In this kind of situation, the person the Director was looking for was always predetermined.
“Where’s Yoon Taegyeom!”
At that, the secretary standing beside him answered sharply.
“He’s already gone to the Blue House.”
“Good, then things will be fine soon.”
His thick hand wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. To him, Yoon Taegyeom was nothing short of a symbol of trust. Though young, he handled work competently and didn’t cause him any trouble. Since he’d gone to the Blue House, the Director felt that this matter would somehow be resolved.
Yoon Taegyeom frowned at the scene before his eyes. The partially collapsed Blue House was being rapidly restored. With Awakeners mobilized for repairs, the construction speed was extraordinary.
‘I wanted to talk more with Hong Seoyoon.’
It wasn’t particularly because he wanted to build friendship with Hong Seoyoon. He wanted to squeeze information out of him and make preparations to keep Ian safe. According to what he’d said, he’d been dragged to another world—there was no law saying the same thing wouldn’t happen again. You could never be too prepared.
But in the midst of that, an incident occurred at the Blue House. Yoon Taegyeom had no choice but to leave Hong Seoyoon behind and come to the Blue House.
On the day of the incident, Awakeners from the Management Bureau and Haetae had guarded the Blue House. Among them were two A-rank Awakeners. One from the Management Bureau, one from Haetae. Though their affiliations differed, both were people without any rough edges.
In other words, they weren’t people who would create openings when they needed to protect important figures.
“You’ve arrived!”
One of them, the Management Bureau Awakener Yoon Sora, bowed her head. As one could guess from their shared surname, she was Yoon Taegyeom’s distant relative.
“Yes, Ms. Yoon Sora. What happened last night?”
He should meet the President too, but first he wanted to hear the details of the incident. Yoon Sora explained what had happened last night with a disciplined attitude.
“Nothing happened at all.”
“But the Blue House collapsed?”
“Yes, the fact that nothing happened at all is the peculiarity.”
Last night had been extremely peaceful. The Awakeners had stood guard just in case, but it wasn’t a time when anything should have happened. The leaders of various nations had already made agreements through negotiations not to threaten each other’s national security.
Still, crazy people occasionally appeared, so Awakeners had to guard the Blue House.
“There were no intruders, and no strange sounds were heard. The security guards moved along their usual routes. If there had been any strange signs, the Haetae Awakener would have noticed.”
Haetae’s other A-rank Awakener was a physical ability user, the most common type among Awakeners. However, his hearing was particularly sensitive. That’s why he was the first person called whenever there was security work.
“The precognition side didn’t say anything either.”
There were occasionally Awakeners who could glimpse brief moments of the future. Usually such Awakeners were employed to prevent Gate accidents. Korea also had those who’d awakened precognition abilities, but even they hadn’t predicted that an incident would occur at the Blue House this time. If so, this was truly an exceptional accident.
“What did the President say?”
“Well.”
Yoon Sora hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“He says it’s fine.”
It didn’t make sense. The Blue House collapsed but it’s fine? Just as Yoon Taegyeom was puzzled, a loud engine roar came from behind. A yellow convertible sports car raced up and stopped, and Haetae’s Guild Master Jeong Yeonhwa got out of the car.
A leather jacket, studded boots—her hair, which had been purple last time he saw her, now had a pink tint. And yet she was the Guild Master of a guild, so how could she have so little dignity? Yoon Taegyeom unconsciously clicked his tongue.
“Why do you click your tongue every time you see me, Mr. Yoon Taegyeom?”
Jeong Yeonhwa asked with a cheeky smile.
“You must have misheard.”
“Your response is the same every time too.”
Jeong Yeonhwa approached and casually placed her hand on Yoon Taegyeom’s shoulder. Yoon Taegyeom shuddered and quickly pulled away from her. Only then did Jeong Yeonhwa shrug and get to the point.
“Haetae hasn’t found out anything special. They say the moonlight was particularly bright that day, but we’re not poets, are we? So what if it was bright?”
No Awakener, however exceptional, could control the moon.
“Does the Management Bureau have any new information?”
“No. We don’t.”
“This is really strange. It’s not like it’s some ghost story.”
Meanwhile, Yoon Taegyeom, who’d brushed off his shoulders, returned to his position.
