Aurora Group
After annihilating the organization that had been posing as the mafia, Jeong-Hoon spent a little longer enjoying the sights of Italy.
In the meantime, the Twelve Vassals and Hwa-rim who had come to Italy tracked down the remaining Nova remnants hiding across the country and wiped them out without mercy. Nova was already nothing more than a subordinate faction of the Organization, so they had to be cleaned up while the chance still existed.
“We did put a lot of effort into it, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
Inside the private jet heading back to Korea, Jeong-Hoon frowned and tapped the armrest of his seat with his fingers. Anubis had been dealt with easily enough using Jeong-Hoon’s power. Even Nova, though only a fraction of the Organization, had been thoroughly purged. Yet the truly important cadre of the Organization—Silvio Rosso—had left not even a shadow to be found.
They had used all seven of Photon’s artificial satellites to scan the entire planet, and still they had come up empty. Satellites could not see underground, so there was nothing more they could do.
“We have done everything that can be done. There is no need for you to worry so much,” Butler Ju soothed him, reading the irritation on Jeong-Hoon’s face. Jeong-Hoon only shook his head and kept grumbling.
“But if they already knew we were coming, why didn’t they hide Anubis? He was one of their few success stories, wasn’t he?”
After dealing with Anubis they had torn the building apart searching for documents, only to find that everything had already been erased. In other words, the family had been expected—and that fact still left a nagging question unanswered.
Even the family itself had only just learned that Jeong-Hoon could reclaim the power of the Seal and erase Anubis. There was no way the Organization could have known. If they had, they would never have gone to the trouble of creating such a defective product. They also could never have known that Jeong-Hoon would naturally sense the power of the Seal.
“The most plausible guess we can make is that they wanted to test his combat strength through Anubis.”
“Then the experiment was a success. He survived our combined assault, after all.”
“……Had I been free to use my full power, he would not have been a match for me.”
Butler Ju’s pride seemed stung by Jeong-Hoon’s blunt remark; he answered with grave formality. Jeong-Hoon shook his head again.
“The problem is that the restrictions on unleashing that full power are far too severe.”
“I have already drawn up countermeasures for that.”
At the butler’s words Jeong-Hoon wondered for a moment whether a solution could really appear so easily. The vassals’ full strength caused so much collateral damage that they could never use it freely—and yet a countermeasure had materialized overnight. That raised another question: if the fix was this simple, why had they never prepared it before?
“Ah! You’re going to learn the other vassals’ techniques and make up for—”
“Photon will simply develop new equipment.”
A plausible idea had been forming in Jeong-Hoon’s mind, only for Butler Ju to offer something completely different.
“Uh… Butler Ju? Is that even possible?”
“With sufficient technical expertise and a great deal of money, it is possible. And once we become a group, both will be ready.”
Jeong-Hoon already knew that becoming a group would expand their freedom of movement and vastly increase the scale of available funds. But the fact that Butler Ju—who treated five hundred trillion won like five-hundred-won coins—had just called something “a great deal of money” made his whole body shudder. He could not even begin to imagine how much they would now be able to spend.
The cinema at Incheon International Airport.
Crowds poured into the theater that had been rented under the name of Aurora—the colossal conglomerate formed by the merger of the seven companies that were no longer merely Lumen. Politicians, businessmen, reporters, guild masters of famous guilds, even S-class and higher hunters all gathered. Foreign figures who were not even Korean had come as well.
There had already been signs that the seven enterprises were moving toward unification, so every eye had been fixed on them. Then, without warning, the key figures of those seven giant companies had all departed for Italy at once, drawing even more attention than expected.
“Good day. I am Lee Jeong-Hoon. Thank you for taking the time to attend our company’s merger ceremony today.”
Standing on the prepared stage, Jeong-Hoon offered a smooth greeting to the people who had far exceeded the 150-seat capacity of the screening hall. Even after packing every possible standing space they had still run short, so the overflow had been seated in other theaters and the event was being live-streamed.
“From this day forward, the hotel chain Lumen that I have led, the distribution company Shine Mall, the medical foundation Myeong-il, the security and escort firm Apollon, the dining chain Flamma, the theme park Diana, and the defense contractor Photon will become one under the name of Aurora.”
Reporters raised their hands to ask questions, but Jeong-Hoon stopped them with a light gesture.
“There will be time for questions shortly.”
The people who had been listening intently turned sharp glares on the reporters who had raised their hands. More than half of the seven companies—Shine Mall, Apollon, Flamma, Diana—operated only inside Korea. Yet Lumen, Shine Mall, and Myeong-il were companies that operated on the world stage. Watching someone throw cold water on the very moment those companies united into a mega-corporation capable of shaking the global economy was irritating.
“After I announced that I was the chairman of Lumen, you have frequently seen through the media that I continued to make contact with the other companies.”
Everyone immediately looked away from the reporters and nodded at Jeong-Hoon’s next words. His moves to approach the other enterprises had been constantly exposed in the press.
“And because we have finally reaped the fruit of those efforts, I have invited you here today to make this announcement. From now on I will no longer act as the chairman of Lumen, but as the representative of the holding company Aurora that oversees all seven enterprises—and as the chairman of the group. Lumen will be led by Director Joo Yeong-Cheol as its new president, and the other companies will continue under their existing representatives.”
