Chapter 1493: Opening for Business (3) |
“I’m home.”
Kang Jin-Ho entered his home through the front door.
If he could help it, he always tried to come home with a smile, regardless of what might have happened during the day. But not today. No matter what he tried, his expression didn’t want to obey his command.
Gee whiz. I’m really exhausted, aren’t I?
Kang Jin-Ho was rarely physically exhausted. Even if he put his body through training that was closer to a torture than anything else, he only needed to rest for a little while to recover his condition back to a near-optimal level, after all.
But his tolerance toward mental fatigue was only a little better than an average person’s. Which meant even someone like him couldn’t escape from the clutches of fatigue after enduring a day of mental torture.
I’m definitely never doing this again.
Kang Jin-Ho kept shaking his head. He was about to develop unconditional respect for Choi Yeon-Ha’s dedication toward her craft right now. Just how did she remain composed throughout the filming when even he was ready to wave a white flag?
By the end of the day, Kang Jin-Ho was even more tired than Choi Yeon-Ha, wasn’t he? He was given another reminder that different people were good at different things.
“Yes, mother.”
She studied Kang Jin-Ho’s face with some pity. “Jin-Ho, you look like you’ve lost half of your weight.”
“…”
“Did something happen to you today?”
“N-no, mother. I was in an ad shoot today, but it was harder than I thought. That’s all.”
“An… ad? You were in what?”
Just as Baek Hyeon-Jeong asked that incredulously…!
Stompstompstompstompstomp!
While producing the noise akin to the living room floor cracking, Kang Eun-Yeong rushed to the foyer with all her might.
“Orabi! Orabi?! Were you really in an ad shoot today?”
Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “Yeah, I was.”
“But, why? Why would you be in an ad? Wait, is it for that franchise thing opening soon?”
“Yeah.”
Kang Eun-Yeong’s face suddenly crumpled to resemble an angry demon. “What the! Aren’t you supposed to be my older brother?! How could you do this to me!”
Kang Jin-Ho groaned softly. “What… are you even on about?”
She responded by shooting burning sparks from her eyes. “It’s your franchise, right? Obviously, I should be the one modeling for it, no?! So why are you the one in the ad! Instead of me?!”
He silently turned his head and stared outside the window. Just… What was a sibling? Despite living for decades, Kang Jin-Ho still didn’t have an answer for this mystery.
Just for what purpose did this female creature sharing his blood exist on God’s green earth? Maybe God created little sisters just for the express purpose of getting on older brothers’ nerves. If that was the case, then this little bundle ofjoy pretty much fit the bill perfectly, didn’t it!
“And why should you be the model for the ad?”
Kang Eun-Yeong triumphantly yelled, “Don’t you know why?”
“Know what?”
She struck a superhero pose, steam gushing out of her nostrils. “I’ve never starred in a TV ad before, okay! And it’s the older brother’s job to look after his little sister’s best interests, right? All my fans might abandon me if this injustice isn’t fixed soon! Are you going to take responsibility for that?”
“Why would I…”
Kang Jin-Ho was about to say something, only to stop himself and shake his head. What was the point of saying something logical here, anyway?
“Argh, whatever! Orabi, I’m gonna be starring in your ad from now on, okay! Let the ad agency know about this change of plans. Hurry!”
Kang Jin-Ho groaned again. “But we filmed everything we needed today.”
“It’s not like you’ll have only one ad campaign, right?! I’ll star in the next round of ads, orabi. Look at how nice and kind I’m being. I’m not telling you to throw away what you’ve already filmed, and I’m not even demanding a salary, either! That’s right! I’ll appear in your ads for free, orabi! If I made this offer to other companies, they would’ve rushed over to thank me for…!”
Slaaaaaap!
Kang Eun-Yeong twisted around like a squid being grilled.
“Aaaaaahk!”
Baek Hyeon-Jeong mercilessly slapped her daughter’s back while glaring like a serial killer. “Just who do you take after that you find so much fun in bullying your brother who’s coming home from a hard day’s work?! When all you’ve done today was lounging around at home! You better get out of my sight, now!”
“But, mom! I’m trying to help oppa out, you know!”
“And I’m also helping your oppa out right now! Unless you don’t want your back set on fire, stop arguing and obediently go back to your spot. The couch is waiting for you!”
“Tch!” Kang Eun-Yeong scoffed, but still obediently headed back to the living room couch. It seemed she also didn’t want her mother’s palm strikes setting her back on fire.
