Chapter 170: Employment Fraud (3)
TL: SHW
"No, think about it."
It was easy to string along a naive, inexperienced graduate school alumna.
I chose my words carefully while watching Gamble, who was staring blankly at me and no one else. This gathering was never meant for a peaceful chat in the first place. One look at the seating arrangement made that obvious. Hong Seok-young, Lee Mi-seon, Kim Chae-min, and I were all on one side, while Gamble sat alone across from us.
This was just an interrogation, plain and simple. No wonder she was trembling at the slightest movement.
"Hope must have designated them, no?"
So I smiled as gently as I could. As if to say I wouldn't hurt her.
"Oliver Hope, Yi Jun, and you. He doesn't seem like the type to be vague about things, so he would have specifically named those three people and set the condition to last as long as they were alive."
"Uh...."
Gamble didn't deny it. The anxiety etched on her face didn't fade. If anything, it deepened.
Good. Saying I wouldn't hurt her didn't mean Gamble held the power here.
No matter how kindly I treated her, that fact wouldn't change. And that kindness was all the more reason for Gamble to stay on guard. There was no reason for me to be kind. Hadn't I already made a concession, letting her secrets slide without pressing her on them?
"Then Michel must know about you. You're saying Hope is holding her back from approaching."
"......"
"But she must resent it."
Gamble pressed her lips tightly shut.
"An unwanted restriction has been placed on her. She'll comply since the order came from above, but still...."
Gamble didn't say I was wrong. That confirmed there was someone above Michel. Well, I'd suspected as much, but confirming it didn't exactly bring me joy.
"She'd already be an eyesore, and now you're trying to gain influence by... what was it again? Starting a company?"
"...I'm confident I can grow it."
"Maybe you can."
Gamble would turn Pharos into a world-class corporation. That future was as certain as Park Seo-hyun becoming an Archmage.
But unlike the assurance I'd given Park Seo-hyun, I didn't plant that kind of confidence in Gamble.
"Or it could crash and burn."
Instead of Gamble, who was blinking rapidly, Lee Mi-seon caught on first. She looked at me with wide eyes. If I left her be, she'd definitely butt in. I signaled Hong Seok-young with a glance, and he quickly held Lee Mi-seon back.
As if I'd hand this over to Lee Mi-seon when Sandra Gamble was sitting right in front of me.
"But have you ever considered this?"
"Ye... yes?"
"If your presence grows large enough to catch Michel's eye, do you think she'll just leave you alone?"
"......"
"She won't proceed as long as the three humans are alive. Flip that around, and it means once those three humans are gone, there's nothing standing in her way."
If it were me, I'd have killed them.
Because that would be faster.
There are plenty of ways to kill a person. Even if Michel didn't act directly, as long as she had someone like Sem Bloom, she'd have more than enough means at her disposal. Could Hope really block all of that?
Well, I didn't know what terms had been exchanged in the circumstances they hadn't shared with us. If Hope had any sense at all, he would have safeguarded against Michel's trickery.
"That's exactly why I'm trying to put myself in the public eye."
"So she can't just kill you off?"
Gamble nodded, her eyes steady and unwavering.
I smirked.
"Then join our Guild."
"Our...?"
"Yes. I'm a member of Hunter Hong's Guild too."
"Ah... but I heard Hunter Hong Seok-young runs a solo Guild."
She'd been preparing to make contact ever since Hong Seok-young started chasing Ark, so she would have known at least that much.
Hong Seok-young, who had been restraining Lee Mi-seon, casually cut in.
"It's a two-person Guild now. This one's my disciple."
...I should be grateful he didn't say "son." I could see Lee Mi-seon and Kim Chae-min's eyes going round.
I ignored them.
"Your disciple?!"
"Since when?!"
I ignored them.
"What, you didn't hear what Han Tae-kyung said last time? That Hui-jae's movements are identical to mine."
"Ah. Ohhh. That? No way?"
"I'd been watching his movements here and there before that too, and he kept up well."
Hong Seok-young fielded Lee Mi-seon's questions with practiced ease. Lee Mi-seon and Kim Chae-min knew I was from Ark.
"He's already been handling a lot of my work for me with everything going on, hasn't he? I figured if he was going to do all that, I might as well take him on as a disciple. Besides, I'd already put him in my Guild."
"You always said you'd never take a disciple."
