Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: I Will Die Soon.
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Chairman Jo asked me again, still wearing that mocking expression.
"So, why did you do it? Kang Hyeok? Why pull something like this? Huh?"
"Urk! You're pretending not to know? You bastard, you... to our Hye-jeong..."
"Oh? So that's it? After all these forty-odd years, how did you even find out about that?"
"You son of a bitch!"
Hye-jeong.
She was my one and only little sister.
Five years younger than me, she always seemed like a puppy to me, so young and full of life.
And for the daughter of a house servant, she was far too bright and breathtakingly beautiful—practically the treasure of our family.
Thanks to that radiant, pretty girl, our parents and I could at least manage a smile now and then.
But right before I was discharged from the military, that same girl died.
The cause? Suicide.
She took her own life.
Can you believe it?
The daughter of a servant she may have been, but she was brighter and more cheerful than anyone in the world. Her killing herself?
But that's what they said. It was the truth.
I screamed and wailed at the unbelievable reality, but in front of my parents—who had buried their child and wept tears of blood—I had to hide even that.
Our family lost its laughter from then on.
And it wasn't just that. My father and mother, their hearts broken, grew frail and sickly.
The once-robust father passed away six years after my sister left us, and Mother followed three years later.
So I was left alone in the world, accepting my fate as the Jo family's house servant like it was destiny.
Then, two years ago.
When the previous chairman died, they tore down and rebuilt the entire estate. My annex was demolished too, and while sorting through my sister's belongings, I found a diary by chance.
In it was her suicide note.
And the reason why such a bright girl had taken her own life.
Hye-jeong really was stunningly beautiful, and that became her downfall.
She was too beautiful to be born the daughter of a house servant.
There's an old saying: when the powerless possess a treasure, it's not a blessing but a curse. It fit perfectly.
This bastard Jo Min-cheol—already notorious in high school for ruthlessly preying on pretty girls from the nearby girls' school, frequenting hostess bars and room salons, swinging his dick wherever he pleased.
And our Hye-jeong lived under the same roof as the daughter of a servant in that monster's house.
The tragedy was probably inevitable.
Remarkable that it held off as long as it did.
Anyway, while I was in the army, this beast forcibly violated her.
Unable to bear the trauma, she ended her life.
I'd had my suspicions back then, but I dismissed them as impossible.
Considering the loyalty my father had shown this family as their servant, and the loyalty I'd shown this bastard—same grade, same school—it couldn't be.
No—we'd practically grown up together in the same household, even if we were the servant's kids. And this prick had adored Hye-jeong like a pure little sister in his childhood.
So I shoved down the nagging doubts in the corner of my mind.
But her diary revealed it all.
Hye-jeong had been thoroughly ravaged by this animal.
My beautiful little sister...
In short, this scum was responsible not just for her death, but for my parents' early graves too. He was my arch-nemesis.
Naturally, I burned with rage and vowed revenge.
But this beast was the heir to a conglomerate, untouchable for a mere servant like me.
The world always has those who lord over the law, wielding absolute power—and this bastard sat at the pinnacle.
No matter how I thrashed, he'd never face punishment.
Not even considering the statute of limitations.
There was one sliver of hope, though: as the head servant for two generations, I knew most of the Jo family's dirty secrets.
Some I'd even handled myself.
So after resolving on revenge, I began quietly gathering evidence of their corruption.
I knew mountains of it already, but it wouldn't be enough.
My opponents were the Jo family of Cheonwang Group—top ten conglomerate in Korea, never once bested from the outside.
Three generations of connections in politics and every key industry. Prosecutors, judges, top cops on scholarships from them? Put 'em together, and you'd have a full division, easy.
The media? Forget it.
Dozens of newspapers and cable channels under their direct or indirect control, plus mountains of cash shoveled to the hacks every year.
In one word: hit them with half-baked dirt, and you'd never even cross the prosecutor's doorstep. More likely, I'd vanish without a trace.
So I endured, biding my time, meticulously hunting for the one fatal blow to topple the whole clan.
And I finally found it—evidence that could annihilate any conglomerate, period.
I fed it discreetly to a trusted third party I believed was incorruptible.
Inside, I gloated: You're finished, you bastards.
But after decades as their servant, I'd underestimated their true power.
I'd boasted knowing 90% of their skeletons as head servant for two generations.
Delusion.
They never trusted servants. Not even the loyal head of two generations.
How?
My life's revenge didn't even breach the prosecutors or cops.
Despite all my painstaking effort.
And now I'm paying the price.
