SJ | Chapter 2.1

Taebeom thought he could leave for Gyoindo the next day. But from the morning, the house was in chaos. The family rushed to the main house in Pyeongchang-dong where Chairman Jang Taeshin was.

A hidden illegitimate child of Chairman Jang had appeared. It was hard to believe that an old man in his eighties had the energy to sow seeds somewhere. Anyway, the illegitimate child, who looked much younger than Taebeom, was waiting with the chairman’s direct attorneys.

The moment he saw that guy, the saying “there’s no seed thief” came to mind. Attorney Yoo Moonsoo introduced the illegitimate child to the family.

“This is Chairman Jang Taeshin’s son, Jang Taemin. According to the chairman’s will, if he captures a mermaid, he is a candidate eligible to inherit Geumgang Construction just like you all.”

For some reason, Baek Yongho couldn’t even make eye contact with the much younger Taemin and was trembling. Taebeom clicked his tongue, thinking that guy must be on drugs again. Listening to nonsense about mermaids from the morning was exhausting.

“I understand my existence might be sudden for everyone. However, I will take care of our family and act as the head, following Chairman Jang Taeshin’s will, so there’s no need to be wary.”

Taemin, despite his youthful face without a wrinkle, gave off a vibe like a three-hundred-year-old pine tree—looking fine on the outside but rotten inside. His eyes, which should have been lively and bright, were dull like those of an old fish. Taebeom thought dealing with him might be tougher than handling the impulsive Baek Yongho.

His father let out a hollow laugh at Taemin’s words, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“You must not know anything. You think the Jang family is just a business? Kid, if you don’t want to get hurt, go back to your prostitute mother.”

Taemin immediately slapped his father.

“Taejun, don’t talk back to your father.”

“W-what is this?”

“Butler Kang, bring the basement key.”

“W-what. Who are you? Butler Kang, don’t bring the key!”

His father shouted at Butler Kang, who brought the box with the basement key. Over seventy, he was a loyal servant who had served Chairman Jang Taeshin for a long time. Yet, he obeyed the words of the illegitimate Taemin who had fallen from the sky.

How the illegitimate child knew about the basement in this house was a mystery, but his father, who had grown up under harsh punishment from Chairman Jang, was terrified as if having a seizure. Taebeom had grown up the same way but wasn’t as cowardly as his father.

“F-father. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Taejun immediately knelt before Taemin and begged. Taebeom thought this situation was very strange. Taemin dragged Taejun, who was like a father to him, by the hair.

“I’ve been lying in bed without energy for so long, my whole body is itching.”

Taemin spoke and acted as if he were Chairman Jang Taeshin himself. The family, as well as the servants, looked at the illegitimate child with a solemn atmosphere and couldn’t stop him. But Taebeom knew that guy was just a crazy person with a mental illness.

He couldn’t understand why everyone was playing along with the young lunatic. Sighing, Taebeom grabbed Taemin’s hair, who was dragging his father, and slammed him into the wall.

“Hey, what are you going to do with someone else’s father?”

“Ugh.”

Blood dripped from Taemin’s smooth forehead. As he was about to slam his head into the wall again, Taemin screamed sharply.

“Save me! Save me!”

The sudden dialect was so jarring that Taebeom let go of Taemin’s head. Taemin, terrified, curled up and muttered the same words.

“Call my grandson. Call my grandson. Call my grandson.”

“What are you saying?”

Seeing Taemin’s eyes, which were like rotten fish, suddenly clear, Taebeom thought of the saying that a madman needs a beating. Though he seemed more deranged, speaking incomprehensibly. Butler Kang blocked Taebeom, guarding Taemin.

“What are you doing to the master?”

“Sigh, Butler Kang. Does this guy look like our dying old man to you? I don’t know what nonsense he’s spouting, but if you side with this loose screw, everyone working here will be gone.”

Taebeom lifted Taemin’s hair, who was trembling in fear. His once arrogant eyes had turned into frightened, innocent ones.

“Hey, answer me.”

“Ugh. Speak.”

“No matter how well you mimic Jang Taeshin, you can’t become that old man. Why? Look at your body. No matter how much you pretend to be possessed by an eighty-year-old, you’re just a lunatic.”

“……”

“In that sense, I’ll have my nephew take his uncle to a mental hospital.”

Taebeom ordered his men to take Taemin away. As Taemin, held by his arms by large men, struggled and shouted.

“Call my grandson.”

Realizing he had been speaking in dialect, Taemin switched to standard language.

“I am Manshin Lee Hwaryeon! Call my grandson!”

Taemin was dragged out the front door. Father Taejun, as if he had never been scared of the ink-still-wet young one, regained his composure and cleared his throat.

