Accepting Their Sincerity
With the task in hand, Jeong-Hoon left Diana at once.
Arriving at Flamma headquarters, he summoned Baek Si-Hwan, the vassal in charge, along with the other vassals.
"So to clear Diana's task I need help. How many people can Flamma spare?"
"If it is Gaju's command, every one of us will step forward."
Si-Hwan answered at once, but Jeong-Hoon shook his head.
"Having every Flamma executive gone for a full week simply isn't realistic."
Flamma was no little corner shop; it was a major food-service conglomerate running countless chain stores. Pull every executive out for a week? The company would still function, but its flexibility would collapse. An organization without anyone accountable falls apart the moment the unexpected hits.
"Then we'll leave one behind and send the rest."
"Uh, Baek Chef? Shouldn't we keep at least a skeleton shift for rotation?"
"…Two people left behind. Everyone else goes."
He was so eager that Jeong-Hoon couldn't push any further; he simply nodded. With the vassals' abilities, two people really would be enough.
To pass the information unit Diana's trial, Jeong-Hoon had decided he needed Flamma—the assassination unit that occupied a similar yet different domain. He just hadn't expected Flamma to be this fired up. Not only Si-Hwan, the vassal in charge, but every last one of them was burning with motivation.
"Baek Chef… this doesn't seem like pure zeal for Gaju's order."
"Gaju's command does set my blood racing. But Flamma and Diana have never gotten along, so that makes the fire burn even hotter."
Watching Si-Hwan's eyes sparkle with battle lust, Jeong-Hoon felt a deep pang of sympathy for Han Su-Ho, who apparently had far more enemies than he'd realized.
Flamma was so small that Jeong-Hoon had needed to go there in person. For the other businesses, there was no such need; he simply ordered them to detach a reasonable number of people. None of those other enterprises displayed the open hostility Flamma had shown. That was a genuine relief—yet hostility between organizations that went beyond personal grudges among the Twelve Vassals was dangerous.
"Isn't Flamma's hostility toward Diana a problem?"
"Flamma and Diana have been at each other's throats since before the businesses even existed. You need not worry."
"Is that so?"
"They were originally a single organization that was split in two centuries ago. The rift that opened then has simply been handed down ever since."
Hearing about family power struggles for the first time piqued Jeong-Hoon's interest—then the interest faded just as quickly. An organization that handled both intelligence and assassination was powerful; dividing that power was the safer course. The family had known this long ago and had split the force. In the process the once-united body had fought itself for a larger share of authority. The clash had begun in the distant past, long before the names Flamma and Diana even existed.
The reason successive heads of the family had never mended the breach was simple. Combined, the two made a dangerously strong organization. Letting them quarrel—within carefully drawn lines—was actually more stable. Moderate mutual hostility made it harder for the two powers to reunite.
"A sudden thought: is the family full of nothing but saints?"
Even if a measured rivalry helped an organization, power struggles still tended to end in blood. Knowing that, Jeong-Hoon couldn't help questioning Butler Ju's calm tone. Putting everything together, Flamma and Diana had opposed each other for ages yet never crossed the line. And from every task solved so far, not one of the Twelve Vassals had ever tried to privatize their business. The "saints' club" impression wasn't baseless.
"The family is still an organization of people. How could that be?"
"That's simultaneously the most reassuring and the most unsettling answer you could give."
"We have simply never stopped purging traitors."
And the ten years since the world changed had been the family's hardest. They had hunted monsters in secret and purged vassals who grew drunk on power and tried to betray the house.
"It was so severe that it is one of the reasons our numbers fell from roughly ten thousand to a mere three thousand."
Just imagining it made Jeong-Hoon shudder. The scale was large enough that he marveled the family had never been exposed to the world.
"Everyone remaining is a loyal retainer. You need not worry so much."
"I'm not worried—I'm terrified!"
"There are no more enemies of Gaju inside the family."
"You deliberately picked the creepiest possible wording just now, didn't you?!"
After teasing him with a little shiver-inducing language, Butler Ju cleared his throat lightly and shifted the mood.
"Has the unease settled now?"
"Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Ever since returning from Diana, Jeong-Hoon had worn an expression as if something kept snagging at him; Butler Ju smiled faintly. Diana drew an average of fifty thousand visitors a day, and employed several thousand staff. The six vassals holding the seals could be hidden among the tourists or among the employees. Finding six people acting oddly among tens of thousands was never going to be easy.
"I concede that Diana's task is difficult. Having cleared every previous task so smoothly, some pressure was inevitable."
Reading that emotion as discomfort, Butler Ju looked again at Jeong-Hoon as head of the family. At first he had been an ordinary young man. Not anymore. Even Butler Ju—who had served three previous heads and now served Jeong-Hoon as the fourth—found the speed of Jeong-Hoon's growth as Gaju almost overwhelming. The fact that such a man felt the weight of responsibility as family head made the butler's own heart race.
"Pressure? Yes. But not because the task is hard."
"Then may I ask what is weighing on you?"
Jeong-Hoon nodded at once. There was nothing to hide.
"Director Han, even under pressure from that Elder Council President Fernandez, still exercised discretion within the rules left by my great-uncle. That made me realize how seriously he was taking the task."
If Jeong-Hoon failed to pass on the first try, all the discretion Han Su-Ho had spent would be wasted. The method had been a little off-center, yet it was an opportunity crafted through genuine effort. The anxiety and pressure came from not wanting to render that first seal meaningless.
"When a vassal approaches something with sincerity, accepting that sincerity is the Gaju's job, isn't it?"
