At the entrance, Secretary Yun arrived just in time, panting and looking like he had sprinted across the city. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the half-dead Hadi being dragged across the floor.
Still, he quickly adjusted his expression to neutral and professional.
"Boss, here are the documents you asked for," he said, offering the folder with both hands.
Only ten minutes ago, Shin had suddenly called, demanding urgent delivery of a printed agreement. Thankfully, the files were ready, and Secretary Yun had dashed out like his life depended on it, which, frankly, it might have.
Elder Madam Keir ran after them in a frenzy. "You bastard! What are you trying to do? If you kill my grandson, I swear we’re cutting ties right now!"
Shin didn’t even blink.
He reached the center of the living room, threw Hadi down to the floor with a heavy thud, and tossed the folder beside him.
"Sign it," Shin said coolly, but the murderous gleam in his eyes made Hadi shiver from head to toe.
The bleeding man squinted at the document beside him. Through his blurry vision, he recognized the header instantly.
Transfer of Company Shares
Specifically, his 3%.
Elder Madam Keir noticed it too. She snatched the paper and scanned it, her eyes widening in horror.
She looked at Shin as if he’d grown horns.
"Are you really a demon?! You beat your cousin half to death and now you want to strip him of his shares too?!"
He simply raised his foot and stepped on Hadi’s head.
"Not signing?" he asked, voice like ice.
Hadi groaned in agony, crying like a strangled chicken. But he still shook his head.
To him, dying might actually be better than losing those shares. It was only 3%, but in a mega-conglomerate like KGG, 3% translated to millions in annual dividends. Not to mention the benefits and power that came with it. Without it, he’d be a Keir in name only.
"Why are you doing this?" Elder Madam Keir shrieked, slapping Shin’s arm. "You already have half the company! You’re the CEO! What more do you want?! How can you be so greedy?!"
Shin didn’t flinch, but her voice clearly irritated him more than her hits.
"Greedy?" Shin finally spoke, lips curling into a cold smile. "Why don’t you ask him what he did?"
Elder Madam Keir was still hysterical. "Whatever it is, was it worth all this?! Look at him! He’s practically dead! You have 50%, he only has 3%! Why bother?!"
Everyone knew the real reason no one in the Keir family dared challenge Shin Keir anymore. The company—its assets, subsidiaries, voting power, was all under Shin’s control.
When Allister Keir stepped down and passed the reins to his son, he did so completely. No hidden shares. No puppet strings. He gave Shin everything, letting the world know exactly where the power lay.
Even Tristan Felan, who had been offered 15%, only accepted 5%. He wasn’t interested in corporate wars and preferred to grow Hexion independently.
Shin’s 50% stake meant he could crush anyone in the company without blinking.
Hadi’s body shook even harder. Fear surged through his battered frame.
So Shin Keir knew. He had found out.
This wasn’t just about the anonymous leaks. The shady shares manipulation. The attempts to smear KGG’s name during the recent scandal.
Hadi thought staying in the main mansion under Elder Madam Keir’s wing would be a shield. He believed Shin wouldn’t do anything in front of the matriarch.
But he had grossly underestimated him or maybe he just doesn’t know Shin Keir.
"Not talking?" Shin asked again, as he raised his leg like he was about to kick Hadi’s head like a soccer ball.
"No—wait! Big brother—I mean, you’re my elder...Elder Keir!" Hadi sobbed, incoherent. "It was just a joke—I didn’t mean it—I swear I didn’t mean to—I was just—!"
His rambling made no sense, but his terror was crystal clear.
Elder Madam Keir collapsed beside him and clutched his head, shielding him with her shaking hands.
"Call the doctor!" she screamed at the maids. "Call Dr. Noh immediately!"
The estate had its own medical staff on standby considering Elder Madam Keir was old and couldn’t risk emergency hospital delays.
The servants scattered at her command, one running off toward the east wing where the medical team was based.
"You bastard, he’s still family!" Elder Madam Keir cried out, shaking as she looked up at Shin. "Three percent! It’s nothing to you! Do you have to be so petty?! What has he done for you to treat him ?!"
Shin didn’t respond immediately.
He simply stared down at her and then at the whimpering, blood-smeared Hadi like he was calculating their worth.
And truthfully, if their worth didn’t amount to anything, he might as well end them right then and there.
"Family?" he finally repeated, voice devoid of warmth. "He forfeited that right and his life the moment he sent people to kill me."
Elder Madam Keir froze in place.
Her wrinkled fingers trembled harder. "...W-what?"
Shin’s voice dropped lower, darker. "Ask him what he did. I have more than enough evidence to send him to prison for life."
The blood drained from Elder Madam Keir’s face as she slowly turned to her precious grandson.
