The Mage's Path (1)
"An appointment... with the Chairman? You're saying you made one?"
"Yes. I got into a bit of trouble once before, and luckily the Chairman of Hermes happened to pass by and save me. That's how we ended up connected."
"I see..."
Something about Dad's reaction felt off. Watching him, I more or less understood.
Kim Jian had been sent by Dad. He was acting as if he already knew everything.
Of course, questions remained. A four-term National Assembly lawmaker might be able to ask a favor of a major corporation's chairman—but he couldn't treat one like a subordinate.
And yet Kim Jian had gone along with it without complaint? The rational conclusion was that something had already been exchanged between them. What kind of deal, I had no idea—but it certainly wouldn't have been an ordinary one.
"...Is that so? How did it end up like that?"
"My memory still isn't completely clear, so I can't say for sure. Something just felt wrong, so I asked him myself. Looking back on what little I can remember from then... I guess I figured the Chairman wouldn't have come for no reason. There had to be something important behind it."
That ought to have been enough of an explanation. At the time I hadn't known any better, but Baek Sowol carried memories of the past. Anyone who knew Baek Dohan would be able to infer that his visit was tied to the man.
Of course, I had no hard evidence, so I couldn't press the point. But a gut feeling was enough to throw a gambit like that. So I threw it—and it landed.
Though Kim Jian, for his part, didn't seem to have mentioned the appointment to Dad.
"...Should we just call it a stroke of luck, then? Soae, what do you think?"
"...The Chairman of Hermes. What kind of person is he? I've never had any business dealings with him, and personally I've got even less connection."
"I suppose you wouldn't. Well, I don't know if he's a good person—but he's an outstanding one. His ability is certain. If there's something in it for him, he'll probably be a tremendous help."
Not necessarily a good person, but an outstanding one. That was as good as high praise. Anyone who ran a business long enough had to do things that were morally questionable, and there were times you had to cast aside sympathy and goodwill to act rationally.
If a capable person was willing to accept those costs, then in business terms they were the best kind of person you could ask for.
"Even so... keep your personal distance. He's the kind of man whose true intentions you can never quite read."
"What is that supposed to mean? Who goes around showing their true intentions?"
Wasn't that just how people were? He couldn't even see through mine right now, for that matter.
"...Your father's been in politics a long time, and I've met every kind of person you can imagine. The incompetent, the competent, the ambitious, the greedy—every type under the sun. And do you know who the most dangerous ones among them were? The ones who didn't fit any of those categories."
"Dad, even I don't understand what you're talking about. Sowol looks just as lost."
"...Let me put it more simply. What do you think a capable person usually goes after? Power, money—something along those lines, right? Even the ones who claim they don't want money are still doing it for the money. Every last one of them. The ones who say they don't care about money are desperate to make it, and the ones who claim they have no interest in power are obsessed with it. Because if they truly didn't care, they would never have set foot in that world to begin with!"
It was a well-known saying. People always tried to rationalize and package themselves. If their inner selves were truly ugly, they denied it on the surface.
"But every now and then you run into a different sort. They look like they're chasing money and power. But their actions don't match. When I was younger I couldn't see it, but now I can roughly piece it together. People with some other purpose hide their true intent that way—by pretending to go after money and power. Kim Jian is that type. He's not a man who pursues money or power."
Whether Chairman Kim Jian really was that kind of person, I couldn't say. But I thought I roughly understood what Dad meant.
Just as people obsessed with money and power would claim they weren't chasing either, people with some other purpose did the reverse—they acted as if they wanted money and power. Because those were clear, universal goals, and that made it easy to bury your real intent beneath them.
So he might be that kind of man?
"That's why you have to be careful. Men are all wolves. Don't go falling for someone just because of a pretty face! If you ever find someone you like, make sure you tell your father first. And as for Chairman Kim Jian... the Chairman... no. We should leave that for another time."
