Before heading back with his approval, I had a brief conversation with Grandfather.

Time was pressing, but that much was worth spending.

“Was it you, Grandfather, who handled the ANSP? I heard the number of infiltrators has dropped recently...”

“You figured that out, huh. The days of dictatorship are over now... and those blue-eyed devils from Namsan have started thinking about padding their back pockets, so it wasn’t too difficult.”

“I don’t know much about that side of things. Could you maybe teach me a bit?”

Grandfather nodded and pointed out a few key things.

Since I was an outsider when it came to espionage-related matters, I listened carefully. Some of it I’d heard before from the Russian agents, but some of it was completely new to me.

No matter how much money or power I had, everything still depended on people’s trust and credit. As an individual, I was just one physically weak human being.

Even the United States had repeatedly failed to preserve either face or interest when it launched diplomacy or war without regard for local conditions. I was someone who knew how to acknowledge both my capabilities and my limitations.

–Scratch.

“Then I’ll need to be a bit more cautious when dealing with Russia... Hmm, maybe it’s better to open an official channel in the light while keeping the rest in the shade.”

“That’s right. If you really plan to operate from within Korea, you need to understand how the state functions. Not everyone is rational like the models in economics..., and sometimes people care more about things than money. You can suffer major losses from completely unexpected places. But if you stay back like now and act through proxies, you’ll be fine. At least you won’t get hurt.”

“You mean I have to be involved in all three branches of government—legislative, judicial, and executive?”

Chairman Yoo Seong-pil nodded.

“Hmm, that’s one way to look at it. As expected, Ha-yeon, you’re clever. That’s good.”

He stroked his pale, coarse beard—it must’ve been a while since he shaved—and added:

“Striking at a vulnerable point is ultimately only temporary. You’ve heard the saying that a world won by horseback cannot be ruled from horseback. An attacker only needs to win once across ten battlefields, but the principle of governing a country is not to lose even once on ten ever-changing fronts.”

I felt like I understood what he meant.

I can win against a nation. But I can’t become the nation. Just like a virus can kill a person, but that doesn’t mean that tiny organism is stronger than a human being.

He referred to the attacker as a ‘person’ but the defender as ‘principle’—as in, a system. That must’ve been intentional. Because I’m not fighting a president, I’m fighting the system called the state.

But I truly wanted to take this country into my hands. And as Chairman Yoo Seong-pil said, it couldn’t be done with money alone.

If so...

Then what I needed to do was simple.

“...People, and customs. That should be enough.”

Grandfather shook his head slowly.

“Ha, it’s a real relief you weren’t born into Mirae Group. Of course, someone like you could never have come out from under such classless people anyway... You’re right, Ha-yeon. If you dominate a handful of core individuals and a few repeated customs, that’s it. Repeated inequality becomes something people get used to.”

“But it’ll still be hard. Even if I can buy off the others, the president has so much authority...”

I joked lightly, and Chairman gave a soft laugh.

“Quit pretending, that’s what you’ve been preparing for—this very moment, when the state voluntarily gives up its own defense.”

Hmm.

That’s true.

You can’t govern a world won on horseback from horseback. It’s a famous saying, but there’s another meaning to it. You can’t maintain a country with force, but you can acquire it that way.

At least for me, swallowing the Republic of Korea wasn’t the hard part. Maintenance was.

As I nodded in agreement, Grandfather suddenly ambushed me with a question.

“So, when are you getting married?”

Ack.

“Uh..., not yet...”

I smiled awkwardly, cold sweat forming.

“You’re smart enough to understand this, Ha-yeon. No matter how well the predecessor did, if the successor ruins it, that’s the end. And if the succession structure isn’t clear, it won’t just be a problem for future generations. It’ll start to affect you while you’re alive.”

Ugh, nagging...

I told you I’m not dying.

***

On the way back.

“Ahaha! So what did you tell him? That you’ll find a man eventually, so don’t worry?”

I replied to Seo Ji-yeon with a sullen expression.

“Hmph, I told him I’d live as a spinster forever. And that I’d pick a smart kid from among my nephews and make him the next successor.”

He nodded in the end since I dragged family into it.

There’s no more certain way to secure an alliance than to promise succession to the next generation. Even betrayal by one’s own children in the name of succession has a long and noble history.

And since I have no plans to have children, it’s even safer. Probably...

“You really are strange, Young Miss. You’re so kind to little kids, but you hate the idea of having your own.”

