Jinhyuk spat out curses in a low voice while loosening his tie.
The guy who had been annoying from the start eventually grabbed his ankle. The network he had built up over decades collapsed in just two hours of the meeting. It was a dismal feeling beyond words.
After each board meeting, there was always a casual gathering. Directors who got along well would gather around Jinhyuk, discussing family, health, business, and the future. It was a time to strengthen friendships.
But for some reason, today, everyone made excuses and hurriedly left, using busy schedules as a pretext. Some even took the opportunity to grab Jaeho, who was leaving, and give him another piece of their mind.
Even the few directors who tried to stay by Jinhyuk’s side, feeling the strange atmosphere, quickly sensed it and left in a hurry.
“Darn it!”
Jinhyuk slammed the seat, grinding his teeth and cursing again.
The leftovers that Jinwoo had reluctantly left behind.
He shouldn’t have let him live.
Even though I expected such a day to come, I cowered in fear of another failure, and finally, someone tried to take away my rice bowl. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t bear to watch the scene of someone opening their eyes and wiping their nose.
Jung Hyesoo spoke.
“He seemed uninterested in the successor position… Was it all just an act? It seems like Jaeho has made a decision to step forward now. It won’t be easy to avoid a fight. Today was an example.”
It would surface soon.
They were all just pretending. No one truly believed that the relationship between Jinhyuk and Jaeho would be good. How could it be? Knowing that if Heontae died, they would have to point their swords at each other.
Knowing this, Heontae tightly held onto power, like a king in the days of monarchies, never willing to share. He believed that they should each take a little until they all became indistinct, and only then would the real war begin. Jinhyuk also somewhat agreed with that thinking.
“So, I should be the one to take it.”
Jinhyuk sharpened his teeth.
“How? If Jaeho becomes the successor publicly, it will only cause trouble for us.”
He probably planned to hand it over to Jaeho in the safest way possible, but Jinhyuk had no intention of letting it be taken away.
“We have to persuade the shareholders.”
“…!”
“Father is already too old. It’s time for him to step down.”
Jung Hyesoo widened her eyes.
“Are you considering dismissing the CEO?”
Jinhyuk nodded.
In fact, he had thought of something even more extreme. There were plenty of faster, more immediate, and effective methods. For example, making the person disappear completely from the world.
An accident, or something like death.
But unfortunately, times had changed a lot, and the world was full of CCTV. Even if he hired someone discreet to do the job, there was a high probability of being exposed. Damn technology had unnecessarily increased the quality of investigations.
Suppressing his desires, Jinhyuk said.
“Yeah. Dismissal… We have to do that. Look at how much I’ve devoted to the shareholders.”
“…If you dismiss your father, it will be noisy for a while. We don’t know the inside story, and how much the media will chew on it. In fact, we are just receiving our rightful rights. It’s Jaeho’s side that’s trying to take everything.”
It was when Jinwoo had reluctantly left.
He shouldn’t have let him live.
**
“After the break, it’s night shift.”
When the break ended, it became the night shift.
It wasn’t as busy as during the day, but DaJeong had no time to relax today either. After making rounds in the wards once, checking for any unusual conditions and recording them, she stretched briefly.
One o’clock in the morning.
After quietly surveying the quiet hospital, I picked up my phone.
A few days ago, after visiting Dajeong’s house, the man had been contacting me every day. It seemed as if he genuinely wanted to start over, being courteous and polite every moment.
[I prepared some food, eat and work.] [I came to the office briefly because there’s something to sign. I missed you.]
Dajeong never replied, and the man no longer approached her impolitely.
I worried about what would happen if he waited in front of the hospital, but it never occurred. Dajeong recalled the man’s black sedan waiting at the traffic light in front of the main entrance with the emergency lights on.
As if it were a lie, that season passed. The leaves had all fallen, and the bare branches signaled the arrival of winter. Sometimes, Dajeong felt like that time was like a dream.
It was one of those days.
“It’s not even one o’clock yet. Boring, isn’t it? Lately, I’ve been watching this. It’s really fun.”
Dajeong’s colleague, Youngsook, showed her a video. Dajeong turned off her phone and looked at the video.
“Jae-ho Lee’s drama, ‘I Love You at That Time.'”
It was a one-hour video summarizing the 16-episode drama. It was a good choice to watch when there was no time to watch the whole thing.
The drama was famous for its many kissing scenes, and thanks to the summary, only the kissing scenes kept coming. Dajeong wanted to stop watching, but she couldn’t refuse Youngsook, who was extending her effort towards her side, so she had to keep watching.
“I understand why she likes Jae-ho Lee now. He kisses so well… He’s a kissing master, a master.”
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
