Unhealthy - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 27. Overprotection

“Just sit quietly, watch the ritual, and eat some rice cakes.”

“I’ll get indigestion.”

“I’ll prick your finger for you.”

“What’s that supposed to be? You sound like an old man. Who pricks fingers for indigestion these days?”

At Hae-yeong’s grumbling, Taejun’s lips finally curved upward in a gentle twist.

It was a flexible crack that was never allowed to others, a disarming that only occurred in front of Hae-yeong. He peeled away each of her fingers that clutched his sleeve one by one and slowly pressed his lips to the back of her hand.

“Come to the company at lunchtime later. I’ll buy you a meal.”

Taejun roughly tousled Hae-yeong’s hair scattered across the bed sheets once more before getting up without lingering.

“At lunchtime? But you said you were busy.”

“There’s someone I need to meet with. And I have something to tell you separately.”

“Who?”

“I’ll contact you later.”

Taejun’s way of leaving only his own business instead of answering questions remained unchanged.

His back moving away with the pouring morning sunlight behind him was both a massive barrier blocking Hae-yeong’s view and the only solid refuge she could lean on in this house.

“Oh, and.”

He had grabbed his bag and was leaving the room when he returned inside and added.

“Don’t stay in your room, stay here. Gi Jae-jun might come sniffing around. Contact me immediately if anything happens.”

Instead of answering, Hae-yeong pulled the blanket up deeper.

She felt as if even her own space was being denied and she was being preserved within Taejun’s territory, but paradoxically, that forcefulness reassured her.

It was overprotection. Excessively selfish.

After he left, an abrupt silence settled beyond the closed door.

Hae-yeong buried her face in the pillow that carried Taejun’s scent, trying to gauge how far this selfish affection that bound her would extend.

***

With a sharp impact sound, the golf ball traced a parabola across the practice range where the dawn mist had not yet cleared.

Jae-jun, who had followed Gi Chairman like a shadow since early morning, was tracking the trajectory each time his father swung the club, fawning over him with almost servile alertness.

“Father, please give me Hae-yeong.”

“What is that girl, some kind of object?”

Gi Chairman replied indifferently without even glancing over as he set up the next ball.

Jae-jun approached closer to Gi Chairman’s side with a sly smile spread across his face, continuing his secret persuasion as he repeatedly took shots.

Each time the explosive sound tore through the air, an undisguisable greed flashed like a gleam in Jae-jun’s eyes.

“She’s not an object, of course. But isn’t she the most reliable collateral for you, Father?”

At Jae-jun’s words, Gi Chairman’s motion of swinging the club paused momentarily. Jae-jun didn’t miss that opening and pressed in with a low voice.

“I understand your affection for hyung, Father, but Gi Taejun already has a grip on Jiwon’s real power. Looking at how he arbitrarily kicked away the marriage with Sehwa Group, it fits him perfectly.”

“….”

“If such a hyung gets his hands on Hae-yeong too, he’ll end up swallowing the remaining inheritance whole. Then you really won’t be able to control hyung anymore, Father.”

Gi Chairman slowly turned his head to look at his second son. Jae-jun slightly revealed the venomous fangs he had hidden behind his affectionate mask.

“Hae-yeong’s inheritance, who told you about that? Did Gi Corporation tell you? That the girl has an inheritance?”

Gi Chairman’s eyes shook intensely.

Originally, Hae-yeong’s existence value was bait that Taejun had secretly thrown only to Gi Chairman in order to bring her into this castle.

When the secret that only Taejun and himself had shared flowed from Jae-jun’s mouth, Gi Chairman’s complexion changed.

“To be precise, hyung gave me hints. Fortunately, I’ve lived long enough reading situations, so I caught on quickly. Father, you’re also keeping Hae-yeong by your side because of that enormous inheritance, aren’t you?”

“How much do you know, you?”

Instead of answering, Jae-jun lightly caressed the end of the golf club Gi Chairman was holding and continued speaking.

