Chapter 1540 Reconsidering (5)

Jeong Myeong-Cheol dazedly stared at the hospital room’s ceiling.

He had no energy in his body. Was it because of all the sedatives pumped into his system? Or was it more to do with the crippling fatigue after he thrashed and struggled with all his might earlier?

He had no answer to that. All he could do was just lie still and dazedly stare.

“Fuu-wuu-ukk!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol subtly sucked in a deep breath.

Without a doubt, he was lying on his back. But it still felt like something strange, something creepy, was inching closer and closer to his spine. Even though he knew that was impossible!

“Right. I... I’m alive.”

He had escaped. And now, he should have no business with those people. Not anymore.

But his trauma didn’t want to let him go that easily. Even now, it felt as if the ghost-faced Lee Hyeon-Su would pop into this room and smirk creepily at him.

Flinch!

The memories of Lee Hyeon-Su’s face triggered Jeong Myeong-Cheol to spasm nastily again.

I... I’m gonna kill them all! All of them! You sons of b*tches!

His head was filled with rage toward the people who dared to kidnap him. At the same time, though, the fear toward the same people ballooned even larger in his heart.

The people he detested more than anything in this world were out there, doing whatever they pleased, but he was too powerless to go after them. This sense of powerlessness was something Jeong Myeong-Cheol had never experienced before.

“Huff, huff... Wheeze...!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol turned his head and spotted a TV playing some random stuff.

Right. Let’s... Let’s just forget about them.

Exactly as Lee Hyeon-Su had said, Jeong Myeong-Cheol should be able to forget about this ordeal and move on with his life. He didn’t have a choice in the matter, did he?

As long as he stopped paying attention to those people, he would never get involved with them again. That was the only way for him to return to his old life and enjoy his peace.

A life where no one would come after him. A life where no one would torment him like that ever again! As long as he could go back to that life, he would unhesitantly forget about...

Just as his thoughts reached that far, Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s expression crumpled hideously.

“Uwaaaaaahk?!”

Kang Jin-Ho’s face now showed up on the TV screen. He was sipping coffee with a cafe serving as the backdrop. And this sight was more than enough for Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s complexion to go pale instantly.

He grabbed whatever was within reach and threw it at the TV.

SMASH!!!

A smartphone smacked right into the screen, cracking it. Kang Jin-Ho’s image split and splintered along with spider web-like cracks running on the screen.

“Huff! Huff! Fuu-huuph!”

Forget about what happened? Forget? Really?

Don’t make me laugh!

That bastard’s face was plastered in every corner of this country. And his cafe franchise was expanding even now. In that case, how was Jeong Myeong-Cheol supposed to forget about what happened to him!?

A billboard by the side of the road advertising Caffe Luogo would be enough to tighten his family jewels, after all! And coincidentally running into Kang Jin-Ho’s face during a TV broadcast triggered a nasty seizure in Jeong Myeong-Cheol!

“Urgh... Heuk... Sob...!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol began sobbing again.

The memories of his kidnappers and his imprisonment didn’t want to leave him alone. If he could, he would’ve ripped out the part of his brain where those memories were stored just to free himself from this torment.

I... That’s right. I need to get high.

Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s eyes grew even more bloodshot. There was simply no way he could forget those memories with a sober mind. Since that was the case, getting help from illicit chemicals sounded like a great idea.

Didn’t he stash something nice under the bed at his home? Then...

Just as his thoughts reached that, the hospital room’s door flung open without a knock, then an old man strode inside.

Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s eyes opened wider. “G-grandpa?”

The Taegwang Group Chairman, Jeong Hong-Geun, often referred to as “old fart” by Jeong Myeong-Cheol in private, entered the room with a stiff face, only for his steps to stop next to the bed.

His icy glare shifted away from his grandson, only to confirm the state of the broken TV.

“G-grandpa, I can explain...”

Jeong Hong-Geun gripped his cane tightly. “You... You stupid mongrel!”

Smaaack!

“Aaahhhk!”

Jeong Hong-Geun mercilessly assaulted his grandson with his cane. The hard stick left behind visible welts on Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s head and arms.

“Aaahhhk!? Ouch! Grandpa! Stop! Wait!”

“You stupid trash! How dare you bring shame to your family?! Why! Why can’t you wake up already!”

“Aaahk! Ouch! Aaaaahhk!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol curled up into a ball while screaming in pain. Even then, he dared not resist Jeong Hong-Geun.

