Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Saving Shizune (2)
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"Ugh...! Phew.... Man, that hurts. Even getting wined and dined these days leaves my old bones aching."
Sato Yoshitaka loosened his tie as he stepped into the house.
He'd just come back from a lavish room salon, where he'd been groping hostesses amid a drunken binge. The alcohol still hadn't worn off. This sleazy habit was what had gotten him divorced from his first wife, but as the saying goes, a leopard can't change its spots—he was still at it even at his age.
"Guess I can finally get some rest tonight...."
Vrrrrm-!
Vrrrrm!
But as he muttered to himself, his cell phone buzzed in his hand.
"Huh? What's this?"
His slurred, booze-soaked tongue fumbled the words as he glanced at the screen. Unknown number. With an irritated sigh, he hit the call button.
"Yeah... who's this?"
A brief silence followed, then a cold woman's voice came through.
-"Is this Sato Yoshitaka, president of Sato Industries?"
A woman's voice.
"Who might you be, calling in the middle of the night...? Oh~ could it be that hostess from the room just now? Your voice sounds just like hers! Haha!! Even after the client's gone, you're still clinging on? Must be really thirsty for it...."
As Sato Yoshitaka leered and tossed out his sexual harassment, the woman on the other end replied.
-"This is Kamijo Misaki, legal advisor for Tachibana Corporation."
Yoshitaka's face froze in an instant.
"...W-what did you say...?"
The icy voice repeated clearly.
-"Kamijo Misaki, legal advisor for Tachibana Corporation. I'm calling regarding the contract review for Sato Industries. I need to confirm some matters directly with you, President Sato."
A cold sweat trickled down Yoshitaka's spine. The sleazy grin from moments ago had vanished without a trace.
"At... at this hour? Tachibana... legal advisor...?"
His hand trembled around the phone.
-"Come to headquarters right now."
Prime contractor or not, it was well past 11 p.m. Sure, he'd done the same thing calling in the Hudahara father and daughter earlier, but Yoshitaka wasn't about to think of that.
"Right... right now, to headquarters...? Isn't it a bit too late...?"
The voice on the line was unrelenting.
-"President Sato. Bring your successor—the one you're grooming to inherit the company—along too. If you don't want regrets, you'd better listen. And—"
A split-second pause.
Cold sweat beaded on Yoshitaka's forehead. 'Yusuke too? What the hell...?' A bad premonition flashed through his mind, but he shook it off. No way his son had done something that reached the prime contractor's ears already....
-"That nonsense you just spouted has been recorded as well. Keep that in mind. Goodbye."
No room for refusal.
If he didn't go, how that recording would be used was entirely up to Kamijo Misaki.
"W-wait a second!"
Beep—beep—beep—
Sweat streamed down his forehead in rivulets. Reeking of hostess perfume and middle-aged cigarette smoke, Yoshitaka grabbed his coat again, muttering "it's nothing serious" to himself over and over like a mantra.
Thud thud thud!
"Yusuke! You up?!"
"Huh? Dad, what is it?"
He dragged Yusuke out of his room, where the boy was still lounging carefree as ever.
"Get your ass up. You're coming with me somewhere right now."
"What? Do you know what time it is, Dad?"
"Shut up and follow me!!"
His father had always doted on his clever son since childhood, and after Yusuke got into Toudai Academy, he'd bend over backward for anything he wanted. So when Dad started barking orders at him now, Yusuke looked a bit shocked. Plus, Dad was grabbing the car keys himself—no calling the chauffeur. That meant it was urgent.
Yusuke made a quick judgment and got in the car without a word.
"...."
An anxious air hung inside the car.
The luxury sedan pulled up in front of Tachibana Corporation's headquarters building. The father and son stepped out with heavy feet.
"Uh, we were summoned by the legal advisor."
"Ah, yes. Head to the 10th-floor conference room."
The words were polite, but the receptionist's eyes brimmed with annoyance. Her furrowed brow seemed to scold him for making her work overtime just to guide him. Even servants in a lord's house didn't get this treatment—or so they usually thought, strutting around arrogantly and ignoring everyone. But not tonight. They couldn't afford to make a scene.
Any fuss would get reported immediately.
Ding!
Following her directions from the lobby to the elevator toward the top-floor conference room, Yoshitaka kept nervously adjusting his tie.
