38. Fish (2)
Dongdong was surprised and touched by Neoul's blunt words and clapped her hands like a seal.
"That's right! You are so clever! I should have just refuted him like that, but I was too lazy to think of it!"
The blue-ringed octopus Dongdong, who was making a fuss, told Neoul to pack up and come down because she had come to serve him.
"It's not pretty, but that goby seemed to be unable to move against the sea priestess. The sea priestess told him to take good care of the prince, so I will be able to serve you comfortably."
"But...."
Neoul looked down at Dongdong, as if something was bothering him, stretching out his words.
Dongdong answered nervously.
"Yes! Say anything."
"The sea priestess."
"Yes?"
"I'm close to her, so it doesn't matter how you call her, but Officer Dongdong should call her 'Sea Priestess nim', not 'Sea Priestess'. It's not good to call an adult that carelessly."
Neoul corrected her words with a kind smile.
"Really?"
Dongdong nodded quickly, bewildered by the unexpected remark.
"Yes, yes! That's right! The prince is right!"
"And."
Neoul continued.
"If the Sea Priestess told him to assist me, why did Officer Dongdong come instead of him?"
"Yes, yes?"
"It was he, not Officer Dongdong, who received the Sea Priestess' order? Why didn't he come?"
Neoul's expression was still gentle like the spring breeze, but Dong Dong had a feeling that something was wrong.
Neoul's next words drove a wedge into her ominous premonition.
"I didn't receive the Sea Priestess' direct introduction to him, and I can't just follow Officer Dongdong to the house of someone I don't even know."
"Ha, ha… !"
"If you want to take me, tell him to come to me directly."
Neoul wiped his smile and turned around with a blank expression on his face, looking at Dongdong. Neoul's mouth stuck out in a pout as he re-entered the building to go up to Baek Yuri's house.
'I don't like that guy, Officer Dongdong or whatever.'
He used to call her 'Sea Priestess', 'Sea Priestess', 'Devil's old hag', but he felt bad when someone else called her that.
It was because the blue-ringed octopus seemed to be hostile to the sea princess and spoke to her in a condescending manner.
Treating her comfortably and treating her carelessly were different. Neoul thought so.
'Still, she should be careful what she says in front of others from now on.'
As he was about to get back on the elevator with a sullen face, someone's urgent footsteps and voice stopped Neoul.
"Gal Neoul ssi."
It was an unfamiliar low-pitched voice, not officer Dongdong. When he turned his head, a neat and blunt-looking man spoke to him.
"Hello, Gal Neoul ssi. I am the secretary of the CEO Won Hashin. You can call me Secretary Song."
"Do you know me?"
"I don't know the details. I am just carrying out the orders of the CEO Won Hashin."
"Who is the CEO Won Hashin?"
"He is our representative."
"What does he represent?"
Secretary Song paused for a moment at the strange question, but answered calmly.
"...he runs H.A.D Entertainment."
"...?"
He must be someone who rules over something like Abamama rules over the sea. Neoul only half-understood and tilted his head.
Secretary Song said, handing over a business card.
"Gal Neoul ssi. I don't know much about Priestess Jo Geumyeong, and I don't know what kind of relationship Gal Neoul ssi has with Priestess Jo Geumyeong."
"...."
"But I can tell you this for sure. Our CEO and the chairman seem to have a very deep connection with Priestess Jo Geumyeong, and they definitely treat Priestess Jo Geumyeong with respect."
Secretary Song stood with his hands clasped together politely and met his gaze.
"The CEO has prepared a room for Gal Neoul ssi. He has also hired a Korean teacher in advance for basic Korean education."
"...."
"If Gal Neoul ssi wants to stay longer at his friend's house, we can't force you, but if you come with us, you will definitely be treated well."
Neoul stared at Secretary Song, then looked at the blue-ringed octopus Dongdong, who was quietly clasping her hands together and looking down behind Secretary Song.
Dongdong was watching Secretary Song's expression as if she had never fluttered before.
Neoul asked after a moment of silence.
"When you say 'we', do you mean Secretary Song and Officer Dongdong?"
"Officer Dongdong...? Oh, yes. Moon Dongdong ssi and I came to pick up Neoul ssi, who will be going with us. Yes."
Secretary Song seemed unfamiliar with the term 'Officer' and expressed his doubts, but soon nodded his head.
Neoul narrowed his eyes and asked.
"Then, is the goby that Officer Dongdong mentioned the same person as Secretary Song's CEO?"
"Goby...? Yes?"
Secretary Song looked back at Dongdong in confusion.
"Moon Dongdong ssi. Did you call the CEO a
goby?"
"That, that..."
"Moon Dongdong ssi. You shouldn't call your boss that way."
Secretary Song sighed briefly and rebuked her.
"I'll correct it..."
Dongdong was completely disheartened.
Neoul blinked quietly as he watched them. Even though they came to pick him up together, Dongdong and Secretary Song didn't seem to be close at all.
They were awkward with each other as if they were strangers, and Dongdong seemed to have a hard time with Secretary Song in particular.
'I saw you a little while ago, but you were actually swearing at your boss CEO, the Goby.'
Hmm.
Originally, Neoul was going to check the face of the goby and see how he knew the sea priestess and what the sea priestess had said to him before deciding whether to go or not.
But now that he looked at it, he seemed to have a free spirit that was not bound by procedures or rules.
If someone who governs and represents something treats Dong Dong, an outsider, with no hesitation, then his character is also worth looking into. And..….
"But you said you hired a teacher to teach me Korean?"
"Yes. That's right. You can learn not only Korean, but anything else that Gal Neoul ssi wants."
Oh, my.
