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Even after Haerin closed the gate and disappeared, Soohyun waited for her for a long time.
More than waiting, he couldn’t move a step because he couldn’t decide what to do. Only the words Haerin had thrown at him spun around in his head.
‘In my eyes, Sunbae, you look just like Chairman Park. That’s why I shudder just looking at your face. You look exactly the same.’
He sat down in despair like a man who had lost his soul, and only later did he weakly rise from his spot, repeating Haerin’s words.
“...The same...”
He thought he had gotten rid of everything that resembled him even a little and created something completely new, but ironically, the thing that resembled Park Yoon-hwa the most remained.
Park Yoon-hwa’s most outstanding grandson, and her most similar descendant.
It was himself.
He had tried hard not to resemble him. He had tried to prove that he was a different person. Furthermore, he had wanted to avenge his dead family and completely erase Park Yoon-hwa’s traces from the world.
“Haha. The most similar one was right here.”
Soohyun chuckled hollowly and got back into the car. He started the engine and drove back onto the road. The place where Soohyun stopped the car again was Taesung’s main residence.
The interior of the main residence, which he had visited after a long time, was quiet.
They had already reduced the number of working people by half. The main residence, where the owner was absent, was filled with silence, with even the employees just standing around idly.
The puddles that Chairman Park had started digging everywhere in the garden of the house remained unsightly.
Soohyun slowly walked past them and headed for Chairman Park’s office. Reaching near the office, he came to the courtyard where he had first met Haerin, dragged her out, and stood facing her.
It was a large courtyard in front of Chairman Park’s office and the main house.
‘Do you know what kind of place this is and you’re trying to crawl in here? Someone like you can’t survive here. Leave when you’re told to.’
It was a day when a heavy downpour was falling. Even in the rain, Soohyun had immediately recognized that what was clinging to Haerin’s eyes wasn’t raindrops but tears.
The past self who had treated Haerin, who was looking at him in an unfamiliar place with no one to rely on, mercilessly even though he knew everything, appeared like a hallucination.
‘As you wish, it doesn’t… matter. I came prepared for everything.’
‘Since you started it, then endure it to the best of your ability.’
From the moment they first met, he had pushed her away like that. He had deliberately said hurtful things and scratched at her heart. He had rationalized it by saying that he was doing this because he loved her, cherished her, and wanted to protect her.
Perhaps, as Haerin had said, he just needed a place to vent his anger.
Because she didn’t get angry, didn’t fight back, and accepted and embraced everything he did, he must have thought she would always be like that.
“Hah...”
Soohyun barely supported his staggering body and entered Chairman Park’s office.
The stagnant air inside the office burst out along the open door.
The interior, which hadn’t been entered by anyone for quite a while, looked like a place where time had stopped. This was because the entry of employees had been completely restricted since Chairman Park had been taken to the hospital.
His gaze reached Chairman Park’s chair placed directly in front.
The luxurious leather-upholstered, handcrafted wooden chair was where Chairman Park had enjoyed sitting and commanding subordinates. Soohyun slowly approached Chairman Park’s seat and sat down in it.
Looking straight ahead, he seemed to see Haerin kneeling and bowing her head towards the seat he was sitting in.
Soohyun leaned back in the chair, let out a long sigh, slowly closed his eyes, and then opened them again.
The empty office felt desolate.
The person who had wielded his power as he pleased and trampled on people was now confined to a hospital, a helpless body unable to move.
Everything felt as futile to Soohyun as the empty office. Just as no one was by Chairman Park’s side in the hospital, there was no one by Soohyun’s side sitting in this chair either.
“Hehe...”
He had so desperately wished to be different, but was he ultimately walking the same path?
Soohyun closed his eyes, his body weary with exhaustion, leaning against the chair.
Was it because what Chairman Park had seen last in this place was the ghost of the past? He felt like his loneliness would be lessened if he could see even the ghost that Chairman Park had seen.
________________________________________
Chief Choi, who had come to Taesung’s main residence after receiving a call from the police, followed the police officers hurrying back and forth towards the back garden. Around the pond where the police line was set up, the investigating police officers were preparing to withdraw from the scene.
“Hello.”
Chief Choi approached one of the detectives guarding the scene and greeted him first.
“I received your call. I’m Choi Hyun-woo, Secretary to CEO Jung Soohyun.”
The detective, who had received the business card, guided Chief Choi to the pond and said,
“We plan to remove the control line today. It will probably be treated as a simple accidental death.”
The news that Taesung’s Park Yoon-hwa had fallen into the pond in her house had not yet been reported by the news. It was thanks to the group’s media control. It was also thanks to the government’s agreement with the view that it would only become gossip and a major negative factor in the stock market if it became known.
“The initial discoverer was Mr. Im Woo-shik, wasn’t it?”
Part of the pond’s railing was in disarray due to collapsed soil. Chief Choi, who had been looking at the pond, looked at the detective and asked.
“Yes. We were a bit suspicious of the initial discoverer, but as you know, it’s a blind spot without CCTV, and he has phone call records and immediately came to request rescue, so it seems we won’t be able to switch him to suspect.”
“Is that so?”
“Most importantly, we couldn’t find any motive for Mr. Im Woo-shik to harm Chairman Park.”
Motive to harm.
