What? You Want Me to Become a Blonde Tanned Guy?
Hmph...! You idiot! I clearly told you not to stand out so your identity wouldn't be exposed, yet you went and appeared in a music video?!
As expected, Grandfather Taira Danjo flew into a rage the moment he saw me. Still, some time had passed since the music video dropped, and it was a Korean one rather than Japanese, so his anger had cooled off somewhat. If it hadn't been for that, he definitely would have blown up even worse.
“I forgot.”
“Stop that. It's mealtime now. The boy won't be able to digest his food.”
Taira Danjo looked ready to explode further at my excuse, but Taira Shizuku, who was always on my side, stepped in. He made an uncomfortable grunt, “Hmph...!” and then fell silent.
Honestly, the Japanese sweets Taira Shizuku had stuffed me with earlier probably would mess with my digestion, but I'd barely ever gotten an upset stomach before, so I figured I could still enjoy dinner.
It looked like once I got back to the Human Resources Development Center today, I'd need to hit the gym hard and hold Yuukiko tight to burn off all those calories. Last time I'd come to the main house and devoured a mountain of those sweets, I'd checked the numbers later—260 kilocalories per 100 grams. Since I'd eaten nearly two kilograms today, skipping a workout would mean packing on serious weight.
Dinner seemed to have Taira Shizuku's special instructions behind it; my portions of rice, soup, and side dishes were far more generous than what the two grandparents received. Grandma... if this were anyone else, I would've already thrown up.
The meal was a full Japanese course with various side dishes. The standout was the ankimo. The monkfish liver had been gently steamed, grilled in butter, and finished with a drizzle of ponzu sauce.
“Everyone, eat.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
“Eat plenty, Ryuta.”
I picked up my chopsticks, sliced off a piece of the ankimo, and popped it into my mouth. It was so tender it cut like butter, and the flavor was richly nutty. The butter grilling intensified that savoriness, but just when it threatened to feel heavy, the bright tang of the ponzu sauce cut right through it. The chef knew exactly what he was doing.
All the other side dishes were delicious too, so even with a large serving of rice I managed to finish everything with genuine enjoyment.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“Hmm...”
“Our Ryuta eats so well. It's a joy to watch. I'll have tea brought out, so wait here.”
Taira Shizuku gazed at me with a warm, satisfied expression and raised her hand. I don't know where they'd been watching from, but the servants promptly appeared with an obviously expensive teapot and poured a cup for each of us.
The tea was the perfect temperature—not scalding—so I could drink it right away without issue.
“Hmm. You're involved in quite a few businesses. Investment ventures, mining operations, and so on.”
“I'm just doing it on a small scale. Compared to the Taira Group's businesses, it's basically a corner store.”
I'd expected I wouldn't be able to hide anything from Taira Danjo's eyes. He didn't seem to know about TG-Tech yet—the collaboration with Han Yuhyeon that hadn't properly launched—but the mining business must have looked tasty enough to the Taira Group to make me tense anyway.
“Hmph! Small scale, you say... Well, since you're using your own money and not company funds, I won't interfere. But watch your uncles carefully.”
It sounded like Taira Danjo had no intention of going after Hatake Mining. That was a relief. As for my uncles...
I wasn't sure why he'd left out Taira Kokoro, but he clearly had separate plans regarding Taira Ichiro and Jiro.
“Would my uncles really try to steal their nephew's little company?”
“Kuhuhu. We townsmen from the old days would sell our own parents if it turned a profit. Why would your uncles be any different?”
I'd asked with an innocent face, but Taira Danjo gave a ruthless answer. If what he said was true, then nothing spoken at this dinner table could be trusted. When I shot him a slightly suspicious look, he barked at me.
“This grandfather owns four mithril mines, you brat! How dare you look at me with such insolent eyes!”
“You literally just said you'd sell your parents, so...”
“Even so, a merchant keeps his word. Trust is vital in business.”
Having delivered that rather convincing line about trust in business, the old man slurped his tea loudly. He'd shouted so hard my ears were still ringing. For someone his age, he was shockingly energetic.
“Trust is absolutely necessary for long-term gain. Of course, if the immediate profit outweighs the long-term value of keeping one's word, the mask of trust can be discarded. But your mithril mine isn't valuable enough to warrant that, so rest easy.”
In the end, Taira Danjo's words meant he would break his word if the profit was big enough, but they also meant my mithril mine wasn't sufficient to shatter his principles. I had a feeling he'd regret this once he learned the actual reserves, Grandfather...
“Ahem... Follow me.”
