“I never believed that you were dead.” Eldrich Cho was already in his seventies, but he continued to have a strong and powerful aura around him. Over the years Stephen had seen him in the news, he may no longer be involved in the management of the business, but he could still influence it greatly. “How come, grandfather?” Stephen asked as he felt his and his grandfather’s auras battling it out in the small space. “Because you aren’t some weak kid that could be killed by a car accident.” Eldrich Cho chuckled. “Plus your uncle has been acting oddly ever since your father announced that you had died in a car accident.” Stephen nodded as he took in everything Eldrich Cho had to say. “Uncle William saved me.” Stephen kept his head down as he tried to seem like he owed William Cho his loyalty. “You can’t fool me boy.” Eldrich Cho suddenly said. “Don’t pretend you are his pawn, I can see right through you.” Stephen grinned at his grandfather and shook his head. “Young Master.” Mr. K
When the bodyguard brought back Stephen’s car, Mr. Kai suddenly appeared and handed Stephen an envelope.“What’s this?” Stephen asked as he opened it. He was shocked to find that inside was his grandfather’s last will and testament.“It’s an official copy. His lawyers authenticated it.” Mr. Kai said. “Also inside is the bank card, Master Cho said you are to use this to build the persona required for the role.”“Alright.” Stephen said with a nod.Mr. Kai produced another set of documents and handed Stephen a pen.“After you sign this you will be Stephen Cho again.” Mr. Kai informed Stephen.Stephen took a deep breath as he reviewed the documents. Long ago there was a time when he wanted to simply forget who Stephen Cho was and move on with his life. But, when he saw Liam Ye today there was a burning desire in him to reclaim who he was.He signed the documents and handed it to Mr. Kai, who made sure everything was in order. “One more thing, sir.” Mr. Kai said before Stephen could lea
“This is crazy!” Vanessa exclaimed as a waiter entered, bringing their food to them. While the waiter was there, Vanessa and Stephen were both quiet, not wanting to speak about Stephen’s new job. When the waiter finally left, Stephen began to explain things. “I met with Master Cho, he’s an old family friend, someone from my past.” Stephen scrambled to find an acceptable explanation. “Master Cho?” Vanessa asked, wide eyed with shock. “Why would Master Cho want to see his company destroyed? Stephen, are you sick or something?” Stephen sighed and shook his head. “Master Cho would rather see his company crumble rather than to hand it to one of his sons.” Stephen told Vanessa. “He wanted to pass it to his grandson, but the guy died.” “And what? He wants you to act like the dead guy?!” Vanessa was practically shouting at this point. “This is crazy Stephen!” “Vanessa calm down, I’m not going to act as anyone I’m not.” Stephen tried to calm her. “Then what?” Vanessa asked. Stephen
Stephen and Vanessa experienced an odd week of peace between the time Stephen talked to her about joining Cho industries. Within that week his clothes arrived and they settled on keeping his current eye color which was black. Stephen worried that anything brighter would attract unwanted attention. Eventually his first day in the office rolled by as he drove Vanessa and himself to work. “Are you nervous?” Vanessa asked while they were stuck in horrible traffic. “A little bit, but I’ll just treat it like normal work.” Stephen gave her a smile as he struggled to hide his anxiety for the day ahead. “You don’t have to lie to me, you know.” Vanessa frowned as the light turned green and Stephen continued to drive them to work. “Fine.” He grumbled as he noticed they were nearing their destination. “I am nervous, but I’ll get over it by the time I get there.” “You can do it.” Vanessa reached out and held Stephen’s hand. He continued to drive in silence, getting strength from Vanessa’s p
Stephen and Amanda went through most of the floors quickly, skipping most of them since Stephen wouldn’t be interacting with the people there.By the time they reached the thirtieth floor where the operations team was assigned, Stephen was already quite tired as he tried to absorb every bit of information Amanda offered.“Here we are!” Amanda said excitedly as she stepped out of the elevator and Stephen followed her.“This floor and the one below is occupied by the operations department, there are quite a lot of employees working on the operations of Cho Industries.” Amanda said with a smile as she led Stephen through the hall.“You were hired as an assis
“Chairman.” Stephen calmly greeted as soon as he recovered from the initial shock.He had to stop himself from glaring at his grandfather. He almost forot that he was supposed to be a mere employee, not the chairman’s grandson.“Mr. Sy, why haven’t you come over to my office?” Eldrich Cho told Stephen as Stephen resisted the urge to roll his eyes.“Chairman Cho, Miss Amanda has been giving me a tour of the office. I also believe that it’s more important to learn about the company and my co-workers.” Stephen replied. He could tell that his team members and Amanda were getting anxious behind him, who wouldn’t? They were standing before the Chairman of their company, a man who had the power to fire them on a whim.They were also witnessing their new boss answer the Chairman directly as the chairman had just claimed to have personally hired Stephen Sy.To their surprise, Eldrich Cho laughed and smiled, something that the people of the company hadn’t seen him do in a long time. “I am bey
