Chapter 116: Rose of Versailles (1)
Pyeon Jae-yeong couldn't sleep.
A strange unease.
He had already knocked back several glasses of wine, but the more he drank, the sharper his mind beca.
"Is it the ti difference? Damn it."
[I said it, didn't I. That you're quite naive.]
Killian Ferrand, who had betrayed him.
His final words kept echoing in Pyeon Jae-yeong's mind.
"In the end, he's got by the ankle. Damn it. Park Jae-yeol, you bastard."
Killian Ferrand now held his most critical weakness.
He had already asked the National Intelligence Service agents who had accompanied him whether they could retrieve the CCTV footage Killian had, but they all said it was impossible.
"You think I'm going to die alone? Park Jae-yeol…… If I go down, you go down with ."
Pyeon Jae-yeong drained what was left in his glass and turned away from the window.
"Why does this wine taste so bitter…… What!"
Before him stood a middle-aged man, staring him down.
Deep green eyes that blazed like fire.
There was only one person in the world with eyes like that.
Pyeon Jae-yeong set his trembling wine glass down on the table and spoke,
"Naless Hero!"
* * *
I gestured for Pyeon Jae-yeong to take a seat.
"You already know why I'm here, so let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point."
Pyeon Jae-yeong was trembling.
It was clear I hadn't appeared here to praise him.
[Fire! Open fire!]
[Get a hold of yourself, Minister Han! Aren't you going to extract his secret arts? With his knowledge, who needs an Arab prince!]
Our last eting had been anything but a fond mory.
Pyeon Jae-yeong rembered this too, which was why he kept glancing toward the hotel door without even realizing it.
"All your bodyguards are asleep."
"How did you get in here?"
"I said it—let's get straight to the point."
I looked around the hotel room at the several empty wine bottles already scattered about.
Then I glanced at the wine glass and spoke,
"Your eting with Killian didn't seem to go very well."
"……"
Pyeon Jae-yeong kept his mouth firmly shut.
Embarrassed by how he looked in his hotel bathrobe, he tugged the lower hem together to cover his legs.
I spoke to him.
"I have no intention of blaming you, Minister."
"……"
"After all, Park Jae-yeol was the one who sent you, wasn't he?"
"……That is correct."
Pyeon Jae-yeong's expression lightened ever so slightly.
"It seems we both harbor quite a bit of ill feeling toward Park Jae-yeol."
Swoosh—
I picked up the wine bottle Pyeon Jae-yeong had been drinking from and refilled his glass.
"What do you say we join hands?"
"W-with , you an?"
I nodded.
"That's right. The enemy of my enemy is an ally. There's no reason we can't work together."
"Naless Hero, what could you possibly gain from ?"
Hearing his question, I thought to myself, ‘As expected. He reads a situation quickly’.
"You are the Minister of the Republic of Korea, are you not? Your influence over the cabinet and the mbers of the National Assembly is considerable."
"That is true, however……"
"Think about it carefully. Isn't Park Jae-yeol the root cause and source of every betrayal I've suffered?"
Pyeon Jae-yeong bit his lip lightly.
"I'm soone who just needs to climb towers and make money, so I need to ally with soone in power to make things easier. And if that powerful person happens to like and we build a good relationship on top of that, all the better."
At that, Pyeon Jae-yeong said urgently, "I-I genuinely like you, Naless Hero!"
"That's a relief."
But Pyeon Jae-yeong's expression darkened as he spoke to .
"However, Park Jae-yeol knows a great deal about …… About my son as well."
"You an Prosecutor Pyeon?"
【Kim Tae-yang's eyes flash wide open at the words 'Prosecutor Pyeon!' 1 Happiness】
"So you already knew."
"Of course. I've been keeping a close eye on him."
"……Excuse ?"
"I intend to give you a bit of weight to stand on, Minister Pyeon."
Pyeon Jae-yeong swallowed hard and asked , "How, exactly?"
I lightly clasped my hands together, looked Pyeon Jae-yeong in the eyes, and spoke,
"In my view, wouldn't Minister Pyeon be a far better fit for the master of the Blue House?"
"……!"
Pyeon Jae-yeong shot to his feet.
The chair he'd been sitting in toppled over behind him with a crash.
His eyes narrowed in disbelief as he asked , "A-are you serious? Do you an that?"
"Have you ever seen speak empty words?"
I rose from my seat as well.
"Enough drinking the wine that Park Jae-yeol pours for you."
Swoosh.
I picked up the wine glass Pyeon Jae-yeong hadn't taken and extended it toward him.
"Let pour you a drink instead."
Pyeon Jae-yeong stared quietly at the wine glass.
He was visibly flustered.
‘He'd expected to die here—and yet an opportunity like this was presenting itself.’