"I have the kids, don't I? They're disciples in their own way."
"That's not the kind of disciple I mean...."
Lee Mi-seon looked at me with a curious expression. She'd worked with Hong Seok-young often enough to know just how unusual this was.
"Oh my, oh my.... Then should I start getting on Teacher Woo's good side now? If he's Teacher Hong's disciple?"
Maybe Kim Chae-min, too.
I ignored them, as usual.
Wrapping things up with Gamble was what mattered.
Gamble frowned.
"If I join Hunter Hong Seok-young's Guild, Michel will only get more suspicious. She told me she doesn't like Hunter Hong Seok-young-nim."
"That's the point."
"Pardon?"
"If push comes to shove, we spill everything."
"Sp-spill... what?"
"Tell everything, I said."
I rested my chin on my hand and spoke slowly. Slowly enough for Gamble, who still didn't seem fully comfortable conversing in Korean, to follow without trouble.
"If there's any sign she's going after the three people Hope named, you threaten her: that you'll tell Hong Seok-young everything."
"Threaten... them."
Gamble echoed my words quietly. She looked fairly taken with the idea.
"And if Michel actually makes a move, it'll be much easier to protect you. I don't know what principle lets Hope teleport like that, but he can't be by your side at all times, can he?"
"That's true, but."
"Don't you want to watch from up close as we take down Ark, take down Noah Michel?"
Gamble's eyes wavered.
"You don't want to be directly involved, do you?"
"......You're trying to tempt me right now, aren't you?"
"It's less temptation and more...."
Recruitment?
If I told her I was doing this because her research track record was too valuable to pass up.
Hmm.
I couldn't tell whether handing over her research materials to Lee Mi-seon was because she was confident in her work, or the opposite, because she wanted validation. This Sandra Gamble was uncharted territory for me.
Since no better word came to mind, I just went with it.
"You're right. It's temptation."
"......"
"Seeing how well you hid Museion, you're not entirely without means. And looking at the materials you gave this Hunter-nim, I have a rough idea of how you plan to grow the company."
Gamble's jaw dropped.
I held out my hand to Hong Seok-young. He handed me the file he'd prepared.
"Use Hong Seok-young's name and do whatever you want. Frankly, I think we're the ones getting the short end of this deal."
Frankly speaking.
The name of Hong Seok-young, head of South Korea's Ability Management Agency, might carry weight, but the name of Hunter Hong Seok-young fell far short of Sandra Gamble of Pharos. Not because Hunter Hong Seok-young lacked accomplishments, but because Sandra Gamble was that exceptional a person.
But only Hong Seok-young and I knew what kind of titan Sandra Gamble would become in the future.
She said it herself. The Sandra Gamble of today was just a pitiable engineering student whose life had gone sideways from getting tangled up with the wrong monster.
No matter how much of a genius someone might be, starting from the bottom means craving the name of someone impressive.
I dangled one more piece of bait.
"And over there, that person."
I pointed at Lee Mi-seon.
"You know who she is, right?"
"......"
"She's the master of Daseon. And I trust you know who's behind Daseon."
Daeyeon's reputation was just as formidable as Hong Seok-young's, if not more so. It, too, was a globally renowned conglomerate.
"Join our Guild, and it's all yours."
"Wait, she's joining Hunter Hong's Guild, so why are Daseon and Daeyeon getting involved?!"
"Are you saying you wouldn't?"
The person who recognized the value of Gamble's research at a single glance?
The moment Lee Mi-seon was struck speechless, Kim Chae-min shot her hand up. As a fellow mage, she would have recognized it too, as long as she had eyes.
Besides, Lee Mi-seon had been going on and on about it. How she wanted to snatch up Gamble.
"Then let me do it!"
"For reference, this is Archmage Kim Chae-min. A Druid-class...."
"Ah, I know. One of the three Archmages...."
I'd been half out of it during the time at the pension and had forgotten, but Kim Chae-min was also a mage of worldwide renown.
...Come to think of it, Pilot High School's teaching staff really was spectacular. Whether they were any good as actual teachers was another matter entirely.
"I'm telling you, it's a steal."
Gamble's eyes were spinning. I opened the file and slid the paper inside toward her.
It was a document deliberately written only in Korean. She might be good at conversation, but reading was another story. Even if she could read it well, it would still be less comfortable than her native language.