Hmm. Listening to him, it also just sounded like he was trying to head off his daughter getting a boyfriend. I'd heard plenty of stories about doting fathers who treated their daughters' boyfriends like enemies.
Not like I have anything to worry about.
I wasn't even sure whether I was supposed to like men or women. At the rate I was going, I might just live out my life as a single person who never fell for anyone at all.
If it ever came to that, Baek Dohan would probably be the one throwing a fit trying to pair me off with some man. From his perspective, it might even be better for me to start a connection with Kim Jian now. He must have known that, which was why he'd started to warn me about Kim Jian and then let it drop.
"So then... what about Mom...?"
"Ah, right. So Dad—what about Hangyeol?"
"Hangyeol's buried under work right now. Something blew up. If I weren't personally involved, I wouldn't have been able to get away today either."
"Isn't he immediate family too?"
"I'm a lawmaker. He's a government practitioner—different positions. And it's not as if anyone died. You're alive. Getting him out of there won't be easy."
As we talked, a question suddenly struck me. According to the family relationship certificate, both my older brother and my mother were still alive. And yet neither of them had so much as called. It was strange.
From the sound of it, though, this Baek Hangyeol person was busy dealing with the government security breach. Dad, as the father of a direct victim, had come here first.
"Then what about Mom?"
I only asked because I was curious. Nowhere had there been any information about Baek Sowol's birth mother, Kim Yeojin.
It wasn't that she couldn't come. She hadn't been mentioned at all. From both of their perspectives, the idea that Mom might show up simply didn't exist.
So I had no choice but to ask. What had happened with Mom? She wasn't dead—they said she was alive—so what state was she in?
"...I'll tell you about that later."
"That's right, Sowol. Hear it from Dad... later."
Hmm. Better not push any further. Passing on this one. From the look of it, something fairly ugly was involved. I could dig into it gradually later.
And then—
"Congressman. Reporters have gathered outside. The hospital is keeping them from reaching this private room, of course, but how would you like to handle it?"
Another aide stepped in with the news. The reporters had caught the scent of a story. Nothing particularly strange about that.
Rumors were already circulating. Baek Dohan had vanished—and he seemed to be at this hospital? It was only natural for the press to swarm.
"For now, keep the fact that my daughter is a victim under wraps. Don't call the rumors baseless—just frame it as not wanting to cause secondary harm. Hiding it for the moment is the right call. And don't let a single scrap of information leak to anyone else. That includes the fact that my youngest is a mage."
"Understood."
Dad's choice was to conceal my identity for now. He would reveal it when the time came to announce that I was a mage. That way he could draw even greater attention.
And Dad's party was the ruling party—meaning they bore a certain degree of responsibility for the security incident. He would bury it for now, then later, when things turned against them, use me to shift public opinion.
Nothing wrong with that as far as I was concerned. That approach would help raise my own stock as well.
"And for that, I'll need to head to the Assembly. Any way to slip past the reporters?"
"There's another exit through the basement. We could leave that way, but the vehicle..."
"What, want to take my car, Dad?"
"...Could I borrow it for a bit?"
"Sure. It's under your insurance anyway, isn't it? Here's the key. Drop it off at the house later."
"Thank you, my second girl. Your father loves you."
Baek Dohan handled everything with a politician's speed. Watching us, we probably looked like a close family.
But how had things ended up the way they had with Baek Sowol? Thinking about it now wouldn't produce an answer. I decided to look ahead instead.
Now I need to figure out what kind of deal to strike with Chairman Kim Jian.
Kim Jian. Even Dad hadn't fully grasped him. A man whose depth of knowledge was impossible to gauge.
Would I be able to make a meaningful deal with someone like that—without revealing that I was a mage, and without revealing that I was Baek Dohan's daughter?
I'll have to think it through carefully.
He was a man with power even a four-term politician couldn't casually challenge. If I let my guard down, I'd be the one getting cleaned out.
I would prepare thoroughly and extract a clear advantage. That was the resolve I settled on.