Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Info Agency
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According to the information I had, the guy was working at an info agency not far from here in Seoul.
Finding one info agency through another—talk about irony.
It took thirty minutes by car to arrive at the agency. I'd imagined a rundown dump when I heard "info agency," but surprisingly, it was on the second floor of a clean building in a bustling commercial district.
I went up to the office and opened the door.
"Welcome..."
The face of the person greeting me froze like ice. It was the guy from the CCTV footage.
"Ah... hello."
He greeted me with a stiff expression.
"You know me, right?"
"Well..."
"I told you to raise your son right, but you didn't think I'd come looking for you?"
"Si-hwan, what's going on?"
The man sitting at the largest desk stood up and spoke. He was huge, around two meters tall with a massive build.
"Boss, it's Lee Ji-seok the Hunter. The one from a while back..."
The hulking man called "boss" flinched in surprise. There were five people in the office total, and they all stood up at once.
"So your name's Si-hwan. What should I do with you?"
"I'm sorry!"
The guy dropped to his knees like lightning.
"I absolutely never meant to hurt her on purpose! I was just going to scare her a little, but the cup shattered weirdly... I'm sorry."
He began kowtowing, pressing his head to the floor.
"Yeah, it looked that way. I saw the video."
"So you understand..."
"Even if it wasn't intentional and you apologize, the sin doesn't just vanish."
I slapped the cheek on the same side as my mother's injured one with my palm. If his attitude had been bad, I might've killed him, but he wasn't complete trash—seeing him sincerely apologize the moment he saw my face, I hit him just hard enough not to kill.
Si-hwan's body flew up and slammed into the wall.
The remaining four charged at me simultaneously. Their speed showed they were weak, but all Awakeners.
One of them pulled out a wooden club from somewhere in that short time and rushed in. I stared blankly at the club falling toward my head. As it hit my head and splintered, I glanced at his shocked eyes before kicking him away.
I kicked the next two who lunged at me, sending them crashing into the wall.
"Lee Ji-seok Hunter, you think you'll get away with this?"
The remaining boss halted his charge and spoke.
"What if I don't?"
"If we report you, you'll lose your Hunter license for sure, and prison's a given, right? You've vented your anger, so let's call it even."
"You know... why touch someone else's mother? There's a line. A line."
"...I'm sorry. We found out she was Lee Ji-seok Hunter's mother afterward. If we'd known from the start, we never would've touched her. Isn't this enough?"
"Because I'm a C-Rank Hunter? You think I want to live getting dirtied by F-Rank or non-Hunters?"
"That's not something Lee Ji-seok Hunter needs to worry about."
I hear that a lot lately.
"Who put you up to it?"
"I can't say."
I approached the boss, who still didn't grasp the situation, grabbed his hand, and twisted it into a lock.
"Wh-what?"
I clenched my hand and slowly applied pressure. His fingers turned white in an instant, then purple.
"Argh... aaagh!!!"
"Speak fast, or you're crippled."
"Drawer! The request form's in the drawer!"
The boss answered with veins bulging in his eyes, snot and spit dripping.
"Get it."
I released his hand.
"Urk... yes..."
I snatched the request form he pulled out and read it.
"Request details: Ruin the target's Hunter activities and daily life. Client... unknown?"
My info listed me as an F-Rank Hunter who awakened two months ago. The plan was to sabotage my Hunter work to tighten my finances, then come back with the contract. Or maybe scare me into signing forcibly.
"No one's gonna give full personal details for shady jobs like this. Plus, they paid extra for secrecy, so I didn't ask."
"Boss."
"Yes!"
"You got potions? Heal your men and line up in front of me. Now."
"Yes?"
I glared steadily at the boss who asked again.
"Do it!"
The boss pulled potions from the safe and sprinkled or fed them to his men's wounds. He used the expensive potions generously, so he seemed to care for his crew somewhat.
"Anyone here who's committed murder, rape, aggravated assault, or similar major crimes, step forward. Attempts count."
I had the five kneel in a row and asked, but as expected, no one stepped up. Their heartbeats showed no lies, though.
"Boss."
"Yes!"
"You or any of your men really clean?"
"Yes."
No lie.
"Surprisingly, no big crimes?"
"Yes. We're just small fry. Finding people, collecting debts, that sort of thing."
"Yeah? Even breaking the law a little?"
"Just a tiny bit."
The boss, incongruous with his size, held up his thumb and index finger a sliver apart in front of his eyes.
"Besides going to my mom for my request, what else?"
"Well... spread some bad rumors on the Hunter app to make partying hard, and filed two or three complaints with the Awakener Management Bureau."
