Rookie Hunter Jeong Jae-ha (2)
When I went up to the director's office, Hong Si-yu was already there. Someone was waiting beyond the door to one side, and the sense of it tugged at me.
"Good afternoon."
"We just saw each other. What's with the formality? Sit. Make yourself comfortable."
"Thank you."
"I called you because there's something to tell you and something to ask. First, your detailed examination results."
Whatever I had sensed came apart the moment she held out a single sheet of paper.
"A full recovery?"
"Yes. In the physician's opinion, you are completely healed."
After the tutorial I had been transferred to a major hospital, put through a thorough workup, and sent back. With the number of bullets I had taken, that much was only natural. While I was there they had checked the leg as well, and those results were what lay in front of me now.
"The nerve activity in your right leg differs from the left by only one and a half percent. Perfectly normal. They do say that if you push it, it could give out again... but that would be closer to injuring the same place a second time than to any true relapse."
At last. I let out a long breath. It felt like a shackle I had worn for years coming undone.
"Thank you."
"That is thanks to your own effort, Athlete Jeong."
"Honestly, it still doesn't feel real. I thought it would take years."
"If you hadn't killed the Pumpkin Drake, it really would have taken months. Even so, do not ever do that again. One mistake, and you were dead."
Hong Si-yu glared at me, playful, then turned the expression a full hundred and eighty degrees and smiled.
"Of course I understand how you felt. You thought you could take it, didn't you?"
She set that aside and changed the subject.
"Do you remember Trainee Kim Gang-oh?"
"Yes."
Not a name I could forget. Looking back, I hadn't known then that he belonged to Winner Sports, and that was a mercy. If I had, I might not have been able to let him walk away.
"They found him. He had gone missing on a hunt. Infected by a spore-type demonic beast, they say, and dead of it. He seems to have lasted about three days, and through all of it he would have suffered his organs being eaten out while a neurotoxin held his body rigid."
"How unfortunate."
I didn't mean a word of it.
"He would have envied even Trainee Jang Yeong-jun, the one who 'went down in the Jill-o'-Lantern's blast.' That pain surpasses even the agony of burning."
Hong Si-yu smiled with her eyes, slow and knowing, as if to tell me there was no need to pretend.
"I suppose I ought to thank the Jill-o'-Lantern for taking my revenge for me."
In the end I let the honest feeling out, and smiled through a strange, unsettled quiet. In this changed world, the moment I stood back up with a sword, the people who had torn me down in the world before it changed had dropped into the abyss.
"While they were being investigated, though, a link turned up with the remnants of the old Scorpion Gang."
"What?"
"To be precise, a thug who had been a senior officer of the Scorpion Gang built a major raider group during the Collapse. For a time they were infamous under the name Scorpion Crew. He kept a fair number of Awakened under him as well."
"What became of them?"
"Chairman Ban smashed them... but the leadership escaped alive. They are still operating in the shadows."
"How is that possible?"
Hong Si-yu told me there were still some who had not fallen. The right leg I had just been told was healed seemed to throb all over again. In the end it had always been those officers, the gambling thugs. They had bought off the fencing association to line their own pockets and dragged me into defeat, then sent gangsters to ruin Chae-ha's hands. If I could have had my way, I would have run a blade through every one of their hearts. And those same men were still at work.
"The government's capacity for public order is not what you would call impressive."
"Is it that bad?"
"To be frank, this country is closer now to some failed state in South America than to the Korea you knew, Athlete Jeong."
"..."
"The president declares martial law at every opening, and the assembly members don't even understand the situation. They are busy preparing to retake Seoul."
Hong Si-yu sighed.
"And in the middle of it, guns loose on the street as soldiers die, rogue guilds and Awakened thugs who used to be raiders, gates opening everywhere... I lose my breath just picturing it."
It lasted only a moment. Then she smiled again, sweet as a ripe persimmon, and every bit as poised.
"Which is why, as Director of Policy Coordination for the Special Cooperation Bureau, I would like to make you a proposal."
"Yes."
"Should we mount an operation to arrest the Scorpion Crew's Awakened, I will see that any request for cooperation from the National Police Agency or the Ministry of Justice reaches you before anyone else."
"I'm sorry?"
"With the government's present capacity, police power alone cannot arrest Awakened criminals, much less kill them. Asking hunters for help through the Association is perfectly ordinary."
A laugh rose in me, and a hollow one with it. This was the same public authority that had once discarded a world champion with a single bullet. Now they could not handle one gang, and they were asking hunters for help. A strange sense of freedom and a deep pity arrived together.
"I don't mean to work Athlete Jeong for nothing."
