Chapter 33: The Daughter of the JMC Chairman
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: The Daughter of the JMC Chairman
Chapter 6 - The Daughter of the JMC Chairman, Kwak Sa-yeon
1
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi: States that it's been a while. ]
[ Doremi Fasol: Hey, Juksim. I was in the hospital for a bit. ]
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi: Says she heard the gist of it from Ahyu. ]
She and her big mouth.
I started clearing my weekly quests while chatting with Juksim, who was always online.
It was the middle of a weekday.
The other guild members were all at work, so it seemed Juksim was the only one around.
Tiring!
Just as I finished my weekly quests, a message came in from someone else.
[ Edicnorjeba: Oh, Domi, you're out of the hospital? ]
Is that Eva-hyung?
[ Doremi Fasol: I'm all better now. ]
[ Edicnorjeba: I heard you collapsed from overwork. You always overdo things, Domi. It's good to work hard, but you have to take care of your health. ]
Nope.
It was Eva-noona today.
The character Edicnorjeba was shared and raised by a pair of twins.
The one who used formal speech was usually the younger sister.
The one who spouted dialect was usually the older brother.
‘Though from my perspective, they’re both older than me.’
In any case, their playstyles and speech patterns were so completely different that it wasn't hard to tell them apart.
More importantly, it seemed Ahyu had told everyone I was away due to overwork.
[ Edicnorjeba: Though I'm not really in a position to talk. ]
Just then, Eva-noona sounded exhausted.
[ Doremi Fasol: Something happen at your company, nuna? ]
[ Edicnorjeba: Some of my subordinates made a mistake, and now we're clashing with another business. ]
[ Doremi Fasol: (crying face) ]
Hearing her corporate woes, I sent a sympathetic emoji.
I was once unemployed, but now I was a respectable company man myself.
So I couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for her being swamped with work.
[ Edicnorjeba: It's been chaos at the office because of it. I haven't been able to log on much. ]
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi: Grumbles that everyone is so busy lately there's no one to play with. ]
I guess everyone’s going through a busy spell.
Kkotbi had been incredibly busy ever since her idol career took off.
IKnowit had always been a busy person.
And with Ahyu and now me being busy as well, it seemed our guild was starting to feel empty.
‘It’s a little sad, feeling like everyone is slowly drifting away from the game.’
Now that I was a working man, I understood.
Gaming wasn't something you could easily do without free time.
Above all, now that I had a new goal, I couldn't just play games all day.
‘Come to think of it.’
I stopped working on my weekly quests, crossed my arms, and stared quietly at the chat window.
After the false sexual harassment accusation ruined my university life, I had given up on everything.
But no matter how exhausted I was back then, was it really in my nature to give up on my dream so easily?
I know myself well.
No parents, no money, in an environment where I was thoroughly ignored by everyone.
Having grown up in that environment, I was stronger than anyone when it came to misfortune.
Of course, when that woman made that false accusation, I nearly went insane.
The way my classmates looked at me like I was a piece of trash, the professors cornering me.
The smile on that fucking bitch's face as I was left completely isolated from the world was more than enough to make me lose my mind.
‘But wasn't getting knocked down and getting back up again my specialty?’
The memory was still horrifying to recall, but I felt a strange sense of dissonance.
I had started playing the game of my own free will, but it was strange that I hadn't even considered getting back on my feet for five whole years.
"Hmmmm."
Why was I only now, all of a sudden, finding this strange?
I lifted my head and looked up at the sky.
Baeksan never logged into the game with me.
The reason I was having these thoughts…
Could it be related to him?
I finished my daily quests and logged out.
When I turned my head, I saw Baeksan yawning, looking bored.
His eyes met mine, and with his usual tired expression, he asked, "You done?"
"Baeksan, there's something I want to ask you."
I then told Baeksan about the question that had been nagging me.
After listening to my entire story with his arms crossed, Baeksan nodded.
"That's right. There was a curse on your body. I got rid of it when I entered."
The moment I heard that, I slapped my forehead.
Because now, everything finally made sense.
The daughter of the chairman of JMC, Korea's top hunter company.
Kwak Sa-yeon.
The woman who framed me with a false sexual harassment accusation at university, the woman who ruined my life, had hired a hunter to place a curse on me.
"What kind of curse was it?"
"A curse of weak will. It's easy to cast, and since it's so weak, it's hard to tell if you've been cursed unless you're a curse specialist or the caster. But its effect is absolute. It ensures that once a man falls, he can never get back up without someone else's help."
The moment I heard "a curse of weak will," all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
At the same time, I started grinding my teeth so hard they felt like they would break.
That woman hadn't just ruined my life; she had broken both my legs so I could never stand up again.
You might wonder what kind of crazy bitch would do something like that, but she was exactly the type of woman who would.
‘So this is why my five years were wasted so meaninglessly.’
As an ordinary person, I had no way of dealing with a curse.
So, in the end, the path I chose was to escape into a game.
"...But I haven't felt weak-willed at all recently."
"It's a weak curse. If a strong being is nearby, it gets scared and cowers, hiding inside my gut. That's why the others never realized you were cursed either. It was the kind of thing that would have disappeared on its own if you just stayed around powerful people."
Hearing that, I remembered that the moment I met Ahyu was when I had started to regain my will to pursue my dream.
The reason I was able to find my dream again was thanks to my chance encounter with Ahyu.
I should treat her to something nice later.
‘The bigger problem is…’
That woman who completely ruined my life.
In my entire life, I had never hated anyone this much.
How could a person do something like that?
‘She’s probably not a person.’
She's an animal.
