Chapter 79 – Planning [Planning]

October 11, 2028, 19:15.

The Blue House Reception Room.

“I have read the report you submitted, Chairman.”

At Hyeon Woongryeol’s words, Gu Seongguk, who had been about to take a sip of green tea, set his cup down.

Hyeon Woongryeol continued.

“I clearly understand your intentions, Chairman. I also agree with a significant portion of it.”

Gu Seongguk nodded.

“But do you really think things will go as you imagine, Chairman?”

At Hyeon Woongryeol’s question, Gu Seongguk swallowed a mouthful of green tea.

‘I must persuade him properly this time. If I fail to convince him here…’

Setting down the teacup, Gu Seongguk began the work of persuasion in a calm tone to convince Hyeon Woongryeol.

“Hunter Lee Siguk is fundamentally a being who prioritizes profit above all else. He knows how to suppress and set aside personal emotions for the sake of profit. This was proven, I believe, in the incident of inducing Yang Seungjun’s assassination.”

Hyeon Woongryeol nodded.

“From that perspective, one of the most important interests for Hunter Lee Siguk right now would be enhancing the image of the JH Group. As you know, the origins of the JH Group lie in a gangster organization. The image of a company born from gangsters is not something that can be easily erased, no matter how much social contribution the JH Group makes.”

“That’s true.”

“In that sense, the very existence of Hunter Lee Siguk could be seen as a diluting agent for the gangster-born image plastered over the JH Group.”

“So, we frequently expose him to the media, intentionally manipulate the image to help the public form a favorable perception of Hunter Lee Siguk and the JH Group?”

Gu Seongguk nodded.

“Correct.”

Hyeon Woongryeol nodded and took a sip of coffee.

Gu Seongryeol also took a sip of green tea and continued.

“That is the premise. The premise for drawing Hunter Lee Siguk to our side.”

“Our side…”

“To make Hunter Lee Siguk stand on the side of the Republic of Korea government and the Superhuman Association, not the National Assembly or the chaebols.”

“Hmm… Do you really believe Hunter Lee Siguk will stand on our side?”

Gu Seongguk, feeling a slight sense of urgency, quickly continued.

“And please select the JH Guild as a National Policy Partner Guild.”

“Hmm… The JH Guild?”

“There is sufficient justification. Considering Hunter Lee Siguk’s existence and the JH Group’s financial power, there likely won’t be any group capable of raising significant opposition.”

“Hmm… Selecting the JH Guild as a National Policy Partner…”

Hyeon Woongryeol began stroking his chin with his hand.

Gu Seongguk swallowed another mouthful of green tea and continued.

“We must absolutely not make Hunter Lee Siguk an enemy, nor should we try to control him. We must make him our ally, give him shared interests with us, and guide him to take the actions we desire. In that sense, using the media to cleanse the JH Group’s image and selecting the JH Guild as a National Policy Partner Guild is just the beginning. We must give the JH Group even greater privileges. Only then can we make him our ally, Mr. President.”

For a while, Hyeon Woongryeol remained silent.

Gu Seongguk also kept his mouth shut and simply watched Hyeon Woongryeol quietly.

After maintaining silence for about a minute, Hyeon Woongryeol took a sip of coffee, opened his mouth, and broke the silence.

“Regarding the selection of the JH Guild as a National Policy Partner, let’s discuss it once in a cabinet meeting.”

Gu Seongguk’s expression brightened.

Hyeon Woongryeol continued.

“The problem is the media. Didn’t the plan for Hunter Lee Siguk to appear on that talk show ultimately fall through? He personally declined in the end.”

“I don’t think direct appearance is necessary. Wouldn’t it be sufficient to arrange special broadcasts about Hunter Lee Siguk appropriately on the news? If necessary, we could even mobilize external organizations of the National Intelligence Service for comment manipulation.”

At those words, a faint, enigmatic smile appeared at the corner of Hyeon Woongryeol’s mouth.

“Comments aside, regarding broadcast scheduling, let’s call in the heads of the terrestrial broadcasters and conservative cable channels and give them appropriate hints.”

Hearing that, Gu Seongguk inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing that, Hyeon Woongryeol added a remark as if in passing.

“Look into the comment aspect from the Superhuman Association’s side. Hahaha.”

To that, Gu Seongguk merely smiled and gave no particular answer.

October 11, 20:30.

20th Floor, Khabarovsk, Far East Development Ministry Building, Minister’s Office.

“Kuh-huk…!”

The Minister of the Far East Development Ministry, the closest confidant of Igor Sechin and a man who wielded feudal lord-like influence in the Russian Federation’s Far Eastern District, was kneeling, clutching his abdomen from which blood and intestines were spilling.

The man who had succeeded Dmitry, Siguk’s business partner, as the head of the FSB Far Eastern Branch, was dead, sitting on the sofa with a knife plunged into his heart.

“You… you… you…!”

