Chapter 718: I Just Wanted to Say This

Watching Seo Jin-joo move toward Han Hyun-soo, I quietly instructed Manager Ma in a voice only he could hear.

“Manager, if you really think she’s going to stab him, stop her.”

“Understood, Boss.”

Manager Ma followed closely behind Seo Jin-joo.

Seo Jin-joo was so focused on Han Hyun-soo that she seemed oblivious to Manager Ma’s presence.

“Make sure Han Hyun-soo can’t resist.”

I shouted at the Yakuza holding Han Hyun-soo down.

At my command, the Yakuza tightened their grip, preventing Han Hyun-soo from resisting.

Despite the short distance, it took Seo Jin-joo quite some time to reach Han Hyun-soo.

Finally, she stood before him.

Han Hyun-soo looked at me, shouting desperately.

“Kim Mu-hyeok, please! Save me! I’m still useful!”

As Han Hyun-soo groaned in desperation, I ignored his pleas and focused on Seo Jin-joo.

“Why are you doing this to me? You told me to go back to Korea, and now you want to kill me?! Is this some kind of game?”

Han Hyun-soo continued yelling, growing frantic.

Seo Jin-joo stood before him, but she hesitated to stab him right away.

I could see her body trembling visibly.

‘That’s the nature of fear—it sticks with you.’

Even if her target couldn’t fight back, just having a knife in hand wouldn’t guarantee action; she was paralyzed by fear.

Fearing Han Hyun-soo, she couldn’t move.

“Seo Jin-joo! It’s me, Han Hyun-soo!”

Realizing my pleadings were ineffective, Han Hyun-soo turned to Seo Jin-joo, begging for his life.

“What do you want? Will killing me really satisfy you? I’ll make sure to eliminate everyone connected to your parents’ death. Just spare me, please! I admit everything is my fault. Help me, please!”

From those words, it seemed Han Hyun-soo wasn’t the one who killed Seo Jin-joo’s parents.

Although he was the one who had exploited Seo Jin-joo’s suffering as his secretary, using her as a pawn after her parents’ deaths.

“No! You killed them all!”

“That’s not true! That was long before I took over the Heaven Church! My father—no, the Chairman said so, didn’t he? You must’ve figured that out, right?!”

“Ugh, no!”

Seo Jin-joo shook her head vigorously, uncertainty flooding her expression, and then bowed her head.

It was clear she was wavering.

“So let’s join forces for revenge. I’ll help you.”

Seizing momentum as Seo Jin-joo hesitated, Han Hyun-soo kept speaking.

“We loved each other, didn’t we? Was I the only one in love? No, you loved me too, remember? You said it!”

“………”

“What? I’ll let you stand beside me, not as my secretary but as my woman. Being the lady of the Heaven Church sounds enticing, doesn’t it?”

“Shut up! Just shut up!”

Seo Jin-joo shot back, snapping her head up with a cold voice.

“Just die!”

With both hands gripping the knife, Seo Jin-joo charged at Han Hyun-soo.

I couldn’t see it from behind, but Han Hyun-soo had probably realized he faced a furious Seo Jin-joo.

“Aaaaah!”

Han Hyun-soo struggled desperately, but he was bound by the Yakuza and couldn’t move.

They say people can summon immense strength when faced with death.

Han Hyun-soo was thrashing so violently that one Yakuza might have been insufficient; three of them were now trying to subdue him with force.

Just as Seo Jin-joo was about to stab Han Hyun-soo in the belly, Manager Ma from behind grabbed her hand.

“Kugh! Kugh!”

The timing was so precise that the knife barely grazed Han Hyun-soo’s abdomen.

“Let go! Let go of me!”

Even though the blade had barely nicked him, Han Hyun-soo was thrashing about.

Seeing that, Seo Jin-joo wanted to push harder, but Manager Ma prevented her from going further.

Manager Ma, blocking Seo Jin-joo, turned his gaze to me.

After I nodded slightly, Manager Ma seized the knife from Seo Jin-joo’s hands.

In that moment, she crumpled to the ground and began to sob uncontrollably.

With the situation resolved, I walked back over.

It had all begun as a chaotic scene I had orchestrated, yet I felt no emotions as I looked at the two.

With a vacant expression, I glanced back and forth between Han Hyun-soo and Seo Jin-joo before instructing the Yakuza.

“Take Han Hyun-soo to a nearby hotel and have him stay overnight.”

