"No matter how much I thought about it, it was strange, so I did some investigating. Doesn't it seem strange to you too, Uncle? The fact that no news reached Grandfather. It means someone intentionally blocked the information..."
Cheon Su-han's eyes shook rapidly. As expected, he knew something. The lighting in the lawyer's meeting room flickered uneasily.
"No matter if they cut ties or not, my mom is Grandfather's youngest daughter. It's strange that nowhere, neither the police nor the prosecution, noticed that simple personal information. If they knew, they would have contacted him."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Don't you think it's strange, Uncle?"
"Even if it is strange, how would I know about something that happened over a decade ago."
I nodded at those words.
"That's true too. I was thinking the same thing. But, as it happens, someone who knows about that incident showed up."
"What?"
Cheon Su-han's voice rose.
"Yes."
"Who is it? What bastard knows about that?"
The question was wrong. It should be 'What bastard killed my little sister'. If he were a true older brother.
"Is that important? What the contents are is more important. The target was my mom, and the ones who carried it out were two men. And the name that came out of those people's mouths was Teacher Park. For now, just this much? Also..."
As I slightly trailed off, perhaps thinking I knew more, Cheon Su-han's expression turned ashen.
"I plan to tell Grandfather. I don't know who Teacher Park is, but it's highly likely he's someone related to Grandfather. The person who could block information would also be near Grandfather. That person is..."
"No. I really don't know! I didn't know!"
Cheon Su-han showed a violent reaction and stood up from his seat. I raised my head and looked at his face with emotionless eyes. He turned his head away at my cold gaze.
"You didn't know... That sounds like you knew something."
"That's..."
"Sit."
Cheon Su-han weakly sat back down.
"Tell me what you know. Prove that you weren't involved, Uncle. If uncles really were involved in my mom's death, then my mom is... just too pitiful."
My voice trembled slightly. I prayed it wasn't true. Even while being certain, I truly prayed it wasn't true.
However, Cheon Su-han stuttered and revealed the truth I didn't want to believe.
"I, I really didn't know. I found out after Mi-sook died. Yes, I found out too late. If I had known, I would have stopped it no matter what."
My hands under the desk trembled uncontrollably. Cheon Su-han, who was talking gibberish, seemed to not even see me in front of him anymore.
"That bastard Teacher Park killed her. I really didn't know. B-brother blocked the information that was supposed to go to Father... I also found out late and fought with him. It's the truth. By the time I found out, everything was already over."
Cheon Su-han, this bastard is just an idiot. He was nothing more or less than Cheon Su-man's puppet. Watching that pathetic sight made me even angrier, so I shouted.
"Then you should have at least told Grandfather. If you are my mom's older brother, of course you should have told him! Fuck, are you people even human? Even beasts don't kill their own family, you sons of bitches!"
My entire body began to shake with rage. It makes sense that they killed me. Would bastards who ignored their own sister's death hesitate to kill their nephew?
"How, no matter what, could you think of killing your sister? She left saying she would live quietly, giving up Grandfather's wealth and everything. Did you really have to find her and kill her? Why? Just why!"
Cheon Su-han bowed his head and trembled, unable to say a word. I shouted at him as if spitting out the words.
"I hope your claim that you found out later is the truth. Because if you're lying to me right now, I'll kill you. Parole? Pardon? Don't even hope for it. I will take away everything you are enjoying right now. I will make it that way."
I kicked off my seat and stood up. As I staggered while walking away, Section Chief Ma caught me.
"...Section Chief Ma, let's go. To the house."
Supported by Section Chief Ma, I left the meeting room.
Chairman Cheon was looking at Cheon Ji-won in front of him with a displeased gaze. Cheon Ji-won couldn't even meet Chairman Cheon's eyes and just kept his head down.
"Tsk, you pathetic fool. Are you still living like that?"
"I'm sorry."
"Why do things to be sorry for! The eldest grandson is still acting like this? How long do you plan to disappoint me?"
Chairman Cheon let out a deep sigh as he looked at Cheon Ji-won, who silently bowed his head.
"Right. What do you want to do?"
"Father tells me to join Ilseong, but I have no confidence. Grandfather."
"No confidence? You pathetic fool. You're giving up without even trying?"
"But..."
"Don't make excuses. Even your younger sister Ji-soo says she plans to enter the company and learn the work from the bottom, yet as her older brother, you're acting like this? So you plan to do nothing and just keep living like that?"
"..."
Chairman Cheon let out a heavy sigh.
"Myeong-hun, come in."
At the Chairman's call, Manager Ha entered. Cheon Ji-won glanced at him and turned his head back.
"Transfer two buildings in Gangnam to this guy."
"Which ones should I transfer?"
"Figure it out and transfer the most expensive ones."
"I will prepare the transfer of ownership and hand them over."
Manager Ha left, and Chairman Cheon let out a sigh as he looked at Cheon Ji-won again.
"With that, you should be able to live as you want without Su-man's help. Whether you blow it all away or whatever, figure it out yourself. This will be the last thing I give you. Go away, I don't even want to look at you."
"I will contact you in a few days. We will prepare the documents and transfer them without any issues. We will handle the taxes on our end."
Cheon Ji-won half-listened to Manager Ha's words and left Chairman Cheon's house. Considering his usual behavior, it was an unimaginably quiet exit.
"Please take us to a quiet place for a moment."
