Work Comes with Rewards
Work Comes with Rewards
Meanwhile, as his wife left with Sia, Han Sia's 'papa', Han Jaehoon—who had been pressuring the Association employee by releasing his magic power—retracted his magic power and sat down on the sofa.
Only after he withdrew his magic power was the Association employee permitted to move again, grabbing the wall for balance while his body trembled violently like a newborn deer.
Though he looked pitiful to anyone who saw him, Han Jaehoon, feeling not an ounce of guilt but only anger toward him, asked in a sharp, low voice.
"When is the person in charge coming?"
"Heok.. heok.. Th-that is..."
"If you don't know, get out right now and bring the person in charge. We have no intention of letting this matter slide."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
Han Jaehoon glanced at the employee quickly fleeing the room and closed his eyes.
Then, what had happened just a moment ago came back vividly in his mind.
The sight of his daughter pleading about the atrocities committed by the Association, even using the nickname 'papa' that she rarely used no matter how much he wished for it.
Others might be fooled, but Han Jaehoon's own eyes could not be deceived.
On the corners of the eyes of his daughter, Han Sia, who had clung to him, very faint teardrops remained.
Of course, those were tears shed out of frustration by Han Sia after receiving the confirmation—or pseudo-confirmation—from her status window that she could no longer grow to 180 cm. But to Han Jaehoon, who didn't know this, they only looked like marks containing the pain of his daughter who had been interrogated by the Hunter Association in his absence.
'What wrong could that young child have possibly done... I will absolutely not let this matter slide!'
Vowing to himself that he would make them pay dearly even if it meant borrowing the guild's power if necessary, Han Jaehoon opened his eyes again.
Right on cue, the door to the room opened and a woman entered the reception room.
The appearance of Dan Cheonghwa, the youngest director of the Hunter Association and Strategy Coordination Director—a person possessing enough authority to be considered the person in charge that Han Jaehoon was looking for—made him nod as if satisfied.
"I apologize for keeping you waiting so long."
"Is this a situation where you should be apologizing to me right now?"
"Of course I plan to apologize to Han Sia-yang as well. However, since Han Sia-yang has already departed for home, I merely apologized to her father, Cheonryeok (Heavenly Power), first."
"Those words better not end up being just empty words."
"Of course."
Han Jaehoon, having sent a warning implicit with the meaning of 'If you forget and don't apologize, I will smash your head myself', moved on to the next conversation.
"How much have you figured out so far?"
"What happened at that exact spot, or the mastermind behind the terror attack. Which one are you referring to?"
"Both."
"Then it would be better to explain from the beginning."
As Cheonghwa raised her finger and sliced through the air, a line appeared in midair, revealing a black space within it.
She reached her hand inside the black space and pulled out a stack of documents.
It was a classified document recording everything related to the terror attack that took place today.
Normally, it was content that must not be leaked to the outside, but because Cheonryeok Han Jaehoon's daughter was involved in this incident, and trying to hide it here might truly cause a problem between the Association and Changgung, it was decided in a meeting prior to coming here to disclose it only to Han Jaehoon.
"Then I shall explain. The traces of the terrorists were first discovered three days ago."
The Association's surveillance network discovered two people included among the smuggling routes coming from China to Korea.
At first, they did not think much of it, but as soon as they learned that the physical description of one of them was similar to Yeom Hoe, a mid-level executive of China's Kowloon Association, the Association launched a full-scale investigation.
However, Yeom Hoe had already vanished, and it was already too late.
Only then did the Association realize that the person who entered with Yeom Hoe was someone who could hide their presence to evade detection.
Considering the nature of the Kowloon Association, where no one knew when, where, or what they might do, the Hunter Association immediately reinforced security for key facilities and the VIP list, but they didn't even imagine that they would target an elementary school.
The result of that was the terror attack this afternoon.
The low-rank hunters guarding the school were all found dead as if ambushed, and the Erosion Studies specialist teacher dispatched from the Association was severely injured and is currently hospitalized.
"So those trashy criminal scum from the Kowloon Association crawled all the way into the mainland as if it were nothing and launched a terror attack, while the Association sat around sucking their thumbs with a complacent mindset of 'there's no way' while my daughter solved the problem?"
"Yes, summarized, that would be correct."
"You're not offering that as an excuse, are you?"
"It is not an excuse but the truth... Still, thanks to this, we were able to use this incident as a pretext to clean up the spies inside the Association."
"Right, using my daughter's life as collateral."
Kurureung-!!
The Association's reception room shook violently.
