Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Promise (2)

The Blue House.

Every citizen of Korea knew the name and exterior, but very few had ever set foot inside.

Today, I became one of those very few.

Never in my life did I imagine I'd visit the Blue House. What a moment.

"Whew."

I'd been the one to ask Ryu Jeonga to bring me here, but standing before the Blue House in the flesh drained all my nerve.

I worried whether I'd even be able to look the President in the eye.

"Let us go."

Ryu Jeonga, on the other hand, looked as comfortable as if she were visiting the neighbors.

Her effortless composure put me at ease too. Without Ryu Jeonga, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to walk in.

"Yes. Let's."

The interior of the Blue House was magnificent.

Seeing a space I'd only ever seen in photos online laid out before my eyes felt surreal.

Gold-tiled floors and a red carpet running down the central corridor.

It was a space imbued with a majesty that proclaimed itself a president's residence.

"This way."

A man who appeared to be a secretary guided us up the central staircase.

We arrived at the reception room.

After a nervous wait inside, the door opened and someone entered.

I'd never seen the man before, but the aura he carried was extraordinary. I guessed who he was immediately.

"Hyeonsu, it has been a while."

"Haha, welcome, ma'am. And Professor Cha Eunwoo."

Ju Hyeonsu. The President of the Republic of Korea.

My head bowed of its own accord.

"It is an honor to meet you, Mr. President."

A man radiating powerful presence.

Ju Hyeonsu was not an Awakened. He was an ordinary civilian.

Yet even so, he exuded an aura that sent a tingle through my body.

An inborn king's charisma that placed others beneath him and compelled them to follow.

Similar to my Talent of Charisma, yet different.

A bearing befitting a nation's president.

Without Ryu Jeonga beside me, I might have been completely led around by Ju Hyeonsu.

On that note—what was Ryu Jeonga, casually calling the President by his first name? And Ju Hyeonsu accepted it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

A moment that spoke to Ryu Jeonga's standing.

***

"Please, help yourselves."

We sipped the tea brought out by Ju Hyeonsu's secretary.

Perhaps because it was Blue House tea, it felt far more refined than ordinary tea.

"You use fine tea leaves. Those could not have been easy to procure."

"It was quite the effort, ma'am. As you know, I'm quite the tea enthusiast. Drinking low-quality tea gives me headaches all day."

Ju Hyeonsu, showing off his tea leaves, looked quite pleased to receive the compliment.

I asked Ryu Jeonga with my eyes.

'Are they actually good leaves?'

'No idea. Hyeonsu collects tea leaves, so I just said something.'

I hated to say it, but to my Alchemist's eye, these were perfectly ordinary tea leaves.

In other words, Ju Hyeonsu had been scammed.

Bringing that up would only embarrass him, so I chose silence for the President's honor. These things happen.

Ju Hyeonsu opened with a flattering remark.

"I have long heard of your renown, Professor. The citizens have taken to calling you the greatest Hero of our time."

"Yes. I'm a hell of a guy."

My bold declaration left Ju Hyeonsu momentarily stunned.

My words must have caught even the President off guard, judging by his failed attempt at composure.

"And this hell of a guy has come to ask a favor of you, Mr. President."

At that, Ju Hyeonsu's eyes darted back and forth.

Even Ryu Jeonga, apparently not expecting me to come out swinging like this, let out a chuckle.

Ju Hyeonsu barely managed to compose himself before speaking.

"A favor? Of what nature?"

"The NIS Director—he's quite the corrupt individual. Good should be rewarded and evil punished. If there's guilt, shouldn't there be punishment?"

"...The NIS Director?"

Ju Hyeonsu's eyes went wide at my unexpected request.

The composure he'd painstakingly reassembled fell apart again in an instant.

"Er... might I hear the details?"

"It's exactly as I said. Nothing good comes from keeping a rotten man at your side. An investigation would easily uncover it. And if things are resolved well, I expect we'll be seeing each other with smiles."

"...I see, I see."

Ju Hyeonsu nodded slowly.

Possessing a political acumen second to none, he grasped my true intentions with ease.

In essence, here was what I was saying.

Cut that bastard loose. In exchange, I'll be on your side.

Dig into him and you'll find crimes. If there aren't any, manufacture some to get rid of him.

Being brought down this way instead of facing punishment for his actual crimes would feel unjust to the man in question, but that was politics.

