When Shin Keir stepped into the exclusive lounge, the atmosphere was like a realm stitched together with quiet power and expensive air.
Business magnates, global investors and industry leaders. Each one circling, greeting, measuring.
Voices overlapped in polished layers as hands reached out, smiles sharpened, and intentions hid behind impeccable etiquette.
Shin responded with practiced ease, chatting and catching up with familiar faces. As he shifted slightly, his gaze flickered, instinctively searching.
For a fraction of a second, something paused.
He turned again but couldn't find Yeri, she wasn't there.
"Where is she?" Shin said quietly.
Secretary Yun stepped forward at once, but even he seemed momentarily caught off guard.
"I… was attending to the arrangements earlier. I didn't notice Miss Zhi had separated."
A faint crease appeared between Shin's brows.
"Find her," he said. "And have someone keep an eye on her."
Secretary Yun turned immediately, signaling to the personnel stationed discreetly behind them.
Just then a new wave approached and this time, with a different purpose.
"CEO Keir, allow me to introduce—"
Another interrupted, "This is my daughter, she just returned from overseas..."
"This is my niece, she's been hoping to meet you—"
One after another, the "big shots" began presenting their companions, daughters, nieces, protégées, all conveniently within Shin Keir's age range.
Secretary Yun was stunned. No wonder the atmosphere felt off compared to previous years.
It seemed his boss's engagement had stirred the waters instead of calming them. Rather than retreat, many women appeared emboldened, eager to try their luck with Shin Keir.
Others, more calculating, sought to curry favor or establish connections with the Keir family through marriage. After all, an engagement was not a marriage, and in their eyes, Shin Keir was still very much "available."
What was even more appalling was the pattern, uncanny and deliberate. Quite a number of the young women present bore a subtle resemblance to Yeri, not identical but close enough to feel intentional.
Long black curls, light makeup, carefully chosen outfits that whispered imitation rather than coincidence. It was as if someone had scattered reflections of her across the room.
One well-known hotelier seized the moment, enthusiastically engaging Shin Keir in conversation. Midway through, with practiced ease, he slipped his daughter into the exchange as though presenting a business proposal.
The girl looked at Shin Keir as if she had just encountered a celebrity for the first time. Her eyes lit up, her composure faltered, and she stammered through her introduction.
"H-hello… I'm—" she stammered, giving her name. "I… I attend the same school as Yeri Zhi, just a lower grade…"
Secretary Yun swallowed. What exactly was the purpose of introducing a seventeen-year-old to his boss in such a setting?
As expected, Shin's eyes narrowed, his gaze turning cold and indifferent.
"Is your daughter the future CEO of your company?" he asked the hotelier flatly. "Is that why you brought her here?"
The hotelier froze, then let out an awkward laugh, clearly caught off guard.
Before he could respond, his daughter quickly interjected, cheeks flushed.
"I- I came on my own!" she said quickly. "I've always admired you and… I just wanted to see you in person."
The honesty might have been endearing in another setting and with another person.
Secretary Yun cleared his throat smoothly, stepping in with the grace of someone used to extinguishing social fires before they spread.
"CEO Keir has a tight schedule today... By the way, Horde Technology's proposal..." he said politely, steering the conversation back toward business matters while opening space for others to approach.
Yet the girl lingered.
Perhaps it was the confidence of someone raised in privilege, or the recklessness of someone who had never truly faced rejection.
Despite her father's quiet attempts to pull her back, she continued trailing after Shin's group, unwilling to let the moment slip through her fingers.
Others quickly took notice. Seeing that Shin Keir did not outright reprimand the girl, and perhaps realizing he was not as terrifying as the rumors painted him to be, a few began mimicking her tactic, quietly trailing behind his group like shadows hoping to be noticed.
There were also those who opted for a more "refined" approach, engaging him directly in business discussions.
At first, they carried themselves with confidence, but as the conversation deepened and veered into more complex territory, their composure began to crack, words faltered, and it became painfully clear they had no place in a discussion of that caliber.
It wasn't as though bringing companions to such events was unheard of.
But in the past, these companions were wives, legitimate business partners, or women of substance who had earned their place through capability and merit, individuals who commanded respect rather than borrowed it.
As discussions on economic growth and financial systems grew increasingly intense, a disturbance broke out in one corner of the lounge.
The hotelier's daughter was arguing with another girl. Judging by the way she turned sharply and strode off, it seemed she had won.
Moments later, she hurried toward Shin Keir and, in her haste, set down a cup of coffee a little too forcefully. The liquid sloshed, spilling over onto the pristine white saucer.
The entire lounge fell silent.
