Luxurious traditional Korean dishes filled the table.
There were no fewer than thirteen dishes laid out.
It was an overwhelming amount of food for just three people.
This was a high-end Korean restaurant located somewhere in Seoul.
Sitting across from me was Chairman Han Dae-hyeon, who hold the second most powerful influence after Chairman Kim Jin-cheol.
Next to him, Han Se-yeon was watching me nervously with an uneasy expression.
I still didn’t know how I had ended up in this situation.
In the awkward silence, Han Dae-hyeon spoke first.
“Was it Kim Jinwoo?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“You’re a mage, right? How long have you been seeing Se-yeon?”
Cough, cough!
Han Se-yeon, who had been drinking water, began coughing as if something had gone down the wrong pipe.
“Father. It’s not like that.”
“Don’t play dumb. I saw how affectionately close you two were. Don’t try to deny it.”
“That was because something was stuck on Jinwoo’s head…”
Han Dae-hyeon cut her off and asked again.
“I’ll ask once more. How long have you been seeing Se-yeon?”
Han Se-yeon looked at me with a flustered expression.
I gave her a small nod, as if to reassure her.
“I am not in a relationship with Ms. Han Se-yeon.”
Han Dae-hyeon frowned at my polite response.
“Young people these days cling together like that without even dating?”
“Father, it’s really not like that. There was something strange stuck on Jinwoo’s head, so I took it off for him.”
Han Se-yeon interjected again.
Perhaps moved by her desperate voice, Han Dae-hyeon fell silent for a moment.
“Ah, so you’re not dating yet. I suppose you’re in that pre-dating phase they call a ‘some’ these days?” *As said here, ‘some’ is a slang for pre-dating phase in Korea.
“……”
Han Dae-hyeon stared at me for a while, then said,
“Well, even if it’s not that, I wanted to meet you at least once.”
You wanted to meet me?
I looked at him with a questioning gaze, and he continued speaking.
“I heard from Se-yeon. You advised her against pursuing the dungeon business and the Pioneer’s Night event, right?”
Ah, so he did know about that.
“I only gave her some advice. It was Ms. Han Se-yeon who acted on it.”
“Advice, huh. But didn’t you have very little to go on at the time? It seemed more like a gamble than advice.”
“That’s…”
“Father, by the way, why did you come here today?”
At that moment, Han Se-yeon cut in, trying to steer the conversation away from putting me in a tight spot.
“I had something to take care of at headquarters. On the way back, I stopped by to see my daughter’s face.”
“What kind of work at headquarters?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“…If you were going to come, you could’ve at least called ahead.”
“I did.”
“When?”
Han Se-yeon looked confused.
“I called your office. You just didn’t pick up.”
A call? Han Se-yeon tilted her head, then seemed to remember something.
“Wait, are you talking about that call you made one minute before coming up?”
“Yes.”
“Seriously? That was just one minute before! You should’ve called at least ten minutes in advance.”
“Why all the fuss? Are you hiding something from me?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Han Se-yeon trailed off.
I watched the father-daughter exchange with interest.
It was refreshing and amusing to see the normally confident Han Se-yeon flustered like this.
Then Han Dae-hyeon turned his gaze back to me. He stared at me with a look I couldn’t quite decipher.
“Anyway, you never answered my question earlier. The advice you gave Se-yeon—what was it based on?”
At his words, I fell silent for a moment.
He was referring to my warning against the dungeon business and the Pioneer’s Night event.
How should I respond to this?
Of course, I could easily come up with a plausible lie.
Say I predicted it by analysing the recent global dungeon generation cycle, or that the Black Sword displayed at the Pioneer’s Night was a prime target for Jaun.
If I said something like that, Han Dae-hyeon would probably accept it without much suspicion.
But that wasn’t what I was debating.
Should I just go with a believable answer and defuse the situation quietly?
Or should I offer a more unusual answer and try to pique Han Dae-hyeon’s interest?
After a moment of thought, I made my decision.
“I have a good sense.”
“A sense?”
Han Dae-hyeon frowned.
