Chapter 77
She laughed after hearing Drakan’s words.
Asking how far she’ll go!
Truly, it was a phrase she hadn’t heard in a long time.
Her older brother, younger brother, and even her father.
They had all said it when she instigated the sibling feud.
Just how far would she go?!
“Asking how far I’ll go, it’s a phrase I haven’t heard in a long time.”
Shin Ha-yeon remembered.
After the sibling feud ended with her victory, the fact that no one ever asked her how far she would go again.
And the fact that her life had been all about relentlessly shattering the lines that those who asked her that question had in mind.
But now, someone had appeared before her, asking her how far she would go.
Shin Ha-yeon suddenly felt a surge of defiance.
A defiance born from wanting to surpass the expectations of those who had always said such things to her.
“Well, how far should I go?”
A smile graced Shin Ha-yeon’s lips.
She took in Drakan’s appearance.
He wasn’t handsome like some, but after all, the advantage she saw in Drakan wasn’t his appearance, but his ability.
The audacity to decide on rebellion after falling to the very bottom!
And the power of his prime, completely overwhelming even an Over-Ranker, shown briefly through the ‘Rune of Regression’!
That was the very ability Shin Ha-yeon desired, and Drakan was the perfect candidate for rebellion that she had longed for and sought after.
“You’re right, Drakan-nim. We have a business relationship. And there’s nothing more foolish than bringing personal feelings into a business relationship.”
Shin Ha-yeon’s fingers, as if playing a piano, gracefully tapped the wooden stump, circling near Drakan’s hand.
Honestly, she thought it wasn’t easy for someone like her to be so coldly rejected after showing interest.
Objectively, her specs were nothing short of top-class in this Republic of Korea.
No National Assembly member, no conglomerate chairman, no press president wielding the power of the pen could treat her so carelessly.
The power holder who had seized all authority of Jeil Group, a conglomerate that had risen to the fourth position in the Korean business rankings following Miracle Entertainment, Simseong Group, and Mirae Motor Group, and was also called one of the Big 4 of the Korean economy.
People either feared her, avoided her, or, if not, prostrated and worshipped her.
In terms of appearance, economic power, and authority, she lacked nothing, being near perfect. The only one who treated her this way was Drakan, the man in front of her.
“While an ideal business relationship might be like that, reality is different. Humans are social animals, and it’s impossible to perfectly divide all human relationships like cutting tofu with a knife.”
“So? Are you saying you want to date me?”
Shin Ha-yeon burst into laughter at Drakan’s words.
To be so blunt in this situation.
As expected of someone she liked, Shin Ha-yeon thought as she answered.
“Lover, that’s not a bad idea. But the relationship I desire with you isn’t just a childish game of lovers.”
“If it’s not a fling, then it’s marriage? Are you saying you want to marry me?”
Marriage!
Except for a few rare exceptions, the marriages of children from chaebol families are mostly political marriages between the privileged class.
Like the nobles of the Middle Ages, marriage for chaebols was a union of two families, a means of establishing a close relationship between two powers.
If Shin Ha-yeon hadn’t rebelled, she might have been engaged or married to a man from another chaebol family, a politician’s child, or a family with vested rights in the legal or media circles by now.
But Shin Ha-yeon hated such relationships.
It wasn’t that she hated political marriage itself, but rather that she hated the life where fate was already decided from birth.
That’s why she rebelled, against her father’s order, against the family rules that only a man could become the chairman. She won, and in exchange for making her father, older brother, and younger brother into backroom old men, she gained the freedom to do anything.
“I want to be a lover, a spouse, a companion, an advisor, and a sponsor all at the same time.”
Just as Drakan wasn’t stupid, Shin Ha-yeon was well aware of her own feelings.
She neither ignored nor denied them.
As a reward for her rebellion, Shin Ha-yeon gained freedom and reached the top.
But the summit was lonely, and no one in the world tried to understand her.
In the social circles, they whispered about her unprecedented daughter’s rebellion, and while her subordinates were loyal, it was merely an attitude stemming from self-interest. Even if they were truly loyal, they were just watchdogs faithfully carrying out orders without fully understanding her grand vision. Her family, including her father, older brother, and younger brother, distanced themselves from her, who had seized power through a b*oody family feud.
