Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Rewards and Changes (5)
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Seeing Suhyun openly suggest using Jindo Dog, Jo Seung-hyun let out a hollow laugh. Of course, if Suhyun's prediction was correct, pulling in a company of that scale like Jindo Dog was the best approach. But agreeing to it without a second's hesitation was another matter entirely.
‘This guy's got a devilish intuition.’
Jo Seung-hyun had no intention of refusing either. What he needed to protect were the people in his company. Suhyun's blatant attitude was, if anything, something he welcomed rather than rejected.
“What do you plan to do with them? It's different from last time. Say the wrong thing to those guys now, and it could backfire.”
From Jindo Dog's perspective, Uncle Jo Company wouldn't look kindly upon them. Sure, they'd been pushed back in the previous incident, but that didn't erase the resentment of having a prize snatched away right in front of them. Proposing cooperation to protect Redwood Forest in this situation could easily produce the opposite effect.
“Fair enough... Knowing this was coming, maybe I should've acted a bit friendlier with Choi Jae-ho.”
“You got a separate scout offer?!”
“Don't worry, I turned it down. Cooperating directly might be tough, but mobilizing them shouldn't be too hard. The ones guarding around Redwood Forest right now are Jindo Dog's team, right?”
“They've got plenty of teams, so it's probably not Team 2 but some subordinate unit just standing watch.”
It was little more than a token guard for appearances' sake—hardly a serious defensive measure. Suhyun nodded and said,
“As expected, they don't think they'll be attacked.”
“At this point, you're probably the only one worrying about that.”
“People are still too naive. Slap some otherworlder faces on it, and even if it seems suspicious, they brush it off as 'maybe.' Otherworlders think and act a lot like humans.”
Since their first encounters, otherworlders had integrated fairly deeply into human society. Elves went without saying, but you could often spot dwarves, orcs, and beastkin mingling among humans too.
“For now, since this is urgent... how about a cooperation request?”
“What? They won't accept it, I tell you.”
“Not expecting them to, obviously. Just inform Jindo Dog's people that 'the otherworlder terrorists' next target is the newly discovered Redwood Forest.' They'll refuse cooperation, but they won't sit idle.”
“…!”
“They won't ignore a warning like that easily. They'll take action one way or another.”
“You devil!”
“What was that?”
“Ah, nothing. Just so impressed it slipped out.”
As Suhyun shot him a look, Jo Seung-hyun hurriedly changed the subject.
In Suhyun's view, whether they cooperated or not hardly mattered. Sure, Jindo Dog—having had their reward snatched away right before their eyes—had zero interest in teaming up with Uncle Jo Company...
In the end, they'd be sharing resources in the same region. Even if they didn't want to cooperate, any incident would force them to band together. They weren't foolish enough to let pride get in the way in such a situation.
So all he needed was to shift Jindo Dog's forces over there. Once that happened, things would sort themselves out.
“You're saying they'll commit more forces to that side?”
“Plus, they won't be dumb enough to get caught off guard. If a company like Jindo Dog digs in with real resolve, they might handle it on their own. Honestly, that'd be the easiest outcome for us.”
“'Might' handle it...”
“Means they might not. As you know, fighting in places like that favors the attackers. They choose when and where to strike, hit Redwood Forest without engaging, and escape. Well, our team will head there anyway.”
“You sure that's okay? Redwood Forest is an attractive resource, especially now. But if it feels too risky, we can pull out. We don't even know who we're dealing with.”
A massive mountain range vanishing into thin air. If they played it right, the profits could be beyond imagination.
But he had no intention of gambling his team members' lives for it. There were other options, like quickly selling off elsewhere. Jo Seung-hyun was a merchant at heart, not a soldier.
“Don't worry. The other side's in the same boat.”
He had zero intention of failing again. Suhyun's eyes gleamed as he replied.
“And it's not just about Redwood Forest.”
“?”
“If we can figure out who's behind it, we can rack up some favors with the Korean military too. You know how useful that kind of debt is.”
“…!”
* * *
‘That's what I said, but...’
Frankly, Uncle Jo Company's forces weren't all that impressive on paper. As soldiers, they were solid, but fights on Cameron Planet didn't follow common sense.
