Dressed in mourning attire, Kim Tae Yong looked as pale and chilly as a grim reaper.
As proof, a couple of people flinched when they saw Kim Tae Yong from afar. Kim Tae Yong, who doesn’t care how others view him, looked gloomily at Jiho.
“Would you perhaps have a moment to talk?”
Jiho could guess what Kim Tae Yong wanted to say. Seeing Jiho nod gravely, Tae Yong let out a low sigh.
“It appears that you have already heard.”
“Yes. I heard a little. For now, let’s move and….”
Jiho’s terminal suddenly rang while he was speaking. Jiho checked in case it was important, but turned his terminal off as soon as he saw the name. That person isn’t important right now. Jiho was still going to call back later, but….
Delta Cho Seung Taek
| ^^ | |
| *@>->—- | |
| A.Rose.To.Celebrate.Victory. | |
| Grab.A.Meal.Together?? |
Messages with no substance arrived continuously, as if determined to not be left ignored. Having spent a day together, Jiho learned that this person has a stubborn streak. He’ll probably continue to send messages until he receives a response. It’s not like Jiho can just block him either….
Jiho asked Tae Yong to excuse him and sent Cho Seung Taek a short response.
Delta Cho Seung Taek
| I am busy at the moment | |
| Let’s talk later | |
| Time.Lost.Does.Not.Return. | |
| >>——▷♡ | |
| Cupid’s.Arrow.^^ | |
| Attention.Please. |
“…”
What is he saying? Is he crazy?
Not wanting to respond any more, Jiho ignored him and closed his terminal. Jiho planned to block him if he made a fuss. However….
“This old man feels hurt when you ignore me so blatantly.”
Jiho heard Cho Seung Taek not through the terminal messages, but his actual voice behind him. Cho Seung Taek strode up to them and suddenly wrapped his arm around Jiho’s shoulders. Since Seung Taek is a head taller than Jiho, Jiho’s body swayed under this attack.
“Euk….”
“I guess young people prefer hanging out with other young people?”
When did he come here…. They should’ve left earlier.
Jiho looked back at Tae Yong and then awkwardly smiled at Seung Taek.
“I have something to talk about with Hunter Kim Tae Yong. If it’s a meal, we can have one later….”
So take the hint and leave. Is what Jiho meant, but Cho Seung Taek tightened the arm around Jiho’s shoulders. Now feeling like his neck was being strangled, Jiho was about to get angry when Cho Seung Taek quietly whispered.
“Is this about Mireu’s guildmembers going missing? Let me join.”
Despite the severity of the situation, Cho Seung Taek’s attitude was unbelievably light and casual.
Kim Tae Yong’s anger flared in an instant as he glared dangerously at Seung Taek.
“You….”
“Ah, don’t be angry. I’m not asking to exchange information. I have a few things to say, there’s nothing wrong with free information, right?”
Cho Seung Taek grinned leisurely, like someone confident in his winning card.
In the end, Kim Tae Yong accepted Cho Seung Taek’s offer. After they borrowed a meeting room in the Hunter Association and set up a barrier to block all sound, Seung Taek spoke.
“This is about our former guildmember….”
Though he didn’t say the name, the subject was clear.
James Whitaker.
The murderer from Delta Guild who attacked Shin Jiho.
“I remember he was an ordinary person. Moderately selfish and slightly more greedy than others. But he wasn’t so impulsive as to rashly commit murder. He wasn’t in debt or addicted to gambling and drugs either.”
“Are you defending a murderer….”
Jiho stopped Tae Yong, who jumped up in anger.
“I don’t think he’s defending him. What you mean is that for a person like that to commit murder, there must have been an adequate reason, correct?”
“Ah.”
Tae Yong was easily convinced and sat back down.
Even an evil doer who looks down on human life is bound to hesitate when it comes to murder. Aside from the moral issue of murder, the risk is too big.
