Chapter 242: Conquering the Kraken (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 242: Conquering the Kraken (4)
The very name Son Si-woo made the atmosphere in the conference room even heavier.
The moment his name was mentioned, the absurd probability she had spoken of no longer seemed so absurd.
That was the kind of weight the name Son Si-woo carried in the Korean Hunter industry.
“Haha… I thought it was a bold proposal, but I see now… it came from Brother Son.”
Namgung Hyeok, who had dismissed her proposal as ridiculous just moments before, changed his tune.
He had sided with Kim Seong-tae only because he believed that plan was safer and had a higher probability of success.
But his position had now changed.
If Son Si-woo said that attacking the Kraken from the inside was easier, then that was the right answer.
No, it might not be the absolute right answer… but it would be close.
“Hmm, very well. If that is Brother Son’s opinion, I will follow it.”
After all, since becoming an S-rank, Son Si-woo had succeeded in conquering every single dungeon except for one. He was a Korean legend who had cleared dungeons without a single fatality, though some had suffered serious injuries.
Furthermore, besides his family, Han Ju-hee and Han Ju-yeon, Namgung Hyeok was the person closest to Son Si-woo.
Knowing his usual conduct and personality, Namgung Hyeok was certain that the suggestion to attack the Kraken’s interior was not made lightly.
“So, that means two of the three S-ranks have already agreed, right?”
Han Ju-yeon’s cheerful gaze turned to Han Ju-hee, whose expression was a bit more complicated.
“Sister, which side are you on?”
“……”
Han Ju-hee glared at Han Ju-yeon with sharp eyes.
Which side?
The moment Son Si-woo’s name came up, it was all but decided which side she had to be on.
It was almost annoying how her younger sister was deliberately asking a question she already knew the answer to.
“…If everyone else agrees, I have no objection.”
Having won over the last remaining S-rank, she looked at Kim Seong-tae with a confident expression.
“What will you do, Department Head?”
“Ah, well… hmm…!”
Kim Seong-tae hung his head as if he had no choice.
No matter how confident he was, he couldn’t stand against the name of the nation’s Hunter, Son Si-woo.
“Now, all that’s left is to figure out how to infiltrate the Kraken….”
Afterward, the five of them continued their heated discussion to work out the detailed plans to fill in their revised strategy.
It was nearly midnight before they began to leave one by one.
Just then, Kim Tae-yang, who had been sitting with a bored expression throughout the planning session, approached Han Ju-yeon, his eyes sparkling.
“How about we go for a drink? I’ve got some really good liquor in my room….”
Kim Tae-yang’s arm snaked its way onto her shoulder as slyly as a snake slithering over a wall.
Seeing this, Han Ju-yeon raised her arm and lightly slapped the back of his hand.
“Oh, by the way, my brother-in-law told me to be sure to pass on a message to you, Hunter Kim Tae-yang.”
At the mention of Son Si-woo, Kim Tae-yang’s expression soured.
The two were like oil and water.
From top to bottom, their lifestyles were polar opposites, making them prone to clashing rather than mixing.
Even when their operations overlapped, they would ignore each other as if the other didn’t exist, never even making eye contact.
And that guy had something to say to him?
“…What did he say?”
With a very bad feeling, Kim Tae-yang asked cautiously. Han Ju-yeon replied, her smile never wavering.
“Don’t hit on anyone close to me. If I catch you, you might never get to do that fucking you love so much ever again.”
“Hup…”
The voice impression was so vivid it was as if Son Si-woo were standing right there. Kim Tae-yang sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively covered his precious parts with both hands.
Looking at him, Han Ju-yeon continued with a strange expression, her eyes not smiling at all, only the corners of her mouth turned up.
“…is what he asked me to tell you.”
Then, as if nothing had happened, Han Ju-yeon put on a fresh smile and asked again.
“Now, what were you saying a moment ago? That you have some good liquor in your room, Hunter Kim Tae-yang…?”
Flustered, Kim Tae-yang hurriedly made an excuse.
“Th-that is… uh… I-I have a lot of good liquor, so I was going to tell you to t-take a bottle! Y-yeah, that’s what I meant.”
“Oh my, I just so happened to need a bottle of liquor! I’ll gladly accept, then?”
“S-sure…”
Kim Tae-yang nodded, breaking out in a cold sweat.
He was a classic petty man—weak to the strong and endlessly strong to the weak.
* * *
Lying in my room, I mindlessly clicked the buttons on the remote.
“…This is boring.”
I get insanely bored as soon as night falls.
This is an operational control zone, so I can’t drink anywhere, and there are no women.
“…Maybe I should have just gone home.”
I miss the home I left behind.
To be precise, I miss Yu-jeong and Jeong-hee, who are probably waiting for me there.
They must be pent-up too, since it’s been a while.
I was contemplating whether I should just ditch my promise to Han Ju-hee and go home when a thought occurred to me.
“Come to think of it… there is a woman here.”
I suddenly remembered Kim Ji-won, who was probably still hanging around the Ajeossi’s room.
She seems like she’d be good enough for a one-night diversion….
We agreed to meet after all my work was done, and my work is done, right?
“Alright, let’s go.”
Ready to go and entice her, I immediately got up and leaned into a small mirror to fix my hair.
