Chapter 150 – Defense Corruption (1)
“Today, I’m going to eat the smoked brisket I got last time with cider!”
Snack time after lunch…
It might seem a bit strange that she just ate lunch and had a snack, but that’s normal for Tia.
Anyway, Tia proudly said, taking out the brisket made by Kim Jung-tae.
Alice muttered next to her as if she was completely fed up.
“Eat too salty.”
“So there’s cider! It’s sweet, salty, sweet.”
While Tia was defending herself diligently.
Some hunters rushed outside the office.
A look full of murderous intent on her face, despite wearing her normal clothes.
Upon intuition that something had happened, Lee Seo-woo greeted them.
“Wait a minute! If you suddenly come like this…”
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s okay, Seo Woo. I’ll take care of it.”
“Yes. Chief.”
“Huh? What are you guys doing here?”
At that time, Alice recognized them.
Looking at the badge on his chest her, he seems to belong to Winter Kingdom.
Hunters were relatively young in age.
Perhaps even compared to Alice, the age difference is not large.
“Senior Alice! We’ve been through something really ridiculous…”
“No, but do you think it’s okay if I come to you like this without contacting you?”
“Oh, that’s…”
“It’s okay. I didn’t have any work anyway.”
I led them to a separate room.
Alice, meanwhile, also bruised her juniors.
Thanks to that, the guys can’t even raise their heads properly.
In fact, it is true that it is very difficult to come here suddenly.
‘Did I just upload it because it’s Winter Kingdom, not another place…’
When I asked the guards in the lobby internally and asked what they were doing, the guild members shook their heads and explained the situation.
These guys aren’t very stupid either, but I wonder if they came here like this.
“So, what did you find?”
“Sorry to embarrass you, Investigator. But, something I couldn’t understand happened…”
“Please look at this first.”
Alice’s juniors took out something from her backpack one by one.
I took a small portable flashlight and looked at it slowly.
It was a strangely familiar looking flashlight.
“What is this?”
“These are the items delivered this morning from the official designated business of the Hunter Association.”
“Oh, it’s munitions?”
“That’s right.”
Since all hunters active in Korea are treated as soldiers belonging to the association, these supplies become munitions.
However, they are not very familiar to active hunters.
Because…
‘Because I usually use cheap clothes.’
Hunters’ equipment is directly related to their lives, so they are not satisfied with ordinary supplies.
It would be nice if the supplies were of high quality, but it is inevitable that the quality will become ambiguous when considering cost-effectiveness.
In addition, there is a prejudice that military supplies are of poor quality.
I flipped the switch on the flashlight that looked like a green pipe and turned it on.
By the way, isn’t the flashlight blinking for a while and then turning off?
Obviously the switch is on, but it doesn’t work properly.
While I was a little flustered, Alice stood by her and pretended to know.
“This… That’s it. A magic flashlight.”
“A magic flashlight?”
“It’s nicknamed the magic flashlight because it’s a flashlight that never works. Even if it works properly, the light output is terrible, so it’s a useless item.”
“…”
Apparently, it was a fairly famous type of munitions.
The petitioners took out and showed the following supplies.
“These combat boots are terrible too.”
“My emergency rations were already rotten.”
As you can see, there are almost no normal types.
Feeling my head pounding, I looked at them one by one.
“Serious. Was it like this?”
“It wasn’t like this in our time…”
Alice, too, looked a bit flustered as if it was beyond her imagination.
As you can see, it seems to have deteriorated more and more as time passed.
I clicked my tongue, forevoding that it would be a troublesome incident.
“So, what do you want to do?”
“Of course I want to sue. Is that possible?”
“Soo-ra…”
This case is a kind of corruption…
Usually this is difficult to deal with.
I don’t know if the damage has already occurred because of the supplied munitions.
Otherwise, it will be a pretty boring and tough fight.
I asked Alice’s juniors.
“Did you come to talk to a lawyer?”
“No…”
“Winter Kingdom’s lawyers are the most expensive and skilled noblemen in Korea… Why don’t you come after a consultation? Also, hunters belonging to the guild are often restricted according to contracts.”
It seems that I came here once because I couldn’t win in a minute.
It definitely looks young.
“But since you reported it, let’s investigate. Please write a statement first.”
“Thank you, Detective.”
A bit sudden, but…
Not being able to use most of the supplies is definitely a problem.
It’s not like hunters don’t pay taxes, but the equipment they bought with the tax is all rubbish.
Listening to what Alice said, it seems that this has been a problem for a long time.
First of all, I looked at the supplier, who can be said to be the protagonist of this case.
