The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 66

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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 66. The Crown Prince (5)

Click. Click.

Fifth floor of the New Building at Cheonghwa High School.
A cultural space that only third-year students could fully enjoy.

The space was roughly fifty pyeong in size.
It was a lounge for students styled after a large artisanal bakery café on the outskirts of Seoul.

Designed so that the full panorama of the school could be admired at leisure through the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows.

Unlike the Old Building where the foundation director stayed, this was the best spot in the entire school to take in the view.

Five male and female students sat gathered around a table for ten.

“…….”

The lounge was silent.
The male student seated at the center of the group had his eyes closed.

His eyebrows were thick, like caterpillars at rest.

From his firmly pressed lips emanated an unyielding stubbornness.

Not the conventionally handsome look favored in modern society.

Rather, he resembled the kind of men from the past—his bearing closer to that of a special forces soldier.

His broad, angular shoulders and lean frame naturally intimidated those who beheld him.

His name was Kang Jun-woo.

A third-year at Cheonghwa High School, nineteen years old this year.

The only son of Go Mi-hee, CEO of Ilseong Hotel, an affiliate of the Ilseong Group.

Socially still a teenager, but as a group management participant, hardly young.

Though not in the direct line of succession, his blood ties to the Ilseong Group—ranked first in Korea’s business hierarchy—were undeniable.

Kang Jun-woo was the current president of this circle, or rather, of the assembly itself.

This gathering was the Management Research Club.

One of the clubs within Cheonghwa High School.

The name was old-fashioned and the club’s history lengthy, but neither had changed.

Its character differed from the student council, which operated as an official core institution of Cheonghwa.

Only heirs of the top hundred groups were granted membership eligibility.

Even if one gained admission, the executive board was limited to heirs of the top ten groups.

The vice presidency was restricted to groups within the top twenty.
Officers were limited to those from groups within the top fifty.

The remaining general membership consisted of heirs from the top hundred groups.

Unlike other clubs, elections or recommendations were never held when selecting the president.
Only the business rankings of incoming classes were considered.

Only Seong-gol and Jin-gol from the corresponding groups joined.

Since Cheonghwa’s founding, this club had walked hand in hand with history.

No one at Cheonghwa, not even the director, could touch club operations.

It was a wholly independent institution, tightly linked with the hundred-group successors who had graduated from Cheonghwa.

The Management Research Club was a fortress belonging to them alone.

Even acclaimed students recognized at Cheonghwa bowed their heads before club members.

Though they attended the same high school, after university graduation they walked entirely different paths.

Once society claimed them, club members became the masters whom others had to serve.

The judiciary, medicine, culture, administration—everywhere.

In every sector of South Korea, ordinary students could never surpass club members.

Invisible rules were at work.

Today, a crack appeared in this fortress.
An unprecedented anomaly had occurred within the Management Research Club.

A belated appearance of a direct heir from the top ten groups—the very circle that should have joined at admission—now manifested itself.

Until now, he had entered as an Outcast and been ignored, while carefully concealing his true identity.

“Why on earth had he done it?”

An emergency summons of the club’s executive board had been called.

A stain had been left on what little remained of school life.

One of the female officers spoke first.

She had neatly swept her hair back behind both ears.

Her presence resembled Kang Jun-woo’s.

Her face was delicate, but her gaze was penetrating.

Even among the group, she possessed a distinctive aura all her own.

She showed no deference whatsoever to the seated club president, Kang Jun-woo, across from her.

Though her features were not coarse, her appearance was undiminished.

She was one of the three renowned beauties of the current Cheonghwa High School, a third-year queen.

Her name was Jang Ji-yu.

The eldest daughter of Jang Yong-guk, chairman of the Shindo Group—ranked eleventh in the 2022 business hierarchy and first in the distribution industry.

Eyes, nose, and mouth that were neat and captivating.
A cool, penetrating gaze.

Jang Ji-yu’s temperament was sharp as a blade.

Touch her the wrong way, and those eyes would pierce like a hidden dagger—you couldn’t even breathe.

