I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 56: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer (3)

Hm, I thought it was a metaphor about being tight-lipped, but now that I take a closer look, I think he literally meant the guy has no ears.

Acting as if nothing were strange, I turned my head back and answered casually.

“You mean the Alpha Fund? Hehe, yeah, it made a lot of money.”

Alright, Ha-yeon. Relax your eyes... go for cute and lovable.

Mhm, good.

Just like a sweet little granddaughter.

“Right, ten billion dollars is a lot. Really a lot...”

Yoo Seong-pil looked at me with eyes full of a strange kind of regret.

“...”

Good. I got some useful information.

You can infer quite a bit from this.

Because the actual amount Alpha Fund earned was twenty billion dollars. The other ten billion was siphoned off by Ha Yeong-il and moved to Eastern Europe.

‘So he doesn’t know about the Eastern European companies yet. He probably knows about the Eastern European sovereign bonds though... Then the most suspicious option isn’t it. But he definitely knows I created Alpha Fund. Which means playing dumb would backfire...’

I shrugged and replied.

“But I didn’t really get much of that money myself. You know how hedge funds usually give 20% carry, right? And I had to share some with Yeong-il too...”

Hehe.

I giggled innocently and gently grabbed Grandpa’s hand. His rough old hand wasn’t as cold as I expected, and it covered my small one.

Yoo Seong-pil shook his head.

“Ha-yeon, your grandpa’s not old yet.”

“...You are old. Tch, liar.”

“...Tch, that was a metaphor. Can’t you pick up on that? This tiny girl talks back so well.”

– Bonk.

Grandpa knocked me on the head, then caught his breath before continuing.

“You... thinking of leaving Daehwa Group?”

“If by leaving, you mean...”

“America, I mean. Sure, Korea’s a small country... but the fence this old man built got pretty damn big, I thought. Too small for you, huh?”

Yoo Seong-pil’s point was simple.

Seeing me secretly operating a fund in the U.S., it seemed like I didn’t want to work within the small Daehwa Group but instead wanted to live freely, running my own business in the wide-open American market.

So I answered honestly.

“No, it’s big enough. But it’s not mine, is it? There are already too many people inside that fence... And more than anything, I’m standing at the edge of it, so... yeah, it feels a little cramped.”

I quietly exhaled a breath of relief while holding onto my loosened tension.

Yoo Seong-pil didn’t know I intended to eat up that fence entirely. Not yet.

‘Right. My real plan is hidden behind layers of smoke screens, known to no one.’

But Yoo Seong-pil was, in any case, the head of the family with power to greatly influence me. I had to explain things clearly to him.

I puffed out my cheeks a little, stomping my feet like I was unfairly accused, and began explaining.

“I really was planning to just live easy, I swear. But... hehe. Turns out I’m smarter than I thought. When money’s right in front of you, ignoring it feels like a management failure... so I just jumped in.”

I grinned innocently and acted cutesy right in front of the Chairman. He let out a long sigh.

“Oh dear, look at you. Ha-yeon, you do know this is illegal, right?”

“If you don’t get caught, it’s legal... or so I heard!”

“But you did get caught by this old man, didn’t you?”

Tch.

Cackling, Yoo Seong-pil stroked my head—like he was proud.

“Well done. You really did well. Finance is no easy business, but you managed to make a grand success among those Western bastards. It would’ve been better if you hadn’t gotten caught at the end, though.”

Just in case, I asked. He’d reacted more favorably than expected—maybe, just maybe...

“By the way, how did you find out? I was super careful setting it up. I even told President Ha Joo-seong to be extra cautious.”

Yoo Seong-pil pointed to his own eyes with his index finger and smirked.

“Do I look blind to you? Even lying in bed, I still watch the news and read the papers. And then, bam—familiar name pops up. Saw Ha Yeong-il’s name, so I looked into it a bit. Nothing stays secret forever. Got it?”

Can’t argue with that.

That was always the part that made me anxious. Anyone who knew Ha Yeong-il would immediately associate him with Daehwa Group.

‘I figured it’d be fine since he was never officially part of Daehwa...’

I pouted like a kid who just had her secret hideout discovered and asked about the last thing still bothering me. Yoo Seong-pil gave a simple, very old-school businessman answer.

“Isn’t it a family head’s job to know the names of his own people? Especially once they’re at executive level—not just some staffer. I’ve got a rough idea of where they came from, what kind of personality they have, and who’s under them.”

...There are over thirty execs at Daehwa Group.

Well, yeah. Unlike me, who was born into Daehwa Group, Yoo Seong-pil built it all from scratch. Most of those execs were personally recruited or vetted by him.

‘I need to memorize more.’

I mean, I do have perfect memory. I should know way more than a guy in his sixties. Thinking that, I made a renewed mental vow.

– Cough, cough.

Just then, maybe because he’d talked too long, Yoo Seong-pil started coughing hard, gasping for breath.

“Ah! Grandpa, are you okay?”

“Khm, hoo... I’m fine. Just a cough. Anyway... I called you because I wanted to hear your thoughts.”

“Oh, I—”

Yoo Seong-pil frowned and waved his hand dismissively.

“Enough. I’ve heard enough, so don’t say anything more.”

“...Huh?”

