⚠️ t.w: //mention of suicide//
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"Yoohan-ah!"
In some way, Yoohan was thankful for all the messed up things he had been experiencing till this day, because it helped him to numb his heart so much that he could still smile amiably in front of the man who devised his family's death.
Even while he saw the man smiling at him widely, looking at him with a soft gaze and welcoming him with hands spread wide like a kind grandfather, Yoohan didn't jump to punch the man and threw him to a meat grinder like he wanted to.
Instead, he walked toward Seo Jungeon to accept the hug.
"Uncle," Yoohan greeted in a cheerful tone befitting a spoiled son that never knew any hardship.
"Forgive me for only being able to see you now," the old man laughed amiably, patting Yoohan's back gently and stroking it twice like how a grandfather would. "I have been so busy lately, you see. You're not going to sulk, are you?"
Oh, how much Yoohan praised himself to be able to keep his composure and proceed with the charade. "Don't worry about it, Uncle. I'm not a kid anymore," Yoohan laughed. "Although I feel sorry for failing that company you recommended me to take over."
Yoohan, of course, didn't look sorry at all with his almost giggling tone and aloof expression. And the old man replied accordingly with a laugh. "Hahaha! What's failing a company or two? It's just a small place anyway. You can always start again, so just learn from the mistake."
"You always give me such nice advice, Uncle," Yoohan laughed in return and tilted his head. "Are you probably asking to meet me because you want me to run another company?"
"Can't I just do it because I miss you?" the old man still laughed, tapping Yoohan's shoulder with a gentle expression and a smile on his face.
A smile that instantly froze at the words Yoohan spoke next.
"Oh? I thought maybe you want to see me because the Chairman asked you about Yooshin Construction," Yoohan replied cheerfully, with a tone as if he was just talking about a pleasant vacation; perky and energetic.
The Director froze; eyes unblinking as he just stood there for almost ten seconds without saying anything.
"Uncle?" Yoohan tilted his head and called out, still with that cheery, almost sing-song tone.
Only then that the Director moved, blinking his eyes slowly, and stared at the cold and nonchalant face of the young man in front of him. "Gitae, Yoonhwa—go get some rest in the cafe downstairs," the old man said to the two secretaries in the room, who looked at him back in surprise. "I would like to talk with my beloved nephew alone for a bit. It's been more than five years since we last met, you see."
The secretaries looked at the Director, who still gave them the usual affable smile. Like good workers, they bowed and retreated from the room without being told twice. The Director stepped back from Yoohan then, frowning when he saw the tall, imposing man near the door.
"I said I want to speak with Yoohan alone," the old man spoke sternly, frowning even more when the man did not move an inch, not even changing his facial expression.
"Ah, pardon me," the one who replied was Yoohan, who nonchalantly invited himself to sit on the nice chair in front of the desk. "I was involved in some unsavory incident not long ago, so my bodyguard had been extra sensitive," he leaned into the backrest and tilted his head to look at the Director with an almost innocent smile. "He could never stay even a minute away from me, or he will become rather...feisty."
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.
It wasn't a problem, really, until the man involved with drugs. Which, in itself, was something common. At least if it was about using it, or procuring it. What became a problem was when he started to actively smuggle it. Went to a party as usual on a cruise ship abroad, then took back some questionable souvenirs, only to get caught at the airport.
And no, not the Korean one.
In a foreign country without an extradition agreement, the son ended up in a rough jail, and the father tried hard to get the man out. Yoohan couldn't get more detail from the Korean side, but it was easy to deduce what happened after questioning the attache at the embassy and the attorney in charge of the case.
Seo Jungeon asked for help from the Chairman, and although Yoohan's grandfather helped at the start, he stopped doing it after the attorney said it was impossible. After all, the official also found out the drug party was involved in forced prostitution. Perhaps, realizing that he wouldn't be able to come out soon, the son committed suicide in prison.
A dead son. It was enough motivation to turn a loyal man around. Yoohan could see it, but that didn't mean he could accept or understand what Seo Jungeon had done.
"Is that why you did that?" the smile was gone from Yoohan's face now, just a calm voice and a cold gaze. "Because grandfather refused to help exculpate your totally guilty son?"
"Shut up!" the cigar rolled to the floor as Director Seo slammed the desk hard. "Don't talk about my son like that!"
