“Hyung, look at this.”
“What is it?”
What Jiho had brought was information on a startup expo.
Jiho had enthusiastically accepted Suho’s suggestion that they try starting a business together.
Having also diligently participated in the addiction treatment program Towerpia had arranged for him, Jiho was recovering far faster than originally expected.
According to the counselors, such a rapid recovery was unprecedented.
Of course, since he had said absolutely nothing about the money-drenched “Jeong Suho-style Futility of Abundance Therapy,” it was only natural they found it strange.
In any case, Suho had not only helped him recover but was even presenting him with a new direction in life. Jiho had no reason to refuse his brother’s business proposal.
Not only had he said he would do it, but he had been running around so diligently from that very day that, one day, he brought back this information.
“Wouldn’t it help if we went and checked it out?”
Looking at the tablet screen, Suho saw that an expo being held in Busan was being advertised in dazzling fashion.
It was an international startup expo titled “The Tower and Admitti Frontier Expo.”
“Oh... you’re right. Nice. Let’s go.”
It was a startup expo related to towers and Admitti,
and it was a huge event covering an astonishing range of fields: the latest Admitti weapons and equipment technology, auxiliary tools, monster encyclopedia research information, various drugs and potions, medical recovery services, real-time communication devices between Admitti, networks, Admitti-related insurance products, and more.
“Wow, they say the exhibition booths will be displaying the latest technology and products in each field!”
“Demonic beast detection drone technology, custom weapon workshops, mobile healer clinics...? They’ve got all sorts of stuff. Ah, so these are startup introduction booths. Sounds fun. Let’s go. Let’s go.”
The business Suho had been envisioning in the first place was a company that supplied goods related to towers, and since the expo happened to cover similar themes, it was nothing if not a good opportunity.
Thinking he could get all sorts of ideas from it, he immediately set a schedule to attend.
* * *
Suho rented a camping bus for a comfortable trip from Seoul to Busan.
He had considered taking a plane, but gave up in the end because of the hassle of getting to Gimpo Airport, then needing additional transportation from Gimhae Airport to Busan’s Haeundae. The train was the same.
When he asked Manage to arrange and rent some sort of luxury camper, they brought him an ultra-luxury camping bus.
With natural leather sofas, a bedroom, a meeting space, a bathroom, a shower room, a refrigerator, a washing machine, and even kitchen facilities, the luxury camping bus lacked nothing, and its lavish interior called to mind a fine hotel.
It was a model whose side extended outward when parked, expanding the interior space, though that was difficult to do while moving.
On top of that, it was a special vibration-free electric bus model that boasted a ride so smooth it felt like gliding.
The driving would be handled by autonomous driving anyway, and they had plenty of time, so they planned to sleep, eat, wash up, and travel all at once.
“Woooow... I’ve only ever seen stuff like this in pictures... Hyung, are we sleeping here while we’re in Busan?”
“No, this is just transportation.”
“Then? Where are we sleeping?”
“I booked WH Suites Hotel in front of Haeundae Beach. A platinum suite room.”
“Wow.”
“That must’ve cost a lot.”
“Come on, how much could that be... Since we’re going to Busan, let’s eat our fill of raw fish.”
Before Suho, Jiho, and Seongsik had even fully noticed after boarding, the bus silently left the parking lot and headed toward the IC.
“Jiho already knows him. Seongsik, say hello. This is Joshua Evans. He’s an Admitti.”
“Huh...? Gah!”
Seeing Joshua smoothly appear out of empty space, Seongsik was scared out of his wits.
“I apologize for startling you. I’m Joshua Evans. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I usually remain concealed while guarding Suho-nim...”
“Ah, ah! I’m the one who’s sorry for being so startled. I’ve heard a lot about you. I look forward to getting along.”
Seongsik bowed his head and held out his hand to Joshua.
“I look forward to it as well.”
Watching them clasp hands and shake, Suho added a word.
“Joshua, the three of us decided to start a business together. You’ll be seeing them often from now on, so please speak comfortably. You’re much older than us. I’m the oldest out of the three of us.”
“Why are you the oldest? You’re the same age as me.”
“My birthday’s earlier.”
“Bullshit.”
Joshua, however, only smiled serenely.
“I’m all right. This is more comfortable for me.”
“Well... if you insist...”
Suho’s and Jiho’s androids were fixed against the bedroom wall to charge,
and the four of them gathered around the small meeting table in the center and took cold drinks out of the refrigerator.
Pssht—
“Wow, having a fridge is nice. It’s full of drinks too!”
“You’re right. Is this part of the service? Or maybe Manage stocked it for us.”
“Suho, your Manage really does seem great.”
“Well... more than I deserve.”
