179 – 179. Talks (1)
Seong Yu-jin, accompanied by one of her subordinates who acted as her secretary, headed to the meeting place suggested by Seol Ah-hyun. In her head, she chewed on the warning Min Chae-ryeong gave her.
‘Then, if I manage to persuade Ahn Su-ho and get the primordial silver, then will you let it go?’
‘Well. That’s it, I guess I’ll know by then, right?’
A subject with a smile on his lips, but an infinitely cold warning. Seong Yu-jin felt rather lonely at Min Chae-ryeong’s ultimatum.
‘I thought you’d step down this time.’
There were many grounds for such a judgment like comments.
The biggest reason for that was that Min Chae-ryeong would somehow avoid a full-scale confrontation with Yeo-il, and she also had expectations that she would give in considering the friendship between her seniors and juniors.
‘It was an empty expectation.’
Seong Yu-jin swallowed the bitterness from her throat and looked out the window at her. Under the night sky that has suddenly gone dark, shabby shopping districts continue to line up.
-Kiik.
“We have arrived. Director.”
At last, we arrived at a shabby room salon located between those shopping districts.
The two of them checked a small signboard reading ‘Angel’s Shelter’ next to the stairs going down to the basement, parked their car on the side of the road and went down.
The store was quiet today, probably not doing business at all. The only person there was the bewitching madam sitting at the counter.
“… ….”
She smoked her cigarette with her bored face, and when she saw the two of them, she spat out ‘eight times’. There was no guidance, but Seong Yu-jin headed inside without saying anything.
As if it was natural.
Meanwhile, at that time.
There were already three people waiting in room 8, the madam said. It was Seol Ah-hyun, the head of the Black Dragon, his secretary Ekaterina, and Ahn Su-ho.
‘…… I’ve been living and visiting all the room salons.’
Ahn Su-ho looked around him or swept the sofa for no reason with curious eyes. He had nothing to do with this place, so he was curious just to have been there, but what was even more amazing was that this place was chosen as the meeting place between the two guilds.
‘Well, from Seol Ah-hyun’s words, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary room salon.’
As the saying goes, Angel’s Shelter was not an ordinary room salon. Located in a planned redevelopment area away from downtown, this shabby room salon served as a so-called secret rendezvous and neutral zone for those in the know.
For example, when two groups hold secret talks with each other, like today, both camps need a neutral place that does not belong to either of them in order to be comfortable with each other. In addition, it is natural that there is no need to worry about others’ eyes, and there must be security so that the contents of the meeting will never leak out.
And the angel’s resting place was one of the places that satisfies those conditions. A neutral zone in the literal sense of the word, created under the interests of those who step into the shadows of this country.
In this place, no matter how much Seol Ah-hyeon was the leader of the Black Dragon and Seong Yu-jin was a director of the Yeoil Group, they could never run wild.
Because that was the rule.
“…… But if you’re wrong, it’s a rule, and you can just go wild, right?”
However, from the standpoint of Ahn Su-ho, who did not know the circumstances, the anxiety could not be erased. The opponent you will meet from now on is an S-class superman who is counted among the top five active supermen in Korea. Because it was a literal walking natural disaster.
“You don’t have to worry about that. Even Seong Yu-jin has no choice but to stay calm here.”
“I know that’s the rule. But when it comes to Seong Yu-jin, you have the power to break even those rules. Either strength or power.”
Who can stop him when he starts to run rampant, who even went head-to-head with Wilhelm, and if the submaster of the S-class guild and the outside director of the Yeoil Group puts power first, what can he not do?
“So you don’t have to worry about that.”
Ahyeon Seol shook her head and then exclaimed, “Ah.” Come to think of it, she didn’t tell me anything.
“Suho. Did you see the lady at the counter when you came in? The madam of this store…….”
“Yes. She did. But why is he?”
“He’s retired now, but he was actually a first-generation hunter. And that’s one of the few former high-end hunters in Korea. The superhuman level is, of course, S-class.”
“Huh?! A 1st gen Hunter? 1St generation…….”
“You are a so-called living legend who lived at the same time as Hunter Yeo, who is now talked about as a legend.”
At that, Suho Ahn shook her head in disbelief. But why would Seol Ah-hyun lie to him?
‘First generation… …. Then it was almost 5 or 60 years ago. Didn’t it look like that at all?’
The madam Ahn Soo-ho saw, Jeong Mi-joo, looked like she was in her mid-thirties. Considering the thick makeup unique to the establishment, the bare face might look younger than that.
“7, 80 With that face? Did you do something half-romantic?”
“It seems that during his active career, Hunter Yeo In-hyeok gained eternal youth by chance thanks to the musculoskeletal alignment effect. Even the person who used the ability didn’t know why this happened. Oh, I see…….”
There is a subtle longing in the eyes of Seol Ah-hyun, who is speechless.
