The Soul-Harvesting Puppeteer - Chapter 46

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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 46
Chapter 4
While Han-eol sipped tea with Natiko, a profound shift was unfolding in Midland Seoul.
Rain poured down in sheets.
Beneath the downpour, figures in black suits converged one by one on the slopes of Namsan.
They were members of the Sungsung Group’s owner family—the apex of power in Midland Seoul.
Most striking among them was Lee Jun-woo, the Resource Exploration Team Director, his beard grown thick and wild.
Next came Lee Ji-yeon, the Strategic Support Team Director, a woman in her late thirties with a measured, composed bearing.
These were the third generation of the owner family, holding team leader positions within the Sungsung Group.
The third and fourth generations of the owner family had arrived first; they climbed the Namsan slopes beneath black umbrellas held by their attendants, their expressions grave.
Soon after, the higher echelons arrived—the third generation who had ascended to board director status, the real powers of the owner family.
The first among the directors to arrive, stepping from a black sedan, was none other than Lee Sung-woo, the Pioneer Regiment Commander of the Sungsung Group.
“Let’s go.”
Lee Sung-woo, broad-shouldered with his wavy hair tied back in a topknot and an eye patch covering one eye, ascended Namsan with an unhesitating stride.
Then came Lee Byeol-ha, Commander of the Artemis Knight Order, her slender frame and sharp features cutting through the rain.
The woman holding the umbrella for her was herself a knight of the Artemis Order.
Once all the third generation had assembled, Lee Kang-hyun, the current chairman of the Sungsung Group and second-generation owner, appeared at the scene.
Yet he did not step from the sedan. His vehicle proceeded directly up Namsan under security escort.
“The chairman has arrived. Repeat: the chairman has arrived.”
The moment his car passed the gate, the security detail radioed the message.
At once, all of the third and fourth generation owner family members waiting inside the building above rushed out and lined both sides of the path.
Even Lee Sung-woo, the Pioneer Regiment Commander whose pride pierced the heavens, and Lee Byeol-ha, the Artemis Knight Order Commander whose coldness was legendary, had no exception to make.
“Chairman, you’ve arrived?”
All of them, drenched in rain, called out their welcome in resonant voices.
Only one person.
Lee Myeong-woo, the Strategic Planning Director of the Sungsung Group, did not emerge from the building to greet his father.
This was not because Lee Myeong-woo held greater power than Lee Kang-hyun.
Why had the entire Sungsung Group owner family mobilized in the rain today?
It was because of the death of Ju Hyung-seon—Lee Myeong-woo’s father-in-law and Lee Kang-hyun’s brother-in-law.
Lee Myeong-woo was Ju Hyung-seon’s only son-in-law.
Therefore, he remained inside the house where the funeral would be held, greeting his father Lee Kang-hyun there instead of outside.
The name Ju Hyung-seon was not widely known to the world.
Few among ordinary citizens knew it, and even the Sungsung Group’s personnel department had failed to properly grasp who Ju Hyung-seon was.
They knew him only as the father of Ju Yeon-hee, wife of Strategic Planning Director Lee Myeong-woo, and had classified him as part of the VIP circle on that basis alone.
But the Sungsung Group owner family saw Ju Hyung-seon’s standing in an entirely different light.
One of only three Seers in Midland Seoul.
Since Lee Hyun, the most preeminent of the three Seers, had vanished, Ju Hyung-seon had wielded the greatest influence on the Sungsung Group among any individual.
This was the true nature of the old titan Ju Hyung-seon.
Lee Hyun, the chairman’s aunt and first generation of the Sungsung Group owner family, had been an Ability user of unparalleled caliber in every way.
She possessed a unique Ability to reverse the Demon Spirit flow of Demon Beasts, such that no one in the world could compare to her.
It was Lee Hyun who had elevated the Sungsung Group to its present position, and it was by her hand alone that Midland Seoul had come to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s great cities.
In her prime, Ju Hyung-seon served as her shadow, supporting her from behind.
Lee Hyun regarded him as a trustworthy partner and aided him generously.
Truth be told, Ju Hyung-seon’s ascent through Highland’s seventh, sixth, and finally to its fifth continent owed much to Lee Hyun’s assistance.
For this reason, Ju Hyung-seon revered Lee Hyun as his benefactor.
But after Lee Hyun disappeared, Ju Hyung-seon changed.
Among Ability users in Midland Seoul, Ju Hyung-seon was the sole Seer, aside from Lee Hyun herself, who had ever set foot on Highland’s fifth continent.
His power was considerable as well.
Though his ascent to the fifth continent had been Lee Hyun’s doing, Ju Hyung-seon’s own strength was such that he had survived quite long on Highland’s sixth continent, and no one dared dismiss his abilities.
