The Heirs

Chapter 16

Manager Yoon shows up for his tutoring session with Tan, and clues him in to the possibility of Dad sending Eun-sang to study abroad. Phew, thank goodness that secret’s out. Tan storms into his father’s office, takes back his phone, and calls stepmom Madam Jung—he requests her aid in getting to school, knowing she’ll agree because of the stock he now holds, and stocks are leverage in this family.

Dad barks that that isn’t why he gave him those stocks, but Tan says that Dad was the one who gave him that sword to wield now as bargaining chip. Tan warns his father to lay off Eun-sang, because if he doesn’t, he may have to swing that sword and strike somebody down.

Madam Jung picks Tan up, and their conversation on the way to school is dripping with thinly veiled antagonism. She helped, but he’ll have to pay a price for it later. Upon arrival at school, they present a united front for the benefit of the reporters, and the friends marvel that they’ve never seen the two looking so close.

Tan walks straight into class, packs up Eun-sang’s things without a word, and pulls her into Myung-soo’s workshop. Digging through her bag, he finds the plane ticket for Buenos Aires. Feeling betrayed, he asks, “Do you even like me? Or trust me?” Ripping the ticket to shreds, he asks how she could accept the ticket, knowing it would banish her from Korea forever, and then smile at him.

She says that she was scared, but he says she should have let him fight his father directly—after losing everything but her, he can’t then also lose her. He apologizes for making her cry.

Young-do joins them, and Tan surprises them all by asking him to hold onto Eun-sang until Tan can come back for her. I’m not sure what’s worse: that they’re back to passing Eun-sang back and forth between them, or the fact that it actually seems to be a viable way to handle the situation. Ugh.

It’s a full-fledged spectacle as the Jeguk family arrives at a restaurant like it’s a red-carpet event. The family dinner is mostly for a convenient photo op, but it’s also when Chairman Dad drops the bomb that the next stockholders meeting will be about Won’s dismissal as president. Gasp.

Won is blindsided, stunned that the directors he personally put in place would then vote him out, but Dad decrees that their loyalty is to him above all else. This is what Won gets for acting behind Dad’s back, and for treating the company as his own when he had always been warned that it wasn’t yet. He will give that seat to whichever son performs better, which is almost comical for the suggestion that a last-place high school junior could possibly outperform an experienced corporate exec. Whatevs, Dad, you never make any sense to me anyway.

Tan gets up to leave shortly after the parents do, and Won orders him to sit. Tan makes the jab that Won only wants something to do with him now that he has something he wants, and tells hyung to spend his energies running around to save his neck. Then he can deal with Tan, since Tan always figured last anyway.

Won calls Manager Yoon to ask if he’d been planning to backstab him all this while. Manager Yoon, to his surprise, urges him to beat his father and keep his position—and if he does, then he’ll take that VP seat. Aw, did Manager Yoon finally pick a side?

Myung-soo’s workshop is empty by the time Tan gets there, and when he calls Eun-sang it’s Young-do who answers. He asks where they are, and Young-do quips, “In your heart.”

They’re at a snack shop, where he guesses the situation with Tan’s father and advises Eun-sang to memorize his phone number, and also Tan’s, so she can call them for help if she needs to. That’s sweet, and a handy tip to boot.

He sends her home in his car and remains behind, sitting at his sad little table, which is where Tan finds him. You know, I can’t say I follow why these boys are suddenly over their previous violent hatred, but in this case I’ll have to gloss over the personality transplants (as the show did) because I much prefer them being glib and friendly.