“Yes.”
Taira Danjo set down his teacup and led me to his study. The room resembled a conference space, with soft sofas arranged around a low, elongated desk. A document envelope sat on one side.
“Sit.”
He indicated the seat with the envelope and took the chair directly across from me.
“Your vacation ends tomorrow, correct?”
He asked about my break the moment I sat down. I nodded. He seemed to know my entire schedule by heart.
“The moment your vacation ends and you return to the Human Resources Development Center, you'll be given a dispatch assignment.”
“A dispatch? For how long...?”
“It's August, so plan for roughly six months.”
Was this the classic “relocated single man” scenario that showed up all the time in Japanese adult videos and manga? But if it was just a dispatch, was there any need to call me here in person? They could've just sent an official notice.
“For a simple dispatch, there wasn't any need to...”
“Obviously the dispatch itself is fake. This is to carry out one of the three missions I helped you obtain the PMC in exchange for.”
Ah, of course. The plan was to disguise the real mission by sending me away on a fake dispatch. So the warning not to reveal my identity had been because of this job. What a terrifying old man.
“May I hear what the mission is?”
“Revenge. Revenge for both you and me.”
Revenge? I didn't remember being particularly wronged... Oh, wait. There was one thing—the attack on Ms. Jin Mi-ja that we suspected involved the Minamoto Group. Opening fire inside a restaurant like lunatics... Yeah, that definitely deserved revenge.
“You're talking about the shooting incident at that restaurant, right?”
“Correct. Revenge must be carried out. If you carry the thought that someone has done you wrong, it will continue to weigh on you. You'll unconsciously become intimidated by the other party as well.”
To make me spend six whole months on revenge... this grandfather was truly deranged. I was all for revenge, but I didn't want to invest that much time.
“Hehehe! There's a reason I'm putting in this much effort. I want to give that bald old bastard Minamoto Ushin a scar he can never forget. If I can wound him that deeply, six months is nothing!”
Yeah, except those six months are my six months, you old geezer! Still, I held back my irritation and listened. I was curious about the mission, and if he was willing to invest half a year, there had to be something in it for me.
“Once you hear the mission, you won't be allowed to quit. Will you accept?”
“I already agreed to the three missions anyway.”
“Indeed. Didn't I say trust is important?”
It couldn't be that the whole speech about trust earlier had been because of this, right?
“You seem to have a talent for seducing women, so your task is to capture one woman, ravish her, and make her yours.”
In other words, seduce her and fuck her. For an order coming from one of Japan's top businessmen, this felt... pretty lowbrow.
“So who is this woman?”
“Minamoto Risa. She's a high school student.”
A high school student? That was...
When I looked at him with an expression that clearly said I wasn't into minors, Taira Danjo grinned.
“Minamoto Risa is twenty years old—the same age as you. Due to certain circumstances she's the same age but still in high school.”
Ah, if she's an adult, then it's fine. But how did seducing a woman connect to pretending to be dispatched for six months? And if she was a Minamoto, she was almost certainly part of that Minamoto Group. She'd be under heavy guard, so even if I managed to meet her, I doubted any progress would be made...
“But Minamoto Risa...”
“She is the daughter Minamoto Ushin cherishes most. The child of the woman he loved more than any other. He loved that woman so much he even registered the girl as his legal wife's daughter. If you ravish a girl like that, Minamoto Ushin's insides will burst with rage and he'll die. Kuhuhuhu!”
Come to think of it, I'd heard that for older people, the ultimate insult was anything involving their children or grandchildren. So if Taira Danjo told the Minamoto Group chairman, “My grandson fucked your daughter lol,” the old man would probably drop dead from a heart attack on the spot.
“But will I even be able to pull it off? No matter how little I've been exposed, the Minamoto side must have files on me. Just getting close seems impossible.”
“That's exactly why I told you not to reveal your identity, you fool!”
Taira Danjo exploded at my question. He'd warned me so fiercely not to show myself because he had this job lined up. Since I'd gone and filmed a music video in Korea, I could understand why he'd be furious from his perspective.
“Dye your hair blonde, tan your skin, and use six-month fillers to tweak your face just a little. Anyone who hasn't met you in person won't realize it's you.”
“What? You want me to go blonde and get a tan??”
No matter how many women I sleep with, this is too much. You want me to turn into some blonde tanned pretty-boy? I'm not exactly a thug, but asking your grandson to completely change his appearance feels excessive.
----
The blonde Ryuta I made a long time ago
I guess I'll need to tan him a bit more lol