Chapter 68.

“Oh, you’re already here . ”

While we were looking around the office, the door opened, and a man presumed to be Park Sangho walked in .

“It’s nice to meet you . ”

Park Sangho held out his hand with a warm smile . He gave off a good first impression, like an older brother next door, a completely different character than his real self .

“Hajin-ssi, right?”

“Yes . ”

I shook his hand .

“And I’m sure I don’t need to introduce myself to Yeonha-ssi . ”

Yoo Yeonha smiled at Park Sangho’s joking words . He hung his jacket on the back of his chair, then tapped on the documents stacked on his desk .

“I know this is the Guild ‘Experience’ Program, but most of our work is done indoors . That’s why most team leader-grade Heroes who use the A-rank offices have 4 or 5 office workers . ”

Park Sangho continued in a soft voice .

“Dungeon conquests and subjugation for monsters high-intermediate rank and above require thorough analysis in this office first . In other words, our work begins here, and only when everything is perfect do we set out . But, mm… let’s get out of here for now . To be honest, it does get a bit boring being in here all the time . ”

Park Sangho led us outside . Yoo Yeonha followed after him immediately, but my eyes stopped at the safe installed in his drawer . Inside should be all the condemning evidence Park Sangho gathered about Yoo Yeonha’s family .

“Hajin-ssi?”

“Ah, yes . ”

With Park Sangho calling me, I scurried out of the room .

“Oh right, there are also periodic deployment orders . You know how the North Hamgyong Province belongs to monsters now . ”

Park Sangho continued to speak as we walked .

“About 3000 Heroes take turns every month for four days to reduce the number of monsters there . That way, there won’t be a monster outbreak from overpopulation . Once you become a Hero, you’ll go there about twice a year . ”

Park Sangho stopped near the end of the third-floor hall . We were standing in front of a door that said ‘Analysis Room’ .

“This is the place I wanted to show you first since I heard Hajin-ssi was first place in theory . ”

Park Sangho opened the door .

The analysis room looked surprisingly ordinary . In a spacious room, tables, chairs, and fancy computers were lined up .

“There’s a separate conference room on the other side . Huge, isn’t it?”

Park Sangho added proudly .

The analysis room had many Heroes in it . They all seemed to be hard at work .

“Oh, Sangho-ssi, the kids are here?”

At that moment, a woman who was glancing at documents looked up and noticed us .

“Yeah . Hajin-ssi, Yeonha-ssi, this is Yi Jin-Ah . She’s a high-intermediate rank Hero . ”

“Hi . You said two of the three were girls… so you must be Kim Hajin . ”

“Ah, yes . ”

“The world sure has changed . Who would have thought rank 934 could come to our guild as part of the Guild Experience Program? I wonder who was behind it . ”

Yi Jin-Ah expressed her displeasure in a roundabout way . However, the target of her displeasure wasn’t me, but Yoo Yeonha . Of course, Yoo Yeonha wasn’t looking at her with pleased eyes either .

In reality, Yi Jin-Ah belonged in a different faction within the Essence of the Strait guild . The leader of this faction was Jung Hosuk, the guild’s vice-leader . But since she would eventually switch to Yoo Yeonha’s faction and become the guild’s vice-leader, she could be said to be an important character to note .

“But Hajin-ssi is rank 1 in theory . ”

Park Sangho defended me .

“Haha, rank 1 in theory? That’s amazing, so was I! But cadets don’t really learn much, so don’t be too overconfident . ”

Yi Jin-Ah took off her glasses as she snickered . Then, she tapped on the document she was just reading .

“Now then, rank 1 theory Kim Hajin-ssi, would you like to take a look at this?”

“Hey, you can’t show the guild’s internal data so easily . ”

“It’s not that important . ”

Yi Jin-Ah got up . Just like in my setting, she was fairly tall, making me take a step back subconsciously . She seemed to be slightly taller than me .

“Here . It’s a copy, so you can do whatever you want with it . Don’t feel pressured . ”

Yi Jin-Ah handed the document she was reading . I took it for now and glanced at it . Although it was written in Korean, it was mostly filled with equations and mathematical expressions .

