Rat Hole

At the very moment Choi Jeong-san was being beaten half to death by Chairman Choi Tae-yeong, James had also arrived outside.

He was using magical sight to watch Choi Jeong-san get clubbed to pieces.

At this rate, the man was really going to die.

Then he said to Chief Park, who was standing beside him, "I'll go in and check things out myself. No need for you to step in too, Chief Park."

Park Jin-tae wasn't the one who was meant to be here; this was James Kane's job, not Choi Ji-min's.

"But if we're going to finish the job…"

"That's exactly why I'm telling you not to come in. If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you keep getting tangled up in this, it'll only mess up your alibi."

After all, Park Jin-tae was the one who would eventually have to finish Choi Jeong-san off for real.

"...Yes, sir. Understood."

James waited until Park Jin-tae's car had pulled away, then cloaked himself in magic.

The invisible outline of James slipped into Chairman Choi's mansion.

James had made it all the way into the second floor and was watching Choi Jeong-san take the blows.

What a sight—one bastard beating his own son without mercy…

And another trying to kill his own child in the first place.

It was enough to show just how vicious Chairman Choi Tae-yeong really was.

Then again, Choi Jeong-san had always been a worthless piece of trash.

"Die! You fucking bastard. Die!"

But if this kept up, Choi Jeong-san really would die, and James couldn't just stand by any longer.

The mana pouring from James's hand seeped into Choi Jeong-san's body, dulling the pain and beginning the treatment.

"Cough—Father! Please, save me!"

But the moment Choi Jeong-san began recovering, it only seemed to invite more punishment.

"This bastard is still doing fine? Then I guess he can take more."

"Ah, Father. I'm going to die!"

"Listen to that voice. Still loud enough to shout, aren't you?"

Crack!

"Aaaaaagh!"

For that very reason, James had to keep casting again and again, every time Choi Jeong-san was reduced to a bloody mess.

Would you slow down already? This is getting annoying.

The clubbing went on and on, and even the act of keeping the man patched together was starting to irritate him. But Chairman Choi's stamina was not infinite. He had started swinging in a fury he could no longer contain, yet age itself had become his obstacle. Panting hard, he finally lowered the club.

"Huff... huff... You bastard. Once your body heals, we'll start over, so make sure you get treated properly."

"Hic... Father... I'm really going to die."

As if he hadn't heard a word, Chairman Choi shuffled out of the room.

Bang!

"Waaahhh…"

James looked over Choi Jeong-san's body. Both his arms and legs were broken, and every place he had been hit today would need a long stretch of treatment. The fact that he was still in one piece at all was thanks only to the minimum recovery magic James had already used.

If I leave him like this, it'll take ages before he can even get outside.

Only once Choi Jeong-san got out of this place could Park Jin-tae play the final act.

No choice, then.

James gathered mana for a higher-tier spell instead of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ordinary healing magic he had been using all day.

Mana thick and green gathered around Choi Jeong-san's body. The broken bone in his leg knit back together in an instant, the fresh fracture in his arm healed cleanly, and the bruises and swelling around his face began to fade until even his eyes looked normal again.

"Wh-what… my body…"

James also left a trace of mana behind so he could always find him again.

Mana Trace Imprint.

It was there so that if Choi Jeong-san ever fled the main house and tried to hide, he could be tracked down without trouble. There would be no repeat of losing him like this.

"Why does my body feel…"

Choi Jeong-san was still stunned, staring at the strangely powerful body that had emerged despite the beating.

This still isn't enough.

James looked at Choi Jeong-san and began the next stage of his work: planting a new will inside his head. Doing it while the target was asleep usually produced the best results, but his mind was already so badly shaken that the difference hardly mattered.

...If you stay here, you're really going to get beaten to death.

"I'm just going to keep getting beaten here... but not until Father actually kills me..."

Even so, with a light mind-control job like this, there were occasional distortions.

...You won't die, but you'll definitely end up a cripple.