The old man stood up and gripped the desk hard as he glared at Yoohan. "I had worked for that man all my life! I've dedicated all my life to him! But what did he do?!" he slammed his fist to the table and leaned forward with a clenched jaw. "I just asked for a favor! A favor! For my only son! Shouldn't I get that much?! How many times do you think I had to take care of his sons' wrongdoing all this time?!"
"So you killed my mother instead?" Yoohan returned the glare and calmly stood up, hissing as he pushed the desk until it rattled and the Director stumbled back to his chair with widened eyes. "My baby brother?!"
"No!" the old man exclaimed immediately, gripping the armrest of his chair tightly before rubbing his forehead a second after. "It's not supposed to be that bad, just a little accident..."
"Excuses," Yoohan scoffed, looking down at the old man with disgust. "Then you should have turned yourself in the moment you know someone is dead."
"I can't," Director Seo shook his head, leaning back on his chair and chuckled. "I still haven't reached my objective," he smiled, looking up to return Yoohan's gaze. "I still haven't destroyed this Group; the empire that man built with all his life."
Yoohan raised his brow. "Wow...you're really blabbering all that to me, huh?"
"Well, you're the one who said it can't be brought to court."
The man said it with a gentle smile, as if he finally regained his composure after the earlier outburst, after baring it all in front of Yoohan. Perhaps because he no longer needed to pretend, or because he thought he would still come on top of his game.
Yoohan chuckled as he sat down again and spoke in amusement. "Uncle, you seemed to think that I'm still the same old foolish child, huh?"
"What are you talking about?" the old man scoffed. "You are definitely different, with how you look and conduct yourself these days."
"Yeah, which means you still think of me as a foolish child, don't you?" Yoohan laughed briefly. "Perhaps even worse than before."
The old man frowned, looking tired of confused about what Yoohan actually wanted to convey. "Again, what are you—"
"But Uncle...don't you think you're the foolish one?" Yoohan tilted his head, propping his elbow on the armrest and leaning into his hand.
"What?"
"You already know how much sorrow can change people," Yoohan smiled, letting out a soft sigh between his lips as he stared at the old man in palpable pity. "As someone who did all of that for revenge, you don't seem to think I'll end up the same."
It was then that Seo Jungeon suddenly felt goosebumps crawling down his spine. No, it wasn't because the bodyguard from the door had started to walk toward the desk. It was that calm tone and amiable smile, the cold inside the young, black eyes.
"Foolish, isn't it?"
It was like looking at a mirror, at how his face looked after he came back from the funeral without a casket, as he swore for revenge with a smile on his face after his soul burned into ashes.
While he was still trapped under Yoohan's gaze, the bodyguard put something in front of him; a tablet with some pictures.
"What...is this?"
It looked like some kind of contraption. As the picture was part of a slideshow, it constantly moved to show other parts, and Seo Jungeon gradually understood. Memories of five years ago fleeting by, as he burned the picture of the same contraption, and watched as they were being erased from the investigation report.
Was this...the contraption that caused Lee Yoohan's accident five years ago? No, Seo Jungeon was sure this was the same contraption. It was just...there was no way they had the file, unless...unless they took it from the group that he commissioned, those gangsters.
Was it actually Yoohan...that got rid of those gangsters?
"Why...are you showing me this?" the Director asked cautiously.
"J," Yoohan muttered casually, and the bodyguard changed the slides.
It was still the same contraption, but the picture gradually zoomed out. Little by little the view expanded, until the whole car came into view, including the license plate number. Numbers. Because there were two cars, apparently. A series of numbers Seo Jungeon was very familiar with.
Because it belonged to the cars used by his wife and daughter.
"No!"
Before the old man could take the tablet, the bodyguard already snatched the device and proceeded to delete all of the pictures. "Everything can be remotely controlled by my people, and if you try to remove it, well...there's plenty of ways, isn't there, J?"
"Certainly, Master."
Yoohan stood up then, leaning forward and whispered in a quiet, sharp voice. "Taste my despair...Uncle."
"Y-you're lying...you can't..." the old man said in a trembling voice, eyes shaking as he watched Yoohan walk away from the desk. "This is a crime—"
"And yours was not?" the young man stopped and laughed, looking at him while shaking his head. "I know you're a scum, Director Seo, but please don't degrade yourself further into a brainless third-rated villain."
This time, the bodyguard—who hadn't moved from his position beside the desk—took out a stack of paper inside his suit and threw it to the desk. Yoohan glanced at the old man with a smile as the aged, trembling hands picked the paper up.
