Chapter 28 Why he shouldn’t be here b 1}
3:35 A.M.
Yoon-seok fled the hotel and took a taxi to his parent’s home in Sangam-dong.
‘It’ll be a little past 4 A.M. when I get there.’
Yoon-seok decided not to feel anxious. Even if Lee Chang-hoon’s last location were in Seoul, he wouldn’t have arrived earlier than him. That punk didn’t even know where his house was.
‘Doesn’t matter if he asked Kang Hyung-woo or not, he won’t be there sooner.’
Upon arriving at his house, Yoon-seok paid the taxi fee and entered the apartment complex.
–Ding! It’s on the 6th floor.
He stood in the elevator and reached the front of his house, but Yoon-seok didn’t go in. Instead, he used the newly acquired skill, Tracking.
‘Oh, so this is how it works.
His magic spread to fill a twenty-five-meter radius. Yoon-seok was able to see everything in the area as if he were looking at blueprints on a computer. There were two people in the house. Perhaps they were outlined in a vivid blue because they were living creatures, unlike the black and white background.
‘Seems like they’re still asleep.’
He wanted to enter and look at their faces, but he decided against it. Something troublesome might happen if they heard the front door open.
‘Let’s call first.’
Yoon-seok turned on the phone that was switched off. His number was suspended, so it was no different than an unused phone, but it was dimly connected to the Wi-Fi in his house. He checked the messaging app to see if any messages were sent to him in the past four days.
– Father: How are you? The discussion with the chairman ended well yesterday. The chairman said it was okay to hand Kang Hyung-woo over to the prosecution, but I still wanted to hear your opinion before deciding. Call me when you read this.
Yoon-seok was troubled after checking his father’s message. What Kang Hyung-woo committed was a serious crime. The moment he was handed over to the prosecution, the media would come rushing. Not only was he the main culprit in severe school violence, but he intentionally set fire to a factory? It’d be a bigger issue than just a second-generation chaebol committing subcontractor bribery.
Yoon-seok predicted that it would be enough to shock the whole country.
‘As expected, the biggest victim here is the president….’
JC Group was one of the biggest conglomerates in Korea. Their stock price would fall due to this incident, and the political community would start pressuring them, loathe to give up a golden opportunity to gain votes. Above all, the biggest problem would be the clean image of the chairman, which would be ruined.
He thought Kang Hyung-woo should pay for his crimes, but Yoon-seok didn’t want that to happen. Should he say that he didn’t want others to be troubled with what was his? The chairman and his daughter Kang Hye-in did nothing wrong, especially when they took great care of Yoon-seok and his family.
Other than that, if this incident went out to the media, the victim’s personal information would eventually spread, and gossip would emerge. It was always them who made the victims even more miserable.
– Me: Don’t press charges. Don’t get me wrong, though; it doesn’t mean I forgive him. I’ll be in contact soon.
After concluding his chat with his father, Yoon-seok opened the chat column below immediately. It was a text message from Kang Hyung-woo.
– Kang Hyung-woo: Yoon-seok-ah, this is all my fault. Please, can’t you say something to my father? I don’t even have a place to sleep. For real…
– Kang Hyung-woo: Did you block me?
– Kang Hyung-woo: Hey, please save me. I won’t ask you to forgive me in front of my father, but do something about Hye-in. That crazy bitch tells everyone around me about what happened between us; it’s driving me crazy. They think I’m a weirdo.
‘You are a weirdo.’
Was it normal that you’ve been bullying the same person for years because of an inferiority complex you had from a fight when you were young? Of course, that wasn’t why the people around Kang Hyung-woo avoided him. At least they still played together since birds of a feather flock together.
He could see it in their eyes. The reason why Kang Hyung-woo’s acquaintances kept away from him wasn’t because of his past, but he didn’t know the exact reason.
It was just because Kang Hyung-woo was thrown out by the chairman.
– Kang Hyung-woo: Fuck, was I that bad? Think about it. Won’t you get something out of this when I inherit the company later?
He wouldn’t even hope for it. He didn’t think Kang Hyung-woo would inherit the company in the first place.
‘He has a proud, well-grown daughter; why would he give the company to a failure like you?’
That jerk never changed. After reading through them, Yoon-seok didn’t bother to reply. The next few messages were from Kang Hye-in.
– Kang Hye-in: Oppa, I heard you went on a trip. I’m envious. Should I go on a trip too? Where are you? I’ll go!
– Kang Hye-in: Why aren’t you checking the texts T-T. Did you block me because of that bastard Kang Hyung-woo? No, right?
– Kang Hye-in: Kang Hyung-woo, that bastard went to the gym. Can’t tell if he’s trying to get revenge or what; it’s funny, lol. Oh, don’t worry. I went there with money to tell the director what kind of guy he is, and he was expelled the same day.
‘I think he did it for the money and not because of who he is?’
Kang Hye-in’s messages started regarding the small things that’d happened in her daily life; then, there were even daily reports on how much she’d bullied Kang Hyung-woo. Like a puppy looking for compliments.
– Me: I didn’t block you; I just don’t have a reason to look at my phone. Listening to Kang Hyung-woo getting punished by you makes me feel like I’m being rewarded. Thank you, I’ll contact you soon.
Yoon-seok left a reply to Kang Hye-in. For some reason, the text seemed likely to make Kang Hye-in’s bullying worse, but that was none of Yoon-seok’s business. Among the missed calls were a mix from his college friends and people he met in the military, but he ignored all of them.
He didn’t want to end all his societal relationships, but something else was more important right now. Leaving the messenger app, his eyes shined when he logged into his social media.
