Everyone inside the room was shocked and frozen. They were not so surprised that Minhyuk’s friends was coming to visit, as compared to the fact that Minhyuk wanted to finally try to get back out in the world again, after hiding for a long time.

“Minhyuk...!” Changwook shouted in delight as he grabbed Minhyuk’s hands. Even the others were sporting the same delighted expression. To them, it felt like, ‘My child is finally changing for the better!’ or something like that.

“I can’t stay alone in my room forever!”

Minhyuk had made up his mind back when he attacked Rumad.

‘Let’s be confident from now on.’

Changwook nodded and said, “That’s right, you punk!”

“Wait. This is not the time for us to do this!” Hyejin, Minhyuk’s dietitian, said, running wildly.

“Minhyuk, we have to decorate the place and fix you up! You’re going to meet with your friends, is the place going to be like this?!”

“Ah!”

Everyone began to move busily.

***

A white Bentleisa sports car stopped in front of a beauty salon located in Cheongdam-dong.

“Hey, hey. Isn’t that a sports car manufactured by Bentleisa? The one that has only 200 of its kind?”

“Gasp? That single car is worth over one billion...”

It did not matter whether Cheongdam-dong was a place for the rich, anyone that saw this spectacular car released by Bentleisa Corporation would admire it. Then, a woman got out of the car. She was at least 165 centimeters tall with sunglasses covering more than half of her face and a voluptuous, sexy body. Once she took off her sunglasses… Pure. Beauty. All of the men in the vicinity could barely keep their eyes off of her.

“W…wait. That person. Isn’t she...!”

“Legend Guild’s guild master?!”

The Athenae players in the area immediately recognized her. Rankers had more popularity than celebrities these days. Besides, she was the most talked about personality these past couple of days. It was none other than Genie, or rather, Im Jihye.

“Kyaaaaa! Unnie, you’re so pretty!”

“Wow. She’s really pretty!”

“She has a lot of money, a pretty face, and is the master of Legend Guild… she even plays well… she has everything in the world. How envious.”

Jihye entered the salon. Despite being a salon that was frequented by celebrities, Jihye’s appearance still drew the attention of most of the people inside.

“What can I do for you?”

Jihye tapped her lips with the tips of her sunglasses as she smiled and said, “I’m going to meet someone special today.”

“Ah. Perhaps it’s your crush?”

“...Yes.”

The woman smiled at Jihye as she moved her hands to arrange her hair. Jihye made sure to ask Minhyuk to meet outside of the game before they logged out.

‘We just want to hear your story... Minhyuk, we even forgive you for hiding from us for all these years.’

Minhyuk looked a bit conflicted, pondering deeply about her request before finally nodding and saying, ‘It’s a bit difficult for me to go out right now. So… would it be fine for you guys to go to my house?’

‘Your house?’

‘Yup.’

‘Is that so. Okay.’

‘If you meet me there then you will know my story,’ Minhyuk said, giving them his address.

Just then, Jisoo and Seoktae entered. Jisoo immediately sat down on one of the chairs and said, “Do it like Kang Dongwonbin.”

“Ka…Kang Dongwonbin...? T, that... Customer... you know... you’ll need plastic surgery for that,” the hairdresser stuttered and flailed around, embarrassed by the sudden impossible request!

“How can they turn you into Dongwonbin when your face looks like a stone on the street...”

“Sh…shut up!”

Seoktae and Jisoo were quarelling again. Then, Jisoo asked, “But, Minhyuk’s house address... It’s in Gapyeong in Gyeonggi-do? Isn’t that a very remote place?”

“...I know, right? Does he have a lodging business?”

Then, Jisoo said, “Isn’t Minhyuk’s family condition a bit on the difficult side?”

“...Yeah.”

“Ah. That’s right...”

“Uhmm...”

They had a reason to think that way. Jisoo had once seen Minhyuk enter the orphanage before. In fact, a lot of their classmates had seen Minhyuk go to class with the children from the orphanage. Minhyuk also never wore branded shoes. They even heard that his mother had passed away.

When Jisoo, Jihye and Seoktae asked about his parents, they were humbled and at a loss. They thought that Minhyuk’s parents were gone since he was always at the orphanage. Surprisingly, Minhyuk told them that he still had his father with him. Because of that, they assumed that Minhyuk’s family was facing financial difficulty. After all, Minhyuk stayed in the orphanage while his father worked hard.

