Chapter 235

“Soyoung?”

The man’s lips distorted into a sneer.

“Are you still using that name?”

“What’s wrong with it? It's the name given to her by her father. Also, stop changing the subject. What did you do to Soyoung?”

“I did nothing. The kid dared to travel around enemy territory without fear. So I was going to discipline her. Of course, some weirdo got in the way...”

When the man thought about Sungyoon, he unconsciously glanced at his wrist, where Sungyoon had grabbed him.

A short while ago, his wrist had been red. It had made the man realize Sungyoon possessed considerable power.

‘That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him next time I meet him!’

The man inwardly honed the sword of revenge.

“Didn’t I tell you before? Leave Soyoung alone.”

“I’ll say this again. Your child alone, walking through enemy territory. How could I ignore that? What happens if she leaks information about us? If not for that, that dirty blooded—”

Ssssk!

Plu-El’s sword moved closer to the man’s neck, and blood flew out from the small wound.

“If you refer to Soyoung by those words...”

“What? Are you going to kill me?”

Plu-El didn’t say anything and just further pressed the blade into his neck.

A murderous intent flashed in the man’s eyes. His hands twitched as if he was about to use his weapon against Plu-El.

Ssssk.

However, the worst-case scenario did not occur as Plu-El retracted her sword.

She unsummoned her sword as she spoke.

“I'll apologize for Soyoung's actions and make sure she knows the severity of her actions. However, you should never speak that way about her again.”

“… Hmmph!”

The twitching in the man's hands stopped, but he remained silent.

He walked towards door. Just when his hands pressed the door knob, he opened his mouth.

“I’ll give you this one warning. It seems you still feel friendly toward our enemies because of that man. However, you should throw away such sentiments. They can never be trusted.”

“I'll follow your advice for now. However, I haven’t given up on the dream of working with them. Soyoung is the greatest evidence that it can work. Why do you think we can reside in such an expensive hotel right now? Who do you think provided the funds? Don’t forget that.”

This situation was the proof that her husband had cooperated with their cause. He was the existence that gave her hope and belief that her dream could come true.

However, the man sneered.

“Hmmph. That guy was odd even amongst his own kind. Anyway, they are base beings. We are the ones who saved them, yet they had the audacity to betray us.”

The man looked at Plu-El.

“It is the reason your husband is dead.”

Anger rose in Plu-El's eyes, but she pushed down the feeling. This didn’t mean she would let him get away without retorting.

“Those bastards represent only a portion of their society. I still don’t plan on giving up on hope. Also, you called them as base beings? Get your head out of your ass. Do you still think your family is royalty? My family is no longer chief, and your family is no longer royalty. You even lost the Gem of the royal family, the sole proof of your royalty. You're the one who should wake up from your dream.”

Kwah-doo-doohk!

The door knob crumbled into powder.

The man possessed unusual strength, a characteristic of Connectors. If Plu-El wasn’t careful, she could stoke up his will to fight, which she had barely quenched. However, she didn't care even if it came back with a vengeance.

“Well, you can’t even use it anymore, so maybe it was better that you had lost it. In fact, you should use this opportunity to get rid of our elitist attitude. You're merely a descendant of a dead line of royalty.”

Boom!

As if he didn’t want to hear her words, the man shut the door in her face. He stomped his feet as he moved farther away from the door.

Plu-El didn’t care what he did.

‘That guy is sc.u.m….’

She stopped paying attention to the man. She entered the other room. Soyoung looked sullen as she sat on top of the bed.

When she heard the door to her room open, Soyoung looked towards Plu-El.

“Mom.”

“Oh, my daughter.”

Plu-El hugged Soyoung tight.

When she was in the arms of her mother, Soyoung was able to wash away all the uncertainty she felt in her heart.

Plu-El gave a fierce hug, but in the end, she disengaged from her daughter.

Plu-El kept her hands on the girl’s shoulders as she put the Soyoung an arms distance away. Plu-El looked into her daughter’s eyes. Her daughter’s cute eyes resembled her husband’s eyes. Despite being a reminder of him, it didn’t hurt Plu-El to look at her daughter. It also didn’t change the fact that she had to discipline her child when needed.

“You know you were in the wrong today, right?

Plu-El intentionally made her eyes turn fierce.

