Chapter 24

-Isn’t this Mr. Choi, Choi Gi-woong?

-Who’s that?

-The guy who sucked up to the Association President and sent Im Seong-joon to the Goseong Dungeon.

-Yeah, he killed Im Seong-joon. It’s obvious they’re just laundering his image.

My name, suddenly bursting out, was like a wildfire.

A wildfire that, if left alone, could spread to who knows where.

“Choi Gi-woong is the Association President’s son? What kind of bullshit is this when they were acting like they wanted to kill him until just a while ago! Tell them that from now on, if they write any speculative articles, they should all be prepared for the consequences! If anyone dares to reveal Choi Gi-woong’s real name, I’ll go and fuck them up myself.”

Only after an official statement was released in the middle of the night, after Head of department Kim Yoon-joong hastily held a press conference with reporters, and after a photo was taken of him shaking hands with Executive Director Bae Hyeon-jo, who arrived late.

Did the gossip about me, which had been burning fiercely, begin to die down.

-Did Choi Gi-woong hold a knife to Im Seong-joon’s throat and threaten him to enter the S-Rank Dungeon? Didn’t he go because he wanted to?

-Yeah, in fact, it never made sense to blame an Association employee for that incident in the first place.

-Anyway, these fucking idiots tsk tsk If he had killed Im Seong-joon, would Ilseong have had anything good to say about him?

Fortunately, in a good way.

“I don’t even know where to begin with this.”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong, who had been scratching his head while looking at the article comments, put down the tablet.

His eyes were hollow as if he had stayed up all night, and a dark stubble had grown in.

“This isn’t a punishment, so why are you standing like that? Sit.”

It’s just that your expression looks like you’re angry.

Without showing it, I sat on the plush sofa. As if he had been waiting, Head of department Kim Yoon-joong opened his mouth.

“Let me ask you first. Did you leak this to the press? There are kids like that sometimes. The ones who are dying to brag about their achievements to others.”

He is angry.

He looked ready to throw a punch if I said yes.

I answered quickly.

“No.”

“Then you didn’t know Executive Director Bae was going to reveal your name either?”

“No.”

“I thought so. Why the hell does that bastard keep spitting on other people’s dinner tables?”

My gaze fell on the tablet. To be precise, on the picture of Head of department Kim Yoon-joong shaking hands with Executive Director Bae with a rotten look on his face.

“It’s a relief it was resolved well. It could have been a huge problem. If it had been revealed that you even undid the Seal on the Abraxas set… I don’t even want to imagine it.”

“That was Head of department Han Seung-hoon who…”

“Kid. That’s your claim. Do you think other people will think the same?”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong clicked his tongue.

“Imagine you’re an S-Rank. A guy like you, what do you think they’d do if they saw you passing on the street?”

They’d probably capture me. Whether by kidnapping, threatening, or persuading. They wouldn’t just leave me alone.

“Thank you.”

Thinking of the trouble he must have gone through last night, the words came out naturally.

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong, however, waved his hand as if it were no big deal.

“Anyway, since it turned out well, let’s just say all’s well that ends well. And.”

He held onto me despite his tired face, as if he had a lot to say.

“By any chance, do you know Jung Hye-in?”

I nodded at the unexpected question.

“Yes.”

Who in South Korea doesn’t know Seong Yo-han and Jung Hye-in?

“Have you met her?”

“No.”

“…Really?”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong tilted his head.

“Then why is she…”

“?”

“Never mind. Your initiation opponent has been decided. It’s Jung Hye-in.”

Initiation.

Come to think of it, there was something like that. Im Han-na had mentioned it.

She told me to be prepared to get beaten just enough to pass out.

“She rarely wants anything, but it’s the first time I’ve seen her be so proactive about something. I thought maybe you two had met.”

Met her. Of course not.

But one nagging memory does come to mind.

The tracking Skill I felt when I fought the general manager yesterday. It was S-Rank. And Jung Hye-in is a magic-type Awakener.

It’s not certain yet, and it’s a bit much to bring this up.

