Governnt surveillance?
I frowned.
"Are we still being monitored?"
The ntion of governnt surveillance wasn’t new. It had happened months ago.
At that ti, Yu Han-ul had said that he heard from a governnt official that Han Jae-young and I were planning to enter the dungeon. And the outco of that was...
I spoke with a calm expression on my face.
"The person who was monitoring us before was a high-ranking official, right? They said they went to arrest a fraud syndicate, but then disappeared in a set, right?"
"Yes, I’m that official, and although I was misunderstood as being involved in killing those fraudsters... well, it’s a minor issue, even though it leaves a bad taste."
"Oh, you were suspected of that?"
"...Why do I feel like they’re suing ?"
"That’s just a misunderstanding."
I didn't realize Han Jae-young had been suspected like that.
The fact is, I’m the one who threw a governnt official involved in colluding with a fraud syndicate to the piranha monsters.
"Anyway, the news of us going into the dungeon made the culprit nervous. But why now?"
"The information we released this ti was significant. It’s the first ti such an exploitation of hunters has been exposed worldwide."
The information we had disclosed to the public was about our recent expedition into the dungeon, where we took journalists and detectives to directly show how low-ranking hunters were being exploited.
We revealed that through a specific process, you could absorb hunters' magic and use it to craft items.
While the exact process was unknown, just revealing that much was already risky information, and I think Han Jae-young hesitated a lot before releasing it... But since the damage to low-ranking hunters was increasing, we had no choice but to warn the public.
"I think it could be problematic to release more information to the governnt."
In fact, there was a lot more information in Han Jae-young and my hands than what we had already disclosed. The small secrets, like reincarnation or being part fairy, weren’t the key concerns.
The truly shocking information was that there were humans living in other dinsions, which would be a massive shock to anyone.
'Humans are creatures that fear unknown enemies more.'
While monsters invading through the dungeon gateways are one thing, the realization that humans from other dinsions are creating "Dingshinbul" to steal Earth’s magic would spark an entirely different kind of fear—or even hatred.
In a fairytale, humans would stop fighting each other and unite to face external enemies. But in reality, things aren't so simple.
If it were revealed that we could create artificial monsters and exploit hunters’ magic, every country would want to create these powerful weapons. And once they do, they’d justify sacrificing a few in exchange for stronger defenses against external enemies.
"If we were capturing the real criminals, it’d be a different matter. But right now, revealing everything is premature."
Han Jae-young nodded as if he agreed.
"Exactly. So, I planned to keep the details about the 'Dingshinbul' under wraps and just brush it off."
"But?"
"The problem is that even with the information we've already revealed, the HP Guild has started facing issues. They’re asking questions like 'How did you know about this?'—it's more of an interrogation than anything."
"Just say you learned about it while exploring the dungeon. You don't know anything more than that."
"That’s what I said."
Han Jae-young shrugged his shoulders.
"But they’re not letting it go. They’re digging deeper. To be more precise... the governnt suspects that we might have learned this from similar experints conducted by the HP Guild."
I frowned.
While Han Jae-young might be sowhat annoying and suspicious with his fairy blood, he’s not the kind of person to conduct human experints. I didn’t think he was involved in anything like that.
"If they were doing experints, why would they leak the information themselves? Isn't that a ridiculous accusation?"
Han Jae-young seed a bit troubled, raising his eyebrows.
"Well, I’ll correct myself. It’s not so much that they suspect it, but... more like they feel they’ve caught sothing. There are so governnt figures who aren’t fond of the HP Guild, so..."
"Not fond of them?"
"To put it more accurately, they don't like ."
I had no idea how many suspicions and resentnts Han Jae-young was dealing with. If that’s the case, it’s not the ti for to complain about my personality, is it?
Han Jae-young let out a hollow laugh.
"I’m young, and I have no connections in Korean society... and on top of that, I’m listed as female on paper, which makes things worse. The older crowd doesn’t like my success. They don’t mind entertaining a bit, though."
"The most surprising thing I’ve heard today is that you're listed as female."
"It’s just a paperwork issue, don’t worry about it. I’ll adapt to your preferences, Da-on."
"That's the creepiest thing I’ve heard so far."
"Well, we’ve gotten off-topic... Anyway, the main point is that the governnt dislikes the HP Guild being overshadowed by another guild they’re pushing. Want to °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° see this?"
With that, Han Jae-young handed a docunt.
On top of the thick file was a photo.
The man in the photo had a good build and white hair... it was Yu Han-ul.
And beside him was another man, smiling as they had their arms around each other.
I recognized the face from TV. He wore the kind of robe common among wizards, adorned with flashy jewelry.
