Still, I Will Live As The Son-In-Law Of A Conglomerate [EN]: Chapter 3

3. 2nd. Re-stringing a New Button (1)

How much time had passed? When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar sight unfolded before me.

An old-fashioned reddish-brown sofa.

Tacky wallpaper and lighting.

In this room with its outdated interior, I was lying in bed, wearing a patient gown and with a cast on my leg!

Disoriented, I looked around, and then I heard a shattering sound, like a teacup breaking.

“Y, Young Master?”

Turning my head at the familiar voice, my mouth dropped open.

“…Hyung?” [Brother, used respectfully]

The man I saw was Park Tae-jin, but a Park Tae-jin who was decades younger.

‘What is this? Could it be…?’

Seeing his face filled with joy even after dropping and breaking the ceramic cup upon seeing me awake, I felt a surge of emotion and wanted to run and hug him. But when I tried to get up, my whole body felt like it was tearing apart.

Looking at my body wrapped in bandages, a memory flashed through my mind like déjà vu.

The car accident I had in the winter of my twenty-second year.

I had been invited by Jang Yong-jae and recklessly drove a sports car on the Yongin Speed Road when a brake malfunction caused an accident.

This incident was the beginning of the end of my relationship with Jang Ha-yeon, which had only been a flirtation.

Even after that, despite Jang Ha-yeon’s earnest request that I not race, I couldn’t give up either cars or racing.

The result was her declaration of breaking up.

Neither Jang Ha-yeon nor I could find a compromise, and we turned away from each other.

“Hehehe…”

A hollow laugh escaped me as the memories flashed by like a movie reel.

“Y, Young Master? Are you alright?”

Park Tae-jin stared blankly at me as I chuckled for a long time, then shook his head and shouted loudly.

“Nurse! Nurse!”

I just stared blankly at Park Tae-jin’s back as he ran down the hallway.

Only after several hours did I gradually begin to accept the situation. After dismissing everyone, I looked at the calendar alone in the room.

‘January 3, 1993…’

The day I had the accident was the evening of December 24, 1992. If the date on the calendar is really today… it exactly matches the day I woke up.

Then… have I returned to the past?

More than anything, Park Tae-jin’s face, as he worried about me, was too kind to be hell.

I had seen this kind of story in my previous life. Young employees used to read novels on their smartphones, saying it was the trend.

I had only laughed, finding it ridiculous when I glanced at the contents of those *chaebol* [conglomerate] novels, but now I was going to become the protagonist of such a novel.

I had to admit it.

Moreover, it’s the beginning of the new year in 1993?

This was also the time when I started to clash with my grandfather, as well as with Jang Ha-yeon.

At that time, I couldn’t give my grandfather a convincing reason and only vaguely insisted that we should prepare for the real-name financial transaction system [a system requiring all financial transactions to be conducted under real names to prevent corruption and tax evasion].

My grandfather dismissed my argument as childish nonsense, and the price we paid was losing an unknown amount of money to the bank.

From that point on, I believed that my grandfather’s era was over, and I wanted to join Chairman Jang Ho-geon’s Shinseong Group, who was a friend of my father.

Since my parents passed away when I was young, he had cherished me like his own son, which made me lean towards him, but the price was 23 years of servitude to Shinseong Group.

‘If this is true…’

My goals in this life are love and revenge.

From now on, I want to protect the people I love. My family, my lover, and even those who will come into my circle.

At the same time, I will crush and destroy anyone who harms me or my people, and take everything they have.

Fortunately.

Our family has the Haedong Group, which is older than this country, and an accumulated network of connections with the largest private loan organization in the country, even if the scale is unknown. If I judge coldly and move secretly, I can achieve both love and revenge.

However, considering the internal affairs of the private loan organization intertwined with our family’s unwritten rules, the cutthroat nature of the political and business circles that don’t leave successful people alone, the public sentiment, and, above all, my love for Jang Ha-yeon, I can’t just push forward with a money fight. Why?