‘Wonder if I can scout a few more superpowered folks.’
Superpowered individuals weren't impossible to find, but they rarely joined places like Uncle Jo Company.
‘Where were those guys at this point in time? Kwak Hyun-tae probably not yet, Choi Ji-eun might be at the lab, Gu Jung-chul no, Moon Seo-yeon maybe... but tracking her down would take time too.’
Back when Suhyun had served in the special forces, his team members were top-tier talents. If he could gather them again, he'd want for nothing.
The problem was...
‘Should've kept better tabs on them beforehand.’
Suhyun didn't know their pasts in detail.
Special forces recruits all had their stories, but as long as they didn't cause issues during missions, Suhyun hadn't pried. What mattered was how they performed.
Aside from those who'd opened up casually or bonded with him privately, he had no clue where they might be now.
In the end, he'd have to handle this one solo.
‘Hope Jindo Dog sends some decent firepower.’
It wasn't a hopeless situation by any means. Purely as soldiers, his team was capable, and they had Power Armor too. Whoever the attackers were, they wouldn't bring their own—too hard to disguise.
Combined with Jindo Dog's forces, it was more than enough. Suhyun had faith in his own abilities. Whoever was scheming in the shadows hadn't factored him in.
“Hey. Good to see you.”
“?!”
Suhyun spotted his target and waved. The elf grilling skewers in the alley flinched at the sight of him. Good memory. And someone who'd put on a show like Suhyun's wasn't easy to forget.
“I don't know you. Me, elf. Humans hard to recognize.”
“Why not just turn on the translator and speak Elvish? No need to stumble through Korean like that.”
Realizing escape was impossible from Suhyun's demeanor, Franjo sighed and opened his mouth. He activated his translator. Far easier than his clumsy Korean.
“Gotta do it this way to sell well.”
“…….”
“You'd be shocked how few customers think it's cute when an elf skips the translator and tries hard with Korean to do business.”
“Yeah, shocking. You little punk.”
His adaptation to human society was astonishing.
“More importantly... here, on the house...”
“What? Oh, the skewers? Nah, not here for that. Passed by, thought of you on a whim.”
“I, uh, not into guys...”
“What're you on about? You peddle Earth Dragon meat as pork, so you're clearly no straight-laced worker.”
“…….”
Franjo's eyes darted around. He couldn't fathom what Suhyun wanted. Suhyun pulled a thick wad of crisp bills from his pocket and tossed it over.
“?!”
“Introduce me. Need to hit the black market, no connections. You've gotta know a few guys.”
“…!”
Franjo quickly counted the bills Suhyun had thrown. Just for an intro? Hell of a profit margin.
“Any chance for dollars...”
“Wanna start with a few slaps? Didn't you call in your backup after that pork scam last time to mess with me?”
“…I'll guide you right now.”
* * *
“Even I don't know every black market. Gotta stay off the radar...”
“I know. It's run like a pyramid scheme.”
An illegal black market couldn't be mapped perfectly. Everything ran on connections.
“What do you want? Gotta know what you're after to guide you.”
“Let's start with poison.”
“Poison...”
“If you don't know, say so. And return the money, of course.”
“Luckily, I know a guy who deals in it!”
“Perfect. Lead the way.”
The upcoming fight was one thing, but Suhyun was also diving into magic. Expanding his arsenal was thrilling just to think about.
But learning magic wasn't easy.
Even spells with minimal requirements demanded rare ingredients he didn't know how to source, and he saw little need to bother. He already had Telekinesis.
Suhyun's Telekinesis ranked near the top among superpowers. In his past life, output had been the weakness, but now even that was fixed.
Few Telekinesis users had his versatility and lack of limits. Most were restricted—like spears that could only be thrown, or only on nearby metal. Clear limitations.
Suhyun's could morph freely, making it top-tier in utility. With power issues solved, most attack spells weren't worth the rare materials.
Instead, versatile ones like Healing or Farsight appealed more...
‘Ingredients are the issue.’
Nothing was straightforward. Better to learn spells matching materials from missions.
“Here we are.”