"I have much..." the young man said with a joyful threat in his voice.
"...much," the bodyguard threw another stack of papers.
"...much more things I could drag you down with," Yoohan laughed as the old man read the document, eyes shaking the more he stared at the proof of his corruption; the embezzlement, the shady deals with rival companies, information-leaking, secret shares purchasing, and many more.
"W-what..what do you want?" the old man took a deep breath as the papers in his hand fell to the desk and scattered around him. He looked up toward Yoohan with a pleading gaze, yelling desperately. "I'll do anything!"
The smile on Yoohan's face vanished as he was reminded of the traitor in the club's basement. Was it because they were in this together? Their pleading sounded the same.
The old man looked frantic as he saw the disinterest and disgust on Yoohan's face. He abruptly walked toward the young man, hands flailing pathetically to show his desperation. But he couldn't care less about looking pathetic right now when his family's life was in danger. "I will...yes! I'll turn myself in! Do you want me to confess to the police? I can—"
SLAP!
The old man blinked, feeling the sting spread from his cheek to his temple as the ringing sound from the slap reverberated in his ears.
"You can what? You can get out in a few weeks?" Yoohan sneered, giving his hand to his bodyguard who was already waiting with a handkerchief to wipe it clean. "Then you'll tell the world I force you to do that because I'm delusional—things like that?" the young man laughed, the loathing palpable in his eyes.
"No, I'm—"
"Even if you rot in prison, you won't get to feel bleeding to death like my baby brother," the black eyes narrowed, and the brow raised as the voice dipped even lower. "So why would I?"
The old man watched in silence as Yoohan walked to the couch and casually took a seat on the head chair with a charming smile on his face as if he didn't just threaten to kill someone's family. There was nothing in that cold eyes but malice and despair.
"Then what is it that you want?!" Seo Jungeon yelled in desperation.
Yoohan, with a smile that did not touch his eyes, tapped the armrest slowly. "Your shares, first," he paused for a bit to relish the old man's widened eyes and trembling shoulder. "And whatever deal you make with that bastard Chairman Kim."
The old man, who was already shocked, widened his eyes even more. "How do you—"
"I'll give you until tomorrow," Yoohan cut the man nonchalantly.
"No, wait! It needs time to—"
"Your time is not my business,"
"But—"
Without letting the old man continue, Yoohan slammed his hands on the armrest, along with a loud sigh. "I'm losing patience," he clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Would you gift your shares to me, or should I pick them up from your daughter's burning car?"
"No! Please! Please...I'll...I'll do it!" the old man scrambled into the couch across from Yoohan, hands gripping the table for purchase. "Just...just don't touch—"
"How funny," Yoohan laughed in blatant mockery. "I thought you won't care for your family, since you seemed to have an easy time destroying mine."
"I...I..." the old man stuttered, all countenance of superiority evaporated from his visage.
It was almost pitiful, the view of an old man begging for the life of his wife and daughter, shoulder trembling and knuckles white. The shaking eyes, the pale cheeks...the old man looked so harmless, innocent, wronged.
It was fortunate that the affection Yoohan held toward the old man had already been dead and buried.
And so, with a cheerful tone, he added. "Ah, I'm not done yet," he leaned back and smiled widely. "You have to give your resignation letter."
At this point, Seo Jungeon could only stare blankly at the devil's incarnation in front of him, trembling lips parted without any sound that could go past his constricting throat.
"Oh, don't worry," and still, with that merry tone, the blonde, pretty demon continued. "If what you want is to destroy this group, I'll gladly do that for you."
Yes, it might as well be an encounter with a demon. A demon who promised to fulfill his wish in exchange for his wealth, his soul, his sanity...
"What...what should I do after that?" with a weak voice, Seo Jungeon asked, without an ounce of energy to fight back. Perhaps later, but for now, he was just too shocked, too scared of his family's safety.
Yes, later, once he was calmer, perhaps he could—
"Run," Lee Yoohan stood up, the word uttered in bitter poison and freezing gaze. "Run as far as you can," the young man walked toward the door, no trace of a smile or his past could be seen on his face. "Run so my dog can't hunt you down."
"Why..." Seo Jungeon muttered in a tremble, throat choking in fright at the demon who was walking away.
Who was this man? Who was this person with a gaze made of void and a voice filled with poison?
"Why are you like this?" he didn't know this young man, who had the same face as the sweet, innocent, obedient boy who called him 'Uncle' with glittering eyes and respect. "How do you turn up like this..."