Hong Si-yu went on.
"Truthfully, for a matter like that, I would be willing to step forward even unpaid."
"The guild you applied to would object. They would ask whether we mean to set a precedent for using their hunters free of charge."
She turned a monitor around to face me.
"The country has no money at the moment, so I cannot hand you thousands at a time. What I can do is reduce your sentence."
"My sentence?"
"The mandatory service for a Rehabilitation Hunter is three years. Each time you cooperate, I will take one month off."
My incarceration file was up on the screen.
"It isn't that I'm particularly eager to quit being a hunter early, but..."
As the terms of a bargain, the offer sat in an awkward place. Ask me to give my talent away and coach for a day as a volunteer, and I would have done it gladly. Ask me to coach for minimum wage, and I would not much have wanted to. It felt like cheapening my own worth down to the level of whatever I was paid.
"Ah. I haven't explained, have I?"
But Hong Si-yu needed only a single sentence to show me why I ought to be grateful.
"Under a Rehabilitation Hunter contract, no matter how many demonic beasts you kill, there is a ceiling on promotion within the guild and on the posts to which you can be assigned."
"What?!"
"The system was designed on the assumption that you would retire once the mandatory service ended. One does not promote contract staff, does one?"
"I'll come running whenever you call."
It tore out of me, nearly a shout. I might kill every beast in front of me and still be barred from promotion. Was that any different from winning the match and being told there would be no medal? I would not stand for it. I would drag in every last Awakened thug of the Scorpion Crew and wipe my mandatory service clean.
"Of course, I'll need the guild I join to agree. I would appreciate your help with that."
"Naturally. Then I will let you know as soon as an operation to arrest the former Scorpion Crew is scheduled."
Hong Si-yu smiled, satisfied.
"They will understand even if it isn't the guild. The scouts were all quite impressed with you, Athlete Jeong. Is there somewhere you already have in mind?"
She had changed the subject as if it were nothing. I wondered whether this was the thing she had wanted to ask.
"I was thinking of Saetbyeol Guild."
"A guild?"
Hong Si-yu looked like a woman who had bitten into a worm while eating a ripe persimmon.
"Is that not allowed?"
For a moment I wondered whether some other guild, or one of the big corporations, had paid her a commission to bring me in.
"No. There is no reason it wouldn't be. I'm only startled. I made such a point of how high the death rate is at the guilds, and still you chose one. The reason—"
"Because I want a shot at the very top, even if the danger is a little greater."
It was uncommon in fencing, but in the wider world of sports and the arts, the people in charge cutting quiet, ugly deals over which team a promising rookie would be sent to was an everyday affair.
"You seem to have settled it a long time ago."
"Yes. In fact, I decided it when I heard the briefing on the first day."
"A guild didn't look like much of an option then."
"My younger sister works there. In an ordinary office post."
"Ah. That..."
"Yes. The sister you would have seen in the news about me. The one who can't even play the guitar anymore, because of me."
Fortunately, it did not seem she had called me in to apply pressure.
"You had better know how lucky you are."
"Pardon?"
"It's nothing."
She let out a quiet sigh and turned toward a door at one side of the wide office.
"Come in. All of you."
The door opened on a long creak, and a file of figures stepped through. My status ring vibrated, and holograms flooded my vision.
Physical Enhancement (C+), Sword Aura (B)
Physical Enhancement (C), Cryomancy (B+)
Physical Enhancement (C+), Telekinesis (B)
Every one of them was an Awakened no less formidable than Hong Si-yu herself.
"Su Seong-min, manager, Saetbyeol HR. Thanks. You made the right choice."
"Chief Superintendent Yu, Awakened Special Forces, National Police Agency. A shame it didn't work out, but I respect the decision."
"Head of HR, Hwahan Defense. I'll give you my card, so if Saetbyeol's terms don't suit you..."
"I'm..."
I understood, then. The stiff line of my mouth came undone, and a foolish grin spread in its place. The scouts had clearly gone to war over me. It was a kind of attention I remembered.
"You heard him just now, didn't you? Out! Get the hell out, all of you! He wanted Saetbyeol from the start!"
The woman with the straight blue-gray hair, the one I had seen at the gate, shoved the hunters around her aside without ceremony. And with that, I knew for certain. The life that had wandered off its line for no good reason was back on the proper track.
Saetbyeol's scout and I moved, just the two of us, into a conference room.
"Su Seong-min. Head of Saetbyeol HR Team 3. You can see it on the status window, yeah?"
"Yes. I'm looking at it now."
