22. Getting the Point Across
Whooooosh!
A cold wind swept past the windows of the house.
A good deal of time had passed since the last incident, and autumn had quietly retreated — before anyone noticed, winter had arrived in earnest. The air had turned unmistakably bitter.
Not that it changed anything for him.
Ordinarily, anyone who farmed for a living had to stay keenly attuned to the seasons, with a mountain of preparations to make before winter set in. But with the fire spirits breathing warmth into the crops and tending the fields with meticulous care, he had nothing to worry about. If it actually started snowing in earnest, he might finally have a yard to shovel — but it was still far too early for that.
Slurp.
Oh Hyeon-seong, seated on the edge of the wooden floor, took a sip of tea. Steam curled up from the cup, and the warmth settling into his stomach on such a chilly day felt wonderful.
I never drank this stuff as a kid, so I don't even remember it... So this is what tea is actually supposed to smell like.
The faint, fragrant aroma drifting up from the cup left him feeling pleasantly drowsy. With the weather turning cold, Oh Hyeon-seong had only just begun trying his hand at growing tea leaves. Tea had never really been his thing. One of his juniors back in the day had practically lived on the stuff, and curious, he'd tried a few sips — every single time, he'd spit it right back out and sworn off it for good.
Coffee at least had caffeine going for it, some wake-up effect to justify the bitterness. But tea, which tasted like dirty dishwater? He could never understand why anyone drank it.
But tea leaves touched by the spirits' hands were a different creature from anything mass-produced. Unlike synthetic leaves — grown lacking, then injected with dyes and force-fed artificial fragrance — these naturally raised leaves carried a deep, rich aroma all on their own.
A scent that was neither artificial nor alien. Simply natural. And the taste, of course, was beyond comparison. The expensive premium teas he'd cadged off that junior had all tasted like someone had distilled nausea into liquid form.
Consider this experiment a resounding success. I should branch out and try growing a few more varieties.
He began narrowing down candidates from the vast catalog of tea cultivars. Honestly, he wondered why anyone drank tea these days at all — but like coffee, it turned out demand was surprisingly steady. Of course, if any of those people ever tasted this tea even once, they'd never bring themselves to touch the store-bought stuff again.
And so, having savored the aroma and atmosphere and drained the teapot to its last drop, Oh Hyeon-seong rose from his seat.
The reservoir expedition was still on hold. There was nothing to do with it right now. It was a sorry state of affairs — no spicy fish stew or fresh grilled catch in his future — but he'd decided to focus on farming for the time being. Even with just the fields, there was still a long list of things waiting to be expanded.
Besides, a new daily routine had taken root for him since that day.
"Well then. Let's get started."
Cold as the winter air was, he shrugged off his coat entirely and stood in the yard in nothing but a light t-shirt. Then he strapped the weighted bags he'd hauled out of the storage shed across every part of his body.
A crushing heaviness pressed down on his frame. This was hunter-grade training equipment, in a completely different league from sandbags or gym gear — absurdly heavy for its size.
Thud.
First, as a warm-up, he planted one hand on the ground and kicked up into a handstand. Hands clasped behind his back, he began lowering and raising himself in slow, controlled repetitions.
Double the weight of the bags Ju Ji-hye had trained with hung across his entire body — and not a single bead of sweat had formed yet. The main reason, of course, was that Ju Ji-hye wasn't a combat-type hunter, but it was still a load that ordinary hunters of her grade wouldn't even dream of attempting.
Figures... I've still got a long way to go. A mere two Ju Ji-hyes.
Even light training told him exactly how much weight he needed to hit maximum training efficiency. And his current level left him thoroughly unsatisfied. Compared to the prime his body had once enjoyed, he was a spineless earthworm.
That said, he'd come a long way. When he'd first started rehabilitation in earnest, his optimal load had been a mere one and a half Ju Ji-hyes. Considering the time frame, that was remarkably fast progress.
It's definitely working. At the hospital, no matter how much rehab I did, the strain on my body kept me from improving any further. But now my recovery ceiling has risen.
He'd confirmed it with Ju Ji-hye's case: the spirit-grown crops carried something special. And now that effect was proving itself in his own rehabilitation. He didn't understand the theory behind it, but one thing was certain — this was no illusion, no mere effect of breathing good country air. It had a clear, measurable effect not just on the mind, but on the body itself.
