The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 229

228

“Whoa~.”

Special Ability User Isolation Facility, visiting room.

After waiting for a moment, a man in handcuffs appeared.

“I’m living long enough to see this. The most successful man in Korea is here to see me.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The man sat across from me and nodded.

At the same time, I quickly scanned him.

A strong voice.

Enough energy to walk around normally.

A relaxed expression.

I opened my mouth with a puzzled expression at his healthy appearance.

“You seem to have some energy. I heard the inmates here don’t look like people.”

“It’s bearable. Well, maybe it’s because I’m naturally strong.”

The man laughed loudly and joked.

But after a moment, he continued.

“So, what brings our representative to someone like me? Coming all the way here must mean it’s something important.”

“Hong Deok-su… you’ve been serving 5 years for assault using your special ability, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Before that, you worked in the Seoul Headquarters Operations Team.”

“……”

“Then you were arrested for indiscriminately assaulting four Hunters. The victims suffered serious injuries requiring 16 weeks of treatment, and they are still suffering from the aftereffects.”

I looked into his eyes and rattled off the information.

Hong Du-sik narrowed his eyes and glared at me, as if sensing something was wrong.

As he showed interest, I smiled and spoke again.

“Well, should I say it’s amazing you didn’t kill them, considering it was revenge for your wife?”

At that moment, Hong Du-sik’s expression hardened.

“So…? What are you trying to say?”

“Don’t glare at me like that. I’m not trying to be sarcastic.”

I joked lightly at him, who was openly hostile.

It would be troublesome if he was already like this when I hadn’t even gotten to the main point.

Hong Deok-su.

A Hunter who used to be in the Seoul Headquarters Operations Team, and the leader of Operations Team 3.

I remember him because he was still active when I first joined the Seoul Headquarters before my regression.

He was a decent person with good performance and a good reputation among his subordinates… but one day he suddenly resigned and disappeared.

To be exact, it was after his wife died.

After he resigned, no one knew what happened to him.

About a year later, I learned of his whereabouts through the news.

He suddenly reappeared and was arrested by the police on charges of indiscriminately assaulting four Hunters.

It was the first time a former Hunter had committed a crime against current Hunters, so it garnered a lot of attention.

But that was only for a short time.

Hong Du-sik confessed to all the crimes and did not appeal.

It ended too blandly for people’s interest to last.

So, not many people knew the details of the case.

Of course, I knew everything.

After resigning, Hong Du-sik gathered people and spent a year searching for the four Hunters.

The reason, as I said, was to avenge his dead wife.

The story began like this.

From some point on, Hunters in the Operations Team, who were blinded by money, began illegally selling dungeons with unsalable monsters to freelance Hunters.

After making money that way, they would report to the higher-ups that they had completed the subjugation, and they could receive subjugation allowances twice.

But one day, as that act continued.

A problem occurred when a dungeon was sold to a freelance Hunter with insufficient experience.

The freelance Hunter’s skills were not enough to subjugate the dungeon.

In the end, the freelance Hunter asked those who sold the dungeon for a refund, but that was impossible because the dungeon had already been reported to the higher-ups as subjugated.

With a desperate heart, they also visited private guilds, but they all refused to accept illegally traded dungeons.

Of course, they could have just formally reported the dungeon’s appearance then…….

The freelance Hunter, fearing that the illegal sale would be discovered, eventually decided to just abandon the dungeon.

As time passed, monsters escaped from the dungeon and began wandering around the mountains, and a few days later, Hong Deok-su’s wife, who was a forest official, was attacked and killed by a monster.

Only then did the incident belatedly come to light, and Hong Deok-su decided to hold them accountable.

But as a result, the three Hunters in the Operations Team who illegally sold the dungeon received only a suspension and a fine of 5 million won [approximately $3,700 USD], and the freelance Hunter who abandoned the dungeon received only one year in prison.

One year.