[Lee Chang-hoon, 15 minutes ago]
Looking at that punk’s account, he found a record saying that he accessed it fifteen minutes ago. He wasn’t sure if Lee Chang-hoon returned to Earth just for revenge. Maybe he wanted to end his life here before he died in the tower. Yet, after hearing Ragna’s words, he felt so anxious that he couldn’t stand it. Through this incident, Yoon-seok realized something new.
It was best not to do anything that might cause trouble, but it was wise to solve it no matter what if it happened.
‘In that sense, I’m glad it’s the weekend.’
If it were a weekday, his father would’ve prepared to get ready for work in the next hour, and his mother would’ve stayed home alone to do housework. If there were two targets to be protected, he wouldn’t know which of the two Lee Chang-hoon would target.
Yoon-seok sat on the dark emergency stairs until the lights turned off. He didn’t know if he’d plan revenge or not, but he could only hope not. That way, he would be able to shake off some guilt.
Whether he would come here or not, Lee Chang-hoon would die.
* * *
-“Sangam-dong? Okay, thank you.”
– Why do you want Choi Yoon-seok’s address?
“You don’t need to know. You’ll all know by tomorrow. You just have to thank me.”
– Hey! What do you mean…no, hey, can you lend me some money…?
Beep.
Lee Chang-hoon, ending his phone call with Kang Hyung-woo, slid his coat on. His current location was his studio apartment in Sinchon. It would take half an hour to get to Sangam-dong.
Rrrr. Rrrr.
When the call was one-sidedly cut off, Kang Hyung-woo called several times again. Not receiving an answer, he persistently left several texts. When he checked, it was just asking if he could lend him some money. Lee Chang-hoon ignored it and started the car his parents gave him as a gift to celebrate his college entry.
‘Why is a rich bastard trying to borrow something?’
Friendship? There was no such thing as that to Kang Hyung-woo. What would he want from someone who was nothing more than a middle school classmate at the most? The number was an old one, so he had to find it on SNS.
Well, maybe he could just give away the money. He wouldn’t live until tomorrow, after all. Of course, he ignored all the calls because he couldn’t afford to care about such a miserable thing.
‘Fuck you, motherfucker. Do you think I’m going to die alone?’
He was dragged to the Tower and survived through hell. Seeing himself getting stronger, he planned to live a comfortable life using his abilities when he returned to Earth completely with a rank C ticket someday.
But everything was ruined by Choi Yoon-seok.
‘That bastard Grape Jam, I have to kill him too….’
If Choi Yoon-seok was the No. 1 person he had a grudge against, then the challenger with the nickname Grape Jam was No. 2. When Grape Jam found out that he had lost his armor, they used their right to nominate him and prevent him from returning to Earth.
Of course, he wouldn’t have felt this much hatred if that were the only thing.
‘That fucking sadistic son of a bitch.’
The Grape Jam he’d met at the stadium was a lunatic. She looked normal, but should he say that her insides were completely rotten? When his defeat was confirmed, Grape Jam healed Lee Chang-hoon’s injury with healing magic, then used holding magic to keep him still as she sliced him alive. She even smiled very innocently all the while.
‘Fuck, my hands are still shaking.’
Lee Chang-hoon was able to be released hours after Grape Jam lost interest. As soon as he returned to the waiting room, he tore up a return ticket first thing. It was to give an unforgettable gift to Choi Yoon-seok, the main culprit of all this. Of course, he hated Grape Jam too, but there was the primary problem that he didn’t know where she lived in the real world, and he didn’t think a crazy bitch like her would feel sorrow even if her family was brutally murdered.
‘But not for you. It was because of his father that he was treated like a piece of shit by Kang Hyung-woo’s ass.’
After speeding down the road, unable to control his seething anger, Lee Chang-hoon entered an apartment complex in Sangam-dong.
-You have arrived at your destination.
There was a resident who entered the house finishing her jog, so he followed her in. At first, she thought he was just a resident, but when they got on the elevator together, the resident eyed him suspiciously after seeing Lee Chang-hoon press the 6th floor.
“Sixth floor? I’ve never seen you before. Do you live here?”
“No, I don’t.”
“But why…?”
“I have a bastard to kill.”
When Lee Chang-hoon laughed while hefting the car spanner he got from his car trunk; her face turned white.
-Ding! It’s on the fifth floor.
Lee Chang-hoon giggled as he saw the resident getting off when the elevator stopped as if to run away.
“Madam, get home safely, and if possible, just stay still even if the house upstairs is noisy today. Okay?”
Suddenly, Lee Chang-hoon seemed to be able to understand Grape Jam’s madness. It felt so good to be able to act recklessly without thinking of the consequences.
“C’mon, you have to answer. What’s wrong with the manners of people in this neighborhood?”
While giggling, the elevator door closed and moved up upward once more. Lee Chang-hoon imagined the events to come in detail for that short time. Yoon-seok’s face was shaking with regret after realizing what he had done.
It was a sight he would eternally regret if he didn’t get to see it in person.
-Ding! It’s on the 6th floor.
Finally, Lee Chang-hoon jumped out and rang the doorbell of the number that Kang Hyung-woo told him. And…
“You’re here?”
He met Yoon-seok.
* * *
Ding dong! Ding dong!
The door opened, and a middle-aged woman who had just woken up from sleep only peeked out with her head. But…
“What, is it broken?”
There was no one in the hallway, though the lights operated by automatic sensors were on.
“I thought it was Yoon-seok. Is he doing okay?”
The middle-aged woman closed the door, recalling her son, who lost contact with her after he went on a trip.
“He’s not being bullied by bad people again, is he?”
She was always worried about him because he was such a delicate child.
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