Chapter 81 – Corporations (1)
Due to the nature of the special unit, which is extremely short on personnel, business trips to local areas are always a big deal.
The workload is rampant, but the number of workers is so insufficient that some team members even reside in local metropolitan cities.
I greeted the team members who had been on business trips, thinking that I would somehow replenish them.
“Oh, have you been?”
“Yes. Chief.”
“Didn’t everything go well?”
“The business trip went well, but on the way back there was a strange incident.”
“Wonderment?”
As if they had waited, they revealed the details of the incident.
“It’s a car accident that Hunter was involved in, but it’s quite unusual.”
“Suddenly, a car accident…”
It’s a case that’s rarely dealt with in the special forces, so I’m a little interested.
Besides, the ones who went on a business trip this time were members of the team who were Servants.
It means that it is not an ordinary incident that the guys who have a faint expression of emotion showed interest.
“If the Hunter is involved, is he the perpetrator?”
“Hunter is already dead.”
“Dead?”
Could it be that he was a Hunter with a low rank?
I thought so and accepted the data presented by the team members.
The deceased was a B-rank physical enhancement hunter belonging to a small to medium guild.
The problem is that this nobleman also caused the car accident.
It was an incident in which a vehicle returning to Seoul after completing a dungeon attack invaded the center line and collided with a vehicle on the other side.
“Are the other vehicles relatively intact… But to say that the physical enhancement hunter died in a car accident.”
It’s not even that low of a B rank.
Like the last bike thief, I wondered if it was a case where the hunter’s abilities were concentrated, but it seems that’s not the case.
Alice, like an incumbent hunter, immediately showed interest.
“If it’s a proper physical strengthening system, you’ll be able to save your life even if you get hit by a truck, right?”
“Isn’t it? Did your insurance company friends arrive on time?”
“Yes. This material is also referenced there.”
The team members had even secured the black box video.
The vehicle wasn’t completely destroyed, it was just stuck on the side of the road, but the physical enhancement hunter died.
Conceptually, this is impossible.
It’s a fact I learned a long time ago… Even if you decide to kill the hunters of that line, they don’t die well.
A traffic accident of this magnitude cannot be the cause of death for a physical enhancement type hunter.
If so, there is only one possible conclusion.
“Are traffic accidents the result, not the cause?”
“Huh? What does that mean?”
“So, the deceased was already dead right before the traffic accident happened. As a result, the traffic accident occurred because he lost control of the vehicle.”
“Ah…”
The insurance company’s data also corroborated my reasoning.
The victim’s cause of death was myocardial infarction.
This is a sign that a man at the peak of his work, let alone a body-enhancement type hunter, can’t imagine!
“It’s nonsense. A man in his 30s who is in the middle of work… That’s why a body-enhancing hunter has a heart attack? Even if I put a gun to his chest and shoot him, it won’t pierce it .”
“As a result of analyzing the black box video of the oncoming vehicle, the victim appears to have already died right before the accident.”
“…Is it murder?”
“Please refer to the autopsy log for that.”
Did you even do an autopsy?
It’s definitely gross.
As I looked through the records, my face hardened in an instant.
“What is this… That the age of the body was already at the level of 50?”
“What shall we do? Investigate?”
“Where are the bereaved families of the deceased? I need to meet them right now to hear their story.”
“He should have moved to the funeral home by now. He was also very cooperative with the investigation.”
“Guide me.”
The fact that the bereaved families are cooperative means that there is something unfair or something to point out.
We visited them without hesitation.
I finally got a feel for it, but Alice doesn’t seem to understand it yet.
Since she knew Hunter well, she was rather unconvinced.
“Physical strengthening system is not just an ability that strengthens arm strength. Usually, it also strengthens the durability of the cardiovascular system and myocardium. Otherwise, the body cannot withstand.”
“Right.”
“But how did you say that such a Hunter died of myocardial infarction?”
“It’s simpler than you think.”
“Simple?”
“Yes. It’s a very basic principle. No matter how powerful an ability is, it’s useless without magical power.”
You can tell just by looking at the green dust I use.
To be precise, the effect of green dust is ‘mana-sharing debonding’.
It is to nullify the hunter’s ability by forcibly separating the magic from the target.
Of course, normal hunters rarely go that far.
It’s almost unprecedented for mana to be consumed until life activity stops.
Usually, we instinctively leave a certain amount behind.
Even so, the fact that all of his mana was consumed…
“I’m suspecting death from overwork right now. Serious fatigue can cause myocardial infarction.”
“Hunter… Died of overwork?!”
“It’s not impossible.”
Just as expected.
As soon as the wife of the deceased saw me, she complained of regret.
This one is still only in the early 30’s.
