At that moment, On Suhyeong grabbed Gru’s hand and stood up from his seat.
Screech— As the chair slid back, everyone looked at On Suhyeong.
With an entirely expressionless face, he spoke gently to his granddaughter.
“Gru, let’s get up now. If we keep listening, we’ll only rot our ears away.”
“Chairman On, if you leave like this….”
Standing side by side with On Suhyeong, still holding his hand, Gru spoke with a fierce expression.
“Gru doesn’t vibe with bad guys who can’t even apologize.”
“Yes, do as you please.”
Having said that, On Suhyeong raised his voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
“I’ve heard that Assemblyman Ham Jinpyeong is awaiting contact from above.”
Among the bewildered crowd, An Seonyoung’s shoulders flinched.
On Suhyeong’s lips curled into a faint, lopsided smile that was barely perceptible.
“If you remain in a position like this, you hear things.”
“Chairman On. My heart is heavy because of my worthless son. Please show mercy just once and let this pass quietly.”
“I have no desire to make a big fuss either.”
If they wanted to fight tooth and nail, they certainly could, but if this blew up, the one whose name would be dragged through the mud was Gru.
“Th-then….”
On Suhyeong turned around and spoke coldly.
“Ham Honggi? You said you would do that thing called social service as an Awakened? I shall watch to see how well you do. You’d best show proper sincerity.”
He would not make a loud commotion.
But it was a declaration of war that he would nitpick persistently and see it through to the end.
*
“Hey, Gyuri, what are we going to do about this?”
Cheon Gyuri looked at her mother-in-law, who was leaning on the sofa and gulping down ice water.
When her daughter-in-law’s reaction was lukewarm, An Seonyoung even let out a groan.
However, for Cheon Gyuri, there was nothing more to say than, *That bastard, I knew this would happen.* They had raised him so spoiled and pampered; how could he have grown up properly?
“At this rate, your father-in-law’s ministerial seat will fly away. We can’t just let that happen.”
“That’s right….”
Ham Jinpyeong was currently being mentioned as a candidate for Minister of Justice.
In such a situation, the son of a ministerial candidate had scammed the granddaughter of Chairman On Suhyeong, who was also the daughter of On Jurim?
It was a scandal too delicious to resist.
In fact, the problem wasn’t just that.
If digging into the story led to rumors that *actually, Ham Honggi needed the money to buy drugs,* it would really be over.
“The lawyer said if he clears a few dungeons of adequate rank, it will be enough. Can’t you take some guild kids and clear them for us? Chairman On is glaring fiercely, so A-rank or higher so he can’t find fault. Seeing that man, I feel like he won’t be satisfied unless our Honggi loses an arm inside a dungeon, but that can’t happen. Honggi is our precious son….”
A-rank or higher…. Cheon Gyuri let out a sigh.
Even if he was a B-rank Awakened, taking a useless burden who would start whining the moment he stepped into a dungeon to such a place was something she couldn’t ask of her guild members.
“But, Mother. This is something Guild Master On Jurim doesn’t know about, right?”
In truth, taking a burden into an A-rank dungeon wasn’t the problem.
The problem was, the moment On Jurim found out, there might not be any dungeons left for them to enter….
It wasn’t for nothing that Hyeonak had an ill fame for crossing the line.
Most guilds maintained business-friendly relations with one another, so they rarely fought over trivial matters, but the situation changed somewhat when it came to their main line of work.
This was about a certain guild that had trouble with Hyeonak’s newbies over dungeon clearing.
Having heard the story, Hyeonak pulled a thug move by following that guild to every single one of their clears and wiping them out, then sent all the byproducts from the dungeons to that guild by courier as they were.
Actually, such problems usually centered on disputes over ownership of byproducts, so this put an end to the matter with a preemptive delivery strike.
Hyeonak’s intention was clear.
