I realized what Pi Sowon meant when she said she didn’t know if I’d need my uniform, and swallowed my anger alone.
I mean, seriously…!
“Wow, that must be the Taekwondo Girl.”
“She’s skinnier than I thought?”
“Was she a flyweight or something?”
While the passing civil servants were all taking pictures out of curiosity, I… I waaaaas!
“Can’t you do a somersault or something?”
“A somersault?”
Listen here, mister. What I learned was Taekwondo, not acrobatics!
I glared at the PD who kept making unreasonable demands, my nostrils flaring.
However, because Hong Jaegyeol held up his phone screen from afar, showing this—
Reward Money: 500 million won
…I spun.
I did the somersault.
“540-degree kick!”
“If you mean a back spinning kick… I can do that!”
I passionately! While wearing a Taekwondo uniform! Ran around wildly in front of the Hunter Administration Bureau building where others were going in and out sipping their coffee.
All while trying my best to avoid making eye contact with the cleaners and security guards who were staring at me in fascination from afar!
‘…I’m hitting rock bottom.’
But does a 500-million-won reward just fall from the sky?
By the time I was truly drenched in sweat from flying through the air—to the point where I didn’t even need the fake sweat makeup anymore—
“Yes. Yes. Good. Okay!”
I got the ‘okay’.
And Hong Jaegyeol approached from afar, blocking my sleeve as I was about to wipe my sweat, and said.
“Uh-uh. If you wipe away the sweat, you’ll look less exhausted, won’t you~?”
…This filthy civil service society.
To think I can’t escape this even in my second life!
“This right here. It could be a video that determines the survival of the HIB, you know? It’ll be broadcast nationwide, aired on the news. You have to hit the upper limit when your stock price is high.”
“Yes…”
It was just as I was answering in a lifeless voice.
A person labeled as the ‘Writer’ approached with a look of annoyance.
“Next, we’ll do a brief interview.”
“Then can I change into my dress uniform?”
I looked at the writer with the hope that I could finally change my clothes, but the writer looked toward the PD.
The PD made a large ‘X’ mark with his hands, and the writer said with her usual unenthusiastic face.
“We’ll proceed as is.”
Damn it.
I’m not doing this!
“How did you think of risking your life to subdue the terrorists in that situation?”
“Rather than my own body! I acted! With the thought! That the safety! And safety… and safety… of the citizens is what’s important!”
Even while thinking that, my body was diligently responding to the interview.
It was the so-called power of capitalism.
Of course, I didn’t do it well.
…An investigator doing this much is enough. What more do you want?
Thinking that, I looked at Hong Jaegyeol, whose face was slowly scrunching up at my voice trembling like a goat, and Pi Sowon beside him, holding back her laughter.
‘Those people….’
I won’t let them get away with this.
It was when I was having such thoughts.
“Now, finally, we have prepared a simple gift. Please come on out!”
A gift?
That was when I looked in the direction the interviewer pointed, thinking that.
A high school girl with a familiar face walked over from there.
Wearing an arts high school uniform…
“This is Miss Han Sua, who recently returned after winning an award at an overseas competition.”
Han Sua.
She seemed to be walking normally halfway, but suddenly she ran towards me and gave me a tight hug.
The process happened so naturally that I didn’t even have time to stop her.
Sua, snuggling into my chest, spoke to me in a nasal, tearful voice.
“Thank you… Thank you… so much…”
For a moment, I stood there blankly with my hands down, but soon I wrapped my arms around her.
She’s smaller and softer than I thought.
To think a child like this is the one playing such a wonderful violin.
People are all so fascinating.
Thinking that, I muttered without realizing.
“I’m the one who’s more thankful.”
“…”
“Thank you… for staying alive.”
Through my blurring vision, two clear windows popped up.
Hong Jaegyeol’s Affection increases by 3.
Pi Sowon’s Affection increases by 20.
…20?
What is going on?
What did I even do?
* * *
The top floor of the Daeyoung Guild.
A place that could only be accessed via an elevator directly connected from the first-floor lobby entrance, strictly reserved for the Guild Master.
The Daeyoung Guild Master’s office, featuring octagonal floor-to-ceiling glass windows, surrounded by rare orchids and ornamental stones.
One of those ornamental stones was stained red.
“Keu… Keugh…”
A man, bleeding profusely from his head, looked up with a terrified face at a middle-aged man standing with a cane.
Choi Jungu.
He was Korea’s first-generation Hunter, the master of Korea’s No. 1 guild, the invisible hand moving Korea, and a man known to have ties even to the President.
And such a man possessed the power to manipulate his opponents.
Not through simple rhetoric, glares, power, or money; he could physically ‘control’ his opponents.