Which meant that perhaps, just perhaps, there was now a chance his permanently damaged legs could recover. Whether he could ever return fully to his old state, he didn't know — but at the very least, recovering enough to run properly was his first goal.
And to get there, all he had to do was eat his meals faithfully and throw every spare hour into rehab training.
Another diligent day, then.
Oh Hyeon-seong steadily cranked up the intensity. His breathing grew ragged, sweat dripping from his brow. As if wringing out every muscle in his body, he pushed himself through repetition after brutal repetition. Harder. Harder still. Just as he had with Ju Ji-hye, he was applying to himself the same training method — driving himself to the very brink of his limits.
Hoo, hoo.
To any outside observer it would have looked like punishing abuse of the body, but Oh Hyeon-seong accepted it as simply the way things were done. It was no accident that he'd always insisted on finishing the day's work before he allowed himself to train. By his own doctrine, if you could still stand on both legs after training ended, it hadn't been training at all.
Training is something you do until you're half-dead. That's how it is.
The way he'd learned it at the academy. The way he'd taught it himself, all those years.
And Oh Hyeon-seong carried on in silent discipline.
"Hey, you little punk! Are you screwing with me right now?!"
A roar exploded through the room, ringing off every wall. His voice carried so far that the staff in the office outside flinched and looked up from their desks.
At that bellow, Seo Jin-gyu, Head of Security for Daeseong Group, bowed his head low.
"My sincerest apologies, Chairman."
He was a Rank 9 hunter — a level most people called the realistic pinnacle of what an awakener could reach. Short of the S-Rank Gates known as humanity's natural enemy, he could conquer any Gate there was. Anywhere in the country, he would have been treated as an elite.
And yet here he was, taking a thunderous verbal beating to his face.
The reason was simple. The man on the other side of the desk was the chairman of Daeseong, one of Korea's most powerful conglomerates.
"I told you to find it, by any means necessary. I stressed it was urgent — handle it as fast as humanly possible. So why haven't you found it yet? How is it you can't even dig up a single name, let alone an address?!"
"The contract was negotiated under strict secrecy, sir — very few people were even aware of it. And then, for some reason, security around the matter was suddenly tightened to a classified level, which cost us additional time."
"Security got tighter? Did your own movements leak?"
"No, sir. These measures were taken entirely without Hankyung's knowledge. Of that we are certain."
"Damn it all!"
Ahn Il-seong's face twisted as he heaved a deep sigh, chain-lighting cigarette after cigarette. To think he'd been driven to storm down here and raise this kind of hell.
His recent directive had been simple: find out the source of the naturally grown strawberries delivered to Hankyung Department Store.
"If those strawberries were all there was, I wouldn't care. But if Hankyung starts rolling out crop after crop like that, Daeseong takes a fatal hit. Do you think I have time to sit around in a situation like this?!"
The food industry had grown to a scale unprecedented in human history. More food corporations occupied the upper reaches of the global market cap rankings than IT giants did. And five years ago, Daeseong Group, touting it as its next growth engine, had begun pouring staggering sums into the business — aiming squarely at competing with world-class giants like Disanto, Lagil, and Drevis.
But then Hankyung Group — a latecomer everyone had written off in the food sector — had blindsided them with a surprise attack. For Ahn Il-seong, who hadn't seen it coming, it was like taking a blow to the back of the head; the sting hadn't faded for a second. Now, just as the premium cultivars he'd developed with his massive investments were launching one after another, all the buzz in the market was being monopolized by Hankyung's naturally grown strawberries.
A company that couldn't even establish itself in the domestic market had no place in the blood-soaked global food industry. If this momentum continued, Daeseong would be pushed completely out of the food business. And considering this wave of unprecedented, aggressive investment had been driven personally by the chairman himself — a first in the group's history — it was the kind of issue that could rock the entire conglomerate for years to come.
Which was exactly why Ahn Il-seong had to uncover the source.
"But we'll have results soon, sir. We've installed thorough surveillance equipment, and we've mobilized our hunters — inducement and intimidation are both underway. Thanks to that, we've secured the identity of the truck driver hauling the cargo, and we've made contact with a Hankyung Department Store executive and lined his pockets."
"I don't care how much more money you cram down their throats — just find it, fast! If you have to, put a tail on that truck driver around the clock!"
Ahn Il-seong slammed his fist closed with a snarl.