Soyoung lowered her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Will you do it again?”

“No.”

The oppressive silence lasted a bit longer.

When her mother didn’t say anything, it put emotional pressure on Soyoung. Her head started to droop further as time passed.

However, Plu-El hugged Soyoung once again in the end.

“Mom was worried about you. Do you know how surprised I was? You should never do that again. Ok?”

“Yes.”

Soyoung sounded close to tears as she answered her mother.

“Why did you do that? I won’t get mad at you. Speak to me.”

Plu-El had an idea why her daughter had acted that way, but she needed to know for sure.

Soyoung hesitated. She was barely able to speak.

“I...I wanted to see the animals of the place where dad used to live. We only have monsters where we live....”

Plu-El felt sympathy towards Soyoung.

Soyoung had lost her father when she was still within her stomach. This was why Plu-El had told many stories about her dad. She mentioned anything that had to do with her father. This was why Soyoung had developed a strong curiosity for anything related to her father.

“Was it fun?”

“…yes.”

Soyoung discreetly glanced at Plu-El. She answered in the affirmative, yet she was afraid her mother would get angry with her.

However, Soyoung’s expression relaxed when she saw her mother’s face. Her mother had her usual smile on her lips. It was a smile that told Soyoung that her mother treasured her.

The worry in the child’s heart melted away.

“What did you see?”

“You know what, mom! There was this animal called an elephant! Its nose is so long that it uses it like a hand! I saw it eat food with its nose! Also…!”

Soyoung was like all children her age. She was talkative as she boasted to her mother about what she saw.

She told her mother about the animals, and she incorporated all the information given to her by Shinhae. She was quite earnest as she spoke.

She was so passionate that she even made fists as she spoke. Plu-El almost laughed out loud without meaning to.

However, she pressed down on her laughter as she showed deep interest in the story told by Soyoung. Soyoung was showing no signs of ending her story.

***

Two weeks. Some would argue it was long, but others could argue it was short too.

However, it was a dreamlike vacation, and he would have to put his life on the line afterwards. He would have to start his work once again.

It was great that he could play with Shinhae, but he also had to tie up minor individual affairs.

Amongst those tasks, the most important task was completely severing his ties to his past ill-fated relationsh.i.p.s.

“We have to go to court, but we can’t lose even if we wanted to.”

Jimin put down several files as she spoke.

Sugyoon unpacked the files.

It was quite thick. There were many words printed in small letters. It was reminiscent of ants crawling across the papers.

Just looking at flood of letters made one get a faraway look. However, Sungyoon read every single word. He was very careful in reading it.

Jimin didn’t bother Sungyoon as she sipped at her coffee.

After a while, Sungyoon put down the files after he checked most of the content.

“It is only a matter of time from what I read here.”

“It’ll take a long time, but Daesung can't do much against us now. Also, Daesung group is facing tough times right now.”

Daesung was not doing well at that moment in time.

Daesung Energy had been one of the pillars of the Daesung group. It had completely collapsed. It was more than a collapse.

They continued to have trouble acquiring supply of moonstones, and their rights to the core moonstone refining technology was being sued by Sungyoon.

Above all else, the president had hired a terrorist group in order to carry out a personal revenge. He had tried to kill the world’s hero.

“The chairman Lee Hooyoung might not care. He still wants to get revenge for his son. However, the others on the board feel otherwise.”

Even if it was by a very small amount, Lee Hooyoung held the majority stake in his company. Therefore, he could do whatever he wanted without repercussion. The company was protected by the very poorly designed system in Korea. Daesung was a limited liability company.

However, the rest of the shareholders were very unhappy.

“Moreover, Lee Hooyoung did a very~ good job raising his children. The other children are opposing his move.”

Daesung group was on shaky grounds, yet Hooyoung was focused on getting his revenge. His children didn’t look kindly at his action.

There was a chance that what they wanted to inherit might go bankrupt. It made them move into action.

“Their brother died, but they aren't feeling sadness. In fact, they are very glad that one of their competitors is dead.”

“It is the typical broken family.”

He wondered if all family that owned large corporations were like that. It seemed Hooyoung’s entire family was messed up.

“It is none of our business how they run their household, but their actions made our work very easy. Couple of his children have already contacted us.”

