284 – Corporation, Villain, Gang #6
Since ancient times, one corporation has risen alongside the development of Korea.
Osa Group.
It was undeniably the world’s best megacorp.
Its founder, Lee Cheol-geun, was said to have fathered numerous children after countless marriages and divorces, distributing shares and subsidiaries of Osa Group to all of them.
Thanks to this, the power of Osa Group was scattered, and many experts believe that Telos Corporation took advantage of that gap.
Yet, if you ask what the best company in Korea is, six out of ten would likely mention Osa Group.
The founder of Osa Group, Lee Cheol-geun, was truly a living myth and legend.
It wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to say he built an empire that would never fall, starting from an ordinary junkyard.
Although his name was followed by repeated divorces and several scandals like a label.
“Did Chairman Lee Cheol-geun personally order the capture of Lee Dong-sik?”
Seo Ye-rim frowned, seemingly unable to understand.
Was there something she couldn’t grasp?
“If a person like Lee Cheol-geun exists, he could contact that Big Sister Yang Chi-hee without the need for an interview right? So why the need to capture Lee Dong-sik?”
Listening to her, it sounded plausible.
Was there something we didn’t know?
Of course, the information we had was fragmentary.
And what we had to do was already clearly defined.
We had dragged the tied-up boy, Lee Dong-sik, to the headquarters of the Iljin Association.
“Is this man Lee Dong-sik? This is nothing like what I heard.”
Chairman Hwang Geum-son couldn’t hide his skeptical glare at the Lee Dong-sik we had brought. He looked as if he feared he had mistakenly brought an elementary school student.
Soon, we could hear Hwang Geum-son making a phone call somewhere.
After a while of “Yes, yes. Understood.” politely on the phone, Hwang Geum-son returned to the room.
“My sister wishes to meet you.”
Oh!
To be honest, we were unsure too, but we got a response!
I felt as happy as when a bite was taken on a fishing line I had thrown into the sea.
We proceeded to the basement of the Iljin Association headquarters.
In the basement of the gang’s headquarters.
Contrary to what I thought would be thick with the smell of cigarettes, the basement was clean, with flowers and grass planted in the corridors.
If nymphs like Oinoin or Coris, or Illinois had seen this, they would have said, “This is a very nymph-friendly place…!”
Suddenly, I became curious about what the nymphs were doing now.
“Sister, as you said, I’ve brought the people!”
Hwang Geum-son shouted in the large garden located underground.
It resembled a dense forest.
The sight of various unnamed flowers and trees planted there was quite unfamiliar.
At that moment, a woman with yellow-dyed hair appeared from between the bushes.
She looked to be in her thirties, wearing a sleeveless shirt that fully exposed her shoulders, which had a flower-shaped tattoo, and she seemed very free-spirited.
She could be considered quite a beauty, but her expression was deeply frowning, sharp, and intimidating.
Zing-.
I instinctively flinched.
A memory from long ago when I had my cultural voucher taken away suddenly flashed back.
I guess it could be said that I felt intimidated by her gaze.
At that moment, Lee Jin-A asked.
“Are you Big Sister Yang Chi-hee?”
“Yeah. I am Big Sister Yang Chi-hee. You brought Lee Dong-sik?”
Her speech was more ordinary than I had expected.
As I let out a slight sigh of relief, Yu Ara pushed the boy she was holding in front of Yang Chi-hee.
After wriggling for a while, the boy seemed worn out and had calmed down.
Yang Chi-hee said.
“Right. This guy is the one who often escapes, but you caught him well. He looks like this, but this guy is Lee Dong-sik. Well done. This bad guy. You naughty brat! You brat!”
Bang-! Bang bang-!
Yang Chi-hee hit the boy on the head with her fist.
It was a one-sided assault, and the boy shouted, “Ah, stop it! Enough already!” as he resisted.
Wasn’t Lee Dong-sik originally Yang Chi-hee’s adopted child?
Yu Ara asked.
“Um, is this person really Lee Dong-sik? He’s so different from what we know.”
“Yeah. This guy can change his appearance as he likes. This brat-like appearance is his true form, though. You brat! You d*mn brat!”
Yang Chi-hee continued to hit Lee Dong-sik and even hit his chest hard.
“Nymph ability, sightseeing in the afterlife!”
Bam-.
A sound of unease echoed, and Lee Dong-sik collapsed to the ground.
The first to notice the situation was Yu Ara.
“Y-You killed him…!?”
Killed him?
I pressed my ear against Lee Dong-sik’s chest as he lay on the ground.
I couldn’t hear the sound of his heartbeat.
It was true that he was dead.
Only then did I realize that this “Big Sister – Yang Chi-hee” was the villain reigning above all thugs, gangs, and various villains.
I hadn’t expected that she would try to k*ll Lee Dong-sik herself.
What should I do about this?
“Cough-!”
At that moment, Lee Dong-sik coughed up bl**d.
It was amazing that a dead person was coughing up bl**d, and just as I thought that, Lee Dong-sik began to flail his bound body and caused quite a ruckus.
