By Zephyria 
Kwon Tae-oh’s expression froze instantly. He was so overwhelmed by the shock that it was hard to tell if he had even heard Kwon Hyeon-oh’s words properly.
“Nonsense.”
“No. It’s Woo Tae-hwon, I’m telling you.”
Kwon Hyeon-oh continued, gasping for breath. His voice was about to burst.
“They said something about his arm tendons being damaged, or memory loss, but that must have been a trap too. He must have even fooled his own people… That traitorous bastard.”
“…What?”
“Yeah, he’s definitely planning to stab Kwon Rae-i in the back too. To be the last one standing and take over Gyeongjeong. He even planned that far ahead, what an amazing bastard. Killing Father, hiding behind Kwon Rae-i, waiting for the remaining legitimate children to tear each other apart, and then finally…”
At that moment, Kwon Tae-oh roughly grabbed his younger brother by the scruff of the neck.
Kwon Hyeon-oh was dragged away by Kwon Tae-oh in his hospital gown before he could finish his sentence.
“Kwon Hyeon-oh!”
Kwon Tae-oh, who had been showing a consistently cold demeanor, distorted his face and yelled. Not satisfied with that, he threw a fist at his injured brother’s face. Thwack! The bedding was disarranged as a heavy fist landed on Kwon Hyeon-oh’s damaged face. Already ruined, Kwon Hyeon-oh groaned and writhed.
“Keah!”
“Don’t try any cheap tricks. There’s no way Woo Tae-hwon is behind Kwon Rae-i. You’re trying to deceive me with some ridiculous, shallow ploy, but it won’t work.”
Kwon Hyeon-oh sobbed in pain, stammering.
“Damn, fuck!” I’m telling you, you son of a bitch!?”
“Shut up and tell me the truth. This isn’t the time for us to be fighting like this. Get a grip.”
“I’m telling you, it’s him. It’s him! Do you think I could mistake Executive Woo…?”
Clutching his wrecked jaw, Kwon Hyeon-oh glared at Kwon Tae-oh. His hands were trembling, but his eyes were filled with venom. Bastards to kill, bastards to kill, fucking sons of bitches! Kwon Tae-oh, Kwon Rae-i, Woo Tae-hwon, they were all just bastards to crush.
The hospital room was once again filled with taut tension.
Blood began to seep from the bandage wrapped around his severed ear, and Kwon Hyeon-oh spewed curses with a face full of spite.
“Ah, yeah, I finally understand how things are going. Brother Tae-oh. You’ve been acting like you’re the only one who matters, the legitimate eldest son, but you’re nothing special.”Hyeon-oh…”
“You’re getting backstabbed by Executive Woo.” You’re being pushed aside by your youngest brother, who’s not even legitimate! Ha! Turns out, you’re not the real deal, Kwon Rae-i is the real thing? He’s joined hands with the Jeun Faction, and with Woo Tae-hwon, they’re all playing us three brothers while plotting behind our backs. Where the hell have you been while the Gyeongjeong Faction has been getting humiliated like this?”
“Kwon Hyeon-oh. So, you’re saying… it’s not a trick?”
“That’s why you can’t pass on the position of next chairman. I guarantee I’m more suited to be the successor than you are. I’m the only one who’s been looking after the old men, silencing them with money from my slush fund, and the fact that the hierarchy of Gyeongjeong is shaking, and that Father died so tragically! It’s all your fault, you bastard.”
“……”
Kwon Tae-oh let go of him and threw him onto the bed.
After taking a deep breath, Kwon Tae-oh turned and walked to the hospital room window. He was silent for a while. He covered his face with one hand and stared at the night streets outside the window, maintaining his silence. Dazzling neon signs flickered, and the headlights of passing cars streaked by, drawing lines of light.
Kwon Tae-oh, who had been panting as if suppressing his anger, suddenly began to tremble slightly. He trembled, becoming increasingly immersed in his emotions. And that trembling gradually intensified over time.
“Hoo…”
Eventually, the emotion that leaked out from beyond his palm revealed Kwon Tae-oh’s state of mind.
“Haha…”
Kwon Tae-oh was laughing.
“Hahaha.”
He was laughing loudly like a madman.
“Hahaha…!””
‘Woo Tae-hwon, with Kwon Rae-i?’
Right. Is that so?
Was that it!
‘So that’s why we couldn’t find a single hair on his head, even after searching every nook and cranny!’
Looking back now, it was an obvious answer.
