CH 52

“Take care of your expression.”

In response to Kim Seon-young’s resolute voice, Kang Seok-joo tried to hide the corners of his lips that kept rising. After Kang Il-hyun was shot during the inauguration ceremony and taken to the hospital, he underwent emergency surgery and was in the intensive care unit until today, when he was moved to the VIP room.

News and newspapers were buzzing about Kang Il-hyun’s accident every day. The case of Chairman Kang’s slush fund scandal is well-known due to this. Prosecutors also expressed their belief that Chairman Kang’s summons should be postponed due to an accident involving his son.

Executives and shareholders were also agitated, and at this time, the existing forces who wanted to follow Kang Tae-han’s succession process, the forces of Kim Seon-young who wanted to appoint Kang Seok-joo as the new successor, and the forces who believed that there was still no one better than Kang Il-hyun as a successor were confronting each other. Kim Seon-young straightened her expression and told Kang Seok-joo to never show off his face.

Instead, Kang Seok-joo was having a heated discussion about the good news with his friends on his cell phone. Who really shot Kang Il-hyun? The common opinion of all was that it was difficult to guess because there were so many people who wanted to kill Kang Il-hyun.

If Zhang Yi An had been there, they would have shared the joy together. He sent a message to him with regret, but there was no reply.

When the car came to a stop in front of the hospital, the secretary opened the back door. Chairman Kang and Kang Tae-han’s cars stopped behind, and they got off and entered the hospital. People’s attention was drawn to them, and the hospital director and doctors greeted them, but their faces were gloomy.

Kang Seok-joo discovered the reason at the VIP ward entrance on the 20th floor. Park Tae-soo stopped them before the elevator door opened and they could enter Kang Il-hyun’s hospital room. Chairman Kang looked surprised at Park Tae-soo, who was blocking the way.

“What are you doing.”

“I’m sorry, Chairman. You can’t go in.”

Kang Tae-han, who was standing next to him, rushed forward.

“You cheeky bastard. How dare you, a mere secretary, meddle so recklessly. What? You can’t get in? You were under Kang Il-hyun, so your liver came out of the stomach, didn’t it?”

Kang Tae-han stepped forward with a single blow, and the hospital director next to him was apologetic, but he couldn’t stop him. The elevator door then opened, revealing Kang Yoo-jung. Next to her was a young man with glasses.

Chairman Kang recognized him. He was a representative lawyer at a large law firm who knew Kang Il-hyun and was in charge of Il-hyun’s personal affairs. Kang Yoo-jung approached the family members with a gentle expression.

“You all came early. But what can I do, I think it’s going to be hard to visit today.”

Kang Tae-han replied with a curt face.

“Why? You said the surgery went well.”

Kang Yoo-jung had a sad expression on her face after slowly examining the faces of her family members.

“Because he was bleeding profusely, he died and was resurrected. He needs to rest right now, so come back later.”

The bullet in the left leg only crossed the artery and nerve, but the bullet in the right leg severed the artery. First aid was administered immediately, but there was so much blood that it was difficult to locate the artery hidden inside the muscle.

If a medical team had not been deployed to the scene despite Kang Il-hyun’s objection, and if Kang Yoo-jung had not been there on the pretext of being busy, something unimaginable might have happened.

Then Kim Seon-young stepped forward. The sound of high heels hitting the floor was sharp.

“Yoo-jung-ah. We’ll just check his face. Your father came all the way here himself.”

Kang Tae-han also helped.

“That’s right. Don’t be too tight. The director doesn’t even say anything, but why are you interfering!

The hospital director coughed and averted his gaze. He couldn’t say anything else because he had already spoken with Kang Yoo-jung. Kang Yoo-jung examined the faces of the family members one by one. Everyone was hiding it, but there was a strange look of excitement on their faces.

They must be so happy. Kang Il-hyun, who was like a thorn in the eye, was shot.

She cast a glance at the law firm representative sitting next to her. He opened the document and presented it to Chairman Kang politely. Chairman Kang’s secretary accepted it and handed it over to him. Chairman Kang’s brow twitched as he examined the documents’ contents.

Yoo-jung began speaking as she looked at Chairman Kang.

“It’s about giving me complete authority if something happens to Director Kang and he becomes unconscious or dies.”

Chairman Kang’s eyes widened when he heard the words.

“What do you mean by this?”

Kang Yoo-jung smiled brightly. That smile somehow resembled Kang Il-hyun.

“Well, what does that mean?”

Kang Tae-han became impatient and asked angrily.

“Are you kidding me? So what it is? Say it correctly so that I can understand!”

Yoo-jung still fixed her gaze on Chairman Kang.

“It means that whoever it is, if you want to kill Kang Sang-moo in the future, you have to kill me, too. Father.”

There was anger and sadness in the word “father.” Chairman Kang’s eyes trembled, and Kang Tae-han raised his voice next to him.

“What do you mean now? I mean, we even asked for a favor!”