Kang Jun-woo’s strong bearing and personality were not overshadowed by Jang Ji-yu.

Though a daughter, she was of the direct line of the Shindo Group chairman.

“Who can say? Ha Ryun people are always so unusual.”
“Unusual? More like extreme. That’s the Ha Ryun tradition, after all.”

To one officer’s remark, Jang Ji-yu expressed her honest thoughts.

Only someone of her standing could speak so frankly.

Heirs from families lower in the business hierarchy couldn’t dare voice their own thoughts about the Ha Ryun Group.

Even thinking about it drained their confidence.

“They say he’s handsome. I’m curious what he actually looks like.”

Jang Ji-yu extended one long leg, drew it back, and crossed them, displaying her curiosity.

She too treated Outcasts as beneath human consideration.

There were no Outcasts currently among the third-year students.

All Outcasts from that year had dropped out by the midpoint of sophomore year.

It was hardly surprising that Cheonghwa’s Outcast graduates could be counted on one hand.

Even those who graduated couldn’t attend alumni gatherings.

They couldn’t publicly or privately claim to be Cheonghwa graduates.

Yet such an Outcast had overnight transformed into Ha Ryun Group bloodline.

“Since we summoned him, he’ll be here soon.”

Another officer spoke with casual ease.

“You don’t think he’ll object?”
“Object? Surely not…… He’s not coming?”

At Jang Ji-yu’s counterquestion, the officer who had spoken paled.

“Heh…… my instinct says he won’t. After turning the entire school upside down like this today…… why would he come willingly?”

Jang Ji-yu gazed at Kang Jun-woo, who had issued the summons, a faint smile playing at her lips.

“…….”

Kang Jun-woo remained motionless, eyes still closed, revealing nothing.

His expression seemed infinitely calm, yet beneath the table, his two fists clenched with considerable force.

* * *

“…….”

Called by name, Ha Tae-ung didn’t answer immediately.

‘This goddamn bastard!’

Ha Tae-ung—who’d rubbed him the wrong way from their first meeting on the golf course.

When he came to school and investigated, Ha Tae-ung turned out to be an Outcast.

He’d immediately tried to report this to his parents when a clash with someone called “Water Rat” erupted.

Lee Jung-ho was bewildered—too much confirmed in just hours.

The board had flipped entirely in mere hours.

An Outcast who’d suddenly become someone untouchable by status.

The third-year officers of the Management Research Club had given him an order.

—Find Ha Tae-ung at once and bring him to the Management Research Club.

An order he loathed to carry out, yet couldn’t refuse.

Instructions from the student council president and the Management Research Club were absolute commands in themselves.

It didn’t change after school life ended.

With similarly sized groups, perhaps. But toward heirs of those upper-tier groups, one always had to bow one’s head.

Still, Lee Jung-ho wanted to preserve his pride before Ha Tae-ung.

“Get lost??”

“What? Respect??”

One thing was certain: Ha Tae-ung was not an Outcast.

“……!!”

“I’m your elder brother.”
“What, what did you say?”
“Heh…….”

Kang A-ri, watching the exchange, burst out laughing.

“Hey…….”

At once Lee Jung-ho glared at Kang A-ri, his eyes hardening as he gritted his teeth.

To anyone watching, Lee Jung-ho was clearly losing ground.
And.

Click.

Ha Tae-ung set his spoon down on the table.
Then he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

The unhurried, leisurely movements of someone at ease.

The moment Ha Tae-ung moved, all eyes turned to the six-person table.

Everyone knew that the person who’d summoned Ha Tae-ung was the true crown prince of the third year, Kang Jun-woo.

And now the second-year crown prince, Ha Tae-ung, was on his feet.

War had broken out—plain to see.

A proxy confrontation, with Lee Jung-ho sent as emissary.

Ha Tae-ung rose from his seat and looked directly at Lee Jung-ho.

‘This bastard…… his eyes…….’

Ha Tae-ung’s gaze was like staring into a deep well—utterly serene, yet somehow…….

“Tell the president.”
“……??”
“If he has something to say, come in person.”
“What, what the hel—??”

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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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