"Damn it..."
A thought he had only been harboring internally unintentionally slipped from his lips.
He should have just ignored the knocking sound...
"Please leave."
Hajoon turned away.
Yet, despite Hajoon's refusal, the agent from the Arican Hero Association persisted.
"W-wait! Student Kim Hajoon! Can you please just hear out? I assure you it's not about scouting!"
"Ugh..."
A weary sigh escaped Hajoon's lips.
Truthfully, he wanted to ignore her, but he found himself in a dilemma.
What if by ignoring her now, she would beco even more persistent in seeking him out later?
And it wasn't just about the United States; other countries could be just as tenacious.
'Maybe it's better to hear her out and then decline?'
Wouldn't it be more justifiable to listen first and then refuse, rather than dismissing her outright?
Of course, persistent countries would still be relentless.
Still, he decided to give it a shot.
Hajoon turned back and opened the door.
Standing at the entrance was a woman with short blonde hair, her deanor seemingly gentle.
"Ah! Thank you so much!"
"Co in. Let's hear what you have to say."
“Hello. I am Emma, affiliated with the Arican Heroes Association.”
“Yes.”
Hajoon responded briefly.
Having introduced herself, he expected her to get to the point.
Recognizing this, Emma swiftly took out so docunts from her black leather bag and handed them over to Hajoon.
“Would you mind starting by reading the contract?”
Despite her gentle appearance, her actions were straightforward.
Presenting a contract without any prior explanation might an that she was confident about its contents.
Hajoon read through the contract.
'Hmm... Indeed...'
After reading, he understood the source of her confidence.
The terms of the contract were undeniably attractive.
Hence, with a puzzled look, Hajoon asked, “Has this been approved by your superiors?”
“Yes.”
“But why would you offer such terms to ?”
The conditions put forth by the U.S. were not just about recruiting him into the association or offering him U.S. citizenship; in simple terms, they wanted him as a rcenary.
The association would give Hajoon tasks, and he would complete them.
It was no different from the student requests he was used to, just on a larger scale.
“If you don't like a request, you’re free to decline it.”
“And I'll still be guaranteed a million dollars annually?”
“Yes.”
A three-year contract. A yearly guarantee of a million dollars.
They could make up to three requests each year, but Hajoon had the option to refuse any of them.
Frankly, it was surprising that such a contract had been approved from above.
"Hmm..."
Despite the contract's compelling terms, Hajoon couldn't help but be cautious.
'Rejecting this would make a fool, but...'
He wanted to understand Arica's intentions first.
Being direct by nature, Hajoon bluntly asked, “What's your higher-ups' intention behind this?”
Emma responded with a sly smile, “It’s simple. The Arican Heroes Association currently wants to maintain a close relationship with you, Mr. Hajoon. Consider this contract as a token of our goodwill. Think of it as building a bridge.”
At her words, a smirk crept onto Hajoon's face.
It seed her initial naive and innocent facade was just an act.
Seeing that fox-like smile, he beca certain.
'Still, the offer itself isn't bad...'
Including the contract's terms, the offer was quite favorable.
Hajoon signed the docunt and extended his hand, signaling the sealing of the agreent.
After finalizing the contract, Emma imdiately left Hajoon's residence.
Walking along the street, she pulled out her smartphone and dialed a number.
Ring- Click
"How did the deal go?"
"It went smoothly."
"Hmm... I was expecting him to at least ask for 5 billion... Perhaps he led a more modest life than anticipated? Do you think that makes him an Irregular?"
"From the outside, it's hard to tell, but given the circumstances, isn't it likely?"
"We should investigate further. It would be a considerable loss if he isn't an Irregular."
"Yes, understood."
Emma responded solemnly, well-aware of the current events unfolding in Korea.
"We must secure the Irregular. The second major chaos isn't far off, and Korea is likely its starting point."
On that day at lunchti,
Hajoon was seated in front of the TV, playing a console ga.
For the record, he had already checked the contents of the letter envelope.
Inside the envelope, there was a photo and a letter. However, the issue was that he couldn't read the contents of the letter.
"It seems like so kind of code..."
The writing seed closer to a cipher than just another language.
It wasn't written in Korean, but in English. Even when he tried translating it with his smartphone's translator, it was incomprehensible.
Well, he didn't necessarily need to decipher it himself. He planned to leave that task to the Hers information guild.
At least that guild would probably figure out the translation.
"More importantly... No matter how I look at it, this is..."
Another thing that caught his attention:
Hajoon recalled the photo that ca with the letter.
In the photo, a young girl with a radiant smile was captured.
