Free Web NovelSeo Jaehun slowly opened his eyes.
Those emotionless eyes came alive the moment they registered me.
“How is it? Are you holding up?”
“If you’re that curious, why don’t you come inside? The room next to mine is empty. Interested?”
There was nothing left to hide between us.
There was no need to cover ourselves with useless politeness or pretended respect.
Informal speech came out naturally.
I let out a short laugh at his attitude.
Then I pulled out the metal chair tucked deep under the table and sat facing him.
“They said you didn’t say a single word for ten days. You’re not ignorant of what’s happening. The trap you set to pin everything on me is tightening around your neck.”
The trap he devised to frame me had doubled back and become proof of his own crimes.
Whether he meant it or not, Patrick’s death ended up helping me.
“While you’re in prison, I’m going to break Ilseong Group apart piece by piece and hand it to other conglomerates. Your name and Seo Yonggeon’s name will vanish from Korea. Nothing will remain.”
“Even if management changes hands, neither the shares I have nor the shares my father planned to pass down to me are going to disappear.”
He wasn’t wrong. I tilted my head slightly and curled one side of my mouth.
“But when the title of Ilseong Group’s chairman is gone, you and your father will be nothing more than rich men. No power at all.”
In South Korea, the position of a chaebol was absolute.
The title of “head of Ilseong Group”—a group once called the Ilseong Empire—was a highly desirable prize.
“Take it all. I don’t care.”
Even after my provocation, Seo Jaehun responded as if it were trivial.
I could never read what was in this bastard’s head. No one cared more about self-preservation than him...
His act of pretending otherwise irritated me.
“You don’t care?”
“I didn’t get this position because I wanted it. I was pointed out as the successor just because I’m the eldest son. I only lived as I was told.”
What absolute bullshit. He didn’t care?
And yet this bastard turned his own father into a living corpse—unable to live or die?
“So that’s why you did that to Seo Yonggeon? You’re the one who wrecked him like that. You kept his life tethered just enough so he couldn’t even die.”
At my cold voice, his expression shifted for the first time.
He straightened his posture and glared at me.
“So you’re saying I did that to my father. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“We don’t have to pretend anymore. When Chairman Seo Yonggeon collapsed, everyone knows you were the one with him. You think I wouldn’t check his condition? He wasn’t someone who would suddenly collapse. And he’s the head of Ilseong Group. Who wouldn’t find it strange?”
No one said it to his face.
But plenty of people doubted him.
Even Lee Seokmin was suspicious, and rumors around the stock market whispered that Seo Jaehun had done something.
“...”
“It’s strange, isn’t it? Anyone tied to the Seo family ends up with their heart suddenly stopping or failing. Do you think that’s a coincidence? And did Chairman Seo Yonggeon know? That he’d collapse in the same way?”
Seo Jaehun curled his lips.
“So what are you trying to say?”
He neither denied nor admitted it. I looked straight at him and continued.
“Isn’t it funny? Seo Yonggeon always climbed up by stepping on others, yet he never imagined his own son would do that to him. Then again, he’s the one who created a monster like you, so maybe he deserved it. But you know what? If he had been in his right mind, you wouldn’t be rotting in here like this.”
I pointed out Jaehun’s inadequacies honestly.
Seo Yonggeon would never have been cornered like this.
Enemy or not, he was a man capable enough to build Ilseong into Korea’s top conglomerate.
Maybe that’s why my words bothered him—his forehead tightened.
I pushed further.
“You shouldn’t have killed Patrick. You should have teamed up with him. Sure, you would have lost management rights to me for now, but you wouldn’t have been cornered like this. With luck, you might’ve even made a comeback. But you threw that chance away and killed him. You jumped into the fire yourself without even realizing how stupid it was.”
Confusion flickered over his face.
Well, he didn’t know who Patrick was working for.
So he killed him without considering the consequences.
Then again... even if he had known, he probably would’ve killed him anyway.
That’s the kind of bastard he was.
“The people behind Patrick are capable. They would’ve protected you no matter what crime you committed. If you had sided with them, that is.”
“A vice president of some American investment bank is supposed to have that kind of influence? You seriously expect me to believe that?”
“Believe whatever you want.”
I checked the watch on my wrist.
By now, Cheon Jisoo should be moving.
She and her mother, Seo Heekyung, had just filed a petition in court to suspend the effect of Seo Yonggeon’s shares.
“Let me tell you your future. You’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison. No visitors. Alone in solitary confinement.”
“...Crazy bastard.”
It was practically a curse, yet he didn’t seem to believe it.
“Everything you have is because you’re Seo Yonggeon’s son. But his child isn’t only you, is it? You’re ignoring Seo Junghee.”
