SPW 1

Prologue. The King Is Dead

The

King

Is

Dead.

Really

Dead.

R.I.P

LUV

On the side of the road, a luxury sedan lay overturned, half-destroyed.

The headline, stamped in bold over the image of crimson blood flowing from the broken car window and soaking the Wellington company emblem, was pure mockery.

The title, which adorned the front page of online and offline newspapers, was soon broadcast to the entire world through the media. The Commonwealth country where the accident occurred and the victim’s home country of Korea were, it was no exaggeration to say, in an uproar.

「Former national team member, Premier Leaguer Kim Sarang (Sarang Dietrich Wellington Debussy Kim, age 24) has passed away at the young age of 24.

…Kim Sarang was seriously injured in a car accident that occurred around 1 a.m. on the 12th while returning home from a club in downtown Canton. He was rushed to the hospital, but it has unfortunately been confirmed that he was pronounced dead at the scene. As a national team player, Kim Sarang led the team to an Asian Cup victory, an Asian Games gold medal, an Olympic gold medal, and the World Cup quarterfinals. He was first selected for the national team at the age of 17…,

The funeral will not be held in Canton, player Kim Sarang’s city of residence, but will be officiated on the estate of His Grace, Florian Dietrich Wellington, the Duke of Dietrich and CEO of the Wellington Corporation, and player Kim Sarang’s spouse.」

The Cinderella of the East, America’s Sweetheart, the Lovely King, is lucky even in death. I wonder if it’s because of his fantastical and Sarang-like name? An accidental death one day before his divorce—he gets to leave his name with the House of Duke Dietrich and the Wellington family forever. Isn’t that an honor bought with his own life?

Lovely King and America’s Sweetheart? James, what era are you talking about? All things return to nature. We should finally give the late Sarang Kim his original name back. Wasn’t the nickname ‘King’ just thanks to the Duke of Dietrich’s halo effect? He never won the Ballon d’Or, which could be called the greatest honor for an individual soccer player, nor did he even achieve a meaningful ranking. He was a player who couldn’t even make it onto the list for the Puskás, Player of the Year, Goal of the Year, or even the League’s Best. Sarang Kim’s only accomplishment was having Lord Dietrich, Florian Wellington, as his spouse.

Sam, that’s a very harsh assessment, but I can’t help but agree. For a 7-year professional soccer career—short if you think it’s short, long if you think it’s long—the title ‘King’ is too much for the tracks Sarang Kim left behind. In fact, he was more often called the troublemaker on the pitch (field, ground), the worry of the House of Duke Dietrich, and the nightmare of the Wellington family, eliciting sighs. There are even suspicions circulating that he chose suicide rather than being struck from the family registers of the House of Duke Dietrich and the Wellington family.

If that suspicion is true, Brad, then Sarang Kim’s death was a success! Hahaha!

Unlike the clamorous interest at home and abroad, Kim Sarang’s funeral was held quietly at a small parish on the Dietrich ducal estate. The parish pastor officiated the mass, and Florian Dietrich Wellington and Bailey Jones—Kim Sarang’s agent and Florian’s faithful secretary—were in attendance.

Kim Sarang’s sole family member, Saman Debussy, expressed his condolences via a brief letter immediately upon receiving the death notice. It was merely a polite request for ‘payment for the death.’ Kim Sarang, who had been nothing more than a nuisance in life, could not escape that status even in death.

“This is everything Kim left behind, Boss.”

Bailey, with an attitude entirely different from when he dealt with the living Sarang, bowed his head respectfully. Florian, who had responded with a light grunt, looked around the interior of the mansion, into which not a single ray of sunlight entered. Dressed in black, he looked as placid as someone who had not just lost his spouse and finished the funeral. It was indeed a fitting demeanor for the head of the Wellington Corporation, which was rooted in the key industries of the United States Federation, and the current Duke of Dietrich.

For Kim Sarang, who had been more talented at chipping away at the dignity of the House of Duke Dietrich and the Wellington family than at upholding it, Florian Dietrich Wellington was a spouse far beyond his station. Even the funeral, more modest than one for a pet dog, and the fact that Florian himself, not a low-level employee, was taking care of these posthumous belongings were all treatment beyond his station.

That was the kind of person Kim Sarang had been in life.