Chapter 111
Woo Jung-ryeol looked around quickly and pulled out a golf club from a nearby bag. The unblemished new head gleamed as sharply as bonsai scissors.
“It’s one thing to be ungrateful after I’ve kept you fed, but this is too much. You haven’t been beaten enough yet.”
“Why did you do it?”
Unlike the angry voice of his opponent, Woo Hyun-se remained calm. He stared directly at Woo Jung-ryeol, who was breathing heavily.
“Why did you touch him?”
He was such a kind and gentle child that it was frustrating for onlookers. If it were others, they would have immediately rushed over, grabbed him by the collar, and cursed, asking why they had to suffer this. But he just kept it all inside.
The measly compensation money forcibly given to him was also a factor in his growing anger. Just five thousand. It might be a lot for Si-yul, but for Woo Jung-ryeol, it was worth less than the plants he grew. It was priced according to rank. Just enough to prevent complaints.
Woo Hyun-se knew better than anyone how Woo Jung-ryeol beat people. Even though he smiled and said it didn’t hurt anymore, that he had recovered, when he thought of Kwon Si-yul being dragged here alone, slapped and kicked, his blood boiled. His fist clenched, and the joints and tendons on the back of his hand, hidden by the glove, rose chaotically.
“What are you talking about? I took care of a little rat for you, and this is how you repay me?”
Woo Jung-ryeol gripped the club tightly and swung. In the past, Hyun-se would have quietly taken the beating and ended it there. But not now. There was no reason to endure it. He had touched Kwon Si-yul. That small, young child.
The most precious person to him.
When he was younger, he would have taken the beating without a word, but now he could easily disarm him. Woo Jung-ryeol cursed as he stared at the golf club that had been taken from him so easily. He looked around for another weapon. Woo Hyun-se ignored him and looked at the club in his hand. A familiar 11-iron, with decent shaft elasticity.
“Mr. Yoon, you saw that, right? From now on, what I do is self-defense.”
Strictly speaking, it couldn’t be called self-defense since he hadn’t been hit yet, but considering that Kwon Si-yul had been beaten one-sidedly, that should suffice. Two slaps to the face, and one kick to the stomach. Just returning the favor wasn’t enough. Interest should always be collected at compound rates for a profitable business. Woo Hyun-se gripped the club with both hands.
The golf club rose high and traced a large arc. The sound of the club cutting through the air was followed by the thud of the iron-like head hitting flesh and bone.
Despite being hit only once, Woo Jung-ryeol clutched his arm and rolled on the floor, claiming he was dying. Woo Hyun-se laughed at the sight of him whimpering. He hadn’t even properly started yet, but the man was already overreacting. He wondered where the man who used to beat him until his arm cracked and broke Woo Gi-bbeum’s ribs had gone.
“Please, young master, you can’t do this!”
Mr. Yoon, who had been fidgeting behind them, rushed forward urgently. Woo Hyun-se tilted his head as he looked at the man blocking his way.
“Step aside. Unless you want to die too.”
The gaze looking down at him was filled with sincerity. The contents of the reports Mr. Yoon had secretly submitted to Woo Jung-ryeol flashed through his mind. Although he now lived like a respectable businessman in his older age, Woo Hyun-se was once a figure who cleverly navigated between illegal and legal activities, living with blood constantly fresh on his clothes.
Mr. Yoon hesitated for a moment, then closed his eyes tightly and stepped aside. He was quick to calculate.
Every time the golf club struck the floor, red blood spattered in dots. It sounded like meat being tenderized. Pleas for mercy mixed with vulgar curses flowed incoherently, but there was no one to listen. Mr. Yoon just flinched repeatedly, pretending not to see the situation unfolding before him.
How much time had passed? The dark shadow on the wall lowered the hand holding the long club. Even the screams had subsided. The beaten opponent just trembled on the floor, curled up. The cough he spat out was mixed with blood and fragments of white teeth. Bloody foam was smeared thickly on his quivering chin.
Woo Hyun-se exhaled deeply and placed the golf club head on the floor with a thud. The head was barely recognizable in its original color. The bright red blood stretched like mucus before dropping to the floor.
