A Brief Vacation
I hadn’t talked to Sung Yoon-ah in a long time, so when I finally called her, her voice came through with a tired, wistful edge.
"A vacation, huh... Must be nice. I’m killing myself going into work every day, and don’t even get me started on the overtime."
"Hang in there."
I knew exactly how she felt; I’d worked for the same company once, after all.
"How’s Barbados?"
"I came here on Taylor Chairman’s recommendation. It’s good."
"They say it’s a hundred thousand dollars a night there."
"If you wanted to, you could come anytime, Yoon-ah."
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Do you think my family has money like yours, Miru?"
To be fair, even if it were company money, spending a hundred grand out of pocket wasn’t easy, even for a conglomerate family.
Sung Yoon-ah muttered, almost to herself.
"Unless you were the one taking me."
I answered without hesitation.
"If you want to come, just say the word."
"Ah! Really?"
"Yes."
When I’d invested in Dongwoo Precision’s bonds, she’d been the one who helped me meet Yoo Jae-ho Chairman. Thinking about the help she’d given me back then, no amount I could repay would ever feel like enough.
"How long are you going to stay there?"
"I’m about ready to head back."
"Hmm, you’re not off there having fun with a bunch of beauties, are you?"
I said it like a joke.
"Well, I am hanging out with women."
"What did you say!?"
"...."
Why was she so shocked by a joke?
I quickly set her straight.
"I’m kidding. I told you I was alone, so my little sister came with her friends."
"Ah! That adorable little sister."
"Adorable, my ass."
"Why not? If I had a little sister like that, I’d probably spend my life hugging her."
If she ever actually had a younger sister like Sena, she’d never say that with such confidence.
As she kept talking, Sung Yoon-ah suddenly sounded startled.
"Oh!"
"What is it?"
"If she came with friends... does that mean that girl is there too?"
"Which girl?"
"That friend I saw with your little sister in Hongdae. Wasn’t her name Jung Sojin?"
"Ah! Sojin. Yes, she came too."
"W-why?"
"Why? Because she’s Sena’s best friend?"
"W-well, yes, but... ah! She’s a college student, isn’t she? Is it really okay for a college student to skip school and go traveling like that?"
"It’s vacation right now."
"...."
I could almost hear the silence on the other end.
After hanging up, Sung Yoon-ah fell into thought.
Blackwood Barbados Island was an ultra-luxury resort created with the utmost care by Blackwood International, the largest hotel group in the world.
Hollywood stars had stayed there, and even among the chaebols, it was famous for being exceptional.
When she first heard that Han Miru was going there alone on vacation, she’d thought she wanted to go with him too, but unfortunately work had made that impossible.
Even if she’d been able to take time off...
It would be weird to travel to an island alone with him when we’re not even dating.
And yet his younger sister had gone and brought friends along with her.
Sung Yoon-ah recalled Jung Sojin’s face from Hongdae.
People always said women knew women best, and at a glance, she could tell Sojin had a feminine sort of charm—the kind that drew men to her easily.
On top of that, there was the freshness and easy brightness unique to a college student, and above all... a figure so full that even Sung Yoon-ah, who had gone through life without ever feeling especially lacking in that department, had been startled by it.
What’s more, the way she’d looked at Han Miru that day had been anything but ordinary. That wasn’t the look of someone seeing a friend’s older brother.
Wait. If it’s a resort, then they’ll be wearing swimsuits, won’t they?
This was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
But then Sung Yoon-ah shook her head.
No. It’ll be fine. There’s nothing to worry about.
Because...
She said it with complete conviction.
"That man doesn’t notice anything."
The reason I decided to go to LA was because I needed to stop by Prisoner.
I’d seen the place when I invested, but after that I’d never gone back even once. I figured it was about time I paid them a visit.
Thanks to Zombienado 2 becoming a hit not only on OTT and cable, but at the box office as well, Prisoner had been upgraded from “just another B-movie studio” to “a rich B-movie studio.”