Currently, most of the supplies are being delivered to ‘Shimyeonggunsan’.
The ratings of Shim Yeong-Gunsan, which I searched on the Internet, were really the worst.
It seems that the hunters who have already passed by have taken one star.
“This time, is it corruption in the military… He takes on all sorts of cases. Why are the incidents and accidents in the world so colorful…”
“Mi-sorry. I think you came here because of me.”
When Alice looked at her juniors and apologized for no reason, I shook my head.
“It’s been a while since I was bored. Then… Should I make a phone call in case you don’t know?”
“Call? Where?”
“The president’s office.”
I immediately picked up the extension phone and put in a call.
Alice looked bewildered, but this had its own reasons.
“Ah, Chairman. Do you know Simyeong-gunsan? Yes. The association’s official supplier. What? Come up to the president’s office? It’s annoying, but come down yourself…”
I grumbled a little and went up the elevator with Alice to see the president of the association with a very uncomfortable face.
He frowned as if he had a rough idea of what was going on.
“It’s Simyeonggun Mountain… Did you happen to have an accident there?”
“If it’s an accident that the quality of supplies is shit, it’s an accident.”
“Ah, that’s right. Then, even if it’s a damage report…”
The president of the association, who seems to know the situation already.
I asked him, thinking it was a good idea to call again.
“Should I explain, or would you like the president to explain himself?”
“Huh? What?”
Alice is still at a loss.
The president of the association glanced at me without saying anything.
I mean try it once.
“Isn’t Simyeonggunsan a place where disabled hunters work?”
“… That’s right.”
“Yes?”
It was like that too.
The Hunter Association is an advanced government agency in its own way.
Of course, this is only true for government agencies, but since it was created recently, corruption is relatively low.
The reason why the association designated the messy Simyeong-Gunsan as a military supplier is simple.
The company itself, Simyeonggunsan, is a part of welfare.
I explained it for Alice, who still had no idea.
“Retired hunters who can no longer be active due to injuries sustained during active duty… The re-employment place for such people is Simyeonggunsan.”
“Ah…”
In fact, the president of Gunsan Simyeong was a first-generation hunter who performed heroic activities on the frontlines.
He is a person of the same era as Lee Jae-han, who was arrested for a sex crime a while ago.
After suffering a serious injury and retiring, he founded Simyeong Gunsan…
The association gave away military contracts for those who sacrificed for the country.
Once you get a military supply contract, from then on, you can work diligently without worrying about anything else.
After explaining this, I was a bit dumbfounded and asked the president of the association.
“How are you following the history of corruption in the defense industry in the Korean military? Are you insane?”
“That’s what my former president of the association did… At the time, the association didn’t have any money, so we had no choice but to compensate that way.”
“Then go out and replace it immediately. Before I destroy it myself.”
It is an undeniable fact that the disabled hunters sacrificed themselves for the country, but…
That doesn’t mean you can’t work this way.
Isn’t it clear that you shouldn’t commit a sin even if you’ve built a ball?
However, the president of the association was very passive today.
“Anyway, the current supply itself is shrinking, so why not just deal with it quietly?”
It was only natural that he would give up.
Currently, the creation of gates and dungeons around the world is rapidly decreasing.
In other words, it can be said that it is the twilight of hunters.
Since the demand and number of hunters are decreasing, of course the number of supplies is also decreasing.
In the midst of that, he probably didn’t want to become a hot topic by picking up a military supply company like Simyeong-Gunsan.
But I had a very negative reaction to him.
“The disappearance of dungeons and gates does not mean that supplies will also disappear. From now on, instead of monsters, we must be wary of hunters from other countries.”
The military is an essential element for any country in any era!
The reason why corruption in the defense industry is evil is not different.
Even if you make mistakes in the army anyway, the group called the army will never disappear.
It is not even clear whether they will be properly punished or not.
They believe in it and commit corruption.
In other words, corruption in the defense industry is, after all, an act of fraud carried out by holding the lives of innocent people hostage.
Nevertheless, the president of the association still reacted negatively.
“No. I can’t allow it. What will be the position of the association if we do that?”
“It’s true that I’m so comfortable and friendly these days.”
When I let out a small sigh, the president’s body his trembled.
I checked with him again.
“Then what do you mean you don’t have to formally prosecute?”
“Well, yes, but… Then what are you going to do without prosecuting?”
“I’d rather not know anything. Emotionally.”
“…”
The head of the association closed his eyes tightly, unable to say anything more.
Alice and I left him alone and went down to the office.
