaction was more dramatic than I had anticipated.

'It's a good thing I read the original work so thoroughly.'

It was a good thing that I prepared something.

It was thanks to remembering the description that there was a loyal retainer named Driver Choi in the Park family, and that he was working hard for his daughter who was about to take the college entrance exam.

Even the scoundrel Park Yoo-seung, or his brother who had a black heart, were genuinely assisted by him, so I thought that I could gain his favor by treating him just a little bit better.

But I never imagined that he would be so delighted that he would shed tears.

“How could I not be delighted?”

Driver Choi's voice was choked with emotion.

“To receive a gift from Young Master Yoo-seung. I never imagined that a day like this would come again.”

“……I’m sorry. I was a bit, well, not in my right mind for a while.”

Strictly speaking, all of his past wrongdoings were the fault of the real Park Yoo-seung, but since I had taken over his body, it was my job to clean up his mess.

“I’ve found something that I want to achieve. I don’t intend to live recklessly anymore. Now that I’ve opened my eyes, I’ve realized that I’ve caused too much trouble for those around me. Especially to Driver Choi, I can’t even lift my head.”

“Oh, please, what do you mean, trouble? This is what I’m supposed to do.”

As I played the role of a prodigal son who had belatedly repented, Driver Choi shook his head.

“Rather, I’m just grateful that you’ve come to your senses, even now. Actually, the master was very worried about you, Young Master.”

“The master…… ah, you mean my father.”

That was perfect. I was going to bring it up anyway, but Driver Choi brought it up first.

I pretended to lower my head and put on a gloomy expression.

“I was such a terrible son.”

“N, no, you weren't.”

“You don’t have to try to defend me. It’s the truth. Even at this moment, I don’t know how I’m supposed to face my father and tell him that I’m going to change……”

As I glanced at Driver Choi, he thumped his chest and made a solemn pledge.

“Don’t worry, Young Master. I’ll go ahead and tell him that you’ve changed, that you’re going to be different!”

“……Really?”

“Of course. Is there anything that I can’t do for you, Young Master?”

Park Yoo-seung’s father, Park Geon, trusted Driver Choi enough to believe him in most cases.

For a successful entrepreneur, people were something that you always had to suspect, screen, and cut out.

Even so, the fact that he had kept this servant by his side for so long meant that he was someone that he could trust more than anyone else.

Of course, Driver Choi’s words wouldn’t cover up all of Park Yoo-seung’s past actions, but it would at least create a small gap in his father’s heart.

A gap that I could squeeze through.

That was enough.

“Oh dear, it’s already this late. Please get in, Young Master.”

I got into the car that Driver Choi was driving.

At first, I tried to sit in the passenger seat, but Driver Choi adamantly refused, so I ended up sitting in the back seat.

He said that he couldn’t have me sitting there as someone who was serving me.

Still, he had a warm smile on his face, and he didn’t seem too unhappy.

While we were on the way, I had various conversations with Driver Choi and gathered information about the family.

The parts where this family appeared in the original work were limited, so I couldn’t get enough material to act on just from that.

In that sense, it was lucky that the person who came to pick me up was Driver Choi.

As a long-time retainer, he was someone who knew everything about the Park family of Yuseong Group.

“I heard that your father is starting to think about who will be his successor?”

“I don’t know his exact intentions, but…… he has brought up that kind of topic.”

There were two main people who were competing for the position of successor of Yuseong Group.

Park Yoo-seung’s older brother, Park Tae-yang, and his older sister, Park Min-ha.

Park Tae-yang was learning the ropes in the practical field at a major domestic affiliate, and Park Min-ha was said to be overseas.

“Young Master Yoo-seung, on the other hand…….”

“Of course, I’m out of the running, right? I don’t have much interest in the succession anyway, so you don’t have to worry.”

It was better for me if the succession competition ended smoothly without any conflict.

That way, no one would bother me, and I would be able to just quietly study.

However, it was still something that I had to keep in mind.

If I didn’t want to get caught up in the storm, I had to know when and how it would blow.

While I was asking about a few other things that I wanted to know, the navigation system notified us that we had arrived at our destination.

Driver Choi bowed his head, saying that he would only accompany me up to here.

“I have to go and follow the master’s next schedule. I’ll come back to the mansion with the master in the evening.”

“You’re busy. Ah, right.”

“Yes?”

“If it’s not too much trouble…… please take this too.”

I handed him a black bag.

“What is this?”

“It’s a mock exam collection that was made by a famous academy. I don’t know much about it since I got into college by luck, but my classmates in the business school said that they all used this to study and that it was good. I heard that it’s not something that is usually available outside, but I managed to get my hands on it.”

That was a lie.

I had studied with this in my past life.

I had graduated from a prestigious private university that was ranked second or third in the country, if not Korea University.

My major was Japanese Language and Literature.

There was a time when I had to take the Korean history subject as my choice for the college entrance exam to go to Korea University, but I didn’t choose Korean history, so even though I had done fairly well on the college entrance exam, I couldn’t even apply to that school.

'Thanks to that, I was often teased as a traitor by my high school classmates because of my major.'

Even Japanese was quite suited for me, and by the time I graduated, I had reached a level where I could read specialized books and papers in Japanese.

