“Seungwon hasn’t been coming around lately?”
At Suho’s question, Jiho tilted his head.
“Yeah, he was coming and going incessantly for a while. Why is that? We didn’t even drop any hints. Hyung, did you maybe give him a talking-to?”
“Huh? Me? What did I do! What reason would I have to scold him? It’s not like Seungwon and I just met… He probably just has something keeping him busy.”
Suho had brought it up himself, but feeling awkward about his own words, he hurriedly changed the subject.
In truth, it was obvious even without looking. A guy who’d suddenly come into a huge fortune would be completely out of his mind spending it by now.
He had asked Minji and Minsu to look into it, and sure enough, the guy was moving in a predictable pattern.
Buying a house, buying a car, buying luxury goods… He was completely steeped in shopping. So Suho planned to leave him be for the time being and observe him again later.
While lost in thought, Suho was staring intently at the screen he had been looking at when Jiho approached.
“But what are you doing, Hyung? What map is that? You’ve been looking at that a lot lately?”
“Ah, this… Russia.”
“Russia? You want to travel there? Should we set a date?”
“Travel, my foot… Hey, Jiho.”
Suddenly, Suho lowered his voice.
“I’m thinking of… making a move. I’m going to wipe out the Gremlin Palace in Russia.”
“Huh…?”
At Suho’s sudden aggression, Jiho turned pale.
“H-Hyung, get a hold of yourself, what’s wrong? Why the Gremlin Palace all of a sudden? Are you crazy?”
“It’s in Russia. The intruders from before.”
“Ah… but we caught them. Those people. I heard they were either killed or all captured…”
“They were ultimately just pawns. There have to be heads who planned and ordered that. How could I stand the fact that those bastards are still sleeping soundly?”
“A-Ah, but what are you going to do about it…”
“There’s a security council meeting that the president chairs, attended by key officials from defense, foreign affairs, interior, intelligence, and so on. It often proceeds behind closed doors, but it also opens officially sometimes. I’m aiming for one of those times.”
“Wh-what, how…”
“Somehow get to Russia, get close enough to see the Gremlin Palace. Then I’ll drop a massive object with enough area to completely cover the palace and tremendous thickness too. Something heavy enough to smash everything down to about a hundred meters underground. Erase it completely from the map, then I’ll store the mass object again and return quietly, leaving no trace.”
“H-Hold on, Hyung, I don’t know if that’s possible, but…”
“It’s possible. Want me to show you a scaled-down version?”
“No, no, fine. Let’s say it’s possible. But there will be a lot of unrelated people there too, won’t there?”
“Unrelated? The ones sitting in those seats right now are probably all in cahoots.”
“No, aside from the ones who ordered the kidnapping of our family, there will be all sorts of people—low-level staff working there, security guards, cleaning staff, all kinds of people.”
“That…… would be true.”
“With the method you described, too many innocent people would be sacrificed.”
“…Hmm…”
Just thinking about that incident made his teeth chatter and goosebumps rise from anger, so he had devised a gratifying solution,
but there was an unexpected obstacle.
Suho’s own means of attack were perhaps specialized in mass slaughter. They were far removed from assassinating key figures.
* * *
“First, we’ll receive online applications for desired purchase items, select the ones we’ll trade with among them, and schedule reservations. Even after we send back replies dispatching a ‘Purchase Qualification Certificate,’ it seems several more procedures need to be prepared.”
“For example?”
“A simple example: when a buyer enters, we first check their belongings and armaments. Then we verify the reservation number and purchase qualification certificate they received online, check their identity to confirm they match the actual person, and only then admit them. Combat Admittees could each pose a danger, so I believe multiple layers of countermeasures are necessary. Therefore, we’ll need facilities and personnel for this.”
A few days later, at a main members’ meeting, Suho clapped his knee while listening to Narae’s briefing.
‘I really brought her in well…’
From A to Z, Narae had steadily brought forth ideas and checklists needed for the TDM Store to actually operate.
Thinking of the daily progress on the TDM Store and the ripple effects this would bring made his heart pound with excitement.