Chief Choi mulled over the detective’s words and turned his gaze back to the pond.
Anyone in this household, anyone related to Chairman Park, had enough motive to harm her. Even the kitchen ladies who had worked at the main residence for decades all had many complaints about Chairman Park.
Would Im Woo-shik be any different?
Chief Choi recalled Im Woo-shik’s face and sank into thought, then called Soohyun.
“CEO. They say they’re withdrawing from the scene today.”
-Okay. Anything else?
“They plan to close the investigation as a simple accidental death.”
-I suppose so. Maybe that’s better...
Soohyun’s voice was unusually subdued, so Chief Choi silently waited for Soohyun’s next words.
-Chief Choi, please 정리 all the working people remaining at the main residence.
“Yes. I understand.”
-Tell them all to leave by today. Give them generous severance pay.
“Yes, CEO.”
-Thank you for your hard work.
Chief Choi had wanted to ask about Soohyun’s whereabouts, as he hadn’t come to the office for several days, but he didn’t even get the chance. He looked at the disconnected phone for a moment and then headed towards the quarters where the employees stayed.
________________________________________
“From today, you can pack your belongings and vacate. We will separately inform you about severance pay and post-mortem arrangements.”
At Chief Choi’s words, a small murmur arose among the gathered employees. However, most of them had expected this to happen since Chairman Park had been taken to the hospital, so there was no major agitation.
While the employees obediently went to their respective rooms to pack their belongings, Woo-shik, who had returned to his room, had other thoughts.
He hadn’t even been able to approach the safe due to the police coming and going.
Park Yoon-hwa was now hospitalized with little chance of returning home, and there were rumors that Jung Jae-eun was preparing to emigrate after being thoroughly defeated by Soohyun. According to the rumors, it was emigration in name only, and in reality, it was no different from being exiled overseas by her nephew.
Woo-shik was in a truly hopeless situation. In this situation, the only hope for him was to steal the contents of the safe.
As evening fell, even the employees who had been staying in the residence packed their belongings and left the main house. Woo-shik pretended to pack his things and stayed holed up in his room, watching outside. The main residence was almost an empty house.
When he slyly asked a guard in the afternoon, the guards also planned to withdraw, leaving only the minimum number for the night shift. Since they planned to completely empty and close the house after today, tonight was his last chance to do something.
As the night deepened, Woo-shik quietly slipped out of his room and hid in the shadows of the night. Clouds were thick in the night sky, as if it would rain.
There were no guards patrolling regularly as usual, and the inside of the house, which would have been quite bustling with employees constantly cleaning, was eerily desolate like an abandoned house.
After confirming that the room monitoring the CCTV was also empty, Woo-shik hurried along the familiar path.
Creak.
He slightly opened the office door and, seeing that the interior was dark, was certain that no one was there.
Woo-shik turned on the flashlight on his phone and carefully walked to the safe, placing the bag he had brought in front of it.
Park Yoon-hwa’s secret safe was as large as one in a bank. Woo-shik grabbed the dial of the safe using the method he had memorized.
Click click click.
The sound of the safe’s dial turning broke the silence. He put his ear to the safe door and turned the dial back and forth to match the numbers, and at some point, with a click, the door became lighter.
Woo-shik let out a small exclamation and opened the safe door.
“Im Woo-shik.”
However, in the moment of elation, Woo-shik was startled by the sound of someone calling his name from behind. The bag he was holding fell to the floor.
“I wondered who was sneaking in like a thief, and it turns out to be Teacher Im, it was you.”
It was difficult to see the person speaking in the darkness. Woo-shik frowned deeply and shined the phone he was holding towards the voice.
“Were you planning to take something from there? How did you know how to open the safe?”
The person looking at him directly was Jung Soohyun.
Woo-shik, who had flinched for a moment at the sight of Soohyun, glanced at the liquor bottle in his hand and felt a slight relief.
From what he heard, this bastard had also gone crazy.
Woo-shik quickly plotted how to get out of this situation by using his smooth tongue.
“Soohyun-ah. How long have you been here? You should have made some noise.”
As Woo-shik spoke to Soohyun with a weak smile, Soohyun frowned deeply and retorted coldly.
“Amazing. Even at this moment, you seem to be trying to scheme your way out of this.”
“Soohyun-ah, don’t misunderstand. Chairman left something for me. I just came to take my share.”
“You and I both know that Chairman Park isn’t the kind of person to do that. What kind of novel bullshit are you spouting?”
Soohyun took a sip from the liquor bottle in his hand and sneered.
“There’s nothing in there, Im Woo-shik.”
“What?”
“I said there’s nothing there. It’s been empty from the start. You were fooled by Chairman Park.”
“That can’t be. You’re saying she lied to me at that moment?”
“Indeed... hahaha.”
Soohyun threw the liquor bottle he was holding carelessly onto the floor and laughed hollowly. He had only tested him by lying slightly, but he hadn’t expected Im Woo-shik to fall for it so easily.
“There’s no one normal in this family. Chairman Park’s accident, that was your doing, wasn’t it, Im Woo-shik?”
As Soohyun stood swaying, he took out his phone from his pocket without hesitation, and at that moment, Woo-shik screamed.
“Hit him quickly!”
The moment Soohyun tried to turn around at Woo-shik’s words, a blunt pain struck the back of his head.
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