By her face alone she was young enough to pass for around Chae-ha's age, and yet she was, I had been told, an Awakened hunter as powerful as Hong Si-yu.
"I don't know whether you've heard, but I want to sign with Saetbyeol."
"Of course I heard."
Su Seong-min grinned, immensely pleased with herself, and drew out a contract. I fully expected a few predatory clauses buried in it. The foundation of a negotiation is hiding what you actually want, and I had already announced that I had a reason I had to go to Saetbyeol. She would have no need to sweeten the hook.
"No probation period. Kill-count bonus paid the same as hunters on a standard contract."
The expectation missed, and it missed in style.
"The Incheon dormitory isn't finished, so we can't house you, but we'll cover the rent instead."
"I'm sorry?"
"Combat uniform, sword, and firearm are issued as standard. If you want them customized, that's on your own money. Oh, and if you've got a personal weapon you want to use, use it. Obviously."
Even knowing as little as I did, I could see it was a fine offer.
"And from what I heard you saying to Si-yu, it sounds like you actually mean to do this for a long time. Thing is, on a Rehabilitation contract, no promotions. Can't be helped."
"I understand."
"Appreciate you saying so. Fact is, from branch manager on down this business is all the same job, so climbing doesn't mean much anyway. Not much of a substitute, but I'll fill in your pay steps."
It was enough to call up my years on the national team.
"Salary rises with the steps, obviously. Finish the Rehabilitation term, come on as a full employee, and you should be able to promote right away."
I could feel her bending as far as the rules would allow, just to meet me.
"Oh, and if you want the full-time post, that right is guaranteed too."
A hunter of B+ was treating my skill, and my hunger for the work, with respect. Perhaps it really was true that a person had to love the job in order to succeed at it. The wish to give Saetbyeol everything I had rose in me on its own.
"Thank you."
"Nothing to thank me for. You want the dragon slayer with the shortest career on record, this is the least you do. If you weren't Rehabilitation, I'd have paid a hell of a lot more for you."
"I'll shake it off quickly, and we'll renegotiate."
"That's what Si-yu meant, yeah? Cooperating on the arrest operation? Good. I'll put it in the contract. When you're out on a government request, that takes priority."
That, too, was something to be genuinely grateful for. She was a scout, and still she was not squeezing the company for every last advantage.
"What's with that look?"
"It's nothing. I came up through sports, so I suppose I had my prejudices about scouts."
"We're not a black company. We don't make our money grinding hunters down. The chairman's the type who'd tell the government to shove it if that's what it took to protect them. So what's the problem?"
Su Seong-min smiled, easy in her chair.
"Anything else you want to ask for?"
I thought for a moment, then asked.
"My younger sister works at Saetbyeol. An office post, I believe. She said she joined around the big general-admin hiring, two years ago."
"Already one of ours, then. And?"
"Would it be possible to get her number? If privacy rules make that difficult, I would at least like you to pass along mine."
"Huh?"
"We were separated before the gates broke. She may have changed her number. I can't reach her now."
"Oh. Because you... did time? No. Not time. I didn't mean—"
A flash of embarrassment crossed Su Seong-min's face.
"It's all right. It's the truth. And it isn't something I'm ashamed of."
I gave a small shake of my head.
"Yeah. Not a problem. Give me the name."
"Jeong Chae-ha."
Su Seong-min lifted her phone and opened the company's internal app.
"Jeong Chae-ha? She's not coming up."
"What?"
And then she gave me an answer I could never have imagined.
"She's not here. Not headquarters staff. Not a branch employee. Not a hunter, obviously. I checked everyone who's already quit, and the contract workers too. There is no one by the name Jeong Chae-ha."
She wasn't there.
It was the feeling of drawing a sword in perfect confidence, only for the blade to slide free of the hilt in my hand.
"Could she have been entered wrong in the system?"
"I tried just Chae-ha, and a few come up. Look."
Su Seong-min held out several identification photographs. My sister, Jeong Chae-ha, was not among them.
"None of them."
"Then you're saying she never came to Saetbyeol at all... Do you have a photo?"
I thought of the phone I used to carry.
"There's a phone with pictures on it, but it won't turn on. I think it's broken."
"Well, that's a mess. Listen... she wouldn't have lied because she didn't want you to worry, would she?"
"She wasn't the type. And if she were going to lie, she wouldn't have needed to say Saetbyeol. Whenever she sent a letter, there was always something about a business trip."
Su Seong-min closed her eyes, then opened them.
"You're not busy today, right?"
"No. Nothing I have to do."
"Come for a drive with me."
"To where?"
"Forensics. I see the photo, I'll know. Won't I?"