The Magician of Cards
Click.
At the sound of the door opening, Su-ji quickly turned toward the entrance, only to see an older man raising a hand and greeting someone else with obvious delight.
...No, not him.
Her iced Americano, ordered the moment she walked into the café, had already been empty for a long time, and the ice had melted halfway away, leaving only the scent of coffee behind. She had lost count of how many times she had turned at the little chime of the bell.
Clink.
She stirred the ice with her straw for no good reason, trying to vent her frustration, but James was not late.
...There are still fifteen minutes left.
It had not even been time yet for the meeting she had arranged with James. Su-ji had simply arrived an hour early, unable to settle her restless heart, and kept waiting.
“Sigh.”
A deep breath slipped out of her on its own.
...Are we really over like this?
The answer to that would depend on how this meeting went today. But she could not picture the result turning out well.
I’m not ready for this yet....
Su-ji had known, somewhere in her heart, that one day she might part ways with James. She understood that their future could not be promised because of her family’s opposition. But she had never expected that day to come so soon.
Click.
Su-ji turned again at the sound of someone entering the café.
“!”
Tall and striking, with a polished face—but wearing a deeply troubled expression—James stepped inside. He was the very James she had been waiting for, yet worry came before relief.
“...You’re here?”
“Yeah.”
James had been wondering how to begin, but Su-ji could not bear even the short silence between them.
“...Should I get your coffee?”
“No. I’ll order.”
“Ah, no. Sit down. I’ll get it. Wait for me.”
Su-ji ordered coffee to James’s taste, but she did not return to the table. No, she couldn’t.
He’s going to say we should end it right now!
So she ignored the gaze she could feel on the back of her neck and waited for the coffee to come out.
My neck is itchy!
In truth, James was only standing there, quietly watching her from behind.
Deep blue....
What James saw was not her appearance, but the mana generated by her emotional turmoil. Before Vatican City, it had shown a pale blue hue, but now that her worry had become almost tangible, it was pouring off her in a dark, deep blue.
“......”
Su-ji was not the only one worried. James was, too. He still could not decide whether it was right to use the girl he loved for his revenge.
She still loves me.
The wavering dark-blue mana around her was worry born from love.
I love her too.
James’s concern was no different. Because he cared for her, he felt both self-disgust and guilt toward himself for using her.
And the coffee Su-ji had been waiting for came out so quickly it almost felt spiteful.
“Your iced Americano is ready.”
“...Yes.”
She had been drinking Americano more often herself lately, in step with James’s taste.
“Excuse me. I’d like to order another cup.”
I finished mine too....
Su-ji wanted to buy herself a little more time—just long enough for another coffee to arrive—but by then, James had already reached her from behind.
“The additional order has been canceled.”
“...Ah. Yes, sir.”
With her attempt to stall cut off by James, Su-ji looked on the verge of tears.
...Are we starting right now?
“......”
The moment she imagined beginning the conversation that would decide the fate of their relationship, tears already threatened to spill.
“We can just share. Why order another?”
“...Mm-hmm.”
Back at the table, James poured half of the coffee he had brought into Su-ji’s empty cup.
“We won’t be staying at the café long anyway....”
“......”
He’s planning to end things that quickly...?
The corners of Su-ji’s lips sagged downward.
“Tsk. You’ll cry at this rate, won’t you?”
James’s words were the trigger that finally broke the dam.
“...Hic.”
“Here.”
Sniffling, Su-ji took the tissue James handed her and wiped away her tears.
“Hmph. So now even my tears don’t work on you?”
She spoke as if she had deliberately turned on the waterworks, but James could see her heart with perfect clarity. That was why he could settle his own mind all the more firmly.
...I won’t use you for my revenge.
Within the dark-blue unease around her, a warm sun of gold was hidden. That was the form mana took when it reflected her tenderness and love for him.
“That text I sent last time... I think I was too emotionally shaken when I wrote it.”
“...What do you mean?”
“I’m not much, but... please keep taking care of me.”
Su-ji blinked, unable to believe the short conclusion James had reached.
Then fresh tears welled in her eyes again.
“Waaah! James oppa.”
James opened his arms and held Su-ji tightly as she threw herself into him.
Everyone except you. Only you.
James intended to use everyone in his revenge except Su-ji.
...The ST Group looks useful, so I can’t help it.
That meant her parents and everyone around them would be included among the people he used.
“Finish your coffee and let’s head out. We still have a date to make up for after Vatican City.”
That was why he had told Su-ji they would not be staying in the café long.
“W-wait a second....”
But Su-ji pulled out of his arms and sat back down.
“Why?”
“......”
At first she had worried about the relationship itself—that James’s decision would mean they could no longer remain lovers—but after that came the problem of her family.
“...First, I want you to know that the decision you made today is something I wanted more than anything.”
“......”
James watched her emotions change in response to his answer. The dark blue that had lain thick at first had faded somewhat, but the golden sun was still hidden behind blue clouds.
“Go on. I’m listening.”
“That day, Mom seemed to think highly of you, James oppa.”
“And?”