Because it’s not a *chaebol* group that you can take over just with money.

The *chaebol* owners value lineage and marriage connections as much as medieval royalty and nobility, and the executives and employees worship them like kings. Considering external forces like institutional investors and other *chaebols*, it’s not an easy task.

To merge Shinseong Group into Haedong Group, or to seize control of its shares and drive out the Jang family members of Shinseong Group except for Jang Ha-yeon, making them unqualified is essential.

I need to win over the executives and employees of Shinseong Group who will become my people, and prevent external forces from intervening, in order to swallow Shinseong Group.

Therefore, I must at least become the son-in-law of Shinseong Group’s Jang Ho-geon.

Even if I’m not an adopted son-in-law, having the title of Jang Ho-geon’s son-in-law and Jang Ha-yeon’s husband will quell all variables even if Haedong Group devours Shinseong Group.

Of course.

If I, who knows all the future information, wanted to, I could bring Shinseong Group under my control within 10 years. But why am I trying to go the hard way?

‘I’m not satisfied with taking revenge as easily as in a typical *chaebol* novel. Shouldn’t those bastards suffer as much as I did? Like being torn limb from limb.’

Like the scene in another killer movie starring Mads Mikkelsen, who will make men’s legs spread in spy movies 10 years later, where he cuts the flesh under his arm with nail clippers, a cruel dismemberment.

The skill of the executioner is judged by how long they can keep the prisoner alive while cutting them apart.

Although it was the result of my own actions, I wanted to inflict the same amount of pain on the Jang family members over the same amount of time that my mind and body withered like an old tree.

‘I will take everything they have and destroy everything they have built.’

Whether I start their future businesses first or swallow their company, there are countless ways.

I felt like my long-standing resentment would only be completely resolved when I could watch those damned Jang family members fall into a swamp of despair filled with inferiority, anger, sadness, and powerlessness, and be consumed by that swamp.

As I pondered this absurd situation and sketched out the framework for an even more absurd plan, I heard the sound of the door opening.

“Seong-min!”

Expecting it to be Park Tae-jin, my eyes widened and I doubted my ears at the voice that followed.

A familiar, affectionate voice.

The owner of this voice was only one person I knew.

The voice I wanted to hear just one more time in the last moments of my life.

Turning my head towards the voice, I saw Jang Ha-yeon running towards me with tears in her eyes. Exactly the same as 28 years ago, identical from head to toe!

“Ja, Jang…”

Even as I stammered and reached out my hand, Jang Ha-yeon rushed to the bedside where I was sitting.

Slap!

“Keuheueuk!”

I was jolted awake by Jang Ha-yeon’s stinging slap.

“Didn’t I tell you not to race! Why don’t you listen!”

Jang Ha-yeon shouted without missing a single word, glaring at me while constantly shedding tears.

She used to get angry and annoyed from the start, but now my heart ached unbearably.

I wanted to kneel before her right away, but I was a man whose whole body was broken. All I could do was look at her with eyes and an expression filled with apology, but Jang Ha-yeon was still huffing and scolding me.

“Didn’t I tell you? At least hire a professional racer to drive! Did I say that or not? Huh! Why don’t you listen!”

She hit my arm with her hand until it was about to break. Why did I ignore this woman’s heart that was worried about me?

I had nothing to say even though I had a mouth. I had ignored Jang Ha-yeon’s earnest voice because of my youthful pride, so what excuse could I make?

There was only one thing I could say.

“I’m…”

As I reached out my hand to wipe away the tears flowing down her cheeks, the door opened.

“Hey, Jang Ha-yeon!”

A shrill voice that raised my blood pressure to the point where my head throbbed. The moment I heard that sharp voice, the hair on my body stood on end. This replay is perfectly timed, damn it.

***

Jang Su-yeon entered the hospital room, glaring at Jang Ha-yeon with murderous intent. How could everything be so perfectly aligned?

