Si-yoon's Butler?
Si-yoon's Butler?
Han Seok-hyeon was facing his father.
"So... what happened."
Han Seok-hyeon recalled the old man from that day.
The pistol in the white-gloved hand, and the cold expression that seemed to hold no emotion at all.
Even after killing more than ten people, the old man walked toward me as though he felt nothing.
I was overcome by absolute terror.
And afterward, two soldiers in military uniforms came looking for me.
"Whoa, Boss, what the hell is that?"
The man was pointing at something that was Do-gyun—part of his face caved in, bleeding, teeth gone...
The thought that I could have ended up like that drained every drop of blood from my body.
"Si-yoon ordered it."
"...You actually meant that?"
"I did, so we'd better play along."
"When the Boss said he was quitting tiger hunting and that we should join HSW, I figured we'd finally get to take it easy. But damn... this place is way more fun."
The old man smiled while chatting with the newcomer, then looked at me and smiled again, moving only his mouth while his eyes stayed ice-cold.
"Well then. I will now give you two choices again..."
Two choices...
"One, you die cleanly here and leave no trace."
"..."
"That is also my preferred approach. If she hadn't ordered otherwise..."
The old man spoke while watching me with those cold eyes... even his voice felt cold, sowing endless terror in my heart.
"Two, until you graduate, prevent at least one hundred problems from ever reaching her. Prove each one to me separately. Naturally, if you fail, you die."
"H... how..."
I tried to speak, but the muzzle of a gun slid into my mouth.
A chill swept through my entire body, and when I met his eyes, my head swam.
A spine-freezing sensation, as if my blood had stopped moving...
The old man swept back his snow-white hair with his unbloodied right hand and forced out a smile.
The sight locked up my whole body, because it felt like I could die at any moment.
"You just... need to nod."
Drenched in a cold sweat, I had no choice but to nod as ordered.
Whether or not I would die a second from now hung on a single finger of an old man who seemed to feel no emotion at all...
"Remember what I am about to say. However, I will only say it twice."
When I nodded under that cold stare, a smile flickered across the old man's face and he withdrew the gun.
"You were playing in this room with your friend. Then, an unidentified man appeared."
The old man moved as if shooting his subordinate with a gun, and the subordinate collapsed with a laugh.
"The unidentified man killed all of your subordinates and came in, and you received a warning."
The old man approached the critically injured Do-gyun...
"And then the intruder threatened you. While torturing this friend of yours."
Suddenly, without a moment's hesitation, the old man pulled the trigger on Do-gyun's head while he was groaning.
Phut.
"Under the brutal torture that pulled out his teeth and caved in his face, this friend died right before your eyes..."
Then the old man suddenly grabbed a pair of nippers and walked toward me...
"Your teeth were pulled out by the intruder. And naturally, you do not know the intruder's face."
I nodded with every ounce of strength I had as an even greater wave of terror crashed down on me.
"I will start again from the beginning. Remember it."
Smiling only with his mouth, the old man began to speak...
"You had two teeth pulled out by an unknown person and received a warning."
Goosebumps rose over my skin.
The exact same... expression and tone as just before.
The same gait, even the same act of firing a gun...
Even the man who had mimed getting shot collapsed in exactly the same way and laughed in exactly the same way.
Unbelievable... no, I couldn't believe it.
Everything about them was so natural, so utterly matter-of-fact...
Their movements, as if they were utterly accustomed...
It felt as if thorns were sprouting from my spine and stabbing inward.
And then the old man aimed at the head of Do-gyun, who was already a corpse...
Once again, the sound rang out: Phut...
Explaining everything again without the slightest deviation, the old man approached me...
Blood ran from my mouth and soaked my body, but I had no room to care about any of that.
Holding nothing but the single thought that I wanted to live, I nodded desperately.
"So... you didn't see the intruder's face?"
"Yes... Father..."
Father spoke to the right-hand man who always accompanied him.
"Looks like the Gwangsu Gang bastards, doesn't it? They're the only ones in Seoul who can touch firearms."
"I'll look into it."
"Gwangsu Gang, those sons of bitches. They throw their weight around too much in Seoul. Feels like we need to squash them down one of these days..."
Only after taking in every word I had said did Father's eyes turn gentle again, and he held me.
"Hoo... I'm sorry... You weren't scared, were you?"
"Yes. And there is no need for you to feel sorry... Father."
"Good. You did well."
Up until now, in my memories, Father and my brother, two years older than me, had been objects of fear.
And yet, in order to survive, I had no choice but to lie even to that father.
Because that old man was... beyond anything my father's entire organization could handle, even all at once...
