Chapter 130: Episode 130

The next morning, I was in the kitchen making hangover soup. I’m no chef—it was just an instant packet of dried radish green soup I’d bought from E-Market. All I had to do was add the block of dried greens, boil some water, chop up leftover vegetables from the night before, and wait.

As the savory aroma filled the air, the team members rose like zombies and shuffled toward the table.

“Whoaaa… CEO Kim, you’re the beeeest…”

“I… I feel like I’m gonna die. I threw up three times.”

Though they were all suffering, they sat down neatly at the table. As the water boiled and the soup took on its rich color, I ladled it into bowls. Ea immediately set them down for everyone.

“Thank you for the food!”

“We’ll eat well, sir.”

They devoured the soup in a frenzy. Kim Sarang couldn’t contain her admiration, exclaiming, “Ah, this tastes just like my mom’s cooking!” when in reality, it was instant.

“You should eat too, CEO!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I filled a bowl for myself and took a seat. Jin Bora, sitting next to me, asked quietly, “Y-Yusin.”

“What?”

“My memory… is a blur from last night. Did anything happen?”

“Nothing special.”

“Oh, what a relief!” Bora clapped her hands, finally relaxing as she focused on her soup.

Of course, something ’had’ happened. I was tempted to remind her that she’d rambled on about me being gay and feeling jealous of Na Daeyong, but with the Fourth Floor Team around, I decided to let it slide.

“I don’t remember anything, but I keep recalling a strange dream,” Kim Sarang said.

“A dream? What kind?”

“I was planting a tree.” I desperately tried to hold back my laughter. “It was a magnificent tree with lush leaves and lots of fruit. Oh! But it was a little strange. Usually, leaves grow from branches, right? But the tree I planted had tons of leaves growing right from the trunk.”

“Sounds like a nonsense dream to me.”

“Isn’t a dream with a tree in it something like a conception dream?”

At Cha Doyeon’s remark, Kim Sarang’s face flushed as she shouted, “A c-conception dream! I’m still an unmarried lady!”

“Hmm.” Bora made a meaningful expression, then leaned in to whisper in Sarang’s ear. “You don’t remember what happened last night, right?”

“…No.”

“What if the father is actually one of us here?”

“Aack! Aaaaaaah! Don’t say such scary things!”

As everyone ate their soup amidst boisterous laughter, Jeong Seojin, the last to wake, sluggishly shuffled in. The entire Fourth Floor Team greeted him politely, and he nodded with hollow eyes before sitting down.

“You okay?”

“Yes, the hangover is fine. However…” He slowly rubbed the back of his head. “It hurts. I think I was assaulted by someone.”

“Hahaha! Assaulted? What are you talking about? You must have bumped into something while you were drunk.”

As I broke out in a cold sweat and turned away, my phone rang in my pocket.

“It’s not the Association President again, is it?” Bora asked.

A smile spread across my lips as I checked the caller ID. “Nah, it’s Ms. Shin.”

The call I’d been waiting for. I stood up. “I’ll take this.”

“Whoaaaa! As expected of our Master! The Hunter Association President at night! The CEO of Garam Management by day! You’re on a different level!”

“That’s embarrassing, so please be quiet, Daeyong.”

I went up to the ninth floor to answer the phone.

“Yes, Ms. Shin. This is Kim Yusin.”

“Ah, um. Hunter Kim. Have you been well?” Her voice lacked its usual cheerfulness. It was a good sign. “W-Would it be possible to meet for a moment today? I can come to you!”

“Ah, I’m terribly sorry, but I’m very busy today. Would it be alright if we spoke over the phone?”

“Ah, haha! Y-You’re busy. Haha!”

We exchanged simple pleasantries and caught up.

“So, Professor Oh asked me to give a lecture on magic for the new non-combat students. I was thinking of stopping by sometime next week.”

“…Th-That’s great.”

“It’s for a good cause. I also need to start preparing to create the Second Circle. I’ve got a mountain of things to do.”

The more I talked, the more Shin Nara’s voice trembled. “U-Um…”

“Is something wrong? Please, speak freely.”

“Ah, yes. I’m so sorry to ask, but… there’s something I’d like to request of you, Hunter Kim.”

“A request for me, Ms. Shin?”

“Yes. It’s a bit sudden, but… the Association has requested a dispatch from Garam.”

“I see.”

“The other positions are fine, but they specifically requested a certified rank-3 hunter…”

As one of the top management companies in the country, Garam had three certified rank-3 hunters: Yoo Hayoung, Garam’s ace who helped during the Healer’s Union incident; Kang Changbeom, specializing in defense; and me. But Hayoung was in Australia, and Changbeom was part of a dungeon raid team. Realistically, I was the only one available.

“I know it’s shameless, and I’m so sorry, but I was calling to see if you might be able to go, Hunter Kim.”

This was precisely why I had the Association President issue the order through Garam. If I was going to be dispatched, I planned to make Garam indebted to me. My contract had a refusal-of-orders clause. If I refused, Shin Nara would have to cancel Hayoung’s or Changbeom’s schedules, or hire a rank-3 mercenary at an astronomical cost. More importantly, as the person who directly managed my schedule, she knew better than anyone how busy I was. She knew how many appointments were already backed up. In other words, she was in a position where she couldn’t help but feel incredibly apologetic.

