Practically Family
The first to arrive was Jo Sudeok, of course.
"Wh-what is all this, Boss?"
The size of the cruise ship seemed to have overwhelmed him.
"I thought nothing ordinary could make me blink anymore..."
"Surprised again?"
"That's what I'm saying. Stepping off a helicopter onto a ship was already past belief. And this — this is practically an aircraft carrier..."
But this was Jo Sudeok. He adapted so quickly you might have doubted he'd been startled at all. Before the bags were even open he vanished into the shower, and what came back out was a Hawaiian shirt and shorts.
"Even now, when I can't sleep, those days come back to me. Traveling with you through America and Japan, Boss — traveling, if that's the word. Hard going. But it was fun."
"From now on it'll be the sea off Monaco."
"Ahh—!"
"Care for a swim?"
"Would I!"
A pool had been laid out on the open deck. Good sun, a breeze coming in — paradise on earth, and no other name for it. We didn't wait. Fwoosh—splash! Straight into the water.
"This feels strange."
"Why?"
"It's a swimming pool sitting on top of the sea, isn't it?"
I nodded.
"The fact of it alone is a curious thing."
"Meaning you like it."
"Need I say it? Heh heh heh."
Jo Sudeok was no great swimmer. Floating on his back and watching the sky, though, did not seem to be beyond him. He had been drifting there some ten minutes, taking his ease, when he spoke.
"Boss, there was something I truly liked."
"...?"
"The day we came back from America. You had suits and shoes fitted for all of our people, the whole set, proper. The feeling then was a strange one."
"It was nothing like that..."
"Nothing? Does having money mean a man looks after his own? The world is full of people who think a wage gives them the right to work you like a servant."
A short laugh escaped me.
"You remembered every bit of the hard work, and you looked after them one by one. Honestly, my shoulders came right up."
"Why say something so embarrassing, out of nowhere..."
"If not now, when?"
Hearing it, I had to admit he was right. And come to think of it, I really was lucky in the people I had. To work beside someone who remembered what he had been given, and was grateful for it — that was a fortune in itself.
That was when it happened.
Whup-whup-whup-whup! A roar broke overhead, and a thin ripple started across the pool. The nearer the sound drew, the more the water heaved like a wave of its own. A moment later the helicopter set down, and Tennessee stepped out, dressed head to toe in Ultimate. The man who had ridden with him gathered something into his arms and followed, quiet.
"What's that?"
"Wine."
"A student's going to drink?"
"Am I the one drinking it?"
Sure enough, Jo Sudeok was already watering at the mouth. A glance to the side, and Henri Vuitton looked to be in much the same state. Others were still due to arrive. Even so.
"Please start, Professor."
"Ah... would that really be all right?"
"Of course. There's plenty to drink."
I could understand Jo Sudeok lowering his head. Henri Vuitton ducking his right along with him — that, I could not. Ahem.
Anyway!
After Tennessee, the old warhorses came aboard. James Faber of Ultimate, Dmitri of Mad Bull, Steve of Capsulemon Bread, and Peter besides — Peter, who would make The Great Car Thief. A fair crowd, you might have said. Or was the ship simply that vast? The air was still a little thin.
At last the final guest of any real weight — final, so far as I knew — stepped off a helicopter. Devon, back from America.
"How are you here already?"
"Don't even ask."
"...?"
"That pizza-shop fellow. Stubborn doesn't begin to cover it. We had it out, and I'm on my way back."
I had sent him to buy the pizza place. This was what came of it. No — before that.
"There's someone out there who fights with you, Teacher?"
"If it's only words, who can't?"
Even so. Put a presence like Devon's in front of a person, and the words ought to dry up in the mouth. That pizza-shop owner was clearly no ordinary man either.
"So I'll just make the recipe myself, and open the place."
"Sorry?"
"Looked at it. Didn't even seem hard."
"Even so..."
"Care, and sense. Two things. That's all you need."
"..."
"Don't believe me? Want me to make one right now?"
I hadn't even answered. The older men, sipping their wine, answered for me.
"Pizza would be most welcome."
"Let's have a pie."
Jo Sudeok and Henri Vuitton already had the air of drinking companions. James Faber and Dmitri didn't look like men who enjoyed liquor — but I had let it drop that the wine was obscenely expensive, and they seemed to be emptying one glass after another all the same. Well, then.
"If that's what you all want, I'll favor you with a little of my skill."
Devon turned to Steve.
"Come with me, you."
"Sir?"
"You think I'm making it alone?"
"The chefs are all right here... why does it have to be you, Teacher..."
"Quiet. Mine tastes better. Get over here."
And so Steve was hauled off. Set apart from the drinking crowd, only three of us remained — Peter, Tennessee, and me.
"Why is this so good?"
Ten minutes in the water seemed to have finished Peter; he was now cheerfully wrecking his way through lobster, and mango along with it. Tennessee lay on a sunbed, watching the sky without a word. Then, as if something had come to him, he looked over at me.
"It'll be out soon, you know."
"Hm?"
"Daisho's putting one out. Specs close to the Family."
"Really?"
He nodded.
"How do you know all that?"
"I asked."
"Asked who?"
