Chapter 28
The meeting with Do Minyeong was set up quickly.
The next day, Friday, a school holiday.
My smartwatch rang before noon, and I headed to the Hall of Faith, the main building of the Support Division.
I arrived in front of Magic Instructor Kim Seulhee’s research lab.
I hesitated for a moment in front of the door, then soon knocked lightly.
“Ah! Come in.”
It was not Kim Seulhee’s voice, but Do Minyeong’s.
I entered calmly.
The research lab was about a quarter of the size of a lecture hall, and all four walls were plastered with books that strongly reflected the taste of the lab’s owner.
What was unusual was that Kim Seulhee was not there.
“Where is the instructor?”
When I asked about the instructor’s whereabouts, Do Minyeong, who was sitting at a table concentrating on some documents, answered while only slightly raising her head.
“She went for her club activities. She’s the advisor for the Library Club.”
“Ah…….”
Right, that was true.
A trivial setting that was hard to remember.
Facing it in person, it felt so unfamiliar.
Anyway, when did Do Minyeong get so close to Kim Seulhee?
Did they become connected after the incident at the tactical training ground…….
Without me needing to delve into the question, Do Minyeong spoke first.
“We got close after having a few meals together since that day. It turns out she’s the youngest after Instructor Yun Jeongseop. She’s 27.”
“Then she’s without a doubt the youngest instructor.”
“Yeah, maybe that’s why she gets along so freely with the cadets.”
That was good.
It meant that Do Minyeong, who had no friends other than Lee Eunho for a few weeks after enrollment, had formed a decent relationship.
Of course, like An Hwigom, she might be veiled in settings unknown even to the original author.
I approached the large table where various documents were spread out.
A pile of papers that I could guess what they were without looking at them directly.
These were all information from dummy requests that Do Minyeong had made to her informant on my behalf, to hide the fact that the request targeted Kim Muung.
Judging by the amount of requests, Im Seonjae’s skill was such that it made me wonder if my setting of him working alone was accurately reflected.
I glanced over the piles of documents and sat in the chair opposite Do Minyeong.
Then, Do Minyeong showed me a few documents and immediately got to the point.
“As you expected, it was true that there was some kind of contract between Kim Muung and Choi Jaejin.”
“Just the two of them? Only between them?”
“To be precise, it would be between Kim Muung’s father, Kim Myeongo, and Choi Jaejin.”
Kim Myeongo…….
Although he was never directly mentioned in the original work, according to the setting, he was the master of the guild Royal Hunters.
“It seems there wasn’t enough time to grasp the exact details of the contract. But there’s a high possibility the contents were unfair. The person named Kim Myeongo is currently being sued for contract fraud.”
“Contract fraud? Which means…….”
“Yeah, he likely proceeded with a fraudulent contract with Choi Jaejin as well.”
“What’s the trial situation?”
“It’s ongoing. It seems to be going a bit unfavorably for him. It’s a class-action lawsuit from the contractors who suffered damages.”
“……But there’s something a little strange?”
I held up the page I was looking at.
“Before being sued this time, there were accusations of fraudulent contracts, but they were all dismissed. Not just once, but several times.”
“That’s right.”
Do Minyeong nodded as if she already knew and said.
“Not only that, but it seems there were also a few leaks through the media.”
“And yet he operated the guild without any problems…… is that it.”
According to the information, it had been several months since he had been operating the guild through fraudulent contracts.
But for the lawsuit to be proceeding only now…….
“It’s one of two things. Either the funds to stuff the pockets of the higher-ups ran out, or Kim Myeongo’s political usefulness disappeared.”
Of course, in this case, the former was highly likely.
“The informant also sent the same opinion. His financial flexibility must have dropped.”
“Well, Kim Myeongo’s situation is none of my business. In the end, it means I just have to prove the fact of the contract at the deliberation.”
“That’s the problem. We have to prove it without the help of the contracting parties. ……So, have you thought about persuading Choi Jaejin?”
I shook my head firmly.
“Not at all. There’s no compromise in this matter. I don’t need his help either.”
“You don’t need it? Then how will you prove the contract?”
Do Minyeong tilted her head.
Does she really not know?
Or was she excluding it from the start?
I said calmly.
“I just have to get my hands on the contract, directly.”
