[Karma score increased by 3.]
Wait, it can go up too?
The image he’d worked to improve just got wiped back to zero by that last remark.
“Seems the trend these days is to flaunt your individuality—quite a unique young man, aren’t you?”
Chairman Seo looked like he meant to laugh it off.
Considering he’d just lobbed something that sounded like random cult-talk, the mood was relatively amicable.
But only for a moment.
“You’ve been having mishaps big and small, too.”
“Hm…?”
A faint flash of displeasure crossed the chairman’s brow.
[Karma score increased by 1.]
It might have sounded like he was spouting nonsense, but Rowoon was desperate.
If I want him to believe me in the end, I have to build it up right…!
These offhand lines might sound like the ramblings of a madman, but—
[Starlight (requester) informs you there was an accident recently!]
Even the man’s ancestor had joined in—this was a kind of pitched psychological battle.
Even if he tries to dismiss it as babble, it’ll snag at him, get under his skin.
He never expected the chairman to believe from the start.
What mattered was planting the suspicion: Is that really true? It sounded plausible… could it be?
Let that seed sprout, and eventually he wouldn’t be able to resist opening the grave to check.
“Your dreams have probably been rough, too. Have you been losing sleep lately?”
“Chaheon. What is with this fellow? Is he really from Chairman Lee’s family?”
Up to then, Chairman Seo had kept smiling.
The seasoned poise of a conglomerate head—it showed in that steady smile.
“I never heard their youngest was like this. Is that why they’ve kept him under wraps?”
But the chuckle carried an edge; he wasn’t bothering to hide his displeasure.
[Karma score increased by 1.]
As a bonus, the karma kept ticking up.
[Would you listen to that cheek? He can’t even recognize a benefactor and he’s picking a fight?]
[Starlight (requester) intercedes, saying the other may talk that way but has a good heart!]
[Oh, you old codger, that one’s ‘face-value age’ is older than you! What ‘kid’? The kid is our kid!]
Letting the bickering of those two ancient beings go in one ear and out the other, Rowoon kept an awkward smile fixed in place.
“That doesn’t answer my question, Chairman.”
“Huh. Cheekier than I thought, aren’t you?”
“Does the same person keep appearing in your dreams?”
“What are you even talking about?”
“He most certainly appears. But you refuse to hear what he says.”
The smile on Chairman Seo’s lips began to fade.
It disappeared entirely, his face hardening, when Rowoon spoke next.
“Things haven’t been going well lately, right? Maybe that’s too vague… Something that had been sailing along suddenly jammed. It’s caused you a lot of trouble. I can’t be too specific, but… it’s across the sea, isn’t it?”
Any pretense of cordiality flipped on its head.
“Chaheon. Did you tip him off about something?”
“Sorry, but I know nothing about this.”
Kang Chaheon, watching with an intrigued look, shook his head.
“Right. You wouldn’t know.”
Of course he wouldn’t.
Rowoon was being fed from on high, but within the group this was top secret—known only to a few closest aides and those in charge.
A major contract that had been proceeding smoothly had suddenly been suspended due to local circumstances.
Accordingly, one of Chairman Seo’s closest aides had flown out recently and was quietly assessing the situation on the ground.
You can’t shut every mouth, but when it’s sensitive enough to move the stock price, you block what you can.
If this went wrong, the losses wouldn’t be in the billions of won, but in the tens of billions.
And that wasn’t all.
If the company staggered that badly, even Chairman Seo’s position could be at risk.
“Where did you hear this. What do you want? I don’t know who put you up to it, but you won’t get what you want.”
His eyes flashed threateningly as he spoke.
However it had leaked, he looked ready to clamp down right here.
And Rowoon, on the receiving end of that pressure…
Um, hello! This is backfiring!
He suddenly empathized with the otter watching its carefully stacked shells collapse into a heap—there went his build-up.
Still, if you’ve drawn the knife, you at least slice a radish.
In this situation, it was go big or go home.
“You already know what I want?”
“Whatever it is, you’re playing games in front of me. Don’t think you’ll slip out easily.”
He wasn’t about to be reborn in concrete here, was he?
Rowoon glanced sidelong at Kang Chaheon.
If it came to it, he’d grab him and make a break for it.
“I do have a favor to ask, Chairman. But whatever you’re imagining, I guarantee it’s far from that.”