In any case, the thought of getting beaten up by an S-Rank Awakener like Jung Hye-in wasn’t exactly pleasant.

“Look at this guy. Others are clamoring for just one match with her, and you don’t want to?”

“I don’t have a hobby of getting hit by people.”

“Do it anyway.”

“Do I not have the right to refuse?”

“We wouldn’t force it if the person involved said no.”

I am that person.

“You’re one of the people involved, sure. But Jung Hye-in wants it.”

“Even if the other person says no?”

“If the one saying no was Jung Hye-in, then that’s what would have happened. But you’re Choi Gi-woong.”

So, because Jung Hye-in wants it, you’re going to gift-wrap me and present me to her?

“If you don’t like it, then climb as high as Jung Hye-in.”

For the first time in a while, the sorrow of being an F-Rank was about to surface.

“You succeeded in an S-Rank mission, captured Wi Jeong-rak, and even caught the JW general manager. It’s all very surprising. But she’s built up achievements dozens of times greater than that.”

“May I make a call to Executive Director Bae Hyeon-jo? My phone has been ringing nonstop for a while now.”

“Now he’s even threatening me.”

After chuckling for a moment, Head of department Kim Yoon-joong’s mood suddenly changed.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“Yes.”

“Are you a B-Rank right now?”

“No.”

“Then?”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong leaned his upper body toward me.

“Didn’t you say you’d only ask one thing?”

“Ah.”

His face crumpled as he sank back into the sofa.

“Every single one of my subordinates tries to one-up me.”

After smacking his lips for a moment, he tilted his head.

“The general manager. The guy you brought in. He was so pale he couldn’t even speak properly. What on earth did you do to him?”

“I just scared him a little. And as for the charges…”

“That’s enough.”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong said with a look that told me not to worry.

“I told you I’d take full responsibility for this case. Whether it’s the JW Chairman or whatever. Tell them to come at me.”

I was quite surprised.

His attitude of taking responsibility as if it were a matter of course was one thing, but his confidence in being able to handle the JW Chairman was even more so.

I might be running my mouth because I have something to rely on, but Head of department Kim Yoon-joong…

“May I ask you one thing as well?”

“Go ahead.”

“What are you going to say when you meet Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan?”

“This one’s humbly putting me down. In other words, how dare someone like you think you can handle Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan?”

“I apologize if I was rude.”

“No. You’ve got a point. This is a good chance for you to start looking up to me a little.”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong grinned.

“When you climb this high, you get a lot of cards you can play. I have at least one card that can send Lee Jeong-hwan back home.”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong gestured at me with his chin, as if to ask what I thought.

I nodded and said.

“May I meet him first?”

“Who. Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a card too.”

Probably a stronger card than the one Head of department Kim Yoon-joong has.

As if sensing that, the confident expression on Head of department Kim Yoon-joong’s face turned strange.

He said with a look of resignation.

“Go ahead.”

“…You’re giving me permission?”

“Until you stumble once, I’m going to try and trust you, whatever you do.”

Then he added suggestively.

“And what I’m about to say now is advice as your Seonbae.”

“?”

“Know that if you trip once while running at full speed, you’ll get hurt badly. Control your tempo, kid.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Or, before you trip, just climb up high. To a point where no one can say anything even if you take a shit.”

“To your position as Head of department?”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong let out a smirk.

“My position is nowhere near enough, you’d have to be at the executive level. Or become another level like Seong Yo-han or Jung Hye-in.”

Executive, Seong Yo-han, Jung Hye-in.

I repeated the words to myself several times and clenched my fists.

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

“You’re not going to cause any trouble today, are you?”

“You can rest assured.”

I bowed my head and stepped outside.

I took out my phone, which had been buzzing for a while.

[Missed Calls: 7]

The screen was filled with missed calls.

I could feel it from them. A desperate, sorrowful heart.

I called Wi Jeong-rak.

“Yuja’s father?”

“Yes.”

Wi Jeong-rak sighed deeply and stood up from his seat. Yuja, who knew nothing, or rather, pretended to know nothing, was sitting in her seat, waving at him.

Telling him to have a good trip.

A surge of emotion almost brought tears to his eyes.

