CHAPTER 189: CHAPTER 188. AN EYE FOR AN EYE

Sarah watched the old man laughing, etching the moment another layer of his mask came undone. Each nanosecond of that laughter erased any leftover compassion she might still have for that man.

Whatever he said after this would never alter her judgment.

His laugh probably lasted for less than a minute, but it felt like hours for Sarah. Still, she didn’t interrupt the old man. She waited patiently while simmering the anger and hatred deep within her heart.

Let the fire burn and consume her coldly just for that day.

When his laughter stopped, Joseph took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. Like a newly programmed robot, he looked at Sarah with a sympathetic smile and a pair of empty eyes. "I didn’t mean to."

"...what?"

"The plan was only to cause an accident so the company lost a project, and you, his beloved granddaughter, lost the support of the executives

It was only a plan of many that I had been doing against your family members, but alas..." Joseph shrugged. "I never thought someone would really die."

"You never thought..." Sarah was so flabbergasted that she couldn’t even scream. "You never thought a car accident would make someone die?"

"Well..."

Sarah blinked, looking dazed as if she was looking at an alien. She probably wouldn’t be this dumbfounded if Joseph had just told her he didn’t like her and her mother. But...he didn’t mean it? This weak ass reasoning was enough to make him sleep well at night and he continued to play as a sympathetic uncle to her?

"Oh, I see..." Sarah leaned into her hand, massaging her dazed head. "You are senile. Or dumb. Or both."

"Whatever you say," Joseph shrugged.

"And a coward too," Sarah sneered. "You didn’t even dare to do anything when Grandpa was still alive, so you chose to vent your ridiculous anger toward the innocent."

Yeah, there was no need to try understanding this man. He could make up whatever to justify his means, and Sarah would just make up an explanation on her own.

The truth is only carved by the one who survived anyway.

"What a joke," Sarah snickered. "You’re talking about revenge, but in the end, you just want to eat the whole cake."

Sarah stood up; the mockery in her face turned into anger.

"If you want a fucking revenge, then destroy this company! Why are you killing an innocent woman, you piece of shit?!"

She kicked the table in front of her, strong enough to have the heavy thing slide off the floor slightly. The flower vase toppled and rolled down heavily onto the carpeted floor, which would have caused alarm if someone was outside. But Joseph had sent everyone out, and he belatedly realized that he was outnumbered.

"Well..." for the first time, Joseph glanced at the bodyguard standing near the door. He thought it was a sign of politeness at first, but it seemed more like an attempt to prevent anyone from entering or exiting the room. He shifted his gaze back at Sarah, another mask cracked as he started to feel the dread. "I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean it to happen."

"Not even a child would believe that, you disgusting snake!"

Joseph closed his eyes briefly, sighing. It was hard to fake remorse when there was none to begin with, and Sarah seemed to have decided that she wouldn’t accept any explanation. It would be different if he still had his weapons--money and people--but those were already robbed from him, and Sarah didn’t look like she could be easily reasoned with.

Of course, it was hard to believe that they would hurt him in this building, where they would have to walk through several floors full of people, but...

Those eyes.

Those eyes looked as cold and merciless as her grandfather’s.

"What do you want, then?" Joseph made his decision quickly and raised his hands; a gesture of surrender. "You want me to stop my attempt to take over this group? Sure, I can do that."

"What?"

"Or...do you want me to confess to the police? No--are you recording this?" Joseph lowered his hands and looked at Sarah’s pocket suspiciously. "Just so you know, quite a bit of people are involved in this, including the police chief and the current attorney general. Even if you pursue legal action, it would get dismissed before it even reaches the court."

Sarah arched her brow, standing still for a few seconds while once again looking at the old man as if he were the silliest person in the world.

"Hah!"

And then she laughed, just like Joseph a while ago. She laughed until her shoulder shook and her waist bent while she held her stomach. This time, Joseph had to be the one to look at him with mixed emotions and anxiety, thinking about how he could get out of this unexpected predicament.

"Oh...Director Seo," Sarah shook her head in a way a babysitter would to a naughty child. "Uncle..."

She exhaled slowly, her angry glare turned into mocking pity.

"You still see me as a silly, naive little girl, aren’t you?"

Sarah sat down again, putting a sweet smile on her face that didn’t match the atmosphere at all.

"Just so you know, I don’t particularly care about your attempt to take over this company--you won’t be able to do it anyway," she said calmly, as if her anger had gone. "You’re much too greedy, too dumb...too old."

As someone who always wore a mask, Joseph was familiar with the treachery hidden beneath one. He held back a snare and replied with the same benign smile. "Is that the extent of your insult?"

Sarah just smiled further and continued as if ignoring his remark. "I also don’t care about your embezzlement. It had been too long since I lost my trust in the authorities."

She snapped her fingers and the stationary bodyguard finally made a move. He walked to the table while taking out a piece of paper that he placed in front of Joseph.

"I prefer to take matters into my own hands," Sarah said while leaning back and crossing her arms.

"What is this?"

Joseph took the paper and read it. There were only several lines there, some kind of a list; a list of demands that Sarah wanted him to fulfill as a price for his sin--to put it simply. Among them was handing over all of the HS Group’s shares that he had and leaving the country--as well as the company--as soon as possible.

Basically banishing him abroad with almost all of his wealth gone.

"Are you crazy?" Joseph laughed. "Do you think I will do this just because you know my dirt? I have all kinds of ways to--"

"Do you love your family, Director Seo?" Sarah interjected, the nonchalant tone made Joseph freeze.

"What?"

Sarah tilted her head, tapping her cheek as if trying to recall something. "You said ’my precious son’ earlier, so...do you also love your wife and daughter?"

Joseph narrowed his eyes, trying to keep the rest of his face normal even as his stomach started to churn.

"I guess you are, if you use that much money to indulge them," Sarah chuckled. "No wonder you can’t even have enough money, even though Grandpa had been dead for two decades."

Joseph felt the corner of his eye twitch. "Are you trying to threaten me with my own family?"

"Oh, no," Sarah shook her head and slightly leaned forward, enough for Joseph to see the glint in her otherwise dull eyes. "I’m not trying."

The bodyguard, who was still standing beside the table, placed a tablet in front of Joseph. The screen was split into several parts, and even at a glance, Joseph recognized his garage, as well as the interiors of his wife’s and daughter’s cars. The biggest part, strangely, showed some kind of contraption.

"I’m not sure if you recognize it, but..." Sarah curled her eyes. "It’s the same one those people used on my car."

Joseph crumpled the paper in his shaking hands, another mask shattered completely as he glared at Sarah. "You think...I’m going to believe this?"

"I don’t care much," Sarah shrugged. "You can just believe it after it happened. Then, you can be sure that the next one is you."

Sarah could hear the sound of gritting teeth across the table, and she curled her lips deeply.

Today’s technology is very spectacular, you know? Everything is computerized and easier to hack into, don’t you think?" Sarah explained cheerfully as if she were bragging about a new phone she just bought. "You see, it can be easily controlled from afar, so we can choose where to malfunction it. On the highway? On the bridge? It would be quite a spectacle to have it jump from a mall’s parking lot, don’t you think? It will blow up like a firework--"

"Someone is approaching the car, Master."

"Oh, would you look at that?" Sarah clasped her hands as they watched Joseph’s wife and daughter approach one of the cars and enter it, throwing their expensive purses to the backseat. "Seems like your wife and daughter have a shopping bonding day today. What a familiar scenery, don’t you think?"

"Stop it!"

For the first time, it seemed like Sarah could see Joseph’s real face.

The pathetic, agitated, cowardly old man.