Chapter 411. Now it's gone.
In broad daylight, in a sunlit space, soone is having a conversation.
"What did you say? Did that call really co through?"
What caught their eye on one side of their vision was a neatly printed sign that read: 【Faith】. And as they stared into itly at the Korean sign, a reflection appeared in one of the windows. Two adults were having a conversation on a red l eather sofa.
"I'm telling you. That guy was absolutely losing it at the crack of dawn."
One of them was the company's top decision-maker. And the other, despite having an impressive title, was basically a parachute hire with no real responsibilities—yet here they were, sitting across from each other, casually chatting.
"If anyone saw you, they'd think you're so upright pillar of the people."
"Even though he's been pocketing bribes! What gives him the right to point fingers at others?"
"But anyway, the important thing is that the police suddenly got mad at over the Choi Jinhee case."
They chatted idly for a while. Since there was no one around to overhear, they didn't hesitate to speak openly about th e unusual topic of a college student's death.
"Surely this isn't about Ahn Yoonseung Hunter ddling sowhere else before he died, is it?"
The voice was clearly angry, yet it didn't carry any real sense of imminent danger.
"Before spouting nonsense, don't tell you acted that quickly."
As you can tell from this ambiguous atmosphere, they still didn't know that the victim abandoned at the gate had been rediscovered. If everything had gone according to plan, the evidence—the body—would have vanished. Moreover, re al police were controlling the investigation to prevent any leaks, so there was no way all the details would reach the ea rs of this peripheral guild.
"Yeah. They definitely took care to make sure the body couldn't be found. Everything went smoothly... but I don't kno w why I've had such a bad feeling since earlier."
"Could it be that the guys who got paid ssed sothing up...?"
"That could be possible, I suppose."
A sudden sense of unease flared up. But there was no imdiate way to know the truth. For now, the executives of [F aith] focused on the conversation at hand.
"What on earth is Choi Jin supposed to do about that from now on?"
Whether or not the police get involved, their biggest concern for now was this.
Choi Jin.
In this chaotic era still reeling from the Dungeon Shock, she was a top-tier talent barely held in check by unscrupulous entrepreneurs.
"Haa."
Moreover, she was such a top-tier talent that the very first line of the [Knight's Oath] already included a safety clause. There was really no need to imagine that Hunter Choi would get angry and try to kill them.
"The sisters wouldn't have been able to enter this building even if they had developed the intent to kill."
A young man, who was not an Awakener, tilted his head.
"It'd be a problem if that Choi Jin, because of his sister's death, starts thinking strange thoughts...?"
For reference, the inco of a skilled A-rank Hunter is truly on the scale of a corporation. Moreover, they were seizing all of the massive earnings that Choi Jin made. The man in the suit loosened his tie halfway. Imagining the enormous p otential losses ahead, he acted out in an uncharacteristically childish way.
"Ugh! This is infuriating. Honestly, what a sudden disaster this is."
"Would you like a glass of cold water?"
"Honestly, there's nothing profitable in this guild besides those sisters!"
But on second thought, it didn't really seem like there was any need to despair this much.
"Um... Director Sung, but don't worry too much for now. If we handle Choi Jin properly, we can make sure the job gets done sohow."
The subordinate standing next to him spoke up imdiately.
"Of course, given the circumstances, he might worry a little for a short while."
"That's right. That's what I'm worried about."
"No matter how much her younger sister died, do you really think soone would go so far as to throw away their ow n life?"
"Hmm."
"It's just a sister. A sister. Well, I an, Choi Jin does tend to care for her family more than most people do, but in the end, ti passes and your own life always becos the most important thing."
"Is that so?"
"Besides, I have many siblings, so I understand better, but honestly, I don't care what happens to that family anymore. All the fighting and bickering was just when they were kids, anyway."
"Oh, right. You said you had two older brothers, didn't you?"
"As I've gotten older, everyone's been making their own lives—"
If the speculation that just ca up was correct, there couldn't be better news. For example, if they offered to reduce her workload... as long as they could maintain the contractual relationship with Choi Jin, that A-rank, how wonderful w ould that be?
"Hmm. Right. Since she's been struggling so much after her younger sister's death, let's subtly explain that we want to reduce her working hours out of human compassion."
A man wearing a platinum watch rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
"Then, after the funeral, we'll try to coax Choi Jin slowly..."
"Yes, yes."
"XX. But that Choi Jin, if she's got any conscience, should just work diligently. Even now, thinking about the [Dragon's Heart] incident still turns my stomach completely."
"That's right."