Hong Deok-su eventually decided to punish them himself because of that ridiculous sentence.

Hong Deok-su resigned and, after a long period of preparation, went to find each of the four Hunters and realized his own definition of justice.

So that they could never be Hunters again.

In fact, after the incident, all four of them gave up their Hunter jobs.

‘No… it’s not that they gave up, but they couldn’t do it anymore.’

Because the injuries were so severe that further subjugation was impossible.

Anyway, that’s the story.

The reason I know this is because… my ex-girlfriend, Min Yu-jin, was in charge of the case.

I reminisced about the old memories and asked him again.

“How many years did you get?”

“15 years.”

“Well, that’s not much considering you almost turned them into semi-corpses.”

Hong Du-sik snorted and let out a hollow laugh.

“You want to say that violence can’t be justified, or something?”

“That’s not wrong. It’s a pity, and… crime is crime. No matter what the story is, your actions can never be justified. But……”

I leaned toward him and continued in a small voice.

“What does it matter? You just did what you wanted to do. What does justification matter?”

“……”

Hong Du-sik’s eyes narrowed.

“You just did what you could do. There’s no need to give it any meaning.”

“……”

“From the start, the reason you didn’t kill them wasn’t because you were afraid of the punishment, but because you wanted them to suffer for the rest of their lives, right?”

Because living without being able to function as a person would definitely be more painful than dying easily.

“Our representative… you’ve done a lot of research.”

“Thank you.”

“So? What exactly do you want to say? Why have you been leaving that out since earlier?”

“Well, I didn’t ask to see you to say this……”

I slid the document envelope over and got to the point.

“What’s this?”

“Headhunting. We’re planning to create a new team, and we want you to be the team leader.”

“…Puhahaha!”

He burst into laughter, but I continued without paying attention.

“The responsibilities will be revealed if you accept the offer, and the compensation is……”

“A reduced sentence?”

“You have a good sense.”

“Isn’t that a common trope in dramas and movies? I didn’t think it would be my turn.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“So, will you do it?”

“……”

He smiled when I asked.

“I’m not interested.”

“……”

“Our representative said it himself. That I just did what I wanted to do. Do you think a reduced sentence is a merit to me?”

I guess…….

I nodded.

A reduced sentence is not a merit to him at all.

The reason he doesn’t try to escape, even though he’s so energetic, is probably the same reason.

It doesn’t matter to him whether he’s in prison or in society.

He’s already dead with his wife.

So, of course, he wouldn’t trade for a reduced sentence.

But that’s why I need this man.

Skills, intelligence, and action.

And someone who has no attachment to the world.

There is no more perfect condition to lead my team.

“…Then let’s do this.”

After a moment of thought, I spoke again.

I have no choice.

I have to use the last resort.

“When everything is over……”

I glanced at the guard next to me and whispered the words.

“……”

At the same time, his eyes changed in an instant.

I smiled at the reaction that was different from before.

“You can tell the warden if you change your mind at any time. Then I’ll be waiting for a good answer.”

I said those words and got up from my seat.

Hong Du-sik sat there staring at the floor until I left the visiting room.

***

A few days later, the day of the gathering.

The gathering place was located deep in the mountains.

I and CEO Lee Ah-young had just arrived there.

“But… why here of all places?”

CEO Lee Ah-young asked, panting from the rough mountain climb.

She also knew the place, so she seemed quite puzzled.

Because this was the cabin where Chairman Park In-beom stayed when he went into hiding.

“It’s not noticeable, and only we know the location. Isn’t it perfect?”

“Did the chairman give permission?”

“I have to get it now.”

“……Really.”

We took a moment to catch our breath in front of the cabin door.

“By the way, do you think Hong Du-sik came?”

“I don’t know. How can we know the mind of someone who has nothing more to lose?”

“Who will be the team leader if he doesn’t come?”

“Well, what can we do? We’ll have to pick someone at random.”

“……”

“I’ll tell you the details later, let’s go in first.”

