Chapter 172

└ Nope, they can’t even compete

└ I don’t usually like flag-waving hype, but this I respect

└ Looks like it ends at four

└ Same — wiping a whole province wouldn’t even be hard

[Title: Coffee King showed up at Seogak High]

Now it makes sense.

Everyone but Coffee King is underage so they couldn’t report to the Bureau lololololol

[Title: I was delivering in Hannam last night and saw Coffee King]

That area (the neighborhood from dramas with giant mansions) hardly ever pings delivery calls, so when one popped I grabbed it out of curiosity.

The hill was killer and the slope was insane, so I’m pushing hard — then this mansion’s front gate suddenly opens and a high-end sedan rolls out, so I stop.

People who looked like security at the gate bowed ninety degrees toward the car, ffs.

I’m thinking, wow, who the hell is that?

I peek to see if it’s [N O V E L I G H T] a face I know, and then the back window drops and tell me that wasn’t Coffee King.

For reference, I’m a fan who watched Star Hero live even while delivering, and when the pop-up opened I got Coffee King’s photocard.

(Photo proof of Kim Taeeon photocard.jpg)

So don’t comment asking if I saw wrong — nope.

I’d heard the rumor Coffee King’s family is loaded, but in person it wasn’t just “well-off,” it was on another level.

(Photo of Chairman Lee Junyong’s mansion.jpg)

At this level, you’ve got to be a conglomerate chair to live there. Which big-money Kim families do we have in Korea?

└ Life is way too unfair

└ Be real, in this lane the top dog is Roy

└ Same, anyone under Roy doesn’t count

└ At least Roy isn’t a chaebol — if he had money too...

└ Yeah~ he’s about to have plenty~~

└ If it were the Big Three Guilds I’d agree, but the Bureau is about honor, not money, so maybe not?

└ Oh looks right lol how’d you find it?

└ Dude says it’s Jun Dragon’s place

└ ???

└ Coffee King came out of the Maru house? What the hell are they to each other

└ If you search “conglomerate head residence” on the portal, there’s a ranked list by declared values

└ Holy crap, it’s real

[Title: What the hell is Coffee King’s identity]

If he’s Jun Dragon’s son, shouldn’t he be Lee Taeeon?

So why is he Kim Taeeon??

Don’t tell me... love child?

The next day.

The second Yeonwoo’s article went live, Taeeon’s name started getting tossed around in every community for real.

A single short sighting post from a delivery worker snowballed into suspicion, and in a flash it took over the real-time trends on SNS.

With the provocative keyword “Coffee King love child,” no less.

But Taeeon, who had no way of knowing this yet, was heading to work again today from Roy’s house — without Roy....

“Are you going out, sir? I have the car waiting.”

He’d thought he’d slipped out quietly without a sound, but he ran right into a security agent waiting in the foyer.

The man gave Taeeon a short bow, and his gaze landed on the suitcase Taeeon was rolling down.

“Pardon me, but the luggage...”

He was about to say he couldn’t take it out, right?

With a helpless smile, Taeeon gave an awkward one back.

“Ha. Yeah... that’ll be hard, huh?”

“I’m sorry. The young master was most emphatic.”

“Understood. I’ll leave the luggage. But...”

“Yes, sir. Go ahead.”

“I want to take the bus today.”

The man gave another sheepish smile.

“Ah... In that case I’ll take you to the bus stop. As you know, no buses run in this neighborhood. It’s quite a walk down.”

“No. I’m fine walking.”

But the man had his situation, too.

“The young master specifically instructed us. We are to escort you without fail.”

The pleading look made Taeeon feel a sudden pang of guilt.

Right. For him, this was just work — and if I insist, I might just make his day harder.

After a moment’s hesitation, Taeeon changed his mind. Then please just to the stop, he said, and let it go there.

“Thank you.”

...Was that really something to thank him for?

He felt a tiny wave of disillusion, but Taeeon tried not to show it as he quietly put on his shoes.

When he lifted his head, beyond the wide-open front door he saw a luxury sedan parked in the middle of the drive.

It was the same model Roy had ridden with his friends on Awakened High’s opening day.

It used to be Roy’s personal car, but with Roy back in the dorms and the house empty, it was effectively Taeeon’s ride now.

