Apollo’s Heart

Chapter 124 – She Is Gone (2)

“I was belatedly grasping the subject. Didn’t you already tell me that you would do what you wanted to do with the problem? So why are you looking for the missing child here?” Chairman Seo retorted. They had had a war of words only recently, and the young man had blatantly rebelled. And yet here he was …

“She’s a smart woman. She wouldn’t have acted recklessly in this current situation. Unless someone took her. Before … Didn’t you do that to my father as well—”

In all these years, Tae-jun had never brought up his father in front of Chairman Seo. The old man looked at his grandson, surprise wreathed on his face.

“What are you talking about—”

“Ji-ye Kim … The woman, my father loved … Who you forced him to break-up with … The one you threw to three men to be devoured savagely.” Tae-jun watched his grandfather as he spoke, not wanting to miss even the slightest reaction. “Because of what you did, the woman went crazy. And later, when he found out, he left home because he couldn’t forgive you. I’ve heard that Father sacrificed all of himself and atoned all his life … Grandfather, on your behalf!”

“Who says that!” Chairman Seo roared.

“My mother.”  Tae-jun bellowed with equal fury.

“You found your mother?!” The old man was shocked. It was like a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured upon him.

“Is it so amazing that your grandson found his mother? I am not dead, nor far away from home. Well, you must be surprised to hear that you’ve been such a terrible person who abandoned your children. The heartless mother, who had given up her children for her own life, knew all the facts and decided that living as your daughter-in-law would be impossible as a human being. Even so, she didn’t want to tell her young son how cruel a demon his grandfather was!”

Chairman Seo’s face turned sour with all his past disgrace being laid out in the open. A few years ago, he had undergone two heart surgeries, his heart was pounding like it was going to explode. He grabbed unto his chest.

“You are the one who took my father and mother from me.”

Tae-jun’s gaze at Chairman Seo was the same as his son, Jeong-hoon’s. A mixture of hate and contempt grazed his frozen heart.

Tae-jun loaded the shotgun.

“Director, what are you doing—”

Panic-stricken, Secretary Kang stood in front of Chairman Seo. However, it was not Chairman Seo where the muzzle of the gun was headed. Surprisingly, it was under Tae-jun’s own chin.

“I’m different from my father. My father chose to quietly leave your side, but if I had any problems with her, I wouldn’t end it. I’ll show you how everything you’ve built up in your lifetime will end before your eyes. The Seoin Group and the “Seo” grandson that you cherish the most in the world.”

“You … you … you … Tae-jun!”

Chairman Seo couldn’t keep talking to the end. He paced back and forth breathing heavily. Secretary Kang urgently supported Chairman Seo.

The breathtaking confrontation ended only when Jin-wook jumped into the room. He showed the paper he had brought to Tae-jun. Only then did Tae-jun put down the loaded shotgun.

“Are you sure?”

Jin-wook nodded with a firm face. Tae-jun turned away without even paying attention to Chairman Seo.

In that brief moment, a lot of time passed before Chairman Seo’s eyes.

‘What the hell was I thinking?’

In all honesty, the matter of his son seeing that girl was just a trivial matter. However, her innocent and carefree demeanour had hit his ego hard … How could a nobody, an insignificant girl like her, dream of being a part of his family? He was incensed by her nerves and decided to teach her a lesson in humility. However, in the process, the life of a young woman had been destroyed … as if she were a frog hit by a stone thrown as a joke. His wife had condemned his actions until the moment of her death. Knowing the truth, his son and daughter-in-law turned their backs on him in disgust. Families who were in the know did not express themselves on the surface, but they did not look at them all their lives either. And now … even the only grandson he loved by his side looked at him with mistrust and hatred in his eyes.

Father, you will definitely pay the price.

His son Jung-hoon’s last words came to mind. The price of lightly dealing with someone’s life … This was karma. In his eyes, he could see the last hundred that Secretary Kang had laid down. It was the number that wiped out the black stones at once.

How is that possible under the circumstances a moment ago? No, no.

Looking closely, it was his own move a few steps back that had eliminated the black. Self-destruction … It was the last word that came to his mind before he lost consciousness.

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