P.S. Towards the end of the novel, a new character will be introduced. But of course, knowing how KNovels work, we can go a long way before finding out the gender of a character. Because the character’s name is most closely used for those of female sex, we decided to use “she/her” pronouns for this character. However, this can change anytime once we are clear on the gender!
Brilliantly passing the assignment, Jeong-Hoon walked to Yeo Tae-Hyun’s office.
As he entered the office, the maid of honor was standing by the office desk with a cart. The cart held teacups and a teapot.
The maid of honor bowed to Jeong-Hoon.
“Miss Maid? What are you doing here?”
“I am your Grace’s servant. It is natural that I am at wherever my Lord is at.”
“I haven’t seen you at all while I’ve been going about in Shine Mall though?”
“I was always there.”
The fact that it wasn’t just Butler Joo who was following him around in secret made Jeong-Hoon subconsciously let out a sigh.
“And my Lord, although it doesn’t mean much, I am still one of the 12 key vassals. Even if I don’t give off my presence, I hope that you will still remember me.”
“I don’t think it’s true that it doesn’t mean much.”
“Not at all. It really doesn’t mean much.”
Discreetly disagreeing with her words, Jeong-Hoon walked over to the sofa in front of the office desk and sat down.
“My Lord, your seat is over here.”
“Pardon? Isn’t that CEO Yeo’s seat?”
“Not anymore. Since you have passed the assignment, it’s now your seat.”
Smirking, Yeo Tae-Hyun said it was fine and walked over to where the safe was. He opened it and took out a piece of document and a desk plaque.
“This is the Dungeon Logistics Center’s Distribution Contract with the Shine Mall that you had guessed correctly, and this here!”
With a loud thud, Yeo Tae-Hyun swept aside his own desk plaque and placed a new desk plaque on the desk.
[Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon]
“This is your Chairman desk plaque.”
“Why did that come out of the safe?”
“Because it’s been readied since a long time ago.”
Jeong-Hoon shook his head at that comment that sounded as an excuse to cover up the fact that they had actually readied it during the week.
“Even Lumen doesn’t have a desk with a desk plaque, but it seems there is one here.”
Whether or not it was prepared recently or a while back, looking at the plaque on the desk made Jeong-Hoon feel strangely excited. So he jokingly made this comment, but Butler Joo shook his head at that statement.
“There is one in Lumen.”
“Yes? There is? But I never saw it at the royal suite room I am staying at?”
“That is because your Grace had never entered the office.”
“… Ah, that’s right. Well, now that I think about it, there wouldn’t be a desk plaque in a suite room.”
Of course, there are spaces which provided units for industrialists or businessmen to do their work in the royal suite room Jeong-Hoon was staying at, but the specific area he stayed at was solely for resting.
On top of that, even if he’s ‘staying’ at Lumen, he is still the chairman, not a guest. There weren’t any reasons to do work in a resting space.
“So did we come to this office just so you can show me these?”
“That’s not it. Since you have Shine Mall in your hands now, shouldn’t you at least take a seat?”
As Yeo Tae-Hyun pointed to the desk, Jeong-Hoon nodded.
Since Shine Mall is now his, Jeong-Hoon figured he should at least get a taste of his reward.
“… Hmm, does it suit me?”
As Jeong-Hoon posed and smiled towards the three people, all three frowned at once.
“It suits your Grace very well, but there’s one thing that’s missing.”
“Really?”
“I think I placed them here somewhere…”
Them?
Jeong-Hoon tried to stand up immediately when he saw Yeo Tae-Hyun reaching for the ‘missing’ thing that he had mentioned. It was a big pile of documents.
“My Lord, we need to take a commemorative photo.”
But Butler Joo prevented Jeong-Hoon from standing up and took out a cell phone from his pocket.
“W-we do? But why do I feel anxious?”
“There’s nothing for you to feel anxious about. You just need to read these and sign the ones you like!”
Jeong-Hoon put on a difficult face as he looked at Yeo Tae-Hyun laughing at the pile of documents on the desk. He had been acting all along when he seemed like he was searching for those documents.
“Even if you tell me to pretend to work, I still won’t know how to do this?”
E/N: This is derived from the Korean saying “If you can’t do the work, at least pretend to do the work.”
“My Lord, you won’t be pretending.”
“Since you are now sitting in the chairman’s seat, you must now do the basic tasks of a chairman.”
“You don’t need to worry too much. The Head Butler, Butler Yeo and I will be there to help you, my Lord.”
It was at this moment when Jeong-Hoon realized he had fallen for their tricks. They had him sit down at this seat not for a commemorative photo, but to teach him the work of a chairman. At that, Jeong-Hoon couldn’t help but laugh in half-distress and in half-anxiety.
***
The day after Jeong-Hoon was tricked by the three vassals, he turned on the TV, sprawled out on the sofa staring with blank eyes.
The news channel comes on. It wasn’t because he liked to watch the news, but it was because the TV was set to that specific channel.
<Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. The first news I have for you today is regarding the hot issue revolving around Hotel Lumen for the past week.>
“… Did an incident happen overnight that I am not aware of?”