For Suho, it was a pleasant thrill he hadn’t enjoyed in a while.
Even when he first decided to start a business, ‘making a lot of money’ had never been among Suho’s goals.
It was similar to Superman having no goal of ‘exercising and working harder to become stronger.’
The satisfaction money provided had clear limits,
and Suho already possessed enormous wealth that was beyond the limits of human comprehension.
Thus, he placed value on things that made his heart race, that gave him satisfaction, that he wanted to do—things in which he could find meaning, rather than money.
While discussing various necessary matters, Danbi cautiously brought up an opinion.
“Perhaps, Suho-nim, do you have any plans to reveal your identity?”
“Hm? Why is that? I like things the way they are now…”
“The fact that you are the nation’s 10th S-grade Production and Support Admittee, and moreover the world’s first ‘Item Collector’ class—if this were officially announced, you would not only gain public credibility, but you could also expand promotional and marketing aspects tremendously. Even now, those who should know your identity do, but it’s still only known among groups with a certain level of intelligence. Places like the Management Bureau, top clans, and first-class Manage companies.”
Narae nodded vigorously with a solemn face, as if she had already been thinking about this.
“That’s right. To most Admittees and the general public, Suho-nim is still an unknown ordinary person… There are limits to marketing, trust, and network building.”
As the words of a field worker who had hit walls firsthand, they couldn’t be taken lightly.
Even Seongsik agreed and nodded.
“Yeah, and explaining the source of the items sold at this store would also be difficult as things stand.”
But Suho wasn’t mentally prepared yet.
“Ah… but… for now, hiding within anonymity is comfortable, and it feels safer…”
“I see, then understood for now.”
“It can’t be helped. If you ever change your mind, please let us know.”
Fortunately, Danbi and Narae, who had proposed the opinions, backed down quickly, but Suho fell into worry from that very day.
‘Yeah, I may be hiding in anonymity, but in truth, places with intelligence capabilities all know my identity. The Management Bureau, the large clans, America, Russia… probably the intelligence agencies of other countries know too…’
In other words, the groups that could actually pose a threat to Suho knew his identity.
‘I’m already practically exposed to danger. Then is there any meaning in hiding myself and enduring inconvenience and constraints…?’
He began to weigh the pros and cons concretely.
Wasn’t he giving up the advantages he could enjoy by revealing his identity for no reason?
Nevertheless, to Suho, who had been an ordinary commoner just a few months ago, ‘fame’ was extremely burdensome. His personality was like that too.
So his worries stretched on for quite a while.
Then one day, a major turning point began thanks to Team Leader Han Sincheol, whom he met by chance.
Narae had entrusted work through a Manage to handle TDM-related matters, and at the restaurant where she met the Manage, Suho saw Han Sincheol sitting alone, pitifully.
Suho excused himself to Narae and Danbi, then approached Han Sincheol and sat facing him.
“Huek… y-you, Jeong Suho…”
“Team Leader Han, how have you been?”
Han Sincheol, having recognized Suho, looked horrified as if he had seen a ghost.
He was undoubtedly someone the man found incredibly awkward to face.
Because he now knew that Suho, who had been his subordinate until recently, was a customer treated as a VVIP even by the lofty prime contractor, a first-class Manage.
The way he faltered, not knowing where to put his gaze upon seeing Suho, was almost pitiful.
Unable to speak casually or formally, he just stood there awkwardly with his lips twitching, mouth tightly shut.
“I haven’t seen you in a while; why is your complexion like that? You don’t look well.”
It wasn’t empty words; he really looked that way. He seemed somehow haggard, with dark circles under his eyes, looking almost like someone who was seriously ill.
The vibe of the team leader who used to be so stylish and put on airs was completely gone.
“By the way, how are things going with Yangwon? It’s been a few days now, right?”
Only then did Han Sincheol barely open his mouth.
“…I… broke up with Yangwon.”
“What? Huh? Why? It hasn’t even been that long. Already?”
“Hmph… that wicked woman… she was steadily going on blind dates even while seeing me, you know… seems she hooked a young doctor there… and that was the end for me…”
Huu…
He had known well of Yangwon’s history with men, but seeing it up close felt different.
