《12 Hours After》Chapter 132: Garden Royale, Part I
Advertisement
In the distance, the red sunset fell. The autumn wind blew gently, and the Han River flowed smoothly. Children kicked and played with soccer balls, and students in school uniforms were buzzing past on their bikes. Old people in colorful climbing suits played badminton in pairs. I watched it while drinking beer with Crow.
Crow, who was watching it all, said "This is good, sir."
"Yes. This is how people in Seoul enjoy their leisure time."
"I see. Most of all... look good to be peaceful."
I glanced at him. He had a strange look on his face, as if he was reminiscing.
'Umm...'
He said, holding up the neatly stripped chicken bones, "And this fried chicken is really good." He was holding a piece of spicy chicken with a lot of red seasoning on it.
After filtering out the chicken from the last buffet, I once again picked the seasoned chicken from the choices of fried, seasoned, or garlic chicken.
"Oh, yeah. This is called seasoned chicken... It is the most popular and delicious food you can eat in Korea. Most Koreans eat it at least once a month. It's popular food."
"I see." He nodded his head and tore the chicken apart. If I watched him doing this; he looked like a foreigner who came to play on the Han River.
"By the way, that's great. That black eye patch..." As I spoke, Crow silently ate the chicken. "It was like magic. There's been a lot of VR stuff coming out these days, but... they are not vivid as that."
Then, he looked at me and said, "... it's just a dream made up. Sir, don't get absorbed in it too much." His blue eyes were quite serious.
I lifted my eyebrows and nodded, "Sure."
Crow ate all three chickens. I'd eaten about a piece or two of each kind, but he was a real glutton. 'I thought three would be enough... ...but I should have ordered one or two more.'
"I've had a good meal today, sir."
"Yes. I watch you twice a month, so let's eat something delicious and talk."
"Yes, sir."
"Then let's get to the point... and what I want to ask you to do this time..." As I said that, I looked around. There was no one who could hear the conversation near our mat. "Do you know Tak Mun-su, vice chairman of Suyeon Electronics, who came out in that dream?"
"Yes."
"His weakness. Can you investigate his weaknesses and evil deeds? From what I noticed, he looked quite different from the inside."
"... what exactly do you mean?..."
"Well... about something corrupt or to kill people in the process of becoming vice chairman or when he has served as vice chairman..."
However, Crow, who was listening to me, was reluctant. "That's... that's going to be a little difficult, sir."
"Yes?"
"If I'm going to investigate, I need such specific factors as a certain place, a certain time and a certain incident, etc. If you ask me to do a background check on him, that's not what I can do."
Advertisement
'Umm…' I thought about Tak Mun-su for a moment. 'a certain place, a certain time and a certain incident…'
Before I came here, I had already investigated Tak Mun-su for myself, but he had a very neat past. No story had been written that he had abused his power, nor had he been told that he had benefited in an unfair way. With only the information from the portal, he was completely clean.
There's a lot of praise for him in the industry, said even Vice President Jang. In addition, the news given to the public was really good and beautiful.
"There's no such thing as a peculiar case."
"Then I can't start an investigation..."
'What shall I do?' I thought for a moment, then suddenly I got an idea, 'Maybe, I can use the dream again.'
"Can I get the data that Tak Joon-gi prepared to attack Suyeon Group?"
"Do you mean the data Tak Joon-gi prepared?"
"Yes, he said in the dream. His ultimate goal was Suyeon. He was a member of the Suyeon Group, although he had a low ranking as a successor. If he decided to shoot inside and collected information, he'd be able to collect the details of the corruption that Tak Mun-su wanted to hide."
"..... yes, then, is that my job to collect data of the dead Tak Joon-gi?"
"Yes. Is that possible?"
"Yes, I think I can."
"Then I ask you, to be exact, all the information that Tak Joon-gi had for his corporate offensives. Please bring it to me."
"Yes, sir."
