Chapter 271 – The Protagonist Is Targeted (11)
“How’s the Vietnam contract going?”
A woman’s voice, high-pitched yet with a heavy undertone, filled the car’s low-slung seats.
“It’s progressing smoothly. Five candidate locations have been finalized in Hanoi, and we’re currently reviewing the details.”
“Good.”
Rollsburz, one of the world’s leading automobile brands.
The woman sitting in the back seat of the brand’s top-of-the-line vehicle elegantly sipped her tea and nodded.
Joo Arim.
The eldest daughter of the Royal Hanz Hotel’s CEO.
More precisely, she was the eldest daughter of the chairman who owned the hotel brand ‘Hanz.’ She traveled between Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai, Beijing, New York, and Chicago, where six of the eight Hanz hotels were located, learning brand management from her father.
Although she had spent most of her time overseas since graduating from university, she decided to change her lifestyle starting this week, staying primarily in Korea and only going abroad when necessary.
The reason was the new mega-resort hotel opening in Jeju Island.
Hanz, which had its first hotel in Seoul and its second in Busan, had operated all of its third through eighth hotels as overseas branches.
Therefore, they had long planned to build the ninth hotel back in Korea, and the massive hotel resort project in Jeju Island was finally nearing completion.
The project had been conceived over a decade ago, and in a few months, the enormous ‘Jeju Grand World Hanz,’ complete with a theme park, water park, golf course, and casino, would be finished.
‘If Jeju Grand World opens successfully… and the expansion in Hanoi goes well, the brand image will improve even more.’
Joo Arim, with her arms crossed, thought this as she looked at the logo of the first Hanz Hotel, the ‘Royal Hanz Hotel,’ which they were now approaching.
The starting point of the Hanz hotel brand.
The second hotel in Korea to be listed in the GHW (Grand Hotels of the World), which only luxury hotels worldwide can join.
The Royal Hanz Hotel was a cash cow that ran smoothly without much attention and continued to raise its brand value in Korea.
Looking at the large building, Joo Arim smiled a rare, genuine smile and enjoyed the pleasant feeling.
Then, she thought of her younger sister, whom she only saw occasionally, who was staying at that hotel.
‘Harin…’
Joo Arim slightly turned her head.
“By the way, how is Harin doing?”
The aide in the passenger seat immediately answered her question.
“Yes, she seems to be doing well. She has met all the requirements for early graduation this time…”
“No, not that.”
Joo Arim interrupted him.
“Yes?”
“After graduating, does she have any intention of working with me?”
“Ah, yes. That’s…”
Hearing the man’s pathetic voice, unable to finish his answer, Joo Arim sighed inwardly.
She already had a lot to worry about with the Jeju Grand World.
‘Not only is she not joining right after graduation, but what is she even doing?’
Joo Arim frowned, and the aide, checking her face in the rearview mirror, swallowed nervously.
She didn’t understand her only sibling well.
It was understandable since they were five years apart. She couldn’t understand why Harin wouldn’t take the well-paved path and instead chose to go down a rough, uncharted road.
‘She used to listen so well.’
Joo Arim hadn’t forgotten Harin, who had been receiving gifted education since she started walking.
Although she was often scolded by their parents, Harin had always shown a strong side, holding back her tears even when things were tough. She was definitely her sister.
But one day, she suddenly seemed to have a hard time, yelling, “I hate Mom and Dad!” and running outside. She started hanging out with strange friends in the neighborhood, and she seemed to have become a little strange.
Her playtime naturally increased, and for several years in elementary school, she even rebelled, something she had never done before.
Their father was outwardly strict but lenient with Harin.
He let her play as she pleased.
But when she entered middle school, she was separated from those kids again, and she seemed to be studying well and going to school quietly…
‘She said she’s going to live as she pleases for a year after graduating from college?’
Joo Arim was dumbfounded when she heard from her mother a few months ago that Harin had said that. She felt like she was running away from home.
She thought that maybe the aftereffects of hanging out with those pathetic kids for too long were still lingering.
‘A year is a lot of time to learn things.’
Joo Arim shook her head.
Since her father had allowed her to do what she wanted for a year after early graduation, there wasn’t much she could change…
‘But I should give her a stern lecture when I see her.’