“Heh-heh, is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Good. If you intend to threaten me, you’d better have that kind of confidence. Let’s hear it.”
[Threaten? With this gentle persuasion? Honestly, he’s a brick wall—so sure only his own thoughts are right!]
[Starlight (requester) quietly nods, saying the boy does have that tendency.]
[You’ve had a hard time of it.]
[Starlight (requester) agrees and begins to confide about his past.]
“First, let me prove I’m not the industrial spy you think I am.”
“Ho. Brimming with confidence, I see.”
“There’s been trouble in your family lately, hasn’t there?”
“At my age, minor ailments are to be expected.”
“No, not you. Someone younger—who was recently diagnosed with a serious illness.”
Up to then, Chairman Seo had been glaring, waiting to see where this was going.
But the hostility—the way he’d treated Rowoon like a thief—flipped the instant Rowoon finished.
His face went slack, as if he’d seen a ghost.
“You… how could you possibly…”
Just a few days earlier, his beloved great-grandchild had been diagnosed with myelofibrosis—a crushing diagnosis for a child.
The child bruised easily and suffered severe dizziness. He was different from other kids but otherwise had been lively and well, which made the shock all the greater.
Only our family even knows that child is my great-grandchild… how on earth…?
This was on a different plane from corporate affairs.
The child was the blood of the son who’d practically cut ties, hating the family name that clung like a brand.
He’d been excised from the family registry long ago; by now, hardly anyone even remembered his name.
If even the son was like that, how much less would anyone know of his grandson?
No matter how he thought about it, not even an industrial spy would have detailed intel on collateral kin unrelated to the firm.
“Who… exactly are you? And what is this favor you want from me?”
The color drained from his face; his fingertips trembled.
Seeing the change, Rowoon finally let out a breath of relief.
At last…!
He’d wobbled through a few perilous moments, but this counted as a successful build-up.
A faint smile touched his lips.
“Now… are you inclined to hear my request?”
Contrary to his fear that a few missteps might topple everything—
“Reinterment… You’re saying to move the grave? That’s all I need to do?”
“Yes.”
“Everything you said earlier was for this request?”
“Yes.”
After that final nail, Chairman Seo accepted Rowoon’s words with surprising ease.
The burial plot—the part Rowoon had worried about most—went by with unexpected coolness.
“It can’t have been easy to bring up. Why go this far? As you now know, every topic you broached was dangerous. You weren’t concerned I’d misunderstand?”
He had.
A lot.
I expected to be taken for a lunatic, not an industrial spy.
Still, if the outcome was good, wasn’t that enough?
“But there are things that need to be told like this.”
Something in his answer struck a chord; the chairman looked moved.
“…Thank you. I’m so old I couldn’t even recognize a benefactor. Perhaps that saying about being better off dead when you’re old isn’t for nothing.”
“You’ll be fine. Once you reinter properly, all the things you’re worried about will be resolved.”
“Truly? I don’t mean to doubt. You can see why I’m desperate.”
“They will.”
The high ones in the heavens were vouching so it would be so.
Given the way he’d been tossing out virtue points, he was clearly a heavy hitter.
“Truly… thank you. I’ll do exactly as you’ve said.”
Rowoon answered with a gentle smile.
Does that make the second one safely wrapped up?
Strictly speaking, it wouldn’t be over until the chairman actually moved the grave.
Still, he’d avoided the pathetic end of watching the last forty “leaf-days” trickle away.
For Rowoon, it was the best possible relief.
On the way out, unlike when he’d come in, he was treated with the utmost courtesy.
An intent, curious gaze bore down on him.
No need to think who it was. Only one person fit.
“What.”
“…What?”
“Did you get initiated by a spirit or something? They say people change after that.”
This sharp-eyed man…
Granted, given what had just happened, the suspicion was understandable.
“No spirit, and I don’t tell fortunes.”
“Then what was that just now?”
“I was asked a favor.”
Not a lie.
Even if the favor had come from a numinous being on high, with his life as collateral.
It wasn’t untrue.
“A favor, huh. Hm. So someone personally came to you and asked you to move a grave because it was flooding?”
“…”
Suspicious even to his own ears—and ten times more so when spoken by a third party.
But he couldn’t tell the truth, so Rowoon chose to keep his mouth shut.
“Well… fine. Not my business.”
Is he going to let it slide?
“Just don’t forget—you owe me a favor.”
“…”
Truly, he was thorough to the very end.
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