Kore vs. Kore & Nymph vs. Nymph #1
"Ildo-shang! Onegai! Please marry me and make me your fiancée!"
Swish—.
Reiko grabbed my hand. At some point, tears had welled up in her eyes, glistening there.
She resembled Seo Yerim, yet her personality was entirely different from Seo Yerim's. Yerim would never have shed tears in front of other people like this.
"What on earth is going on, Reiko? Explain it to me, step by step."
Yu Ari promptly wedged herself between Reiko and me. Hiding me behind her back, Ari shouted at Reiko with total confidence.
"That's right! What nerve do you have, asking Ildo-sunbaenim to marry you? Kneeling and apologizing to him wouldn't even be enough! Apologize right now! Dogeza! Commit seppuku!"
Dogeza and seppuku. In more ways than one, the whole thing made my head spin.
It was true that Reiko had lied to me. But if you asked me whether it warranted seppuku, well—no, it didn't. In the first place, I bore part of the blame here too. I had drunk past the point of self-control, and then gone and mistaken Reiko for Seo Yerim, blowing the whole thing up on my own. So I did feel a certain sense of responsibility for how this had turned out.
Then Reiko spoke.
"Telos Industry is a global megacorp. It has been seeking partnerships and alliances all over the world. And the daughters of the industry are usually married off for political reasons…"
I'd heard plenty about second- and third-generation chaebol heirs marrying into other companies' heirs. I'd seen it in a hundred dramas, and in reality, everyone really did marry that way. Just as the nobles and royals of old betrothed their children to one another for mutual advantage—.
In other words, the people of megacorps were the aristocrats of the twenty-first century!
"So arranged marriages really do happen."
Just then, Yu Ari—who until a moment ago had been occupying the moral high ground against Reiko with perfect poise—put on a comparatively calm expression and said, "Is the other party from Japan's Kantō Gokudō Allied Federation, by any chance?"
Kantō Gokudō Allied Federation. It sounded extremely intimidating.
Reiko was startled. "How did you know? Only a small handful of people inside Telos know that…"
"I'm a civil servant, you see."
That explained it. As a government employee, Ari was well-versed in all sorts of information. And since she was a highly skilled physician who made house calls as the personal doctor to high-ranking chaebol families, it wouldn't be surprising at all if she'd picked up privileged intel along the way.
Then Ari said, "The Kantō Gokudō—shortened to the Kangeki Alliance—is the armed organization that oversees the awakeners within Japan. Unlike us in Korea, the Japanese government failed to bring its awakeners under control. Frankly, viewed on a global scale, Korean awakeners are unusually cooperative with their government."
I'd heard that before too. The story went that because Koreans had been conscripted by the state since ancient times, they felt less aversion to drafts and mobilizations than most.
But unlike our domestic awakeners, who complied with state control fairly obediently, Japan's awakeners fought their government after the rift crisis and flocked en masse into the yakuza and what the Japanese call hangure—semi-organized street gangs.
"The Kangeki Alliance is the body that primarily manages those Japanese awakeners. If you want to do business in Japan, you have no choice but to maintain ties with them. S. Ninja belongs to the Alliance too."
S. Ninja. The cyborg ninja—I knew that one. Ranked 11th among S-rank awakeners worldwide, a genuinely formidable fighter.
"Sending the Kangeki Alliance's S. Ninja as their champion for the Telos executive retreat means Japan's Alliance is openly targeting Telos. What they want, presumably, is to relocate headquarters to Japan."
I felt like I was eavesdropping on an enormous, nation-level political conspiracy. And to think I'd only come here because Seo Yerim told me I could just play some soccer, run around in a scavenger hunt, and look at the ocean.
Then Reiko said, "The Oyabun of the Kangeki Alliance declared it! He would betroth one of the awakeners among the Telos branch families to one of his own children! Right now, the only unmarried awakeners at Telos are me or Yerim-chan!"
"So then, if I get engaged to you, Reiko, what exactly changes? Why would I need to marry you in this situation?"
"He said he wouldn't lay a hand on anyone who was already spoken for! An engagement with a Kangeki Alliance man is honestly unbearable for me! To be betrothed to someone from such a violent, underworld sekai…!"
Trickle, trickle—. Reiko wept.
"My type is a gentleman! Ildo-shang, if it's you, I'd be happy to be engaged! But wait—do you perhaps already have a girlfriend, or a woman you like? It didn't seem like it…!"
Indeed. Even with a hangover still clinging to my brain, the situation made sense now. If the branch lost this year's executive team-building retreat, it wasn't just that headquarters and the branch would swap places—the losing side's daughter would be betrothed to the child of Japan's underworld king. That was, without question, a match they could never afford to lose.
Still, Yu Ari seemed puzzled. "When you say the Oyabun of the Kangeki Alliance, you mean Chairman Yagami…? As far as I know, Yagami has only one child, an only daughter. An engagement between her and you, Reiko, would be impossible from the start…?"
Brrrrrriiiing—.
Just then, a strange sound rang out from somewhere. "Oh. That's my phone."
The ringtone was coming from Reiko's small handbag. Reiko appeared to be holding my phone—and indeed, she was.
"What the hell, Youngja? You did that?! You took advantage of someone while they were drunk and not only forced an engagement but lined up a mana imprint with an engagement ring?! That's a crime!"
