Chapter 103: The Hostage in the Heir’s Seat

“Things have been anything but peaceful lately, both at the company and at home. At times like this, the ‘family’ needs to stick together.”

It had been a long time since everyone in the family had gathered in one place. Chae Il-joo met the eyes of each member of his family, gently conveying that there would be no more divisions among them. His gaze naturally met Go Ha-jin’s as well.

For the time being, Ha-jin was still included in the category of ‘family’ he was talking about.

“Our new son-in-law should take good care of himself for the time being, all right?”

“…Ah, yes….”

The police had been thrown into an uproar after receiving the Omega serial killer’s crime videos obtained during the kidnapping. They were still analyzing them, but they had already said the footage would be a considerable help to the investigation.

The fact that the police chief himself had personally thanked Chae Il-joo was enough to show how significant it was. Perhaps because of that, Chae Il-joo’s attitude toward Go Ha-jin had softened considerably.

They had not yet had a proper conversation about what would happen afterward, but for now, Ha-jin was satisfied that the subject of divorce had disappeared completely.

“There’ll be the regular personnel reshuffle at the subsidiaries soon, so don’t make any unnecessary mistakes.”

“Father, I can go back now too, right?”

Chae Jae-yi did not let the opportunity pass.

Although people were gradually forgetting about it, had it not been Chae Jae-yi who had uncovered the fact that Go Ha-jin was not the child of a real-estate tycoon?

It had been incredibly fortunate that the truth had been revealed by someone within the family rather than an outsider. Now was the time for her contribution to be recognized.

“You’ll be taken care of in due course, so why can’t you just wait quietly?”

Chae Il-joo said nothing. Lee Ah-seong stepped in first, pretending to scold his daughter while actually lending weight to his request. Whether he liked him or not, Lee Ah-seong was the only one who truly cared about Chae Jae-yi.

“I’m getting old now, so I suppose it’s about time I started deciding where you children will stand.”

Lee Ah-seong and Chae Jae-yi’s faces brightened.

“Jae-yi, you’ll take over the foundation with your father. Being the director of the art center should be fine for now.”

In truth, Lee Ah-seong had been extremely worried lately. When he had told Go Ha-jin to put Chae Woo-seok in the position of heir, he had been in a position where he had nothing to lose. If Woo-seok actually became the heir, it would have been the ideal outcome.

Even if that did not happen, he could still get rid of the detestable Go Ha-jin, so either way, he had expected to benefit.

But now the situation had changed.

That slippery little bastard had suddenly found himself in a position where he could attract the attention of the entire country. The media had yet to find out, which was why things remained quiet.

But once it became known that he was the person who had provided the decisive evidence for finding the Omega serial killer, all of South Korea would be buzzing again.

And what did it mean that the position of art center director, which that eyesore had occupied, was finally being taken away from him?

It meant Go Ha-jin had completely fallen out of his husband’s favor.

“Jun-seok and Woo-seok will require some consideration… As for the new son-in-law, step down as director.”

The fact that it was a foundation rather than an affiliate company was irrelevant. Chae Jae-yi, who had no particular interest in management anyway, merely needed a title to adorn her name.

And he had not said she would be in charge of the foundation only, but that she would start with the foundation. There was little doubt that it would not end there.

“Ah… yes.”

Go Ha-jin was not particularly pleased.

It might have been a useless position that barely brought in any money, but having it taken away by someone else felt entirely different from giving it up voluntarily. He was already having even his meager salary stripped from him by Chae Woo-seok.

Now he was about to become unemployed altogether.

“Instead, take over ‘Bareun Distribution.’ It isn’t very large, so it shouldn’t be difficult.”

“Chairman…!”

“Father!”

What?

Go Ha-jin’s mind snapped to attention at the sudden chorus of protests. Lee Ah-seong, Chae Jae-yi… and even Chae Woo-seok?

Chae Jun-seok said nothing, but his expression was no different from that of the others.

What on earth was Bareun Distribution? Ha-jin had never even heard of it.

“Quiet. If there were enough people I could trust to leave it to, why would I give it to my new son-in-law when he hasn’t even fully recovered yet?”

What Go Ha-jin did not know was that Bareun Distribution was an unlisted company whose shares were owned entirely by the Chae family.

It had an exclusive contract to supply SHS with nearly finished packaging materials, boxes, office supplies, and the like, simply collecting a middleman’s fee in the process. Its net profits were enormous, which was why they did not put just anyone in charge of it.

That was why the family had no choice but to oppose the decision vehemently.

“Our hyung still can’t take on management, Father. He hasn’t fully recovered yet, and he’s never done anything like that before.”

If anything was surprising, it was that even Chae Woo-seok had stepped forward to oppose it.

In a way, securing a stable position would put Woo-seok one step farther from divorce. So why was he doing this?

Ha-jin could not understand his behavior, but decided to wait and see for now. If that bastard was acting this way, there had to be a reason.

“If you dislike it that much, why don’t you take over both Electronics and Bareun Distribution, Woo-seok?”

“That…”

Though offered almost jokingly, it was another form of threat.

What did it mean to tell Chae Woo-seok to take charge of both the main subsidiary and the profitable family-owned company?

If he accepted the position of heir, Chae Il-joo would abandon his plan to put Go Ha-jin in charge.

“Come to think of it, our Ha-jin seems to have quite a talent for management. He did a good job establishing the art center, too. In my eyes, he’s far better than any of you.”

It was a bolt from the blue.

It was impossible to know how serious Chae Il-joo was, but considering his bulldozer-like personality when it came to pushing things forward, he might actually end up putting Go Ha-jin forward as the heir.

Of course, he would never hand over the entire company to him. But if Ha-jin and Chae Woo-seok happened to have a child, who knew what might happen?