In the past, I would have sided with Jang Su-yeon, who scolded Jang Ha-yeon for openly getting angry at me. But thinking about what that bitch had done to me, I wanted to tell her to get lost, no, I wanted to kill her right away.

However, having already finished all the calculations, I suppressed my anger and watched what Jang Su-yeon was doing. Now is the time to deceive.

“Are you okay, Seong-min? I was so worried.”

“I’m tired. I guess I haven’t woken up properly yet.”

Jang Su-yeon’s eyes narrowed for a moment at the dry response.

I’ve shared a blanket with that bitch for 23 years. Moreover, Jang Su-yeon in this era is nothing to Lee Seong-min, who has lived to 50 and returned.

“My sister is trying to comfort you, but that’s your reaction? Don’t you like your sister?”

“No, I just woke up and I’m not in my right mind. Understand?”

When I didn’t react much, Jang Su-yeon changed her target and turned her head towards Jang Ha-yeon, shouting.

“Jang Ha-yeon, who are you to tell Seong-min what to do? Is he still a child? Are you even his wife?”

Jang Ha-yeon clenched her fist, her veins bulging, and glared at Jang Su-yeon.

It looked like something was about to explode.

In the past, I would have rejoiced inwardly at that sight, but now I realized that she had no one to rely on in the Jang family except for me.

“Stop it!”

At the shout that echoed through the hospital room, Jang Su-yeon and Jang Ha-yeon looked at me with wide eyes.

“What are you two doing? Did you come here to fight? What are you doing in front of a sick person!”

Both of them froze at the unexpected scolding, and I, who had scolded the children(?), hid my embarrassment and glared at them.

What’s the point of having a twenty-three-year-old shell? I couldn’t hide the fact that my mind was fifty. Anyway, the initiative has passed to me, so shall we begin?

The method has already been prepared. It was something I had repeated and repeated for the past 20 years, until my bones ached and my insides rotted.

That method will give Jang Ha-yeon certainty and Jang Su-yeon confusion. Jang Ha-yeon, who had been coming to our house with Jang Ho-geon since we were playing house as children, would be able to figure it out.

Jang Su-yeon, who had never come to our house and had only seen me occasionally at the dinner table when my father and I went to Jang Ho-geon’s house for meals, would never be able to figure it out.

After stalling for some time, I called Park Tae-jin.

“Hyung.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“I’m going to sell the sports car to Grandpa.”

Park Tae-jin, Jang Ha-yeon, and Jang Su-yeon all looked at me with wide eyes.

“Seong-min, are you serious?”

“Lee Seong-min, what… do you mean?!”

It was as I expected.

Seeing that the nuances of Jang Ha-yeon, who asked first, and Jang Su-yeon, who asked next, were completely different, it was a great success.

Seeing their reactions, I said it again.

“It’s exactly what I said. I’m going to sell all the sports cars in the underground garage to Grandpa. I’ll be able to drive them later if I get Grandpa’s permission.”

Lee Dae-soo, the second chairman of Haedong Group and known as the ‘eccentric of the business world,’ my grandfather. Jang Ha-yeon, who knows him well, would have understood my words accurately.

As if she understood what I meant, Jang Ha-yeon tried hard to suppress the corners of her mouth from rising, and Jang Su-yeon couldn’t hide her flustered expression. Seeing that, I became even more certain of my choice.

“What do you mean? You acted like you would die without a sports car?”

Sensing that something was going wrong, Jang Su-yeon asked urgently, but Jang Ha-yeon’s attitude, who had seized the victory, was completely different from before.

“Su-yeon, didn’t you know? Seong-min’s grandfather, Chairman Lee Dae-soo, hates cars?”

“What?”

Jang Su-yeon looked back and forth between us with a bewildered expression, while Jang Ha-yeon continued to scratch at Jang Su-yeon’s insides.

“Do you know that Seong-min’s car was cared for like a child by Uncle Myung-woo?”

“Who doesn’t know that? That’s why I’m asking why he’s suddenly selling it!”

Jang Su-yeon retorted with a sharp voice as if she wouldn’t lose, but Jang Ha-yeon was full of composure.