Jeong-Hoon turned his head to look behind him, where unlike the usual, Butler Joo, the maid of honor, and Yeo Tae-Hyun were standing.
“The only thing that your Grace might not be aware of in Lumen are the colors of the guests’ underwear.”
Butler Joo tried to reassure Jeong-Hoon with a joke, but Jeong-Hoon found that oddly scary and was still skeptical on why Lumen appeared as the first topic on the news. He turned back to the TV.
<Last week, Lumen’s Chairman Lee Jeong-Hoon made his first appearance in public and indirectly presented a change in his aspirations.>
<That’s correct. In addition, Shine Mall’s CEO Yeo Tae-Hyun moved to reside in Lumen. Moving to reside in Lumen at this time can be seen as a sign to cooperate with Lumen in the future.>
When the contents of the news seemed overly familiar, Jeong-Hoon whipped his head back at the three people behind him.
“You leaked this information to the media?!”
He was very busy yesterday so he didn’t inquire about it, but now that he thought about it, it was suspicious that Yeo Tae-Hyun was at Lumen.
“We didn’t leak it, but it got leaked somehow.”
“Ah, so sorry. But Lord, Shine Mall’s a large business. Of course they’re gonna keep track of my movements.”
The way Yeo Tae-Hyun spoke was always provocative, but at this point it was known it’s just his way of speaking.
“I did not want the people to forget about your aspiration to bring the companies together so I did not prevent the information from being leaked. I’m sure your Grace would have made a similar decision?”
“… It’s true I did think of it, but I don’t think this is it.”
On the surface, the contract is seen as an exchange of some sorts with a signature but Jeong-Hoon still hadn’t expected that this would be leaked so implicitly.
“I understand how your Grace feels, but this was a decision that was made yesterday after the three of us put our heads together along with the consideration of other 12 vassals.”
At the words of Butler Joo, Jeong-Hoon remembered the matters of the 12 vassals along with other vassals.
Not just the five remaining companies, but also popular individuals in the society are also mixed into the group.
In order for all of those people to gather in one spot in Lumen, the current method is easier in the future.
“Well, if it was you guys who made the decision, then there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Jeong-Hoon started to get up from the sofa.
“My Lord, would you like some tea?”
In order to wake himself completely, Jeong-Hoon accepted the tea. While savoring the tea, the second topic popped up on the news.
<Now for our second news. Around 2:30am, monsters started to pour out from a dungeon. This dungeon was scheduled and to be targeted by the AP guild and its allied guild.>
“Pfmt!”
The tea was pleasantly fragrant so Jeong-Hoon had kept a sip sitting in his mouth, but he spit it out at what he heard on the news. The maid of honor handed him a handkerchief and he used it to wipe his mouth.
“Wha-t this topic should’ve been the first one they presented!”
Luckily, although the scheduled attack was delayed, it was never cancelled, so hunters who stood standy were able to subdue the situation.
On top of that, there were no casualties. Because of that, this topic wasn’t breaking news, but instead seen as an incident where monsters escaped from the dungeon.
The reason for the monster’s escape was never revealed yet but usually when dungeons appear, monsters are continuously generated at the heart of the dungeon. And when the dungeon reaches its max capacity, monsters will escape from the dungeon.
In other words, the news is that the monsters of a large dungeon that was supposed to be targeted by the AP guild and its allied guild had reached its saturation.
And this topic had been pushed back to be presented second.
“Even if that dungeon isn’t that dangerous because it only produced low-level monsters, to leave it unattended like that is…”
“It is not the dungeon that produces the monsters.”
“Sorry? Ah, wait, I don’t necessarily need an explanation right now.”
When Butler Joo tried to tell him a bit of the secret of this world, Jeong-Hoon held up his hand. Knowing those secrets will bound to drag him into a deeper mess.
“Rather, this situation with all the monsters pouring out like that is a lot more important and dangerous.”
“Does it bother you, my Lord?”
“… Would I not be bothered? When the world changed like this since I was 10 years old?”
No matter what, Jeong-Hoon was an indirect victim. This is why he mentioned the ’10 years old’ part.
Even if the world felt like it was going to be ruined, Jeong-Hoon has never seen a monster with his own eyes. However, that didn’t mean he had no idea about the danger level of these monsters.
Ever since his parents passed away in the dungeon, he was aware of the monsters’ scale no matter what grade-level threat they were.
“But that doesn’t mean I aspire to eliminate all monsters or sacrifice myself to save the world. I’m just bothered because I may be a part of the cause.”
Jeong-Hoon didn’t think that he was entirely at fault for the situation.
If they hadn’t socially buried the AP guild leader, then there were bound to be more victims of the guild leader.
But since Jeong-Hoon did take part in burying the guild leader, it was burdensome to not take the blame for the escalated situation.
“Then we will figure this out.”
“… Companies aren’t allowed to form guilds… Does the family have some sort of guild hidden away?”