Thus, having lost Lee Hyun, the Sungsung Group found itself increasingly dependent on Ju Hyung-seon.
At last understanding his own worth, Ju Hyung-seon began making ever-greater demands of the Sungsung Group. And with each passing day, those demands grew harsher.
The culmination was Lee Myeong-woo’s broken engagement.
At the time, Lee Myeong-woo, the chairman’s second son and a promising successor candidate, had been betrothed to a woman promised a future with him.
Indeed, his unborn child flowed through her veins.
Yet Ju Hyung-seon wanted Lee Myeong-woo for himself.
His only daughter, Ju Yeon-hee, had taken a liking to him—and that was where it all began.
Ju Hyung-seon’s pressure was relentless and formidable.
In the end, Chairman Lee Kang-hyun, for the sake of the group, broke his son’s betrothal, and Lee Myeong-woo became Ju Hyung-seon’s son-in-law, half by will and half by force.
Chapter 5
“Has the body been collected?”
Lee Kang-hyun stared at Ju Hyung-seon’s portrait, framed in white chrysanthemums, before asking a question without turning his head.
Lee Myeong-woo, dressed in a black suit, answered expressionlessly from beside him.
“I’ve already made arrangements through the New York contact.”
“Was it the New York line that first brought news of Hyung-seon’s death?”
“Yes. Doctor Chad, a Seer in New York who was exploring the six continents of Highland with my father-in-law, relayed this tragedy to us.”
Doctor Chad, whom Lee Myeong-woo mentioned, was a Seer who ranked among the world’s top one or two in the great city of New York.
Lee Kang-hyun dragged his hand across his chin.
“Doctor Chad… How much does this director trust him?”
“Chairman, I don’t trust anyone outside the family. However, Doctor Chad delivered the Sudden Ring to us soaked in blood, along with my father-in-law’s personal effects.”
“Is that so?”
Lee Kang-hyun’s eyes gleamed with intensity.
The Sudden Ring was a bracelet Ju Hyung-seon had never removed from his body throughout his life.
Lee Hyun had excavated this relic from the five continents of Highland long ago and given it to Ju Hyung-seon as a gift—it was said to contain flame beyond imagination.
“This is unexpected. For him to simply hand over a treasure like the Sudden Ring… Doctor Chad has nerve. Before a treasure of that magnitude, it’s easy to abandon conscience…”
Lee Kang-hyun trailed off, then asked again.
“You said the Sudden Ring was covered in blood? Has anyone run a blood analysis on it?”
“Yes. We confirmed it through Gangnam Sungsung General Hospital. It’s definitely my father-in-law’s blood.”
“Hmm.”
Lee Kang-hyun nodded once and gazed at Ju Hyung-seon’s portrait again.
Ju Hyung-seon had the look of someone whose stubborn nature showed through clearly to anyone who saw him.
Lee Kang-hyun stared at his in-law’s photograph in silence for a long moment before asking his son another question.
“In your view, will it be possible to recover the deceased’s body?”
“Doctor Chad says he’ll attempt it, mobilizing a few contacts in New York. But I’ve abandoned hope.”
Lee Myeong-woo’s answer was cold.
Lee Kang-hyun turned to face his son.
“Why?”
“My father-in-law encountered his misfortune in Gilit, a Demon Beast’s lair.”
“Gilit… I’ve heard it’s the Demon Beast most feared on the six continents. But why would Hyung-seon venture into such a dangerous place? Until now, he’d always conducted himself with the wisdom of an old turtle.”
Lee Kang-hyun tilted his head in puzzlement.
Lee Myeong-woo also shook his head.
“I’m not certain either. However, recently a triangular Demon Spirit Stone, nearly twenty centimeters in size, was acquired through the 1st Company under the Pioneer Regiment. When my father-in-law saw that stone, it appeared he was absorbed in deep thought.”
“Ah. So Hyung-seon approached Gilit’s lair because of that Demon Spirit Stone?”
“That cannot be confirmed. However, it is confirmed that my father-in-law carried that triangular Demon Spirit Stone with him when he entered Highland.”
“Hmm.”
Lee Kang-hyun crossed his arms and scratched his chin with his fingertips.
Then, from the adjacent room, the sound of stifled sobbing drifted in.
Lee Kang-hyun caught even that faint noise.
“How is your wife doing?”
Only then did Lee Kang-hyun ask about his daughter-in-law’s condition.
Lee Myeong-woo glanced toward the adjacent room with an impassive expression before answering.
“Chairman, having a Seer as a father was something that was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn’t it? She will bear it as she must. But sir, there is something I must tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I intend to bring my child here.”
“What?”