From that perspective, there was too much for James Whitaker to lose. He lost his stable position at Delta Guild and turned to a life on the run. There’s no way he agreed to shoulder that burden without the guarantee of a sure prize.
“He didn’t work alone. There’s 100% someone behind him.”
“Is that not obvious? If that is all you have to say….”
“And I suspect that Delta Guild is behind him.”
Hearing this from none other than Delta’s vice-guildmaster, everyone went silent.
“It didn’t make sense that Delta let the criminal run away after such a huge murder case occured.”
“Perhaps the guild is incredibly incompetent.”
Kim Tae Yong said sarcastically, as though he still found Cho Seung Taek untrustworthy. But Seung Taek seemed cheerful.
“Ah, I might be incompetent. But our guildmaster is very competent. There’s no place his influence hasn’t spread to.”
Cho Seung Taek came up to Jiho. Then he poked Jiho’s chest with his finger.
“Delta is quite interested in this Shin Jiho-gun, you see?”
“You say that as though it is someone else’s problem? It is your guild.”
“Once a guild grows as big as Delta, the guildmaster and vice-guildmaster don’t always know what all the other’s doing.”
Cho Seung Taek distinguished not himself from the guild, but the guildmaster from the vice-guildmaster. In other words, there’s only one person he’s referring to.
Adrian Evert, Delta’s guildmaster.
To say that it’s ridiculous… even the guildmaster and vice-guildmaster of Chungram have secrets, despite their good relationship.
“First of all, doesn’t the timing line up? The timing of when Delta entered the country and when Mireu’s guildmembers started disappearing.”
Cho Seung Taek kept pouring oil over Jiho’s doubt.
Actually, Jiho suspected Delta as soon as he heard Kyung Hyun speak about this. Though the person he suspected wasn’t Adrian but rather Cho Seung Taek….
Seeing Jiho look confused, Cho Seung Taek grinned.
“To be honest, Delta Guild isn’t the only one interested in Shin Jiho-gun? I’ve heard that this guildmaster here is also pretty interested in Shin Jiho-gun.”
“I have no impure intentions.”
“That’s what all people with impure intentions say.”
Kim Tae Yong seemed offended by the criticism, but he took a deep breath in to calm down. Still, the traces of annoyance on his face made him look like a little kid who was teased that… it made Jiho want to laugh, despite the situation, because of how honest his face was.
‘I understand why Yang Hojin calls him Young Master.’
What’s the point of being over 100 years old when even the 24-year-old Shin Jiho feels that he’s young?
If even Jiho feels this way, imagine how Seung Taek feels. He smirked at Tae Yong like he was looking at a silly brat. He seems to be having fun teasing a young child.
“Now, think about it. Isn’t it suspicious that they joined hands with Heaven Guild?”
“Heaven is….”
Tae Yong hesitated like he found that odd as well. Jiho doesn’t know too much, but he knows that Heaven isn’t quite a clean guild.
“Well, I’m not saying he’s definitely the culprit. I’m just offering one theory.”
Cho Seung Taek left a way out for himself by saying he wasn’t certain and smiled meaningfully.
“Then I’ll let you think about that.”
“Why are you telling us this?”
Even if there’s arguments within the guild, it’s best to take care of that internally; it’s obviously a risk to expose a weakness to another guild. Seung Taek sighed and shook his head before shrugging like he was completely resigned.
“All of the Delta guildmembers that came here follow the guildmaster. I don’t really have anyone on my side. A lot of them died that day under James Whitaker’s hands.”
Cho Seung Taek, who spoke in a casual tone up until this point, said coldly. For a second, a murderous aura filled the room and chilled the spine. However, Seung Taek wiped the cold expression off of his face and dramatically bowed to the two people.
“Then, I sincerely hope you investigate this.”
After saying all that he wanted to say, Seung Taek left with no regrets.