Three days after the incident with Han Seok-hyeon, rumors spread that two female students had transferred schools.
And Do-gyun had gone missing.
A campaign to find Kim Do-gyun spread among the students.
And now, Han Seok-hyeon walked into the classroom and sat down beside me.
"You're here?"
Seok-hyeon flinched hard the moment he saw me smile.
Times had gotten better these days, so it looked like he'd gotten new teeth put in.
They matched the color of his original teeth so perfectly that no one would ever notice.
I propped my chin on my hand and looked at Han Seok-hyeon.
"Do you like games?"
"Yes... I mean, yeah."
"Let's hit a PC bang this weekend."
"Uh-huh... alright..."
Watching a brat covered in tattoos from head to toe squirm like this was kind of cute—it reminded me of a well-trained young hunting dog.
Han Seok-hyeon began using everything at his disposal to look after my convenience.
Jong-hyeon told me why Han Seok-hyeon was acting this way.
"Is the kid doing well?"
"Huh? Did you give him something to do?"
"I told him to prevent at least a hundred problems from reaching you and to write each one down and report it."
When I silently stared at Jong-hyeon, he became visibly uneasy.
"Did I... perhaps make a mistake..."
"Jong-hyeon."
"Yes..."
"Isn't that just way too perfect!? Wow... seriously, I want to give you something, but I don't have anything I can give you, so it's a real shame. Ah!! How about I give you a bonus out of my own pocket?"
"Hahaha, don't tease an old man. You make my heart drop. And the bonus is fine. I came here for you alone. Just don't cast me aside because I'm old."
"Come on~ just take it when I'm offering. I've got a ton of money, you know~"
"The whole world probably knows you have plenty of money."
There was a saying that part of leadership came from cash, wasn't there?
I'd made up my mind to pay everyone who became one of my people an additional one hundred percent of their HSW salary.
Of course, I made that saying up.
Before I knew it, exam period had arrived.
Lately, Han Seok-hyeon had been acting so differently from his usual self that anyone could tell it was awkward, and I didn't like it.
When I mentioned it to Jong-hyeon, Seok-hyeon was back to normal the next day.
And once these exams were over, Lee Gi-seok had told me to come over to his house to hang out, together with Da-yeon.
He always brought that up only during exam periods, which was annoying, but if he invited me, I might as well go.
Honestly, there was no downside to staying on a rich person's good side.
The self-study period given about a week before exams.
If I slept during self-study time, the teachers would send me dirty looks again...
Every time I started at a new school, I naturally became the delinquent.
Well, since I didn't pay attention in class, I could see why they might think that...
But from my point of view, nothing was more boring than listening to material I already knew.
Still, if I took first place in the whole school after these exams, I'd become the good student again, right...
I spent self-study deciding I'd go to Yellow Light Art Academy and draw to my heart's content until late that night.
But as the end of the school day approached, I got a text from Dad and immediately dropped the idea of drawing.
Yua said she was bored and asking for me.
Well then, I'd better go entertain her.
After school, I got into Jong-hyeon's car and we drove out.
Lately, Dad hadn't been driving me around himself, and it was pissing me off, so I made a note to tease him about it when I got home.
When we tried to enter the JSM headquarters, a security guard blocked the entrance.
The moment he saw my face, he waved me through without any formalities.
The car stopped in the parking lot, and I looked at Kang Jong-hyeon.
"Oh, right, Jong-hyeon."
"Yes?"
"Here, carry this at all times."
I gave Jong-hyeon a set of pink-gold knuckles.
He received them with perfect poise, as if a king were bestowing a sword.
He was really committed to the whole butler act.
Normally, HSW wore protective equipment, but Kang Jong-hyeon dressed in a suit like a genuine butler.
Despite his age, he had broad shoulders from training and decent, if not perfect, proportions.
Sweeping back his white hair while wearing a trendy suit—honestly, the old man looked cool as hell.
It made me think I should've dressed like that in my previous life.
I arrived at the practice room where Yua was and opened the door.
Dad and Ji-eun were also there, and they welcomed me.
"Si-yoon~"
I pushed Ji-eun away as she tried to cling to me.
"Hmph... so mean..."
"Ji-eun, you need to get married already."
The instant she heard that, Ji-eun's face rapidly soured...
"You... I told you not to say that...?"
"...Sawwy."
As I snuggled into Dad's arms, I looked up at him.
"Why didn't you come pick me up?"
"Huh...? But Si-yoon, you're all grown up now...?"
"Wow... 'You're all grown up now'!? So that's how it is, huh?"
Even before I could scrunch up my face, Dad pulled me into a tight hug, as if he didn't want to see my expression.
