The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 88

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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 88. Sokcho (8)

“Your fortune’s changed. Sokcho this time?”
“My parents are there.”
“Kang Deuk-su? Looks like local gentry at first glance.”

Saturday afternoon, in the Jo An-jang office.
The Kim Gyeong-min team came in on the weekend to handle a client request.

Ha Tae-ung, known as the Young Master, was in Sokcho where his parents lived.

He’d sent Kim Gyeong-min a brief profile and a message about someone.

Kang Deuk-su!
The content was a request for his ruin—a man living in Sokcho.

Looking at the detailed requirements, you could sense the client’s will to bring complete destruction upon that household.

Jo An-jang received similar requests from time to time, though rarely.

Sometimes the targets were certain politicians or entertainers who’d provoked the upper class, or members of the middle class besides.

“What did this guy do to make the Young Master this furious?”

He’d conveyed the gist through text message.

“If there’s anything illegal, push to the limit… Kang Deuk-su. No doubt about it, this man’s finished. Hehe.”

Kim Gyeong-min let out an odd laugh after grasping the message’s contents.

Jo An-jang could fabricate wrongdoing on the spot even if none existed, satisfying the client’s wishes.

But if there actually was something illegal?

It was better to simply repeat—the man was finished.

“Are all chaebol families like that?”

A-yu-ra asked, curious.

“You still don’t know that, do you?”
“I… don’t.”
“Chaebol revenge is covert and cruel. Once they mark you, your ordinary life is over—consider it done. If they suspect even a hint of guilt, prosecutors swarm in. They investigate from every angle, compiling charges until they’ve got you nailed down. Modern people who live their entire lives perfectly avoiding illegality? Rare.”

“Especially the Ha Ryun Group… Ugh.”

Kim Gyeong-min stopped mid-sentence and shuddered.

“What’s wrong?”

A-yu-ra’s curiosity flared.
She’d never seen the senior lawyer react like this before.

“If Chairman Ha Cheol-gon marks you, everyone dies.”
“D-dies?”
“Not literally—everything but that. Once marked, your entire family gets uprooted and burned to ash.”
“I see…”
“Our client, the Young Master—Ha by blood. Where else is that bloodline going?”

At Kim Gyeong-min’s words, A-yu-ra bit her lip hard.

That inexplicable weight she’d felt while sitting side by side, tilting glasses.

Nothing like ordinary charisma.

The Young Master Ha Tae-ung, who’d held the goblin’s gaze steady and kept the conversation flowing.

He was now wielding the blade in earnest through Jo An-jang, the sharp legal instrument.

“A-yu-ra.”
“Yes?”
“You placed that broker order, didn’t you?”

Jo An-jang’s influence was infinite, but the organization operated within finite systems.

Especially for a newcomer like A-yu-ra, the moment she tapped into Jo An-jang’s resources, reports went straight up the chain.

“I apologize…”
“Why apologize? The Young Master’s marked you.”

Kim Gyeong-min smiled unexpectedly and spoke.

“I actually wanted to thank you.”
“Pardon?”
“The Young Master’s broker… one wrong move…”

Kim Gyeong-min didn’t elaborate.
He’d already guessed where that assignment would lead.

The appearance of Ha Ryun Group’s Young Master.
Upper-class society was already buzzing about it.

The child of a disinherited, deposed Young Master.

The Ha family wouldn’t let such a seed lie dormant.

“Our client, the Young Master—he’s no ordinary person. But his opponent is Ha Ryun. We’ve been drawn into this affair through him, but that’s not all there is.”

A-yu-ra perked up her ears.
She knew every move she made would be reported back through Kim Gyeong-min.

She’d been timing when to mention it, but the senior lawyer beat her to it.

“I don’t know what Ha Ryun Group wants to do, but if a power struggle breaks out… the loser dies. And if the Young Master isn’t hiding some hidden ability… the outcome’s obvious.”

Kim Gyeong-min, a senior lawyer at Jo An-jang who’d been through the mill.

Thump! Thump!

A-yu-ra’s heart pounded roughly.
She’d definitely stepped into a game far larger than she’d imagined.

Now she couldn’t pull back out.

She’d shaken hands directly with the Young Master.

“All living things must die. I wanted to tell you this, A-yu-ra.”
“All living things must die…”
“Everyone dies. And when the chance comes, seize it well. If you succeed… is there anything finer than that before you die?”

Kim Gyeong-min comforted her with words of encouragement and a smile.

He’d already sensed the game to a certain degree.

Ha Tae-ung, their client whom they both served.

He was certainly a sleeping dragon preparing a game far grander than imagination.

“By the way, you passed the documents to the Young Master?”
“Yes. I sent them by email.”
“A gambler… and his game will fall to us too?”

In Jo An-jang, work meant ability.

A satisfied smile spread across Kim Gyeong-min’s lips.

* * *

Splash.

Baijiu poured into ceramic cups.
Three cups lined up and brimming.

“Let’s have a drink, everyone. It’s the baijiu we used to share whenever we closed a big deal—today the sweetness smells especially strong.”