I held out a ballpoint pen.
Gamble alternated her gaze between the paper and the pen before looking up at me.
"Just read it and sign at the very bottom."
Gamble looked at the paper again. The words printed at the top seemed to glow, somehow.
Employment Contract.
The fees Pharos had gouged out of us year after year set my heart pounding. I didn't need to check the reports saved on the watch to remember those numbers.
This time, let's see how it feels to be the one doing the gouging.
I deserved at least that much payoff to make the work worthwhile.
*
One week later.
Nantes, France.
!%Q&_ clung to the railing and knocked on the window. The mana Barrier violently repelled the unauthorized intruder, but he paid it no mind. Mana sharp as a saw blade grazed his skin, but it couldn't leave so much as a scratch. His red hair, streaked with bleached white strands, whipped wildly in the wind.
Alex Hope knocked on the window again.
This time, he raised his voice too.
"Noah, I know you're awake."
"......"
"Want me to just open this and come in?"
Only then did signs of movement come from inside. Through the glass, nothing was visible but an empty living room, yet the moment a pale hand undid the lock and opened the window, a scene utterly different from what had been visible outside unfolded.
The scent of old books hung thick in the air. Soft, orange-hued lighting, the aroma of coffee, the low sound of a piano.
A woman with golden hair cascading like a waterfall greeted her guest with a clear, bright smile.
"Goodness, to think you'd come all this way in person. I'm beside myself with honor, Fairy-nim. Have you come to give me new teeth?"
"I'm not the tooth fairy.... Are you losing teeth? You really are getting old. I've heard that when humans age, all their teeth fall out."
Hope spoke as if he felt terribly sorry for her.
"But I've also heard old humans don't grow new teeth. Has it really been that long, Noah?"
"......"
"Want me to introduce you to someone who can fit you with new ones? If I dig around, there's bound to be something with plenty of teeth. You could make a contract with it and swap out the parts...."
"What brings you here, Fairy-nim?"
"Right. I came to tell you something about Sandra."
"Sandra...."
The woman's eyes glinted darkly. Hope snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"Ah-ah. I told you not to make those eyes in front of me. Want me to pluck them out?"
"...You told us to get along. Are you going against that?"
"Nah. I'll just pluck them out and put them back in. Way better ones than what you've got now!"
Hope cackled. He didn't spare a thought for the way the woman's expression froze over.
After laughing for a good while, Hope didn't speak again until the piano music drifting from deeper in the room had stopped.
"Anyway, Sandra got a job."
"...A job. You came all the way here in person to deliver news about the employment of a human you're fond of, Fairy-nim?"
"I thought you should know too."
"Me?"
"Yeah. The Savior Candidate of the humans is her boss."
"………Hong Seok-young?"
"Yep."
A bitter wind howled through. Hope tapped the floor idly with the tip of his shoe.
"This is a warning, Noah. Behave yourself. Don't touch my human."
"......"
"You shoved me in front of the Savior Candidate, so I should return the favor, shouldn't I? On top of that, Sem charged in again despite me going through the trouble of saving him, and went and died. You really have no eye for people. Why do you keep someone like that around? See, I really think you should swap those eyes out."
Hope grabbed a strand of the woman's hair, then let it go. The gesture was gentle, but the eyes gleaming gold were cold beyond measure.
"You understand what I mean, don't you?"
"......"
"Answer me, Noah."
"......Yes."
"Good. To harbor resentment toward something The King has permitted, now that would truly be insolence. Before I petition for your punishment, let's play nice, shall we?"
"......"
"Noah."
"Yes. I'll be careful, Fairy-nim."
"There you go. Isn't that so much better!"
Hope beamed.
"Well then, I'll be off!"
Without waiting for a reply, Hope kicked off the floor and vanished, just as he always did.
"......"
The woman stared at the spot where Hope had disappeared for a long time before going back inside. The interrupted piano performance resumed, and the sound of the window being locked shut could be heard.
And then.
CRASH!!!!
The deafening sound of something shattering rang out.
"What a temper."
Standing on the railing, Hope clicked his tongue. The fairy listened to the sounds coming from inside for a moment, then shook his head and, this time, truly left.
***
For more chapters, you can check out my Patreon here --> https://patreon.com/SHWTL
If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊
To receive the latest update notifications or report mistakes, join our Discord server linked below.