Chapter 11 - 10. The Flower of Disaster
An upscale bar usually had a rooftop to be used as a beer garden, for the employees to wind up, or for the customers to take some fresh air. In that case, the rooftop in Helios was not just a garden. It was a whole greenhouse that looked like a majestic golden dome from the outside. The access, however, was forever restricted, even for the employees.
Hell. Even for the general manager.
Lee Sol brought Seul-ah to an elevator at the end of a corridor that only several people were permitted to pass. "This is as far as I could go," he said. "Please use the card to access the roof. I will wait here to escort you out later."
Seul-ah gave the manager a genuine smile. "Thank you, Mister Sol."
It was the first time she spoke gently and used honorifics. Even after she used the card and the elevator door closed again, Lee Sol still blinked slowly in surprise.
Again, he couldn't help the confusion about which Seul-ah was the real Seul-ah.
Inside the elevator, however, Seul-ah also struggled with her own anxious mind. While she had been waiting and prepared for this moment, she couldn't help the building nervousness. After all, the person she was about to meet was someone she regarded as scarier than her own father. Someone with both legs in the light and darkness of society. Someone who held hands with both politicians and underworld bosses.
Song Yonghwa; The Flower of Disaster.
It was a nickname made from a pun of the last syllable in his name, which could mean both flower and disaster with different writing. A name that was given both as mockery and respect as a person who was said to bring a curse that brought down his own family, as well as a person who brought order to the chaotic gang wars a decade ago. Outside, on the legal side of the world, however, he had a different nickname.
The Flower of Contradiction.
Song Yonghwa, while bearing the words 'harmony' and 'peace' in his name, was the chairman of the largest military company in the country. To put it simply, he was a glorious weapon maker and arms dealer--although he dealt with governments and made missiles instead of guns. He was both heralded and cursed, but then again...people said we had to prepare for war to obtain peace.