Song Jeong-geun brought the cup to his nose and inhaled, marveling at the aroma.

It was a gift he’d given himself every time he stamped approval on a substantial transaction.

This baijiu, favored even by China’s current president.

“A big deal, and all we get is noodles with sweet and sour pork?”

Hwang Hak-su teased.

“When we were kids, was there anything tastier than this?”
“Hehe. You’re right. Noodles and sweet and sour pork—that’s all we needed.”

Song Jeong-geun and Hwang Hak-su talked as they always did after a client left.

Three people remained in the Sokcho Real Estate Office.

Hwang Hak-su, Song Jeong-geun, and Kim Ju-hee stayed behind for a celebration.

Before them sat three bowls of noodles and sweet and sour pork steaming in a platter.

“Both of you, thank you again.”

Kim Ju-hee spoke with genuine gratitude, her face flushed with excitement.

Never in her life had she handled a transaction of this magnitude.

One deal, receiving a 0.9% commission from both sides.
She’d earned 72 million won in a single stroke.

Kim Ju-hee now held 30 percent of the total commission.
She’d made months of profit in one go.

But the transactions weren’t ending here.

A series of successive deals was planned.

The big spender, the Young Master, had designated Kim Ju-hee as his real estate agent.

The commissions from successive deals would flow entirely to her.

That’s why her face was flushed even before the drink touched her lips.

Thump! Thump!

Emotion once kindled doesn’t settle.
This was different in scale from residential lease transfers or standard sales.

“Grateful? I’m the grateful one. You brought in a remarkable financier.”
“That’s some luck, Kim. Not everyone gets a Young Master like that.”

Song Jeong-geun and Hwang Hak-su praised Kim Ju-hee.

Capital was quietly accumulating in Sokcho.
This sort of chaebol investment operated on an entirely different scale.

“I need to hold tight! It’s an opportunity that won’t come again in my lifetime.”

Kim Ju-hee’s voice took on strength.

“Right. You don’t just snag any chaebol. Especially not from Ha Ryun Group.”
“Jeong-geun, are you really sure it’s Ha Ryun Group? The surname Ha is rare, but confirming he’s from a chaebol just on that alone seems rash.”
“Tsk, tsk. What do you know about Seoul information?”
“What is there to know?”
“You know O Gyeong-jeong, my junior from school?”

Song Jeong-geun lowered his voice conspiratorially.

“Chief of the Intelligence Division at Sokcho Police Station?”
“That’s the one. I heard this at a drinking session a few years back—the chairman of Ha Ryun Group’s son and his wife established roots in Sokcho.”
“Something like that happened?”
“Hehe. Now that’s what you call intelligence.”
“So he really is chaebol nobility? Hehehehe.”

Color bloomed across Kim Ju-hee’s face.
The Intelligence Division at a provincial police station also handled inquiries about socially important figures.

“Let’s toast! To finding the land our Young Master wants and to Sokcho’s boundless development! Cheers!”
“Cheers!!”
“Kim, let’s do well by this. I need to make some money before I retire too.”

Song Jeong-geun extended his cup toward Kim Ju-hee.

“You know I’m selling my land first, right?”
“You’re really going to sell?”
“Gotta wrap it up quick. I’m sick of watching the kids fight over it.”

Hwang Hak-su shook his head in disgust.

Every time he saw his children with their eyes gleaming over the inheritance, his blood boiled.

“That’s right, liquidate it! What’s property anyway… Who benefits when your kids squabble over it?”
“I failed at raising my children. Tsk.”

The two middle-aged men found common ground in their children’s money troubles.

“Gentlemen…”

Kim Ju-hee looked at the two of them.
Both had drained their cups; their eyes turned toward her.

“Do you know who owns the vacant land next to your building?”
“Which one?”
“The empty lot to the right of the meat restaurant in front of Hanjin Apartment.”
“Oh! That’s Go’s land.”

Hwang Hak-su recognized it immediately and answered.

“You know the owner?”
“Know him well. That land’s going on the market soon.”
“Really?”
“Go’s son is a gambler at Jeongseon Casino. He’s selling now to clear his debts, or so I heard.”
“Ah…”

A note of sympathy escaped Kim Ju-hee’s lips.

Gangwon-do had a house full of spendthrift sons squandering land worth its weight in gold.

Sokcho’s landowners and their descendants couldn’t keep up with the skyrocketing property values.

“That land… why?”

Song Jeong-geun asked casually.
Kim Ju-hee broke into a knowing smile.
And then.

“I think the Young Master’s planning to build a villa.”
“Ah! A villa!!”

Both men nodded in understanding.

A villa—everyone’s dream when they have money to spare.
It made perfect sense.

“With a building on that land, the view would be spectacular! See, the wealthy really do have a different eye!”

Song Jeong-geun felt inward admiration.
The prime development land in front of Sokcho Beach, a future core area for city development.

In just a few years, it would be the sort of land that could easily net five times the investment—that much was certain.

“Come now, everyone! To our Young Master and Sokcho’s infinite prosperity! Cheers!”
“Cheers!!”

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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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