An Unjust Gas Mask and a Job Offer

Monday arrived. Fortunately, there was no noticeable uproar. Thanks to that, Seoa and I were able to spend a perfectly peaceful morning as well. Of course, the students we'd helped this time did keep throwing wary glances our way. I should probably find a good moment to at least explain things to them at some point. It's not like I'd gone toe-to-toe with some righteous organization or whatever — all I did was go up against a single guild. No need to offer some long-winded excuse and keep it a secret. Besides, this time I was the one who asked for help in the first place. Sure, I'd looped in Hayeon, but it was painfully obvious that I was the one who'd actually called those girls out. And now I was going to wipe my mouth clean and walk away? Even I have to admit that would be pretty low~ Well, that was a problem for later.

Come the afternoon, the Academy was suddenly abuzz. Naturally, it was because news about that guild had broken.

Every single one of them was a screaming, sensational title. Seeing the journalists swarm like a pack of hornets, it seemed things had certainly been peaceful since the end of the Great Invasion. An enraged Lee Joongoo had lent some force to the story as well, but I never imagined they'd come stampeding over nothing more than a single anonymous tip. Or maybe they just smelled a juicy angle. It was downright comical, watching the guys who used to strut around bragging about being members of one of Korea's Top 3 guilds get strung up in front of a gate wearing nothing but their underwear. Granted, I'd only disarmed them in advance so they wouldn't go lunging at the reporters…… Which was why the front page of the news was currently plastered with mosaic-faced photos of them in states hilarious enough to start a laughing epidemic. However. Unlike the frivolous photos, the substance being reported was anything but light. After all, it was the kind of story that would make even Lee Joongoo see red. That they had buried a witness alive to conceal the fact that they were domesticating monsters — what is this, an urban legend? The kind of story you'd only find in a ghost tale. And the articles went further. They were written as though the guild had been forced to kill people in order to raise the monsters — and while nothing was stated outright, the prevailing tone amounted to: so were they feeding them humans, or what?This is going to blow up pretty big, isn't it. And sure enough, it was exactly the kind of story that would. Statements from other guilds were already dropping, each one falling over itself to declare it had never taken part in such inhumane experiments. Thanks to that, there didn't seem to be a single tearful defense from any faction on the guild's behalf. Anyone who stepped up to defend them now would be branded a cannibal in seconds. Of course, that was none of my business. They had it coming. Besides, for all I knew, that one guild wasn't the only outfit with its hands in this business. Anyone with half a brain would use this opportunity to wash their hands of it; the dumber ones would keep pushing the operation forward until they got raked over the coals one by one. The hunter industry's image was bound to take a hit. To put it bluntly — when one of the industry's biggest players pulls a stunt like that, expecting the image to stay pristine is pure Nolbu thinking.* Either way, this whole affair would serve as a moment of reckoning for the hunter industry. Not that I'd done any of it with such lofty considerations in mind, of course. 'If they're pissed, they should've behaved better from the start~' That was about all I had to say on the matter. I mean, we're not in elementary school. Weren't we all past the age where "as long as I don't get caught" flies? What are you, a ten-year-old? And then. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I found myself on the receiving end of exactly that lecture from Choi Seungjun. Hunter Academy, the Principal's office. The room — one I should have been getting used to by now — was draped in a heavier atmosphere than usual. Naturally, that was my fault. Phew…… Let me say this up front: I'm not here to settle scores. "Oh, seriously?" At Choi Seungjun's words, I couldn't help blurting out half in relief — and in the next instant, quietly dropped my gaze under his glare. Not that I was scared or anything. This was a strategic retreat. A strategic retreat. 