chapter 114

As far as I knew, Mido didn’t have a boyfriend. According to Kanghyun and my daughter-in-law, Mido had never brought a man home. Now there was a black wolf sitting in front of me.

“You are a good eater. Take this as well.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you very much.”

My daughter-in-law was watching Cha Jincheol with a smile. She pushed all the dishes to him with a smile. “You work at Union?”

“Yes. I just joined the company so I’m still a new employee.”

“Hoho, you’re really handsome. What is your relationship with our Mido?”

“Cough! Cough!” Cha Jincheol seemed to choke and started coughing. I smiled while swallowing my true thoughts.

Mido shouted urgently, “Ahh! Mother! Oppa and I aren’t like that. We met for the first time in the game and just happened to know each other.”

“Hmm, really? It’s strange…”

Mikyung glanced at Mido and Mido nervously received her mother’s gaze.

“Why?”

“You’ve never brought a man to our house.”

“It is natural since I went to an all girl’s school in middle school and high school.”

“However, our Mido is so beautiful that you must’ve received many confessions on the street.”

“I don’t want to date right now.”

…Naisu.

I remembered Drain saying this when he was in a good mood. I could see Cha Jincheol hitting his chest as he drank the glass of water handed over by my daughter-in-law. I wanted to hit him if possible. Yes. If possible, aim at the solar plexus.

“Are you okay? I guess you were embarrassed because I asked too suddenly.”

“Cough. No, it’s fine.”

“Hoho, what a nice boy.”

My daughter-in-law seemed to like him. This hateful guy had already enchanted my daughter-in-law. This time, Kanghyun sitting next to me picked up a side dish and asked, “Then, Jincheol, why did you come here?”

Cha Jincheol replied, “Please feel free to speak comfortably. I’m younger than you.”

“Haha, I am meeting you for the first time so I can’t let go of honorifics.”

I cheered for my first child in my heart.

…Well done, let’s keep this distance. Then I was soon disappointed.

“Please. This will be more comfortable for me.” Cha Jincheol requested.

“Honey, just talk comfortably. This is what Jincheol is comfortable with.”

“Cough, then shall I do so?” Kanghyun glanced at my daughter-in-law’s face and started talking informally. Damn, this guy. I didn’t see it that way…

“Thank you.”

This fox. He was the most dangerous guy. Sooner or later, this guy would be a big name on my kill list.

“Father, aren’t you silent today? Don’t you have any questions for Jincheol?” Kanghyun glanced at me and asked.

I coughed as I stopped moving my chopsticks and asked him, “Why are you here?”

My voice was as cold as possible. My eyes were blazing and my eyebrows raised fiercely, giving the impression of a tiger.

Cha Jincheol gulped. “Cough. I came to see you.”

“What? You came to see me?”

“Yes.”

Why did he come to see me all of a sudden? Several thoughts instantly flashed through my mind. Then something came to mind. A few days ago, I had poisoned him in the game. Maybe it was due to that.

…Yes. Perhaps it was due to this. He said he was working for Union so he must have a grudge against me. Shit. He worked at the company that made Arkstar.

I bit my lip and told him, “If it is because of that then I…”

“I’m sorry but it isn’t what you’re thinking.”

“Eh? You know what I’m going to say?”

“Isn’t it due to the dish you cooked?”

“Cough, t-that’s it.”

Suddenly, Mido stared at me with wide eyes. Damn. It was big trouble.

“Oppa, what did Grandfather put into the dish at that time? Is that why you died?”

Sweat suddenly flowed down my forehead at the sudden questioning. I coughed and scooped up the kimchi. “Cough! Hrmm! The kimchi stew is very spicy today.”

“Huh? I made it bland on purpose.”

“R-Really? Cough. My tongue has become numb as I grew older…”

“Oh my, Father. Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Damn, what was happening right now? Kanghyun said I needed a medical examination. He took out something that was like an ice cream stick and started to observe my mouth. I just rolled my eyes while keeping my mouth open. Kanghyun muttered, “I don’t think there’s a big problem… Father, you have to be careful. Understood?”

“…Yes, I know.”

Kanghyun, the otolaryngologist, still had some doubts.

Cha Jincheol saw me like this and opened his mouth. However, the words that came out of his mouth were unexpected. “No, I wanted to thank you for the delicious food.”

“Huh? Yet you died. Then what happened that day?” Mido wondered.

“I suffocated because I didn’t notice the kobold bone and swallowed wrong.”

“Ah… I see.”