His mouth was watering. Neoul asked if he could wait a moment so he could think about it. Secretary Song said yes and said he would wait in the car.
Neoul went back up the elevator.
***
Baek Yuri didn't go down because he was afraid of interrupting the conversation, but he watched Neoul and the strangers through the window.
When Neoul said, "I saw her getting scolded by the Head Officer," he thought that she must have come from the Dragon Palace, so he was less worried… but who knows?
Historically, there were many cases where a subject betrayed his lord. A rebellion might have broken out in the Dragon Palace while the Dragon King was unconscious.
'Who knows if the soldiers closed down the Dragon Palace and the lobster usurped the throne?'
She came to kill Neoul to get rid of the aftereffects. Or maybe she wanted to tell the humans about Neoul's true identity and kidnap him to use him as a test subject for thesis and research. Baek Yuri felt a bit of guilt as a human who knew Neoul's true identity and unintentionally deceived Neoul. If Neoul was in trouble, he couldn't pretend not to know.
The sea priestess, who seemed to be an adult that Neoul trusted and relied on, also told him to take good care of Neoul.
It was an important time when
'If I ignore it, my conscience will prick me every minute and every second.
So Baek Yuri ended up waiting in front of the window. He was going to watch and if he saw that Neoul was being dragged away by force, he would immediately call the police and run down.
However, he couldn't hear anything they were talking about downstairs.
Baek Gi-yeom watched along with Baek Yuri, who was looking out the window.
"Is Neoul a third-generation chaebol who left home? They said they came to pick him up earlier, and the atmosphere seems to be that they're struggling with Neoul?"
"That could be true."
Since a third-generation chaebol or a prince is born with a silver spoon in their mouth, Baek Yuri thought it was somewhat similar and agreed. Neoul wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he got it after he was born.
Fortunately, Neoul had a smooth conversation and came back to Baek Yu-ri's house. The Baeks opened the door as soon as Neoul knocked.
"Gal Neoul! Take good care of your phone!"
"Neoul ssi. What did you decide to do?"
Baek Gi-yeom's nagging and Baek Yu-ri's questions simultaneously irritated Neoul's ears.
Neoul looked at the two of them alternately as if asking why they were making such a fuss, and then opened his mouth.
"Do you know CEO Won Hashin?"
"Won Hashin...? The president of H.A.D Entertainment Won Hashin?"
Baek Yuri's eyes widened.
"Do you know him?"
"I don't know him personally. However, among people who are trying to make a living as idols or people who are even a little interested in idols, if you don't know his name, you're a spy."
Baek Gi-yeom brightly chimed in on Baek Yuri's explanation.
"Hey, how did you know that I'm a spy?"
It meant that he didn't know Won Ha-shin either.
Baek Yuri bit his lip for a moment to hold back his laughter, pushed Baek Gi-yeom aside, and gave Neoul an additional explanation.
"Anyway, he's a famous person. H.A.D Entertainment itself wasn't a big company, but the seniors DUNKISS that belonged to them were first-tier both overseas and domestically... so they were very, very popular."
"Hmm...."
"National singer Seo Seim is also a member of H.A.D. Seniors Ru Ma are only in their second year, but their recognition is rising quickly."
"Are they trustworthy?"
"Well. I don't know if you can trust them... but they don't interfere with the activities of their singers and they spend money well."
"Money?"
"Yes. They're not stingy with their investments, so they spend a lot of money. Thanks to that, they let them make the album the way they want it to be, and they give all the support they ask for... Ah, I'm so jealous...."
"...?"
Neoul, who still doesn't know the concept of money, thought of the scraps of paper he borrowed from Baek Yuri and gave to the ghosts last night.
'That was called pocket money, right?'
At Jeju Folk Village, the production team gave him the same scraps of paper as 'pocket money' and let him trade them for food. When he went to eat spicy kimchi stew with his teammates in the first team match, he also....
'Is it good to have a lot of that?'
Neoul was thinking deeply, and Baek Yuri, who had become gloomy and then came to his senses, continued to speak.
"Ah, anyway, since all of our seniors renewed their contracts, aren't they good people? These days, the most wanted company that idol trainees want to join the most is H.A.D."
"Hmm...."
Neoul, who was worried, asked quietly.
"Do you want to go there too, Baek Yuri?"
"No. I will definitely debut on
Baek Yuri showed his firm determination.
"Since Ruma seniors are only in their second year, a new male idol has to wait at least three to four years to debut in H.A.D.. It could even take longer...."
"...."
"I want to stop waiting indefinitely."
After finishing his words, Baek Yuri lowered his eyelashes faintly. Baek Gi-yeom, who had been quietly watching, asked a question from the side.
"But aren't you a senior to Ruma seniors? Clear debuted a few weeks earlier."
"I'm suddenly feeling sad, so can you stop bringing that up?"
Can you really call an unknown group that disbanded after only 6 months of debut a senior?
At Baek Yuri's depressed appearance, Baek Gi-yeom shook his head and asked Neoul while taking his smartphone.
"But why that person Won Hashin?"
Neoul took the smartphone that he wasn't used to yet and put it in his pocket and answered.
"It seems that he received an order from my guardian. They told him to take care of me for the time being."
"....?"
Order...… ? Take care of him…?
Various dramas flashed through Baek Gi-yeom's head as he listened from the side.
Like an heir who ran away to hide from relatives who were after his fortune, or a secret of birth that made him unable to call his father "father" and having to wander from one person's house to another.
Or like the child of a back alley gang boss with many enemies, who was in danger of being taken hostage and couldn't go home and had to be protected somewhere else.
Although he was curious, he couldn't ask about the family history because he was afraid it would be rude, and Baek Gi-yeom's misunderstanding deepened in an instant.
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