I Hope You'll Stay and Play
In the car bound for Diana.
Having just received unexpected news, Jeong-Hoon turned toward I-Yeong in the passenger seat and spoke.
"…Uh, so what did you just say?"
"He sends word that preparing the assignment will take time, and he would like you to grant him until nightfall."
It really hadn't been a mishearing. Jeong-Hoon shook his head.
He had never once heard of an assignment needing preparation time before, so he scratched his head.
"Butler Ju, what should we do? Head back to Lumen?"
Returning to Lumen would mean the usual training and etiquette lessons. It wasn't anything he particularly wanted to do, yet he also felt no urge to go out and play, so he spoke up, fully expecting Butler Ju to turn the car around.
To his surprise, both Butler Ju and I-Yeong shook their heads at the same time.
"Even without the assignment, Diana is worth a visit."
"And Butler Han Su-Ho arrived early and said he hopes you will enjoy Diana."
Jeong-Hoon considered their words for a moment, then nodded.
It felt as though Han Su-Ho, the vassal in charge of Diana, had coordinated something with the two of them in advance. The whole process already seemed like part of the assignment itself. Going along with it, he decided, wouldn't be so bad.
"But why is the Head Maid here?"
Instead of accepting it right away, he asked about the other thing that had been puzzling him, directing the question at I-Yeong in the passenger seat.
She always claimed to be accompanying him, yet she normally stayed out of sight. Today, however, she was sitting right up front and enthusiastically relaying Han Su-Ho's message in place of Butler Ju.
"Ah, don't tell me. Are you still bothered that the president didn't recognize the Head Maid yesterday?"
"That is not the case."
I-Yeong's immediate reply made it clear he had hit the mark. Jeong-Hoon nodded.
Unlike the other Twelve Vassals, who operated in the open, I-Yeong was hard to notice. The others ran businesses or carried major responsibilities for the family and were active outside. The Head Maid, by contrast, oversaw the maids and attended Jeong-Hoon—and even then only managed the guest rooms at Lumen where he stayed. She had no public-facing duties. It was only natural the president wouldn't know her.
"I'll think of a way to make the Head Maid known outside as well."
"I take pride in being one of the Twelve Vassals and the family's Head Maid. It does not particularly bother me, so you need not go out of your way to consider it."
The emotion in her voice was strong enough to remind him of the saying that a forceful denial was a forceful affirmation. Jeong-Hoon nodded quietly. A restless urge rose in him to find a solution soon.
A vast plain ringed by mountains. A gigantic amusement park nestled in the basin.
Only a single road led into the basin, making the place look almost like a military stronghold. The grounds were packed with rides, and even the surrounding mountains had been developed into a resort complex of golf courses, ski slopes, and more.
Atop the highest peak, commanding a view of it all, stood the theme park Diana, crowned by a Ferris wheel that seemed to pierce the sky.
Diana had turned an entire basin the size of a small city into a resort destination, ranking among the world's top ten and standing as Korea's largest amusement park. Its theme of Awakened and monsters drew countless visitors from around the globe, so foreign tourists were a common sight. Hunters, regardless of nationality, could enter free of charge with their families, making it the easiest place in Korea to spot hunters as well.
Butler Ju had expected Jeong-Hoon to love it. Instead he found the young man looking distinctly sour and grew flustered.
"Gaju, is something troubling you?"
"No. I just don't have any good memories of amusement parks."
When Jeong-Hoon was ten, his father had finally managed a day off and planned a family outing to an amusement park. On the day itself, both Jeong-Hoon and his father came down with a bad cold and had to cancel. That same day was the day the world changed.
After that, Jeong-Hoon never went to an amusement park with his family again. School trips had brought him a few times, but none of those memories were pleasant.
"Then simply overwrite them with good ones."
I-Yeong stepped up behind him and spoke calmly. Jeong-Hoon nodded.
"True. Linking a business to bad memories would be a mistake."
"Though it ranks among the world's top ten, its facilities can claim to be the finest in the world. The conditions are ideal for Gaju to create fine memories."
Butler Ju took up the thread. Jeong-Hoon looked back and forth between the two of them.
"Look, I may be a loner, but I'm not quite at the level of riding amusement park attractions by myself."
