The fervent interest from overseas led to the President’s anguish and Yoon Taegyeom’s overtime work.
“We absolutely cannot hand him over to foreign countries!”
The President wanted Vermouth to remain in the country. That’s why he issued orders to grant Vermouth everything he wanted. The moment he heard that, Yoon Taegyeom thought:
‘What more can we possibly do for him at this point?’
Vermouth was already being provided with everything at the highest level. The luxury hotel, high-end diplomatic vehicles, food, clothing, everything that filled his home boasted tremendous prices. Looking at it sometimes made him choke up.
If they’d done this from the start, the other Awakeners wouldn’t have gone overseas back then! Hong Seoyoon, who had taken time to briefly visit, seemed to feel similarly.
“Wow, it’s really just like you said.”
“What is?”
“That he’s like a D*sney princess.”
“I take it back. Not even a princess would be like this.”
Yoon Taegyeom rubbed his forehead with his hand, wearing a tired expression.
“More importantly, how’s the baby?”
If they said the name, others might hear, so they decided to change how they referred to him.
“He’s doing well. He seems to have nightmares sometimes, but he eats well.”
“That’s a relief then.”
“It is a relief. I hope he gets comfortable soon.”
Hong Seoyoon’s eyes sharpened for an instant. It was because he saw the vehicle that had arrived at the Management Bureau entrance. Ordinary people would just see a car, but his eyes could see the person beyond the tinted windows.
“Is it that bastard?”
“I told you not to go around calling everyone ‘this bastard’ and ‘that bastard.’ What if someone hears?”
“Let them hear.”
He’d called Hong Seoyoon because he wanted to hear about Ian, but dealing with him was tiring too. Yoon Taegyeom shook his head and pushed Hong Seoyoon’s back.
“Go on now.”
“Why, don’t you want to hear more about the baby?”
“I’ll somehow make time to visit.”
“Got it. The baby’s waiting, so make sure you come, okay?”
Just as Hong Seoyoon left and he was turning around, Yoon Sora, who had been standing in a corner of the room, was staring at Yoon Taegyeom with a dazed expression.
“Huh, what?”
The girl who was an A-rank Awakener even spilled her coffee.
“Why, are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Even Awakeners can get sick sometimes. Yoon Taegyeom displayed the demeanor of a cousin brother for the first time in a while and asked kindly, but the answer that came back transcended imagination.
“Oppa, do you have a baby? Are you pregnant? Whose baby is it!”
He didn’t know why she was spouting nonsense when she ate well.
“I don’t even have a lover, what baby?”
“But just now, just now Hong Seoyoon oppa said that! He told you to come see the baby! Don’t tell me Hong Seoyoon oppa knocked someone up? That oppa would totally do that. Totally!”
“Yoon Sora.”
“Yes?”
“Stop talking nonsense and wipe up the coffee you spilled. Hong Seoyoon is single too.”
“No way!”
“It’s true. He’s even been single since birth.”
At those words, Yoon Sora let out a small sigh. How could all these perfectly fine-looking young men be single without exception? Seeing how they refused even when she offered to set them up on blind dates, she wondered if they’d ever be able to get married.
‘Well, these days there are lots of people who don’t get married.’
Yoon Sora decided to worry about herself rather than her cousin and wiped the hallway. She’d been planning to rest while drinking coffee after lunch break ended, but she’d wasted all her time. When it was time to work, she had to be dragged around by Yoon Taegyeom, digesting her schedule down to the minute.
When contact came from overseas, they responded while hiding information about Vermouth as much as possible. And they earned Vermouth’s favor to make him settle down in the Republic of Korea. This was all they could do for now.
“I guess we should be grateful that at least there’s no need to go overseas.”
Vermouth had officially stated he wouldn’t leave the country where the person he loved was. Love is great. But even though the love calls from overseas had decreased somewhat for that reason, this time the domestic situation was the problem.
All the famous guilds in the country wanted to meet Vermouth. And Vermouth dumped all of that onto the Management Bureau. Thanks to that, meeting all the guilds and blocking them became Yoon Sora’s job. It wasn’t like Yoon Taegyeom was slacking off either, but naturally fatigue accumulated.
“Sigh.”
And in the midst of all that, trouble struck.
***
She was sitting in front of the computer drinking an Awakener-exclusive energy drink when suddenly someone burst through the door.
“Oh my god!”
She screamed in surprise, and the person who’d rushed in shouted.
“The sky, look at the sky!”
“The sky?”
The sky she checked by approaching the window in puzzlement was somehow strange.
“What is that?”
Near the Han River, a bizarre phenomenon had appeared in the sky. A black disc shaped like a spaceship had descended and was shining in the sky. If you just looked at it, it seemed like a wide black plate, but if you focused your mind and looked closely, you could see something writhing inside.
“Yoon Sora!”
Then Yoon Taegyeom came running and grabbed Yoon Sora.