“Never make promises you can’t keep. Especially not in front of someone in power. If I weren’t sick, I’d have given you a proper scolding. Got it?”

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“...I’m sorry.”

With a slightly softened expression, Yoo Seong-pil slowly continued.

“And you’re still just a child. I made a mistake before. I shouldn’t have assumed childhood thoughts would last long... Anyway, that’s why I’m telling you not to say anything more. You don’t even know what you think yet.”

...“I don’t even know what I think.”

That’s... not wrong. I didn’t expect to grow attached to my secretary or subordinates, either.

“Then I’ll take my time thinking it through and tell you later, Grandpa.”

“Good. I’m saying this as someone who’s lived a long time: most people don’t really change. They just didn’t know who they really were. You, Ha-yeon, gain enough experience and decide for yourself later. Until then, I’ll let you be.”

Bowing my head in gratitude, I asked with a slightly awkward smile,

“But Grandpa. What if someone else finds out? What about legal issues...”

“That’s your problem to deal with, isn’t it? If you do get caught, I’ll make sure you don’t go to jail—but don’t expect more than that.”

So I can’t get off completely free, huh. What a shame.

“...Okay.”

“Alright, now go on.”

Leaving the still-coughing Yoo Seong-pil behind, I slowly stepped backward out of the room.

***

After leaving Chairman Yoo Seong-pil’s room, the holiday event more or less fizzled out.

Partly because it had dragged on too long, and partly because, with Grandpa—the main focal point—absent, there wasn’t really much left to talk about.

‘I need to push forward with the project because of Yoo Jin-ha.’

Luckily, preparations were nearly complete.

– Beep beep.

I stopped by a public phone along the way, contacted Seo Joo-eun, then got back into the car.

There was still a bit of time before I had to be there, so I sat quietly in the car, thinking things through.

The truth was, there was something missing in Yoo Seong-pil’s explanation. None of the foreign press, including The Wall Street Journal, even mentioned Ha Yeong-il’s name during the Japanese bubble collapse.

Ha Yeong-il had always gone by the alias “Young.” Of course, anyone who knew Ha Yeong-il would have instantly made the connection upon hearing news about a Korean named “Young” working at Alpha Fund.

But that wouldn’t be Chairman Yoo Seong-pil. He wouldn’t suspect I founded Alpha Fund just by watching the news. That’s how carefully I had arranged everything.

Which means... someone’s out there.

A variable outside my control. Someone who told Chairman Yoo Seong-pil that Ha Yeong-il works at Alpha Fund...

A traitor.

‘Who is it?’

Let’s break it down inductively, one possibility at a time. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains—no matter how unlikely—must be the truth... or so they say.

First premise: Yoo Seon-jun is not the traitor.

To begin with, Yoo Seon-jun doesn’t even know about Alpha Fund.

‘I deliberately hid it, thankfully. I can trust him more going forward.’

Since Yoo Seon-jun was Yoo Jin-seok’s son, I’d considered the risk of exposure to others—but I guess he’s more competent than I thought.

Second premise: the directors aren’t the traitors.

If someone like a director at Daehwa Securities or even Ha Joo-seong had betrayed me, they would’ve leaked much more detailed information.

Granted, this logic wouldn’t hold if Chairman Yoo Seong-pil had individually summoned everyone and interrogated them thoroughly... but thankfully, he hasn’t had the physical time to do that.

He’s been hospitalized too long.

And the third and final premise... Lee Si-hyun is not the traitor.

This one I still need to confirm.

I was going to move the project timeline forward anyway, so today works.

The “New World Project.” I gave it a witty name, but it’s a shame no one in this time period would get the joke.

– Screech.

The car came to a stop.

“Huh? Young Miss, I think the driver took a wrong turn here?”

Sitting beside me, Lee Si-hyun tilted her head. She shot a pointed look at the driver as if to chastise him.

Well, of course I had a separate driver. Lee Si-hyun almost never drove my car herself unless it was a really special case.

Chaebol-family chauffeurs needed some special skillsets.

For example—being able to drive with their ears blocked.

“Si-hyun, just get out for a second.”

I called for my secretary. Time for that heart-pounding gacha pull.

“...Huh?”

The naïve secretary stepped out of the car despite her confusion. Since it was still the 20th century, there were plenty of undeveloped ruins even in Seoul.

– Clack.

A metallic sound rang out behind Si-hyun.

“...”

It was a gun—something ridiculously hard to obtain in South Korea. I had hidden it in the car while she was out of the country.

Now, had I pulled a dud from the deck—or...

Was it a success?

Even though I already had a sense of the # Nоvеlight # outcome, I found myself smiling a little.

What a shame. I’d planned to say it with flair while rewatching The Godfather series together in December, as we watched the quiet sunset.

“Si-hyun, Si-hyun! Ahaha, you thought I wouldn’t know?”

“W-What... What is... this....”

Lee Si-hyun’s face turned pale. Seo Joo-eun, who had been on standby after receiving my call, slowly pushed Si-hyun to her knees and tightly restrained both her hands.

“I can hear those gears turning in your head. Ha, my dear Si-hyun. Answer carefully. What did Lee Hak-cheol tell you? You know—your dear uncle.”

I really don’t get whether she still thinks she hasn’t been found out.

I already knew she was a mole for the Chief Secretary all along.