The morning sun filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Kim estate in Busan, casting a golden glow over a breakfast table that represented a literal union of global power.
On one side sat Kim Da-sung, the patriarch of Kim Agrotech—a man whose calloused hands, despite his tailored silk suit, betrayed his origins as a stubborn farmer who had turned a single rice paddy into a multi-billion dollar biotechnology empire.
Opposite him was Susan Cromwell, daughter of the Duke of Somerset. She carried the effortless, chilly elegance of British high nobility, a woman who had traded the rolling hills of the English countryside for the high-tech laboratories of South Korea without losing a shred of her aristocratic poise.
Between them sat their masterpiece: Kim Arthur.
Returning from his mandatory military service, Arthur looked less like a tired conscript and more like a mythic figure.
The "Healthy Body" blessing had scrubbed away the grime of the trenches, leaving him with a porcelain complexion that contrasted sharply with his striking ruby eyes and snow-white hair—traits inherited from a rare recessive genetic streak in the Cromwell line, now amplified by cosmic interference.
To his left, his younger sister, Kim Soha, poked at her abalone porridge. She was the image of her mother's refined beauty but possessed a mischievous glint in her eyes that was pure Kim.
The silence of the dining room was heavy with expectation. In a Chaebol family, a son's return from the military wasn't just a homecoming; it was a corporate event. It was the moment the heir was expected to take his seat at the right hand of the throne.
"The Blue House called again, Arthur," Da-sung said, his voice a deep, gravelly rumble. He didn't look up from his tablet, which displayed the fluctuating prices of soy futures.
"They are still talking about that commendation from your commanding officer. They say your tactical aptitude is... 'unprecedented.' There is a path for you in the Ministry of Defense if you want it. Or, if you're tired of the uniform, the Board of Directors at Kim Agrotech has already cleared an office for you in the Seoul HQ."
Susan set her teacup down with a delicate clink. "Darling, let the boy breathe. He's been sleeping on a cot for eighteen months." She turned her gaze to Arthur, her English-accented Korean flawless and melodic.
"Though your father is right about one thing, Arthur. You have the Cromwell intellect. You could lead our European foundations. You could be a diplomat, a scholar, or a titan of industry. The world is quite literally your garden. So, tell us... what is your first step?"
Soha leaned in, her eyes wide. "Please don't say you're going to work for Dad immediately. You're too handsome to be stuck in a boardroom with a bunch of old men talking about fertilizer."
Arthur took a slow sip of his water, his mind racing. He could feel the weight of the All-Purpose Farming Tool (AFT) resting in a pocket dimension attached to his soul. He thought of the "Chaos" he was required to sow, and the food monopoly he intended to build to anchor his power in the real world.
"I've given it a lot of thought," Arthur began, his voice steady, carrying a new resonance that made even his father look up. "I don't want a seat on the Board. Not yet. And I have no interest in the military or the diplomatic corps."
Da-sung narrowed his eyes. "Then what? You want to travel? Take a sabbatical in London?"
"No," Arthur said, a faint, enigmatic smirk playing on his lips. "I want to get my hands dirty. I've spent my time in the army realizing that the world's true stability doesn't come from guns or treaties. It comes from the soil. My next goal is to move to the experimental plots in the southern provinces. I want to experiment with new seed strains—to cultivate crops that shouldn't exist. I want to create a harvest that will make Kim Agrotech not just a leader in the market, but the only name in the market."
The atmosphere in the dining room shifted instantly. The clatter of silverware died down, replaced by a heavy, bewildered silence.
Susan Cromwell looked at her son as if he had just suggested he wanted to become a street performer instead of the heir to a global fortune.
"A farmer, Arthur?" Susan repeated, her British accent sharpening with her concern. "Darling, you have the blood of the Somerset dukes and the Kim tech-lords. You graduated at the top of your class before the military. We've spent twenty-two years preparing you to lead men, not to... cultivate soil in a remote province."
"Arthur, listen to your mother," Da-sung added, his voice losing its predatory edge and replacing it with the stern tone of a father watching his son throw away a winning hand.
"Ambition is good, but this sounds like a post-military identity crisis. If it's about 'getting your hands dirty,' I'll put you in charge of our newest automated factory in Ulsan. You'll be surrounded by the most advanced technology on the planet. But moving to a field? Laboring in the sun? It's a waste of your intellect."
Soha poked her brother's arm, her expression genuinely worried. "Oppa, you're supposed to take me to the fashion gala in Seoul next month. You can't show up smelling like manure and talk about seed mutations to the press. People will think you've lost it."
Arthur didn't flinch. He looked at his father—the man who had built this empire from nothing—and his mother, who understood the weight of legacy better than anyone.
"I'm not talking about traditional farming, Father," Arthur said, his voice calm and resonant. "The world is on the brink of a resource crisis. Whoever controls the most efficient, most resilient food supply won't just be rich—they will be the ultimate authority. Our current Agrotech relies on chemical modifiers and genetic patches that are reaching their limit."
Arthur let the heavy moment sink in, "I have... ideas. Intuitions about plant biology that I can't explain in a boardroom. I need a laboratory that is also a field."
"Intuitions?" Susan sighed, placing a hand on his. "Arthur, you are young. You've been away for eighteen months. You're looking for a purpose, and that's noble. But let us find you a purpose that fits your station."
"Give me one year," Arthur countered, his ruby eyes locking onto his father's.
Da-sung frowned. "One year?"
"One year at the Haenam experimental facility," Arthur stated firmly. "No board meetings, no social galas, no corporate interference. Just me and the soil. If, by the end of that year, I haven't produced a strain that outperforms Kim Agrotech's top-tier patents by at least thirty percent, I will come back to Busan, put on the suit, and take whatever position you want. I'll even marry whoever Mother scouts from the social registries without a single complaint."
Susan gasped slightly at the stakes, and Da-sung leaned back, his eyes narrowing as he calculated. A thirty percent increase in yield or efficiency was unheard of in the current industry—it was a scientific miracle.
"Thirty percent?" Da-sung asked, his voice low. "That's a bold claim, Arthur. Many have tried and failed with all the funding in the world."
"I am not 'many,' Father," Arthur replied with a confident smirk. "I am your son. And I have the Cromwell blood, as Mother says. I don't plan on failing."
Susan looked at her husband, seeing the conflict in his face. She turned back to Arthur, her heart softening at his resolve. "One year, Arthur. But you must promise to come home for the holidays. And if this 'experiment' fails to show progress in six months, we revisit the deal."
"One year," Da-sung finally declared, slamming his hand lightly on the table. "I'll give you the Haenam plots. They're isolated, and the staff there is minimal. If you're going to play at being a peasant-scientist, you'll do it where the press can't see you failing. But Arthur... if you succeed, you won't just be an heir. You'll be the man who redefined this family."
"Thank you," Arthur said, a surge of adrenaline hitting him.
With his family finally convinced, he now had the perfect cover. For the next year, the world would think Kim Arthur was a reclusive genius eccentric, hiding away in the south.
In reality, he would be using that time to master the AFT, utilize Ciel to rewrite the laws of biology, and dive headfirst into the world of Satisfy to dismantle the plot from the shadows.