Chapter 29

“I’m sorry, Chairman.”

Hong Gyeong-pyo bowed his head.

Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan, who was about to get into his car, tilted his head.

“Sorry? What do you have to be sorry to me for.”

At the unexpected words, Hong Gyeong-pyo added with a flustered face.

“That friend, Choi Gi-woong, hasn’t been in our department for long, so he didn’t know how to act.”

“···If it’s about that, it’s fine.”

“I should have managed him better···.”

“I said it’s fine.”

Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan looked at Hong Gyeong-pyo with a stifled expression.

“When I say it’s fine, you should take it as fine, and don’t do anything unnecessary. Let’s go.”

With those words, Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan left.

Hong Gyeong-pyo, who had stood frozen until the luxury sedan left the Association, finally took a deep breath.

One of his squad members, who had been standing around hesitantly until then, came up beside him.

“Somehow, the atmosphere doesn’t seem bad?”

“The problem is that it’s not bad.”

“Pardon?”

Hong Gyeong-pyo said with a grim face.

“That man’s mind is completely elsewhere right now. I don’t know where, but it is.”

“···Is that so?”

“I don’t know what it is, but it’s not a good sign.”

Hong Gyeong-pyo said, thinking, surely not.

“He’s not planning to completely cut ties with the Association, is he?”

“Pardon? No way. Think of all the money he’s poured into it so far.”

“This is all because of that bastard Choi Gi-woong.”

“Speaking of which, that Choi Gi-woong guy was a bit strange.”

“Is this just ‘a bit strange’? He’s a madman.”

“Well, I asked the guys in Division 2, and they said he was definitely good at his job.”

“Does this look like he did a good job to you?”

“Not this, but··· anyway, they said he wasn’t a big enough deal to worry about. They also said his Rank was F-Rank.”

“I suppose so. Who does he think he is.”

“That’s why it’s strange. If he captured the JW General Manager, that means he’s above C-Rank···.”

“I guess he’s above C-Rank.”

“Pardon?”

“Seeing how stiff he was in front of me, he could even be B-Rank.”

“Then he’s the same as you, Squad Leader···”

Hong Gyeong-pyo cut him off, frowning.

“Hey. My Potential Rank is A-Rank. Am I the same as that bastard?”

At his murderous expression, the squad member shrank back.

“Squad Leader, do you happen to know Choi Gi-woong’s Rank? They say his Status Window is strange. No Skills, no traits. And his Rank is F-Rank.”

“That’s why I’m saying he’s a shady bastard. But one thing’s for sure, he’s not above B-Rank. That guy, whether he was drunk or what, seemed to have stopped hiding it.”

Hong Gyeong-pyo spat out a remark with a grim expression.

“And, by tomorrow, it’ll all be exposed.”

“Tomorrow? Tomorrow··· Ah! Jung Hye-in is having her welcoming ceremony.”

The squad member clapped his hands.

“That Jung Hye-in, she could even figure out other people’s Potential Ranks, right?”

The squad member shivered, saying this was why S-Ranks were so scary.

Hong Gyeong-pyo nodded.

“Right now, he’s handled Ilseong well, and his abilities don’t show up on his Status Window. The Head of department is protecting him because he’s a bit of a novelty. But if his Potential Rank comes out as something ambiguous tomorrow.”

He snorted.

“He’d better brace himself from that point on.”

Even after Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan left, the heated atmosphere didn’t cool down.

After collecting my thoughts for a moment, I went outside.

A familiar face was waiting for me in the hallway.

“You’re not dead?”

“Pardon?”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong tilted his head as soon as he saw me.

“I thought Chairman Lee Jeong-hwan would walk out carrying your head.”

What the hell.

When I made a sour face, Head of department Kim Yoon-joong cackled.

“Still, you wouldn’t have felt it was unfair. If he had touched you, that bastard Lee Jeong-hwan would have been your companion on the road to the afterlife.”

Is this supposed to be comforting?

Damn it, but the fact that it’s slightly comforting is a bit infuriating.

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong patted my shoulder.

“So, did you resolve it well?”

“Yes. I handled it without any problems.”

“That man is going to cut off all support for the Association.”

“······.”

“Aish, and our budget is already so tight.”

Even though I said I handled it without any problems, he didn’t seem to believe me at all.

“Right, the Association has its pride. Tell them to get lost. While we’re at it, let’s clean up any agents who’ve accepted requests that cross the line. This is great. Just great!”

His expression didn’t look great at all. It was the face of someone with many worries. The look of someone who wanted to punch me in the face.

As I was thinking that, Head of department Kim Yoon-joong looked me up and down with a troubled face and said.

“They’ve all been interviewed.”

“Interviewed?”

“The Ilseong kids you brought. I saw their faces.”

Ah.

“Their pasts are clean. They have to be. With those abilities, it’d be a problem if they were dirty.”

“Then.”

“Right. You brought them over by paying off one of your expensive debts, so put them to good use somewhere.”

Head of department Kim Yoon-joong gave me three ID cards.

Each had one of the kids’ photos and names on it.

“With this, your debt is paid.”

“Thank you. But.”

Cutting me off, Head of department Kim Yoon-joong waved his hand.

“That won’t happen. I realized it for sure after the interview today. There’s no way they’ll ever be to my liking.”

I smiled and replied.

“You never know.”

“What do you mean, you never know. Even the neighbor’s dog, Poppy, would know this. And tell them not to say they’re with the Association when they’re outside, if possible.”

Then, he added with a serious face.

“You know my style, right? There’s no such thing as letting them off easy on dangerous jobs. If they’re going to play at being agents, tell them to leave now.”

“I’ll be sure to engrave that in my mind.”

“Their lives are your responsibility from now on.”

