Stamp Rally
Han Su-Ho, the vassal in charge of Diana, wore a startled look the moment he spotted Lee Young barging into his magic show.
Yet he recovered in an instant. Spreading both arms wide, he turned to the audience with a flourish.
“I needed a magic assistant, and wouldn’t you know it—someone just stepped right up!”
“……Do I look like I’m in the mood to play games with you?”
“Head Maid, I understand you’re angry. But for the sake of keeping the family’s identity hidden, I would appreciate a little cooperation—just for a moment.”
There was not the slightest hint of apology in his brazen words. Lee Young scowled and swept her gaze around them.
An abrupt intrusion like hers should have set the crowd murmuring, yet no one reacted at all.
“……You’ve cast a spell.”
“I already had one going. Lucky for us, really.”
Han Su-Ho was the head of the intelligence unit that ran Diana—an S-class Awakened on the same level as Head Maid Lee Young. And as the family’s finest mage, his magic ensured not a single spectator found her entrance strange. They simply regarded her as an unusual assistant in a maid outfit.
“Use of magic or any secret arts requires the Gaju’s permission. This is overstepping your authority.”
“Have you forgotten that Diana and Flamma are exceptions?”
“That exception exists so Diana and Flamma can operate smoothly—not so you can waste it on a street magic show.”
Seeing Han Su-Ho actively using magic left Lee Young wrestling with how to respond. Yes, he was one of the few who could cast without Gaju Jeong-Hoon’s leave, but this crossed a line.
Jeong-Hoon had come as Gaju to complete Diana’s assigned task. Han Su-Ho had claimed preparation would take time and told them to meet after closing. Separately he had asked Lee Young and the Chief Butler to keep Jeong-Hoon occupied at Diana until then. Both had assumed he had some plan in mind. They had done their best to make sure the Gaju spent the day there—only to find the man himself casually performing street magic, magic and all.
“This is an insult to the Gaju. Don’t tell me you’re plotting rebellion?”
“Rebellion? Good heavens, never. Come now—just help me finish the show.”
At the word “rebellion” Han Su-Ho waved both hands and tried to soothe her.
“I’ll explain everything once the show is over. Look—the Gaju is watching, isn’t he?”
When Han Su-Ho glanced toward Jeong-Hoon, Lee Young let out a long sigh. She still could not fathom what he was thinking, yet recalling his usual character she exhaled heavily and agreed to cooperate.
With Lee Young’s help the magic show concluded. Once they reached a deserted spot, Han Su-Ho bowed deeply to Jeong-Hoon.
“A pleasure to meet you, Gaju. I am Han Su-Ho, the vassal in charge of Diana.”
He placed one hand behind his back and the other over his heart in a perfect gentleman’s bow. Jeong-Hoon regarded him with a faintly puzzled expression.
“Uh… is Butler Han Su-Ho the mischievous type?”
Between the earlier street performance and the man’s whole air, playfulness clung to him. Instead of a proper suit he wore a cotton tee under a leather jacket, red pants, and black boots—an eccentric outfit that made the formal bow look like pure theater.
“More like four-dimensional. No one can ever tell what he’s thinking.”
The Chief Butler shook his head. Jeong-Hoon gave a hollow laugh. He had expected something along the lines of “goes at his own pace.”
“……I opposed Butler Han Su-Ho becoming one of the 12 Vassals.”
“The Head Maid’s assessment is even harsher.”
Faced with two people who made no secret of their dislike, Han Su-Ho’s smile faded. He stared at the ground, cold sweat beading on his brow.
“Uh, well, the thing is… I actually had a reason for all of this. That is…”
He fished for excuses until the sharp glares of the Chief Butler and Head Maid made him bow again.
“I apologize. But it is true that preparation was required.”
“Why the past tense? Does that mean you’re ready now?”
“Yes! Yes, sir! The moment the Gaju came looking for me, preparation was complete.”
Han Su-Ho nodded and pulled something from inside his jacket.
“A stamp book?”
Jeong-Hoon accepted the offered item and recognized it at once—the booklet used for stamp-collecting events that send visitors around specific locations. One stamp was already pressed inside.
“So the task is to walk around Diana collecting stamps?”
“Yes, exactly. There are six vassals inside the theme park who hold stamps. Starting tomorrow you must find those six and collect a total of seven stamps within one week.”
“Seven total?”