As he spoke, Jeong-Hoon snapped his fingers. On the giant screen behind him the Aurora logo appeared: the letters AU radiating a multicolored halo. Immediately afterward the screen switched to a detailed organizational chart that unpacked everything he had just said.
They would not change the names of the existing businesses. There was no need to discard names that had already taken root in the public consciousness; they would simply be used as subsidiary brands. In addition, several new subsidiaries had been established as they became a full group, and those new subsidiaries were to be headed by the Twelve Vassals who had not previously led any of the original enterprises. In an instant the seven businesses had ballooned into eleven.
Only Head Maid Jeong I-Yeong was listed not as the head of a business but as Chief of Staff of the Aurora Chairman’s Secretariat. She was unhappy that the former head maid was a secretary while she herself was only the chief of staff, but if they wanted to place I-Yeong in an official position, this was the only suitable post.
“Aurora will not be a company that merely pursues profit. It will be a company that contributes in step with a world that changes by the moment.”
Snap!
Jeong-Hoon flicked his fingers again and the screen changed, revealing Aurora’s management philosophy.
Contribute to the peace of humanity in secret, from the most conspicuous of places.
Because the ideal was a little ambiguous, questions rose on the faces of the people watching. Jeong-Hoon, however, believed there was no phrase that better expressed the family as it stood today, and that was why he had chosen it. He was unmoved by their reactions; instead he simply smiled.
“I will now take questions.”
Questions began, yet the reporters’ inquiries turned out to be more trivial than expected. It was not because they had deliberately invited only journalists under Aurora’s—formerly Lumen’s—influence. The reporters simply did not wish to offend the chairman of a newly born global mega-group, so they had prostrated themselves of their own accord. The level of the questions was so low that Jeong-Hoon found himself a little bored.
Most of them asked why the group structure had been almost completely prepared yet the announcement delayed while everyone went to Italy. Jeong-Hoon answered with the line he had prepared in advance: that the people who would lead the businesses had simply gone on a trip together to build team spirit.
“There are rumors that the businesses the chairman has absorbed and merged this time were originally yours all along. Is that true?”
When a sharper question finally appeared, Jeong-Hoon allowed himself a faint smile. He had been waiting for exactly this kind of question. He had not gathered so many people and staged this show for nothing.
“It is true. They were mine from the beginning. We simply needed to consolidate what had been managed separately, so we formed a group. Is there a problem?”
“Then you have been operating through proxy executives—so-called figurehead presidents—which is illegal. Do you not feel any responsibility for that?”
“They were not figureheads; they were professional managers. Throughout that time I was the rightful owner of the companies as the shareholder who held one hundred percent of the stock.”
Everyone present already knew that the seven businesses were unlisted companies and therefore essentially Jeong-Hoon’s private firms; they nodded silently at his words.
“If there are no further questions, I will take the next one.”
The reporter who had tried to rattle him once and failed retreated without even recovering his original stake. Jeong-Hoon turned his gaze toward another journalist.
“Until now you have operated the companies in the form of mutual alliances. What is the reason for abandoning that alliance structure and becoming a single corporation? And why did you not form the corporation from the very beginning?”
“Because when the businesses were first established I was still a minor. Now that I am an adult, I needed to begin operating in earnest, so I pushed forward with the incorporation that had been planned all along.”
The answer—that it had been because he was a minor—delivered a considerable shock to everyone in the hall. It was a reply that compactly explained a great many reasons in a way that was perfectly understandable. Once again they were reminded that the Lee Jeong-Hoon standing on the stage was only a twenty-year-old just beginning his social career.
“Then, from the moment a few months ago when you announced you were the chairman of Lumen, you had already been pursuing the corporate structure?”
“Yes, exactly so.”
“Thank you for answering.”
Jeong-Hoon answered immediately with a nod; the reporter lowered his hand to signal that his question was finished. Yet the reporters, now thoroughly warmed up, were only just getting started.
After weathering the barrage of questions and finishing the merger ceremony in one smooth sequence, Jeong-Hoon immediately climbed into the car headed for Lumen. It was not the usual vehicle driven by Butler Ju, but the family’s mobile command vehicle—a limousine bus that had been extensively modified. The only change was that the Lumen logo that had once been taped on the side had been replaced by the Aurora logo; nothing else was different.
“Whoa… they’re really following us forever, aren’t they?”
Jeong-Hoon muttered in awe as he checked the exterior cameras monitoring the bus’s surroundings. Butler Ju and the other vassals chuckled softly.
They had deliberately rented the cinema at Incheon International Airport for dramatic effect, but they could not hold the after-party reception there as well. And so many people had come that a large number had never even made it inside the theater. They had therefore prepared a reception in Lumen’s grand banquet hall and invited anyone who had the time to attend. The result was a solid line of cars stretching all the way back to the airport, with Jeong-Hoon’s bus leading the procession.
“The press is going to go crazy about the traffic jam we caused.”
Jeong-Hoon grumbled as he took out his phone—and saw that countless messages from his friends had already arrived.
“…These bastards!”
The launch of the Aurora Group was such a massive scoop that his friends had already seen the news and posted it in the group chat. If they had merely shared the news, Jeong-Hoon would never have sworn. The messages that had poured in while he was conducting the ceremony, however, were nothing but mockery from people who still believed he was a body double.