At this bombshell declaration from his second son, Lee Kang-hyun’s eyebrows shot up in shock.
“What?”
“What’s going on?”
The chairman’s loud voice drew the eyes of the owner’s family, scattered at a distance, all at once.
In particular, Lee Sung-woo’s eyes, Lee Myeong-woo’s rival and younger brother, flashed with interest.
Aware of the family’s attention, Lee Kang-hyun lowered his voice and growled.
“What are you suddenly saying? Bringing this director’s child here?”
“Chairman, you are aware, are you not? Eighteen years ago, when A-young and I broke our engagement, my child was already in her womb.”
Lee Myeong-woo’s tone was matter-of-fact, but the emotion compressed within it was anything but light.
Lee Kang-hyun’s eyes widened.
“You don’t mean to say…?”
“A-young bore my child and then abandoned him on Old Earth. I found that child long ago. I merely waited for the right moment to come, given my father-in-law’s temperament.”
Among the many children Lee Kang-hyun had fathered, Lee Myeong-woo was the one who most resembled his father.
Once he set his sights on a goal, he never abandoned it. Until that goal materialized, he revealed his true aim to no one. And anyone who stood in the way of his goal—he tolerated no one, not a single soul in this world. All of this mirrored Lee Kang-hyun precisely.
Lee Kang-hyun, knowing this well, did not stand in the way of his son’s will.
Chapter 6
“Before I grant permission, I have three questions for you.”
“Please, go ahead, Chairman.”
“When a child with no bloodline record suddenly enters the family, there will be fierce resistance from all quarters. Does my child possess the backbone to weather such opposition?”
“I carry your blood. I’ll push through without difficulty.”
Lee Myeong-woo radiated confidence.
Lee Kang-hyun didn’t hesitate further and moved to his next question.
“A considerable portion of our family’s fourth generation has awakened their Ability. Particularly the direct line—there are no exceptions. But what about my child? If the boy was born back then, he’d already be eighteen years old. And if he was neglected and raised on Old Earth all this time…”
At eighteen years old, the window for Ability awakening had already closed.
If Lee Myeong-woo’s son were an ordinary person who never awakened, he’d never receive proper treatment in the Sungsung Group owner’s family.
Instead of answering, Lee Myeong-woo lifted one corner of his mouth into a thin smile.
“Mm-hmm. I thought as much.”
Lee Kang-hyun let out a quiet chuckle.
He’d read the entire story from the slightest shift in his son’s expression alone.
“Heh heh heh. You cunning bastard. So my child has already awakened. In that case, he’d have left Old Earth and come up to Midland by now. Where is he? Which department of the Group are you keeping him in? Personnel? Or the Audit Division?”
Lee Kang-hyun rattled off the departments under Lee Myeong-woo’s jurisdiction.
Lee Myeong-woo answered in a low voice.
“Until recently, I had him in the 1st Company.”
“What? Under Sung-woo?”
The 1st Company was a subordinate division of the Pioneer Regiment.
And Lee Sung-woo, the Pioneer Regiment Commander and Lee Kang-hyun’s third son, was the fierce rival contending with Lee Myeong-woo for the position of next chairman.
“You placed my child under Sung-woo. Hahahaha. Hahahaha.”
Lee Kang-hyun laughed heartily, indifferent to the fact that he was in a funeral hall.
Yet no one dared reproach him for it.
Things might have been different if Ju Hyung-seon were still alive, but now that he was dead, there was no one within the Sungsung Group who could defy Lee Kang-hyun’s will.
Lee Kang-hyun, tears glistening at the corners of his eyes from laughing, tapped his son’s shoulder.
“This is going to be interesting. Let me see the bloodline of this head of operations.”
“Of course. Before I reveal the child to the world, I’ll arrange for him to greet you first.”
“Good. Then I have one last question.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Hyung-seon is dead, and we haven’t even recovered his body yet. And in the midst of all that, you announce you’re bringing out a child you’ve been hiding. Are you perhaps saying you intend to cast aside your wife?”
Lee Myeong-woo’s wife, Ju Yeon-hee, was a talented woman who had awakened her Ability, though it was not particularly exceptional.
Lee Myeong-woo and Ju Yeon-hee had no children together.
Now that Ju Hyung-seon was dead, there was nowhere for Ju Yeon-hee to find support.
It would hardly be surprising if Lee Myeong-woo announced right now that he was casting her out and reuniting with his former betrothed.
Lee Kang-hyun was pointing at precisely that possibility.
But Lee Myeong-woo’s answer was unexpected.
“That could never be. From now on, my wife is Yeon-hee alone.”
The Puppet Master Who Harvests Souls
Author |
Juno
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(주) Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without written permission from (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

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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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