Episode 34
Jonghyeon began to speak briefly about the matters he had discussed with Chairman Lee. The courtroom stirred at Jonghyeon’s voice, but the content was mostly agreeable.
“…And so, I stopped the Redrose Guild. And one more thing.”
At that moment, Director Kim Jeongtae, who was sitting in the gallery, looked over with a surprised expression.
One more thing? He should have said everything they had discussed.
Even if he stopped here, the court would clearly deliver a not-guilty verdict according to their prior agreement.
“Even if there are more guilds threatening South Korea, I will no longer act personally. And I wish to take this opportunity to state clearly: from now on, whether it be a guild or anything else, I will not tolerate anyone touching me. That is all.”
For a moment, silence washed over the courtroom.
The most flustered people were the judge and Director Kim Jeongtae. Throwing ashes on rice already cooked!
But from Jonghyeon’s standpoint, he couldn’t concede any further than this. Beyond his own pride, he simply couldn’t accept this rigged trial.
‘What has the country ever done for me? Other than steadily taking my taxes, is there anything more?’
Jonghyeon expressed a slight grievance against the country in that manner.
A short while later.
“…For these reasons, the court hereby declares the defendant, Ryu Jonghyeon, not guilty.”
Fortunately, Jonghyeon, who had received a not-guilty verdict without any trouble, finally let out a breath of relief. In crude terms, he had defied the country, and it was a relief that that part had been accepted.
‘I couldn’t pull something like that twice. I was terrified.’
It was both an expression of his dissatisfaction and a message to everyone who had their eyes on him, watching from somewhere.
That he was absolutely not someone to be trifled with. He had wanted to make that point clear.
Afterwards, news agencies began reporting, interpreting Jonghyeon’s remarks in various ways.
—Ryu Jonghyeon, a Rising New Power. He Forgives No One Who Touches Me!
In front of Jonghyeon, who was looking at the massive headline on his phone, Chairman Lee let out repeated sighs.
“Just what were you trying to do? This was a reckless gamble on your part. You have no idea how flustered I was when I first saw the news.”
Yoo Jinseong, who was with them, spoke with a slight smile as if finding the situation absurd.
“Still, hasn’t the image actually turned out well? If it gets reported with an uncompromising image on the BBC and various foreign media, Korea will also look strong by association, won’t it?”
“No, I’m saying what good is that from the start. Sigh.”
Jonghyeon quietly sipped his cold green tea with an embarrassed look, and quietly searched only for articles about himself.
Public opinion was a sight to behold.
—Omg… He seems like a rare person in our country.
—Then honestly, something other than patriotism must have been at play, right?
—Anyway, whatever the reason, aren’t we the lucky ones? I was getting ready to go overseas.
—A person I know working in law told me this is a rigged game of Go-Stop.
—Please refrain from baseless nonsense from above. By that logic, the president lives next door to me.
Reading the comments made him laugh again, and Jonghyeon smiled quietly as he kept an eye on Chairman Lee’s reaction.
“Ah, right. Jonghyeon.”
At Chairman Lee’s call, Jonghyeon put his phone in his pocket, and the moment he looked at Chairman Lee, he had a premonition of what he was going to say.
“Are you speaking of Lady Bori?”
“You catch on quick. Have you learned mind reading these days? Ahem. Anyway, Bori said she wants to learn from you. As for the teaching methods, the two of you can discuss and proceed accordingly.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Though he answered straight away, Jonghyeon had no idea how he should teach her.
But as if he paid no mind to Jonghyeon’s worries, Chairman Lee spoke.
“Yes. Let’s wrap things up for today. It’s already evening.”
Jonghyeon gave a brief bow and left the parlor. And before long, Bori appeared before Jonghyeon’s eyes.
‘Yikes.’
There was nothing more flustering than running into someone when he had no plan whatsoever. Thinking so, Jonghyeon tried to sneak past, but Bori’s reaction was quick. As if she had been waiting.
“Jonghyeon Oppa! Where are you going!”
As if saying she would catch him if he ran, Bori called out to Jonghyeon loudly, and Jonghyeon greeted her as if nothing was wrong.
“So you ended up teaching me?”
“Yeah. That’s how it is. Haha…”
“Then am I going into dungeons with Oppa, too? Your name was in huge letters on the news.”
“Hmm. If I did that, Chairman Lee would probably roast me alive. I was just planning to teach you lightly.”
Jonghyeon was dead serious about these words. Taking Bori to a B or A-rank dungeon? It would be the same as asking someone to kill him.
After exchanging a few words of small talk, Jonghyeon informed her that he still had no plan on how to teach her.
Bori seemed slightly disappointed, but she suggested various things such as doing it in a tutoring style, and Jonghyeon avoided the situation by saying they would talk later and returned to his quarters.
‘What kind of girl treats me so comfortably?’
He had grown accustomed to the treatment he received, but Jonghyeon was still not used to the comfortable way Bori treated him.
It wasn’t that he felt repulsed; rather, it was because he didn’t know what to do when he looked at Bori.
‘That aside…’
Jonghyeon began to think about the Tier-6 dungeon.
Could he win with his current strength? Did he still need more training?
Dozens of thoughts flashed through his mind, but Jonghyeon couldn’t come to any solid conclusion.
Even during the six months he had trained, he hadn’t thought about Tier-6 at all.
Perhaps he himself was already in a state of giving up slightly.
He didn’t know if his doppelganger was getting stronger just as he was. Since he had to prepare for that as well, Jonghyeon couldn’t make a rash decision.
Just then.
A ringtone blared from his phone, tearing through Jonghyeon’s thoughts.
Riiiiing-!
“Hello?”
“Jonghyeon. It’s me.”
It was his handler.
“Hoo. You again? Don’t tell me you’re the only one who works at the National Intelligence Service?”