I opened the cabin door.

The moment we stepped inside, the gazes of those who were waiting for us immediately poured in.

The 10 Hunters I personally selected.

Before greeting them, I slowly looked around at them.

But the face I was waiting for was still not there.

‘Tsk…….’

I had no choice.

I tried to shake off the disappointed feeling and opened my mouth in front of them.

“Hello. I’m Kim Jun-woo, CEO of Karma Corporation. Well, the name Association will be more familiar to you.”

“……”

“……”

Instead of answering, they glared at me with sharp eyes.

As expected, they’re criminals, so they’re wasting time with useless power struggles…….

“The reason I summoned you today is……”

I tried to ignore their reactions and continued to speak when I heard a voice from behind.

“Oh my, you’ve already started.”

It was the voice I had already given up on.

“…You came.”

I smiled at him as I looked back, though he was a bit late.

“Well, I had nothing else to do.”

“That’s a good excuse.”

“……”

Hong Du-sik opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“You must keep the promise you made then, okay?”

“Of course.”

He nodded when I confirmed.

“Well then… it seems like everyone is here, so let’s get started in earnest. The reason you’re all here today is to form a new team for Karma Corporation.”

“……?”

“What?”

“A new team?”

Various reactions.

But I continued without paying attention.

“Each of you will be a leader and will be in charge of each field and region. You are free to form your own groups in those fields and regions, but never have more than 30 direct members. Of course, you must not be exposed to the media or caught by local police.”

“Question, what do we do?”

“Information gathering, stalking, kidnapping… sometimes assault and intimidation. And so on.”

“……”

“……”

Everyone has a dumbfounded expression.

Why is that?

I specially chose them based on their areas of expertise.

“And the person in charge of all of you, that is… the leader of this team is this person here.”

I pointed to Hong Du-sik and introduced him.

“I will only give instructions to Hong Du-sik, and Hong Du-sik will distribute them according to each person’s role and then deliver the detailed work contents to you.”

Then the eyes of the ten Hunters turned to Hong Du-sik.

Hong Du-sik bowed his head with an awkward face.

“Ah, and… there will be training for about a month. I will be in charge of it myself, and after the training is over, the full-scale job placement will be made.”

“Training?”

“Yes. Did you think I would release you criminals into society without any measures?”

“……That’s a bit harsh.”

“Let’s keep the manners, shall we?”

“Ha, manners my ass……”

A hollow laugh burst out at the absurd words.

What are these people talking about?

“That’s right, you should have followed the law if you didn’t like it!”

“……”

“……”

The atmosphere froze in an instant.

I didn’t care at all and continued to say what I had to say.

“Anyway, that’s the end of the orientation. Do you have any questions?”

“I… you said we can freely form groups, but what if they run away forever?”

“You probably won’t think about it after the training is over. Next question.”

“Do we get paid?”

“I’m reducing your sentence, what more do you want as a criminal? Next question.”

Then, a man who had been laughing all along raised his hand.

“What reason do we have to follow your words?”

“……”

“If we kill you here and run away, we don’t need to get a reduced sentence, right?”

“Are you confident?”

“What…?”

I smiled.

“That’s good. It’s also in the training course.”

“……?”

“Training course…?”

“Yes. As that person said, if you kill me here, you are all free.”

The eyes of the Hunters in that place widened at that moment.

Except for Hong Deok-su, of course.

“Whoever is confident, come at me.”

“……Ha, haha.”

“What are you saying now…?”

“Hahaha! Are you serious?”

I openly set the stage, but they were still watching, not moving.

I shook my head with a pathetic expression.

“I’m serious. Come at me all at once or one by one, do as you wish. But you must be prepared to kill me for real.”

The first training course.

Sorting out the ranks.

There is no more effective way to instill a perfect hierarchy in those who are closer to violence than the law.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll go easy on you.”

At that moment, the eyes of the Hunters gathered here flashed.