052 – Pandora’s Box #3
Inside a car gliding smoothly through the city filled with skyscrapers.
Seo Do-cheol opened his narrow eyes while watching the sparkling lights outside the car window.
His secretary could tell from long experience that Chairman Seo Do-cheol was in a particularly foul mood.
There was an atmosphere even without words.
“Mr. Chairman, is something the matter?”
The chairman’s secretary, Mr. Kim, pretended to be clueless as he asked.
“That mutt went and bit my arm out of the blue.”
The chairman of Seonam Group, Seo Do-cheol, smirked.
Mr. Kim recalled that today Seo Do-cheol was scheduled to meet with Gu Se-jun.
Gu Se-jun was a dog Seonam had raised. However, now that it had grown too large, it had become a fierce beast that might even devour its own master. It appeared that Gu Se-jun had crossed a line during their meeting today.
As Mr. Kim was making this conjecture, Seo Do-cheol’s thoughts returned to the earlier encounter.
—Why did you set the fire at N-Mart?
Seo Do-cheol was left speechless, a rare occurrence, by the words coming from the boy.
He was accustomed to effortlessly rebutting the questions that pierced like daggers during the hearings. Yet, he suddenly felt as though his neck had been bitten, freezing his tongue into place.
He soon realized that he was flustered. It was strange to him that someone could be so disrespectful to him, who ranked second in the nation’s power hierarchy.
In a way, he was even envious of this carefree youth.
“What do you mean? Even if I had done such a thing, why should I have an obligation to honestly inform someone like you? Perhaps the young ones don’t understand, but there needs to be mutual exchange.”
“Don’t you mean, ‘If you speak kindly, words travel a thousand miles’?”
Was there such a saying?
Seo Do-cheol immediately realized that the student seated before him was far from ordinary. After all, it was this keen judgment of people that had brought him to his current position.
It was already suspicious how this boy claimed to be dating his daughter, Seugal.
It seemed likely that his mental state was not well.
‘Perhaps he suffers from hallucinations or delusions.’
With that thought, Seo Do-cheol began to feel that this encounter was a waste of time.
“If you wish to quarrel, at least bring some evidence. Something concrete that even I can’t refute. And if there’s nothing more to ask, I shall take my leave.”
Just as he was brushing past the young man, it happened.
“I have one more question for you.”
Suddenly, the young man turned his head sharply and bit Seo Do-cheol’s arm.
“Ah, d*mn it!”
It turned out ‘asking a question’ meant literally biting his arm.
No matter how noble a conglomerate chairman might be, anyone would be taken aback by such a sudden bite and end up shouting curses. When he regained his composure, the young man was smiling while wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Father-in-law, take it seriously. After I find the evidence, it won’t just end with biting your arm. Just consider it a future where Seugal’s younger siblings will never be able to reproduce.”
The red tooth marks were clearly visible when he pulled up his sleeve. It felt as though the bones were fractured.
“What’s your name?”
And that was the end of his reverie.
At the sight of the red tooth marks presented by the chairman, Mr. Kim was thoroughly shocked. He hadn’t imagined that the metaphor ‘being bitten by a dog’ could mean an actual bite.
When the secretary was still flustered, Chairman Seo Do-cheol asked:
“Mr. Kim, have you heard of Hanamjin?”
“Ah, yes. I’ve heard of him. He’s a rising star pushed forward by the Royal High School. He only just transferred but has already captured two level 3 wanted criminals.”
“Ah, that b*stard?”
“He’s the relative of the victims from the N-Mart incident. There are various dramas surrounding this case, and it seems the Royal High School is also focusing on pushing this boy and his team ‘No Leftover Days.’ Could that lunatic really have bitten your arm?”
Seo Do-cheol remembered the young man who had asked him about the arson at N-Mart.
Had he learned something from the level 3 wanted criminals they had arrested?
However, alas, now that all the evidence had vanished, Seo Do-cheol knew he could simply pretend ignorance, and that would be the end of it. The laws and judicial system of the country were all on his side.
So the name Hanamjin quickly faded from Seo Do-cheol’s memory.
He thought only of his disappeared daughter.
Then he suddenly came up with a hypothesis.
“Could Hanamjin, that moron, have kidnapped my daughter?”
“Inspector Jinrihyeon confirmed several times that it was not him.”
Then where on earth could his daughter have gone?
Seo Do-cheol genuinely worried about his daughter.
She was everything to him—everything left behind by his late wife, his pride who was dearer than his own eyes.
And yet she disappeared.
Why did fate make him so unfortunate?
While Nam Tae-geon, the co-founder of Seonam Group, was preparing the far-fetched succession of a presidential dynasty, enjoying a life ahead of him.
Seo Do-cheol couldn’t endure the fact that someone was ranked above him.
If he couldn’t be happy, then he would drag others into the same misery.
He thought about good ways to do this, and the image of the mad dog who bit his arm came to mind.
“Mr. Kim, what was the front-page headline for tomorrow’s morning paper?”
“It was exposing Prince Juhyun of the Imperial Group.”
“It needs to change. Let’s give some work to Yoo Dogwan who lost his dear daughter and is in deep sorrow.”
—
In a world that was perishing, the most painful thing was undoubtedly loneliness.
I too wanted to date a pretty girlfriend, perhaps even fall in love, get married, have children, and enjoy watching my grandchildren’s mischief happily.
Whenever such thoughts came, I would climb up to my shack’s rooftop to look at the stars.
Looking at the glimmering night sky made my heart feel a little better.
When I thought about how those countless stars, too, floated alone in an immeasurably vast universe, my loneliness seemed like nothing.
But the city now didn’t let the stars be seen very well.