"I don't know where the hell they got their hands on this stuff... but whether we burn the whole farm to the ground or strip the technology out of it, those bastards are not getting to keep it."
Knock knock!
Just then, an employee appeared at the door. The secretary opened her mouth carefully under Ahn Il-seong's hostile stare.
"Um... Chairman, there's a visitor demanding to see you. Right now. She insists she must meet with you immediately—"
"Can't you see I'm busy?! Who the hell does this person think they are, showing up without an appointment?! Tell them to get lost!"
"Sh-she's forcing her way in regardless... she's practically at your door this very moment...!"
"What? What kind of nonsense is that? Does she have any idea where she is, barging in here?"
Ahn Il-seong didn't bother hiding his disbelief. This was the security office of the group's corporate headquarters. Every guard not deployed in the field had been assembled — over thirty hunters of Rank 8 or higher were gathered in this very building.
And yet someone dared to simply force their way through?
But before the question could even leave his lips, the employee was swept bodily aside, and a woman strode into the room.
"It's been a while, Chairman Ahn!"
"Wh—...?"
Han Su-yeon, Deputy Director of the Disaster Management Bureau, stepped inside.
It was an appearance Ahn Il-seong had never once anticipated. Why on earth would that person show up here?
"Deputy Director... what brings you here of all places, and without warning?"
"You're in my way. Everyone, out."
Han Su-yeon's voice was flat and hard as she swept her gaze around the room. Beyond Seo Jin-gyu, who had already been inside, a crowd of hunters stood crowded behind her — the ones who'd failed to stop her and had scrambled to catch up.
Gasping for breath, the security office's hunters hesitated where they stood. Seo Jin-gyu could do nothing but swallow dryly.
By the manual, they should have attempted to subdue her and drag her out long ago — but that was never going to happen. She was alone, yes. But against her, this many bodies amounted to precisely nothing.
"What are you all, deaf?! Move!"
At Ahn Il-seong's bellow, the hunters scrambled out in a rush, and the room fell quiet. Ahn Il-seong, sneaking a careful read of Han Su-yeon's expression, forced a smile.
"I'd heard you were a terribly busy woman. Every time I requested a meeting, you wouldn't show your face — and now you drop by unannounced like this."
"I'm not someone who needs the Chairman's permission to move, you see."
"Ah, hahaha...! What an absurd thing to say—"
The moment his brow twitched, Ahn Il-seong wrestled his expression back under control. As the head of the Daeseong conglomerate, he did not fear a hunter's strength. Anyone who understood how society actually functioned would think the same. His real power lay in the group's vast capital and workforce, and in decades of accumulated connections across politics and the press. Holding all of that from a perch near the very peak of the business world, hunters — however strong — were nothing he couldn't simply buy and command.
The problem was that the woman before him led the Disaster Management Bureau, the government's most powerful enforcement arm, and enjoyed the unwavering backing of the sitting President.
"So what brings you here so suddenly? Have you finally decided to accept the gift you refused before?"
"No. As I said then, I already have more money than I need."
"Haha, but can anyone ever have enough money? And it's hardly a demand — you'd simply be accepting a little goodwill with a clear conscience..."
"Hunters cannot be bought with money. The only things money can buy are the riffraff who've never seen a real battlefield." Her eyes cooled. "And in fact, I'm here for the exact opposite reason."
"The opposite... meaning what—"
Slam!
Han Su-yeon dropped the folder she'd brought onto the table. The envelope burst open, documents and photographs spilling out in a fan — and their flagrant contents fell straight into Ahn Il-seong's sight.
The recovered surveillance devices. The testimony of the freed truck driver. Even records of funds funneled to senior police officials.
"Th-this is..."
"Mobilizing hunters to illegally surveil, abduct, and threaten a private citizen. Bribery, and more besides. You must have been terribly busy, running around stirring up trouble everywhere."
The air in the office changed completely. Cold sweat trickled down Ahn Il-seong's temples as a chill crawled up his spine.
Every single piece was lethal — decisive, irrefutable evidence he could neither explain away nor escape. Ever since the Seventh Republic, corporate matters had rarely drawn government interference unless something was truly serious — and yet this movement felt like someone who had made up their mind from the very start.
"Well. Now you know why I came."
She walked across the room with measured steps and settled, entirely unbidden, into the seat of honor. Then she tapped the table twice, as if inviting him forward.
"Sit down."
Han Su-yeon's icy gaze pinned him where he stood.