*Stuff from your dungeons? We don’t need it. We’ll give it all to you, take it. But we’ll block your growth.*
Even when the Management Bureau tried to mediate the dispute, they merely shrugged their shoulders, saying, *We thought it would be difficult for them to clear it, so we helped them out. That’s why we handed over all the byproducts, didn’t we?*
Since such mediations usually concluded by handing all byproducts over to the victim guild, they could only curse them out as sons of bitches without any other alternative.
Not long after, one guild disintegrated into thin air.
There was also such an incident with another certain guild.
It was a large guild focused mainly on clearing fire dungeons. Hyeonak hoarded that guild’s essential items.
They threatened the suppliers to cut off trade, and outbid every last item remaining on the market.
It was impossible to obtain the items directly either, because Hyeonak swept through and destroyed all dungeons that produced those byproducts while going around.
This time, even the Association’s dispute mediation was difficult.
*I’m buying with my own money. I’m clearing my own dungeons.* Telling them not to buy items or not to clear those dungeons was clearly overreach.
It was a famous urban legend that Gidan then attempted to do business with that guild in front of the fire dungeon, holding items bought through outbidding.
They offered prices about a hundred times the market rate, or dumped them on the ground saying take them or leave them….
In the end, the guild master of that guild came forward, bowed his head apologetically, and declared surrender. It couldn’t have been anything but total humiliation.
Thus, all kinds of powerful bastards had gathered at Hyeonak, and although On Jurim often took beatings as the representative, because of his calm nature he always remained composed, playing the role of a reliable tank.
It was essentially upbringing disguised as neglect.
The fact that a large Korean guild once counted among the top five had shrunk to the top three was also largely thanks to Hyeonak’s role.
Whatever the cause, it was because those bastards acted like thugs….
Until now, On Jurim had never taken the initiative, but if Hyeonak was a bastard, he was the king of bastards. It was obvious he would try to have them killed off by any means.
“Well. Guild Master On made no contact and wasn’t seen anywhere. But she’s his adopted daughter, so he can’t have no affection for her.”
“According to Gu Sinhu, it wasn’t like that….”
“When has that kid ever spoken straight?”
“Still, Gu Sinhu knows exactly where to place his feet.”
As an opportunist, he was good at acting friendly everywhere and knew exactly where to quickly stand in line.
The reason he went around mentioning On Jurim and Hyeonak was because it served as marketing that his own guild, NAG, was on par with Hyeonak, and especially because On Jurim himself didn’t pay it much attention.
He was definitely quicker to grasp the situation than the Association Chairman, who was blinded by her support for her second son and husband.
It was then. Their phones rang loudly.
Emergency disaster alerts. And urgent calls from guild members and Association staff.
The eyes of the two people who checked the notifications met.
“Mother. As for Honggi, let’s just send him here.”
“But this is….”
“You know dungeon rank isn’t determined by danger level, don’t you?”
Dungeon rank was divided based on what kind of impact it could have on reality should a Dungeon Break occur. And this dungeon’s danger level had some aspects that were slightly different from other dungeons.
“It might actually be better here. I’m going too. And wouldn’t it be better for him to finally pull his weight and start maturing? If we leave him be, this won’t end with just this incident.”
Would the trouble really end with just this? Cheon Gyuri’s words weren’t wrong.
The Association Chairman, who had been worrying while recalling that mouth which had blabbered endlessly at the law firm, let out a low hum and nodded her head slightly.
*
On Suhyeong
Are you feeling okay?
(Squirrel sending a heart emoticon)
I’m okay!
(Squirrel shooting a heart arrow emoticon)
Although the Chairman had almost no change in expression, spoke few words, and had a large frame that made him look scary, he was actually a kind and attentive person who carefully watched her mood.
Feeling at ease from the worry-laced message, Gru sniffled, inhaling through her nose.
Gru scrolled down her phone screen and opened the chat window with Jurim.
Guild Master, when are you coming?
On Jurim
Sleep first today
That strawberry thing, did you buy it?
Strawberry Creamy Sweet Fairy Blast Bam Right Hugs Candy
On Jurim
Yeah, that