Gi Chairman’s expression had hardened like someone who had met an unexpected disaster.

“I’m neither as capable nor as reckless as hyung. If you keep Hae-yeong by my side, that girl’s enormous inheritance and succession rights will be under your control forever, Father. I’ll become a faithful hunting dog to keep hyung in check.”

Jae-jun’s words were both a rational proposal and precisely touched the fears of an old man trembling at the thought of having his power completely usurped by Taejun.

“The moment Hae-yeong marries hyung, you’ll be completely pushed out from the center of Jiwon, Father. Do you really want that? When hyung takes Hae-yeong and leaves this house, what will you use to hold onto hyung? What about Hae-yeong?”

Jae-jun threw what was now tantamount to a threat as his final move while staring directly into Gi Chairman’s eyes.

“Giving me Hae-yeong would be the only way to tie her to this house. And simultaneously, it’s the path for you to remain the owner of Jiwon, Father.”

Jae-jun’s final move pierced Gi Chairman’s eardrums more sharply than the impact sound cutting through the air.

Instead of answering, Gi Chairman gripped the driver tightly once more.

A silence stretched taut as if about to burst filled the space between the two men.

Clang—!

A much rougher and more destructive sound than before echoed through the practice range.

The ball soared to a place too far to be seen, but Gi Chairman’s gaze remained fixed somewhere in the empty air where the ball had disappeared.

Jae-jun held his breath and waited for his father’s lips to open.

“An inheritance….”

Gi Chairman murmured quietly as he handed the club to his secretary as if throwing it to the ground.

Without looking at Jae-jun’s face even once, he slowly removed his sweat-soaked gloves.

“So Gi Corporation gave you hints, how interesting. That clever bastard wouldn’t have made a mistake. Did he leak it on purpose, or have you become that cunning?”

“Father, I was just….”

Long tails get stepped on. While his head was fabricating lies again to bewitch Gi Chairman, Gi Chairman waved his hand dismissively.

“Enough. I can hear your scheming from here, so stop it.”

Gi Chairman roughly wiped his face with a towel and downed a bottle of cold water.

Jae-jun’s proposal was certainly tempting, but Gi Chairman never hastily revealed his hand.

The eyes of a shrewd merchant glinted ominously as he seemed to weigh which side would be a more docile hunting dog between Taejun’s competence and Jae-jun’s ambition.

“The matter of marriage with Hae-yeong, let me think about it more.”

Gi Chairman strode out of the practice range, leaving Jae-jun behind.

It was an ambiguous deferral, neither confirmation nor rejection.

Left alone in that spot, Jae-jun stared at where his father had been standing with a strange expression.

Gi Chairman’s silence was a signal of affirmation.

Jae-jun instinctively sensed that cracks were finally beginning to form in the massive fortress that was Taejun.

At the same time, Taejun was gazing out the large window of his office and checking Gi Chairman’s movements with Secretary Lee.

“The Chairman visited the golf practice range in the morning and is scheduled to return to company headquarters around 2 PM.”

“He’s running late.”

Taejun’s gaze slowly swept over the second hand of his wristwatch.

While he had always been aware of Gi Chairman’s leisurely pace, he felt inexplicably impatient due to the man not showing up when needed.

“Do you have a message to convey?”

“There’s something I need to meet with him directly to settle.”

There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in Taejun’s voice.

Secretary Lee carefully asked while reading Taejun’s mood.

“Shall I formally schedule a meeting through the secretary’s office?”

“There’s no need to inform the Chairman separately. I’ll go directly to the Chairman’s office at that time, so just ask them to leave a brief memo at the secretary’s office.”

“Yes, understood. I’ll arrange it that way.”

Just as the secretary was about to bow politely and withdraw, Taejun casually called him back.

“Secretary Lee.”

“Yes, Executive Director.”

“What brands do young people like these days?”

“Pardon…?”

Secretary Lee’s eyes widened at the unexpected question.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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