Chapter 72: Crisis of the Ignis Guild (2)
Yeouido, Seoul.
Around the ti the midday sun was slanting through the forest of buildings.
Knock knock.
The door to the President's Office, located at the peak of the highest power in South Korea, quietly opened.
Only a heavy silence filled the space inside the room, and the sunset dyed in red was cast over the President's hardened face through the window.
Kang Yu, who had walked down the long and quiet hallway, lightly caught his breath.
Vice President.
No, Association President.
He was the man who beca the de facto number two in South Korea starting today.
A man with a natural ability to read people.
Even to such a man, the President was always an unpredictable existence.
"You have arrived, Vice President. No, starting today, it is Association President?"
The President's voice made the tension inside the room even tighter.
"Greetings, Mr. President."
The President took his eyes off the docunts and looked at Kang Yu.
Gently curved eyes.
It was a good impression that softened the atmosphere, but the gaze contained within was cold and sharp.
Kang Yu moved to right in front of the President with steps light enough that the sound of footsteps was barely audible.
The President flipped a docunt and opened his mouth.
"I watched the press conference well."
"It is thanks to your efforts, Mr. President."
"I didn't know you would co right away. You must have been harassed since morning."
He was speaking softly, but his black pupils containing Kang Yu were shining as if harboring a spear.
"I received a ssage through the secretary that I could co tomorrow, but of course, I should co today. I wanted to greet you on my first day, as the Association President."
Many indescribable emotions were contained in the two pairs of eyes facing each other in the air.
"Well, I see. Then, I hope you work hard going forward."
"Nothing has changed. Because I am an existence that always moves as the President's hands and feet."
Kang Yu made an expression that perfectly suited the nickna Wily Raccoon.
A face like a 200-year-old monster.
The emotions built on his eyes, mouth, and cheeks were all different from each other.
To the extent that an ordinary human wouldn't even be able to read his emotions.
The President nodded his head as if indifferent.
"I know well even without you saying it. Because I am always grateful for the Association President's hard work."
"I am grateful even just for your words. I guess I am doing my job well."
"However……."
At the President's voice reversing the atmosphere, a small crack occurred in the expression of the Wily Raccoon, Kang Yu.
"The Ignis Guild's Yeoncheon subjugation operation……."
The President's cold gaze dug into that gap.
"I do not recall receiving a prior report?"
An issue announced during the Association President inauguration ceremony and press conference.
It was a sensational issue enough to shake the country.
But the President had not heard a single word.
Silence continued for a mont.
Kang Yu replied slowly, wearing a relaxed smile.
"I apologize. It is sothing I prepared thinking of it as a small surprise."
"Surprise?"
The President's eyebrows moved minutely.
He did not look amused at all.
"Yes, having watched from the side how much the President has agonized and struggled due to the Yeoncheon matter for a long ti, I have always pondered if I could be of help."
"So……."
"Yes, it is my small gift having beco the Association President."
"A gift……. For a gift, the size seems quite large?"
"No. I do not think it is large. Compared to the things the President has done for ."
The President, who was moving his lips to spit out so words, saw the fake smile built on Kang Yu's face and withdrew his words.
With a small sigh, the expression on the President's face softened.
"Let's say that is the case. Then may I ask one thing?"
"Anything."
"Why did you send the Ignis Guild to Yeoncheon? The Ignis Guild, not any other guild. That person would not have accepted ekly?"
"Normally, he wouldn't accept. But I found a reason why he had no choice but to accept."
At the Wily Raccoon's voice, the President's expression hardened.
Unlike him, thick confidence was leaking out through the expression on Kang Yu's face.
"The Ignis Guild was hiding a Returnee."
The President's body trembled very minutely.
There was no way Kang Yu would miss that.
He was flustered for a mont.
Because it was a reaction he was seeing for the first ti from the President who always hid his emotions.
But he soon thought that it was possible.
A Returnee.
A Returnee, of all things.
A Returnee with the power to change the world.
Perhaps the President and the Association President here.
Soone who could put South Korea's rank 1 and 2 beneath him…….
"You say a Returnee appeared……?"
His voice trembled.
Words that were unclear whether they were a monologue or a question.
Because the President was to the point where he didn't even realize he wasn't using honorifics right now.
Kang Yu replied with a calm but certain voice.
"Yes, it is certain."
Silence settled heavily.
Amidst the tension, Kang Yu brought up the topic once more.
"Do not worry. This operation is a gain no matter what ending cos out. If the recovery of Yeoncheon succeeds, a hero is born, and if it fails, we can clean up the traitors all at once."
The President had no answer.
Instead, he let out a deep sigh.
"Um…… Mr. President?"
The President narrowed his brow and slowly raised his hand.
"Then by any chance, do you also know the identity of the Returnee?"
After a heavy voice was heard.
Smirk.
