Taeho spoke first.
“It’s gotten rather late. If you don’t mind, would you like to have dinner together? There’s a decent restaurant nearby.”
“Would that be all right? Am I not taking up too much of your time?”
“Not at all.”
When Taeho answered plainly, Amira’s eyes softened.
“Then I’d be grateful to join you.”
The place Taeho led her to was a modest little restaurant with a simple sign that read “Sea Village.” When they opened the door and stepped inside, every table was packed with customers.
A middle-aged man appeared from the kitchen, wearing an apron.
“Director, you’re here!”
Owner Kim’s face lit up. When he saw Amira standing beside Taeho, his eyes curved like shrimp.
“Wow, hello there. I was wondering what sort of guest the director was bringing, and it turns out she’s an incredible beauty. Hahaha. Which country might such a beautiful lady be from?”
Taeho smiled awkwardly, a little embarrassed. He thought it was a relief that Amira couldn’t understand Korean, but then—
“I’m from the United Arab Emirates. Please call me Amira.”
Her pronunciation was quite clear, and Taeho was startled.
“You knew how to speak Korean?”
“I practiced a little. Only a very little.”
Amira answered shyly.
“My goodness, your Korean is good. Ms. Amira, you’re Muslim, right? We prepared halal food at our place today, so please don’t worry and enjoy.”
Amira looked at Taeho in surprise.
“You prepared it in advance?”
“You didn’t seem to eat much outside the hotel.”
Until now, Faisal and Amira had only been eating food airlifted from their home country inside the hotel.
Owner Kim added with a pleased smile.
“You wouldn’t believe how carefully the director explained it to me. Pork is absolutely out, and beef or chicken isn’t allowed unless it’s halal-certified. So today, we prepared halal beef, seafood, and vegetable dishes especially for you.”
“Thank you.”
Amira greeted him with a smile.
Owner Kim continued with a good-natured expression.
“While you’re here, just think of it as your own home and relax. The director is the man who saved my life.”
“Did Doctor Kang treat you at the hospital?”
Amira asked, her eyes shining.
Owner Kim waved his thick hands.
“No. He really saved my life. Before I opened this restaurant, I worked at construction sites to save money. But at the construction site for the Geumsan Research Institute, there was a landslide during a torrential downpour. When I was buried in the dirt, all I could think was, This is the end.”
“Ya Allahu! (Good heavens!)”
Amira stared at Owner Kim in shock.
“Back then, the director was the first to rush over. He pulled the people buried in the dirt out and saved us. Whew, even thinking about it now makes my blood run cold.”
Owner Kim shuddered as he continued.
“Of course, now I’m grateful every single day that I can run my business like this and provide for my family. It’s all thanks to the director. If the director hadn’t been there, just thinking about what might have happened... Whew.”
Taeho waved his hand.
“You had such a strong will, sir. That’s why you recovered faster than the others.”
“No. Director, you’re my benefactor. That’s why I want to do anything you ask of me.”
“Masha’Allah! (As God wills)”
Amira placed her right hand over her chest and gave a faint smile. In her eyes was a deep respect toward Taeho and awe for Owner Kim’s life.
Owner Kim spoke warmly to Amira.
“Ms. Amira, please sit over here. I’ll prepare everything with care.”
Owner Kim guided them to a window seat with a fine view and removed the sign that said “Reserved.” The bodyguards were seated at the table right beside them.
Once they sat down, the open window brought the sea into view like a painting.
A short while later, the carefully prepared dishes were served.
Seasoned seaweed, braised sailfin sandfish, grilled pine mushrooms, and side dishes were arranged beautifully.
Amira picked up a little of the seasoned seaweed with her chopsticks and tried it, then exclaimed in admiration.
“It’s so fresh. The scent of the sea is still alive. We don’t eat much seaweed in my country, so I had no idea it could be this delicious.”
“It is good. It’s seasoned with sesame oil and garlic.”
“This little fish is really sweet and tender too. My, there aren’t any bones at all?”
“Sailfin sandfish is a specialty of Samcheok. This one’s braised in soy sauce.”
Taeho ate with her and explained.
After eating the pine mushroom, Amira closed her eyes.
“This mushroom... The aroma is so deep. I can’t believe it can taste like this without any spices...”
“It’s pine mushroom from Gangwon-do. Since it was gathered directly from nature, even if you grill it with just a light sprinkling of salt, the aroma is strong.”
The main dishes began. First came a clear soup of gomchi.
“This is a delicacy from the East Sea. It’s made with a fish called gomchi...”
Amira scooped up a spoonful of broth and drank it. A moment later, she spoke in surprise.
“It’s so clear and clean. There’s no fishy smell at all. How can it be this light?”
“Gomchi has no oiliness, so its flavor is mild.”
Next, after tasting the bulgogi hot pot, parboiled squid, and grilled dried pollack, Amira’s eyes went round, and she spoke excitedly.
“Wow. The more I chew, the deeper the flavor becomes. Is all Korean food this delicious?”
“I’m glad it suits your taste. That’s dried pollack. It’s a Gangwon-do specialty made by drying pollack in the winter wind. It’s naturally dried on racks, so the nutrients are concentrated.”
As Taeho explained, he glanced behind Amira and saw that the bodyguards, too, had craned their necks to listen to his explanation and were whispering among themselves. Judging by the way they were clearing their plates clean, it didn’t seem to be anything bad.
They ate buckwheat rice with seasoned wild greens such as gondre, bracken, and chwinamul, as well as mustard leaf kimchi and ponytail radish kimchi.
