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CHAPTER 3: Jin Takishima

"See you later, Boss!"

Jin Takishima only looked at his loyal subordinate to acknowledge him before walking towards the hotel. Lester had called him earlier to say they were having an emergency meeting about the next auction. As he walks towards the entrance, Jin considers some of the topics that they might discuss. He was confident he had already secured everything they required for their next auction.

Lester does not operate in the typical ways. Lester Lim owns the city's largest resort branch and is still expanding his business globally. Not only that, but Lester was one of the first businessmen to open a legal casino in the city. Jin believes Lester is unrivaled in the business world. Lester owns the largest black market auction, so these are just his normal operations.

During the auction, visitors can see a variety of items that they would not normally see in broad daylight. These items are either illegal, stolen, or extremely rare. When Jin asked Lester why he decided to hold this auction, Lester smugly told Jin that these illegal activities provided him with thrills and excitement in his life. Jin is friends with Lester, but he will never deny that Lester is a twisted man.

As Jin waits for the elevator to open, a child unexpectedly bumps into his leg. When their gazes meet, the young boy shudders in fear. This is the most common reaction Jin gets when kids see him. Before the little boy begins to cry, a woman approaches the child and speaks to him in a soothing voice.

"Are you lost?" The woman crouched down to see the boy's face and asked him.

"No..." The boy responds timidly to her.

The little boy blushed as he realized he was speaking to a beautiful lady.

"They are in the reception area."

"Oh. Should we go to them? She asked again before smiling at the boy.

The boy gives her an enthusiastic nod.

The woman offers her hand, which the boy gladly accepts. When she stands up, their eyes meet briefly before the woman turns her full attention to the child and departs with him. Jin looks at their retreating figures until he hears the elevator doors open, bringing him back to reality.

'Weird.'

Ignoring them, Jin stepped into the elevator. As soon as he reached the right floor and opened the penthouse door, he could hear those chatty boys arguing. As usual, they are being really noisy. Vincent is the first to greet Jin when he opens the door.

"Jin is already here!" Vincent said with a smile.

"Great timing! Now we can settle this discussion with his answer." Dice said, as he also looked at Jin with a stupid grin on his face.

Jin suspiciously looks at them both. Vincent is an artist who sells each of his creations for a million dollars, and Dice serves as his acting manager. However, Dice is actually a private assassin hired by Lester. Jin is pretty certain that they are just bickering about something pointless.

Jin sits on the sofa and notices Gael taking a nap in his usual spot. Lester has also taken his usual seat. He is sipping coffee and staring at his tablet.

Jin hates to admit it, but these are Lester's black market auction managers. Jin is Lester's business partner, and he owns half of the auction.

"Jin, who do you think is the most attractive when crossdressing? "Me or Vincent?" Dice batted his eyelashes as he asked.

"The answer is quite obvious." Vincent said and casting Dice a repulsive glance, "An old-looking man like you can not even do decent cross-dressing as a woman."

"I am aware of your good looks, Vincent. You are my best friend, after all. But you should be honest to yourself that I can also imitate a beautiful woman when needed. Most importantly, I am only a year older than you!"

"Eww. We are not best friends in the first place."

"Do not be like that. You are hurting my fragile feelings, buddy."

"You should be ashamed of yourself! I am sorry! We are both apologizing now! Can you keep your gun away from us?!"

Jin's patience with these two is wearing thin with each passing second. That is why Jin chose to silence these two by pointing his gun at them. When they settle down with their noises, Jin hears the penthouse door open. Lester looks at the door with a dissatisfied look on his face.

"You are late," Lester said.

The person who opened the door just gave Lester a playful smile.

Jin looks over to see who Lester is speaking with, and it is the same woman he saw in the lobby earlier.

"Am I?" She answered Lester with a smile. "Then pardon me, Your Majesty, for being late."

Except for Lester, every single one of them looks directly at her. The stunning woman just stands there grinning at Lester, unaffected by their questioning looks. Lester told her to sit on the sofa, and she quickly did so with a smile still on her pretty face. She sits next to that slacker Gael and looks at them.

"Now that we are all here, we can begin the meeting." Lester began as he placed the tablet he was holding on the table and called his girlfriend.

Lester told his woman to come to the penthouse before staring at them.

Jin is not the only one who is confused by his statement. They are now beginning their meeting about the auction with a stranger. Lester knows exactly what he is doing, but Jin wishes he would start explaining everything to them before doing something like that.

"She is our new auction manager. She will be joining our group as of today." Lester simply stated as he looked at them one by one.

'A new auction manager? What is Lester's thinking?'

Jin understands that he is not alone in thinking about these issues. Judging by their looks, Jin knew that these were questions that the other managers also wanted to ask him.

And why did not Lester consult him before making his decision?

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