Chapter 319
Kwon Taehan, who had kept his mouth shut from the middle onward, remained silent even after I finished speaking. With every word I said, the bastard’s expression changed rather violently. No matter how much the bastard tried to cover it with a blank face, emotions kept abruptly breaking through and covering his face.
He felt betrayed, then angry, then doubted himself because of what I said, then felt hurt....
Well, of course, I did not think I had completely hit the right answer.
Still, in any case, the bastard stubbornly kept silent until the end. While waiting through the quiet, I instantly guessed the reason for the bastard’s silence.
'Was I a little too hasty?'
No matter how much I had watched the deleted rounds and come to know Kwon Taehan better than before, the Kwon Taehan in front of me was ultimately an independent existence.
'I should look into him a little more, then coax him.'
There was no need for me to get close to Kwon Taehan right away anyway. No, to begin with, there was not really a need to get close to him at all. I had only considered that option because I simply wanted to test the bastard. Even if I did not become someone emotionally close to him, there would be plenty of things that could tie me to him.
'Right, there’s no need to do this now.'
Well.... And just seeing that he did not particularly fall for these words meant the first purpose of testing Kwon Taehan had completely veered off track. Once my thoughts reached that point, my interest cooled rapidly. I pulled my hand back and stared at Kwon Taehan as if observing him, then said,
“Looks like you don’t really have any thoughts. Then... I’ll see you upstairs.”
“.......”
Only then did Kwon Taehan’s gaze slowly follow me. I stared quietly into Kwon Taehan’s eyes, then passed by the bastard and grabbed the doorknob. After an unpleasant sensation caught against my hand with a click, the door opened with light resistance.
“Seo Jehyun.”
At that moment, Kwon Taehan’s voice came from behind me.
Instead of answering, I turned only half my body and stared at the bastard.
Then Kwon Taehan asked with confused eyes.
“Are you really... Seo Jehyun?”
What the hell kind of question was that? Then if I wasn’t Seo Jehyun, what exactly was Seo Jehyun? That thing buried in Kwon Taehan’s memories, beautified, and obediently following the plot?
I gave a light snort and asked,
“Then who do I seem like?”
“You... were never like this. It doesn’t make sense for you to change this much just because you have a little memory from before. Why? Why....”
“Taehan, there’s something you’re mistaken about.... I told you, you don’t know me well. Haven’t you gotten this many wrong answers by now? Isn’t it time to look back at least once?”
Well, they called it the fifth round, but from Kwon Taehan’s perspective, he had spent years with me and then repeated dying, so this variable this time must be shocking. But the regrettable thing from my perspective was... the current me was much more like me than the previous me.
I checked Kwon Taehan’s expression and the clock in turn.
“If my proposal interested you in any way, think about it and come find me.”
“...What kind of interest am I supposed to have?”
“If you ask me even that, what am I supposed to answer? Taehan, fuck. Are you going to keep entrusting your life to other people?”
“What...?”
How long would be good for him to think? I roughly estimated the time and notified the bastard.
“I’ll see you in an hour. I’ll be upstairs anyway.”
That much should be enough.
Leaving Kwon Taehan behind me, I opened the door and stepped outside. Before going to look for Im Haekyung, there was somewhere I had to stop by first.
'Since I’m already here, it’s better to settle everything before I go.'
I pulled up the Status Window, checked the association chairman’s location, and opened the door without hesitation. The association chairman, who had been in the middle of a call, found me and abruptly hung up. I had only heard a few words, but I could more than guess what kind of conversation had been going back and forth.
'Looks like he’s thinking of finding fault with Haeseong and dragging them down.'
Earlier, although I had listened to everything the association chairman said as if it were all bullshit, there was ultimately logic and a conclusion in the bastard’s words. So, naturally, I could also see the gloomy and, at the same time, ingenious thought lying beneath them.
Haeseong was not simply the guild with the title of number one in the country; even individually, its influence was fairly large. It meant that compared to the Special Response Team or the Hunter Association, which were not trusted by people, Haeseong was valued more highly both in expertise and integrity. Of course, that was also thanks to the image-making Im Haekyung had worked desperately to build.
So from the association chairman’s perspective, Haeseong Guild could not help but get on his nerves. No, would it have been only Haeseong Guild that got on his nerves? Haeseong merely looked like the biggest obstacle, but he probably disliked all of it. For example, the S-rank Hunters, each with great individual popularity and influence; Sung Uijae, whose public opinion in Korea was still quite divided; the five major guilds including Haeseong; and even the Special Response Team directly under the Administrative Office.
Of course, separate from the fact that I could understand the association chairman’s position to some extent, I had not the slightest intention of obediently following his words. Wasn’t that obvious? If he was stuck in such an ambiguous position and getting pushed around from every side, he should grit his teeth and reorganize things to grow the Hunter Association. Why the hell should I help a bastard who had eaten up the chairman’s seat and, instead of doing that, collected money here and there under the names of subsidies and fines and shoved it all into his own wallet?
If he had gone as far as becoming association chairman, he should have lived nicely. He kept harboring such fucking bastard thoughts, and that was why he would live a shorter life than his original lifespan.
While I was briefly thinking that as I looked at the association chairman, the bastard suddenly flushed red and huffed.
“...Hunter Seo! Didn’t you clearly say you would contact me separately? If you barge in at random like this and just... do this, I’ll be troubled too! Ahem! I was in the middle of a very important call....”
“You’ve hung up now, haven’t you?”
“What?”
I glanced sideways at the cell phone in the association chairman’s hand, confirmed the call had completely ended, and threw out the main point.
“Earlier, Hunter Kwon was beside me, so I couldn’t speak properly. I don’t need to think about conditions. There’s something I want.”
