40 – A terrible hybrid created by money and power interfering with art.
The types of requests given to the Black Hunters could be largely divided into two types.
To keep, to take away.
Among them, it could be money or goods, an area, or territory, and in some cases, a person, or a security mission.
And, it was the same with stealing.
Stealing money or goods, recapturing lands occupied by other powers, or taking people’s lives.
Either way, it was inevitable that the battle would inevitably be accompanied by the hiring of high-end combat personnel, hunters, and the suppression of the enemies in the process. Most of the things that needed to be kept in mind, even up to murder.
And.. the missions I chose among them
Most of them are things that have the nature of ‘keeping’, and the reason is because of the part that can be said to be really simple and important in some ways.
‘No matter how much, I don’t like the things that blow bread on this side..’
Either way, in a situation where bloody battles were likely, it bothered me that our side would still fire first.
Of course, the basics in battle are pre-emptive strikes and first-breadwinners, and I preferred that and planned the strategy, but that is only a story when the opponent is monsters like the Abyss.
Against the same person, I had no choice but to prefer the defense side that could bring even the prestigious name of self-defense.
‘Yes, but… there are so many places that want to hire hunters. It’s mostly overseas work rather than domestic work, but…’
Although it is a wartime situation directly bordering the Abyss,
Still, in terms of security, Korea’s internal situation was quite good.
No, maybe rather, as it is a country facing the danger of the Abyss right in front of its nose, it may be more strict than other countries in terms of security, but…
‘Well… In the first place, since Korea was not a place where criminal organizations were very strong from the beginning… There is no reason to keep an eye on this place, where guys like the South American drug cartels and European mafia are roaring with the Abyss.’
With that thought in mind, I began filtering out requests with the help of Are and Glass.
Of course, let’s make the process purely by receiving good requests, earning money, and helping the company.
“How about this? Museum security work in Florence, Italy.”
“The pay is fine, but if nothing else, Italy is basically pretty risky. In the city, if you fire a gun incorrectly, the damage compensation can be more than the commission fee.”
“Not long ago, there was a hunter company that almost went bankrupt and had to pay reparations because it damaged the Trevi Fountain sculpture during a skirmish in Rome, right?”
“Italy is sensitive to the damage of cultural properties, and there are so many things like this from the roadside. For that reason, it is best to avoid requests from these places as much as possible. It’s because the belly button is often bigger than the stomach.”
“That..really?..then..how about this one? A multinational conference security mission in Spain.”
“The request itself is not bad… but the commission fee is a bit low. As long as the risk isn’t that high, there’s probably no need to call someone with that much skill.
“In other words, it means that the calcul (calculation) is not suitable for us to go directly.”
“Um… ”
In a situation where the requests that I would like to choose, and from my point of view, were repeatedly rejected, I began to feel regret.
When A-class hunters received a request, I also had to accompany them in the name of their management.
Of course, I could have refused considering the risk, but in that case, unlike the battle with the Abyss, my role would be extremely limited in this situation where real-time observation and command through surveillance satellites was impossible.
In this way, of course, the incentives would be neatly skipped, and I also did not want to dereliction of duty in that way.
At least, in order to pay for the meal while running directly on the field, it was better to accompany me, and in principle, that is the situation.
And using this point.
I chose places that seemed to be as safe as possible and good for sightseeing, with the intention of going overseas, which I had wanted to go to for a while.
Unfortunately, almost all of my opinions were rejected due to the above-mentioned problems.
“How about this? Oil facility defense missions against ISSS in the Middle East. I don’t know anything else, but he says he’ll give you a lot of money.”
“… Ummm…however, that’s a bit…”
“There is also a mission to subdue rebels in Africa. How about Aide? This one seems to give you quite a bit of money too, right?”
“Hey… let’s avoid large-scale battlefields between humans as much as possible. No matter how much war it is, it is unreasonable to devise a bloodless and tearless strategy against the same human beings as in the case of the Abyss. It seems that the bed will be very troubled.”
“Hmm.. but this désordre (message) is a good place to get a bite…”
A glass that speaks with sincere regret.
Contrary to her usual laid-back personality, her extremely passionate personality seemed to be showing up here again.
Like that, we were in a tug-of-war for a while between the difficulty of the mission, the pay, and the ethical issues.
In the end, the last remaining quests were narrowed down to three.
What they all have in common is that the basic wages are good.
All three are not large-scale battlefields, but personal security requests.
And.. the last thing they have in common.
All three requests were that they were trying to hire people in the same place for the same reasons.
“In the end, it turns out that all three of them are related to this.”
“You mean the large-scale art exhibition that will be held in Paris, France this time? I heard that people with money all over the world gather… Well, these people are worth spending a little money to use an A-class hunter as their bodyguard.”
While looking at the remaining requests.
I started to pull out information about this ‘art exhibition’ that I had only heard about from the depths of my head.
Paris Art Exhibition.
The original beginning was the opening of a large-scale art exhibition in Paris, the capital of France, by the masters of the art world of each country in the sense of reviving the art that had been stagnant due to the battle between the Abyss and mankind and praying for the victory of mankind. .
However, the nature and purpose of the art exhibition, which has been held once a year, has changed from the beginning at some point.
The exhibitions held by artists not only display their works to the public, but also have the characteristics of selling them.
In that sense, the Paris Art Fair was nothing short of a huge market where artists, from masters to unknown artists, could sell their works to others.
This commercial aspect of the art exhibition gradually changed its character as it attracted the attention of those with money and power.
Works of renowned artists.
The remains of dead artists who have been hidden.
New attempts by new artists.
Among them, the competition among those who want to get their hands on the items that they like or are valued by the public without sparing the price has become overheated as time goes by.
This has changed the art exhibition from a festival of artists who purely pray for the victory of mankind to a power game where high-ranking people boast of their power and power.
And, naturally, where power and power gather like this, where it is invisible
It was not uncommon for dirty armed forces to be mobilized.
It’s not just a fight of spirit, but because of attempts to definitely eliminate competitors who exposed themselves to the outside in order to participate in this event.
And, of course, these things…
The one who is aiming for the assassination target, and the one who is defending
There were many cases where black hunters, beings with powers beyond human beings, were involved.
‘Hunters created to stop the Abyss are involved in the art exhibition triggered by the Abyss.
With that thought in mind, I once again started checking the information about the three clients in front of me.
At that moment… Kwon Soon-i, who had been showing an indifferent attitude by the side
Without recognizing that he slightly turned his gaze this way.