“I’ve already stamped one, so you only need to find the remaining six.”
Jeong-Hoon understood the rules, yet something still did not sit right. He shook his head.
“Did that really take so much preparation? You could have given me the task first and prepared afterward.”
“Precisely. But Elder Council President Sir Fernandez kept hounding me to make the task easier, so I had to use my head.”
Originally Diana’s task required finding seven vassals and collecting seven stamps over a full week.
“Changing the rules on my own would disregard the previous Gaju’s will, yet showing no consideration would only get me roasted by Sir Fernandez…”
Hearing the same name twice in a row, Jeong-Hoon turned to the Chief Butler. He knew the name—the oldest of the vassals and president of the Elder Council. That such a figure would ride herd on the other 12 Vassals struck him as odd.
“They’re all 12 Vassals. How can he push them around?”
“Even among the 12 Vassals, his influence as Elder Council President cannot be ignored.”
Add the fact that he was a vastly senior vassal who commanded genuine respect, and Jeong-Hoon nodded.
“So after much thought I decided: if you managed to find me while I was performing at the rest area, I would, as the person in charge, stamp one for you in advance.”
“In other words, this whole thing was a forced one-day extension of the task for my convenience?”
“Yes. No other intention.”
After the lengthy explanation Jeong-Hoon accepted that the man truly had meant nothing else.
“Well, I’ll let it slide this time. You did it for the sake of the task, after all.”
Recalling Han Su-Ho’s initial reaction to Lee Young’s interruption, Jeong-Hoon suspected the man had simply gotten so absorbed in his rest-area performance that he forgot the original purpose. That was why he deliberately chose the phrase “let it slide.”
“Thank you, Gaju.”
“But even if you leave me out of it, you should have coordinated with the Chief Butler and the Head Maid.”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
Having just been pardoned only to be called out again, Han Su-Ho looked between the Chief Butler and Lee Young with an expression that asked what the problem could possibly be.
“‘Preparation will take time, but since the task takes place at Diana it would be good for the Gaju to look around the park first.’ That is what Butler Han Su-Ho told me.”
Still seething, Lee Young fixed him with a piercing stare. Han Su-Ho merely tilted his head, looking bewildered.
“I believed you and cooperated in deceiving the Gaju. Do you think this is something that can simply be brushed aside?”
“The result was good, so everything’s fine…”
“At the very least you should have explained it to me and the Chief Butler. Your intentions were good—lucky for you—but it could easily have been viewed as an act of rebellion that deceived the Gaju!”
Unilateral action by the responsible vassal to create a loophole in the task. Jeong-Hoon finally understood why Lee Young was so furious and simply watched. In the past he might have mediated and moved on, but this was the stage he himself had set for them to speak freely. However carefully crafted the loophole, the man in charge had still deceived the Gaju and proceeded with the task as he pleased. In a family that served its head as a king, deceiving the king was a grave crime. He fully understood her anger.
Deceiving Gaju Jeong-Hoon had been wrong. At the very least Han Su-Ho should have sent word that he would secretly ease the task for the Gaju’s convenience, so they should keep an eye out. That much communication should have happened.
Lee Young’s fury, filled mostly with that complaint, steadily cowed Han Su-Ho. Jeong-Hoon left her free to vent until the anger burned out. Meanwhile the Chief Butler informed him that Han Su-Ho was the family’s finest mage—news that surprised him.
“Huh? Not the Head Maid—him?”
“The Head Maid is a specialist mage focused on certain areas. Butler Han Su-Ho, however, handles a wide variety of spells with skill.”
“That’s impressive. But you’re not angry, Chief Butler?”
“The Head Maid has already expressed enough anger for both of us.”
As Lee Young’s rage finally began to cool, Jeong-Hoon asked; the Chief Butler simply shook his head.
“Besides, I find the whole thing more absurd than angering.”
“That somehow feels even scarier.”
Jeong-Hoon requested further details on Han Su-Ho and soon understood why the man was considered the family’s greatest mage. Lee Young was a combat specialist who overwhelmed opponents with sheer mana—wielding extraordinarily powerful magic. Han Su-Ho, by contrast, deployed a diverse array of situational spells and always pursued efficiency. In versatility and efficiency he completely outclassed her.
Armed with the title of finest mage and the street performance he had first witnessed, Jeong-Hoon roughly settled on a nickname and spoke.
