Just by existing, he was interesting, irritating, somewhat novel...... someone Im Haekyung wanted to control, yet couldn’t quite afford to meddle with carelessly. The reason Im Haekyung had been “going easy” on Seo Jehyun came from that exact same context.
Even if there was no denying that Seo Jehyun was teetering right on the edge of what Im Haekyung could tolerate.
‘If he starts affecting public perception, that’s a bit of a problem.’
Perching on the desk, Im Haekyung looked down at the artifacts spread across it. They were rewards obtained a few days ago after clearing a Dungeon.
When Haekyung lifted one and held it up to the light, the glow scattered through the crystal and the entire artifact gave off a faint shimmer. Haekyung stared at it for quite a while, lost in thought for a moment.
Before making any decision, the risks and benefits had to be weighed with razor precision. From the beginning, Haekyung had never expected there to be only positive effects and no danger at all. If anything, the absence of risk was practically the same as saying it simply wasn’t worth much.
In that sense, “Seo Jehyun” was, in every way, a variable with enormous risk.
‘Still, he could bring profit....’
Out of the countless questions surrounding Seo Jehyun, what interested Im Haekyung the most was the prohibition that tightly bound Seo Jehyun’s mind. And whether that prohibition was in fact related to this upheaval. After that, there was no need to think too deeply about the finer gains. Information monopoly and first access alone were more than enough.
A suspiciously useful set of Skills, biased information, excellent appraisal ability, and a beast-fused Hunter.... Every single one of those was too much to belong to one person.
But despite all that value, if Seo Jehyun’s very existence repeatedly brought in enormous risk...... then how far should that be tolerated?
Controlling the situation to some extent had now become essential. To call Im Haekyung’s need for control an inborn trait would be inaccurate, because there had always been intent behind it each time, meaning it was never an unconscious tendency. Besides, Im Haekyung was no longer some child accidentally picked up under a businessman’s hand...... but the guild master running the highest-ranked guild in South Korea in the middle of deliberate devaluation.
If you tried to grab everything blindly, you were bound to lose a lot. No matter how tightly you clenched sand in your fist, once you came to your senses the waves would have washed it all away, leaving nothing in your hand.
So it was always necessary to keep at least a minimal sacrifice in mind.
And recently, Im Haekyung had already finished making one minimal sacrifice.
Surprisingly enough, there had been no grand intention behind telling Seo Jehyun the details of those family matters.
The truth was, Im Haekyung had neatly erased that past, but it wasn’t because it was some kind of emotional weakness. To begin with, deprivation related to family wasn’t what made up the foundation of Im Haekyung.
Still, unrelated to deprivation, Im Haekyung did have attachments to people. Even if those attachments did not always extend in a positive direction, and even if they ran contrary to the ethical sense of the person involved, their existence could not ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) be denied.
So Im Haekyung had simply...... been a little curious. Whether Seo Jehyun’s certainty about Song Hwayoung’s death had been meant as provocation, or whether it had simply been certainty.
Even though the conclusion had not been to Haekyung’s liking, Im Haekyung knew how to allow for a certain degree of loss. The situation needed a little more watching, but the fact that she had not died at all was already different from expectation, so it could be let pass with some satisfaction.
Then what about Seo Jehyun?
As far as Im Haekyung knew, Seo Jehyun had nothing remotely resembling family. But if one asked whether there were no factors of attachment at all, there was room for doubt.
For example, the two Hunters Seo Jehyun lived with....
Not in any normal or ordinary way, but Seo Jehyun did feel attachment toward Joo Seowon and Do Yehyun. Though it seemed closer to possessiveness over an object, or a desire for control, than affection for a person.
In other words, it was less “protecting someone precious” and more...... “trying to keep something precious from breaking.” He acted like he let them run loose whenever he pleased, but the moment things turned dangerous, didn’t he always go pick them back up?
‘Looks like he doesn’t let Hunter Joo enter Dungeons at all. Is it because he’s not combat-type?’
It would have been nice if there were some way to quantify exactly how much attachment Seo Jehyun felt, but even if there wasn’t, it didn’t really matter.
Im Haekyung knew Haekyungself well enough, so Haekyung believed predicting Seo Jehyun to some degree was also possible.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
As soon as Im Haekyung finished speaking, the door opened and a Haeseong employee stepped into the office.
“I’ve sent over the materials regarding Hunter Seo. You should be able to check them now.”
“Ah... that was fast. Thanks.”
The employee started to close the door, then hesitated for a moment.
“...Um, Guild Master. Just to summarize briefly....”
“Yes.”
“I heard Hunter Seo caused an incident.”
“An accident happened?”
“No, he caused an accident....”
“Where... and what kind of accident did he cause?”
“Uh... he ran over Hunter Kwon Taehan with a car.”
Prediction Seo Jehyun to some degree was also....
“.......”
“They’re still investigating whether it was sudden unintended acceleration, but... um, judging from the video posted on social media, Hunter Seo backed the car up and hit him again....”
“.......”
“The speed was apparently pretty high, enough that both cars were completely crushed. And Hunter Kwon Taehan had just cleared an A-rank Gate, so he lost consciousness and was immediately taken to the hospital.”
