My Company Is Black

#030

Who is Lee Sung-ha?

BK’s failure. The thug Lee Baek-gyeong raised wrong. A mass of inferiority complexes overshadowed by his sister. All these describe Sung-ha.

If Gyo-ha was like a fox and Jung-hye like a tiger, Sung-ha was just like a dog. Apologies to dogs, but he was truly a dog of a man in the most vulgar sense. That’s Lee Sung-ha.

Sung-ha had a nasty temperament from childhood. His sister, born three years earlier, was already ahead of him in every field. In Korean chaebol families, where the idea of gender separation is deeply rooted, the fact that Jung-hye had pushed aside male Sung-ha and was tacitly chosen as the successor was proof enough.

Why couldn’t he, the son, succeed his father’s position? Sung-ha found this terribly unfair. Although Jung-hye not only excelled in everything but also pleased their father by marrying into another chaebol family and even providing grandchildren, she was still a woman after all.

However, whenever he expressed these complaints, his father Lee Baek-gyeong would lose his temper at Sung-ha, so he had to keep his mouth shut. Even Sung-ha could see that Jung-hye wasn’t someone who would bleed even if stabbed. She was the type to turn any crisis into an opportunity and bounce back.

So Sung-ha turned his arrows towards his younger brother, six years his junior and an easier target. In other words, he took out his frustrations on his younger brother after being slapped by his sister.

Lee Gyo-ha, with his head full of flowers, wasn’t interested in his sister’s or brother’s positions, but as the late-born child, he monopolized the family’s love just by breathing.

Even Jung-hye, who initially clicked her tongue at another damn little brother, started to treat Gyo-ha more leniently. Sung-ha, not thinking about his own actions, greatly disliked his younger brother. Was being the youngest everything?

I’m the eldest son of this family! This was Sung-ha’s logic. Although Jung-hye might be the eldest daughter, he was the eldest son. Yet Lee Baek-gyeong had decided to pass on most of the businesses to Jung-hye, and was even thinking of fairly passing on businesses to Gyo-ha as well.

It must have been because he had hit the back of Gyo-ha’s head with a decorative object when they were young. Otherwise, there was no reason for his father to be so strict only with him.

Sung-ha recalled how Lee Baek-gyeong no longer even told him to get married. Despite the wrinkles on his face that couldn’t escape the passage of time, his father always looked upright and strong. Just because he had caused some trouble at a few arranged meetings, was it right to not even give him another chance?

Not only did they send the youngest to America, but they even understood when he got a male lover…

A base jealousy boiled up inside Sung-ha. Jung-hye repeatedly told Sung-ha to control his temper and stop causing trouble, but Lee Sung-ha always let her words go in one ear and out the other.

So Sung-ha visited Gyo-ha’s house, where his brother’s male lover (presumed) was, without any notice. He was irritated by how his younger brother, who used to fear him, had recently started looking at him like he was nothing.

Let’s see how pretty this person is for Gyo-ha to set up a corporation and lavish gifts on them. Sung-ha boldly kicked open the front door. Digging up personal information like other people’s door passcodes seemed to run in the family.

“Yes, I’m Jung Hwi-kyung. Please take off your shoes.”

“What?”

“Hwi-kyung, that person…”

“I know. But you can’t step on the carpet with your shoes on.”

However, Hwi-kyung had been through too many hardships to be intimidated by someone like Lee Sung-ha.

A troublemaker like Sung-ha? He wasn’t that rare for Hwi-kyung. During his sales days, he met people with similar personalities every other day. You think you’re so good at selling? Then try selling to me. He had encountered plenty of people who acted tough like this.

Rather, it was Sung-ha who became intimidated by Hwi-kyung, who quietly warned him not to step on the carpet with his shoes on. Hwi-kyung was a 180cm tall adult male. He was far from the delicate, ethereal pretty boy Sung-ha had imagined.

Jung Hwi-kyung had completed his military service and was on his 14th life cycle. There was no way such a person would be afraid of Lee Sung-ha, who was just a dog, not even a tiger like Lee Jung-hye. Even Lee Gyo-ha now saw Sung-ha as nothing, let alone Hwi-kyung.

“You… Do you know who I am?”

“I do.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Lee Sung-ha, Vice President of BK Industries and BK Foods.”

“…What?”

“That’s right. So please take off your shoes quickly. You’ll have to pay for the carpet cleaning too.”

Marcia stuck close behind Hwi-kyung, fidgeting and saying, “Hwi-kyung, what are you doing…” But Hwi-kyung was used to dealing with troublemakers like Sung-ha.

Insufficient condition: A troublesome customer has invaded the workplace.

Because he had seen this system window every time he worked in sales…

“Hah, really. I can’t believe this. Hey, don’t tell me what to do.”

“…”

“You male prostitute who seduced my brother and comfortably settled in his house. So what if you know me?”

Insufficient condition: The troublesome customer starts to misbehave.

Insufficient condition: The troublesome customer uses inappropriate words.

“Mr. Lee Sung-ha…”

“How dare you casually call my name? Do you think you’re on the same level as me?”

Sung-ha pushed Hwi-kyung’s forehead with his index finger. It didn’t hurt, but it was insulting. If Hwi-kyung had been an ordinary young man, he might have teared up from the bewilderment and unfairness.

