A Different Path

The festival

A few days had passed and it was the day when Johan had to guard a certain princess. Johan, being a man of his word, stuck to his commitment. He was already at the location where he was to pick up the princess. The place was quite distant from the rest of the city - a lone house on top of a small hill with no one around, just like some mafia boss.

Johan stood outside the door of the mansion and said to himself, "Man, I will also build my house somewhere on top of a mountain like this. That will give some supervillain vibes for real." But then he heard someone snap their fingers, and Johan turned around to see two figures standing there.

Johan recognized one of them as Gun Park, while the other one was the same princess from before, Crystal Choi. "Good morning, ma'am," Johan greeted, and Crystal greeted him back. Maybe it was just Johan's natural charm that made people not dislike him at all. Well, his innocent face and sweet smile could fool anyone who wasn't a demon like him.

Fortunately, Gun Park wasn't one of them. He knew exactly what Johan was, and he could tell just by glancing at Johan's eyes. But the same couldn't be said for Crystal, who was easily fooled by Johan's innocent charm.

Johan stood in front of Crystal and Gun and introduced himself, "My name is Johan Seong, and I will be your personal bodyguard for the day."

"My name is Crystal Choi. Did my dad hire you?" Crystal asked, and Gun said, "Don't include the CEO. He doesn't know about it."

Crystal looked at him and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean he doesn't know that I am not going with you today. I can't let him know, or he will force me to go with you instead, and I have to prepare for my exam. I can't afford to fail it," Gun explained. Crystal understood his reasons and said, "Okay Oppa, I won't let Dad know about this, but you owe me one."

"Sure, I will pay you back," Gun said before he turned to Johan and said, "Listen, copycat. I am leaving Crystal to you, even though I know she will be fine, but it's still your duty to keep her safe because if you don't, the CEO will not only be after you but also after me."

"I understand. I do my job with perfection. Go study, Mister," Johan said, and Gun nodded before leaving. But before leaving, Gun said, "Make sure to crush anyone who tries to touch her."

"If you say so," Johan replied, and Gun said, "Assholes these days don't know how to act around women. Even Goo has some composure."

"Don't worry, I will break their hand if that happens," Johan said, and Gun added, "You better do that because if you don't, I WILL break your hands."

"Oppa!" Crystal finally said something, but Gun ignored her and left them. Johan opened the door for her, and Crystal got into the car.

Johan also got into the car, and Crystal noticed that it wasn't her car. She wondered, "This car? Whose is it?"

"It's mine actually," Johan answered, and Crystal was surprised for a second. Then she said, "Hey, can I also get a job at the same place as you? I mean, they must pay really well if you can afford this car, even though we look around the same age."

"I actually don't work like a regular person," Johan said. Crystal looked surprised, and she concluded, "You must be in the black market like Oppa then? That explains the money."

"No, my money is white like your face," Johan replied. "I make money from ethical means."

"I am very surprised. I never heard of you even though I am very much into money," Crystal said, interested. Johan decided to tell her and said, "You know about the company called Cipher Entertainment?"

"Yeah, I do. They are rivals with PTJ Entertainment where DG works. My dad owns some shares there," Crystal said.

"Yeah, Cipher Entertainment is mine," Johan replied, and Crystal was left speechless. She looked at Johan with wide eyes and asked, "For real?"

"Why would I lie to you?" Johan said with a smile, and Crystal knew he wasn't lying. She was honestly surprised because the two of them are the same age, and she only runs a company that was given to her by Charles, while Johan is independent, or at least that's what she thinks.

"Well, that's very amazing, but there is one thing I don't understand," Crystal said, and Johan asked, "What is it?"

"How are you related to Oppa? I mean, we both know what he does," Crystal said. Johan sighed before saying, "The sea is deeper than you think it is. Mr. Gun is like my superior, or in easy words, you can say that I owe him."

"Oh, okay, I won't ask anything else," Crystal said before sitting quietly like a good girl. But then Johan asked, "Anyway, where do we have to go? I forgot if you mentioned it before. Can you tell me again?"

"Oh, sorry, my bad. I didn't tell you anything. Can you please take me to Jae Won High School in the middle of Seoul?" Crystal said, and Johan nodded. He drove to where she guided him.

"We are here," Johan said, and he got out of the car to open the door for Crystal, but she said, "You don't have to do that. I can do it myself."

"But you don't have to. I take my job very seriously, and I do it with perfection," Johan said. Crystal just sighed before walking into the school while muttering, "Gun turned him into his clone."

Crystal and Johan walked into the school, and the festival was going on. The two of them looked around, and Johan was especially fascinated by it.

Obviously, the guy had never seen such a festival before. In childhood, he never had any chance to visit a carnival with his mom because of expenses and her medical condition.

And ever since he grew up, he has been fighting and working day and night with no time for himself.

This is like one of the few times he could actually experience something new, something different, something that is not fighting or working.

Even Crystal noticed how much Johan was into the fun activities going on in the festival, and she asked him if he wanted to give it a try.

Johan was currently staring at the architecture department stall where they had put themselves on a wall for people to shoot water balloons at them. Johan was waiting for someone to throw balloons at them, but unfortunately, no one dares to because of Vasco.

But unlike others, Crystal wasn't scared of Vasco, and she went to the counter to buy some water balloons. She threw one at Vasco, who was delighted to see a customer but couldn't finish his sentence when Crystal threw a water balloon at his face. At first, Vasco felt irritated, but when he saw Crystal enjoying herself by throwing water balloons at Burn Knuckles, he felt good that he made someone happy. That's Vasco for you.

Meanwhile, Crystal completely obliterated Burn Knuckles with her water balloons, and she finally finished all her balloons. She glanced at Johan, who was standing there amazed by her.

"I didn't know you were this frustrated," Johan said. Crystal bit her tongue before leaving, saying, "I actually bought the balloons for you, but I couldn't hold myself."

"That's a good thing. You should let the kid inside yourself out sometimes," Johan said with a smile, following her. They reached the next stall, which was a bakery. Two of them looked at the bakery, but this time, it was Crystal who was fascinated by the different types of cakes all over the bakery, and her mouth was watering.

"Do you want some?" Johan asked her. Crystal snapped out of her thoughts and acted like her cool self, saying, "No, I'm on a diet."

"You know you can do ten minutes of extra exercise instead of stopping yourself from doing the things you like," Johan said, handing her a pastry. "Here, you can thank me later."

Crystal took the pastry, and they both sat down at a nearby table. But before eating anything, Crystal bought an ice cream for Johan, saying, "It won't be good if only I eat, and you just look at me."

"Fair, I guess," Johan said, accepting the treat from her. After dessert, the two of them checked out the other stalls, but they weren't anything special until they reached the final one: the charity date auction.

Crystal and Johan arrived at the place, and while walking there, Johan said, "I thought you didn't like to date men."

"I don't, but it's for charity, and I just want to donate," Crystal said. The two of them reached the auction where Daniel was currently on the bid, and just as Crystal reached there, she raised her hand and made a bid.

"25,000,000 won."