DOTH Volume 4 Chapter 13.7

It was late in the afternoon when he received a message from Kang Seoui. At that time, Jung Heeyeon was in the bedroom undergoing a checkup. The man’s gaze followed the message with lazy disinterest. His eyes were utterly emotionless.

After reading the entire message, Director Yeon gave a subtle nod toward Kim Jiwon.

“Heeyeon-ssi, it’s still measuring, so stay in place and wait just a little longer.”

“Yes.”

Catching on quickly, Kim Jiwon made up an excuse and slipped out of the bedroom. As he glanced around the living room, he spotted Director Yeon standing on the balcony with his back turned. The bedroom was far enough that sound wouldn’t carry over. Kim Jiwon immediately walked over.

“How’s the treatment?”

As expected, the man skipped all pleasantries and got straight to the point. That word ‘treatment’ carried a peculiar nuance, and Kim Jiwon instantly understood who the object of the sentence was. It wasn’t about Jung Heeyeon.

“It ends today.”

“What a perfect timing.”

“Shall we proceed as planned?”

“Yeah.”

Director Yeon responded a bit carelessly as he pressed the call button. The phone rang only a few times before Kim Chulwoo’s voice came through.

– Yes, Director.

“Contact Nam Soohyun and Lee Haejin.”

– …Is it happening tonight?

“Sometime after 10.”

– Understood. What should I tell them?

The man’s lips parted slowly, accompanied by a low chuckle that rumbled in his throat.

“Tell them the hunt begins.”

***

Chairman Jung—or rather, Jung Younggil—kept his body low and crawled forward, holding his breath. The house he had lived in before fleeing abroad was now a wreck, thanks to Jiwoo’s alphas ransacking the place. But the condition of the house didn’t matter much to the old man. After all, it had already been returned to Jung Heeyeon’s name. It was best not to grow too attached, for the sake of his sanity.

“Money… I need to find the money first…”

The old man’s sunken voice had taken on a sharper, grating edge. Like rusty iron being scraped with glass, it sounded terrible to hear.

“I have to move before those bastards find me, no matter what.”

White-haired and rambling, the old alpha muttered to himself. His behavior seemed half-crazed, but his movements remained surprisingly cautious.

“Under the bed… Yes, it was under his bed…”

Jung Younggil had slipped out of the hospital under cover of night. Either the IV was faulty or something had gone wrong with the meds, but his forced intake of drugs and sleeping pills had stopped. The moment he hazily regained consciousness, he had lain still for hours, pretending to sleep. Until the sun set and deep darkness filled the sky outside.

Watching for the right moment, the aging alpha had taken advantage of a brief window. When the guards left their post to smoke, he slipped away unnoticed. It could only be explained as sheer luck. 

He did wonder, belatedly, why they all had left their post at the same time. But now that he had escaped, he had no room for deep reflection. He just had to be careful. The alphas from Jiwoo could barge in at any moment and drag him back to the hospital.

Fearing his old body would be revealed in the light, Jung Younggil didn’t dare turn on the lights. He crawled across the dark, cold marble floor.

At last, he crawled into the bedroom that had once belonged to Jung Heeyeon, raising his body slightly and beginning to move like a dog. In complete darkness, the old man relied on his fumbling hands to inch forward. Suddenly, a strange, abrasive sensation against the smooth marble floor caught his attention. Instinctively, Jung Younggil swept his palm across the surface to find out what it was. Something shallow and hardened, like a small puddle, had formed on the cold marble floor.

Jung Younggil buried his face close like a dog to sniff it. Faintly, he caught the scent of blood. The aged alpha realized that the shallow puddle was his own blood, spilled previously.

“That bastard… I ought to tear him apart…”

Jung Younggil cursed under his breath as he touched his cracked forehead with his fingers. He still didn’t understand how Yeon Woobeom had found this house. It didn’t make sense for the man to instinctively reach the house where his grandson used to live. There were too many things that didn’t add up. The time he was supposed to be released, the distance to reach here, it had all aligned too cleanly, as if he’d moved without the slightest hesitation.

“Tsk.”

What good would thinking about it now do? Jung Younggil began crawling again on his knees, inching forward like a worm. His forehead throbbed as the memory of that day surfaced from slamming his head against the marble floor too many times.

His head and whole body had been wrecked, but the only reason he was still able to function like a human being at all was because Yeon Woobeom had stopped midway through the act.

“I can never understand what’s going on in that bastard’s head.”

