Price Is the Combat Power of Luxury
Once Butler Ju's thrashing—so vicious it was bloodcurdling just to watch—finally ended, Jeong-Hoon followed Yong-Ha's lead to a sports car dealership.
He had been beaten so savagely that Jeong-Hoon half-expected to have to haul him straight to a hospital. The instant the thrashing stopped, however, Yong-Ha simply brushed himself off and got right back up.
"All right, Chairman! When you think sports cars, you think luxury! When you think luxury, you think sports cars! See anything you like?"
Yong-Ha flung his arms wide. Jeong-Hoon only shook his head. The guy who had promised to teach him luxury was clearly having more fun than anyone.
"Whether I like it or not, I don't even have a license."
"Good heavens! Chairman, you don't get it at all. A license isn't what matters with a sports car. What matters is style!"
"…Have you ever driven without a license?"
To Jeong-Hoon, a license was the single most important thing about a car, so he asked just in case. Behind him, Butler Ju's eyes flashed as he glared daggers at Yong-Ha.
A minor drinking and running around was already unforgivable in the butler's book. If the boy had driven without a license on top of that? Butler Ju was fully prepared to make sure the rest of Yong-Ha's life was spent in a hospital bed. This would not be another light scolding—this would be real violence.
"O-of course not! Even I have my limits. I was just trying to explain the cool factor of sports cars!"
Yong-Ha waved his hands frantically and kept talking, desperate to change the subject.
"Just look at that sleek, streamlined body. Doesn't it stir every man's romance? And the price—hundreds of millions of won! Now that's luxury. Price itself is the combat power of luxury, wouldn't you say? Hahaha!"
The dealer who had been waiting for the right moment to approach ever since Jeong-Hoon walked in quietly stepped back. It wasn't that Yong-Ha's pitch was too good—it was that Jeong-Hoon looked utterly unimpressed. Some people simply would not be swayed no matter how hard you tried, and the dealer had already sensed Jeong-Hoon was one of them. He abandoned the sale on the spot.
"Nah, cars are out. Besides, sports cars are two-seaters, right? I'm not about to cruise around alone with Butler Ju, so what's the point of buying one?"
The dealer's instinct proved correct. Using the lack of a license as the cleanest possible excuse, Jeong-Hoon dropped the idea of buying anything without a second thought.
Yong-Ha clung to Jeong-Hoon as he tried to leave the dealership, begging and pleading until, in the end, Jeong-Hoon bought the latest model sports car. Yong-Ha's ironclad argument—that true luxury meant buying first and thinking later—left him no escape.
They had not come out so Jeong-Hoon could shop for things he needed; they had come so he could learn luxury. Refusing was not an option.
"What kind of car costs over four hundred million won…?"
Jeong-Hoon's expression was sour after purchasing a vehicle that pushed five hundred million, but Yong-Ha was beaming.
"Well? How does it feel to just go for it?"
"…Nothing special? All I can think is whether it's really okay to drop this much money on a car."
"Come on, Chairman. You built a massive conglomerate from a young age and you're freaking out over a little pocket change like this?"
The world believed Jeong-Hoon had inherited a vast fortune and used it as the foundation for his empire. Hearing him call a few hundred million "a lot of money" clashed hard with that image. Realizing his slip, Jeong-Hoon shook his head.
"Until I inherited everything, I had no idea I was rich. I lived a completely ordinary life. Honestly, it still doesn't feel real."
"Wow! That's actually surprising."
Jeong-Hoon had improvised the excuse on the spot, and even he thought it sounded pretty solid. He nodded to himself.
"But…"
"So why did you bring me here?"
When Yong-Ha looked ready to seize on something else, Jeong-Hoon changed the subject and glanced around.
They were on the top floor of a department store, in a private suite reserved for VIPs only. One entire wall was floor-to-ceiling glass offering a sweeping view of the city, and the room boasted plush carpet and luxurious sofas. Even so, to Jeong-Hoon it felt a step below the standard Lumen Room at his own hotel.
"You said the sports car didn't do it for you, so I brought you to show you a different kind of luxury. Chairman, you already have suits and a watch, right?"