Only Drakan understood her. Only he sympathized with her vision and, unlike her doll-like subordinates who just did as they were told, or others who either couldn’t speak in front of her or only sarcastically whispered behind her back, he treated her with a proactive and assertive attitude.
Shin Ha-yeon liked his blunt, and perhaps even rude, informal speech from the start.
Of course, if an incompetent person dared to do such a thing to her, she would have made sure they wouldn’t see the sun the next morning.
But Drakan possessed the talent for rebellion, and recently, with the ‘Rune of Regression,’ he had personally proven that his potential was on a different level than those mediocre Over-Rankers.
Watching that scene, Shin Ha-yeon thought:
Drakan was the ally who would punish Eugene, who dared to defy her, swallow up Ard World, and fulfill her dream of becoming the ruler of the new media market.
Only he was qualified to be her companion at the top, and perhaps the only person in this world who truly understood her.
If she wasn’t attracted to such a person, if she didn’t feel affection for him, no, if she didn’t fall in love with him, wouldn’t that be even stranger?
As a human being, Shin Ha-yeon fell in love with him.
But what about Shin Ha-yeon, the ruler of Jeil Group?
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re right about everything. I like you. If what the world calls ‘love’ is this feeling, I can confidently confess that I love you. But as you said, Drakan-nim, in a business relationship, we must separate public and private matters. That’s why I’m making this proposal.”
As the ruler of Jeil Group, Shin Ha-yeon was someone who knew how to use even her own feelings.
With a flushed face and a pounding heart, she reached out her delicate hand, slowly and gently holding his, and whispered in a sweet voice:
“A blood oath. That’s the relationship I desire between you and me, Drakan-nim.”
▄ ▄ ▄
A blood oath!
Hearing that word, Drakan laughed.
It wasn’t because he didn’t understand the meaning of the word.
He understood it very well.
A blood oath, in a way, could be considered a relationship that went a step further than a simple alliance. Literally an alliance solidified by blood, or an alliance where one would help the other even at a loss, like a blood relation!
People often used the metaphorical expression of a blood oath to describe such a relationship.
Drakan looked down at the hand Shin Ha-yeon held.
“Personally, I want to be a lover who promises a future, and as the ruler of Jeil Group, I want to form a blood oath with you. A relationship that is a lover, a spouse, an advisor, a companion, and a business partner all at the same time. Wouldn’t such a relationship be nothing other than a blood oath in this world?”
Shin Ha-yeon spoke again, gently but firmly gripping Drakan’s hand as if she wouldn’t let go.
A smile appeared on Drakan’s lips at her words.
Shin Ha-yeon!
It was because he felt that she had revealed all of her heart.
Instead of glossing over the situation with ambiguous wordplay, Shin Ha-yeon chose a head-on approach.
And contrary to Drakan’s expectations, she wasn’t someone who didn’t know how to distinguish between public and private matters.
No, she was separating them thoroughly.
Personally, she had feelings for him, and based on those feelings, she wanted to go a step further from an alliance and form a blood oath with him, publicly.
That was Shin Ha-yeon’s intention.
She wasn’t the same kind of person as him, but she could be considered similar.
Just as Shin Ha-yeon had described him as her only understanding companion, Drakan understood her well. That’s why he could easily deduce the background of her words.
The reason why Shin Ha-yeon wanted to form a blood oath with him!
“You want a blood oath with me because you saw my potential in the Rune of Regression?”
Drakan knew very well that it was because she saw his potential in the Rune of Regression, the potential to overwhelm Over-Rankers and challenge Top-Rankers.
“You know me well. As expected of Drakan-nim.”
Shin Ha-yeon thought it was a remark befitting her only understanding companion and smiled bashfully, then slightly hardened her expression.
“Do you perhaps dislike materialistic women?”
This time, it was the words of the human Shin Ha-yeon, not the ruler of Jeil Group.
Materialistic!
The thought that he might judge her that way belatedly crossed her mind.
Within her ‘common sense,’ ordinary people didn’t like such materialistic talk.
Of course, if it were anyone else, she wouldn’t have cared, but because it was Drakan, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had made a slip of the tongue. It was inevitable that such regret would creep into her heart.
“Even if it wasn’t for the Rune of Regression, I had feelings for you even before that. No, from the, the first time we met! I had feelings for you, Drakan-nim. So……”
Seeing Shin Ha-yeon continuing her answer with a slightly flustered expression, Drakan laughed.