"Father is the kind of man who does what he says. Tomorrow, too, I'll just get beaten like today and end up a cripple."

James was using mental magic to force Choi Jeong-san's future behavior.

...You need to get out of here fast.

"I have to find a chance and leave."

...The only person you can trust right now is Park Jin-tae.

"Yeah. Jin-tae was always on my side, no matter how much chaos I caused."

...Park Jin-tae only told the truth because Chairman Choi had him cornered.

"Jin-tae wouldn't have done it for nothing. Father must have threatened him."

...If you slip overseas and disappear for a while, everything will be resolved by then.

"If I go overseas and stay there for a while, Father's anger should calm down."

...Didn’t you say my son had inherited the company?

"Right. That brat is still my son by blood. If he takes over TY Telecom, Father will have no choice but to forgive me!"

The brainwashing was enough for now. Still hidden, James slipped out of Chairman Choi's mansion and headed home.

We'll meet outside next time, Choi Jeong-san.

The day James saw him again would be the last day of Choi Jeong-san's life.

After James left Chairman Choi's house, Choi Jeong-san grew frantic, because Chairman Choi Tae-yeong had said he was bringing in the family doctor.

"If Dr. Kim comes and checks my condition…"

He still had no idea why his body had suddenly recovered, but if his father realized that he was completely fine, the clubbing would only start all over again.

"I need to get out of here before that happens."

Choi Jeong-san didn't know what was happening outside, but in truth this was the perfect chance to escape the main house. Chairman Choi had sent all the servants away so no one would hear him hammering his son.

"Now! This is my chance, before Father comes back again."

Choi Jeong-san ripped off the cast that had been shattered by his father's club and quickly changed clothes, then reached into his jacket for his wallet.

How much cash do I even have right now…?

There were a few corporate cards inside, along with a hundred thousand won in cash and a single check. His phone was there too, but he left it behind. If he took it, his location might be traced.

This will be enough.

He opened the window.

Rattle.

The lawn outside looked far too distant from the second floor, but he was at least grateful it wasn't the third.

Choi Jeong-san clung to the sill and jumped.

Thud.

"Ghk."

He had spent too long lying in bed, so his legs had no strength left in them. Still, he had landed without twisting an ankle, so he could walk.

No one's here.

Usually the house should have been staffed with maids and workers tending to the place, but the mansion was eerily quiet.

Good.

Choi Jeong-san hid behind a tree in the garden, checked the house one more time, and then hurried to the front gate to unlock it.

Clunk.

Today, even the sound of the lock felt unnaturally loud.

"Damn it."

Still, the gate opening was all he needed.

In a panic, Choi Jeong-san burst outside and immediately spotted the house staff walking back from a distance.

!

He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Tap-tap-tap.

If they catch me, I'm dead.

The eldest grandson who had once been promised TY Group was now nothing more than a fugitive.

"Taxi!"

The rat fleeing for a mouse hole was dutifully running straight toward the place where it would die.

James returned home alone, finished his shower, and stepped out refreshed. He had handed the TY Telecom matter over to Colt and the strategy room, and since everything was already in its final stage, he felt pleasantly light.

So once Chairman Choi finishes sorting out his shares, is that the end of it?

Once Chairman Choi settled the stock he held and washed his hands of the matter, the true end of the TY Group hunt would begin: the hunt for Choi Jeong-san. Thinking of him, James checked whether the mana trace he had left behind was working properly.

"Let's see."

As he followed the trace he had planted inside Choi Jeong-san, it was obvious the man was no longer at the main house. In fact, he was already on the move.

"...He's already that far?"

James turned on the computer and pulled up a map of Seoul. He wanted to match the mana trace to the map and pin down the exact location.

"The direction he moved after escaping the main house is…"

The mana trace he had left behind on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Choi Jeong-san moved quickly, as if he were riding in a car, and then stopped at a certain point.

"Ah. Here?"

