Chapter 57
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Everything Exposed
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"This is Ji-hoon's car."
Jang Deokcheol spotted Bae Ji-hoon's vehicle parked on one side of the alley.
The windows were heavily tinted, but he could faintly make out a camera inside.
"The last GPS transmission came from that house too. He's definitely in there."
Jang Deokcheol boldly knocked on the gate.
Bang! Bang!
"Hey!"
But no matter how many times he knocked, there was no response from inside.
Just as Jang Deokcheol was about to climb over the wall, the inner door opened and Oh Yang-chun stepped out.
"What do you want?"
"Can we talk for a minute?"
"No business here? Then stop knocking on my door and get lost."
Oh Yang-chun didn't recognize Jang Deokcheol's face.
He must not have remembered from when he was blackout drunk.
"Come on, just a quick chat."
Jang Deokcheol pushed back against the closing gate.
Oh Yang-chun's face twisted in fury.
"You fucking bastards. You all got a death wish?"
As his hand went to his waist, Jang Deokcheol kicked the gate hard.
Crash!
A sharp knife fell from Oh Yang-chun's waist as he tumbled back from the gate.
Kangyul quickly slipped inside and kicked the knife away.
"Boss, I'll hold this guy!"
"Got it. Be careful!"
"Let go! I said let go?!"
Oh Yang-chun thrashed wildly, trying to grab Kangyul as he dashed into the house.
But he couldn't shake off Jang Deokcheol, who clung to his waist from behind.
"You wanna die?!"
Oh Yang-chun reached into his inner jacket pocket.
When his hand emerged, he gripped a pocket knife.
Slice!
"Guh!"
The blade was barely the length of a finger joint, but it was enough to slice skin.
Jang Deokcheol yelped in pain and released his grip.
The freed Oh Yang-chun snatched up the fallen knife from the ground, his eyes gleaming murderously.
Kangyul rushed straight to the bathroom once inside the house.
It was the only place that looked like it might have someone.
But the door was locked tight.
'The lock!'
He scanned around for a key but couldn't find one.
Instead, he spotted a hammer lying on the floor.
One side was stained red, sending chills down his spine, but there was no time to hesitate.
Thud!
'Break already!'
Thud!
He hammered the lock repeatedly until the thinnest part snapped.
Kangyul panted heavily as he yanked the broken lock free.
Click—
Opening the door revealed a gruesome scene.
'Oh god!'
Bae Ji-hoon's condition was so dire that Kangyul momentarily thought he was looking at a corpse.
His face was a bloody mess, swollen beyond recognition.
Beside him, a woman who looked relatively unharmed was sobbing hoarsely.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
She seemed to be trying to speak, but her mouth was taped shut.
"...Bae Ji-hoon!"
As Kangyul approached, Bae Ji-hoon struggled to open his eyes.
"Huh...? Young... boss?"
"You okay?"
"...Ha... ha. Not... dead... yet!"
Bae Ji-hoon managed a gruesome grin through his battered face.
"...Let's get out first! Hurry!"
Kangyul untied Bae Ji-hoon and the woman's bound hands and feet.
"Th-thank you. Thank you so much."
The woman trembled violently, overwhelmed by fear, repeating her thanks nonstop.
"Help me support him, mister."
Kangyul and the woman hoisted Bae Ji-hoon and headed out of the bathroom.
But before they could exit the house, someone stepped inside.
"...Uncle Jang?"
Except Jang Deokcheol's expression was off.
His face drained of color, he collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
Thud!
And behind him came Oh Yang-chun.
"You goddamn punks. I'll kill you all."
Blood dripped from the knife in Oh Yang-chun's hand.
But he didn't look steady either, staggering as he advanced.
'What do I do...?'
As Kangyul hesitated, a thick arm wrapped around Oh Yang-chun's neck.
"Gah! What the—?!"
Oh Yang-chun tried to slash the arm with his knife, but the man behind him seized his wrist and twisted viciously.
Crack!
His wrist bent at an unnatural angle with the sickening crunch of bone.
"Gaaah! Let go!"
"Stay still."
Oh Yang-chun's face turned purple as the arm tightened, his eyes rolling back.
His body went limp and slumped downward.
Thud.
"You okay?"
The one who had taken down Oh Yang-chun was none other than Jeong Chan-seong, whom Kangyul had texted.
Everything after that unfolded swiftly.
Police swarmed the house soon after, and the situation was brought under control.
Jang Deokcheol had been the biggest worry, but the knife had only grazed him, not stabbed deep.
