Forced Labor Awaits
…No way.
With a fierce expression and a voice mixed with anxiety and anger.
I casually picked up the phone and smiled.
“Ah, if you only heard the voice, you wouldn’t know who it is. I was lacking in consideration. The person you just called is Hunter Jo A-young.”
“Jo A-young?! So you’re asking what that woman is doing right now!!”
Kim Younghoon stood up from his seat.
And without any restraint, he began to unleash his mana.
The oppressive pressure, the mana.
Lee Jaehoon took a defensive stance, looking tense.
But.
I looked him straight in the face and said.
“Nothing special. Just…”
“……”
“You rescued Kim Hyeyoon, the one you call ‘it’, safely from our Association.”
“What…?”
Kim Younghoon’s eyes widened.
Whether he wanted to deny the situation or not admit it.
His lips were trembling.
The foolish face I saw for the first time.
I enjoyed it and said again.
“You are not the test subjects you treated as such. Kim Hyeyoon, someone’s precious younger sister…”
“Damn it…!!!”
Kwaaang!!
Kim Younghoon couldn’t hold back and slammed the table.
“What kind of bullshit is this!!”
At the same time, the table broke and fragments flew.
“President! Danger…!!”
Lee Jaehoon rushed to block in front of me in panic.
But.
I casually flicked my fingers towards the flying fragments.
State Domination.
At the moment I muttered the skill name.
Ssssss.
The many fragments heading towards me lost their shape and began to scatter.
“…!!”
The movements of Kim Younghoon, who was raging in anger, stopped.
Lee Jaehoon who was trying to block in front of me also stopped.
The phenomenon of fragments becoming gas and scattering.
It was as if he didn’t understand what happened in the scene that looked like a mirage.
I looked at Kim Younghoon, who was dazed, waving his hand.
“Does it mean you can take responsibility? Will one Jo A-young do?”
“……”
“You asked if I would repeat last year. No way.”
Saying that, I stood up and approached Kim Younghoon.
Bringing my face close and speaking clearly.
“So, I’m cleaning up the scum like you.”
And I picked up the box that fell on the floor.
The box Kim Younghoon had handed to me.
I shook it lightly and looked at Kim Younghoon and said.
“I asked if you wanted this data?”
State Domination.
At the moment I said the skill name, the box started to scatter.
“…?! What…!”
“I don’t need it.”
“You don’t need it? Do you know how valuable that data is?!”
“So what. It’s just trash worse than a 100 won coin to me.”
Then, without hesitation, I turned my body and headed towards the door.
At the moment I grabbed the doorknob to open it.
I turned my head again and looked at him.
As if something was forgotten.
“Ah, and I should correct the misunderstanding.”
“……”
“Yes, it’s true. That existence, the S-rank hunter, is honestly too pitiful.”
“……”
“So, I agree that locking you in prison is a national loss and a crazy act.”
Kim Younghoon asked me with a look of disbelief.
“Hah… then why did you do all this? Your words don’t match.”
Smiling faintly at him.
“So, I won’t send you to prison. Instead…”
Kim Younghoon looked at me with a face full of questions.
Facing his two eyes, I conveyed my thoughts.
“I’m thinking of putting you in forced labor as a convict.”
“What…?”
“If it’s what you did… the sentence will probably be at least 20 years. For 20 years, you won’t be able to use mana freely without my permission.”
“20 years?”
“You will become the Association’s dog and pay for your sins.”
I tell him.
You will be imprisoned in freedom and live as the Association’s dog.
That will be your future.
But Kim Younghoon found it hard to believe the words.
He looked at me with eyes full of disbelief.
“Is that something that can be said now? Is there a device in South Korea that can forcibly imprison an S-rank? What kind of bullshit…!”
“There is.”
The one who cut off Kim Younghoon’s words is none other than Lee Jaehoon.
He looked like he was lost in thought.
“What is this?”
Kim Younghoon looked at Lee Jaehoon with eyes like seeing a bug.
Whether he knew or not.
Lee Jaehoon answered while still lost in thought.
“Recently, Mastis Corporation has successfully developed a device that can fundamentally suppress the mana of awakened individuals. And…”
This time, I cut off Lee Jaehoon’s words and said.
“Mastis Corporation has recently supplied the Association with the first of those suppression devices as a gesture of sincerity in the sponsorship contract signed with the Hunter Association.”
“…!! Mastis…?”
“Although there is only one for now… it just so happens that we have a place to use it.”
“This…! These bastards…!!”
With the last escape route blocked.
He spat out curses towards the empty air.
He didn’t expect it.
Not someone else, but an S-rank.