Those words resonated heavily in my chest.

I have to. They’re kids who said they’d come here trusting only me.

Good Items, good Skills, and a high Rank.

I’ll make sure they get them.

On my way to meet the kids, I thought about Rewind.

Ever since I became aware of the Skill, I checked my Status Window every day.

Wondering when on earth it would charge.

That’s how I was able to find it.

The day after the battle with the General manager, the Charge Rate of the dormant Rewind was full.

Charge Count : 0

Charge Rate : 2%

Now it’s stuck at 2% again, not budging.

That was why.

I couldn’t help but naturally come up with a hypothesis.

Could the charge status be related to combat?

I can’t be sure yet, but it’s a plausible assumption.

Whatever it is, it’s going up. For now, let’s focus more on the content.

A few days ago, I recalled the memory I saw through Rewind.

-I think I can raise the Tier.

-Something like that exists?

-I tried disassembling some Buff Magic.

-Disassembling?

-Tearing apart the magic formula’s structure piece by piece to see how each part works.

-Tearing apart the formula of Dragon Language Magic? Is, is something like that possible?

-For now, I’m at a level where I can only slightly modify it my way. It’s harder than I thought to surpass the Dragon’s magic structure.

-Harder than you thought? Are you being serious?

-Anyway. As I was tinkering with Buff Magic here and there, I figured I could make it a little more useful.

-You can raise that Soul’s Tier thing, you said.

-Yes. It’s still just a theory, though.

-Then you should hurry up and test it, what are you doing? The test subject is···. What. Why are you looking at me?

-Who else is here besides you, Isaac?

-You crazy bastard. No!

-What did you do back then when I said I didn’t want to kill Orcs?

-Back then I was··· Wait! Ian! Binding? When?

-Just stay still. I need to concentrate.

-Ian, please! Pleeeeeease!

In the end, the experiment was a complete success.

Isaac succeeded in raising his Soul’s Tier, or in the System’s language, his Potential Rank.

I’m thinking of trying that out here.

If my prediction is correct.

It doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to turn an F-Rank into an A-Rank.

At that point, I snapped out of my thoughts.

I could faintly see the kids.

In the Association’s lobby cafe, looking as pathetic as drowned rats.

The tiramisu they had bothered to order looked as if not a single bite had been taken.

“Oh, you’re here.”

Kim Soo-gyeom, who spotted me, forced a smile.

“Did you hear? That you passed.”

“Yes. We just got the text. All three of us.”

Choi Soo-jung nodded with a bitter smile.

She didn’t look too good either. Next to her, Lee Won-sik was just staring at the ground, not befitting his large frame.

“Why are you all so down?”

As I sat down and asked, the kids glanced at each other.

Finally, as if she had decided to take the lead, Choi Soo-jung let out a deep sigh and spoke.

“We’ll be looked down on a lot when we go there, won’t we? As a nuisance.”

The sudden question left me speechless for a moment.

“···They probably won’t look on you favorably.”

Even the voice coming from my own mouth felt raspy.

“I knew it.”

“Why, have you changed your mind?”

I asked, putting on the most nonchalant expression I could manage.

Inside, I was boiling with impatience.

It seemed like the kids had heard something, and I was afraid they’d gotten scared because of it.

Still, I had to be honest about this.

“The atmosphere won’t be comfortable. No, it’ll probably be pretty bad.”

“We’re fine. We’ve been looked down on our whole lives, so we’re kind of used to it.”

Kim Soo-gyeom said with an uncharacteristically serious face.

“The problem is you, Hyung.”

“Me?”

When I tilted my head, the kids nodded as if on cue.

“I heard you’re doing really well these days, Oppa. That you even got promoted···.”

“Who told you that?”

“I heard it in the hallway.”

It seems like this girl has been gathering all sorts of news from the hallways since our Ilseong days.

I was about to say something, but Lee Won-sik, who was next to her, beat me to it.

“The Head of department who interviewed us said so too. That you paid a very high price to bring us in, Hyung. So we have to do well.”

Not to be outdone, Kim Soo-gyeom also chimed in.

“He also said that the Association’s agents are C-Rank at a minimum, and there are plenty with B-Rank Potential Ranks, so we should only join if we can handle it.”

The guy shrugged even as he said it.

“I’ll be advancing to C-Rank soon enough, but the Rank difference for the other two is just too big.”

I thought Choi Soo-jung would retort as usual, but she was quiet. She just kept sneaking glances at me like a puppy that had caused trouble.

I clicked my tongue.

“So, you’re acting like this because you think you’ll be a nuisance to me?”

“···I don’t want to disappoint you. I’m also scared you might tell us to leave again, Oppa.”

Choi Soo-jung fiddled with her hands and pouted.

I looked at her for a moment, then chuckled and said.

“Well. I think I got you guys for a cheap price.”

Is what I said that absurd?

The kids blinked their eyes with dumbfounded expressions.

But it seemed to have had an effect.

The damp, sunken atmosphere turned lively.

“I sometimes wonder what’s going on in that Oppa’s head whenever he says something weird.”

“You know what’s even creepier? That his weird words have never been wrong so far.”

“That’s right. He told us we’d be raiding a D-Rank.”

“But not this time.”

I shook my head at them.

“I’m right this time, too.”

With things like this, showing is more effective than telling.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Where to?”

“To train.”

At my words, the kids’ faces, which had been blank for a moment, turned white as a sheet.

“What’s wrong? Anyone would think I told you to enter hell.”

“Th-that’s what it is!”

“···I forgot. That Hyung’s training is brutally insane.”

The kids look at me, trembling as if they’ve seen the Grim Reaper.

I smiled and pushed their backs.

“It’s the first day, so let’s just go light for five hours.”