Chapter 220
Chapter 220
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 220
Chapter Title: Ransomware (4)
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Creak—the eerie screech of rusty hinges grinding on the massive iron gate.
Anyang Prison rear entrance.
Early morning, before even the dew had dried. Han Hwa-gi, in his disheveled suit with no tie, fiddled with his open collar and muttered to himself.
“What a joke. Talk about getting the boot like a stray dog.”
A solitary release.
No one there to greet him, utterly alone.
Chewing on the silence of it, Han Hwa-gi turned back to stare blankly at Anyang Prison.
-[For a New Beginning]
He let out a snort at the corny slogan scrawled in outdated lettering.
Then he faced forward again and took a step.
For the new beginning awaiting him now.
“Guess with Han Seo-jun watching, even the few leftovers wouldn’t dare move.”
“Hell, are those scraps even worth calling proper men?”
And right then.
A car blocking Han Hwa-gi’s path.
The driver’s window slowly rolled down, revealing none other than.
“Kim Won-cheol…?”
“Let’s go. We’ll take a drive till dinner. Ain’t no buses running proper around here anyway.”
In the silence, only the rumbling engine proved time hadn’t stopped.
Han Hwa-gi stared piercingly at Kim Won-cheol’s face in silence for a long stretch. Finally, in a gravelly voice, he growled a single question.
“What’s your angle, you bastard?”
“Angle? Ain’t got none like that. Just, y’know, that thing.”
Kim Won-cheol rested an arm on the window frame, grinning at Han Hwa-gi.
Of course, the words from his mouth were far from that smile.
“I can’t stand seein’ tears in our Chairman’s—no, our Director’s eyes. Or the old lady’s.”
“Looks like a mere servant’s gone blind.”
“What, better than a prodigal son returned? Anyway… gotta lay some groundwork ahead of time. Here, don’t just stand there—get in and take a look.”
Casually, he handed over a paper bag.
Han Hwa-gi snatched the documents from the passenger seat so hard they crumpled, a blue vein bulging on his forehead.
“<Cocoa> audit—Han Seo-ho. China exec director—Han Seo-hu… What the hell is this?”
“Look at the bottom. One more there. Ammunition Group advisor—Han Hwa-gi.”
Tap, tap.
Raindrops began pattering on the windshield.
Under the heavy overcast sky, only the wiper’s swish heightened the tension.
“Director’s orders. We’ll treat you like family, even if it’s just for show—so don’t cause trouble.”
“You bastard, Kim Won-cheol…!”
“Hey now, no need to get mad. Next page.”
Han Hwa-gi glared at Kim Won-cheol like he wanted to kill him right there.
Reluctantly turning the page, Han Hwa-gi could only grit his teeth in fury.
“Cleaned out all your old hands you left behind. All at once.”
“……!”
From Ammunition Medical Center on down to the minor affiliates—Han Hwa-gi’s remaining informants.
Mostly useless or with dirty records, so purging them had been easier than expected.
Only then did Kim Won-cheol start the engine and pull away. Gliding smoothly, he eyed Han Hwa-gi in the rearview and issued a warning.
“I ain’t got no religion myself, but y’know Matthew or James or whatever? Somethin’ like that.”
Hoping deep down this warning was just empty worry.
“Lust conceives sin, and sin fully grown brings death.”
The winter rain poured harder. Slogging through sleet-slick roads, Kim Won-cheol added a final aside.
“It’s a life you got back thanks to the Director you’re about to see. Don’t get greedy and bust your nose—live easy from here on, nice and steady.”
With that, Han Hwa-gi tore the documents to shreds and flung them around the car without a word.
“Pull over.”
“Ay, dangerous. Yellow light.”
“Pull over!”
Screech—the car halted haphazardly on the slick road.
Han Hwa-gi flung the door open and stormed out.
“Hey! Where you goin’, Advisor Han!”
“Hey, Kim Won-cheol. One bit of advice.”
“What?”
“This moment today—you’ll regret it to your bones someday.”
He glared at Kim Won-cheol inside like he’d murder him.
Snapping open a black umbrella haphazardly, he left those final words and walked off.
Toward his own one-way path, one he could never return from.
“I’ll show for the evening hospital visit. Pray I don’t have to see your ugly mug again then.”
Han Hwa-gi departed.
In the car with its red hazard lights flashing, Kim Won-cheol crossed his arms and sighed.
Looked like Han Hwa-gi’s dice had already been cast.
“Ay, at least close the door proper.”
Parking on the shoulder, he reclined his seat and replayed what just happened.
His conclusion.
“But man… our Chairman’s gonna have it rough for a bit.”
No doubt, this was just the prelude to what was coming.
* * * *
“I’m here, Mother.”
“Come closer. Let me see your face.”
Ammunition Medical Center. VIP room.
The grandmother’s eyes on her son held no tears, but unmistakable pity for the child she’d soon leave alone.
