The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 74

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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 74. Whiskey Bar J&W (5)

“You knew, didn’t you?”
“……Yeah.”
“He really is an outcast? Ha Tae-ung?”
“……That’s right.”

Yi Hyo-ju had come home after the school incident, and the mother waiting for her was Han So-eun.

She asked as if to confirm what she already knew.

“Good heavens…….”
“That’s not even the whole of it.”

Yi Hyo-ju turned to her mother while reaching for water to drink.

“I mean, you know how ruthless the people from Haryun Group are, don’t you? Still, how could they…….”

When their eyes met, Han So-eun shook her head slowly.

The Haryun Group family was well-known even among high society.

How they treat people and conduct themselves in relationships — everyone who moves in those circles knows it all too well.

Moreover, though the world has changed greatly, in that household Chairman Ha Cheol-gon’s word remains the law.

“I heard the rumors before — that Ha Cheol-gon’s youngest son refused a strategic marriage and was cast out. But who would have thought Ha Tae-ung might be that youngest’s bloodline…….”

Today’s incident had spread rapidly among the upper-class families who’d sent their children to Cheonghwa.

If it had reached Han So-eun’s ears, the rumor was already everywhere.

Hundreds of current students had gathered in the Main Auditorium to witness it firsthand.

Rumors spread faster than anything else.

From one student’s mother to another, transmitted in an instant.

That Gangnam would be in an uproar was as plain as the nose on your face.

Since the person at the center was Ha Tae-ung, there was no exaggeration whatsoever.

“So Yi Jeong-jun got defeated by Tae-ung?”

Han So-eun, daughter-in-law of the Oyang Group.

She had never looked favorably on Yi Jeong-jun, who was connected to the Doa Ilbo.

The arrogance of Yi Jeong-jun’s mother, Kook Sang Ju Mi-ju, had even affected the Oyang Group.

At the occasional family gatherings, Mi-ju’s nose was always pointed at the sky.

Mi-ju, a direct heir of the Korean Group.
Everyone in the business world couldn’t help but pay attention to her.

And that very Mi-ju’s only pride, her son Yi Jeong-jun, had suffered an embarrassing situation in front of many students.

“Are you pleased?”
“Of course……I’m delighted! Ha ha ha ha.”

The normally composed Han So-eun broke into a smile of schadenfreude.

All the stress she’d endured from Mi-ju seemed to melt away, and she felt genuinely pleased.

Yi Jeong-jun was the top student in his entire second-year class at Cheonghwa High School.

Even her daughter Yi Hyo-ju had been outshined by him.

“By the way, I lost my class ranking to Tae-ung this time.”
“If it had to be anyone, it should be Tae-ung — we’re thrilled! Think about it. You lost your class ranking, but he lost the school’s top position. Ha ha ha ha.”
“Wow! Our mother’s devious. Taking pleasure in another’s suffering.”
“Another’s? We’re related — a cousin, dear.”
“…….”

Yi Hyo-ju shook her head as she watched her mother’s delighted expression.

“Things are going to get noisy from here on.”
“Why? Everything at school is settled.”
“It’s not a school problem. The Haryun Group family will find out about this — do you think they’ll stay quiet?”
“……!!”

Yi Hyo-ju’s eyes widened suddenly.
She too was part of the royal family, included in the group succession structure.

Money and power, inevitably intertwined with her world.

“Haryun Group breathes with Chairman Ha Cheol-gon’s every breath. ……Hyo-ju.”

Han So-eun, her excitement settling, called to her daughter with a serious look in her eyes.

This moment was precisely the right teaching opportunity.

“If you cast out your own child, would you welcome his blood relative?”
“But no matter what……he’s still a grandson, isn’t he?”
“A grandson? So what?”

Han So-eun’s eyes changed.
She looked at her daughter with a gaze that was somewhat cold.

“Um, Mom…….”

Yi Hyo-ju’s voice trembled at the mother’s eyes, so different from moments before.

“Yi Hyo-ju. Listen carefully. Do you think this kind of problem applies only to Ha Tae-ung?”
“…….”
“Your eldest uncle still has some conscience. But your youngest uncle is different. Your youngest aunt and those cousins of yours — they’d want nothing more than to cast you out with bare hands. That’s why Mom helps your father. So that you……won’t be thrown into the world defenseless.”

Han So-eun was certainly a daughter-in-law of a chaebol family.
She’d managed to endure with a sharp mind, but her limits were clear.

Practically speaking, she had no son to shield her!

Her only daughter, Hyo-ju, was her everything.

She had to leave something for her daughter’s future.

“Watch Ha Tae-ung carefully. See how he handles this. And if he should fall…….”

Han So-eun left the rest unsaid, swallowing it.
The ripples could potentially reach her daughter Hyo-ju as well.

A top-ten conglomerate in Korea wielded terrible power.

The destiny that a mid-tier group’s daughter-in-law and granddaughter would have to bear was far from gentle.

“…….”

Yi Hyo-ju bit her lip as she listened to her mother.

Multiple emotions crashed over her all at once.

The image of her cousin Yi Hyo-rin and first-year queen Kang A-ri, who had come to her classroom right after the incident, came to mind.

