Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Cheonhwa (2)
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Seoul's 5-star hotel.
Cheonhwa Highflower.
Kim Hyun stepped into the lobby of the Highflower Hotel and looked around, taking in the grandeur of the place.
"Whoa, this is fancy. Really fancy. They've even got a waterfall on the wall. Nice."
After eagerly checking out every corner, Kim Hyun glanced at Chae Seol-ah. She was fidgeting uncomfortably, as if she'd done something wrong.
Kim Hyun tilted her head.
"Why do you look so nervous?"
"W-Well..."
Chae Seol-ah mumbled hesitantly.
"I-It's my first time in a place like this. A luxury hotel, I mean... It feels a bit awkward..."
She wrung her fingers together and murmured on.
"It's kinda disorienting... and awkward... and kinda embarrassing..."
At that, Kim Hyun turned around and approached her, then gave her a light pat on the back with a laugh.
"What are you getting worked up about? You think I've been here before?"
"R-Really?"
"Anyway, let's head up."
The room had already been booked by Battery.
After checking in at the lobby, Kim Hyun rode the elevator to the top floor.
The room she'd be staying in was the Royal Suite, the hotel's most luxurious accommodation—and the only one of its kind at Highflower.
"Whoa."
Kim Hyun let out an exclamation as she entered the suite.
Beyond the spacious reception area was a massive floor-to-ceiling window offering a stunning view of Seoul.
A proper cityscape view.
Kim Hyun walked over to the reception room window, scanned the outside, then inspected the rest of the suite—the office, conference room, bathroom, and more—before breaking into a satisfied grin.
"Battery did a good job, huh?"
Chae Seol-ah was equally awestruck by the extravagantly lavish and expansive space.
"It's huge! Is this what a suite looks like?"
"No idea?"
"Huh?"
"Battery handled it. I just told him to book something decent for me to crash in for a while."
"I see."
Chae Seol-ah ran her fingertips over the king-size bed. The soft duvet felt incredibly luxurious.
Staring down at the bed, she mumbled awkwardly.
"It's... a little overwhelming."
"Don't overthink it. Just enjoy it."
With that, Kim Hyun flopped onto the bed.
She rolled around under the covers for a bit before starting to fiddle with her smartwatch.
Chae Seol-ah sat on the edge of the bed and peeked over her shoulder at the screen.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh. Ordering something."
"Ordering? Room service?"
"Nah."
Kim Hyun tapped the screen a few more times and grinned.
"Alright, done. Now we just wait."
"What did you order...?"
"Comic books."
"Pardon?"
Kim Hyun replied flatly.
"Comic books. Had them quick-delivered here."
Chae Seol-ah stared at her in disbelief.
"Didn't you already finish that huge stack at the house?"
"Yeah."
"You read that many and still have more to go? What, got a ghost that died from not reading comics possessing you?"
Kim Hyun wagged a finger and clicked her tongue.
"Tsk tsk. You know how many masterpieces came out during those 15 years I was in hell? It'll take me a while to get through them all."
"R-Right."
Chae Seol-ah nodded absently, figuring there was some truth to it. Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, she asked,
"But will quick delivery come all the way up to this suite?"
"It'll come."
Kim Hyun shrugged it off and went back to rolling around on the bed.
A quick glance showed she was watching webtoons now. Comics followed by webtoons.
'She must really be bored.'
Even so, calling for comics—via quick delivery, no less—to a hotel was a bit hard to wrap her head around.
But it was just another one of Kim Hyun's quirks, nothing new.
"You should do something too."
"I'll think about it."
Chae Seol-ah got up from the bed and walked to the window to gaze outside. The glittering forest of Seoul skyscrapers stretched out before her.
'How much does a room like this even cost?'
With her ordinary—no, slightly more impoverished than average—sense of money, she couldn't even begin to guess.
'Do I even deserve to indulge like this...?'
As Kim Hyun's dedicated handler from the Superhuman Management Bureau, sticking by her side was part of Chae Seol-ah's job. But moments like this always left her feeling uneasy.
It was like wearing clothes that didn't fit. Lost in those thoughts, her expression grew sullen.
A short while passed like that.