Han Se-yeon also looked at me with slight confusion.
“Yes, I’ve had a good sense about these things for a long time. I rarely get it wrong.”
“Are you mocking me right now?”
Han Dae-hyeon said with a steely gaze.
They said he was nearly on his deathbed, but that look could still kill.
But for me, this was the only choice.
The Han family pulls the strings of the global economy and uses its immense capital to collect countless Mysteries.
The number must be in the hundreds.
The Han family’s formidable power.
That power won’t vanish even after Han Dae-hyeon dies.
It will be preserved by his son, Han Se-jin.
If I want to uproot that evil before it takes hold, now—while Han Dae-hyeon is still alive—is my only chance.
“I mean it.”
“That’s a poor joke.”
Han Dae-hyeon’s voice was rigid.
Yet his eyes didn’t show disappointment.
In fact, they held a flicker of curiosity as he stared at me.
I answered him with a calm smile.
“Whether you believe me is up to you. I don’t mind if you don’t.”
There was no need to convince him now.
Trying too hard would only backfire.
Just catching a hint of his interest was enough.
“Then that sense of yours—can I test it?”
“I’m not a fortune teller, so it’s not like I can conjure something on command.
But… I can try guessing what’s on your mind right now.”
Han Dae-hyeon chuckled.
“Alright then. What’s my worry?”
“Are you… perhaps regretting something from your past?”
At that moment, Han Dae-hyeon’s face froze over.
A sleek luxury sedan glided smoothly through a dark tunnel.
Han Se-jin sat in the back seat, talking on the phone with an anxious expression.
“My father is having a meal with Se-yeon?”
[Yes, that’s correct.]
“He’s too sick to even move properly—why would he do that?”
Was there some serious conversation going on?
A wave of unease swept over Han Se-jin.
To think they were talking without him present.
For someone aiming to take over the Han family, this situation was far from ideal.
[We’re not sure of the exact reason. And there was one more person with them.]
“Someone else? Who?”
[It was Mage Kim Jinwoo.]
“Kim Jinwoo? Ah.”
Han Se-jin recalled the name.
He was the man who had once dined with Han Se-yeon at a restaurant.
He’d even accompanied her to a recent social gathering.
“What is he doing there?”
[We’re not sure about that either.]
Han Se-jin fell into a moment of silence.
Kim Jinwoo…
Why is that man there?
Could it be… she’s introducing her boyfriend to Father?
A boyfriend, huh.
Come to think of it, their relationship never really seemed like just business.
Considering how she brought him along to social events, they must be closer than I thought.
He denied it before, but were they really involved like that?
“Se-yeon’s all grown up now.”
If a boyfriend’s involved, it’s likely just a casual meeting.
In any case, I probably don’t need to worry too much about their encounter.
“Got it. Let me know right away if anything unusual happens.”
[Yes, understood.]
Click.
The call ended. Han Se-jin turned to look out the window.
The lights that had once brightened the darkness were now gone, and the mountains and trees came into view.
The cityscape had already long since disappeared.
“Vice Chairman, we’ll arrive in about 10 minutes.”
“Understood.”
Just then, a notification sounded from Han Se-jin’s phone—one he didn’t normally use, reserved for confidential matters.
[Running about 40 minutes late today.]
It was a message from Elin.
After the failed hunt for Jaun in Atlantis, she had called the mercenary corps together to discuss future plans and schedules.
And the direction Han Se-jin was currently heading—toward a villa in Gangwon Province—was exactly where the meeting was to take place.
[Reason?]
[Nothing major. There’s someone I personally wanted to investigate, and I lost track of time. Sorry.]
Being kept waiting 40 minutes for a personal matter? That rubbed him the wrong way.
He’d need to establish a new rule about importance of time today.
He absolutely loathed people breaking appointments.
[So… who were you investigating?]
He asked out of personal curiosity.
But no reply came.
Just moments ago, her responses had been within 20 seconds.
He was about to close the message app when another message came from Elin.
[A mage named Kim Jinwoo. Do you know him?]
