## Chapter 219 – 219. Association Investigation
#219. Association Investigation
As the elevator doors opened, I saw a familiar figure.
“Oh?! Mr. Hyunwoo!”
Before I could even wonder who it was, the Wooin woman next to her waved and approached me with a delighted expression.
She was quite tall for a woman, with cow ears sprouting on either side of her head and adorable little horns on top.
“…Hayan-ssi?”
It was Lee Hayan, who had been in the same party during the Demon Worshiper incident.
I was sure I heard that she had taken a direct hit from the curse-laden fraud and would have a hard time regaining her senses for a while?
Lee Hayan came up to me and grabbed my hand tightly, a bright smile spreading across her face.
“Thank you!”
“Pardon?”
“I heard everything from Yujun Oppa, that you gave me first aid, Hyunwoo-ssi?”
Lee Hayan’s eyes began to sparkle.
“I was definitely half-conscious and collapsing, but from some point on, I started feeling better, you know? Honestly, I thought I was dead for sure, but when I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital. The priest who was treating me said that I would have died if the first aid had been even a little late… How am I ever going to repay this debt…”
Her gaze towards me was so intense it was almost overwhelming.
Of course, I felt good, but Noel’s gaze piercing the back of my head was just as intense.
“Debt? We were in a party, even if it was temporary, so it’s only natural to help.”
That didn’t mean I was going to miss this opportunity.
It wasn’t the first time Noel had shown jealousy whenever I flirted with other women.
From the start, she only showed jealousy, but Noel didn’t oppose me meeting women in itself. I just had to make sure to make it up to her at night.
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Hyunwoo-ssi…”
I covered the back of Lee Hayan’s hand with my other hand and looked at her.
She was definitely pretty, but she was slightly lacking compared to Noel and my teacher.
Of course, she was much prettier than most celebrities.
Besides, as expected of a Wooin, she had huge breasts, and she was a virgin guaranteed by the app.
Would there really be a man who could refuse such a woman showing him favor?
At least I wasn’t one of them.
“Maybe a phone number…”
“Ahem, ahem. Hyunwoo-ssi?”
My flirting was interrupted by a third party who barged in without a clue.
With a cold impression and a mole under her eye, it was Song Minha, who was in the same party as Lee Hayan.
I had rescued her when she was kidnapped by Demon Worshipers during a scouting mission.
“Ah, Minha-ssi. I’m glad you’re safe. I was very worried.”
“…For someone who didn’t even seem to know I existed.”
“Haha, how could that be?”
As Song Minha said, I knew she was there all along.
How could I not know with my heightened senses?
Even so, the reason I focused on Lee Hayan was because she was lower on my priority list.
Of course, it wasn’t that Song Minha was ugly.
Rather, if someone liked cold beauties, they would prefer Song Minha over Lee Hayan.
She even had a great body, and she was talented enough to be a B-class Ranger at a young age.
She was an attractive woman by anyone’s standards, but unfortunately, she wasn’t a virgin.
Well, that was to be expected.
A virgin in this day and age?
It was Lee Hayan who was strange. How could she still be a virgin with that face and those breasts?
It was obvious that she had been raised preciously.
Anyway, I had too many women around me to be flirting with Song Minha, who wasn’t a virgin.
She wasn’t as pretty as Noel either.
“If you’re thinking of taking Hayan as a concubine, you have to tell me? She only has me as a friend, so there’s no one else to be her bridesmaid.”
“Mi, Minha-ya?!”
“Why, Hyunwoo-ssi’s eyes were practically dripping honey when he looked at you.”
Song Minha seemed unhappy that I was only paying attention to Lee Hayan, and she was showing it.
Seeing that was cute, but non-virgins were a bit…
Actually, I didn’t care much about virgins or non-virgins in the past. Would a person who hadn’t eaten for a week throw away the bread in front of them just because it was a little past its expiration date?
But now I was in a situation where I was rich enough to take a bite of a chicken leg and throw it away.