His fear of Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su might still be fresh in his mind, but his fear of Jeong Hong-Geun was something deeply ingrained into his soul since he was a small child. He couldn’t even think about resisting the old man.

“C-chairman!”

Kim Sang-Ho stepped inside the room and freaked out at this scene. He rushed over and pulled Jeong Hong-Geun back.

“Sir! Please, I beg of you! Calm down, sir!”

“Release me this instant! Do you hear me?!”

“Please, sir! For your own sake, you must calm down! You could harm your health by being this agitated! Please remember your blood pressure!”

“Why, you...!”

Jeong Hong-Geun finally lowered his cane, but still panted away like a raging bull for a while. He eventually turned around and settled down on a cushy sofa in the middle of the room.

“Bring me some water.”

“Yes, sir!”

Kim Sang-Ho rushed to the water dispenser and brought a cup of room-temperature water.

Jeong Hong-Geun tutted loudly. “Bring me cold water!”

“Chairman... Cold water isn’t good for your body at your age.”

“What did you say?!”

“S-sir? Should I bring you the cold water?”

Jeong Hong-Geun gritted his teeth briefly before gulping down the cup of water.

Smack!

He put the cup down on the nearby table as if he wanted to throw it away, his rage-filled glare still locked on the curled-up Jeong Myeong-Cheol.

“You! Come down here, right now!”

“Yes, grandfather!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol shot up and jumped out of the bed before rushing toward his grandfather. Of course, he didn’t dare sit next to Jeong Hong-Geun on the sofa and knelt down on the floor instead.

“All I wanted was to rehabilitate a moron who kept bringing shame to his family, but now, you went ahead and did some truly outlandish things, didn’t you?!”

“...”

“So? Who was it?”

“Sorry?”

“I want to know who did this to you! Who was it?!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s complexion was instantly drained of all color. And Jeong Hong-Geun’s own expression shifted slightly when he noticed his grandson’s frightened response.

Would you look at that?

From his perspective, his grandson was malicious, scheming, and evil. Not only was he villainous, but Jeong Myeong-Cheol even knew the limits of his power and stayed within its bounds.

Other people might think he did whatever he pleased, but that wasn’t really true. The way Jeong Hong-Geun saw it, his grandson was perfectly aware of how much he could get away with and never went beyond that.

However, someone that crafty was keeping mum. What could that mean?

That could mean... At the very least, this idiot thinks I won’t be able to handle the ones behind this attack.

Jeong Hong-Geun let out a soft grunt. He didn’t think this foolish grandson of his would be able to calculate such things properly. Even so, it became clear the culprits couldn’t be some random small fries.

“Tell me who they are!”

“B-but, grandpa...”

“You still dare?!”

When Jeong Hong-Geun raised his cane threateningly again, Jeong Myeong-Cheol freaked out and curled up on the floor.

“N-no! Please don’t hurt me! Don’t kill me! I, I will do anything you want! S-so, please, don’t... hurt me...! Please!”

Jeong Hong-Geun’s expression stiffened slightly. This reaction, it... It didn’t belong to someone who “simply” got beaten up.

Right. It’s like he’s been to a holding cell in the anti-communist branch of the intelligence service.

Jeong Hong-Geun had seen something similar a few times before. Decades ago, in fact.

Back then, those who opposed the administration would sometimes vanish for a short while, and when they reappeared, they would become much, much more agreeable with the current political landscape. But when their trauma resurfaced for one reason or the other, they would all react this way.

This realization infuriated Jeong Hong-Geun even more.

“Just who was it?! Which bastards dared to do this to you, Myeong-Cheol?! Who is brazen enough to lay their hands on a member of the Jeong family! Speak up, now! I said, now!”

“Kkeuhk... Kuhk, kuk!”

Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s face suddenly went pale-blue, then he collapsed to his side while clutching at his chest.

Jeong Hong-Geun’s brow’s shout up. “Huh?”

Kim Sang-Ho cried out, “I think he’s stopped breathing, sir! Doctor! Is anyone outside?!”

“Press the alarm, you fool!”

“A-ah! Yes, sir!”

Kim Sang-Ho hurriedly pressed the nurse call button. A few seconds later, several medical staff members rushed inside. They quickly worked to calm Jeong Myeong-Cheol down, put him back on the bed, before stabilizing his breathing.

In the meantime, Jeong Hong-Geun watched on with an icy, focused glare. He didn’t even blink once.

How dare they!