It was a place where Choi Jeong-san had once hidden one of his many mistresses and met her in secret. The affair had later come to light with the help of a driver, so the place had been left empty ever since. James remembered it well, because he had discussed the whole mistress mess with Park Jin-tae there.

Stay hidden there quietly for a long, long time. The work on this side still isn't over yet.

With the mana mark still on him, Choi Jeong-san was nothing more than a rat trapped in a jar.

Park Jin-tae came to see James.

"Vice President James, the idea that I'll be seeing you at the company every day from now on is rather moving."

James had no one who could really say anything if he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠skipped work and lazed around. Still, he was listed at the company not as an outside director but as an inside one, and since he had even been given the title of vice president, he had gone into the office for a few days out of sheer conscience.

"Don't bring work to me. I'm the major shareholder, remember? The important approval documents should be going to Chairman Colt, not to me. Why are you bringing them to me?"

"Since you're both the major shareholder and a company vice president, you should review the documents before Chairman Colt sees them."

"Sigh. This wasn't part of my plan."

James sighed theatrically, took the towering stack of approval papers Park had brought, and dumped them onto his desk. Then Park pointed toward the sofa as if he had something to say.

"Do you have a moment?"

"I've got no time to look through all this."

"This is about checking our final plan."

James understood that Park meant the plan for Choi Jeong-san, and he sat down across from him.

"...He got in touch?"

"Yes. It seems he fled the main house."

James had already figured that out from the day Choi Jeong-san ran away from the family home.

"Really? He actually got out?"

"Luckily, he seemed to be in decent shape. It appears Chairman Choi didn't beat him quite as badly as I expected. Since it wasn't a woman problem, they may have let it slide again."

In reality he had been beaten to within an inch of his life, but it seemed Choi Jeong-san hadn't told Park the whole truth.

"What did he say?"

"It sounds like he plans to leave the country. He told me to look into flights. He said he would lie low for a while and then come back."

"What a joke."

"Still, I didn't really have a decent excuse to offer."

There was no way they could let him simply slip overseas. They had to lure him to the East Sea.

I already expected him to make this move.

James wasn't discussing this with Park; he was simply carrying out the plan he had made on his own.

"If he uses a flight, then I can't make my move…"

"The prosecutors."

"Pardon?"

"Tell Choi Jeong-san that the prosecutors have issued an exit ban. Say I asked them to investigate because I hold a grudge, and that I've got evidence proving he embezzled company funds all this time."

"Ah!"

That was a solid basis for a court-issued travel ban.

"And then you can say you arranged a smuggling boat for Choi Jeong-san after the warrant came down."

"A boat that slips out through the East Sea, I assume?"

"Naturally."

That way, they could block Choi Jeong-san from leaving the country by plane and make him head for the East Sea with his own two feet. That was why James had planted the suggestion for him to disappear overseas in the first place.

"Then we'd better set a D-Day."

"I'll arrange the boat. Tell him it's a decent one, and that after heading out into international waters, he'll transfer to another vessel bound for Russia."

"Yes, sir."

He had already found a suitable boat. The vessel was currently sitting in James's inventory.

North Korea actually had some pretty nice boats.

He had been searching for a boat whose location couldn't be pinned down by GPS, and after seeing news that the North Korean leader collected luxury cars and occasionally enjoyed fishing from an expensive boat, James had flown north at once.

There was no way he'd leave a device like that on his own boat.

He was certain the vessel's location had been made impossible to track, if only to prevent assassination attempts. The reality had been exactly as he expected. The boat was dressed up in luxury materials from bow to stern, but every electronic device that could have identified its position had been disconnected.

"Let me know once the date is set, Vice President."

"Then we'll meet in the East Sea that day."

"Yes, sir!"

James sent Park out and sat back down, only to stare miserably at the still-unfinished stack of approval documents.

It'd be nice if I could just put everything down and go out boating instead.

Compared with the days when he had only done magic shows in the evenings, this office life was far too busy.