Anyway, the material that I had used back then was this mock exam collection.

Yesterday, when I had heard the name of the academy that the nutritionist’s son worked at, I thought that it was a long shot, but this mock exam collection also existed in this world.

Thanks to that, I was able to get this from the nutritionist.

“No, to even take care of this for me…….”

I sent off Driver Choi, who was tearing up again, and finally got out of the car.

If I had done this much, he would definitely put in a good word for me.

Then, a very old-fashioned mansion appeared.

This building was said to be my father Park Geon’s preference.

And then.

“Oh, you’re here?”

From right in front of the main gate, someone was waving their hand and greeting me.

“It’s been a while, Yoo-seung.”

“……Brother.”

Park Yoo-seung’s oldest brother, and the number one successor of Yuseong Group.

It was Park Tae-yang.

* * *

“You look much better.”

It was true that my health had improved a lot even from my perspective.

When I had just possessed this body, my complexion had been dark and dull from being soaked in alcohol, but now, it had regained its vitality, and my posture, which had been hunched over, had also straightened out.

That was because, unlike the real Park Yoo-seung, I didn’t drink or smoke, and I had been living a regular life for studying.

Recently, I had even started jogging in the mornings to build up the stamina to sit for long periods of time.

“You too, brother. I heard that the performance of the affiliate that you’re in charge of has been doing well. It’s amazing, considering that we’re in a recession.”

“……You know about that? That’s unexpected.”

For a moment, a strange look flashed across Park Tae-yang’s face.

But as if nothing had happened, he soon returned to his friendly businessman persona and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Well, it’s true. I didn’t do much, though. The existing executives were great. I just put my spoon in.”

In fact, even if he was the oldest son of the group’s owner, it was impossible for a fresh-faced thirty-year-old to come forward and directly take charge of the management.

If he did that, the shareholders wouldn’t stay still.

Therefore, Park Tae-yang's official title was the head of the personnel team at Yuseong Mulsan.

Of course, in reality, he was contacting the president and other key executives behind the scenes, sharing his opinions, and exerting influence on the company's policies.

In that kind of structure, it was natural that the existing executives would have a much larger share of the credit, even if things went well.

“That’s still amazing. If someone like me had been given the same position, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“You’re too kind.”

The relationship between the brothers Park Tae-yang and Park Yoo-seung wasn’t that bad.

First of all, there was a six-year age gap between them—Park Yoo-seung was twenty-four, and Park Tae-yang was thirty.

With a six-year gap, there wasn’t much to fight about even when they were younger.

Park Tae-yang was always lenient with his younger brother, who was a troublemaker.

When Park Yoo-seung caused an accident and was put on probation, he would secretly smuggle in alcohol from somewhere.

When he couldn’t control his anger, he would subtly teach him about the 'good places' that he had learned about while doing business.

Thanks to that, even Park Yoo-seung, who was shunned by everyone else in the family, was relatively affectionate towards his brother.

It was more like a friendly uncle than a stern father.

But that was just on the surface.

'Yeah, I shouldn't be fooled.'

I knew, from having read the original story to the end.

The person that I had to be most careful of during this visit to the main house wasn’t my father, Park Geon, but none other than Park Tae-yang.

“How is law school? Is it manageable?”

“Well, so-so. It’s not easy, but I’m just trying to do it.”

“If it’s too hard, just tell me anytime. With our family’s circumstances, there’s no need for even you to desperately cling to studying.”

If you thought about it carefully, Park Tae-yang’s ‘being good to me’ was always done in a way that induced Park Yoo-seung’s delinquency and laziness.

Even now, he was subtly urging me to drop out of law school, wasn’t he?

'You sly fox.'

The reason why Park Tae-yang didn’t antagonize Park Yoo-seung was simple.

He wasn’t a rival.

For him, who had been running with only the goal of becoming the owner of Yuseong Group in his life, Park Yoo-seung was a person who didn’t matter.

Therefore, as long as he remained a non-rival, Park Tae-yang was lenient.

Rather, he was actively encouraging Park Yoo-seung’s corruption and debauchery.

There was no way that I, who knew that, would fall for his trap like the real Park Yoo-seung.

“Well, okay. Then, as a way to comfort you from your hard work, how about a drink?”

Right. It was something like this.

“I happened to get some good alcohol from a client. I can’t drink it because I’m allergic to alcohol, but it’s just the kind of thing that you would like.”

I stared at the box that Park Tae-yang had held out.

The name of the wine written in elegant calligraphy was…… Romanée-Conti.

Wasn’t that worth over 10 million won a bottle?

I guess you’d need something like that to do business with a second-generation chaebol.

'You can't refuse this.'

It felt like that was what Park Tae-yang was saying.

But there was something that he didn’t know.

“Ah, sorry.”

I wasn’t the Park Yoo-seung that he knew.

The contents of this body were a pathetic office worker who had failed to achieve his dream of becoming a lawyer.

What I was thirsty for wasn’t expensive alcohol, but the path of law.

“I’m abstaining from alcohol to manage my condition these days. I’m going to be seeing my father soon, and it wouldn’t be right to go there drunk.”

At that moment, Park Tae-yang’s gaze turned cold.