← The youngest heir of a conglomerate returns to the day before bankruptcy and protects his family first.The phone rang.
Junho sat up in bed. His father's name appeared on the screen. Two missed calls. One text message.
The time was 5:47 AM.
The sun hadn't risen yet. The sky was caught between black and navy blue.
He opened the message.
[URGENT. Conference room. 6:45 AM. Must attend. - Father]
Junho read the message again. Not just once, but three times. As if trying to confirm exactly what each letter meant.
6:45 AM.
Conference room.
In his past life, it had been 7:00 AM.
Fifteen minutes earlier.
Junho got out of bed. His movements were slow. His brain couldn't process the information fast enough to keep up with reality. The ten years of memories were precise, but the thought occurred to him that they couldn't possibly align perfectly.
Variables.
That was what Junho feared most.
He headed from the bedroom to the closet. Choosing clothes mattered. The moment he entered the conference room, his expression, posture, and attire would say everything. The old Junho had been indifferent in such situations. More accurately, he'd pretended to be indifferent. But this time would be different.
He selected a dark suit. Black jacket. White shirt. Gray tie. It was his father's preferred style. Conservative, cautious, trustworthy in appearance.
He stood before the mirror.
A twenty-five-year-old face. Eyes of ten years.
He tied his necktie. He tightened the knot. His hands trembled.
No. He couldn't tremble.
Junho took a deep breath. He held it for five seconds. He exhaled for five seconds.
During that time, his phone rang again.
It was his older brother, Lee Jaehun.
"Hyung," Junho spoke first.
Lee Jaehun's voice came through the phone. It was urgent.
"Are you awake? Father called an emergency meeting. 6:45 AM."
"I know. I just got the message."
"I have no idea what's going on. There was nothing yesterday."
Before Jaehun finished speaking, Junho already knew. Park Eunyoung's final inspection was complete. The last fund transfer. The last forged documents. Everything was coming to an end. And either his father had sensed it, someone had reported it to him, or it was truly an accidental discovery.
"Hyung, do you have time? Right now?"
"Right now? It's only 5:50."
"Come to my room. Five minutes."
He hung up.
Junho opened his bedroom door. The hallway was dark. The rest of the house was still asleep. His mother would be in the second-floor bedroom, his youngest sister Minji in her room, and his second brother Lee Sujin... Sujin was probably still awake.
Junho returned to his bedroom.
Jaehun knocked on the door. Carefully.
"Come in."
Jaehun opened the door and entered. His face was pale. He looked like he hadn't slept all night. It was likely he actually hadn't. In the midst of a succession war, sleep was nearly impossible.
"What's this? All dressed up?"
Jaehun's gaze swept over Junho's suit.
"Aren't you going to the meeting?"
"Yeah. You too."
"Right, but..."
Jaehun trailed off. He looked at Junho more carefully. His older brother's eyes were searching for something.
"There was nothing yesterday. Nothing at all. Then suddenly?"
Junho spoke while looking out the window.
"It's Park Eunyoung."
"Park Eunyoung?"
"Father must have sensed something. I'm not sure exactly what, but it'll come out in the conference room."
Jaehun sat on the bed. His hands trembled.
"How do you know?"
That question came. Junho had anticipated it would. But anticipation and reality are different. It wasn't a question he could prepare for with words.
Junho faced his brother.
"You never asked."
"What?"
"How the company would turn out. What would happen to us. You always followed Father's decisions and thought that was right. But I..."
Junho stopped. Once he started lying, it would be hard to stop.
"I thought differently."
Jaehun looked at Junho. Multiple emotions mixed in his eyes. Suspicion. Curiosity. Fear. And a hint of relief.
"What did Park Eunyoung do?"
"She embezzled funds. Over the past three months. Transferred subsidiary funds to a personal account. And she forged documents too. Father couldn't help but sense it."
Jaehun stood up. He began pacing the bedroom. His steps were quick.
"So Father already knows?"
"I don't think so yet. He seems to only be suspecting. That's why he called the meeting."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll tell him directly in the conference room."
Jaehun stopped. He looked at Junho.
"You? In front of the executives?"
"Yeah."
"You're... not even an executive yet?"
"I know. I'm still going to say it."
Jaehun's face changed. It was an expression of realization. That Junho had already planned everything. And that it wasn't mere speculation but conviction.
"You figured all this out by yourself?"
"Hyung is going to help me."
"How?"
"When I speak during the meeting, you'll support me. Father will be confused, and the other executives will be suspicious. Then if you confirm that what I'm saying is true..."
"Then Father will trust me."
"Yeah."
Jaehun sat on the bed again. This time slowly. As if all things had shifted into a world with stronger gravity.
"You didn't tell me? Yesterday?"
Junho looked out the window. The sky was getting brighter. Black was turning from navy to gray.
"I didn't know yesterday."
It was a lie. A perfect lie. Saying he didn't know things he'd known ten years ago.
But Jaehun believed him.
"How did you figure it out now?"
"I don't know. I realized it."
That wasn't a lie either. Junho truly had realized it. How to do it. Where to start. Who to move first.
"In the conference room, you stay next to me. Don't say anything. Not until I speak."
"Got it."
Jaehun stood up. He paused as he opened the door.
"Junho."
"Yeah?"
"Do you really think this is... possible?"
Junho didn't answer. Instead, he looked at the mirror. The twenty-five-year-old face in the mirror stared back at him.
Ten years of experience. A twenty-five-year-old body.
And only a few hours remaining.
"It'll be possible."
The clock showed 5:58 AM.
The elevator doors closed.
Junho was steadying his breath in the silence. Slowly, evenly. As if lowering his heart rate. The man in the mirror appeared composed, but his fingertips trembled faintly. A tremor he was suppressing.
