Chapter 82
Wind of Change (2)
“Is this the place?”
“Yes.”
“It’s insanely tall.”
Kang Hyeon marveled at the building that seed to pierce the sky.
Its height was a staggering 666m.
It was the tallest building in South Korea and the second tallest building in the world.
The Cot Group’s Cot Tower.
Kang Hyeon and An Yu-seong were standing in front of this epito of capitalism.
“Does this entire building belong to your family?”
“We’ve sold a lot of it now. Besides, we have many other buildings anyway.”
“You lucky bastard.”
Kang Hyeon had long since abandoned his obsession with money.
But seeing such a different scale of wealth made his stomach churn involuntarily.
“Mr. Kang Hyeon. Is that you?”
“Yes.”
As they entered the building, n in suits who had been waiting approached them.
“This way, please.”
The man guided them to a VIP-only elevator.
Kang Hyeon, seeing this for the first ti, secretly marveled as he stepped into the elevator.
“I suppose we’re heading to the top floor?”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t understand why Korean gentlen like the top so much. Is the feeling of looking down on others that good?”
“Ahem, hmm…”
The n inside cleared their throats at Kang Hyeon’s unfiltered words.
Soon after, the high-speed elevator arrived at the top of the building.
As soon as Kang Hyeon entered, he was awestruck by the massive door blocking his view.
“Couldn’t you live off selling just one of these door panels for a lifeti?”
“Perhaps so.”
An Yu-seong’s expression was noticeably tense as he answered.
“Hey. Why are you so nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.”
Contrary to his words, An Yu-seong’s fists were clenched and trembling.
“Let’s go.”
Kang Hyeon patted An Yu-seong’s shoulder once before pushing the door open.
‘Quite a gathering.’
Although he had already sensed it with his magical powers outside the door, seeing it in person was even more impressive.
A space so vast you could play ball gas in it.
A man sat on a sofa in the center, surrounded by over 200 ability users.
From what Kang Hyeon could sense, each of them seed to be at least level 40, upper-middle-class ability users or higher.
“Interesting. Are you trying to intimidate from the start?”
“Not at all. These people are simply here for my safety, so don’t mind them. Co, have a seat.”
The man sitting on the sofa spoke.
His hair was already snow-white, but his squared shoulders and straight back showed he was still a vigorous man.
“It’s a pleasure to et such a famous person who’s been causing a stir in the country. I’m An Moo-seok.”
“Haha. If you had invited more politely, I would have been glad too. What a sha. I’m Kang Hyeon.”
At Kang Hyeon’s response, An Moo-seok’s eyes narrowed sharply for a mont, but he quickly returned to a comfortable expression as if nothing had happened.
“Young man, it seems you need to be more careful with your words and actions.”
“Tsk… It looks like you need to re-educate your subordinates. If you wanted to bring in forcefully, you should have at least sent soone worth fighting. Or is this a problem of a superior sending out weak subordinates?”
Kang Hyeon’s wide-ranging attack made even the faces of the ability users behind them turn red.
Surprisingly, An Moo-seok continued the conversation without saying much.
“Let’s stop the jokes here. I’m sure you didn’t co here today for this reason.”
“I’m a busy person too, so let’s get to the point. Why did you look for ?”
“I hear you’re the leader of a guild called Badass now? With that An Yu-seong as your vice-captain.”
“That’s correct.”
“That’s enough for to gauge your level without needing to see more. I’ll be direct. You, co under .”
Kang Hyeon snorted at An Moo-seok’s words.
“Ha! An Yu-seong. I hate to say this, but is your father ntally unwell?”
“…”
An Yu-seong’s face hardened at Kang Hyeon’s words.
Normally, he would have laughed it off, but now his mind was completely blank, burning white-hot.
“You… You’re crossing the line now.”
“You’re the one crossing the line. I don’t know what basis you have for claiming to know our level, but we’re certainly not at a level to work under you. You’d better rack your brains again.”
“I’m warning you for the last ti. Watch your mouth.”
An Moo-seok no longer seed intent on hiding his anger.
Revealing his true colors, he exuded an aura like that of a battle-hardened warrior.
It was a befitting appearance for a man who had built a global conglorate from scratch.
“Do you know who these gathered ability users are!?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Pffft…!”
Kang Hyeon’s nonchalant answer.
A laugh finally burst from An Yu-seong’s mouth, which had been holding back until the end.
“How dare you fools play with !? An Yu-seong. How dare a re thing like you laugh at !”
“A re thing… As you said, he’s the vice-captain, the sub-master of the Badass guild. He’s my subordinate. It seems you need to be more careful with your words and actions.”
-Bam!
Unable to contain himself any longer, An Moo-seok slamd the table.
“Are you joking right now!? The people gathered here are from Kangshin Guild, ranked 6th in South Korea. And they’re going to rise even further and take the place of Dangun.”
While An Moo-seok was ranting heatedly, Kang Hyeon sipped the tea in front of him.
The tea tasted very good.
“Phew… The tea tastes good.”
“Insolent punk! I already know everything about you. You’re under the protection of the governnt, aren’t you? Ha! If you’re putting on airs just because of that, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
“…”
“Kangshin has always been a huge guild. And now, with my investnt, it’s as if they’ve grown wings. Do you think a nobody like you, who’s just started to make a na for yourself, can be safe in front of Kangshin?”
Kangshin Guild.
It was a massive guild with a solid foundation centered around its guild master.
Originally ranked 10th in the country, it was rapidly climbing up since Chairman An Moo-seok started investing.
