Free Web Novel“Grandma!”
I had brought her to Seoul for safety, but even if it was safe, the unfamiliar environment had been hard on her.
“My baby, you’re here?”
She tried not to show how downhearted she felt in front of me, which only made me feel worse.
“You can go back to Busan now.”
“Really?”
Her face brightened instantly.
“Yes, Grandma. I’m sorry.”
“What’s there to be sorry for? It’s fine.”
Though she was getting older and weaker, considering she had collapsed once before, her health was better than I feared.
I held her hand tightly.
“I’ll stay here tonight. We’ll head back to Busan tomorrow. But the security detail has to stay with you.”
I couldn’t yet say with certainty that I had no enemies left in Korea.
Keeping her in Seoul would’ve been safer, but I’d learned something after bringing her here: if it wasn’t the life she wanted, it would feel like a prison without bars.
“I want to eat Grandma’s cooking again. It’s been too long.”
“Alright, give me a minute.”
She dashed into the kitchen as if nothing could make her happier than cooking for me, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“My grandma’s not a grandma, she’s a girl.”
“What nonsense are you saying?”
The meal was the same food I’d eaten countless times in Busan, yet it tasted better than anything else in the world.
“Eat slowly. No one’s going to take it from you.”
She handed me a cup of barley tea, not even touching her own food, just watching me eat with a soft smile. Tears welled up in my eyes.
“Why are you crying? Is your work that hard? Let’s just go back to Busan and live quietly, hmm?”
I shook my head and put down my spoon.
“Grandma, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
I had thought long and hard about how to say it.
I worried she might collapse from the shock, but I had avenged everything already. It was time to tell her.
“...It wasn’t a simple robbery. There were people who targeted Mom.”
Her face turned pale.
“I avenged her myself. Those people are gone now. So let’s erase it from our hearts. Don’t feel sorry for me, and don’t feel guilty toward Mom.”
She stared at me for a long time, then lowered her head.
The evening light through the kitchen window cast shadows on her face, hiding her expression.
“It’s late already. I’ll head to bed first. Don’t mind me.”
She muttered as she got up, unsteady on her feet.
I didn’t stop her.
I knew she didn’t want me to see her sadness.
I stood there for a long time, staring at her closed door.
The next morning, I stepped out of my room early. freewёbnoνel.com
She was already cooking breakfast in the kitchen.
“Grandma.”
“You’re up? Wash up and sit.”
She acted as if nothing had changed.
“Okay.”
When I put down my spoon after finishing the meal, she finally spoke.
“Muhyuk.”
“Yes?”
“You’ve been through so much. I’m fine now. Live your life, alright? My baby... you must have suffered so much.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes.
“You’ve had it harder than I have.”
I hugged her tightly, and we both cried our hearts out.
For the first time, I didn’t cry in silence or feel weighed down by guilt or emptiness. I just cried.
That was the true end of my revenge.
I saw Grandma off as she headed back to Busan, then went to visit Chief Ha at the hospital.
“Chief.”
His recovery from the gunshot wound was improving every day.
I sat beside him, stopping him as he tried to sit up.
“Thank you.”
“I just did my job.”
“No, it wasn’t easy. If you hadn’t been there, I don’t know if Grandfather would’ve survived.”
None of those arrested knew anything about Mr. Pyo’s true identity.
Whether he had been a real person or just a name Lee Yonghyeon fabricated, no one could say.
I could only guess that the masked man who infiltrated the mansion to kill my grandfather had been Mr. Pyo.
‘He used a special dagger, the kind our unit used.’
Team Leader Jin had fought him. Jin, who had been considered one of the strongest even within the military, admitted he hadn’t stood a chance.
If not for Chief Ha, we wouldn’t have survived.
“You too, Chief.”
“Sir?”
“Thank you for staying alive.”
At my words, he gave me a small smile.
“What will you do after this?”
“I’ll stay by the Chairman’s side.”
“I mean after Grandfather passes away.”
“Then I’ll disappear. I’ve lived my life as his shadow. I won’t follow him to the grave, but my time ends with his.”
In the original timeline, such a man had died so meaninglessly.
Had it been because he couldn’t bring himself to raise his hand against Taesan’s own son, Cheon Sooman?
Now I understood him far better than I had before.
“Help me with my work.”
“Sir, old water must flow away so new water can take its place. Seokdae is already doing well in my stead. I just want to serve the Chairman until the end.”
He was steadfast to the core.
“That’s exactly why I need you.”
“What do you mean?”
“People connected to me now own Korea Exchange Bank and Jesung Bank. I plan to merge them into one financial group. It starts with two banks, but it may expand further.”
I planned to make Chief Ha chairman of a financial holding company named after my grandfather.
“Become Chairman of Taesan Financial. You may have spent your life in the shadows of loan sharking, but I want Grandfather’s name to shine in the sunlight. Build Korea’s best financial company. You’re the only one fit for it. Isn’t this a chance to serve Grandfather for the rest of his life?”
He looked taken aback, but soon his expression settled.
