Daddy is too Strong-Chapter 57

The Fissure Management Division office was in one of its peaceful states.

A neatly dressed man with slicked-back hair entered through the door, startling Cheol-Soo. He had been resting his chin on his hand and staring blankly at his monitor but now hastily scrambled under his desk.

The newly-arrived man grinned, then walked briskly toward Cheol-Soo’s desk, bent down, and looked at Cheol-Soo, tucked away behind his chair.

“Oh my! Chief Kang, it’s been a hot minute! Why did you crawl into such a cramped space?” The man greeted him in a distinct Busan dialect.

Cheol-Soo acted as if nothing happened and sat back in his seat.

After clearing his throat, he looked at the man, Yoo Min-Sang, and asked, “Why are you here again? Do you think the City Hall is your backyard?”

“Don’t be like that. You’re hurting my feelings. I came all the way from Busan just to see you, Chief Kang.”

“Oh, cut it out. Your lies are only getting worse.”

“By the way, do you still have any equipment funds left?” Yoo Min-Sang probed him.

Cheol-Soo clicked his tongue as if this was exactly what he expected.

Yoo Min-Sang was, in essence, a peddler who visited Seoul City Hall every few months. He owned a workshop named after himself, Yoo Min-Sang Smithy, a small shop that dealt in basic weapons, suits, and other combat-related supplies.

The problem was that he was practically a con artist who would sell a suit worth 3 million won for double or even triple the price to naive buyers using his silver tongue.

“We’ve got nothing. We spent it all at the auction last time, so you might as well leave now,” Cheol-Soo told him.

“You bought equipment at an auction? Is that allowed?”

“Why do you think we did it?”

“You should have bought from my smithy. I would have given you a discount.”

“Whatever. My point is we don’t have any equipment funds left. So, off you go.”

Yoo Min-Sang sighed and seemed to contemplate something for a moment. Then, as if nothing had happened, he flashed a wide smile and approached Hyuk-Soo.

Hyuk-Soo was drafting an official document when he muttered, “Not buying,” as if it were routine.

“How are you always so diligent, Supervisor Kwon? Civil service jobs are meant to be easygoing; do the bare minimum, grab your money,” Yoo Min-Sang said, trying to find an opening.

“I’m busy. Let’s talk some other time.”

“You’re so prickly, but that’s part of your charm...” Yoo Min-Sang’s words trailed off.

He had spotted Do-Jun, who entered the office and sat at the desk next to Hyuk-Soo.

Looking back and forth between the nameplate on Do-Jun’s monitor and the man himself, Yoo Min-Sang said, “Who is this incredibly handsome man? Are you a model, sir?”

“You’ve met him before. This is Supervisor Lee Do-Jun,” Hyuk-Soo introduced him.

“This... this is Supervisor Lee Do-Jun?” Yoo Min-Sang was stunned as he looked at Do-Jun.

It was only natural because the last time he saw Do-Jun a few months ago, he had been a slightly chubby man of average height with an unremarkable face.

“How can someone change this much in a few months? Incredible! Do you remember me, Supervisor Lee? I’m Yoo Min-Sang, the owner of Yoo Min-Sang Smithy. I hope you enjoyed the mana supplement you purchased last time.”

Yoo Min-Sang sat next to Do-Jun, acting as if they were more acquainted than they actually were. But there was no way Do-Jun would remember him.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t recall. What do you mean by mana supplement?” Do-Jun asked him.

“You bought a mana supplement from me last time. That thing works wonders, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I’m not sure.”

At that moment, Do-Jun realized something from Hyuk-Soo’s uncomfortable reaction and Yoo Min-Sang’s mention of the mana supplement. This guy was just a peddler.

Yoo Min-Sang rummaged through his backpack and placed a small plastic bottle filled with blue liquid on Do-Jun’s desk.

“This is our workshop’s latest product. Supervisor Lee, have you heard of the Black Squirrel? That’s right, the Black Squirrel that sometimes appears in the Fissure at Sanbangsan Mountain, Jeju Island. When you catch a Black Squirrel that feeds on Jeju’s pure energy, a small amount of mana stone comes out. This mana juice is made using that very mana stone!”

“I see...”

The inside of a Fissure was a completely different environment, so why was he mentioning a mountain in Jeju?

Do-Jun examined the mana juice Yoo Min-Sang had placed on his desk. He realized it indeed had a faint trace of mana, but it was so weak that it wasn’t even worth calling mana.

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It was much weaker than even an F-rank mana stone from a goblin.

“This usually sells for 4 million won, but for today only, I’ll sell it to you for 200 thousand won, Supervisor Lee. And since it’s imbued with Jeju’s energy, it’s especially good for men.”

