Chapter 103. New Employee, Lee Eun-Ho (3)
[The Prince from the Bureau of Investigation gasps, asking if the Director of the Management Bureau himself has just acknowledged you!]
[The Newbie from the Bureau of Corporate Relations is wailing that they should have found any way possible to attend the ceremony!]
[The Night-Shift Fairy from the Bureau of Audit is shrieking that the forums are on fire right now!]
[A new observer has joined!]
[A new observer has joined!]
[A new observer has joined!]
...
After Eun-Ho’s private conversation with the Director, the rest of the ceremony blurred past, and before he knew it, the program was over.
[Alright, everyone! I, Sarah, will be back in ten minutes!]
[Stay tuned!]
Of course, that wasn’t the true end.
“Congratulations, Eun-Ho!”
“Can you believe the winner is someone I actually know? I’m so proud!”
“What’s there to be proud of? You didn’t win first place.”
“Oh, please! You were the one bouncing around like crazy just now.”
“M-me? When did I ever?!”
As soon as he returned, congratulations rained down on him. Friends, acquaintances, strangers, and even people who only knew of him by name all took turns offering greetings.
“You must be Lee Eun-Ho, right? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Ah yes. Thanks”
“I look forward to working with you.”
“Likewise.”
Then, cutting through the crowd, came strikingly handsome and beautiful people, each one extending a hand for a shake.
I’ve seen them somewhere before... Eun-Ho thought.
The faces were so familiar it took him a moment to place them.
“S-Sol-Ah! Isn’t that Ciel, the idol?” Yeo-Jin stammered from behind.
“Oh my god, you’re right! And that’s Kang Dong-Il, the movie star!” Sol-Ah gasped.
“Wow, that's unbelievable! Mister, I’m so jealous right now...”
Ah. That was it, Eun-Ho thought.
He had heard their names before.
“Wow, Ciel is incredible. Six weeks straight at the top of the Billboard charts! Sure, the song’s good, but still it makes me proud to be Korean, really proud.”
“Oh, really?”
“What? You still haven’t listened to her songs? Can you still call yourself Korean if you haven’t listened to her songs?”
Apparently she was the first female idol to ever hit number one on the Billboard charts. Besides, the man wasn’t only an actor, but a director who’d been nominated for Cannes, if memory served.
I didn’t even recognize them. I’ve been too busy scraping by to keep up with the internet, Eun-Ho thought.
Somehow, without meaning to, he had ended up surrounded by people most would never see once in their lifetime. They were world-class celebrities.
“Ugh! What the hell did he do to get ranked number one in the world?” the heir muttered, glaring daggers at him.
It was almost funny. Even now, the only thing that crossed Eun-Ho’s mind was what abilities they could’ve awakened.
Maybe singing? Or acting?
Instead of basking in the moment, his thoughts drifted toward analysis including what powers had carried these people to where they were. However, really, he couldn’t help it because he had already witnessed too much.
“Shoot!”
He remembered seeing a gifted soccer player who once kicked a boulder barefoot and made it dance as if it weighed nothing. As these dazzling figures approached, he simply observed them closely, measuring.
“Wait! Over there!” someone gasped.
“It’s Park Gong-Chan!”
A murmur spread quickly through the crowd.
Then, with practiced gravitas, Myung Seung-Tae interjected, “Well, well. To think I’d meet the Hero of Wembley in a place like this.”
Myung Seung-Tae smiled smoothly and added, “It’s always best for renowned figures to gather together, don’t you think? Why not join me and my friends for a cocktail and a brief chat?”
It was a greeting, but also an invitation. A recruitment pitch, really. His tone betrayed a hint of desperation, as though he was scrambling to recover from the humiliation Eun-Ho had dealt him earlier.
However, Park Gong-Chan only lifted his chin, eyes sharp. “And you are?”
Then, instead of answering, he delivered his signature line. “Are you my fan?”
The crowd fell silent in an instant.
That bastard...
Myung Seung-Tae’s face stiffened. He liked to imagine himself the leader of some prestigious famous people’s club, but to be asked, flatly, if he was just another fan hurt his pride.
He asked the exact same thing back at the Training Institute too. He’s quite consistent, if nothing else, Eun-Ho thought.
Park Gong-Chan turned his head sharply and strode forward. His gait was confident, as if he wouldn’t have cared even if the president himself were standing there unless that person happened to be his fan.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“Or not.” He continued, “it’s been a while, Lee Eun-Ho.”