“That little guy has quite the acting skills.”

Taebeom ignored his father’s embarrassed explanation and asked Butler Kang.

“Where is the chairman?”

“That was just kicked out…”

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, just keep your mouth shut.”

He approached Baek Yongho, who reportedly went out with the chairman. Yongho, intimidated by his presence, lowered his eyes for once. Though it was strange to see the guy who barked like a Chihuahua to beat him suddenly subdued, Taebeom wasn’t the type to be affectionate with his half-brother.

“Where’s the chairman? I heard you went out together.”

“T-that is, Executive Director. That is…”

Yongho, unable to answer properly, stammered and covered his mouth with trembling hands. As if about to retch, he bent over violently, and Taebeom quickly stepped back to avoid it. Yongho, who eventually vomited on the floor, sobbed like a madman. The guy, full of determination to be recognized as a Jang family member and take a position at Geumgang Construction, suddenly turned helpless.

“Aaah! Aaah!”

Baek Yongho screamed, tearing at his hair. Taebeom sighed deeply, wondering why so many lunatics were running wild today. He told his men to lock Baek Yongho in a mental hospital too and ordered the servants at the main house to clean the vomit-stained floor.

“It seems no one knows the chairman’s whereabouts, so I’ll report him missing to the police.”

After making a unilateral announcement, Taebeom voluntarily headed to the police station. There was a procedure to follow. With a senile old man missing, a missing person report was necessary for either his father or himself to inherit the company. Although it would take five years after a missing declaration to receive Chairman Jang’s inheritance, it was an easier path than trying to find an impossible mermaid to inherit the company.

⛩ ⛩ ⛩

Taebeom was busy searching for Chairman Jang for a week. It was a mystery how a senile old man had the energy to wander everywhere, but even his subordinates, who were like ghosts at finding people, couldn’t find a single strand of the chairman’s hair.

If they found Chairman Jang, they could make Geumgang Construction theirs without waiting five years, but it was regrettable they couldn’t find him.

Having wasted time, he headed to Gyoindo with an anxious heart. The mania that every Jang family member had worsened after seeing that child, so he couldn’t delay the meeting any longer.

The Jang family members suffered from unknown severe pain whenever they saw a full moon, and only by seeing blood or having sex did the pain subside. Whether it was because of uncontrollable murderous and sexual urges, the Jang family members, unlike ordinary people, used superhuman strength like in superhero movies.

If not, Taebeom, who didn’t believe in unscientific things, wouldn’t have lived thinking he was a descendant of werewolves when he was young. On full moon nights, if he had intercourse, his glans would swell like a male dog mounting a female, unable to pull out. This change lasted about an hour to two before subsiding.

The Jang family’s scarcity of children was because of this. After swelling, the woman would injure her uterus, becoming unable to conceive. Without in vitro fertilization, neither Taebeom nor his father Taejun would have seen the light of day.

For this reason, Taebeom couldn’t forgive his father’s affair. He could meet anyone other than his mother to release his overflowing lust. The mania passed down through the family wasn’t something that easily subsided.

But it seemed his father truly loved his mistress. He had her undergo in vitro fertilization to bear his son. He even set up a household and didn’t return home until he was dragged back like a dog with a leash by people sent by Chairman Jang.

Naturally, from his mother’s perspective, she had no choice but to eliminate the woman monopolizing her husband’s love. Only then could she be seen as the mistress of the Jang family.

From Baek Yongho’s perspective, he must have stayed to somehow take revenge on the Jang family that killed his biological mother, but to Taebeom, it was all too obvious. He had pitied him and let him be despite his troubles.

Boarding a yacht from dawn, Taebeom stroked the sword in its scabbard. The blood boiling and messing up his mind made him need to stroke the cold sword to calm the heat. Though there was still time before the full moon, why was he like this?

It seemed the unrest within him started acting up after seeing the child resembling a white mouse. Even with his eyes closed, the child’s white face and slender body appeared, and his groin was constantly aroused.

As they approached Gyoindo, a thick sea fog covered the water surface as if protecting the island. If they entered wrongly, unable to see the reefs, the boat would run aground. But having already had a collision accident, they skillfully avoided the reefs and headed towards Gyoindo.

Though he arrived on the island, Taebeom didn’t know where the child lived. He had to send his men to search the civilian houses. Strangely, Taebeom felt he knew where his belonging was.

Though Taebeom had abilities unlike a normal person, he felt the sweet scent of the white mouse caught on his nose. Truffles are hidden deep underground, so humans can’t easily find them, but sows find them remarkably well due to something similar to male hormones.