"How?" Yoohan stopped in his track and laughed, before turning back and walking toward the couch. "What do you mean by how?"
The laughter stopped along with Yoohan's footsteps. Lightly, he put his hand on the old man's chin and lifted the Director's face. "You're the one who creates me, Uncle," Yoohan said softly, with a gentle smile that he used to give the old man when he was a child. "You're the one who made me like this."
Still with that smile on his face, Yoohan leaned closer, until his lips hovered above Seo Jungeon's ear, and whispered coldly.
"It's all. Your. Fault."
* * *
Inside the luxurious sport car driving through the city, Lee Yoohan read the document in his hands as a single song was playing on repeat from the audio system.
"This is madness," Yoohan shook his head. "He's so going to ruin this project, huh?"
"Entertainment is always a high-risk business," Jay shrugged. "It's not for everyone."
Yoohan glanced at the bodyguard, the corner of his lips twitched a little bit. "It seems to suit you," he said. And it wasn't just the way he was so good at discerning good movies, but also the fact that he would be snatching hearts if he was to appear in one.
"Maybe in another universe," the bodyguard smirked.
Yoohan raised his brow, lips stretching into a smile. "Huh...would you be an actor in another universe?"
"Ehh...not my cup of tea,"
"Hmm...then, a movie investor? Ah—entertainment agency's director?" Yoohan tapped on his lips in contemplation, somehow looking so earnest thinking about such a possibility.
Jay laughed at the serious tone, and responded with a charming smile. "Things like that could happen even without going to another universe, no?"
Yoohan paused and turned to watch the gentle smile. No, it wasn't that handsome features that got him frozen in place—it was the implication of what that handsome man said.
A future.
Things that could possibly happen after they were done with all this bullshit. After all, buying the media company meant they had a completely legal, functioning company that was actually doing good with Jay's direction in movie investment. That thing about being a movie investor, or owning an entertainment company...it was possible. As long as they reached the end of the dark tunnel and stepped into the uncharted land spelled future.
Yoohan...hadn't really thought about the future.
He realized then, bitterly, that his mind had only been occupied with revenge. Retribution and atonement. It was such a long journey that when he could finally see the end... he realized that he had...nothing.
Wordlessly, he turned his head to stare at the road, watching other vehicles ride by, and the lights brightly filling the evening gloom. Ah...he hated this. He didn't want to fill his mind with distracting, useless thoughts.
So he chose to distract himself by thinking about something else. "What do you think he's doing right now?"
"That man named Seo?" Jay raised his brow and tapped on the steering wheel. "Let's see...what time is it?" he glanced at the clock indicator on the dashboard and smirked. "My 'friends' should be greeting them properly in a few hours, I think."
As Yoohan had instructed, Seo Jungeon handed in his resignation letter yesterday, after of course, taking care of 'gifting' Yoohan all the shares that he owned, and made a pretty believable excuse to pass the deal he made with Chairman Kim to Yoohan.
Thanks to that, Yoohan now knew what the Chairman was up to, and what the disgusting old man's relation to Seo Jungeon was.
Long story short, Seo Jungeon was cooperating with Chairman Kim to take over the HS Group, as a part of his revenge. Things like giving away projects to Chairman Kim's companies, or helping the old man buy insider stock, embezzling money and buying shares on his own so he could become the biggest stockholder and owned the group one day.
Yoohan wanted to laugh when he found out. That wasn't revenge. That was greed. Sure, the greed compelled him to take down the Lee family to own the company, but Yoohan...Yoohan wanted more than that. He wanted everything to burn. He would raze the company to the ground if he could.
But that was a decision for another day.
Meanwhile, there was a reason why Yoohan told the man to run. Someone who had been working for so long like him suddenly resigning would bring a lot of questions. So before that question could be answered, Yoohan told the man to go away, far from Korea.
But there was no way the old man would go somewhere obscure, not with the meager amount of time Yoohan gave him. So he would go to the place Korean were most likely to go; USA. The man still owned a place there, and since Yoohan didn't squander all of his wealth, he could still afford to go with his wife and daughter, probably dreaming about another chance of revenge—for Yoohan too, this time.
But Yoohan would not allow that.
"Tell them to only deal with Seo Jungeon."
Jay responded with a sigh. "You're still so merciful..."
"It's not like those two spoiled people can do anything anyway," Yoohan leaned back and closed his eyes to shield his vision from the glaring traffic light.
