Though they didn’t share blood, he’d taught Ganghyuk many things, saying that sharing the same surname was fate. Enough to make the Tae siblings soak in jealousy.
As if not feeling the gazes landing on his face, Ganghyuk approached Chairman Tae. He knelt on the floor and grasped the wrinkled hands. Leaning his forehead against them, he whispered softly.
“I’m sorry for being so late, Chairman.”
It had been nearly a month since Chairman Tae had fallen into a coma. He’d thought it was better to quickly finish the work Chairman Tae had hoped for rather than visit during that time.
Though he’d known his breathing would soon stop, seeing him as a cold corpse brought a flood of emotions.
“How about stopping the melodrama? It’s hard to watch.”
When Minjae sneered, finding the sight disgusting, Ganghyuk raised his bent body. Ganghyuk naturally looked down at Minjae.
Minjae, whose pride had been especially hurt today, ground his teeth until the implant area ached and glared at Ganghyuk as if to kill him.
Then thinking of Ian who had fallen into his hands, he grinned. At the thought that Ganghyuk standing there like a proud crane wouldn’t last long, the anger that had filled his chest until moments ago subsided somewhat.
He would break all of Ganghyuk’s teeth too, and make his shoulder unusable. Since the omega he cherished enough to keep as his right arm had disappeared, he must be in terrible distress.
“It would be best to rush the chairman inauguration ceremony as much as possible. When news of the Chairman’s death spreads, it will affect the company’s stock price too. At times like this, the priority is to inform everyone as quickly as possible that succession has been properly carried out.”
But Ganghyuk treated Minjae as if he didn’t exist and only spoke to Minsu.
Minsu looked between Ganghyuk and Minjae with a slightly flustered face, then nodded. He too had complicated feelings toward Ganghyuk, but he knew that to ascend to the chairman position, he needed his power.
If the person Ganghyuk was backing wasn’t himself but Minjae, becoming chairman would have been a distant dream.
“After the funeral is over, I’ll arrange a meeting with the directors. You handle the board of directors.”
“Don’t worry.”
For the bigger picture, Minsu knew how to swallow his pride. That was the biggest difference between Minsu and Minjae. Minsu had realized early on that he could never lead Taehyun Group with his own strength alone.
Though the old directors and Ganghyuk’s existence were bothersome, he knew that until he ascended to the chairman position and solidified his power, he needed their strength, so regardless of his feelings toward Ganghyuk, he didn’t show it outwardly.
“Then I’ll go out first to meet the directors. Please take good care of the Chairman.”
“Alright.”
Minsu patted Ganghyuk’s shoulder as if treating a subordinate. Ganghyuk didn’t mind and bowed before heading toward the hospital room door.
With his hand on the door handle, he turned his body halfway to look at Minjae and Nayeon once each. At the gaze that felt quiet yet somehow fierce, Minjae unconsciously tried to step back but clenched his fist with force.
“From now on, your phones are going to blow up. Know that this is just the beginning.”
At the cryptic words, as Minjae furrowed his brow, Ganghyuk left the hospital room without hesitation. Jaehyun, who had been waiting outside, approached and reported to Ganghyuk.
“The article just went up. The video is also set to spread quickly on SNS.”
“Ian’s whereabouts…”
“……It seems Gal Hongdo’s side spirited him away. We’re tracking him now.”
Ganghyuk, who’d stopped walking, wiped his face with his palm. Unlike when he’d dealt with the Tae siblings, his eyes were seething like a volcano about to erupt.
He’d only maintained courtesy because this was the place where Chairman Tae had gone to eternal rest, but the moment Ganghyuk saw Minjae and Nayeon’s faces, he’d felt the urge to strangle them.
Of all people, they’d brought in Gal Hongdo. The one who caused Ian to still have nightmares and lose sleep at night.
If he’d known it would come to this, he should have just killed them. Whether Gal Hongdo or Tae Minjae. As a result of his complacent response, Ian had become endangered.
“Find him quickly. Before I kill either Tae Minjae or Tae Nayeon.”