'You son of a— you literally just said you weren't going to settle scores.' The afternoon had finally come. With the entire Academy abuzz over recent events, Choi Seungjun had summoned me to the principal's office. Because he had me in mind as the perpetrator of the whole incident. How the hell did he figure it out? "One of the witnesses mentioned it. Said a masked figure in a gas mask helped you out." Ah, that little bastard. The gas mask I'd worn specifically to hide my identity had ended up being the very clue that pinned me down. Is there any injustice in this world greater than this? No. There is not. Wait, hold on. Just because I was wearing a gas mask, you're jumping straight to me being the culprit? Isn't that a bit of a leap? "Who else in the hunter industry wanders around in a gas mask besides you?" "It could've been because of the poison gas!" "You're not serious right now?" ……Yeah, okay. It was me. I ultimately surrendered to the silent pressure. "But I'll handle the cleanup properly, you know." "That much is true. It's not exactly common knowledge that you go around in a gas mask anyway." Fair point. In fact, word was that people online who were trying to deduce my identity had assumed the gas mask was out of concern for poison gas. However. Choi Seungjun appended a footnote to my excuse-that-wasn't-an-excuse. "What I meant by calling you an elementary schooler is that part — the 'as long as I don't get caught' mindset." Ugh. I had nothing to say. But having said that much, Choi Seungjun soon let out a quiet sigh. I could roughly guess his intention. He'd maneuvered things to keep the Academy out of it, hadn't he? It feels a little awkward to say out loud myself, but. Fine. I wasn't about to argue the point now. After all, to publicly condemn me, he'd have to formally declare that I was the culprit of this incident. And that would benefit neither Choi Seungjun nor the Academy. So I'd expected him to keep his mouth shut, too. Of course, I understood. This time, there was nothing he could have done to help even if he'd wanted to. It wasn't his problem to help with. Right. I had no intention of asking for help either. But if you'd given me a heads-up beforehand, I could at least have prepared an answer for when the question came. Said out loud like that, it probably sounded like a massive inconvenience I was foisting on him. From where I stood, if the goal was to make sure Choi Seungjun never got dragged in, keeping it secret seemed like the better call……. But thinking about it — the man was a major figure in the hunter industry and the business world alike. The reporters' microphones were bound to find him sooner or later. Considering that moment, maybe it would have been better to confide in him beforehand and get our stories straight. What if the Academy had already gone on record saying it had no connection to this incident, and then it came out that I was the one behind it? I could get cut loose and not care, but his reputation would be in tatters. "Hey. I'm sorry, okay?" "Enough. You're disgusting. Might be a losing proposition to pay it for Hunter Shin Seoa's sake, but think of it as the price of keeping you leashed, and it's a bargain." ……Huh? When did I ever tell you about my private circumstances? "Given your pathetically narrow social circle, it was obvious." He wasn't wrong. In short, here's the story. One day, Seoa went out on a hunt like any other, and somewhere along the way, she stumbled onto the guild's dirty secret. Naturally, for Seoa — who had become a hunter after losing family to monsters — it was something she couldn't accept. But. There was the futures of the guild members who'd witnessed the scene alongside her to worry about. Or outright threats from the guild itself. At Seoa's level, the guild couldn't just brush her aside — she was a real asset. But at the end of the day, Seoa was only one body. What if the guild decided to get serious and raid her family home? Even with me around, I couldn't stay glued to the boarding house twenty-four hours a day, year-round. Especially not against a surprise attack. She'd had no choice but to comply. Her growing disgust with her job was the same story. She'd been so sick of it that she'd impulsively submitted her resignation. To her, it was nothing more than a small act of rebellion — but from the guild's perspective, it only gave them more reason to keep a close eye on her. That day, when Seoa came face to face with the messenger the guild had sent, she realized it all the more keenly. No wonder she'd felt like drowning herself in drink. And then. The pathetic master who'd got his disciple drunk, stabbing at that wound in her heart, finally understood the situation too late. The result of that is the present. The guild surely had no room left to pressure Seoa any further. Since she'd never been told anything or moved against them, there wasn't a shred of suspicion pointing her way. It wasn't as if they were in any position to hunt down who the whistleblower was anyway. Clearly, the majority of the hunters would be leaving the guild over this whole mess. It was, effectively, the guild's collapse. That was the outcome I'd engineered from the start. All the better that the Academy had nothing to do with it. Given these circumstances, there was almost no room to borrow the Academy's strength. If anything, if it came out that I was the culprit, I might end up given the cold shoulder by industry peers. So I'd braced