"Looking back, we really shouldn't have used that cheap emotion manipulator. We didn't even realize it was an item th at could save the country, and we just fed it to Choi Jin!"
"How great it would have been if we could have retrieved it, even by cutting her open."
"Damn it—I only approved it as if I were upgrading a money-making tool."
"Haha."
"Anyway, I'm not letting Choi Jin have that [Dragon's Heart] until I've gotten every bit of its value back. Got it?"
The first thoughts that ca to mind were excuses and the like to use on Choi Jin in the future. But as ti passed, th ey gradually turned their attention to an entirely new topic.
Ssshk.
The first to bring up the topic was the man sitting near the blinds.
"By the way, no matter how I think about it, that phone call this morning keeps bothering ."
Additionally, [Faith] didn't even know that Ahn Yoonseung had connections with the broadcasting industry. Yet, how c ould such a third-rate guild, with so little information, plan such a brazen cri? If you think about it logically, when so one reports sothing to the police—especially an ordinary college student—they would usually wait patiently until a response cos from the public authorities. So [Faith] used a familiar acquaintance they knew to carry out this a sure.
"They probably thought that if they pretended the report was properly filed and just bought so ti, everything wou ld stay quiet."
Moreover, it wasn't only the procedure that they had covered up.
The corpse.
Above all, they had dumped the traces of murder—the most crucial evidence—beyond the gate.
"Why are the police calling at this hour?"
The man wearing the watch frowned and spoke.
"Ah, seriously. Didn't that bald b*stard lose his patience for a mont and go blabbing sowhere again...?"
For a while, the [Faith] guild master continued grumbling. One of the parachute-in employees nearby responded. Alt hough their expression wasn't exactly cheerful—after all, they were operating in a realm of illegality that few dared to touch, p er—they still seed to have sothing to say and voiced their opinion without hesitation.
"If you're going to be this anxious, you shouldn't have carried out the operation."
"Huh!"
"You're not asking so random thug, after all. Weren't you a bit hasty?"
But as soon as the voice of concern rang out, his fiery anger returned.
"Hey, you brat! 'Hasty' my ass. We already know Choi Jinhee told him about the contract and then died. What good w ould it do to bumble around and argue among ourselves?!"
"Ouch. My ear."
"Just dawdle for no reason and get caught by the dia or sothing. From that mont on, things are going to get r eally painful."
"Hyung-nim, please calm down."
"Anyway, that Ahn Yoonseung was already snooping around our company, probably looking for so kind of evidenc e or sothing...?"
Why would soone with a genetic predisposition to high blood pressure be so dangerously upset?
"That was the best course of action."
"Haa."
"It was best to question him imdiately before he started blabbering sowhere else, wasn't it?"
"True, going to the dia is usually sothing people do only when the police haven't handled it properly..."
But then, at that mont, the [Faith] guild master, who had been raising his voice for a while, caught his breath and su ddenly asked a question.
"Hey, hey. By the way, are the big bosses really coming to the country next month?"
The subordinate replied.
"Yes."
An A-rank Awakener. From a wealthy family. Moreover, a rookie hunter who had recently gained rapid skill improve nts and was attracting attention everywhere. Ahn Yoonseung.
In truth, even they didn't really want to ss with soone so conspicuous, but there were special circumstances and reasons behind it.
"Hah. This is a big deal. Why would those people, like king likes abroad, suddenly co here...?"
"Maybe they've already figured it out? Besides, this ti it won't end with just a little tidying up. Ah, it seems they've al ready stationed people around so there's no escape—"
"Judging by the fact that they're coming to Korea at all, they're probably planning to go through the accounts complet ely this ti."
[Faith] Guild. This place was originally a laundering terminal that funneled illegal funds generated overseas into the co untry.
Pyromancer Necklace. And, on a larger scale, things like the Hydra, and so on.
Because most dungeon artifacts could only be handled separately by corporations connected to the hunting industry, they would buy mid-tier items dostically and then resell them to third countries as a separate business. They also i weaked the revenue from that process little by little. The core of their tax evasion and money-laundering was, precisel y, otherworldly drugs—potions.
Conveniently, the evidence vanished, and they explained to the state that they'd spent all the money buying those outr ageously expensive drugs. In reality, the potions they'd supposedly purchased were exchanged on the black market. I n professional terms, they treated the transactions as a kind of "faked" processing. Using this thod, they had alread y committed nurous financial cris. If it was difficult to convert company funds into cash at once, they would sim ply buy high-priced items under the pretext that Choi Jin would use them. In this world there are many tiny items price d in the billions, so it was easy to bury money here and there.
