Chapter 36
***
As soon as I got to Seoul, I handed over the cakes I'd bought at Simseongdang as gifts.
Hong Siyeon beamed with delight.
"Shall we eat together?!"
"I've already eaten a lot."
When I gave some to the two prosecutors at the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office and to Kang Injeong, they also said to eat together.
Even Han Yu-na said there was no one she could eat with besides me, so the two of us split that huge cake in half.
"Aw, that's a shame. Then I'll just eat it with my little brother."
"Yes. Do that."
"But, Noah. This is you, right?"
Hong Siyeon held out her phone.
What she showed me was a Japanese online news board.
I couldn't understand what it said because it was in Japanese, so I ran an AI translation and saw something about a Korean who saved a child who nearly fell.
"Yes."
"Wow... how did you do it?"
"It was just a coincidence."
How could I just stand by and watch a kid and his mother get hit by a train and die?
I just did what any human should do.
"Sometimes, Noah, you're really hard to figure out."
"Who could be as transparent as I am..."
"No, seriously. You can see people's past and future, and yet you live so modestly."
"Modest, you say..."
"Aren't you modest?"
"I live quite comfortably, actually."
Unlike before, these days I even buy convenience-store ice cream.
Not from an ice cream discount shop, either.
......
"And I don't even insist on 2-for-1 or buy-one-get-one-free drinks."
Compared to the old days, I'm doing things I never could have imagined.
"No... Noah, don't you make quite a bit of money?"
That's true.
Hong Siyeon's company, Saseong, and Nodde World.
Plus money from broadcasting and various other places.
"If you start spending like crazy just because you have money, you'll end up bringing ruin upon yourself."
"Is that your future, Noah?"
"No. The director at the orphanage used to say that."
I'd always thought that after seeing him blow through the go-stop money I'd worked like a dog to earn in a single day.
Be good to people while you can.
"I've got a house and a car, and life is comfortable enough, so..."
"Hmm."
But Hong Siyeon still seemed dissatisfied.
Can't be helped.
"Should I go chase women?"
"No, what do you mean by chasing women..."
"Like going to a club and throwing money around."
"Would that be fun?"
"I don't think it would be fun."
I'd rather just go to a bar with Hong Siyeon and sip drinks there.
It's not like I especially like noisy places anyway.
"Sigh. I can't even argue with that."
"Then don't do it."
"Tch. Anyway, I'll enjoy the cake. Oh, and there's one thing I'd like to ask you."
"What is it? As for the deals with the U.S., just keep doing what you've been doing."
"I don't even know where to start. It's not just that, either."
After hesitating, she scratched her cheek and let out a small sigh.
"Someone I know says they'd like to meet you, Noah."
"Someone you know?"
"Yes. A friend of my grandmother's. They're really into fortune-telling and the like."
"Oh... and?"
"After hearing about you, they said they absolutely wanted to meet you once."
Nothing strange about that.
Besides, Hong Siyeon had already promised to introduce me to clients.
The reason she was hesitating anyway was probably because there was a problem with the client.
"I take it they're quite the eccentric type."
"Yes. The last time I brought in a supposedly gifted shaman, they told the shaman to try blade-walking in front of me or guess what I was curious about."
"Ahaha..."
Shamans must hate that.
"Will that be all right?"
"Well, it's fine."
It's not like I care about that sort of thing.
"Then I’ll take them somewhere near your place..."
Uh. There aren't any cafés nearby I can go to anymore.
Every time I walk in, the owners flinch.
But meeting someone that President Hong would introduce me to at a convenience store would be a little weird, too...
"I'll just go."
"Will that really be okay?"
"Since it's someone you're introducing, I'm sure they live in a nice house, right? I'd like to go and have a look, too."
At my words, she smiled brightly.
"Their house really is nice, so it'll be interesting."
.
.
.
The next day, the place I arrived at with Hong Siyeon was Pyeongchang-dong, famous even in Seoul as an affluent neighborhood.
Because it was such a truly upscale neighborhood, there was even a checkpoint at the entrance.
"It's here."
Hong Siyeon's car stopped in front of a luxurious house befitting the wealthy district.
The moment we rang the doorbell, a voice came from inside.
A middle-aged man in a neat black butler's uniform walked out calmly and welcomed us.
"Welcome, miss."
"Hello. It's been a while, Butler Yang."
Wow, so butlers really do exist.
When I marveled, the man called Butler Yang also greeted me politely.
"The old gentleman is waiting for you."
Guided by him, we walked through the lavish house.
The garden, the house itself, everything.
It looked expensive.
"Don't you want to live somewhere like this?"
"Not really."
It does look nice.
But the garden...
It looks nice, but maintaining it is no ordinary task.
I know because when I was at the orphanage, I tried tending something similar to the garden behind it.
I tried it when the director made the troublemaking kids work on it under the guise of volunteer service.
I thought my back would snap.
"You can just hire people for that kind of thing, can't you?"
"If you don't have a house like this, there's no need to hire people. And I like the officetel President Hong prepared for me better."
The convenience store is close, too.
Though because of recent events, going to a nearby café would make me stand out a bit.
"Then how about acquiring a café? No, wait. I was already thinking of buying one anyway."
You're talking like you're buying a snack from a convenience store.
