Are You the Chairman?
Following Kim Sang-Myeong’s forceful insistence, the floating palace had been renamed Hwanung’s Aerial Garden, and preparations for the entry operation into the Castle of the Sky were already underway.
It was called an entry operation, yet it was not an operation run by the emergency headquarters. The family was conducting its own independent investigation to determine whether something had gone wrong with the seal.
And for the cover story of that operation, they needed Han Si-Eun’s cooperation.
“Since the Aurora Group is offering assistance, I’ll take a helicopter up alone, check what kind of dangers are waiting, and come right back.”
Coming from Si-Eun—the highest-ranked hunter present at the headquarters—everyone had no choice but to accept it. If even she ran into trouble, the military would have to be committed or one of Korea’s officially recognized SSS-class hunters would have to step in.
“Thank you for your help, Hunter Han Si-Eun.”
“Ugh… I’m only cooperating because I know the chairman’s circumstances about the seal and that he can’t tell anyone around him, but the guilt is seriously killing me.”
Si-Eun, who had agreed to enter the Aerial Garden together with the family, shook her head under the weight of the guilt that kept flooding in. Lying to the hunters at the emergency headquarters did not bother her. What tore at her conscience was that she had told the exact same lie to her guildmates—friends who were like family, people who had clawed their way out of life-and-death situations together.
“Chairman, how on earth do you endure this kind of pressure?”
“……If you don’t really feel that you’re doing something huge, you somehow manage.”
Crushed by both the guilt and the crushing weight of having to hide a truly critical secret while acting, Si-Eun asked Jeong-Hoon for his secret technique. Jeong-Hoon merely shrugged. He knew that if anything happened to him the world would end, yet he only truly felt that fact when an incident actually erupted. When nothing was happening, he understood it with his head but never felt it in his chest. That was all he could offer as an answer.
“And my friends aren’t the sort of people who make me feel guilty for lying to them anyway.”
“……That’s a pretty harsh evaluation of your friends.”
Si-Eun, who had met Jeong-Hoon’s friends once at a meat restaurant, took the remark as a joke and smiled faintly. Jeong-Hoon had said it with a smile, yet it was no joke at all. Even now, just thinking about the friends who still treated him like a body double and never stopped teasing him made his blood boil.
After seeing Si-Eun off to the helicopter and pretending he was heading back to Lumen, Jeong-Hoon was about to depart for the Aerial Garden with the 12 Vassals when someone arrived and rooted him in place.
“Are you Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon? Our chairman is waiting for a moment of your time. Would you come with us?”
At the sudden appearance of the suit-clad legion, Jeong-Hoon looked them over slowly, then turned to Butler Ju.
“……They’re from the Shintong Group, the parent company of Cheonrian Daily.”
“Is that so? Why are they blocking my way?”
Cheonrian Daily was the newspaper that had tried to plant people and run smear pieces on Lumen. The incident had happened only a few hours earlier, so Jeong-Hoon’s expression darkened. He had clearly ordered the paper bought and shut down; he had never imagined the parent company’s chairman would come running in a panic.
“The share structure of Cheonrian Daily was rather messy, so we were in the process of cleanly acquiring the entire Shintong Group.”
“……Butler Ju? It’s the middle of the night. The stock market isn’t even open. You’re telling me Shintong Group already found out and came running?”
Even if they were buying, the market would not open until tomorrow, so Jeong-Hoon asked as if information might have leaked. The idea of purchasing an entire group just to shut down one newspaper was so extreme he was almost afraid to object.
“We were purchasing through off-market trades. The scale of the money was large enough that they must have caught the scent.”
At Butler Ju’s words Jeong-Hoon let out a long sigh. That, at least, made sense of why the chairman of Shintong Group had suddenly come racing to meet him. Any group chairman would be horrified if Aurora began buying up their shares like mad through off-market trades.
“Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon, our chairman is waiting. This way, please…….”
“Ah, I fully understand that you’re in a hurry, and I get it—but are you the chairman?”
“……?”
