Military?
Colt only flinched at the thunderous report of the gunshot, but in that instant James was already back in the past, back in the moment when the shooting incident had happened.
[Screams filled the air.]
[Run!]
The campus from that day stretched out before him, alive with gunfire and screams. And once again, he was seeing his parents collapsed in the hallway.
Dad... Mom......
It was Andrew's voice, one James could never forget.
"!"
Startled, James sprang to his feet and swept his hand through the air.
A whirl of sharp mana winds formed around him.
Whoosh. Bang!
With both hands spread wide, a solid shield rose up to block anything that came at him.
Zing. Zing.
He had used magic without even thinking.
"...Whoa. Easy, Jimmy."
"......"
The illusion showing the school slowly began to fade. Colt's voice drifted to him from somewhere far away.
"James! Calm down. Snap out of it!"
Colt... Why is Colt at our school......?
James realized then that he was not standing in a school at all, but at a shooting range.
If Colt had not blocked the way, the magic would have flown toward the direction of the shot and the result would have been a slaughtered firing range and lives lost.
"...Damn it."
His senses snapping back into place, James quickly dismissed the thick shield spell spread across both hands and scattered the small clusters of wind storm magic.
"......"
"Can you really do this?"
Instead of answering, James took a breath and called the staff over.
"...Huff. Over here. I'll try again."
"James......"
Even under Colt's anxious gaze, James walked into the firing booth with a hardened face.
"All right. Relax. Take it slow."
"Yes."
He picked up the small pistol again, but his hands were still shaking.
I can do this. If I can't overcome even a memory this old... then I'm unfit to be a magician. What kind of magician am I with a glass heart like this?
James forced himself to think of something other than the school shooting.
All those days performing magic shows with Colt......
The trembling barrel still pointed toward the target.
Warm nights with Su-ji... the days we laughed and talked and looked at each other face-to-face.
The shaking in his hands gradually settled. The front sight at the end of the barrel now lined up squarely with the center.
And......
The last memory James called up was fury.
Choi Jeong-san, waiting for my punishment!
His fingers tightened around the grip.
BANG!
My mother......
James checked the mark left far out on the target and nudged the sight slightly to the right.
BANG!
Give her back to me!
The next bullet landed much closer to the center than the first. James adjusted the barrel again, just a little more.
BANG!
This time it was dead center.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
After firing five shots, James set the pistol down on the table, stepped back, and let out a long breath.
"Hoo. Hah. Hah."
The staff member pressed a button and brought the target back to the booth.
"Wow. Excellent, James. To do that on your first time shooting......"
As James had already seen, the paper target bore four holes in the center and one in the outer edge.
"...Wow."
Colt was staring at it in amazement too. James gave a faint snort and tapped Colt on the shoulder.
"I'm James."
"You got through it. Good job, Jimmy. Good."
But James did not think he had conquered his trauma.
I'm just holding on.
Those who cared about him were his support. And those he hated were the fuel that kept him moving forward.
"Since we've started, should we try the other ones too?"
"More?"
Since they were already here, the rest was no trouble. James tested the many firearms at the range, then moved on to rifle shooting.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Let's switch to burst fire this time. Can you do it?"
"Yes. Of course."
Ratatat! Ratatat.
After setting the gun down, James felt relieved, but also carried an inexplicable sense of guilt. The scar buried deep in his heart still ached.
Maybe I should get closer to guns?
If he wanted to fully overcome the trauma, maybe he needed to stay closer to firearms.
"You could even enter a shooting competition."
"...I don't think that will happen."
Most of the bullets on this target had landed in the center as well.
"Whoa......"
Colt, who had been shooting longer than James had, did not step into the booth.
He had no desire to become James's benchmark.
...No matter what he does, he always does it well.
"Let's go, Colt."
After finishing their practice, James and Colt returned to the hotel, packed their bags, and headed out.
"Thanks to you, I had a good experience today."
Until he went to the shooting range, James had not even realized it himself, but he had carried a profound aversion and fear of firearms. Thanks to Colt, he had recognized and shattered the shape of that hidden fear, and even in a dangerous moment, he had been able to pull himself back out.
"I almost think I should've kept you from realizing it at all. Felt like I woke up a sealed monster."
Colt had practically handed James another weapon, one more in a man already armed with magic.
"Pff. Let's get something to eat and head to the airport. Since I gave you a good experience, it's on me."
"Let's eat well and sleep soundly on the plane."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
While James and Colt returned to Korea after finishing their schedule and spent time meeting their lovers again, TY Telecom, which had drifted a little out of James's immediate focus, was gradually recovering from the problems that had broken out at its base stations and servers and returning to ordinary business.
Most of the server issues were easy to handle, since the warranty period had not expired yet. The remaining base stations and internal systems were also insured, so everything could be dealt with at minimal cost. There were still compensation matters to handle for subscribers, but even that could be smoothed over with modest benefits.
And now the chief of the secretariat stood before the president's office, holding new information in his hands and hesitating.
"......"
He had received word that the president's illegitimate son had entered Korea again.
......
There had certainly been an order not to concern himself with it anymore, but the chief of staff had already asked immigration to notify him if anyone named James Kane entered the country. If he hadn't reentered Korea, it might truly have been forgotten.
...If I report this, am I going to get chewed out again? Damn.
But failing to report it altogether could create a far bigger problem. He could already picture the president's reaction when something went wrong.
Why the hell didn't you report it before this blew up?! Huh? Is this what I've kept you around for? Is this how you do your job?!
And then he'll pin all of it on me.
He had spent thirty years beside Choi Jeong-san, yet his filthy temper had always been hard to endure.