Even so, doubt seed to linger, and his pupils kept trembling.
"Still haven't made up your mind? Minister, you need to latch onto the right rope."
I extended the wine glass once more.
"You're telling to grab hold of the Naless Hero's rope."
"That's right. Let go of that rotten rope of Park Jae-yeol's."
"……"
Pyeon Jae-yeong ultimately did not take the wine glass from .
"Can't be helped."
Just as I began to draw the glass back—
"You misunderstood, Hero."
Snap—!
Pyeon Jae-yeong seized my wine glass.
"I, Pyeon Jae-yeong, have never once in my life held onto a rope called Park Jae-yeol."
His pupils no longer trembled.
"It seems as though it is I who have grabbed hold of your rope, Minister Pyeon."
Pyeon Jae-yeong smirked—
Gulp, gulp—!
He raised the wine glass and drained it in one long swallow.
Red wine trickled down from the corner of his lips like blood.
He wiped his mouth with a sweep of his hand, then grinned at and exclaid,
"It tastes like honey!"
* * *
Several days passed.
The salve I had given him was working well—Omar's wounds had nearly healed.
I listened as he told about his younger sister.
A brother and sister who had co to France.
When they failed to obtain refugee status and beca drifters, his younger sister had looked for work to earn even a little money—and it happened to be a job with Killian's thugs.
She was strikingly beautiful, which was why they had seized her and were keeping her locked away, forced to work.
"You've had it hard."
"……"
Omar was no longer the sa chatterbox he used to be.
Instead, he kept turning the revolver I had given him over and over in his hands.
"Are you anxious?"
"Yes."
"I promise you. Killian will die. And miserably at that."
"Yes."
Killian's power cos from the money he holds and the secret intelligence he uses to manipulate the political world.
So if I were to kill Killian now, a second and third Killian would erge, only deepening the chaos.
Especially if I were the one to strike Killian—it would amount to nothing more than a clash over interests.
I need to make a force with legitimate justification be the one to bring Killian down, so that the root of this evil can be pulled out.
"Wait for the right mont."
Omar nodded and tucked the revolver inside his coat.
"May I step out for a bit?"
"Go ahead."
He left the hotel room.
It was obvious where he was going.
To get ammunition.
But I felt no worry that he might act rashly.
He was visibly changed.
The slightly careless air he used to carry was gone; in its place was the look of a man single-mindedly devoted to his revenge.
"Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."
I wasn't sure, but at the very least, the loyalty he felt toward was incomparable to before.
‘When this is all over, maybe I'll properly develop him into a climber.’
I was ditating quietly in the hotel room when—
【Kim Tae-yang begins throwing a fit demanding to know 'Why did you bring up the Blue House to Pyeon Jae-yeong!' 1 Happiness】
【Kim Tae-yang presses urgently, asking 'Are you really going to support Pyeon Jae-yeong?' 1 Happiness】
Kim Tae-yang's ssages made my head spin.
"As if I would actually do that. Wait and see. Two jackals by the nas of Park Jae-yeol and Pyeon Jae-yeong will be tearing each other's throats out soon enough."
【Kim Tae-yang narrows his eyes sharply and says 'I'll trust you on that' 1 Happiness】
"I have a plan."
They are powerful figures.
Strike them from the outside and they only close ranks tighter.
‘They need to be scattered from within.’
Just then, a ssage ca from Bo-reum.
‘—What are you up to? If you're bored, I'm at that café from before—want to co?’
Since when did she want to et for coffee?
Accepting Bo-reum's invitation, I headed outside and walked toward the café.
The citizens of Paris were the sa as ever.
The buzz of excitent that had followed the ergence of the Versailles Golden Tower was gradually beginning to settle.
December had arrived before I knew it.
Through the cold wind that blew around , I was slowly growing accustod to life in Paris.
Walking slowly, I noticed things I hadn't seen before.
Traces of long-standing repair work here and there.
"The buildings carry the marks of ti right there on their surface……"
Ti flows like an arrow, arriving suddenly without warning.
mories are the sa.
Walking the streets of Paris, the emotions I had felt stepping into the 31st floor tower, passing through the ruins of the Sacheondang Family's fallen estate, ca flooding back.
From childhood.
The bluestone floors of the manor I had walked, following in my father's shadow.
On those floors—shattered and torn apart—only the sound of my own footsteps remained.
"Haah."
Back then.
Around the ti I had returned to the Sacheondang Family.
One of the things that had irritated and infuriated most was this: while our family lay in ruin, the ordinary people around us were altogether too peaceful.
The common folk who had survived on rice and beans our family distributed during the years of poor harvest.
The people who crossed the bridge repaired with money my father and mother had put up.
The ones who had bowed their heads and pressed their lips to our feet, saying they were grateful, that they owed us a debt for life.