"...It was just supposed to scare you," he muttered, tears and blood mixing down his face. "I didn’t think they’d misunderstand... I didn’t think they’d go that far..."
Shin crouched beside him, gaze sharp and venomous. "Oh?"
"I—I..." Hadi’s voice cracked.
Shin pressed the sole of his expensive shoe harder against Hadi’s cheek. "One minute. Decide. Sign it, or go to prison."
Elder Madam Keir’s mouth opened, but no words came out.
She couldn’t defend that.
Not even she could excuse that.
The old woman suddenly realised there were still too many people watching. Too many mouths that could whisper these events to others.
This was something that couldn’t be leaked, no matter what.
Elder Madam Keir’s face twisted in fear as she suddenly turned to the hovering servants. "GET OUT! All of you! Out this instant!" she screamed.
The maids and staff jumped at her voice and scrambled to flee, their footsteps echoing down the hall. Some looked terrified. Others looked confused. But not one dared disobey.
Once the room was relatively cleared, Hadi sobbed louder and reached for her with his uninjured arm.
"Grandma... Please! Please save me!" he cried out, clinging to her skirt like a toddler. "He’s going to kill me!"
Elder Madam Keir reverted to her usual demeanor, pointing at Shin. "Aren’t you still alive?! If you really think he meant to kill you, you’d already be dead!" she hissed under her breath, her voice suddenly tight and quiet, afraid someone might still be listening. "Stop making a scene!"
Shin couldn’t be bothered reasoning with her, raised a brow and said, "Three percent... doesn’t matter from whom."
Her expression froze.
The old woman looked at Shin like she had just been accused of murder. She took a few steps back as if Shin had extended that unspoken threat to her now.
She had 15% shares, second only to Shin in the family. Losing 3% meant cutting into her lifespan, her control and legacy. And for her, that was unthinkable.
Shin sneered inwardly. So much for family, a doting grandmother pretending to love her grandson. But when it came down to it, neither of them was willing to sacrifice anything for the other.
"Grandma!" Hadi sobbed louder. "You still have a lot even if you give him just 3%... But if I lose this, I’ll have nothing! Grandma, please! Save me just this once!"
Elder Madam Keir looked as if she were going to faint from heartbreak. "Do you have to be this cruel? Over something so small? We’re family, must we fight over mere shares? You already beat him near to death. Isn’t that enough?!"
He’d heard this nonsense before. Guilt, shame, manipulation...coming from an old hag who had never cared about anything but appearances and power.
However this wasn’t about shares.
If it were only about him, perhaps he could’ve just beat Hadi into paralysis.
But Yeri was involved.
Yeri nearly died that night.
Whether Hadi knew he wasn’t alone that night, whether it was ’just to scare him,’ none of it mattered.
The result was the same—Yeri had suffered because of him, someone had to pay for that.
Seeing Shin remain cold no matter how much she wailed, Elder Madam Keir suddenly clutched her chest, letting out a dramatic gasp.
"You unfilial bastard! You’re going to be the death of me!" she screamed. "Why is my life so full of misery?! Even at this age, you want to steal from me—I-I can’t breathe..."
"Grandma!" Hadi howled in panic and dragged himself toward her like a slug, ignoring the pain in his limbs. "Someone! Help! Grandma’s having a heart attack!"
Being forced to watch the two parasites putting on an act, Shin flatly said to Secretary Yun. "Call the police,"
That made both of them freeze mid-performance.
The words hit them like a thunderbolt.
"You—what do you mean?!" Elder Madam Keir shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at Shin.
Shin didn’t even blink. "Either someone compensates me, or your useless grandson goes to prison."
Then he looked down at Hadi’s face—sweaty, bloody, and covered in tears and snot and once again stomped on it without mercy.
"G-GRANDMA!!" Hadi cried again. "PLEASE!!"
Elder Madam Keir snapped out of her daze, ignored Hadi and suddenly lunged at Secretary Yun, knocking his phone out of his hand and sending it crashing into the wall.
"NO ONE is calling the police! Not you, not him, NO ONE!" she screamed. "Have you gone mad, Shin?! You want to ruin this family? Sending Hadi to prison for something ?! Do you want our enemies to find out and tear us apart?!"
Shin stared at her, expression unchanging.
He knew exactly what mattered most to the old woman.
It wasn’t because of her love for her grandson but reputation.
It was her achilles heel. Her weapon. Her very existence.
Did he care? Not at all.
Elder Madam Keir collapsed to the ground again, sobbing like she was the most wronged person in the world.
"Old hag, are you dying?" Shin asked coldly. "Not bad. I’ll get all your shares once you’re gone. So generous?"
Elder Madam Keir "..."
She turned ghostly white, especially when she noticed the way Hadi looked at her as if her death might be his salvation.