“...As long as the Chairman lives, I’ll stay by his side.”
“Then I’ll leave it in other hands for now. Focus on getting better. Grandfather misses you.”
At that, Chief Ha smiled faintly.
Still stiff, but far softer than when we first met.
“I’ll go now. Once you recover, let’s have a drink together, Chief.”
“Sir.”
I paused at the door. Chief Ha bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
I just smiled and stepped out.
When Manager Ma moved to follow me, I stopped him.
“Go in and talk with him. I’ll wait.”
“No, sir.”
“Come on, you need time to talk. I’ll just sit out here.”
Manager Ma hesitated, then bowed.
“Thank you, Boss.”
* * *
Ma Seokdae’s voice was blunt.
“How’s the gunshot wound?”
“Fine. What about you?”
“He’s thinking things through. But how are you?”
Despite his rough tone, Seokdae’s face was filled with concern for Ha Myeonghun.
“I’m fine.”
“How long will you stay in the hospital? Take the chance to rest.”
“I’ll leave as soon as I can move. The Chairman must be lonely.”
Seokdae clicked his tongue.
“Damn it, always about the Chairman. You need to stay healthy first if you want to look after him.”
“He has no children by his side. At least he has me.”
Seokdae couldn’t argue with that.
“To us, the Chairman is like a father and mother. Maybe he took us in for his own benefit, but still.”
“Alright, enough. You nag too much.”
Myeonghun almost said more but stopped.
“Take care of the young master.”
Seokdae just nodded.
“Go on. He’s waiting.”
“See you at the house later.”
“Yeah.”
Few words, but trust was clear in their eyes.
* * *
I sat outside the hospital room, reflecting on everything.
Threatening Kim Hakgwon had only been possible because it was the IMF era.
Money—specifically dollars—was power.
‘But once Korea overcomes the IMF crisis and builds a stable reserve of foreign currency...’
Revenge on Cheongpunghoe had been important, but it was only one of my goals.
I hadn’t come back to life just to end it with vengeance.
“Boss.”
Manager Ma’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“Done talking?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Let’s go. Things will get busy again.”
Cheongpunghoe’s downfall was now unstoppable.
The media lit the fire, and the government fanned it. The prosecutors, the Board of Audit, the National Tax Service, the police, even the NIS—everyone moved.
The name Cheongpunghoe, which had existed since the Japanese colonial era, was finally disappearing from Korea.
— On the 7th, former Seoul Central District Prosecutor Bae Beomgyu testified in court, revealing new details about the Cheongpunghoe case...
New names surfaced daily, and the courts were overflowing. Public outrage burned hotter with each day.
Prosecutors requested arrest warrants for members of the National Assembly, and the courts sought parliamentary approval.
Both ruling and opposition lawmakers had to vote in favor of arrest requests to prove they had no ties to Cheongpunghoe.
It was unprecedented in Korea’s political history.
I stood back and watched their collapse.
Turning away from the TV announcer, I looked at Kim Hosik.
“How’s Rush & Money?”
“They’ve stopped issuing new loans.”
“They won’t last. With Japan in chaos, they’re probably already planning their withdrawal.”
“They’ve already approached us.”
“What did they say?”
“They want us to buy their loan portfolios at face value.”
I snorted.
“Face value, huh.”
“They don’t want to take a loss.”
Because of the low-interest refinancing we’d introduced, most people who could repay had already refinanced their loans elsewhere. What Rush & Money had left were bad debts.
“Tell them no. In a few months, they’ll surrender and withdraw. Then we’ll buy them for pennies. Once the Japanese firms pull out, domestic capital will rush into the loan market.”
Even in the original timeline, the top two lenders were Japanese, but the third was a domestic company secretly owned by a chaebol heir.
Even with only 10% market share, they made a fortune.
Loan sharking was, and always would be, a lucrative business.
“Leave the small lenders alone, but if mid- or large-sized firms try to enter, handle them the same way we handled Rush & Money.”
I had no intention of sharing the market.
The Korean loan market had belonged to Myeongdong in the past, it did now, and it would in the future.
“Always keep the legal interest rate. Run it clean.”
“Understood.”
“Once things stabilize, Hyunseong will step back from this business. When that happens, you’ll be the president managing it. Can I trust you?”
Kim Hosik shot up from his seat and bowed deeply.
“Thank you, sir.”
I had placed Hyunseong as a buffer because I hadn’t fully trusted Hosik before. But he ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) had proven himself and never disobeyed an order.
I stood, and Hyunseong followed.
“Let’s go. Today’s a rare gathering—we can’t be late.”
“Right.”
Leaving Myeongdong, we arrived at a bar in Gangnam.
When we stepped inside, everyone was already there.
Myungsoo from the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office.
Han Minkyung, now a judge.
Prosecutor Oh Hyunwoo from the Central Investigation Bureau.
Yoon Jaeha, heir to Yoon & Jang.
“Good to see everyone. How long has it been since we were all together like this?”
These were the people who would one day run Korea.
