Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Simultaneous Incidents (4)
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“Rest assured. From now on, whether the information Mr. Ahn Su-ho shares is true or not, I'll vouch for it myself.”
The conference room stirred at Seol A-hyeon's words. Most of them looked shocked.
“Vouching isn't something you do lightly...”
Oh Ji-hoon said it like a joke, arms crossed. A thick grin soon spread across his face.
“But you're not the type to say something like that without reason, Black Dragon Guild Master. So I'll ask—not so much the reason, but the basis. You say you're guaranteeing everything this man says is true. What's the foundation for that judgment?”
That question was on everyone's mind in the room, except for Seol A-hyeon and Ahn Su-ho themselves. As soon as Oh Ji-hoon finished, they all held their breath, waiting for the answer.
“...Everyone here knows about my ability, right?”
Murmurs of admiration rippled softly through the conference room.
Seol A-hyeon's ability was Foresight. It let her glimpse a short future—up to a minute ahead—to predict the flow of battle, offense and defense alike.
But most of the guild executives present knew about another aspect of her power. The true 'Foresight' that peered into the distant future.
“The reason I'm guaranteeing that Mr. Ahn Su-ho's information is true? It's because I saw a future where we succeed in conquering the Knight's Graveyard—thanks to him.”
“...That's hard to buy rashly.”
Oh Ji-hoon shook his head slightly as he spoke.
“Hard to believe? Why is that?”
“Because I know the limits of your ability. You can't pick and choose the futures you want to see. And you're saying you just happened to glimpse the one where we succeed...?”
It was a reasonable doubt. In truth, Seol A-hyeon's Foresight wasn't that convenient. Most of the executives here had once tried to glimpse their own futures through her power, only to see useless glimpses.
“You're right about that, but all I can say is... luck was on our side.”
“Luck... You mean coincidence?”
“Yes.”
But Seol A-hyeon didn't try to explain it away. Instead, she brazenly doubled down, calling it pure chance.
“Coincidence? You expect me to believe that now?”
“Then do you think I'm lying to everyone here, Hunter Oh Ji-hoon?”
“That's...”
Oh Ji-hoon held his tongue at that. No one else in the room could bring themselves to accuse Seol A-hyeon of lying either. Her words weren't the kind that could be fact-checked on the spot. Even if she claimed to have seen a certain future—or hadn't seen one at all—there was no way to verify it right then and there.
Of course, there were lie detectors or artifacts in the world, but using them would mean betraying her trust. And none of them wanted to pick a fight with the Black Dragon Guild Master.
“...If you put it that way, I have no choice but to believe you.”
In the end, the brief exchange that barely qualified as a debate wrapped up. Only Oh Ji-hoon had spoken up, and no one else raised an objection.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
Seol A-hyeon's gaze flicked unconsciously toward Ahn Su-ho.
“...Eep.”
But she quickly realized it was a mistake. As their eyes met, the scene from the future she'd just glimpsed flashed in her mind, and her cheeks flushed red.
She covered her burning cheeks with her hand and spoke, her words stumbling slightly.
“A-anyway, as I said before, let's have Mr. Ahn Su-ho share the information he has. G-go ahead and speak.”
A few people tilted their heads at her unnatural demeanor, but soon their attention shifted from Seol A-hyeon to Ahn Su-ho.
“Thank you for giving me the chance to speak.”
Ahn Su-ho met the barrage of stares without flinching. He rested his clasped hands on the table and spoke in a relaxed tone.
“I'm sure everyone here already knows who I am, but let me introduce myself again anyway. My name is Ahn Su-ho, and I'm a guard with the Greenhouse Academy Security Force's Special Countermeasures Division. During the dual dungeon incident last time, I was on-site for security duty. In the process, I entered the dungeon's deepest depths to rescue isolated students and came face-to-face with the dungeon's master monster, Wilhelm.”
We met, fought, I ran, and somehow survived.
Ahn Su-ho spread his arms wide, as if boasting, and added that.
“I'm sure everyone here rates my strength pretty highly.”
The Black Dragon Guild's vanguard had clashed with Wilhelm and suffered devastating losses. Their leader, an S-grade superhuman, had been in a coma until recently. Meanwhile, Ahn Su-ho had faced Wilhelm alone and lived. It wasn't a direct comparison, but most executives viewed him as at least A-grade, possibly S-grade level.
“First off, I need to correct that impression. I'm not as strong as you all think. The reason I held my own against Wilhelm that day was a fluke—a pile-up of sheer luck, coincidence, and reckless chances.”
But Ahn Su-ho flatly denied their assumptions. He wasn't as strong as they imagined. He said it almost humbly. In reality, it was just the plain truth, but no one there had any way to know that.
...By saying this upfront, they won't complain later about me slacking off or being weaker than expected.
That statement was Ahn Su-ho's insurance policy. He might disappoint them in the upcoming dungeon raid.
But that was a future possibility. Right now, facing Korea's top superhumans, Ahn Su-ho stared them down with confident poise.