However, Hwi-kyung felt no emotion, let alone tears. He only thought that Sung-ha’s skill at annoying people was lacking compared to Lee Gyo-ha. While Gyo-ha had at least been fresh, being kind to his face while causing trouble behind his back, Sung-ha was too old-fashioned.

Is the skill to piss people off active or passive? This must be another difference between regressors and non-regressors. Hwi-kyung inwardly thought that Gyo-ha was more annoying. There was no need to practice more patience.

“Go ahead and hit me.”

“What?”

“Just hit me once. So I can report you.”

“What’s wrong with this crazy bastard?”

“Just touch me one more time, like you pushed me with your hand earlier.”

Anyway, he doesn’t belong to the BK Group now. Hwi-kyung planned to report Sung-ha if he laid a hand on him one more time. If possible, getting hit in the face would be advantageous. Visible injuries would create more controversy.

Chaebol second son’s abuse of power, assaults brother’s housekeeper?

BK Group’s ‘mad dog’ Lee Sung-ha, is this violence situation okay…

Hwi-kyung easily came up with a few newspaper headline titles that the BK Group would pay to bury. This is how expensive it gets when you fail to raise your children properly.

But unlike the two regressors who had reached enlightenment after fourteen regressions, Sung-ha was an ordinary person who would get angry when provoked. An ordinary person who wasn’t afraid of causing trouble because he could solve any problems he caused with money.

For this reason, Sung-ha immediately swung his fist at Hwi-kyung. It wasn’t for nothing that Lee Baek-gyeong had been bedridden with high blood pressure because of his hot-tempered second child. And instead of dodging the incoming fist, Hwi-kyung was inwardly thinking, ‘Yes, the face. I’ll have to extract settlement money.’

The problem occurred from an unexpected direction. Marcia, who had been standing behind Hwi-kyung, rushed in and took the punch instead.

“Young master, you shouldn’t do this…”

“Are you both crazy?”

Seeing Marcia crying with a nosebleed, Hwi-kyung’s thread of reason snapped.

“You’re the crazy one, you son of a bitch.”

Jung Hwi-kyung, to reiterate, was extremely weak to middle-aged women. Needless to say for elderly women. And now, Lee Sung-ha had unintentionally attacked a middle-aged woman in front of Hwi-kyung.

Lee Sung-ha’s body fell straight onto the carpet. Hwi-kyung pushed Sung-ha back and got on top of him. Jung Hwi-kyung then struck Lee Sung-ha’s face. The sound of bones breaking was quite crisp.

* * *

Lee Gyo-ha felt dizzy. 30 minutes after receiving a report that his brother had trespassed into his house, he now received a new report that Sung-ha had been taken to the hospital.

What had happened for Jung Hwi-kyung, who seemed accustomed to keeping quiet and enduring, to beat up Lee Sung-ha? In any case, it was certain that his brother had done something wrong. Even Gyo-ha, who was exceptionally generous to people, found Sung-ha a bit lacking.

[I’m going to the hospital as Ms. Marcia was injured.]

[I broke Mr. Lee Sung-ha’s nose bone.]

[I’m expected to be charged with mutual assault.]

[I’ll write an incident report.]

In fact, his brother Lee Sung-ha’s broken nose wasn’t important to Gyo-ha. The problem was that Hwi-kyung had broken it. With the family gathering coming up soon, the person he had bluffed about falling in love at first sight had broken a family member’s nose.

Isn’t this heading towards a forced regression? This was the first thought that came to mind. Do we have to give up on the fourteenth cycle too?

However, Gyo-ha immediately regretted having this thought. The regression wasn’t what was important now. What mattered was that Hwi-kyung was expected to be charged with “mutual assault.”

The legal issues could be resolved if he pressured his brother to hire a lawyer and settle, but the word “mutual” bothered him. Since Sung-ha was also a tall adult male like Hwi-kyung, if a physical fight had occurred, Hwi-kyung must have been injured too.

[Forget about the incident report]

[Where are you hurt?]

[Lee Sung-ha must be quite crazy]

[Get a medical examination while you’re at the hospital]

[Even if you’re not hurt]

He sent a flurry of messages, but Jung Hwi-kyung was slow to respond. It seemed he didn’t check his messages often. Perhaps he only looked at work-related messengers.

He wasn’t good at answering phone calls either. Hwi-kyung treated all numbers as spam except for company calls and his grandmother’s calls. It was really too much.

After waiting for a long time, Gyo-ha finally received a messenger reply from Hwi-kyung.

[My temple is cut and some ligaments are stretched.]

What?

Gyo-ha was so dumbfounded that he checked the messenger again with his mouth open.

[But I won’t die, so don’t worry.]

[I’ll submit the incident report by tomorrow afternoon.]

And then he instinctively held his forehead, feeling exasperated. Jung Hwi-kyung was more out of his mind than Gyo-ha had expected. His temple is cut and ligaments are damaged… and an incident report? Gyo-ha felt like crying a little. Was Jung Hwi-kyung crazy, or were the companies that had turned Jung Hwi-kyung into such an incident report villain crazy…