Jiho, who had spent almost all his time indoors because of his treatment schedule and was out for the first time in a while, was especially excited.
“It’s been so long since I’ve been to Busan. Same for you guys, right?”
“Yeah, seriously, when was the last time I went to Busan?”
At that, Seongsik, who had been drinking a cold beer, shrugged.
“This is my first time going to Busan.”
“Eeeh?! Seriously? No, how can you live in Korea and be going to Busan for the first time?”
“I just never had a reason to go, and never got the chance.”
“You’ve gone to Japan plenty of times. China, Taiwan, America too..., and where else was it. That...”
“I’ve been to Europe a lot too.”
“Right. And you still haven’t been to Busan?”
“I know. It’s strange. And it’s not just Busan. The Jeolla region too—there are still a lot of places in Korea I haven’t been.”
“You weirdo. We have another Seoul bumpkin here.”
“Does not having gone to Busan make me a bumpkin? Joshua must be going to Busan for the first time too.”
Unexpectedly, Joshua shook his head.
“No. When I came to Korea on a trip in the past, I went there. Twice, I believe...”
At that, everyone looked back at Seongsik as if they found him absurd.
Even Joshua, an American, had been there, but this guy who lived in Seoul had never been to Busan.
* * *
At the same time,
there was a covert group infiltrating through Incheon.
Using a regular cargo ship arriving from the Port of Vladivostok to enter Incheon Port, they had hidden inside a shipping container, then entered the harbor silently underwater before the ship docked.
A Russian special operations team.
It was no ordinary special forces unit.
A High Specter Team made up of combat androids and Admitti.
Three A-rank Admitti, seven B- to C-rank Admitti,
and five combat-type androids formed a team so elite that even the word “elite” was insufficient.
A super-special kidnapping team, assembled under the special order to carry out their mission covertly and invisibly without fail under any circumstances, quietly infiltrated Incheon.
“Isn’t this a bit excessive? We’re just grabbing a few civilians...”
One B-rank Admitti grumbled in a low voice. An A-rank beside him responded.
“It is, isn’t it? With this much, we could probably kidnap the president of the United States.”
“Exactly. Just how impressive are the targets supposed to be?”
“Shut your mouths. It means that if we fail and the operation leaks, it cannot be allowed. Never let your guard down. Stay focused.”
At the team leader’s single remark, the grumbling man shut his mouth and sulked.
“All we have to do is capture the targets, package them nicely, and get them to Uljin Airport. After that, we hand them over to another team that’s been prepared.”
With custom smart masks and color-changing smart clothing, the elite team, now transformed into appearances indistinguishable from harbor workers, blended into the crowd.
* * *
“We are traveling to Busan with Admitti Jeong Suho. Current location: Chilgok. Nothing unusual.”
“Understood. Keep up the good work.”
Director Kim Gyusik of the Administration Bureau, having received the regular report from the bodyguards in bulletproof vehicles escorting Suho’s bus from the front and rear, set down the receiver.
“Busan all of a sudden... I can’t tell what he’s thinking at all...”
With a considerable number of bodyguards drawn from and assigned by the Admitti Protection Office currently stationed around Jeong Suho and his family, it was a major burden for Suho, the most important person of all, to travel to another region.
In the end, they had assigned even more guards to Suho, who was traveling a long distance, and reduced the protection attached to his family.
Suho had consistently said that he did not need bodyguards and that they should be withdrawn, so there was no room to complain to him about it.
But protecting an S-rank Admitti of the production and support type was absolutely necessary.
Jeong Suho himself did not seem to have much sense of danger, but considering the incredible things he had done at the auction house recently, there were too many forces who might target him to count on one hand.
“Cheongdam, nothing unusual.”
“Good. Keep at it.”
A report came in that there was nothing unusual on the family’s side either.
Although the numbers had been greatly reduced at present, Jeong Suho’s Cheongdam penthouse still had ten elite agents attached to it in shifts around the clock.
Every day felt like walking on thin ice.
In truth, the families of all S-rank Admitti were protection targets, but relatively smaller security teams were assigned to the S-ranks of combat classes themselves.
Even if they could only exert fifteen percent of their strength outside the tower, each and every one of them possessed at least company-level combat power.
‘If only Jeong Suho had a bit more powerful combat strength, I’d have a little less to worry about...’
Director Kim Gyusik pressed firmly at the space between his brows and closed his tired eyes while seated in the situation room chair.
* * *
“A tower materials supply company?”
“Yeah.”
At the unexpected business idea, Seongsik voiced his doubts.
“Is there any need to start a business for that? Aren’t those things all traded on the Ontower auction house anyway?”