The Far East Development Minister looked up at the bold assassin with incomprehensible eyes and called out to him.

The assassin, Siguk, looked down at the Far East Development Minister with a cynical expression and clicked his tongue.

“You should have just submitted to the President properly. Why on earth did you stick to the former regime’s number two, claiming to keep loyalty? Huh?”

“Thi… this…”

“Should have bowed to Nikolayevich properly, huh? Should have flattered a bit, then this wouldn’t have happened. Right?”

The Far East Development Minister’s jowls trembled violently.

After staring at Siguk with wide eyes for a while, he soon breathed his last in that very state.

Siguk pulled the knife out of the chest of the FSB Far Eastern Branch head.

Blood gushed out, staining the deceased’s white dress shirt.

Siguk grabbed the nape of the kneeling, dead Far East Development Minister, lifted him, and sat him next to the corpse of the FSB Far Eastern Branch head.

“Well, even though you’re already dead, consider it an honor, you guys. You’re the first to experience my Mysterious Death Skill.”

Saying this, Siguk stretched both hands forward.

‘Mysterious Death.’

A significant amount of mana was consumed as the Mysterious Death Skill activated.

As the skill activated, something like dark red smoke flowed from Siguk’s hands and seeped into the corpses of the Far East Development Minister and the FSB Far Eastern Branch head.

Soon, the two corpses were enveloped in a faint, dark red smoke.

‘……’

And Siguk could see it.

The sight of the traces of homicide remaining on the two bodies disappearing due to the dark red smoke.

The torn heart of the FSB Far Eastern Branch head reattached itself, and the broken bones and split flesh were restored to their original state.

The spilled intestines of the Far East Development Minister found their way back to their proper place, and the split layers of fat and skin on his belly were restored.

The dark red smoke soon dispersed into the air.

Looking at the two corpses, clean as if sleeping, with only slightly torn clothes, Siguk grinned.

“Literally a mysterious death.”

Siguk smiled, looked at the corpses for a moment, then quickly scanned the entire minister’s office.

It was a job of killing two ordinary people, not even Superhumans.

Naturally, they had no chance to resist, and thanks to that, the office wasn’t greatly disturbed.

“But I should probably strip their clothes…”

The Mysterious Death Skill that removes the cause of death from the deceased.

Thanks to it, no evidence that the two were murdered would remain.

However, clothes with clear knife marks could still be obvious evidence.

‘Familiar Summoning.’

A considerable amount of mana was consumed simultaneously as a small, dwarf-like Familiar, tearing through the air and emitting a dark red light, revealed itself.

Whether it was because the skill rank was low or it was originally like that, the Familiar with a generally unfinished-looking face stood before Siguk, waiting for his command.

‘Strip their clothes and wipe the blood off the floor.’

Siguk’s will was immediately conveyed to the Familiar.

The Familiar soon climbed onto the two corpses and began stripping their clothes.

More like tearing than stripping, the Familiar roughly removed the tops and bottoms of the Far East Development Minister and the FSB Far Eastern Branch head, then looked at Siguk with arms full of clothes.

‘Get rid of them if you can.’

At Siguk’s command, the Familiar looked around for a moment, then threw the clothes on the floor.

Then it looked up at Siguk as if waiting for the next command.

Siguk frowned slightly.

‘Is it because of the skill rank? I said get rid of them, and you just throw them on the floor?’

Siguk shook his head slightly, ordered the Familiar to wipe the blood off the floor, then picked up the clothes himself and stuffed them into the sports bag he had brought just in case.

‘I brought it just in case… Good thing.’

After stuffing the deceased’s clothes into the bag, Siguk looked at the Familiar.

“……”

Looking at the Familiar licking the blood off the floor with something like a tongue protruding from an indistinguishable mouth or nose area, Siguk shook his head.

‘The rank will solve it.’

Siguk quickly resigned himself to the somewhat shabby dwarf Familiar helping him in a crude manner, not the sophisticated, mysterious fairy-tale wizard-like Familiar he had imagined.

After about ten minutes, the Familiar licked away the bloodstains on the floor. Looking at the clean floor, Siguk nodded.

The Familiar bowed to Siguk on the spot, then turned into dark red smoke and dispersed into the air.

Siguk took a mana potion from his pocket, drank it down in one go to recover his mana, and slung the sports bag over his shoulder.

Looking at the corpses of the Far East Development Minister and the FSB Far Eastern Branch head, stripped to the waist with heads bowed as if sleeping, Siguk took out his burner phone and made a call.

The dial tone rang for a while before the other party answered.

“Ah, it’s me. Nikolayevich. It’s Siguk.”

At Siguk’s words, Ivan Ivanov answered from the other end of the line.

• Is it all done?

“Yes, it’s all done.”

• Cleanly handled, I trust?

“Don’t worry. I’m quite experienced on this side.”

• What about the two bodies now?

