Chapter 18
“Sir!”
The staff member who was trying to help Lee Haru to her feet, stunned by the sight of Lee Haru slumped at the waist as she spoke to me.
“What’s wrong with you all of a sudden, why are you giving a freshman…….”
“Mr. Park Joo-hyun.”
“What?”
“Shut up and bow down right now. He’s an important guest of our international trade club.”
“This, this freshman?!”
“Right now.”
“Uh, I apologize for my rudeness!”
The employee quickly realizes what’s going on and bows over. I patted the shoulders of the two and said.
“Let’s straighten your backs before we talk. There are a lot of eyes on you.”
“Yes. I’ll do as you ask.”
The employee stood up after Lee Haru straightened her back.
“Mr. Park Joo-hyun.”
“Yes, yes!”
“I’ll escort the guests to the president’s office, please get them something to drink.”
“Yes!”
Dismissing the employee, Ms. Lee gives us a quick glance and turns away.
“I’ll show you in.”
“Please.”
We arrived at a luxurious black door and Lee Hae-Roo opened the door first and walked in, followed by the rest of us. We were greeted by the modern design of the president’s office.
Unlike the very plain exterior, it was decorated with luxurious art and luxury items.
As we stood at a distance, taking in our surroundings, Lee Haru gestured with both hands to a sofa at one end of the room.
“Why don’t you make yourself comfortable, sir?”
At her suggestion, I casually sat down while Jinwoo, Se-ah, and Young-jae sat to my right, side by side.
Meanwhile, Lee Haru had begun putting sweets in a basket in preparation for the refreshments in the room.
“Bo, boss, what the hell is going on? Isn’t she the president of this club?”
Thinking this was a ridiculous situation, Jin-woo leaned over and began to demand an explanation.
The others were looking at me to see if I agreed and in response, I said what I had already thought of.
“My family is the majority shareholder of the president’s family here. I’ve known her since I was a kid.”
“Major, major shareholder?”
“Yes. We also have a significant stake in the international trade club here, so it’s not strange.”
Technically, the club and the president’s family were founded with the support of the Corleone family.
Last night, while I was making plans for the club, it occurred to me.
‘Come to think of it, I seem to recall that the Academy had a few clubs connected to the Corleone family……?’
So I immediately asked Parnello.
-The International Trade Club was headed by a woman from the Inomiya Group, and I’m sure you’ve seen her at a few of the family’s events in the past. I’m pretty sure her name was……Haru.
As expected from the top mafia family in Asia, there were clubs within the academy that were related to the family.
My father had even invested in the club in my name when she started it.
They were wondering how they were going to get the goods that were so hard to come by in the game, even from outside vendors, when Eugene said something crazy.
“You have a stake in the Academy’s clubs, what the hell is your family doing here?”
Young-jae asks with his tongue hanging out, as if he hadn’t realized that I had a direct investment in the Academy.
“It’s just a company that does this and that. I just got lucky.”
He doesn’t ask any more, realizing that I don’t want to say more.
“You’ve been waiting a long time. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, young master.”
“Yes, it has been a long time. I was quite surprised when I heard you had formed a club at the Academy.”
“I’m ashamed to say that it’s still a small club, and I never thought that you would ask me to do this.”
“Well, is that so?”
Setting down the basket of refreshments in front of us, Haru sits down on the empty couch. Her expression was cold as she said she hadn’t expected it.
“I apologize if this was sudden, or if I inconvenienced you.”
She shakes her head at my words.
“Of course not, this is all thanks to your investment, but…… you seem to be in a much different mood than the last time I saw you.”
“I’ve grown up, I suppose. I can’t stay under my father’s wing forever.”
I smile and shrug, and she nods.
“I see that you are…….By the way, I recently heard that you’ve been taking heir lessons. Congratulations, young master.”
Glancing over, Haru sees the ring on my hand and immediately bows to me. In response, I grabbed her shoulders, stopping her.
“This is the Academy. Enough about the family.”
Haru’s head snaps up at my words and she looks at my name tag.
“Excuse me,” she says, as if realizing what’s going on.
-Sir, I’ve brought you tea.
“Yes, please come in.”
The employee who heard Haru’s voice comes in with five cups of tea on a tray.
At the same time, an emotion of fear emanates from him. Unlike when he first saw me, I found it quite funny that she was now afraid of me.
After he leaves, I raise my coffee cup to moisten my lips and decide to get straight to the point.
“The Silver Club agreement we talked about yesterday. Is it ready?”
