AOA 134

“How’s your body? Can you move around?”

“Yes. I’m leaving now.”

I regained consciousness and got discharged after three days. My strength was ruined from lying in bed for over a month, but I couldn’t afford to drag things out.

If my biological father found out I’d come to my senses, things would get messy in so many ways. In this situation, striking first mattered more than waiting.

Two more days of prep after my discharge and I went to meet my biological father.

My stomach churned and my legs shook a little, but honestly I felt more excited than anxious. Ever since I woke up, I had been counting down to this moment.

Aunt Soyeon set up today’s meeting with my biological father, and I went with her. We hired bodyguards for safety.

As I stepped forward, the bodyguards followed. My biological father’s company had no real security system, just a few guards. But better to be overprepared than careless.

Eight bodyguards in black suits entered the building with me and people turned heads. Aunt Soyeon walked straight to the chairman’s office without hesitating. The secretary tried to stop her, saying there was already a guest inside, but Aunt Soyeon ignored him and swung the door open.

“I’m here, brother-in-law.”

Surprisingly, Aunt Soyeon called my biological father brother-in-law. He sat on the sofa in the chairman’s office and frowned.

“Show some manners.”

“I never had manners to begin with. But it seems there’s a guest here already.”

The guest was Jeong Guhyeon. He turned his head to us and pointed at me.

“Huh? Why are you here? I thought you were in a vegetative state?”

“Brother-in-law. Your eldest son looks pretty bad, doesn’t he? Isn’t it rude to act like that in front of a guest you’ve never met? Ah, I guess he’s grown up and doesn’t listen to you anymore.”

Jeong Guhyeon spat his usual blunt lines. Aunt Soyeon sneered at my biological father.

When Aunt Soyeon called out Jeong Guhyeon’s arrogance, my biological father – who always cared about honor, dignity, and decorum – stiffened his expression. He must have thought Jeong Guhyeon was too reckless in front of a stranger. That sort of rudeness was unheard of.

For a moment I wondered why Jeong Guhyeon, who should have been in America, was here. The answer came quick. I was getting divorced, so he didn’t need to stay in America; he must have come back.

I clicked my tongue when my biological father spoke.

“When did Minchae wake up?”

“I don’t know why you’re asking that. You called him useless. You never came to see him. You even said you wouldn’t pay the hospital bills.”

Watching my biological father’s face twist, I silently rooted for Aunt Soyeon. She was basically his natural enemy.

“What are you trying to do now? And who are those guys?”

“Bodyguards. I know exactly what kind of person my brother-in-law is. Everyone, wait outside. If we don’t come out within 10 minutes, open the door.”

At Aunt Soyeon’s command, the bodyguards closed the conference room door and left. That left four of us inside: me, Aunt Soyeon, my biological father, and Jeong Guhyeon.

Aunt Soyeon looked around calmly and sat on the sofa. I followed her lead.

My biological father sat at the head of the table. Jeong Guhyeon sat to his right. Aunt Soyeon and I sat at the far left end.

“Did you come to tell me Minchae woke up?”

“No. Minchae has something to say. Listen to him. But is it okay that he’s here? Shouldn’t we ask him to leave?”

Aunt Soyeon tipped her chin toward Jeong Guhyeon. Jeong Guhyeon bristled at the rude gesture. He shifted but didn’t shout. He seemed aware he’d messed up earlier.

“It’s fine.”

“Do as you wish.”

Both my biological father and Jeong Guhyeon looked at me with dissatisfied faces. I expected their reactions. I opened my mouth slowly.

“I have something to say.”

“What could you possibly have to say, barging in like this? Do you know how much embarrassment you caused me by collapsing? Taking a harmless pill and throwing a fit all by yourself. You must have told Chairman Baek you woke up, right?”

Answering him would steer the conversation in another direction. No matter what he said, I had to say my piece.

I looked at my biological father, breathed in, and spoke.

“I know the ‘Autumn Clouds over Geumgang’ by Jo Wonsan displayed at the museum is a forgery.”

The room went silent. Not just my biological father, Jeong Guhyeon widened his eyes too. Aunt Soyeon, who already knew, clicked her tongue.

Jo Wonsan, a Confucian scholar from mid-Joseon, was also a famous painter. His masterpiece Autumn Clouds over Geumgang, a large landscape of Mount Geumgang in autumn clouds, was a national treasure.

