The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 333

332. Side Story – Episode 10

“I think the Control Team’s file has been manipulated.”

I was quite shocked by Ha Eun-hye’s sudden remark.

After blinking, momentarily at a loss for words, she continued.

“The more I think about it, the stranger it seems, so I’m looking into it. I haven’t known the Hunter for long, but he’s definitely not the type to push forward knowing something is wrong. And he’s even less likely to make a mistake.”

“…….”

“Of course, it’s just a hunch for now, but there are clues. I’m looking into it in my own way. I’ll try to find solid evidence before the investigation period ends.”

“…….”

She frowned as she spoke, and I pressed my lips together, feeling dizzy.

Then, as if she had become a detective, Ha Eun-hye crossed her arms and frowned, saying,

“The problem is, if the file was manipulated, the Committee would definitely know, but there’s no movement at all. It seems like the higher-ups are trying to cover up the incident altogether. Looking at it, even the team leader seems suspicious…”

“Oh, no, how on earth…”

“I know. It must be a big shock. It seems like someone is trying to frame the Hunter. We need to keep our wits about us, especially in times like these.”

“No, that’s not it.”

I said, trying to sound calm.

“How on earth did you find out about that?”

“…How did I find out?”

Then, Ha Eun-hye looked at me as if she sensed something was wrong.

“D, did you know too, Hunter?!”

She asked, startled.

I remained silent.

Meanwhile, Ha Eun-hye showed an even more excited reaction.

“So, you knew and were just going to let it go?! At the very least, you’ll be passed over for promotion, and all your past achievements will be gone?!”

“Haa…”

I let out a deep sigh.

‘Tsk, what an immature kid who doesn’t know how scary the world is…’

As expected, a newbie is a newbie.

Muttering to myself, I slowly opened my mouth.

“I don’t think you understand, but even if I’m the ace of the team, I don’t have the power to do anything in this situation. If I stir things up for no reason, the situation could get worse. Anyway, I’m not particularly interested in promotion…”

“What’s that supposed to mean!”

Suddenly, she raised her voice.

“So you’re just going to let it go?! Because you’re afraid of greater retaliation? You acted all cool and collected during the subjugation, but now I see you’re just a coward!”

“…….”

My eyebrows twitched at those words.

When I became serious, she also realized that she had made a mistake and began to read my face.

“…I’m sorry. I think I got a little too excited.”

Soon, she offered an apology in a subdued voice.

But that was only for a moment.

She continued, as if she had no intention of backing down.

“Anyway, I have a close colleague in the Control Team. He made so many mistakes in the early days of his career that he now backs up all the original files on his personal hard drive. If that file is also backed up, we can link everyone involved in the incident and expose them…”

“Don’t do it.”

“…Yes?”

I said firmly, cutting her off.

“Don’t do it. Do you even know what you’re trying to do after only three months on the job? If you’re doing this out of affection after seeing me for a few days…”

“What are you talking about? Affection?”

Then she shrugged and said,

“I told you, this is my job.”

“…….”

“How can I live if I’m too afraid to speak up?”

She then gave a bright smile.

A pure, innocent smile.

Seeing that expression, I realized that I couldn’t stop her anymore.

‘This girl is a real piece of work…’

As I shook my head, looking at her.

“I’ve been telling you, you need to trust your colleagues a little more. If you keep trying to do everything alone, you’ll end up alone when you’re old.”

She shrugged and continued playfully.

“And… if it gets really dangerous, the Hunter can help me. You can do that much, right? We’ve known each other for a few days, after all.”

“…….”

I hesitated to answer her shameless words for a moment.

‘Haa…’

I let out a deep sigh and turned away, saying,

“Do as you please.”

Well, whatever.

It’s not like I asked her to help, and she’s volunteering, so what can I do?

I’m essentially getting something for nothing…

Well, there will be pressure, but it’s not difficult to cover that up.

***

“Oh, you’re here?”

The man who opened the door as soon as Ha Eun-hye rang the doorbell.

Ha Eun-hye’s college classmate and association colleague.

Eom Gyeong-hoon, an employee of the Operations Headquarters Control Team.

“Did you check what I told you about?”

“Well… come on in.”

Eom Gyeong-hoon cautiously led her into the house.

A messy room full of devices and an excessively low temperature.

On the desk littered with opened snack bags, four monitors were displaying something.

“First of all…”

Soon, Eom Gyeong-hoon sat in front of the monitor and opened his mouth.

“I checked it out, but the file you mentioned isn’t part of my assigned operation, so I didn’t back up the original.”

“…….”

Ha Eun-hye’s expression instantly hardened at his words.

But Eom Gyeong-hoon raised the corners of his lips, as if it wasn’t over yet.

“But I found something else.”

“Something else?”

“I got the file before leaving work today and just took it apart. But there’s something strange about it.”

Eom Gyeong-hoon tapped furiously on the keyboard and brought up a window on the monitor.

Then, pointing to a certain part, he continued.

“See this date here?”

“Yeah.”

“This is the original creation date of this file. It means the original was created at this time. And below that are the dates of additional modifications.”

Ha Eun-hye leaned her face against the monitor and carefully checked the dates.

The file, which was first created three months ago, seemed to have undergone a total of 13 modifications over the following month.

And.

“If you look here, the updates stopped exactly one month later, right?”

“That’s right.”

“From this point on, the Control Team almost froze it. At the same time, it was classified as a surplus dungeon.”

“…Wait a minute.”

Ha Eun-hye, who had been focusing on the monitor, soon discovered something strange in the log.

“There’s one more update after this?”

“That’s it.”

Eom Gyeong-hoon answered, snapping his fingers.