‘This is why I tried to avoid the hospital at all costs.’

Forcibly holding back his tears, he entered the doctor’s office, feeling like he was being dragged to a slaughterhouse.

“Father. It’s been three months since Yuja came to the hospital, right?”

“Yes.”

Yuja’s doctor stroked his chin.

“I believe I told you then that Yuja had entered the latter stage…”

“You did.”

Wi Jeong-rak wanted to hear the words quickly and leave.

That her condition was worsening, that he was sorry but there was nothing more they could do, that he should prepare his heart.

It would all be over once he heard that goddamn death sentence he had heard so many times before.

Then he would have kept his promise to the gracious Secretary Officer, and the thing called hope, which had been torn to shreds until not a trace was left, could be completely burned away.

There would be no more lingering attachments.

If there was one thing that bothered him, it was the Secretary Officer named Choi Gi-woong.

‘He is a gracious person. I should get him something good, just one Elixir. Then the preparations will be complete. After that…’

It was when he had thought that far.

The doctor, who had been staring at the chart on the screen for a long time, spoke with a serious face.

“Yuja. I think it would be best to run a detailed examination.”

“Excuse me?”

Wi Jeong-rak’s hand, holding Yuja’s, was trembling.

“Dad. What’s wrong?”

He didn’t even have the leeway to give a simple answer.

-It’s too early to say for sure. So I’m not sure how to tell you this. Father. The disease, which was in its advanced latter stage, has reverted to the mid-stage.

He didn’t remember much after that.

He thought the doctor had said something about new drug treatments and research papers.

When he came to his senses, he was outside the hospital.

“Dad. I’m hungry.”

“…You’re hungry?”

Yuja, who had been throwing up everything she ate recently, was saying she was hungry.

He took a deep breath. He couldn’t jump to any conclusions yet.

“Food, we should eat. Yes. Let’s eat.”

Wi Jeong-rak, who had managed to get the words out, walked with an unsteady gait.

Even after they entered a nearby tonkatsu restaurant, ordered, and he mechanically pushed food into his mouth, his mind hadn’t returned.

‘What’s the method? Did my treatment work? That can’t be right. Or is the Elixir I stole finally taking effect?’

All sorts of thoughts shook his mind.

Anything was fine. If he could cure Yuja, he would even offer his Soul.

It was then, as he was lost in thought.

A memory struck his mind like a bolt of lightning.

-The essence of treating Mana Disease isn’t about pouring in Potions, Elixirs, or the like.

-The essence is to narrow the path through which Mana is moving.

-Three more treatments and she’ll be all better.

An eerie chill ran down his spine.

Could it be, no way, it’s impossible.

And yet, Wi Jeong-rak stood up.

“Dad’s going to make a phone call.”

He left Yuja, who was munching and nodding, and went outside.

His hands trembled as he took the business card out of his wallet.

He called the number written on it. No answer. He called again. No answer. Not much time had passed, but his anxiety was building.

‘Did JW already?’

As all sorts of thoughts filled him with unease.

The call he had been waiting for finally came.

Feeling his legs about to give out, Wi Jeong-rak answered the phone.

-I had a lot of missed calls.

“S-Secretary Officer! I called because I have something to ask, by any chance, are you free to talk right now… No, that’s not it.”

Wi Jeong-rak ruffled his hair. The words wouldn’t come out right. He was afraid that the faint glimmer of hope he’d found might be a delusion. That it might disappear like a mirage.

Regardless of his urgent heart, the voice on the other end of the phone was nothing but relaxed.

-You must have come from the hospital.

Wi Jeong-rak’s heart sank. He gaped, trying to say something, but no words came out.

-What did they say?

Swallowing hard, Wi Jeong-rak took a breath. Then, as clearly as he could, he spoke with difficulty.

“That she’s… getting better.”

-That’s good to hear.

Choi Gi-woong’s voice was still calm and composed.

It was the moment suspicion turned into certainty.

Wi Jeong-rak spoke as if bursting out with the breath he had been holding.

“Secretary Officer. Where are you right now? I. I will go to you.”