Jeong-Hoon was already wearing a suit, so he simply raised his left arm to display the watch on his wrist and nodded. Yong-Ha nodded back.
"Suits and watches are luxury items that other people see. Especially for a chairman running a business, they're essential. No matter how expensive they are, you can't wear the same ones every single day, so the more the better!"
Everything Yong-Ha said was something Jeong-Hoon had already heard during manners training with Butler Ju and Lee Young. He nodded in agreement.
"I'll give you that, but all my suits are custom-made."
The suits sold in department stores—even the high-end ones aimed at VIPs—were still ready-to-wear. Jeong-Hoon's, on the other hand, were not merely custom; they were top-tier pieces with built-in bulletproofing. No matter how expensive a department-store ready-to-wear suit might be, it looked like cheap rags next to the ones crafted with painstaking care by world-class designers and specialists for Jeong-Hoon.
"…Fine. Let's look at watches."
Yong-Ha cleanly abandoned the suits and gestured. Department store staff who had been waiting near the door approached carrying expensive wristwatches. Every one of them was stylish enough that even Jeong-Hoon felt a flicker of interest.
"Whoa, Butler Ju. Even if I buy all of these, they're still cheaper than this one watch."
"…Your watch is a special piece, after all."
As Jeong-Hoon casually waved his wrist, the staff holding the watches so carefully trembled. The timepieces in their hands already cost more than their annual salaries, yet they were still cheaper than the single watch on Jeong-Hoon's wrist. The shock hit them hard.
"If I don't buy something, this guy's going to complain, so for now… I'll take them all. Oh, and just in case—do you have any digital watches?"
"We do. Is there a particular model you're looking for?"
"Something with a calculator would be nice."
After casually spending hundreds of millions of won in one go, Jeong-Hoon asked for a watch that cost only a few tens of thousands. The staff were thrown into complete confusion. No VIP had ever requested something like that.
"I've always wanted one for everyday use."
"Then please say so. There's no need to hold back."
They had set out to teach him luxury, yet the thing he actually wanted cost pocket change. Still, Butler Ju wore a warm smile. What he had wanted to see was Jeong-Hoon freely desiring something for himself.
"Uh, Grandpa? Did I need this?"
"What are you talking about? You attended the Gaju splendidly. Your allowance this time will be generous."
"Thanks for that, but the Gaju is already draped in luxury from head to toe."
Yong-Ha grumbled with a deflated look. Butler Ju shook his head.
Jeong-Hoon simply wore expensive things that matched his station. That was not the same as indulging in luxury.
After leaving the department store and parting ways with Jeong-Hoon, Yong-Ha shook his head from side to side.
"So that's the current Gaju? Meeting him in person, he seems pretty ordinary."
Once he confirmed Jeong-Hoon's car had gone far enough, Yong-Ha dropped the act and revealed his true thoughts. The head of the Organization wore a bitter smile.
When his grandfather the butler had summoned him, Yong-Ha's flesh had crawled with the fear that his identity had been exposed.
"Teaching him luxury, of all things? This isn't a joke. Does the Gaju even realize he's enjoying wealth built on the blood of the vassals?"
Even though the man was his own grandfather, Yong-Ha found him frustratingly dense and shook his head again.
Barely eighteen years old. Far too young to be the leader of an organization hostile to the family. Yet the one who had single-handedly built that organization was none other than Yong-Ha himself.
He played the fool, but Ju Yong-Ha belonged to the category of people called geniuses.
When Yong-Ha was eight—ten years ago—the world had changed. Awakened had appeared. Yong-Ha was one of the very first to awaken on the day the world transformed.
And he had hidden the fact that he had awakened.
Not completely—he had hidden his true rank.
The moment he awakened, an omnipotent power had flooded his entire body. At only eight years old, Yong-Ha had become S-class. So he used his own ability to falsify his rank.
His power was Severance. It resembled the Sealing ability of his twin sister Min-Ha, but was a far superior version. With it he severed the level at which his power could be detected. That was how he had continued to pass himself off as F-class while operating from the shadows.
At the time he had not intended to betray the family. As a child he had simply been terrified of his power being discovered and had hidden it. But once he used that power to approach the family's truths, his heart changed.
