The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 43
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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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Chapter 43. The Oyang Group Family (1)
‘Ha Tae-woong. Why are you here?’
Lee Hyo-joo was greatly taken aback.
A golf course for the first round of play.
What were the odds that it would be Chungcheong Province Shale CC?
Ha Tae-woong, whom she’d run into again within a day.
He wore a golf outfit that her mother had picked out at the department store yesterday.
A hat chosen as an accessory, appearing as if by magic—Ha Tae-woong materialized before her.
In the open air, Ha Tae-woong looked like a lean professional golfer.
“What the hell are you doing here!”
Lee Jung-ho, a man who feared nothing in this world, raised his voice.
Irritation flared at the sudden intrusion of this uninvited guest.
Lee Jung-ho had been excited at the prospect of finally getting Lee Hyo-joo cornered and extracting some entertainment from her.
But then this nuisance appeared, ruining everything.
The moment he glimpsed the silhouette, his mood soured.
Lee Jung-ho stood barely a hundred and seventy centimeters tall.
Yet the intruder, backlit by the sun, possessed a model-like frame and remarkably handsome features.
At first glance, one might mistake him for a famous actor.
It was hardly surprising that Lee Jung-ho’s already irritated voice shot up.
“First meeting, and you’re already using informal speech?”
Ha Tae-woong, who knew Lee Jung-ho well enough, smirked.
He poured gasoline directly onto the smoldering sparks of irritation.
“So what? I’m speaking informally—you got a problem with that?”
Lee Jung-ho, whose fundamentals were honed through athletics, was naturally unguarded in manner.
His fervor only intensified when his cousin showed interest.
Lee Hyo-joo, placed in the awkward position of having to admit she had no friends.
This intruder, appearing at that moment to wreck the mood and pretending to know her.
‘Who the hell is this guy? He knows Hyo-joo from middle school?’
Lee Jung-ho had attended Gangnam Private Elementary School with Lee Hyo-joo.
Back then, there had been quite a few friends around her.
But one day, for reasons unknown, she’d severed all those ties.
Lee Hyo-joo, wounded by her friends, had shut her heart away.
Afterward, middle school was all-girls.
So how could she know a boy?
Lee Hyo-joo typically didn’t mesh with the elite families of other groups.
“Your head’s small, your words are small too? Brain and cerebellum equally tiny, I guess?”
Ha Tae-woong needled Lee Jung-ho.
Normally, Lee Jung-ho despised being told he was short and stupid.
“You got a death wish! You son of a bitch!”
He didn’t hide his nature, his eyes blazing as he spat crude language.
At this level of reaction from Lee Jung-ho, most people would look away.
“You got the skill to back it up?”
“What? You bastard!”
In an instant, he threw a punch without thinking—
“Jung-ho! What are you doing!”
Lee Hyo-joo quickly stepped in front of Ha Tae-woong.
“Get out of the way! I’m killing this bastard today!”
Lee Jung-ho, born with a fiery temperament.
His feelings toward Lee Hyo-joo had snowballed so completely that his eyes had lost all reason.
“Did you forget Grandfather is inside?”
“…….”
Lee Hyo-joo’s single sentence snapped Lee Jung-ho back to awareness.
Their grandfather detested violence above all else.
The first principle of household education was nonviolence.
Grind, grind.
Lee Jung-ho ground his teeth, unable to swallow his rage.
“Hyo-joo, who is this?”
Lee Hyo-eun seized the opening to ask.
‘Who is he? He’s handsome. Got presence too.’
Lee Hyo-eun, who frequented clubs more than her own home and always checked out hot new spots, was looking at Ha Tae-woong with fresh interest.
After entering the university her family expected her to attend, she’d been granted considerable freedom.
Since then, she’d enjoyed a life free from family interference in personal matters.
With her surgically refined appearance, she’d essentially taken over most clubs in Gangnam and Hongdae.
She mingled and networked deeply with peers from similar groups of like mind.
Even to Lee Hyo-eun’s well-traveled eye, Ha Tae-woong’s visuals stood out immediately.
“I’m Ha Tae-woong. I’m in the same class as Hyo-joo.”
“Same class at Cheonghwa High School?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, then you’re my junior.”
“Sister, about Tae-woong—”
Lee Hyo-joo found Lee Hyo-eun’s eager attention burdensome.
If the fact that he was an illegitimate child came out here, it would be a disaster.
Lee Hyo-joo bit her lip, her mind reeling.
“Hyo-joo.”
“Huh? Yes.”
“Is your mother inside?”
“She is, but—”
“Then I should pay my respects.”
Ha Tae-woong showed no hesitation.
“Hey, you! Who do you think you are, paying respects!”
Lee Jung-ho’s voice dripped with hostility.
Ha Tae-woong glanced back at Lee Jung-ho and grinned.
“You’re cute, kid.”
“What? What did you say?”
