Salt Society Chapter 65

While Manager Yoo reassured people that it was nothing significant, Cho Yeonoh was striking down with the golf club once more, looking like a man who couldn’t hear a single sound. This time, the frame of the bed where Cho Seongheon lay was the victim of that sacrifice. The frame met a violent impact, denting deeply enough to rattle. Even though the metal clashing against metal made a boisterous noise, there was not a single expression on Cho Yeonoh’s face.

“Yeonoh, why are you doing this? Why, Yeonoh…”

Yeongwon, not knowing what to do, tried to stop her son, but she was pushed back by his menacing aura and could only stomp her feet in frustration. Whether she backed away or not, the sound of metal objects colliding rang out loudly in Cho Seongheon’s hospital room.

Cho Seongheon, who had been in a vegetative state for a long time, lay there without even realizing that the one threatening his unconscious self was his only son. He was merely being shaken to and fro by the heavy impacts landing on the bed. Tears finally welled up in Yeongwon’s eyes.

Earlier today, Yeongwon intended to stop by Haesung Hospital to pick up high blood pressure medication for Cho Gyudeok, her former husband’s father. The reason Cho Gyudeok consistently made Yeongwon do tasks that secretaries usually handle was simple. Since she was already divorced and had failed to be a role model for Yeonoh, it was a task born of her former father-in-law’s spite; he wanted her to labor if she wished to receive any crumbs of favor.

Even if not to the extent of Haesung, Yoon Yeongwon was also the child of a quite established securities firm, but that meant nothing in front of Cho Gyudeok. It was because Yeongwon desired Yeonoh’s success. Cho Gyudeok knew that point very well.

That was the only reason she was called in to take care of the household chores within the Haesung family despite having been divorced from Cho Seongheon for a long time. Cho Gyudeok did not like Yoon Yeongwon, and because of that, Yeongwon was terrified of the disadvantages Cho Yeonoh might face.

Knowing he was a man who held his bloodline extremely precious and prioritized his eldest son, Yeongwon would still dive headlong into anything regarding her child. Thus, she had stopped by Haesung Hospital today as well.

Usually, when she visited the hospital, she would pour out curses at the face of her unconscious former husband to vent her anger, so today she headed to the hospital room first.

However, unlike other days, Yeongwon was surprised by a presence already there. And she was even more shocked when she realized the owner of that presence was her own son, right on the verge of striking the unconscious patient with a golf club.

“Exactly what happened, hmm?”

Cho Yeonoh continued to smash the furnishings in the hospital room without answering. It was a gruesome sight as the head of the iron dug into the sofa placed on one side of the room, ripping the leather straight through.

Even while doing so, Cho Yeonoh remained shockingly expressionless. For Yeongwon, who knew that he conversely became expressionless when he was severely angry, it was to the point of being terrifying.

Finally unable to endure it, Yeongwon murmured under her breath and pulled out her cell phone with trembling hands.

“Why are you really like this? You should at least try calling Kihyun; if you are left like this…”

Cho Yeonoh approached with long strides, snatched the cell phone from Yeongwon’s hand, and threw it straight at the wall. The cell phone hit the wall and shattered with a crunch. While Yeongwon looked dazed, staring blankly at the cell phone he had thrown, the words he spoke with a smirk were quite something.

“You should have a conscience.”

“…What?”

“I told you to stop acting like a parent. When that bastard tied me up and did those dog-like things, where were you, Mother? Weren’t you busy running around trying to find me a stepfather?”

Those words were horrific, but they were the truth. At that time, the marital relationship had reached its absolute worst, and Yeongwon had found an affair partner to escape. She thought she was in the right. Because Cho Seongheon was the one who did it first.

However, on the day she left the house for that reason, she never dreamed that a drugged-up Cho Seongheon would grab his son, who wasn’t even ten years old yet, and carry out his extramarital acts right in front of him. All while keeping his son, who was struggling and screaming that he wouldn’t watch, tied to a chair.

Because of Cho Gyudeok’s command to let no one in when Cho Seongheon was doing drugs, Yeonoh had been left completely abandoned. He had collapsed along with the chair onto his own vomit after struggling and remained that way for over ten hours.

Cho Yeonoh had fainted in 그 state and could not wake up for four days. It was an incident during a summer where he ran a fever as if his blood were boiling.

Cho Gyudeok stripped Cho Seongheon of his management rights for causing the eldest grandson to faint. The problem began with the fact that Cho Seongheon, who was severely twisted and whose humanity was trash, did not yield to his father’s orders and continuously brought affair partners into the house. He hadn’t come to his senses even after his son’s fainting.