Then Dad noticed Jong-hyeon standing in the back and greeted him, and Ji-eun and Yua said hello too.
"Whoa... he's incredibly cool..."
"Hahaha, thank you."
Then Jong-hyeon walked over to me and handed me a bag.
"I prepared some comfortable clothes for you."
"Thank you~"
At my natural response, the eyes of the two—everyone except Dad—went perfectly round.
Dad had often seen HSW members address me formally, but the other two hadn't.
The two aunts looked at me with expressions full of envy.
"Dad, I'm going to go change."
"We're going to watch a movie in about two hours anyway. Isn't it fine as is?"
"Yeah?"
I handed the bag right back to Jong-hyeon, and he took it as naturally as could be.
"I'll be in the workroom with Ji-eun, so call if anything comes up~"
"Okay."
I was left alone with Yua.
"Si-yoon."
"Yeah?"
"I developed a new dance this time, want to see?"
"Oh..."
Yua stood up and began dancing in front of the mirror.
Her lines were definitely art.
While Jong-hyeon wasn't looking, I hiked my skirt way up and started practicing, copying Yua.
A moment later, Jong-hyeon spotted me, stared in horror, and draped his suit jacket over me.
"That is unacceptable."
"Ah, why not!"
"A grown young woman showing her rear... absolutely not."
Kang Jong-hyeon revealed his old-fashioned side in moments like these...
I'd been planning to take the chance while Dad wasn't around to admire my own body a little, but...
In the end, I had no choice but to nod and pull my skirt back down.
But apparently even that didn't satisfy Kang Jong-hyeon, because he pulled a pair of sweatpants out of the bag for me.
"Alright, alright. I just won't do it. It's my own body, you're so petty."
"Si-yoon~ he's just saying it because he worries about you~"
I pulled the sweatpants Jong-hyeon handed me on under my skirt.
"I know. Wanna hit a PC bang?"
"Shall we?"
I called Dad, then took Jong-hyeon to a PC bang.
I forced Jong-hyeon, who clearly didn't want to play games, to sit down.
We played Obawatch, and unsurprisingly, being able to shoot a gun in real life didn't translate to being good at the game.
If it did, I'd have been good at it right from the start.
Still, the way he moved more calmly than me...
He was a little... just a tiiiiny bit better than me.
Yua was also disgustingly bad, but she was still the best among the three of us.
(Team 1) - this Yuja fucker's fingers don't work or what? Fuck this, I'm out.
The atmosphere went abruptly silent.
I wasn't mad.
Honestly, I heard stuff like that every time I played games; there was no way I wouldn't build up immunity to it.
But Jong-hyeon, who had never played a game before, genuinely looked pissed off...
Jong-hyeon suddenly pulled out a notebook and started writing down IDs.
Yua immediately started reading the room like crazy.
And then Jong-hyeon typed in chat.
(Yuja's Butler) - If you apologize right now, I will not seek you out. However, if you have no intention of doing so, I will find you...
(Team 1) - The fuck's this moron, you're just as dogshit as her, dumbass.
I could see Jong-hyeon's forehead twitching.
At this rate, Jong-hyeon was going to waste his talents unnecessarily, so I put my headset on and turned on my mic.
"I'm really sorry~ I'm not very good at the game..."
(Team 2) - Is that Si-yoon...?
(Team 1) - Ah, we're screwed. Kim Si-yoon's absolute trash at games and she just nuked my promotion match, fml...
(Team 1) - If you're Si-yoon then oh... you thought I'd go "sorry sorry it's okaaay~"? Your mindset is absolute fermented soybean paste... If you were in front of me right now I'd have my fist chambered already.
Oho... this bastard's choice of words was certainly something... It made me shudder.
Yua squirmed uneasily between me and Jong-hyeon as a dizzying flash of rage hit me.
(Team 2) - fr that dude's a champion of egalitarian society, absolute legend. Bro run for office.
(Team 1) - Look at that silence. You ruined my promotion match and you're not gonna apologize? Then again, you only revealed your voice because you were losing. Guess expecting a conscience was too much.
As the endless barrage of insults continued, Jong-hyeon ultimately called someone on his phone.
If Park Ji-hoon had been next to me, he would have pointed his finger at me and cackled, but...
Jong-hyeon was different.
Yua sensed that something was seriously wrong and tried to soothe me.
"S-Si-yoon, shall we play Maple Leaf instead?"
"..."
As I watched the chat without saying a word, Yua grabbed my face and made me meet her eyes.
"Si-yoon! Let's go watch a movie and go shopping, okay?"
"...Fine."
Yua promptly force-closed my account.
And Kang Jong-hyeon photographed the entire chat window with his phone, then sent it off somewhere.