But, in the meantime, my cell phone rang in my pocket. I picked it up and it was Ah-young who called.
"Wait a minute," I tried to ask for his understanding, but he was already gone, as usual.
I answered the phone in a slight embarrassment, "Uh, Ah-young?"
---------------------------
The elevator opened with a sound. I walked towards my apartment through the hallway. Then the next door opened, and Ah-young poked her head out. "You're here, oppa?" She tied her hair whether she was in the middle of her work. It looked so cute.
"How? How did you know that?"
"You said you were coming. Besides, I know if it is oppa or not, when I hear the footsteps in the hallway."
"Hmm, really?" I had been about to enter my password, but instead approached her and kissed her lightly. "I'm sorry. I've been so busy lately. I can't even show my face to my girlfriend often."
"You can't help it. Besides, I've been busy too."
I had been busy, but she had also been pretty busy preparing for her graduate work.
"So, how's your graduate work?"
"Not bad."
"Not bad?" As I asked, she picked up her cell phone and showed me the desktop. There was a figure on a colorful tree where people were angry, clapping, lost in thought, sad, and terrified.
Advertisement
"I'm working hard, but the professor doesn't like my work, so... I don't know what he wants."
I thought with a nod, 'Modern art…' I didn't have much thought, but sometimes such works were traded for a few or tens of million dollars among chaebols. 'Art is tax-free, and it is a great means of investment. It is a reason why all the wives of large corporate leaders run one small art gallery.'
I told Ah-young playfully, "When it's done, isn't it going to be a few hundred thousand dollars, teacher?"
Ah-young smiled cutely and said, "I'm still unknown, so it's going to be difficult. Not everyone has as much money as you."
"You don't know yet. A foolish rich person may buy it for a few hundred thousand dollars." As I said that, I pointed to my chest with my thumb.
She laughed again at what I said, "No thanks. I have enough money! Anyway, you said you had dinner, right?"
"Ah... yes, but I ate a little less." I didn't know I'd order three chickens and wouldn't eat much.
"Oh, then go in and wash first. I'll make something for you in the meantime."
"Yes, then."
Ah-young went into her apartment, ruffling her tied hair. I pressed in my password and came into my apartment. When I came in, I felt tired somehow. It was the second time, but filming was still hard.
'I didn't know it when I was talking to Crow, but was it because of the Chi-Mac?'
I undressed, hung it on the sofa and headed straight for the shower. I took a hot shower, so I felt a little less tired. During a shower, there was a noise outside. Ah-young must have come into my apartment. I finished my shower, toweled myself dry, put on my underwear, pants, and a T-shirt, and came back to the living room. Something savory reached my nose.
"What is this smell?"
Ah-young was standing behind the sofa and told me, "Walnut pie."
"Walnut pie? Well, the taste would be good."
But then, she swirled around. "Oppa, what's this?" She had a small piece of paper on her hand.
'What's that? A business card?' At the moment, I realized. That was a business card of MBE announcer Shin Min Sun, which was in my pocket.
"Ah... that."
Ah-young's tone was slightly changed. He voice was slightly cold. "Is this a business card, right?"
"That's… a business card."
'What the hell? Did she go through my pockets?'
"But why was it on the floor of the living room?"
'Ah...' I remembered just now, as soon as I had come in, I had taken off my pants and whipped them around the sofa. That must have fallen on the floor then.
"Oh, that. I got it today and put it in my pocket. It must have fallen from my pocket. It's nothing. After the filming, the female announcer gave it to me and I received it."
"Well... did you get it on business?"
"So it was."
I said so, but I was a little bit conscience-stricken as the face of Ms. Shin, who was winking and saying, "Please contact me," came to mind, and that red skirt that shook from side to side every time she took a step.
However, I told Ah-young, "You can tear it apart or you can throw it away. I don't think we'll see each other again anyway, for a while."
"Uh." Ah-young squinted her eyes and looked at me, and put the business card back in my pocket. "You have to give and take a business card. You should know somebody's phone number when you work together. I believe in you."