"Indeed. I am truly moved."
The answer was so perfectly that of a family head that Butler Ju almost clapped; he smiled instead. Jeong-Hoon's growth really was far too fast.
"Then this task will become a long campaign?"
If they proceeded with as few mistakes and failures as possible, they would use the full week; when Butler Ju asked, Jeong-Hoon nodded.
"Long campaign or not, it'll still only fill one week."
"In that case I will have difficulty attending you for the entire week."
"Right. A butler and a maid stand out far too much."
Jeong-Hoon had no intention of lounging at Lumen and solving the task solely on information the vassals fed him. He meant to move around himself, coordinate with the vassals, and stay on the ground as much as possible. That was what it meant to approach the task with sincerity. In that process Butler Ju and I-Yeong would be far too conspicuous, so Jeong-Hoon simply agreed.
Today they had been lucky that word only got out after he left Diana; once reporters heard that the chairman of Lumen had visited the park, they had swarmed the place. The tip itself had started because Butler Ju and I-Yeong in her maid uniform standing at Jeong-Hoon's side had been impossible to miss.
"I have zero interest in doing the task with a pack of reporters trailing me."
"Then, though she is still inexperienced, there is someone I can call."
Respecting Jeong-Hoon's judgment, Butler Ju left those words and stepped out.
It took a considerable time for Butler Ju to return. Never before had the butler left of his own accord for so long while Jeong-Hoon was awake, so Jeong-Hoon was mildly surprised. Then the butler reappeared with a girl in a school uniform, and the surprise deepened.
Black hair falling to her waist, sharp eyes. She was shorter than Jeong-Hoon, yet tall for a girl; more than height, she gave the impression of excellent style.
"Gaju, allow me to introduce my granddaughter, Ju Min-Ha."
"It is an honor to meet you, Gaju. I am Ju Min-Ha, granddaughter of the chief butler."
Watching the schoolgirl bow neatly in time with Butler Ju's introduction, Jeong-Hoon found himself speechless.
"Ah—no, wait. Given his age, of course he has a granddaughter, but…"
Less than twelve hours earlier he had learned that Butler Ju had once had a son, now deceased. He had spent more than two months with the butler and still known almost nothing about the man's family. The sudden appearance of a granddaughter therefore hit Jeong-Hoon hard.
"Gaju?"
"W-wait, let's take a short tea break."
His mind had gone so blank he couldn't think of a single thing to say. He flicked his fingers, and Jeong I-Yeong appeared behind him.
"It's been a while, Miss Min-Ha."
"Ah, Head Maid, hello. Have you been well?"
While pouring Jeong-Hoon's tea, I-Yeong greeted the butler's granddaughter; the girl returned the greeting. Their manner carried the easy familiarity of people who had known each other far longer than a day or two.
"Hoo… not knowing Butler Ju's family left me a little scrambled."
After a sip of tea settled the confusion, Jeong-Hoon wondered how he ought to greet her. The school uniform meant she was a minor. With a first meeting he should use formal speech. Yet Butler Ju and the other vassals disliked it when Jeong-Hoon spoke formally to them as their Gaju; they only accepted it because he insisted formality felt more comfortable. In that climate, using formal speech toward a minor who was also a vassal-in-training could actually harm Ju Min-Ha rather than him.
His thoughts tangled again. He turned first to Butler Ju.
"Quick question before the greeting: Butler Ju, are minors included among the roughly three thousand vassals?"
"They are not. A name may be entered in the vassal roster only from the age at which one is legally recognized as an adult."
"Is that so? Then… it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Lee Jeong-Hoon, two hundred thirty-eighth head of the family."
Hearing she was not a vassal, he relaxed into formal speech. Mid-sentence it struck him that this was the first time he had ever introduced himself as Gaju; he met Ju Min-Ha's eyes.
"Gaju, though my granddaughter's name is not yet on the roster, she is properly training as a vassal apprentice. Please speak to her casually."
Butler Ju cut in at once. Jeong-Hoon averted his gaze and nodded.
"Using casual speech on a first meeting is still…"
"Please speak casually. I'm younger than you anyway, aren't I?"
The bold girl interrupted his muttering. Jeong-Hoon looked back and met her eyes again.
"Mmm… all right, then. I'll do that."
Her gaze was serious enough to show it wasn't merely because of her grandfather; Jeong-Hoon nodded and turned to Butler Ju.
"So I'm supposed to walk around Diana with Butler Ju's granddaughter…?"
He almost said "your granddaughter" with honorifics and barely caught himself.
"She is already knocking on the wall of S-class, so she is more than suitable as an escort. I recommend her."
"She still looks like a high-school student, and she's knocking on the S-class wall?"
The image of his friend Han Si-Eun, the youngest S-class hunter, flashed through Jeong-Hoon's mind; he shook his head. At this rate, before the year was out his friend would become "the youngest S-class hunter—officially."
"And I believe she is more suitable than an old man like myself or the head maid."
"Chief Butler, you may not fit in at a theme park, but I still look like I'm in my twenties."
Annoyed at being lumped in as unsuitable, I-Yeong stressed her youthful appearance. She truly did have an extraordinary baby face.
"Head Maid, I fully grant that you look young. But when you attend Gaju, you have no intention of wearing anything other than your maid uniform, do you?"
The problem was the outfit, not the face. I-Yeong reluctantly nodded. The maid uniform was a point of pride for her. Escorting Gaju Jeong-Hoon in any other clothes was simply unthinkable.