What mattered wasn't the facts.

Politics was a process of strong beasts devouring the weak.

"Understood. We can't have trash in our nation's service. I'll have it taken care of promptly."

"An excellent decision."

When I offered a smile, Ju Hyeonsu grinned broadly in return.

Contract sealed.

"Heh heh, I also have a favor to ask of you, Professor."

"For the nation, what wouldn't I do?"

But in politics, nothing came free.

I'd used him, so he'd earned the right to use me.

If he demanded compensation equal to the NIS Director's value, he'd be an amateur.

A man like Ju Hyeonsu would undoubtedly try to extract something larger or smaller.

If both sides exchanged equal compensation and called it done, we'd become a relationship easily discarded at any time.

To maintain an ongoing relationship, one side had to owe the other—debts had to persist.

"Please hear me out and then decide. I hear an S-rank Gate has recently opened in Africa."

"That's quite serious."

"Indeed. Originally, the plan was to form a joint expedition of three Northeast Asian nations centered on China... but Japan has been pushing to add more of its own guilds."

"How unfortunate."

"Yes. Now, China has been taking great interest in you lately, Professor. The paper you just presented is apparently generating enormous buzz."

Wow. I'd thought I was the one who came out acting like a madman, but here was someone far more brazen.

The scale of this man's request dwarfed mine entirely. Ju Hyeonsu was asking me to smooth over diplomatic relations.

Accept, and it was a jackpot. Refuse, and he could still increase the debt I owed him.

Either way, Ju Hyeonsu had nothing to lose.

If I accepted, Ju Hyeonsu would deliver compensation of equivalent value.

But repaying a debt that large would take a long time. And as long as the debt remained, I couldn't sever my relationship with Ju Hyeonsu.

He'd solve his toughest headache while gaining a close relationship with me.

A daring masterstroke worthy of a nation's president.

A decision was needed.

Ju Hyeonsu's term was already more than half over.

If I boarded his ship here and bolstered the ruling party's political standing to carry them favorably through the next election, that'd be ideal.

The problem was that while I could help, I was only a facilitator at best—Ju Hyeonsu was the one rolling the dice.

I didn't know politics. Nor did I want to get involved.

But while I didn't know politics, I did have future knowledge.

According to what I knew, the current ruling party would thread the needle without major incident and win the next presidential election.

The problem was that the future had been changing so drastically that I couldn't tell how the butterfly effect had played out by now.

I looked to Ryu Jeonga.

I couldn't yet trust Ju Hyeonsu, but I could trust Ryu Jeonga's judgment.

A couple of nods from Ryu Jeonga.

Meaning the investment carried little risk of loss. Ryu Jeonga wouldn't steer me wrong—that was grounds enough for my decision.

"This is going to be a long conversation."

At those words—close enough to acceptance—the corners of Ju Hyeonsu's mouth lifted.

***

"Mmm."

Lee Yeeun woke from sleep.

Her body didn't feel like her own. No strength anywhere. Collapsing from exhaustion would do that.

"Right, Dad......"

The memories from before she'd collapsed surfaced fresh in her mind.

She didn't want to remember, but the thoughts kept coming and it was driving her insane.

"Hic, hh-hic......"

The tears threatened to burst again.

Lee Yeeun desperately suppressed her emotions.

No. Don't do this.

It's a happy day. Dad wouldn't want me to fall apart because of him.

Barely managing her breathing, Lee Yeeun held back the tears.

Regaining her senses, she looked around. She was on the sofa in Cha Eunwoo's office.

"The professor must have carried me here."

Her chest ached.

The hope she'd been running toward all this time had vanished.

Ryu Jeonga's words—that sometimes not knowing the truth was happier—echoed in her mind.

She hadn't wanted a truth like this.

She bitterly regretted not leaving it unheard.

What now? How should she live going forward?

Revenge?

Against the NIS? Against the Republic of Korea?

"As if that's possible."

Helplessness spread through Lee Yeeun's entire body.

The Lee Yeeun of right now was too young and too weak to harden her heart and dream of revenge.

So she simply sank where she sat.

"What am I going to do now?"

Asking a question with no answer, Lee Yeeun closed her eyes.

She wanted to fall back asleep. In dreams, she could wake from this reality.

But reality wouldn't permit her escape.

The door opened and Cha Eunwoo returned.

"You're awake."

"...Professor?"