She dropped the document she was holding in her hand limply.
Then she gave me a venomous look.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to commit theft? Are you trying to make me, who has been doing this since the crack of dawn, an accomplice to a crime?”
“Calm down. I know what you mean. Just listen to my explanation for a moment.”
“Hmph……. Fine, first tell me the reason for that bizarre idea.”
I pointed to a specific page for Do Minyeong, who had now crossed her arms and straightened her back.
-‘Royal Hunters Sued for Fraudulent Contracts’ Kim Myeongo's true face, which had been eating away at the guild world, is revealed…….
“First, do you think Choi Jaejin didn’t know about this report, which was published in a huge headline in the daily newspaper Daily Mutant?”
“Logically speaking…… I’d have to say he knew.”
“Right. The trial results haven’t come out, but signing a contract with such a person is absurd in itself.”
“Then are you saying he didn’t proceed with the contract?”
“Of course not. But it wouldn’t have been a fraudulent contract, but a proper, legitimate contract.”
“……Because the opponent’s weakness becomes your own weapon?”
“Yeah.”
Although Choi Jaejin was a cadet from the social care beneficiary program, he was also a Hero Prep cadet who had passed the entrance exam, beating out that many people from the outskirts.
Meaning, he did not get in just on natural talent like some people.
“To be precise, it would have been a private contract between Kim Myeongo and Choi Jaejin, not between the guild and an individual. Even if Royal Hunters collapses, there’s no way Kim Myeongo, who has rolled around in this industry, would collapse.”
“……Because he could establish a guild under a different name?”
“Yeah. A rich man can live for three years even after ruin, you know.”
“That’s a strange proverb.”
“Ah, it’s something I just thought of.”
I quickly continued.
“Therefore, if we were to guess the terms of their contract, it would be something like, ‘Party B, Kim Myeongo, will actively arrange for Party A, Choi Jaejin, to join a guild of a certain standard or higher, as described later, upon his departure from Hero Prep, such as dropping out, expulsion, or graduation.’”
“If it’s something like that……. It’s not a bad condition for him. But why would he go to the trouble…….”
The question of why he made such a decision.
A proper question.
“You mean, why did he get such insurance, when it would be better to graduate from Hero Prep properly?”
“Yeah.”
“That, of course, is because he’s desperate.”
“…….”
“The stigma of being from the outskirts of Seoul can’t be erased even with a Hero Prep diploma. Besides…….”
Like Kim Muung, Choi Jaejin would also despise me.
As an object of resentment to vent the bullying directed at him…….
“As you just said, it’s not a bad condition, ……if this plan succeeds.”
“I see…….”
A thought just occurred to me, but could the reason Kim Muung dislikes me be that I am close to Lee Eunho?
Lee Eunho and Gong Minwu, the representative cadets of the school.
He might be comparing me, who has a friendly relationship with Lee Eunho, to himself, who was ostracized by Gong Minwu, and harboring a misguided resentment.
In fact, my dormitory mailbox often receives threatening letters from a few cadets who follow Lee Eunho around.
If it were possible to send anonymous messages with a smartwatch, my watch would have been paralyzed by the flood of messages all day long.
“But I can’t condone theft for that.”
“Even if I don’t steal anything?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“When an Awakened signs a contract, a witness is needed on the spot. Kim Muung might have volunteered to act as an observer between the two, but Choi Jaejin wouldn't have agreed to that.”
“Are you saying he left a video recording?”
“That’s right, it’s common to leave a video of a contract. Therefore, find the memory card containing that video and copy it. If we can prove the contract in that video, there would be no more blatant evidence than this.”
For a moment, Do Minyeong’s head dropped close to the table.
With a short sigh, as if she had given up.
Then she suddenly lifted her head and stared at me intently.
“I’m sorry, but breaking into a building is also illegal. Not to mention copying a memory card. Besides…… how on earth are you planning to infiltrate? If you get caught, everything will be for nothing.”
The core of this plan.
To collect evidence without being discovered.
I shifted my gaze to the page I had been holding for a while.
The blueprints of the Royal Hunters site and information on the building's interior that Im Seonjae had kindly enclosed.
“Well.”
I casually mixed it with the other papers and shrugged.
“I’ll have to start thinking about it now.”
