I felt the left side of my face throb, it hurt but I could tell she had held back a little bit, if she had hit me with her full strength my fragile neck would have snapped. I was only a five-month-old baby after all.
I knew Kang Ho was abused in the novel, but even some random servant was treating him like dirt, it really showed how low my status was.
The old maid loomed over me, wearing a self-righteous smirk on her wrinkled face, she was probably expecting me to cry and beg helplessly in front of her.
But I didn't cry, I couldn't bring myself to fake the tears, feeling the sting of her slap made me too excited. I wondered if she was like me, did she also find satisfaction in violence? Did it arouse her? How far would she take it, would she torture me?
It took a certain type of twisted individual to torture a baby, even I had hesitated once or twice the first time I had murdered a child. All kinds of expectations filled my head. I stared at her boldly, daring her to make the next move. "DO IT, DO IT, DO IT, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!" I was screaming in my head.
My large dark eyes were tinged red as I beckoned her towards me, but my gaze had the opposite effect on her. Her smug expression disappeared and her hands began to shake. "Don't look at me like that you filthy shit!" she screeched, and like a rat she scurried away from the room in a panic, leaving me there.
I watched her go with a blank expression, but in my mind, I was laughing. Pathetic, I hated people who were half-assed, that did things and didn't go all the way. If she wasn't prepared to kill me, she shouldn't have slapped me. Because she had failed to kill me today she had booked herself a gruesome death in the near future.
From this very moment onwards that woman's days were numbered. "Soon, soon. Just you wait you old bat, I'll give you a good death."
I imagined smashing her skull in with a blunt hammer, but imagination wasn't enough for me, I needed to do it. The compulsion was hitting me like an itch I needed to scratch, but there was no way I could reach that itch with this body.
No, for now, I needed to bide my time and gain strength and influence in this household. To do that I needed to remember everything about the KangMung group.
I sat up, rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, I needed to remember...
In the novel, KangMung was described as the biggest conglomerate group across South and East Asia, with a rich history spanning over 500 years. A long time ago two powerful merchant groups, the Kang family and the Mung family made a partnership and formed KangMung. The Mung's managed everything from transportation to security, while the Kang's managed supply, demand, stock and the financials. Over the years the Mungs invested in railways and all kinds of transport businesses and the Kang's focused on technology and innovative products much like Samsung from my previous world.
As a result, you couldn't ride in any car or train in this world without it being made or linked to KangMung, and the most popular mobile devices, laptops and most electronic gadgets from Asia were designed and likely owned by the KangMung group.
Despite the two families being partnered together, they never integrated with each other through marriage, they existed to keep the other in check, maintaining a healthy balance between the two. If one family stepped over the line the other would push it back.
In fact, in the novel, Song Jae joined hands with the Mung family to get his revenge on Kang Ho.
There was a lot of internal conflict going on in the KangMung group, possible power dynamics I could take advantage of.
Ignoring the Mung side of the group, the Kang family was big, containing four large factions.
The four factions in the Kang family were Buk (North), Nam (South), Dong (East), and Seo (West). For generations, Buk was the Main and most powerful faction in the Kang family, as a result, the leader of the Buk faction was usually the head of the Kang family, but that changed when Kang Ho's grandfather, Kang Seung, became the leader.
Kang Seung was from the Nam faction of the family. He had won over the shareholders and the other factions through his intelligence, great business deals and foresight. He made history by becoming the first member of the Nam faction to lead the Kang Family. Bringing forth a new era.
Kang Seung had three daughters and two sons. Being a patriarchal organisation, only men were considered for 'head' positions in KangMung. That's why they were overly protective of Kang Joon-Ki, Kang Ho— I mean, my father.
Although Kang Joon-Ki was the second son of Kang Seung, he was the only eligible heir since the eldest son had been a disappointment who married into another somewhat powerful family and had taken his wife's surname.
If Kang Joon-ki didn't become the next head of the family, then Kang Seung and the Nam faction would lose power, and the 'head' family position would likely go back to the Buk faction.
That's why they didn't want him marrying my mother, Soo-Ah. Bin Soo-Ah's poor background wouldn't have helped Kang Joon-ki in his succession to be the second generation Nam faction leader, in fact, it would have hindered him and his position.
The KangMung group was traditional, they believed in monogamy and hated divorce. If Soo-Ah had married Joon-ki they wouldn't have been able to stop him, and if they had forced him to have a divorce and marry someone else for political or business power, that would have also hindered his reputation in the group.
That's probably why they encouraged Soo-Ah to go ahead with her dangerous pregnancy, hoping that she would die and allow Joon-ki to marry someone that would benefit him. And they did just that, soon after she did die they married Kang Joon-ki to Yong Myeong from the Dragon Group.
The Dragon Group was a powerful political club across East Asia. They had thousands of members with administrative and political ties, many being Prime Ministers, Presidents and even royalty. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Dragon Group ran the Government across East Asia. The head of the Dragon Group, Yong Bon-Hwa could easily depose the current President of South Korea with a simple order. The power of the Dragon group was an open secret, people knew about it but no one dared to say anything.
A year from now, in the novel Yong Myeong would give birth to her first son and the person who would torment Kang Ho the most, Kang Cheon-Sa. After that child's birth, if Kang Ho was treated like dirt before, he would become dust in everyone's eyes.
Also in the story, Yong Myeong and Joon-ki would end up falling for each other, what had begun as an arranged marriage that neither of them wanted, would end up being an amazing romance. Joon-Ki would cherish all his children with Yong Myeong, causing him to see Kang Ho as nothing more than a past regret.
Thinking about it, Kang Ho was quite unfortunate, no wonder he was so jealous of the protagonist, Song Jae. He probably never even had a hug, he was destined to be treated as an unwanted eyesore from birth.
Oh well, it was obvious what I had to do next. If I wanted to live a comfortable life and gain the freedom to do my favourite activities, I needed to improve my status in the family. The fastest and most efficient way to do this was to become the sole eligible heir to Kang Joon-ki, which would solve all my problems.
With that goal in mind, I had three steps to take:
1. Get powerful members of the Kang and Mung family on my side.
2. Kill or cripple all of Joon-ki's male children with Yong Myeong.
3. And, present myself as the perfect son; smart, handsome, likeable and most of all capable.
I giggled letting out baby-like gurgles. It wouldn't be easy doing these things, especially with my current position, but I would do it. I always achieved everything I put my mind to. I looked forward to the challenge.