“……Huh?”
A completely unexpected name appeared.
Kim Jinwoo.
Him again. The second time today already.
Could this really be a coincidence?
Han Se-jin stared blankly at the name, Kim Jinwoo.
He had a strange feeling.
Like this person… would continue to be entangled with him in the future.
That kind of feeling.
After finishing his meal,
Han Dae-hyeon returned to the main house. Perhaps the rare outing had been a bit too much. As soon as he came back, he exhaled heavily and leaned into the chair.
“Whew……”
“Chairman, are you alright? Today was a bit much for you.”
“I’m fine. Don’t treat me like I’m about to die.”
He waved off his secretary as he spoke, a gesture to say he wanted to be left alone.
The secretary bowed respectfully and exited the room.
Now alone, Han Dae-hyeon slowly closed his eyes.
Kim Jinwoo—the man he had met today.
He was far more strange than expected.
He could now understand why his daughter stayed close to him.
And the conversation they had kept playing in his mind.
—By chance, do you regret something from your past?
—…What?
—Exactly what I said. You seem burdened by something, but for someone like you who has everything, the possibilities are few: illness, an uncertain future, or an irreversible past. I made a guess based on that.
—So you’re good at guessing, huh? Why not open a fortune-telling stall?
—If there’s something you can’t share with others, I think I might be able to help.
Suddenly, Han Dae-hyeon remembered the past.
His own brother by blood.
The betrayal brought on by the greed that flowed in his veins.
Long ago, to take control of the Hanseong family, he had betrayed and trampled over his elder brother.
He had forgotten it while busy living his life, but ever since falling ill and spending more time alone, memories of the past returned more frequently.
Especially when he looked at his children, Han Se-jin and Han Se-yeon, he couldn’t help but worry—would history repeat itself?
Han Dae-hyeon pulled out a slip of paper with Kim Jinwoo’s contact information.
“Kim Jinwoo…”
He had claimed to have good instincts.
But instinct isn’t just a matter of luck.
It’s born from experience and insight.
Han Dae-hyeon was also a man of sharp intuition. It had played a key role in building Hanseong Group into the top corporation it became.
And his instincts told him—Kim Jinwoo was someone special.
Han Dae-hyeon began typing a message.
[We’ll meet again soon. I’ll set the date.]
I returned to the dormitory. Since I’d been away Friday and Saturday, it had been three days.
“Waaah.”
Gretel welcomed me as soon as I arrived. I smiled and lifted her into my arms.
I glanced at the branch on her head—the fruit had begun to take shape in the past three days. Still a ways to go before it ripens.
Hope it ripens soon.
Gulp. When I smacked my lips, Gretel’s face stiffened.
“…Waaah?”
She looked at me nervously.
She must’ve remembered the time I plucked the fruit from her before.
I was wondering if I should comfort her when my phone vibrated.
I put Gretel down and checked the message.
[We’ll meet again soon. I’ll set the date.]
“Hm.”
He contacted me earlier than expected. I hadn’t thought he’d text me right after we parted.
I replied right away.
[Alright, I’ll be waiting.]
Just as I sent the message, another one came in.
[Sorry about today. I’ll buy the drinks next time.]
It was from Han Se-yeon.
I chuckled and replied.
[No need to worry. I actually had a good time.]
After sending the message, I headed to the shower to clean up.
And then—
[Interest level from character ‘Han Dae-hyeon’ has increased.]
[Han Dae-hyeon’s interest level in you: Lv 1]
[You have earned 1,000 points as a reward.]
[Interest level from character ‘Han Se-jin’ has increased.]
[Han Se-jin’s interest level in you: Lv 1]
[You have earned 1,000 points as a reward.]
[You’ve unlocked the achievement ‘One Who Draws the Hanseong Family’s Attention.’]
[You have earned 5,000 points as a reward.]
Dozens of messages appeared before my eyes.
“…What is this?”
TL : Thanks to JRZTT for leaving a review, I decided to change my mind.
Leave a Reply to Curiousfox Cancel reply