"A-rank Hunter Lee Woon-kyul. You’ve heard of him, right?"
"I know. He's the leader of the NLE Guild, right?"
In this world, guilds are essentially no different from corporations.
And Lee Woon-kyul’s NLE Guild could be considered a thriving venture business.
I had seen news reports saying that they were about to go public and had a promising future.
"The business has been successful, huh?"
So, even though it was reported in the news, it wasn’t because of any significant accomplishnts as a Hunter like Yu Han-ul or myself.
Rather, he had been boasting about his business acun on entertainnt programs.
To , it didn’t seem that impressive, but this is a capitalist society where money often substitutes for status.
As such, it wasn’t surprising that a young, successful businessman like Lee Woon-kyul had earned an unusual kind of prestige. Everyone was talking about his guild without even knowing what exactly it did.
Seeing my unimpressed expression, Han Jae-young chuckled lightly.
"The public opinion outside the industry is as expected... but in the Korean Hunter community, he’s quite well-known."
"Does that an he’s really competent?"
"No, his father is a National Assembly mber. His maternal family runs a law firm. So, he’s been getting a lot of privileges. The dia also promotes him, airing ads for money and giving him interviews on TV programs."
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.
As I thought, the system should be focusing more on fixing the society that created him, not just putting a leash around my neck.
"On page three of the docunt, there’s a list of dungeon items and a record of bids that overlap with ours."
As Han Jae-young said, I quickly scanned the docunt and... it was clear that the two guilds frequently collided.
"So what’s the point of all this?"
"If the governnt has caught a whiff of sothing suspicious, they might try to take down the HP Guild while pushing up NLE... That’s what I suspect."
Han Jae-young gestured to the next page.
"There are a few dungeons whose rental period is about to expire next week. They might decide to back NLE in those, especially if they summon for an investigation. The HP Guild will be too distracted to act."
So, we’re looking at a situation where we’ve done sothing beneficial to the public, but now we might get caught up in a power struggle and end up losing out.
Thinking about it, it’s not that uncommon. In fact, it happens quite often in Korean society.
"It’d be better if they focused on creating cri prevention asures instead of all this."
"I think so too. But honestly, it’s not like a few dungeons disappearing will make everything fall apart... But now, since NLE has started approaching people close to , it’s getting harder to ignore."
"People close to you?"
"Soone like Shin Ji-eum."
"Why specifically Shin Ji-eum?"
"She’s the only one in our guild who would be willing to have a drink with soone outside the guild."
Oh no, Shin Ji-eum’s sociability has backfired on her.
Apparently, she had sensed sothing odd when a few of her forr colleagues, who she didn’t usually contact, suddenly invited her for drinks. Han Jae-young then started asking her questions about what I had been doing, whether there were any strange experints going on, and he even casually dropped so hints about a docuntary.
"Soju wasn’t enough, so he made her drink a whole bottle of whiskey. And then he asked her about it."
"Really? So what did she say?"
"She said she drank Old Bottle Macallan 25 years old, so she had to pay the bill sohow, and gave him the information. Han Jae-young is apparently worse than the rumors, but at least he buys good beef."
Well, that was a waste of money.
I thought about it for a while.
‘...Sothing doesn’t quite add up.’
On the surface, it looks like another case of privilege and connections, but is that really all there is to it?
‘There’s a possibility that Orbis is involved with the Korean governnt.’
At least the fact that items created by Orbis are circulating among the public, starting with the True Light Church and the previous fraudulent companies, is clear.
If this attack on the HP Guild isn’t just to promote Lee Woon-kyul but is actually targeting Han Jae-young, who has information on Dingshinbul...
And more so, if this attack is aid at through Han Jae-young...?
The possibility exists.
‘If the HP Guild’s image deteriorates...’
In the grand sche, it might negatively affect my own public image as well.
If it’s sothing related to Orbis, then it’s not just about focusing on the next imdiate task; it’s like a chess ga, seeing the bigger picture.
If this is sothing Orbis is behind, leaving it unchecked could lead to far more significant consequences than just the HP Guild losing a little ground.
What if a suspicion starts to grow among the people?
If the governnt starts manipulating public opinion and the dia portrays Han Jae-young and the HP Guild negatively, it could harm my reputation as well.
And, although I don’t want to admit it, the HP Guild's power does have so advantages for right now.
So, if Orbis is targeting , it wouldn’t be surprising if they tried to undermine the HP Guild to weaken .
Of course, it could just be that I’m overthinking it.
But...
‘It’s better to overestimate than underestimate Orbis.’
If I overlook it and things go wrong, I could face much worse consequences.
"Ah, you really don’t need to look so serious."
Seeing my expression, Han Jae-young chuckled again.