“Whatever my actual strength, I fought that thing one-on-one. And in the process, I learned all sorts of things about the monster called Wilhelm. The information I'm about to share is exactly that. As Hunter Seol A-hyeon said earlier, she'll vouch for its truthfulness. But let me say it again: everything I'm about to tell you on Wilhelm is the absolute truth, with no lies whatsoever.”
With that, Ahn Su-ho pulled a slim binder from his bag. It was a stack of notes he'd prepared before the meeting. Inside were densely packed details on Wilhelm's skills, attack patterns, weaknesses, and effective tactics to exploit them. A Wilhelm strategy guide, basically.
...The trick is explaining this in a way that sounds convincing.
No matter her guarantee, anything too unnatural would raise suspicions. Ahn Su-ho began carefully selecting what to say—info that fit the current timeline without seeming off.
“First, let's talk about Wilhelm's skills. Starting with his ability—I'll call it Cryokinesis for now, but this power...”
After agonizing over it, Ahn Su-ho finally opened his mouth.
The possessed protagonist's overrank dungeon strategy lecture had begun.
***
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The meeting dragged on for a full five hours. They verified Ahn Su-ho's info as much as possible and built effective strategy tactics around it, eating up a ton of time. It had still been daytime when they started, but by the time they filed out, it was deep into the night.
...At least we wrapped it up somehow.
Ahn Su-ho let out a weary sigh, his face etched with exhaustion. Seol A-hyeon had promised to vouch for him upfront, but that didn't mean they skimped on grilling his every word. They'd hounded him on sources and reasoning for each piece, leaving him bone-tired.
“Su-ho. You did great.”
Han Yeo-reum approached and said.
“You too, Miss Han Yeo-reum.”
“I barely said anything this time. No real hardship on my end.”
Unlike Ahn Su-ho, who'd dominated the talking and Q&A, Han Yeo-reum had stayed mostly silent. She had nothing to add, plus her mind was elsewhere.
“Mr. Ahn Su-ho. Mind if I ask one thing?”
“...About Wilhelm?”
“No. About Seol A-hyeon.”
Han Yeo-reum glanced around. The attendees had dispersed by guild after the meeting. No eavesdroppers nearby.
Even so, she lowered her voice to a whisper.
“How the hell did you win her over?”
Here it comes.
Ahn Su-ho gave the answer he'd prepared.
“...Just like we said in the meeting. She glimpsed my future, saw it was a good one for her, and trusted me because of it.”
It was more dodge than direct answer. And Han Yeo-reum wasn't buying it, naturally.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Why not?”
“Because it's fishy. You asked me to set up that pre-meeting with her on purpose. And when you came back, you'd somehow earned her trust. You couldn't have predicted she'd see a positive future for you. You had some ace up your sleeve to go meet her, right?”
“Yeah. I had something to rely on.”
“What was it?”
Her words hit the mark, so Ahn Su-ho admitted it readily. But he didn't elaborate.
“Use your imagination.”
“...Huh?”
“I can't just hand out that kind of info for free, even to you, Miss Han Yeo-reum. If you're that curious, hire that detective again?”
You won't find anything anyway.
Ahn Su-ho shrugged as he added that. It irked Han Yeo-reum a bit, but she couldn't really argue—it made a twisted kind of sense—so she just bit her lip.
Then.
“A-Ahn Su-ho?”
Seol A-hyeon approached them from down the hall.
“?”
But something was off about her. Han Yeo-reum tilted her head at the odd vibe emanating from her and checked her face.
Seol A-hyeon's cheeks were flushed bright red for some reason. Her usually confident eyes darted around uncertainly, and her fingers, arms crossed, clenched and unclenched repeatedly, mirroring her unease. She looked plainly strange.
“Th-the meeting was... h-hard work. M-meetings this l-long are r-really rare...”
Her stammering—like a shy freshman—made Han Yeo-reum's eyes go wide in shock. Ahn Su-ho wasn't as stunned, but he was puzzled too. This Seol A-hyeon didn't match the one from the original story at all.
What future did she see to act like this?
Ahn Su-ho figured her reaction stemmed from whatever future vision she'd had. He'd asked about it before the meeting, but she'd stubbornly refused to say.
“...”
Seol A-hyeon peeked up at Ahn Su-ho hesitantly. When he gave an awkward smile at her wordless gauging, she flushed even deeper and bowed her head.
“Hah...”
Han Yeo-reum couldn't hide her astonishment at the sight. Was this really the Black Dragon Guild Master?
What the...?
Standing before Ahn Su-ho, Seol A-hyeon looked like a fresh-faced teenage girl in the throes of puberty. Sure, her youthful looks played into it, but that wasn't the point. It was the aura—the sweet, subtle vibe in her glances and gestures.
What did he do to make her like this...?
Han Yeo-reum eyed Ahn Su-ho with a mix of complicated emotions. But he was just as in the dark.
An awkward silence settled over the trio in the hallway.