His teeth began gnashing on their own.

Only an ordeal ordinary people couldn’t even fathom or dream of could turn a perfectly sane person into that state. And some bastards dared to put Jeong Myeong-Cheol through such an experience!

“Don’t they know who I am...?!”

Jeong Hong-Geun’s face grew flushed red from sheer rage.

He now realized he couldn’t simply treat this assault as an accident or even payback for a past grudge. No, it had to be something more than that. The culprits did it knowing Jeong Myeong-Cheol’s background, and that could only mean they were challenging Jeong Hong-Geun openly.

Kim Sang-Ho noticed the rage and agitation on Jeong Hong-Geun’s expression and cautiously spoke up. “C-chairman...?”

“The cops.”

“Sir?”

“Tell them to confirm the identities of the culprits but do nothing else besides. Because... I’ll catch them myself.”

“...!”

“I will not sit back and watch those bastards enjoy prison food without a care in the world! Especially after everything they have done to me! Do as I say!”

Kim Sang-Ho’s face was covered in more cold sweat now. “T-that is, well...”

Jeong Hong-Geun’s head shot up so that he could glare at Kim Sang-Ho. The way the executive director of Taegwang P&D muttered just now implied that there had been a snag of some kind.

“T-the police contacted us just now, sir. And they failed to identify any suspects.”

“...Say what?”

“All the CCTV footage had been wiped clean. And there were no working cameras at the location where President Jeong could have been kidnapped, sir. Since they couldn’t trace his steps, finding the culprits would be... nearly impossible.”

“What did you say?!” Jeong Hong-Geun’s brows shot up. “And they dare demand that I cough up tax every year?! How can the police not even figure out what happened?! When it was in the middle of the damn city?!”

“...”

“Wait. Are they implying they can’t do it or they want more money? Which is it?”

“It’s... The latter seems unlikely, sir.”

Jeong Hong-Geun loudly gritted his teeth. “Fine! Get the Prosecutor General on the phone!”

“C-chairman, the... public sentiment isn’t great right now. Carelessly contacting the prosecutors might create another problem down the line.”

“Public sentiment?!” Jeong Hong-Geun growled while pointing at Jeong Myeong-Cheol on the bed with his cane. “What did you say about sentiments?!”

“...!”

“You, get out of my sight! Now!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Summon my secretaries. And you, don’t come back to work, starting from tomorrow!”

“C-chairman!”

Kim Sang-Ho urgently kowtowed on the floor. The medical staff were still standing behind him, but he didn’t have the mental leeway to care about his pride right now.

“I’ve been too insolent, sir! I didn’t know my place and dared to question your decision. Please forgive me!”

“I said, get out of my sight!”

“Chairman! Just once! Just one more chance! Please grant me another chance! I swear I will work until my bones turn to dust!”

“You fool!”

Smaaack!

Jeong Hong-Geun’s cane slammed into the kowtowing Kim Sang-Ho’s back. However, Kim Sang-Ho didn’t even whimper.

“A servant like you is supposed to sweep the front yard! But after I let you peek into the main house a few times, you think you can enter whenever you feel like?! Do you know what happens to a servant like that?”

“Y-yes, sir!”

“Know your place! Not only you, but everybody else, too! Even the cops! How dare some measly public servants order me around?! Me!”

Jeong Hong-Geun’s eyes flickered coldly.

“Get the Prosecutor General on the phone, now! If that doesn’t work, call the party leader next! No matter what, I will find out what happened. And get even!”

Jeong Hong-Geun’s icy glare shifted to Jeong Myeong-Cheol next.

You stupid bastard!

He wasn’t sure what had happened to his grandson, but to think a man from the Jeong family would end up in such a pathetic state!

Even when I got stabbed by terrorists shouting about me being pro-Jap or whatever, I still went to work the next day! That’s who I am!

That was the kind of mental fortitude befitting a potential heir to the Jeong dynasty.

“I don’t know who they are, but it seems they have forgotten who I am! This has always been a problem. Bastards in Joseon always forget their place if you don’t remind them once in a while!”

Jeong Hong-Geun threw his cane on the floor while icily growling.

“Call him, now!”

“Yes, chairman!”

Kim Sang-Ho pulled out his phone, then squeezed his eyes shut.

Dammit! This matter is ballooning even more in scale!

His gut told him that this was far from the end, either. He could instinctively tell that a massive storm, one powerful enough to decide the rest of his life, was steadily approaching.