“They’re sitting side by side on the sofa in the minister’s office in the building, wearing only their underwear. Mobilize the guys from the GRU tomorrow to secure it firmly.”

• Got it. Thank you.

“Just keep your promise.”

• Didn’t I say it? We Russians don’t do things that harm our own people.

“I’ll trust you on that.”

• Alright, don’t worry, just get out without being noticed.

“Don’t worry. I’ll visit Moscow sometime soon.”

• I’ll be waiting.

With those words, the call ended.

Siguk put away the burner phone.

‘Atomization.’

Soon, Siguk vanished from sight.

Freed from form, Siguk slipped out of the minister’s office through a window gap.

In the place where Siguk disappeared, in the Far East Development Minister’s office with no trace of anyone’s intrusion, only the two corpses with no signs of homicide sat with bowed heads in the silence on the sofa.

October 13, 2028, 18:30.

Cheongdam-dong Hanwoo (Korean Beef) Specialty Restaurant.

Three men sat in a floor-seating room, drinking premium soju with Hanwoo sirloin as a side dish.

“This, is it really okay to get treated like this? Hahaha.”

At the words of the man eating more Hanwoo than soju, Lee Dongseok, Master of the Samhwa Guild, Siguk, sitting at the head seat, smiled and replied.

“Haha. Please don’t feel burdened, Master Lee Dongseok.”

“To be honest, I wasn’t feeling burdened while eating anyway. Hahaha.”

Saying that, Lee Dongseok wrapped three pieces of Hanwoo in one lettuce leaf and put it in his mouth.

Watching that, Siguk smiled once, then turned his gaze to Bae Hyeonil, Master of the Hyeonseong Guild, who was drinking more soju and eating more soup than meat.

“Master Bae Hyeonil, does the meat not suit your taste?”

At that question, Bae Hyeonil laughed and answered.

“I’ve always liked alcohol and soup more than meat. Don’t mind me. Haha.”

After a few awkward exchanges, the three men began conversing comfortably around the time each had drunk about two bottles of soju.

“Honestly, my vision went black then. That strange barrier-like thing appeared…”

“Don’t even mention it. How surprised I was when Lee Hyun and Bae Hyun were running with me tucked under their arms…”

“What was that skill back then? It seemed like Summoning Magic…”

“What does someone else’s skill matter, Bae Hyun. The important thing is we survived. Right? Hahaha.”

As Lee Dongseok and Bae Hyeonil went back and forth talking about what happened in the Moscow Dungeon, Siguk simply watched quietly for a while.

As is typical in conversations among Hunters who have raided together, it began with tales of the prowess of the one who performed the greatest feat.

As those tales neared their end, the conversation topic shifted to the experiences each had.

“I really thought I was going to die then. Those damn monkey bastards were throwing shit bombs like crazy…”

“I almost died there too. If Lee Hyun hadn’t shown up right then, I would have died there with the Healer.”

And as the stories about their own experiences ended, in a somewhat subdued atmosphere, talk about the deceased cautiously became the main subject of conversation.

“Yang Hyun… He was quite a lecher and a typical chaebol who abused his power, but he treated senior Hunters well…”

“That guy who was in the same team as me at first. He was Indonesian, really humane… To die like that… Hoo…”

In the serious atmosphere, the three men silently emptied their soju glasses for a while.

And just as the amount of soju each had drunk was about to exceed three bottles and head into the fourth, Siguk, who had not participated in the conversation until then, only listening quietly or adding brief interjections, slowly opened his mouth.

“So many people, so many precious lives were lost.”

At those words, Lee Dongseok and Bae Hyeonil nodded.

Siguk continued.

“Thanks to the sacrifice of 411 outstanding individuals, the world was saved. Think about it. What would have happened if that monstrous being had broken out?”

At Siguk’s words, Lee Dongseok and Bae Hyeonil nodded vigorously.

Elite Hunters vanished without a trace from a single breath, a single spray of acidic fluid from its mouth.

One A-Rank Hunter was mind-controlled and self-destructed, another fought at the forefront and was chewed up and eaten.

If that thing had come out of the dungeon?

Perhaps the very survival of humanity might have been threatened, Lee Dongseok and Bae Hyeonil thought.

Looking at the two making bitter expressions with flushed faces, Siguk opened his mouth.

“In that sense, we must now consider. Whether this current system is truly a just system.”

Lee Dongseok and Bae Hyeonil simultaneously looked at Siguk.

“What do you mean, Lee Hyun?”

At Lee Dongseok’s question, Siguk looked alternately at him and Bae Hyeonil and answered.

“Literally. The question of whether this system, built upon the sacrifice of Hunters, where Hunters are in the subordinate position and the state and chaebols are in the dominant position, is truly just.”

At Siguk’s appearance, speaking with cold, settled eyes without a hint of wavering, Lee Dongseok and Bae Hyeonil could only open their mouths, unable to say anything.