Apparently, I had a stiff expression even on the outside.
"At least, I’m telling you all this because you’re involved. You might get approached by NLE soon, so I wanted to make sure we agree on what information to share."
So, he called here to agree on what to reveal because soone might approach soon.
Hmm.
I lifted the corners of my mouth.
"Actually, I’d prefer if they ca to sooner."
"Excuse ?"
"I want them to co after quickly."
I flicked my finger at the photo on the docunt.
The face of Lee Woon-kyul, the man in the photo, twisted in expression.
"Let him pay for trying to trap ."
"...I feel sorry for the governnt and Lee Woon-kyul now."
After finishing my conversation with Han Jae-young, I couldn’t just go ho and relax. There was still sothing I had to do.
At a building located on the main road in Gangnam...
"Master!"
Jas Chen, who saw entering the office, knelt down in front of with an ecstatic expression. He was practically bowing his head to the ground.
"I'm glad you have returned safely."
I sat down in a chair and looked down at Jas Chen. His abilities were surprisingly good. It was clear that he wasn’t in his position in the Hunter Cooperation Headquarters by coincidence.
He had been quickly expanding his influence, starting from the small guild I had set up for him.
And his thods were quite innovative.
Like what he had done with the guild of Ham Seo-rin, he went after the dirty, corrupt individuals, forcing them into his guild, knowing they could never report him to the authorities.
It seed that he had used this thod even when he was sent overseas, gathering his forces by taming these types of people. And in Korea, there were more than enough shady individuals to target.
Thanks to this, Jas had managed to build a guild with dozens of followers in just a few months.
Of course, on paper, neither Jas Chen nor I were the official leaders, so there was no trace that could tie us to any wrongdoing.
'Ham Seo-rin has done quite well for himself.'
The guild’s scale had grown as he had wished. However, I wasn’t sure if he was satisfied with it.
Jas, with a polite gesture, pointed to the papers neatly arranged on the desk.
"Here, these are the records of the dungeons we’ve conquered and the inco we’ve earned from them."
As expected, the money flow was good because most of the dungeon items were traded in cash. The guild was not just handling low-level Hunters; Jas was personally bidding on and conquering dungeons, which ant the scale of the money he was making was substantial.
Despite only having started his business recently, he had been able to rent out an entire floor of a building for his office.
‘Dungeons are generally cash-based, so the money flow is good.’
Not just from low-level Hunters, but from the way Jas himself handled the business, he was generating a lot of money.
Even though it was a small business, his spending and profits were considerable, and his office was a testant to that.
Jas Chen, looking at with eager, shining eyes, said:
"Please, tell if there’s anything that needs to be fixed, Master."
I could feel his thirst for power, which made uncomfortable.
‘He’s an easy person to read.’
Jas was so obedient because I had fed him the blood food and threatened him with his life. But still, it was clear that he was getting stronger as a result.
“You seem to have improved as a wizard too.”
"Yes, that’s right."
Jas nodded with humility, clearly pleased with the complint.
"All thanks to you, Master. I never expected the results to be this effective..."
The blood food I had fed to Jas and Leila Lopez had served a dual purpose. It could be used to torture them if they didn’t follow my orders, but it could also help unlock their magical potential if I controlled their magic circuits.
In Jas's case, the blood food had broken through the barriers in his magical abilities, making him a better wizard.
Of course, relying on it for too long wouldn’t be good for him in the long run.
Magic achievent depends on self-realization, and forcibly expanding soone’s magic circuit with blood food was essentially poisoning. It would lead to sweet short-term gains, but the long-term consequences would likely be destructive.
I wasn’t concerned about what would happen to Jas, but it was clear that this thod had its dangers.
"Of course, relying on it in the long term wouldn't be wise."
The magical accomplishnts depend on personal realization. Forcing soone to break through their limitations using blood food isn’t a sustainable solution.
But, for now, I didn’t care what happened to Jas. I was more interested in finding out what I needed from him.
“How much do you know about the NLE Guild?”
"I’ve received so information since their arrival in Korea. But, unlike before, this is a fairly legitimate guild, so it might take a bit of ti to handle them properly."
"Don’t handle them yourself... Let deal with it. If they approach you, send them away."
"Understood. So, is there sothing else you need to do?"
"I have one task for you, and it’s the most urgent one. Complete it, and I’ll reward you."
At the ntion of a reward, Jas Chen’s face lit up with hope. At the sa ti, he lowered himself to the floor, bowing even further.
"...Anything, Master. Please tell !"
If everything in life was this easy...
I thought to myself, before commanding Jas Chen with a firm tone.
"Get all the information on Theodora Yovanovich."
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