The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 3

Episode 3. A Lucky Day (2)

I can’t breathe.

A cramped, tiny space of just a few square meters.

Whoosh, whoosh.

A room where cold wind squeezes through the window cracks, whooshing in.

It’s a rooftop room with a 3 million won deposit and 300,000 won monthly rent.

Even in Gangnam, cheap rooftop rooms existed.

A nest I chose because it was close to school.

My parents moved to Sokcho following Dad’s job transfer.

Left alone in Seoul, I chose to live on my own.

The room is bright from the sunlight streaming through the window.

Just a single desk, a small refrigerator, and old clothes hanging on a rack…

“…W-what the??”

It’s an unbelievable sight.

I definitely came home drunk yesterday, and my place was a semi-basement room.

But the place I opened my eyes to see is!

Here, a rooftop room.

I bit my lip slightly.

“…!!”

It really hurts.

The pain feels vivid.

“…”

My mind is blank.

Why I’m lying here in this rooftop room right now!

I couldn’t understand it.

The space I’m facing is unfamiliar yet familiar.

The objects placed in the same spot as the space I lived in the past are identical.

“Regression?”

A ridiculous word flashed through my mind for a moment.

Is this a side effect of reading too many fantasy novels?

Or is it the backlash from frequently imagining situations from movies?

I never believed such a thing could actually be possible.

I was the type to thoroughly ignore movies about regression.

Every time I saw that kind of content, I’d laugh at how ridiculous it was.

The moment of regression that anyone could imagine.

That unbelievable thing happened to me??

“This is…”

Yesterday was a shitty day I wanted to flip over.

The very next day, I’m faced with this nonsensical, completely different morning.

“Halmeoni??”

“If you get a good night’s sleep, something good will happen!”

The words that strange halmeoni said at the end suddenly popped into my head.

No other reason comes to mind.

She definitely said if I got a good night’s sleep, something good would happen.

But that bankbook isn’t in my hand.

The space and time don’t align or connect with yesterday’s point in time at all.

“But… is this for real?”

It seems I really did return to the time when I was a high school student.

Looking at my frail body, which is just tall and lacks muscle…

The sensations I feel confirm that I’m alive.

The small rooftop room, the musty smell and shabby environment that permeated my high school days.

Smack!

I slapped my cheek with my palm once again.

“…It hurts.”

That was enough confirmation.

I hit it with enough force to leave a palm print.

The spot I hit is burning and tingling.

“Really… is this happening??”

There’s no way to express how I feel right now.

I want to scream.

I can’t think if it’s good or bad.

It feels like an unbelievable dream.

“Hooooo…”

First, I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

I caught my breath a few times to calm my wildly beating heart.

“It’s not a dream… it’s reality, right?”

I quickly picked up my phone to check the date.

The phone is that old-fashioned one I carried around in high school.

Current time: May 5, 2022, 5:05 PM.

The time is unusual.

“This is driving me crazy.”

I feel a shiver at the terrifying fact.

Every sense I experience proves that this is reality.

Stories about regressors that emerged as a staple in all kinds of content.

I didn’t know it could be possible in reality.

And I never dreamed that I would be the one it happened to.

Those protagonists in the stories.

They adapted immediately when they regressed…

I’m not quite like that.

“They say life is just a dream, but this is too vivid…”

The vivid memories up until yesterday still fill my mind.

It’s definitely not a dream.

Even the actions of the traitors from yesterday, which are stuck in my heart like a dagger, are still alive and well.

Furthermore, all those memories are the future!

“Dad…”

Unconsciously, without me realizing it, these words popped out.

It was my dad, who passed away a few days before my high school graduation.

He passed away at the scene of an accident caused by a dump truck that ran a red light while he was returning home from a business trip.

Words I hadn’t been able to say out loud easily since then.

At the time, I had no power.

The police also hurriedly handled it as a simple accident.

The driver claimed he was drowsy driving and was arrested.

But given the circumstances, I kept sensing something suspicious.

There’s something about Dad’s death that the family doesn’t know!

I couldn’t shake that feeling.

Knock, knock.

Just then, a loud knocking sound was heard.

