“Did you buy every Korean snack out there?”
“Not all of them—just the ones you like. I got everything else ready too. I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
There wasn’t a Korean town here, nor were there stores stocked with Korean goods. It was just that Joo Seunghyuk had been ticulously prepared.
“Did you hire the staff locally...?”
“Yeah. I had my secretary do the recruiting. The mansion’s unnecessarily large, so I needed a few people to maintain it. I’ve put most of them on leave for now—didn’t want anyone else seeing you.”
No wonder there were so few staff despite the mansion’s size... Seunghyuk had ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ given them ti off. And when he said “hired here,” he must have ant Korean nationals living abroad, not natives of the island.
He hadn’t lied.
Everything he’d told matched up with the situation and with the mo Joo Gyeongchan had left behind. I was the one who’d made assumptions.
“If people found out Red Lotus Fla was growing here, they’d lose their minds.”
“They’d go absolutely rabid.”
Plenty of pharmaceutical companies still hadn’t given up on researching Red Lotus Fla. There were scientists who insisted the flower held limitless potential.
But Red Lotus Fla withered the mont it left a Gate. Its mana plumted to less than a thousandth of its original potency. Any drug made with the wilted flower would be essentially useless.
Joo Gyeongchan had understood this too. He believed that if he could bring back a living sample, he could develop the drug he wanted. The mo he left was filled hundreds of tis over with the phrase “live Red Lotus Fla.”
Other pharma groups had tried similar paths, but no one had found a solution yet.
If they learned that Red Lotus Fla was blooming on the surface, they’d absolutely lose it—just like Seunghyuk said.
Now that I think about it, in the original novel, Joo Jeonghan once made Yeonsu a proposal.
He said there was a drug made from a special variant of Red Lotus Fla—and that if Yeonsu took it, he might awaken as an Oga. After much hesitation, Yeonsu took the pill, but nothing happened.
Was it this...?
“Then... is Sungan Pharmaceuticals experinting on Red Lotus Fla right now?”
“No. I’d rather burn the place to the ground than hand anything over to that bastard Jeonghan. Unless he sneaks in and steals it himself, there’s no way I’d give it to him.”
Seunghyuk’s voice turned icy. Clearly, his relationship with Jeonghan was as bad as ever.
“Didn’t this mansion originally belong to Joo Gyeongchan? Wasn’t there also a Sungan lab here? Doesn’t that an Jeonghan might still have so ownership stake?”
I wondered whether it was okay to bring up their biological father, but considering it was common knowledge in Korea, I asked directly.
“No. After Joo Gyeongchan died, ownership transferred to the chairman—my father. And now it’s mine.”
In the original novel, the chairman had planned to pass everything on to his nephews, Jeonghan and Taehan. But it seed this ti, he’d given it all to his biological son—Joo Seunghyuk.
“Do you like the mansion? Want it?”
“Ah—no! I don’t need it. It’s too big. It’s kind of overwhelming.”
Knowing Seunghyuk, he really might hand over the deed. I quickly shook my head.
“Okay. But if you ever want it, just tell .”
“Sure...”
That was never going to happen.
“But, hyung.”
“Hm?”
“Why were you crying earlier?”
His voice was gentle, like the sound of waves.
“It was the novel, I—”
“It wasn’t because of the novel.”
Even I had to admit it was a flimsy excuse. Of course he’d see right through it.
And with the ring’s power showing the past, it was only a matter of ti before Seunghyuk figured it out anyway.
“Actually... I saw the past. I think the ring resonated with the Linked Gate, and that triggered a special ability. So... everything that happened in that warehouse—”
Even so, it was hard to say aloud. I didn’t want to reopen wounds that had already scarred.
As I hesitated, Seunghyuk spoke softly.
“You saw my childhood?”
“...Yeah.”
“Is that why you stayed? Out of pity?”
He didn’t ask if that’s why I cried. He asked why I stayed.
So he knew I’d been thinking about running away....
“No, I—”
I rushed to deny it. I wanted to lie, say I never intended to leave. But looking into his dark eyes, I couldn’t.
And yet, Seunghyuk didn’t get angry.
“If I’d known that, I would’ve told you sooner.”
Instead, he gave a faint smile.
“I was really, really pitiful. I didn’t even know the Korean alphabet properly until I was thirteen.”
He drew emoticons like ‘ㅠ_ㅠ’ and ‘>_
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