"Judging by her looks, she seems to be Liber's younger sister..."
She had silver hair and crimson pupils. Undoubtedly, she looked like Liber's sister.
"Well, this should be enough."
From the photo alone, he could infer that the contents of the box were related to Liber. If he handed this over to the information guild, they might co up with sothing.
Hajoon refocused on his ga.
It felt rather peculiar, playing a ga within the world of another ga. But after a long ti, he was truly enjoying so leisure and freedom.
As ti passed and it was around 2 AM, a ti when everyone would typically be asleep,
Hajoon was still seated in front of the TV, focused in his ga.
"Yawn~ Hmm~"
He had planned to play for just one more hour, but the ga had to be this captivating.
Perhaps it was because the ga was set in a distant future?
He found himself unable to put down this advanced ga compared to modern ones.
It might even be more fun than Haruna Ruel's...
"Sigh... Let's just finish this and go to sleep."
The only thing left was to defeat the final boss of the third stage.
He must have died about 50 tis?
Seriously, it should be reasonably challenging, but why was the re third stage's boss this tough?
"Shhh! Ugh..."
Hajoon squinted and concentrated harder.
Having died about 50 tis, he had sowhat familiarized himself with the boss's pattern.
Thud! Thud-thud!
Hajoon's fingers moved swiftly over the controls.
Now that he had decoded the boss's pattern, he was confident that with enough focus and no mistakes, he could defeat it.
After about 10 minutes had passed.
"At last!"
The boss was on the brink of defeat.
Hajoon, trying to contain his excitent, dodged the boss's patterns cautiously.
Just as he was about to land the final blow,
Crash! Squeak-
Suddenly, the sound of shattering accompanied by a squeak ca from the front door that should have been locked.
Imdiately after,
Whoosh!
A round tal ball flew in through the gap in the door, smashing the TV and ga console to bits.
Crash! Bang! Shatter!!
“··········.”
For a mont, Hajoon just stood there, mouth agape, staring blankly at the unfolding situation.
And it all happened in an instant.
Whizz! Whizz!!! Whizz!!! Whizz!!!!
The rolling ball began to emit a strange wailing sound, gradually glowing with a green light.
And then.
Boom!!! Crash!!!!
What followed was an explosion.
Thud-thud. Every piece of furniture was slowly consud by the flas.
In the quiet aftermath of the explosion, five masked intruders entered the house.
They began to ticulously search every nook and cranny of the residence.
As they diligently searched for clues, a voice rang out, "Hey."
The sound ca from a boy standing near the front door. The intruders tensed all at once and slowly turned their heads to see the boy.
In the boy's hand was a golden hamr—Maharazu.
Recognizing it, they silently drew daggers from their garnts and assud a battle stance.
Hajoon, anger contorting his face, looked at them and shouted, "You damn bastards..."
BOOM! WHOOSH!
A massive force swept throughout the house, sending the intruders flying in all directions. Their bodies shattered upon impact.
Hajoon's expression twisted in irritation. He could guess who was behind such a heinous act.
Without hesitation, he activated Ti Stop.
Stepping outside the apartnt, he looked around, trying to find the face of the perpetrator. And there it was, at a construction site near the apartnt building.
Approaching the man, Hajoon released the Ti Stop. The man, looking at Hajoon, spoke casually, "Hmm, as I thought, you're still alive. It's been a while—"
"Shut up, you damn criminal," Hajoon interrupted, gripping his hamr tightly and stepping closer.
The A-rank villain, The Puppeteer. Hajoon realized from the shattered puppets that he was behind this chaos.
The Puppeteer simply shook his head and said, "I'd advise you to stay still. I've taken everyone in this apartnt as hostages."
Upon hearing this, Hajoon activated Ti Stop once more.
He swiftly moved throughout the entire apartnt building, destroying all of the villain's puppets. When he returned to confront The Puppeteer, he released the Ti Stop.
The Puppeteer looked surprised. "In such a short span... you managed to destroy all my puppets?"
"Are you done talking?" Hajoon asked coldly.
The Puppeteer sighed, "I ca to talk. I never expected the bomb or the hostages to harm you. They were rely ans to initiate a conversation. So, how about we chat?"
In response, Hajoon let his actions speak for him.
CRASH!
The Puppeteer's body was obliterated. Using Ti Stop (SSS), Hajoon shattered the villain's legs, tore his torso apart, and ripped his arms from his body. All that remained was the villain's head.
When the Ti Stop was released, The Puppeteer, witnessing his devastated state, could only let out a resigned sigh.
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