National Power Level 4
'Why is my father doing this to me?'
What wrong had his father done to warrant such actions?
Baek Seo-jin briefly considered the possibility that his father had done something wrong, but quickly dismissed it.
His father and mother were righteous people. In their relationship, a bad son like his older brother Baek Seo-jun had come out, but even such a bad son was mourned by good people.
That was Baek Seo-jin's world, an absolutely inviolable sacred domain that could never be shattered for him.
Yet, the vice guild leader of the Kangin Guild, the pinnacle of all guilds in South Korea, was treating his father as if he had done something wrong.
This was wrong in some way.
Unlike Baek Seo-jin who thought this, Baek Hyeong-won had his eyes closed.
'Seomun Ye-jin, what exactly was so great about what you did to that woman?'
He hadn't planned to sell Seomun Ye-jin overseas. At best, he would publicly destroy her social image, break her spirit, and hand her over as a plaything for his beloved son.
After all, she was an orphan who had lost her parents and was separated from her grandmother. It was only to give her the glory of becoming the plaything of Baek Seo-jin, the son of the Baekho Guild's guild leader.
But this was the level of matter that required the vice guild leader of the Kangin Guild, under the orders of guild leader Choi Kang-in, to come personally.
"Dear, take Seo-jin to the room."
"Got it. Let's go, Seo-jin."
Kim Yu-jeong took Baek Seo-jin's hand and headed straight to his room. It was because scenes that would not look good for a parent might come out in front of Baek Seo-jin.
"Is there any way you might know why we are being investigated?"
Baek Hyeong-won asked cautiously, glancing sideways. He was prepared to lower his head and apologize immediately if Choi Gang-in raised his voice.
"Just know that it's related to the SSS-class hunter Kim Ho-jun."
Choi Gang-in seemed not to feel the need to elaborate at length.
"I already know what kind of mischief the Baekho Guild has been up to, and this investigation is merely formal. Guild Leader, we want the Baekho Guild to receive appropriate punishment."
Baek Hyeong-won swallowed nervously. No matter how much of a top 10 guild the Baekho Guild was, it was ultimately just a subordinate organization of the Kangin Guild.
If the Kangin Guild decided to disband the Baekho Guild, he would have no choice but to comply.
Rebellion? He hadn't even considered it from the beginning.
A power awakener in South Korea would not even think of rebelling against the Kangin Guild.
Especially the top 10 guilds knew the terror of the Kangin Guild even better.
If they crossed the line, he would never survive.
"Guild Leader hopes that the guild leader of the Baekho Guild will personally hold a press conference on live broadcast, confess to orchestrating this incident, and publicly apologize. He also hopes to convey to Seomun Ye-jin a sincere apology of at least 50 billion won, and that the Baekho Guild should self-restrain while being criticized by public opinion for a while."
Baek Hyeong-won felt relieved at those words.
He thought the punishment for the guild leader of a top 10 guild was excessive, but the guild leader's punishment was actually lighter than expected.
No, in the common sense of South Korea, it was severe punishment. However, compared to the guild leader personally moving, it was lenient.
"Yes, I understand."
"Do not try to summarize or hide anything by vaguely explaining or dodging. If you do, Guild Leader will not end it with the generous punishment like now, as warned."
"...I will remember."
"Then, execute the press conference within 30 minutes. The journalists have already been gathered by the guild leader."
In other words, this was a notification.
Baek Hyeong-won felt that if he had rebelled, the journalists would have gotten a scoop that the Baekho Guild had been disbanded.
He also felt how insignificant the Baekho Guild was compared to the Kangin Guild holding national power.
'Damn it.'
Choi Gang-in added to Baek Hyeong-won, who was clenching his fists.
"And do not retaliate against public criticism. If you take actions to forcibly silence public opinion, you will have to prepare for the disbandment of the Baekho Guild as well."
"!"
"Do you understand?"
Choi Gang-in removed his sunglasses and glared threateningly as he delivered the warning.
Baek Hyeon-seon, who had planned to silence public opinion through coercive methods and persuasion after some time, bit his lip and lowered his head.