Riding that momentum, Director Fernando Sanchez was now working on Zombienado 3.
Going alone would be fine, but wouldn’t it be better to bring Syd?
After all, the reason I’d acquired Prisoner in the first place was because of Syd.
I called him.
"Yes, hyung."
"You working?"
"Yes. I’m building out the servers for the Block Valley service."
The launch of Block Valley, which Purple Games had developed, was just around the corner.
In my first life, Block Valley had launched as an indie game.
They’d planned for multiplayer from the start, but they hadn’t expected it to become a smash hit, so during the early years the servers had kept crashing over and over.
This time, I’d told them to secure as many servers as possible before launch so that wouldn’t happen.
It wasn’t just a matter of capacity; I wanted it to run smoothly and organically from anywhere in the world.
The developers were still worried about overinvestment because they weren’t yet convinced of success, but I felt differently.
I’d also asked Legend Games, which was handling the publishing, to prepare a major promotional push alongside a simultaneous release in key countries.
"I was thinking of going to Prisoner. If you’re not busy, want to come with me?"
"Really? I can go too?"
"Of course. Director Sanchez will like it too."
At that, Syd answered at once.
"I’m busy, but I’ll go."
"Got it. Then I’ll see you in LA tomorrow."
For some reason I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease about Syd flying alone, so I called Kathy Volard, the CFO, and told her to assign someone to accompany him.
Dreamlike days passed in a blink.
By tomorrow, we’d all be leaving the island.
When I came back after the call, Jo Yoo-kyung and Park Se-yeon were both crying.
Startled, I asked Sena, "Did you hit them?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Then why are they crying?"
Jo Yoo-kyung sobbed as she answered.
"Sniff... We’re just so sad to leave this place."
Park Se-yeon wiped away her tears and nodded.
"H-huh, me too."
Well, when would they ever come to a place like this in their lives?
I could understand how they felt.
Sojin held tightly onto her friends’ hands and said, "Let’s work hard, make money, and come back here again someday."
"Mhm, mhm."
It was a nice sight.
At a hundred thousand dollars a night, if they started working part-time and saved up from now on, it was definitely possible.
I cheered them on in my heart.
Sena and her friends all looked reluctant to leave.
"When did time go by so fast?"
"Seriously. It feels like we only got here yesterday."
I asked them, "I need to go to LA for work. What do you want to do? Should I take you to LA Airport and have you transfer there, or should I call another jet here?"
The private jet Sena and her friends had arrived on was still waiting in a hangar at the airport, but the jet I’d flown in on was rented, so it had already gone elsewhere.
Sena shook her head.
"No way, that’d be pointless. We can just all go to LA together."
The others agreed too.
"Okay. Then let’s all go to LA together."
Then Sena seemed to remember something.
"Come to think of it, doesn’t LA have Disneyland?"
"I think so."
I knew it was in Anaheim. For gamers, though, it was better known as the place where IceStorm held its game show than as Disneyland itself.
At that, Sena shouted immediately, "Oppa! Let’s go to Disneyland!"
"All of a sudden?"
"It’s not all of a sudden. I’ve been saying I wanted to go to Disneyland for ages."
"Since when did you like Disney cartoons?"
"What are you talking about? I like Star Wars."
"Oh, right."
I remembered watching Star Wars with my little sister when we were kids.
I’d thought nothing of it at the time, but Sena had begged Mom to buy her a lightsaber. I’d even half expected my little sister might grow up to become a Jedi someday, but... she hadn’t even made it to Padawan.
Still, it was admirable that she hadn’t fallen to the dark side.
"Oppaaaa~ I want to go to Disneyland~ I want to go, I’m telling you."
"...."
Seeing my little sister, who used to beg to go to Neverland when she was in elementary school, now pleading to go to Disneyland, made me realize she really had grown up.
What kind of grown person was this, asking to go to an amusement park?
"Your friends should probably head back early, right?"
All three of them shook their heads at once.
"No, Oppa. We have plenty of time."