Seeing Im Haekyung’s expression gradually turning strange, the Haeseong employee hurriedly added more.
“Ah...! But Hunter Kwon Taehan is alive.”
“Well, that’s... helpful and precious information.”
“Yes, it’s really a relief.... There were a lot of cameras nearby, and there happened to be a broadcasting station doing a live broadcast, so the situation was relayed right away....”
“They filmed that?”
“To be precise, it seems Hunter Seo asked them to film it.”
The more Im Haekyung listened to the explanation from the Haeseong employee, the more an intense wave of fatigue began to hit for reasons Haekyung couldn’t quite understand. Quietly, Im Haekyung tilted Haekyung head a little and asked back,
“...Why?”
“Well... um... apparently he said he wanted to compensate him.”
“The hit-you-with-a-car-and-take-your personal-info method? Even if not, he already knew his personal info, so why....”
“I don’t know the exact details, but if you look up what’s going around online, apparently Hunter Kwon Taehan once grabbed Hunter Seo by the collar.”
“Taehan grabbed him by the collar... so Jehyun hit him with a car?”
Strangely enough, the more Haekyung heard, the more it sounded like the actions of an unstable psychopath with anger management issues and a completely wrecked personality....
Anyway, it certainly seemed that this time again Seo Jehyun had gotten fixated on Kwon Taehan. If every time something like that happened he caused a traffic accident, then from that point on it would become a serious problem.
The Haeseong employee blinked obediently, as though waiting for Im Haekyung to speak. Im Haekyung lifted the corners of Haekyung mouth back into place and spoke calmly.
“Understood.”
“May I ask what action you’re planning to take?”
“I’ll first look through the materials you sent me... and I’ll see what can be cleaned up.”
“Wow....”
At those words from Im Haekyung, the Haeseong employee let out a short little exclamation.
“Hmm?”
“It’s just surprising that you two are somehow that personally close....”
“Haha....”
Right. Among the incidents Seo Jehyun had caused...... there was this kind too.
Im Haekyung let out an involuntary bitter laugh, then hardened Haekyung expression.
“It’s not for any special reason. It’s just that he’ll be coming into Haeseong, and if there’s too much noise around him, that would be troublesome.”
“Ah, yes sir. Then I’ll take it as confirmed that he’s changing jobs to Haeseong.”
“Jehyun has good abilities... and bringing in talented people is important.”
“...Yes, sir!”
“He’s good at appraisals too....”
At the Haeseong employee’s peculiar expression, Im Haekyung tried to add more about Seo Jehyun’s necessity, only to see the expression become even stranger.
“...Yes! He seems to be an excellent appraiser. Haeseong already has quite a few appraisers, but as the number of cleared Dungeons increases, it would be... good if the number of appraisers needed also went up?”
“.......”
Even if Haekyung wanted to add more about Seo Jehyun’s useful Skills, it would only make the explanation longer, and besides, those were all matters that weren’t supposed to be known and had to be kept quiet.
Having cleanly given up on trying to convince the Haeseong employee, Im Haekyung slowly spoke with a faint smile.
“...Yes. We really are very close personally... so I’ll clean up this matter properly.”
“Yes...! I-I’ll do my best too.”
“Haha.... You should go now.”
“Yes, Guild Master.”
Once Haekyung confirmed the door had closed, Im Haekyung squeezed Haekyung eyes shut, then opened them and read through the compiled materials the employee had gathered.
To think someone could fail to understand “stay still” to this degree. It really hadn’t seemed like that difficult a request, so it was nothing short of amazing.
As Im Haekyung examined the public reaction and searched for an opening to exploit, Haekyung made a quick decision.
This couldn’t be left alone anymore. Which meant that now, for Seo Jehyun—who had been left with a high degree of freedom until this point...... the time had come to collect compensation for all that.
At present, with his ties to a guild severed, Seo Jehyun could no longer hide inside one. He had no ties to the Hunter Association, nor was he connected to the Special Response Team. He did seem fairly close to the captain of the Special Response Team, but that side, in any case, had the kind of temperament that could never truly grow close to Seo Jehyun.
‘Cheonmyeonggyo (Church of Heavenly Decree)?’
It was a little concerning that Seo Jehyun had shown such unusual interest there, but whether Seo Jehyun could really handle “Jin Haedo” was a different matter entirely, so it didn’t matter.
‘What about just driving him into a corner....’
What if public opinion were dragged all the way to rock bottom? He wasn’t really a criminal, but if people came to perceive him as almost one.... Then certainly there would be far fewer places left for him to hide.
But would Seo Jehyun care about public opinion?
In an instant, Im Haekyung calculated a range of possibilities.
Seo Jehyun’s attachments were narrow, and the same was true of his relationships. At the moment, the only people it would be reasonable to judge as having gone beyond mere interest into “attachment” for Seo Jehyun were...... probably the Hunters living with him.
Very oddly enough, that side’s attachment toward Seo Jehyun was also considerable....
‘Right.... There’s a need to control this a bit.’
Having finished that train of thought with a calm expression, Im Haekyung reached a conclusion in an instant.
For now, it seemed best to start with something very simple.
For example, by cutting off the “information” flowing toward Seo Jehyun.