“Me too, Suho, and Seong Yujin. All the people gathered today are grandfathers…… These are the people who benefited from Hunter Yeo-hyeok.”
Just as Ahn Su-ho raised Dun-jae’s body to the level of Beom-jae by musculoskeletal alignment with In-hyeok Yeo at the center of the Cheonji Dungeon. Seol Ah-hyun and Seong Yu-jin were also the ones who received Yeo In-hyeok’s blessing into their bodies.
‘The so-called .’
It was the moment Suho Ahn thought to himself and smiled.
– Knocked up.
The door that had been closed all along opened and Seong Yu-jin and her men came inside. Seong Yu-jin, who sat across from Su-ho Ahn’s group without saying a word, glanced over the empty table.
“Mr. Inho.”
“Yes. Director.”
“Will you ask Madame to put a decent bottle of whiskey with ice? Only three glasses. In-ho and that secretary have to drive when they go.”
“Okay.”
At Sung Yu-jin’s words, Park In-ho, her subordinate, immediately left the room. Seol Ah-hyun, who was chasing her back, asked timidly.
“…… Eugene Sung Hunter. We probably didn’t come together to have a drink together.”
“I have no intention of forcing you. If anything, I’ll drink it alone.”
Sung Yu-jin’s eyes briefly turned to Ahn Su-ho. As their eyes met, Seong Yu-jin put a helpless smile on her lips.
“Something bad happened to me when I came here. I think a drink will make you feel better.”
***
A secret meeting held at Room Salon Angel’s Shelter.
The subject was, of course, about the ownership of silver in the beginning. It’s something the Winter Alliance should have received, so please return it.
However.
“That sounds like a bit difficult.”
Watching Ahn Soo-ho reply with a shameless face, Park In-ho clenched his fists so much that his palms bled.
Park In-ho. He was a man steeped in the ideology of the chosen people. He feels superior in the fact that he is an outstanding superman, and in the fact that he is an executive of the Winter Alliance, which is considered the best guild in Korea, and an aide to Seong Yu-jin, and looks down on others, a typical small person.
From his point of view, Ahn Su-ho was nothing but a rogue boat that fluttered and fluttered despite his birthplace, ability, and background. After the Black Dragon Society, who thought they were looking after him, withdrew their feet immediately after the start of the meeting, saying that they had nothing to do with this incident, Ahn Su-ho looked even more precious.
Who are you to dare to go against the will of Seong Yu-jin, Winter Alliance, and Yeoil Group?
“I’m so sorry about this. It is as if the silver of the beginning has already belonged to me. I want to give it back, but I can’t.”
However, no matter what Park In-ho thought, Ahn Su-ho shamelessly asserted himself. Seong Yu-jin asks back with a smile typical of people.
“We have already prepared a way to unbind artifacts. If only you agree, I will retrieve the original silver without any side effects. Of course, we will pay all the incidental expenses.”
“I understand what you are saying. But it probably won’t help. Even if the primordial silver falls from me, it will return to me right away. Sylvie is attached to me voluntarily.”
“Thread…… Rain?”
– Right. Sylvie likes the owner the best.
At Suho Ahn’s call, a small doll-sized girl popped out from the back of his hand. In order to protect Xiaomei, he left most of his body in the studio and followed him, accounting for about 20% of the proportion.
-Sylvie belongs to the owner. I will not fall away from my master. Because if I’m with my master, I can be full from time to time.
Even Seong Yu-jin widened her eyes in amazement when she saw Sylvie who had started to speak human language fluently.
“I knew it was an artifact with an ego, but I didn’t expect it to be this much… …. It’s almost like a human being.”
“Yes. As you said, he is a guy who knows how to make a lot of sense. If I forcibly take this guy away from me, in the worst case, it might run out of control like last time.”
-Sylvie. Now, if the master doesn’t order, it won’t run out of control…….
Sylvie, who had been talking, suddenly trembled once, and then corrected her words with a particularly cold tone.
-…… That’s right. Sylvie. I like the owner very much. If you drop it from the master, it might go berserk. The disaster at the amusement park, if you want to see it again, Sylvie won’t stop you.
When Sylvie asked with her thoughts, ‘Can I just say that?’, Her hands shook her head and nodded slightly. Seong Yu-jin stuck out her tongue at the obvious play.
“It’s amazing how you tamed an artifact to that point in such a short amount of time. I heard that all 7 superhumans who tried to settle in China died suddenly due to side effects.”
“?!”
Ahn Soo-ho looked down at Sylvie, startled by those words. Then, thoughts of Sylvie flowed into his mind.
-I didn’t do it on purpose. Those people couldn’t stand Sylvie’s appetite and died at will.
In other words, it was said that he sucked the mana of an ordinary superman in the same way he sucked mana from the talisman. Of course, I couldn’t stand it.
‘It’s not some damn cursed item. In the original work, there was no setting like this.’