Lee Yeeun immediately turned her head away.

Her face had to be a wreck right now.

Eyes swollen red, face smeared with tears—obviously.

Not a face she could show anyone.

"Are you hurting anywhere?"

"...No."

"Good. When you feel up to it, take a look at this."

Cha Eunwoo placed a tablet on the table and left.

Because he knew Lee Yeeun was struggling right now.

Her teacher's consideration made a corner of her heart ache.

Lee Yeeun reached for the tablet Cha Eunwoo had left behind.

The device itself was ordinary.

"What's in here?"

When Lee Yeeun activated it, an internet news article was open.

Normally she'd never have cared about political affairs, but one keyword caught her eye.

"The NIS... ngh!"

Just seeing the word made her head throb.

She momentarily went limp and nearly dropped the tablet, but caught it with her superhuman reflexes.

Lee Yeeun read on.

"President Ju orders dismissal of NIS Director... huh?"

Lee Yeeun's eyes went wide.

The NIS Director—that was the man. The one the Chancellor had named as her father's killer.

He'd been suddenly fired?

Lee Yeeun's hands trembled as she slowly scrolled down.

Her heart was racing, but more than that, she wanted to see in detail what had happened to her enemy.

"Various charges including corruption, insubordination, collusion with certain guilds... President Ju dismisses the NIS Director... all implicated agents as well... charged with national treason... effectively a life sentence... a new, clean and capable Director will be......"

The article reproducing the President's full statement was long, but the gist was simple.

A bad man was caught doing bad things and got fired.

Lee Yeeun read the article with blank eyes.

The suddenness of it all left her unable to comprehend—she simply crammed the information into her brain by rote.

Then she found the final line.

"Lastly, in remembrance of Agent Lee Yeonseong and three others who perished due to his malfeasance, a national merit decoration will be... huh?"

Agent Lee Yeonseong.

That was her father's name.

"Ah ha... that's good. That's good."

She wanted to see her father again.

But there was no way to bring the dead back to life.

However, if the unjust death was laid bare before the world, if the enemy faced judgment, if his final moments were honored with dignity—then at the very least, he could rest in peace.

That was enough.

She couldn't reunite with her father, but all his grievances had been resolved. That was enough.

"Thank goodness......"

Knock-knock—

"May I come in?"

Right about when Lee Yeeun had fully calmed, a voice came from outside.

The professor's voice.

"Yes."

Lee Yeeun gave her consent, and Cha Eunwoo entered again.

This time, Ryu Jeonga was with him.

Cha Eunwoo asked Lee Yeeun in a gentle voice.

"Has the weight been lifted?"

"Yes. I'm okay now."

Those words 'I'm okay' carried many meanings.

Cha Eunwoo, Lee Yeeun, and Ryu Jeonga all understood.

"What do you want to do going forward?"

"Going forward......"

She couldn't answer easily.

Lee Yeeun didn't know either.

She'd learned everything she wanted to know.

Revenge on the enemy was done. Honoring her father was done.

She'd never thought about what came after everything was finished.

"...I don't know."

"Then how about becoming a professor?"

"...A professor?"

Lee Yeeun's eyes went round.

A choice she'd once imagined.

"Normally you'd need to follow the standard path, but Florian Academy has an exceptional provision. Through a paper review and with the Chancellor's approval, you can become a professor."

Cha Eunwoo added that he himself had become a professor that way.

Lee Yeeun asked in an uncertain voice.

"Do I have the qualifications?"

This wasn't just anyone's path—it was the path walked by none other than Cha Eunwoo.

The most remarkable person she knew.

Walking the same road felt too presumptuous.

"I have read the young one's paper. I shall be honest—I was surprised. Young Cha told me you were excellent, but I did not expect you to produce something like that."

"Oh, thank you."

"It is I who should be grateful. After young Cha, I believed I would never see talent like this again—and yet here is another."

"Oh......"

Talent on par with the professor's.

Of all the praise she'd received—all the internet articles she'd pored over after the presentation—nothing had come close to this.

Without question, it was the highest praise Lee Yeeun had ever heard.

"Child, become a professor at Florian. I promise that Florian's shelter shall protect you and provide an eanvironment where you may spread your wings to the fullest."

Ryu Jeonga's proposal to become a professor.

The answer had been decided from the start.

"Yes."

And so, Florian Academy gained a new youngest-ever professor.