"I will remember..."
He lowered his head because he had to endure endless beatings from public opinion for a while.
'Sorry, Seo-jin. Dad wanted to gift Seomun Ye-jin, that woman, to you... but things got complicated.'
At the same time, the fact that he couldn't give his son the woman he wanted as a gift pained his heart.
'Kim Ho-jun. Ugh! If it weren't for this guy!'
'My father couldn't have done anything wrong. But... why?'
Baek Seo-jin, holding his mother's hand Kim Yu-jeong, entered the room and tried to accept the situation unfolding now.
But the only thing he could think of was that the Kangin Guild was at fault.
The fact that Baek Hyeong-won hadn't protested that it was a mistake of the Kangin Guild bothered him.
'The Kangin Guild... must have done something wrong?'
Baek Seo-jin, thinking this way, was unable to come to a firm answer unlike usual.
It was common sense in South Korea that the guild leader of the Kangin Guild, Choi Kang-in, had established the order in the country.
Yet, that Choi Kang-in had sent people to interrogate his father for his father's wrong...
'No. No!'
Baek Seo-jin denied everything that came to mind first in his constantly twisting thoughts.
But, a crack was beginning to form in his heart little by little.
For now, it was a very minor crack.
Within a few hours of the articles insulting Seomun Ye-jin flooding out, the internet articles were being bombarded by the actions of the women's groups that led it.
Countless media outlets, including major ones, had reported it as breaking news, and the live broadcast of Baek Hyeong-won's public apology from the Baekho Guild was conducted.
"We, the Baekho Guild, sincerely reflect on the incident we caused. We tried to recruit the SSS-class power awakener Kim Ho-jun, but in reaction to his stubborn attitude, we attacked his lover, who appears to be Seomun Ye-jin..."
Baek Hyeong-won was confessing his sins on live broadcast with a pained face.
In reality, he did not mention the plot to break Seomun Ye-jin's heart and throw her as a plaything to Baek Seo-jin, but just mentioning it now was enough to flip the entire nation upside down.
The news that the personal information of the women's group members was leaked in an instant and over 2000 were all arrested, and the news that high-ranking officials including the editors-in-chief of women's related newspapers were all arrested came one after another.
There were also articles that some who were excitedly chatting with them even though they were not members of the women's group were arrested and served prison sentences.
As promised, the Kangin Guild had handled them with a clear stance.
Kangin Guild Designates Them as Villains.
And the Kangin Guild designated all of them as villains.
Public opinion opposing this was almost nonexistent. Those who focused on lynching a 15-year-old girl just because they had a powerful backer seemed not different from villains in the eyes of the public.
Rather, the public welcomed this outcome.
In a world where villains' actions and threats never end, especially in South Korea where SSS-class villains exist, being designated as a villain is the same as being recognized as an existence that must be killed and eradicated.
And the Baekho Guild, which had sponsored these people, faced a torrent of public criticism and was deeply suppressed.
It could have been pushed further, but this was enough for now.
If pushed too far and they died, it would be troublesome for both me and Seomun Ye-jin.
'If national power intervenes, things like this can be resolved so easily.'
While looking at the result that just came out, I asked Seomun Ye-jin, who was looking at her phone the same way.
"Miss, how are you?"
"Very good result. The Baekho Guild is still alive too."
Seomun Ye-jin seemed satisfied with the fact that all those who had insulted her by not doing so were arrested.
"But Miss, we can't just put villains in prison easily, can we?"
Seomun Ye-jin, hearing my words, looked at me and asked.
"Mr. Seo-jun, do you have any thoughts? Can you tell me what they are?"
"Of course. Today is day 1, what are you hiding? I had made a place in Somalia where villains suffer endless pain. I plan to move all of them there."
The pre-captured (?) villains there might have eyes and scream that they saw horrible things, but it was none of my business.
"Those who did such things to Miss can't be put in prison easily."
If the hunter with National Power Level power, Choi Kang-in, had arrested all of them, then steadily showing them hell afterward would be his role.