Ch.534Chapter 20. American Doblin (24)

I’m confused.

Why is that woman here, and I can’t figure out why she’s meeting with Desmond Faygreen.

“Teacher, what should we do? Should we go meet them now?”

“Let’s refrain since Haeguneul people might be around.”

This is the Haeguneul Resort.

Haeguneul people must be somewhere around, and they’re certainly guarding Yang Da-rin, the wife of the Haeguneul chairman.

“They’re scattered all over.”

Yang Da-rin’s protectors are spread throughout the café.

Just scanning with my eyes, I count seven of them.

They’re all hiding their magical power, pretending not to be ability users, but they can’t fool Ymir’s and my senses.

“One of them is even A-class.”

“They don’t seem to be registered as heroes…”

“Of course not. They’re not heroes, they’re villains.”

“What?”

“It’s complicated.”

It’s a complex issue and one of Korea’s shameful secrets.

“Let’s text Chairman Desmond and sit somewhere else to wait until the situation ends.”

I naturally took a seat with Ymir. Some agents looked at us suspiciously when we appeared, but on the surface, we just look like an ordinary international couple.

“Honey, what would you like to drink?”

“Hmm… are you going for iced Americano again?”

“It’s summer after all.”

Ymir appropriately responded to my casual comment, and the Haeguneul ability user who overheard us lost interest.

[Ymir. I think we need to communicate through mana.]

They may have lost interest, but they’re still keeping their ears open in case we say anything suspicious.

“Coming all the way to Japan just to deal with this mess. Right?”

“You mean the Goblin incident?”

“Yeah. What’s all this fuss about one villain dying?”

“Well, it’s not just any villain… but I guess the Goblin did kind of ruin our trip.”

So outwardly we maintained the conversation of an ordinary couple while exchanging thoughts through mana.

[You know that in Korea, any ability user not registered with the Hero Association is treated as a villain, right?]

[Of course. Even Platinum Sun is technically classified as a villain right now, only because her special circumstances haven’t been properly categorized yet.]

Hero or villain.

This extreme black and white dichotomy exists elsewhere too, but it’s particularly severe in Korea.

[They don’t have “Hunters” like in America. No Hunters at all.]

So there’s no gray area or neutral ground that Hunters could occupy.

Those who aren’t registered as “heroes” with the Hero Association but are registered as ability users.

The difference lies in duties and responsibilities.

[Someone once told me that Hunters are private poachers, while heroes are public servants.]

[So villains are what, wild animals?]

[In the sense that they need to be shot or captured, it’s similar, isn’t it?]

When a dangerous entity appears.

Heroes must suppress that danger.

They must respond no matter the situation.

Hunters don’t have that obligation.

Since it’s not their duty, they don’t need to show up, and even if they do, they don’t respond immediately but first negotiate financial compensation offered by the state.

[I guess it’s like PMCs versus soldiers. Korea not allowing PMCs is similar.]

[Rather than paying huge sums to PMCs, they’d rather keep only those who can be cheaply run on tax money as heroes.]

That’s how Korea has spent the past 25 years of great upheaval.

Forcing people to choose black or white, threatening that if you don’t want to be black, you must be white.

And those who disliked this even slightly all left Korea, while those who remained just endured like fools under the white banner.

[Ymir. It’s the same everywhere, but corrupt power holders prohibit something publicly while secretly enjoying it themselves.]

[They force people to be either heroes or villains, then manipulate those they’ve labeled as villains?]

[Exactly.]

It’s like what we saw with Qiongqi’s relic, the unquenchable flame incident.

[Haeguneul uses villains. And among them are people like those. Ability users who aren’t heroes but live on Haeguneul’s money and work for Haeguneul.]

[…Isn’t that illegal?]

[Haeguneul manipulates laws by lobbying and threatening lawmakers and judges behind the scenes. They recognize it’s illegal, but they don’t think they’ll ever be punished for it.]

In other words.

[Haeguneul is using more than half of Korea’s ability users as their own soldiers.]

“…Tsk.”

Ymir openly expressed her anger.

“Honey, do you think that makes any sense?”

“Why wouldn’t it? There are people in this world who criticize mint chocolate lovers as uneducated fools while secretly buying mint chocolate ice cream for themselves.”

That’s Haeguneul.

[They have almost no S-class ability users, but the number of A-class and below is vastly greater than those registered with the Hero Association.]

