Chapter 268: THE EDGE OF TAEYANG’S ANGER
KYUNGHO stared out the passenger window as the car moved. After the conversation in his office, they left for the hospital right away. His niece, Soojin, was driving. He had chosen her, knowing she would quickly grasp the situation and refrain from asking unnecessary questions.
As he sat there, he could feel the heavy tension coming from the backseat. Kyungho glanced at the rearview mirror and saw Jung Taeyang sitting in the back. His face was hard, his jaw set tight, and his eyes looked cold and empty. There was no emotion on his face, but the stillness in his body felt almost dangerous. It was the kind of look someone had when they were holding back a lot of anger, keeping it all locked inside.
An Alpha with emotions running that high would undoubtedly be releasing pheromones that could easily suffocate anyone. As evidence of how his niece, who’s an Alpha as well, was gripping the steering wheel tightly. Even the mask she was wearing probably offered little help.
Thinking about it, his mind drifted back to what had happened right after Taeyang agreed to get tested.
=====
Kyungho let out a sigh of relief when Jung Taeyang agreed. But the feeling didn’t last. Not after he heard what the other said next.
"Representative Choi, please tell my cousin to investigate Jeon Hyunsik. I want him to look into his past and find out if he’s done something like this before. Considering what he did to Haneul, there’s no way this was his first time. People don’t start with something this bold. He’s done this before, maybe to others, maybe in different ways. If nothing shows up right away, don’t stop. Keep digging. Go through his records, his contacts, his history. Turn over every stone until something breaks. And when you find it, I don’t want him to just get a slap on the wrist. I want him to face the full weight of the law. I want him to regret ever laying a finger on Haneul."
Kyungho nearly flinched at the venom in Taeyang’s voice, not to mention the murderous look on his face. He couldn’t see Choi Jiyeon’s expression from where he sat, but he was sure there would be surprise there. It was becoming clear that whatever Taeyang felt for Kang Haneul wasn’t simple. In fact, it was probably much deeper than he’d originally thought.
"I’ll pass the message along to Lee Jaehyun-ssi," Choi Jiyeon said after a moment.
"Also, send people here as soon as possible to look into what happened today," Taeyang continued. "If Jeon Hyunsik did this to Haneul, I want it documented. The evidence needs to be solid so he can’t complain when he’s removed from the show." He turned to Kyungho. "He will be removed, right?"
"Of course," Kyungho said quickly. He had a feeling that if he didn’t, this guy would turn his anger on him instead.
Taeyang nodded, then turned his attention back to the laptop screen. "Ask Jaehyun hyung to use his connections to have Jeon Hyunsik detained at the police station here in Jeju. Once it’s proven he caused Haneul’s forced heat, it should be an open-and-shut case under the Omega Protection Act. Tell him I don’t want Haneul to be interviewed about any of this. He’s already been through enough. As long as we gather enough evidence to prove what Jeon Hyunsik did here, and possibly elsewhere, Haneul’s testimony shouldn’t be necessary. Don’t you agree?"
There was another pause from Choi Jiyeon, followed by a sigh that Kyungho could hear clearly through the speaker. "I agree," she said. "But we also need to think about what this could do to the show. Boys Odyssey is huge right now. If we don’t handle this carefully, it could affect everything. Even all the hard work you’ve put in could end up meaning nothing if the show gets tied to something like this. Because like you said, people take Omega protection seriously. The program will get torn apart if the public finds out we let an Alpha contestant do this to an Omega on our watch."
Kyungho had to admit she had a point. He was still the PD of this show. If news of this got out, and he was sure it would if they followed Taeyang’s plan, it wouldn’t just be the show and the contestants that would suffer. His own career might as well be over.
He looked at Taeyang. The kid’s face looked like he was about to say he didn’t care about any of that. But then something shifted in his expression, maybe thinking about how this could hurt Haneul, and he seemed to pull himself back. His face went a little calmer. Or at least as calm as he could manage right now.
"Have you forgotten who my cousin is?" Taeyang said. "Jaehyun hyung might not be the future head of Taesung Group, but he’s still one of its heirs. If he puts in the effort, he can stop any news about this from spreading. Our grandfather might even help him, just to keep the family name away from this kind of... inconvenience." His mouth twisted slightly at the word. "Trust me, once Taesung Group gets involved, the media won’t be able to run with this."
Right. Kyungho had almost forgotten. The founder of JH Entertainment, the company that had partnered with Vnet for this show, came from a chaebol family. And not just any chaebol. He was from Taesung Group, the biggest conglomerate in the country. There was even a saying that if Taesung Group collapsed, Korea would fall into a recession that would take years to recover from. This showed the depth of the Taesung Group’s ties to the nation’s economy. So yes, controlling the media would be easy for them.
And Jung Taeyang was part of that same family. But the way he’d just spoken, it almost sounded like he didn’t consider himself connected to them at all.
He wondered why.
=====
"We’re here, Uncle."
Soojin’s voice pulled Kyungho out of his thoughts. He looked out the window and saw that they had already parked in the hospital lot.
Comments