To summarize, Delta Guild is internally divided between two factions: the guildmaster’s and vice-guildmaster’s… and the people who joined hands with Heaven and are behind the disappearances of Mireu’s guildmembers are part of the guildmaster’s faction.
It’s unclear how much of those words can be trusted, but if that’s all true….
“…”
Jiho is extremely conflicted.
Tae Yong glared at the door Seung Taek left from before turning back to Jiho and softening his expression.
“Delta Guild is also among my list of suspects. Though they are not the most suspicious–actually, I suspe….”
“Why Delta? Is it because of the timing of their arrival?”
“That, and also, I find it suspicious that Delta joined hands with Heaven Guild. We recently obtained information that Heaven Guild is conducting illegal experiments to learn how to create awakened ones and strengthen them.”
Jiho’s eyes widened at this startling information.
“What the…. Is that true?”
“Yes. They originally conducted these experiments at a small scale domestically, but have recently expanded their scope through international partners. On top of that, once a guild is as big as Heaven or Chungram… they have a basic awareness of the existence of non-human species and those with supernatural powers.”
“Ah, that makes sense….”
This wasn’t that surprising. Since views are split even within Mireu Guild, there’s bound to be people who hold utterly different views. The Association or other high-ranking guilds probably have some level of knowledge regarding this.
“And many of the weaker species and those with supernatural powers are caught and sold as test subjects.”
“…”
“Heaven tends to be quite active in purchasing test subjects. Although Delta has never openly invested in evil industries… truthfully speaking, we do not know their situation very well because they are an American guild. As the guild has their hands in many different countries, it is likely that they have the power to assist in supplying test subjects.”
“Delta….”
Delta is a guild that used to work with Chungram, but they joined hands with Heaven this time. If that’s the case, doesn’t that mean Joo Yiwon is entirely uninvolved in this matter?
James Whitaker said Delta is supporting Shin Jiho and that there’s a connection to Joo Yiwon.
He doesn’t have enough information to conclude which side’s telling the truth. In the end, Jiho decided to reach out to Tae Yong, just as Tae Yong did to him.
“Although this is unrelated to Delta, I have discovered something else.”
“What have you discovered?”
“Have you heard of Ipeulis Guild?”
“I have heard about them. I know that they are an unregistered information guild.”
“Yes. Actually, I am investigating that guild, and I overheard bits of a conversation between the guildmaster and client. The information they exchanged was about finding unregistered non-awakened ones….”
Park Geon Ho’s skill, [Summon Cotton], could share everything it heard and saw with its owner, and the conversation was all relayed back to Jiho.
At the time, Jiho didn’t dig any deeper because, though suspicious, he assumed they were unrelated to this matter, but… hearing Kim Tae Yong’s words made him suspect Ipeulis as well. Since unregistered non-awakened ones are perfect test subjects.
Kim Tae Yong thought about Jiho’s words before resolutely standing up.
“If Ipeulis Guild is exchanging that sort of information… this is an issue we cannot overlook, regardless of whether it is related to our guildmembers’ disappearances or not.”
“That is correct.”
“We must investigate this right away.”
Jiho nodded.
He was relieved Kim Tae Yong didn’t ask why he investigated Ipeulis Guild. Jiho can’t reveal Ipeulis Guild’s connection to Joo Yiwon right away. Jiho doesn’t want Tae Yong to suspect Yiwon when Ipeulis’s involvement in Mireu Guild’s missing persons is unclear.
However, Jiho knows that him thinking this way is proof he suspects Yiwon.
If he truly believed in Yiwon’s innocence, he would’ve revealed everything. No, he would’ve asked Tae Yong who he found most suspicious when he had brought it up earlier.
But Jiho can’t bring himself to ask that. Because he’s scared to hear Joo Yiwon’s name from Kim Tae Yong.
A dark suspicion grew and firmly rooted itself in a corner of Jiho’s heart. Jiho could only hope that this investigation would prove Yiwon’s innocence.
LaZ Bird Corner
Who to trust…?
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