That painting passed down through my biological father’s family for generations and was the Mu Mu Art Museum’s signature piece. But the Autumn Clouds over Geumgang on display at the museum was a fake. My biological father secretly sold the real one when he hit severe financial trouble. He didn’t sell it to one person but to several.

One of the buyers who acquired the painting before my regression discovered the truth and came after my biological father, causing a huge scene.

At first, my biological father handed the real painting to someone who knew antique art well. Then he realized Autumn Clouds over Geumgang could bring profit, so he sold forgeries to nouveau riche people with deep pockets. Unfortunately for him, one buyer caught him.

To stop the truth that the Autumn Clouds over Geumgang at the Mu Mu Art Museum was fake from coming out, my biological father had to spend a huge amount of money.

If it came out that he sold a nationally designated treasure and showed a fake, he wouldn’t just lose face. He could face criminal charges. And the buyers of the fake would hold grudges.

Before the regression, when the drug side effects were at their worst, I didn’t realize this would be my biological father’s weak spot. But now I did.

Sure enough, my biological father’s face turned pale and stiff. I felt satisfaction knowing the blackmail would land.

“I know you sold the real piece. And I know you sold forgeries to multiple people.”

“What the hell are you talking about!”

Jeong Guhyeon shouted, standing in for his father who had gone pale. I turned my head to Jeong Guhyeon.

“I also know you’re doing drugs. Marijuana and hookah. And when you went to America, you used ecstasy.”

“You little bastard!”

Jeong Guhyeon clenched his fists and jumped to his feet. At the same time, Aunt Soyeon stood and pulled something from her bag.

A three-section staff clattered into her hand.

“Freeze. Move one step and I’ll call the bodyguards outside. Think carefully.”

Jeong Guhyeon looked like he wanted to jump the table, but he froze. To him, Aunt Soyeon and I probably looked like easy targets. The bodyguards in the hallway outside would be a different story.

Aunt Soyeon had suggested hiring lots of bodyguards. She said the more bodyguards, the safer we’d be, and the more pressure we’d put on anyone who tried something. She was right.

Even though things were tense, I found myself wondering what Aunt Soyeon had been doing all this time. She was supposedly a famous painter. Yet her situational awareness and decisiveness were insane. I had no idea when she prepared that truncheon.

Admiration aside, I had to say what needed saying.

“I know about the marijuana in your desk drawer.”

The reason the aunt, who was working at their house, had to go back to her hometown before the regression was because marijuana was found in Jeong Guhyeon’s room. She got hush money and threats, then told me before she left. Back then I couldn’t use that info properly, but now I could.

Jeong Guhyeon’s face twisted instantly.

“Dad! Are you just gonna sit there and listen to this? Kick that bastard out right now!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Jeong Guhyeon lashed out at my biological father, but it didn’t work. My biological father was lenient with Jeong Guhyeon. He beat people up, stayed out all night, caused trouble, and his father covered for him, saying that’s just what boys do, and even cleaned up the messes.

But one absolute rule existed: drugs were forbidden. Even before the regression, when marijuana showed up in Jeong Guhyeon’s room, the household flipped.

Because of that, I had to take various drug tests too.

At my biological father’s stern voice, Jeong Guhyeon stomped his foot and stormed out of the chairman’s office. Whether he disappeared or not, I didn’t care. The important person was my biological father.

“Why dig up family dirty laundry? Huh?”

“To blackmail you.”

“……What?”

“If you try to harm me, my family, or people close to me, I won’t stand by. I’ll make the world know the ‘Golden Crane in the Cold’ hanging in the museum is a forgery.”

My voice sounded steady even though I was nervous. Objectively, it was a flat threat.

“You, you. You ungrateful wretch! Is this how a human behaves?!”

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who threatens others’ lives. That’s thug behavior.”

I threw the harshest insult I had at my biological father, who pointed at me and raged. My voice, calm moments before, trembled a bit.

My biological father’s face flushed red, then went pale. But he still glared at me. His eyes screamed that what I’d done was dirty and despicable.

I had dreamed of this moment since my regression. I knew how much my biological father valued face, so I knew this would hit him.

Back then I didn’t have the strength to protect the people I cared about. If I’d exposed the Autumn Clouds over Geumgang? truth then, I probably would’ve vanished, not gained freedom.

I prepared step by step and waited for the right moment. My brother’s surgery finished; only rehabilitation remained. I had saved a lot of money.

Honestly, my prep wasn’t perfect. Without Aunt Soyeon I might’ve been more cautious. But she told me this was the time to strike, so I went all in.