“Yes, understood.”

“I appreciate it. He’ll be busy starting tomorrow. Please take care of the knife wound on his belly. It shouldn’t be serious looking at it.”

“It hurts! It hurts!”

“Of course it hurts. If it had gone in deeper, it would have hurt more than this. So don’t make any mistakes. If you do, a greater pain will be waiting for you.”

After warning Han Hyun-soo, who was glaring at me, I directed the Yakuza again.

“Get going.”

“Wait a sec. Just let me see that bitch’s face…”

Still not coming to his senses, huh?

I shook my head. Even as he was being dragged away, Han Hyun-soo spat curses at Seo Jin-joo.

As he disappeared, I spoke to the sobbing Seo Jin-joo, detached.

“Does it really matter whether it’s Han Hyun-soo?”

Seo Jin-joo glared at me, her eyes swollen from crying.

“It doesn’t change anything, does it? That scoundrel is still human; he fears pain and death just like everyone else. So, there’s no reason for you to fear him.”

She continued to stare at me in silence.

“Deciding to kill Han Hyun-soo today. That alone will bring a significant change to your life, Seo Jin-joo. Why would you die? What meaning is there in dying with Han Hyun-soo?”

“……… Let me kill him.”

Seo Jin-joo said, looking resentfully at me. I chuckled and offered her a handkerchief.

“Now is not the time to kill Han Hyun-soo. He’s still useful to me.”

“You enjoy playing with me, don’t you?”

Seeing her toss the handkerchief onto the ground, I shrugged.

“I’m not toying with you, Seo Jin-joo. I was just trying to help get rid of the fear deeply embedded in you regarding Han Hyun-soo. Remember clearly the way he begged for his life.”

Without saying a word, Seo Jin-joo hung her head, fists clenched tightly.

“Revenge is something you must achieve with your own hands. You have to survive first for that.”

“What am I supposed to do…”

“That’s for you to figure out. It’s not my duty to get you that far. I just wanted to share this with you.”

My interference was merely a means to disrupt her plan.

Who knows? This woman, newly awakened by my words, might cause yet another interesting incident.

“Once this is all over, I’ll release you. But you must not return to Korea. At that time, who knows what Han Hyun-soo will do to you?”

Would Seo Jin-joo give up on revenge? No, that was impossible.

Today’s incident would have lessened her fear of Han Hyun-soo, and she would now live dreaming of enacting her revenge with her own hands.

Just looking into her fierce eyes told me that.

“Grow stronger. Use any means necessary to gain enough power to confront Han Hyun-soo. That’s the only way you can seek vengeance. Not the kind of revenge that relies on another, but the kind that you deliver yourself. Hold that power until you can push him off the edge. Until then, don’t even think about coming back to Korea. I just wanted you to hear this.”

Seo Jin-joo didn’t respond.

Not seeking a reply, I turned away without hesitation.

“Mr. Yamamoto will inform you when he’s going to release her. So please make sure she is comfortable until then.”

“Understood.”

Seo Jin-joo didn’t utter a word as I exited the warehouse.

* * *

After leaving the warehouse at Kobe Port, I headed straight for Tokyo.

I arrived at the hotel where Myeong-su and the delegation from Seoul were staying.

I, too, had long-term rental reservations for the hotel suite, so I instructed Myeong-su to wait there.

When I arrived at the suite, Myeong-su was savoring a glass of wine while staring at the night view.

“What are you doing? Trying to be all dramatic, huh?”

Seeing him like that, I spoke bluntly without thinking.

“You’re here? What do you mean? I’m drinking wine. Want a glass?”

“Wine? That’s hardly fitting for you.”

I sat facing Myeong-su, noticing he was trying to drown his worries in alcohol.

“We’re going to be busy again tomorrow, so let’s just have a simple drink.”

“Then just drink it, no need for the theatrics. Quit overdoing it.”

“What? It’s been a while since we met, and you’ve got plenty to say. Why pick a fight now, Kim Mu-hyeok?”

Myeong-su flared up, but I ignored him and filled my glass with wine while asking.

“You’re not at that age where you’re hitting menopause already, are you…? What’s wrong? Anything bothering you?”

“No, the real problem is there’s no problem at all. It’s the first time I’ve seen the Japanese cooperating like this during negotiations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry have been surprised too. They’re not that kind of people; maybe they have some hidden agenda or something.”

Looks like my warning to Koizumi paid off. Things seemed to be going smoothly.