“I think we need to meet the President to know.”
“Right? I agree. Shall we go?”
Jeong Yeonhwa extended her hand to Yoon Taegyeom as if to escort him, but he cleanly ignored it. If he got involved for no reason, it would only become more troublesome.
The two who traveled together arrived at the President’s office.
“It’s as I told you. Nothing happened at all.”
Ryu Mosan’s answer remained unchanged. Hearing that, Jeong Yeonhwa narrowed her eyes. It was a look trying to gauge the truth.
“More than that, isn’t Haetae Guild busy right now? I heard you won the rights to the North Korean purification project and deployed most of your personnel there.”
North Korea hadn’t properly responded during the early Gates. On top of that, a rare S-rank Gate that wasn’t conquered ended up bursting. After that, North Korea became a dead land. They said people remained, but most were in hiding.
Korea had recently started purification work as a national project, and Haetae Guild had won those rights.
“We are busy, but the President’s life is more precious.”
Jeong Yeonhwa lied without batting an eye.
“Haha, nice words to hear. But it’s fine now, so go take care of your business. I have no intention of holding anyone responsible for this incident. This is just a natural disaster.”
“A disaster?”
“So withdraw.”
And so Jeong Yeonhwa was forced to withdraw alone. She tried to hold out somehow, but the President was firm. It seemed there was something he didn’t want to tell Haetae Guild. Haetae Guild had one of the top corporations in the country as a sponsor. And the current President, Ryu Mosan, was someone who worried about the nation being devoured by corporations.
“Let’s have some tea first.”
Knowing this, Yoon Taegyeom killed time drinking the tea Ryu Mosan offered. Waiting for Jeong Yeonhwa to leave the Blue House and get far away. How much time had passed like that?
“Haetae Guild has withdrawn.”
When the secretary delivered the message, only then did Ryu Mosan get to the point.
“Mr. Yoon Taegyeom, our country has received a blessing this time.”
“A blessing?”
“Yes, a blessing. We’ve gained another means to keep other countries in check.”
“There’s such a means?”
“There is. An S-rank Awakener.”
Currently there were four S-rank Awakeners in Korea and six in Japan. As for America, since they swept up high-rank Awakeners early on, their numbers didn’t fall behind any country. China, with its vast land and large population, was doing fine as well.
“I’ll introduce them to you. They’ll be joining the Management Bureau anyway.”
The moment the President said that, the door opened and someone entered. Yoon Taegyeom quickly looked them over and was momentarily at a loss for words.
“They’re not Korean, are they?”
“Hasn’t the era of dividing nationality by appearance already passed?”
That was true, but the other person had an appearance that made it difficult to guess what bloodline they descended from.
“Hello. My name is Vermouth.”
Even the name was perfectly foreign.
“From now on, they’ll be our country’s fifth S-rank!”
“What were the recruitment conditions?”
To that question, Vermouth answered instead of the President.
“I said I wanted to become famous.”
“You want to become famous? Then there are many other ways, aren’t there?”
It was a face that would appear in the media daily even if they debuted as an entertainer.
“Entertainers can’t go in and out of Gates, can they?”
Vermouth smiled warmly.
“Do you have the ability?”
“They do. Of course they do. Actually, about the Blue House collapsing. That was Vermouth’s doing.”
“That’s something even an A-rank Awakener could do.”
“What’s certain is they’re not an A-rank Awakener. You can measure at the Management Bureau if you want. That’s your job anyway, isn’t it?”
“Fine. If we do that and they come out as an S-rank Awakener, how do you plan to announce it?”
“That’s already been resolved too.”
The President answered calmly.
“Vermouth is someone who naturalized to our country from a small foreign nation. We’ve already prepared all the documents. You understand what it means that I’m telling you this, Mr. Yoon Taegyeom?”
The President also already knew that Yoon Taegyeom was the real power in the Management Bureau. That’s why he was telling Yoon Taegyeom to accept Vermouth. If only Yoon Taegyeom agreed with the President’s opinion, Vermouth would establish themselves in the Republic of Korea without any interference. And Yoon Taegyeom couldn’t refuse that.
Because he wanted the Republic of Korea to become stronger.
Oh, but he’s the stalker of your cherished younger brother figure