Save a Failed Idol’s Life

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: NicoleTempest

Chapter 262 The Moment It Was In My Hand (2)

My brother shoved a crumpled talisman into my face. I had no idea where he got it from.

He must have been carrying it in his pocket ever since I died.

‘What a joke.’

It was not like he was facing a vampire with a silver cross. It obviously had no effect.

Was he scared that the water ghost would take revenge on him? It was ridiculous, and it only made me angrier.

I glared at him as if to say, what the hell is that, and approached him. He panicked and flailed his legs.

He probably wasted some money on this somewhere. I sneered at him and grabbed him as he tried to run away.

I was confident in my strength. I pinned him down on the floor and took his phone away so he couldn’t contact anyone outside. I planned to tie his wrists and legs with the duct tape I brought and lock him up until the general meeting was over.

Just like he threw me into the cold sea.

Even if the police arrived later, I would have already disappeared by then.

I was going to hold him down until the general meeting was over, gripping his collar and pressing him to the floor.

Thud-.

He grabbed the commemorative plaque that was on the low cabinet near the balcony and slammed it on my head.

“Ugh…!”

A sharp pain rang in my head and my hand lost its grip. Blood dripped from my torn scalp.

“Let go! Dead people are. Dead! Living people have to live!”

My brother took advantage of my weakening grip and kicked my stomach to get up. He struggled to free himself from my hold.

Blood flowed thickly over my eyelids, obscuring half of my vision. Was it because I was close to disappearing? Or was it just the blood loss?

My head spun and my eyelids grew heavier.

The dead are dead, and the living must live… It sounded reasonable, but not something a murderer should say.

I clenched my teeth and tried not to lose consciousness. Even if I vanished right now, I had to drag this bastard to hell with me.

He grabbed my collar and wouldn’t let go. As he got up, he pulled me up with him.

“Ah!”

His face was red from the blood that ran down from my head. He opened the balcony door and pushed me into the living room. Then he headed for the terrace. ℟

Luckily, the balcony faced the mountain, not the city.

“Help! Someone help!”

Miraculously, there was no one on the road below. It was a quiet residential area. I barely managed to stand on my legs and grabbed his ankle. I dragged him back into the room.

He resisted and fought back with all his strength. We pulled and pushed each other without giving an inch. Then, suddenly, my vision blurred and my hand lost its strength.

“Ugh…!”

I felt dizzy and let go of his ankle. He pushed me away and rolled over to the balcony railing.

It was a single house on a hillside, so it wasn’t that high. But there was a sharp fence below, designed to keep birds away.

He screamed and grabbed my arm as he saw the pointed edge that could pierce anything. But the railing was round and smooth, and his body slid down with gravity.

“Sa, save me! I was wrong, I’ll confess everything…!”

Just a moment ago, he was shouting that he would call the police, that he wanted me to leave, that the living had to survive. But now that he was facing the fence that was only 50cm away, he changed his mind.

“Please! I’m sorry! I’ll, I’ll repent, just let me live…!”

I felt disgusted as I watched him sob pitifully. If I let go of his hand now…

“…”

I stared at his distorted face expressionlessly.

He felt more terrified by my silence and tried to climb up by holding my arm.

“Huk, please…! Please…! Just, just once, spare me…!”

If he valued his life so much, he should have valued others’ lives too. I didn’t answer and kept glaring at him.

If I let go of him here, he would be impaled by the fence and probably die. My revenge would be half-done, but still successful.

I didn’t plan to do it this way, but.

Even if I disappeared soon, I wouldn’t be the only one going to hell. I overlapped my hand on his and tried to pry it off.

“Hik, please! I’m sorry!”

He made a last-ditch effort and dug his nails into my arm. I felt the blood seep through my arm.

“Ugh.”

It was all over. I closed my eyes with a long sigh.

“This concludes today’s scheduled shareholders’ meeting, which has been cancelled due to insufficient quorum.”

11 a.m. The meeting was supposed to start, but the current CEO didn’t show up. The cancellation was announced, and complaints erupted everywhere.

“I took a vacation just to attend this meeting today. When are they going to hold the next shareholders’ meeting?”

“Where is the CEO and what is he doing? How can he leave his seat without even writing a proxy?”

The shareholders who had made time to attend the meeting with the determination to stop the sell-off plan raised their voices in protest.

Today’s meeting was supposed to be a mere formality of asking for approval or disapproval, but did they not know that the sell-off plan would have been almost certainly adopted if the CEO had attended? The employees were sweating as they tried to calm down the shareholders who were standing up and shouting.

“We will inform you of the next shareholders’ meeting schedule in writing later.”

No one knew why the CEO had failed to show up without any contact, but even the woman who had come to the meeting hall alone as the CEO’s mother was biting her nails and being irritable, as if they had not communicated with each other.

They did not know what had happened, but they had passed the biggest hurdle for now. They had to oust the current CEO somehow to save the company.

As the employees were sighing and still looking anxious while soothing the shareholders, only Kang, the executive director who stood in the center of the chaos, looked calm and composed.