"Phew..."
Until now, this laundering business had been running fairly smoothly. But recently, so problems had arisen in their e nvironnt.
"If we can no longer use Choi Jin, we're finished..."
"But do you think we can cover all that laundered money just by milking her dry?"
"So what—are we just going to take the beating and die with it? This is basically our last chance, so start thinking about getting the money in right away!"
Actually, there was no need for a long discussion.
They had simply gotten themselves into trouble by spending the funds that the higher-ups of the organization were tra nsferring at their own discretion. However, since they were operating in a realm of illegality that few dared to touch, pr oblems soon followed for the head of [Faith]. In this line of work, committing embezzlent didn't just get resolved thr ough ordinary disciplinary asures.
"Anyway, the world's really improved. Now we don't even have to prepare cent to make sure it doesn't float out to sea."
"What do you an it's improved?"
"There's a free morgue at the gate now. If we slip up even once, we'll end up like Ahn Yoonseung."
[Neo Sisters].
[Korean Magic Tower].
Of course, attracting manpower among such giant guilds required effort. [Faith] had reinvested all the profits earned b y its employees back into the company during its expansion. Moreover, since they fundantally offered payout rates favorable to hunters, the profits from the hunting business itself weren't particularly large.
"I shouldn't have been greedy. I should have just made do with exploiting Choi Jin's team a little and been satisfied."
"Ah—but honestly, the commissions we were getting..."
So they just set aside a little "service fee" when managing funds. After all, in this world, why only needs one or tw o essential items? For the sake of social appearances, they still rode in nice cars. Since they had the title of guild mast er anyway, they even bought that so-called safety artifact that every wealthy person supposedly owns. And since the company dealt with lots of potions anyway, the extra was occasionally drinking a cup of [Advanced Healing Potio n], which supposedly had beneficial effects on the body's age—
"I don't know anymore."
The embezzled amount they had been siphoning off by little by little totaled a staggering 9.1 billion won.
9.1 billion won. Yet, surprisingly, it wasn't an insurmountable amount—especially if they relentlessly pushed Choi Jin, a famous A-rank, into dungeons and the broadcasting world, and sold off the reserve hunter equipnt they had on han d.
So, that's what happened.
"I've got a bad feeling about this. If—God forbid—it ever cos out that we did sothing to Ahn Yoonseung..."
"What if we get caught?"
"Let's just close up shop and disappear."
"What about the company?"
"The kids we bought from that bottom-tier GDP country have already fled abroad, haven't they?"
"...?"
"Even if fingerprints were left at the scene, it'd be a pain to catch them—and even if those guys get arrested, the polic e won't imdiately co poking into us."
"Hmm."
"Anyway, this is all just to buy ti. Let's grind hard for the rest of the first half of the year, sohow fool the big boss es, and then we'll make a run for it."
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Unlike electronic watches that adjust themselves automatically, an automatic watch requires its owner to perform regu lar maintenance.
"Besides, even if the police actually found out everything, murder solicitation? How many years would that get you?"
The person sitting on the single-seater sofa checked the accessory on their wrist and got up.
"Alright. Let's stop worrying. I'm 35 this year, and you're 29. We're still young."
"Is that so?"
"Rather than letting the big bosses find out our money bags are empty, it's better to just brace ourselves for prison an d keep making money."
But just at the mont he finished stretching.
beep, beep, beep.
Suddenly, a phone rang from one corner of the room. To be precise, it was the office line installed in the room that wa s ringing.
"What? Why?"
"Sir, a guest has just arrived in the first-floor lobby."
"Visitor?"
Then the schedule for the day flashed through the director's mind.
"Could it be that the person from the trading company we had an appointnt with today has already arrived?"
This guild had an official license and also agreed, to so extent, in item exports.
"Uh... Uh... Yes. That's right. That's right."
This place was a corporation openly established with it intent. However, they couldn't just deal exclusively with comp anies that were too conspicuous.
So, the person on the other end of the line must have been soone from a dummy business partner.
"Hmm. Is that so?"
"It's a bit early, but since there's a free slot in the schedule right now, I'll first guide the guest upstairs."
"Okay. Feel free to do whatever you want."
But what was going on?
A few minutes later, they t the visitor they had been introduced to in advance. However, the person who appeared had a look they had never seen before.
"Huh? You're not the person in charge, are you?"
Freckles. Light-colored hair. A white person who appeared out of nowhere from an Asian client. Moreover, the clothes he's wearing are also sowhat odd to be called business casual.
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