Hospitalization (2)
The chairman met my eyes and slowly opened his mouth.
"So, you two are in that kind of relationship."
"…Pardon?"
"Baek Ayoung."
"Ah."
He must have seen her leaving my hospital room. She'd gone out with an incredibly blissful expression, so if he'd caught that, it was understandable. But why bring it up now?
"Truth be told, your image has improved a lot thanks to the camaraderie party terrorist attack. Do you know that?"
"…No. I just woke up, so I haven't checked yet."
I almost told the truth for a moment, but since I didn't know what the chairman might say next, I kept my information hidden as much as possible.
"Thanks to your exploits this time, public opinion has swung our way. Right now, we could show all the evidence from the academy and shift the tide."
"…."
"We could cover up all the accusations against you. But in return, we'd need your cooperation."
"Cooperation? What kind of…."
"I'll tell you if you agree to cooperate."
The chairman crossed his arms and smiled confidently at me.
The academy backing me… not bad. Definitely not bad. Which meant it wasn't exactly good either.
Public opinion had been noisy because of what happened during the Cheon-sang-je terror attack…. Honestly, I hadn't done anything wrong that day, so was it right for them to demand a price to cover it up? It was their failure to prevent the terror in the first place.
I'd been willing to let it slide since he was Moon Sulin's grandfather, but his blatant attempt to squeeze some gain out of it was disgusting.
Honestly, with the current public opinion, I didn't even need the academy's help. But no matter how senile the old man seemed, he was still the academy chairman. He wouldn't act without a plan.
Why was he behaving like this? Two possibilities came to mind immediately.
The chairman hadn't heard about the exposé on Shin Young Guild yet. I'd been tracking real-time opinion while it was happening, and that info had only been out for about ten minutes, so he might have come here without knowing.
Or he thought I didn't know yet. To everyone else, I'd been in a coma and even after waking up, I'd been in poor condition receiving treatment. So he might have judged that I was still out of the loop and rushed here the moment the exposé dropped.
The second one seemed more likely. He'd come despite being told visiting hours were over. Maybe he'd forced his way in using his authority as chairman.
Either way, it's annoying.
Of course, I didn't misunderstand the chairman. It was good to seize gains where you could. But not when the other party was me.
What the hell had this academy ever done for me? Every time some incident popped up, they'd try to bury it, and now they were pulling the same crap again. It made me not want to hold back either.
In the end, I started speaking with a displeased expression.
"Honestly, I don't think I need the academy's help that badly."
"…What did you say?"
"I've got plenty of people offering to help, and frankly, it was the academy's fault, so I don't feel like cooperating…. I'll just handle it myself."
"…So you knew everything from the start."
The chairman furrowed his brow, looking displeased. And despite my clear order to leave, he didn't budge from his seat.
As I sat there silently staring at me, I was about to say something when the chairman spoke first.
"There's a saying: Even with police around, people always live in fear of crime… Do you know why that is?"
"…."
The chairman didn't even raise his mana or make a threatening face. He just looked me in the eyes. And yet, it felt like I was a herbivore being hunted by a predator.
"The police only show up after everything's over. The victim's damage and trauma? That lasts forever."
He was trying to suppress me with the sheer intimidation from his wrinkled face, honed over decades of experience. It was a good attempt. I definitely felt a bit of tension rise.
But against me? I'm Lee Ho-yeon, master of emotional control.
"Chairman. You planning to do something? Right here?"
I smirked back at him instead.
No matter who he was, he couldn't touch me here.
"…Nothing I can't do."
The chairman's lip curled slightly too, but now that his bluff was called, it was pointless.
"Silently kill and bury me? That's your specialty, Chairman. But I think I could cover it up too, don't you? Killing Lee Ho-yeon, boyfriend of the Saintess?"
Since he was misunderstanding things, I had to use it to my advantage. Public opinion was on my side right now. Killing the central figure in the incident? No way to hide that.
Plus, harming me in a building with Baek Ayoung in it? Even if I didn't resist at all, it was impossible to cover up.
"…As expected of the guy my granddaughter takes an interest in."
"…."
The chairman held my gaze in a staring contest, then relaxed his serious expression. He let out a hollow chuckle, looking exasperated as he regarded me.
"But now that you're dating Baek Ayoung, you won't mess with my granddaughter. Sorry about today. I got blinded by greed and tried to squeeze a student for gain."
"Ah, sure…."
His apology came so limply that I felt a bit deflated too.
The chairman bowed his head and turned to leave the room. Watching him go, I thought:
This feels unfair.
Ending it like this felt too one-sided. Like I'd just taken a hit without landing a counterpunch.
And from the way he talked, he'd probably run straight to Moon Sulin and whine that Lee Ho-yeon was dating Baek Ayoung, so no need to worry about him. That would be a headache.
I called out to the back of the chairman's head as he headed for the door.
"That was a lie."
He froze mid-step, then turned his head toward me like a robot, slowly.
"What did you just… say?"
"The thing about dating Ayoung. It was a lie."