"But Yoo-kyung, didn’t you say you had an English study session?"
"It’s fine. Going to America is the English study session."
I asked them, "You guys want to go too?"
They answered in unison.
"Yesss!!"
Just as expected from Sena’s friends, they were all on the same page when it came to having fun.
I nodded.
"Fine. Since you’re already here, go have some fun at Disneyland before you leave."
"Waaaah!"
Watching them cling to each other and bounce up and down made me smile despite myself.
As if they’d never been sad to leave Barbados in the first place, Sena and her friends immediately started planning what they’d do at Disneyland.
If we were just transferring at the airport, it wouldn’t be an issue, but entering the United States required a visa.
I contacted Lindsay Patrick. She was a Continue Capital employee and David’s personal secretary.
"Yes, Chairman."
"Tomorrow I’m bringing my younger sister and her friends—four people total—into the United States, and they’ll need visas. I’ve emailed you their passport photos, so please apply right away."
"Understood."
The next day, we checked out and boarded the private jet together.
I took my time looking over the interior.
The floor was covered in thick carpet, and the seats could recline fully flat in addition to having a recliner function.
Along the wall, a few extra fold-down seats were installed so people could sit during takeoff and landing.
Compared with a regular plane, it was small, but it had everything you could want.
There was even a beam projector and screen, so you could watch movies or hold meetings.
Since it had been designed for business use from the outset, it also had satellite internet and calling capabilities.
I’d flown in it before when it was rented, but thinking of it as my own jet made it feel strangely different. Like getting a brand-new car.
Sena flopped into her seat.
"Ah! Flying private is so comfortable."
The most comfortable part was not having to arrange your life around a flight schedule.
Money might differ from person to person, but time was limited for everyone. That was why rich people never hesitated to spend money on anything that saved them time.
The plane rolled down the runway and took off. Everyone pressed to the windows, waved, and watched the island shrink beneath us.
It wouldn’t take more than a few hours to get from Barbados to LA.
Sena turned to me and asked, "How much does it cost to rent something like this? It must be insanely expensive, right?"
"It’s not rented."
"Then what?"
"I bought it."
Sena’s jaw dropped.
"What? You bought a plane?"
"Yeah. Figured I’d need it a fair bit from now on."
Apparently she hadn’t imagined I’d actually buy it, because the others were startled too.
It felt a little like I was showing off my money in front of the kids.
Sena’s friends’ eyes were shining.
Before, I’d probably looked to them like just the older brother of a rich friend. Now I was the older brother of a friend whose older brother was very rich.
After staring blankly for a moment, Sena said in a spoiled little voice, "Oppa, can’t you buy me a private jet too?"
"What for? So you can park it in an underground garage and ride it to school?"
"Th-then could I maybe borrow it sometimes?"
"No."
Sena stuck out her lower lip, clearly pouting.
"Wow, seriously... You’re so mean to your one and only little sister."
"I’m really glad I only have one little sister."
If I had two of her, no matter who I was, I couldn’t have handled it.
"Fine. I’m not riding in it then. Too cheap of you."
"Want to get off right now? I can get you a parachute."
The jet was equipped with parachutes in case the worst happened.
Sojin asked cautiously, "But what kind of work do you do, Oppa?"
"Hm?"
At that, Sena nodded as if something had just clicked.
"Right. It is kind of suspicious."
"How so?"
"Until two years ago, you were just an office worker. Then suddenly you quit, and now you’re buying private jets like this. Are you doing something bad?"
"What counts as bad?"
"Like... taking black money and washing it clean."
"...Wouldn’t it be illegal money and money laundering?"
Why would you wash black money?
"You’re not actually committing crimes, are you?"
"And if I were?"
"I’ll tell Mom."
"...."
Ah, that wouldn’t do.
If she heard something like that, she might grab the back of her neck and collapse on the spot.
For the record, far from committing crimes, I was busily using Mona App to lure criminals in. If there was anyone helping national security as much as I was, I doubted it.