The cafés near my place are probably pretty expensive, though.
"Which of the cafés you've been to was the best?"
"Termino. Their tiramisu and almond pound cake are delicious."
"Got it. I’ll talk to them about it."
Nice.
From now on, I’ll be able to quietly drink coffee at cafés!
Clients... I wonder if meeting them there would be okay.
Anyway, while Hong Siyeon and I chatted about this and that, we arrived in front of the house before I knew it.
The door opened.
Inside was filled with luxurious furniture.
And in the center, two old men were seated on a wide sofa.
One looked like he had a nasty personality, while the other wore a broad, sly grin.
They looked similar, but their personalities seemed completely different.
The nasty-looking one spoke.
"So you're that Kang Noah?"
"Yes. Chairman Hwang Pil-jung. Or should I call you old man?"
Hwang Pil-jung.
The chairman of Somyeong Group, ranked 14th among Korea's business conglomerates.
He snorted with a laugh.
"We'll see how you do."
"Then why don't you turn this over first?"
He calmly flipped over the card I held out.
And he looked at me with challenging eyes.
"Guess what I'm going to ask."
He brought it up so casually it would make shamans frown if they heard it.
"Then I'll say it."
"You're worried about choosing a successor."
".....!"
"But that's not what you were planning to ask."
"...Heh."
"You were wondering who the hell stole the top you treasured when you were young, weren't you?"
"......."
His past.
Back when he was poor.
The top he had carved himself from wood was the best in the neighborhood.
But then that top disappeared.
He cried and made a scene, but the missing top never came back.
And so the boy became an old man, but he still couldn't understand why the top had vanished.
"I'm sure that bastard Kim Mal-geun was behind it. Right? Right?"
The old man's eyes were filled with certainty.
"Unfortunately, no."
"What?! Then, wait...! Right! Seok Bo-chung! That bastard...!!"
I turned my head.
The old man beside him, wearing a sly smile.
The smile of Hwang Pil-jung's younger brother, Hwang Pil-jeong, grew even deeper.
"Wait. Why is this guy..."
He, who had been puzzled, stiffened.
Then, with an unbelieving look, he slowly turned his head to look at his brother.
"No way... i-is it really you?"
"Hahahahaha!! Unbelievable! I dreamed of the perfect crime for decades!"
"You bastard!!"
"Don't be like that. You used that top to smash all the neighborhood kids' tops, so Kim Mal-geun, Seok Bo-chung, and the others kept going around saying they'd teach you a lesson."
The older brother had been showing off with the top so much that they tried to gang up on him.
The little brother, who adored him, simply threw the top into a nearby reservoir for his sake.
"Hah..."
"Well, thanks to that, big brother focused on his studies, didn't he? If not for that, do you think he'd have gotten this far?"
"Damn it. Hah. I really got blindsided."
He let out a sigh with an empty look, then chuckled.
Then he looked straight at me.
"Impressive. I should call you Mr. Kang, then?"
"Just call me whatever's comfortable."
"All right. Noah."
"Uh. Hmm. That seems a little too casual."
"Good. Then let's get to the point. Who do you think is the best choice for my successor?"
He had two children.
Two sons.
Both were serving as presidents of Somyeong Group affiliates and doing well.
"Whichever of the two you entrust it to, they'll do well."
There were differences in direction, but in both Hwang Pil-jung's and Hwang Pil-jeong's futures, Somyeong Group would thrive.
At least until they died.
"Is that so? Then..."
"But the best thing would be to see both of them in person and tell you."
"Why?"
"Because I need to read their fortunes?"
"Can't you just do it without that?"
"Then let them become viewers of my broadcast or something."
I need something to look at to tell fortunes.
"Hah. Then how about staying for dinner here tonight?"
"Will you serve spicy stir-fried pork?"
"Hahaha!! As much as you want!"
Tonight's dinner is spicy stir-fried pork!
.
.
.
We hung out at Hwang Pil-jung's house until dinner.
Though he was a chairman, he was more easygoing and straightforward than I expected, so it was pretty fun.
"You play go-stop like shit!!"
He was just expressing in an aggressive way, 'Your skill is truly impressive. I salute you,' as he flung down his cards.
"Haha. Thanks for the meal."
"So the sucker here was you, brother."
"Ahaha~! Old man~! I'll make good use of it~! Noah, let's use this to buy coffee later~!"
"Sounds good."
Old man Hwang Pil-jung got fleeced just like a sucker on an operating table.
Of course, compared to his fortune, it was just a speck of 200,000 won.
If you count it as 100 won per point, that's quite a loss.
"We're home."
Is it already quitting time?
The door opened, and his children came in.
The moment I saw Hwang Pil-jung's two children come in, I could tell.
This is going to be troublesome.
Either one of them.
Whoever becomes chairman will end up killing himself later in life.
The reason was simple.
Neither of them could bear the weight that comes with being the chairman of a massive conglomerate.
When the chairman, the captain, collapses, the giant ship called Somyeong starts to rock.
There would be no shortage of innocent people harmed in the process.
A huge company would be shaken to its core.
There was no way those connected to it would avoid getting hurt.
"Noah?"
With the fallout from Somyeong shaking things up, not only the orphanage I came from but other places like it that depend heavily on donations would suffer...
I can't just let this slide.