Chapter 19  

Choi Min-Seok spent a lot of money, so he was assigned to a private room. He needed a private room because he did not want anyone to see his joy after Choi Yu-Seong was killed or disabled. Although he had not gotten the desired result, Min-Seok was still grateful for staying in the private room.

‘Damn it, that was embarrassing.’

The lightning spear thrown at him by Choi Yu-Seong had looked so threatening that it had scared him. It had made him worry that the mana field, which even an A-class player couldn’t easily break through, could possibly be destroyed.

He couldn’t begin to imagine how embarrassed he would have felt if others had been around him at that moment.

No, thinking over it again, the people who were there would have already seen him acting awkward anyways.

People, aside from the reporters, in a far-off room were able to see him through the window of the room he was in.

‘Yeah, at least the gossipy reporters didn’t see me.’

He was angry, but he knew that it was no use letting himself be swayed by emotion.

Min-Seok calmed himself down as much as possible and tried to leave the association building quickly.

‘Lee Jin-Wook failed, so I should leave before someone catches me here.’

In any case, the followers under his command would take care of the troublesome clean-up.

Just because he was running away as quickly as possible didn’t mean he was trying to avoid Yu-Seong.

However, Min-Seok subconsciously felt trepidation that he did not want to admit.

He couldn’t help but shiver whenever he recalled the gaze that Yu-Seong had when he threw the spear.

‘Did I really get scared by Choi Yu-Seong?’

That was ridiculous.

Min-Seok snorted disdainfully and strode out, where he bumped into someone.

“Watch where you’re going!”

Min-Seok got angry and raised his voice as he stared at the person.

“Jin Yu-Ri?”

Choi Min-Seok frowned after unexpectedly running into her in the quiet hallway.

But what she said next was something that he never would have imagined.

“Hey,” said Jin Yu-Ri.

“...What?” answered Min-Seok.

“Do you wanna die?” She asked.

“...”

Min-Seok's movement stiffened. It wasn't simply because he was scared by the ferocious spirit of the A-rank player in front of him.

It was something beyond that. It was something fundamental.

‘Did I hear her wrong?’

He couldn’t believe what was happening. It was so absurd that he became speechless and had a momentary lapse in thought.

The following emotion was, of course, anger.

“Are you crazy? You ungrateful mutt, after all I've done for you!?”

“Why don’t you answer the question? I asked you if you wanna die.”

“How dare you?! Jin Yu-Ri, who do you think you are, a member of the Choi family?!”

Choi Min-Seok raged, unable to process what was happening.

He felt the back of his head being pulled forward suddenly, and the sight of her knee approaching his face was followed by the feeling of something breaking inside his mouth.

“Ugh!”

Choi Min-Seok lay on the floor coughing. He felt his mouth swell and he could taste blood.

"Answer me, Choi Min-Seok. Do you want to die?"

Yu-Ri stood in front of Min-Seok as she spoke to him. His entire face was swollen like a toad’s. Min-Seok gritted his teeth while looking at her with swollen and red eyes.

"You, you... you think you're gonna be okay after this?”

"Oh, well. I’ll just kill you."

Jin Yu-Ri spoke coldly as she raised her fingers. Dark energy rose above them, forming into the shape of a sharp sword.

“Uh, what are you going to do?”

“It seems you haven’t figured out the situation yet. Just die, you piece of trash.”

The moment Yu-Ri’s hand flew toward Min-Seok’s forehead, Min-Seok closed his eyes tightly and reached out with both of his hands. “St…stop-!”

Yu-Ri stopped her blade right in front of Min-Seok and tilted her head.

“I…I am sorry! I am sorry!”

Min-Seok exclaimed loudly, as he didn’t want to lose his opportunity.

“For what?”

“First things first, calm down, Jin Yu-Ri. If you act recklessly like this, you’re going to make things hard for Yu-Seong too.”

“That's not the answer I want to hear. Did you forget my question?”

Choi Min-Seok didn’t understand her right away.

As it clicked, he shouted in a louder voice, “I don't want to die! Of course, I don't want to die!"

A cold smile appeared on Yu-Ri’s face as she slowly put away her black sword.

“...So why'd you do it?”

“I-I’m… I’m not responsible for what happened with Yu-Seong.”

“How shameless.”

Yu-Ri narrowed her eyes.

Min-Seok shrugged and looked down. Perhaps he was fearful of Yu-Ri’s cold eyes, so he continued to choose his words carefully.

“I’m telling you, I didn’t expect Lee Jin-Wook to be that excessive. I was so surprised that my heart sank.”

Yu-Ri could clearly tell that he was lying. She continued looking at him with a cold smile, then slowly nodded.

“Do…do you believe me?”

Honestly, Min-Seok’s question made her want to tear his mouth apart.

Yu-Ri knew exactly where the line was to avoid any trouble for Yu-Seong.

Any more than this would be stepping out of line.

‘I have to let it slide.’

Both Yu-Ri and Min-Seok knew that she was just going to let it slide. There was only one thing she wanted to tell him for now.

“This is the last warning. If you threaten Yu-Seong oppa once again….”

Jin Yu-Ri ground her teeth and stepped on Choi Min-Seok’s legs with her high heels.

“Argh!”

“I will kill you, no matter the cost… Do you understand?”

“Arghhhhh-”

“Answer me clearly, if you intend to live.”

Yu-Ri let Min-Seok go with a slight sigh after he madly nodded. She turned around and walked out of the dark hallway.

Tip-tap, tip-tap.

As the sound of her footsteps gradually disappeared, Choi Min-Seok’s eyes burned fiercely with anger.

‘Jin Yu-Ri, you crazy bitch. Did you think you’ll be safe after treating me like this?’

When he got up from the ground with a rough cough, he received a text notification.

Choi Min-Seok opened his phone and checked the sender and the message. Then he turned stiff.

From. Jin Yu-Ri

Oh, by the way, this is a gift. ^_^

Attachment(1)

Min-Seok's face turned pale as he checked the attachment with trembling hands.

He simply couldn’t understand…

‘How…How does that bitch have this…?’

The attachment was a short video of him shaking hands with a white man with a beard. To those who did not know the man, nothing would appear out of the ordinary. The problem was that the white man in the video was an American broker who had sold Min-Seok the orange-colored mana bomb.

Would Jin Yu-Ri, who sent this video, be oblivious to this? No, she knew for sure.

It was obvious what would happen if Yu-Ri took this video to Choi Woo-Jae and told him about the broker.

This was also a threat, warning him not to mess with Choi Yu-Seong and not to jump the gun.

“Uhhhhhhhhhh…”

Min-Seok raised his head and looked at the dark hallway where Yu-Ri had left. He staggered and laughed like he was crazy.

He tried to regain his balance, but even standing properly was difficult as his legs suddenly gave out.

No matter how many times he thought about it, he couldn’t believe the situation.

‘How did I end up like this?’

It was painful and anguishing.

Choi Min-Seok stumbled along the hallway, feeling the most miserable he had ever been in his life.

***

The test results were announced the day after Choi Yu-Seong passed the hunter test and got his license. As was certain, he had passed with the highest score. Of course, the media went bananas.

※ The troublemaker of the Comet Group has become the top hunter

※ Is Choi Yu-Seong an Irregular?

※ The scandal of Lee Jin-Wook is under cooperative investigation by the Korea Player Association and the prosecution

※ Lee Jin-Wook, the Irregular, is not the hope of the nation, but a criminal

※ News flash! S-Rank Park Cheol-Ho, the Iron Wall, once a hater, now a fan!

※ The rascal who fooled the world, raised Kim Do-Jin’s fighting spirit!

※ Comet Group’s stocks rise after Choi Yu-Seong scores the highest on the hunter test

Sitting in his own office at home, Choi Woo-Jae's mouth twisted as he slowly looked through the newspaper articles that his secretary Kim Pil-Doo had gathered.