“Let’s not see each other again. They say you can’t break blood ties, but fortunately, that doesn’t apply to you and me.”
Woo Jung-ryeol could only whimper, unable to answer. He squirmed, trying to move away every time Woo Hyun-se’s clothes rustled, terrified.
“Still, given that you raised me, I won’t send you to a farm. I’m not that cruel.”
Woo Hyun-se carefully wiped the golf club head and shaft with a handkerchief. After checking repeatedly for any remaining blood, he put it back in its original place. Only after completing everything did he pull off his gloves, biting the end with his teeth.
In this appearance, there was no trace of the neat and tidy Woo Hyun-se from before. His narrowed eyes and relaxed mouth corners, his face flushed from violence, looked satisfied like a beast that had tasted its fill of blood. His disheveled hair and even the blood splattered on his trouser cuffs seemed to be Woo Hyun-se’s true form.
“Mr. Yoon.”
Mr. Yoon turned around, startled by the voice calling him. His face had turned pale, drained of blood.
“Make sure this doesn’t leak out. You understand, right? No matter where a child comes from, a child is still a child, and parents should cover up their children’s faults. Revealing the truth would only bring shame.”
“Y-Yes, yes.”
“He should get better after some rest. Though I’m not sure if he’ll have time to recuperate.”
“Pardon?”
After turning a person into a pulp, Woo Hyun-se smiled brightly. It was a refreshed smile. Behind Woo Hyun-se, an old-fashioned telephone rang loudly. Simultaneously, Mr. Yoon’s pocket vibrated with his cellphone. It was an ominous sound.
Leaving Mr. Yoon to answer the phone, Woo Hyun-se turned around. As he was about to leave the study, he said “Ah,” turned his foot, and walked briskly to the window.
“I almost forgot about this.”
It was the bonsai that Woo Jung-ryeol cherished more than his own child. He said he received it as a gift, a cherry tree imported from Japan, worth its name.
Without hesitation, Woo Hyun-se lifted the pot high and threw it to the floor. With a thud, the pot shattered into pieces. The branches that Woo Jung-ryeol had carefully tended snapped helplessly, and the twisted tree roots were exposed above the clumps of soil.
It was this easy.
He should have done this long ago.
He only regretted the long years he had lived with his head bowed. Woo Hyun-se lightly stepped on the cherry tree that would now become an old tree and left the study. Unlike his earlier display of anger, his departing steps were as light as someone who had shed all their burdens.
* * *
“Hey, you crazy bastard―!”
A scream tore through the air, echoing in the office. Even without clarification, the booming voice revealed who had barged in. Woo Hyun-se rubbed his ringing ears and lowered his hand. Just as the secretary desperately tried to stop him, saying, “You can’t go in, sir,” the door flew open.
It was Woo Gi-bbeum, so angry that even her usually perfectly maintained hairstyle was a mess. Glaring at Woo Hyun-se sitting in the chair, Woo Gi-bbeum approached with heavy steps, breathing hard through her nose. She raised her hand as if to slap him, then slammed it down on the desk as if to break it, and widened her eyes.
“You crazy bastard, if you’re going to go mad, do it properly! What the hell are you doing?”
The secretary behind them looked back and forth between the two, unable to stay still. When Woo Hyun-se gestured that it was okay, the secretary tactfully left the room.
“What?”
“The broken engagement is one thing, but what happened to father?”
“Did Yoon spill the beans?”
Woo Gi-bbeum hesitated. Mr. Yoon hadn’t said anything, and their hospitalized father hadn’t opened his eyes. The official reason was a traffic accident. Supposedly, he had an accident while trying to avoid an animal that ran onto the road on his way home. Conveniently, it happened in the countryside with no CCTV, and Mr. Yoon had meticulously scrapped the car they were in, making the excuse seem plausible.
In truth, it was better for the old man to be hiding in the hospital. Woo Gi-bbeum was on the verge of fainting from the news reports coming out daily. Taking bribes was a common enough scandal and not a big deal, but the leaked video was the problem.
No, the word ‘problem’ was too weak to describe this incident. It was a bomb. Some madman had tied a bundle of grenades and thrown them into their peaceful home.