He used his ability to slip into the family's secret archives and steal martial arts and magic to learn them. Anything beyond that he acquired by secretly contacting family traitors before they were purged.
By the age of fifteen he had reached SSS-class and deliberately failed the vassal candidacy. He engineered his own elimination under the official reason of "dangerous ideology," because looking like a simple fool meant he could still be used as a family collaborator. To oppose the family, he first needed to free himself from it.
Once free, he played the part of the foolish wastrel and took the legacy left behind by the family's traitors—their networks—and made secret contact, building the Organization.
"Still… even Min-Ha going over to his side? That one actually hurts a little."
His grandfather the butler was a lost cause. The man was a fanatic who had climbed all the way to chief butler. But even his twin sister—who, while not his equal, had shown real promise—was now serving the Gaju with genuine loyalty.
"For my little sister's sake, I'd better move fast! Time to go meet a real idiot."
The fact that probationary vassal Min-Ha had been won over meant the Gaju Jeong-Hoon's grip on the family was formidable. Yong-Ha decided he needed to erase the family's very reason for existing as quickly as possible, and melted into the crowd.
Back at Lumen, Jeong-Hoon lounged sideways on the sofa, lost in thought.
"Gaju, does the idea of living in luxury bother you?"
"…No, it's not that. There's just something else weighing on my mind."
Butler Ju eyed the unopened can of lemon-flavored beer—Jeong-Hoon's usual favorite—with open worry. Jeong-Hoon shook his head.
"You know that feeling? You order a burger set, squeeze ketchup onto the tray for the fries, and then somehow get ketchup all over your sleeve."
"A remarkably specific analogy. Did Yong-Ha leave you that unsettled?"
Butler Ju asked while picturing his hopeless wastrel of a grandson. Jeong-Hoon nodded silently.
"Butler Ju, let me apologize in advance."
"There is nothing for which the Gaju needs to apologize to me. The fault lies solely with my failure to properly manage my grandson."
"No, it's not that. Director Han?"
Jeong-Hoon slowly shook his head and snapped his fingers. Han Su-Ho abruptly materialized from behind the sofa. Butler Ju was mildly startled. Jeong-Hoon had never summoned one of the 12 Vassals so abruptly before.
"You called for me, Gaju?"
"…Investigate Ju Yong-Ha thoroughly. Butler Ju's grandson."
"Pardon?"
"I want every last scrap of those pathetic rap lyrics of his examined without exception."
Han Su-Ho was taken aback by the sudden order. Ju Yong-Ha had been under surveillance for a time after failing the vassal candidacy. The conclusion had been that he was simply a foolish wastrel, and the surveillance had been lifted. There was no reason to waste the family's resources. Even the previous Gaju had signed off on that assessment. To hear the current Gaju suddenly issue such an order left Han Su-Ho bewildered.
"I'd like to believe it's just baseless irritation, but it keeps nagging at me."
"I will carry out the Gaju's command with absolute thoroughness. I will dig up every private search history on Ju Yong-Ha's phone and more."
Yet because the order came from the current Gaju, Han Su-Ho readily nodded. The surprise lasted only a moment.
"I'll apologize again. This isn't because I doubt you, Butler Ju."
"Not at all. If the Gaju acts, there is a reason. I simply follow."
Butler Ju recalled how unusually hostile Jeong-Hoon had been toward Yong-Ha and nodded. From the very first meeting Jeong-Hoon had refused to use honorifics and had not even called Yong-Ha by a proper name. Given Jeong-Hoon's personality, that was strange.
And Jeong-Hoon's sudden sense of unease and hostility was not without cause.
As the head of the Organization, Yong-Ha had approached the seal and prodded it with magic, triggering the Ogre Lord Raid at Diana Theme Park. The seal was currently maintained by Jeong-Hoon alone and was therefore tightly bound to him. Because Yong-Ha had disturbed that seal, a vague, unplaceable disgust toward the boy had settled deep in Jeong-Hoon's heart.
Thus, on nothing more than Jeong-Hoon's inexplicable gut feeling, the Organization's tail had been stepped on.
Had Yong-Ha known that, he would have found any excuse in the world to avoid ever meeting Jeong-Hoon.