Kwon Rae-i, that cunning and sly bastard, was hiding Woo Tae-hwon, so of course, we couldn’t find him. Moreover, Woo Tae-hwon is so meticulous that he doesn’t even trust Kwon Rae-i, who took him in, and even in a desperate situation, he used his wit to completely deceive his situation.
Kwon Tae-oh, who was laughing like a madman, slammed his hands hard on the window frame.
“…Kwon Hyeon-oh. Are you really confident that you were born to be the chairman?”
Kwon Tae-oh muttered with a sigh of annoyance. Kwon Hyeon-oh was staring at him with a dumbfounded look, as if he had suddenly gone crazy. In the silence, his eyes darted back and forth. In the distance, the sound of an ambulance siren rushing to the hospital could be heard.
“Of course.”
“Really? Looking like that, with one ear cut off and your shiny face ruined, looking no different from a loser, do you sincerely believe that you will become the chairman of Gyeongjeong?”
Kwon Hyeon-oh wiped the blood flowing down his chin with his sleeve and retorted.
“If not?”
“Oh dear. You’re disappointing me.”
Kwon Tae-oh slowly turned around and met Kwon Hyeon-oh’s eyes. His distorted face remained unchanged.
“I’m disappointed, Hyeon-oh. Judging by how you’re just spewing anger at me, you’re still far from it.”
“Lacking, me?”
“I thought you would realize. Once you confirmed Kwon Rae-i’s true nature, I believed you would be able to grasp your own place. Unlike Sang-oh, I thought you were still able to discern things. But how could this be… Just realize it. Your place is just a lowly hyena.”
“Heh! Fucking sermonizing. What are you talking about like you’re so great? Just because you were born first.”
“Can’t you understand until the end?”
“Kwon Tae-oh. Brother Tae-oh. If I had been born as the eldest son, Gyeongjeong would have been in my grasp long ago.”
“…Tsk. You’re an idiot. You’ve lost your mind after getting beaten up.”
As if there was no need to talk any further, Kwon Tae-oh glanced at his wristwatch. Kwon Hyeon-oh had served his purpose. To think that he had been wary of such a foolish guy, even though he was the second son, was a waste of the past.
And above all, now that he had unexpectedly grasped the whereabouts of Woo Tae-hwon, this was not the time to linger in such a place.
“Now I understand the meaning of what Father said to me.”
“Father?”
“All these paths are for Gyeongjeong. Not for you or me, but for the path for Gyeongjeong.”
“…What are you babbling about? You were suddenly laughing by yourself a while ago.”
“I will continue to act for Gyeongjeong until the end. You just take care of yourself and come out.”
Kwon Tae-oh took out his smartphone from his pocket and slowly left the hospital room. The moment the door closed, Kwon Hyeon-oh’s eyes flickered with suspicion.
The cold hospital room was once again plunged into silence. Kwon Hyeon-oh pierced through the dark darkness and muttered, his eyes flashing.
“…No, it won’t work like this.”
Throwing off the sheets and getting up, he struggled to limp towards the shelf. Frantically finding his smartphone, he began to search through his contact list. He couldn’t let Kwon Tae-oh move alone.
How much effort had he put in, he couldn’t let it collapse like this…
***
A new day dawned.
The sun shone through the hazy morning mist.
There was mental instability, considerable disturbance, and even deaths, but there was no time to stay put. Therefore, even though his body had not yet recovered, Tae-hwon shook off his seat and got up. It was fortunate that the injured area was his shoulder, not his leg.
‘I see. So, we came to Jeun.’
Stepping outside the bedroom, which was decorated like a hospital room, he realized that this was the Jeun Faction building. He didn’t have good memories here, but he had visited once before with Kwon Rae-i, so it wasn’t unfamiliar. Rather, he thought it was a good thing.
Since various information had been passed on to Kwon Hyeon-oh’s ears, it would be better to use Jeun as a base rather than urgently finding a new hideout. Even though it was the place where there was a commotion about cutting off Woo Tae-hwon’s arm, President Hwang would be on Kwon Rae-i’s side anyway.
‘Of course, he wouldn’t have withdrawn his distrust of me. Rather, that’s why it’s more perfect.’
If Tae-hwon suddenly regained his memory and tried to harm Kwon Rae-i, President Hwang and Jeun would be his bulwark. From the perspective of such a safety device, it was more reassuring for Tae-hwon to act together with the Jeun Faction. Ironically, the more they checked Woo Tae-hwon, the safer he became.