"...Will you tell me what's going on already? Whatever it is, I need to prepare myself, Dad."
"Sigh.... Beats me. The prime contractor's legal advisor suddenly strong-armed me—said come now if I don't want regrets. I might've slipped up on something.... Phew... I don't know the details either, so just keep your head down and stay quiet."
"Jeez."
-The doors are opening.
The elevator doors parted, and rounding the corner revealed the conference room. Through the full-glass walls, an unexpected sight unfolded inside.
In a room with stately decor that didn't match at all, a little girl was munching snacks from the table and hopping around happily.
She looked up from flipping through documents, her twin blonde pigtails swaying, as the father and son entered.
"Oh? You're here...."
Yoshitaka blinked in bewilderment. What was a kid like that doing here at this hour?
No way... her? Impossible. The owner of Tachibana Corporation couldn't be....
"What the hell.... Hey, Yusuke. I'll go double-check with the desk staff if this is the right conference room. Wait here."
"God, what a pain. Fine."
He scurried out, saying he'd confirm with the staff.
Now the conference room held only Yusuke and the girl—Harumi. She tilted her head curiously at him before returning to her papers. Yusuke looked intrigued.
Petite in height and build, but with a surprisingly nice figure. And those eyes, subtly alluring ever since she'd started sharing love with Yu Sanghyeon lately.
She was too pretty to leave alone in front of a horny mutt like him, who hit on any decent-looking girl he saw.
"Hoo.... This is quite...."
Yusuke eyed her up and down like he was licking every inch, then scanned the room.
No CCTV in sight, and at past 11 p.m., no employees wandering nearby in the dead of night.
"Miss, why're you here all alone? Overtime or something...?"
With a sleazy drawl, he sidled up next to Harumi.
"What're you looking at so intently? Huh? Those pretty eyes'll get sore~"
His nauseating drivel fell on deaf ears. Harumi didn't even snort—just kept focused on her files.
"Tch.... Another high-maintenance bitch."
No girl had ever ignored his signature refreshing smile when he approached.
He needed some reaction to banter and seduce her, but she wouldn't even utter a word. It made Yusuke impatient.
Cracks were forming in his overflowing confidence.
Hudahara Shizune's betrayal, when he'd thought she was practically his.
His pathetic shrinkage in front of that overwhelming guy.
The high school girls' mocking laughter echoing in the classroom.
All of it paralyzed the extreme narcissist's mind in an instant.
Unable to hold back, he finally laid a hand on Harumi's shoulder.
"Hey, answer me at least? No manners."
That instant.
Slap!!
A sharp crack rang through the conference room.
"Wha... wha...?"
Harumi's tiny hand had whipped across Yusuke's cheek.
"You think you can touch me, scum?"
Her voice dripped with utter contempt and disgust, her eyes twisted in revulsion like she was staring at human trash, a worm. Yusuke's eyes burned red. Wounded pride twisted his face as he raised his hand.
"You fucking bitch...! All you bitches!!"
As Yusuke swung at the defiant Harumi—
Crunch!
"Gah!? Wh-who the hell?!"
A hulking man had slipped in silently and seized Yusuke's wrist like lightning. Then came the suffocating grip. Before Yusuke could resist, his nape was roughly clamped.
"Me, you piece of shit."
"Kk... ugh!"
His feet lifted off the floor. With one arm, the man dangled a full-grown adult weighing over 70kg in the air. The iron grip on his throat turned Yusuke's face purple.
"Guhk...!!"
"Should I just snap your neck right here? Where the fuck do you think you're touching?"
The low mutter was in unintelligible Korean, but the murderous tone alone froze him to the bone.
"Whoaaa.... Sa-sanghyeon-oppa!! Amazing! Arm's so thick!! So strong! Epic!!"
Harumi's excited squeals and bounces snapped Yu Sanghyeon back. He hurled Yusuke to the floor.
Crash!
"Hahk...! Hahk...! Kek, cough...!"
Yusuke clutched his throat, gasping. Looking up in terror, his eyes nearly popped out.
"Y-you...!?"
Then the conference room door flew open again as Yoshitaka burst in.
"Yu-Yusuke?! You okay!? You bastard!! What did you do to my son!!"
And trailing the pathetic father came Kamijo Misaki.
The five lead actors had taken the stage on the theater set.