“Consider it decided. I have no intention of reversing it.”

“It’s the chairman’s decision, so we have no choice but to follow it. If it’s my brother-in-law, I’m sure he’ll handle the company work quite capably.”

Chae Jun-seok was the only one who accepted Chae Il-joo’s decision.

But a strange atmosphere immediately descended over the living room.

While trying to determine Chae Il-joo’s intentions, each of them began wrestling with how to push Go Ha-jin out and protect their own positions.

At that moment, Lee Ah-seong and Chae Jun-seok’s eyes briefly met.

The corners of Lee Ah-seong’s lips slowly lifted.

Apparently, there was still a way out after all.

****

“So, how much revenue does that company make? Huh?”

“I don’t know.”

“No, but since all the transactions are internal, the net profits must be enormous too… right?”

“I said I don’t know.”

Chae Woo-seok gave Go Ha-jin absolutely no satisfying answers to his questions.

His consistently unhelpful attitude eventually made Ha-jin wonder if the bastard was sulking because he had failed to get the profitable company for himself.

“Why do you hate it so much? If you think about it, at least the divorce issue will disappear for now. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“You seem to think our father is a much nicer person than he really is.”

“…What?”

“Do you know what kind of company that is? It supposedly runs an absurd deficit every year.”

“How could that happen…? They don’t need to make any separate investments, and they’re only supposed to take a distribution margin from the middle. So why…?”

“Think about it. What would they do if they simply let all that money accumulate? They make it look like a deficit, and all of it goes into our fathers’ back pockets.”

“Oh.”

This was bad.

Go Ha-jin’s expression hardened at Woo-seok’s words.

“Why do you think he gave you that position at this particular time? If you screw up, you could end up in prison instead of getting divorced. And you’d take the entire fall by yourself.”

Looking at it that way, Woo-seok was right.

It was nothing to be happy about.

Go Ha-jin was essentially Chae Il-joo’s hostage.

If he could not force Woo-seok into a divorce, he could always throw Ha-jin away at any time, a hostage to make Chae Woo-seok obey him.

“So even if you do end up taking it over, we need to make sure you have a perfect way out.”

“I really don’t understand what Chairman Chae is plotting. I need to know at least what he’s trying to do so I can be careful… Do you think you could find out?”

A company that accumulated slush funds through internal transactions.

He had put Ha-jin in a position he had not even trusted his own children with.

The same man who had threatened to force a divorce.

If Ha-jin were merely a hostage, it would not matter much. But getting caught in a trap was something he had to avoid.

“I’ll look into it carefully. Looks like there’s going to be quite a lot to prepare. Anyway, be careful with what you do for the time being.”

“What about you?”

“What? Me? The- mmph?”

“…Honey?”

They say getting started is half the battle.

Go Ha-jin had finally begun managing to say the term of endearment that had refused to leave his mouth for so long: honey.

Not every time, of course. But when the two of them were alone like this, he was slowly becoming comfortable enough to use it.

“Ah, stop joking around. So what are you going to do, Chae Woo-seok?”

“That… I’m still thinking about it.”

Chae Woo-seok had not yet been able to make a decision.

He had chosen to maintain his marital relationship with Go Ha-jin, but that did not mean he had decided to accept the position of heir.

That was a choice Chae Woo-seok simply could not make.

Absolutely not.

“Take your time and think about it. If you need my help, just tell me. Though I’m not sure how much help I’ll actually be.”

“All right. Looks like we’re going to be busy again for a while, huh?”

According to Woo-seok’s plan, what came next was important.

The family was already practically a complete mess, and now all he had to do was quietly slip out of the succession race.

Without anyone getting hurt.

Quietly.

But once he had achieved all of his goals, what would happen to Go Ha-jin and him?

A vague sense of suffocation arose in his chest, and Chae Woo-seok forcibly pushed away the thoughts that had surfaced in his mind.

Now was not the time to worry about some abstract future.

He had to focus only on the goal right in front of him.

Bzzz.

They had finished their conversation, and it was getting late in the morning as they prepared to leave for work.

Go Ha-jin’s phone vibrated.

It was an ordinary message notification, nothing unusual, but for some reason Ha-jin had a bad feeling about it.

It was unusually early in the morning, and lately, hardly any of the messages he received had been welcome ones.

“What is it?”

“Why? What is it?”

“Looks like people are sending spam through messenger apps now, too.”

The message was from an unsaved number.

There was no text, only a single link attached.

“Don’t click things like that carelessly. Unless you want the little money you have left to be completely drained, too.”

Chae Woo-seok casually added it as a joke.

Ha-jin thought the same thing and was about to close the app, but then returned to the message.

A few words in the link preview suddenly caught his eye.

It appeared to be the title of a news article.

After hesitating for a long moment, he clicked the link.

“This…”

And he realized that the ominous feeling he had had when he received the message had been right.

“What is it? What happened?”

Go Ha-jin stood frozen, still holding his phone.

As Chae Woo-seok watched the color drain from his face until he became deathly pale, he immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong.

“So…”

Even when Woo-seok asked him what was happening, Ha-jin could not easily get the words out.

No, he simply could not.

The article was not long, but its contents were something he had never imagined he would see.

No matter how many times he reread it, there was no mistaking it.

It was an article about him.

About the very past Go Ha-jin had desperately wanted to keep hidden.

“…I think they found out about my past… Even the scams I used to pull.”

Chae Woo-seok’s face turned as pale as Go Ha-jin’s.

His past of making a living by conning and exploiting other people…

It had been exposed?

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Your Highness, I Want to Eat You

BLFantasyTransmigration

Read Now →
Not interested