Do-Jun chuckled at the sales pitch. Look at this guy.

An F-rank mana stone was worth about 50 thousand won. Yet this one with far less mana than an F-rank stone was being sold for 200 thousand won? It was basically a daylight robbery.

At most, this was probably a solution made with the tiniest bit of an F-rank stone, never mind the Jeju Black Squirrel.

“Mr. Yoo.”

“Yes, Supervisor Lee?”

“You should thank me for pretending to fall for your scam last time.”

“S-scam? I’ve always lived by my conscience since I was a child.”

“Nobody actually gets tricked these days. They all just pretend to,” Do-Jun told the peddler.

After a brief silence, Yoo Min-Sang leaned in closer to Do-Jun and whispered, “Is it that obvious?”

Do-Jun nodded.

***

One hour later.

“Mr. Administrator, I brought you a gift.” Ye-Ji smiled brightly as she placed a paper bag on Do-Jun’s desk.

“A gift?”

“Yes! Open it.”

Do-Jun opened the paper bag to see a familiar plastic bottle inside. He rubbed his lips and said, “So this is where it ended up.”

“Sorry?”

“It’s nothing.”

Noticing Hyuk-Soo glance over in their direction, Ye-Ji smiled and said, “I bought one for you too, Supervisor Kwon. And one for Chief Kang as well.”

She placed one on each of their desks.

“Apparently, this is very beneficial for men. It was originally 4 million won, but I got it for two hundred thousand. How lucky am I? Hehe.”

“Why on earth did you...” Hyuk-Soo muttered and sighed deeply.

“Hey, now. Everyone gets scammed at least once. Don’t you remember, Hyuk-Soo, when you bought that Malgur flower extract? You were so proud of getting it for 800 thousand won, claiming it was worth five million,” Cheol-Soo said as he picked up the mana supplement.

“W-why are you bringing that up here?”

Do-Jun stifled a laugh.

“Do-Jun, you shouldn’t be laughing. You were worse. You paid 1.5 million for yours.”

Ye-Ji had been listening to talk and asked with a shocked look, “Wait, is this a scam?”

“Oh, no, Hunter Ye-Ji. Thank you for the gift!” Cheol-Soo hastily replied, scratching his head.

“Of course!” Ye-Ji beamed with a smile.

***

Returning home, Do-Jun placed the mana juice on the dining table.

“How was work, Father?”

“It was good, thanks.”

“What’s this?” Yoon-Hee tilted her head in curiosity as she checked the contents of the cardboard box. Upon recognizing the blue liquid, she exclaimed, “Oh, this is mana juice, right?”

“You know about it too?”

“Of course! It’s been trending on the internet. They say if you drink it with your meal, the mana components get absorbed better by your body. Although it doesn’t increase your mana, it’s supposed to purify the mana you already have. Did you buy it yourself?”

Do-Jun shook his head and replied, “Ye-Ji gifted it to me.”

“Hmm...”

“Is something wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I should at least send her a thank-you message. I heard this is super expensive and hard to find.”

Yong-Yong jumped onto the dining table and inspected the mana juice. Then he snickered.

“Mana juice? Hah, this is just... mmmph!”

“You’re coming with me to wash up.” Do-Jun clamped a hand over Yong-Yong’s mouth and headed to the bathroom.

He didn’t want to shatter Yoon-Hee’s enthusiasm over the juice.

Well, it’s not like it doesn’t have any mana in it.

***

At the dinner table, Yoon-Hee opened the mana juice bottle and poured it for Do-Jun with both hands. He had said he didn’t need to drink it, but she insisted it was good for him, so he reluctantly held out his glass.

“Do you want to try some too...?” Do-Jun asked, watching Yoon-Hee stare intently at the nutrient water.

All fathers wanted to share good things with their children. He decided he’d buy the real thing for her next time as he poured her a glass.

“Shall we do a little gunbae?” Yoon-Hee asked happily. [1]

The glass cups made a clear clinking sound as they touched. Do-Jun took a sip of the nutrient water in his glass. A slight tingling sensation hit his tongue, followed by a faint hint of alcohol.

He didn’t think much about the alcohol in the drink as he placed the glass down. Then suddenly, he realized it and glanced at Yoon-Hee in a hurry, only to see her down her entire glass in one go and set it down.

“It has a unique taste,” Yoon-Hee commented.

“Are... are you okay?” Do-Jun asked her in concern.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Maybe it was because the alcohol content was low, but Yoon-Hee seemed completely fine. Relieved, Do-Jun began eating his meal.

But then, a black bean from the side dish smacked Yong-Yong on the cheek as he was chomping down his food, making him cry out, “Ouch!”