Chairman Kang gestured to stop and then looked at Kang Yoo-jung. Her lips were softly smiling, but her eyes were strangely hostile. Unlike Kang Il-hyun, she was good at hiding her emotions, but she showed them today.

Chairman Kang nodded and returned the documents, calming the ferocious momentum.

“I’m going back today. Contact me when he gets better. You’re not the only one who’s worried about him.”

“Yes, I will.”

Yoo-jung returned to her usual form and smiled sweetly. Chairman Kang and the family turned around and left. The hospital’s director and other doctors appeared to be wiping sweat from their foreheads. Kang Yoo-jung bit her teeth and closed her eyes tightly after they boarded the elevator and descended.

Park Tae-soo came to the side.

“You did well.”

Yoo-jung opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled sadly. She was stunned and then enraged the first time she heard Kang Il-hyun’s story. Why is he so greedy that he wants to hold the position by killing his children? Yoo-jung didn’t get it, and neither did forgiveness.

After sending off the lawyer, she went into the hospital room with Park Tae-soo. After checking Il-hyun’s blood pressure and pulse, she looked down at his two legs wrapped in bandages. It seemed that it would take quite a while to walk without discomfort.

“It would be better to move to the hospital, wouldn’t it?”

Tae-soo nodded at Yoo-jung’s question.

“I’m looking for a suitable place, so I’ll let you know as soon as it’s decided.”

“I feel reassured that Secretary Park is by my side.”

“It’s nothing. I just do what I have to do.”

“Who is the culprit?”

Tae-soo pondered for a moment. Kang Yoo-jung doesn’t know that the killer is Zhang Yi An or Lee Ja-kyung. Kang Il-hyun told Kang Yoo-jung everything but kept this one a secret. So he didn’t say anything either.

“We are still looking.”

Kang Il-hyun groaned and frowned at the time. Kang Yoo-jung approached him, and Park Tae-soo examined his face to see how he was doing. The lashes trembled, the eyelids raised, and the pupils moved to the left and right.

Yoo-jung asked cautiously.

“Are you awake?”

The black eyes first looked at Kang Yoo-jung, then at Park Tae-soo. Kang Yoo-jung asked again if he was okay, but there was no response. Kang Yoo-jung’s heart sank as he stared at her like a lunatic.

She turned on her medical pen light to examine his pupils, but he suddenly laughed. Kang Yoo-jung’s eyes widened. Did you just laugh? Did you hit your head when you fell? However, neither the examination results nor the appearance were abnormal.

Kang Il-hyun now makes a sound and laughed to the point where his chest was vibrating. Yoo-jung looked back at Tae-soo with a worried expression.

“What’s wrong with him?”

When the doctor asked Tae-soo about the patient’s condition, he struggled to respond. But after nearly ten years of watching Kang Il-hyun, he guessed that’s the state…

“He seems angry.”

Yoo-jung’s eyes widened.

“Did you just say that this is him being angry?”

Park Tae-soo lowered his voice and answered so that only Kang Yoo-jung could hear it.

“Yes… very.”

He was right to say, ‘He’s so pissed off,’ but he didn’t want to tell Yoo-jung those low-key words. Yoo-jung frowned. Kang Il-hyun couldn’t stop laughing at what he thought was funny. If anyone had seen him, they would have assumed his wife had given birth instead of being shot and hospitalized.

After a while of laughing, the smile on his face faded and his eyes became cold. The black eyes had taken on an eerie glint.

***

Ueg, ueg. Wang Lun sticks his head out of the boat and vomits.

He was forced to change ships in the middle of the sea on a fishing boat, but his motion sickness worsened. He had taken some medication beforehand, but it was ineffective.

After he disappeared into the cabin saying he was going to lie down, Ja-kyung looked at the turbulent sea from the deck. He could only hear sounds and see nothing in the dark sea. After Wang Han’s father saved his life when he was ten years old, he once went to China by boat like this at night.

The relief of living and the fear of going to a new place kept him awake the entire time he tried to sleep. He met Wang Han and Wang Lun there. They were like family to him.

He took his phone from his pocket. Kang Il-hyun’s contact information was saved on the phone, which had been turned off. While lying on the bed, he thought that he needed to get as far away as possible to where he couldn’t be found. It didn’t matter because it happened all the time.

It was a pity that he couldn’t get all of the money, but it was quite a big sum that he decided to be content with it. He only got an advance payment from both of them, and he only gave them half of what they wanted, so it was never a low-key deal for them. The rest is up to them from now on. It didn’t matter whether they killed each other or not.

Ja-kyung was certain he had received a large sum of money, so he planned to visit the island when the situation had calmed down. It would be difficult to manage if it was too large, so he would need to get an appropriate size. To do so, he must first meet the woman he wishes to marry. He will have to think about where he wants to live a little more, but he will not return to Korea.

He crossed his arms on the railing and looked down at the dark ocean, thinking through several thoughts. He looked up and noticed a faint light in the distance. It flashed several times as if it were signaling

It was a sailing ship

Ja-kyung slowly stood up. The ship’s lights came closer and closer.