"Wow... got a lot done in just two days since the request."
I hadn't joined parties anyway, so no impact, but the Bureau complaints could've caused issues if ignored.
"Haha..."
"Take down the posts and withdraw the complaints."
"Well... I can delete the posts, but the complaints were anonymous, so I can't withdraw them. But only two or three, so no big impact!"
"I'll think about that later."
I flipped the overturned sofa back with one hand and sat.
"You're all Awakeners? You were a Hunter, right, boss?"
"Yes. Quit soon after due to lack of talent."
"The other four?"
"...Dropped out of the Academy after awakening or couldn't adapt to being Hunters, so they drifted here."
I pondered. They hadn't done anything good, and they weren't beneficial to society. The ones behind it were the real villains, and as the boss said, these were just small fry. I could crush them for venting, but it wouldn't be satisfying. Then a better use came to mind.
"From now on, work for me."
I needed disposable minions anyway. Since they owed me, I could work them hard. Plus, some rehabilitation.
"Yes?"
"Keep doing your usual work, and do what I tell you. I'll pay, of course. I won't nitpick minor law-breaking like now, but no making innocent people cry."
"What kind of..."
"Differs each time. First, dig up everything on the client who requested my job. Probably someone from Shinwoo."
I pointed at the request form with my finger.
"Shinwoo?? The big corp Shinwoo?"
"Yeah. Big corp Shinwoo. Name was Tak Dong-yeon, might be fake."
"That's way above our league..."
"I'm in their league, and they picked a fight?"
"I'm sorry."
"I'll handle the heavy lifting, you do background checks. Isn't that your specialty? And no grudges? Bad info got you in this mess."
"Right."
"I'll send an advance. Gimme your number."
"No need. You don't have to pay."
"You'll work hard for free? Hand it over."
"Here."
The boss politely offered his business card with both hands. It read President Yoo Hyung-bin.
"President Yoo Hyung-bin, looking forward to working together."
I handed over the advance and a copy of the contract Tak Dong-yeon left behind.
"Whoa? This much?!"
Even if I planned to exploit them, doing it for free would have them fleeing in a day. What loyalty would they have? They'd bolt the second I turned my back. Mix carrot and stick properly. If money's the carrot, all the better.
"Do my jobs well from now on, and you'll earn more than before. Looks like Im Seong-jun ordered it, so dig up residences, usual haunts, dirty secrets—everything on Im Seong-jun and Tak Dong-yeon."
"Yes."
"Don't wait to gather everything before reporting—report daily as soon as you have anything."
"Yes!"
"If you run..."
"We won't run!"
All five answered before I finished.
"Do good work and live right, and I'll treat you accordingly. Figure it out without me coming back."
"Yes!"
I left the disciplined info agency staff and headed home.
* * *
The next morning, I tried booking a Gate, but the app's reserve button was grayed out.
"What the... error?"
Restarting and reinstalling didn't help, so I asked President Yang to book it.
"Ji-seok, can't reserve under your name. Checked with the Bureau—your Hunter license is suspended."
Suddenly, I remembered the agency boss mentioning complaints.
"I'll go to the Bureau in person right now."
President Yang stepped up.
"I'll go too."
* * *
"What? Does that even make sense?"
Sang-hun's father asked the staffer incredulously.
"We have to investigate when we get reports. You can resume after."
"But... how many reports came in?"
The agency boss said two or three, but the list the staffer showed was much longer. From various sources, with duplicates.
Not just one place, then. Or Tak Dong-yeon did some himself.
"First time I've seen this."
The documents listed every possible Hunter crime: murder in Gates, item theft, tax evasion, unauthorized ability use outside Gates, etc.
"Suspending on baseless suspicions like this?"
"No basis means no arrest. And two or three wouldn't suspend, but too many cases."
The staffer said there was nothing more he could do.
"I'll call Section Chief Baek Young-shin."
I picked up my phone. We'd built rapport over two subjugation missions; might help.
"What? License suspended?"
I explained on speakerphone, and Baek Young-shin repeated in shock.
"Does this make any sense, Section Chief?"
President Yang protested for me too.
"It's weird. Hold on, I'll check and call back."
We hung up and drank coffee at the Management Bureau's first-floor shop.
"President, company's staff grown a lot?"
"Thanks to you. But still short no matter how many we hire. Makes work fun lately, thanks to Ji-seok. Haha."
"Yeah? Ramp up the jobs, then?"
"Ah... no... isn't it already plenty? Can't even handle post-processing, warehouse full of materials."
No room to increase yet. It was half-joking anyway—plenty busy as is.
While listening to President Yang's desperate excuses, Baek Young-shin came down.