Yoon-Hee had dropped the bean while trying to pick it up with her chopsticks.

“Oops, sorry, Yong-Yong.”

Apologizing, she tried using her chopsticks again, but her grip weakened, and she dropped them onto the floor this time.

“Ah...” Yoon-Hee picked up her chopsticks and sat in her chair.

Seeing her face flushed red from the alcohol, Do-Jun let out a sigh. Though the alcohol was in miniscule quantity, he hadn’t expected her to be this lightweight.

“Yong-Yong, eat up, okay?” Yoon-Hee said with a giggle.

“Uh... yeah.”

Watching her behavior, Yong-Yong sensed something was off and dragged his bowl over to Do-Jun’s side.

Yoon-Hee pouted and complained, “Why are you running away?”

“Haha, running away? Me? No, no. This is a tactical retreat. Is there a prob...lem...?”

Tears began to flow from Yoon-Hee’s eyes. Yong-Yong froze, taken aback by the sudden escalation of the situation.

“Haha, you made the young master cry, haaaa.” Karsiel joked in a flat tone as she continued eating her food.

Yong-Yong looked at Do-Jun, frantically waving his paws. “N-no, Master. I-I didn’t... this isn’t...”

“I know it’s not your fault.”

Do-Jun stood up, approached Yoon-Hee, and then lifted her in his arms.

“F-father?” Her teary eyes blinked as she looked up at him.

Do-Jun placed his forehead against hers to check her temperature and noticed that it was quite hot. She was definitely drunk.

Looks like she needs to sleep it off.

Since he couldn’t have her sleep in the living room, he had no choice but to carry her to his room.

He laid her down on his bed and covered her with a blanket.

“I’ll clean up, so just get some sleep.”

“W-what’s happening...?”

“Let me know when you’re up. I’ll make you some porridge.”

Do-Jun closed the door and left the room.

Maybe because she was lying down, her tension eased, and Yoon-Hee felt the ceiling spinning. Soon, she drifted off to sleep.

***

The sound of chirping sparrows filled the morning air.

Yoon-Hee felt a throbbing headache as she opened her eyes. After sitting up with a start, she stared around blankly for a moment before realizing where she was.

“W-why am I...?”

Why was she sleeping here?

“Ehe...he.” Next to her, Yong-Yong and Karsiel were curled up, sleeping soundly.

Yoon-Hee carefully nudged Yong-Yong awake. “Yong-Yong.”

“Eh... huh?”

“W-what happened yesterday?” she asked.

“Yesterday?”

Yong-Yong rubbed his sleepy eyes, recalling the events, and then he started explaining bit by bit.

Yoon-Hee buried her reddening face in the blanket as she listened to the recap.

“You were acting a bit strange yesterday,” Yong-Yong said.

“Ughhhh.”

“Master even did all the dishes last night.”

“Aaaaah.”

“And he said you weren’t useful anymore and that he’d have to replace you.”

At those words, Yoon-Hee’s eyes widened, and she lifted Yong-Yong. “A-are you serious?”

“Keugh, n-no, I’m just kidding.”

“You silly! Don’t make jokes like that!”

“W-whatever. Everything else was true, though.”

Just then, the door opened, and Do-Jun entered, dressed in his work clothes. He set a small table on the floor and a bowl of porridge on it.

“Oh, are you up? I’m heading to work now, so eat this before you go to school,” he told Yoon-Hee.

She glanced at the clock. It was already 7:30 AM.

“I’m sorry...” Yoon-Hee said, hanging her head low.

“Huh? For what?”

“I’ve failed you...”

Do-Jun let out a small chuckle, finding her endearing. “Just eat that and start getting ready for school.”

The door closed, and she heard the sound of Do-Jun leaving the house.

***

8:30 AM.

Do-Jun stepped into the Fissure Management Division office and felt an unusually busy atmosphere.

Hyuk-Soo put down the phone receiver, grabbed his coat, and hung his civil servant ID around his neck. He picked up his notebook and was about to leave the office when he ran into Do-Jun.

“Senior, is something going on?” Do-Jun asked him.

“We’ve got an urgent complaint. It looks like someone’s set up a workshop at the B-rank Great Fissure in Seongbuk Park that we recently took over. I need to head over there quickly to assess the situation. Keep an eye on the office, okay?”

Hyuk-Soo hurriedly left the office.

Do-Jun then walked over to Hyuk-Soo’s desk and picked up the file labeled “Seongbuk Park B-rank Great Fissure,” which was assigned to Hyuk-Soo.

“A workshop, huh...” Do-Jun muttered to himself.

1. Gunbae means “cheers” in Korean! Gunbae! ☜