“I-I’m sorry! For making such an unreasonable request! I-It’s probably too much, right? You’re not just a hunter for us; you’re involved in so many other things… We can’t just push our own circumstances on you…”

I pretended to deliberate, letting out a light sigh. Each time, I could hear her swallowing nervously over the speaker.

“How long is the overseas dispatch? And where is it?” I asked.

“I-I don’t know, either.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a classified dispatch…”

At this, I paused again. ’Ah, a classified dispatch.’ That meant something messy was involved—something that couldn’t be revealed to the public. The kind of mission where, even if I died, my death wouldn’t be announced or even officially recorded. And she was in the position of having to ask me to do it.

“Y-You can refuse! Really!”

“Then what will Garam do?”

“We’ll have to… try to find a rank-3 mercenary? Yes! It’ll work out somehow!”

A rank-3 mercenary for a top-tier firm like Garam that only had three of them? A mercenary who would take on a classified dispatch? I could confidently say that no company in their right mind would lend one out.

—”I-If that doesn’t work, I’ll file an official protest with the Association and ask for an extension! We have our own circumstances; how can they just demand a rank-3 hunter out of the blue like this! Ah, of course, we’ve been handling Association work for a long time, so we don’t have much grounds to refuse… Ah, ah! No! You don’t have to think about our situation! Really!”

Shin Nara was having a complete mental breakdown.

…Listening to her, I did feel a little bad. As thick-skinned as I was, my conscience was starting to prickle.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I only want to help you, Hunter Kim, but I keep doing things like this…”

“I’ll do it,” I said. “I’ll go.”

“Ah…”

A small gasp escaped her lips.

“Y-You don’t have to force yourself. B-But are you really going to go?”

“You know me. I’m a man of my word. I wasn’t able to help during the Classic Gate incident, so I want to be of help to Garam—no, to you, Ms. Shin—at least this time.”

Beside me, Ea was watching with an expression that screamed, ’Are you even human?’ Oh, my dear Ea, who learned about the world through the internet. This is how business is done.

“Hunter Kim! Oh, I really don’t know how to thank you…!”

She finally broke down, her voice choked with tears. ’Don’t do that. It makes me feel like the bad guy, although it was my scheme.’

“Actually… Hng! The refusal clause is unprecedented, so we kept it confidential… The Association knew we were short a rank-3 hunter and kept asking why we couldn’t provide one. Hic!”

“…Hahaha.”

A moment later, after she seemed to have calmed down, we coordinated the details. Then, she suddenly said, “Oh, whatever! I’m just going to say it!”

“Yes?”

“It’s not confirmed yet, so I couldn’t tell you, but… I’m planning to create a new guild for you, Hunter Kim.”

“You are?”

To put it simply, Garam would create a subsidiary. Not a management company, but a guild, structured so that I would acquire 51% of the shares, giving me effective control and ownership. Furthermore, she said they would dispatch Garam’s personnel and share all their management and development know-how. It takes at least ten years to establish a proper guild. In this industry, most new guilds go bankrupt within a year.

Even if I started a guild right now, I’d lack the connections and recognition to compete for dungeons. Our hunters would likely be jobless, lazing around at home. She was offering to cover that decade of accumulating know-how, and probably even more.

“Isn’t that less of a subsidiary and more of an affiliate?” To be more blunt, it felt like Garam was just setting up my company for me. “Why would you go to such lengths for me…?”

“I wanted to help you achieve your dream!” she said. “Garam handles combat-type players and hunters, while your guild will handle non-combat types and mages, right? Our markets and customer bases don’t overlap, so I believe we can maintain a fully cooperative relationship.”

“Even if it’s an investment in the future, it seems like I’m the only one benefiting…”

“No, Garam benefits too!” she said, her voice much brighter. “In exchange for just setting up one company, we get to maintain our connection with you. I think that’s a cheap price to pay!”

My goodness. Was it my turn to cry now?

“I don’t want a short-term business relationship. I want to continue to be your partner, Hunter Kim, for a long time to come!”

A wave of emotion washed over me. To think I’d caused such a kind-hearted person so much stress over debts and obligations! A deep sense of shame filled me.

Hmm, no. On second thought, maybe my judgment wasn’t so bad. Even with the Fourth Floor Team’s impressive results, there was undoubtedly fierce opposition within Garam. That must be why she couldn’t say it was ‘confirmed.’ But this dispatch would put not just Ms. Shin, but all of Garam Management, in my debt. Some people would see me in a new light, and the opposition’s momentum would surely die down.

“So you have to come back safely,” Shin Nara said. “For the sake of seeing your very own guild with your own eyes!”

I smiled and replied, “Of course. I’ll be back soon.”

And with that, the call ended. Now, on top of the Association President’s reward, Ms. Shin’s was also on the line. This dispatch was becoming entangled in many ways. If I could just succeed, not only would my career as a certified hunter advance, but the entire Magic Tower would leap much further forward. I’d be getting the entire mage development division for free.

’A dispatch…’

I didn’t know how things would turn out, but I felt I had to resolve this matter, even if it meant mobilizing all the powers of the Magic Tower.

* * *

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