MIM 62

“What?”

After staring at Jae-seung, who snapped back irritably, his older brother let out a long sigh. He rubbed between his eyebrows as if trying to ease a headache, then suddenly let out a small laugh as if the situation was absurd.

“…This kid really doesn’t know, huh.”

The muttered words, clearly audible, made his blood boil. Being treated like an idiot, of all things. Jae-seung leaned his large frame against the chair’s backrest and asked irritably again.

“So what is it?”

“Just keep living like that. Keep listening to whatever stories Shin-woo tells you, seeing only what he shows you, with flowers growing in your head. Like you’d have any better options anyway?”

The moment Shin-woo’s name came up, every nerve in his body tensed. Unconsciously, Jae-seung straightened his posture. His brother’s resigned words about having no better options carried both anger and resignation. He’d heard many times not to trust or to stay away from that guy, but this was the first time someone had told him to just give up and live with it because he couldn’t escape.

For him to say something like that, he must know something others didn’t. Having run out of patience, Jae-seung raised his voice sensitively.

“What do you mean by that? Explain properly.”

“Shortly after tampering with the will, father died. And that bastard pushed all the shares to you and stuck by your side. Don’t you think this is ‘a bit’ suspicious? Isn’t his intention too obvious?”

After all that build-up, it wasn’t particularly surprising. If anything was new, it was bringing up the shares? He seemed quite dissatisfied about not getting his portion of father’s assets. He wasn’t the only one who had been unhappy about father transferring all shares to him, but no one had been able to provide evidence.

It was pure speculation. The answer, no different from baseless rumors, was deeply disappointing. Jae-seung let out a light sigh and quoted his brother’s words back to him.

“Shin-woo pushed all the shares to me?”

“What, did you really think father would have given everything to you?”

Seemingly reading Jae-seung’s indifferent attitude, his brother shook his head and sneered. You really don’t know father at all.

Suddenly, the faint memory of his father came to mind. He could almost hear his voice saying that after enduring the pain, he would become the master of the demon realm. If those words were sincere, he must have given him some form of compensation.

“He gave them to me because I survived.”

Survived. Jae-seung stated the plain truth. At this, his brother’s crooked smile gradually flattened. He dropped his smile completely and stood up, leaning his upper body over the table to get closer. His face, pushed right up close, was red with anger.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. Father wasn’t so generous to failures.”

Am I a failure? As if answering the doubt Jae-seung had harbored countless times, his brother looked him up and down while maintaining direct eye contact. The sharp energy of an Alpha seeped out, stinging his skin. Like testing the energy of a fake Alpha, the subtle stimulation faintly pricked at his nerves.

“Take it easy.” Only after Jae-seung warned through gritted teeth did he step back. After keeping a proper distance, he sat down with crossed arms, shaking his leg restlessly before wearing a troubled expression. Even in his anger, his mind seemed complex. After rubbing his face and taking a long pause, he raised his head with a calmer expression.

“Shin-woo made you the majority shareholder because you were young and naive, easy to manipulate.”

“…”

“That bastard will eventually use you to settle himself at the top of Ma Corporation. Slowly, methodically, to avoid resistance.”

I should have seen it when you started frequenting that doghouse. His brother muttered while rubbing his forehead hard. As he watched him full of regret, a coldness gradually filled inside.

The turmoil was incomparably more violent than when he was called a failure. Even though he’d heard countless times that the guy was using him until his ears hurt. Far from becoming immune, it became increasingly difficult to control his emotions.

The puppy he had held in his arms must have been too hot.

“Do you have proof?”

“What?”

“You must have a reason to be so certain. Do you have evidence that the will was forged?”

Might as well get complete clarity now. He asked half-expecting an answer that there was no such evidence, but his hope crumbled as he watched his brother carefully choose his words. “Let’s see, where should I start?” he began with a sigh.

“A few days before father was murdered, a maid was seen coming out of father’s study. Since it was late at night when everyone should have been sleeping, and she wouldn’t have gone in to clean at that hour, it seemed strange. After father died, seeing that nonsensical will, I was certain. It was all planned.”

“…”

“She stole the seal to forge the will. Father kept his seal in the study.”

Plausible, but circumstantial. Jae-seung narrowed his eyes and asked.

“So where is this maid now? You must have talked to her.”

“Couldn’t find her.”

“Couldn’t find her?”

“When I thought of it and asked around, she was already gone. I searched everywhere trying to find her somehow… but she was completely untraceable.”

A maid who disappeared after the incident.

A girl who would do anything for the person she loved. A name came to mind immediately. Jae-seung added what he knew.

“That maid, a woman named Hye-jung. I tried to find her too because the timing of her disappearance was suspicious, but never could. Maybe someone helped her create a new identity.”

“‘Helped her’ create a new identity? Who, that bastard Shin-woo?”

His brother snorted at Jae-seung’s words. He suddenly seemed to feel a chill, wrapping one arm around himself and hunching his shoulders. His dark eyes were filled with terror.

“Do you think that bastard would have let that woman live well?”

Jae-seung slowly raised his eyelids as he realized what those words implied. It meant that Shin-woo not only used a woman who loved him but also killed her.

“Are you sure? That Shin-woo killed her?”

“That’s what he said himself.”

As shock hit him, his mind went blank. His brother’s face was too pale for this to be a fabrication.

That bastard Shin-woo came to see me, you know. He came to pressure me because I wouldn’t agree about the shares. He kindly told me, as if he knew I was looking for that woman. The words continued slowly as he recalled the time, flowing in one ear and out the other.

He’s the kind of bastard who thinks nothing of getting rid of one person. Despite knowing and having witnessed it, the shock wouldn’t subside. Perhaps because while he’d seen him beat people up while acting as a bodyguard, he’d never seen him kill an innocent person for his own benefit. The man who would put up shop signs for his girlfriend and even make requests to prevent any harm to her had killed Hye-jung. And not content with killing her, he used it to threaten his own brother.

“That bastard removes anything that gets in his way without a moment’s hesitation.”

His brother clicked his tongue seeing Jae-seung unable to continue speaking from shock. His gaze toward Jae-seung softened slightly for a moment, mixing pity with hatred. He sighed deeply for who knows how many times and advised.

“Think it’s all yours now? Just live quietly and obediently.”

“…”

“If you have nothing else to ask, get out. I won’t accept any more visits, so don’t come. And don’t tell anyone I’m here. Especially not Shin-woo. If he finds out I told you these things, he’ll come to kill me.”

His brother said without a hint of doubt that Shin-woo would come to kill him. “I’m jealous.” The image of that guy’s gentle smile overlapped like a phantom on his brother’s pale face.

“Are you listening? If I’m found dead soon, it’s all that bastard’s doing!”

His brother approached Jae-seung, who had been sitting just blinking for a while, and shouted so loudly it made his ears ring. Then he stepped back a few steps and suddenly started screaming like a madman. Nurses who had been standing by rushed in to restrain him. Only then did Jae-seung realize it was deliberately done to end the visit.

As he blankly watched his brother being dragged away with both arms bound, Jae-seung thought of Shin-woo who would submissively hold out both hands.

That can’t be true.

He jumped up from his seat and pulled out his phone to find a familiar number. His heart felt like it would burst.