Their visit to the classroom that day had been the catalyst that set her heart ablaze.

* * *

They’re calling the Crown Prince “Ha the bridegroom.”
Ayura, listening to the two of them speak, lowered her eyes.

For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to look straight at the bartender — or rather, the possessed entity.

A being that calls itself Dokkaebi.

She’s not entirely sure, but it seems right.

The voice had changed.
From an unfamiliar tone came an air of mystery and grave power.

Unlike ordinary people’s timbres, there was a vibration to the voice itself.

It had issued blessings and curses, commanding action.

Blessings and curses.
They were etched in her mind, indelible.

The lawyer Ayura, caught in the incantation of the Dokkaebi spirit, felt her mind grow hazy.

“Draw one.”
“Yes.”

The Crown Prince selected a card without hesitation.

The bartender flipped the card the Crown Prince had chosen face-up on the table.

‘What is this? The Day of Judgment from the Book of Revelation?’

An angel in the heavens blowing a golden trumpet, and on the earth below, naked people spreading their arms wide in welcome.

The card bore the letters JUDGEMENT.

“The events of the past have flowed away on the river of time. Do not struggle to recall them. The past is not pain but a sea of trials for enlightenment…….”

The Dokkaebi’s interpretation, delivered like verse, sounded mystical.

A few people leaving work might have wandered in, but no one appeared.

The whiskey bar, with only three people in it, was theirs alone.

“Do you understand?”

The Dokkaebi spirit asked the Crown Prince.

“Yes…….”
“The moment you recognize it, that very instant is your awakening! You……have become enlightened.”

‘Understand what? What’s there to be enlightened about?’

A Zen-like dialogue unfolded between the two over a single card.

Ayura found the Dokkaebi spirit’s riddles and metaphors utterly incomprehensible.

“When destiny returns to your doorstep……you must stand firm as your present self, not your past.”

The voice had become gentler.

“I understand.”
“When you face that moment, you need neither excuses nor regret. It is merely a time of purification arranged by the gods to heal your wounds…….”

‘What on earth is this being talking about??’

The intellectual lawyer Ayura felt her mind beginning to crack from the incomprehensible dialogue.

It sounded like an oracle from the ancient gods to humanity.

“Thank you.”

‘Did he really understand that?’

Ayura gave up trying to understand.

The divine message wasn’t meant for her anyway.

“Ha the bridegroom.”
“Yes. Sir.”
“What must appear will appear. Do not lock yourself in hell with premature worry. Instead, cultivate the mental strength to respond to circumstances. That strength is…….”

Gulp.

The Dokkaebi paused mid-sentence.
His throat seemed parched. He filled a glass with whiskey and downed it in one.

“The muscle of your inner self. A strength that is solid, resilient, and vital — a power truly granted to you alone, not money or influence!”

The Dokkaebi emphasized strength again and again.

“Do not strive for perfection. When in doubt…… act boldly! You are the law! You are truth! You are the judge, so heed no one’s gaze! This is…… Divine Command!”

Boom!

For a moment, the entire bar seemed to reverberate.

Gulp.

Ayura, who had drawn her shoulders up in tension, swallowed hard without meaning to.

“I speak now to you both.”

This time the Dokkaebi looked each of them directly in the eye.

Eyes not of a human — irises of molten gold.
A burning light glimmered within them.

Ayura clenched her fists to maintain the gaze.

“It is the Karmic Bond of past life and present.”
“……!!”

Of everything he had said, this was the easiest to understand.

Regardless, it was a stirring thing to hear.
Ayura’s mind went blank.

“Be not bound, but free. Only then will you find peace…….”

The Dokkaebi held Ayura’s eyes and delivered his message deliberately.

‘Be not bound, but free…….’

She thought she understood the meaning of those words, at least to some degree.

The Crown Prince sitting beside her.
She had come here because he’d called her.

During this time in his company, she had realized.

She could not fully comprehend or embrace everything about him.

“The choice is yours. If you miss this moment, it will not come again.”

The Dokkaebi, wearing the bartender’s face, spoke with finality, holding her gaze.
And then.

“Oh my……! Two people.”

Suddenly his manner changed.
The Dokkaebi — no, the bartender again.

“Seriously, couldn’t you give me a heads-up before showing up? If this fellow drains all my energy, my whole day’s shot.”

The bartender pressed both temples with his hands.

“You two heard it all, right?”
“Yes…….”
“Yes.”
“Looks like you two have things to talk about. I’m heading in.”
“Huh??”
“The consultation fee is right there……..”

Both of them turned to where the bartender had gestured.

A Hotei Statue with a protruding belly sat by the exit.
At a glance, the top of its head had an opening.

“Have a good talk.”

Cradling his forehead in his palm as if in great pain, he slipped through a gap beside the whiskey shelf and disappeared.

Left alone were the bewildered customers and the owner of the bar — bartender and fortune-teller combined — now gone.

“Hah…….”

Only then did Ayura exhale the breath she’d been holding.

“Lawyer.”
“Yes?”

At the Crown Prince’s call, her mind snapped back.

“I need your help.”
“……??”

The Crown Prince’s request was blunt and provocative, coming out of nowhere.

“Become a broker for me.”
“A, a broker??”

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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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