Soon, the sound of the rooftop room’s steel door opening followed.

“…??”

There’s no one who would come to visit.

May 5, 2022, Children’s Day.

“Is Ha Tae-woong-nim here?”

It’s the voice of a middle-aged man.

Ha Tae-woong-nim?

It’s not the voice of the easygoing landlord.

“Who is it?”

I went out the door.

The school gym clothes I was wearing comfortably feel familiar yet strange.

Clank.

I opened the steel door.

A man in a neat dark gray suit, who looks to be in his mid-fifties, is standing there.

His hair is mixed with gray, and his stubborn-looking square jaw gives him a strong impression.

He was leaning on a cane, as if one of his legs was uncomfortable.

This is a 4th-floor rooftop room.

It seems it was quite hard for him to come up.

“Ha Tae-woong-ssi?”

“Yes. I am Ha Tae-woong.”

Slide.

The man holds out a business card.

Law Firm Jeong-ryul.

Representative Lawyer Kim Jeong-ryul.

A lawyer? Why me?

If this is regression, I’m a high school student right now.

Even thinking back to the past, I’ve never met this lawyer before.

“I apologize for being late.”

He bowed his head with a polite attitude.

Suddenly?

“…??”

I reflexively bowed back in return.

I can’t understand the situation at all.

“I have come to execute the will of the late Han Ok-ja-yeosa-nim.”

What? The late Han Ok-ja??

“What? Lawyer Kim went to visit him?”

“Yes, Director.”

“…Was the warning too weak? Heh.”

A 40-story building located in Samseong-dong.

The top floor of that building.

A cold-looking man in his early fifties with the title of Director wears a sneer on his lips.

“He had a severe injury requiring 24 weeks of treatment.”

“Exactly my point. If a guy who almost died survived, he should live quietly, so why is he acting up?”

“Should I take care of it?”

“Forget it. If he met the brat, it’s over. Lawyer Kim is from the prosecution, you know. He’s not an idiot.”

“Should I retrieve it?”

“How much did you say it was?”

“It’s 1 billion won.”

“…My mother is generous, too. Leaving an inheritance to a grandson brat she doesn’t even know. Heh.”

He’s laughing, but his eyes are so cold they even feel murderous.

Tap, tap.

The man with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

He repeatedly tapped the desk with his right middle finger, keeping time.

The secretary standing in front of the desk kept his mouth shut and waited like a mouse.

It’s a moment where a single word from the man could end a person’s life.

“Mother. I’ll grant your wish this time. You even visited me in my dream yesterday.”

The man mentions his mother, who has been dead for quite a while.

He had a dream yesterday.

She was someone who hadn’t appeared in his dreams even once since she passed away.

She yelled in the dream that if he ever laid those dirty hands on the youngest grandson again, she would strike him with a lightning bolt.

She was a mother who used to nag him all day long because she didn’t trust him even when she was alive.

That’s why he hurriedly assigned someone to him.

Because of his mother, who never trusted him, he had been more rebellious since childhood.

On the other hand, she doted on the youngest.

Of course, he couldn’t watch his mother pass away because he was entangled in various incidents and jobs.

“Then…”

“Keep watching him. What meaning would that pocket change have even if it gets into the brat’s hands?”

“Yes!”

“Oh, right, what did you say that guy is doing?”

“He is living quietly in Sokcho.”

“Suspicious. He’s not the type to live that quietly…”

“Yes? But he’s not at all…”

“He’s not a stupid bastard.”

Tap, tap.

The man taps the desk again.

“Watch him closely. That bastard… I feel like he’s definitely going to cause trouble.”

“Yes!”

“That aside, about tonight, you said the kids are ready?”

“Representative Kang said he prepared the person you wanted, Director.”

“That’s how it should be. The advertisement isn’t just a penny or two. Heh heh heh.”

A dark aura flashed in his cold eyes.

He looked like a wildcat with its prey right in front of it.

“Clear my afternoon schedule. I’m going to the sauna.”

“Yes!!”

The minor but important matters were roughly sorted out.

He never paid much attention to things that were finished.

Instead, he didn’t know.

How this decision would change the future!