...And I still need to think about how to deal with that bastard.
After today's report, the chief of staff was already expecting that he would need to flesh out the president's earlier words about "cleaning up" in more concrete terms. That thought only made his steps heavier.
He let out a long breath.
Knock, knock.
Still, he always chose to report the facts exactly as they were.
"...President. It's Park Jin-tae."
"Come in. Secretary Park."
Park Jin-tae pushed aside the information that had just muddled his head and focused on the report he had brought.
"First, I apologize for bringing you this kind of report, President."
"What now?"
Choi Jeong-san had only just finished patching up TY Telecom's problems, so his nerves tightened at the thought that something else had gone wrong. The accident had barely been contained, but there were still rental fees to pay to other telecom companies, and the battered stock price still showed no sign of climbing off the floor.
"This was confirmed yesterday."
......
Frowning, Choi Jeong-san opened the black approval folder and read through it.
Entry records?
And there it was again, the name he never wanted to see.
"What? James Kane? Again?"
"Yes. He entered Korea again."
Snap. Swish.
Choi Jeong-san closed the folder with a look of disgust and tossed it aside. Papers spilled out and fluttered everywhere.
"What the hell does that bastard think he's going to get by crawling back into Korea all the time? Even without him I already have enough on my plate with the company!!"
......
Park Jin-tae knew it was best to stay still in moments like this.
Bang. Bang!
"Nothing ever goes right because of that bastard! Argh!"
He would have to wait until Choi Jeong-san's mood improved somewhat after hammering the desk as if he meant to break it.
Huff. Huff.
Only after venting for a long while did he lean back in his chair and ask,
"What are you going to do? There has to be a way!"
......
The question was one he had already thought about before reporting, so the answer came easily.
"I will make sure everything is cleaned up so there are no lingering concerns during your lifetime, sir."
"...Make it certain. You understand?"
"However, I would appreciate it if you could decide on the location. Unlike before, if we handle it in Korea, it will require a more complicated process, and that process is likely to create other problems. Overseas would make the cleanup simpler, though the cost would be slightly higher."
"Hmm......"
The chance was when he went to America......
Choi Jeong-san regretted not taking care of James then, when he had been in the United States, but the moment had already passed. James was already back in Korea, and as the chief of staff said, if they handled it domestically and left even the smallest trace, it could create a far bigger problem.
"How do you know when that bastard will leave again?"
"He's an American. He won't stay in Korea for long."
"You're sure?"
"Yes, President."
"Why? ...There’s also the chance he could suddenly take Korean citizenship."
"If he did, he'd have to go into the army. He's still under thirty."
"Ah......"
Only then did Choi Jeong-san understand, nodding in realization.
"He wouldn't give up his American citizenship anyway, and he won't be a lunatic who gets Korean citizenship just to enlist."
"Good. Then we’ll wait a little longer before cleaning him up."
"Yes, President."
Park Jin-tae thought that would be the end of today's report.
"...However."
He remembered that whenever Choi Jeong-san started a sentence with "however," he was about to assign the most irritating task imaginable.
......
Keeping the grimace off his face, Park Jin-tae lowered his head toward Choi Jeong-san.
"Get ready so we can clean him up at any time. If he keeps poking around for no reason, I don't think we'll be able to wait until then."
Park Jin-tae, who had come up with an alternative in a short span of time, opened his mouth as if he'd been prepared for this.
"...A great many incidents happen in Korea. Dozens of traffic accidents occur every day, and nearly three thousand people die each year. There are also many unfortunate accidents caused by drunk driving."
He meant that he would prepare a way to disguise it as a drunk-driving accident.
"I may not trust just anyone, but I trust you, Secretary Choi. Understand?"
"Thank you, President."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Unaware that Park Jin-tae and Choi Jeong-san were discussing how to dispose of him, James was spending his time on a date with Su-ji.
"Oppa."
James, who had just lifted a spoonful of ice cream to his mouth, looked up.
"Yeah?"
"I told you before that I'd look into your permanent residency."
"Ah. Right. I'd forgotten."
James's acquisition of Korean permanent residency was taking him in a direction slightly different from the one Park Jin-tae and Choi Jeong-san had expected.
"I looked into it, and it's pretty strict. First of all, just know that permanent residency is the F-5 visa......"
Su-ji explained that the Korean language test was not the problem, but rather the comprehensive evaluation of things like everyday law, history, and culture that formed the first real hurdle.
"I like studying."
"Okay. That part's fine, since you can study for it. Next is your ability to support yourself."
"Oppa has money."
"That's not the same thing."
When James heard that proof of self-support could only be established by certificates issued by the Korean National Tax Service, he understood why it was different.
"So I have to get a job in Korea?"
"Yeah. The standard annual income, the GNI, was about 42 million won."
"Uh... so around forty thousand dollars?"
"Pretty close."
......
In Las Vegas just days earlier, he had won more than twenty million dollars at the casino playing poker, but there was no certificate from the Korean tax office for that. The same went for the income he'd earned through Sotheby's international auction, and the profits from his investments through Citibank Investment. All of it had been earned overseas.
"Finally... this part is a little further down the line, but you're too young, Oppa."
"My being young is a problem too?"
"After you get permanent residency, you could also apply for Korean citizenship."
"That's going a little far, don't you think?"
"Anyway! If you ever do get Korean citizenship, then the army becomes the issue. This country has conscription."
"...I'd have to go into the army?"
At the word army, James set down the spoon he had been using to eat ice cream.
Clink.
"No permanent residency."
On that point, his reaction matched Choi Jeong-san and Park Jin-tae's expectations exactly.