I will die soon.
"See, that's why you don't take in black-haired beasts. Pure wisdom. Who'd have thought Lee Kang-hyeok would stab me in the back? Over something from forty years ago, no less."
"Kuh-huk! 'Just'? You call that 'just'?"
"What the hell are you yapping about, you retard? When I was young, how many girls did I plow through? You know damn well. Hell, just the ones you and your old man cleaned up after could fill a truck."
"You... you son of a bitch! Uwaaaah!"
"What? Am I wrong? I'm right, aren't I?"
"..."
He was right.
Part of a servant's job was cleaning up the master's messes.
So we'd bribed and soothed the girls this prick touched, even dragged the pregnant ones to clinics for abortions. Countless times.
Dirty work, but that's what servants did.
"How'd we handle them all? Ever fail with money? Huh, you prick?!"
"..."
Honestly? Almost never.
The payouts were massive.
Hate 100 million won?
Bump it to 200.
Still no? 300, 400, 500...
Even the ones who spat at money first caved to the escalated sums.
Or their parents stepped in.
Convincing them it was the practical choice.
If money failed—which was rare—we unleashed our power until they broke.
Of course, he usually picked targets carefully, so no major fallout.
Never touched girls from families that could cause real trouble later.
Damn it!
Was this karma too?
I'd told myself I had no choice as a servant, but in the end, I was this villain's lackey.
Even as I lamented, the bastard kept spewing venom at me.
"Fucking moron. Stay in your lane as a servant—don't climb where you don't belong. If you'd just kept your head down, none of this happens. Shit, things are chaotic enough lately."
"Worse than a dog!"
"Shut up. Hey, Manager Kim."
"Yes, Chairman."
"Handle it."
"Understood."
Kill me and tie up loose ends.
I screamed at the bastard leaving the basement, eyes bloodshot.
"Jo Min-cheol!"
"Yeah? What?"
"Even in the afterlife, I'll have my revenge! Even if I sell my soul! You cursed scum!"
Pfft!
He smirked like it was absurd, then spoke.
"Crazy bastard. You know our house inside out and you spout that crap? Heavenly punishment? If that shit existed, would our family still be thriving generation after generation? Huh? Would my grandpa have lived fat and happy till he was shitting on walls? Or my dad?"
"..."
Damn, couldn't argue that.
The Jo clan were villains.
Vicious ones.
Yet they'd held a top-ten conglomerate spot, living large.
First-gen chairman lived to a ripe old age, dying content. Second-gen—his dad—same, feasting till the end.
They deserved divine retribution a hundred times over.
Speechless, I shut my mouth. Jo Min-cheol's lips curled as he continued.
"Hey, servant. You don't know, do you?"
"?"
"How your family—once the envy of landlords—ended up generational servants? You clueless?"
"W-what are you talking about?"
Our family had been wealthy locals until my grandfather's time, whom I'd never met. Then liberation, Korean War chaos—he vanished, and we went broke. That's all Father said.
But this prick's tone suggested he knew more.
"Kukuku! Idiots."
"What are you saying?!"
"Fine, know it before you die. Heard this one? Independence fighters curse three generations; collaborators prosper forever?"
"??"
"Why bring it up? It fits your family to a T."
"What?"
"Simple: your grandpa blew the fortune on 'independence.' Fine, up to there. Still had plenty left—he was that rich."
"That... happened?"
My grandfather an independence fighter?
First I'd heard.
Father never mentioned it.
"Even that's fine. But then he lost it all in one go—to the most trusted underling."
"N-no way?"
"Puhahaha! Way. My grandpa was the one who fleeced yours."
"Impossible..."
"Kukuku! Grandpa had rotten hobbies. Steal the master's fortune? Fine. But making the son our house servant? Even I'm a villain, but I can't top that. Heavenly punishment? Bullshit! Uhahaha!"
My gut twisted in agony.
How could this be?
Grandpa stripped bare, Father slaving for the thief.
My sister violated by the grandson, then suicide.
Ignorant, I continued the servitude, botched revenge, now doomed to die.
"Uwaaaah!"
Overwhelmed by injustice, my eyes reddened, tears streaming.
"Whoa! What's this? Blood tears?"
Blood tears, apparently.
Jo Min-cheol recoiled in shock.
"Damn, shouldn't have said anything. Creepy. Hey, Manager Kim!"
"Yes, Chairman."
"Get this bad omen outta here quick."
"Understood."
And my nemesis vanished before my eyes.
Treating me like trash.
My death was sealed.