When asked about his father and his father’s work, Minhyuk looked at them and said seriously, ‘He does this and that. He does a bit of construction work, and sells food and also electronics. It seems like he’s also selling milk these days…’

The three of them finally realized… ‘Ah! Minhyuk’s dad is doing everything to make a living!’ They thought that the construction work Minhyuk’s dad was doing was manual labor, and that the selling of food was him selling meat in the corner of the food section. They also thought that his father had a part-time job as a salesperson, while being a milk delivery boy in the morning.

‘Ahhhh! He’s the most sincere house head! His father will do everything just to make ends meet!’

That was when they knew that Minhyuk grew up with such a righteous father! Since they were friends, they never ignored the ‘poor’ Minhyuk.

“Can we just drive an expensive and foreign car over?” Seoktae asked, approaching Jihye.

They had not seen each other for a long time, so Jihye wanted to present her most beautiful self but…

“I…is that so? If we came out so fancy…”

“Hey. Minhyuk made a lot of money this time, right? He would be rich if he sold that.”

“He even said that he was going to buy something delicious.”

“Hmm...”

Jisoo tilted his head in thought then nodded in agreement. Then, Jihye said, “That… I’m sorry, Unnie.”

“Yes.”

“Can you do it less fancy... What do you call it? Normal look?”

“...?”

“Just make it look like I’m going for an interview.”

“Yes? B…but you’re going to meet with your crush?”

“L…let’s just do it this way.”

Even if she did not look that beautiful, Jihye thought that it would be better if Minhyuk felt comfortable with them. Would they even drag a foreign sports car and a fancy look just to dig on their friend’s sore spot? There was definitely no need for that.

Then, Jisoo also said, “Shit. Do it like I’m someone who’s unemployed. Please.”

“Y…you already look like...”

“OMG? Noona! Why do you think that I look like I’m unemployed...!” Jisoo said. However, he was forced to nod his head in shock after looking at the mirror.

“I don’t need makeup.”

“He, hehe...”

This way, all of them changed their makeup to look like they were a bit poor just for the sake of Minhyuk. After getting their normal makeup done, they went out of the salon.

“Well then, shall we go?”

“Ah. What about the car?”

“Let’s just call for a taxi.”

“Yeah.”

At the same time, a text message arrived on Jihye’s phone.

[Minhyuk: I’m sorry. Can we change the meeting place? My father wants to see you all and he also wants to talk to you so he’s going to pick you guys up.]

“Guys. The meeting place has changed.”

“Really? More than that, I’m a bit nervous to meet with Minhyuk’s father.”

“Yeah. A man like Minhyuk’s dad is definitely a cool man.”

He was the one who raised Minhyuk while doing all the hard work alone! He was a truly great and awesome dad. They had quite a good idea of how he would look, and they believed that he would be a not-so-rich, but cool person. Then, they climbed into a taxi.

“Uncle. Can you please take us to this address?”

The taxi driver took the address.

[The route navigation has started.]

The navigation app showed the destination as ‘Ilhwa Group Headquarters.’

“Ilhwa Group Headquarters? Isn’t that the largest building in the country? Why are we going there?”

The three of them were quite confused.

Then, Jisoo said, “Usually, when you go to Gangnam, wouldn’t you say ‘Let’s meet in front of Ilhwa Group.’ right? I guess they chose it because it’s easy to go meet there?”

“Aha,” Jihye said, nodding along.

Just like that, the three of them rode the taxi without knowing about the person waiting for them.

***

Minhyuk hummed. His Hyejin-noona had definitely fixed him up nicely. She trimmed his hair and sprayed perfume on his wrists, even dressing him up in stylish clothes. However, when he looked in the mirror, all he could see was a fat guy in a suit. Then, he recalled something. He said, “Ah, that’s right. I’m not fat anymore, right? I’m just chubby, so let’s be confident. Let’s go!”

Minhyuk still believed that fact as he looked in the mirror.

Then, Changwook whispered to Hyejin, “What kind of outfit is that? Why is he wearing a suit... Why didn’t you put on sunglasses then...!”

“...”

Hyejin was left speechless after suddenly being tagged as a sinner.

Then, Minhyuk grumbled, “Aaaaah. Wait. Dad too! My friends are just coming over, why is he making such a fuss?”

Minhyuk’s dad contacted him right away when he learned that his friends were coming over. Only Minhyuk, Lee Jinhwan, Oh Changwook and the other medical personnel were living in Minhyuk’s 1600-square meter house in Gapyeong. They recently moved here since the staff believed that this was a better place for treatment.

“Haha. I’m sure your dad is just happy. After all, our Minhyuk is finally meeting with his friends after five years!”

