Chapter 44

Chapter 44: A General's Authority

And the results came back in less than a day.

"Chairman."

"Did you identify him?"

"Yes, but..."

The reporting employee's voice trembled.

"But what?"

"The majority shareholder of F&C Refining Corporation and the One-Star General who appeared during the Resource War... are believed to be the same person."

"...!"

A chill ran down Chairman Han Sangho's spine.

The majority shareholder that former loan shark mentioned.

The man who had smoothly changed the subject by talking about funding reunification.

To think the person behind him was actually the mysterious One-Star General!

"...This is insane."

The Chairman muttered under his breath.

Doesn't that mean our Hunter Association might be unable to control this One-Star General through military force, political authority, financial power... or even moral justification?!

The Hunter Association had absolutely no means of controlling him.

They couldn't deploy the military against one of their own citizens.

Trying to restrain him through the law would be difficult because he was already a national hero.

Even if they wanted to win him over with money, the man controlled a national-scale asset in the form of the East Sea oil field.

In that case...

Only one option remained.

Approach him carefully and learn more about him.

What beliefs did this One-Star General hold?

What were his objectives?

What did he want?

Understanding those things had effectively become the Association's highest priority.

Then...

"...Huh?"

One of the employees listening to the report suddenly turned pale.

"What's wrong?"

When Han Sangho questioned him, the employee answered with a trembling voice.

"T-That name, Choi Hyunwoo..."

"What about it?"

"H-He's the Hunter whose registration application I reviewed... The one I put on hold."

The entire Special Situation Room froze.

"...What did you say?"

After hearing the full explanation from the administrative employee, the Chairman's face immediately turned red with fury.

"What the hell?! Are you telling me we made a Hunter of S-rank, no, a One-Star General, stand around at the harbor for hours?! And you even prevented him from entering the Resource War?!"

"B-But according to the regulations, I had no choice..."

"To hell with the regulations! Regardless of the circumstances, you made the decision to put his application on hold yourself, didn't you?!"

"W-Well, that's..."

The administrative employee felt wronged.

He genuinely believed he'd simply followed the regulations.

But he didn't have the courage to complain in this situation.

And from another perspective, the Chairman wasn't entirely wrong.

Putting Choi Hyunwoo's application on hold had been the employee's own decision.

Ordinarily, however, matters like that were left to the practical judgment of the employees responsible for handling them.

This time, the consequences had simply been far too significant.

If Choi Hyunwoo had been prevented from joining the Resource War until the very end, the Republic of Korea would have suffered a crushing defeat and lost the East Sea oil field to Japan.

The country's national prestige and international standing would have plummeted.

"Goddamn it! Go and bring him here immediately! Be as polite as humanly possible! Under no circumstances are you to upset him!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

My house.

Ding-dong!

"Who is it?"

"We're from the Hunter Association. Is this Mr. Choi Hyunwoo's residence?"

When I opened the door, I found a Hunter Association employee in a perfectly tailored suit, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.

"Yes, I'm Choi Hyunwoo, but I'm not a Hunter. My registration was put on hold."

"Ah... Hahahaha! You don't need to worry about that at all. If you come to the Association, we'll get everything processed immediately."

The employee looked thoroughly flustered and hurried to smooth things over.

"So you're asking me to come to the Association?"

"Yes. The Chairman would like to meet you in person, Mr. Choi. If you don't mind, I'll escort you there."

"Oh, really? All right, let's go."

The Association employee looked as though he was terrified of causing me even the slightest offense.

I followed him without giving it much thought.

After all, I no longer intended to hide my identity.

Hunter Association Lobby.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Han Sangho, Chairman of the Hunter Association."

Upon hearing that I'd arrived, Chairman Han Sangho hurried toward me, looking rather nervous.

"Yes, nice to meet you. I'm Choi Hyunwoo."

"It's an honor to meet a hero of the Republic of Korea in person."

"Oh, come on. I'm no hero. I was just trying to protect my own property."

"Ahahahaha! You're even blessed with the virtue of humility. There's truly nothing lacking about you that would prevent us from calling you a hero."

Han Sangho looked at me with a delighted smile.

Did what I just said sound humble?

I hadn't been trying to act modest.

I'd simply stated the facts.

Well, I suppose people could interpret words however they wanted.

When we shook hands, I noticed that the Chairman's hand was trembling slightly.

Then my gaze happened to drift toward the reception desk.

Hmm? Isn't that...?

It was a familiar face.

The employee who had been sitting at the desk when I first came to register.

[Mid-Rank NCO]

Oh, right.

When I last saw him, he was definitely a Low-Rank NCO.

He'd been promoted since then.

That guy didn't seem to be registered as a Hunter either. I was going to file a complaint, but I completely forgot.

I glanced at the employee.

Perhaps sensing something ominous, he quickly avoided my gaze.

Hunter Association Chairman's Office.

"I've sincerely wanted to meet you for quite some time. Thank you again for coming. Please, have a seat."

The Chairman politely offered me a chair.

"Make yourself comfortable. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"Sure. What would you like to know?"