Of course, I never expected those people to fight alongside us in the Sacheondang Family's final battle.
But.
At least—wasn't it too much for them to carry off bricks from the ruins of our manor to build the walls of their own hos?
The mont the land of the Sacheondang Family was left without an owner.
They saw their chance, planted their own crops, and went on laughing and chattering as though the downfall of our family were a blessing unto them.
Wasn't that just too much?
Looking at the weathered buildings of Paris, I sank into brooding and felt a heaviness settle in.
If ti is what flows, perhaps what lingers is the heart.
Decades had passed, yet—
Between the graves and the ruins.
Sowhere in that space, I still had not left.
"Damn it, there I go with useless thoughts again."
I forced the mories away.
I walked slowly, then stopped at a crosswalk to wait for the light.
And then—
"Ching chong!"
A group that looked to be in their teens, hoods pulled up, walked past pulling the corners of their eyes into slits.
‘Here we go again.’
The mont irritation surged up—
"Hé, sales garnents! Ça ne se fait pas, ça!"
(Hey, you little brats! That's not how you behave!)
An elderly gentleman raised his cane and scolded the teenagers.
When the old man squared his shoulders, collar up, and called out to them fearlessly, the teens glanced back and disappeared.
The old man approached and said, "Je suis désolé. La France, ce n'est pas que ça, vous savez."
(I'm sorry. France isn't all like this, you know.)
I couldn't understand the words, but the intent to apologize was plain.
I smiled at the old man and said,
"rci."
The old man nodded, then reached into his paper bag, pulled out a baguette, and held it out to .
He went on saying sothing, and it seed as though he was insisting I take it as an apology.
I accepted the baguette, and the old man smiled and walked on.
The crusty baguette wasn't exactly my style, but my heart moved and I took a bite.
Crunch—
The nutty, wholeso scent of grain spread instantly through my mouth.
Hard on the outside, but soft and chewy within.
Fresh from the oven, the warm bread lted slowly on my tongue.
"So this is why Bo-reum said a baguette suits Paris."
A faint, wry smile ford on my lips, and I watched the old man.
He seed to live in one of the old buildings I had passed—he entered it without hesitation.
The exterior wall of that building had been patched with bricks that looked even older, as if brought from sowhere else.
"……"
I stood for a long while, looking at those traces of repair with a heavy heart, then turned the corner and walked into the café.
By the window, I spotted Bo-reum.
But Bo-reum wasn't alone.
"Hey."
"……Im Ye-rin?"
The very last person I had expected was there.
"How are you here?"
"Walked."
"What?"
"Joking. Took a plane, obviously."
"No, I an—Im Ye-rin, why are you here?"
"I'm a subscriber. Bo-reum's channel."
"What?"
Genuinely startled, I stood there without even sitting down, tilting my head to the side.
Then soone even more surprising called out to .
"Kim Tae-yang."
I turned toward the voice—
"Long ti no see."
The scent of lilac.
A baseball cap pulled down low.
……Chief Han was standing there.
* * *
"Oh my! So that's what happened. I knew that really was fild here."
"Right, unnie. You have no idea how shocked I was when I saw our oppa there."
"I was watching the live stream and I laughed so hard when I saw him cursing at Bo-reum."
"Please forget that ever happened. I'm begging you!"
Bo-reum pressed her palms together and pulled a tearful face at Im Ye-rin, her subscriber.
Here was the situation.
Bo-reum's NuTube channel.
Apparently it was more popular than I had thought.
The day I'd run into Bo-reum in Paris.
She had been in the middle of a live broadcast, and I had appeared on cara.
Im Ye-rin said she'd been watching the stream and found out I was in Paris that way.
"Still—you ca all the way to Paris for that?"
"I got a bit banged up climbing and needed to rest, so I figured I'd take a trip to Paris while I was at it."
"Ha."
"I didn't co to see you. Don't misunderstand."
"Who misunderstood anything!"
My voice rose without aning it to.
"Sounds like you did misunderstand" said Chief Han, sitting beside , needling .
She had already put on a Human Skin Mask and was fully disguised.
"Chief Han!"
"Oh my, is it alright to just call that so openly?"
Bo-reum and Im Ye-rin both looked between and Chief Han at my words.
I hastily corrected myself.
"Head—Chief. Let's step outside for a mont."
"I'm quite comfortable here."
"Let's go outside. And why are you sitting next to ?"
"Because I have business matters to discuss."
"This is going to drive crazy."
Chief Han would have investigated and my family by now.
She would naturally know about Bo-reum's NuTube channel too.
She'd watched the stream, confird I was in Paris, looked up the location from the footage, and ca here to wait at this café.
My head throbbed.
It was certain.
……The god of the martial world was wrathful.
User Comments
0 comments from readers