“Hunger can be quenched by ketchup, but how can I console this loneliness that never leaves?”
—Yiningying.
Yining, who had escaped from my bag, rubbed my face with its fluffy body.
The soft, cool cloud-like body felt quite pleasant.
“Yining, what kind of demon beast are you, anyway?”
It occurred to me to wonder.
It was a slime before turning into a cloud.
Was there such a concept as “slime”?
And so, Yining and I returned to the basement.
Creak, groan.
When we entered the basement, I saw Seugal and Yu Yeo-reum sitting turned away from each other, staring at the wall. They hadn’t spoken but seemed to have fought while I was gone.
“Yeo-reum, I brought strawberry milk.”
Sluush.
I took the strawberry milk Yeo-reum likes out of the bag.
The moment Yeo-reum saw the milk, her eyes widened considerably, and she cautiously approached me, slowly extending her hand.
Her cautious and withdrawn demeanor reminded me very much of stray cats that are wary of people.
Now I understood why cat ladies kept feeding stray cats despite all the trouble. Is this kind of joy limited to cat ladies?
“My ‘treasure’, where is it?”
Seugal, with her arms crossed and legs crossed too, asked coolly.
I wanted to say a lot, but for now, I took the box out of the bag and handed it over to Seugal.
“Name: Fairy King’s Treasure Chest
A box that the fairy king of the Great Labyrinth cherished dearly. It can store everything in the world.
Possession: 《Hope Lv.3》 – It carries hope equivalent to winning the first prize in the lottery.”
“Wow, what is it? You really brought it? Great! We need it!”
Seugal was ecstatic upon receiving the box.
What’s so special about this box?
The expression on my face must’ve shown my confusion, because Seugal kindly explained.
“In this box, I can store the ‘concepts’ I have awakened to. I can take them out when I need them. It’s like my ‘concept fridge’. Indeed, I need it.”
“And what does that have to do with your training?”
“Are you stupid? Haven’t you figured it out by now? It’s pretty easy for me to undergo concept awakenings beyond what you imagine. I used to suffer a lot in middle school because too many useless concepts appeared. So…”
Not all concepts are advantageous to the Awakened.
Look at Bangdaengi. The concept of «misfortune» was eating away at its life. Seugal got this box as a precaution for when she might awaken a concept she didn’t want.
In other words, this means she can now speed up the concept awakening process.
So, it’s perfectly fine to feel joyful about this.
“How about doing that thing called ‘squishy squishy’ for me?”
“Huh?”
Seugal flustered.
“What are you asking for?”
Did she not promise to do “squishy squishy” for me if I brought her treasure? It’s frustrating how she’s wriggling out of it as though she’s hearing it for the first time.
“When did I ever say I’d do such a thing? Bring some evidence. Evidence.”
Evidence here?
“You’re just like your dad. bl**d runs deep after all.”
“What? Why mention my dad?”
“I ran into him while bringing this box.”
“…!”
The relaxed attitude Seugal had displayed until moments ago immediately soured.
She seemed to hesitate, then finally sighed.
“Fine! I’ll do the ‘squishy squishy’, okay!”
Swoosh.
Seugal leaned in, presenting her chest to me.
What is it?
“What is it?”
“Can’t you see? ‘Squishy squishy’ is touching my chest.”
It’s quite persuasive…!
Yet, I instantly knew it was a lie.
“Name: Seugal
Holds: Expand details to learn more ☜
Condition: 《Pushing Limits》 – Lying.”
It seems “squishy squishy” isn’t merely about touching her chest.
Should I just go ahead and touch her chest, pretending not to know?
No, I shouldn’t fall for the small bait in front of me and lose the bigger prey. That wouldn’t be a true man.
“Seugal, you owe me three ‘squishy squishy’s.”
“What? Hey! What makes it three times? Why suddenly three times?”
Seugal was throwing a tantrum, not accepting it.
At that moment.
Yu Yeo-reum, who had just finished her strawberry milk, cautiously approached me.
“Can you change the bed sheets? Washing my body doesn’t make sense if the bedding I sleep in is dirty. If you change the sheets for me, I’ll grant you one favor.”
Yu Yeo-reum said she would grant me a favor?
I don’t understand why the girl who was so hostile earlier suddenly became compliant.
Was she so impressed by the strawberry milk?
Seugal chimed in as well.
“Change mine too. Mine’s a winter one and it’s really hot!”
“Then tell me what the real ‘squishy squishy’ is, and I’ll change them.”
“…”
Seugal tightly shut her mouth.
In the end, only Yu Yeo-reum got a fresh and cool bed to sleep on. Seeing this, Seugal seemed close to madness, growling like an angry fox.
“Yu Yeo-reum, are you a bar girl? How can you bargain and get bedding from a man? What would your brother think if he found out? Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“The sheets are so cool and nice. Jin-ah, thank you.”
What is this?
Just a moment ago, Yu Yeo-reum was acting like a puma on the verge of euthanasia, but her attitude has now mellowed into that of a well-tamed house cat.
When they cooperate so smoothly, it’s good for me too.
Anyway, this gave me one chance to ask Yu Yeo-reum for something.
Actually, I did have something I wanted to ask her.
With that thought, morning came.
I thought I’d check the newspaper I was going to give to Seugal, and as I flipped the paper with a flick, I saw this:
“Shock! A President Who Made Deals with Terrorists?”
“Evidence of accounts traded with Billenaz revealed—”
“Unanswered Question – Will the ‘Pandora’s Box’ against the current regime open?”
“Re-examination of the N-Mart tragedy—”
“This is a killer.”
Wasn’t this newspaper one that Seonam Group advertised in?
This was essentially rat poison spread by Seo Do-cheol of Seonam Group.