More than those on Sejong Island.

More than those registered with the Hero Association.

Haeguneul’s secretly operated private military organization, commonly called the “Execution Squad,” has more members.

[It’s essentially the power that allowed Haeguneul to conquer this country.]

[Is that why people couldn’t mess with Haeguneul?]

[To some extent, yes.]

In a world where an E-class ability user working as a national public hero earns 2 million won monthly, but joining Haeguneul’s execution squad to do all sorts of dirty work pays 200 million won annually.

With countless young people like that in this country, though I haven’t mentioned it until now, to suppress Haeguneul, we need to suppress them too.

Or make them leave Haeguneul on their own.

[Soon, Hunter licenses will be introduced in Korea. Because a “Hunter division” will be added to the Ability User World Cup.]

[Are you saying they’ll bring out their hidden Execution Squad to win both the Hero pool and the Hunter pool?]

[That’s part of it, but the Execution Squad members might also be tempted to leave Haeguneul. If Haeguneul treats them poorly, and there are others who can offer better treatment.]

[The Syndicate?]

[No. The Syndicate doesn’t accept the Execution Squad.]

They are, as their name suggests, an execution squad.

People who think nothing of killing others, and the targets they kill aren’t those who deserve death by my standards.

[The Syndicate has no reason to accept people who execute anyone who defies Haeguneul. If we were to attack Yang Da-rin right now, those guys would immediately try to kill us.]

[…….]

Ymir looked down at her coffee with cold eyes.

The ability users reflected in the cold droplets on the cup’s surface were aware not only of us but also of other customers, all preparing for any possible situation.

The wife of the Haeguneul chairman.

And the chairman’s late-born daughter.

People who could be taken hostage at any moment.

Not only because they’re the Haeguneul chairman’s family, but also because the Haeguneul chairman currently possesses a “2 trillion won” treasure.

[Come to think of it, Yang Da-rin is a hero but barely does any hero activities, right? I’m not criticizing, just wondering…]

[There’s the special circumstance of being Haeguneul’s mistress, and she’s focusing on raising her child even though the child is C-class. It would be strange to demand that Baek Seol-hee, an S-class hero, continue hero activities while she’s pregnant and focused on childcare.]

[So for female heroes, childcare is also hero activity?]

[Yes.]

A parent’s role in a child’s growth is more precious than anything.

But one parent is not here.

Instead of the Haeguneul chairman who should be with Yang Da-rin, only the Faygreen chairman is present.

[How did those two end up meeting? They didn’t seem to talk much at the auction.]

[Maybe they have some common interest? Oh, Teacher.]

Ymir grinned and pointed with her eyes toward the table where the two were sitting.

[It seems Ms. Yang Da-rin is interested in Chairman Faygreen?]

“Kup.”

I almost spat out the coffee I was about to sip.

“What nonsense…”

[Her eyes are dripping with honey, you know?]

“No.”

I wiped around my mouth with the tissue Ymir handed me and collected myself.

[Why would Yang Da-rin…?]

[Who knows? Maybe she prefers a Western elderly gentleman to an old bald chairman. Chairman Faygreen has that certain something, you know.]

[That’s true, but…]

Though he’s a supporting character, perhaps because he’s the heroine’s grandfather, his appearance is certainly movie-star level.

But that doesn’t explain why they would meet, especially here in Japan.

The Phoenix feather has already gone to Choi Ho-jung, the Haeguneul chairman.

“…Wait.”

I asked Ymir’s permission and concentrated all my senses on hearing.

[Are you going to eavesdrop?]

[One of my plans might be falling apart, so this much is okay.]

The role of rescuing Yang Da-rin from the clutches of the old man Choi Ho-jung and making her happy should be the role of an S-class hero.

The story of a woman who became the second wife of a rich old bald man falling in love with a young, physically fit man is common in Korean dramas.

“Let’s see…”

What could they possibly be talking about?

Despite the rudeness, I focused as much as possible on their conversation.

“If I go to America, would you escort me?”

“Of course, madam. I’ll guide you to places where it’s difficult to get a hole-in-one even with ability powers.”

“……”

Ah.

[Teacher.]

Ymir grinned and gave me a thumbs up.

[They say a lot of affairs happen at golf courses, and it seems that might be true.]

“……”

For the protection of my hair, I decided to stop thinking about it.