Freed from his little sister’s tyranny, Kang Jin-Ho could finally step away from the foyer and into the house proper.
Baek Hyeon-Jeong asked worriedly, “Are you okay, son?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Running a business isn’t as easy as some people make it out to be. If you’re the only person going down the drain if the business fails, I’m sure you’d have less to worry about. But knowing your failures could harm other people? That’s a tough burden to carry, Jin-Ho.”
“Mm…”
Kang Jin-Ho grew a little sheepish just then, since he had never thought about that until now.
“Look at your father, for example. He’s not getting much sleep these days.”
Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Really? Why?”
“What do you mean, why? Of course it’s all because of the dang coffee. He still hasn’t come home from work even now. After closing for the day, he stays up the whole night in the cafe to roast all sorts of beans.”
“Mm? I thought he had already finished doing that a while ago, though?”
“Who knows what’s going on in his head? What did he say the last time…? That, mm, coffee factory or something?”
“Yes, we do have a factory. But…?”
Of course, that “factory” was a bit too small to be called a factory. But the fact of the matter was that all the coffee beans to be used in the cafes were supposed to come from the factory Kang Yu-Hwan was in charge of. One could say it was a high-tech (?) facility that eschewed automation in favor of relying on the efficient martial artist labor force!
Baek Hyeon-Jeong sighed grandly. “Your father says that a small-scale roasting of beans differs too much from a large-scale roasting, so he wants to find the right combination of beans and whatnot, but I still don’t understand anything about this stuff, son. To me, all coffee tastes the same.”
Kang Jin-Ho put on a cramped smile. “Well, father’s palate has always been sharp, after all.”
“What’s the point if his palate is sharp?! When the person himself is so dull!”
“…”
Kang Jin-Ho smartly stopped talking just then. For obvious reasons, he could neither agree nor disagree with his mother here. The smartest thing to do in a situation like this was to keep his mouth resolutely shut or try to change the topic.
“It, uh, sounds like father has a lot on his plate right now.”
Baek Hyeon-Jeong nodded with another sigh. “Yes, that’s true.”
It worked! While Kang Jin-Ho sighed in relief, his mother continued to speak in a worried tone.
“Yes, it’s nice to see him be passionate about something rather than going through the motions at his age, doing the same thing over and over again. But I’m worried about him trying so hard and harming his health in the process.”
Kang Jin-Ho apologetically murmured, “I’m sorry, mother. All because of me…”
“No, no. I wasn’t blaming you, son. It’s a hundred times better than watching him lounging around at home, doing nothing.”
While saying that, Baek Hyeon-Jeong snapped her head toward the living room. Kang Eun-Yeong flinched nastily when her mother’s blade-like glare stabbed into her, forcing her to cautiously turn away.
“In any case, Jin-Ho?”
“Yes, mother?”
“We’ll also help you as much as we can, so don’t try to do everything on your own, okay? Whether it’s your dad or your sister… They are all trying to help you.”
Kang Jin-Ho nodded. Yes, I agree that’s the case with father. But with Eun-Yeong? Mother, I think your love for your daughter has blinded you a bit?
Baek Hyeon-Jeong subtly cocked her brow. “What is it?”
“It’s… nothing, mother.”
Kang Jin-Ho obediently lowered his gaze to the floor.
He might be the Assembly Master, a man feared by the Korean government, and a big shot who could negotiate directly with the American government, but in his own home, he was nothing more than an irresponsible young son causing various problems.
Not to forget, it hadn’t been that long since he went to prison, got released, and stuffed his face with raw tofu. Since those memories were still fresh in everyone’s minds, Kang Jin-Ho found it doubly hard to have a voice in this house.
“I don’t wish for a lot from you or Eun-Yeong,” said Baek Hyeon-Jeong.
“Sorry?”
“It’s… When it’s my time to go, it’d be wonderful if you were there to hold my hand, and Eun-Yeong holding my other hand. That will be enough for me.”
Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head slightly. “What about father, though?”
“He’s a grown man. He can take care of himself.”
“…Of course.”
Baek Hyeon-Jeong sighed softly again. “That’s all I ask for. Well, if there’s one more thing I could wish for… That’s you getting married, son.”
As it turned out, Baek Hyeon-Jeong did wish for something else, after all.
“And, when you’re holding my hand, I’d love it even more if a grandson and a granddaughter are trotting around in the room, too.”
She wanted quite a few things, didn’t she?