It was because the magic power that began to run wild as if reflecting Han Jaehoon's mood collided with the magic power raised by Cheonghwa to block it.
"I can't listen to any more of this. If you gained that much profit using my daughter's life as collateral, you must have prepared for damage worthy of it as well."
"Calm down. I haven't finished speaking yet."
"Can you even call what you've been spouting up until now 'speaking'? It reeks so nastily and rottenly that I can hardly stomach it."
With the magic power clashing even more violently, now beyond the reception room, the entire Association building began to shake.
Had Cheonghwa not anticipated such a case in advance and cleared the surrounding people, by now the employees would be in chaos trying to evacuate.
"This incident is without a doubt the Association's fault. Therefore, I have brought a compensation plan accordingly."
"If my daughter's awakening had been even a little later, it would have been a major disaster. Are you saying the Association has the capability to pay that price?"
"Of course, paying all that price at once would be realistically impossible. However, if we pay it off over several years with time, it's not impossible."
"Fine. I will give you one last chance. Present a compensation plan that my daughter and I can be satisfied with. Otherwise, you'll end up rebuilding the Association headquarters."
At Han Jaehoon's voice, low like a growling beast and filled with a murderous intent that seemed ready to pounce at any moment, Cheonghwa felt cold sweat running down her back.
Indeed, looking at power alone, he was South Korea's rank 1 hunter.
If she gave a wrong or lacking answer here, they really might end up rebuilding the Association building.
Cheonghwa once again sliced her hand through the air and pulled out a sheet of paper.
It was a sheet of paper listing the compensation provided by the Association.
Han Jaehoon, having received the paper, quickly scanned its contents.
[Compensation List for Han Sia-yang Regarding the Kowloon Association Terror Incident]
1. Annually provide 5 types of high-grade Ice attribute elixirs stored by the Association.
2. Provide the Ice attribute item Ice Crystal (A) stored by the Association.
3. Designate Han Sia as a VIP at the Association level. Actively defend and assist against various external attacks.
4. Actively participate in and assist with raids at the Association level for up to 3 types of Erosion Gates requested by Han Sia-yang in the future.
5. Invite S-rank Ice attribute hunter Snow Woman Shin Haran-nim as a specialized instructor and pursue customized education timed with Han Sia-yang's academy entrance in the future.
.
.
.
Nearly more than ten items continued in a row after that, but what Han Jaehoon focused on was the top five.
Regarding the elixirs in item 1, he also naturally thought they would be included.
However, in the case of high-grade elixirs, even if they leaned toward a single attribute, the price per item exceeded several hundred million to several billion won, so it showed that they had put some effort into it.
Han Jaehoon had also heard of the Ice Crystal in item 2. It was allegedly the sole item that appeared from a place composed entirely of snowy mountains among Erosion Gates, or something like that.
Item 3 was in a way obvious, but in the case of VIP treatment, although it was an honorary title, it effectively meant assigning a level of security equivalent to an Association director, while item 4 was a card to be used later after Han Sia became an adult.
And finally, item 5.
To learn directly from Snow Woman Shin Haran, South Korea's greatest Cryomancer... It would certainly be great if possible, but as far as he knew, Shin Haran was a natural person who spent 365 days a year deep in the mountains.
"Is that possible?"
"Making that possible also depends on the capability of the Association."
"Phew... Fine. As long as the compensation written here is upheld, I will let this matter pass."
"Thank you."
Han Jaehoon's magic power, which had been pressuring the inside of the reception room until just a moment ago, vanished without a trace.
A magic control ability that was not just clean, but wondrous.
While Cheonghwa whistled inwardly in admiration, outwardly she conveyed her polite greeting.
"Once again, I express my apologies regarding this matter. We plan to provide sufficient compensation for the damage caused by the Association's lack of capability, and I will also apologize separately to Han Sia-yang later."
"I will trust those words and take my leave for today. Next time, I hope we meet again for good news rather than something like this."
Rejecting her attempt to follow him to see him off with a wave of his hand, Han Jaehoon left the reception room and headed home, leaving her all alone inside the room that had become a mess due to the collision of magic power.
Jjak-jjak-
"Since the matter is resolved, let's take care of the cleanup."
"""Understood."""
With the sound of clapping, several people appeared soundlessly and began to quickly tidy up the room, while Cheonghwa left the reception room and headed toward the Association's basement.
The magic power of Cheonryeok Han Jaehoon, which sent chills down her spine even thinking back on it.
In order to interrogate the traitors who created the situation where she had to face such magic power head-on.
It was time to return not as Strategy Coordination Director Cheonghwa, but as Special Inspection Director Cheonghwa.