It was a little messy from lying down, but this should be fine….
“There.”
Just as I finished a quick touch-up and was about to head out the door…
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone knocked on my door.
“…Who is it?”
“Do-jin, it’s your teacher!”
A familiar voice.
The only person who would call herself my teacher is Han Ju-yeon.
I went straight to the door and opened it to find her standing there with a broad grin.
“What were you up to?”
“Uh… just watching TV.”
“You were bored?”
“I guess so. There’s not much to do here.”
“Perfect timing, then.”
She then raised the hands she had been holding behind her back.
In each hand was an expensive-looking bottle of liquor and, incongruously, several bags of snacks.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about… want to have a drink with your teacher?”
What could it be?
What could she possibly have to say, coming to visit at this late hour?
My curiosity piqued, I quietly stepped aside to let her in.
“…Come on in.”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
As if she’d been waiting, Han Ju-yeon kicked off her heels and entered with quick, short steps.
She placed the bottle and snacks on the table in the corner of the room, sat down in a chair, and gestured for me to sit as well.
I had no choice but to sit opposite her. She immediately pushed the bottle of liquor toward me.
“They said this is really good stuff. Do you know what it is?”
The name on the bottle… let’s see.
“Royal Sweet 38-year-old…?”
…Why is that in her hands?
A 38-year-old whiskey from ‘The Royal,’ one of the world’s most renowned whiskey distilleries.
As far as I know, a single bottle of that costs over ten million won.
How did a girl who can’t even handle her liquor get her hands on something like that?
“Someone I know gave it to me as a gift. So I brought it to drink with you, Do-jin.”
With that, she uncapped it with a flourish and poured it generously into a paper cup that was sitting on the table.
“……”
What in the world is happening before my eyes?
Forget the price; this was a liquor that was now difficult to even find, being poured into a mere paper cup, and so generously at that…?
A rich aroma wafted up from the paper cup, which couldn’t have cost more than 50 won.
“The person who gave it to me said this one is the most universally delicious, so let’s see….”
With a curious expression, Han Ju-yeon brought the paper cup to her lips and downed it in one go.
“No, wait…!”
I was so shocked that I reached out too late to stop her.
“Haa…! That person was right! This is really good…!”
“……”
Too late.
The whiskey that had filled more than half the paper cup had gone down her throat in an instant.
But something was strange…?
She used to get red in the face after just half a bottle of soju, so why does she seem perfectly fine now?
“You… handle your liquor well?”
“Huh? Ah…”
Just a moment ago, she had been smacking her lips, muttering, “Should I have another?” but now her face suddenly flushed red.
“N-no…? I can’t drink well…. I-it’s suddenly getting hot, isn’t it? Ahem….”
“……”
The body of the girl who had looked perfectly fine just moments ago began to turn red.
Not just her face, but her neck and collarbones too.
What is this?
Is the alcohol hitting her late because she drank it so fast?
“I-I don’t think your teacher should drink any more. You can have the rest, Do-jin.”
“Ah, yes….”
Might as well give it a try.
I carefully tilted the paper cup full of liquor and let it flow down my throat.
A tingling sensation flowed from my throat to my stomach, followed by a faint sweetness.
“Oh… this is good.”
To be honest, I’m more of a soju guy, so I don’t know much about Western liquor.
But I could understand why this was so expensive.
Cheap stuff just burns your throat and tastes awful, but this was definitely delicious.
As I sipped the whiskey from the paper cup, I noticed her staring at me intensely from across the table.
Right, she said she had something to talk about.
“So, what was it you wanted to talk about…?”
“Uhm… well, we had a strategy meeting a little while ago.”
Han Ju-yeon began to speak, carefully choosing her words.
To summarize her long story, it went like this:
She thought what she heard from me made sense, so she proposed it during the strategy meeting. To increase its credibility, she even lied and said it was a strategy proposed not by me, but by her brother-in-law, Son Si-woo.
And thanks to the power of his name, the strategy was changed, and they were now scheduled to enter the Kraken’s interior tomorrow.
“I’m so sorry! It was your plan, but I went ahead and lied about it….”
Han Ju-yeon bowed her head, her hands clasped together.
Then she peeked up, gauging my reaction.
“Are you… very angry?”
“No? Not at all.”
Rather than being angry, I wanted to praise her for a job well done.
I’d been thinking about it, and no matter how I looked at it, attacking the Kraken from the inside seemed like the right move.
But it wasn’t a low-risk strategy, so if she hadn’t used Son Si-woo’s name, it never would have been approved.
Putting aside that blockhead Kim Tae-yang, it would have been nearly impossible to persuade the safety-conscious Namgung Hyeok and the ever-cautious Han Ju-hee, who needed a long time to weigh her options, in one go.
“Is that why you came? To tell me you’re sorry?”
Han Ju-yeon sometimes acts before she thinks.
She has a fiery side, much like her older sister, so she tends to act first, then her soft heart can’t bear it, and she confesses everything and begs profusely for forgiveness.
The girl now shook her head, her eyes teary like a rabbit’s.
“There’s that, but… there’s something else, too.”
“Something else…?”
She asked me cautiously.
“Would you… like to come with me? Inside the Kraken.”
Well, well, look at her.