While Jeong-Hoon was still sorting his thoughts after hearing the situation from Butler Ju, the man who appeared to be the leader of the suit legion cut in. Jeong-Hoon’s eyes sharpened as he snapped back.
“Or do I look like one of your subordinates?”
The man, who had not understood the sudden remark, finally grasped the meaning of Jeong-Hoon’s next words and shook his head.
“I apologize for the discourtesy caused by our haste. However, our chairman is an extremely busy man…….”
“I’m a busy man too, you know? Can’t you see I’m fucking busy right now? Does the Shintong Group have more money than Aurora?”
Treated as if he were lower than the Shintong Group’s chairman and ordered around, Jeong-Hoon’s face twisted. His side was the victim of the sudden power play against Lumen’s flagship hotel. Yet here the perpetrators—Shintong Group—and not even the chairman but some secretary-looking figure were acting high-handed. It put him in a foul mood. The Aerial Garden floating in the sky was already weighing on his mind; he wanted to investigate it immediately. If something had gone wrong with the seal, the only person who could handle it was Jeong-Hoon, who alone maintained the seal’s power, and that made him even more impatient.
“Head Maid, get rid of these rude people. All of them.”
The instant Jeong-Hoon gave the order, Jeong I-Yeong sprang forward and used telekinesis to lift them and shove them aside. She would have preferred to throw them, but that would have given the cornered Shintong Group an excuse to claim Aurora had used violence and become a nuisance.
“And Butler Ju?”
“Yes, Gaju. Command me.”
“Buy even more aggressively than you already are. It would be wonderful if the very first news story tomorrow morning was the dissolution of the Shintong Group.”
Irritated by the high-handed attitude of the suit legion, Jeong-Hoon gave the order with the clear intent of eliminating the source of his stress. Butler Ju bowed his head in silent acknowledgment. The suit legion that had come to resolve the situation went white as they heard Jeong-Hoon’s words and rushed forward trying to stop him, but Jeong I-Yeong’s telekinesis blocked them and they never reached their goal.
After seeing Si-Eun off by helicopter, Jeong-Hoon traveled by car to Bucheon Comprehensive Stadium. Securing permission from the government to use the stadium and arranging secret transport for the vehicles had consumed most of their preparation time.
Waiting at the stadium were the three people Jeong-Hoon had summoned: Jeong Si-Min, Dong Sa-Seong, and Yeo Tae-Hyeon.
“You’ve all gone to a lot of trouble this late at night. Professor Jeong, Doctor Dong, Representative Yeo.”
“You need not concern yourself at all. The 12 Vassals exist to serve as Gaju’s hands and feet.”
Jeong Si-Min answered in a languid voice, and the other two bowed their heads. Jeong-Hoon had called these three because they were the right people for the job. Yeo Tae-Hyeon, the vassal in charge of artifacts, could analyze the three gems discovered in the dungeon murals. Dong Sa-Seong was the most outstanding among the 12 Vassals when it came to research into magic and various technologies. Jeong Si-Min oversaw the education of the trainee vassals and was thoroughly versed in the family’s history.
Moreover, because Fernandez had to be sent back to take personal command of the Shintong Group acquisition, it was reassuring that the strongest of the vassals would be going. The order had been given to Butler Ju, but Butler Ju’s technique, Paseong, possessed tremendous destructive power. In an emergency he could reduce the entire dungeon to dust, so he had to accompany them; that was why Fernandez was being sent back.
“Gaju, then I shall take my leave. I pray for Gaju’s success in battle, and I will complete judgment upon those who dared to offend Gaju’s temper.”
Once Fernandez confirmed that the summoned 12 Vassals had joined, he bowed and took his leave. Jeong-Hoon removed his suit jacket, handed it to Jeong I-Yeong, and activated the suit underneath.
Whirrr.
A driving hum rose as the suit deployed. The familiar mechanical voice sounded, the helmet sealed over his head, and the equipment was complete.
“If everyone is ready, let’s go.”
