BHB 117

The sound of dozens of footsteps came from below. The dismayed face of Lee Taegang entered his field of vision. The footsteps climbing to the second floor overlapped with the image of Lee Taegang trying to assess the situation coolly. Yeowon realized he had been too careless all this time. He had thought they could spend at least a few more days without worry.

“What’s going on? I thought we’d be fine for a while!”

When Yeowon asked urgently, Lee Taegang, seemingly with no time to answer, grabbed his wrist, opened a random door, and pushed him inside.

“Stay in here. Don’t come out no matter what.”

Seeing his obvious intention to hide only him, Yeowon fiercely furrowed his brow and refused, “No. Why should I hide?”

“Just stay in there. This isn’t your fight.”

“Then what about you!”

“This situation is happening because of me anyway, so there’s no reason for you to get involved and get hurt.”

Lee Taegang urged him while making this cold judgment. He was right. This situation involved his family matters. It had nothing to do with him. But Yeowon didn’t want to be uninvolved. He had never been an irrelevant person in his life.

“Let’s do this together. Even if we have to fight, it’s better to do it together.”

“…Go inside.”

“No…”

“Please.”

“…”

“…Please. I’m begging you… go inside and don’t come out.”

At this plea he had never heard before, Yeowon’s resolve crumbled like sand. His expression made him realize that the situation was more serious than he had thought. Lee Taegang forcibly pushed the dazed Yeowon into the room and firmly closed the door.

Soon after, the footsteps of people reaching the second floor stopped. But that wasn’t the end. From that complete silence, a single set of footsteps echoed quietly. Those steps, neither urgent nor hasty but moving slowly, sounded ominous. 

Yeowon gripped the door handle and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. He could instinctively tell that Lee Taegang was bracing against the door from the outside. Preventing him from opening it.

“…You’ve made a rare appearance.” Lee Taegang spoke quietly, sensing the presence behind the door. His sarcastic voice echoed.

“You always make your father step in, don’t you?”

Lee Taegang’s father, Lee Seungkwon, moved forward. The atmosphere of his approach from the end of the hallway was different. Dozens of guards made their way and bowed their heads. Choi Youngdoo was among them.

“I would have come back on my own when the time was right.”

“I thought my unruly colt might cause trouble somewhere again.”

“I understand, so send your people away.”

“Who are you to give orders? Disrespectful brat.”

“I’ll follow you quietly, so send them away.”

Though he said he would comply obediently, his father’s eyes sharpened, displeased with his behavior. He briefly asked Choi Youngdoo, who was standing by his side like a limb, “Where’s the other one?”

Having heard that the two had escaped together, he asked about the whereabouts of the other person. 

Choi Youngdoo bowed respectfully and answered, “I will find him.”

“I have business with that bastard too, so bring him properly.”

Lee Seungkwon ordered while staring directly at Lee Taegang. At that moment, Lee Taegang’s face contorted more fiercely than ever before.

“…He has nothing to do with this.”

“Nothing to do with it?”

“Nothing to do with it.”

“Nothing to do with it? It hasn’t been ‘nothing to do with it’ since you followed that bastard into that worthless school. I might have overlooked it at first because I didn’t know, but looking at it now, it all fits together. All your reckless behavior started after you started hanging around with that low-class punk.”

His molars ground together. Lee Taegang felt it was disgusting to even hear Han Yeowon’s name from his father’s mouth.

“Find him quickly.” Lee Seungkwon ordered once more, and the employees waiting in lines on both sides began to move busily.

“Even if you look for him, he’s not here.”

With just the two of them facing each other, Lee Taegang laughed quietly. At that mocking laugh, his father’s face twitched angrily before he immediately raised his hand. A sharp sound rang out as Lee Taegang’s face jerked to the opposite side. But it didn’t end with one blow. Again, the sound of a slap rang out consecutively. Hitting the same spot a second time caused one side of Lee Taegang’s face to swell red in the shape of a hand. But it wasn’t over.

Slap!!!

SLAP!!!!

Once, then again. After repeatedly striking the same spot until he was out of breath, his father exhaled a wheezing breath. His chest rose and fell rapidly. Lee Seungkwon glared at Lee Taegang as if resenting him for not making a single sound of pain despite bleeding.

“Senseless fool.”

