The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 22. Making Dad Chairman

Thump-thump!

My heart pounds violently in my chest.
My father—the one I’d buried under sorrow and anguish.

It hit me only after he vanished from sight.

The empty space where Dad had been…….

Dad, who’d play catch with me on ordinary days, kicking a ball together.

The man who clapped along with Mom and cheered me on when I first learned to ride a bicycle.

After every school test, regardless of the result, he’d gently stroke my head and tell me to stay strong.

He’d say there’s no need to live life the hard way.
Just let go of ambition and live happily—that’s all there is to it.

I was too young to understand what those words meant.

But living in a world without him, I came to understand.
There were many times when I did my best to face reality head-on, yet found no answer.

At those moments, I realized: that’s enough.
Having done your best is victory in itself.

Dad’s advice proved its strength time and again.

A man who abandoned his place as the son of a major conglomerate and boldly chose love instead.

It was a daring decision not many could make.

I resembled that father of mine.

Click.

I pressed the call button.
And then.

—Son~.

The bright voice I’d always heard when he was alive.

Hearing Dad’s voice for the first time in years, my emotions surged.

“Ah, Father…….”
—Father? Ha ha ha. Son, are you practicing for the military or something? Why so formal all of a sudden? Makes me feel old.

His delighted laughter came at my change in address.

A smile spread across my face too.
I was reunited with the father I’d cut off from memory and ignored.

“Is it strange?”
—Yeah. Pretty strange.
“You made me grow up too fast.”
—It’ll feel natural once you’re back from the military. Right now you’re still in high school. Just act your age. Everyone grows up anyway. When the time comes, you change whether you want to or not.

Good advice.

I, who’d experienced working life.
I understood well enough the weight of what Dad was telling me now.

“Are you still away on business?”
—Yeah. Busan.
“Mom must be lonely.”
—Tell me about it. Making a living isn’t easy.

Small conversations I hadn’t fully appreciated back then.

Now I heard Dad’s sincere jokes again.

We’d had conversations like this often in the past.

Though we were parent and child, it was the kind of talk we shared daily.

But we never crossed a line.
Dad was strict about maintaining basic respect toward elders.

In everyday conversation, though, we were remarkably free in our exchange.

Sometimes strangers who saw how I spoke to Dad thought me disrespectful, but that wasn’t the case.

I…… loved my parents very much.

Even now, I respect my father who chose a woman he loved and boldly walked away from his position as the youngest son of the conglomerate.

“Stay strong. Because of you and Mom, this son is growing up well.”
—Ha ha. That’s right, keep growing. Maybe Dad can get some allowance too.

Even in difficult circumstances, Dad’s hearty laugh was a vitamin for the soul.

“How are things these days?”
—Just you wait. Dad’s working on something big.

Dad’s voice was full of hope.
Yes, it was like that back then too.

Unfortunate, but…… that turned out to be a scam!

But after Dad passed away, I found out.
How thoroughly Dad’s friend and his gang had exploited a good man and provider.

And behind them…… there were those people!

“Don’t worry about a thing! I’ll handle everything for you!”
—What? Who are you?
“Pardon?”
—You’re not our son, are you? My real son’s been pretty dark lately with all the school stuff…… What is this? This voice! Since when are you so confident?

That’s our dad for you!

“……You already knew?”
—Cheong-hwa High School’s famous, isn’t it? I respect you for hanging in there with the repeater label. I know all about the bullying from rich kids.
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
—Because you wanted this.
“…….”
—You grow as much as you hurt. Experience is real wealth. Your personal asset.

Dad, who could dish out this kind of refined life wisdom.

“I love you.”
—I love you too. Ha ha ha ha.

Dad chuckles as if he’d never been absent from my life for a single day.

“Dad! You trust me, right?”
—Of course.
“Soon I’ll ask you for something.”
—You need allowance money?
“No.”
—Then what?
“If I rank first in the whole school, you have to grant it no matter what.”
—First in the whole school? At Cheong-hwa High School?
“Yes.”
—Okay! I promise!

I cannot lose Dad in this life.
Of course, I’ll protect Mom too.

Mom, who’s been staring only at the East Sea coast since Dad left.

I will protect them both, I swear it!

