Chapter 13: Stay Away from Soo-jin

Seeing Kim Tae-hyun and Kim Eun-seo, my half-brother and half-sister, in front of me, blocking the university gate with their lackeys, I started to tremble in fear. I unconsciously stepped back because every time they came, they would beat me up without exception.

This has been their routine since I was in school. Not a single day has passed in school where their lackeys haven't beaten me up. At school, I was unable to do anything because it was their territory. Due to my father's funding, the teachers of that school closed their eyes to the bullying and what his two children did, but they didn't know I was also his child.

Kim Tae-hyun, in school, acted like a king, a boss who ruled over the whole school with many lackeys surrounding him at his beck and call. After all, who wouldn't want to suck up to the powerful and rich? If they did, well, it's a shortcut to success.

So from day one of the bullying, Kim Tae-hyun never needed to raise his hands because there were many dogs under him who would obey if he threw a bone or two towards them.

That's why the third thing I hate in this world is these kinds of people who would suck up to others for success, doing anything without thinking to please their master. I am better than them, much, much better, because they want success through licking other people's shoes, but I never once bowed down. Even if I was beaten to death, I would never bow down towards others. I would rather die than lick other people's shoes.

Every person in this world has a bottom line, and this is my bottom line: never bowing or begging for anything.

As I saw Kim Tae-hyun moving towards me, I subconsciously stepped back while he hugged me and whispered in my ear, 

"Hey, Joon-ho, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I haven't seen you for many days now. Did you miss me? Hehe, of course you have missed me. How silly of me. So let's have a nice, long chat today. Anyway, how much money do you have today?"

After hearing him, I always thought of this: every time he bullied and beat me, he would use only one reason, and that is money. Sometimes I wonder, is there a reason why he only uses money as a reason? Does he not find any other reason to bully me? Until now, I have never heard of a different reason besides money.

Why does a rich family scion need to rob an abandoned son for his money? He has too little. What will robbing my meager amount do for him anyway?

As I took my wallet out, he snatched it and took everything inside. Now someone might say, "Then don't carry extra money." I had thought of this too in the past, but when Kim Tae-hyun didn't find any money in my wallet, he broke his own rule of not harming the exposed parts of the body and told his lackeys to beat me up without reservation.

At that time, I was forced inside a sack, which was hung from the ground, and was beaten with bamboos with no mercy until I lost consciousness and woke up from pain, then lost consciousness again and woke up from pain. This cycle repeated who knows how long.

That's why from that day on, I always keep some extra money to avoid ending up like that time. As Kim Tae-hyun lackies forcefully started to drag me, I, with my weak body, was unable to stop them.

As I was dragged by Kim Tae-hyun's lackeys and forced inside one of the five SUVs standing in front of the gate, I saw a luxurious car parked in front of five SUVs—a Rolls-Royce. It was none other than Kim Tae-hyun's car.

As Kim Tae-hyun and Kim Eun-seo sat inside. All the cars started to move. While I was thinking about where they were going to take me, I heard Kim Tae-hyun's voice from the walkie-talkie on the dashboard of the car. He spoke, 

"Tie him up and blindfold him."

As Kim Tae-hyun's lackeys heard his orders, they started to do what he commanded. My resistance was futile as they gagged and tied me up with a black cloth that covered my whole face. From inside, nothing was visible.

As time ticked by in the car, I was getting nervous and afraid, fearing what was going to come next. When I thought of that day when I was beaten inside the sack, my fear intensified, and I trembled.

After a long time, the cars stopped, and I was dragged out while I listened to the surroundings, unable to see anything. There were only the occasional sounds of cars passing by and nothing else. It was like this place was abandoned or something.

As I was dragged somewhere, I noticed these lackeys were not saying anything. It was as if they were professionally trained bodyguards, not just random university students. Thinking like that, my nerves intensified, and the fear of the unknown—of what was going to happen to me—started to grip my heart.

When the people dragging me stopped, I was made to stop, and after a few moments, a voice could be heard saying,

"Go and tie him up over there."

This voice—it was none other than Kim Tae-hyun. When he finished speaking, another voice could be heard, slightly dissatisfied:

"Brother, I want to see him hanged."

Hearing Kim Eun-seo, Kim Tae-hyun shouted, "Shut up!" Seeing him this angry, she didn't say another word after that.

As I was being tied down, face down, on a metallic bed of sorts, I shivered in fear, hearing Kim Tae-hyun's angry voice. When angry, he goes totally mad and does whatever comes to his mind without thinking of any consequences.

I trembled, thinking of what I had done to offend him in these days, but even after thinking really hard, I could not find anything that would make him angry. Well, there was one thing, but I don't think this is related to that.

"Remove his gag and blindfold."

As I heard his cold and bone-chilling voice, the cloth and gag were removed from my head. Seeing his emotionless eyes, my fear intensified. Subconsciously, my eyes lowered, not daring to look into his eyes when I heard him speak once more:

"I will say this once, and you will only get this one chance. You just have to nod, and everything will be over, or else you know what will happen. Stay away from Soo-jin."

When I heard Soo-jin's name, my mind froze, and my eyes widened, thinking, What? Why? Why is he telling me to stay away from Soo-jin? How does he know Soo-jin?

Does he love Soo-jin? What the heck? What am I even thinking? There must be a different reason, definitely a different reason. After all, there is no way Kim Tae-hyun will love a girl with low status—that's not his personality.

And looking at status, there are only a few families that match Kim Tae-hyun's status as the future heir of the Kings Group, the head of the Kim family. And seeing Soo-jin not even wearing branded clothes means she is definitely not from a rich and influential family.

Then why? Why is he telling me to stay away from Soo-jin?