“When I asked my seniors, they said that once a dungeon is frozen and transferred as surplus, there are almost no additional updates afterward. There aren’t enough people to continue collecting information on surplus dungeons.”

“But why here…”

“Doesn’t it seem strange no matter how you look at it?”

At Eom Gyeong-hoon’s words, Ha Eun-hye nodded silently.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“But there’s something even stranger. The time when additional information was suddenly entered after almost two months of no updates…”

Eom Gyeong-hoon tapped on the keyboard again for a moment.

Soon, several numbers appeared on the monitor.

“November 22nd, 21:45.”

Eom Gyeong-hoon read the numbers aloud.

“It’s the time when the operation for that dungeon was underway.”

“……!”

At the same time, Ha Eun-hye’s face hardened.

“That means…”

“It’s certain that someone tampered with the file during the subjugation.”

The corners of Ha Eun-hye’s lips gradually rose.

“That’s it, then! I’ll take this straight to the team leader… no, I’ll report it directly to the board of directors…!”

“No. This is not enough.”

But Eom Gyeong-hoon cut her off and said firmly.

“Right now, you can only see the update time here, and you can’t check what content has been changed. It’s meaningless as evidence that the possibility of dungeon intervention has been manipulated.”

“Ah…….”

Soon her expression darkened.

“Is there no way? You’re good with computers. How about hacking or something…”

“You’ve watched too many movies. Do you think that’s easy?”

Eom Gyeong-hoon sighed once.

Then, he turned his chair back and looked at Ha Eun-hye, saying,

“All files related to the dungeon… that is, all information from immediately after the dungeon appeared to the real-time subjugation scene and the dungeon’s disappearance is stored on the Control Team’s main server. I heard that they’ve been storing it since the Control Team was created, so there should be at least 30 years’ worth of information.”

“Then…?”

“If it’s information from three months ago, then of course, everything from the original file of that dungeon to what content has been changed since then will be there.”

He continued in a serious voice.

“The problem is that there are only a few people who can access that server. Even our team leader can’t access it. Maybe the association president or the head of the operations headquarters? Even then, you’d need the association president’s permission.”

“What? So we can’t even access it.”

“Well…….”

He trailed off and gave a grin.

“I can’t touch the server itself… but I can crack the access code.”

Then Ha Eun-hye’s face began to brighten.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple.

“But even if you know the code, it’s impossible to connect remotely. If you want to extract information from the server, you have to touch the server directly.”

“…You mean we have to go directly to the Control Team’s server room and extract the information?”

“That’s right.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“Is it legal for an individual to bring in operation files and tear apart the logs?”

“…….”

Ha Eun-hye swallowed hard.

“What do you want to do?”

When Eom Gyeong-hoon asked, Ha Eun-hye hesitated to answer for a moment.

“I’ll give it a shot.”

Her eyes were filled with determination.

But that was only for a moment.

“Just so you know, if you get caught, it might not end with just getting fired?”

“…….”

He was pouring cold water on it before it even started.

***

“…….”

Seoul Headquarters, Operations Truth Investigation Committee.

Chairman Woo Seok-ho’s office.

Chairman Woo Seok-ho and Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol were sipping tea without a word.

And then.

“There are four days left until the end of the investigation, right?”

Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol broke the silence and spoke first.

“…That’s right.”

Chairman Woo Seok-ho answered in his gruff voice.

With a very uncomfortable expression and tone.

Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol was also aware of that reaction.

“I hope you don’t feel too unpleasant. Rather than trying to ignore and cover up an uncomfortable past, wouldn’t it be more comfortable to just clear it up this time?”

“You’re playing with me.”

“If you think so, I can’t help it.”

Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol replied with a small smile.

“So, is there anything else from the supervisor [referring to Kim Jun-woo]?”

“Nothing. He’s just quietly focusing on the subjugation…”

“He must have given up.”

Kim Jun-woo is a smart guy.

Even if he knows he’s been scammed, if he knows why this happened and who did it, he won’t try to move.

He also knows that he could be in danger if he steps forward.

“Anyway, I look forward to the remaining period. If this matter is resolved well…”

“If this matter is resolved.”

At that moment, Chairman Woo Seok-ho took Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol’s words and continued in a heavy voice.

“That subjugation monitoring file from then, you’ll definitely delete it, right?”

“Of course. Well… it will take time to get permission as I have to access the Control Team’s main server, but I will definitely keep that part [the promise to delete the file].”

“Is there any chance it will leak to anyone other than you?”

“Hahaha, the possibility of that happening is…”

“Hey, Seo Min-cheol.”

At that moment, Chairman Woo Seok-ho’s eyes changed.

“If that file leaks to anyone else, I can do things beyond your imagination.”

“…….”

“So, don’t talk about possibilities, tell me for sure.”

Clearly, Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol was holding the knife in the current situation.

No matter how much Chairman Woo Seok-ho is a big shot comparable to the board of directors, Seo Min-cheol has the upper hand as long as he holds an absolute weakness.

But even so, Chairman Woo Seok-ho’s warning made Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol feel intimidated.

“It will never be passed on to anyone else. So don’t worry too much.”

Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol forced a smile to avoid being caught that he was nervous.

He then bowed lightly and got up from his seat first.

As he left the office, Team Leader Lee Soo-yong, who had been waiting outside, immediately approached.

“How do you think it will go?”

When he asked, Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol frowned and said,

“Well, it seems like the Kim Jun-woo case will be finished as planned.”

“Then why do you look like that? Is there a variable?”

“…….”

Headquarters Director Seo Min-cheol clicked his tongue once.

“I think I did something unnecessary just to get him passed over for promotion once.”