“Butler Han Su-Ho, if you don’t mind I was thinking of calling you the Magician…”
“I would prefer Director, if you please.”
As though he had never been cowed at all, Han Su-Ho answered with a sunny smile.
“What? You already know about the nicknames?”
“I am the 12 Vassal who handles information. Of course I knew the Gaju gives nicknames to the 12 Vassals.”
None of the previous 12 Vassals had ever chosen their own title, so Jeong-Hoon hesitated a moment before nodding. Come to think of it, he already called the Chief Butler and Head Maid by the titles they themselves preferred.
“All right. But is there a particular reason for ‘Director,’ Director Han?”
“I simply wanted to be called that. To be more precise, since I lead the intelligence unit, ‘Director’ just felt right. Whee~”
Han Su-Ho produced a clumsy whistling sound and grinned.
“And the real reason?”
“When I first built Diana I actually wanted a circus troupe instead of a theme park. That leftover ambition, I suppose.”
He gazed at Diana’s iconic Ferris wheel with distant, wistful eyes, as though looking at a far-off mountain. Jeong-Hoon concluded then and there that the man was genuinely not right in the head.
“Ah—while we were talking about the task I forgot. Here is the letter in which the previous Gaju wrote down the assignment.”
The initial impact had been so strong that Jeong-Hoon had completely forgotten about the task letter. He awkwardly accepted it and read.
“Hmm. Exactly as Director Han explained.”
It described a stamp rally collecting seven stamps over one week, just as Han Su-Ho had said. Jeong-Hoon nodded, relieved that one stamp was already secured before the task even began.
“But this is pretty brutal.”
The difficulty was not supposed to rise simply because the task came later, yet each new challenge felt harder. Jeong-Hoon shook his head again and again.
The task: within one week, locate the Diana vassals to whom Han Su-Ho had entrusted stamps and collect them. A maximum of three wrong guesses per day; three failures forced the day to end. That alone felt strict. Worse, exceeding the one-week limit reset all previous progress. That was the real killer. Fail on the first attempt and even the discretionary stamp Han Su-Ho had given became meaningless.
“You are not allowed to gather every vassal and simply order them to hand over their stamps.”
“I never thought it would be that easy. It’s written right here that I can’t, anyway.”
“Ah! As a hint—the vassals I entrusted stamps to will deliberately perform specific actions on a regular schedule.”
“Are you even allowed to hand out hints that freely?”
Startled by the enormous clue, Jeong-Hoon flipped through the letter containing the task.
“Is something the matter?”
The Chief Butler asked, watching Jeong-Hoon hold the paper up to the sunlight as though searching for hidden writing. He had never done anything of the sort with previous letters.
“No. You’ve never given hints like this before, so I wondered if the letter itself had some secret.”
He had come to obtain the intelligence unit, yet from the very start Han Su-Ho was scattering information so freely that Jeong-Hoon was thoroughly confused. He half-suspected the man was only speaking because the letter already contained the same information.
“I’m offering this because Sir Fernandez’s pressure is terrifying.”
Curious just how badly the man must have been tormented to spill everything so readily, Jeong-Hoon flicked his fingers.
“Gaju, Butler Fernandez cannot come.”
“What? An Elder Council President can ignore my summons?”
The Chief Butler, who had instantly read whom the finger-flick was meant to call, shook his head.
“Because of the mission Butler Fernandez is currently handling, you will not be able to see him unless you first gather every single enterprise under the family.”
Jeong-Hoon had intended to ask exactly how the man had been pressuring people and, if it seemed excessive, tell him to ease up. At the Chief Butler’s words he had no choice but to abandon the idea.
“All of that is another restriction my great-uncle left behind, isn’t it?”
Grumbling, he re-read the task for no real reason and noticed a pattern common to every previous assignment.
“Come to think of it, there were seven enterprises, and the number seven appears unusually often in the tasks. Is there a reason?”
“……It was decided by the previous Gaju.”
The Chief Butler looked faintly embarrassed, yet a quiet joy colored his voice at finally being able to speak of it.
“Why?”
“Because it is a lucky number. I was told he included seven so often because he wished good fortune to always follow the Gaju.”
At the Chief Butler’s explanation Jeong-Hoon nodded and managed an awkward smile. The number carried the weight of the heart of the great-uncle who had left him the family—far heavier than he had expected.