“Director Kang, did you know that the CEO wouldn’t show up today?”

When one of the employees quietly asked Kang, he answered without any hesitation.

“Maybe.”

It was clear that something had happened from the fact that he did not deny it.

“Director Kang!”

The employee who had done his best to prevent this crisis hugged Kang as if he was about to burst into tears. Of course, Kang quickly turned his body and avoided him.

“You should thank the CEO, not me.”

“What?”

The employee tilted his head as if he did not understand what he was saying, and then the screen hanging in the middle of the meeting hall flickered and a video message started.

[Crackle-. Hello, everyone at Jo Young Food. This is Lim Hyun-seong.]

It did not seem like a very recent video, as Hyun-seong looked slightly younger than he did before he died. He calmly explained how he wanted his company management and shares to be handled in case he died unexpectedly.

“What the hell is this?”

“Wasn’t Lim already dead?”

“That looks like an old video.”

“The news said he fell or committed suicide. What are they doing with an old video?”

Not only the shareholders, but also the employees were wondering who had played this and where the video was connected. In the meantime, Lim’s stepmother climbed up to the podium and blocked the screen.

“You know this has all been changed with a new notarization, right? I know you have a lot of complaints about our management, but this is disrespectful to the deceased!”

And then. The screen switched from Lim’s pre-recorded message to CCTV footage.

In the shaky screen, someone was dragging the lifeless body of an adult man without a drop of blood. It was clearly…

“Isn’t that the current CEO?”

Someone with a keen eye recognized him and the stepmother turned around in shock. The screen showed her son throwing his bloodless stepson into the sea.

“No! This is fake! It’s all manipulated! Who would believe this?”

As the stepmother flailed and kicked, a shareholder who was looking at his phone muttered.

“Wow, this is already on YouTube.”

The person sitting next to him was startled and leaned toward the phone.

“Really?”

“Yes. Look at this. The real-time popular videos are all…”

The murder suspicion surrounding the tens of billions of won worth of assets of the deceased CEO, and the investigation that ended suspiciously quickly. The inheritance that was disposed of in an instant.

The netizen detectives and all kinds of cyber leeches were flocking and already uploading derivative videos.

[Who is the real culprit behind the death of Jo Young Food’s CEO?]

[Nine suspicious facts surrounding the death of J Food’s CEO]

[The murder of the stepson by the stepmother and the half-brother]

[Yulpidi’s True Story Check 32 – Was it really an accident?]

At the funeral hall, photos of my father, as well as my stepmother and the new CEO, were already shared online with the label of murderers.

“No! Nooo! Turn off the screen! What are you doing? Hurry up and move!”

My stepmother screamed at the employees with rage, but no one moved to turn off the screen.

They only followed you because it was their job until now, but now that it came to this, they would either be fired or laid off anyway, since the company was doomed.

To make matters worse, before the chaotic shareholders’ meeting was even dissolved, the prosecution’s investigation team stormed into the company.

The charge was embezzlement of public funds from a child welfare foundation. The people in suits had search and seizure warrants in their hands.

As my stepmother wailed like a madwoman, she was dragged away. Kang, the vice president, watched her with a clenched fist.

It was finally starting to get sorted out.

‘I’m telling you this in advance, because there might not be a chance later. Thank you for everything… Take care. I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess.’

I felt tears in my eyes at the farewell words that Hyun-seong barely uttered after a silence. He was always like that. He saved people’s hearts without even realizing it, and then he acted like he didn’t mean to do it and didn’t need any gratitude.

Is this really the end? Could he come back again, even for a brief moment, like a dream?

Hyun-seong didn’t answer my question.

“Ah…”

My throat was dry and my head was dizzy. What time was it? I picked up the phone that was rolling on the floor and checked the time. It was 12 p.m. The video upload and the media tip-off were already done, and there was still time left.

I had stopped my brother from attending the shareholders’ meeting, so it must have been forcibly dissolved.

I had done everything I had to do. I had no strength to support my body, so I just tilted it towards the floor with a thud.

I guess this is the end for me too.

There were still more than six hours left, but that was just the final deadline. I felt no energy in my body.

I looked at my brother, who was lying unconscious next to me, with a sneer.

To put it bluntly, I couldn’t let go. As Jinwoo said, I was too soft-hearted for a businessman.

No matter how much he was the one who killed me, I couldn’t stand to see someone die in front of me.

‘How stupid…’

I know. I know how weak and pathetic I am. I just had to let go. But I couldn’t.

But revenge shouldn’t turn into murder. There are more important things in the world than my satisfaction.

I was a businessman who ran the company for profit, but I ignored everything that was not humane. Even if some people called me stupid, or frustrated.

If everything I prepared succeeded, it wouldn’t be long before the officials came to this house for investigation.

Everything would go back to where it belonged. My consciousness faded and I started to see flashes.

And at the beginning of it, of course.

“Hyung, what were you doing sleeping all this time? We have so much to do!”

There were the Climax members.