He wasn't a good man. And he didn't feel guilty about letting his enemy die. He certainly didn't feel guilty about causing misery to two women with the same quality as his father's other wives; gaudy, abusive, overall horrible human beings.
But he also had no beef with those two people, so he would rather not dirty his hands with unnecessary blood. "If they managed to survive without any supporters in foreign land, then that's their reward for hanging on."
"I still think you're too kind," Jay clicked his tongue as he turned the car to a driveway.
Yoohan just shook his head in response. "You're standard is questionable."
The bodyguard smirked, not at all looking disturbed about being called out. "Anyway, do you think what he said is true?"
Yoohan frowned slightly at that, recalling the last thing that Seo Jungeon told them.
I wasn't the only one on this. Jeong Mina knew about it too.
"I don't know," Yoohan muttered. "But it wouldn't change anything. I'm still going to make that woman pay regardless."
Yeah. The third wife had always been on Yoohan's top hitlist since the start. And if the woman truly had something to do with the incident--or worse, had something to do with Chairman Kim--then it would just work more as a motivation for Yoohan.
"Anyway...this place again," Yoohan stared at the traditional restaurant with Korean-style roofs that they had visited in the past, to meet Lee Wonyoung.
This time, however, he would meet someone much much worse; Chairman Kim.
Surprisingly, he didn't see those savages posing as bodyguards here. Perhaps even the Chairman realized those gangsters were more of a liability for his reputation in a luxurious, elegant establishment like this.
The old man did come with his toy, however, that little actor who was busy sucking the old man's dick during their last encounter. The little minx who batted his eyelashes toward both Yoohan and Jay as they entered the room, as if they were there for an orgy rather than serious business talk.
"Isn't this quite the coincidence?" Yoohan, as the spoiled Young Master who had no regard for etiquette, used his freedom to treat Chairman Kim like an equal friend. "When Uncle told me to meet someone on his behalf, I never thought it was you, Chairman Kim."
He could clearly see the corner of the Chairman's lips twitching. Perhaps he expected Yoohan to greet him politely like every other people, or perhaps he lost the control of his facial muscle because of old age—who knows.
"Anyway, Uncle Jungeon only told me that you're making a movie—"
"A drama, Master," the bodyguard reminded him from the side.
"Ah, yes! A drama! Anyway, Uncle told me about that and said I should put my money there," Yoohan finished with a beaming smile.
The old man said nothing, not even sparing Yoohan a glance after the first one. He just took the teacup in front of him and slowly brought the steaming cup to his lips with slightly trembling hands.
It was a blatant effort to show that he was the superior one, to drag the younger man to his tone instead. Yoohan held back his laughter and just patiently watched the old man sipping on his tea in deliberate slowness.
So they stayed in awkward silence until Chairman Kim finished tasting his tea and spoke in an unsettling voice filled with phlegm. "Director Seo's sudden move was rather surprising for me,"
Yoohan, with honed acting skills, responded dramatically. "I know, right?! I don't even know about it!" he exclaimed in a whiny voice, before turning it into a lament. "Uncle is the only one who's nice to me too..."
"You have me, Master..."
"Of course, baby," Yoohan gasped and stroked the bodyguard's chin with a smile one would give their beloved pet. "But I'm talking about people in the company," he brushed the slightly pouting lips before shifting his gaze back to the old man. "But, back to the topic,"
The old man murky eyes seemed to observe the two guests for a bit, before finally responding. "You have to know, that investing in this project can not be done half-heartedly," the piercing, unsettling gaze lingered on Yoohan. "You'll have to pour in quite a lot."
Swallowing his disgust and gripping Jay's thigh beneath the table for precaution, Yoohan raised his brow. "Oh, how much?"
The old man glanced toward the actor, who immediately scrambled to take out a card with written numbers on it. "Here, Young Master Lee," the actor said bashfully.
Ignoring the intentional bait, Yoohan snatched the card and showed it to the bodyguard. "J, do we have enough?" he asked with a careless face and nonchalant tone, like a young master who never cared to track his own money and only care to spend it.
The bodyguard looked at the card for a bit before nodding and calmly responding. "I believe we do."
"Oh, hear that?" Yoohan laughed cheerfully, immediately acting casual again. "Don't worry, I have more than enough. I just landed myself in a handful of money recently, you see, and—"
"Master," the bodyguard scolded softly.