‘Should I ask Lee Hayan for her number later when I’m alone?’
Of course, my mind could change in the meantime.
In fact, excluding the merit of being a virgin, going to a hotel with Noel was several times better than being with Lee Hayan.
Besides, I had recently slept with the Tower Master.
I still didn’t know why the Tower Master did that, but judging from her reaction, I might be able to go to her studio tomorrow and have sex without waiting until next week.
I haven’t been able to see Choi Hyena much lately because she’s been busy, but I’ve sent her a text, so I should be able to see her soon?
Anyway, the conclusion was that I wasn’t lacking in women at all, even without going to another world.
Of course, I might just be getting my hopes up.
Just because I saved her life once doesn’t mean she’ll offer herself up as a virgin. Besides, she was half-fainted at the time.
It would be different if I had appeared in a crisis like a prince in a fairy tale.
“Hyunwoo-ssi, I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation, but it’s time for the investigation.”
Team Leader Song Yookyung glanced at her watch.
It didn’t feel like it had been 10 minutes yet.
‘Well.’
A team leader in the Surveillance Department couldn’t possibly be idle.
Unlike me, who would be going home after the investigation, she would have a lot of work piled up.
“Hayan-ssi, Minha-ssi. I think I have to go now.”
“Ah…”
Lee Hayan made a blatantly disappointed expression. Song Minha didn’t show it outwardly, but she was similar.
They said they had come earlier than me and had already been investigated.
But one of them was kidnapped from the start, and the other fainted from the start, so what was there to investigate?
“Hyunwoo-ssi.”
While I was lost in thought, Song Minha approached me.
She stared at me intently, then lowered her head.
“Thank you for saving me.”
Her voice was trembling slightly.
“I heard from the association employee. The gate was closing earlier than expected due to the Demon Worshipers. If it weren’t for Hyunwoo-ssi, I would have been trapped in prison and disappeared with that gate.”
“That’s only natural for a party…”
“No. It’s rare for someone to go that far for a temporary party member, not even a formal party.”
I knew what Song Minha was talking about.
The criminal acts of hunters within the gate, I had heard about them in the news a few times.
On Earth, the Hunter Association and other superhumans were their deterrent, but that wasn’t the case inside the gate.
“We would have died that day if it weren’t for Hyunwoo-ssi. Please let us repay you.”
“Tell us anything!”
Lee Hayan, who was next to her, also lowered her head.
I gave an awkward smile.
I wanted to suggest a threesome, but today wasn’t the day.
“If you insist, would you give me your contact information? I’ll contact you if I need anything in the future.”
“Yes!”
Unlike Lee Hayan, who answered with a bright smile, Song Minha hesitated and whispered softly, looking at me.
“Um, would it be okay if I contacted you…?”
“Ah, m-me too!”
Lee Hayan, with her good hearing as a beastkin, wedged herself between Song Minha and me.
Song Minha clicked her tongue softly. Weren’t they supposed to be close?
“Is it okay if I’m a little slow to reply?”
The two nodded vigorously.
After receiving their contact information, I followed Team Leader Song Yookyung into the investigation room.
***
The investigation took about an hour.
Fortunately, there was no one there who picked a fight with me like in the church.
All I did was exchange simple questions and answers.
“By the way, I heard that the Vatican is going to announce this incident on a large scale, is that okay?”
In order to hide the fact that an association employee was involved in this incident, the association offered me an artifact as compensation, and the other party members were offered money and various benefits.
But if the Vatican made this incident public, things would inevitably get bigger, whether we liked it or not.
And that wasn’t what the association wanted.
Team Leader Song Yookyung answered calmly, as if she had expected the question.
“We’ve already talked to the church about that. They said they would keep the fact that an association employee was involved a secret.”
“…Is that really true?”
Those religious fanatics cooperated so easily?
As someone who had been harassed by a paladin dispatched from the Vatican, it was hard for me to understand.