***
There are many types of guilds in this world.
Broadly dividing the fields, there are combat, production, and support.
Each field has its own character, so there is a limit to lumping them together under the name of guild.
Among them, the field that is generally referred to as a guild is combat.
The group to which the so-called hunters belong.
An ideal group where a top-class hunter serves as the master, is admired by hunters, and saves people from the threat of monsters, ……well, in my setting, only a few such places exist.
“More than half of the Hunter guilds are in the management industry.”
Therefore, there are many cases where a master is a manager who is good with words and has a wide network.
Even if their combat ability is poor, as long as they manage the hunters’ schedules well and bring in jobs, there is no problem.
Of course, the same goes for Royal Hunters, where Kim Myeongo is the master.
“It’s certainly deserted.”
I was setting foot on the site of an abandoned dye factory located in Seoul’s Outskirts District 25.
To be precise, on the rooftop of a building on the abandoned factory site.
From here, I was observing the small building opposite, which Royal Hunters was leasing.
The day I got the information from Do Minyeong was Friday.
After that, I scouted this area twice, and today, Monday, is the D-day to put my plan into action.
The plan to copy the memory card and steal the video without anyone noticing.
Current time, almost 10 PM.
I would have to return before midnight to prepare for my training with An Hwigom.
“If it weren’t for the temporary suspension, I wouldn’t have been able to come outside on a Monday.”
I, wearing the Cloak of the Alluring Hermit, observed the situation with my Demonic Eye.
As it soon became 10 PM sharp, the internal lights that were leaking out of the factory building were turned off.
There were two on-duty Awakened guarding the guild office as per regulations.
If it were a successful hunter guild in Seoul's District 2, they would have plastered the area around the building with guards, but Royal Hunters, which was suffering a financial blow from the trial, did not have that kind of leeway.
“Well then…… shall we go.”
I jumped from the rooftop while maintaining Stealth.
The height I jumped from was four stories.
The place I landed was a wide scrap metal plate.
Normally, it should have made a loud noise, but due to the cloak’s effect, no sound was produced.
For the infiltration route, I chose the wide entrance on the side of the building.
A place where vehicles delivering goods would come and go.
Sure enough, the shutter was not fully down and was open to about knee height.
I immediately crawled under to pass through, and the unique atmosphere of an abandoned factory confronted me.
“…….”
From what I had observed over two days, the on-duty staff would not likely come out of the duty room.
They had done a patrol once before 10 PM, and this flimsy building had CCTV of its own.
The flaw was that there was only one each at the site entrance and the building’s main entrance.
I moved nimbly towards the shabby wooden door on the second floor.
Kim Myeongo's office, where there was a high possibility the contract was being kept.
The old-fashioned doorknob on the door was unfortunately locked.
“I suppose that means there are important documents inside.”
I had never picked a lock without a key, but I was not too worried about that part.
That was because all I had to do was use Bind on the doorknob, overlay my shadow, and move the mechanism inside directly.
“…….”
Click-.
Clack-.
I could not see inside the doorknob, but I could fully feel the movement of the bound object.
However, perhaps because the locking latch was old and had a gap, it was not responding well.
“……It’s a real pain in the ass to open.”
While I was struggling with the old doorknob, the door to the duty room suddenly burst open, and the on-duty staff came out and started moving about busily.
“Why is the Master coming, for god’s sake!”
“How should I know! How would I know!”
Master……?
“First, look around and see if there’s anything he can pick on!”
“What’s there to look at now! If he left a little while ago, it wouldn’t be strange for him to arrive now!”
It was unmistakable.
It meant that Kim Myeongo, the master of Royal Hunters, was about to storm in.
“Just get rid of anything that looks out of place! That twisted bastard nitpicks at perfectly fine things for no reason!”
“Damn it, crap!”
This damn situation is called coincidence.
Before I could even react, I shifted my gaze towards the side entrance I had used to enter.
Then, the sound of a car horn.
HOOOOOOOONK!
The headlights of a vehicle were already leaking out from under the side entrance.
“……!”
The on-duty staff ran towards the side entrance with pale faces.
But before they could reach it, Kim Myeongo was already lifting the shutter neurotically.
“You bastards! Either close it or open it! Why did you leave it like this!”