“Yeah.”
Seo Won sat down on the sofa opposite Yoon Jeong-ho and finally spoke.
“Just one thing. As long as it’s within my power, I’ll grant it.”
“Do you even realize how broad that power of yours is?”
Yoon Jeong-ho had a rather generous estimation of Seo Won’s capabilities. It wasn’t just his vast array of abilities as an S-Rank Esper or his overwhelming strength. More than anything, it was his social standing and background that couldn’t be ignored.
Seo Won crossed his legs with a smug expression, as if it was only natural.
“I know exactly what I’m saying. So talk.”
“Cocky bastard.”
Yoon Jeong-ho shot him a disgruntled glare, then grinned slyly with a mischievous twist of his lips.
“Let your Guide meet the old man.”
Seo Won’s eyes shot wide open at the completely unexpected request.
“What?”
“You deaf or something? I’m saying let your Guide and that half-dead geezer meet.”
He thought Jeong-ho was going to ask for something more predictable—like a percentage of company shares, or a spot on a major project so he could piggyback on the results. If it were something like that, Seo Won had been fully prepared to grant it.
But instead, Jeong-ho threw a curveball he hadn’t seen coming.
“What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Didn’t you say the old man wanted to meet your Guide? He doesn’t have long left. You really gonna deny him that one thing?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Seo Won’s eyes narrowed sharply with suspicion, probing Jeong-ho like daggers.
“You could’ve used this opportunity for a major bargaining chip. So why the hell are you wasting it on entertaining some old man’s dying wish?”
Seo Won just couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Someone like Yoon Jeong-ho could’ve used this situation to his advantage, walking away with a tangible benefit. From Seo Won’s point of view, if Jeong-ho could help him put an end to the terrorist threat once and for all, then even if it cost him something financially, it would’ve been worth it.
But none of the demands he’d braced himself for ever came out of Jeong-ho’s mouth. All he asked for was a meeting—something that wouldn’t benefit him in the slightest.
Of course it seemed shady as hell.
Seo Won locked eyes on him, gaze icy and razor-sharp.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually getting sentimental about that old fart.”
“And what if I am?”
Jeong-ho answered lazily, slinging both arms over the backrest of the sofa as he chuckled in circles.
“Nah, of course not. Not even a grain of that.”
There was not a hint of doubt in his voice—he meant it.
“You know this already. Right now, I’ve gotta secure my piece of the pie before the old man kicks the bucket. Acting like an obedient little lapdog is just part of the trade.”
“You’d be better off taking a piece of my shares instead of placing your hopes on that dying relic.”
Yoon Jeong-ho tilted his head at a crooked angle.
“If you die while the old man’s still alive, everything will end up mine anyway. So what’s the point?”
The air in the office turned frigid. Not because someone had used their ability, but because the tension silently simmering between the two of them had naturally spilled into the atmosphere.
Seo Won responded to Jeong-ho’s casual mention of his death with a faint smile.
“You must be thinking that old geezer’s going to live another hundred years or something.”
“If he did, I wouldn’t have a single regret.”
Jeong-ho’s retort came without hesitation, his gaze just as cold as Seo Won’s icy blue eyes.
The two men locked eyes in silence until Jeong-ho broke into a playful grin.
“Don’t stare at me like that. You know if you die from ‘unnatural causes’ or a ‘suspicious accident,’ I lose my right to inherit too, right?”
With that, his eyes narrowed, and a thin veil of killing intent leaked out.
“Would’ve been so much simpler if you’d just dropped dead from a heart attack back then.”
Seo Won met the quiet threat in Jeong-ho’s voice with a frosty glare of his own. It felt as if an invisible chill had coiled tightly around the two men.
Resting his chin on his hand, Seo Won smirked coolly.
“You’ve got quite a wishlist.”
“Can’t help it. I was just born greedy.”
Jeong-ho let out a chuckle and shrugged, as if being driven by endless desire was something he was genuinely fond of.
“So, you gonna do it or not? That’s all I’m asking. Even if you told me to ask for something else, I wouldn’t have anything.”
Pressed by Jeong-ho’s persistence, Seo Won shot him an unamused look.
Even back when he’d visited Chairman Seo’s mansion, the old man had asked to meet his Guide. Seo Won had flat-out refused—there was no telling how the chairman would react to Cha Han-gyeom. But now, seeing that he’d even gone so far as to ask Jeong-ho to intercede, the old man’s obsession was clearly no passing whim.
