The Whistleblower (2)
Of course, everything was legal, at least on paper. One reason I trusted Team Leader Kim Miyoung, the expert on imperial law, was that she knew how to exploit it with delicate precision. There were more ways than one to slip past the imperial legal net.
When an investigation came down, there would be no real grounds for concern, but from Cho Hyejin’s point of view, it might still look a little dangerous.
If she were a true principle-driven type, she might even have noticed the rot inside the guild while I was gone.
That wasn’t the only problem, either...
Sun Heeyoung’s charity could be an issue as well. To some people, sweeping away the filth of the slums might look like a useful public service, like catching criminals and killing them for the good of society, but strictly speaking, it was a crime.
The idea that I could control the press from my side was also something that, in a modern person’s worldview, would be hard to accept.
She might decide that the press had to be transparent and try to make it happen.
From my perspective, she was a minefield among minefields.
The greater the authority she held and the more her influence spread, the more my own freedom of movement would be restricted.
Hyunsung...
Of all times, why now? For no good reason at all, I found myself resenting our regressor.
This was no time to be picky.
What Blue needed first was growth, and second was more growth.
It sounded selfish, but I had no intention of letting my personal conscience tie my hands.
I had thought that having failed once, I’d be more restrained this time, but a person’s values don’t change that easily. I could ignore things a few times, maybe, but there was no denying the fact that this woman and I simply did not match.
First, I needed to check.
As I quietly sat up, Jung Hayan came up with me, still tangled with my body. I eased her onto the side of the bed, washed up properly, and stepped outside in an instant.
I had thought she was only pretending to sleep, but it seemed she really had been asleep after all.
The person I needed to visit was Team Leader Kim Miyoung.
I felt a little bad dropping by on a day off, but it was only right to deal with work before it piled up.
The interior was unusually quiet, most people apparently sprawled out and resting. When I went to Team Leader Kim Miyoung’s quarters and knocked, a tiny child appeared with a creak of the door.
“Ah!”
“Is your mom in the room?”
“M-mom! Mister’s here!”
“Mommy!”
I didn’t think I was old enough to be called mister yet, but it still stung more than I expected when the word hit me head-on.
To a child, everyone probably looked like a mister, but it was still a little bitter all the same. At any rate, my call seemed to reach Kim Miyoung, because there was a flurry of noise from inside.
Nothing is more uncomfortable than a superior showing up unannounced on a holiday.
The same went for me, even if I was technically the woman’s benefactor. I felt a little sorry, but this level of inconvenience couldn’t be helped.
She should work a little harder for what she’s getting.
It was fair to call this a promotion induction, really.
A moment later, Kim Miyoung hurriedly opened the door, and her face came into view.
“B-bu-Guild Master. What brings you here?”
“I’m sorry to bother you on a day off, but I had a few things to discuss with you. I also need to have the contract rewritten. You could say I came for both reasons.”
“If you’d said something in advance...”
“No. It was a personal matter I didn’t really want to announce to anyone else.”
“Pardon?”
“Work-related. At any rate, may I come in?”
“Yes. It’s a humble place, but...”
It was my first time stepping into one of the rooms used by guild staff.
It’s better than I expected.
The treatment was a little better than I’d imagined.
Of course, that was probably because she was staying with her children and had been given a nicer room for that reason, but even the basic furniture and tableware were of surprisingly good quality.
As I slowly looked around, I noticed the children nearby, somehow looking a little intimidated.
I absentmindedly patted one on the head, then sank into a chair.
“Have you eaten yet?”
“No. Not yet. I came here as soon as I got up.”
“If you don’t mind...”
“It’s fine. It looks like you’ve already eaten, and I can’t impose. The children...”
“Ah! Yes. Why don’t you go wait in your room for a moment?”
“Okay!”
I watched the children hurry off at once.
“They’re obedient children.”
“They grew up quickly from a very young age... It’s convenient, but it’s also heartbreaking sometimes. Oh, may I ask what you’re here about?”
“I just have a few things to confirm. And as I said, I also need to go over the contract again. The annual salary is 700 gold.”
“Pardon?”
The number was high enough to feel excessive.
For a non-party employee to receive a yearly salary of 700 gold would be hard for her to even imagine. In won, that was seventy million. Even on Earth, it wouldn’t be easy money.
“700 gold. Depending on what you do from here on out, there may even be a salary increase.”
“T-that’s too...”
“It isn’t.”
Because you’re going to be working that much.
“I already know that Team Leader Kim Miyoung has been doing work worth more than her salary. If you look at the contract, you’ll see that the welfare conditions have been changed too, so please check them over.”
“Th-thank you.”
“Take your time reading it and sign when you’re ready. It doesn’t have to be today.”
“Yes.”
“Ah, and the other reason I came here today...”
“Yes?”
“I’d like you to tell me about Cho Hyejin.”
“Um... as I said yesterday, she does her work well, and...”
“Not that sort of story. I mean everything you remember about what she was doing while I was away, what tasks she handled, what documents she approved if she made any decisions, what she talked about, whether there were any troubles or anything else while she was working. Tell me everything you remember, no matter how trivial it seems. Her personality, her behavior, anything that seemed strange, her usual conduct, literally all of it.”
“Ah...”
“Naturally, what I’m asking you here stays between us.”
“Yes. Yes...”