Yoohan gasped and then covered it with a grin. "Oops," he giggled a little bit, and then stopped after catching the bodyguard's silent glare. "I know, I know—I'll stop, okay?" he clicked his tongue before facing the Chairman again. "Anyway, I have enough, so..."
"Master," once again, the bodyguard called him firmly, as if reminding him of something.
"Oh, alright," Yoohan sighed and shifted his body, as if trying to do something that he'd rather not but be forced to anyway. "The money's not a problem, but here's the thing, though," he tapped the pad of his fingers together while staring at the Chairman. "You said it yourself that it's a large sum of money, yeah? So...is there like...a safety net here? Like a guarantee that the project will be profitable?"
All of them knew where this conversation was going, and Chairman Kim only responded dryly. "I never do a losing trade."
"Yeah, but you know... entertainment business is kind of fickle don't you think?" Yoohan grimaced slightly.
"I never lose."
"Hmm...then, it's fine if you put a guarantee in the contract agreement, right?" Yoohan pursed his lips and tapped on the table.
The old man frowned a little bit. "A guarantee?"
"Yeah, you know...like you'll compensate me if the project fell through," Yoohan paused as the murky eyes pierced into him, and immediately added. "Of course, I'm not proposing this just for a one-sided benefit..."
For a while, there was only coldness inside the room. But other than disgust, Yoohan didn't feel any pressure—after all, he had been facing pressure from adults ever since he was a mere child. So he just returned the stare patiently, and even proceeded to calmly sip on his tea.
Eventually, the old man spoke. "Go on,"
Yoohan smiled and delivered his line—still with the act of someone who heard it from someone else and not of his own mind. "We can make it like...if the project is a success, I would yield a percentage of the dividend to you, and put more money into your next project—doesn't have to be in showbiz too,"
"Hmm..."
"I mean...you said yourself that you never lose anyway," Yoohan shrugged. "I'm just..."
Yoohan paused, frowning, pursing his lips for a bit before letting out a long sigh. As if discarding his line, he suddenly leaned forward slightly and spoke in a quieter voice. "You know that I'm kinda suck on this, right? My media company went down because we can't seem to invest in a good movie, so...you can say that I'm getting a bit...paranoid."
With a pitiful face of a naive young master, Yoohan stared at the old man. Chairman Kim didn't say anything for a while, but the old man also didn't give him that piercing stare he gave before, or a twitching corner of his downturn lips.
After a while with no words, Yoohan brought himself to ask with a grin. "So...deal?"
* * *
"Can you do it?" Yoohan asked while shielding his eyes from the sunlight, following the ball arching through the air.
"Sure, it's not hard," Kang Jun shrugged, clicking his tongue as the ball swerved and plunged into the water hazard. He sighed and turned toward Yoohan. "When you told me you'll ask for a favor, I thought you'll ask for a magic lamp or something—this is easy peasy."
The man waved his hands, as if buying a copyright to a song for ten years was like picking out a walnut cookie from the rest area.
"Needs a lot of money, though," Yoohan chuckled. With Kang Jun's net worth, however, it probably was as easy as buying a cookie.
"Easy peasy," the man repeated, swinging the golf club to his shoulder like he was about to have a street brawl or something. "Hardly worth five birthdays."
"Such a reliable hyung,"
"Yeah?" the older man grinned, turning his face to look at Yoohan as they followed the caddies to another ground. "Should this hyung purchase some shares too just to screw them a bit more?"
"Sure," Yoohan shrugged. He couldn't care less who owned them as long as they were on his side. There was a limit on how much he could get by his money alone, anyway. "But wait until they're going down."
"O-ho?" Kang Jun raised his brow, lips curling into a deep smile. "Sounds like it won't be long."
Yoohan threw an affirmative smile. Indeed—it shouldn't be long until the chaos inside the Group spread even more to the others, still oblivious shareholders. He heard some major shareholder meetings would be held concerning that. Speaking about shareholder meeting...
"Ah..." Yoohan finally recalled something that might help his endeavor. It had nothing to do with bringing down HS, but everything to do with taking down Chairman Kim—a side quest he promised himself to take. "It'll probably be helpful if you can pressure Dream's major shareholder to impede the old man's effort in taking over the company."
"Dream's major shareholder?" Kang Jun tilted his head while tapping the club to his palm, trying to remember which one owned Dream Entertainment shares. "Ah—the Han family? No problem."