‘Who is this guy? Ha Tae-woong? He goes to our school?’
Cheonghwa High School had ten classes per grade.
Each class had a capacity of about twenty students.
Students in the arts and athletics track were consistently assigned to Class 10 from first year.
So Lee Jung-ho paid no attention whatsoever to the other regular classes.
He’d only learned today that Ha Tae-woong attended Cheonghwa High School.
Moreover, Lee Jung-ho didn’t associate with people outside his circle.
To have a conversation with Lee Jung-ho, one’s level had to be roughly aligned.
Lee Jung-ho had lived thoroughly immersed in the elite family mindset and continued to do so.
‘I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before, though…’
No matter how hard he racked his brain, the name Ha Tae-woong appeared nowhere in his memory.
“Let’s go.”
“Tae-woong…”
Ha Tae-woong moved forward without hesitation, stepping into the Rest Pavilion.
Lee Hyo-joo, caught off guard, quietly followed in his wake.
“Who is that?”
Lee Hyo-eun, eyes bright as if she’d discovered an amusing toy, followed them inside as well.
“Damn it.”
Lee Jung-ho, concluding he’d been dismissed, cursed under his breath.
“Brother, let’s go too.”
Lee Jung-hun, the youngest, turned to Lee Jung-ho with a hyena-like grin and sinister smile.
‘Something interesting is about to happen…’
His older brother, always acting like a fool.
Lee Jung-hun harbored the thought that one day he would crush him entirely.
With that in mind, he led his brother toward the Rest Pavilion.
* * *
Before my regression, Lee Jung-ho and I had no significant entanglement.
This time around, he’s developed animosity toward me.
An unseasoned brat who charges forward without even assessing his opponent—completely lacking in basics.
He’d seized on the flimsiest pretexts against Lee Hyo-joo, driving her into a corner with baseless accusations.
His psychological maturity is woefully inadequate.
In the past, I would never have put myself in such a situation.
In fact, such a situation would never have arisen in the first place.
But now the board has changed.
Even at this moment, my coin account burns bright.
A well-lined pocket begets well-rooted confidence.
But that’s not the only reason.
My heart no longer flinches, as though this were always my nature.
I don’t want to admit it, but I’m of the Ha house.
Ha Ryun has accumulated wealth over a century, a family of substance and standing.
I am the fifth generation of Ha Ryun Group.
The youngest player in the succession structure.
The spirit of a chaebol flows through my veins!
A pedigree that cannot be hidden.
The way I keep becoming entangled with Lee Hyo-joo suggests I have karma with the Oyang household.
In truth, Oyang Group ranked outside the top hundred in the chaebol hierarchy during my past life.
It held parity with Dae Ryong Group, where I’d worked.
When the poor project financing management destroyed Oyang Construction, their impact rippled through the group.
Whoosh.
The automatic doors of the Rest Pavilion slid open.
Though only a mid-round rest space, the facility was substantial.
It had the capacity to seat some thirty people for a meal.
High-end tables and chairs were arranged with generous spacing.
Marble flooring and modern aesthetics rivaled a five-star hotel.
And there—
“Father, is the food to your liking?”
“You thoughtfully prepared the makgeolli I enjoy.”
“We had it delivered in advance.”
Two tables pushed together in one configuration.
A healthy-looking elderly man occupied the seat of honor, immediately drawing the eye.
Middle-aged men sat around the long table.
Behind them, a line of refined middle-aged women in golf attire stretched out.
The Oyang Group elite family.
Step, step.
I moved toward them.
Following in my wake came Oyang Group’s future successors.
The eyes of everyone at the table naturally converged on me.
“Oh!”
And Lee Hyo-joo’s mother reacted first.
She glimpsed me and started with surprise.
“Tae-woong!”
She approached at once, greeting me warmly.
“Ma’am.”
I paused briefly, then bowed respectfully.
To all appearances, a courteous young man.
Tap.
The Oyang Group Chairman, seated at the center, examined me closely.
Tap! Tap!
Everyone else’s attention followed suit.
I met their gaze without flinching or confusion, composure intact.
I remembered to smile.
“Dear, who is this?”
The Oyang Group Chairman posed the question.
I still don’t know his name.
Even in my previous timeline and this one, it rarely appeared in the press.
I was seeing his face for the first time today.
From first impression, he reads as stubborn and unyielding in temperament.
The mere fact that he’d gathered his children and grandchildren on such a precious weekend spoke volumes about his nature.
“…….”
I met the old man’s gaze directly.
An encounter with the Oyang Group Chairman—something that would have been impossible as the illegitimate Ha Tae-woong of the past.
Smooth.
I bowed once more, this time with deliberate formality.
Then—
“I am Ha Tae-woong, a second-year student at Cheonghwa High School and a friend of Hyo-joo.”
I declared my name clearly, each character pronounced with precision.
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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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