I had no idea myself. So why come pick a fight with me and complicate things?
"I'll keep in touch with Sulin noona too. If things go well… should I call you father-in-law's father? No, grandfather-in-law?"
"Hah… Is there really such a shameless bastard in this world?"
The chairman trembled with rage as he approached me. Mana leaked from his body, making the objects in the room shake.
But I didn't stop.
"Just take a little care of me, and I'll treat Sulin noona however you want… What do you say?"
"…."
The chairman's eyes screamed, What kind of bastard is this?
"I'm just asking for the bare minimum, reasonable stuff. Defend my position right now for student safety, give some artifacts to your academy poster boy, provide some support—how great would that be? Win-win."
"Hah, you're the first student to negotiate with the chairman like this."
"So you won't?"
"…We'll make the announcement today. You rotten punk."
Watching the chairman's face twist like an angry guardian statue was pretty amusing. He might be old, but he looked middle-aged on the outside.
"Thank you. See yourself out."
"…."
The chairman slammed the door on his way out.
Teasing the old man was pretty fun. I mentally added something to my bucket list: After seducing Moon Sulin, go to the chairman and say, [I'll gladly take the granddaughter you raised so carefully!] then bolt. Best if Moon Sulin stopped him from exploding in rage.
"Mm, that'd be fun."
Nodding to myself, I looked forward to that day.
*
"…Yeah. Handle it right now. Send all the materials we've gathered straight to the reporters and tell them to write the articles."
- "Understood."
"Make it as fast as possible, got it?"
Click.
The chairman let out a sigh as he left the hospital and got into the car where his secretary was waiting.
"You're back quick."
"It ended fast."
Kim, the secretary who'd worked by his side for decades. He'd gotten married recently, right?
"…Secretary Kim. How old's your kid?"
"My daughter? She just turned four this year."
"Ah… right in the cute phase."
"Well… that's the joy of having kids."
Kim drove familiarly toward the chairman's house. The chairman closed his eyes in the back seat, recalling Lee Ho-yeon's words.
Grandfather-in-law….
Lately, his granddaughter had been treating him more coldly. Ten years ago, she'd trailed after him calling "Grandpa~," but now as an adult, she wouldn't even meet his eyes.
She'd been so adorable as a kid….
"Maybe seeing a great-grandchild wouldn't be so bad."
"Pardon? Sorry, could you say that again?"
Mistaking it for something directed at him, Kim asked again, but the chairman spoke up.
"Secretary Kim. Suppose your daughter reaches marriageable age. If she brought home Lee Ho-yeon as a son-in-law, what would you do?"
Kim knew about Lee Ho-yeon's promiscuous sex life. And yet, the question was whether he'd allow the marriage.
"Uh… I'd let my daughter marry whoever she wants. Even if it ends badly, that's experience too. And better she brings home a promising guy like Student Lee Ho-yeon than some unreliable bum, right? Haha."
"Hmm…."
That made sense. She'd bring a man home someday anyway—better if he was capable. If she got stuck with some ugly, talentless loser, that would give him a headache.
Even as his granddaughter, she wouldn't be led around by the nose if she married Lee Ho-yeon.
"Grandfather-in-law… great-grandchild…."
The chairman furrowed his brow, deep in thought.
*
The day of the terror attack.
Ellis's mansion.
Ellis, who had been resting, was startled by Sebas Chan's report that the camaraderie party had been attacked.
"…Wasn't Lee Ho-yeon there too?"
"Yes. He stopped the terror but fell into a coma afterward. They say he performed amazingly."
"I see… Got it. I'll look into the details myself, so go rest."
"Understood. Rest well."
Thud.
After confirming Sebas Chan had closed the door and gone back to his quarters, Ellis checked various news on her smartwatch.
She was surprised by Lee Ho-yeon's various feats, but what stood out most was the CCTV footage of him throwing himself in front of Baek Ayoung to protect her.
"He really is handsome, damn it."
Handsome in the most infuriating way. Tsk.
Ellis had been feeling a growing sense of crisis lately. The smartwatch of Lee Ho-yeon's she'd hidden under her desk. She still relied on it every night.
But now, it was like she'd been conditioned—even just seeing it made her lower body wet automatically.
"Ugh… gross."
Hearing that Lee Ho-yeon had fallen into a coma, she'd thought, What if he dies before I overcome this sexual barrier?
It was a ridiculous thought, but Ellis was serious. She barely had any proper knowledge about sex yet. If she couldn't fix this fetish of getting aroused by his videos and massages, and he disappeared, there'd be no fixing it.
Of course, sexual barriers could change over time, but Ellis didn't know much about that side of things.
"…Maybe I should bring something nourishing when I visit."
Pondering a sick-visit gift, Ellis came up with a great idea: Install a camera in his hospital room.
A pervert like Lee Ho-yeon was bound to call women to his room. A hospital room was much easier to infiltrate than the dorms, and filming would be simpler too.
If she secured that footage… her nights would be even more bountiful.
"…Time to contact Scarlett."
Ellis started tapping out a message on Scarlett's personal number.