Muttering to himself, Jung Younggil groped at the air. After swinging his arms a few times, his palm finally brushed against the wooden bed frame. Like a drowning man grabbing a rescue rope, he gave a grin and began to push the bed. He could still move, at least, thanks to the medical treatment he’d received. But he couldn’t fathom why Director Yeon had shown him that mercy.

“Did he decide to leave me to the law? But that’s unlike him.”

The old man sneered at the figure who wasn’t even there and shoved the bed hard once again. That man had treated his head injury and brought a doctor to see him every single day, there was no other way to interpret that except as an intent to leave things to the law rather than deal with it personally.

The law, of all things, as a lowlife thug. It was a laughable combination, utterly unfitting, but for Jung Younggil, it was nothing short of divine fortune. As he pushed against the bed again, one that didn’t budge easily now that he had grown weak, he suddenly remembered the surveillance cameras. Like a turtle craning its neck, the old man strained to scan the designated spots he had personally chosen.

“Who knows how that bastard Lee Yootae managed this place.”

The darkness settled over the bedroom was so thick that nothing could be seen clearly. If the cameras had still been working, then not only the scene of him choking his grandson, but even the act of pushing the bed just now would all have been recorded in full. Still, Jung Younggil didn’t dwell too long on that issue. The old man was planning to flee to another country tonight with the money he had left.

It was a plan he had made while waiting for night to fall, the moment the sedatives flowing through his body began to wear off.

“I need to hurry…”

The old alpha placed strength in both shoulders and pushed the bed frame away. He had to move as quickly as possible before Yeon Woobeom’s men realized his absence and stormed in. Too much time had already been lost making the trip here from the hospital.

As the bed slid aside, a hidden safe embedded in the floor was revealed. It was a secret safe hidden in Jung Heeyeon’s bedroom, known only to Jung Younggil. He pressed his thumb to the panel where a blue light lit up, and with a beep, the door unlocked.

“There’s my way out.”

Inside the safe were a forged passport, bundles of cash, and some spare clothes for travel. Jung Younggil quickly changed out of his hospital gown and pulled out a golf bag stuffed with money. As he rummaged through the large bag, his hand brushed against an old-model cellphone, the kind with a removable battery, hardly seen anymore.

He inserted the battery and powered it on. Thankfully, the screen lit up.

“That bastard’s number…”

Jung Younggil slowly began pressing the numbers, retracing them from memory. The thought of the assets that had been turned over to Jung Heeyeon left a bitter taste in his mouth, but with this much cash, he could live in relative comfort in another country.

– Who is this?

A familiar voice came from the other end.

“It’s me.”

– Who’s… Wait. Chairman Jung?

The wrinkled corners of the old alpha’s mouth curved into a hideous smile.

—

Like he owned the place, the old man settled into the captain’s quarters and handed a bundle of cash to the guy standing beside him, who had been rubbing his palms together nervously.

“Ah, thank you, Chairman. But I must say, you’re leaving earlier than expected.”

“Things turned out that way.”

“But calling so suddenly like this…”

Clicking his tongue, Jung Younggil pulled out another bundle of the same amount of cash and placed it on the worn table. The captain gave a servile grin and slipped the money into his jacket.

“By the way, you don’t look so well… Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Shut it and get to work.”

“Oh my, of course.”

The captain, who smelled of fish and wore oil-stained overalls, nodded in an exaggerated gesture and took a step back. The boat rocked gently with the movement of the waves.

“Well, Chairman… The thing is, it’s starting to snow, and boats can’t just leave at any time, you know. Please give me a bit more time. I’ll get it ready as fast as I can and get us going.”

Instead of snapping at the captain, Jung Younggil turned his head toward the window. There had been no sign of snow before arriving at the harbor, yet snowflakes were now fluttering down. Even if the departure was delayed, there wasn’t much the old man could do.

“Chairman, your hands are trembling. Are you alright?”

It wasn’t until the captain pointed it out that Jung Younggil noticed his hand shaking on the table. His large, wrinkled hand trembled slightly, as if twitching. He balled it into a fist and opened it repeatedly, pretending nothing was wrong.

“Well, it is quite the cold night, isn’t it? Please wait here a moment, I’ll bring you something warm to drink.”

The old man was about to refuse the offer, but gave a reluctant nod instead. The captain’s nonstop chatter was starting to grate on his nerves. He wanted to escape it, if only for a moment. Once the captain stepped out, the small cabin quickly fell into silence. Only the occasional crash of waves against rock could be heard.

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