“Well, we’ve arrived.”
“Are we getting off here…?”
“Yeah, get out. I’m not planning on selling you lot, so stop looking like the world is ending.”
There are many hotels with long histories.
There are also many expensive and high-quality hotels.
However, when discussing the absolute best—not just something decent—one place was always mentioned.
Hotel Leviathan.
It was the oldest hotel with a venerable history, and at the same time, the highest-rated hotel that had never once stepped down from its peak.
Many had aimed for that position.
However, not a single hotel had ever been able to threaten the Leviathan.
That was how much the Leviathan was known as the best of the best.
“Get down slowly, slowly. Don’t jump out and get hurt for no reason…”
Thud!
“Waaaaah!”
“That’s why I told you to get down slowly! Hey, is there any medicine here? Medicine? Get this kid some Mercurochrome or something.”
And matching its lofty reputation, the Leviathan was equally picky about its customers.
Turning away the nouveau riche was standard practice.
Even for powerful figures with great influence in politics and business, top-tier actors, or renowned scholars, it was common sense that they would have to wait years to make a single reservation.
In fact, simply being able to make a reservation was accepted as proof of one’s status in the upper class.
Using the Leviathan was just that difficult.
“Everyone’s out now, right? Let’s see, twenty, twenty-one… Huh? Where did those two go?”
“…”
“What are you two doing hiding behind the seats? I told you to get out now.”
“N-No! You’re trying to sell us!”
“I told you I’m not selling you!”
“Liar! The director said that all human traffickers are liars!”
“Exactly what part of me looks like a human trafficker?”
“Uh, well… all of you?”
Flick!
“Ouch!”
“Is saying things that beg for a hit some kind of special trait for everyone from Hanbit Orphanage? Honestly, you brats are so undisciplined…”
In that sense, at this very moment.
It was no exaggeration to say that the scene unfolding in the VIP underground parking lot was unprecedented in the history of Hotel Leviathan’s founding.
Whining about being hungry was the least of it.
A child crying because of a scraped knee.
A little boy rolling on the ground after getting a flick on the forehead.
A girl with dead eyes as if she had been sold into slavery.
Then there was an infant emitting a foul stench from a diaper, and so on.
The sight of about twenty young children crowding in front of a yellow school bus was something that absolutely did not belong in the Leviathan.
However, he did not waver.
He simply bowed his waist politely.
“Welcome to Hotel Leviathan.”
“Hmm?”
The white-haired man who had been dragging children out of the school bus, Limon, turned his head slightly.
He wore an unexpected expression as he looked at the elderly man in a neat suit who had greeted him.
“Your voice sounds familiar.”
“If you are asking whether I am the party you spoke with on the phone earlier, then yes, that is correct.”
“Hooh?”
Limon’s expression became even more peculiar.
It was because he could guess this old man’s identity.
“I didn’t expect the General Manager to come out and greet me personally.”
That was certainly a significant matter.
Befitting the prestige of being the ‘best,’ the position of General Manager at Hotel Leviathan was by no means low.
Even if a Prime Minister of a nation visited, he would usually only give instructions from behind the scenes; it was rare for him to wait on a guest personally.
However, the old man replied calmly.
“Since I am serving the Sword Lord and no one else, it is only right that I step forward personally.”
A polite answer and a neat attitude.
But Limon, who could feel the hidden meaning within, wore a strange smile.
“That’s quite curious. When I came before, it was so hard to even see the General Manager’s face.”
“That is because you did not come as a guest previously.”
“Then, do I look like I’ve come as a guest now?”
“Are you not?”
It was for an instant.
Unlike his polite demeanor, the old man’s eyes were cold.
Limon was smiling, but his hand was gripping his sword.
As their gazes crossed, the surrounding air turned chilly.
Like a gunpowder storehouse where a cigarette spark had fallen.
Or like a levee on the verge of collapsing.
That eerie atmosphere, which made one’s spine tingle just by looking at it, vanished as if melting away when Limon let out a chuckle.
“You already know, so why ask?”
Limon glanced back at the children behind him.
Understanding his meaning, the old man bowed his head politely once more.
“…I apologize for my rudeness.”
“Is there a need for an apology? You’re just doing your job.”
Limon smirked.
In fact, the fact that they hadn’t drawn blades the moment he arrived was already a more hospitable treatment than expected.
Even this was only possible because he had brought the children.
If Limon had been alone, the old man would never have let him in this far, even if a sword was held to his throat.
That is, of course, assuming he hadn’t received instructions to treat Limon with the utmost courtesy.
Knowing that fact better than anyone, Limon did not blame the old man for his sharp hospitality.
He simply confirmed the purpose of his visit.
“And her?”
“She is waiting on the top floor.”
“Hmm? Can I go up right away? No inspections or anything?”
“Would an inspection of any kind carry any meaning for the Sword Lord?”
“Well, that’s true.”
When letting in the most terrifying human weapon in the world, what meaning would a mere inspection have?
Far from being sarcastic, Limon nodded in agreement at the old man’s question, which held pure sincerity.
Then he asked casually.
“Can you look after the kids until the talk is over?”
“This is Hotel Leviathan.”
It was the moment the old man answered calmly.
Maids in elegant uniforms.
A doctor carrying a medical bag.
Men in suits armed with swords, and so on.
Twenty-three people who appeared to be hotel staff emerged from behind the children.
Only after seeing them skillfully soothe, examine, and guard the frightened children did Limon move his steps with a satisfied stride.
