Chapter 152 – Haunted House
The morning after the corruption scandal was resolved.
I smelled the aroma of coffee and looked at the news in a satisfied mood.
Of course, the president of Simyeong Gunsan applied for fire insurance, but…
The insurance company was stubbornly refusing to pay the insurance money.
If it was usual, the insurance company should have been cursed.
However, this time the insurance company was unfair in its own way.
At the time of the fire a month ago, the insurance company was applied by the poor management of Simyeonggunsan.
It is only natural that CCTVs are all messed up and dangerous substances are indiscriminately piled up in the warehouse.
They paid the insurance money and were promised measures to prevent a recurrence of the fire.
But as soon as a month or so passed, a bigger fire broke out and burned down the entire factory…
This is something anyone should be suspicious of insurance fraud.
In fact, Simyeonggunsan did not fulfill the insurance company’s request and improvement measures at all.
“For reference, the insurance payment is also a Hunter-related case, so we are in charge.”
“Then is it fire?”
“Right.”
Tia seems to have a sense of it now.
But the good mood didn’t last long.
I was stunned by the news from Blanche.
[Master. Bad news.]
“What? All of a sudden?”
[Really bad news comes suddenly. It’s about Tiamat’s red hair that you fought last time, but it is said that no body has been found in Japan.]
If it’s Tiamat’s red hair, is that the guy I ran into while on a business trip to Japan?
I was a little stunned and bruised Blanche.
“When the hell did that happen, are you talking about it now?”
[Because I didn’t know until now. There was no way to know because the information was treated as paper documents.]
“…”
A bad Japanese habit of sticking to analog in strange places.
But against Blanche, it was a very good choice.
I calmed down and remembered the battle at the time.
The red head was hit directly by the green burst, and was incapacitated by the ensuing sniping.
I saw its silhouette fall… But detailed identification was impossible due to the intense flames and smoke.
There was no room for confirmation kills or anything like that.
Considering Tiamat’s durability and the difficulty of sniping from fire and hot wind, it’s hard to be relieved that he’s definitely dead.
There is a possibility that he somehow survived.
“If the Japanese Association couldn’t find the body, did they run away from the scene?”
[It would be correct to see it that way. So far, the loot has not been processed at all.]
“But now what can he do alone?”
I tried to think positively.
Tia was showing a rather ambiguous face behind me.
Soon after, people who were scheduled for an investigation today rushed in.
I read the case file with the drawn-out telekinesis hunter sitting in front of me.
“You used telekinesis to create a poltergeist phenomenon in a rented house? Why?”
“That, that… I think if rumors spread that the house is haunted, the rent would go down a bit. I’m really sorry.”
The young Hunter, who lowered his head, spoke in a crawling voice.
Today, it hits the goal from the first incident.
Alice and Tia in the back seat are already bewildered.
“No, I know how far I can go down… At least no one has been hurt.”
“Yes. I did it carefully so as not to injure anyone.”
He could have made an excuse saying that he accidentally used his ability while sleeping, but he was honest about it.
I gave him an extra point inwardly and rebuked him.
“Don’t you know that with not great power comes great responsibility?”
“…You know all too well.”
In fact, using one’s abilities inside the house itself is not a big problem.
The problem is that he did not reveal to the landlord that he was a hunter.
Active hunters are obliged to notify the lessor that they are hunters.
When I questioned the reason, he gave an unexpected answer.
“At first, I also said that I was a hunter from real estate, but the price tag changed from then on.”
“Yes? How exactly?”
“The maintenance fee that I had to pay every month increased by at least 20, and the deposit was also 200 more… So I couldn’t possibly find a room.”
I never thought something like that would happen in the world.
If you look for a room outside the city, the association will give you a subsidy, but there is no such thing in the city.
Alice let out her exasperation as if she couldn’t understand.
“Why are you taking more money from Hunter?”
“That’s because there are cases where it actually costs extra.”
If Hunter runs out of sleep, it may actually cost more money.
However, the biggest and most direct cause is…
“And people think that Hunters all make a lot of money.”
“Su, did you know the investigator?”
