Chapter 326

At my words, Im Haekyung let out a short sigh, then lowered their voice and spoke as if questioning me.

-You’re telling me not to worry because you’re going to steal it? You need to say something that makes sense for me to understand.

“I need to get it right now. I can’t do a demonic beast reveal show in a place where cameras are spread everywhere.”

-How bad is the situation?

“If we call it a werewolf, about the level where the full moon has risen?”

-Do not joke, be serious.

“If someone just looks, it’s noticeable. I am covering it with clothes, though.”

In case there were ears listening nearby, I pulled up Status Windows at random. Fortunately, inside the building was quiet, perhaps because everyone was holed up doing their own work.

-On your skin... it is noticeable, then.

Im Haekyung thought hard about something, then spoke.

-I will keep listening, so act calmly. Do not steal it. Borrow it. Say I said I wanted to speak with the Association Chairman.

“Do you have something to talk about?”

-Even asking after someone’s health is a conversation.

“Do you use a mana restraint when you meet with the Association Chairman alone?”

-Of course.

If you looked at it that way, had they not just left Kwon Taehan peacefully unbound earlier? They even gave him snacks.

'Because it’s Im Haekyung?'

Perhaps they sensed doubt from my silence, because they added an explanation on their own.

-My Skill is not visible, you know? Now... the chairman is at an age where he would feel anxious about things like that.

They were calmly saying something vicious. But in any case, they wore a mana restraint while talking with the Association Chairman? For a moment, I roughly imagined the picture, then frowned.

“You talk while wearing handcuffs?”

-Jehyun, there are quite a few artifacts in the world made in humanitarian forms. Like bracelets, for instance.

“Aha.”

Im Haekyung gave a short sigh. I fiddled with the ring on my hand and asked.

“But does this ring eavesdrop at the same time? Both ways?”

-When I have it turned on, it does not work from your side. If eavesdropping were possible at the same time, it would simply be a communication tool.

“Then why use this instead of calling?”

-It was never given to you for communication in the first place. It was given to monitor you.

“Why do you not carry a communication artifact? How troublesome.”

At that, they ignored my words completely and spoke.

-There is an office in the basement that the Association Chairman uses as a meeting room, and artifacts are kept in the desk safe there. Though it is not only artifacts. Otherwise, it is possible to talk to the front desk and borrow one outright, but the smaller a rumor is, the better.

“You told me to borrow it anyway. Why bother going to the basement?”

-I told you, the smaller a rumor is, the better. It is better to borrow it directly from the Association Chairman. And borrowing one has rather complicated procedures. It takes a long time too. You said every moment was urgent, did you not?

“Yes.”

-And you caused an accident earlier too, did you not? Writing some strange contract.... If you are going to do it, do it properly. Strengthen the relationship moderately, and speak to him as if you have already created a private meeting, or something.

The Association Chairman did not overestimate my ability that much, though?

When I did not answer, Im Haekyung spoke as if warning me.

-Do not cause a noticeable accident, and even if you do cause an accident, do it while paying attention to the CCTV. Reduce it to a level I can clean up.

“Yes.”

-...No, I cannot trust you, Jehyun. Just wait for a moment.

“Yes.”

I answered calmly and hung up. As soon as Do Yehyun confirmed that I had ended the call, he asked.

“They told you to wait?”

“No.”

“.......”

He had heard that much.

I answered roughly and headed straight toward the place Im Haekyung had told me about. I did not know exactly what kind of situation Im Haekyung was in, but unless they had said from the beginning that they would come, they must have had circumstances of their own. If they could not come right away, it was better to find it somehow and control the demonic beast. It was not simply a matter of pain....

'If I lose my reason, I’m fucked.'

Because I had clearly witnessed what happened when I handed mental control over to the demonic beast.

I gripped the area around my neck tightly and moved my feet.

When I threw open the place where I had spoken with the Association Chairman earlier, unfortunately, the Association Chairman was nowhere inside.

“Fuck, where did this bastard go?”

If this fucker had made such a comfortable room for himself, he should have stayed quietly holed up in it, but he was pointlessly wandering around here and there, acting like shit. I found the safe under the Association Chairman’s desk and pulled the handle meaninglessly.

'Ah, the number.'

I checked the business card the Association Chairman had handed me and immediately called him. The ringtone, which went on until just before it cut off, eventually clicked. It connected.

-Who is this?

It was fortunate, because I nearly would have killed him if he had not picked up.

“Hello, this is Hunter Seo Jehyun from Haeseong. We met earlier.”

-...Ahh. Yes, what are you calling about? I am a little busy right now.