“What are you doing! I thought I was going to d*e!”
“You did d*e. For about 10 seconds. Did you enjoy sightseeing in the afterlife? So, now, the shadow under your feet should have returned.”
Yang Chi-hee’s eyes scrutinized Lee Dong-sik.
Just as she said, the shadow had returned under Lee Dong-sik’s feet, which was quite astonishing.
“The shadow has a nature that wants to return to its owner upon their d*ath. Now that Lee Dong-sik’s shadow has returned to him after being dead for 10 seconds from ‘Nymph ability, sightseeing in the afterlife,’ Gumihee won’t be able to use her teleportation anymore.”
Yang Chi-hee’s explanation was simple.
Lee Dong-sik had been hit by “Nymph ability, sightseeing in the afterlife,” died for 10 seconds, and then returned to life, which meant that his shadow had returned to him, and Gumihee had lost her teleportation ability.
Soon, Seo Ye-rim’s expression brightened.
“Then can you make my shadow return too? Gumihee stole my shadow!”
“No. The probability of surviving after being hit by ‘Nymph ability, sightseeing in the afterlife’ is fifty-fifty. That means there’s a chance of truly dying by half, do you think you can handle that?”
Bing.
A skill that could genuinely k*ll someone with a fifty percent chance.
So, did Yang Chi-hee really intend to k*ll Lee Dong-sik with that fifty percent chance?
It seemed to be a very powerful skill.
“Nymph ability, sightseeing in the afterlife.”
Nymph ability….
“By any chance, are you also an honorary nymph like our instructor, Ham Sook-ja?”
“Yeah. Sook-ja and I grew up like sisters from long ago. I heard Sook-ja is currently collapsed and in the hospital. That guy was indeed a foolish person. He’s always made life hard without knowing how to make things easy.”
So the instructor and this person were sworn sisters.
As I was impressed by this in many ways, Lee Dong-sik, who had been squatting in the corner, was acting strangely.
Brrr, brrr-.
He was shaking as if he had been electrocuted, his body becoming hazy like a ghost or hologram, suddenly appearing to fall from the ceiling or being half-embedded in the wall.
“Get me out of here!”
Suddenly, Lee Dong-sik, whose body got stuck in the wall, looked very troubled.
Seeing that, “Big Sister – Yang Chi-hee” let out a deep sigh.
“He still can’t control his abilities. This guy. He’s got two abilities. Shape-shifting and teleportation. The two powers are clashing, causing the teleportation side to go out of control.”
Lee Dong-sik’s body was said to spontaneously teleport uncontrollably whenever his abilities went berserk.
I didn’t quite know, but it seemed to be very painful every time that happened.
“I felt sorry for Dong-sik, and I really wanted to improve his condition. That’s why I supported the Super Soldier Project. But it seems it was a failure in the end.”
“I only suffered torture there! I know the pain of having a thick needle stabbed into my pupil…!?”
A syringe in the pupil?
Just hearing that was horrifying!
But a being who was an Awakened with two powers….
That was an extraordinary existence.
Could it be that Osa Group was targeting Lee Dong-sik for such reasons?
As I pondered this, Seo Ye-rim spoke.
“I heard Lee Cheol-geun from Osa Group is targeting Lee Dong-sik. Is it because of his peculiar constitution?”
“No. This guy is one of Lee Cheol-geun’s sons. He probably thought of solving the problem after hearing his son caused trouble after being released from prison.”
“That b*stard isn’t even my dad…! He left me at an orphanage, and only when I awakened my abilities did he come looking for me saying he’s my dad…!”
I see.
It seemed everyone had deep circumstances in various ways.
But more than those matters, I had a problem that was more urgent and important.
“Big Sister. I came all the way here because I wanted to ask you something. But if it’s difficult to answer, you don’t have to.”
I recalled the instructor, Ham Sook-ja, who had been lying in the hospital, trying to answer anything honestly for me.
If Yang Chi-hee had the same curse on her body, it wouldn’t be strange.
However, Yang Chi-hee just laughed.
“You little one, worrying about everything. Do I look that easy to deal with? But you’re right. I’m in a position where I can’t answer honestly in many ways. Haildo, everyone go out except for you.”
Everyone looked at each other’s faces.
I reassured them all, “It’s okay, you can leave.”
With that, all of them left the garden, making it much quieter.
As I inhaled the fresh scent of flowers and wondered what the nymphs were doing, Big Sister Yang Chi-hee spoke.
“I’ve heard your story from Sook-ja. She said there are excellent young people, and the moment I saw you, I knew. Haildo, you have honest eyes. Eyes that are rarely seen in Makcheon City.”
Swish-.
Big Sister reached under her sleeveless shirt and pulled something out.
It was a bundle of paper.
“Haildo, eight years ago, most people agreed to remove you. The only one who opposed was Ham Sook-ja, and I didn’t know what was happening, so I just abstained. This is that voting paper.”
“Remove me…!?”
I was shocked.
I really heard for the first time that such a thing had happened.
“…Why?”