A chaebol chairman arriving with butler and maid in tow and boarding rides in a full suit. The two of them finally realized just how transcendentally absurd the image was, and their expressions shifted.
"We'll enjoy the rides later. First, let's take care of the business that brought us here."
"…Business, you say?"
"No use pretending. You deliberately brought me here because there's something you want to do, right?"
Butler Ju had been avoiding his gaze. At Jeong-Hoon's words he shook his head.
"It is merely a personal errand of mine. Nothing Gaju need concern himself with."
"…Saying it like that only makes me more curious."
Butler Ju had never spoken properly about himself before. Hearing him call it personal business instantly piqued Jeong-Hoon's interest—more than the amusement park itself, honestly.
"While Gaju is enjoying himself, I intended to leave you in the Head Maid's care for a short while and go see my son."
"What? Your son? Butler Ju has a son?"
Butler Ju was seventy-three—hardly an age at which having children would be strange. Any son of his would be roughly Jeong-Hoon's father's generation. Yet Jeong-Hoon had never heard a word about it, so the news stunned him.
"Yes. He is staying here—or rather, nearby."
"May I come along too?"
Intruding on a father-son meeting was rude, but Jeong-Hoon asked anyway, curiosity about Butler Ju's son getting the better of him.
"…If Gaju were to grace us with his presence, my son would consider it an honor."
Butler Ju looked pleased that Jeong-Hoon wanted to go. Yet there was a note of sorrow in his voice that Jeong-Hoon failed to catch in the moment.
The basin where Diana stood was vast.
Being built as a full resort rather than a simple theme park accounted for some of the size, but that alone did not explain it. The place was the size of a small city—far too large even for a theme-park resort. They had not secured the land in order to build a theme park. They had built a theme park in order to hide what the land truly was from the world's eyes.
This basin had originally been the family's land—the ground where the family had hidden for more than six centuries after settling on the Korean Peninsula.
"That is why historic family facilities still remain here."
Turning the family's stronghold into a theme park as camouflage had worked perfectly. No one had ever questioned the land.
Jeong-Hoon listened without raising any objections. It was not that he lacked questions; it was the solemn atmosphere of the place he had just entered.
"And this place was created by Gaju's grandfather before he turned his back on the family, for the purpose of reforming it."
"…Butler Ju?"
"Has mention of your grandfather piqued your interest?"
"No. I was going to apologize for following along without knowing the circumstances."
A chill rose from his ankles and pressed down on his shoulders—the same chill that had settled over him the moment he stepped inside the structure. From a distance it had looked like an ordinary tower. Unlike the mountains crowded with glamorous resort facilities, it sat on an unremarkable peak and barely registered. Jeong-Hoon had vaguely assumed it was simply one of the family's hidden facilities within Diana.
Following Butler Ju inside, he realized his mistake.
Walls of black granite, names carved into them and filled with gold. Jeong-Hoon could not read classical Chinese well, yet he knew at a glance that they were names. The Hunter Memorial Park had the same thing—without the gold, but the chill he felt was identical.
"There is nothing for Gaju to apologize for."
Butler Ju answered with a faint smile and continued explaining the structure—the family's memorial tower. It had been built under the leadership of Jeong-Hoon's grandfather as part of the reform effort, a place where the names of successive family heads, vassals, and every other departed member of the family were inscribed. Not merely names: their cremated remains were interred here. It was, in every sense, a tomb for the entire family.
"There was much opposition at first, but once completed it became a symbol of the family's unity, and everyone came to praise him for it."
"…Grandfather must have been quite something."
Hearing praise for a grandfather whose face he had never seen, Jeong-Hoon merely gave a light shake of his head. Even while his father was alive he had never heard stories about the man, so Butler Ju's words stirred little emotion. It felt only as if he had some relative like that. The man standing before him felt far closer. Which only made Jeong-Hoon feel guiltier for tagging along.
"He sought to have the family intervene in the world. Even now I wonder what might have been if he had not ultimately been frustrated and left the family."
"…Grandfather tried to do something like that?"
"Yes. 'If the seal is ever broken, the family as it stands will have no means of response. Therefore we must intervene in the world and prepare in advance.' That was his thinking."
"What a pointless worry that turned out to be."