Her eyes widened into little circles. She looked like she had no idea what kind of situation this was.
“Is there something wrong with Miss Cho Hyejin?”
“There isn’t exactly a problem. If anything, she’s too clean, and that’s the problem. Ah, I should probably explain the background first. This is something only you need to know, Miyoung.”
“Yes.”
“The reason Cho Hyejin moved from Castle Rock to Lindel was because of whistleblowing. She exposed corruption within the guild and was forced out. Rumor spread, and after that she couldn’t join any other guild or clan in Castle Rock, so she had no choice but to come to Lindel. Hyunsung, who handled the recruitment, probably knows this. I obtained the information through another route.”
“Yes...”
“Of course, it was the right thing to do, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried. What I just said was in that sense. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”
“Yes... yes.”
Of course she would understand. The conclusion of my question was simple.
Has she ever done anything questionable? And if she has, does Cho Hyejin know about it?
That was it.
“I understand what you’re worried about, Bu-Guild Master.”
“That’s a relief.”
“You can rest easy, at least mostly. I’ve already been handling the parts that looked like they could become problems in advance... the potion factory, taxes, and a few matters related to Celia as a free city, I’ve already taken care of and reported them to the Guild Master.”
“Ah!”
That was a welcome thing to hear.
“Miss Cho Hyejin mostly handled more direct areas of work, like the Emergency Response Team and the Dungeon Strategy and Raid Planning Team. I can’t say for certain what happened, since I wasn’t able to monitor those matters in detail, but...”
“No. That part’s fine.”
“The guild itself is being run transparently and cleanly. We haven’t violated the law, and everything is being handled legally, so you can rest assured.”
“Good. Then what about the moral side of things? Ah, just be honest and tell me how you feel.”
When I glanced at Kim Miyoung, she gave another small nod and opened her mouth again.
“As for the potion market, small clans and individual alchemy operators are having a hard time moving because of the monopoly, but... there are no legal issues. If we start the Lindel Alchemy Support Project this time, there probably won’t be any moral issues either. Blue Guild’s image is actually quite good. There aren’t any other problems.”
I looked at Kim Miyoung again, and perhaps embarrassed, she lowered her head.
I had picked her myself, but she really was capable.
She was different from a fool like me. Compared to my side, which only knew how to incite, fabricate, and scam, this one was the real intellectual.
Having competent subordinates was a good thing.
It made me look competent too, simply by virtue of being the one commanding them.
“Good.”
“Thank you.”
You can get a little more, actually.
I drew a line under the salary field on the contract and wrote in a new amount.
1,000 gold, 300 gold more than her original pay.
I could see her eyes go wide, but I kept speaking as though it were nothing.
“This is a salary that matches your ability. I like that you’ve already handled the troublesome parts in advance.”
“Th-that... compared to your grace, it’s nothing...”
“No. No. It’s not something you call grace. Finding a jewel lying around on the street and calling that a blessing would be nonsense. Ah, any other unusual points? For example, did the Guild Master give Miss Hyejin a certain amount of authority?”
“If I were to speak objectively...”
“Yes.”
“It does feel excessive in some ways. Considering her ability and character, I can understand placing her in a good position, but the authority seems larger than I expected...”
“Strictly speaking, isn’t that true of Team Leader Kim Miyoung too?”
“I-I’m only handling duties as the Bu-Guild Master’s proxy. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“Hmm.”
“Miss Hyejin is different. After the Guild Master recruited her, he immediately put her to work and gave her a great deal of authority as well. It was only something I heard in passing, but I heard Miss Cho Hyejin would serve as the guild’s chief secretary. I understand Blue Guild’s motto, but many people are saying the authority given to her seems to exceed that of the other party members, so concern is rising.”
“I see.”
“Separate from Miss Cho Hyejin’s character and ability...”
“Ah. I understand what you’re saying.”
Of course, the Kim Miyoung in front of me wasn’t jealous of Cho Hyejin.
Kim Miyoung wasn’t the type to feel jealousy in the first place, and the two of them weren’t even in the same league.
No matter how capable she was, Cho Hyejin was a powerhouse with rare martial strength. In other words, she was the type of talent whose rise was guaranteed.
Kim Miyoung was probably only worried about one person being handed too much power too quickly, separate from Cho Hyejin’s personality.
“And the Bu-Guild Master’s position too...”
It was a little unexpected that she was even thinking about my position, too, but there it was.
“I appreciate you worrying about me.”
“O-of course.”
“Of course, the Guild Master said that Miss Cho Hyejin’s position would be decided in consultation with Lee Kiyoung, but it already felt like his mind had been made up.”
“Hmm.”
Guild chief secretary...
By title alone, it was a position with power close to the Bu-Guild Master’s. Of course, my own title was bigger, but that post, being directly tied to the Guild Master, was not something to dismiss either.
Kim Hyunsung would not be trying to create a two-party system by splitting power in half.
He was definitely imagining some kind of synergy between me and her, smiling to himself in his head.
He was probably fantasizing about how much Blue could grow if two talents were blended together, but she and I were oil and water.
Of course, I could understand why Kim Hyunsung, who couldn’t read status windows or temperament, hadn’t noticed that we didn’t match...
This is too much...
I could see exactly why our Hyunsung had failed in the first cycle.
He must have been stabbed in the back by bastards like me more than once.
Definitely.