The car was almost at the hotel.
Inside, Joo Arim, with sharp eyes, began to organize the lecture she would give her younger sister in her mind.
* * *
Third floor of the Royal Hanz Hotel.
“Wow, it’s huge.”
Dajeong exclaimed in admiration as she looked around the hotel buffet.
She had felt it when she came with Yewha last time, but the interior was truly luxurious. The buffet itself was like a hall.
The food was also quite good, making it a good place for an awards ceremony.
The time was 4:50 PM.
They had arrived about ten minutes early, but there were quite a few people.
It was inevitable.
There were two Grand Prize winners, three Excellence Award winners, five Merit Award winners, twenty Encouragement Award winners, and three Special Award winners. The number of people each could invite was also large, and there were many award recipients.
Perhaps because of this, Dajeong seemed a little nervous.
“O-Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
“This… we don’t have to go up and give an acceptance speech, do we…?”
Dajeong’s lips, as she looked at me, were more pursed than usual.
Her eyes, which always sparkled with confidence, looked nervous today.
I chuckled lightly.
“Nah, I don’t think so.”
“Really?”
Matching Dajeong’s mood, which seemed to be begging me to say yes, I nodded.
“Yeah, we’ll probably just get the award and come down. Maybe we’ll go up together later and take pictures. Some people didn’t even come.”
If there was anything like an acceptance speech, they would have given us a heads-up to prepare. That’s what I thought.
“I really hope so…”
That’s probably why Dajeong replied like that…
.
.
.
“Next is the Grand Prize winner! First, the comic that has consistently held first place in the romance category throughout this contest! ‘Sky Blue Lilac,’ written and drawn by Yoon Dajeong! Congratulations. Please come forward.”
Time passed, and the awards ceremony began along with the free meal time. Finally, it was her turn, and Dajeong, with a happy expression, went to the front. She was greatly flustered by the next words of the emcee.
“Congratulations. It seems your family has come to celebrate your Grand Prize. Would you like to say a few words?”
“Huh? Y-Yes? A s-speech?”
She looked incredibly flustered. Just look at her expression.
“Yes, just a few words.”
“Um, well, uhm… I, I’m really happy to have won the award…”
Perhaps because Dajeong was the only high school student among the winners, or perhaps because she won the Grand Prize, the emcee asked her for an acceptance speech, something he hadn’t asked anyone else.
Of course, he seemed a little flustered as well, probably not expecting Dajeong to be so flustered.
Anyway, there was a slight commotion, but Dajeong’s short acceptance speech ended well, with a few chuckles here and there because she was so cute.
Dajeong, who came down with a fancy plaque, plopped down next to me with a gloomy expression.
“Ugh, why me…”
“Heh, you were so cute.”
As I smiled at Dajeong lovingly, she briefly looked happy but quickly regained her composure and pouted.
“Hmph…! You’re lying. I was so weird…”
“No, you were super cute.”
“Ugh, seriously. Stop teasing me.”
“I’m serious.”
As Dajeong and I were bickering, Naeun’s mother chimed in from the side.
“Yeah, you were so cute. Look, I even took a video.”
“Huh? What? A video?”
“Yeah, here.”
Dajeong’s eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the video, and Naeun’s mother just showed her daughter the video with a beaming face.
[Um, well, uhm… I, I’m really happy to have won the award…]
“Ah! Mom, what are you doing! Why did you take that!”
“It’s a historic moment, I had to.”
“No! Delete it quickly. Please?”
“No~.”
Ignoring Dajeong’s pleas, her mother shook her head and then returned the phone with the video to its original owner.
“Huh?”
“Hehe.”
And I, who received the phone from Naeun’s mother, twisted my lips with a very wicked expression I had never seen before.
“Hehehe, I’ll use this later-.”
“Give it back-!”
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh-
“P-Please delete it quickly-!”
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh-
Hmm…
But in my opinion, isn’t this more embarrassing than giving a nervous acceptance speech?
Anyway, the childish fight between Dajeong and me, which had lasted for a short while, ended with my victory.
“Haa, haa, haa…”
“Hehe, trying to beat your heavenly oppa.”
