Chairman Yoo's face clearly showed his heightened emotions. Whatever words he was about to bring up, this wasn't the place to hear them. Conscious of his mother and younger brother, Jin-Woo briefly glanced toward the dining table before turning his gaze back to Chairman Yoo.
"..."
Chairman Yoo was waiting anxiously for Jin-Woo's response. After a brief deliberation, Jin-Woo's lips parted.
"If there's somewhere we can have a quiet conversation..."
Chairman Yoo's expression brightened, and he broke into a smile that came straight from his heart.
"I'll take you somewhere quiet. Let's go together."
Jin-Woo went inside, greeted his mother briefly, grabbed his coat, and came back down to the apartment entrance with Chairman Yoo's party. Just as expected, reporters were camped out at the entrance waiting for Jin-Woo. The three burly young men that the famous chairman had brought were likely there to break through that wall of reporters. The reporters were shouting loudly, engaged in an intense physical struggle with the Surveillance Division Hunters guarding the entrance.
"Hey, the chairman of Yoojin Construction gets to go in but we can't? Does that even make sense?" "Visiting Hunter Sung Jin-Woo as a guest? Why can't reporters be guests? We're guests too from now on, guests!" "Oh, really? So the Hunter's Association's biggest sponsor can go in but reporters can't?"
The reporters were pushing forward ferociously, as though the people blocking their path weren't Hunters—they would have trampled straight through them otherwise.
"Stand back!"
The Surveillance Division Hunters holding them back looked pitiful.
"Hunter Sung Jin-Woo has stated that he's declining all articles and interviews!" "I said step back!" "If you wish to visit the Hunter's residence, notify the Association in advance and obtain a permit!"
Since the other party was ordinary civilians, they couldn't exactly use force to push them away. Jin-Woo watched the Surveillance Division staff drenched in sweat with a sympathetic look before finally taking action.
"Wha—what?"
The reporters' bodies began rising into the air all at once.
"Help! Somebody help!"
This time, Jin-Woo lifted the reporters ten meters into the air instead of ten centimeters. As he stepped out through the entrance, the Hunters greeted him with crisp bows.
"Hunter Sung Jin-Woo!" "Hunter!"
Unlike the Hunters, who were already used to this and didn't seem particularly surprised, Chairman Yoo and his three bodyguards had their eyes wide open.
"Oh my God..."
Chairman Yoo's gaze was fixed on the reporters flailing in midair. Watching their faces turn pale, Chairman Yoo felt a sense of pity toward those pesky reporters for the first time ever. The head of the Surveillance Division approached Jin-Woo, wearing a troubled expression but with a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Hunter... If you keep doing this, we're going to have a hard time." "They were too loud to just leave alone." "Haha."
The reporters were shouting something furiously, but a curtain of mana had already materialized around them, cutting off the sound. The division chief looked up at them for a moment and asked.
"How long are you going to keep them up there this time?" "I was thinking about five minutes. Long enough for them to cool their heads up there."
The promise of a record-breaking feat had the Surveillance Division Hunters bursting into laughter. Wah-ha-ha—
"Shh! Shh!"
The division chief, trying hard to suppress his laughter and signaling his subordinates with his eyes, replied to Jin-Woo politely.
"Please make sure none of the reporters get hurt." "You don't need to worry about that."
By now, the power of a Ruler—that is, the ability to manipulate mana—had long since become as familiar as handling something with his hands. Even if he left, mana would safely set the reporters down.
'Well, I can't really do anything about the nausea they'll feel...'
They had come to his house, which was protected under an information security agreement, and were causing a scene on top of that, so this much of a warning should be fine. Screech. Chairman Yoo's large sedan, which had been called ahead, soon arrived, and Jin-Woo and Yoo Myung-Hwan each took a seat on either side of the back row. The car slid smoothly into motion, heading for Chairman Yoo's residence.
* * *
Chairman Yoo led Jin-Woo to his reception room—the quietest place imaginable. The two sat facing each other.
"I'd like to have a quiet conversation with Hunter Sung." "Understood, Mr. Chairman."
After Chairman Yoo had everyone else leave, Jin-Woo spoke first.
"How did you find out?"
He shouldn't have left any evidence of having helped Chairman Yoo. Where had he slipped up? Chairman Yoo, who had been watching Jin-Woo's curious eyes, finally revealed the truth.
"That day, my daughter saw you leaving the hospital."
Chairman Yoo's daughter... Ah. Jin-Woo recalled Yoo Jin-Ho's sister, whom he had run into in front of the guild office. That was why she had looked familiar. He couldn't believe the woman who happened to pass by the hospital where Chairman Yoo Myung-Hwan had been admitted was the same person. Jin-Woo let out a quiet laugh at the realization that his meticulous preparations had been undone by one trivial coincidence. Chairman Yoo Myung-Hwan, who had been closely studying Jin-Woo's expression, finally felt relieved.
'Thank goodness.'
Although it had been a good deed, he was worried Jin-Woo might be angry about having his hidden tracks dug up. If he had in any way offended his benefactor, he would never have been able to forgive himself. But contrary to his worries, Jin-Woo didn't look displeased at all. For Chairman Yoo, that was a tremendous relief.
"So it really was Hunter Sung." "Yes."
Jin-Woo didn't bother denying it either. The moment the confirmation left his own mouth, Chairman Yoo's eyes trembled. Up until now, countless people had tried to curry his favor in order to get something out of him. There were even those who shamelessly held out their hands to demand something with even less effort than that. But what about the young man before him? A single life—no, the life of the man who led the country's top corporation—and he wanted nothing in return. If his daughter hadn't happened to spot him, he would never have known for the rest of his life how he had gotten out of that hospital bed. Emotions welled up on the face of Chairman Yoo Myung-Hwan, known forThe request was rejected because it was considered high risk