Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family
Chapter 108 - 107. Hustle

Chapter 108: Chapter 107. Hustle

"After a long time, I finally appear!"

They watched Austin stretch out his arms wide to the sky and shouted as if he were on a stage the moment he arrived at their usual hotel room. Sarah tilted her head in confusion. "Who are you talking to?"

"No one," Austin shrugged as he walked further toward the couch where Sarah and Hajin were, scoffing at how the two were looking even more radiant than usual. "What do main characters know anyway?"

Hajin stroked his chin in appraisal. "Is this a symptom of being alone for too long?"

"So sad..."

Austin turned to the man he had met in the hallway before entering the hotel room, pointing and glaring in annoyance. "Fuck--I don’t want to hear it from a single like you!"

"I’m single by choice," Sol, the general manager of a famous club who received party invitations even more than a celebrity, looked at Austin up and down. "You..."

"Shut it!"

"Go out more, why don’t you?"

"Oh, I will!" Austin pursed his lips and pointed at Sarah. "I will if this ladyboss here stops giving me so many things to do."

Sarah tilted her head. "Since when do people working in finance have time for their own lives?"

"Wow...you’re stripping me of my human rights, now?"

"You’re stripping yourself of your human rights the day you decided to be a financier for a conglomerate."

Austin blinked for a few seconds before clutching his heart. "Damn...I don’t have any comeback for that," he sighed, looking back at Sol. "But why are you here?"

"Food delivery," Sol replied while pulling forward the trolley he brought earlier.

Sarah had asked him for all kinds of spicy food from various places, and since the delivery people could only come up to the lobby, someone had to bring everything to the room. Sol handed over the trolley to Hajin, who immediately placed the boxes on the dining table. Both of them had the same expression as the red-colored dishes filled the surface.

Sol looked at the girl who got up from the couch and approached the table. "Are you depressed? Angry?"

"What are you talking about?" Sarah looked up, eyes sparkling with excitement. "This is a celebration."

"Huh..."

Yes--after poking people so much and sowing chaos with merely her presence, Sarah was in a great mood to start working again so she could taste her family’s downfall quicker. Before any unnecessary thought clouded her judgment.

And what better way to pump up the fire within than pouring in more fire?

"Kyaah--look at all those red colors! Now this is the soul of our country!" Austin smacked the table and raised his thumb in approval.

"Oh, you know what you’re talking about!"

"You have some for me, right? Right?"

Hajin winced at the spread of red that filled the air with spicy scents. Even more at how Sarah and Austin look all excited about destroying their stomach.

"I don’t condone this, Princess," Hajin narrowed his eyes. "Why do you know this kind of food anyway?"

Wasn’t Sarah raised in a conglomerate house and go to a prestigious academy? Hajin didn’t think she would know any street food beyond their names--which she probably only knew from drama anyway.

And he was right about that. Sarah didn’t know any of this food before her regression. "I didn’t--Sua told me about these and I’ve been wanting to try all of them," she shrugged.

"Can’t you celebrate with cakes like normal people?" Hajin groaned.

"How boring, puppy! But I’m the boss so whatever," Sarah pushed the bodyguard away before taking a seat and pulled a big bowl of spicy rice cake toward her. She bit into one and wiggled her shoulder slightly as the tingling sensation spread over her tongue. "What about the other delivery?"

Sol would be there even without the delivery, since Sarah had called him to talk earlier. He poked a piece of spicy chicken with a fork and leaned against the table as he ate it. "Little Bird is a bit too busy right now since the big boss is going to return soon," he said. "So, we’re doing some legwork instead."

"Lots of deadlines, huh?" Sarah smiled in sympathy. "So, what did you find?"

"Standard stuff," Sol twirled his fork in the air. "It’s a project between a production company and a construction company--they are planning on creating a multimedia compound, mainly for filming sets."

"Huh..."

"You know how most of the filming sets are located outside of the capital? Even for green screen, they don’t have a studio space big enough to fulfill the increasing demand," Sol continued after taking another piece of chicken bites. "They want to make filming sets and multimedia sets, and eventually also open the place to the public."

Austin snapped his fingers. "Like a resort or theme park?"

"Perhaps," the manager shrugged. "Not many places near the capital have enough space but that hill, and it seemed like the production company had been trying to get the place for more than a decade now."

Austin whistled. "That’s dedication."

Hajin, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes both at how fast Sarah ate the spicy bowl and Sol’s explanation. "Trying--meaning they didn’t succeed."

"Yeah, and so they partnered with a construction company."

Sarah paused her eating to muse. Why would partnering with a construction company make things easier, instead of partnering with the government?

"Ah, it’s that kind of construction company, isn’t it?" Sarah concluded.

The one used to be an underworld group, establishing companies so they could launder their dirty money and appear as a legal operation. Meaning, the company consisted of gangsters. Not everyone, but the field employees and the ones in leadership positions were.

"That’s why it’s a partnership," Sol smirked. "Equal share too."

