Safety Complacency
The eighty-six-year-old Elder Council President frowned at the other members of the 12 Vassals assembled at his summons, then smoothed his expression.
This was a sacred place within the family. Not somewhere a man like him could freely scowl.
Even an elder could not enter this space unless he was one of the 12 Vassals.
Had he not been bound here by duty, he would have gone to the others himself. But to uphold the will of the previous Gaju, he had been forced to call them instead.
"Butler Joo Yeong-Cheol."
"Speak, Butler Fernandez."
"…Just what, exactly, are you doing as Head Butler?"
"I serve the Gaju."
Butler Ju answered without flinching. He had served four family heads, including Jeong-Hoon, and as Head Butler he stood senior among the vassals. There was no reason to shrink before the Elder Council President—not even before the former Head Butler himself.
"And a man in that position still handles his work this sluggishly?"
"If you would tell me where my work has been inadequate, Butler Fernandez, I will correct it."
"It has been over a month since the Gaju assumed his seat."
"I am well aware."
"Then why has he completed only half the trials? Is this not your dereliction of duty?"
Absurd as the accusation sounded, it was the honest position of Fernandez and most of the Elder Council.
Fernandez had not summoned the rest of the 12 Vassals to this hallowed ground for nothing. In the elders' eyes, the seven trials were little more than a formal procedure left by the previous Gaju. And yet only half were done.
"You haven't made the trials harder simply because the Gaju was raised outside the family, have you?"
At the suggestion that they were discriminating against their own head, the vassals who ran the family's businesses shook their heads as one.
"It does not matter what kind of man the current Gaju is. What matters is that he is the Gaju. So at the earliest possible moment—"
As the lecture ground on, every vassal not belonging to the Elder Council wore the look of someone thoroughly sick of it. Yet not one of the 12 Vassals rose from his seat and left. They still held respect for the family's elders.
The Elder Council's vassals wielded enormous influence. There had been times when their united opinion had forced even a Gaju to yield. They were the organization that could become Jeong-Hoon's greatest obstacle in consolidating the family—but Butler Ju could not even imagine such a scenario. The reason was their loyalty: absolute, almost fanatical.
By age alone, Butler Ju himself should already have stepped down as Head Butler and entered the Elder Council. His devotion as Head Butler was beyond reproach. Even so, the loyalty of the Elder Council was enough to unnerve him.
"So, as I was saying—from now on, make every effort to ease the Gaju's path through the trials."
"Excuse me, Butler Fernandez?"
"What is it, Butler Ko Yu-Yeon?"
"If you only mean to lecture us, wouldn't it have been enough to summon the vassals in charge of the trials? I fail to see why the rest of us needed to come."
Watching Ko Yu-Yeon pick a fight he did not need to pick, Butler Ju pressed a hand to his forehead. Now the lecture would only grow longer. He had told them to adapt to the party, but leaving Jeong-Hoon alone at the venue still made him uneasy.
"What kind of talk is that! The 12 Vassals stand as the vanguard of all vassals, of one mind and one body—"
Buzz. Buzz.
As the scolding poured on and his brow creased, Butler Ju's phone—set to vibrate—went off. He took it out. Checking a phone while the 12 Vassals were gathered might be rude, but this was the emergency line. Something had happened to Jeong-Hoon.
"Butler Fernandez."
"What is it, Head Butler Joo Yeong-Cheol?"
"I'm afraid we will have to stop here. Something serious has befallen the Gaju."
"W-What?! Wh-What happened?"
"Nova has attacked the Hunter Association invitation party the Gaju is attending."
Nova. The radical terrorist group that called Awakened the new humanity and demanded a society for Awakened alone. That they would strike Korea—and a party hosted by the Hunter Association, no less—was something none of the 12 Vassals had expected. Without another thought, they moved at once.
He had nearly turned back, but after running into Han Si-Eun at the party, Jeong-Hoon had enjoyed himself more than expected. He had been introduced to members of her FC Guild and, through her connections, spoken with other hunters as well. The atmosphere had not allowed for autographs, but the evening had been fulfilling enough.
"Hmm…"
The pleasure did not last. Jeong-Hoon swallowed the sigh that almost escaped and turned it into a low hum instead.
He had been chatting cheerfully with a group of hunters when the heir to a major conglomerate suddenly approached. "Major" was relative—the company did not rank among Korea's top ten. Fifteenth or so. The chairman's son had walked up, introduced himself, and once Jeong-Hoon had answered with polite half-attention, the man had simply not stopped talking.
"So, as I was saying—we're looking to invest in that sector. Would Chairman Lee be interested as well?"
"I'm not sure."
Jeong-Hoon let the heir's pitch about a "surefire jackpot" wash over him and declined gently.
"Haha, you've only ever run a honest business, so you may not know much about investing—but this is a real windfall—"
Instead of backing off, the heir latched on harder, desperate to drag Jeong-Hoon into whatever he was pouring money into.
"I appreciate the recommendation, but if the venture is that profitable, wouldn't it be better for you to invest alone? Extra investors only dilute the returns, don't they?"