“And it’d be even nicer if my daughter’s son and daughter could join yours, too.”
I see that she wants a lot more things than she’s letting on, then.
“But! If I must choose, I want you and Eun-Yeong to be healthy and happy. That’s all. You get what I’m trying to say, don’t you? Son?”
Kang Jin-Ho indeed understood. His mother wanted him to avoid hurting himself and remain healthy. To say that, she took a bit of a detour, but eventually got to her destination. Knowing she only wanted what was best for him, he nodded back at her with a gentle smile.
“I know, mother. Please don’t worry about me.”
“Good. I believe in you, son.”
“Then can I go and wash up?”
“Yes. Off you go.”
Still with a smile, Kang Jin-Ho walked past his mother and headed to his room.
***
“Fuu-woo…”
Kang Jin-Ho finished showering, then perched on the tip of his bed. Soon afterward, though, he simply lay down on the bed instead.
I keep doing this often lately.
This felt strange, somehow.
In the past, he rarely lay down to rest like this. He either slept for a few hours or spent the time sitting cross-legged and meditating or circulating his qi. That used to be his way of unwinding, but lately, the first thing he did around his bed was lying down. In a way, wasn’t this similar to how his little sister lounged around on the living room couch?
Is it because I can still circulate my qi and cultivate while not in the lotus position?
That didn’t seem to be it, though.
Even in the past, he didn’t need to be sitting cross-legged to do that, after all. He could cultivate in any position he wanted, although the efficiency would have suffered somewhat.
That could only mean Kang Jin-Ho himself had changed.
Even until recently, Kang Jin-Ho was unable to escape the fetters of the past despite living in the present. He knew in his head that no one was actively trying to kill him, yet his body remained tense, unable to relax completely. However, what about now?
If my old subordinates see me now, they might freak out.
A wry chuckle leaked out of Kang Jin-Ho’s lips.
The vestiges of being the Demon Cult’s leader had almost vanished. By spending almost a decade in the modern era did he finally qualify to be called a modern-era person.
That was starkly different from a few years ago when he had been trying so hard to acclimatize to the current era.
Kang Jin-Ho used to feel this subtle yet insistent sense of alienation whenever he recalled his second life. Back then, back when he lived in Zhongyuan, he missed the modern era so much. Most of his longing revolved around his family, of course, but even if he never had a family, he probably would still have missed the life in modern South Korea.
Because, the life in the ancient Zhongyuan was like a torture a modern-era person like Kang Jin-Ho simply couldn’t acclimatize to.
However, now that he had returned, he’d sometimes recall the life back then. Which was understandable, considering he spent a considerable chunk of his life in the ancient past. For someone like that, re-acclimatizing to the modern era would never be a cakewalk.
An “outsider”; that term was probably most suited to describing Kang Jin-Ho. He was an outsider back in the era of Zhongyuan. And now, he was still an outsider in the modern era, too.
A life that failed to acclimatize to both eras somehow continued to chug along until now.
But, finally…
After spending all this time and all that effort, Kang Jin-Ho finally felt as if he had finished acclimatizing to the modern era.
A subtle grin floated up on his face this time.
His life was right here, in this place. His family was here, and so did someone who loved him. Comrades who believed in him and wanted to be by his side were also here. And on top of that, a friend who trusted him unconditionally was here, too.
Those should be enough.
Kang Jin-Ho only had one thing left to do. And that was to…
…To protect them.
He slowly closed his eyes.
All the things he was doing right now served one ultimate purpose. That was to protect things he treasured and to safeguard the happiness of the people that formed his life. As long as he could fulfill this one objective, he was prepared to do whatever was necessary.
When his thoughts arrived there, he slowly opened his eyes again.
This situation in China will quieten down soon enough.
Regardless of how that matter was settled, what would follow afterward seemed obvious at this point. The ones in China would target this place. They would come for him, regardless of whether Kang Jin-Ho wanted it or not.
Since that was the case, he had only one option left.
I… must get stronger!
Not just him, but even the Martial Assembly, too! Strong enough to keep holding on to everything that mattered and to protect them!
Kang Jin-Ho closed his eyes again. And he began sinking deeper and deeper inside his own subconsciousness. All for the sake of… finding a lead, a clue, to surpass Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor and to reach a new realm.
It felt like that vague thing was within his grasp, yet also perhaps not. It was not an easy task, for sure, but…
I know I can do this.
A subtle grin remained etched on his lips.