“I had something to tell you, so I came to the place where we spoke earlier. Could you spare me just a moment right now?”

-That will be difficult right now. Haha.... We already discussed everything earlier, did we not, hm?

This bastard... just from the looks of it, he did not seem like he was going to come.

After quickly finishing my judgment, I wedged the phone between my shoulder and ear and threw the documents on the desk onto the floor. At that, papers scattered across the floor in an instant.

“...Bro?”

Do Yehyun, eyes wide, called me in a small voice. I made a gesture telling him to be quiet, then pushed the vase on the desk so that it fell down.

-Hm? What was that just now....

“But Chairman, you need to come right now.”

-...Why?

I opened the desk drawer, took out every document that looked important, and flung them into the air as I replied.

“I came because I had something to tell you, but here... what is this. Do you call it a meeting room? In any case, the room was a complete mess.”

-What?

The papers fell one by one and lay strewn here and there across the floor. I watched the sight and threw the rest of the documents.

“Yes, as if someone had broken in and rummaged through everything.”

-...Someone broke in?

“And above all....”

I lightly kicked the fully locked safe with my foot and continued speaking.

“The safe was open.”

-...What?

“First, I thought there might be something important, so I closed it again, but shouldn’t you come and confirm whether anything has disappeared?”

-Wait, I will send security guards there....

“Ah, there is a threatening letter saying absolutely do not call security guards.... Hm, Chairman, do you have a son? ...I am not sure if I should be seeing this kind of thing. A college student... attending school in America.”

-.......

“What kind of bad bastard would do this to someone else’s precious child!”

For reference, the fact that the Association Chairman’s son attended university in America had also appeared in articles. I lightly shouted as if angry, then dusted off my hands.

“The room right now is... completely ruined. It is no joke. Wow, what son of a bitch would!”

-.......

“In any case, come quickly.”

With those words, I hung up.

When I ended the call, Do Yehyun silently stared at me blankly.

“What, Yehyun.”

“Bro, right now....”

“Yeah.”

“...You seem like a con artist.”

“Me? Why? It was a white lie.”

“A white...? It seems closer to malice....”

I ignored Do Yehyun’s correct statement and sat on the sofa, calmly waiting for the Association Chairman.

'The pain is a bit....'

Soon, the Association Chairman, who had run over in a hurry, urgently flung the door open.

“Hunter Seo!”

“Ah, Chairman!”

The Association Chairman looked at the documents scattered across the floor and asked urgently with a horrified face.

“Did you see who did this?”

“I did not? You should check the safe first.”

“The threatening letter?”

“Ah, that....”

There wasn’t one?

I looked at the papers scattered here and there across the floor and answered.

“It should be somewhere here. I was so shocked after seeing it that I accidentally dropped it. Anyway, more importantly, I think you should check the safe first.”

Even at my calm answer, the Association Chairman must have been startled, because he nodded. Seeing that he did not collect the documents on the floor, it seemed those were not very important.

“The safe. Please check it.”

I lowered my voice and urged the Association Chairman, who kept dragging his feet.

At that, the Association Chairman nodded and opened the safe with trembling hands. I quietly watched from a little distance away, but as soon as the safe door opened, I shoved my hand inside.

Tap.

“Wh-what is this?”

“Just a moment.”

'It’s here.'

I would have cursed if it had been hidden again inside the safe, but fortunately the mana restraint was sitting neatly right on top.

I picked it up, naturally put it on my wrist, and jerked my chin toward the safe again.

“Please continue looking.”

“Why are you...?”

“To keep my manners in front of you, Chairman. You are unawakened, aren’t you?”

When I roughly made up an excuse, the Association Chairman nodded one beat late. In any case, now that he had seen this ruined mess with his own eyes, he should not have enough mental space to care about this level of bullshit.

“Ah....”

I let out a small sigh.

Once I put on the mana restraint, the burning heat in my skin, which until just now had felt as though I had been scalded, slowly began to go down.

'Fuck, I can live.'

As the heat cooled, the pain naturally started to gradually lessen as well.

Once the pain decreased to less than half, the reason I needed to think a little more rationally definitely returned. The mess on the floor also came into view much more clearly.

'I should start cleaning this up soon.'

Then, with good timing, the Association Chairman stood up from his seat, gripping the documents inside the safe tightly.

'Is he done already?'

Still, because they were his own things, was that it? The Association Chairman began speaking in a choked voice.

“...Not a single thing is missing.”

“That is truly fortunate.”

When I gave a half-hearted congratulation, the Association Chairman’s expression slowly hardened. A moment later, the Association Chairman moved his lips and began.