It was the first time he had seen her so flustered.
Anyway, if he let it continue, it seemed like her rambling would unnecessarily drag on, so Drakan cut her off.
“I don’t dislike materialistic things. No, I don’t understand why that’s materialistic.”
Shin Ha-yeon’s anxiety disappeared at Drakan’s words.
“That’s not being materialistic, it’s being honest.”
“Honest?”
Shin Ha-yeon was slightly surprised by Drakan’s words, then smiled bashfully.
As expected of her only understanding companion, the companion she had chosen, Drakan’s way of thinking and values were out of the ordinary.
“Yes, honest. What’s wrong with forming a relationship based on my abilities? My abilities aren’t separate from me, they’re a part of me. There are hardly any human relationships in this world without compensation, calculations, or conditions. If there are any such relationships, it would be my parents who tried their best to raise me despite our poor circumstances.”
Drakan truly believed that.
There are hardly any human relationships in the world without compensation, conditions, or calculations!
People, consciously or unconsciously, form relationships while considering their own profit and loss. That was the thought and value of Drakan, who had been wandering the bottom of society since middle school, becoming distrustful of others due to the harsh realities of life.
And that was the fundamental reason why Drakan and Eugene clashed so much.
Drakan believed in the malice of humans, and Eugene believed in the good of humans.
From Drakan’s perspective, Shin Ha-yeon’s words didn’t sound particularly materialistic.
Rather, in his values, it was a perfectly natural thing, and he preferred someone like Shin Ha-yeon who revealed her inner thoughts honestly from the beginning, rather than those who hid their true intentions and uttered hypocritical words.
“Really……”
A spark ignited in Shin Ha-yeon’s eyes as she heard Drakan’s words.
She felt a renewed sense of affection for him, who genuinely described her words as ‘honest.’
Shin Ha-yeon understood his words very well.
If Drakan had become distrustful of humans due to the harsh realities of life, Shin Ha-yeon had become distrustful of others as she saw her younger brother, older brother, and father obstructing her path while she pursued her own will.
Blood is thicker than water?
Shin Ha-yeon didn’t believe such a ridiculous lie.
If blood were truly thicker than water, her older brother, younger brother, and father wouldn’t have stood in her way!
Shin Ha-yeon had seen more than anyone else how blood ties meant nothing in front of the large and tempting candy that was Jeil Group, how yesterday’s friends became today’s enemies, wielding knives against each other in a world of iron and blood where everyone smiled on the outside while meticulously calculating their gains and losses on the inside.
It was Shin Ha-yeon who had survived to the end and claimed victory after a b*oody battle in such a world, so she could empathize with Drakan’s words more than anyone else.
At the same time, she realized once again that Drakan understood her well.
“This is why I can’t help but like, no, love you.”
Shin Ha-yeon’s ears turned red.
Feeling her heart pounding, she spoke to Drakan.
“So, please, will you become my blood brother?”
Drakan answered Shin Ha-yeon’s question.
“I don’t trust others. Even if it’s you.”
“I’m the same. I love you, but I don’t trust you.”
Drakan laughed at the answer that seemed to echo his own words.
“I like your honesty.”
Honest.
Hearing those words, Shin Ha-yeon’s ears turned even redder.
While trying to calm her heart, which was now beating so wildly that she was worried it could be heard outside, she continued speaking.
“What I believe is that our goals are the same, and that even after achieving our goals, we’ll inevitably continue together. That’s a fact that no one can deny now.”
“Good.”
Drakan replied to Shin Ha-yeon’s words.
It was because his assessment of her was complete.
Shin Ha-yeon distinguished well between public and private matters, was honest, shared the same goals as him, and possessed the ability to support him with the overwhelming power and wealth she held in the real world.
Drakan had no reason not to form a blood oath with her.
“I’ll form a blood oath with you, Shin Ha-yeon.”
The moment she heard Drakan’s words, a smile spread across Shin Ha-yeon’s face.
Heaving a sigh of relief, she let go of his hand, pulled him into an embrace, and kissed him.
After a long kiss, Shin Ha-yeon slowly parted her lips. Looking up at Drakan with a flushed face, she said:
“From now on, we’re blood siblings. I’ve even stamped it myself, so you can’t back out now, you understand?”
To Shin Ha-yeon’s words, Drakan silently nodded.