Two more floors until the 38th floor conference room.
During that time, Junho organized the information once more. Park Eun-young's transaction flow. The path through which affiliate funds had leaked out. And where that money had gone. The fragments he had collected in his past life were now forming a single picture. Incomplete, but sufficient.
The elevator stopped at the 37th floor.
The doors opened, and Lee Su-jin stepped in.
Junho's body stiffened. Deliberately, without showing it, naturally. But Lee Su-jin didn't miss it. His eyebrows rose slightly.
"Busy from the morning."
Lee Su-jin's voice sounded light, but there was calculation behind it. Junho knew. How he thought. What things he suspected.
"Father called me in suddenly."
"Yeah, I heard. There was no meeting yesterday."
Lee Su-jin leaned against the elevator wall. There were no wrinkles in his suit. It meant he'd been awake since dawn. Or hadn't slept at all. Junho observed Lee Su-jin's face.
The shadows under his eyes. The tension at the corners of his mouth. And the confidence wrapping around that tension.
Lee Su-jin knew something too.
"What about you?"
"I just woke up too. My phone rang."
It was a lie. Junho had been awake for over an hour already. But Lee Su-jin had no way to verify that. And this might not have been a lie either. That was the condition of a perfect lie. Unverifiability.
The elevator moved again. 36th floor.
"What did Father say?"
"Nothing. Just that it was urgent."
"......"
Lee Su-jin looked at Junho. In those eyes was not curiosity but caution. The caution of an older brother and a rival. Junho felt it, and he didn't reveal that he felt it.
"What did you do yesterday?"
"What would I do? I was at home."
"Alone?"
"Yeah."
Junho looked out the window. Seoul's morning was brightening rapidly. The outlines of buildings became clear, and people began to appear on the streets. A new day was beginning. But for Junho, it was the last day.
24 hours.
Within that time, everything would change, or nothing would change. One or the other.
"But you know what's strange?"
Lee Su-jin spoke again.
"Yesterday around 11 PM, Father called a few executives. Told them to review confidential documents. You didn't take that call, did you?"
Junho's heart skipped a beat. But his face didn't move.
"I didn't."
"What about Lee Jae-hun?"
"I don't know. Ask him yourself."
"......"
Lee Su-jin laughed. Short and cold.
"What is it? You've been weird since yesterday. Really."
As soon as those words fell, the elevator stopped at the 38th floor. The doors opened.
The hallway was quiet. It was early morning, and regular employees hadn't arrived yet. At the end of the hallway was a corridor leading to the conference room. Junho and Lee Su-jin walked down that path together.
That's when it happened.
Lee Jae-hun appeared from around the corner of the hallway.
His face was pale. More precisely, he was trying to suppress the paleness. The color had drained from his lips, and his pupils trembled faintly. He'd either stayed up all night, received a shock, or both.
"Ah, Junho."
Lee Jae-hun looked at Junho. There was something in those eyes. Confirmation. Or relief. Confirming that Junho was here.
"Hyung."
"Yeah. Ah, Su-jin came too."
Lee Jae-hun looked at Lee Su-jin. At that moment, his expression hardened. Extremely cautious. Lee Su-jin saw it and narrowed his eyes.
"What is it? Do you two have something going on?"
"No?"
Lee Jae-hun laughed unnaturally. That alone was enough. Lee Su-jin would have already figured it out. Not perfectly, but something was definitely there.
"Did Father arrive first?"
Junho asked.
"Yeah. Ten minutes ago. He went into his office alone. And..."
Lee Jae-hun stopped speaking. He was conscious of Lee Su-jin.
"And?"
"Park Eun-young didn't come. Not yet. They called him, but there's no contact."
Junho already knew that. Park Eun-young would be at home right now. Either finalizing his dealings or preparing to flee. But he wouldn't be able to flee. Because someone else had already started moving.
"What about Uncle?"
"He's already here. In the conference room."
The conference room door came into view. A glass conference room door. Inside were already several people seated. Junho's father. And Uncle Lee Jun-seok. And several other executives.
Their expressions were visible.
Lee Gang-ho had his arms on the desk. His face was pale, and within that paleness were mixed anger and anxiety. The expression of a man with a weak heart. Junho knew. His father had confirmed something throughout the night.
Lee Jun-seok was looking out the window. From just his back, Junho could feel his anxiety. The anxiety of a plan falling apart. Or the anxiety of sensing the worst situation.
Junho's footsteps stopped.
Lee Su-jin looked at Junho from beside him.
"You. You know something, don't you?"
"Know what?"
"Why Father called this meeting. You know."
It was a perfect question. A perfect suspicion. Junho couldn't face it head-on.
"I don't. Same as you."
"Liar."
Lee Su-jin came closer. His voice was low, but there was certainty in it.
"What did you do yesterday? Really. What are you hiding from us?"
Junho looked into Lee Su-jin's eyes. In those eyes, along with suspicion, was something else. Something similar to Junho. A sense of responsibility as an older brother. And a desire to protect the family.
In his past life, Lee Su-jin had abandoned that desire. Because his ambition was greater. But this wasn't that moment yet.
"Let's go to the conference room."
Junho said.
"Everything will be revealed."
Lee Su-jin looked at Junho. Calculation occurred in those eyes. Should he attack or follow? Should he confirm or wait?
Finally, Lee Su-jin took a step back.
"Fine. Let's see. What comes out."
The conference room door drew near. Junho's hand reached for the door handle. At that moment, Lee Jae-hun grabbed Junho's arm.
Very slightly.
Was it encouragement, or was it a final warning?
Junho pushed the door open.