Association President Kang Yu's mouth corners were soaring to the sky.
"The person called the Demon King who made the world noisy not long ago."
"……."
"It is Yoo jin, who is currently working as a teacher at Taewoon High."
"I will take my leave now."
In an atmosphere where he could speak no more, Kang Yu bowed his head and exited the President's Office.
As the door closed, the President looked at the empty space while subrged in deep thought.
A sigh-mixed voice flowed out from the mouth of the President who was left alone.
"Ignis's Yeoncheon subjugation. Such a thing has never……."
The President's gaze stayed on the docunt on the desk.
In that docunt.
[Yoo jin]
Taewoon High School Teacher.
Yoo jin's information was contained.
"He's really a Returnee?"
Complex emotions crossed on his face.
Because he was worn out and thought he wouldn't be surprised by anything anymore.
A physical abnormality that ca without him knowing.
The trembling that ca to the President's body was not stopping.
"In the past 3 lives, a Returnee has never appeared once……."
Goyang City.
Taewoon High School.
The afternoon sunlight poured in through the classroom window.
They were students who would normally have absolutely no interest in sothing like a stuffy Hunter Association announcent, but the atmosphere was different this ti.
Heated conversations about the Yeoncheon subjugation operation were going back and forth here and there in the classroom.
Especially for students dreaming of becoming Hunters, Yeoncheon was an unknown battlefield where death and fear lingered.
"If the Ignis Guild liberates Yeoncheon, we might really not have to be dispatched there?"
"Wow, I really thought a war would break out in 2 years because the barrier would collapse."
"But can the Ignis Guild liberate Yeoncheon on their own?"
"They decided because it's possible."
"I saw in the gallery, there was a theory that they volunteered themselves."
"As expected of the 3 Great Guilds. Though they'll be called number one now."
"But if it's Ignis Guild, that's where Hunter Lee Si-wang is."
"Oh right? Hunter Lee Si-wang won't be coming to hang out for a while."
"Hunter Lee Si-wang is such a busy person, why would he co to hang out?"
"Still, he ca to our class a lot. Because of Teacher."
"Right, he even went on the school trip together."
"I even ate with the Assistant Horoom Teacher a few tis."
"What? Assistant Horoom Teacher? Not Hunter Lee Si-wang?? You got that close already?"
"Everyone is close except you. Last ti, we t in the center of Academy City and he even bought us drinks."
"What?!"
Voices rang out among the Class A children who were sitting in groups of threes and fours.
The topic was mostly a distant story about the Ignis Guild, but.
Unexpectedly, it wasn't such a distant story.
The past 3 months.
After Yoo jin was appointed as the horoom teacher of Class A, the peerless genius, the Vice Guild Master of South Korea's 3 Great Guilds.
The immovable A-Rank Hunter number 1, Lee Si-wang.
Because he commuted to Taewoon High School more often than the Ignis Guild.
Even more so to Year 2 Class A.
And among them.
"Isn't it dangerous?"
"Yeah……."
"What? Why?"
A group in the corner.
Jin-ho and Ye-na.
And Seong-hyeon, who had a question mark floating on his face.
They were making expressions as if worrying about a close friend.
Those who were closer to Yoo jin than the other children.
Naturally, Hunter Lee Si-wang was also together in that ti.
Jin-ho and Ye-na's expressions sank lower and lower.
Seong-hyeon, who was between them, seed to have guessed to so extent now, as his excited expression had softened a little.
Like that, while most of the children in the classroom.
Were focusing on the Ignis Guild and the Yeoncheon subjugation operation.
A few children were placing their focus elsewhere.
The gazes of a few children, led by Min-jun and Chan-sol, moved to one place.
"Tae-wook, congratulations. I heard your father beca the Association President?"
"Wow, now you're totally the son of a high-ranking person."
"He was always the son of a high-ranking person, you know? He was the Vice President."
"He wasn't even the Vice President until the beginning of this year, you know? He got promoted two steps in half a year. He's the number two now, number two."
However, Kang Tae-wook's expression was only heavy.
He moved his gaze out the window without saying a word.
His insides were already filled with chaotic and complex emotions.
Because he knew well that hiding behind his father's power and fa was aningless now.
Deep agony and determination were dwelling together in his eyes.
Like a fox hidden in the shadow of a tiger.
He didn't feel like his dad's prestige was his own power like before.
3 months.
A ti neither long nor short.
He had changed so much during that ti.
Kang Tae-wook was most surprised that he himself had co to think this way.
And at the center of this change…….
"Good job attending class today, brats."
Yoo jin entering the classroom.
He was there.
"……."
"……."
The mouths of the Year 2 Class A students were dropped open, but no words were flowing out.
They had no choice.
"So, what?"
Even after seeing the children's expressions.
"What does him going to Yeoncheon have to do with ."
Because he spat out words like this twice.
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