"Things you have to sacrifice for taking the devil’s hand," Sarah chuckled. "No wonder they are confident."

Sol pointed his fork at the girl. "They’ll track your land too, Sarah."

"Uh-huh."

"Are you going to sell it?" Sol asked curiously.

Sarah twisted her lips, patting the side of the bowl with her chopsticks in contemplation. "Doesn’t sit well with me, even though it’s business."

"Drug dealing is also business, but we don’t do that either," Sol nodded. Even people on the dark side had their own principles.

"They’ll hound you, or just forge the deed," Austin predicted.

"It’s a bit of a pain dealing with that kind when you have so much on your plate already," Sol added. Gangsters had factions and ties to officials, so it would never end with just one or two things. "Maybe it’s better to just sell it and use it as capital."

Austin gasped and slammed the table. "Hey, more work for me!"

"Here, I’ll give you extra eggs," Sarah put in not one, but two boiled eggs inside the financier’s spicy rice cake soup.

Austin looked at the eggs with narrowed eyes. "Gimme that chicken too."

"Deal."

Hajin furrowed her brows as the food got devoured fast between those two. "I think that’s enough for you, Master. Please take pity on your stomach."

"Just from this?" Sarah rolled her eyes. "Weakling."

Hajin parted his lips incredulously. "Weak--"

"What? The mad dog can’t eat spicy food?" Austin gasped mockingly, and Hajin curled his fist in response.

"Who said I can’t?" Hajin spoke through gritted teeth.

Sarah curled her eyes at this sudden rare moment. "Have some then," she said nonchalantly.

Hajin paused, and Austin didn’t waste the chance to join in the jab. "Yeah, have some then~"

Hajin replied coldly. "I don’t have a penchant for ruining my own health."

"You can take a bullet but not chili powder?" Sol arched his brow, joining the train.

Hajin narrowed his eyes dangerously, but both Austin and Sol knew he wouldn’t do anything when Sarah was there, so they just smirked. Besides, it would be so pathetic if he became physical for getting teased about spicy food.

"Tell you what," Sarah had her mischievous nerves tingling--perhaps a leftover of the family dinner. "If you can eat all of these without drinking anything, I’ll let you do anything tonight."

Austin and Sol gasped. "Oh, scandalous~"

Hajin stiffened. "...Anything?"

Sarah shoved a pair of chopsticks beside the plate of big dumplings filled with solid fire. "Anything."

Hajin pressed his lips and stared at the dumpling without blinking for a few seconds. He gulped audibly, before grabbing the chopsticks and shoving the whole dumpling inside his mouth before his fighting spirit waned. Immediately, he almost coughed, but managed to stop before it became a real accident. His face was flushed red and sweat was beading on her face immediately.

Gone was the charming bodyguard who could flirt simply by flashing a subtle smile, and the two other men around the table had their fill with laughter.

"Oh, the things men do for lust."

Sarah bit her lips to hold back a giggle and returned to the serious conversation while Hajin fought through another four dumplings.

"Anyway, the thing is, I’m still wondering what that man...uhh, Henry?--what’s his connection with Jeong Mina?" Sarah said between Hajin’s grunts. "I don’t think she’ll pick just a random person to be stuck with me."

"Maybe she just wanted to make you miserable?" Austin shrugged. "I mean, the man sounds miserable to live with."

"That won’t be enough. His company is not as big as HS," Sarah shook her head. "No matter what, I can always walk away and return if I don’t like the situation."

"True," Sol nodded. "Well, I’ll ask around. Anyway, about the rejection--no one actually knows why, strangely enough."

"Huh?"

"The residents were only told that the hill wasn’t to be touched, or they would get cursed. That kind of superstition reasoning would not hold in court. It’d be different if there’s a cultural value or something."

"Hmm..."

Sarah frowned, trying to remember if there was anything like that in her past life. The project sounded big enough to be known, but it wasn’t like Sarah followed every bit and piece of business news outside of their own company. Based on the timeline, it probably hadn’t launched properly yet by the time she died, so...

"Let’s put that aside for now," Sarah said, swatting the air before turning toward Sol. "I need your help with something."

"Oh?"

"I need someone--a woman--to get close to my father’s mistress."

"Oho?" Sol arched his brow, looking more interested in it than the land business. "And what do you want this woman to...insinuate?"

"Envy," Sarah stabbed a spicy rib with her fork. "Make the mistress think what she has now is not enough."

Her eyes flashed and her lips curled deeply, recalling the baits she had sprinkled all over the place.

"That it’s time for her to step up her game and get rid of someone’s position."

Austin whistled at the cold gleam in Sarah’s eyes, but the cold air was broken with a loud slamming sound from a struggling man. They flinched and stared at Hajin, who looked like he was just crawling out of a volcano.

"I...ate them all..."

Austin and Sol bit their lips, wanting to laugh but also respecting the hustle.

"Oh..." Sarah looked at the flushed face and drenched skin; the tears pooling in the grey eyes. She couldn’t even tease the man because of that, and just laughed softly. "Okay, good job, puppy."