Beside her stood her young son her, who must have been five years old, with a very confused look on his face.
I calmed her down a bit and carefully questioned her.
“I’m really sorry about your husband’s work. It must be very difficult, but you just need to calm down as much as possible and answer my questions simply. Is that possible?”
“Oh, I’d rather ask.”
“Okay. Then, by any chance, how many hours did the deceased work a day?”
When I revealed that I was investigating whether I had died from overwork, her face changed as if she had seen a savior.
“It was ridiculously long. There were many cases where I went out at 6 in the morning and returned at 12 noon!”
“…Wait, the dark horse guild the deceased worked for must have been located in Seoul, right?”
Dark Horse Guild.
It is a small and medium-sized guild with less than 50 employees, and its main business is subcontracting large guilds.
The kind that clears countless low-level dungeons on behalf of large guilds.
In a way, it can be seen as the most suitable place for the justice of the Hunter Guild.
In particular, these guilds are mostly in charge of low-level dungeons that appear in provinces or above the 38th parallel.
The wife of the deceased openly took offense at my words.
“What do guilds in Seoul do? They say that every day is far and only send them on business trips to the provinces…”
But. There are almost no dungeons left in the Gyeonggi-do area, as the creation of dungeons has decreased.
That’s why you can only find work when you go down to the provinces that hunters avoid because they are far away.
However, a subcontractor guild that only goes on business trips to the provinces… Only then is there any meaning to subcontracting.
“Are all the low-level dungeons in the provinces preoccupied by large guilds…”
“Because priority is given to the guild that originally found the dungeon. Large guilds with plenty of equipment and manpower have no choice but to have an advantage.”
Alice’s explanation is correct.
Some hunters specialize only in finding unregistered dungeons.
When explorers belonging to a large guild find a low-level dungeon, a subcontractor like the Dark Horse Guild takes over it.
“Then the deceased usually travels a few times a month…”
“Well… I think you’ve been out at least five times?”
“Five times?”
There are less than 2,000 dungeons created in Korea last year.
And even that is becoming less and less.
Of course, dungeons are created even outside the borders, and there are also dungeons that have been neglected so far, so the total would be much more than 2,000… But they go out too often?
In general, it is a rule to leave at least a week between clearing dungeons.
“It doesn’t make much sense… When the hell are the company people coming?”
The temple is dead, but it’s like the nose hasn’t even been shown yet.
As I was venting my anger, they finally showed up.
The black horse guild’s president, hunters, and staff.
Even lawyers joined in and rushed in.
‘There’s no way the subcontractor has an exclusive lawyer… Did the original contractor dispatch it? It’s different.’
The wife of the deceased stiffened her body, looking at them as enemies.
Looking at the facts revealed so far, it was natural that this was the case.
Unusually for a guild master, the president, who seemed to be an ordinary person, found us belatedly and opened his eyes wide.
“Hmm? You guys…”
“This is the association’s special unit. Please cooperate with the investigation.”
“T, special forces?”
As if they hadn’t imagined our appearance, they were buzzing very busily.
I only noticed it now, but the percentage of female employees in the guild is remarkably high.
In particular, almost all hunters who run in the field are women.
The boss was very displeased to see us and shook his head.
“No, investigation by the special forces?
“Will a B-class physical enhancement hunter die in a simple traffic accident? I will judge whether there is an event or not.”
I felt uncomfortable with the reaction of the president, who was exceptionally hostile and full of vigilance.
It’s a bit embarrassing to even say it with my own mouth… Our special unit is the real power among the real power.
S-rank hunters and active guild executives were a group that could be thrown into prison.
Now, quite a few hunters are scared just by looking at my face, but to come out like this.
‘These guys… Do you have a corner where you can get stabbed?’
A lawyer who seemed to have been dispatched from the original office belatedly tried to deal with it, but it was already too late.
“Wait a minute, boss. You can’t talk like that to the investigator.”
“No, this person… Whose side are you on? Just follow the law, follow the law! We’re not at fault anyway!”
I haven’t even started the interrogation yet, but he blows on me on his own.
The lawyer closed his eyes tight, as if he was wrong now.
The boss turned around and tried to leave, but as soon as I lifted my hand, his team members rushed in and blocked the exit.
I laughed in front of the embarrassed boss.
“It’s fine by the law. Do you think I can’t follow the law? You know you can’t be treated as a civilian because you’re the president of the Hunter Guild, right?”
“Rain, get out of the way!”
“All members of the Dark Horse Guild are restrained to prevent the danger of destroying evidence. Jeong-tae, arrest all of these bastards.”
“Yes, chief!”
Strangely excited, Kim Jeong-tae began handcuffing them one after another.
The president’s face was contorted with anger and humiliation.