Seven superhumans die suddenly. Ahn Su-ho silently trembled at the thought that if he did something wrong, he would face a similar fate. I wondered if this was also the result of the difficulty increase that Arael had mentioned.
“Hmm.”
Meanwhile, Seong Yu-jin silently glanced at the hardened Ahn Soo-ho, admiring her inside.
‘The ferocity of silver in the beginning is not normal. But to tame it so docile…….’
Right now, in the case of Sung Yu-jin, she was considering using a separate special artifact called ‘Ring of Dominance’ in parallel when using the first silver. To that extent, he was wary of the runaway of the primordial silver, but Ahn Soo-ho subdued the primordial silver on his own without the help of that artifact. At least, from Sung Eugene’s point of view.
‘Indeed. There must be a reason why Chaeryeong sunbaenim is so cheap.’
Min Chaeryeong’s subordinates are all elites who are exceptional in their fields. And Ahn Su-ho is a uniquely outstanding chess horse that Min Chae-ryeong cherishes. Seong Yu-jin said, guessing alone.
“I understand the circumstances, but we have no choice but to hold Ahn Su-ho accountable. Ahn Su-ho stole our things on his own, which is a bit of an expression, but he is no different from a thief.”
“I’m not a thief. You have to speak straight.”
“What the f*ck?!”
“Inho. Still.”
Seong Yu-jin nodded her head while stopping Park In-ho, who was sitting down excitedly. She said let’s hear what kind of sophistry she prepared.
“It wasn’t me who tried to steal the primordial silver, it was the dawners. All I did was prevent these dangerous artifacts from being passed on to that heinous terrorist organization. In the process, I received help from Ahyeon, the owner of the Black Dragon.”
“We are grateful for helping our Hunter when he was attacked. Well, after that, he was kidnapped again and eventually died…….”
“That’s right. Hangaram Hunter was eventually killed by them. And if it wasn’t for me, the original silver would have been taken away by them.”
Ahn Suho brazenly insisted. He himself is never a thief. Rather, he is a righteous man who fought to thwart the evil terrorists’ plans and to keep the peace in this country.
The claim sounds plausible at first glance, but in the end it was sophistry. Ahn Su-ho did not steal the primordial silver that the Dawning Corps once again stole, but he tricked Xiao-Mei into stealing it before the deal was made in the first place.
However, Sung Yu-jin did not know about such an inside story. At that time, what happened inside the mirror maze was something that only An Su-ho and Xiao-Mei knew about.
“Hmm.”
Therefore, it was nothing more than a shameless sophistry, but it was a plausible claim from Sung Yu-jin’s point of view.
“Besides, I didn’t want to be in the form of stealing the primordial silver like this. I thought that once I could safely protect the items from the Dawning, I would pass them on to you in peace. It’s because before that, he ran out of control and settled down.”
I had no intention of doing that. He was originally going to give it back. It was obvious whether it was true or false, but there was no way to prove it. Only then could the Winter Alliance hold An Su-ho morally accountable.
However, it was not possible to discuss transactions involving billions of dollars from a moral perspective.
“I understand the situation. If that’s the case, please compensate us even for the damage we suffered. Even if you exclude all the incidental costs, the cost of the artifact alone is about 3 billion won.”
Park In-ho spoke in a polite tone on behalf of Seong Yu-jin, who was silent in thought.
However, the reply was cold.
“I’m sorry, but I’m just an ordinary commoner. I don’t have that much money.”
“…… Is the Black Dragon Society willing to pay for it?”
“No. Why should we give it up in the first place? As I said earlier, we were just trying to save the hunter after hearing Suho’s words, since it’s the first time we’ve heard of artifacts and smugglers.”
“Ha, because these people want to listen, really!”
-Quaang!
At that time, Park In-ho, who had been losing his temper for so long, could not stand it any longer and left his seat. This time, even Seong Yu-jin did not stop him.
“I can’t even return the goods! Can’t even pay! Are you guys even willing to negotiate!? 5 Billion! We just put 5 billion into this deal! Either return the artifact! Or pay! Pay the price equivalent to that 5 billion!”
Seong Yu-jin laughed inwardly as she watched the subordinates run amok with excitement. Park In-ho, who doesn’t know about multiple ability research, would want to get it with money if he didn’t receive the artifact, but Sung Yu-jin needed the primordial silver unconditionally.
“…… The doctor of the Winter Alliance understands this well. However, I would like you to consider that this is not an easy situation either. But… ….”
Ahn Suho blurted out his words and gave a small laugh.
“Since the situation of the Winter Alliance is also an issue, as you said, I will pay the price equivalent to 5 billion won no matter what. It won’t be money or artifacts, though.”
“…… What is that?”
“The reason I was hired by our team leader is actually because of my intelligence.”
With a meaningful smile, Ahn Su-ho looked at Seong Yu-jin and said.
“I have a lot of ‘information’ that will be quite useful for the Winter Alliance. Do you have any plans to do business with me?”