“...Haha, what could you want for you to look so solemn....”
The association chairman trailed off, scratching the back of his head over and over, then said,
“I hope you know that I can’t grant everything.”
“Yes, I know.”
I hadn’t expected that anyway.
Because the most useful thing I could receive from the Hunter Association right now had already been decided.
I said without hesitation,
“Later, when a Gate opens, may I occupy one whole Gate by myself without reporting it? I’ll clear it on time.”
“...What?”
“I mean it won’t be something that negatively affects people’s safety. Since you seem not to like that sort of thing, Chairman.”
The sight of the bastard going on and on about safety just a moment ago was vivid in my mind. The problem was that for a fucker so anxious about safety, he threw Hunters belonging to the Hunter Association into Gates far too easily.
'Does that mean only his own safety matters?'
I roughly reached that conclusion and waited for the association chairman’s answer. The association chairman asked again, as if he did not understand what I had just said.
“Why would you... want that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? When you clear one Gate, do you know how many by-products come pouring out of it? When I think about reporting each and every one, having tax taken off, and sharing it with the guild, it feels so wasteful I can’t sleep at night.”
“.......”
After hearing my bullshit, the association chairman still looked puzzled as he retraced my words.
“So, what Hunter Seo is saying is... when you clear a Gate in the near future, you want me to let you avoid reporting the Gate and swallow all the by-products and resources from it raw?”
“Yes. Roughly speaking, when I tell you, I’d appreciate it if you turned the search team back and manipulated the paperwork so it looks as if the Gate never existed at all.”
“Well, this is.... Haha, I thought at most you would ask for a somewhat higher salary.”
That was the kind of thought only an excessively stupid bastard would have.
'Even if they paid me a lot of money, would I kick Haeseong aside and go to the Association?'
I might understand if I had asked for the association chairman’s seat, but it was fucking dumb of him to think I would propose becoming an Association member who got paid a bit more.
The association chairman slowly chewed over my words, then asked,
“Right, I understand what you’re saying, mm.... But you see, the Association did create the reporting system, but ultimately the government manages everything, so how could I possibly....”
“Haven’t you cleaned up a few like that through the Association before?”
Mm, I had only poked at him, but judging from his expression, it seemed I was right.
I looked straight at the association chairman’s face and continued.
“I think you can do something similar for me.”
At that, the association chairman moved his lips over and over with a face full of wanting to refute me immediately, then said,
“The way you say things....”
“.......”
“...Fine, let’s say I did that for you. Then what do you plan to do with all that money?”
“I’ll have to launder it. I know how.”
“.......”
After a fairly long, strange standoff, the association chairman shoved his phone into his pants pocket and pointed a finger at me.
“You had better... bring me good information. If you go this far and then tattle to Im Haekyung, don’t think things will end well for you. Even if you were thinking of being a double spy, settle that right now and make your line clear.”
“Yes.”
“Some ill-mannered little bastard, talking back one by one while an adult is speaking.... And Hunter Kwon too! Do you know how flustered I was earlier?”
“How would I?”
Well, anyway, it was not important, so I roughly let it pass.
I looked at the association chairman and smiled brightly.
“Then shall we write a contract?”
Yes, these things had to be left as solid evidence.
Agitation (A) activates.
Of course, I also got just a tiny bit of help from my Skill.
***
After drafting a simple contract with the association chairman right there where I sat, I stood with a light heart.
In any case, this meant I had reduced the worry that the Dungeon I would use to trap Kwon Taehan might look suspicious. As a bonus, I had also secured evidence that the Hunter Association was trash.
The association chairman stared at me blankly, as if something about this felt uncomfortable, then shook his head violently from side to side and pointed at me again.
“The most important thing in this kind of contract is mutual trust. If you’re going to betray Hunter Im and stick tight to my side, then stick properly. Understand?”
“Of course.”
“...You may go now.”
I obediently bowed my head and, after taking the contract, left the room. Just before the door closed, a coldly dropping warning came from behind me.
“You had better keep this secret. I am a person who can easily decide whether someone like Hunter Seo lives or dies.”
Thuuung, with the sound of the door pushing the air aside, it closed completely.
'Should I answer?'
Well, the door had closed first, so there was no need to go out of my way.
At that moment, my phone rang loudly and displayed a familiar name.
Im Haekyung
Incoming call
incoming_call
'I was wondering why the call hadn’t come.'
I had been away for quite a while, so the fact that things had been quiet until now was a miracle. I answered the call without delay.
—Mr. Jehyun.
“Honey.”
—.......
Considering the association chairman was probably beyond that thin glass door, taking Im Haekyung’s call right here was a little, well?
—Mr. Jehyun, really....
“What were you doing?”
The area around Im Haekyung, who had let out a hollow laugh as if about to curse at any moment, grew quiet. Im Haekyung had probably moved somewhere without surrounding noise. I also moved toward the emergency stairs, then closed the door to block out the noise.
—Is someone beside you?
Quick bastard.
I lightly adjusted my grip on the phone and plainly conveyed only the facts.
“Guild Master, I became an industrial spy.”
—...What?
“Exactly what I said. I became a spy for the Hunter Association. They told me to pass on Haeseong’s corruption.”
—Who did?
“The association chairman.”
He had said he would kill me if I told Im Haekyung? Then, obviously, shouldn’t I tattle that he said he would kill me if I told Im Haekyung?
For Im Haekyung, who gave no reaction, I supplemented the explanation.
“Ah, the Hunter Association chairman.”
At that, the response came back immediately.
—Return... right now.
In a voice about... fifteen times colder than the association chairman’s warning from a moment ago.
—Right now.