“But Dad is completely different. I have no idea what he’ll think.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? It’s fifty-fifty.”
Su-ji gave a small sigh and spoke the outcome she was expecting.
“I don’t know what you think, oppa, but I....”
She glanced around for no reason and lowered her voice.
“...You’re from the ST Group.”
When James nodded, she continued.
“I think Mom was just joking when she said those things....”
“Joking?”
“Because it was such an impossible thing, I think she never even saw you as a threat. If she had actually known that I and you....”
“She would have opposed it if she knew we were dating?”
“...Yes.”
James already knew Su-ji’s guess was wrong. He had overheard the conversation she had had with Chairman Kim Seong-oh on the plane. They had spoken as though James could not possibly hear them, but James, whose senses had sharpened after forging the vessel of a knight, had heard far more clearly than he wanted to.
[Don’t think about marrying her off early. I want her to live with someone she likes.]
Her voice had been full of sincerity.
[If the only way to grow the company is by sending her off to a family with a daughter of their own and getting help from them, then say so in advance. I’ll leave with the youngest and make it work.]
Her mother wanted her daughter’s happiness so much that she was willing to mention divorce.
And James did not think there was any need to hide that from Su-ji.
“I heard the two of them talking on the flight from Italy to Korea. Back then I only thought the youngest daughter was getting plenty of love from her mother... but now I know they were talking about you.”
“...What did Mom say?”
James briefly summarized their conversation. It had been a plea—almost a threat—for her daughter to be allowed the same business education as her sons, and a demand that she be allowed to marry the person she wanted.
“What, Mom told Dad she’d leave the house with me? Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Hic. Mom should’ve said something to me....”
Watching Su-ji’s forlorn expression, James spoke honestly.
“That’s why I was so jealous.”
“......”
“Having a mother who could throw away her own happiness as if it meant nothing, all for her daughter’s happiness... you have no idea how jealous I was.”
As James spoke, he remembered his own mother, brutally murdered in the East Sea, and that memory let him shed some of his envy toward Su-ji. She, after all, had been thinking only of him even at the moment her own life hung by a thread.
Because oppa doesn’t have parents....
Su-ji searched for a reason why James needn’t envy her, then said, “Oppa, think about the fact that my father is opposed to this too. In the end, because of Dad, it’s plus one, minus one, zero.”
“No. Your father is also something I envy.”
“Why? Dad can do whatever he wants with me....”
“Don’t you understand how a father feels when he’s against his daughter marrying into a family that isn’t enough for her? I do.”
“......”
“The ST Group is already a huge, fully grown conglomerate. That means it isn’t lacking enough to need growth through marriage.”
After getting home, James had looked deeper into the ST Group and confirmed the reality of a fully matured conglomerate, one that could not be compared to the TY Group. The ST Group was not so lacking that it needed help from others; if anything, it was in the position to help others.
“And yet they’d treat you, Su-ji, as a political marriage candidate?”
While researching the materials, James had also learned that marriages in the families that controlled Korean conglomerates were not simply unions between loving couples, but unions between companies. That was why he understood the name “political marriage” as a marriage meant to achieve profit and purpose.
“I think that’s just one of the choices a father makes when he wants to send his daughter to a good family. He wants to choose carefully and send her to the best one. If the other person has good character and comes from a fine family too, then the daughter he raised with such care won’t suffer. Your father probably lined up candidates with good conditions and intended to respect your choice.”
“......”
“If this were in the past, I wouldn’t have been one of those candidates.”
Because he had used the word “past,” James’s speech also fell into the past tense.
“So... I’m going to try to become a son-in-law good enough for Chairman Kim Seong-oh to choose. From now on, I mean.”
“!”
“The kind of candidate both of them would approve of.”
“W-wait, how?”
James finished the coffee he had poured off for her and was still holding, then spoke.
“That’s a secret.”
He had no intention of telling Su-ji his plans if she was the one person he would not use for revenge.
“Oppa!”
“Hahaha.”
Su-ji tried for a long time to pry the secret out of him, but James would not answer. Instead, he made a request that would surprise her even more.
“Why don’t you ask President Hwang Ji-hye to officially give you my phone number?”
“W-what? My mom?”
Just as he had told Park Jin-tae, this was to make his relationship with the ST Group absolutely clear.
“Wouldn’t that make it a real relationship between us?”
“You want us to get permission from my family before we meet?”
Su-ji wondered if James had gone insane.
Does that make any sense? You think Dad would approve us dating?
“Then do you want us to keep sneaking around without permission? Forever?”
“N-no. I mean... sigh. I’m getting ahead of myself with the worrying.”
“I’ve already told your parents, but I’m a little richer than you think.”
“Mm?”
“And I plan to help with the work the ST Group is doing from now on.”
There was the help he could offer through Tony Anderson at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, and there was also the secondary help he could provide through magic.
I’ve got more cards than anyone else.
This was not a fair game where everyone started with the same hand. James held the entire deck and could arrange the best combination of cards however he pleased, which meant he could always drive the odds to one hundred percent in his favor. The same was true in the real world.