“Have we ever been close enough to exchange pleasantries?” Eun-Ho asked dryly.
All eyes turned at Park Gong-Chan’s greeting. Even Yeo-Jin and Sol-Ah, who had been buzzing with chatter a moment ago, clamped their mouths shut. Their wide eyes gleamed with barely restrained excitement.
“Let me ask again,” Park Gong-Chan said. “Don’t you want to join my group?”
Myung Seung-Tae’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“Wait! So Korea’s rank one and two are on the same side?”
“Wow, that’s insane! Count me in too!”
“Hold on... You two already knew each other?”
The spectators were full of awe. Myung Seung-Tae, on the other hand, clenched his teeth so hard they ground audibly.
“That’s unbelievable... Mister, you actually know Park Gong-Chan?!” Yeo-Jin whispered.
“We just happened to work out together once,” Eun-Ho muttered back quickly, cutting it off before it could spiral into trouble.
However, Park Gong-Chan frowned. “No, no. It’s not just once. Three times.”
“Whatever.”
Once or three times didn’t matter right now. What mattered was the misunderstanding that was spreading.
“I think everyone here is mistaken,” Eun-Ho said.
He exhaled a short breath, then locked eyes with Park Gong-Chan, and one by one, with everyone else watching. “We’re all on the same team.”
This wasn’t about his side or their side, at least not now.
“This is an international competition,” Eun-Ho added.
“What?!”
“An international competition?”
The enemy wasn’t here inside the circle, but outside.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Think about it. Why else would we be called district representatives?” Eun-Ho replied.
[District representatives will receive extra assignments, but if they succeed, they will also be rewarded with special incentives! So please do your best!]
At a glance, their district was composed entirely of Koreans. The neighboring districts were clearly groups of Chinese and Japanese, huddled together. The farther away he looked, the more the faces shifted Including their skin colours, hair colors, everything.
“Then what exactly does this international competition involve?”
“Wait, don’t tell me that only the winning districts survive?”
“That can’t be...!”
Only now did the crowd’s spirits sink, realization dawning. A moment ago, they had been giddy, dazzled by the banquet and the famous faces gathered all around. However, in truth, there had never been any room for leisure.
Just as the tension spread across their faces, the blonde hostess delivered the line with cheerful enthusiasm.
[Alright then, shall we begin the important announcement?]
Important announcement, huh? Eun-Ho thought.
It was obvious what kind of thing organizations usually tested in situations like this: team unity, cooperation, trust. However, clearly, predictability wasn’t this company’s style.
[The highlight of the initiation ceremony! We’ve prepared a trial for all our new recruits!]
[And that is...]
Gulp.
Someone swallowed hard.
[A talent show!]
“... What?”
It was absurd.
[In one hour, a channel for the talent show will open! Each district will perform together. The theme is completely free! As long as it’s on stage, anything goes!]
[Isn’t that exciting?]
“A talent show?”
“Now? At a time like this?”
They gathered the 0.001 percent of humanity who had survived and made them do a talent show.
[Each district has only five minutes! The group that attracts the most support within that time will receive a special reward!]
[So, everyone, do your best!]
Are you kidding me? Eun-Ho thought.
***
Okay, let’s think. Up until now, the patterns were clear enough. The spectators always craved the same things, things like violence, overwhelming force, or an underdog reversal, Eun-Ho thought.
Every highlight had followed that pattern, including Subject X’s one-sided massacre, Jae-Hyuk breaking a gang of thugs to pieces, and the moment an army of over a thousand Skeleton Soldiers toppled a golem.
Some people did enjoy the romance channel, sure.
However, it wasn’t like he was going to go on stage and act out a love story. That was out.
And the time limit’s only five minutes.
As if to match the ridiculous scale of this Initiation Ceremony, the stage that appeared in place of the podium was enormous. The massive round platform was large enough to seat over a thousand people. Above it stretched a cylindrical screen wrapped in a perfect 360 degrees, giving every angle of the performance crystal clarity. It felt like something out of a grand e-sports finals arena.
Something ordinary isn’t going to cut it.
[The Newbie from the Bureau of Corporate Relations shines with excitement at the thought of watching juniors put on a show!]
[The Brain from the Bureau of Investigation sneers that it will just be swordplay and singing so don’t get your hopes up.]
The spectators’ comments only confirmed it.
“Hmm. Maybe I should try juggling?”
“Juggling?”
“Yes! If I throw ten daggers into the air and spin them, wouldn’t that look impressive?” Ji-Eun asked the question with a straight face, genuinely considering it.