The young Hunter nodded his head eagerly, even with tears in his eyes.
People in Korea have a habit of setting the average a little higher than the actual value anytime, anywhere.
People’s perception is that [Income of top hunters = average].
In addition, hunters tend to encourage misunderstanding among citizens because they have an image of making good money.
In the past, that was actually true.
However, it is nonsense now that it has been leveled down to some extent.
“Is it okay to do something like that? Isn’t that an act of discrimination?”
“Originally, it doesn’t work. That’s why I’m not raising the rent directly, but I’m getting more in the name of management fees.”
“Ah…”
Even if it’s not necessarily that, it’s fine if the landlord doesn’t want to accept Hunter tenants.
In the suburbs, considering that Hunters were living there and received additional money, it was a real hit.
I sighed heavily in front of him and decided not to prosecute.
“Don’t do that from now on. You’ve already vacated the room, haven’t you already received your deposit?”
“Yes.”
“It’s fortunate. There is a hunter-only rental house operated by the association. Let’s apply for a move-in.”
When I spoke politely, he showed a puzzled face.
“The rent there is cheap, but the competition rate is really sky-high… I’ve applied several times, but to no avail.”
“I didn’t answer the phone back then.”
“Ah… I didn’t expect you to do that…”
“Okay, I’ll cover the case with this, so let’s not see each other again, okay?”
I shook hands with him and parted in a warm atmosphere.
Every day, I only do bloody and serious incidents, but when I meet guys like that every once in a while, I want to do something because it’s nice to see them.
As soon as he disappeared, Tia poured out the questions she had been holding back.
“Master, are the association’s rental houses very cheap?”
“It’s incredibly cheap. Did you see that they said they couldn’t go in because they didn’t have it?”
It’s really bizarre.
The birth rate in Korea hit the bottom a long time ago, and apartments are being built non-stop, but the house price is too high, so you can’t move in.
Of course, this place in Seoul is going crazy.
Because of the title of the safest city in Korea, house prices can hardly go down.
Even now, as the Great Hunter era looks into its twilight, the Seoul real estate invincible myth is still ongoing.
“Still, that friend would want to earn money and leave as soon as possible.”
“Why?”
“The fact that you paid 20 per month rent and entered the rental house means that the person next door also came in for 20 weeks per month rent. Besides, there is a preconceived notion that state-run facilities can be used carelessly.”
“Ah…”
Alice seemed to have understood my meaning, but Tia still looked puzzled.
I didn’t bother to correct it.
There are so many things in the world that you would rather not know.
“Well, let’s do this. What’s next?”
“Let’s see… It’s a donation scam. An internet broadcaster who called herself a female hunter received the donation, but it turned out that it was neither a hunter nor anything, so I requested a refund…”
“Why is the water quality like this today?”
My head pounded as soon as I heard of the kind of incident.
Tia asked anxiously.
“Is sponsorship fraud hard to catch?”
“It’s very difficult. First of all, proof of willfulness is essential, so there are too many holes to escape, and the broadcasting platform is a foreign company, so they don’t cooperate properly, and even if a conviction is found, recovery is almost impossible…”
It’s better if the culprit runs out of money and can’t recover it.
These days, it’s more of a problem because of cryptocurrencies.
From the point of view of the investigative agency, cryptocurrency is an absolute evil that should not have appeared in the world.
“It’s really amazing to be willing to give money to other people.”
Tia sounded dazed yet coyly rational, as she always did.
I nodded her head and said with a sigh.
“Maybe, I just need a place to spend my money.”
“But this case is definitely a scam, right?”
“Yes. Let’s see.”
However, most of this type of Internet donation is judged as a ‘gift’ rather than a donation.
A gift is a slightly broader concept than a donation… But it has fewer restrictions.
Of course, since this is always normal, the exact details vary from case to case.
“It’s difficult…”
“Is there anything easy for you? Even choosing a snack for the day is difficult.”
“Because that’s the most important thing?”
We smiled at Tia, who looked serious, and returned our gaze to the file.
Unfortunately, there was still a long way to go.
