Lift Up
Yang Chen thought about it carefully. This might have something to do with the ‘Starmoon’ pendants. The crescent that he was asked to bring was nowhere to be found. Perhaps the Park family was keeping it to themselves for their private personal usage.
After a while, Eunjung came downstairs with Zhenxiu, who was still irritated. Dressed up in a brown coat, she looked ready to leave the house.
Park Cheon was not angry about his own granddaughter and smiled, “Eunjung, you may stay. Zhenxiu, follow your grandfather out.”
Zhenxiu snorted softly. Wordlessly, she begrudgingly left the house.
Park Cheon shook his head helplessly. “Mr Yang, Ms Lin, do rest early.”
Park Cheon shot Kim Jip a glance, then made their way out together.
Outside the Park’s residence, a black Mercedes Benz G550 and two Mercedes Benz GL series SUVs were waiting for them.
Along with Kim Jip, Park Cheon brought another dozen beefy bodyguards.
After Park Cheon and his entourage entered the G550, all three cars drove toward the north and gradually disappeared into the night.
Yang Chen was curious about the Park family’s handover. But seeing how Park Cheon had chosen to make his departure at midnight with so many bodyguards, it was clear that it was meant to be a secret. Yang Chen decided to keep his questions to himself.
The husband and wife went back upstairs to freshen up before hitting the sack, leaving Eunjung downstairs waiting patiently for Park Cheon and Zhenxiu’s return.
One hour later, in a secluded building in the northern part of Seoul, near the Bukhansan National Park.
Three Mercedes Benz stopped in front of the grey building with a dozen floors.
All of the buildings in this dimly-lit area looked like they were from another time.
Zhenxiu, not wanting to set off Park Cheon’s temper, asked timidly, “Grandfather, where are we?”
Park Cheon led Zhenxiu down the car, held the girl’s hand, and said as they walked toward the building. “This is the branch of the Korea branch of the Swiss Bank.”
“The branch of a branch?”
“Correct. The current branch of the Swiss Bank is near the financial center, but this was the original premises of the Swiss Bank. Although it is no longer an occupied workspace, it now serves as a bank vault for certain customers.”
While listening to Park Cheon’s explanation, they had reached the first level of the building.
A few stone-faced security guards checked their IDs and frisked Park Cheon and Zhenxiu.
After they were done, one of the security guards spoke monotonously. “President Park, Lady Zhenxiu, thank you for your cooperation. Welcome, but our apologies. We cannot let the others in.”
Park Cheon turned around. “Kim Jip, bring your men and guard outside. They only allow customers with appointments to enter. Kindly remain outside.”
Kim Jip had no objections. He gestured at his men with a few glances, who gradually made their way out and took their positions.
Park Cheon pulled Zhenxiu inside of the building and a blonde, white, middle-aged man wearing a suit walked out to welcome them. There was a name tag on his chest stating ‘Donald, Deputy CEO of the Swiss Bank Korea Branch’.
“President Park, it’s nice to see you. Lady Zhenxiu, good evening.” Donald bowed politely.
Park Cheon smiled, “Mr Donald, please lead the way. We’d like to see item number one.”
“Sure, this way please.”
Donald wasted no time and guided the two of them towards the long passage.
As the most elusive Swiss Bank storage facility that housed invaluable precious items, cash, and pieces of jewelry for their customers, this old building with its unassuming exterior was packed with state-of-the-art technology on the inside.
Every inch of its interior was under the watchful eye of surveillance cameras at almost all angles and heavy and an array of weaponry was hidden throughout the building to foil intruders’ breaches.
The entire building itself was reinforced with alloy steel plates hidden in the walls.
After walking through a few crossings, Zhenxiu and Park Cheon followed Donald to an elevator entrance, where a Caucasian receptionist was waiting with a smile.
Donald invited both of them into the elevator and closed the door.
There was something odd about this elevator. Zhenxiu realized that there were no buttons for the floors!
Donald took out an access card from his pocket and scanned it on a display screen in the elevator. The screen then returned a few sentences in English, requesting fingerprint identification and a retinal scan.
Donald aimed his fingerprints and eyes at the screen, and finally, a few selectable floors appeared on the screen.
Without batting an eye, Donald immediately selected the last option, G20. The elevator started moving. But to Zhenxiu’s surprise, they had started descending downwards!
G20? Did that mean twenty floors below ground?
Zhenxiu was taken aback. How could such an ordinary-looking building conceal twenty floors below it?
For Zhenxiu, who had lived an ordinary life thus far, this kind of thing was too overwhelming for her, causing her to forget why she came here.
Park Cheon on the other hand was indifferent. He must have been here a hundred times.
The elevator opened upon their arrival at G20.
In front of them was a wide field of white, white tiles, ceiling, and the walls around them. The white metal doors all had a display screen as well.
This pristine room was filled with pin-drop silence.
“President, the item number one stored by the Park family is already in Room Seven. It will only require your fingerprints and retinal scan to unlock the door upon your entrance. I’ll be waiting for you at the elevator. Please take as much time as you need,” Donald nodded.
Park Cheon thanked him and brought Zhenxiu to Room Seven.
Park Cheon performed the retinal scan in front of the room door, which was the last step into the room.
Park Cheon opened the door and smiled at Zhenxiu who was filled with curiosity. “Tonight, after seeing our family’s ancestral treasure, grandfather will let them key in your data into the system so you may open this door in the future.”
Zhenxiu nodded nervously. Previously, Park Cheon did not mention whatever they would be looking at. But now the questions in her heart could finally be solved.
Park Cheon then locked the door after entering the room.
In the room, a lonely safe sat atop a rectangular table with two chairs.
Park Cheon walked upfront and keyed in the password on the safe. “For now, the password is grandfather’s birthday. Tonight, we’ll change it to yours.”
The safe opened as he spoke.
Zhenxiu held her breath and widened her eyes staring at the thing that appeared in front of her.
It was a gray cuboid box roughly the size of two palms. It appeared to be made out of stone or something metallic.
Park Cheon saw Zhenxiu tilting her head while wondering and it reminded him of his first time seeing it. He was confused as well.
“Silly child, don’t just look at it. This is a treasure that protected our family for generations. You will be its master from today onwards. Go ahead, feel it for yourself.”
Zhenxiu nodded and walked in front carefully then picked up the grey box.
“Oh my…” Zhenxiu jumped and let go of the box. “It’s so cold, how is it even colder than ice?! It feels like stone, but it doesn’t as well…”
Park Cheon smiled. “It’s fine. Come, let grandfather open it.”
Park Cheon took out a jewelry box from his suit pocket, which revealed a crescent pendant that Zhenxiu had before. Beside it, there was another pendant shaped like a star, made out of the same material!
The star was also shiny and lustrous, the five-pointed star looked like a turning streamer.
At that moment, Zhenxiu realized there were two shallow grooves on top of the grey box. They must be meant for the crescent and the star!
Could the crescent and star be the key that unlocked the box!?
Park Cheon placed the crescent and the star slowly into the box.
After it was successfully embedded in, the grey box which looked tightly sealed started to show a blue gap from the center!
“Zhenxiu, look closely. This is the sacred treasure given to our Park family!”
Park Cheon spoke solemnly as he took over the box and then opened it with a slight tremble.