myself to be cut loose at any moment. But apparently, he had no intention of making this incident public. Because once it came out that I was the perpetrator, it would be nothing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but loss for him as Academy Principal. Well, I was never the type to agonize over hunter identity or industry politics anyway. He was a born entrepreneur, though. I'd even worried he might eye the monster-domestication business himself — but no matter what, Choi Seungjun wasn't stupid enough to push that venture in the current climate. It would obviously wreck his corporate image. Thanks to that, I had a rough idea of how that group had been handling their monsters. It might even suppress monster-driven terrorism to some degree. "What?" ……Why are you making that face? "No, it's nothing." "Right. But there are two problems." "Two? There are three." "I said two." Choi Seungjun, who had been looking at me like I'd lost my mind, soon opened his mouth again. "The first is your personal problem, so we'll skip it. The real issue is the second." "Now that you put it that way, I'm curious about the first one too." "The second problem is the Association." This bastard never knows how to listen. Granted, I was the one in the wrong this time, so I shut up and listened. "It's hard to imagine the Association Chairman has figured out who you are, but the fact is that things have grown awkward for us to make contact on this end." Yeah. And if it slipped out, naturally the Chairman wouldn't look kindly on the man who wrecked his own front yard. "Why does that matter?" "To stand against that organization, the Association's cooperation is indispensable. At the very least, we need to unite the hunters within the country." "Ah, true. We need to flush out their moles, too." "The problem is that this incident has made winning over the Chairman effectively impossible." "Now I feel terrible, thanks." "No, there's no need to apologize." "Huh?" "Honestly speaking, that organization's reach is beyond anything we imagined. They've taken root in politics, business — even the hunter industry. The first two, Seungjun and I can manage somehow, but the hunter industry is the hard part." Well, one of them is a National Assemblyman barred from holding other offices, and the other is busy as an Academy principal. Both are legendary hunters as far as the industry is concerned, but they can't exactly bend the hunter world to their will in real time. They need at least a proxy — and the candidate he'd had in mind for that role was the Association Chairman. 'Huh?'Why does this conversation feel like it's heading somewhere uncomfortable? Like three brothers plotting to seize control of the political, business, and underworlds in turn, Choi Seungjun's eyes narrowed as he named each sphere. "Even so, we can't abandon the hunter industry. If they attempt anything, what matters most is the force to shatter whatever scheme they're brewing." "Hey, hold on." "The problem is that there's no visible path to improving relations with the Chairman right now. It can't be helped — we'll have to consider replacing him outright." Wait, is that even possible? …Actually, thinking about it, I suppose it could work. But something about this direction feels really off? "When that time comes, you'll become the Association Chairman." You absolute— At the sight of him marching straight ahead like a unicorn's horn, uncompromising and upright, that was exactly what I ended up shouting. "No, I mean, you're not wrong, but……" This is seriously messed up. "There's no one else for the job. It's not just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠talent — it's a matter of trust." "No, but come on. Could I even do a job like Association Chairman? You want me, of all people, buried in paperwork?" "It's not a question of whether you can. You will." At Choi Seungjun's utterly uncompromising answer, I shut my mouth as well. S-seriously? Association Chairman? Me? "You know how badly I was on the Association's bad side until just recently, right?" "Don't worry. It's not needed right away. Though looking ahead, it wouldn't hurt to build some kind of political foundation." "Let's just think this through a bit more carefully, okay? There's a saying about the right person for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the right post. Is this really the right appointment?" "If such a person existed elsewhere, I'd consider them." With that, Choi Seungjun snorted. Honestly, it was the obvious reaction. There was no way I knew anyone whose name carried weight clear up to the upper echelons of the Association, let alone the hunter industry. And factoring in trustworthiness, even more so. But then. "Would that even matter?" "Huh?"

"Hello, I am the Goddess Tiamat. I look forward to working with you all." And. At the self-introduction of the woman I'd brought along, Choi Seungjun had no choice but to burst out laughing.