“It’s an S-rank gate appearance!”
“What?”
Management Bureau agents immediately headed to the Han River with vehicles carrying gate measurement equipment. The surroundings were already being controlled by the police. Looking up at the sky, the gate entrance looked bigger than when viewed from afar.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a gate appear in the sky.”
“It’s my first time seeing it too.”
Still, at this distance they could measure the gate’s readings with the equipment. At first, the needle that had been at the lowest point gradually moved faster and rose. It had long since passed the reading indicating an A-rank gate. But it was still within predictable range. The problem was what came next.
The newly appeared gate surpassed even the readings of a typical S-rank gate. The needle spun round and round in the air, unable to rise any further.
“Whoa.”
The agent operating the equipment muttered with a dazed expression.
“Can we even call this an S-rank gate?”
Perhaps a gate of a higher rank than that had appeared. Realizing this, Yoon Taegyeom gritted his teeth. The world was just starting to get a little better, and now hardship had descended once again. If there was a god, this couldn’t be happening. But even if he resented god, nothing would change.
“Contact the guilds.”
This wasn’t a problem that could be solved by the Management Bureau alone.
“Y-yes!”
Yoon Sora moved urgently.
***
When naming the famous guilds in the Republic of Korea, people always mentioned these five.
Saseong, Haetae, Phoenix, Stigma, Peace.
Among these, Saseong, Peace, and Haetae were large guilds receiving sponsorship from major corporations. Phoenix had no sponsor but the Guild Master was S-rank, so the members who had gathered were quite impressive. Stigma wasn’t a large-scale guild, but like Phoenix, it had an S-rank Awakener as Guild Master, and had the best reputation because many people with conviction as Awakeners had gathered there.
For that reason, the Guild Masters of all five guilds had gathered in the Management Bureau’s conference room.
“An S-rank gate. Wasn’t the place Hong Seoyoon cleared last time S-rank?”
At Haetae’s Jeong Yeonhwa’s words, Peace Guild’s Park Seori countered.
“That was a variable gate. You know that S-rank for a variable gate has a different meaning.”
Perhaps because she used ice-manipulating abilities, her relationship with Hong Seoyoon was oddly not good.
“Still, S-rank is S-rank.”
In fact, the only guilds here that got along were Phoenix and Stigma. The rest all had different corporations backing them, so they couldn’t get along.
“Hey, the person in question is sitting quietly, so what are you doing?”
Hong Seoyoon interjected there. Then Park Seori frowned and turned her head.
“Everyone, let’s just stick to the basics. Just the basics.”
Lee Cheolsu of Saseong, dressed in the most neat attire, said that and drank the brown rice green tea that had been prepared in advance.
“Just drink coffee in moderation. I don’t know why you’re so fussy every time.”
“Caffeine isn’t good for the body.”
“Green tea has caffeine in it too, you know?”
“Compared to coffee, it’s a small amount.”
They were going on about useless talk when the conference room door opened and the people they’d been waiting for entered. The Management Bureau’s real powers, Yoon Taegyeom and Yoon Sora, and Vermouth.
As soon as Vermouth entered the conference room, everyone’s gaze turned toward him.
“Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”
Saseong’s Lee Cheolsu extended his hand first and greeted him warmly. While Haetae and Peace were subsidiaries of parent companies, Saseong was a guild directly under a major corporation. Lee Cheolsu was the grandson of the current company president and was competing with his brothers for the next succession rights. As such, he was always enthusiastic about recruiting talent.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Vermouth smiled brightly and bowed his head slightly. He didn’t extend his hand, as if he didn’t want to shake hands. Seeing that, Lee Cheolsu’s lips twitched, but he didn’t add anything further. When you’re an S-rank Awakener, there are many with inflated egos. So he thought he couldn’t say anything over such a trivial matter.
On the other hand, Jeong Yeonhwa raised her eyebrows seeing that. She didn’t like Vermouth’s arrogant demeanor. Moreover, it bothered her that the timing of his appearance coincided with when part of the Blue House had collapsed. At that time, Haetae had been saddled with an undeserved bad reputation, so naturally her gaze didn’t go kindly toward him.
Park Seori took an attitude similar to Lee Cheolsu. Unlike Jeong Yeonhwa, she wasn’t an S-rank Awakener. So Vermouth was a top priority recruitment target. She didn’t want to unnecessarily get on his nerves.
Hong Seoyoon grinned like someone without a thought, and Choi Jaeheon quickly turned his gaze away from Vermouth. In the midst of all that, Yoon Taegyeom received materials from Yoon Sora and began briefing about the newly opened S-rank gate.
“What a mess.”
Hong Seoyoon whispered to Choi Jaeheon beside him. Choi Jaeheon didn’t particularly answer, but he agreed with his thoughts. With more than half of them harboring different intentions, he wondered if things would proceed properly.