After suffering for four days and waking up, Cho Yeonoh developed a vague loathing toward Beta males, who had been Cho Seongheon’s affair partners. During middle school, he had once assaulted a Beta boy who was his classmate, sending him to the hospital. A huge settlement fee and Haesung’s legal team successfully gifted Cho Yeonoh with a middle school diploma, but there were worries about what would happen when he reached high school and became even more full of vigor. Fortunately, he seemed to gradually stabilize after meeting Kihyun again, who was attending the same school.

Unluckily. At that time, Yeongwon was still wandering. It was because enduring day by day in that suffocating house was agonizing.

Therefore, she was only able to remember that she had a son after she finally came out of that disgusting house she felt she could never escape.

However, the timing had already passed, and the young son had grown up too quickly. In addition to the rift having deepened as much as it could, she had ended up in a position where she couldn’t say a word even if Cho Yeonoh did such things, as a penalty for having lived an unrighteous life.

While she was lost in a reminiscence mixed with regret and tears, the golf club tumbled to the floor with a loud noise. Cho Yeonoh had thrown it down. Sweeping back his disheveled hair, he looked at Yeongwon.

“What more do you intend to do by coming in and out to see a corpse of a bastard?”

“It’s not that, I…”

“That’s why I told you to go on a long vacation to Nice or Sicily. Having you nearby is bothersome.”

Cho Yeonoh said only what he wanted to say, then strode toward the patient and grabbed the collar of the hospital gown. He repeatedly slapped the cheeks of the lying Cho Seongheon several times. Because the sound heard wasn’t a smack but a thud that echoed through the skull, Yeongwon had no choice but to collapse onto the floor as the strength left her legs.

She remained collapsed and could not get up until he finally left the hospital room with an expression that seemed to say he had finished his business. Even while the medical staff rushed over to connect Cho Seongheon to a newly brought-in machine and acted busily, she only blinked her eyes blankly.

Manager Yoo helped her up, sat her on the sofa where the golf club had been embedded, gave a silent bow, and withdrew.

He followed Cho Yeonoh, who had left the hospital room first.

“The Mistress’s complexion looked very bad…”

“Manager Yoo is strangely full of affection, isn’t he?”

Cho Yeonoh glanced at him and boarded the elevator that had just arrived. The guardians and patients inside the elevator all stared blankly at Cho Yeonoh’s face. It was as if they didn’t want to miss the sight of someone who possessed a substantial and imposing physique, yet combined it with a delicate face to boast an objectively beautiful form.

As if such stares were familiar, Cho Yeonoh gave a wide smirk to a small child whose eyes met his, and then he asked.

“…Report again.”

Only then did Manager Yoo recall the reason why Cho Yeonoh had suddenly visited Haesung Hospital to find his father, who was lying quietly in the VIP hospital room.

The massive problem that had been pushed to the back while dealing with sudden events had come right before their eyes. It felt like his hair was standing on end. Manager Yoo, who even had to take a bullet taxi to chase after his boss who had driven himself to Haesung Hospital before a sound could be made, became fearful as he didn’t know what might happen by the time he finished his report.

Just then, the elevator doors opened. Not that he could avoid the report, but thinking of his boss who might turn into a madman inside a narrow elevator, he felt a wider space would be better. Manager Yoo counted to three in his head, took a deep breath, and let it out.

“—Mr. So is in the middle of a flight.”

“…”

Cho Yeonoh stopped his brisk walking for a moment, but he did not cut off Manager Yoo’s words. At this point, should he say it was a relief that it was different from when he headed straight for Haesung Hospital? Manager Yoo continued his words with a voice full of tension.

“Around 3:00 PM yesterday afternoon, the new car Mr. So contracted left the villa parking lot. The car immediately took the Riverside North Road, passed the Jayu-ro junction, and headed toward the Siheung Heaven Rest Area. And then…”

“And then?”

Cho Yeonoh looked back at Manager Yoo with a slanted smile. It felt as if a dominant Alpha’s pheromones were weighing down his entire body. The pressure felt intensively made Manager Yoo’s hand tremble as he tried to push up his glasses. Since the other was still waiting for the report, he had to speak.

“…And then he disappeared.”

“What does that mean?”

Cho Yeonoh gave another bright smile. It was a smile with limits, as if enduring the absurdity of a young child telling a story that made no sense.

“It, it seems he went to the restroom, but the parked car has been in that spot for 22 hours. When I sent personnel to look into it, they said he was not inside the rest area, the restrooms, or anywhere. The back of the rest area is a mountain, and it’s too rugged to travel to nearby houses on foot… Given the condition of Mr. So’s ankle, it seems impossible for him to cross the mountain.”