His collapse was from hitting his head during the scuffle with Oh Yang-chun.
'Really lucky.'
Oh Yang-chun was arrested on the spot.
Charges: attempted murder, kidnapping, and unlawful confinement.
Police grew urgent upon finding scattered hair and flesh in Oh Yang-chun's bathroom.
It wasn't from just one or two people, judging by the types of hair and tissue.
The media buzzed nonstop about the case.
'Articles pouring out like they were waiting... weird, but not bad.'
Jeong Chan-seong's stock skyrocketed as a bonus.
A UFC fighter catching a serial killer—perfect sensational fodder.
UFC's Jeong Chan-seong Captures Serial Killer!
Amazing. Not for nothing is he superhuman.
The human weapon who trains beating people every day lol
Time for police to learn MMA too. Agreed?
Agreed...
But the one in the deepest crisis was Kangyul.
As the police investigation progressed, contact was naturally made to his parents since he was a minor.
Im Myeonghan and Park Jeong-a rushed to the station in shock at the call.
'...Well, it's all out now.'
Everything Kangyul had been up to came to light naturally.
From founding Midas Corporation to acquiring the bank and school, and even nabbing the killer— all of it.
Im Myeonghan and Park Jeong-a didn't utter a single word the whole ride home.
They seemed utterly confused about how to process it all.
'...What happens to my company now? Sigh.'
The silver lining: aside from the 100 billion won in company capital, Kangyul's personal 110 billion was still safe in overseas accounts.
About 20 billion of that was invested in Bitcoin.
'If even that got seized, I'd be broke.'
Kangyul sat in the car heading back to Seoul, head hung low.
Even after arriving home, Im Myeonghan and Park Jeong-a remained silent.
"Go to bed."
Kangyul washed up, glancing nervously at his parents, then retreated to his room.
Deokyul and Jiyul approached him.
"Bro, what's wrong? You look pale."
"Something happen?"
"...Nah. Big bro's just tired today. Gonna crash early."
Scolding would come later; first, he needed some rest.
Kangyul collapsed and woke only at late lunch the next day.
'...Ah! School!'
He bolted up, but Deokyul and Jiyul had already gone.
The nanny hadn't woken him, nor had anyone else.
Not even Jang Deokcheol showed.
'...Guess they're really pissed.'
Kangyul slowly got out of bed and headed out.
Cracking the door open carefully, he heard a familiar voice.
'Uncle Jang?'
Jang Deokcheol, white bandage around his head, was talking with Im Myeonghan and Park Jeong-a.
Catching Im Myeonghan's eye, Kangyul flinched and bowed his head.
"...Kangyul. Come here and sit."
"...Yes."
Kangyul sat beside Jang Deokcheol.
Their conversation must have been long; the teacups were stone cold.
When the call first came from the police station, Im Myeonghan and Park Jeong-a had suspected Jang Deokcheol.
A kid who should have been at school was in Suwon, and three companies registered under Kangyul's name? Impossible to comprehend.
'He must've duped innocent Kangyul into starting companies and handling all this.'
They'd wanted to drag Jang Deokcheol in for answers right then, but he needed rest, so they held off.
They said nothing to Kangyul just in case.
Plan was to grasp the full picture first, scold later.
"Where's Kangyul?"
"Sleeping."
Upon arriving home, Im Myeonghan dove into documents on 'Midas Corporation'.
He'd tasked a subordinate to gather them while retrieving Kangyul.
"Midas Corporation, Midas School Foundation, Midas Mutual Savings Bank, Midas Studio. And... Midas Pro Gaming Team?"
Im Myeonghan was dumbfounded.
If they were shabby shells with flashy fronts, he might've brushed it off.
But each was thriving at full throttle.
The attached news clippings alone showed how much influence the 'Midas' name held among the youth.
"...Over 100 employees, and they own three buildings outright. Heh."
Park Jeong-a spotted something in the news and gasped.
"Oh my. Teacher Kim Min-a?"
It was a photo of the 'Midas A' clan that won the recent Sudden Attack tournament.
Kim Min-a stood right next to a beaming Kangyul.
"...She's a Midas employee too."
That wasn't all.
Im Myeonghan and Park Jeong-a checked out YouTube channels produced by Midas Corporation.
Among them was 'Gourmet Kangyul A'.
—I'll dig in deliciously!
On screen, Kangyul devoured chicken with pure delight.
"...800,000 subscribers—is that a lot?"
Park Jeong-a was speechless.
Her own fashion brand's YouTube channel hadn't even hit 200,000.