And that unsettled him. This was a man who’d never shown the slightest interest in other Guides, and yet now he was so desperate to meet this one that he was willing to make deals with Yoon Jeong-ho to make it happen.
‘What should I do?’
Seo Won stared into Jeong-ho’s eyes for a long moment, as if lost in thought, before finally reaching into his inner coat pocket and pulling out a folded document.
It was a simple contract stating that if Jeong-ho assisted with this matter, Seo Won would accommodate his request within reasonable limits. At the bottom, both of their signatures were cleanly inked in place.
In truth, the moment Jeong-ho clearly stated his demand, Seo Won’s course of action had already been decided.
If Party A makes a request, and Party B fulfills the mission accordingly, then Party B may ask for compensation within a range that Party A can reasonably accept.
If Party B’s request falls within the permitted range and Party A still refuses, then Party A will be prohibited from using ESP abilities for one month.
It was a simple sheet of paper—something that looked like it could be torn up on a whim. A contract in name only.
But the one who understood better than anyone just how much power was packed into that single sheet of paper—was none other than Seo Won himself. His own heart served as proof of that.
He clicked his tongue shortly, recalling the man from Chairman Seo’s mansion who had engraved this contract with his ability.
Being sealed off from using ESP for an entire month was an immense risk for Seo Won.
He would have to put a halt to all major projects currently running on the basis of his ESP. More critically, he would no longer be able to deploy his doppelgängers to handle external affairs. That meant he’d have to go out and handle everything personally. With Black Vein still coursing heavily through his physical body, it would be dangerously reckless.
Once Black Vein had spread, even refraining from using ESP wouldn’t stop the black tendrils from progressing. In other words, regardless of whether he used ESP or not, he had to receive a consistent and sufficient amount of Guiding to keep Black Vein suppressed.
‘That means I’ll have no choice but to expose Cha Han-gyeom to the outside world.’
If Seo Won had to conduct business in person, he’d be out and about far more frequently. And for safety reasons, he’d have to bring Cha Han-gyeom out of the estate with him. In the past, he wouldn’t have given it much thought, but after the incident where Kang Woo-chan and his group had targeted Han-gyeom, an unease had taken root in him that he couldn’t shake off.
But that hesitation lasted only a moment.
As he deliberated, another thought struck him.
‘No… maybe this is an opportunity.’
He brought to mind Cha Han-gyeom’s face—so strangely obsessive when it came to Guiding him.
‘Maybe I’ll finally get to see what’s behind that face… get a glimpse into what he’s really thinking.’
It was a gamble. A shallow one at that—hoping to catch even a sliver that might fall from Cha Han-gyeom’s tightly guarded mind.
“Fine. Take him.”
Seo Won tossed the contract onto the glass table between them, making a point of it landing face-up.
“But you’d better make sure he comes back in one piece.”
“Of course.”
Jeong-ho replied, as if reassuring him.
“It’s not like you’ve got a whole stable of Guides to fall back on. You’ve only got the one. You really think I’d kill him? That’d just stir up talk of assassination plots and whatnot again. They’d say I’m trying to block your Guiding on purpose.”
Even as he spoke, he gave Seo Won a sideways glance, grinning as he added playfully:
“Well… if the old man snaps his neck, that’s out of my hands.”
He was clearly trying to provoke a reaction—but Seo Won, surprisingly, stayed calm. Jeong-ho had expected him to flare up, maybe even unleash some killing intent.
“That won’t happen.”
Seo Won wore a rather confident expression.
“Cha Han-gyeom’s exactly the kind of person that old geezer would take a liking to.”
He prided himself on having a solid read of Chairman Seo’s mind.
From what Seo Won could tell, the chairman would most likely be very fond of Cha Han-gyeom.
There probably wasn’t another Guide in the world Seo Won wanted to keep alive more than him.
There had been a reason why Seo Won had originally tried to keep Chairman Seo and Cha Han-gyeom from meeting.
He was worried the chairman might try to coerce Han-gyeom into signing some bizarre contract. After all, that man—the one by Chairman Seo’s side—possessed absolute power when it came to contracts.
Back then, it was purely out of caution toward that man that Seo Won didn’t want to bring Cha Han-gyeom to the mansion.
But now, things were different.
No matter who the opponent was, if it was Cha Han-gyeom, he wouldn’t be so easily manipulated.
Seo Won allowed himself a faint smile as he thought of the old Chairman, who treasured his own life more than anyone else’s, and Cha Han-gyeom, who had obsessively guided him with such intensity.