There was a second when Yoohan thought he saw the corner of Jay's lips twitch, but when he looked at the man again to make sure, his bodyguard—who was also his caddy for today—just gave him the usual, charming smile.
Well, not that he had any leeway to think about it, because they heard a familiar voice then.
"This is nostalgic,"
The voice came with the sound of a buggy cart stopping, and they turned around to see Song Hwa walking toward them casually in a sweater and slacks; not at all dressed for a golf match—not that he brought any equipment with him. And with the sunglasses perched on his face, the man might as well went there for a vacation.
"Now?" Kang Jun threw his club away and held his hips, staring exasperatedly at the newcomer. "Now you come? You don't even budge when I ask you to last week. Did I do something to upset you or wha—"
Before Kang Jun could finish his rant, his lips had already been sealed by Hwa's, who gave him a deep one for ten seconds that Yoohan used to nonchalantly hit the ball, ignoring the bickering couple. Well, it was more of a one-sided complaint anyway.
When Song Hwa let him go, smiling and licking his lips with arms around his neck, Kang Jun grunted. "That's hardly fair..."
"Sure," Hwa stroked the older man's cheek before letting go, and casually strolling toward Yoohan. "Seems like you're on a roll, Yoohan."
"The game..." Yoohan squinted to watch the ball landed smoothly on the greens, before turning his head to face Song Hwa with a smirk. "Or the game?"
"Both," Hwa chuckled, putting his sunglasses back. "Heard you make a lot of progress. I'm having fun hearing all the rumors flying around."
"It's basically the talk of society nowadays," Kang Jun, who decided he was no longer peeved, joined the conversation after picking up his club again. "I don't think that woman—who is she again? The first wife? Yeah, I don't think she can ever go back to the socialite club ever again."
"Yeah," Yoohan stretched his back and gave his club to Jay as they started to walk. "It'll probably be best for her to go abroad. Either go back with her ex or hunt some younger man again," there was a deep smile etched on his face then. "Whatever her choice is, she will need capital."
"Hmm..." Song Hwa smiled subtly. The gaze he gave Yoohan was that of a proud teacher. He looked around the course, at the reddish and yellow tree that made the ground and the sky looked like they were on fire. And so did some people's life. "A harvesting season indeed."
Yoohan smiled, for once it wasn't cynical or filled with bitterness. Maybe because, like Song Hwa said, this felt nostalgic; like how they used to meet in the past, with Hyunmin and sometimes Ingyoo too. Or perhaps because he finally tasted progress, and could almost see the end of the tunnel.
It was one smile of freedom before the big storm he knew he would be standing in. This would probably be the last time he tasted peace before everything was over.
"Pork cutlet with sweet potato mousse filling," Yoohan suddenly said, prompting Kang Jun to look at him in confusion.
"Huh?"
"Understood," the loyal bodyguard and devoted lover, of course, didn't need to be told twice.
"Huh?"
"Roasted sweet potato is nice too," Song Hwa added. "You know, the one being sold with a cart."
The ever-confused Kang Jun, who wallowed in wealth since birth and had never bought something from the street cart in almost four decades of his life, looked at Song Hwa dubiously. "How do you even know that?"
While Song Hwa had a few hiccups in his early life, the man also came from a wealthy family. Moreover, he was supposedly living abroad until he graduated. So where did he gain this plebian knowledge from?
At the inquisitive stare, Song Hwa just tapped the older man's cheek gently and replied with a teasing smile. "I go about—unlike you, darling."
"Foul play!"
You think after fifteen years of relationship, they would stop this pattern, but nope—Yoohan almost couldn't hold himself from rolling his eyes. Fortunately, he saw something—someone—to distract himself from the couple.
"Oh, isn't that Ingyoo?"
Like Song Hwa, the man came with a buggy car. He jumped off once he saw them, and Yoohan wasted no time asking him.
"How is it?"
"We got them," the man who came there in a suit rather than a collared shirt told him with a smile. "The first wife's shares."
A harvesting season indeed.
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🎶 Breaking Benjamin - Feed The Wolf
Woow...I hadn't been here for so long 😆
Sorry for being absent for two weeks, and thank you for all the nice messages 🥹 they give me strength folks
This one is quite long--no smut, but hopefully you still like it, hehe
Disclaimer: I forgot if Dream Project is supposed to be a movie or drama, hahaha, just roll with it, yeah?
Also, I'm still recovering from how Fujoking made Yoohan *spoiler* kissed Jay first. That wasn't in the novel...right?