Just Buy It Outright
Hwa-Rim had broken her seclusion and returned upon learning that remnants of her father—Kang Hyeon-Jung, the family traitor—still lingered within the Organization. Yet her current position remained awkward.
It was not simply because she was a traitor’s daughter. It was because she had once been the previous Head Housekeeper, one of the 12 Vassals.
Reappointing her as one of the 12 Vassals was impossible; there were no vacancies, and every current Vassal was performing their duties admirably. Ranking her as an ordinary vassal felt wrong when her former status as a 12 Vassal kept tripping her up. Treating her as an Elder of the Elder Council—the body of retired vassals—was equally problematic; she was far too young.
Even Jeong-Hoon had no idea how to handle her properly, which was why he had never given her a nickname and simply called her “Hwa-Rim” in that vague, noncommittal way. Among the vassals it had already become an unspoken rule that only the 12 Vassals received nicknames from him.
So when the woman whose status had been left so strangely undefined finally asked for a clear position of her own, Jeong-Hoon listened carefully.
“If I go to the PS Association, you won’t need to send any of the 12 Vassals. The family’s internal strength won’t take any hit, correct?”
Establishing the PS Association required amending the current Hunter Law. Because the organization would be funded by corporate and guild investment, the existing law’s strict separation of companies and guilds was the biggest obstacle. But the very lawmaker who had opposed the amendment most fiercely—Representative Kim Dae-yeong—had already switched to the yes camp, so passage was now a foregone conclusion.
Once the law changed, companies and guilds supporting the PS Association would dispatch their own people to serve as executives. Hwa-Rim was essentially asking to be sent as Lumen’s representative, and Jeong-Hoon nodded.
“That’s right. I was actually fretting over whether I’d have to send an Elder from the Elder Council because I couldn’t spare a 12 Vassal.”
They needed someone of exceptional ability. Sending Hwa-Rim, a former 12 Vassal, would be completely reliable.
“And now that the president has already announced the founding of the PS Association and used the banquet to demand cooperation, even companies that look connected to the Organization will have no choice but to get involved. That means we can use the Association to keep those companies under surveillance.”
They had kidnapped Kim Gi-yeong and extracted information, but it was not a method they could use often. Kidnapping a chaebol chairman carried far too much risk compared to someone like Kim Gi-yeong. Surveillance, as Hwa-Rim suggested, was the efficient approach.
“On top of that, even if the Organization’s leader is dead, the remaining members will try to infiltrate the PS Association, won’t they?”
“And you’re confident you can catch them?”
“Of course. Better than any other vassal in the family.”
She smiled with quiet pride—after all, she had purged more family traitors than anyone else. Jeong-Hoon nodded.
“Then Hwa-Rim will go.”
“However, Gaju, if I am going as Lumen’s representative—acting as proxy for you, the chairman—I will need an official title, won’t I?”
“……?”
“Right now I’m just an ordinary vassal. Even if you call me a Lumen employee, that makes me a regular staff member. Sending me as Lumen’s representative would look undignified. At the very least I need a title that makes it clear I am the chairman’s close aide.”
“……Hwa-Rim, be honest. What you really want is a nickname like the ones the 12 Vassals have, isn’t it?”
After all that careful build-up, her real goal turned out to be a title. Jeong-Hoon asked, half-exasperated, but Hwa-Rim only smiled sweetly.
“Ever since I returned, my junior keeps trying to hand her position back to me. It’s becoming awkward.”
Her gaze drifted toward Lee Young’s waiting room attached to Jeong-Hoon’s private suite for the Gaju. Understanding at once, he nodded.
“Fine. From now on I’ll call you Secretary Kang. Keep a tight rein on the PS Association.”
He had seen Lee Young repeatedly trying to return the Head Housekeeper’s seat to Hwa-Rim and recognized the pressure it placed on her. So he granted the nickname. At the same time a thought floated through his mind: Wait… doesn’t that make thirteen Vassals instead of twelve?
A few days after appointing Hwa-Rim as the PS Association liaison, Chief Butler Ju returned from his week of mandatory leave. Little about him had changed. He had never intended to take a vacation in the first place; he had simply treated Jeong-Hoon’s order as a short house confinement and spent the time quietly at home.
“Chief Butler Ju, did you hold a funeral?”
“A funeral for whom, sir?”
Even though the man had been a traitor and a criminal, watching one’s own grandson commit suicide right in front of him should have left some mark. Jeong-Hoon finally asked, but the chief butler only looked puzzled.
“……Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
The way Ju treated the dead as complete strangers—no, as people he had never known—made Jeong-Hoon shake his head. If the man himself was like this, any further words from Jeong-Hoon would only wound him.
“I failed to observe the confinement properly because I was busy disposing of every last belonging of the traitor. For that I apologize.”
“It wasn’t confinement; it was leave. You were free to do whatever you wanted.”
Hearing that the personal effects had been dealt with, Jeong-Hoon took it as a form of closure and nodded in relief.
“How is Min-ha?”
“She wanted to smash every single item belonging to the traitor. Keeping her from doing so was exhausting. Anything linked to the Organization had to be found and handed over to Diana; the rest needed proper disposal. Instead she just tried to destroy everything on sight. It was a headache.”
Jeong-Hoon clicked his tongue and shook his head. Far from finding personal closure, the chief butler’s attitude still felt like he had merely been investigating a criminal’s belongings.
“Chief Butler Ju… are we absolutely certain he’s dead?”