“I can do sand sculptures!” Yeon Bo-Ra chimed in, pretending to stack invisible towers with her hands.
The enthusiasm’s nice but would the observers really pay for that?
Eun-Ho was about to gently turn them down when Myung Seung-Tae reappeared, swaggering, and threw in his barb.
“Don’t be stupid. Who’d want to watch something like that?” He even went to seek validation. “Right, Mr. Gong-Chan?”
Calling him Mr. Gong-Chan? He still hasn’t figured out what that man’s like, Eun-Ho thought, ready to click his tongue.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t watch it,” Park Gong-Chan said flatly, nodding.
Huh?
Satisfied, Myung Seung-Tae roared with laughter and clapped Gong-Chan on the back. It was hard enough to echo with a smack, but Gong-Chan didn’t so much as flinch.
“When did those two get so close?”
“Did they know each other before?”
People began to whisper. Thriving on the attention, Myung Seung-Tae laughed even louder and smacked Gong-Chan’s back again.
Smack!
The sound made Eun-Ho wince. As he frowned, Myung Seung-Tae suddenly strolled toward him. “Hey, Mr. Lee Eun-Ho. You got a minute?”
“As you can see, I’m busy.”
He shoved his shameless face close. “Oh, come on. With this so-called talent show? Forget that kiddie stuff. Let’s talk, man to man.”
“What?” Eun-Ho said, unimpressed.
“Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier. Let’s bury the hatchet like men. How’s that?”
Before Eun-Ho could answer, he slung an arm around his shoulders like they were old friends. “Honestly, there’s no reason to fight between us. We’ve got number one and number five right here. And if you count Gong-Chan, that’s number two as well.”
First, he’d called him Mr. Gong-Chan and now it was just Gong-Chan. His forced chumminess was nauseating. Eun-Ho glanced sideways, but Gong-Chan remained expressionless.
“If we stick together, we’re basically a super hero squad, aren’t we?”
Eun-Ho let him run his mouth, curious how far the shamelessness would stretch.
“Bullshit,” the Swear-Master muttered.
“We could beat u—I mean, we could defeat anyone who came at us,” Myung Seung-Tae muttered lowly, almost under his breath, unlike his usual composure.
“What a long-winded way to say you’re trying to get a free ride, damn leech,” the Swear-Master muttered.
“F-free ride? Who the hell are you?!” Myung Seung-Tae shouted, eyes blazing, scanning the crowd.
The Swear-Master wasn’t even trying to hide. From under the brim of a cap, a pair of sharp eyes glared straight back at him.
“Huh?” Myung Seung-Tae said, recognizing him instantly.
Huh?
“What are you doing here?”
Do they know each other?
The certainty on his face left no room for doubt. He hadn’t mistaken the man for someone else.
Besides, the Swear-Master spat his reply like venom, “Why? Am I not allowed to be here?”
How likely is it that an heir knows him? Eun-Ho wondered.
“You survived? Out of all those people?”
“So what? Trash like you survived too.”
How likely is it for someone to be sworn enemies with an heir?
“How’s uncle? No, wait. You wouldn’t know, would you? Hard to visit when you’ve been tossed out of the family.”
Uncle?
Ji-Eun, who had been deep in thought, muttered to herself, “Uncle? That’d be the Vice President of MS Electronics. Wait, ah!”
She clapped a hand over her mouth as if she’d just uncovered a forbidden secret.
“There’s been a rumor for years that the Vice President had an illegitimate child. I thought it was just gossip since there was never any follow-up, no succession talk, nothing. But could it be...?”
Then, in that instant, a memory flickered across Eun-Ho’s mind. That had been the moment, flying toward the Night Island to rescue the elders.
“Holy shit! Such a place exists in Seoul?”
“You’ve never seen it while riding the bus? Crossing the Han, you’d have spotted it at least once.”
“Well, I don’t ride buses.”
The Swear-Master had said it himself that he never took the bus.
“If you don’t take the bus, then how do you get around? The subway?”
“... Why do you care? Fuck off. Don’t ask.”
At the time, Eun-Ho had brushed it off, thinking it wasn’t important. However, now, he was thinking Swear-Master really had a chauffeur. Besides, if he’d been at MS Tower on the day the restructuring began, that meant he’d gone there to see his father.
Ha... So one is the pampered youngest son of a heir family, and the other a discarded illegitimate child?
“Ha, so all the trash survived.”
“Shut the fuck up, will you?”
Man... What’s up with everyone?