I Became a Scoundrel of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 292

Ha Eun-young’s eyes widened.

It must’ve been something she truly never expected to hear.

“What... did you say...?”

“I said I would become your nation.”

“W-what kind of... nonsense...!”

“What, you think I’m not up to the task? You worked under me too, didn’t you? You should know exactly what it means to be the eldest grandson of the Koryo Group.”

That “heir of this country” line I’d thrown out back at the command post was ridiculous and absurd, sure—

But if you really think about it, it’s not that far off the mark.

Ha Eun-young, who had worked as my exclusive secretary for quite some time, would understand what it meant.

Maybe even feel it more deeply than I ever could.

I don’t quite grasp how far I’m allowed to go when I throw a tantrum,

but those who actually handle the execution—like my secretaries—

they feel the consequences of my actions directly.

They would know much better.

“The Republic of Korea and the NIS threw you away. No—let’s be honest, they never even had you to begin with.

You were just consumed like a disposable tool.

To have someone means to take responsibility for them.

If they really had you, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“...”

“Forget the fabricated life and follow the truth.

Your real life began at Prestige,

and it bloomed when you became my secretary.

That is your life. I am your country.”

“Don’t be ridiculous... After everything... After doing something that horrible...

After turning me and Yeon-joo unnie into this, now you’re saying that...!”

“That’s because, back then, your identity was Ha Eun-young.

Ha Eun-young, the NIS-dispatched spy.

Born as a tool for experiments and brainwashed into an agent.

It’s unfortunate, but you went against our group, so that much punishment was fair.

But that ends with Ha Eun-young.”

I stood up again.

“If you become Seo Eun-mi, you still have a chance.

Unlike others, I don’t conduct experiments on my own people or throw them away.”

“Ah, ngh...”

Ha Eun-young grit her teeth hard.

She didn’t seem to be able to accept it.

After suffering for months on end, of course it’s hard.

There’s a lot she must be thinking about.

But one thing is clear—

She’s wavering.

“Think about it.

Who’s the one you really should resent?

The one who has you—me?

Or the NIS, who raised your parents like experimental livestock and then disposed of them?”

“...!”

“And think about whether the anger you hold against our group is truly justified,

or just the product of your brainwashing.”

“...”

Ha Eun-young fell silent.

She didn’t seem to have anything to say.

She was probably struggling with a thousand thoughts.

Her own identity,

the betrayal by the NIS and her country,

the collapse of her entire life—

those feelings must be flooding her mind all at once.

Trying to force anything in at this point would backfire.

Sometimes, you have to wait quietly and let the results come on their own.

“I think that’s enough for now.

Next time we meet... I hope I’ll be seeing Seo Eun-mi.”

“Ah...” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The secretaries picked Ha Eun-young up and dragged her back to a corner of the detention camp.

Even then, her eyes never left me.

++++

“Master, was that really necessary?”

On the way out, Seo Aram asked me.

“What was?”

“Regardless of the reason... she was a spy.

I’m not sure if placing your trust in her again is really in your best interest, Master.”

It looked like she didn’t trust Ha Eun-young.

‘Come to think of it, she didn’t like Yeon-joo either.’

I still ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) remember the scene where she kicked Ma Yeon-joo,

who was desperately screaming my name, like she was nothing.

After becoming absolutely loyal to me,

she also seemed to develop an intense hatred for spies and traitors.

That’s probably why she was openly hostile toward both Ha Eun-young, who came in as a spy,

and Ma Yeon-joo, a former NIS agent.

“Someone who’s betrayed once will betray again.

I... can’t trust those women.”

“Those women, huh.

So that includes Ma Yeon-joo too.”

“...Yes. Honestly...

You should just use them as... meat toilets.”

“...”

...Aram’s gotten pretty extreme.

“There are countless people who would die to serve you, Master.

Why go out of your way to bring in girls like that?

I’m worried that if even one bad apple slips into the secretary team,

they might develop treacherous thoughts.”

“So basically,

if you forgive a traitor, others might think they can get away with betrayal too—

that’s what you’re trying to say?”

“...Yes.”

Ah, here it is.

The heroine once called “Iron-Blooded” is starting to show her true colors.

“Your premise is wrong, Aram.”

“...?”

“Ha Eun-young isn’t a traitor. She was just a spy.

Same with Ma Yeon-joo.”

“...Excuse me?”

“Treason means someone who was mine turned on me.

But they were never mine to begin with.

They were brainwashed agents from the NIS.

They never swore loyalty—so how is that betrayal?”

“Th-that’s...”

Did I catch her off guard with too dictionary-perfect a definition?