I loved her for believing in me.
But then she said one more thing, "But be careful. I believe in other women, too. They might even chase my man."
The sense of a woman was scary. I nodded, "Yes."
------------------------------
Tiriri tiriri tiriri. The alarm went off. It was seven in the morning. It was my alarm, but Ah-young got out of bed first.
"Oppa, I'm leaving. I should have done more work yesterday, but I came home early to spend time with you. I'm going to school early today. Have a separate breakfast."
"Okay."
She got up, kissed me on the cheek and went to her place, as if she were a writer being chased by a deadline. Left alone, I woke up rubbing my eyes.
'Umm… what's the schedule today?'
It had been a while since I'd taken a rest while trading at home, but I would ask Secretary Seo. I came to the living room, opened the refrigerator, and drank a glass of cold water. As I saw now, the clothes I took off yesterday on the sofa were still there. I lifted my pants. In the pocket of the pants, there was a business card of 'MBE announcer Shin Min Sun.'
When I saw the business card, I crumpled it up and put it in the wastebasket. I was sorry, but I liked Ah-young. I didn't want to give up my faith. Then I tried to put it in the laundry basket.
'Oh, my God.' On the way, I suddenly remembered that there was a more important document in the coat. After a search, I found that it was still in the pocket inside: an invitation to Garden Royale, with a golden 'R' on it. I tried to open it again. What bothered me was the last phrase, 'If you are willing to participate, please be holding this letter in the correct time and place.'
"Hmm..." I examined it, and then I came back to bed with it and put it under the mattress. If the old Garden Envy was a den of snakes that couldn't become dragons, Garden Royale would be a meeting of people who became dragons.
'Garden Royale…' I lay in bed and thought about it.
Advertisement
- In Serial43 Chapters
The Space Spoon
Humans, robots, aliens, and energy life forms, all tend to like Tejeda for his easy-going personality, not knowing what lies beneath his ever-changing face. He is a Nubilae, a shapeshifting race known for their insanity. But Tejeda appears carefree and often amused even in the most perilous situations. His one-of-a-kind weapon of choice is a spoon, an old utensil that no one remembers anymore ever since eating has become obsolete. You will laugh at him. You will be scared by him. You will enjoy every step of his journey if you are a bit as crazy as he is. Join me on Discord: https://discord.gg/QNZtVmVWc5 My website: https://helenbold.com
8 200 - In Serial136 Chapters
A Sinner's Eden
The Earth of the future is united under a single government, but not all things are well. The shape of the playing field may be changed, but the powerful still rule the weak.And those who do not conform with the rest of society are exiled to another world. A world that not even the technology of the future managed to tame.It should have been humanity's New World but ended up as nothing more than a penal colony. A place where the exiled are sent to die. Motivated by revenge, Magnus sets out on a quest to bring his own justice to his enemies. For that purpose, he is willing to go further than most others.But then he learns that if he truly wishes to change things, he can only find his answers beyond the gate. Having lived most of her life as an exile, Astra is a woman of few interests aside from survival and climbing the ranks of her clan.To achieve those goals, she certainly won't be squeamish when a chance literally falls into her lap, or will she? ——————————————————————————————— I am trying to go with a survival/medieval setting in this one. People from a technologically advanced society are thrown into a world where they can't maintain their tech. They are forced to rely on medieval technology where they have to make do with the limited resources they have and what little of their old technology is still working. Their gene manipulation allows them to have something akin to superpowers, but that doesn't help much against the monsters of their new world. Not sure yet whether sufficiently advanced technology will be discovered later on to count as magic. ——————————————————————————————— Author's Comment: I was asked about reading my work on other sites. The answer is simple: Currently, I am not active in any other networks than royalroadl.com. Only here, I correct mistakes and errors. If you read it anywhere else and have to pay for it or have to deal with an annoying amount of advertisement, You Are Being Betrayed. You would do good if you make other people in that network aware of it. This is a free project of mine for the purpose of having fun. And if people try to make money with it you shouldn't bother visiting their website. The only one whom I actually allowed to have my work on his website is Armaell who invested the time to compile them into pdf. (http://armaell-library.net/author/andur)
8 927 - In Serial14 Chapters
Transposed
Apparently, even heaven had the odd clerical error. Which was not something Nathaniel Miller would have expected, and yet, that seemed to be exactly what had happened to him. The collector of souls seemed to have been given the wrong address, and instead of taking one Nathaniel Miller of the earth apparently right next door, he took Nate. As recompense for this small bit of error Nate was placed in the body of the Nathaniel Miller that had supposed to have been taken in the first place, and seeing as he now had an opportunity to try to live his life a different way he planned on taking advantage of this chance. No one, however, had specified how different this world would be from his, sure they had said the tech would be a little older, and there were other small anomalies. But no one had seen fit to let him know that older meant medieval, and those small anomalies mentioned? They probably referred to all the fantasy elements and magic that seemed to be part of this world. Still, he was determined to do better this time around, after all, chances like this were next to unheard of...