Eventually, Stephen and the others managed to escape the chatty Kyle Choi with Andrwe Wong and Michael Ho frowning at the guy.“Why didn’t you tell him that you’re our new boss?” Andrew Wong asked Stephen when they finally made it to the elevator with Natalia Wu, Carissa Tan, and Amanda.“Tell who? What did we miss?” Carissa Tan asked as she looked at the three men.“Kyle Choi came up to us with rumors about our new boss.” Michael Ho said, laughing at the situation. It seemed he had managed to recover from the initial embarrassment.“Oh, what did he say when you told him Stephen was our new boss?” Carissa asked, giggling and eager to find out what had happe
“Natalia?” Mr. Ong asked in shock as he watched the person he expected to side with him, get up and walk towards Stephen Sy.“Mr. Sy, why don’t we head down together. We’re all done for the day anyway.” Natalia Wu said as she smiled at Stephen.“Right, yes, we’re done!” Carissa kicked Michael Ho’s chair making him jump and quickly sweep all of his things into his bag.Stephen resisted the urge to laugh as Andrew Wong shook his head, stood up and followed Natalia to stand next to Stephen.“What are you doing here, Liam?” Andrew asked in a cold tone.From what Stephen could tell, the two
“The Lu family is working with the underworld?” Hans asked as he glanced at his cousin in disbelief. Over the years the Underworld was one part of Marina City that both families had failed to control. If the Lu family managed to pull into their fold the leaders of the Underworld and Stephen was not the head of the Essen Mafia, they would have easily crushed the Cho family.“They don’t, sir. At least not yet.” John clarified as he spoke to the cousins over the phone.“What do you mean?” Hans asked.“No one person can rule over the underworld of Marina City, let alone this country.” John told Hans. “The city and this country is too diverse for any one person to take control. There is also the matter of people like the Lu and Cho families that make taking control even more difficult.”“Isn’t the Essen Mafia powerful enough to get them to follow?” Hans asked as he looked at his cousin.“Not as just the Essen Mafia.” Stephen said with a smile on his lips. “Huh?” Hans was now even more
When Stephen declared the changes when it came to who would inherit the Cho family fortune in the future, Ina was no longer able to keep the reporters in line.Stephen decided to end the press conference there and move on.He, Vanessa, and Hans all left the stage and returned to Stephen’s office at the top floor. They were greeted by Paolo’s laughter as they entered the room, he was playing with Amalia and Robert. “Shouldn’t you be putting out the fire I just started downstairs?” Stephen asked as he gave Robert an amused look.His friend was never big on children.As a matter of fact, Robert was probably the one that was most against having children in their friend group. So it was quite the surprise for Stephen to see Robert happily playing with a child.“They don’t need me to put out that fire.” Robert chuckled as his phone began to ring next to him.“Shi-” Robert began to curse.“Language!” Both Hans and Stephen shouted, making Robert jump in surprise. “You two are going to scar
Paolo Cho was a handsome child, it was something that the reporters couldn’t deny. He had received amazing genes from the Fredrikson, Ong, and Cho families, making him probably one of the best looking children around.But when Paolo Cho smiled he won the hearts of everyone in the crowd, even those that wanted to speak badly of the Cho and Fredrikson families.They might have been bribed by the Ong families and their allies, but there was no denying that Pablo Cho was happy.Pablo waved at the crowd and smiled. He then hugged his father as he shied away from the crowd again.People couldn’t blame the little boy, he had lived his entire life in hiding and now, all of a sudden he was in front of hundreds of people. Every single one of the reporters wanted to snap a photo of him or his father. It was obvious that Paolo was already getting uncomfortable with the situation.“I’ll bring him in.” Amalia volunteered as she took Paolo from Hans, allowing him to stand straight and glare at the
Tell me in the comments guys, which you would prefer Daily Chapters or Minimum 7 Chapters Once a Week? Tell me what you think in the comments or send me a dm! I would very much appreciate if you would tell me what you would prefer. As a reader I honestly prefer the second one hehe. I know many of you were shocked by the mass update last night but just think of that as me trying to make it up to all of you on the missed out chapters thoughout the month. Also, don't forget to follow me on my socials for updates.