Through Butler Joo, Jeong-Hoon was able to check the list of all companies and businesses managed by the family, but he never saw a guild on there. However, since Butler Joo spoke as if he could easily resolve the situation, Jeong-Hoon looked at him skeptically.
No matter how independent this organization-like family was, stepping in would be crossing the line.
“I will simply ask for help from the guilds that have a connection with us.”
“Really? Are you sure it’s not a guild that’s not under the family’s command?”
“My Lord, even if we are an independent family, we still follow the laws.”
Jeong-Hoon let out a flustered laugh at those words when he suddenly remembered that this was the same person who had given him a grenade saying it’s a form of self-defense. No, in fact, he had told Jeong-Hoon that it’s not breaking the law if you don’t get caught…
***
Among the top 10 guilds, there is one named Saturn Guild that is led by an S-class hunter named Choi Jae-Yeon.
Due to the lack of control she had on her power, Choi Jae-Yeon was ranked as an A-class. But one day out of nowhere, she showed significant growth, which promoted her as an S-class.
She was the reason for her guild’s current standing among the top 10 guilds.
“So what I’m hearing is, you wish us to cooperate with the other two guilds and launch an attack on the dungeon that the AP guild had originally targeted?”
While seated in the reception room of the highest-quality room provided by Lumen, Choi Jae-Yeon sharply looked at Jeong-Hoon.
“That’s correct. There isn’t a lot to gain, but wouldn’t it be dangerous to leave such a dungeon alone when it is about to break?”
“That’s that, but are you truly doing this for the sake of the community, Mr. Chairman?”
When Choi Jae-Yeon asked, she started to release a bit of her dominating aura. Jeong-Hoon put on a clueless face that showed he had no idea what she was trying to say.
“Then why else would I be doing this?”
While engaging in the conversation, he tried to think of what he would gain from doing this, but nothing came up. He had only requested for just community service purposes, but he didn’t expect to be here, being pressured by a dominating aura.
If Yeo Tae-Hyun wasn’t next to him, Jeong-Hoon was sure he would be suffocating from the aura because the opponent was an S-class hunter.
Strangely, the reason why Jeong-Hoon and the S-class Hunter Choi Jae-Yeon was meeting like this is because Choi Jae-Yeon had requested to meet Jeong-Hoon in person once she received the request.
This is because it is more effective for both parties if they meet in person to gain cooperation.
When Jeong-Hoon reached out with the request to the three guilds that had connections with Lumen, they all belonged to the top 10 guilds. And among those three, only Choi Jae-Yeon requested to meet with Jeong-Hoon.
“Our chairman is an non-awakened being. As the Master of Saturn, what’s with this behavior?”
E/N: Head of the guild/guild leader = guildmaster, or master or ___ guild.
“… Pardon me. I simply did it to figure out the chairman. I wanted to see if it wasn’t actually for community service, but if there was a different motive, perhaps regarding the declaration made at the announcement last time.”
E/N: The dominating aura CJY let out can force lower-classed awakened beings or non-awakened beings to give out under the pressure.
While apologizing and looking at Jeong-Hoon with searching eyes, Choi Jae-Yeon gave a dirty smirk to Yeo Tae-Hyun.
Seeing that, Yeo Tae-Hyun almost blew his top, but Jeong-Hoon raised a hand to stop him and gracefully smiled.
“If that was my intention, I wouldn’t be making my move discreetly.”
As Jeong-Hoon stated his pure intention of community service, he realized the aspiration he had made during the announcement day was a big problem. Due to the declaration he had made, many people continued to misunderstand.
“Hmm, if it’s true you’re doing this for the community, then all I can say is that you’re truly amazing.”
“Not at all, I only believed that it was the right thing to do since after all, the AP guild has been one of Lumen’s valuable guests.”
Jeong-Hoon really wanted Choi Jae-Yeon to quickly make up her mind at this point because he was running out of patience. By patience, he was worried that he may mess up on any of his wordings that he had learned from the maid of honor and Butler Joo. If the conversation dragged on, he would run out of ideas for sure.
“I have never forgotten the debt I owe you for helping me to become an S-class hunter. I can only say that you’re an incredible person for always moving for the world.”
Upon hearing the first sentence, Jeong-Hoon side-glanced at Yeo Tae-Hyun. This was something that he had never heard about. He was only told that this guild had a connection with Lumen, but he was never told what that connection was.
“Unfortunately, we hope that you will make your decision right now, Guildmaster Choi Jae-Yeon. The chairman is a very busy person.”
Reacting to the glance Jeong-Hoon had given him, Yeo Tae-Hyun spoke to interfere with the conversation. Nobody knew about the fact that it wasn’t actually Jeong-Hoon who built Lumen, and they must keep it that way.
“I apologize. On top of my rudeness for asking to meet with you, I also took away too much of your time. Then I shall get to my point.”
Choi Jae-Yeon released her dominating aura again. However, this time it wasn’t to pressure Jeong-Hoon. It was to emphasize her seriousness to what she was about to say.
“The skill that was used to turn me into an S-class. If you give it to Saturn, I will take part in the operation.”