“You’ve gotten so thin. Must’ve been through hell in that place.”
“…No, Mother.”
She called him thin, yet she looked far gaunter herself.
After a few exchanges, she glanced at those standing behind, cleared her throat, and spoke.
“Cough, cough. Too many people in here—it’s stuffy.”
Was it instinct, sensing her life’s flame was nearly out?
Through the hazy steam from the humidifier, barely visible to the others, she addressed them.
“Seo-ho, Seo-hu, Seo-hee—step out for a bit. Everyone else, too. Just these two.”
Her trembling finger pointed shakily at me standing front and center… and her son.
“Everyone but these two.”
-Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Only the machines’ steady beeps filled the room.
With a long sigh, the grandmother slowly turned her head and spoke.
“Whew, looks like maybe a month left at most. My life, and… cough, cough!”
Her coughs worsening bit by bit.
I moved to call the staff, but she wiped blood from her lips with her sleeve and stopped me.
Then came a clear word, impossibly sharp for a dying woman.
It was for her son.
“Downfall. The bloody storm over Ammunition Group’s got about a month left, too. Right?”
“……”
“Split up. Must’ve boiled your blood. Dragged from the seat you thought was yours, dumped at rock bottom.”
Her son, fists clenched white, replied in a quavering voice.
“You… knew and did it anyway?”
“I knew, and it tore my heart out to do it.”
“Mother!”
“And now, knowing you’re a threat to Ammunition Group, I still called you here.”
“……!”
Overexertion?
Sweat beaded on her forehead.
“Seo-jun, come closer.”
Squeezing out her last strength, she beckoned me.
“I’ll make it clear here. If your uncle pulls the same stunt again…”
“Grandmother…”
“Then… then…”
Her voice trembled.
Not just bodily pain, but heartache shook her final words.
Staring not at me, but her dazed son, she uttered the words she hated to say, but had to.
“Be ruthless. I’ll go first and wait for you.”
“…I promise.”
Chest aching unbearably, she held her son’s gaze without flinching.
“Keep the Ammunition Group advisory role.”
Pity and anxiety.
Clutching those tangled emotions, she poured her last strength into sincere words for her son.
“At least you’ll live comfortably like before. You understand… cough! Cough!”
Spewing boiling blood.
“Grandmother!”
“To the ICU—now! Hurry!”
Medical staff rushed in without warning. They must’ve known she was pushing too hard.
Now, her grandson and son stood before the ICU, green emergency lights flashing.
“……”
“……”
Eyes locked in silent glare.
If things were as before… with my pre-regression memories, I’d have drawn a blade and struck my uncle down on the spot.
But.
“Take my hand.”
Her shadow flickered in my eyes. Remembering her final sight, I could only extend my hand to him.
“You have to take it. This is your last chance.”
Take it.
Grab my hand now… and end it here.
That’s manners toward you—and toward Grandmother, who spent her final life on you.
But.
“Comfy up there on that sandcastle throne?”
No trace of sorrow on his face.
Cold-blooded, serpent-like impassivity.
Without even glancing at my outstretched hand, he turned away.
Leaving a ominous remark he shouldn’t have.
“Keep lounging easy. That seat? It’ll never be mine.”
* * * *
-Clang!
Some baseball betting club in Gangnam.
A machine-fired hardball smacked an aluminum bat with a crisp ring, soaring far.
“Choi, Secretary. This for real? Actually real?”
“Young Master…”
“Fine, Han Seo-jun that worm becoming Chairman—no helping that. But Grandmother’s reaction? What the hell!”
Snorting in rage, Han Seo-ho hurled the bat aside.
Fresh from the hospital, he’d been uncontrollably furious the whole way here.
“Me and Seo-hu… no, me! Am I not even human?”
Not even a glance from Seo Taehu.
He’d lived proud as the eldest grandson of the Han family, but reality was brutally cold.
He was just a side branch.
“And Father, too. Taking that humiliation… how do you just swallow it? Aren’t you pissed!”
“Tsk tsk, fool.”
A familiar voice out of nowhere. Han Seo-ho jumped like he’d seen a ghost.
The man before him was.
“Father…?”
“Still haven’t fixed that narrow vision, eh?”
Han Hwa-gi snatched up the aluminum bat.
He eyed the pitching machine, slowly settling into a two-handed stance.
“Look far. When swinging, steady your breath, find the spot. Like this.”
-Clang!
The ball shot forward with a sharp crack.
“Straight and true.”
Approaching the cowed Han Seo-ho, Han Hwa-gi spoke.
“Seo-ho, head down to the provinces for a bit.”
“Yes…?”
He flicked a business card at him like discarding trash.
“Go learn. From bottom-feeder scum who’ll widen that knothole vision of yours.”
The somewhat sinister card bore three words… the name of some savings bank CEO.
Based in Honam.
-[JL Savings Bank CEO] Jo Han-cheol