The Chairman hesitated briefly before asking.

"Are there any special benefits to becoming a One-Star General?"

That was an interesting question.

I imagined a great many people, particularly Hunters, were extremely curious about it.

"Yes. You gain exclusive abilities reserved for Generals."

"Exclusive abilities...?"

"You can tell whether someone is a Hunter."

The Chairman's eyes immediately widened.

"Is that really true?!"

"Yes."

"Could you perhaps demonstrate it?"

I grinned.

"Of course."

I thought about the familiar face I'd seen earlier.

"You know the employee who was working at the reception desk in the lobby? Is he a Hunter?"

"No. Unless there are special circumstances, we generally don't assign Hunters to the lobby. We don't want ordinary citizens visiting the Association to feel intimidated."

"When I first saw him, he was a Low-Rank NCO. Now he's a Mid-Rank NCO."

"...!"

The Chairman's expression stiffened immediately.

"I-If that's true..."

"I understand if you find it difficult to believe. If you want, you can call in some other employees. I can even take a blind test."

The Chairman's eyes lit up.

He immediately pressed the intercom.

"Select several employees at random and bring them to my office right now! Include both Hunters and ordinary employees!"

A short while later, six employees stood in a line before us.

The Chairman looked at me.

"Can you identify which of these people are Hunters and which aren't?"

"Yes."

I looked at each person in turn and pointed.

"These three are Hunters. Their ranks are Low-Rank Soldier, Low-Rank Soldier, and High-Rank Soldier, in that order."

Then I pointed at the other three.

"And the remaining three are ordinary people."

The Chairman immediately checked the employee records.

A moment later, his grip tightened around the documents.

To be honest, he didn't even need to check them.

The shocked expressions of the six employees I'd identified were enough to tell him whether I'd been right.

"...Every single one is correct."

Silence filled the room.

"But..."

There was something else.

The employee I'd seen at the reception desk earlier was trembling visibly.

He had also been summoned to the Chairman's office.

"Hey."

The Chairman's voice dropped.

"Why haven't you registered as a Hunter?"

"W-Well..."

"I'm asking why you didn't register! You're not just anybody. You're an employee of the Hunter Association!"

BANG!

The Chairman slammed his fist onto the table.

The [Mid-Rank NCO] employee flinched and finally confessed.

"B-Because Association employees are required to report any items they obtain from the Tower..."

"Don't tell me you used the black market?"

"N-No! Absolutely not! I only kept them for my personal collection..."

That was his excuse.

But judging by his shifting eyes, I was 100% certain he'd sold them on the black market to avoid paying taxes.

"Arrest him immediately!"

At the Chairman's furious command, two members of the Special Operations Unit approached and dragged the employee away.

I watched the scene with a grin.

"I'll help you catch every unregistered Hunter. If you're Korean, you should live in accordance with the solemn laws of the Republic of Korea, shouldn't you? Hahahahaha!"

"...!"

The Chairman swallowed nervously.

Then, as though he'd made up his mind, he spoke in a trembling voice.

"Could I... ask you for another favor?"

"A favor? You want me to distinguish Hunters from ordinary people again, like I just did?"

"Yes. I'm not asking you to investigate ordinary citizens outside the Association. However, I'd like to use this opportunity to root out corruption and misconduct within the Association itself. Please help us."

The Chairman abruptly stood and bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle.

"Me?"

I wasn't a prosecutor or an official from the Board of Audit and Inspection.

Why was he asking me to eliminate corruption?

Could it be...?

"Yes. Please identify as many unregistered Hunters within the Hunter Association as possible!"

The Chairman bowed again.

There were many reasons Hunters chose not to register with the Association.

In my case, it was because I couldn't be bothered.

Most unregistered Awakened people probably fell into the same category.

Of course, the Association couldn't monitor every single one of them.

Most of those people didn't cause major incidents or accidents, and their Awakened abilities weren't especially dangerous.

Consequently, the Association usually left them alone even when it knew they existed.

"Is this person unregistered too? He's a Mid-Rank Soldier."

"Gasp! C-Chairman... The reason I haven't registered as a Hunter isn't what you think..."

The unregistered Association employee I'd just identified immediately tried to defend himself.

However...

"Ordinary citizens are one thing, but you're an employee of the Hunter Association! Your organization is supposed to protect citizens and mediate conflicts between Hunters, yet you're walking around without even registering yourself!"

The Chairman's voice thundered across the room.

"This is a betrayal of the public's trust and a direct challenge to the Association! Special Operations Unit! Arrest this man immediately!"

The unregistered Hunter, who was also an Association employee...

No, a former Association employee...

Was dragged away by the Association's Special Operations Unit, whose members were A-rank Hunters.

"This person, this person, and this person are Hunters too."

"Ah! I-I registered yesterday. I started working at the Association last month, but I only awakened yesterday."

"That's true, Chairman. There's a record of his registration yesterday."

"Hmm. What about the other two?"

"...They're unregistered."

At that moment, the eyes of the two Association employees whose unregistered status had been exposed suddenly lit up.