155. Things Fall Apart

"Father..."

"Why are you here?"

"I came to see you for one last time. I won't be coming after today."

"Where is my granddaughter from that wretched woman?"

Hajin remained silent briefly and accessed the cold features on his father's face. He seemed rather calm and composed despite being detained all this while. "Stop everything. I know you father. You won't let everything go until someone submits to your will."

"Are you aware your involvement with that woman has caused me a great loss? You and your foolish sister are to blame for being careless. Her arrogance and uncouth habbits have brought about enemies within my inner circle..."

"Father, I'm not here to discuss Mora, rather, to implore you before we part ways. Stop watching Mijin's family. I live with them now and they are good people. Despite the unfortunate circumstance of how I came to interact with them, they may not have forgiven me but have given me a second chance at life. That Mijin whom you feel a deep repugnance for has also allowed for our meeting today. If she'd have terminated the pregnancy, I would have died in months and Haesol wouldn't exist."

"Enough." Hajin's father raised his left arm up then put it down gently. "There is no reason for you to beg. I can see from how much you've put on weight that you are doing well and if that is all you came here to say, you should be on your way but mark my words. When you play with fire, you get burned. Warn her well."

"Your threats have no more effect on me father. You made sure I considered it a normal life to live in constant fear. Mijin is also not behind the fire. You have many enemies so it could have been anyone getting even with you now that you are on trial. This is why I want to break free from it all. Its not just toxic to me but Haesol too. Thankfully, with my new life, I intend to pursue my dreams and earn to protect Haesol from you and Mora..."

"Our family's situation is nothing you will ever be free from. Run all you want. The longer I stay in here, the more debt you and that wretched sister of yours accumulate."

"I know. It may be a large debt however, these days that it's normal to live with a certain amount of debt and yes it's true I'll need money, a lot of it in fact to protect Haesol but I'm no longer alone anymore. Haesol has linked me to people who actually care and value each other. They listen to me...treat me like a human being..."

"They will never be your family."

"We've never been family father so what would you know?"

"Address me by my name then and stop with that 'father' title. I won't take offence." Hajin's father sneered when his son's expression grew pale. "The only reason I value your brittle life is because my partner considers you significant and forces me to care. Were that not the case, you'd have received complete training and become the best weapon there is. You lack power and that makes you weak. Look at you now, running away instead of facing your enemy head on. It's been brought to my attention that you've refused to meet with your sister too. You think you've experienced hardship? You know not what suffering is."

Hajin grabbed onto his fist and squeezed tight. His act had been away from his father's view yet from the way he saw him smile, he knew his father could see right through his fear of him.

He shifted his gaze briefly away from him and wondered to himself if it hadn't been the glass wall separating them, his father would have probably grabbed him by the neck and forced him to submit to his will. The memory of the violent past when he'd include repetitive corporal punishment as part of his so called training flashed across his mind but then, when the image of Haesol popped up, an urge to protect his daughter from the monster in front of him washed away all the residual fear he felt.

"Every profit you've ever made is stained with the blood of those you've used as experiments. You've funded illegal businesses and underground pharmaceutical companies for entertainment and look where it has brought you. You brought down you name into this mess by you own hands. It's chaotic out there. You've been exposed, all of your illegal activities. This time, there is no escaping nor pardon. Even if you've bribed the prosecutors..." Hajin hesitated. "...E-Even if my sister messed with my mind, I'll speak of your injustices when called to the stand. You should have at least tried to hide your true nature from me when I grew up. Every time I think of the things I've witnessed, I become nauseated."

"Those strangers whom you now consider family have brainwashed you just like your sister. If they did care for you as you've naively thought, they'd have informed you your testimony is not relevant. As my son, you're still an ally even if it makes you nauseated. Speaking against me only proves I'm a victim of slander, my children an evidence of manipulation by my enemies."

Thinking deeply, Hajin remembered the number of times he'd been involved in fights whenever someone spoke ill of his father. After a while, he acquired a reputation, being labelled a wealthy blowbeat and since his family supported the school through financial funding, none of the teachers bothered to bring him to account. It was then that his father had thought him to be his exact replica. A perfect match to take over his business empire.

"Father, I don't want to be part of this. I'm not happy..."

"You don't have a choice. "

"I'm not a violent person. Mora is in a far much better position to sit in your seat as chairperson."

"This will become your path eventually. Don't try to escape. It was my destiny and so have I bestowed it to you similar to how it was passed down to me. You are my right arm."

"But father..."