“It’s highly likely that the employee who fled is a Demon Worshiper. They also want to capture and interrogate the employee. It’s better to pursue them secretly than to attract attention, so they’re cooperating.”
Team Leader Song Yookyung continued to explain calmly, as if she understood my reaction.
Indeed, their interests aligned.
“Team Leader Song. Can I ask you one more thing?”
“Yes?”
There was one question that had been on my mind all along.
“The employee who fled, is it someone I know?”
“…”
Team Leader Song Yookyung was silent.
That was my answer.
“Is it Team Leader Cha Eunyoung?”
The employee of the 2nd Gate Management Division who helped Noel naturalize and led us to enter that gate.
No matter how I thought about it, the timing was too coincidental.
Out of the countless gates, why did a Demon Worshiper appear in the one I entered?
That was no coincidence.
Someone had pushed me into that place.
Team Leader Song Yookyung, who was tapping the desk, sighed heavily and nodded.
“You said that the Demon Worshiper mentioned a sacrifice, Hyunwoo-ssi. It seems they wanted a magician with high magic power as a sacrifice.”
As expected, it was as I had expected.
It was only natural that a hunter with magic power would be more valuable as a sacrifice than a normal person, and the value of a magician with a mana circle would be even higher.
“Hyunwoo-ssi.”
Tap.
As if to break my short reverie, Team Leader Song Yookyung placed a small box on the desk. It was a design that looked like it contained something quite expensive.
When the box was opened, a ring was seen carefully stored inside.
“This is the compensation we mentioned in advance.”
Ting-
[Information on the newly acquired item is being collected.]
[Ring of Voltaris
Grade: Rare
A ring containing the lightning of the giant Voltaris.
Lightning affinity is increased.
Lightning attribute attacks are strengthened.]
“12 years ago, an A-class gate break occurred near Hamgyeongnam-do.”
“…I’ve never heard of that before.”
“Because it wasn’t disclosed to the public.”
I was a little dumbfounded by Team Leader Song Yookyung’s reaction, who said it as calmly as drinking a glass of water.
Did people usually talk about violating the International Hunter Treaty so proudly?
“China, Japan, and even the United States do it all the time. They pretend not to know each other even though they know.”
“I guess…”
If there was news of a gate break, the house prices in the nearby area, as well as the domestic stock prices and exchange rates, would be shattered.
The economy was already unstable due to the monsters, so the government would have wanted to hide it at all costs.
“This ring was made by carving the magic core of the giant Voltaris, who was one of the sub-bosses of the gate. It’s a fairly well-made high-quality product, but since there are few hunters or magicians who handle lightning, it has been stored in the association’s underground storage for a long time.”
So, they were going to clear out their inventory this time?
The intention was obvious, so it was a bit much, but it didn’t matter since they didn’t give me something useless.
I immediately put the ring on the middle finger of my right hand.
“Please tell the branch manager that I will accept it gratefully.”
They couldn’t have offered this as compensation without that person’s approval.
After that, I left the investigation room, leaving Team Leader Song Yookyung, who was seeing me off, behind. After waiting a little, Noel also finished the investigation and came out.
“How was it?”
“Um, it was almost the same as what they asked at the church. Other than that, they asked me if I was thinking of joining a guild.”
“An association employee asked you that? Did they get a commission or something?”
Of course, it wasn’t my business whether they got a commission or not.
But it was crossing the line to make a guild offer during the investigation.
I wanted to turn things upside down, but I decided to put up with it this time since I liked the ring I received as compensation.
For reference, Noel received 2 billion won in cash and bonus points as compensation. The bonus points were for the A-class promotion exam.
“But what’s the point of going up to A-class?”
“…I don’t know?”
There would be various benefits, but there would be nothing that would be a merit to Noel, who wasn’t from this world.
At best, a tax reduction?
Rather, an A-class would be put into dangerous places in a war situation, so it might be better to remain in B-class.
Anyway, after finishing our morning schedule, Noel and I headed to the amusement park as promised.