That’s why he didn’t think he could restrain him.
But ironically, Mastis had been researching the technology to block the source of mana from the beginning, and that technology was being carried out at the 6th Research Institute.
And it was completed at just the right timing.
“So, it’s sufficient to say that restraining you is possible.”
At that moment, Kim Younghoon’s momentum began to decrease significantly.
“…No way.”
And with the sound of him sitting back on the sofa, I turned the doorknob and opened the door.
The Association mobile unit members waiting in the hallway poured in like a flood, as if waiting.
Leaving Kim Younghoon being suppressed by the mobile unit members, I started walking down the hallway.
Lee Jaehoon quickly started following behind me.
On his face, there seemed to be some inexplicable pride.
Or a face intoxicated with victory.
Descending the stairs, I took out the phone again and dialed Jo A-young’s number.
Ttururur. Click.
[Hello?]
Was there a fierce battle?
The voice of Jo A-young over the phone had a slight heaviness.
“Yes, A-young. How is the situation.”
Jo A-young’s voice suddenly quieted, so I asked her.
“Does she have no consciousness?”
“…How did you know that? I don’t know the reason, but she’s in a state of unconsciousness. It’s a bit… dangerous.”
“I’m going to the hospital right now.”
To my words, Jo A-young didn’t answer.
After a while.
With a trembling voice, she asked me.
“President. Are you really thinking of using that ability again? It’s not possible. Last time too…”
“I will see you later.”
Without listening to her words, I unilaterally hung up the phone.
Putting the phone in my pocket, I looked at Lee Jaehoon walking beside me.
“You stay here and confirm until the end that Kim Younghoon is transferred to the Association detention facility.”
Lee Jaehoon looked at my face and asked worriedly.
“Yes, I understand… but. Even if you move alone, are you really okay? Anyway…”
I nodded my head with a smile and said it’s okay.
Then, I exited the building and got on the waiting limousine van.
“Take me to the hospital.”
The driver nodded and started driving.
Through the car window, the Belgriff sign passed by.
After a while, we arrived at the hospital.
Getting out of the car and looking at the hospital, the building that felt just annoyingly stuffy a moment ago now felt welcoming.
Hurrying across the lobby, I went up to the elevator and pressed the 5th floor that Jo A-young instructed.
Ding.
A cheerful notification sound.
When the elevator door opened, I immediately headed to the end room on the 5th floor.
When I opened the hospital room door, the first thing I saw was a girl lying on the bed wearing an oxygen mask.
And next to her was Kim Hye-in with a dazed face.
Sitting with her brother’s hand tightly held.
Probably, Jo A-young had already contacted and given a heads-up.
Whether she didn’t hear the sound of me opening the door.
She was just crying and not taking her eyes off her brother.
Watching that, Jo A-young approached me and said.
“You’ve come.”
“Yes, A-young.”
I also looked at Kim Hye-in for a moment, then brought my face close to Jo A-young’s ear and whispered softly.
“I left Kim Younghoon’s transfer to Lee Jaehoon, but… since he’s an S-rank, I’m a bit uneasy. It would be good if A-young goes and helps a bit.”
But she chewed her lips and couldn’t answer, hesitating.
Then she kept checking my eyes.
“But… President.”
Her two trembling eyes asked me.
Aren’t you thinking of using that ability here again?
What if you vomit blood and fall?
The feeling that her inner thoughts are visible.
I said with a gentle smile.
To reassure her.
“…If you’re that worried, promise me. I won’t do anything until A-young returns here.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Only then, a bit reassured.
Jo A-young let out a small sigh and looked at me again.
Nodding my head again, she finally moved her feet and opened the hospital room door.
Holding the doorknob, she said to me as if giving a final warning.
“President. Until I return… you really have to wait.”
To that, I answered with a smile.
“Yes, go and come back.”
With that, Jo A-young went out and the hospital room door closed.
Click.
I slowly moved my seat to the right side of the bed.
In front of Kim Hye-in.
Even at that time, Kim Hye-in was not looking at me.
She was just looking at Kim Hyeyoon with worried eyes.
I also kept silent and just looked at her.
How much time has passed.
“Thank you.”
“……”
“Thank you for putting up with my stubbornness.”
She said to me without turning her eyes from her brother.
Thank you. Thank you.
“…Kim Hye-in.”
“I’m so grateful that you saved my brother. Really grateful. But…!”
“……”
“What am I supposed to do now…! Hyeyoon… Hyeyoon doesn’t open her eyes.”
She said that, and only then looked at me.
The face looking at me is already messed up with tears.
“Hye-in.”
“…Yes.”
“Listen to my words well.”