"For one to acquire power, you must have blood in your hands. Your sister understands this well. I don't know why you want to remain blind to the obvious. If you wish to be free from this path, you need more power than I have to escape me. These may sound like mare words to you but I had to be stronger than my father to become this powerful. It has always been my destiny to rule and he made sure I understood my path and all risks involved. With proper training, I soared high and I took the power from him, nurtured it to become stronger, building a business empire enough to support us through generations. You fed from blood money so stop acting virtuous. You are no novice to enterpreneurship.

Moreover, I've never been a shepherd to raise sheep. If someone stands in your way, shove them aside."

"You mean end them?"

"You get it."

Hajin shivered from the memory of his so called trainings he'd been put through with his father's last words. He'd just turned fourteen when he was told it was okay to take a life if he ever felt threatened. It had been with those similar words that he'd become repulsed and fought any violent tendencies he'd detected whenever provoked. Eventually, he became timid, always by himself, fearful to bring people close lest his father puts an end to them if he rendered them a liability than an asset.

"In the past, I tried to take control of my life as you'd so wanted but failed. I was living in trauma... I still do...and my last straw was when you drugged and forced me to wed and mark an innocent girl then brought her family to ruins after she agreed to our divorce. You have no idea how much I hated you then. It was the rage in me that drove my actions to spite you yet, ruining my life only amused you. However, thinking back to the years I've lost by living as your puppet, and blank memories when my sister made me her pet,...the horrific things I've done under the influence of a drug you manipulated, surprisingly in my present state, I feel at peace and in control at the same time.

You once said for one to be free they have to be in control yet I find it ridiculous to rely on your analogy of what freedom is supposed to be. Father, I've been free from you since you had me. You don't care for anyone nor yourself and the consequences of what your actions can do to those around you. There is nothing that holds us as family, even our bloodline is a lie, wedding mother when you were already paired to another. You are simply the man that birthed me and thats that."

"You'd have made the perfect leader if you didn't utter gibberish and often sought your mother's acceptance clingily. These group of companies, my legacy, was my ultimate gift to you."

"I never asked for it."

"It is what he wanted! For you to inherit everything despite your sister being the rightful heir!"

"Him?" Hajin asked, trying to hide the whirlpool of emotions he felt at the memory of his father's lover. "I don't want anything to do with either of you. I disowned you father and that freed me from him too."

Hajin's father banged his fists at the glass wall, his face as cold as ice. "What nonsense! Cant you comprehend your state? I'm handing everything to you on a silver platter! I don't care what you do with the wealth Hajin as long as you don't surrender my power to another...!"

"You mean the debts?"

"That will be sorted within weeks once I get out. My accountants are working on it..."

"It appears you are the one who doesn't know the predicament he is in." Hajin intterupted. "Father, you're never getting out. The power you think you have, it's diminishing by day."

Placing his hands back on the table, Hajin's father scrowled. "Is that what they told you?"

"It's a known fact."

"You think so? I taught you well to always plan ahead son."

"I specifically remember you being against that concept, saying it wasted precious time."

"That advice was meant for your sister to stop listening to her mother. I can't raise you two the same way when you are both different, can I? Besides, I needed to know her weakness to control her bloodlust but her useless mother often sabotaged my tactics. You on the other hand were trained to rule yet you willingly continue to preffer being a sheep than a wolf. Son, listen to me carefully. Even if you've disowned me I still remain your biological father. The debts trap you from leavign the coutry and your sister will always consider you a threat as long as you remain alive. She may have met her moral compass but she won't waiver for long. She craves power, power that is rightfully yours.

I chose to have you, remember that. Mora was an obligation to be birthed to keep my marriage to your mother contractual therefore, it is my decision whom I choose to gift my legacy to."

"Then I shall work hand in hand with the best lawyers to completely free myself from you."

"I'm trying to protect you!"

"It's you everyone needs protecting from."

"You don't know your grandparents well. Haven't you wondered why I kept them away from you and your sister all these years? They havent lifted a finger since my detainment...!"

"I have no desire to know anything about anyone. I told you before. This is the last time you'll see me father. I came to make my peace with you and I have. Though the scars remain, I shall look on them fondly, even if I have to trick myself and create a past befitting of a story I'll tell Princess one day of who you are, and why my body is full of scars."

"Hajin..."

"For Haesol, I'll do anything father. For her, I'll become a better father than you ever were. A better parent than mother was. Perhaps...maybe...just maybe, if my grandparents hadn't treated you as an outcast, you wouldn't have this twisted mindset and perception of wanting to be in control and rule everyone. It's only because of that that I consider the possibility of pardoning you just so I can be free from the anger I feel towards you and my sister.

I want to start life a new therefore, even if you do not understand the concept of forgiveness and showing mercy, let me go.

Let's not meet each other again."