Seo Yerim raged after hearing the whole story. The temperature in the room seemed to shoot up in an instant.
"You knew you couldn't win fair and square on skill alone, so you're pulling every dirty trick in the book. If I tell Little Dad about this, it won't end with just a scolding! You're getting grounded for at least a month!"
"Hnnngh—! Please, I beg you, don't tell Father…!"
Flat—.
Reiko knelt before Seo Yerim and me and pressed her forehead flush against the floor. It was an utterly flawless and utterly humiliating pose.
"…Yerim-chan, I am truly sorry, desune. But what matters more is how Ildo-shang feels. Ildo-shang! Please, an engagement with me—!"
Swish—.
Every eye in the room turned to me. I found myself in an extremely awkward position, but honestly, my conclusion had been decided long ago.
"Um… I don't know about all this. You're truly beautiful and impressive, Reiko, but a loveless arranged marriage just isn't…"
"GaaAAH—! Sonna bakana…! But we shared a bed for a whole night…. We even chu—kissed…. We went to an amusement park together, and the zoo too…!"
Like a frog struck by lightning, Reiko collapsed flat onto the floor.
Then Seo Yerim let out a snicker.
"Haildo is busy right now figuring out how to climb from B-rank to S-rank! He has neither the intention nor the time for romance! You think a shrimp like you could seduce him? And anyway, what was that about a kiss?"
And so the events of that day, when my senses had left me entirely, ended as a mere happenstance. Even so, it couldn't be swept completely under the rug—apparently, I had ended up acquiring one Draft Right from Telos headquarters.
"A right that lets the headquarters team pick one event that favors them once? So if I called for rock-paper-scissors, I could force the opposing champion into it?"
At my question, Seo Yerim nodded. "Exactly. If you pick the event well, it's as good as a free win. Hold onto it carefully and use it strategically. Total steal. It's basically a free victory."
Heh heh heh—. Seo Yerim was grinning ear to ear. Meanwhile, Reiko's shoulders sagged lower and lower.
"Mattaku…, how did it come to this…. Sonna…."
She looked exactly like a ox being led off to the slaughterhouse, drained of all spirit.
Pop—.
But then Reiko pulled herself together. "Chikushou! Just you wait! Our Japan branch will win the match for sure! Don't come crying your eyes out after you lose! We have heaps and heaps of genuinely incredible champions, even without resorting to dirty tricks! Baka! Baka yaro!"
Padadadadash—.
With those parting words, Reiko bolted.
Watching her go, I marveled at how two cousins could have such completely different personalities. So this was what Reiko was like—actually fun. If she had approached me the normal way, bumped into me on the street and just asked me to date her, instead of springing an arranged marriage on me like this… things might have gone differently. I would have said yes with eighty percent probability, honestly.
Then Illinoi, who had appeared out of nowhere, declared:
"Telos Industry truly is the corporation of Kores, desudat…! Kore Reiko is suitably foolish, which makes her very much worthy of the Kore standard, desudat…! This Illinoi's mood is also very good, desudat…!"
Kore. It was the highest form of praise nymphs could offer—a term for women as lovely as the goddess of spring. But apparently, one also had to be foolish to an appropriate degree to be recognized as a true Kore.
"What was that, Illinoi? You. You've been calling me Kore Yerim all this time. So this whole time, you thought I was suitably foolish?"
Grrrr—. Seo Yerim's face twisted into a scowl as a low growl rose from her throat.
"Hey! You! Illinoi! Didn't I tell you not to brew weird drugs?! Don't tell me this whole mess started with some strange potion you made! Keep causing trouble and I'm cutting your allowance back down to 20,000 won a day!"
Squeeze—. Seo Yerim seized Illinoi's cheek and pulled. The nymph's cheek stretched out like a slab of tteok.
"Hieeek…! This Illinoi will never forget such a violent movement, desudat…! This Illinoi has done absolutely nothing wrong, desudat…! This is truly violence against a nymph, desudat…!"
What startled me was that Illinoi's reduced daily allowance was 20,000 won. An average monthly allowance of 600,000 won meant she spent more than I did.
Pop—. When Seo Yerim let go, Illinoi declared:
"Just you wait, desudat…! Asta la vista, desudat…! Cutting this Illinoi's pocket money down to 20,000 won a day…! Such an unforgivable movement…! I will make you regret it without fail, desudat…!"
Padadash—. Illinoi fled in the exact same direction Reiko had gone.
Watching her go, a flicker of worry crossed my mind. "Should you really be pinching a nymph's cheek like that?"
Nymphs were such good, gentle friends. I couldn't even imagine pinching their cheeks myself.
But Seo Yerim just gave a scornful snort. "You only say that because the companion nymph you keep is the sweet and clever Oinoi. Illinoi needs discipline. When you think about everything she racks up on the black card I gave her—."
Seo Yerim shuddered. Then she turned to me and said, deadly serious:
"Anyway, Haildo. You absolutely cannot lose. You heard the stakes, right?"
If I lost, headquarters would change hands, and Seo Yerim would be betrothed to the child of Japan's great yakuza king? It was a scenario I couldn't picture in any configuration.
Seo Yerim said, "Go wash up, change your clothes, and pack your bags. Today I'll introduce you to the headquarters executives. Well, calling them executives—most of them are just my family. Making a good impression won't do you any harm. They're all people of the Corporation, after all."