VDN Ch 22
by STARDeok-chil, witnessing Nam-woon’s misterable state on the bed, teared up and glared at Kwon Seo-oh.
“Kwon Seo-oh! You, you… No matter how much you hate the young master, how could you do this to someone who is already weak!”
“He collapsed on his own.”
“And you have the nerve to say that…!”
“Deok-chil, stop it.”
Yong-deuk turned to Kwon Seo-oh and asked,
“Kwon Seo-oh. What happened?”
“That’s what I want to know. Why is his forehead like that?”
Yong-deuk was inwardly surprised. Although they had encountered each other quite often, this was the first time Kwon Seo-oh had asked him a question, especially about the young master whom he hated so much. Then, Deok-chil cursed out loud,
“Damn it, why does our young master have to suffer because of this guy!”
“What?”
Kwon Seo-oh frowned upon hearing Deok-chil’s words. Although Yong-deuk cautioned Deok-chil as he raised his voice.
“That’s right! You know how much the young master fears Chairman Seok.
Yong-deuk gestured for Seo-oh to leave.
“This is our matter, just go.”
It was a polite tone, but clearly a command to leave. However, Kwon Seo-oh stood his ground and demanded,
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s office business. You don’t need to know.”
“Tell me.”
Yong-deuk sighed. It seemed Kwon Seo-oh wouldn’t leave the hospital room until he got a clear answer. Reluctantly, Yong-deuk briefly explained what happened today.
“The young master… He met with Chairman Seok recently. He went there because there was something urgent to discuss, and he also brought up your matter.”
Yong-deuk clicked his tongue in displeasure and spat out,
“He asked for you to live as an ordinary student.”
“What?”
Seo-oh looked down at Nam-woon, who was sleeping.
After leaving the hospital, Seo-oh headed not for the elevator but for the dim emergency staircase. Thump, thump. After descending a few steps, he stopped and slumped onto the stair railing.
To live as an ordinary student?
He knew well how much Nam-woon feared Chairman Seok. Nam-woon had been afraid of his father since Seo-oh first set foot in the Seok family.
But he said something like that?
Seo-oh knew that Nam-woon had been acting a bit differently lately, but confronting Chairman Seok like that was a completely different story. Seo-oh’s eyes shook with confusion. He suddenly looked down at the wet wipe he was holding.
“Blood, I couldn’t even wipe it off in the end.”
There were so many things he couldn’t understand.
***
Ouch. My head hurts.
Nam-woon groaned, tossed and turned.
“Ugh…”
Familiar voices flew around him.
“Young master! Are you conscious?”
“Are you okay?”
As soon as he opened his eyes, the irritating sound of the system greeted Nam-woon.
[Mr. Seok Nam-woon! You’ve been through a lot! ㅜㅜ]
It’s all because of what you did. Nam-woon couldn’t speak and just grimaced with wide-open eyes. Deok-chil yelled next to him, wondering if the young master had hurt his brain.
[Here’s a small consolation as a reward.]
[You’ve received 1 lottery ticket!]
[Violence Experience +25
Abuse of Power Experience +25
Short-term Illness Experience +25
Justice Experience +25]
[You’ve filled 100% of the experience and leveled up!]
What are these experiences? Violence Experience must be from the incident at the perfume shop, and Abuse of Power Experience? Me, abusing power? It must be because of what I did to the perfume shop manager.
But what about Short-term Illness and Justice? Is Short-term Illness about being hospitalized?
Justice was the most nonsensical. Regardless of the process, it felt like a very uncomfortable experience given to me, the villain, for ending up like this.
[LEVEL UP!]
[Current level 2.]
[Your freedom has improved compared to level 1!]
At the moment he saw ‘freedom improved,’ Nam-woon felt as if his pain had disappeared and his dulled senses had returned.
Then, an unpleasant smell drifted into Nam-woon’s nose.
Sniff, sniff.
This bitter smell was definitely from the hospital. And looking at his hand, there was an IV. He could hear the sound of money draining away.
Oh no…
Nam-woon opened his pale lips.
“…I have to go.”
“What?”
“I need to get out of here quickly.”
The subordinates, seeing the young master’s frail and pitiful state, were heartbroken. Deok-chil asked, holding the young master’s hand with pity,
“What happened to you, young master?”
“The hospital fee transfer fee is the next biggest waste of money.”
