#322. Never Lose This Contact.
Fourteen hours before the asylum request.
Guan Hong decided to move as inconspicuously as possible.
During lunch hour, he left the office and casually told his secretary,
"I'm grabbing some food."
"Yes, Director."
"Oh, the preliminary review for next year's budget came in, right? Send it to my email. I'll check it while eating."
"Yes, got it."
Guan Hong headed not to a spot near the guild, but to a familiar restaurant on the outskirts of the city center. He was known for his love of fine dining, so seeking out good eateries wasn't unusual.
But the restaurant he chose today wasn't just for the food. Nearby was the Yellow Dragon Guild's research facility.
He picked a terrace table, ordered, and took in the scenic view typical of suburban restaurants.
Soon, his food arrived, along with an email notification on his smartphone.
Guan Hong calmly cut his steak into bite-sized pieces, popped one in his mouth, and checked his phone.
After reviewing the budget documents for a while, he called his secretary again.
"Got the email. But something looks off as I go through it. I want to compare it to last year's budget. No, just this year won't cut it—send over the last ten years' files. Yeah, yeah. Out and about, so it might take a bit? Oh, right, it's lunch. Haha, my bad. Take your time eating and send it when you get back. I'll be here having a coffee."
The files arrived shortly after. No employee would dawdle when the boss told them to enjoy their meal leisurely—especially when that boss was Guan Hong, one of the guild's rising powers.
Guan Hong transferred the emailed documents to his pre-prepared tablet and reviewed them.
Checking next year's budget is a cover. The real goal is verifying the research facility's spending over the past ten years. In a situation where I don't know who's the spy, I have to approach this as naturally as possible.
He focused especially on the year they began full-scale restoration and research on the gate opener-closer, and the following year. The costs had jumped noticeably, even at a glance.
The details seemed fine at first.
The next year, and the one after, showed no anomalies either. But from the point development wrapped up and production completed, something felt off.
Strange. Development and production costs dropped, but the lab budget didn't shrink—in fact, it grew. And without any major new projects.
Guan Hong checked what the increases covered. No single line item stood out as massively inflated. Every allocation had just edged up a bit overall.
It was a common trick departments pulled to maintain or boost budgets. Reclaiming cuts was hard, but holding onto allocated funds was easy.
Each department aimed to grab as much funding as possible, regardless of need, so these maneuvers were routine.
Still, this is excessive. Employee welfare jumped fivefold overnight. That's usually one of two things.
Either sloppy management or staff misconduct.
But Guan Hong considered another possibility.
Or falsified budgets.
After wrestling with the numbers, he finally spotted a clue.
"This...!"
He opened a notepad on his tablet and calculated the differences between last year's budget and this year's increases across each item. Then he fired up the calculator and summed them up.
"Ha? They pulled such a simple trick?"
Guan Hong checked last year's gate opener-closer production costs. It matched the calculator total exactly.
The problem? Last year's batch was the first and last produced.
Five units made. Assigned one to each of the five gates secured during the Makyung operation.
Two were recovered then. Two were smashed in the fight with Russian hunters, and one went to Kang Moo-hyuk.
Yet the next year, the budget matched the previous. And the year after. And beyond. The lab funding barely dipped.
Guan Hong kept scribbling. Calculations showed a total of 31 gates produced.
No, not confirmed yet. Could just be a way to sustain lab funding. Or straight-up embezzlement.
He tried hypnotizing himself into hoping that was it, but deep down, he knew better. Upper management couldn't be unaware of such sustained allocations.
And the bigger issue: recent years showed the same pattern in R&D spending too.
A lab that stuck to assigned projects wouldn't see such spikes without reason.
Research on the opener-closers was likely, but no upgrades suggested poor results or unapplied successes.
If there were successes, Guan Hong could guess what they were.
The biggest flaws are the device's size and the time to sync with the gate.
The Seoul incident, now global news, had little revealed about its cause beyond failing to prevent the gate outbreak.
But Guan Hong knew from Kang Moo-hyuk: the Bukhansan Gate had time before opening.
If a gate with leeway suddenly blew open, an opener-closer was probable.
And using one exposed it due to size and process. That's why Yellow Dragon operated in controllable Makyung.
So the boosted dev costs likely fixed that.
No way to spin this positively. All signs point to Yellow Dragon Guild.
Now came Guan Hong's real dilemma.