“Could it be, on purpose....”

“Me?”

I asked as if puzzled, sprang up from my seat, and strode toward the Association Chairman. It was not as if I had approached him to beat him right away, but the Association Chairman reflexively took several steps back.

“W-wait....”

“Yes.”

Well, the plan was not something that needed to be complicated. I had Do Yehyun, and I had Im Haekyung too. I was planning to lightly beat him unconscious physically, appropriately finish treatment, and then erase his memory.

I stopped right in front of him, thinking of just smacking his head lightly once, when suddenly the Association Chairman began doing slapstick comedy.

“Ueok!”

“......?”

The Association Chairman, who had frantically stepped back, stepped on the papers that had fallen to the floor and slid straight backward before falling over.

'What the hell?'

Soon, with a dull thud, the Association Chairman’s head hit the floor.

'Is this bastard going to have brain damage?'

Of course, that was that, and I still had to finish what had to be done.

“Ugh.... Ah, ah....”

I grabbed the head of the Association Chairman, who was groaning and clutching the back of his head, then, before he could come to his senses, took the strength out of my arm and slammed him down onto the floor.

Thwack!

'Is that enough?'

I snapped my fingers by the Association Chairman’s ear, confirmed he was completely unconscious, and called Do Yehyun.

“Yehyun.”

“.......”

“Could you heal him a bit? Just enough that he won’t wake up.”

“...Yes.”

Do Yehyun covered his mouth for a moment, but obediently came closer and cast his Skill over the Association Chairman’s body.

Moonlight’s Blessing (S) activates.

I leisurely rolled my wrist once and quietly watched Do Yehyun healing him, when a quiet voice was heard.

“I was startled. This person... is an old man.”

“He’s hale and hearty, isn’t he? Just by looking, he seems very lively. Looks like he’ll live a long time.”

At that, Do Yehyun looked up at me blankly. I sat across from him and met Do Yehyun’s eyes, raising the corners of my mouth.

“You know who he is, right? Since you saw him earlier. The Hunter Association Chairman.”

“...Ah.”

“Were you asleep, so you didn’t see him?”

“No, I know. But... how do you know him, bro?”

“I made a contract with him earlier.”

“...Yes?”

I cleared away the documents roughly getting in the way on the floor and sat down fully in front of him. In the meantime, the documents the Association Chairman was holding so tightly that his fingers had turned white came into view.

“I’m planning to act as a spy for a while and dig up some internal information from the Hunter Association.”

“.......”

“I’ll explain in detail once we get out later. Im Haekyung knows too, so don’t worry.”

Ah, were they listening?

I quickly corrected my words.

“I mean. Our guild master.”

By the way, what kind of documents are these? I forcibly pried open the Association Chairman’s fingers and picked up the bundle of documents.

'The contents are, well, obviously predictable. Corruption?'

As if anyone did not know the Hunter Association did a shitty job. I was about to pull out the documents and check the contents, when I suddenly stopped moving.

“...Bro?”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, because I had been in a rush earlier, I had overlooked a few very basic things.

Such as locking the door... or doing a simple check.

“Wait a moment.”

I tucked the documents under one arm and approached the door while sending Im Haekyung a text.

It is not a serious matter, so please do not worry too much and come help me just once

I will lock the door, so knock when you come nearby

Click. I locked the lock at the bottom of the door, then locked the upper lock in order as well. After carefully pulling the handle and confirming that the door was locked, I moved my feet in another direction.

'Hmm.'

I stood in front of the quiet cabinet and narrowed my eyes. Then I immediately lifted my hand and knocked on the cabinet door several times.

Bang bang bang!!!

Perhaps because it was metal, the sound was truly loud. Do Yehyun seemed startled too, and asked in a confused tone.

“Bro, why...?”

“Nothing.”

The cabinet, which could not be locked from the inside, opened easily when I applied a little force. Creak. After a light scraping noise of metal, the shape inside slowly came into view.

What I saw through the gap in the door was a pair of familiar eyes.

I quietly looked at those eyes and raised the corners of my mouth.

“I just wanted to check, in case. The size... seemed like a space about big enough for one person to fit inside.”

“Is there something there?”

I had locked the door, but the commotion had been fairly large, so would security guards come? I was a little curious whether security guards would arrive before Im Haekyung....

“There are... a lot of things. I’ll search through them a bit.”

“Ah....”

“You focus on healing.”

Looking into those eyes, I asked only with the shape of my mouth.

You weren’t invited, then?

It was not that I had really asked because I was curious. It was closer to certainty.

At that, Joo Seowon’s Adam’s apple bobbed once. As if they were nervous.