Prologue
Late at night, at the airport, Lee Jinhyeok, chairman of High Group, waited with only the thinnest security detail for the children flying home for a family gathering.
From his smartphone came a woman's voice, unmistakably displeased.
Does it make you that happy?
"Makina, that's a parent's heart for you. No matter what happens, you want to see your children."
I suppose it would be—if they were not children who chase nothing but power, no matter what sort of parents they have. And the detail you've brought is far too small. I am concerned for your safety, Chairman.
"Hahaha, don't hate them quite so much. And it's a family gathering—how could I drag company people into that? I meant to come alone. You're the one who kept at me until I brought them along, aren't you?"
That unassuming manner, so unlike the chairman of a great conglomerate, was precisely why the praise for Jinhyeok never dried up, inside the company or out.
The two of them were still caught in a quarrel no one else could hear when the arrival announcement rang through the terminal. Jinhyeok let the argument go and turned toward the entrance.
The flight from New York has arrived.
"Oh! You're here! Come—"
But the welcome he had begun for his children never reached its end.
A moment later, as the doors opened, a tremendous blast tore through the hall, and the fire swept over everyone standing there.
Chairman!!
The surroundings were swallowed in flame in an instant. By some miracle Jinhyeok's smartphone had survived, and Makina moved to bring her power to bear.
"Makina..."
Do not speak. Your condition is grave, Chairman.
"Cough... Yes. So it seems. Sad as it is... the children must be the same."
She had used her ability to shield him, and still the Lee Jinhyeok reflected in Makina's data was in so dire a state that the mere fact he could speak was a miracle.
"Makina... I leave the rest to you."
For a life so full of upheaval, Lee Jinhyeok's last words were startlingly simple, and his mouth did not open again.
Executing the contract.
And within the rising flames, the moment the chairman's death was confirmed, Makina set herself in motion toward a single person, to keep the promise she had made with him.