Shin stared at the cup, at the dark spill staining its edges. His forefinger tapped lightly against the table, a soft, rhythmic sound that somehow echoed louder than any voice in the room.
Then his gaze lifted, sweeping across the crowd, sharp and bone-piercing.
"I didn't realize my reputation had fallen so low," he said coolly. "That you think just any young girl with long black curly hair and a pretty face would suffice. Or is this your way of provoking me?"
A ripple of unease spread instantly. Those whose intentions had been laid bare began muttering awkward excuses, their earlier confidence dissolving like sugar in hot water.
Nearby, the hotelier's face flushed with fury and embarrassment.
Without hesitation, he struck his daughter across the face, the sound crisp in the suffocating silence. He barked orders for his staff to take her away, bowing repeatedly as he offered profuse apologies to Shin Keir.
Shin did not even spare him a glance.
In his eyes, the once dignified forum had degraded into something distasteful, a gaudy marketplace where people disguised transactions of flesh and favor as networking.
It was precisely the kind of scene he despised.
"Don't mistake my fiancée for someone you can replace with appearances," he continued, his voice calm yet carrying an unmistakable weight. "She is someone I love. Anyone who believes they can compete with her… I will take that as both an insult to her and to me."
Shock flickered across many faces, especially those who had not attended the engagement banquet.
In that room, most relationships were built on benefit and exchange. Even marriage, more often than not, was just another contract dressed in silk.
A man like Shin Keir, who stood at the pinnacle of the business world like an untouchable monarch, was expected to think the same way.
Yet clearly, he did not.
There was no calculation in his words, no hidden agenda. Just certainty.
Off to the side, Saeki Jie, who had arrived with Zoren Lin, cast him a knowing smile.
Earlier, Zoren had mentioned that his parents had urged him to bring his cousin along, praising her intelligence and beauty, convinced she could easily strike up a connection with Shin Keir.
If he had actually followed their advice, wouldn't he have ended up offending Shin all over again?
Even now, because of his younger brother's foolishness and the incident where Yeri had fallen into the pond during his birthday banquet, Shin remained unmoved. He had yet to allow the Lin family under Hexion's umbrella, his stance as unyielding as ever.
Zoren's mouth twitched. "Should we go check the mafia association's forum?"
At least over there, Tristan was the one in control. Staying any longer beside Shin Keir, whose temperament shifted like a blade catching light, felt unnecessarily dangerous.
Zoren had no intention of being grouped together with the unfortunate souls who had just offended him.
Saeki Jie, who had already grown bored of the stiff and increasingly awkward business discussions, agreed without hesitation.
The two slipped away discreetly, like guests exiting a party that had overstayed its charm.
---
Meanwhile, in a completely different arena, Yeri was hastily scanning through lines of preloaded scripts, dense blocks of code, and unfamiliar syntax that sprawled across the screen like an encrypted maze.
Beside her, the assigned technician tried to explain the process, though his expression betrayed his inner struggle.
It was the look of someone attempting to describe a symphony to a person who had never heard music.
"Do you have any knowledge of programming?" he finally asked, his tone careful but edged with doubt. "CEO Gate mentioned you could at least handle some simple practice using basic code."
He paused, then added, "You just need to defend against that guy's cyberattack."
Yeri didn't respond, her eyes remained glued to the screen, fingers hovering slightly above the keyboard as if listening to something only she could hear.
The technician's lips tightened in displeasure. With a quiet scoff, he turned and left.
Outside, he was immediately intercepted.
"How was it? Did she understand?" Calin asked.
He shook his head, clearly unimpressed.
Calin watched with a faint sneer curling at her lips, already savoring the image of Yeri's impending humiliation.
"Are you ready?" the man in glasses called out lazily. "I can give you a head start. Maybe you'll spot a few bugs… and fix them, if you know what I mean."
Yeri simply nodded.
The moment the system went live, her fingers began to move, dancing lightly and relentlessly.
Each keystroke landed with quiet certainty, like a pianist striking notes only she could see. Her eyes never left the screen as lines of code reflected in her pupils, dissected, restructured, fortified.
Vulnerabilities were sealed almost as soon as they revealed themselves, like doors closing before a storm could enter.
The crowd began to stir.
"...Is she actually doing something?"
"Even if she knows a bit, who doesn't know the basics?" one of Calin's socialite friends scoffed, pushing forward for a better view. "Do you think that's enough to impress someone like Shin Keir?"
The man in glasses checked his watch, unbothered.
"When am I going to attack?" he echoed when someone asked. He shrugged casually. "What's the rush? My usual breakout time is ten minutes. But since it's her…" He smirked. "Let's be generous. Five."
A ripple of laughter spread among his circle.