At my instruction, Section Chief Ma drove the car to a parking lot by the Han River. We arrived at the riverside of the Han River and I got out of the car. The cool river breeze brushed past my face, but my heated anger showed no signs of cooling down.
I fell into thought while looking at the solidly frozen river.
'It's hard to believe there was such a backstory to my parents' death, but did Grandfather really not know?
Could it be that he knew but stayed quiet because he couldn't abandon his children?' Where the anger faded, questions remained. 'If I tell Grandfather, but he already knew?
What if he tells me to forgive them?' I was confused. Knowing that Grandfather had lingering attachments to his family, I had been pushing back my revenge against the Cheon Su-man brothers.
However, seeing Cheon Su-han tremble and confess made it impossible to delay it any longer. 'If he had already known and turned a blind eye to it, could I go against Grandfather's wishes and take revenge?' No matter how much I thought about it, it was a problem with no answer.
How much time had passed.
"The wind is cold. Let's go to the car."
Section Chief Ma called me. Having stood there continuously facing the river wind, I was already cold to the tips of my hair.
"Section Chief Ma, what should I do?"
"You can do whatever you want."
"Even if it goes against Grandfather's wishes?"
Section Chief Ma, who had been silently looking at me, opened his mouth.
"What are you afraid of? Are you worried that the Chairman might know? Or are you afraid of having everything taken away? Are you afraid of being abandoned like this?"
I let out a hollow laugh at the question that seemed to pinch the inside of my heart. Right, what is there to be afraid of now? When I've already died once and come back to life.
Section Chief Ma, who was observing my expression, added.
"I will follow the path the Boss takes. Even if you end up parting ways with the Chairman. That is also what the Chairman wanted when I came back to Korea."
Section Chief Ma's reliable words shook my heart.
"You are different from the Chairman, Boss. You don't need to become the same. I hope you become a Boss who is different from the Chairman."
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry. I overstepped."
"No. Whenever it seems like I'm about to make the wrong choice, please stop me. Let's go now."
I patted his reliable shoulder as he bowed his head. We moved the car again and arrived at Pyeongchang District. As I entered the house, Manager Ha greeted me.
"Where is Grandfather?"
"He is in the study."
I stood in front of the study door and steadied my breathing.
"Grandfather, it's Mu-hyeok."
"Come in."
When I opened the study door and walked in, I saw Grandfather welcoming me with a gentle smile.
"Where have you been since morning?"
"I had some business to attend to."
Grandfather, who nodded slightly, saw my stiff expression and asked.
"Is something the matter?"
"...Did you know? That my parents' deaths weren't from a robbery, but a murder carried out by someone's request."
In an instant, the smile disappeared from Grandfather's lips. No matter how much I waited, the answer I was waiting for did not return.
He knew. Since when?
Since the beginning?
Or recently?
"You knew, didn't you? But why didn't you tell me?"
In my past life, I thought Grandfather was a cold-blooded man without blood or tears. I resented Grandfather, and at the same time, I lived desperately to be acknowledged by him. However, when I came back again, seeing Grandfather looking very different from how I knew him, I thought I was wrong.
I thought that Grandfather was also just an ordinary person to his family, and that I should serve him well in this life. But now I truly don't know. I couldn't tell what was in Grandfather's heart.
"Please tell me. Why on earth did you pretend not to know? When did you find out? Did you know even before you met me and just looked away?"
Grandfather remained silent, sending me a sad look. That was the same as an affirmation.
"If I hadn't found out what happened until the very end, what were you planning to do?"
"...Then what should I have done? Mi-sook, Su-man, Su-han, they are all my flesh and blood. Did you want me to kill my own blood with my own hands?"
Grandfather's voice was shaking.
"Su-man didn't kill her directly. He only blocked the information coming to me."
Cheon Su-man's name came out. It meant he knew everything. That my mom died at the hands of the Blue Wind Association, and that the person who colluded with them and blocked all information was Cheon Su-man.
"And yet you told me to try getting along with them? To call the people who killed my parents my uncles and follow them? After Grandfather passes away, do you think those people would have kept me alive? No, didn't you consider how much I would have regretted and resented Grandfather if I found out that truth too late?"
"..."
Now everything made sense. Why Grandfather had chosen me as his successor in my past life despite being displeased with me. Wasn't it half because of his guilt toward my mother, and half because he couldn't hand it over to the Cheon Su-man brothers who were involved in that death?
In the end, because Grandfather couldn't properly bring things to a close, I ended up dying by their hands. I thought I would never cry again, but tears were already flowing from my eyes before I knew it.
"What is your reason for staying still even though you know the culprits?"
"I'm sorry. I also just found out recently. I couldn't pressure them based on suspicion alone without any evidence."
"...No evidence? Couldn't you just ask my uncles? You simply looked away, Grandfather. It's the same as if Grandfather killed my parents."
At those words, Grandfather made a pained expression.
"Please understand. It was all for your sake..."
"Don't say it was for my sake. I can never forgive my uncles. Even if they didn't kill them directly. Whatever reason they had, they shouldn't have done that."
"Mu-hyeok, you shouldn't be like this too."
"If there's no evidence, it's enough to have the power to pressure them with suspicion alone. I will acquire that power. I will take revenge directly. Please clean up my uncles yourself, Grandfather. I'm begging you."
I looked into Grandfather's eyes as I said those words. Tears were pooling in Grandfather's eyes.
< Even beasts don't kill their own family. > The End