Even after being slapped hard enough to break skin and turn blue, Lee Taegang looked down at his father with an expressionless face.

“What’s lacking in your bright future that makes you keep going astray!”

“…”

“Is it all because of that guy? Is that it?”

“…I told you he has nothing to do with this.”

“Still, this bastard…”

“Don’t touch him. If you lay even a finger on him, I’ll kill everyone for real.”

“…You, you damn…”

“I’ll quietly disappear and live as you want, so don’t touch him.”

“…”

“After all, you’re the one with more to lose.” Lee Taegang threatened his father. He conveyed his intentions directly without his gaze wavering even slightly, as if there wasn’t a single lie in his words.

Filled with rage, Lee Seungkwon took a breath and briskly wiped with a handkerchief the hand he had used to slap Lee Taegang, as if he had touched something filthy. “…Don’t even think about coming back to Korea once you leave.”

“…”

“I’ve been lenient enough with you all this time. Go and make your own living using your own strength.”

“…”

“If you hate being under your parents’ shadow this much, you should live on your own, shouldn’t you?”

Lee Taegang nodded without answering, his face impassive. His attitude suggested that nothing mattered anymore.

“You still haven’t found him?!” Lee Seungkwon hysterically shouted at Choi Youngdoo who was lingering behind. 

Puzzled that Han Yeowon was nowhere to be found despite searching everywhere, Choi Youngdoo hesitated before suddenly staring intently at the door behind Lee Taegang, the only place they hadn’t searched.

“Just a moment.”

When he approached Lee Taegang’s position and tried to push him aside, Lee Taegang looked down at Choi Youngdoo with fierce eyes.

“…Stop showing off.”

At this quiet warning, Choi Youngdoo faltered. At that moment, sensing something strange, Lee Seungkwon gestured to the other employees with a nod.

“Pull him away.”

When the robust men joined forces to push Lee Taegang aside, he swung a fist as large as an average adult’s face. As the men fell back with the sound of crushing bones, Lee Seungkwon’s cheekbones twitched.

“I said I would go quietly.”

Lee Taegang warned fiercely, but Lee Seungkwon, unable to back down, ordered once more.

“I don’t care if they get hurt, or if one of them becomes crippled, just pull him away.”

At this provocation, Lee Taegang showed no mercy to those who came at him. Even when they attacked all at once, even when he was kicked in the stomach and hit in the face, Lee Taegang didn’t waver as he kicked his opponents in the side, grabbed them by the hair, and slammed them into the wall.

“Ugh!!”

Choi Youngdoo hesitated at the eerily merciless punches. He was assessing the situation, glancing between the enraged Lee Seungkwon and Lee Taegang’s angry fists that looked capable of destroying a face with just one hit.

“Damn, this is brutal…” Choi Youngdoo muttered silently, planning to open the door as soon as Lee Taegang moved even slightly. That’s when it happened. 

From behind him came a click as the door opened, followed by a thud and a cry of “Ack!” as an employee fell down. At that moment, Choi Youngdoo felt his hair being pulled so hard it might come out.

“Let’s stop this, shall we?”

A heavy breathing sound reached Choi Youngdoo’s ear. As the fresh scent stimulated his nostrils, Choi Youngdoo realized without even seeing the face. It was Han Yeowon.

“The person you’re looking for has come out on their own. So let’s stop this.”

As Han Yeowon, who had appeared confidently holding a golf club from somewhere in the villa, spoke to everyone, all movement stopped. Even Lee Taegang, who had been fighting like an enraged beast, froze in surprise and stared blankly at Yeowon before roaring.

“I told you not to come out!!!”

Yeowon stared straight at Lee Taegang. His eyes held a mixture of defiance and remorse that suggested he couldn’t help himself. Having heard everything from behind the door, he couldn’t stay uninvolved. He couldn’t just stand by and watch him face all those people alone, especially after hearing the repeated slaps. From what he’d heard, the situation wouldn’t end unless he showed himself anyway.

In the end, Yeowon had escaped through the room’s window. It wasn’t easy to go out through the door with Lee Taegang blocking it, and he concluded it would be better to go through the adjacent room and attack from behind.

“Sorry. I could never hide alone and leave you behind, even if it killed me.” Yeowon replied to Lee Taegang, who was on the opposite side, without a trace of a smile.