How deep did it go?
His sliver of hope: Bi Yuanjun wasn't involved.
If even he colluded with Mirage, Guan Hong's options were slim.
To confirm, he'd investigate Bi Yuanjun.
Dangerous move, digging into an S-rank. But if Yellow Dragon allied with Mirage, that's worse.
Guan Hong traced Bi Yuanjun's schedule around the Xinjiang Uyghur clash with Mirage.
"Can't trust anyone now."
Present.
"So what about Bi Yuanjun? Did he defect to Mirage? Or is he already one of theirs?"
Kang Moo-hyuk asked, assuming some Mirage link.
Guan Hong didn't deny it.
-Not sure exactly.
"Not sure? Aren't you requesting asylum because you can't stay in Yellow Dragon anymore?"
-Vice Guild Master Bi Yuanjun is in the Gobi Desert, tackling a red gate. Can't reach him.
"Then why asylum now? Why not lay low without contact?"
-Got tailed during my probe. More Mirage plants in the guild than I thought. Three fights already. Barely escaped to a safe house only I know.
Only then did Kang Moo-hyuk catch the irregularity in Guan Hong's breathing.
"You hurt?"
-Not serious. Field-dressed it.
Guan Hong was famed as Yellow Dragon's strategist, but he'd been an A+-rank hunter before. Not easy prey. Hunter safe houses stocked top potions—no immediate life threat.
Kang Moo-hyuk pondered Bi Yuanjun's situation for the best path.
"Asylum guarantees safety, but widens the gap with Bi Yuanjun."
Not just physical distance. Asylum branded betrayal. Psychological rift too. No one trusts a turncoat.
Guan Hong got it.
-I know.
"Yet you chose this extreme? Then surely..."
-Gotta trust the vice master, right? If no Mirage ties, great. But if he is... I'm dead anyway.
Guan Hong was sharp, open-minded. No stubbornness without principle, flexible enough for enemy alliances when needed.
Kang Moo-hyuk had clocked this during their Sim Wol death compromise.
He respected Guan Hong's skills.
If he suspects and guards, there's reason.
Decision made: accept asylum.
"National asylum's tough. But Iron Will will take you."
-Iron Will's just a guild? Leaving Yellow Dragon makes it China-Korea issue anyway.
"We handle extraction, but the accepting entity isn't us."
-Third country then...?
"Under the World Hunter Federation."
-The Federation? You connected there?
"More like one foot in the door."
Guan Hong swallowed dryly over the line.
Knew Kang Moo-hyuk was exceptional since botching Makyung, but Federation ties? They don't take just anyone.
Yellow Dragon had tried Federation collab before—for guild gain, foiled when spotted.
A C-grade Korean guild's non-hunter acting guild master linking with them? Shocking.
Guan Hong, aware of their hidden might, marveled.
Kang Moo-hyuk ignored the reaction.
"Where are you now?"
-Beijing.
"Normal routes to Korea blocked?"
-Airport, trains, highways watched. Outbound tough. Worst case, swim.
A hunter once swam the Korea Strait. High-rank stamina made it feasible, sans sea monsters.
But injured Guan Hong? Breathing off meant ocean swim risky, even patched.
"Hold on."
Kang Moo-hyuk pulled up a map, searched nearest Chinese spots from Korea.
"Shandong Peninsula ~230km. Dalian in Liaodong ~320km. Makyung asylum possible, but Yellow Dragon pursuit fiercer there. Monsters could snag you."
-Mentioning peninsulas means sea route only?
"No. Air's better than sea."
-Air? Airports out...
"No need for commercial flights."
-Not planes then...?
"Distance just scrapes by. We'll fetch you via Iron Will air."
Guan Hong couldn't parse it.
Not planes, but air? A mid-tier guild with an airline?
"Shandong or Liaoning—which can you reach?"
-Shandong. Liaoning blocked by Makyung—needs ship or plane anyway.
"Time to Shandong?"
-Escape Beijing on foot first. Car from secret outskirts spot: ~10 hours. Highways risky.
"Move now. Hide by day, travel at night. Rendezvous dawn tomorrow, 5 AM. Yantai or Weihai coast. Adjust as needed. Got a burner or untraceable line?"
-Here's the number.
Kang Moo-hyuk noted it, gave Iron Will's satellite phone number.
In a low voice, he urged,
"Never lose this contact."