The handler also laughed at Jonghyeon’s playful tone and spoke.
“You seem to have changed a bit, Jonghyeon. You weren’t originally someone who joked like this. Well, that’s a good thing. Anyway, sorry for calling like this before we could even raise a toast. Since you’re resuming work as a troubleshooter. May I entrust you with your first request?”
“You go straight to work without any romance. So what is it?”
Jonghyeon spoke that way, but he was inwardly curious.
What kind of request would be given to him now.
“It’s a B-rank dungeon. There are many opinions now that we should entrust contracted dungeons to you as well… You may end up busier than you think.”
“A B-rank, huh. What about the reward?”
Jonghyeon knew they wouldn’t give him an A-rank anyway.
Not only had an A-rank dungeon almost never been discovered domestically, but even if there were, those cases had to be forcibly contracted out.
The highest dungeons the state could handle were B-rank. In the case of A-rank dungeons, they were separately designated and assigned by the World Dungeon Management Committee.
And in Korea, there was still no guild that had cleared an A-rank dungeon.
Therefore, what was important was the reward.
“It’s set at 3 billion won. Your value has risen so much in less than a year, hasn’t it? The national coffers will run dry.”
Even at his handler’s words spoken like a joke, Jonghyeon felt good.
Just six months ago, even with Chairman Lee’s generous salary, the amount was a mere 5 billion won. But now they gave 3 billion won for clearing a single dungeon.
“Yes, I understand for now. I’m staying at Chairman Lee’s residence, so you can come here.”
But Jonghyeon had to maintain his dignity. Showing that he was happy his value had risen was no different from being a fool.
Now he had to uphold his own value himself.
“Haha. That’s a scary place I never want to enter again.”
After exchanging a few pieces of small talk with the handler, who spoke as if amused, Jonghyeon hung up.
Only then could Jonghyeon smile to his heart’s content.
The figure of 3 billion won. Of course, the difficulty of a B-rank dungeon was beyond imagination.
From C-rank dungeons onward, each dungeon had a boss. And because from B-rank onward, there were almost none that could be cleared within a day, including the boss.
The difference in danger was staggering.
A few days later. The handler actually came by and gave Jonghyeon the documents.
Watching the handler disappear after guaranteeing that this time, the location was unmistakable, Jonghyeon felt completely drained. And the handler left behind a meaningful remark.
That it would be a place familiar to him.
But before he could even think about the meaning, Jonghyeon was met with a hurdle.
“Master, so when exactly are you going to properly teach me?”
Bori, whose form of address for him had strangely changed to “Master,” had come looking for him.
Having chosen the parlor as the place to receive the documents was the source of the trouble.
For the past few days, Jonghyeon had deliberately avoided Bori. Though he had said he would teach her, he had no idea how to go about it.
However, she had caught on like a ghost that he was coming to the parlor today and started fussing.
He couldn’t run away anymore.
A thought suddenly flashed through Jonghyeon’s mind.
“Okay. Then let me deliver your first lesson today. Try to find where I’m hiding. If you catch me, you move on to the next stage.”
Saying so, Jonghyeon had already started running. Though Bori understood his words and tried to run after him late to catch him, Jonghyeon was no ordinary person.
She couldn’t catch Jonghyeon, who disappeared at high speed. No, she could barely see him with her eyes.
A movement that an ordinary person couldn’t even see with their eyes. Jonghyeon was one to waste his talent on useless things.
‘So. Where the hell am I supposed to hide?’
Bori would know the layout of this house better than Jonghyeon.
‘The tree in the garden? No. It’s autumn so the fallen leaves would make me stand out. On the roof? Same thing. There shouldn’t be any security cameras either. There aren’t many places to hide around here, are there?’
Jonghyeon ran outside and temporarily moved toward the servants’ quarters.
There was a servants’ rest house in the annex, and between them was a fairly large warehouse.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
Without minding Butler Kim’s dumbfounded expression, Jonghyeon hid himself deep inside the warehouse.
“Please do not tell anyone that I am here. I beg you.”
Jonghyeon closed the warehouse door and turned on the light before Butler Kim could even say anything.
Looking inside, it seemed to be a warehouse storing food items that could be kept at room temperature.
Catching his breath, Jonghyeon began reading the documents related to the B-rank dungeon.
‘The area is near here. Huh?’
Not long after reading the documents, Jonghyeon was flustered beyond imagination.
Because the address in the documents was right near his orphanage.
‘Even when I went there last week, there was nothing like that.’
Wondering if he had seen wrong, Jonghyeon rubbed his eyes and stared several times, but it was definitely the address near the orphanage.
And at that moment.
An enormous scream struck the mansion. It wasn’t of ordinary volume to be heard all the way to where Jonghyeon was.
A scream that even felt desperate.
“Kyaaak-!”
It was Bori’s voice.
---------= Author's Afterword ---------=
I offer this chapter for you to read at dawn or on your commute.^_^
It would be no exaggeration to say that the current Jonghyeon is already joining the ranks of the bourgeoisie.
Because based on the current timeline, A-rank rankers number around two hundred at most.
Of course, since A-rank dungeons don’t appear often, they fight over work too.
Setting-wise, if you only run A-rank dungeons, you could become one of the wealthiest people in the country within a few years.
It’s just that the price is a life where you don’t know when you’ll die.
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Thank you to the readers who always read my work, especially those who press recommend.
It gives me a lot of strength. I was very worried because the response wasn’t as good as I thought,
but thanks to you, I gained a lot of strength.
I’ll make a pledge here.
If by any chance my name makes it inside the Today’s Best, I will try to serialize continuously as far as my ability allows. (Read: a promise that won’t be fulfilled.)
Then I’ll take my leave… Have a pleasant day today~