Nam-woon expressed his will clearly, though weakly. Yong-deuk asked worriedly from the side,
“What are you saying?”
“He says he has no money.”
“……”
Deok-chil whispered quietly to Yong-deuk,
“Should we go to the young master’s house? But brother, do you know where the young master’s lover lives? I don’t know. And it seems the young master hasn’t been going home lately.
“I’m not sure either. I heard he broke up with his previous lover quickly.”
Nam-woon, overhearing their conversation, murmured,
“The office… Ah, no.”
“Yes?”
“To the perfume shop…”
Yong-deuk and Deok-chil exchanged glances. Why is our young master like this? They couldn’t understand their boss.
***
The next day, Seo-oh, having cleaned his blood-stained clothes, headed to the pheromone perfume shop.
“I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“Yeah, sure.”
President Park was truly conflicted. The opening event had been disastrously ruined due to the commotion caused by Kwon Seo-oh, Executive Moon, and Manager Seok. Although he was furious to the point of boiling, he couldn’t say anything to Kwon Seo-oh in front of him.
Even though Kwon Seo-oh was said to be Seok Jin-cheol’s man, in reality, Seok Jin-cheol didn’t care about such small businesses. This meant that there would be no problem if he held Kwon Seo-oh responsible for yesterday’s incident. However, President Park couldn’t express his anger as usual. It was difficult to say anything because Manager Seok had openly defended Kwon Seo-oh yesterday.
President Park took the clothes and slyly probed,
“Mr. Seo-oh.”
“Yes?”
“But… what’s your relationship with Manager Seok?”
Seo-oh looked at President Park as if to question the nature of what he was asking. President Park laughed awkwardly and continued,
“No, I mean. It’s strange, isn’t it? Manager Seok isn’t usually like that, but seeing how he took you away yesterday, do you two have something, maybe?”
“There’s nothing.”
Seo-oh cut him off sharply. President Park, tilting his head as if puzzled, sneakily asked what he really wanted to know.
“Hey, Mr. Seo-oh. If there’s nothing, then why would Manager Seok bother to come all the way here again to make a point?”
“What?”
Seo-oh asked as if he had heard wrong. President Park sighed and spilled the beans.
“Didn’t Manager Seok tell you? No, he came last night. He must have had a big fight somewhere, with his forehead all bandaged up and his face pale.”
“……”
“He complained, asking if it’s okay to employ a manager who hits employees. Even the Chairman was quiet, so why is he making a fuss?”
President Park crossed his arms and continued,
“And didn’t he hit someone himself? It’s like the pot calling the kettle black, he is the worst and suddenly he changes his attitude, isn’t that ridiculous?”
As soon as he heard about yesterday’s incident, President Park, who was shocked, first checked the inventory of perfumes on display. He was anxious, wondering if his precious ‘babies’ had been damaged in the brawl. Recalling yesterday’s chaos, President Park shivered and added,
“That Manager Seok, if he gets upset, he’ll break everything. I was so worried yesterday that he might break and throw perfume bottles.”
“That’s not true.”
Kwon Seo-oh, who had been quietly listening to President Park’s complaints, blurted out.
“Huh?”
“He wouldn’t have broken the perfume bottles.”
President Park was taken aback by Seo-oh’s indifferent but firm words. Manager Seok had been a bit cool yesterday but… was Kwon Seo-oh really defending him to this extent? There must have been something that happened yesterday.
Seo-oh, who had spoken without thinking, stopped and quickly added,
“That guy hates spending his own money more than anything in the world.”
“Ah, haha. That’s right, isn’t it? But I shouldn’t really say this.”
President Park suddenly lowered his voice and said,
“He did seem a bit more decent yesterday?”
As soon as he said that, Seo-oh’s expression changed. He seemed uncomfortably disturbed. President Park, knowing well that Seo-oh and Nam-woon didn’t get along, shared his honest feelings.
“If it weren’t for yesterday’s incident, I would have considered contacting him separately. Hahaha!”
“……”
“Oh, by the way, do you have any plans to meet Manager Seok today?”
“Not that I know of, why?”
“He left something at the store yesterday.”
President Park brought out a shopping bag he had kept. Seo-oh’s eyes fixed on the contents as he took the shopping bag. Inside were two puzzles of different sizes, neatly placed.