8 145 - In Serial82 Chapters
Elemental Heir | ✔️
(Complete) **A MATURE FANTASY** Book #1 in the Elemental Heir Series. "Your ready wit never fails to surprise and delight me, Brenya." He murmured, his lips only inches from my own.I blinked, my lips parting, as his heady scent encircled me. He licked his lower lip, running his teeth over it as his electric blue eyes burned into mine. The heat of his bare chest seeped through my thin cotton shirt, thawing my icy irritation."Even when you're being cross." He added in a low voice. He leaned closer, before I could respond, and ran his teeth along my jaw.I suppressed a moan. "I wouldn't be cross if you weren't so keen on irritating me." I said, unable to hide the smile in my voice.I felt his answering smile against my neck. "How can I make it up to you?" He whispered, planting gentle kisses up and down the column of my throat. He moved to the other side of my neck, flicking his tongue once against the mating mark near my shoulder.My hands slid up his abdomen, exploring the dips and hard lines of his muscles. Heat uncurled deep in my belly, spreading lower, and lower, until I felt my panties dampen. He growled into my ear, sending shivers down my entire body.*~*~*~*~*~*~#1 in ROMANCE 9/13/18~~#1 in ACTION-ADVENTURE 12/05/18 and 4/25/19~~#1 in ACTION-ROMANCE 1/16/19~~#1 in DRAGONS 6/9/19~~#1 in FAIRIES 7/20/19~*~*~*~*~*~*⚠️!! WARNING !!⚠️ This book contains intense violence, mature language, and strong sexual themes.
8 127 - In Serial39 Chapters
Besotted
Jericho never thought about gaining superpowers. Like everyone else in society, he simply expected his abilities to manifest on their own, but they never did. With the help of his doctor, it looks like Jericho finally hit a breakthrough, and after a few years of being powerless, things might start looking up for him. Join Jericho and others as they interact in this world where everyone has extraordinary abilities. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ HIATUS NOTE (Please read): Starting June, I will be going on a summer hiatus (around 3 months) to focus on my future career and set myself up to succeed in school. I will still be writing in the meantime and creating a backlog, but I won't be posting chapters. I apologize for this. I wish there was another way. Note: This story has multiple POVs, but the main one is Jericho. The MC grows and develops throughout the story and isn't instantly OP. I try to write ~1500 words per chapter but I write according to what I feel is suitable. (Could be more. Could be less). The content warning tags are mostly for flexible writing, but do expect it or something of the sort. This is a story suitable for older teens and adults. Schedule: New chapter every other Sunday (sometimes Monday if I'm a bit behind).
8 376 - In Serial15 Chapters
A Dance With Death
I have lost everything, my family, my status, and now my freedom. This is my story, a story of an enslaved assassin fighting against death, despair, and madness.
8 190