“……You may not trust me, but Kang Hwa-Rim is someone you can believe.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m not saying you filed a false report.”
Realizing how the question could be taken, Jeong-Hoon hurriedly shook his head and soothed him. The man already carried enough guilt; extra pressure would only make things worse.
“I just have this feeling that maybe he faked the suicide and ran.”
“That is impossible. He was unquestionably dead at the time. However…”
Because the suspicion came from Jeong-Hoon’s instinctive loathing that had once dragged the Organization’s leader into the light, the chief butler considered the slim possibility.
“I will look into whether any of the traitors possessed techniques that could mimic death.”
“Ah—don’t move on it right this second!”
The matter was so critical that the moment he finished speaking Chief Butler Ju started to turn away; Jeong-Hoon caught him.
“We still have something that needs deciding first, don’t we?”
“Ah, of course. I nearly forgot we were in the middle of something very important.”
When Jeong-Hoon pointed at the documents lying in front of him, the chief butler smiled faintly. Despite everything that had happened, the paperwork for consolidating the family’s businesses into a single group had been progressing quietly in the background.
Unifying the family’s companies into a group held two meanings: internally it was the symbol that Jeong-Hoon reigned as the true Gaju; externally it eliminated the inefficiencies created by keeping the businesses scattered and hard to coordinate. Scattered companies also gave the impression that the family itself was divided, weakening the vassals’ sense of belonging. The consolidation was therefore essential—yet they had hit a snag at the final step.
“I won’t get angry no matter what you say, so just throw out whatever comes to mind.”
Jeong-Hoon had gathered the 12 Vassals, the Elders, and even Hwa-Rim into the conference room attached to his suite. He cracked open a can of beer as he spoke, but the atmosphere remained heavy. He had piled the table with alcohol and snacks to create a free, casual mood, yet no one touched a thing.
“……Since the Gaju is the center of the family now… how about the Jeong-Hoon Group?”
Han Su-Ho’s voice cut through the tension. Instantly a barrage of sharp glares locked onto him.
“Han Su-Ho, are you in your right mind? Not only do you fail to observe the taboo of naming, you would have the Gaju’s personal name bandied about by commoners?”
Fernandez’s rebuke was cold and absolute.
“Uh, well… it’s fine, really. Anything’s okay—just say whatever ideas pop into your heads.”
The decisive obstacle holding up the entire consolidation was the group’s name.
When Jeong-Hoon had first announced he was chairman of Lumen, Chief Butler Ju had casually referred to it as the Lumen Group, and Jeong-Hoon had assumed they would simply keep that name. But while Lumen alone was already a massive corporation, seven other businesses of comparable size were merging with it. A completely new name was required—both to symbolize the family Jeong-Hoon was rebuilding from the ground up and to show the outside world that this was not a simple absorption of similar-sized companies.
“……Everyone fill your glasses. Let’s have a drink first.”
Because the decision would shape the family’s public image for years to come, no one dared speak rashly. Jeong-Hoon raised his beer can and gave the order. In silence they poured drinks or cracked open cans and lifted them.
“Don’t worry about reading the room. Just say whatever. And no glaring at anyone for suggesting something weird, understood?”
“““We receive your command.”””
The mood was too stiff for a proper toast, so Jeong-Hoon simply drank. Everyone else drained their glasses in one go, and silence settled again.
“Lumen, Shine, Myeong-il, Apollon, Flamma, Diana, Photon… every single name is related to light, right? Was there a reason for that?”
Trying to break the awkward quiet that even alcohol had failed to loosen, Jeong-Hoon spoke. Chief Butler Ju slowly nodded.
“The previous Gaju chose them to mean ‘become the light that protects the world.’”
“Then maybe the group name should also be something related to light…”
“All the decent-sounding words were already used when we named the seven companies.”
The chief butler’s flat reply made Jeong-Hoon look around the table. Everyone nodded silently. Suitable light-related words had already been claimed by the individual businesses. Any remaining respectable names were already registered by companies outside the family.
“Come on, he could have left something for me… What was Uncle thinking…”
“The previous Gaju trusted that you would handle it yourself, Gaju.”
Having the naming dumped on him like a hot potato, Jeong-Hoon scratched his head. With no one else speaking, a good idea from him right now would have carried real dignity—yet nothing came to mind.
“……What about Aurora?”
As he racked his brains for light-related words, light reflected off the silver of his beer can and scattered into rainbow colors. The word slipped out almost by accident. It felt like a fitting common thread.
“A company with that trade name already exists.”
“……Then let’s just buy it outright.”
Sick of the silent meeting, Jeong-Hoon decided he would use the name Aurora even if it meant purchasing the entire company. Everyone nodded and refilled their glasses.
“Since the group name is decided, let us toast to the family led by the Gaju and to Aurora Group.”
The vassals switched gears so smoothly it was as if the heavy atmosphere had never existed. Jeong-Hoon’s brows furrowed.
“Don’t tell me all of you already had good ideas and just stayed quiet until I spoke?”
“…….”
“You’re not seriously saying that, right? You didn’t stay silent because you thought the Gaju had to decide the name himself? Answer me. Chief Butler Ju? Head Housekeeper…?”
He called out each of the 12 Vassals, Hwa-Rim, and every Elder present one by one, but they all averted their eyes and simply raised their glasses higher.
“How could that possibly be the case? Even if someone had an idea, it would only have been inferior to yours, Gaju.”
Chief Butler Ju tried to smooth things over, but Jeong-Hoon could not shake the conviction that he had been thoroughly played.