“Then do you know that the two of them were going to take care of the car and start a car business together, but Chairman Lee Dae-soo opposed it?”

“What?”

As expected, Jang Su-yeon’s face turned red.

“Lee Seong-min, are you trying to screw me over right now?”

It’s useless to glare with venom in your eyes. I delivered a counterpunch to Jang Su-yeon with a dry voice.

“That’s a bit harsh. Does my sister want me to die in a car accident?”

“Ah, no! It’s not that…”

“Enough! Do I have to explain everything, even that my grandfather cherishes me and let me drive a sports car? I guess you weren’t interested in me?”

I cut off the excuses that that bitch was about to make and drove her into a corner with sarcasm, feeling relieved. How embarrassing would it be for the legitimate daughter of Chairman Jang Ho-geon of the great Shinseong Group to be rebuked by a brat from a family obsessed with money?

However, seeing Jang Su-yeon’s face turning red, I felt like I should suppress my anger.

“Anyway, it’s true that my grandfather hates cars, as Ha-yeon said. Still, I gave up Korean history, Western history, and Eastern history cleanly, as my grandfather wished, and entered Seoul National University’s Department of Business Administration. And I was the top student in the humanities. That’s why I got a car as a gift.”

In my previous life, and if there are no problems in the future, the three cousins will enter Seoul National University’s College of Engineering as they each like and want.

However, as the eldest grandson and the first of the fourth generation of Haedong Group, I had to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather, who was the first graduate of Seoul National University’s Department of Commerce, and my father, who graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Business Administration. If Jang Ha-yeon hadn’t been my senior, I would have gotten gray hair from the stress.

Thinking about it again, I get angry. As I recalled the hardships I had gone through, my voice became sharp without me realizing it.

“If I, who did that, want to drive a car, would my sister, if she were my grandfather, oppose it? Wouldn’t she?”

“Ah… that’s right. I’m sorry for misunderstanding, Seong-min.”

Jang Su-yeon reluctantly apologized and bit her lip, lowering her head. Nevertheless, her tightly clenched fist was trembling, so it seemed like she was really angry.

Wasn’t Jang Su-yeon’s academic background a complex close to hysteria, since Jang Ho-geon had poured 20 years into sending her to the Department of Business Administration or Economics like Jang Ha-yeon and Jang Yong-jae, but she barely entered Seoul National University’s Department of Clothing? Seeing that, I threw a sweet bait to Jang Su-yeon.

“Still, I’m going to sell the sports car to reflect on my actions since I caused a big accident. Don’t jump to conclusions or misunderstand.”

I’m sorry to Jang Ha-yeon in front of me, but I can’t turn Jang Su-yeon into an enemy yet. If her maternal family, the *Chosun Ilbo* [major South Korean newspaper], releases errand boys and reporters to monitor me from now on, it will disrupt the plan.

In addition to that, I wanted that bitch to feel the emptiness and anger of being deceived, if not as much as the 23 years I suffered.

So, I have to put a nose ring on Jang Su-yeon as much as I can and drag her around as I want. By that time, even if she knows that what I’m saying now is a false hope, she won’t be able to stop it.

I can’t tell Jang Ha-yeon these inner thoughts yet, but I looked at her and gave her a signal with my expression because I was worried about her.

Seeing my face, Jang Ha-yeon also nodded and closed her mouth tightly. Isn’t she someone who knows that my grandfather will never give her the keys if he takes the car, and that what I said now is a bluff?

The work is done and the signals have been exchanged, so I need to rest. Because I want to get up as soon as possible.

“I’m sorry, but everyone, please go back. I’m tired because it hasn’t been long since I woke up. I’m going to sleep.”

I said curtly and lay down as I was, turning my back to the two of them.

Today was the last day.

The hatred for the past 23 years that I will pour out to Jang Ha-yeon.

Today was the beginning.

The anger for the past 23 years that I will pour out to Jang Su-yeon.