“Take good care of them. They’re probably hungry, so feed them something delicious. For your information, I can’t pay.”
Limon did not ask if he could trust them with the children.
The Leviathan was not such a petty place as to resort to a hostage situation involving young children.
“Do not worry. A meal for your companions has already been prepared, and all services are free of charge.”
The old man also did not verify whether he could trust Limon and let him in.
Limon was not a man who lacked honor enough to bring young children to a place where he intended to draw his sword.
It was a relationship that could never be called friendly.
But precisely because of that, Limon boarded the elevator that led directly to the top floor along with the old man, whom he could trust more than a friend despite it being their first meeting.
And while the elevator ascended, he asked as if he had just remembered.
“Oh, by the way, I don’t think I’ve heard your name yet.”
“…My introduction is late.”
Even though he had delayed the introduction on purpose.
The old man remained deadpan and spoke with an extremely polite attitude.
“Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Youin of the Black Heaven Dark Soul Style.”
“Youin… I’ll remember that.”
Ding.
Limon reflected on the old man’s name as he slowly stepped out of the elevator.
Then, in the dazzlingly luxurious penthouse that occupied the entire top floor of Hotel Leviathan, he greeted the person waiting for him.
“Welcome, Sword Lord.”
“Yeah, we meet again.”
Before the Seven Dragons Society came to the surface.
During the days when they plotted the subversion of the world from the shadows.
One of the few survivors who had lived through Limon’s hands, and the successor to one of the 72 Kinds of Martial Arts—the greatest techniques of the Seven Dragons Society—Youin.
The only person who could order him to welcome Limon as a guest.
One of the seven pillars of the Seven Dragon Group, which held all the world’s wealth. The owner of the world’s finest Hotel Leviathan.
Looking at the girl dressed in an Oriental-style dress, Limon grinned.
“The Princess of the Black Dragon Clan.”
***
“Well, before we get to the main point, there’s one thing I’m curious about.”
“What would that be?”
“Where did you get that school bus? That shouldn’t exist in this country.”
Li Qingwei’s answer was simple.
“I had it airlifted from the United States.”
“…I don’t think it took even an hour for the bus to arrive?”
“Because I used Teleportation.”
“So that ‘airlift’ wasn’t the ‘air’ of air transport, but the ‘space’ of Teleportation…”
Limon was impressed.
Due to the rise of Players, Teleportation had become much more common than in the past.
However, that was only by a relative standard.
Generally speaking, Teleportation was still a rare ability, and Players capable of long-distance Teleportation were particularly rare.
And yet, she transported an entire school bus across the Pacific Ocean using Teleportation?
The shipping cost alone would be enough to buy hundreds of school buses.
‘I guess I should say she’s truly the Princess of the Seven Dragons Society.’
But Limon was simultaneously convinced.
Originally, the Seven Dragons Society was an organization rotting in money.
Even after the Seven Dragons died and the Bronze Age ended, their ability to maintain their power for over several hundred years was thanks to that financial strength.
Furthermore, since they went public under the name of the Seven Dragon Group, that wealth had grown even more.
For Li Qingwei, the Princess of the Black Dragon Clan, that level of squandering money probably didn’t even feel like a waste.
‘But what about my situation?’
I’ve lived for hundreds of years.
And yet my entire fortune is the 37,000 won in my pocket.
Feeling a sudden sense of regret for his own life, Limon grumbled inwardly.
“Before we get to the main point, may I also ask one thing?”
“Hmm? What?”
“The part where you told me to convey that you were fired from your job as a civil servant. Did you mean it in the sense that I’m thinking of?”
Her expectations must have been quite high.
The girl asked with her eyes sparkling, filled with joy and nervousness.
To Li Qingwei, Limon replied with a nonchalant face.
“No.”
“……Yes?”
“I have to know what you’re thinking to know if it’s right or wrong. Do you think I’m a Psionics user like you lot? Can I read minds?”
“Ah…, you’re right.”
Li Qingwei looked relieved.
Then, she straightened her posture and asked again with a much calmer face.
“Then I will ask again. Did you come here with the intention of accepting the proposal I made before?”
Just a few days ago.
The proposal Li Qingwei had made when she visited him.
Recalling that marriage proposal—which was beyond bold, bordering on the absurd, and which he had rejected without a moment’s hesitation—Limon shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, for now.”
“…By ‘for now,’ you mean you might reject it again.”
“Exactly.”
“May I know the reason?”
Li Qingwei was not disappointed.
She simply asked with pure curiosity.
She wanted to know why Limon was giving such an ambiguous answer despite having come all this way on his own.
“It’s a basic rule of trading that if the product changes, the price of the goods must change as well.”
“The price of the goods… you say?”
“Yeah. I think I’ve lived too selflessly until now, so I’ve decided to have a little greed.”
“…”
“In that sense, I’ll ask you…”
Despite hearing the answer, Li Qingwei looked even more confused rather than understanding.
Limon smirked as he looked at her.
Then, leaning back on the sofa with both arms spread out in an arrogant posture, he asked.
“How much can you pay for my value, you?”
She was confused by the unexpected words for a moment.
Li Qingwei watched Limon’s reaction and asked carefully, as if to confirm.
“Um… so, are you asking how much I can give you as a dowry?”
“Something like that.”
“I see.”
As if she finally understood.
Li Qingwei nodded.
Then, she fell into deep thought as if calculating something, before smiling brightly and saying.
“Then, I will give you 49% of the shares of Hotel Leviathan.”