Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: I'll Become the Arsonist (3)
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In this bizarre era where the whole world seemed to be spinning out of control, it wasn't just politicians lost in anguish.
"Tsk... Master. Are we really going to let this slide?"
New York, USA. In the guild master's office of a certain guild.
A-Rank Hunter Kane clicked his tongue while watching the news on TV.
The TV in the guild master's office showed a man.
It was Yeoto's hunter license certification photo.
"This Yeoto guy is using the Association and other hunters as shields to line his own pockets. He's a sly, sneaky bastard, isn't he?"
"Hm... And?"
"And? Aren't you pissed off, Master?"
As Kane glared, his boss, who had been tapping away at his laptop, narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then he let out a deep sigh.
"...Haa. Kane, my friend. What are you going to do with such a narrow perspective?"
"Pardon?"
"That smartphone of yours."
The man reached into Kane's front pocket.
He pulled out the phone Kane had tucked away.
"Galaxy, huh? A Samson phone."
"Yes? Oh, right."
"Why use that brand when there are others?"
"Well... It suits my taste, I guess?"
"Suits your taste. Good answer."
The man shook Kane's smartphone as he spoke.
"Was Samson the first to make smartphones?"
"...No. Apple was."
If Kane's common knowledge was correct, the brand that popularized touch-screen phones wasn't Samson, but another company.
The man nodded.
"When a frontrunner pulls way ahead, what do the companies lagging behind do?"
"...They catch up somehow. By any means necessary."
As Kane seemed to catch on to what the man meant, he handed the smartphone back.
"America's strength lies in capital, freedom, and pioneering spirit."
The man who had clicked his tongue walked over to the window.
"The ban is a bad law. It stifles the cutting edge of citizen culture and suppresses the people's freedom. It should obviously be repealed, but fighting the tide of the times with individual power is always tough."
"...I'd like to hear your wise insight, Master."
"If we can carve out more loopholes in the ban, what's a little tanking duty?"
He pinched the air toward the citizens passing by outside the window.
"If other hunters can do it, so can we. Mimicking is easy enough. There are infinite ways. People are always full of possibilities."
"Mimicking, you say?"
"Think of it in reverse. Yeoto isn't a shameless guy using us as a breakwater—he's a 'pioneer' sacrificing his body in our place to open up a new market... or so we say."
Shh-.
He pulled out his own Samson phone, just like Kane's.
"Kane. Who are we?"
"Hunters of Summoners Valley."
Summoners Valley.
A guild made up solely of summoner-type hunters.
And it had held the top A-Rank spot in the American guild rankings for ten straight years.
If Yeoto's dedication ushered in an era of live broadcasts centered on summons?
For Summoners Valley, it would be cause for applause.
It was too good an opportunity to pass up.
'Right now, we should be cheering Yeoto on, not kicking him while he's down.'
Guild Master Abel turned back to his laptop.
A few replies had arrived in his email.
They were from congressmen he had close ties with.
"Heh."
Abel smirked cynically as he read his friend's reply.
"Wait for the right moment, Kane. If you can't see far, dig your roots deep. I know you can do that."
"...Yes, Master!"
And so, the world's changes accelerated even further.
The era was shifting rapidly with the flow of the times.
People pondered how to keep pace.
What decisions would bring the most gain.
Who to support to avoid backlash or losses.
Yet they all shared one thing in common.
'There's no need to make summoner raid parties illegal.'
'Who cares. Let him do whatever.'
'Can you open a new era? Yeoto.'
The reasons varied, but they all decided to shelve any thoughts of blocking Jeong Do-jin's live broadcasts.
That was the consensus among the intellectuals surrounding the ban.
This shift in the era's tide wasn't coincidence.
Considering global affairs, it was predictable.
But the ones driving that flow were people.
People of every stripe, unpredictable and varied.
That's why there's a Korean proverb: You can know the depths of ten fathoms of water, but not the shallows of one fathom of a person's heart.
Few things are as futile as predicting the future.
Even physicist Newton failed at stock investing and lamented that while he could calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, he couldn't calculate human madness, or so the anecdote goes.
However, one voodoo sorcerer thought differently.
"Newton, you were wrong."
Stocks aren't about predicting people's psychology.
Twisted human whims lead to getting trapped in a bear market.
"Stocks are about reading the flow of money, not hearts."
Unlike hearts, money is visible, isn't it?
A starving predator charging at prey.
Asset holders chasing profits with sound judgment.
No opponents are easier to predict than them.
Thus, those who can read money's flow can roughly anticipate the actions of those chasing it.
"Yep~ Feeling good~."
This is free PPL. Marketers, take notes.
Jeong Do-jin chuckled as he poured soju into a wine glass at home.
The news delivering the world's scoops was better than any side dish to a voodoo sorcerer.
Around the same time Jeong Do-jin was chuckling.
"Hmm."
Abel gazed out the window, thought for a moment, then spoke abruptly.
"That Yeoto guy is Korean, right?"
"Yes, Master."
"He must like spicy food. Send him a few boxes of Carolina peppers in my name. And some summoner gear items our trainees use."
"...Pardon?"
As Kane stared blankly, Abel blinked.
"Can't send higher quality gear. Yeoto's still just F-Rank; too early for full push."
"Ah, no. Not that—peppers?"
"Hm? Yeah. A specialty from my hometown."
Abel nodded confidently, looking puzzled as to what the issue was.
"Send the premium ones. He'll love them."
"...Of course. I'll arrange it right away."
Not all Koreans like spicy food.
'But Carolina peppers... the world's hottest ones?'
Does anyone even like those?
Even an A-Rank Hunter would wail from one bite.
'...Not my place to meddle.'
Pitying the young man he'd been grumbling about moments ago, Kane arranged the shipment to Korea.
At least just one box.
Sending a mountain would seem like picking a fight.
Tap tap tap, clack clack.
While Kane handled that, Abel typed on his laptop.
His conversation partner was a contact at a major media outlet.
He had to acknowledge facts.
Otherwise, he'd never grow.
Rubbing his chin, Abel stuck out his tongue.
"...Yeoto followed by her returning home too. Korea's about to get hit with back-to-back bombs soon."
"Master?"
"No, nothing. Back to work."
"Yes, sir!"
Around the time Summoners Valley's guild master and vice master dove into their tasks.
A private jet was flying through American airspace.
"Yeoto... no, Jeong Do-jin's filming crew member."
On a direct flight from LA to Korea.
The blonde beauty in the first-class seat narrowed her eyes.
Tap tap tap-.
Her slender fingers danced across the keyboard.
Her eyes were cold as she replied to her subordinate.
A gaze unfit for her warm golden blonde hair.
People say the sun's light benevolently illuminates the world.
That its warmth is a blessing cradling life.
The moonlight, however, never embraces people.
Humans don't wander in the deep night.
Yet the moon still watches over them.
Rising stars and newly emerging ones.
Until the day it brings them under its wing.
That's why "Ilryun" means the bright moon.
The full moon attended by countless stars.
The origin of Korea's S-Rank guild, Ilryun.
The woman pulled up Jeong Do-jin's face on her laptop screen.
Her radiant blonde hair, brighter than the sun, gleamed proudly.