“Take a look . Though, I doubt a kid can even recognize it . ”

I got a bit ticked off at being called a kid . Although I knew she didn’t mean it in a physical sense, I wanted to argue that my height was average .

“… . ”

I sat down on an empty chair nearby . As I took out a pen from my cross bag, I also took out my laptop and placed it on the desk in front of me in a smooth motion .

My Gift, Observation and Reading, activated .

The problem on the document seemed to be estimating variables that could happen while conquering a Dungeon . But weren’t ordinary office workers used for something like this?

In any case, the calculation procedures and results appeared in front of my eyes . All I had to do was copy it down .

I asked Yi Jin-Ah .

“Do you have a piece of paper?”

“…Pft, what do you need it for?”

Yi Jin-Ah sneered without giving me any paper .

“It’ll be difficult . Hajin-ssi . That’s not on the level of an exam problem . ”

Park Sangho gave me a paper instead .

Because of Yi Jin-Ah’s bitchy attitude, I was even more driven to prove her wrong .

I clenched my teeth lightly as I began to write down the calculation procedures and results . While I was in the middle of it, Yoo Yeonha suddenly spoke .

“Um, the other cadet just arrived on the first floor . ”

“Oh, really? Let’s go together . ”

Yoo Yeonha left the analysis room with Park Sangho, but I stayed and continued to write everything down . In academia, it was standard procedure to write down every step of the calculation .

However, when I was mostly done and only had the final step left to finish, someone snatched the paper I was writing on and flipped it over . Obviously, it was Yi Jin-Ah .

“Listen, kid, stop wasting your time and screw off . Can’t you see? The other two already left . ”

“… . ”

She gave off an uninviting impression to begin with, but now that she frowned, she even looked a bit scary . Knowing I was powerless here, I got up .

“I’ll leave my solution here, so feel free to look over it when you have time . ”

“Don’t even try to waste my time, tsk . ”

Yi Jin-Ah shooed me away .

Just like that, I was practically kicked out of the analysis room .

“…What a crazy bitch . ”

I didn’t finish the last step . She better not ask about it later!

I went back to the elevator and came down to the first floor .

There, I saw the third cadet who supposedly just arrived . The cadet was someone I was too familiar with . Right, it was Chae Nayun once again .

When she saw me, she shouted with a look of surprise .

“W-What!? Hey, why is he here?”

“Who knows~?”

Yoo Yeonha smiled playfully . I also had something to say to her .

“You said Chae Nayun wasn’t coming . ”

“Did I?”

At that moment, Yoo Yeonha’s smartwatch buzzed . Her expression stiffened, making me wonder who it was .

“You two can go ahead . I need to use the restroom . ”

Then, she furtively escaped .

**

‘Private Broker Yoo Jinhyuk’

Under a worn-down neon sign, Yoo Jinhyuk was staring at a document in a daze . This thin document contained a summary of an incident that happened 16 years ago .

“Haha . ”

Suddenly, he chuckled .

He explored the past for close to a month . However, he couldn’t find out much about Kim Hajin’s past . There were many complicated reasons for it, but the biggest reason was that there were way too many people tangled up in his past .

But as the difficulty of the matter increased, so did his interest . As a result, he buried himself in this job for a month without complaining, and he finally discovered a crucial hint .

[Kwang-Oh Report]

[Casualty: 96]

[Special note – the death of a woman in her last month of pregnancy . ]

‘Kwang-Oh Evacuation Shelter Massacre’ .

When monsters flooded the Kwang-Oh Fortress region, 87 ordinary civilians and 9 Heroes who were defending an evacuation shelter were all killed .

Although the government and the Association concluded Djinns to be the perpetrator, Yoo Jinhyuk knew the hidden truth . The reason he was kicked out of the Yoo clan in the first place was because he tried to uncover the truth .

Simply put, this 16-year-old tragedy wasn’t the doing of Djinns .

“… . ”

Yoo Jinhyuk knew the people behind this incident .

They were all powerful figures who most people wouldn’t dare to name .

First was Kim Sukho, then President of South Korea .

The second was Chae Joochul, the President of Daehyun conglomerate .

The third was Yoo Taeho, Yoo Yeonha’s grandfather and Yoo Jinhyuk’s own father .

