Payback: Reversal

23 - Feed The Wolf

It was probably just his imagination, but Director Seo felt like he saw the man snarling, and he walked back to his chair behind the desk as if to put a barrier between him and the giant rabid dog. He didn't even have it in him to criticize the way Yoohan just impolitely sat there like he owned the room—he never taught the young master to act this rude.

But he got it; Yoohan had changed. He had become like the other rotten apples of a deeply rotten tree that was the HS Group. So the Director found his smile back and spoke with a long sigh and forlorn face. "Ah...of course, it's such an unfortunate incident..."

"Not as unfortunate as the accident you devised for me," Yoohan replied casually while flicking dirt from his nail. The way he said it so easily, in a playful tone and a nonchalant smirk brought a deep frown on Seo Jungeon's forehead.

"Are you accusing me of something?" the old man's voice dipped low, almost foregoing his pretense of being amiable and sympathetic.

"Oh, Uncle..." Yoohan covered his lips with his fingers and chuckled. "The moment you told people to go because I mentioned Yooshin, you were basically confessing already, don't you think?"

"What? I just thought you were going to talk about how Yooshin took advantage of your accident to take over the construction project—"

"Ahahahaha!" Yooohan suddenly burst out laughing, slapping the armrest for good measure while at it. "Oh, come on, aren't you smarter than this?"

Just as abruptly as it started, the laughter died just as swiftly. Yoohan smiled deeply at how the benign, gentle grandpa facade finally cracked. The lips that had been smiling were drawn straight, stiff and taut. The eyes that always curled gently turned cold and piercing.

"Yes, that's right," Yoohan chuckled, eyes narrowed in visible disdain and voice low. "Let's skip the pretend game, shall we?"

With a short sigh, Director Seo pulled back the drawer on his desk and took out a cigar, before casually cutting one and lighting it. If one were to enter the room right now, it would just feel like an amiable conversation between a young man and his mentor figure.

Although, if one stayed long enough, they'd be able to hear the cold words that the Director uttered after he finished taking the first drag.

"And what are you doing here instead of taking it to court?"

Pfft—Yoohan snorted openly, leaning back and swiveling his chair like a kid in a playground. "We both know that won't work," he said, and then added with a cynical smirk. "We're outside the system after all."

"'We', huh?" the old man chuckled. "That's not the case."

"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Yoohan tilted his head. "Because of your son?"

Yoohan smiled, reeled in the delight of seeing Seo Jungeon's gone wide-eyes, fingers trembling around the cigar, sending ash trickling into the immaculate desk.

"You—"

The old man opened his mouth, only to find his voice caught in his throat as he glared at the young man smiling calmly in front of him.

After weeks of digging around, the investigation team that Yoohan hired finally found something that could become a motive. It was something that happened a long time ago, when Yoohan's grandfather, the previous Chairman, was still alive, and Seo Jungeon was still his Chief Secretary.

Seo Jungeon had two children; a son and a daughter. Like the children of HS Group's elites, those children enjoyed the privilege of being well off. Enjoyed it too much, even, because they really liked squandering their father's money for extravagant lifestyles. The eldest son, especially, liked spending time abroad, partying with friends he found in a club or through online connections.