“It’s not that I hate the idea. What I hate is being tied down to someone else by force.”

And... I’m scared I’d end up loving someone without being loved back.

At the very [N O V E L I G H T] least, money—and ‘myself’—won’t betray me. That’s why I love them.

I don’t have zero complaints about my current life, but my greed for gold has always burned hotter than any physical desire or maternal instinct.

Even if I had to choose again, I’d still choose who I am now—not who I was in my past life.

“Yeah, I know. Because you’re someone who lives freely. Though sometimes it’s a bit too much.”

Seo Ji-yeon threw shade at me for a good while, then turned her head toward the back window.

“What is it? Do you see something?”

“No, I was just thinking. The world really has changed a lot. You know I haven’t been able to stay in Korea much lately.”

Coming from someone who’s not even a full adult yet... If Si-hyun, who’s been working for years in some distant land, heard that, she’d probably burst into righteous rage.

Still, I get it to a degree.

The world really has changed a lot.

“Wasn’t it this year that computer adoption suddenly surged?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. It’s all thanks to you, Young Miss. The internet era is really about to start. Though judging from how you’re inflating the dotcom bubble, it looks like it’ll take a bit longer...”

“It’s not me who’s slow—it’s everyone else who’s trying to move too fast.”

Honestly, I think I’ve accelerated technological progress quite a bit.

So I deserve to skim a little more profit off the top.

***

Now that I had Grandfather’s approval, I had nothing more to hesitate over.

My uncle?

That kind of incompetent man with no money can’t block my path.

“But he’s still your father, so maybe don’t say it like that...”

“Oh—whoops. You were there, Oppa?”

Yoo Seon-jun narrowed his eyes and looked at me.

“....”

“Okay, okay. Uncle Jin-seok may be somewhat competent, but he has no money. He can’t stop me. And I doubt he plans to.”

“...Probably not. Daehwa Group’s a pretty sound company.”

Thanks to me.

Everyone criticized our Chairman, but he wisely accepted the insights of a person from the future and slowly reduced the company’s debt.

“It’ll be fun to have a proper showdown someday, right? Oppa, you can even side with Uncle Jin-seok. I’ll allow it.”

“How generous of you, you brat.”

Grumbling a bit, Yoo Seon-jun looked at me and sighed.

“So... you’re really doing it now?”

“Yeah, I am.”

My heart was racing. Just imagining it made my face blush... Ah, this feeling—it must be love.

“You don’t like it? I do. I feel like I’m going insane.”

I asked with a bright smile, and he nodded with a mixed expression.

Fifteen billion dollars.

When he saw that number recently, even Yoo Seon-jun’s eyes wavered slightly.

“Yeah. It’s... better than I thought.”

“Right? There’s no way it feels bad to gamble with our country’s entire annual budget.”

I clung to my cousin and lured him to the gambling table.

“Ugh... I swore I’d never do this again.”

“Come on, it’s fine. I’ll talk to Joo-eun. I’ll take care of your kid, so let’s do it together. It’ll be fun, right? Hmm?”

Yoo Seon-jun rubbed his index finger and thumb like he was craving a cigarette he’d quit.

“...This isn’t my fault, okay?”

Ahaha.

This is it.

***

Thailand’s collapse, naturally, affected Korea as well.

“...This looks... really serious.”

The financiers who had been borrowing dollars and yen for investments muttered uneasily. Most of them belonged to comprehensive financial companies.

–Clack.

“Oh, everyone’s gathered here. Lots of familiar faces.”

“President Park. Hmm, you came too?”

President Park, who ran a securities company, nodded. Among them, he was considered one of the heavy hitters. There was only one reason they’d all gathered here.

Because a creditor had summoned them.

“I’m not sure what’s going on... but for now, we’ll have to grab his pants leg and beg.”

“You think it’ll be okay...? Ah, Young Master. You’re here.”

–Ding.

A young man with a somewhat roguish air gave a nod in greeting. He had the faintly rebellious look of someone who used to mess around, but he still gave off the aura of a proper ‘executive.’

“Yes, greetings. I’m Yoo Seon-jun, eldest grandson of Daehwa Group and current branch manager of Berlin-Bearings Bank Korea.”

“So, um... what brings you here...?”

One of them asked nervously. Everyone had a vague idea, but no one wanted to say it aloud.

“Well, I’m sure you all know... Now, pay up. In dollars, please.”

Grin.

Yoo Seon-jun raised the corner of his mouth in a faint smile.