Han Sincheol, who had been so detestable, suddenly felt pitiful.
“Ehyo… so in the end, Team Leader Han was also a fish in her pond.”
“…”
“How is Inyeon Agency? Is the company doing okay?”
“We’re in the middle of restructuring right now……”
“Restructuring? Why?”
“Well… it’s obvious. Because we can’t bring in work properly…”
As a small-time agency, it seemed they had difficulty securing decent contracts from upper-tier Manage firms. Consequently, operations had quickly become precarious.
It seemed they were going to reduce their already small scale even further.
“Gosh, then, don’t tell me you’re getting laid off too, Team Leader Han?”
Han Sincheol avoided his gaze without answering, which in itself became confirmation.
How could a person fall so low overnight? It felt suffocating.
“Hoo… cheer up.”
He tapped his arm and got up, but after walking a few steps and looking back, the sight of him with his head hung low looked too miserable.
“Tch…”
After hesitating for a while, Suho eventually returned to where Han Sincheol was sitting.
“Hey, Han Sincheol.”
Han Sincheol stared with the face of a puppy abandoned by its owner and left out in the rain, and didn’t even talk back when Suho suddenly spoke to him casually.
“Don’t sit there so miserably, get re-employed. Huh? Live with some swagger, get a new girlfriend and show her to Yangwon. You have to get back on your feet with pride, yeah?”
“Huu… someone like me… how…”
Ha, was he always this frustrating of a person?
Perhaps feeling a kinship from being used and discarded by Cheon Yangwon, Suho took out from his subspace warehouse ten 1kg gold bars and a bundle of a thousand 50,000 won bills.
Thud-
“Huhk…?”
Han Sincheol’s eyes widened as if they would pop out, looking back and forth between the gold bars, the cash, and Suho.
“You, I’m giving this to you so use that money to get back on your feet with pride. It’s not charity. It’s investment capital, investment capital. So show Yangwon properly. Make her realize that what she kicked out of her pond wasn’t a minnow.”
Han Sincheol, who had been staring blankly at Suho, began to hiccup.
* * *
A few days after meeting Team Leader Han, the information from Seongsik changed everything.
“What? Really?”
“Yeah, guess the news didn’t reach you.”
“…It was already out on my high school alumni community.”
“Right. Are you… okay?”
“Of course, I’m fine. Hey, did we even date? Were we even in a situationship?”
“That’s a relief then.”
At Suho’s breezy words, Seongsik smirked, tapped his shoulder, and left.
He had spoken nonchalantly to the guy, but in truth, Suho felt strange.
Cheon Yangwon’s marriage announcement.
Rumors that she was marrying a man she’d met less than a month ago had spread all over the high school alumni SNS.
They said she had already sent out wedding invitations to quite a few people.
It had been a one-sided crush where he’d never even managed a proper confession, but he had liked her for ten years.
A restless feeling.
But it was by no means a devastated feeling.
He didn’t know how it would have been for the old Suho with his pathetic loser life, but in his current state, where he was constantly dragged down to the bottom of futility, each stimulus like this felt new.
When he suddenly thought of the wreck Han Sincheol, whom he had met recently, irritation surged up.
‘A month…? Crazy woman…’
Yeah, it was time to put an end to these wretched feelings too.
Suho ended his long hesitation and picked up the phone.
“- Oh! Isn’t this Admittee Jeong Suho? I was just hearing that you were planning an excellent business. Hehe, I had wanted to ask you various things regarding that, but you called first…”
“Ah, yes yes. Ask me anything. But that’s not why I’m calling right now.”
“- Ah, then what is it regarding…”
“I intend to make an official announcement now. That I’m the Republic of Korea’s 10th Admittee. I’m trying to let the world know, so I was wondering if the Management Bureau could help.”
“!! Th-that’s wonderful! We’ll prepare a press conference immediately. When would be convenient for you?”
Truly, it was time for a lesson.
Cheon Yangwon—it was time for her, too, to taste regret and learn what loss meant.