“Dad.”
—What?
“Have some ambition!”
—At my age…… ambition is.
“You’re not old! I’m going to make you chairman!”
—Sure, sure. Thanks for saying so. If my son makes me chairman, I’ll do my best.

Dad treating it like a joke, brushing it off lightly.

But I’ll make him chairman.

The Conglomerate Group that Grandfather controls—in the future that unfolds, it will be Dad’s.

Once I set my mind to it, the grand plan draws itself clearly.

“I’ll come down after the exams. Lots of meat in the kimchi stew, please.”
—Okay. Let’s have a glass of soju with the stew.

Dad, who never minded formality and always had an open mind toward me.

“I love you~”
—Yeah, I love you too, son.

We had a long phone call that felt like we’d never parted.

My fists clenched with determination.
All the time I’d endured before, filled with unfairness.

Wait a moment…… The counterattack is coming!

* * *

“Why’s he walking around like nothing happened?”
“They’re not disciplining him??”
“After all that in the cafeteria…….”

The school kids whisper about me every time they pass.

Time flew quickly in this second go-around at school.

Today is the first day of the Midterm Exam.

Math and Chemistry.

Working through the Problem Set Books at home was more than enough.

The math problems I solved back then are still vivid in my memory.

For someone like me, who studied up to college-level mathematics, it’s child’s play.

Even though it’s the exam of a top-tier high school, it doesn’t exceed high school level.

There are a few Killer Questions mixed in per subject, but they’re just twisted two or three times over.

As for memorization subjects, there’s nothing more to say.
I remember the passages—literature, reading comprehension, everything.

As I mentioned, the school cafeteria is my main reason for coming to school.

And if I add one more thing, it’s golf.

“Park Dong-geun got six months suspension!”
“Six months?”
“But…… what about Ha Tae-woong?”
“Exactly. He must have something, right?”

The kids whispered about me with wild speculation.

The Disciplinary Committee convened officially, and Park Dong-geun’s punishment was decided.

He was disciplined exactly as I’d wanted.

O Gwang-jun’s eyes would flutter whenever he ran into me.

When the chance came, I figured I should give him a proper life lesson.

I’d teach him that school wasn’t a place to act tough just because his dad was a prosecutor.

“Unfair treatment of repeaters will be disciplined per school rules! The principal even posted a warning memo.”
“Then what’s the point of us living??”

The point?
Looking at them again, they’re terrible people.

The true nature of kids who’d treated repeaters like slaves psychologically.

This time, I’ll definitely straighten out their heads before graduation!

“Can everyone please be quiet? Are you going to take the exam or not?”

That’s when a sharp, icy voice cut through the classroom.
A pointed warning from Lee Hyo-ju, the year’s top dog.

“…….”

The classroom fell silent instantly, like the sound of a pin drop.

This is the difference in power.
The classroom felt like a miniature replica of the ruthless natural selection that governed the Republic of Korea.

“Don’t mind me. People ignore me all the time.”

I laughed lightly and calmly surveyed the whispering kids.

The moment their eyes met mine, they hurriedly turned their heads away.

Their momentum was already broken.

They all looked like pathetic bastards to me.

I used to cower in fear of people like them…….
Looking at them coldly now, they were far more pathetic than me.

Honestly, they’re nothing special.
Only their rich parents’ power propping them up from behind.

“Are you all set for the exam?”

Huh? Lee Hyo-ju……?

Lee Hyo-ju, sitting two seats over in the row ahead of me, asks.
If I misread the situation, it almost seems like a show of interest.

“……??”

The kids’ puzzled expressions prove my reading isn’t wrong.

Lee Hyo-ju would never say something like that to a male student.
She’d never shown even casual interest.

Lee Hyo-ju, aloof at all times.
She had almost no friends at school.

“Don’t worry. I’m all set.”

I was savoring a spring morning, sipping the Americano I’d brought with me on the way to school.

Unlike other students, I was enjoying this ease.

“Heh.”

Lee Hyo-ju let out a soft laugh and turned her head away.

The smooth, gentle line of her profile…….

Even at a glance, her beauty was striking.

Soon the first period, the math exam, began.

Ding-ding-ding!

And then.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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