Looking at the world after the seal broke, one could call his grandfather a visionary. Yet Jeong-Hoon thought the worry had been wasted. Contrary to his grandfather's fears, the family had moved swiftly into the transformed world and brought stability.
"That intervention and stability were achieved on the foundation of the plans he left behind."
"…What?"
Unable to change the family's course and defeated, Jeong-Hoon's grandfather had left a set of plans when he departed. When the world changed, the previous family head—his great-uncle—and the Twelve Vassals had taken those plans, revised the elements that time had altered, and built the family of today.
"He really was amazing, my grandfather."
Jeong-Hoon shook his head, admitting the greatness he had briefly criticized.
"Here. This is my son."
They arrived at a place where an urn rested. Butler Ju spoke in a subdued voice utterly different from the one he had used when speaking of Jeong-Hoon's grandfather.
Ju Geon-Woo
Seeing the name written on the urn, Jeong-Hoon shook his head in silence.
"I was half expecting a twist like 'turns out he was the caretaker here'…"
"…I am grateful simply for your saying so."
Butler Ju knew Jeong-Hoon was joking to keep the emotion from overflowing, and he smiled bitterly.
"Gaju, may I dare make a request?"
"What is it?"
"I would like you to present a single flower for this fellow."
He pointed to the urn. Jeong-Hoon nodded.
"Something like that, you can ask without hesitation."
As he spoke he snapped his fingers. I-Yeong appeared behind him and held out a funeral flower.
At present the family's vassals, including the Twelve, numbered around three thousand. Before the world changed there had been far more—nearly ten thousand. They had fought and sacrificed for the stability of the transformed world. Butler Ju's son, Ju Geon-Woo, had been one of the vassals who gave his life in that process.
"Butler Ju Geon-Woo was regarded as the next Chief Butler. Had he lived, the Chief Butler would have stepped down and become an elder of the Council of Elders."
"Head Maid, there's no need to gild the boy so heavily."
Listening to their warm exchange, Jeong-Hoon tidied hair that the rides had thoroughly mussed. Even after riding a roller coaster that accelerated to 240 km/h in an instant, the two of them were still chatting away as if nothing had happened.
They had already visited the family tomb that Butler Ju had wanted to stop by. Seeing the names of his grandfather and grandmother, his father and mother, carved into the black granite had made Jeong-Hoon's chest tighten. Even though they had left the family and lived unaware of it, the previous family head—his great-uncle—had still chosen to accept them as members of the family.
The problem was that a great deal of time still remained afterward. The "night" Han Su-Ho, the vassal in charge of Diana, had mentioned meant closing time. So they had ended up riding attractions simply to kill time.
Jeong-Hoon had not wanted to ride alone without friends, but he had swallowed his pride at Butler Ju's urging. And because he had swallowed it, he had actually enjoyed himself. He made a point of riding every attraction on the mental bucket list he carried.
The problem was that Butler Ju and I-Yeong kept trading stories of the family's dark past while they walked. Taking someone who had just paid respects to the dead, putting him on rides to lift his spirits, then following along and talking about gloomy history—what exactly were they trying to do?
"…Butler Ju, Head Maid, hold on a second."
He had not intended to interrupt their reminiscences, but something caught his eye and he raised a hand. In a rest area built for breaks, a magician was performing and people were enjoying the show. A small stage stood at the center of the shelter lined with awnings and benches—clearly a good spot for a simple performance.
"Does Diana have things like this often?"
"Shelter performances are one of Diana's special features…"
As Jeong-Hoon asked while watching the magician, Butler Ju began to answer, then saw the man's face and his words died. Beside him, Jeong I-Yeong's expression hardened; she strode straight toward the magician.
"Huh? Is something wrong?"
Their sudden change of attitude shattered the pleasant mood. Jeong-Hoon studied the magician more carefully. Dark brown dandy cut, an easygoing impression—a man he felt he had seen somewhere before.
"Huh? I feel like I've seen that face…"
"Director Han Su-Ho! What do you think you are doing right now?"
Just as Jeong-Hoon was thinking the face was familiar, I-Yeong's shout made him nod. The vassal in charge of Diana who had asked them to come at night because he needed time to prepare—Han Su-Ho—was leisurely putting on a magic show in the rest area.