“Yes, I can give it to you right now if you say so.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“It’s the least I can do to repay your favor.”
I look at her face as she answers in a very businesslike tone. Her dark eyes never waver, her long, neatly coiffed hair, and her jet-black cadet uniform.
Her face is so expressionless that it’s hard to tell if you’re dealing with a person or a doll and her demeanor was completely businesslike.
Is this how it’s going to end?
Of course, it was a natural attitude considering Eugene’s personality, but…… I was satisfied with this and had no intention of going back.
“Jin-woo.”
“Yes, boss?”
Jin-woo, who had been looking at his smartphone while chewing on a crunchy snack, raised his head and looked at me.
“Take the other kids outside. I think I need to have a little private talk with the president of the International Trade Club.”
“What’s a private talk?”
“It means that Eugene and that club president over there want to talk alone, so come on out!”
“Huh? Huh?! I’ll get out! I’ll get out!”
Se-ah, who had already figured out what kind of person Jin-woo was just by being around him for a while, and who was initially scared that he was a member of Corleone organization, now grabbed Jin-woo and Young-jae by the sleeves in frustration and dragged them out of the room.
If anything, Kim Se-ah is more trustworthy…….
After confirming that all three of them had left, I turned my head back to look at Lee Haru, who was quenching her thirst with coffee.
Despite the fact that everyone sitting across from her had left, she was still slurping coffee like it was no big deal.
“Haru.”
“Yes, young master.”
Setting down her cup at my call, Haru stares at me.
“What kind of person was the me that you saw in the past?”
“Young master……you mean?”
“Yes.”
When she heard my words, her eyes drifted off into space and she pondered something. Then, when she was done, she looked back at me and spoke very simply, as if she were introducing someone she knew.
“You were a kid who liked me.”
Huh?
“You’d always run up to me at family events and ask to play with me, and when I said no, you’d grab me by the hem of my skirt and wouldn’t let go.”
Wait a minute.
“At one point, you swarmed me, demanding that I be yours. When I politely refused, you promptly threw yourself on the floor and cried that you wouldn’t get up until I became your girlfriend.”
Nope.
“You were nothing but a brat without the power of the──── family.”
Despite the ruthlessness of her words, there was not a single subtle change in her expression.
I can’t believe Eugene has been doing that to her since she was a child.
I didn’t realize it was this bad…….Apparently, Eugene Han Corleone was an even bigger idiot than he’d imagined.
“You don’t have any …… answers.”
“To what?”
Haru asks, looking at me as if she’s heard me muttering to myself.
“Originally, I had a suggestion, but the way you just said it makes it virtually impossible.”
Haru tilts his head at my words.
“Then why don’t you just order me to do it?”
“Well?”
“Isn’t it something you can order as the heir to the Corleone Family, not as Eugene Han Corleone, and if you do, I won’t be able to disobey your orders, since the Corleone Family is the de facto owner of our group.”
Her expression remained unchanged as she said this, but I could tell she was sincere. Because at the point where she said I can do as I please, a faint flicker of fear came over her.
“I don’t want to do that to you.”
“What do you mean?”
She asks, still unable to comprehend.
“I don’t know what you mean when you say you don’t want to do that to me.”
“Literally, I don’t want to create a situation where I’m the only one who benefits.”
Haru looks at me blankly but I don’t avoid her gaze and continue.
“I’m a freshman at the academy now, not the kid I used to be, and I can’t just order you around as the head of the club when I’ve only been here a short time, so I’d like to make you a proposal, a proposal that we can all benefit from.”
“What do you mean, a proposal……that we can all benefit from?”
“And your reaction is, you’re willing to listen?”
Haru nods at my question.
“I’m a merchant and the head of the International Trade Club before I’m a vassal of Corleone, and if you tell me something that will benefit me, and I don’t listen and reject it, won’t people call me a merchant who sacrifices profit for emotion?”
I barely held back a chuckle as I listened to her say, “So, I’ll listen.”
After all, she was Haru, the head of the International Trade Club, a businesswoman who puts practical interests ahead of her feelings, a loyal vassal who believes that being attached to Corleone is also a benefit and a woman who would eventually dominate the commercial center of Seoul and be called the Golden Empress in the future.
Facing her, I slowly let out the words of her desire that she had been hiding under her expressionless mask all this time.
“Promotion to Gold Club of the International Trade Club.”
“……?”
“You want to promote the International Trade Club to a Gold Club and I’ll make it happen.”
For the first time, her steel-like expression shattered.