Of course, from their perspective, they had only killed a few harmful bugs . To prevent anyone from ever finding out, they had employed an organization that only operated in the darkness . The three of them probably didn’t even remember this incident .

But if there was a survivor of this incident… if Kim Hajin’s parents were victims of this massacre, and if his mother was the pregnant woman written on the report… .

“Huu . ”

Of course, it was still only an unverifiable theory .

But Yoo Jinhyuk wondered, why did his niece want to dig up this man’s past?

Breathing out a deep sigh, Yoo Jinhyuk called Yoo Yeonha .

She picked up almost instantly .

“Hello?”

—Yes, Uncle .

“…You sound prettier now, kid . ”

—Nevermind that, what happened to what I requested?

Yoo Jinhyuk casually glossed over it .

“Oh that, I haven’t been working on it . I’ve been too busy . ”

—W-What? You’re joking, right, Uncle?

Yoo Yeonha’s angry voice stung Yoo Jinhyuk’s ears .

Yoo Jinhyuk tried his best to maintain the lighthearted uncle character as he asked indirectly .

“Hahaha, I mean, why are you trying to find his parents anyway?”

—…That’s none of your business .

“What about him? Does he want to find his parents?”

This was an extremely important question . If he didn’t want to find out, if he wanted to just live his life as it was, everything would be fine .

—Yes, most likely .

“…And how do you know that?”

—Hm, what’s up with all these questions?

“You know how it is, information is gold! If I know how he became an orphan, I could finish faster . ”

His excuse seemed to be persuasive enough as Yoo Yeonha became momentarily silent . Soon, Yoo Yeonha whispered in a much quieter voice than before .

—You see, I think his parents got wrapped up in a crime . He has the list of wanted criminals memorized .

Hearing this, Yoo Jinhyuk couldn’t help but breath in a gasp of air .

“He memorized the entire list?”

—Yes . I think he reached a certain point in his own investigation .

“…Right, you said he was smart . ”

—He’s rank 1 in theory . From what I hear, he didn’t get a single problem wrong in the midterm and final exams .

If he was that smart, it wasn’t impossible for him to have investigated the Kwang-Oh incident .

But thankfully, he seemed to have taken a wrong turn .

The perpetrator of that tragedy wasn’t some wanted criminal .

They were ‘true nobles’, who still had great influence over the entire country .

“Hmm… . ”

Yoo Jinhyuk sighed once again .

He had to end this matter here .

If he dug in too deep and was noticed by that old codger, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee his own safety .

The unpleasant old codger who seemingly harbored countless snakes in his body; one of the strongest men in Korea both in name and reality who unfortunately fell short of the league of Nine Stars 50 years ago; the second-generation successor and the real owner of Daehyun – Chae Joochul the Immortal .

This old man was not someone Yoo Jinhyuk could handle .

“…Ah, I just got a call . Let’s talk later!”

The Yoo clan has grown, but from its founding, it was the hunting dog of the Chae clan .

Chae Joochul was someone who would abandon his hunting dog without hesitation, so he wouldn’t mind letting a few of that hunting dog’s children die .

—Wait, Uncle, when will you be done with…

Yoo Jinhyuk hung up before Yoo Yeonha could finish .

**

“Why were you late, Nayun-ssi?”

Waiting for Yoo Yeonha to come back from the restroom, Park Sangho asked Chae Nayun .

“Ah, well, I visited Grandfather . ”

“Nayun’s grandfather? So that must be… his honor Chae Joochul . ”

“Yes, I haven’t seen him in a while, so it took some time . Sorry . ”

“No, no, it’s only natural . So, I presume he’s doing fine?”

Park Sangho made a fuss, which was understandable since Chae Nayun’s grandfather, Chae Joochul, was one of the strongest people in the entire world .

There was no Hero who didn’t look up to him .

“Ah, sorry, I’m done now . ”

At that moment, Yoo Yeonha came back from the restroom . Chae Nayun blurted out jokingly .

“How does it take you so long to take a dump?”

“I didn’t . Anyways, Sangho-ssi, what’s our next schedule?”

Yoo Yeonha’s voice seemed somewhat sharp .

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters .