The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 145

144

I rushed to the research center after receiving the sudden call.

“What exactly happened? You found a Bank Item.”

I went straight to Director Lee Ah-young as soon as I entered Eclipse.

When I first heard the news, I thought it was a joke.

There hadn’t been any dungeons appearing with a minimum Orange rank, which is required for Bank Items to appear, and there hadn’t been any reports of rare item appearances either.

Most of all, according to my memories from before the regression, I had never heard of any additional Bank Items being discovered besides the Time Stone.

Of course, it could have been discovered after I died.

“Follow me for now.”

With a serious look on her face, she led me to an area located deeper inside the central research lab.

As soon as I entered the space, a blue-glowing byproduct caught my eye.

Seeing it, I could finally accept that it wasn’t a joke.

“Do you remember the byproduct that the Angola branch sent a few months ago?”

“Are you talking about the one that the support team had an accident with during an experiment?”

Director Lee Ah-young nodded.

“My father said that the byproduct seemed to be a Bank Item, so he sent it here for confirmation…”

“How did it turn out?”

“It’s a Bank Item. And it’s the Ability Stone, of which only one has been found in the entire world so far.”

“Crazy…”

Ability Stone.

The rarest of the Bank Items, and an item with the most dangerous effects.

Its basic effect is to grant abilities, but it’s known to affect all things, regardless of whether they are people, animals, or objects.

In other words, it was an item that could weaponize everything visible, and if one wanted, they could create an army of hundreds of thousands of ability users.

And that item came to Korea.

‘Tsk, I knew something was strange…’

It was a powerful explosion that blew away a small building, but the byproduct itself was intact.

I thought it wasn’t an ordinary byproduct, but I never imagined it would be a Bank Item… an Ability Stone, no less.

‘Since it was from Africa, I just thought it was a special byproduct…’

I bit my lip.

Then, Director Lee Ah-young asked with a puzzled voice.

“You don’t seem happy?”

“It’s not exactly good news.”

“What’s not good about it? It’s an Ability Stone. There’s only one in the entire world. More than anything, this makes Korea a country that possesses two Bank Items. If you include the Anti-Ability Stone extracted from PB Corporation’s bullets, that makes three. Well… it’s a very small amount, though.”

“That’s the problem.”

She still seemed puzzled.

To explain it, there were a few things I needed to clarify first.

I briefly organized what I had learned so far and slowly opened my mouth.

“Hasn’t the International Association wanted to consolidate all the subjugation rights around the world for a while now?”

“That’s right…”

“But no matter how I think about it, the merits don’t outweigh the time and capital invested. In this day and age, you can’t really control the world just by consolidating one subjugation right.”

“…Come to think of it, that’s true.”

“They’d make a lot of money, though… But… the scale is too big to just be about money. They’re mercilessly killing even influential figures around the world if they get in the way, and the reason is money?”

“That doesn’t add up.”

“Actually, I casually asked Team Leader Mark… but he said he didn’t know either.”

Director Lee Ah-young also began to get serious.

“Well… if money isn’t the goal, then there’s really only one possibility, isn’t there?”

“…!”

She finally understood.

“You’re saying the goal is Bank Items?”

“It’s just a guess, of course. But there’s a high probability. Last time, they tried to drown half of the Association’s operation team to recover the Time Stone.”

“…? What are you talking about? W-Wait, are you saying that the underwater dungeon incident was also orchestrated by PB Corporation?!”

Ah, I didn’t mention that, did I?

So much has happened that I’m confused about how much I’ve told her.

Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.

“Anyway, the International Association is strangely eager to recover Bank Items. So, I think… we’ve been misunderstanding the International Association’s goal all along.”

“So, you’re saying that they’re not recovering Bank Items to consolidate subjugation rights, but they’re trying to consolidate subjugation rights to recover Bank Items?”

“That’s right.”

Director Lee Ah-young groaned, holding her head.

She seemed to understand why I said it was troublesome.

We strengthened our forces for a full-scale war with the International Association, but it didn’t mean a literal war.

In the first place, it doesn’t make sense to wage war with Hunters.

Even if we did, we would have to endure too much damage.

A full-scale war is not a literal war, but rather a takeover battle with the International Association, using our superior subjugation competitiveness.

After all, they’ll have to do business, not war, to consolidate subjugation rights.

‘But… if the International Association’s real goal is Bank Items, then things change.’

From now on, there’s no need to insist on doing business.

If things go wrong, we can just take them by force. Like the underwater dungeon incident.

‘They did that for just one Time Stone, but if word gets out that we’ve acquired another Bank Item…’

Especially the Ability Stone.

Unlike other Bank Items with very strict usage conditions and ranges, it has the highest utility.

If they find out it’s in Korea, they might actually start a war.

‘No, it would be a relief if that was all.’

If branches all over the world join in, it could escalate into a world war in the worst case scenario.

Then it would be almost impossible for me to solve it.

No, no one would be able to stop it.

“Did you report this to the Association President?”

“No. Not yet.”

“That’s a relief. For now, please report that the confirmation result was that it wasn’t a Bank Item.”

“…Okay.”

She agreed without much objection.

She agreed to keep it a secret for now.

“Ah, and is the Time Stone still being kept at the Association?”

“It should be.”

“Then let’s bring it here and keep it together. It’s better to manage it together here.”

“…Um, but you know.”

Director Lee Ah-young lowered her voice and spoke cautiously.

“Can’t we just process this and use it?”

“…What do you mean?”

“It’s illegal, of course, but the International Association is already processing and using Bank Items. There’s no reason why we can’t, right?”

Bank Items are items that are prohibited from secondary processing and weaponization because they can cause significant problems in society.

But the International Association was the one who broke the promise first.

Considering future disputes…

Like she said, there’s no reason why we can’t.

More than anything, if we use the Ability Stone, we can stand against armies from all over the world.

In other words, in the worst case scenario, it’s possible to forcibly establish a second International Association.

At first glance, it seems like a very easy and quick method, but…

“Just because they did it first doesn’t mean we have to do the same. We have our pride.”

“I don’t think this is a situation where we can afford to be proud.”

“I’m saying it because I’m confident.”

“Huh?”

“We can crush the International Association enough without resorting to such tricks. Isn’t that why we’ve prepared this much?”

“…”

“And…”

There’s also risk management, but I have pride as a Hunter.

“Hunters’ enemies are monsters, not people.”

“…”

Director Lee Ah-young paused for a moment after my answer, but soon smiled.

“Well, that’s true.”

***

“Haa…”

A long sigh echoed in the Secretary-General’s office at the International Hunter Association headquarters.

‘It’s no different from a prison, except there are no bars.’

Secretary-General Wesley muttered, staring at the ceiling.

The investigation has been ongoing since the African branch incident.

Not only is all work within the headquarters being monitored, but any movement is immediately followed by document reviews.

‘It’s not like they’ll find anything even if they try so hard.’

There’s no fear of being caught, but not being able to do as I please is mentally exhausting.

And more than anything, what’s frustrating is the anxiety of not knowing what Kim Jun-woo will do while the headquarters is hesitating like this.

Fortunately, it seems like he’s only moving within Korea recently… but you never know.

He might be strengthening his forces for a full-scale war with us.

It’s quite displeasing that the headquarters can’t do anything during this time, but what can I do?

If I move rashly and get on the nerves of the executives, everything will be for naught.

As I was spending such a tedious time, a knock came and the executive secretary entered the office.

“What’s going on?”

“I have something to tell you regarding the Angola branch that the Korean Association acquired this time.”

“Yes. Tell me.”

“Well, that’s…”

The executive secretary glanced at the door and lowered her voice.

“It’s an N-1 matter.”

“…”

Secretary-General Wesley’s expression instantly hardened.

He also glanced at the office door.

With investigators spread throughout the headquarters, it was difficult to have a conversation here.

He snapped his fingers.

[Unique Skill: Creation of Heaven and Earth]

[Creates an 11th-dimensional unique space]

Ziiiiing—.

The outer walls of the office twisted wildly and transformed into an unknown space.

The executive secretary looked around the space she was standing in with wide eyes.

A dark and undulating space like the universe or the deep sea.

It felt strange, as if she was completely detached from reality and floating, not even sure if she was standing.

“If it’s an N-1 matter, is it a report related to Bank Items?”

“…Yes, yes.”

She was also flustered because it was her first time entering the Secretary-General’s unique space, but she quickly regained her composure and continued.

“The moment the Orange-rank dungeon was subjugated in the Angola branch, the control team detected an enormous ability wave.”

“Doesn’t a dungeon usually emit quite a lot of ability waves when it disappears?”

“As a result of the confirmation, it was a figure equivalent to 15 times the ability waves generated when a normal dungeon disappears.”

“…!”

Secretary-General Wesley’s eyebrows twitched.

It was definitely an abnormal figure.

There aren’t many phenomena that could emit that much ability wave.

Unless a strong monster disappeared, or an unbelievably powerful item appeared.

If it was the latter, the probability of it being a Bank Item was too high, as the executive secretary said.

‘It’s definitely suspicious…’

I can’t be sure yet because I can’t check it myself.

“But a few days ago, the same size ability wave was detected in Seoul.”

“…What?”

“When I checked the Korean news at that time, I found out that a byproduct exploded at the support team in the Seoul headquarters.”

“…The Angola branch, that’s the branch the Korean Association acquired, right?”

“Yes.”

“The same ability wave was detected in both places?”

“…”

The executive secretary hesitated to answer this time.

It was because Secretary-General Wesley’s eyes had completely changed.

“Ha, hahaha…!”

Eventually, he let out a chilling laugh.

“We were trying to move as carefully as possible… but it’s come to this after all.”

He shook his head as if he couldn’t help it, as if it was a situation he had expected to some extent.

“Contact Emma and tell her to quickly recruit members for the Balance Team.”

“Yes, yes…?”

“It seems like we’ll have to declare war.”

Secretary-General Wesley’s eyes flashed.