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang through the suite.
"It's here!"
Kim Hyun sprang off the bed like a shot and dashed to the door with an excited grin.
She flung it open.
But.
It wasn't the quick delivery guy standing there.
"Hello, Miss Kim Hyun."
A man in a sharp, expensive suit with neatly slicked-back hair and narrow eyes bowed politely to her.
Kim Hyun narrowed her eyes.
"Who are you?"
The man smiled warmly.
"I'm Park Yong-ha, the owner of Highflower Hotel."
"Manager?"
"Haha, not the manager... the actual owner. Owner."
"Owner or whatever, what do you want?"
"Haha, straight to the point, as expected."
Park Yong-ha bowed gracefully with refined poise.
"I heard by chance that Korea's hero and guardian of the Korean Peninsula, Miss Kim Hyun, was staying at our hotel. I couldn't contain my fanboy excitement, so I came to pay my respects."
He extended his right hand as he spoke.
Kim Hyun stared at it blankly for a moment before letting out a chuckle.
"You're a fan of mine?"
Grinning, she turned to look at Chae Seol-ah standing behind her.
"This guy's a fan of mine."
But Chae Seol-ah's face was stiff and rigid.
And understandably so.
She knew exactly who the man before her was.
'Cheonhwa Group's Vice President...'
Cheonhwa Group.
A conglomerate that began expanding with the Gate incidents, growing into a massive corporation spanning construction, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hunter guilds, and more. Thanks to shrewd management, it raked in huge profits and currently ranked third in the business world.
But that alone wouldn't make Chae Seol-ah this tense.
'Top-priority surveillance target for the Bureau...'
Cheonhwa Group wasn't your average chaebol.
'A bunch of scum.'
They were infamous for highly suspicious activities. Their growth process was riddled with shady dealings from the start, and even their businesses teetered on the edge of illegality.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Rumors swirled about their obsessive collection of monster byproducts for drugs laced with monster essence—or was that a front for producing narcotics to ship to Japan?
'It's a fact they're tangled up with organized crime.'
There were even suspicions they were building a private army under the guise of a hunter guild.
'They've used guild hunters to crush union protests before.'
A B-Rank hunter alone had tank-level combat power.
Cheonhwa might as well have rolled tanks onto peaceful, unarmed protesters.
Utter lunatics.
So Chae Seol-ah's attitude was predictably hostile.
"I didn't realize Cheonhwa Group's Vice President had so much free time on his hands for hobbies that he'd visit a hotel."
At her sharp response, Park Yong-ha smiled brightly.
"I happened to have business at the hotel. Lucky timing."
He turned back to Kim Hyun.
"That aside, how's the hotel service treating you?"
Kim Hyun shrugged.
"Eh, it's decent enough."
"That's a relief."
Park Yong-ha let out a sigh of relief and reached into his inner pocket.
He pulled out a fountain pen and a business card.
"Miss Kim Hyun."
He held them out to her.
"Could I possibly get your autograph?"
"Autograph?"
Kim Hyun eyed the pen and card quizzically.
"Yes. It would be such an honor to have your signature. Please."
"Hm."
Kim Hyun pondered for a moment, staring at them. Then, as if making up her mind, she scrawled her name on the card.
Scritch scratch.
Once done, Park Yong-ha carefully tucked the card away and beamed.
"Thank you so much. I have to show this off at the secretarial office."
"Show it off?"
"That's how big a fan I am."
Kim Hyun smacked her lips and scratched her neck.
At that moment.
"Ah."
Park Yong-ha looked up as if something had just occurred to him.
"By the way, Miss Kim Hyun. Any interest in a cruise?"
"Cruise?"
Kim Hyun cocked her head.
"You mean, like on a ship?"
"Yes, a luxury liner."
Park Yong-ha smiled broadly and bowed slightly.
"Thanks to the dimensional barrier you set up over the peninsula, Cheonhwa Group can do business domestically without worrying about Gates. I'd like to show our gratitude."
As if he'd been waiting for this, he pulled a ticket from his pocket.
With a serpentine smile, he offered it to her.
"It's for a cruise from Incheon to Jeju. What do you say?"