“They did so when I’m the one that killed their brother?”

“I’m sure they do have some negative feelings towards you, but their brother made too big of a mess. It was an unsophisticated plot, and there is no answer to make it all go away. This is why most of their household are treating Jaeho like the black sheep of the family that was kicked out. In the first place, they saw him as a competitor more so than a brother.”

It seemed the siblings were treating Jaeho as if he was a stain on the family’s honor.

Jaeho had a large dream of wanting to inherit the Daesung group, and he had worked tirelessly towards that goal. Even if he had met his end, it was pretty unbelievable how badly he was being treated by his siblings.

Jaeho had fallen, but it was an extremely miserable fall. However, Sungyoon didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy towards him. It surprised him.

‘Of course not. He wronged me so much.’

He inwardly snorted as he wiped that thought out of his mind.

“What did they say?”

“It isn't just about the technology. They are thinking about giving up on Daesung Energy itself.”

That was surprising news.

“Isn’t it one of Daesung group’s top assets?”

“That’s old news. It barely brings in income, and its image has fallen. Moreover, Daesung Energy was built up to that extent by stealing Mr. Sungyoon’s technology. Once that technology is taken away from them, that company will go under. Instead of an excellent asset that would have fattened up the Daesung group, it turned into a cancerous tumor.”

All the subsidiary companies were closely related to the parent company.

The profit from the other subsidiary companies can be used to stop the hemorrhaging caused by Daesung Energy. However, this could be done up to a point. Currently, Daesung Energy was bringing down the entire conglomerate.

“That is why I would like us to purchase Daesung Energy. To be precise, I want Mr. Sungyoon to buy it.”

“…you want me to buy it?”

In the past, he would have been in tears of joy at the opportunity.

Even if Daesung Energy was on shaky ground, it used to be a subsidiary company of a massive conglomerate. It was a very large company.

When he was a president of his own company, he had dreamed about leading a company of that size.

However, things were different now. He gave up on his dreams of running a company. He wanted to live his life as a Connector.

Then there was the practical problem of him not having enough time to run a company.

“It is perfect timing. All the laws, which were made to restrict powers of Connectors, are being torn down right now. Moreover, Armstrong city is leading the charge in making these changes.”

The Connectors, who hit their stride, had crazy amounts of wealth.

There were many Connectors, who used this wealth to start businesses.

However, the government restricted Connectors from entering several industries. One of them was the moonstone refinery business.

If Connectors got into the moonstone refinery business, the government worried too much power would be concentrated in the hands of Connectors when it came to the energy sector.

However, the government and Armstrong city were requiring Connectors to take three shifts mandated by them, and Armstrong city had to soothe the discontentment that arose amongst the Connectors. This was why Armstrong city came to agreements with several countries to modify some laws.

“I doubt they’ll just hand it over to us.”

“Of course, there are stipulations. After this lawsuit, they want you to treat the incident with Lee Jaeho as a personal matter. You have to state you have no ill feelings towards the Daesung group as a whole in front of a camera. They just want you to do some lip service.”

While they handed over an almost bankrupt company, the other siblings were trying to raise the image of their parent company. They were trying to salvage some good from this irreparable relationship.

Even if Miyun and Jaeho hadn’t betrayed him, he realized that he wasn’t suited to lead a large corporation. That thought crossed his mind.

“What would you like to do? It’ll cost a lot, but it’ll be possible for you to purchase Daesung Energy with the money you currently have.”

Even if Daesung Energy’s stock had cratered, he would have to pay a lot to buyout the shareholders. It would deeply hurt his pocket.

“I’m fine as it is. I don’t have the time to run it. Will Ms. Jimin run that company for me?”

“I’m already overworked with just my current company. However, I do think it’ll be a waste to sit on the technology that will come under your patent again. Why don’t you become the owner and have someone in the industry run it for you?”

Sungyoon shut his mouth. According to Jimin’s attitude, she already had a candidate in mind.

He suddenly recalled someone that could fill such a role.

“The person you are thinking about… Is it who I think it is?”

“Maybe?”

It was great timing. Someone knocked on the door of Jimin’s office.

Jiyoon came in with a big pile of doc.u.ments in her arms.

“President….”

She became a bit nervous as she felt two sets of eyes stare at her.