Gravitas
"What... do you mean by that, Grandfather?"
"..."
The air in the room turned freezing cold. Anyone who frequented the private residence of Shinwa Group's chairman would have been well accustomed to this chill, but for Himari, it was an atmosphere she had never experienced in her life.
"Grandfather."
"Kang Haneul killed Justia, you say?"
To Himari, who stood drenched in cold sweat under the unaccustomed pressure, the Chairman's sharp voice struck like a blade.
"...Yes, sir. According to the records."
"Impossible."
Startled by the absolute finality in his tone, Himari hesitated for a fraction of a second before shaking her head.
"No, it is certain. The cross-verification has already been completed. Even our group's internal investigation—"
"Himari." The Chairman raised a hand quietly, cutting her short.
"Did I not tell you it is impossible?"
"..."
"Are you trying to tell me that I am wrong?"
Himari bit down hard on her lower lip. Clenching her eyes shut, she forced out her answer.
"Yes, sir."
A suffocating silence descended over the room.
"What a disappointment."
As Himari struggled just to remain upright beneath the crushing gravity of the room, the Chairman's words pierced into her like a dagger.
"Leave."
"Grandfather, but—!"
"Did I not tell you to leave?"
Himari opened her mouth to argue, but the unyielding resolution etched into the old man's face forced her to silently grit her teeth.
"You have already crossed the line."
"..."
"It is far too late to turn back now." The Chairman murmured, his gaze shifting to one filled with profound pity. "Tell my secretary to enter on your way out."
"...Understood."
When the Chairman gently closed his eyes and sank back into his chair, Himari lowered her head and replied in a flat, hollow voice before retreating from the room.
"...Whew."
Once Himari was gone, the Chairman let out a long, weary sigh without opening his eyes. How on earth had things deteriorated to this point? Before he had entered his cryogenic slumber, he was certain everything remained well within his grasp. Yet during the brief span of his sleep, the entire board had been flipped upside down.
Is it that boy, after all?
Though the road ahead was veiled in thick fog, he had an inkling. Lumia Obsé. The Child of Prophecy. A youth the Chairman had initially sought to recruit, only to hold back and observe from a distance after sensing an inexplicable, ominous foreboding about him. That boy had woven himself into the center of every single one of these recent incidents.
"What a pity."
It was not mere conjecture. As the old adage went, what remains invisible up close often reveals itself when viewed from afar. And the Chairman possessed undeniable proof for his conclusion.
"That boy cannot kill a human being."
It was an absolute certainty, etched directly into the terms of the contract he had forged with Kang Haneul in the past.
"Infuriating."
The Concept residing within the Chairman was none other than the Concept of Contract—an authority that allowed him to establish absolute, unbreakable pacts through mutual consent. He wanted nothing more than to reveal the contents of that contract right this second and shake his second granddaughter back to her senses, but he could not. One of the absolute penalties binding his ability was that he could never disclose the contents of a contract to any outside party.
Compared to the sheer omnipotence of his authority, it was a laughably minor penalty. Yet that tiny restriction was now snowballing into an avalanche that threatened to bury them all.
"Did you summon me, Chairman?"
As the Chairman let out another silent breath, his secretary stepped into view, her expression crisp and professional.
"Lumia. Run a complete investigation on that child."
"Understood."
"And, hmm..." After issuing the order, the Chairman paused in deep thought before asking, "...What is my eldest grandson up to?"
"The young master has been out of contact for two days now."
The Chairman's brow furrowed deep with displeasure. "Useless delinquent. I just saw my second granddaughter, so never mind her. What of the third?"
"The young lady was busy preparing for university admission until recently, but she abruptly declared her intent to apply for the Hero Academy and walked out of the house..."
"Haah."
His throbbing head pounded with renewed vigor. How was it that every single one of his grandchildren, the supposed future of the conglomerate, was plagued with fatal flaws? The eldest was a reckless scoundrel taking after his parents. His second granddaughter, blessed with pinnacle-tier talent, suffered from a complete and crippling emotional detachment. And the third possessed an admirable character, but her abilities were abysmal—and now she had run away from home to join the Hero Department, of all places.
"Kang Haneul... We should never have let him slip away."
Muttering with his head bowed, a dark shadow settled over the Chairman's features as he addressed his aide.
"From this day forward, I intend to treat Himari simply as my darling granddaughter."
To an outsider, the words might have sounded no different than usual, but the secretary grasped their underlying meaning instantly. He would treat her solely as kin bound by blood, stripping away her standing as a successor to the group. Within the walls of Shinwa Group, it was nothing short of a death sentence.
"...Are you certain, sir?"
"Was it not our golden opportunity to bind him to our family?" When the secretary quietly probed, the Chairman replied in a voice devoid of warmth. "She kicked that opportunity away with her own two feet. I am merely reclaiming what she discarded."
The secretary tilted her head in subtle bewilderment. "Was Kang Haneul truly of such consequence?"
"..."
"Of course, I am well aware he was an exceptional talent who dramatically improved the second young lady's condition. But to say he could sway matters of state for the entire conglomerate..."
Watching her trail off, nervously reading his reaction, the Chairman began in a low, resonant rumble.
"You know nothing of him."
"Sir?"
"What name they called him during his Academy days, what history he shared with Justia, why I chose to back him—you know none of it."
The Chairman fixed her with an unblinking stare.
"And what he surrendered for Himari's sake, the price he paid me just to answer her feelings—you do not know the half of it."
As the Chairman's tone surged with sudden, overwhelming intensity, the secretary flinched back on instinct. Minamoto Hiroto, the living legend. Though trapped inside a frail, decaying vessel, his sheer presence remained more than enough to crush the breath from anyone in his sight.