To cut him off, Jeong-Hoon threw out a line he barely understood—something he had overheard in passing. The logic was thin, but he thought it polite enough to signal disinterest.
"Ah, but you see—this is the kind of investment that only gets better the more capital you pool. So the more investors—"
This was either a pure scam or gambling dressed up as investment. Jeong-Hoon tried to extract himself, but he was already cornered and had little room to escape. He could have simply struck the man and walked out, but he had no desire to cause a scene at the first party he had ever attended.
"Now, now, President Park. I already advised you to pull out of that investment because it is certain to fail. You still haven't given up?"
Scanning for an exit, Jeong-Hoon saw a man approaching with a pointed warning—and smiled in genuine relief.
"Chairman Kim Sang-Myeong. It's been a while."
"Yes, it has, Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon."
The man he had met when he went to claim the Myeongil Hospital trial. Unlike Jeong-Hoon, who only played the part of a genius businessman, Kim Sang-Myeong was the real thing. Jeong-Hoon's face brightened as he greeted him. The heir who had been hounding Jeong-Hoon for investment fled like a shot—apparently Kim Sang-Myeong had already torn the scheme apart when the same pitch was made to him.
Watching the man bolt, Jeong-Hoon felt a flicker of honest respect. No wonder they called him the Regressor—a genius who never touched a business that failed. Someone who had clung so stubbornly to Jeong-Hoon had run the moment this man appeared.
"Whew. I never imagined he would come all the way here to push that investment."
"…This is my first party, so I wouldn't know. Is that unusual?"
"Close friends might share information, but no one usually forces it like that."
The man who had pitched Jeong-Hoon was a conglomerate heir, but his record was weak enough that opposition to his succession ran high. He had been making reckless investments to pad his numbers, and everyone could see they would fail—so people kept their distance.
"He must have thought that if a twenty-year-old genius businessman who appeared out of nowhere joined him, other investors would pile in."
Kim Sang-Myeong shrugged as he explained. Jeong-Hoon felt genuine gratitude. The man had not only rescued him from a pushy heir but laid out the whole situation. He felt like a genuine savior.
"Thank you for the help."
"Not at all. I had something I wanted to ask you personally, so the timing was convenient."
At the words something I wanted to ask, cold sweat prickled down Jeong-Hoon's back. This was a genuine entrepreneur who had built his own company in his mid-thirties. If the man asked how a twenty-year-old had created the Lumen hotel chain, Jeong-Hoon would have nothing to say. On business, he was an even more awkward opponent than the heir.
"About the Hunter Association's Awakened personal-data leak that's breaking right now."
"Ah—yes? Oh, that. Haha."
He had been spinning excuses in his head for a business question. When the topic turned out to be the current scandal, the tension left him.
"How far does Lumen intend to go with the punishment?"
"Pardon? Punishment? What do you mean?"
"Everyone who needs to know already knows. That Lumen is working with Apollon Security to expose corruption inside the Hunter Association. Well—Lumen founded the Association, so I understand not wanting to look the other way. But at this rate, there won't be an Association left."
Kim Sang-Myeong already knew Jeong-Hoon was behind it and was carefully trying to soothe him. Jeong-Hoon glanced around. The Association president, various conglomerate chairmen, and masters of mid-tier and larger guilds were all watching the two of them.
"Ah… well. I'm not particularly angry. The infection just turned out deeper than expected, so I figure we have to lance it more aggressively."
"Even if the result is irreparable damage to the Hunter Association?"
"If we don't drain the pus, it could harm Lumen as well."
He framed his actions not as mere rage but as necessity—driven by the number of Awakened Lumen employed—and deliberately lifted the corner of his mouth in a smile.
"Even if the Hunter Association burns to the ground, I have no intention of stopping until the infection is completely gone."
He declared it openly, then turned away as if there was nothing more to say.
And in that exact moment, the terrorist organization Nova—already hidden in place—struck.
A deafening boom left Jeong-Hoon's ears ringing, and his body seemed to float. It did not take long to realize the sensation was no illusion.
The banquet hall floor had collapsed, and he was falling to the level below.
If instinct had not made him use the breakfall Butler Ju had drilled into him, he would have landed headfirst for certain.
"I never imagined there would actually be lunatics who'd pull a real terrorist attack."
And on a party hosted by the Hunter Association, no less. Before even asking how security had failed so badly, the sheer audacity of striking a hunter powerhouse like Korea was astonishing.
"Good thing I brought my gear."
Muttering, Jeong-Hoon stripped off the tuxedo overlayer and pressed a button at the solar plexus of the garment worn beneath his shirt. With a soft zzzt, current seemed to run through his body, and the bulletproof suit compressed inside the clothes expanded back to its full form.
Not family technology—a one-time compression effect using superpowers. Prepared for just such a contingency, its functions were no different from the suits he usually wore. The only real difference was that the battery lasted far longer.
"Hoo. No telling what dangers are waiting, but first priority is getting out."
On a half-hope he flicked his fingers. No one appeared. Confirming that, he attached the weapons hidden inside the tuxedo to the suit.
Until the vassals arrived, Jeong-Hoon's fight alone had begun.