His expression was mysterious, and it was hard to distinguish whether he was laughing or huffing. He threw the newspaper.

“Everyone is fussing as if it’s a big deal.”

“Like you said, it’s a big deal. You look the happiest you have been in the past year, master."

Woo-Jae stroked his chin while listening to Pil-Doo, who was standing in front of him.

“There's nothing to be unhappy about. It's about my son after all. After all that bragging, he finally proved his worth. Besides, the company's stock price has risen substantially.”

"You are the one who taught me not to bother feeling happy or miserable whenever the stock prices change. It is like a wild beast and is always going to fluctuate.“

"So now you're trying to lecture me?"

"...No, of course not, sir. How would I dare?"

Woo-Jae shook his head while watching Pil-Doo trying to avoid eye contact.

"Your sly behavior isn’t going to fool me anymore. Let's see, you’ve been working for me for more than 30 years now? When I first met you, you were like an open book. I could tell exactly what you were thinking all the time.”

“There’s a saying—‘The teacher's habits rub off on the students.’.”

“Isn’t it better now that you’re that much more clever? Anyway, I should give Yu-Seong a present.”

“You are giving him another present?”

“It’s time to give him carrots now. Hasn't he been whipped a lot already? Min-Seok was pretty much struggling. Ho ho ho.” Choi Woo-Jae chortled like a generous old man.

Suddenly, his smile faded away.

“By the way, Lee Jin-Wook, was it?”

“Yes, master.”

“It’s been a while since Director Geum has had work to do.”

“....I’ll deliver him your order, sir.”

If Kim Pil-Doo was Choi Woo-Jae's right-hand man, then Director Geum was his shadow in the underworld. He could not show himself due to the nature of his duties, but he never went far away from Woo-Jae. There was no objective reason to see him as a competitor, but strangely, he was weighing on Pil-Doo's mind.

"Tell him to tear Lee Jin-Wook apart and throw the pieces to the dungeon monsters. Let him know who he dared to touch."

“Yes, sir.”

Woo-Jae seemed like he still couldn’t let go of his anger. Kim Pil-Doo nodded lightly taking his orders.

This short conversation decided the end of a person’s life.

“You told me that Min-Seok is the one who brought him, right? Then who gave him the mana bomb?”

“...”

Pil-Doo did not answer him, even though he knew the answer.

One of the reasons was that he didn’t think Woo-Jae was asking because he didn’t know, and the other reason was that he thought it wasn’t his business to intervene.

Woo-Jae looked at Pil-Doo with a cold expression.

"Tell him to be careful for a while. This was out of line. Oh, and let Min-Seok know about how foolish men end up after Director Geum is done with his job. “

“Yes, sir.”

There was silence for a moment. It was clear now to Pil-Doo that Lee Jin-Wook’s brutal death was not just so that Woo-Jae could let off some steam. ‘Scary old man.’

When Kim Pil-Doo thought about how Choi Woo-Jae was using the death of a person as a warning to his children, he got goosebumps.

“No one would have noticed, right?”

“Yes, it seems so.”

“At least this should be done. Secretary Kim, if anything comes up, you should take care of it.”

“Yes, sir.”

By the time Pil-Doo lowered his head lightly and raised it up again, the scary eyes of the Comet Group’s chairman were gone. Instead, he was once again a generous old man with a warm smile.

The tension in the air disappeared.

"Yes, yes. It is indeed true that fighting can be a driving force for growth, but it's still better to toe the line, since they’re brothers."

Looking at Woo-Jae speaking calmly, Pil-Doo did not know what face he was supposed to make. Wasn’t Woo-Jae the one who had achieved his current position by eliminating all of his brothers and other relatives?

Fortunately, Woo-Jae did not appear to have seen Pil-Doo's rather mysterious change of expression.

That was because Woo-Jae’s eyes were on Yu-Seong, who was in the newspaper lying on the floor.

“Gift…What should I give him? By the way, he must resemble me a lot, since he is very handsome and outstanding..”

Choi Woo-Jae's lips curled up as he murmured to himself.