Kill Your X Chapter 38

We continued our conversation at a small cafe in the neighborhood. Aware of his wrongdoing, he took the initiative to order and made an effort to appease me the whole time.

“Hyung, you like this, right?”

“It’s confusing, so I’ll just call you Kim Minseok.”

“Huh? My name is…”

The way his eyes widened in surprise was disgusting.

“You guys have been changing and using names as you pleased. Don’t argue.”

“Okay. Do as you please, Hyung.”

His subservient attitude made me feel like I was unreasonably bullying him. In reality, I was the victim who had even been scammed out of money by him in the past.

“What do you want to say? I’m tired, so make it short.”

“Hyung, you’ve really changed a lot.”

He said he could explain everything, but he just put on a pitiful act until the drinks he ordered became lukewarm. I hated the way he looked, lost in his own memories, with a wistful look in his eyes. I used to think that even that sentimental attitude was befitting of an artist, but the past me, who felt protective of such a person, was truly out of her mind.

“To be clear, my name is Si Yeonho. Not Kim Minseok.”

He finally spoke when my patience was wearing thin.

“I didn’t use a fake name to intentionally deceive you, Hyung. Whatever else you might not believe, please believe me on this.”

“Just explain. Don’t add unnecessary details.”

“I used a fake name because I wanted to completely cut ties with my family. My family really hated that I was pursuing music, so since I had run away from home, I didn’t want them to easily track me down. Not until I became sufficiently famous through music.”

I told him not to add unnecessary details, but Kim Minseok went on and on about how desperate he was for his dream back then. Even though I didn’t say it out loud, I didn’t doubt that part. Kim Minseok was the person who looked happiest on stage. I had clearly seen him staying in the practice room composing his own songs, strumming his guitar and staying up all night.

“Then my father got extremely angry, and I had to suddenly leave Korea. In the process, I did something terrible to you, Hyung. I wanted to escape from reality somehow, but when I couldn’t get help from my parents, I became penniless overnight.”

I listened quietly and then asked a question. My gaze was directed at his leg, which protruded slightly from under the small table.

“The aftereffects on your leg, weren’t they from being beaten by your father?”

“Huh? Why are you suddenly talking about my leg?”

He quickly put his leg under the table. Even so, there was no way his long leg could be hidden.

Rumors, a cunning mixture of truth and lies, spread; I tried to extract only the truth from them. Even if some of it was exaggerated, where there’s smoke there’s fire.

“Kim Minseok.”

“Hmm?”

“Was it your intention to fall from the school rooftop?”

Kim Minseok was startled by my words. He looked as if he was wondering how I knew. In the past, he had told me that the reason he limped was because he had been assaulted by his father. And Si Yeonho said this a while ago:

‘People don’t always die from falling off a roof.’

“How did you…”

“So you did go to the same high school as me. I didn’t even know you were my junior. Oh, you didn’t graduate, so you’re not my junior?”

Kim Minseok rolled his eyes upwards. It was a habit of his when he was scheming. I don’t know what part he was trying to gloss over to his advantage, but I had no intention of falling for such shallow tricks now.

“That’s right. That happened when I was in high school. But it wasn’t my intention to fall from the rooftop.”

“Then?”

“Seo Seunghan, he pushed me.”

My brow furrowed involuntarily. I had no evidence, but I felt that Kim Minseok was making it up. Although he sometimes exuded a chilling aura, Si Yeonho didn’t seem like the type to truly harm someone.

“It’s not a lie, it’s true. After I fell and was in agony, he was looking down at me from above! I begged him to save me, but he just watched me dying. That bastard is completely insane. Even if he coveted my position, how could he try to kill someone like that?”

Kim Minseok suddenly burst out in anger. He said that even when he returned to Korea after ending his long stay abroad, Seo Seunghan came after him, messing up his plans.

“Let’s get this straight first. I understand the story of how you came to lie to me about your name, but then what is your relationship with that Si Yeonho?”

I thought it wasn’t a difficult question, but the silence stretched on unexpectedly. I watched him as he avoided answering and just rolled his eyes, and another clue I heard from Taehoon earlier suddenly came to mind.

Oh, no way.

