“Take on Japan?”
Kazuki’s eyes sparkled with excitement and anticipation.
“Whoa……. Hyeonak really does have different ambitions……. J-Japan…….”
“Don’t take him seriously. He’s just saying ridiculous things. And you too, Geuru—don’t keep listening to strange things from your brothers and letting yourself get enchanted.”
Enchanted, my foot! Geuru puffed out her cheeks.
“Nooo, Geuru……!”
Geuru swung her legs back and forth, so Gidan set her down on the floor.
As the child toddled over, Jurim picked Geuru up and sat her on his lap.
“I hope the popup store goes well.”
“Yeah.”
“Bad people are trying to ruin it.”
Geuru fidgeted with the glove on Jurim’s left hand using both of hers.
She remembered the time she had been unable to move after opening the snowy plain in the dungeon.
Veilak had said that amount was nowhere near enough. She wouldn’t even be able to keep the snowy plain open for long…….
So she had to earn more money and build up her Filial Piety Points.
Only then would she be able to save Daddy.
But unaware of what Geuru was thinking, Jurim merely smiled.
“You don’t have to worry.”
He wore a confident expression, as though there truly wasn’t a thing to worry about.
“Chairman Nam will take care of everything.”
“Hmm?”
If it was Chairman Nam, she was probably thinking up something fun.
*
“You may not be aware of this, but Gangnam is the center of Korea. If we want this exhibition to be a success, it absolutely has to be held in Gangnam.”
The interpreter conveyed Jeon Byeongho’s words with an uneasy expression.
Yamaoka Shun of the Public Security Bureau, who had been listening from the living room of the hotel suite, sighed and shrugged.
It was a gesture that clearly showed his displeasure.
He was insisting that they expand the search to all of Seoul, since they needed to secure a venue as soon as possible.
*He’s supposed to be a monitor, yet he’s pretending to be the organizer…….*
Jeon Byeongho turned his head toward the actual organizers.
A girl with a gloomy-looking face sat by the window.
Inoue Haruna.
A girl who had turned nineteen that year, and Japan’s newest S-rank creator.
A promising talent who had created ten A-rank swords and eight S-rank swords within three months of awakening.
She was the face that would lead Japan in the future.
Jeon Byeongho didn’t know why she was in Korea at a time like this, but he had heard that she had stubbornly insisted on coming, so the Japanese government had assigned Yamaoka Shun to accompany her.
“This is Haruna’s special exhibition. Shouldn’t we hear the opinion of the person herself?”
After hearing Jeon Byeongho’s words through the interpreter, Inoue Haruna rolled her eyes.
She glanced at Yamaoka Shun before speaking in a small voice.
[“I’m not sure. Representative Jeon probably knows Korea better.”]
Yamaoka Shun immediately raised his voice.
[“Inoue-san. You know how important the schedule is, don’t you?”]
Haruna flinched and raised her shoulders.
[“That’s……”]
[“Do you want to see your grandfather disappointed?”]
[“N-No……. That’s not it, but……”]
Haruna lowered her head and shook it from side to side.
Watching her, Jeon Byeongho clicked his tongue.
Though she had awakened as an S-rank, the girl was only nineteen. Yet this man was throwing his weight around like that.
*He really knows how to handle her.*
Of course, it had nothing to do with him.
Jeon Byeongho smoothly drew up the corners of his lips and put on the reliable smile of a businessman.
“Yamaoka-san. I promise we’ll meet the deadline. Just trust me. As you know, the more people from above try to control things, the more delayed the work becomes.”
After that persuasion, Yamaoka Shun seemed to have no choice but to merely knit his brows.
Well, what did he know about Korea to keep interfering?
Jeon Byeongho smiled in satisfaction.
*Judging by how obsessed he is with the schedule, he must be pretty eager to keep an eye on Korea’s creator called Jjapso or whatever…….*
Jeon Byeongho had spent years traveling from one foreign country to another ever since he entered the business, so he had no interest in who Jjapso was. He didn’t even possess anything as sentimental as patriotism.
There was only one reason he had invested in Inoue Haruna’s special exhibition.
It was all because of his ex-wife, Nam Jiwon.
This Jjapso popup store would open the way for the popularization of magical engineering.
And if someone interfered with it? Nam Jiwon certainly wouldn’t be pleased.
Jeon Byeongho smiled as he imagined her face.
As long as he could see her face twist in anger, he didn’t care if he lost every penny he had invested.
Just then, his secretary showed him his phone and whispered.
“They say the venue can be rented within the required time frame.”
“I knew it.”
Jeon Byeongho sneered. No matter how powerful Chairman Nam was, she couldn’t block off all of Gangnam.
Meanwhile, after the discussion came to an end, Inoue Haruna searched through the photo album on her phone and found a particular picture.
Being with Yamaoka Shun from the Public Security Bureau was frightening, but was it really any different from being in Japan? If anything, it was better to be among people who didn’t know her.
And…… there was a special reason she had come to Korea.
*I only need this.*
Haruna gripped her phone tightly.