“Each one tastes different. The culture of eating such a variety of plants is truly fascinating.”
Amira smiled innocently as she tasted the various dishes. The cautious, composed demeanor she had shown beside Faisal had vanished without a trace. With the thread of tension released, her eyes sparkled with curiosity, and that clear radiance was more than enough to captivate anyone who saw it.
Owner Kim brought over mung bean pancakes fried to a golden crisp.
“This is our house specialty. Once you try it, you’ll be amazed.”
The moment Amira saw the mung bean pancake, her eyes widened.
“Oh? This looks similar to mutabbaq.”
Taeho asked with interest.
“Mutabbaq?”
“It’s a snack we often eat in my country. You roll wheat dough very thin. About this thin.”
Amira used her fingers to indicate something as thin as paper.
“Inside, you put lamb or chicken, onions, and eggs, then fold it and grill it. Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside.”
Amira tore off a small piece of the mung bean pancake with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth.
“Mmm, mm... The taste is different. There’s no meat in this, but it’s savory and deep. Wow, it’s delicious!”
“What does mutabbaq taste like?”
When Taeho asked, Amira dabbed at her oil-slicked lips with a napkin and said,
“Mm. The crispy texture is similar, but the spice flavor is strong. Cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and the rich taste of lamb come together to make a very full flavor.”
“That sounds delicious too.”
Amira smiled as she took another bite of the mung bean pancake.
“But this mung bean pancake is truly delicious as well. To think mung beans alone can create this kind of flavor... I can feel the wisdom of Korean cuisine.”
For the final dessert, Samcheok potato rice cakes and cinnamon tea were served.
Amira looked intrigued.
“You make rice cakes with potatoes?”
“Yes, it’s a traditional dessert from the Samcheok region.”
After eating the chewy potato rice cake, Amira smiled.
“This is unique and delicious too. It’s sweet and springy. Ah, it’s so good, but I feel like my stomach is going to burst.”
“Hahaha. Try some cinnamon tea. It’s a warm tea that helps with digestion.”
Amira drank the tea and looked at Taeho. Her eyes were full of emotion.
“Thank you. I didn’t expect to have such a perfect meal.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Enjoyed isn’t enough to describe it. It was truly wonderful.”
Taeho watched her with satisfaction. Seeing her eat so happily warmed his heart.
“What kind of food do you usually eat in Abu Dhabi?”
“We eat a lot of lamb. There’s a lamb dish called khuzi. We eat fish too, but most of it is fried or cooked with a lot of spices. This is my first time having things grilled so simply or seasoned like this.”
“Then you must be used to the taste of spices. Doesn’t our food feel bland?”
“No. On the contrary, I liked being able to taste the ingredients themselves.”
As they rose from their seats, Taeho saw that the bodyguards’ plates had been wiped clean without even a drop of soup left. It seemed Owner Kim had taken it upon himself to bring out extra portions of some dishes.
Owner Kim saw them off all the way to the door.
“Ms. Amira, please come by anytime while you’re in Korea. I’ll treat you with all the care I can, with halal food.”
“The meal was delicious. Thank you.”
Amira answered in Korean and smiled brightly.
On the way back to the hotel, Taeho asked,
“Did you understand everything Owner Kim said in Korean?”
“No. My Korean isn’t that good.”
“But you answered so confidently?”
“I thought he was telling me to come again. Was I wrong?”
“You’re quick on the uptake. Do you know what ‘nunchi’ means in Korean?”
“Nuun-chi? I don’t know.”
“It’s used to describe someone like you, who understands what something means even when they don’t understand the words. ‘Nunchi-ga ppareuda.’”
“Nuun-chi-ga ppareuda. Amira, nuun-chi-ga ppareuda.”
Amira murmured it a few times with a playful look, then burst into laughter.
***
After finishing dinner and returning to the hotel, Taeho and Amira sensed an unusual atmosphere from the lobby onward. Security was stricter than usual, and the faces of the royal aides were stiff.
“What happened?”
Taeho muttered.
Amira also looked uneasy. In the elevator, the two looked at each other in silence. The warmth that had filled the air only a few hours before was rapidly growing cold.
When the door to Faisal’s suite opened, what greeted them was Faisal’s expression, more grave than they had ever seen it.
Amira ran forward and cried out.
“Ya, akhi? What happened?”
Faisal motioned for Amira to stop and looked at Taeho.
“Doctor Kang, have a seat. We’ve just discovered a very serious problem.”
On the table in the center of the living room, several laptops and documents were spread out in disarray. Faisal’s financial advisers and security experts appeared to have been summoned urgently.
When Taeho sat on the sofa, Faisal began to speak.
“Last time, I demanded that Nova Fund return our capital.”
“You said you would do that then.”
Taeho nodded.
Faisal continued, turning a laptop screen toward him.
On the screen was a complex diagram of financial flows. Countless arrows and numbers were tangled together like a spiderweb.
“This is the result of tracing the money that has flowed out of our royal family for the past fifteen years.”
Taeho focused on the screen. It was a complicated chart, but with his analytical ability, he could understand it well enough.
Following the screen with his eyes, Taeho murmured,
“The funds that originated in the UAE passed through Nova Fund in Switzerland and then scattered across various countries in Europe.”
“They’re paper companies.”
Faisal said coldly.
“Ghost companies with no substance. On the surface, they were dressed up as investments in biotech startups, but in reality, they were funding nonexistent research institutes, fake laboratories, and shell companies hidden throughout the United States and Europe.”
“Wait. Something’s strange.”
Taeho suddenly raised his head.