“Items like that do go up on the auction house and get traded there, but first of all, the supply is wildly inconsistent. And the purchase process is complicated and takes a long time. You have to register, wait for the auction day, go through the auction, and then wait until you receive the item. But in reality, there are lots of Admitti who need things urgently, whether for purchase or repair. Tower raids have fixed schedules, after all.”
“Hmm...”
“And at the auction house, the prices of everything get needlessly inflated. Which means instead of going to the people who truly need them, they get snatched up by people with money.”
“So what you want to do is an offline store?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking of creating and running an offline tower materials shop. Minerals, leather, wood, herbs, and so on—not finished products, but a shop that sells materials.”
“Well, I suppose there’d be steady demand.”
“There has to be a lot. Not just tower-raiding Admitti, but craftsman-type Admitti related to production will probably come looking too. First, we need to investigate and identify the materials that come from the towers, the materials used in equipment by Admitti who enter the towers, materials needed for repairs, that sort of thing.”
“But can you even get all those items?”
“Don’t worry about that. That’s what my ability is for. I’ll obtain all the materials we sell myself.”
They called it a business, but in the end, it was a matter of opening a shop.
In truth, it was not exactly a job suited for Seongsik, who was talented in IT, but if the scale of the business grew, management would become complicated. Suho needed a brain he could trust and leave things to. Seongsik was the kind of talent who could quickly understand and handle any task.
“Haa... I can’t quite imagine you covering all the stock on your own.”
“Don’t worry about that. First, we need to come up with a proper name.”
“Hmm... We’ll need branding, a logo, and a slogan too. We’ll also have to decide how to handle customer service, how many employees to hire, how to do marketing, and we’ll need market analysis.”
“There probably isn’t an established market. We’ll be the first anyway.”
Seongsik, who had quite a bit of knowledge in various areas, pointed out one necessary item after another and continued discussing things with Suho, while Jiho diligently wrote everything down.
“We need to make a financial plan too.”
“A financial plan?”
“Yeah, bank loans, attracting investment, funding, that kind of stuff.”
“Ah, we don’t need a financing plan. I’ll provide all the funds.”
Even as Seongsik narrowed his eyes as if telling him not to talk nonsense, he pointed out what was needed.
“You’re going to get all the materials yourself, and you’re going to provide all the funds yourself. Do you even need us? Anyway, we’ll have to register the business, establish the company, register the trademark, and complete other legal procedures...”
“Okay, that’s exactly the kind of thing I need you and Jiho to handle, Seongsik. More importantly...”
“More importantly?”
“We need to choose the store location. Where would be easy for Admitti to access and likely to bring in a lot of them?”
“Let’s see... Near the headquarters of major clans?”
“Major clans are spaced out because of their coverage regions anyway..., ah, then should we just open it right in front of the Tower Administration Bureau building?”
“Hey, hey, do you know how expensive land is in that neighborhood...?”
“There you go worrying about money again.”
“Hey, how could I not worry about money? Every idea you’re throwing out right now is a bomb.”
“Whatever. Oh, right, we also need to look into interior design.”
“Ahem. If Suji isn’t busy, should we try to pull her in?”
Seongsik carefully watched Suho’s reaction as he brought up Suji, but Suho rejected it at once.
“She’s hopeless when it comes to art. She only likes music. No. It’ll fail.”
“Hmm...”
“More importantly, what’s your older sister doing these days, Seongsik? She majored in interior design. She had some practical experience before too.”
“Good grief... How long ago was that? It’s been ages since my sister had a kid and quit working.”
Seongsik had an older sister with a big age gap between them. As it happened, she was someone with experience in interior design.
“What is she doing now?”
“What do you think? She’s a full-time homemaker. She even has two kids, so she’s busy as hell.”
“Right, that’s true. Your sister really is a patriot. Having two kids in this day and age... Then your brother-in-law is the only one earning, right? Would she need a part-time job? Contact her once, at least. Ask if she has any interest in working.”
“A part-time job? I don’t know... Should I ask?”
“Yeah, please ask her. Tell her she only has to work three days a week, and she can do most of it from home. She just needs to send us the designs. Make sure to tell her we can adjust all conditions so it won’t interfere with her household. And the monthly salary will be one hundred million won. Ask her like that.”
“Cough... Are you insane?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Where the hell is there a job that pays one hundred million a month for working from home three days a week...?”
“Is it too little? Fine. Two hundred million.”
“That’s not what I meant, you crazy bastard...”
Though he hesitated, Seongsik seemed moved.
He was the kind of upright guy who flatly refused large sums of money given to him, but it seemed hard for him to firmly reject something that would take care of his family.
“For now... I’ll ask my sister.”
Suho was happy that, in whatever form it took, he could support his one and only friend.
In his boring daily life, something that seemed fun for the first time in a while had appeared.