Dajeong looked upset but seemed to give up with a sigh. I uploaded the video to the harem group chat and smiled victoriously.
After that, we sat quietly and continued to watch the rest of the awards ceremony.
After all the awards were given, there was a discussion about how the webtoon serialization of the winning works would proceed.
The target period was three months, and they hoped the serialization would start at the same time as the start of the school year next year…
From what I heard, the main point was that each person would have to set a date and discuss it in detail.
After the overall plan was announced, there was a free photo time, and Dajeong stuck right next to me, showing off her puffed-up pride as she took pictures. It seemed like all the tension had disappeared.
“Wow, but 50 million won in prize money is amazing!”
Dajeong’s performance in this contest was second overall.
The first place was a work that wrote about school violence and bullies with great immersion and a thrilling narrative, which was so popular that it was almost impossible to beat.
Rather, Dajeong, who won second place overall in romance and received 50 million won in prize money along with the Grand Prize, was truly amazing.
“Whew, now I can finally eat in peace.”
Although food was available during the awards ceremony, Dajeong hadn’t emptied her plate much.
“You couldn’t eat before?”
“Hehe, yeah.”
Since we could eat freely even after the awards ceremony was over.
With everything done, we finally started eating comfortably.
We were enjoying various dishes while chatting happily when Dajeong’s gaze suddenly turned towards the entrance of the buffet.
Then, her eyes widened like saucers.
“Whoa… amazing. That unni is so pretty.”
“Huh? Where?”
“There, there.”
Yujeong noona, curious at Dajeong’s words, also turned her head.
“Wow… she is.”
Yujeong noona exclaimed in admiration as she looked at the entrance. Soon, Naeun’s mother also turned her head, and she also looked equally impressed.
I tilted my head.
What is it?
“What? How pretty is she?”
“Ack! Oppa, don’t look.”
As I was about to turn my head at their reactions, Dajeong hurriedly jumped up and tried to cover my eyes.
“Yeah. You can’t look!”
Yujeong noona quickly assisted, and the two sisters collectively attacked me…
Ha. Not a chance.
Swoosh, swoosh-
I naturally slipped out of Dajeong and Yujeong noona’s grasp and easily turned my head.
“Ah!”
“Oops!”
And.
“Oh…”
I found someone at the buffet entrance who was definitely worth admiring.
A woman with long, lilac-colored hair like silk. She was wearing a neat suit and showed off a model-like figure.
A well-proportioned body and delicate features.
Having seen my heroines, including Delia and Yewha, my standards were high, but I couldn’t help but say she was pretty.
‘But…’
She was very pretty, but…
I swallowed inwardly.
She seemed very, very strong-willed.
Her thick eyebrows and upturned eyes.
The word ‘badass’ suited her perfectly.
She seemed a bit different from Yewha. Yewha usually kept her distance from strangers but was generally kind. However, if she thought someone was not right, her true personality would come out.
Before I started two-timing by targeting Yujeong noona and Dajeong while having Sujeong, she was still kind, but after she found out about the two-timing, she almost didn’t treat me like a human.
Especially when she caught me sucking on a fork, she gave me a look of pure contempt.
But that woman seemed to have that kind of look as her default setting.
Anyway, that badass noona glanced around the buffet for a moment, frowned slightly, and then turned around and went back outside.
“…”
I watched her leave until the end and then stroked my chin a little.
‘But… looking at her face closely, she kind of looks like someone…’
Who is it?
She definitely looks like someone…
Hmm.
“…?”
As I sat there quietly, thinking about who the woman resembled, three piercing glares suddenly landed on me.
Turning my head back to the front, Dajeong, Yujeong noona, and even Naeun mom were giving me suspicious looks.
“…”
“…”
“…”
…Ah.
What is it?
I was just thinking about who she resembled, I didn’t have any suspicious or perverted thoughts…
But, given my past record, I can’t really say anything to them.
I did stare for a while.
“Ahem.”
I cleared my throat as if nothing was wrong and then picked up a piece of meat on my plate with a fork and put it in my mouth.
Hmm, delicious.
I wanted to resume eating naturally, but…
“…”
“…”
“…”
Their suspicious gazes showed no sign of disappearing.
