Modern Traveler

"That much? No wonder you're so rich, Neo. But a cure for cancer might be expensive, right?" Kyo's mom said.

"I understand that they are still business companies, which is why I limit the price of the medicine to $40,000, and 25% of that will be donated to my charity," I replied.

"Good. That's reassuring to hear. Finally, one of the most deadly sicknesses has a cure. I'll put my trust in you, Neo; I'll drink it." She looked at the vial and decided to trust me. She drank it.

As soon as she swallowed the contents, her facial features began to change. The new fats in her face and fragile bones started to repair. Her wrinkled skin became elastic again. The process didn't take long.

"Wow, Mom! Look at your face! You look like you've undergone major plastic surgery!" Kyo rushed to get a mirror and brought it to his mother to check her transformation. "Look, Mom!"

Her mother gazed into the mirror, and tears fell from her eyes. Who wouldn't want to see their youthful face again? She touched her face and arms in disbelief.

"It's true! Thank you, Neo. This is truly a heaven-defying medicine. I can't explain this to anyone if they see me," she said.

"Just tell them you had surgery, Mom. Nothing is impossible with surgery anymore," Kyo suggested, still appreciating her new, younger appearance.

"That's a good excuse. Never mind that; I feel like I have so much more energy. I can't get tired easily. Let's celebrate by eating!" she said excitedly.

"Mom, let Neo cook. He's really good at it—that's what he used to win me over, hehehe," Kyo said with a smile.

"Is that so? Let's go, Neo! I'll help you prepare," she said.

We walked to the kitchen together and began preparing the food. It didn't take long for the delicious aroma to fill the house. Once the dishes were ready, we sat down to eat. It was Kyo's mom's first time trying something like this, and she always reminded me to visit and cook for her when I had time.

By the time I decided to head back to my hotel, it was already late at night. I took a shower before calling Sali to meet me in my room with the pilot and flight attendants.

"Guys, let's go! The boss is already calling for us!" Sali announced, gathering the attention of everyone in the room.

Inside the room, aside from Sali, there were four flight attendants and four pilots.

"Oh, I'm excited to meet the boss! Sali, have you already met him?" one flight attendant asked.

"Not yet; the only person who has met the boss is Kat," Sali replied.

"I met the boss when he invited me to be one of his flight attendants. At first, I thought he was just joking, but thankfully he wasn't," Kat added.

"Is the boss approachable, Kat?" one of the stewards asked.

"He is. The boss is always smiling and easy to talk to. If I didn't know his name, I would think he's just a super handsome and humble person," Kat replied.

"Let's go. This meeting will also discuss your salaries," Sali said as she looked at the pilots, beginning to walk toward Neo's door. She was nervous since this was her first time meeting her boss.

Soon, they arrived at Neo's front door, and Sali took a deep breath before knocking.

"Knock knock." Neo, who heard the sound, stood up and approached the door. He opened it to find many unfamiliar faces; the only person he recognized was Kat.

"Welcome! Come inside, everyone," I said to them. They followed me in, and I told them to sit on the couch.

"Hello, boss. Let me introduce myself. I'm Sali, your secretary," Sali said, bowing her head.

"Oh, Sali! Nice to meet you in person, and good job," I replied.

"So, these are your friends, Kat? Nice to meet you all! And you must be the pilots. Nice to meet you guys," I added.

"Hello, Sir Neo, nice meeting you too." We all shook hands as they introduced themselves.

"Sir, I hired four pilots. Two are already good, but if we travel for longer hours, they need a substitute. I only told them that their official salaries will be discussed by you," Sali explained.

"Is that so?" I looked at the four pilots, all middle-aged men. "How much is your yearly salary?"

"Sir, we four are commercial captains with between 15,000 and 25,000 flight hours. Our salaries range from $315,000 to $340,000," one of the captains replied.

"Oh, so you guys are experienced pilots. That's good then. Here's my offer: $1.2 million yearly, and for every trip we take, I will cover all expenses, including hotel, food, and an extra $50,000 for miscellaneous expenses. Deal?"

"We agree, sir. Even when we work for other companies, no one is willing to pay us something like that."

"Same here, young boss. You can trust us to fly the plane."

"Wow. I can travel and earn a high salary—thank you, young boss."

"I'm glad I was in the office when Miss Sali visited."

"Great. As for you three, has Kat already informed you about your salaries and benefits?" I asked the four ladies.

"Yes, sir. Kat has already told us all about the benefits."

"At this point, we're only traveling, not working, boss."

"$500,000 yearly, and you'll have free expenses just like the pilots. I will also add $50,000 for each trip you take, so you can buy whatever you want." I smiled; this was also a way to help them.

"By the way, Sali, where's the jewelry? My store will open later in LA, and I need the K-pop items here to start promotions."

"We moved them to my room, sir. It was super heavy, so we needed help to transport it," Sali replied.

"Good. Tomorrow, you all can explore Seoul and relax. We will be staying here for a few weeks. I will visit you tomorrow, Sali, to get the jewelry, okay? You can now rest, everyone. Enjoy."

"Alright. Good night, young boss."

"Good night, sir."

"Good night, boss. Just call me if you need anything."

Just like that, the room was empty again. I walked to George's room to remind them that tomorrow is their flight home, the same with Amelia. I had already contacted Hyung to send them off tomorrow morning. Once I was done with that, I visited So-Hee again.

"Not sleeping yet, my So-Hee?" I asked, noticing she was in bed using her phone.

So-Hee looked up and saw Neo walking toward her. "Come here, Neo. Hug me," she said.

I lay down beside her and hugged her from behind. "What are you doing, So-Hee?" I glanced at her phone.

"Nothing. I'm changing my profile picture. I'm replacing it with one of us. Is that okay?" She looked me in the eyes.

"Of course, that's okay. That way, men who are interested in you will back off." I hugged her tightly and sniffed her neck. "You smell good."

"Okay. I want to upload a photo of us kissing. Kyo will surely copy me," she said, turning to me and taking pictures as we kissed. She snapped several to choose the best one to upload.

After selecting a photo, she changed her profile picture. It took less than a minute to go viral. There were many comments from men tagging me with curse words.

"Look at the comments. They want to kill you, Neo! Hahaha. Kyo, Suzy, and Yeji haven't uploaded yet; let's see how they react," So-Hee said as she read the comments and continued to laugh.

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Shao🫡