Phew. I was glad. Somehow, I seemed to have escaped the situation.

Mido looked at me and apologized, “Sorry for doubting you, Grandfather.”

“Cough. No, it was a possibility.”

“Grandfather, at that time the food was really delicious. Bbyong bbyong ♡”

I was already fascinated by Mido’s finger hearts.

“Kekeke. Bbyong bbyong ♡”

* * *

After the tumultuous dinner, I sat in the specious main room of the house while drinking my daughter-in-law’s tea. On the other side, Cha Jincheol was drinking tea as well.

I told him, “Thank you for earlier.”

“No, it is nice to see your love for her.”

“Keke. In any case, what brings you looking for me? If it wasn’t due to the food I cooked at that time then I can’t guess. Ah, let’s drink the tea first.”

“Yes, thank you very much.”

We sipped tea at the same time. I used to drink coffee but these days, I was drinking a lot of tea for my health. The first one to speak was Cha Jincheol, “In fact, I didn’t come for a personal business today.”

“It isn’t personal business?”

“Yes, I came here today on behalf of Union.”

“Um?”

I had a question mark over my head at the unexpected words. Cha Jincheol continued, “Your ID is Jackson, right?”

“How do you know my ID?”

“Don’t I work for Union?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

I was quickly convinced. This was the company that made Arkstar so it didn’t make sense if they couldn’t figure out the ID of a single user.

“Elder, I know a lot about you. I just don’t know why you’re hiding your identity.”

“Hmm…” I put down the tea I was going to drink and asked with a frown, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No. Rather, we guarantee the complete freedom of our users. In fact, your power is completely beyond our expectations. This is why we’ve been working overtime trying to find you.”

Something was ominous. Did they want me to stop playing?

“Get to the point. What do you want to say? Do you not want me to play the game?”

“Nope, that’s not it.” Cha Jincheol shook his head.

“Then what is it?”

“I’ve come to ask for one thing.”

A request? My frown deepened. I couldn’t even guess what he was going to ask but I decided to listen.

“Tell me.”

“That…”

* * *

The next day.

I was going somewhere early today. It had been a while but I pulled out an old suit and dressed up nicely. Perhaps it was because I had been exercising steadily but compared to ordinary young people, I was very suitable for formal clothing.

My daughter-in-law smiled at me. “Father, you look really cool. This look is really hard to pull off.”

“Keke. I might look like this but I used to be very popular in my youth.”

“I think so. Mother must’ve been very anxious.”

“No, I never worried her regarding women.”

“I think it is the same for Kanghyun. Hoho. He looks like you.”

“Yes, he is like me.”

“Hohoho!”

The two of us burst out laughing. Just then, Mido rubbed her eyes and came out to the living room for breakfast. “Good morning, Mother, Grandfather.”

“Our daughter, did you sleep well?”

My daughter-in-law stroked her hair and Mido hugged her mother tightly. It was so cute.

“Ah, I’m sleepy. Mother~”

“Ah, you can’t do this now that you’ve grown up.”

“Huuung.”

She was still a child. It seemed a parent’s heart was no different from my heart. Even hedgehogs would say the same about their children.

I ate breakfast with a smile. After I finished, I opened the front door and left. “I was waiting.”

“Did you get home okay yesterday?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I was able to leave safely.”

The young man in front of me was Cha Jincheol, who visited my home yesterday. Yesterday, he had asked me to visit Union. Last night, he said he was going to pick me up and I got in the back seat. The long, black Equus moved smoothly. This looked like a pretty expensive car.

“Is this your car?”

“No, it was prepared by the company to bring you.”

“I see.”

The car drove along the road. A vast urban area appeared and familiar scenes were seen. Perhaps I was tired from exercising in the morning but I felt drowsy. “I’m sorry. I’m going to close my eyes for a bit.”

“It’s fine, I’ll wake you up when we arrive.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and time passed. I felt the Equus stop and I looked around. It was Gangnam. I saw many antique buildings but Gangnam was still an area where the rich lived after all.

Cha Jincheol opened the door and I got out of the car, thanking him. He gave the car key to the parking attendant.

“Follow me.”

I followed him to the entrance of the building and saw the word ‘Union’ written in big letters. Underneath it was the word ‘headquarters’ so it seemed there were other branches. After my identity was confirmed, I got on the elevator and rode up to the 60th floor, which was almost the top of the building.

Dding-! The elevator door opened with a sound.

Someone was standing in front of me and extended a hand. “Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you.”