“……Yes.”
Never having seen Ganghyuk express anger to this degree, Jaehyun swallowed his dry saliva. Cold sweat was flowing down his spine.
Just then, a scream burst out from inside the hospital room where Chairman Tae had been admitted.
Minsu just blinked his eyes while watching Minjae suddenly shouting and Nayeon whose complexion had turned deathly pale. After Ganghyuk left with his meaningful words, the two had checked their phones simultaneously.
Then Minjae’s face flushed bright red and he started screaming, while Nayeon anxiously bit her lips repeatedly.
‘Something happened.’
Ganghyuk never made the first move. Even though Minjae had provoked him countless times until now, he’d brushed it off as nothing major. Like a tiger ignoring a puppy barking nearby.
But seeing how things were turning out, there seemed to have been something he didn’t know about. Knowing that Minjae at times like this wouldn’t listen to any words, Minsu took out his phone.
If his siblings made enemies of Ganghyuk, it was good news for him. Right now, the most important thing was to safely hold their father’s funeral.
While the people who came at his contact moved Chairman Tae’s body, Nayeon dragged the frenzied Minjae’s arm to an empty hospital room.
“Calm down. You’re not going to advertise to the whole neighborhood that you’re the protagonist of that article, are you?”
Minjae’s hand holding the phone trembled. One of his staff members had urgently sent him a link. When he clicked the link, an article appeared.
It was a sensational article stating that a second-generation chaebol of T Group habitually took drugs and enjoyed orgies with omegas.
Though it was still just speculation and only mentioned in initials, if you pieced together the details written in the article like puzzle pieces, it wasn’t difficult to figure out the protagonist was Minjae.
Since Minjae was usually active on SNS, there was quite a lot of information known to the public about him. Of all things, the outlet that released the article was a media company that had previously exposed the dark sides of celebrities several times, which turned out to be true, earning public trust.
“Mine just exploded too, one after another.”
Though she was stopping Minjae, Nayeon’s expression was also dark. Videos about an idol group that could be called the company’s poster child and one actor were rapidly spreading on SNS.
Photos had surfaced of the idol group’s main vocalist at a drinking table with a minor, and the actor meeting secretly with a famous married actress known as the entertainment industry’s representative lovebird couple.
Both faces came out so clearly that they couldn’t deny it. She’d told the company’s PR team and legal team to quickly issue a statement that these were malicious photos created by AI, but Nayeon knew all the photos were real.
Because the person who had been keeping those photos was Nayeon. Both the idol member and the actor were facing contract renewals, and she’d held onto things that could become weaknesses to prevent them from going to other companies, but they’d been hacked and leaked.
She hadn’t expected Ganghyuk to respond this way, so a hollow laugh came out, but there was no time to lose her mind.
“Why do you think Tae Ganghyuk is coming at us like this? It’s proof that the omega we’re holding is really important to Tae Ganghyuk. So pull yourself together. You don’t want to self-destruct just as Tae Ganghyuk wants, do you?”
Nayeon thought coldly. Just in case, she contacted Gal Hongdo to check. Ian was still in their hands.
He too knew that Tae Ganghyuk was chasing him. But he told her not to worry. That Tae Ganghyuk would never find where he was hiding.
Then they just needed to negotiate with Tae Ganghyuk using the omega. As originally planned, she would definitely see that bastard kneeling and begging.
“Right, that son of a bitch is coming at us like this, so we can’t just sit still.”
Minjae’s eyes fluttered wide as he stormed out of the hospital room. Following behind him, Nayeon received a text message. An unreadable emotion crossed her face as she checked the content.
ლ
“Cough, cough……”
A dry cough burst out. Ian, whose throat was stinging as he swallowed saliva, shed pitiful tears.
“Sob……”
Even when he opened his eyes, it was all darkness. His hands were tied behind his back, and his ankles the same. Moreover, a thick cloth that didn’t let light through well was covering his face, so the wet cloth stuck to his skin every time he breathed, making it hard to breathe.