Right then, as if in answer — whup-whup-whup — a helicopter showed itself.
"There was someone else coming?"
I had invited him in passing. I hadn't thought he would actually come.
"Who?"
"Look at the helicopter."
Tennessee lifted his head. In that instant—
"...!"
His eyes went wide.
"That's Super Orlando."
"Yeah."
"You're not serious."
The last guest of the cruise party. The man who stepped out once the helicopter had landed was Super Orlando's father, Hideo.
"Whoaaa!"
Peter, hopeless gamer that he was, went without saying. Even Tennessee, who never let a feeling show, looked in this one moment as if he had completely broken down. Hideo turned to me and smiled, bright as anything.
"Boss, how long has it been?"
"I know. It already feels like half a year."
The first time I had seen him was in an American arcade, out working Gorillong. Since then I had made a launch title for the Super Family, and Hideo had become the biggest developer at Daisho.
"We were already talking about you, Hideo-san."
"About me?"
Hideo turned his head toward Tennessee.
"He's JH's new shareholder."
"Ah. I see."
At that, something in his face changed. Having said so much, he seemed to remember a thing, and quickly drew out a bag.
"Shall I show you?"
Tennessee's eyes went round.
"If it isn't an imposition..."
"An imposition? A shareholder in JH is practically family."
"Daisho and... I... family?"
"Did I get ahead of myself?"
"No!"
To eyes that had already lived with a smartphone, it was nothing but a brick. Tennessee and Peter, of course, did not see a brick.
"Whoa."
"Ohhh!"
The cries burst out of them as if they had arranged it. In this moment, Tennessee seemed to have forgotten clean that he was an aristocrat.
"Do the batteries go in?"
"Yes. In the back."
"The launch title..."
"Turn it on. You'll be able to see."
Click. Power went in, and a clear, jewel-bright chime spilled out. The gasps came again, like children just up from the country.
And then, rising on the green screen — Orlando's face.
"C-can I try it?"
"Of course. Take your time, and tell me what you think."
Tennessee turned to Peter.
"You want to go first?"
A question he didn't mean. Peter had at least that much sense.
"No. You do it."
"R-right... then."
Tennessee pressed the button in the manner of a man giving in. From the moment Orlando moved, though, there was no governing the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
That good, is it?
A laugh almost got out of me. I looked at Hideo.
"The screen's sharper than I expected."
"That, as it happens, cost us some pain."
"...?"
"The finished unit came in, and from the side the picture looked cloudy. So we went to the maker about it... changed the thing over to a green LCD..."
Even the memory seemed to dizzy him. Hideo shook his head. Tennessee, who had no way of knowing the troubles of adults, only drove the buttons harder.
How long passed like that?
"Hideo-san, you haven't shot a commercial yet, have you?"
"Sorry?"
"Ah. Yes. Not yet, but..."
"Then this scene itself would make a perfect one, wouldn't it?"
"...?"
Even here, on a cruise ship where nothing was lacking, that thought had surfaced. Put Tennessee's bright, unguarded face into the frame, and I couldn't imagine a better advertisement.
Wait. I came here to play, and I'm thinking about money again!
I shook my head at once.
Meanwhile, Seoul. Chairman Park Yonghak's office.
"Bought a cruise ship, did he?"
"Yes. I am told he is enjoying a party off the coast of Monaco..."
At the Chief Secretary's report, Chairman Park's brow tightened.
"What's he doing out there with a pack of girls?"
"The young master has never known anything but work, so... he has no interest in women at all..."
"Then is he drinking, at least? Hard enough to bend his nose?"
"That does not appear to be the case either."
"...?"
"He says the first drink of his life will be taken with you, Chairman, and he is refusing every drinking party."
Ha! How did a person manage to choose only the endearing thing, from the first to the last?
Chairman Park swallowed the laugh and asked, forcing on a fierce face.
"Not a drop, and what's that rascal Jihun doing?"
"Sunbathing... swimming, when he grows hot... eating, when he tires... sleeping, when drowsiness comes... and then sunbathing again..."
"And what do you call that?"
"He has been running so very hard. For the time being, he seems determined to rest properly."
"..."
"Perhaps you might also take this opportunity, Chairman... to rest a little, with the young master as your excuse..."
"You rest when you're worn out. I'm full of steam. What would I lie down for?"
Such was Chairman Park's creed. When the business went well, a smile came even in sleep, from the mere thought of the work. Rest? You could play two matches a day and never feel it.
"That rascal Jihun will be just the same."
"...!"
"He's only just caught the current and got himself up on the track. A mind for rest? Where would he find one?"
No one could have heard it as anything but experience. Perhaps because the chairman looked to be in good humor, the Chief Secretary risked a question, smiling halfway.
"Then you as well, Chairman... something similar, perhaps..."
"I've been in that state my whole life. Every day of it."
For a moment it seemed it might be a joke.
"..."
A face so serious that not a needle of humor could have slipped through it.
"When's that rascal Jihun coming?"
"He is expected in four days."
"Coming after so long — I ought to give him a gift, shouldn't I?"
"An excellent thought, s—"
"Have every executive assembled for the hour he arrives."
"Sir?"