Her face looked like she wanted to argue,

but she just couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“And betrayal only happens

when there’s someone who can offer more than me—

more benefit, or a higher sense of justice.

What I can’t tolerate is the existence of such an option.

Compared to that, traitors are kinda cute.”

“...I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

“As the eldest grandson of the Koryo Group,

I can’t accept the very concept of betrayal.”

“....”

“I am this country.

I am justice.

Nothing is better than being at my side.

Naturally, there can be no motive for betrayal—

there mustn’t be.”

“....”

The absurdity of what I’d just said left Seo Aram speechless.

Her eyes went wide, her mouth hanging open—

I almost laughed.

But I had to maintain the dignity of a master.

“That’s why I forgive.”

“....”

Of course,

only the pretty ones.

And they have to pay their dues first.

Still, forgiveness is forgiveness, right?

Seo Aram, who’d been sitting there dazed, finally fixed her expression.

“If... that’s how you truly feel...”

“They’re pitiful, when you think about it.

They never had the freedom to judge things for themselves in the first place.

By becoming mine, they can be saved.

Everyone deserves at least one chance to be saved. Don’t you think?”

“Salvation...!”

Seo Aram, who believes she was saved through me, reacted to the word immediately.

“...Understood.

I will no longer question your judgment, Master.”

“No, do question it sometimes.

Otherwise, I’ll never get any decent advice.”

“Yes.”

++++

Ha Eun-young’s head was in chaos as she lay in the corner.

It felt like every moment of her life had merged into a single vortex, swirling violently inside her mind.

A complete mess.

What was the truth, and what was a lie?

Where did the brainwashing end and where did her own identity begin?

She had no way of knowing.

And in the midst of it all, thanks to that bastard Go Muyeol digging into her with all sorts of words, her confusion only deepened.

“...”

She was so lost in thought, it was surprising she didn’t have a seizure.

She was so consumed by what was happening in her head that even the severe withdrawal symptoms from the drugs couldn’t touch her.

Who... am I, really...

The NIS internal documents Go Muyeol had dropped off last week.

She recognized them at a glance.

The formatting, the encryption methods, even the decryption algorithm—

It was all unmistakably the same as what her former organization used.

Forging something like this would take an incredible amount of effort.

And yet... she had denied it at the time.

It was simply too shocking to accept just like that.

She had believed she was just one of the countless orphans scattered across South Korea—

But in truth, she was the result of a forced pregnancy during a human experimentation program.

And the only reason she was still alive... was because she had been deemed unfit to be a viable candidate.

Her life after that was a disaster, too.

From the orphanage, where her memories began, to the scattered brief relationships she’d had—

Everything had been part of a fabricated environment designed by the NIS for “agent development.”

Everyone she remembered...

Their faces, their words—they were probably all fake.

All part of the script, designed and performed to shape her into a suitable operative for the organization.

They would’ve acted exactly according to that script, every step of the way.

People who approached her with genuine hearts were either nonexistent... or incredibly rare.

That’s why she denied it.

She had to deny it.

But...

Go Muyeol didn’t allow her to keep denying reality.

A week later, he returned—this time having prepared an all-out invasion of the NIS—

And gave Ha Eun-young direct access to the internal documents.

And then she saw it.

Everything she had read in those materials—

All of it was right there, still stored on the server.

She’d said, in a last-ditch effort,

“You guys probably just uploaded this ahead of time to mess with me,”

but even as she said it, despair crept in.

Because she knew.

She knew Go Muyeol had no reason to go that far if it were a lie.

And his response had only confirmed that.

Despair wrapped itself around her whole body.

Her heart, which had been filled with nothing but a sense of duty and patriotism,

was now completely hollow.

If even the last two things she’d had were lies,

then what the hell did she have left?

“I’ll become your nation, Seo Eun-mi.”

“Ah...”

Go Muyeol had offered to become a nation for her—

even though she’d been caught spying,

he said it was fine... if she became Seo Eun-mi.

When she thought about it...

The life she lived as Seo Eun-mi—

all the feedback she received in that identity had been real.

The things people said to her, the way they acted,

the training she received at Prestige, the missions she carried out,

the connections she formed during that time—

They had all been, at most, filled with the kind of superficiality you’d find in normal society.

Not the kind of artificiality where some grand organization scripts and choreographs everyone’s behavior like some stage play.

These were real interactions with real people.

A real life.

If there was any falsehood in it—

It had come from Seo Eun-mi’s own heart.

Because it was an environment even the NIS couldn’t reach, couldn’t manipulate—

Ironically, that made it the one place where she could live a genuine life.

“Prest...ige... Koryo... Group...”