That was how he came to be known as the most powerful Hunter even among S-Ranks.
Thus, right now, Choi Jungu was manipulating the man trembling and crawling before him—the ‘line’ that connected to the ‘dot’ named ‘Cha Jeonhyeok’, namely the Chief Secretary of the Hunter Administration Bureau—forcing him to bash his own head against the ornamental stone.
“I-I’m sorry! Please spare me! I will make sure… make sure this never happens again! Never again!”
At the final words, the secretary’s head seemed about to hit the stone again, but stopped.
Choi Jungu stared down quietly at the secretary.
Then, leaning on his cane, he squatted in front of him and brushed the secretary’s bangs up from his forehead.
Looking at the blood-matted forehead, Choi Jungu smiled faintly.
More than the pain, that sight gave him goosebumps, making the secretary tremble uncontrollably.
“That this will never happen again isn’t the important issue. This shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Isn’t that right?”
His vocabulary was standard Seoul dialect, but his tone was tinged with a thick Busan accent.
The man nodded.
“Y-yes, sir.”
“But the deed is already done… Someone has to take responsibility…”
Choi Jungu scratched his chin and grinned again.
The secretary rolled his eyes, interpreting Choi Jungu’s words.
“I have already taken measures to wrap it up as Cha Jeonhyeok’s corruption…”
At those words, Choi Jungu’s face immediately scrunched up. Soon, Choi Jungu lightly tapped the secretary’s cheek with his bloodstained hand.
It looked like a weak force, but that force turned the secretary’s head, and blood seeped through his lips.
“Ugh… Uuuugh…”
“That’s not enough. Shouldn’t we take this opportunity to completely purge all the ‘dots’ on the HIB’s side?”
“……Keu… keup… if you mean clearing them all out, what kind of…….”
The eyes of the secretary, who had asked back foolishly, widened.
He soon realized what the words he heard meant.
‘He means to kill them.’
Everyone associated with this incident.
“I will handle it… quietly.”
“Right. Well, when it comes to that kind of work, you civil servants are always so clean. I’ll be trusting you.”
Choi Jungu smiled, wiped the blood from his hand onto the Secretary’s white shirt, and stood up.
The secretary was soon dragged out by the security personnel.
A Healer would probably treat him soon so that the wounds wouldn’t even be visible before sending him out.
Choi Jungu looked down at the ruined ornamental stone and furrowed his brow.
“…F*ck.”
It was an ornamental stone he had painstakingly brought into Korea from a rural province in China over a long period.
But it was completely ruined. Just like this incident.
In order to bring down Kwon Ikseong’s team, which was flying high in the HIB, he had planted quite a few favorable ‘dots’ in the Equipment Management Division, the supplier companies, and even inside Team 1.
He had also painstakingly chosen the ‘lines’ that connected them, so all that was left was for a beautiful ‘plane’ to be completed.
The fall of the hero named Kwon Ikseong.
The downfall of the HIB.
That was what he wanted to see—
Choi Jungu turned on the monitor in the air with a remote control, still holding the ruined ornamental stone.
Then, on that monitor, a female investigator with a goofy face, dripping with sweat in a Taekwondo uniform, was saying this:
[Rather than my own body! I acted! With the thought! That the safety! And safety… and safety… of the citizens is what’s important!]
[Haha…. It seems you’re very nervous. Still, don’t you ever feel scared? The opponent had bombs and guns.]
[Ah… do I feel scared?]
The way her eyes darted around was quite cute.
He felt like he understood why she had earned the nickname ‘Taekwondo Girl’ and why fan accounts had already sprung up.
[I don’t really. It’s just that… I’m scared that I might be scared, and that’s what scares me.]
A pure gaze that seemed to hold sincerity. Flushed red cheeks. Drops of sweat dripping from her forehead.
Goodwill. Justice. Sacrifice.
People went crazy for these things.
Even while they themselves commit hideous acts without hesitation.
Choi Jungu asked his secretary, who had been standing behind him like a shadow for a while now.
“She’s cute, isn’t she?”
The secretary did not answer. He couldn’t find the words.
However, as if not expecting an answer, Choi Jungu chuckled. But his eyes alone were fiercely alive.
“Kwon Ikseong wasn’t cute, but that one is even cute, so…”
Choi Jungu threw the ornamental stone to the floor.
The stone immediately shattered into fragments and scattered.
A spasm crossed Choi Jungu’s face.
“She looks like she’s going to be even more tiresome to deal with.”
[Thank you for staying alive…]
The continuing tearful voice was accompanied by touching background music that didn’t suit this setting at all.
Hi! Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Please continue to support this novel by giving it a good rating on Novel Updates. Thank you! ^^ ❤︎
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