On the screen was a photograph of an ugly teddy bear holding a transformation wand.
*
A few days later, inside the hotel elevator.
Jeon Byeongho, dressed in a suit with his hair slicked neatly back, adjusted his clothes.
As he entered the hotel lobby, he saw a black sedan pull up in front of the hotel beyond the revolving doors.
Jeon Byeongho narrowed his eyes as he checked who was getting out.
When the secretary opened the door, Chairman Nam stepped out of the car while carrying a little girl in her arms.
Why was she here?
A thin crease appeared between Jeon Byeongho’s brows.
*Did she come to ruin my contract?*
Hiding his nervousness, he approached Chairman Nam as she entered the hotel and greeted her familiarly.
“Jiwon.”
“Representative Jeon.”
Jeon Byeongho gave a short laugh as he welcomed Chairman Nam.
“What brings you here? You’re not planning to play dirty, are you?”
“Play dirty?”
Chairman Nam let out a laugh.
“Don’t you know why I’m here? I came to help you with your contract.”
“What are you talking about……?”
“Hewwo. I’m Geuru, from the Chick Class of Justitia Kindergarten.”
“Uh, yes.”
Jeon Byeongho gave her a perfunctory greeting with a look of distaste.
Geuru noticed that he was uncomfortable around her and blinked awkwardly.
“You still hate children.”
Then again, he had never paid attention even to his own children.
Chairman Nam quietly muttered those words before stroking Geuru’s head.
“Our Geuru is such a brave girl, greeting people so nicely. What a good girl.”
Geuru clung to Chairman Nam’s leg and smiled shyly.
Wrapping an arm around Geuru’s back, Chairman Nam snapped at Jeon Byeongho.
“Representative Jeon. You came to sign the contract for the special exhibition today, didn’t you?”
“I told you, Jiwon. When I say I’ll do something, I do it.”
When Jeon Byeongho spoke with a meaningful look in his eyes, Chairman Nam’s eyebrow twitched.
Her ex-husband was a man who had failed to grow out of his age.
Even during their marriage, Chairman Nam had wanted to poke those wide, bulging eyes of his. That urge had not disappeared after their divorce; it still gnawed at a corner of her heart.
“Then follow me. I know where you’re signing the contract.”
“What?”
Though Jeon Byeongho asked what she was talking about, he followed behind her.
He thought they were going to the hotel restaurant, but the place they arrived at was actually the kids’ center inside the hotel.
“You can do it here. Right, Geuru?”
“Yeees!”
Geuru answered brightly with a smile.
Jeon Byeongho was the one left dumbfounded. Why was she saying that to the child, and why was the child answering so perfectly?
Just then, as though answering his question, Geuru pulled her backpack around to the front and took out a bundle of documents.
“Geuru came to stamp it instead of Grandpa.”
“……What?”
“You really didn’t know? All the buildings around here that are suitable for renting belong to Doan Group.”
“Doan means……”
It was that man’s company. On Suhyeong. Chairman Nam’s college classmate.
Only then did Jeon Byeongho realize what was behind this ridiculous situation.
On Suhyeong had sent his granddaughter, basically saying, *Go ahead and try signing the contract.*
Was this a plan to stop the special exhibition by making the contract fall through?
“In the meantime, I’ll have a cup of coffee over there, so Representative Jeon, have fun playing with Geuru~”
By then, Geuru had sat down at a children’s desk and was neatly folding the contract.
Jeon Byeongho hurriedly stopped her.
“No, no, what are you doing? Sweetie, you can’t fold that, okay?”
“Geuru wants to do origami.”
“Why would you use that for origami!”
At that moment, Secretary Kim, who had been watching, tapped Jeon Byeongho on the shoulder.
“Please be careful how you speak to Miss Geuru. The chairman said to tell you that if you treat Princess Hyeonak badly, he won’t be responsible for what happens afterward.”
“……Hyeon, ak…….”
Jeon Byeongho’s mouth fell open.
That was right. Even he knew that the chairman of Doan Group’s son was the guild leader of Hyeonak.
At that moment, Geuru crumpled the documents against her chest and looked up at him.
“Do you want to play too, Mister?”
“Y-Yes……!”
“Geuru’s going to play heroes.”
Jeon Byeongho did his best to hide his fluster and smiled.
They were trying to humiliate him like this? But did they think he would just take it?
Granddaughter, daughter, whatever she was—she was nothing more than a kindergartener.
How hard could it be to coax a child? If he could just get that contract into his hands, the victory would be his.
“Fine……. Playing heroes. Let’s do it. I’ll be the hero’s dad.”
Geuru put her index finger to her lips.
“You’re not Daddy. You’re a horse.”
“Huh?”
“A horse.”
“What?”
Surely he had heard wrong.
Jeon Byeongho asked again, the corners of his mouth trembling.
But the child merely laughed innocently.
“You’re a horse, Mister.”
For an instant, Jeon Byeongho thought he saw a devil’s wings and tail behind the child.
Before the little devil, his expression twisted with bewilderment and humiliation.