Minhyuk nodded at Jinhwan’s words. He had lived his life alone and trapped in the darkness all those years, not knowing when he would die. He believed that he had no more hope. But now, Minhyuk was slowly letting himself out in the world again. He was even willing to meet with his friends too. As a father, Kang Minhoo would definitely be delighted.

“Why did he say that he would give them a ride...”

“He wanted to meet with your friends first. It’s your father’s showing care for you, I’m sure you understand.”

Minhyuk was a bit sulky, but he still nodded.

***

The chairman of the Ilhwa Group, Kang Minhoo, was, in fact, more excited than Minhyuk. 

“Secretary Park, how do I look?”

“Extremely handsome, Chairman!”

“I’m really nervous. I’m meeting my son’s friends. Haha!” Kang Minhoo said, smiling happily.

His son was finally willing to meet his friends, so Kang Minhoo was feeling a bit happy. This was common for any parent. Some parents would say ‘Don’t play with them anymore, they will disturb your studies!’ but Kang Minhoo was different. His son was finally willing to let his friends visit him. As someone who lived alone for too long, was there anything more delightful than this? Kang Minhoo was so happy that he took time out of his busy schedule just for this! Then, his phone rang.

“Ahem, ahem,” Kang Minhoo cleared his throat and answered the call.

[Hello. Uncle! I’m Minhyuk’s friend, Im Jihye.] 

“Haha. Yes. Hello, Miss Jihye.”

[I’m calling you right now because we’re almost there.]

“Ah. Is that so? Then, I will be right down.”

[Yeees. We’ll see you at the front door, Uncle.]

Kang Minhoo hung up the phone happily. He boarded his exclusive lift and pressed the first floor. He was going down from the 78th floor, the top floor of this huge building.

***

Jihye, Jisoo, and Seoktae looked up at the majestic and tall Ilhwa Group Building when they arrived. 

“Every time I come near here, I always think that the building is so nice.”

“Is the building the only thing that looks nice? Kang Minhoo, the chairman of Ilhwa Group, is also cool!”

“A man of integrity, the chairman that has never had any bad gossip and has never been talked badly!”

They all burst out in admiration. Then, Jihye suddenly thought about something. She asked, “But, don’t you guys think that Minhyuk’s father sounded familiar?”

Jihye thought about it but shrugged it off, thinking that it was not that big of a deal. Meanwhile, Jisoo and Seoktae were busy clamoring in shock.

“Gasp!”

“Ch…Chairman Kang Minhoo!”

“Wow. He’s really cool. Wow, wow! Did you see that? It’s the six billion dollar limousine that Benza sold to the 50 richest people in the world!”

Jihye, Seoktae and Jisoo were all rich people, but if they were compared to Kang Minhoo, then they would only be comparable to his foot, no, his toenails. They watched as Chairman Kang Minhoo walked out of the building in style, took out his phone and called someone. Then, at that exact same moment, Jihye’s phone rang.

Dududududu. Baby Shark~ Dududududu. Mommy Shark~ Dududududu. Daddy Shark~

“What kind of ringtone is that?”

“None of your business,” Jihye snorted at him as she answered her phone. She said, “Yes. Uncle. We’ve already arrived. Ah. Yes, yes. A description? I’m wearing some jeans and a cardigan, while my other friends are wearing casual suits. Can you see us?”

Jisoo and Seoktae straightened their clothes and buttoned up their shirts to make themselves presentable. They were finally going to meet with Minhyuk’s father!

“Where are you?” Jihye asked, looking around to see if the man was already there.

Then, Seoktae suddenly said, “Hey, hey. Jisoo. Why... Why is Chairman Kang Minhoo coming this way and waving his hand? Hey. What is this... Why is he smiling widely at us?”

“Gasp... W…what’s this? Did we do something wrong? O…or maybe the chairman of Namhwa Group is standing behind us?”

The two of them were flustered and confused, looking around -- until Chairman Kang Minhoo stood in front of them.

“Yes. Uncle. Where are...”

[I’m right in front of you. Haha.]

Jihye, Seoktae, and Jisoo were all rendered speechless. Kang Minhoo hung up the call and flashed a soft smile, as he reached his hands out for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Minhyuk’s dad.”

The three of them were frozen stiff. That was when Jisoo finally realized, ‘Th…the manual labor is Ilhwa Construction. The milk delivery is Ilhwa Distribution. Selling electronics is Ilhwa Electronics. And the selling of food was a restaurant franchise...? WHAT?!’

Well, technically, Minhyuk wasn't wrong when he said his father does some construction work, sells food and stuff... xD