“Ah, I see you’ve noticed it.” Stephen said as he saw the confused expression on some of the reporters' faces.Not everyone had seen a DNA test in the past. Normally when businessmen and actors were trying to prove they were not the father of a child, the match would be much lower compared to what was flashed on the screen.“Allow me to explain for those who are seeing a DNA test for the first time.” Stephen said with a smile. “The report you are seeing behind me says that I am somehow related to Gabrielle Ong’s child. Now for those that are familiar with the genealogy of the Ong and Cho families, we are not in any way related.”The members of the media nodded as they slowly absorbed the information that Stpehen was telling them.Most were genuinely surprised at how kind Stephen sounded and at how willing he was to explain the situation to them.Normally, leaders in the same position as Stephen had little to no patience to explain trivial thing such as these, but Stephen took his tim
The parking lot of Philip Tower was filled with people chatting among themselves.It was no mystery what the Cho family was about to announce, they all knew that the biggest issue of that time was if Stephen Cho did or didn’t have an illegitimate child.Many people claimed that it was just a ploy of the Ong family to get their members out of jail.Others said that there was truth to it, especially since Gabrielle Ong was Stephen’s ex girlfriend.No matter what rumor people believed they all still wanted to be there. They all wanted to hear the truth and they all wanted to report it first. Inside the lobby of Philip Tower, Stephen looked out at the crowd that had formed.He had never expected that these many people would be interested in their personal lives. He thought that mostly gossip columnists would appear, but it seemed that every kind of reporter stood in their office’s parking lot.“You can’t seriously be surprised.” Hans said as he stood next to his cousin.“I just didn’t th
“We need to make a press release, the media will not leave us alone if we don’t.” Amalia told her brother as they sat around the meeting table in his office.Among those Stephen had invited were people he believed were crucial when it came to the matter of Paolo Cho’s identity.“Have you gotten the Ong family under control?” Stephen asked as he looked to his cousin.He knew that only a few days had passed and that Hans had his hands full watching over Paolo, but they needed to make sure that the Ong family wouldn’t cause them problems.“Almost, there are still some who are trying to question my ability.” Hans said with a malicious grin. “My people are making sure they understand who I am today.”Stephen nodded, impressed by Hans’ efficiency with dealing with the matter of the Ong family.“So we can schedule a press release today, the news agencies will publish it tomorrow and everything will be settled.” Amalia said as she thought of the timeline in her head.“No, we won’t just releas
Miguel and Manuel might come from a weaker family than the Cho’s but they had begun as Stephen’s friends, so Stephen decided to accompany Miguel to the airport the next day.He had offered for Miguel to use his private jet and the younger Villanueva brother happily accepted the offer.Stephen and Manuel stood on the tarmac with Miguel as they said their final goodbyes.“I’m guessing I won’t see you for a while, boss.” Miguel teased him.Technically now it was true that Stephen was their boss. With the trade to protect their family name, they were more like his henchmen doing his bidding rather than his partners through a treaty.“Most likely.” Stephen said with a nod.His wife was pregnant and he had no intentions of leaving her alone for too long. “I just wanted to say, thank you.” Miguel told Stephen. “You helped us back then and you helped us again now. Jacob would have ruined our family if news got out about his cases.”Stephen nodded, then he realized something, he forgot to as
Stephen had been exhausted by the night before.Paolo had woken up in the middle of the night and cried out for both Hans and Stephen. Stephen had been sleeping with the little boy at the time, but he refused to calm down unless his Daddy Hans was there.It seemed Paolo had settled on what to call them.Hans was Daddy, and Stephen was Papa. In the same way, he called Vanessa his Mama. When Stephen had asked a maid to call for Hans, his cousin seemed like he was about to burst into tears because his son had called for him.“Boss?” Andrew called, waving his hand in front of Stephen. “Sorry, Paolo had a hard time sleeping after yesterday’s incident. What were you saying Andrew?”Stephen asked as he tried to focus on the discussion at hand.“The bidding for the latest piece of land that that government has put up for sale starts in a week. The procurement director wanted to ask if you wished to purchase it.” Andrew informed Stpehen as he handed him the details of the piece of property.