CHAPTER 198: BRING IT ON

Slowly, with a smug look, Oliver turned to look at Kim Jiah’s father.

"Mr. Hyungho, you look constipated. Do you need to take a break? If you want, please do so. We can wait." Oliver made a snide remark and motioned for Jiah to follow him.

"Jiah, come here and sit." He said and made her sit next to him.

Hyungho could only stay silent as he watched his daughter follow the scoundrel.

He clenched his jaws and glared.

For a few seconds, he indeed looked constipated.

"Now that we have everyone here, let me get straight to the point." Oliver began to speak.

"As you all know, Miss Jiah is pregnant with my brother’s child. My brother is interested in keeping the child. So..."

Oliver paused to take a breath and looked at everyone in the room.

"...So let me ask, in front of all of you." Oliver turned to face Jiah.

"Miss Jiah, are you willing to keep the child?"

The question was direct and struck the crux of the problem.

Jiah fiddled with her fingers for a few seconds, occasionally glancing at her father.

But Hyungho didn’t even look directly at her.

Everyone could see that he was ignoring her.

Jiah’s expression wilted into one of gloom, seeing him turn away from her.

They were not like this in the past.

Her father used to be kind and loving. He was someone who did everything she asked of him.

However, today, she could not see the kindness at all.

What happened to the father she knew? She wondered while clenching her fist.

The pregnancy occurred without fault on her part. It was also not Arin’s fault.

In fact, Arin saved her from the human traffickers.

If not for him, she would have been sold to the highest bidder and experienced a life worse than death.

Couldn’t her father understand that?

So, why was he blaming her?

A suffocating feeling began to press down on her chest.

Then she remembered the last thing her father asked—to abort the child.

Hyungho thought it was shameful and would impact her prospects if she had the child now. He also thought it would negatively impact their family’s reputation. So, the conclusion he came to was to abort the child.

Jiah disagreed with that.

That was why she was locked up in her room for the past few days.

’The child is mine. I will never let it die.’ She silently said in her mind.

Truth be told, she liked Arin. He was a dependable, talented young man. Both of them would have dated, had it not been for their family differences.

So, she didn’t mind what happened that day.

It was consensual.

Hence, the child was her responsibility, just as much as it was Arin’s.

Once she thought about everything, her eyes regained clarity. It held no more doubt.

She turned away from her father and faced Oliver, firmly saying.

"I do."

The words resounded throughout the room.

It shocked Hyungho.

In a fit of anger, he stood up.

"Jiah. You." His voice quivered.

"Do you want to sever your relationship with me?" His shout exploded in the room.

Standing tall, he looked at Jiah, with his aura rising like a storm.

A few days ago, in a fit of anger, Hyungho had said that he would sever his relationship with her if she decided to keep the child. At that time, he had the confidence that his daughter would not disobey him.

But now...

He looked at her with a mix of anger and disappointment.

His aura rose again, trying to press over Jiah.

Oliver couldn’t stand the wanton display of power. He instantly forced the golden mana out of his body to shield Jiah.

The tumultuous mana poured out of his body and clashed with the aura that Kim Jiah’s father generated.

*MMM*

With a low humming sound, their auras clashed.

Oliver’s golden mana was special. It was pure, unadulterated and extremely dense. Its very existence was related to defence.

Instantly, it tore apart Hyungho’s aura like it was just a plume of smoke—almost nonexistent.

Then he pulled back the mana and shielded Jiah.

With golden mana shining through his pupils, he gazed at Hyungho from his seat.

"You should sit down." He said, his tone low and threatening.

Thunder Emperor and Achara looked at everything playing out, hiding their thoughts. Still, they couldn’t let it be.

So, their aura’s awakened, joining in to show their intention to stand with Oliver.

Kim Hyungho, Jiah’s father, was an A-ranker. He felt the pressure mount on him as soon as the Thunder Emperor joined.

"Hyungho, what are you doing? Sit down." Suddenly, the patriarch stepped in to ease the situation. "Sit down. Don’t make me repeat it." His voice became a little forceful as she spoke.

"But..." Hyungho wanted to protest.

However, the patriarch didn’t give him a chance. He stood up and looked him in the eye.

This made Hyungho realise his mistake. With an aggrieved expression, he sat down silently.

The patriarch followed suit and sat down.

"Jiah, do you want to keep the child?" The patriarch asked.

Jiah was a little startled and scared, but the golden mana shining around her gave her the courage to speak her mind.

She faced the patriarch and spoke. "Yes, I do. This is my child. I want to keep it."

Her voice cracked.

The emotions that had been stifling her came out as a flood of tears.

For the past few days, she had been holding it all in.

Although she was courageous and strong-minded, having no support made her realise how fragile her life was.

Unknowingly, the family she was so proud of had become a prison holding her back.

To be a mother, she had to speak her mind right now. There will be no other opportunity if she loses it.

She glanced over to Oliver, who was glaring at her father, then at Achara and Thunder Emperor sitting next to her, giving her a warm smile and continued.

"If I must leave my family to do so, I am ready."

"You really want to leave." Kim Hyungho shouted.

His fury made his hair dance up and down.

If there weren’t people around to stop him, he would have slapped Jiah twice to teach her a lesson.

"Jiah, you don’t have to leave the family. You still have us." The patriarch interjected, giving Hyungho a sharp look.

"Yes." The elder sitting next to the patriarch also said. "We are family. We won’t let your father bully you."

The elder followed suit and sharply looked at Kim Jiah’s father.

"And if you want to marry someone, you can just bring him to our family. We will help you get married." He added.

The last few sentences rubbed Oliver the wrong way. What the elder said didn’t seem like a request.

And from what he knew about the Kim family, the elder might be thinking about bringing Arin into their family as a live-in son-in-law.

If they do so, his brother would become someone serving their family.

’Lower status than family. Higher in status than a disciple.’ Oliver thought. ’They want my brother to be their lackey. Dream on, fuckers.’

"Hey, old man, don’t make promises you can’t keep," Oliver interjected. "Although my brother is not a bastard who would abandon Jiah and his child, you need his permission before thinking about marriage. And for that, like I did, you need to meet him personally and ask for it."

The elder had a special knack for getting under his skin. So, Oliver warned him.

The elder heard him and scoffed.

"It’s his blessing to marry into our family."

"Who is marrying into whose?" Oliver asked, raising his voice.

Finally, the Kim family had begun to show their true colours. They wouldn’t let one of their own leave their sphere of influence.

"Of course, your brother is marrying into our family. That way, he can live his life in luxury, enjoying life. What more do you need?" the elder asked.

He was speaking as if he were being generous.

Oliver pushed down the curses rising in his throat and shook his head.

There was no need to argue.

He never cared about their opinion in the first place.

He turned to Jiah, who was wiping away her tears and asked,

"Miss Jiah, do you want to come with me and leave this godforsaken family of self-righteous pricks?"

"Ah!"

She widened her eyes.

"Now?" She asked.

"It can be now. It can be any other day. If you wish to leave, no one can stop you. It’s my promise."

Oliver confidently said.

He was not the kind of person to take promises lightly.

He meant it when he said it.

"Kid, don’t be presumptuous. It is not your place to decide what happens to a member of the Kim family. You cannot fathom the consequences–"

The elder was about to continue.

But Oliver stopped him with just a sentence.

"Bring it on."

Oliver said it with such confidence that everyone felt their heart thump.

"It doesn’t matter if it is the Kim family or god itself; there exists nothing I dare not offend." He declared, calmly sitting on the luxurious sofa, legs crossed.