"And above all, you do not know his true power."
Having unleashed that searing aura for a fleeting breath, the Chairman cleared his throat before continuing.
"And neither does Kang Haneul himself."
"...?"
"Whichever faction secures the ability he wields shall command supremacy over the coming era."
Within his aged eyes, a fierce and predatory light flared.
"From today, attach yourself to my third granddaughter."
"...Why her, sir?"
"Did she not declare she wants to become a hero?"
"..."
"She will need your aid."
After a brief hesitation, the secretary inclined her head. The Chairman closed his eyes once more and added, "And if time permits, search for Kang Haneul."
"That might be..."
The secretary began to say it was nearly impossible, but seeing the Chairman watching her with one open, piercing eye, she swallowed her protests, let out a soft sigh, and bowed.
"...I shall do my utmost."
"Good. See that you do."
Offering a deep bow to the Chairman, who had shut both eyes once more, the secretary quietly excused herself.
"...At this rate, all my trouble acknowledging him as my grandson-in-law has gone to complete waste."
Left alone in the silent chamber, the Chairman muttered with a heavy, aching heart.
"Himari, why in the world did you make such a choice?"
A vision surfaced in his mind of a young boy kneeling in this very room years ago, proposing a completely one-sided, unequal pact that offered him zero personal benefit.
"Why did you cast aside with your own hands the man who was willing to give up everything for your sake?"
When asked if his granddaughter was truly worth such an exorbitant price, the boy had signed the contract without a shred of hesitation.
"It is not a matter of whether she is worth it or not."
"When a child who felt nothing begins to offer her heart, how could anyone dare put a price on that?"
That reply was among the most unforgettable statements the Chairman had ever heard in his long, storied lifetime. Sinking back into his deep, restorative slumber, the old tycoon thought to himself:
A foolishly kind bastard.
Yet, that was precisely why the boy had shone so brightly.
A few days after concluding the deal over a pot of kimchi stew with noona, I returned to campus.
"Coming back here always brings back a flood of memories."
I stepped onto the grounds disguised as Oh Ji-seok. Under the pretext of recovering from the injuries sustained during the Academy tragedy, I had managed to excuse my absence for a while, but had I failed to show my face any longer, I risked getting fired on the spot.
"To think I'd be returning as a professor."
Just a few years ago, I had walked these grounds as an ordinary student. Even if it was still only a "temporary" appointment, returning to this place with the status of a faculty member felt surreal.
Growl...
Why on earth have I been so starving since earlier?
I had been strolling along, taking in the familiar sights with nostalgia, when an agonizing pang of hunger suddenly struck me out of nowhere. Despite eating three hearty, square meals a day, I couldn't comprehend why my stomach had been gnawing so viciously lately. Could this also be an aftereffect of villainization?
Maybe I should ask Dice later.
Scratching my head at the baffling anomaly, I made my way toward the commissary, only to uncover the truth a moment later.
"...That looks so delicious."
Justia's younger sister, Ariel, stood outside the cafeteria adjacent to the convenience store, practically drooling.
"Ugh..."
The cafeteria of the International Hero Academy was famous for serving delicious food at dirt-cheap prices. Back when I was a student, I always made sure to eat there. Yet, for some reason, Ariel was simply loitering outside with a dark, brooding expression.
Rustle...
Watching her with a puzzled gaze, I saw Ariel pull a wallet out of her pocket.
"...Haaah."
Rummaging through it for a moment, she let out a crestfallen sigh, slumped her shoulders, and trudged dispiritedly into the convenience store.
"Um... could I get one cup ramen, please?"
She picked out a cup of instant noodles with a dejected pout.
"That will be 1,050 won."
"Ah, 1,050 won... Fifty won... Um, let's see..."
Faced with an unexpected shortfall, she frantically dug through her coin pouch before quietly biting her lip.
"...Could I just get one triangle kimbap instead, please?"
Handing over a crumpled thousand-won bill, she purchased a single small triangle kimbap and walked out into the courtyard.
Grumble...
Watching her slink past crowds of students laughing over heaping meal trays with her head hanging low, a terrifying pang of hunger violently twisted my gut with a loud rumble.
"This is seriously pissing me off."
That sight stomped squarely on my internal trigger.
How dare she eat like a beggar right in front of my eyes? Even with the Physical Link skill splitting the sensation, the transferred hunger was stabbing my stomach with vicious, burning agony.
"Two meal tickets, please."
As Justia's partner, over my dead body would I ever let this slide.
"Excuse me."
"Ah, Professor?"
Having swiftly bought two meal tickets with fire blazing in my eyes, I stepped up beside her.
"I accidentally bought two meal tickets by mistake. If you haven't eaten yet, would you mind joining me?"
I offered her the most genial, harmless smile I could muster.
"A-Ah, n-no, it's fine. I... I'm—"
Her eyes darted around in pure panic as she frantically waved her hands.
GRRRRUUUUUMBLE...!
At that exact second, a deafening thunder roared from Ariel's hollow belly.
"Hm? What was that?"
"T-That's, um..."
Feigning total innocence as I asked again, Ariel's face flushed crimson all the way to the tips of her ears. Burying her head deep against her chest, she squeaked out in a voice barely above a whisper.
"...T-Thank you."
Seeing her look so adorable and pitiable, a fatherly smile spread across my face before I could stop it. Handing the tickets to the cafeteria staff, I nudged her forward.
"Two, please."
"Uuuu..."
With my hand firmly gripping her shoulder so she couldn't bolt, of course.
Say what you want about anything else, but skimping on meals is something I will never let slide.
Only now did I finally feel a wave of deep, satisfying relief wash through my chest.