An animal.
"Looks like you sensed something was off, right? That thing was coiled up in your body for a long time, so when it disappeared, the contradictions naturally came to mind. There shouldn't be any lasting side effects, though."
"I know who cast the curse. Is there anything I can do?"
Hearing my question, he grinned as if I'd asked the most obvious thing in the world.
"An eye for an eye, power for power, right?"
"But that woman has wealth, power, and connections—all of it."
"Hah, what kind of bullshit is that?"
Baeksan let out a short, derisive laugh and corrected my thinking.
"You think there's anyone in Korea who can pull rank on you with their connections?"
"Well..."
The first person who came to mind when I heard the word "connections" was Baek Seol-hyang.
The chairperson of the World Returnee Association.
She was the most well-connected person I knew, but this wasn't a returnee-related matter, and I had no desire to use her for this.
It would be one thing if it were Ahyu, but Ms. Baek and I were little more than acquaintances.
But even besides her, the people I had recently gotten to know were all extraordinary in their own right.
"And as for power, that's not even a question. Who do you think is attached to you right now? Me, that's who."
While Baeksan confidently boasted, I fell into thought.
How could I get revenge on that woman for my five years of stolen life?
Whatever I did, it wouldn't be easy.
Then, suddenly, one person came to mind.
Someone who said they were indebted to me and wanted to repay the favor.
The Snow Mountain Wolf, Ha Seo-ho.
An S-rank hunter and the face of the JMC hunter company.
‘If I want revenge, I need to start with some reconnaissance.’
I picked up my phone.
It was time to start Project: Let Ha Seo-ho Repay His Debt.
My revenge, of course, was just a bonus.
3
S-rank hunter, the Snow Mountain Wolf, Ha Seo-ho.
Today, he was on his way to a luxurious-looking restaurant after receiving a phone call.
The caller was none other than Kang Ha-chan, the man who had saved his sister.
The request had come sooner than he expected, but he had readily accepted.
‘Kwak Sa-yeon.’
He thought of the name, which was familiar to him as well, and frowned slightly.
He was happy to grant Ha-chan's request, but he couldn't help but scowl at the mere thought of that woman.
The daughter of JMC Company's chairman, Kwak Hae-ju. A woman raised so preciously that she grew up believing the world belonged to her.
Her greed was one thing, but her actions were so infamous in the industry that you'd hear about them even if you plugged your ears.
The only reason nothing about her ever leaked to the public was that JMC was the top hunter company in Korea.
A Venus flytrap raised in a greenhouse—that described her perfectly.
Remembering her as such, Seo-ho straightened the tie of the suit he hadn't worn in a long time.
He was scheduled to meet with Kwak Do-reon, an executive at JMC and the chairman's eldest son.
Seo-ho hadn't called Kwak Sa-yeon separately.
He knew that even if he didn't want her to, she would tag along anyway.
"Welcome, Mr. Ha Seo-ho."
As Seo-ho entered, a middle-aged man who appeared to be the manager greeted him personally.
Part of it was because he was a guest of the JMC chairman's eldest son, but Ha Seo-ho was a man who commanded respect in his own right.
One of the few S-rank hunters in South Korea.
Their numbers were even smaller than the number of returnees currently residing in the country, and they were considered precious assets personally managed by the nation.
For such a man to visit his restaurant, this kind of treatment was only natural.
Seo-ho, however, seemed uncomfortable with the attention and frowned as he followed the manager's lead.
"Please enjoy your time."
After guiding him to his seat, the manager bowed and left. Seo-ho turned his head.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't be having a good time.
"Seo-ho!"
Thump!
And just as he expected, a woman who had shot up from her chair without any semblance of manners came into view.
Her chestnut-colored hair was styled up, likely done at a professional salon just to meet him.
The mole above the upper lip of her pretty face was a noticeable feature. She was none other than Kwak Sa-yeon.
As his eyes met her excessively sparkling ones, Seo-ho's expression crumpled once more, but he only let out a sigh and said nothing.
‘I’m only here today because of Ha-chan-hyung-nim's request.’
He didn't know why the man was curious about this woman, but he had accepted a request from his benefactor.
Forcing his expression to relax, Kwak Sa-yeon rushed toward him with a flushed face.
"Seo-ho! Oh my god, what's this? You look so handsome today. Did you dress up like this to impress me? You did, right?"
"Not at all."
He despised Kwak Sa-yeon.
She was ill-mannered, selfish, and a woman who took pleasure in ruining other people's lives.
No one in the world would ever like a person like her.
But her family was so powerful that it overshadowed even a personality like that.
"Heehee, I love how prickly you are, Seo-ho. Just looking at you makes my heart flutter. If anyone else acted like this, I'd make sure they could never hold their head up again. But you're special, Seo-ho."
Smiling brightly, she wrapped her hands around Seo-ho's waist and buried her face in his chest. An expression of revulsion crossed Seo-ho's face.
He reflexively moved to grab her shoulders and push her away, but the thought of Ha-chan's request made him pause.
Damn it. I'll just endure it for today.
Seeing Seo-ho remain still, Kwak Sa-yeon's eyes curved into crescents as she squealed and hugged him even tighter.
But Seo-ho just stood there, as cold and unmoving as a stone Buddha.
If anything, the cloying scent of her expensive perfume was giving him a headache, and his frown deepened.
"What's gotten into you, Seo-ho? If you're this nice to me, I might start looking for a wedding hall tomorrow. Or maybe... have you finally started to fall for me?"
As she spoke, she slowly traced a finger along his neck.
"Want to go out somewhere tonight?"