He gave a dry laugh. Still smug, for now.
“I know my sister better than you. She doesn’t have that kind of resolve. She’s afraid of me.”
“Maybe. But once she realizes you’ll be locked up here forever, she’ll rethink things. And even if Seo Junghee doesn’t, Cheon Jisoo is an ambitious one, isn’t she? You knew that—so you kept her in check.”
At the mention of Cheon Jisoo, his composure finally began to crack.
“I think you killed Patrick. Or even if you didn’t, as long as there’s circumstantial evidence, I can make sure you never step outside again. But do you know why I came today? Just because I wanted to see you. To see how you’d change after losing everything.”
“...”
Flames flared in his eyes.
Good. That glare satisfied me.
“I’m letting Lee Seokmin handle the dismantling of Ilseong Group. He understands your corporate structure better than you—or Seo Yonggeon. The subsidiaries will be handed at random to other conglomerates. That way, no one in the business world will side with you. And if Ilseong collapses, no one will claim the economy will collapse with it. The government won’t intervene. So what do you have left? Money? Shares?”
Even those were uncertain.
With enough circumstantial evidence showing he had done that to Seo Yonggeon, everything he inherited could be stripped away.
I leaned forward.
“Just sit in that cramped cell and watch the Ilseong name disappear. That’s all you can do now. Not even your fancy little hobbies will survive this.”
Seo Jaehun shot to his feet.
“I should’ve killed you! I should’ve killed you the moment I learned who you were!”
His bloodshot eyes glared at me, but I felt nothing.
A pathetic bully who hid behind Ilseong’s name and crushed only those weaker than himself.
A psychopath? Don’t make me laugh.
He didn’t deserve that label.
“You think you can kill me? I’m not weak enough to die by your hand.”
His jaw cracked with tension.
I leaned back again and crossed my legs.
“Sit. I’m not done talking.”
But he didn’t sit.
“I’ll get out. No matter what it takes. And I’ll kill you!”
“Ha. Still haven’t come to your senses. You’re not my opponent.”
“What are you, huh? Just a loan-shark brat playing with money.”
Ridiculous. I let out a laugh.
“You people only have money, yet you always look down on us. Calling us parasites who play with interest. But it’s that money that put you in this room. If you have a little money, you’re powerless. But if you have more than you can control, it becomes power. You think you and I are the same? You, who strutted around this tiny country—versus me, who plays on the world stage? You still underestimate me.”
Chaebols begged when desperate, but spat on us any other day.
My grandfather knew that.
So did I.
But times had changed.
The ones controlling the entire world economy were Wall Street ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) banks, investment banks, private equity firms.
It was the era where money ruled the world.
“You’ll never understand that, even if you die. Not that it matters. I only cared because you were Seo Yonggeon’s son. After today, I won’t bother looking for you again. There’s no value left. Spend the rest of your life suffering in that cell.”
I stood up.
Seeing the savage hatred in his eyes, I smirked.
That was the trigger.
The aggression he’d been suppressing burst out.
Seo Jaehun let out a scream and charged me.
I easily dodged by twisting my body slightly.
He stumbled, then glared at me with burning eyes.
“You bastard!”
He swung again, shouting curses, but I caught his fist effortlessly.
I blocked it with my hand and crushed down hard.
“A–agh!”
His body twisted in pain and fury.
“So when words don’t work, you swing your fists? Too bad. You and I live in different worlds. You spent your whole life stomping on people weaker than you and convincing yourself you were strong. I walked on a blade’s edge every day.”
I threw his hand aside and shook my head.
“How boring. I feel stupid for even having a shred of interest in you.”
Coldly spitting that out, I turned and walked toward the exit.
But I heard him charge again from behind.
So all he had left was blind rage.
Without hesitation, I turned and kicked him hard.
Losing balance, he crashed to the floor with the chair.
I slowly walked over and stepped on his neck.
“Ke—kehk.”
“Try coming at me one more time. You won’t walk away.”
Even at my warning, his eyes were full of bloodshot defiance. freewēbnoveℓ.com
I pressed harder.
“Answer me.”
His face flushed red.
He clawed at my pant leg, suffocating and thrashing.
Pathetic insect.
I looked down at him with a cold stare.
Eventually his struggling weakened noticeably.
Only then did I lift my foot.
“Ke—kek! Haa... haa...”
He coughed dryly and gasped for air.
“Scary, isn’t it? Dying. Remember clearly—pain like that can come for you any time. Whatever strength you think you have can’t harm me. Not with money. Not with force.”
Leaving those words behind, I turned for the door.
Having completely lost his will, Seo Jaehun didn’t move.
I left the interrogation room without looking back.