“Uh, well. To put it simply, that Seo Seunghan is my lackey. A dog that comes when I call and goes when I tell it to. We grew up together since we were young, but we’re not blood-related. My father took in an orphaned kid who had nowhere to go. You know, an adopted son? Anyway, something similar.”

He said that when he was going through the turbulent period of adolescence, he even sent Seo Seunghan to school in his place. Later, his father found out, and they both got beaten like dogs, but still.

“I’m an only child. While I was temporarily away overseas, Seo Seunghan ended up helping my father with his work. But my father’s health started to decline, and taking advantage of that opportunity, he tried to completely steal my position…”

“Your family is in the mafia.”

Finally, some of the puzzle pieces fell into place. Kim Minseok, who ran away from home early, not wanting to inherit the family business; his father, who was said to be incredibly violent; his bank account, which never seemed to decrease despite him not having a job.

“So that means Si Yeonho, no, Seo Seunghan, is also in the mafia.”

Kim Minseok didn’t deny it any further.

“Hyung, but these days, the mafia isn’t as hopeless as you think. It’s true that we grew based on private lending, but for the past few years, we’ve shifted our business direction. We’re not directly handling dirty money anymore and are becoming a proper corporate entity.”

“I wondered why Si Yeonho was so knowledgeable about private loans, so KNT Entertainment was a means of money laundering. I had no idea.”

I couldn’t help but laugh hollowly. I wondered why Si Yeonho had wormed his way into my life ten years ago, talking about promises and such, and that turned out to be the real reason.

It wasn’t the first time in my life that a member of the mafia approached me with the intention of harming me. Because my father was a police officer famous for being a mafia killer, sometimes the sparks flew towards me, his child. They seemed to realize it was reckless, so it subsided after I became an adult.

Wait, but did that really happen? Why did I forget about it all this time?

“Anyway, Hyung, I really didn’t know. Would I have ever imagined that that bastard Seo Seunghan would impersonate me and approach you? It’s true that my father entrusted him with acting on my behalf, but that’s clearly an act of overstepping his authority. I guess he got greedy after gaining my father’s trust, but no matter what, KNT Entertainment is mine. Where does an orphan get off trying to covet it? Now that I’m back, he’s completely finished.”

I looked at Kim Minseok with cold eyes. I found it distasteful how he was excessively badmouthing Si Yeonho to gain my sympathy.

Still, he was someone I once loved passionately, but now, facing him like this, and even recalling the scene from a few days ago in the room where he was getting along with celebrities, I felt nothing. I wondered if I could feel the same way about Si Yeonho, no, Seo Seunghan, as time passed.

I don’t know if the arrow originally aimed at my father was now also pointed at me, or if Si Yeonho was simply trying to fulfill some twisted desire by messing with the ex-lover of someone he felt inferior to. Either way, it was equally unpleasant.

However, if it was the latter, if Si Yeonho was that pathetic, I would feel miserable in my own way. My mouth felt bitter at this situation where every layer I peeled back revealed another horror story.

“Anyway, Hyung, I’m really sorry. If you can’t forgive me, I can’t help it, but I’ve prepared something to show you my sincerity, okay?”

Kim Minseok took out his wallet from his pocket. I wondered what he was about to do, and he suddenly pulled out a pen and a check and held them out to me. It was the blank check I had only heard of.

“Write down as much as you want, Hyung.”

An inexplicable irritation welled up inside me. Kim Minseok’s face now held more smugness than remorse.

“Hyung, you might not know this, but our company’s performance was amazing the year before last and last year. It’s too late, but now that I have the means, I want to pay you back.”

“Kim Minseok. You weren’t in Korea the year before last or last year.”

“Huh?”

“Wasn’t that money earned by Seo Seunghan and other employees of the company? Where were you and what were you doing while those people were working overtime and struggling?”

Kim Minseok opened his mouth slightly, as if he hadn’t expected to be called out.

“What does it matter? KNT Entertainment is practically mine anyway. My current title is just a measly managing director, but I’ll soon inherit more shares from my father, and then it’ll completely become my toy.”

While he was gallivanting overseas with his name only on the board of directors, Seo Seunghan handled the actual work in his stead. Yet, it seemed as though he had nothing to show for it.

I almost felt a pang of sympathy, so I shook my head and focused on the check in front of me. I stared at the space for the amount, then slowly picked up the pen.