Once the helmet was on, its sensors revealed the massive helicopter standing in the center of the stadium. It was a stealth helicopter built by applying the family’s stealth technology. It was not merely invisible to the eye; it produced no sound whatsoever. Even after Jeong-Hoon boarded and the rotors began to spin, the surroundings remained completely silent. With its absolute quiet and perfect cloaking, people would never know whether the helicopter had landed or taken off.
The reason they had bothered to negotiate with the government for use of the stadium was pure misdirection. It was a cover so that people would believe Jeong-Hoon had lent the helicopter he arrived in to Si-Eun and then returned to Lumen in another helicopter. They could have quietly withdrawn without doing anything and simply deployed the stealth helicopter, but that risked rumors that Jeong-Hoon had left without taking any measures at all. Such rumors would damage Jeong-Hoon’s honor no matter how reasonable the explanation, and at this moment—right after the founding of the Aurora Group—that was a risk they could not take.
Thud-thud-thud!
To complete the deception, a loud, ordinary helicopter confirmed the takeoff of the stealth craft Jeong-Hoon was riding and flew toward the stadium. Watching it through the window, Jeong-Hoon steeled himself.
Butler Ju, Jeong I-Yeong, Jeong Si-Min, Dong Sa-Seong, Yeo Tae-Hyeon.
Every one of them was necessary talent for investigating the ruins, yet when it came to matters of the seal, the person most needed was Jeong-Hoon himself.
As Jeong-Hoon’s helicopter approached Hwanung’s Aerial Garden, Si-Eun’s helicopter circling the surrounding airspace came into view.
“Gaju, an incoming transmission from Hunter Han Si-Eun.”
Butler Ju handed over the radio. Jeong-Hoon nodded and took it. As a collaborator in an investigation led by the family, Si-Eun had been waiting for him; the moment the pilot informed her that Jeong-Hoon’s helicopter was approaching, she radioed immediately.
“Chairman, I’ve been waiting. But what do we do? They’re saying the surrounding mana is fluctuating so violently that approach is difficult. You can actually see the mana swirling with your eyes.”
“……Is that so? That’s troublesome.”
When she mentioned the mana vortex that had been invisible from the ground, Jeong-Hoon shrugged and looked at the accompanying 12 Vassals. All of them nodded, confirming that the mana was indeed in turmoil.
“We’ll figure out an approach method on our side and contact you.”
“Yes, I’ll be waiting!”
Si-Eun answered in a bright voice, apparently trusting that Jeong-Hoon would somehow handle it. Jeong-Hoon set the radio down and let out a long sigh.
“Haa…… What do we do?”
If it were a problem with the seal he could manage something, but as a Non-Awakened Jeong-Hoon possessed neither mana nor any superpowers.
“With my Paseong I could blast the mana away.”
“And the Aerial Garden would be smashed to pieces as well, right?”
“Exactly so.”
When Butler Ju admitted he had no suitable method, Jeong-Hoon looked alternately at Jeong I-Yeong, Jeong Si-Min, and Yeo Tae-Hyeon. Si-Min in particular could manipulate space, so it might be possible to approach with the entire helicopter.
“Um, Gaju? Why am I being ignored?”
“……Ah, Doctor Dong, I just assumed you wouldn’t have a method?”
Jeong I-Yeong, an outstanding mage though not quite on Han Su-Ho’s level, and Yeo Tae-Hyeon, who handled artifacts, might have something. But Jeong-Hoon had not particularly expected a solution from Dong Sa-Seong, the one who developed technology. This was not a cartoon; there was no way equipment of the “I prepared this just in case something like this happened” variety would suddenly appear.
“Ahem. As it happens, high-mana equipment that I prepared precisely for a situation like this is loaded on this very helicopter!”
Yet Dong Sa-Seong spread his arms wide and boasted as if he were deliberately shattering Jeong-Hoon’s expectations.
“……Well. Looks like cartoon-style things actually do happen.”
Never having imagined such a thing could really occur, Jeong-Hoon shook his head. He had clearly underestimated the family’s technological prowess.