With a quiet sigh, Taeeon pressed his lips together.

‘Roy, you really....’

Two days ago, dragged along by Roy’s insistence, Taeeon had come — and he’d been regretting that choice ever since.

Maybe it was the shock, but even now he felt a little dizzy.

Once at the palatial mansion, again at the sight of the many live-in staff.

And when he faced Jun Dragon giving a piggyback to a little girl who was Roy’s spitting image, he honestly thought he might faint.

What kind of cheat-code character was this? He ended up staring at the ceiling all night.

At the same time, he decided he needed to escape this suffocating mansion as soon as possible....

“Is it... true?”

The moment he arrived at the temporary Shooting Star office, Taeeon got a question he didn’t see coming from Han Gyeol.

“...What are you talking about?”

Unlike yesterday, today Kim Taeeon made it into Seogak High’s music room without a fuss.

He was just exhaling in relief when Han Gyeol, who’d gotten there first, spoke up.

But with every subject dropped, he had no idea what Han Gyeol meant.

When Taeeon blinked, lost, Han Gyeol realized his slip, hurriedly pulled out his phone, and held it out.

Even in retirement, Han Gyeol had the habit of monitoring his own name, so when he saw Taeeon’s nickname at #1 on the trends, he tapped without thinking — and his eyes nearly fell out.

So he’d waited for Taeeon to arrive and mustered the courage to ask first.

But Taeeon couldn’t help being rattled.

“W-what is all this? Did an article drop?”

“Well... you’re #1 on the trends. It’ll drop any minute, right?”

These days there are so many hack reporters that once something pops on SNS, they blast out articles without fact-checking.

Sure enough, when he opened the portal app just in case, Taeeon’s photo was plastered huge on the main page.

[B-grade elemental Awakener Kim Taeeon, Maru Group Chairman Lee Junyong’s love child?]

“Ah. It dropped.”

“It dropped?!”

Startled, Taeeon shot to his feet with a shout.

Seriously, even rumors don’t spread like this.

At his outburst, Han Gyeol flinched back — then stared up at Taeeon, studying him closely.

His face was flushed red; he wasn’t hiding his panic at all.

He looked like someone whose secret had been exposed — and also like someone dumbfounded by a ridiculous rumor.

‘Looking closely... he does kind of resemble Chairman Lee Junyong...?’

Just then, the music room door slid open and the real star of the rumor walked in.

“Yo~ today let’s keep it—”

“Roy!”

Suddenly, Taeeon barked Roy’s name and strode over.

Han Gyeol hadn’t known Taeeon long, but even on Star Hero — a zoo of all kinds of bastards — he’d never lost his cool.

It was the first time seeing him raise his voice like this, and Han Gyeol’s eyes went wide.

Same for Roy.

Facing an angry Taeeon with zero context, how could he not be flustered?

“...Pardon?”

Roy accidentally slipped into polite speech.

Already up close, Taeeon gripped Roy’s shoulders, face set hard.

“Bring that article down right now.”

“A-article?”

Me?

What article...?

Roy tilted his head and pointed at himself. Then he glanced past Taeeon’s shoulder.

There was Han Gyeol, hand over his mouth, watching them both.

Roy shot him a look — do you know why he’s like this?

Han Gyeol did know — and also kind of misunderstood.

He thought Taeeon was trying to use connections to crush a story.

As he hesitated, not wanting stray sparks to hit him, Taeeon couldn’t hold back and shouted first.

“Right now there’s an article saying I’m your chairman — no, your father’s love child!”

“Pfft! What?”

“The what?!”

At the absurdity, Roy burst out laughing, while Han Gyeol shot up from his seat, eyes huge.

“F-father? Who’s the father? Chairman Lee Junyong is Roy—”

Mid-shout, Han Gyeol’s voice cut, and his jaw dropped.

Lee Junyong and Roy.

They have the same last name — and then a flash of that Amex-whatever black card.

Plus how he’d once tried to win Roy over by flaunting money and Roy didn’t even sniff at it.

As all of it clicked together, Han Gyeol collapsed into his chair.

Only now did he realize he’d been posturing like a big shot in front of a tiger.