“Damn. That ‘the likes of you’ crap. ‘The likes of you’! It’s driving crazy.”
“You still dare to…!”
“Hey, Mr. An Yu-seong’s father. Shall we make a bet?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You must know that B-grade dungeons started appearing a few days ago.”
“…”
An Moo-seok couldn’t gather his thoughts due to Kang Hyeon’s inconsistent speech, switching between formal and informal language, honorifics and non-honorifics.
“Two main cores from B-grade dungeons. Whoever brings them first wins the bet. If we’re really as insignificant as you say, you should easily win this bet.”
“What are you willing to wager?”
An Moo-seok didn’t object to the contents of the bet.
He naturally thought he would win.
“If you win, you can do whatever you want with . I’ll follow without complaint. But if I win…”
Kang Hyeon leaned forward with a sinister smile.
“Let give you one forehead flick.”
“What…?”
“Just one forehead flick. Why? Don’t like it?”
“Are you joking right now!?”
“I’m not joking.”
As he spoke, Kang Hyeon raised his hand.
He curled his middle finger against his thumb, ready to shoot it like a bullet using elasticity.
-Kwaaang!
The thick wooden table that Chairman An Moo-seok had slamd his fist on earlier, worth over ten million won, shattered into dozens of pieces in an instant.
“I said I’m not joking.”
***
Ippotranslation
***
After Kang Hyeon left.
The table Kang Hyeon had destroyed was already replaced with a new one.
However, Chairman An Moo-seok’s wounded pride couldn’t be replaced like the table.
“Insolent punk…”
An Moo-seok’s face was tense as he sat on the sofa.
“To be played by such a brat. Sigh…”
Contrary to his words, An Moo-seok was highly evaluating Kang Hyeon.
The trendous strength he showed at the end.
Whether it was a skill or pure physical strength was unknown, but he had shattered that solid wood with just a flick of his finger.
He had other ability users try it as a test, but not a single one showed the sa power as Kang Hyeon.
Even when they used their skills.
“So he’s not just all talk, huh.”
An Moo-seok was an ability user who had awakened after passing the first stage of the tutorial, but that was it.
There was no reason for him to risk his life fighting monsters.
But An Moo-seok realized the importance of ability users early on.
-The future world order will depend on what kind of ability users one has.
With this thought from the beginning, An Moo-seok thoroughly understood ability users.
Unique abilities, general abilities, skills, stats. Even their effects and potential.
He analyzed everything he was reported, and finally found a suitable guild.
There was a reason he brought in already grown individuals instead of raising ability users himself.
Initially, he planned to raise new ability users, but their growth rate was much faster than he had thought.
Even An Moo-seok hadn’t expected modern armies to be already losing to ability users.
“In the end, finding the Kangshin guild turned out well.”
Amidst all this, the Kangshin guild caught his eye.
At first, it was just a naless mid-sized guild, but at so point, it started rising rapidly and suddenly took a seat among the top 10 guilds.
Moderately strong, moderately greedy, and moderately moral.
Kangshin had optimal conditions for An Moo-seok to set his sights on in many ways.
“It shouldn’t take long to overtake Dangun, the dostic number one.”
Dangun Guild.
The granddaughter of the Chairman of HanShin Group, who leads the third-largest conglorate in the country.
In An Moo-seok’s opinion, Dangun could beco the dostic number one because of early investnt.
But that’s all useless now.
Because now he has started investing in and researching ability users in earnest.
An Moo-seok’s goal wasn’t simply to be the number one guild in the country.
A guild respected worldwide, like the Cot Group.
That was An Moo-seok’s goal.
***
Ippotranslation
***
On the way back to the guild office.
An Yu-seong and Kang Hyeon were sitting in the back seat, looking out the window.
“Brother. Thank you.”
An Yu-seong’s voice drifted in the car, where only the quiet engine sound could be heard.
“For what?”
“Just because.”
“If you’re going to say sothing cheesy, forget it.”
Kang Hyeon chuckled.
“By the way. Did you see their condition?”
“You an those Kangshin guys?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? Was sothing strange?”
“Just… It’s peculiar. Rember those drug addicts from before? It’s clearly different, but for so reason, I keep thinking about when we fought them. And…”
Kang Hyeon paused for a mont before continuing.
“Their average magical power is too high. It’s impossible unless they’re all composed of mages. Especially the one who seed to be the guild master, I think he had almost the highest magical power I’ve seen so far.”
An Yu-seong stroked his chin at Kang Hyeon’s words.
“Hmm…”
“Hey. That intuition or premonition or whatever you use seems to be all-purpose, didn’t you get anything this ti?”
“It’s the sixth sense, actually.”
“Whatever it is.”
An Yu-seong chuckled at Kang Hyeon’s words and opened his mouth.
“Certainly…”
“Certainly?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I said I don’t know. Honestly, my mind went blank there, so I couldn’t think of anything. You should have been more rude.”
“Damn it. If you don’t know, just say you don’t know. Why build up suspense like that!”
“It’s fun, isn’t it? Hehe.”
An Yu-seong laughed emptily.
‘Certainly… Both Kang Hyeon and Shin Seong-a have good instincts.’
But his true thoughts were different.
An Yu-seong definitely felt sothing from them.
It’s just that the feeling was too abstract, so he thought it would be better not to say anything.
Throughout their conversation, while facing them, his sixth sense kept telling him.
That completely new and different events would unfold from now on.
‘Things are going to get interesting from now on.’
The winds of change were blowing.
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