“It’s already too late for that; we’ve got this far in negotiations, so there’s no need to tread carefully. Just move forward; from the government’s perspective, there’s nothing to lose, right?”

“That’s true. However, the Chief Cabinet Secretary seems pretty worked up over the recent death. They’re cooperating, but the atmosphere feels off somehow…”

Myeong-su shared his thoughts on the negotiations he was involved in.

As I listened, I twirled the wine glass in one hand.

“Not yet. Hiroyuki’s death is just the beginning. The Heaven Church is involved in the Chief Cabinet Secretary’s death.”

“What? Heaven Church?”

Startled, Myeong-su opened his eyes wide and asked loudly.

“What’s Heaven Church doing here?”

It was going to be a short-lived situation, but Korea would also stir up chaos, so I better give him a heads-up.

After taking a sip of wine, I said.

“You don’t need to know too deeply; just keep in mind that the Japanese sect of the Heaven Church tried to break away from the headquarters in Korea and go independent. But they failed, leading to this mess.”

“Heaven Church is the religion founded by Han Seong-jin, who’s in prison now, right? Oh, and I heard the second leader, Han Hyun-soo, has gone missing in Japan. Does this disappearance have anything to do with this incident?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. He’s still alive. I saved him from the brink of death. He’ll be secretly entering Korea tomorrow.”

“What? He’s alive?”

“Hiroyuki tried to use the Yakuza to kill him, but the Yakuza saved him and took payment instead. Han Hyun-soo plans to clean up the Heaven Church internally with this opportunity, so Korea is in for quite a ruckus.”

“Religion is a tricky subject…”

Myeong-su muttered with a troubled expression.

“Do you know how many cult-related people come knocking on my door? I can’t even begin to tell how many different religions there are; it’s mind-boggling. Some of them are groups I hear about for the first time.”

“Because it’s profitable. In the end, everything revolves around money. They exploit people’s faith to rake in cash, leading one person’s life into disaster while shirking all responsibility…”

Korea had also faced various cult-related issues multiple times.

After all, how bad had things gotten for them to occupy a broadcasting station reporting on sects?

Once religion gets involved, there’s no cure.

To them, religion was everything. They believe in the leader, not the gods, and live solely for him.

“I’m warning you not to get involved for no reason. Avoiding cults is wise. Just leave it be and don’t even concern yourself with it.”

Myeong-su nodded at my warning.

“Still, we need to be prepared.”

“Prepared? Just make sure you don’t get dragged into it. That’s all you need to worry about. People will grumble, but don’t try to resolve anything. A lot of people are going to die.”

“What? People are going to die?”

“Do you have any idea how much wealth the Heaven Church has? It’s in the trillions. With Han Seong-jin in prison and the current leader, Han Hyun-soo, missing, they’ve split into two factions; if Han Hyun-soo reappears, do you think they’ll vacate peacefully? No, it’ll turn into a bloody power struggle. It’s inevitable that lives will be lost, and in the end, only one will remain.”

As I spoke, Myeong-su listened carefully, a serious expression on his face.

“It’s not going to be an easy transition.”

“We’ll rigorously control the media, but… there will surely be those who catch a whiff of it. Just ignore them. Don’t involve yourself in it. I’m just letting you know to prepare mentally.”

I emphasized my point again. Myeong-su was a kind-hearted guy, and in case someone he knew asked for help, he might get pulled in.

“Don’t step onto any dirty stage. Got it? I’ll take care of anything that interferes with your future.”

“Got it. You’re truly menacing, Kim Mu-hyeok.”

Myeong-su grumbled, raising his wine glass. I moved mine to clink glasses with him lightly.

“I’d better drink this and head to bed. I have to meet the Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers for breakfast tomorrow.”

“Right. Take care and return safely. I’ll stick around a bit longer.”

Though it was nice to see Myeong-su again, our time together was fleeting.

I felt a bit regretful, but our schedules were busy, so it couldn’t be helped.

Leaving the empty glass behind, Myeong-su exited the room while I remained, lost in thought until deep into the night.

While Myeong-su was in Japan holding negotiations regarding the Seven Islands.

The Heaven Church in Korea was quite literally turned upside down.

Everyone fell into chaos with the reappearance of Han Hyun-soo, whom they believed to be dead.

From Kim Seon-ja, who had ordered his assassination, to his siblings and all the followers of the Heaven Church.