Chapter 449: Clearing Up Misunderstandings (4)

“Who do you think it was that kept the suspicion away from those troublesome sisters from Geumhyang until now?”

“…….”

Sihee, rendered speechless and with her mouth shut by Do Sihee’s unreserved attitude.

Making eye contact with her, Do Sihee confidently voiced her opinion.

…It was a bit awkward, though, seeing her continue to speak seriously while still completely naked.

“It was probably the work of those sisters, Jangmi and Dallae. If they moved according to my vacation schedule, it could only be them.”

“…It’s true those women are unpleasant, but I still can’t just believe everything you say. Just because you’re under suspicion, spitting out plausible alternative names is….”

“Well. But at least interrogating me won’t reveal Nari’s whereabouts. Besides, those sisters are the ones best positioned to use Nari anyway. If you think logically, even if I had sold that child, wouldn’t I naturally hand her over to Geumhyang, who could owe me the most?”

“Th-that means….”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not saying I did it. But if you think logically, that’s how I would have acted. Always grasp the other person’s personality, consider what actions they would take, and prioritize.”

Although the words themselves were unpleasant and prone to causing misunderstandings, purely from a logical standpoint, Do Sihee’s opinion was slightly more convincing.

In the current situation, even if you didn’t trust Do Sihee, you’d still have to reach a separate logical conclusion, and that logical conclusion was precisely what Do Sihee was saying.

Simply out of unwillingness to believe, the most objective and plausible opinion could not simply be dismissed.

“What’s most important to you, Sihee, right now? Is it demanding why I sold Nari, getting angry, and resorting to violence? Or is it rescuing Nari before any more time is lost and protecting her safely again?”

“…Rescuing Nari….”

Right, that makes sense.

Whether Do Sihee was the culprit who sold Nari or not, that wasn’t the issue to be addressed right now.

The first priority was securing the safety of Geum Nari, who disappeared three days ago. Finding out who the real culprit was would be the next step.

“Then don’t dawdle. It’s late evening, which is the perfect time to move discreetly.”

“Perfect time for what?”

“…It means it’s a good time to create an opportunity to lure out the sisters from the Geumhyang Group and secure, secure Nari.”

Do Sihee, who answered my question, wore an expression that suggested she had somewhat organized her plan in her head.

Before they made their move, she began telling Sihee, right before her eyes, one by one, what the blonde young lady needed to do.

“First, Sihee, go back home and bring me a few suitable dresses. Nothing too flashy, nor too plain. Bring underwear too.”

“What about that red dress you liked so much?”

“Well. This one… Mr. Kim Sungchul got a little too excited and turned it into this state. The bra hooks are all broken, so I can’t wear it again. …Ah, I-I’m not blaming you specifically. I-I was just stating the objective facts….”

“…I know.”

When dealing with Sihee, she exuded the air of a haughty chaebol heiress, but when she glanced at me, Do Sihee suddenly reverted to her previous demeanor.

…Really, in many ways, she was a confusing person to figure out.

“…While I get the clothes, what are you going to do here?”

“First, I need to wash off the lingering scent of man. I need to tie up and tidy my hair again. If I look disheveled, those sisters will become suspicious. …It’s an urgent situation, so could I borrow the bathroom for a bit…?”

“Do as you please. I don’t know if our house’s shampoo or body wash will meet your standards, though.”

“Th-that doesn’t really matter… Ah, and bring a reliable healer. If I face those sisters with a swollen cheek like this, they’ll definitely become suspicious.”

Hearing her say ‘face them’, does she intend to meet the Geumhyang Group sisters directly and settle things?

With her face, still flushed from the slap Sihee and I gave her, she slowly brought my right hand towards it and said.

“There’s no need to call a healer.”

“D-don’t suddenly get so close. I-I’m not used to you yet… Huh?”

“I can heal you, just receive it from me.”

“…M-Mr. Kim Sungchul… Y-you could use healing abilities too?”

“It’s not like I’m healing you because I particularly like you. As you said, it’s a situation where every moment counts.”

According to Sihee, it had already been three days since Geum Nari went missing.

If we kept dawdling and let more time pass, it would mean losing another day to find Nari.

And the person who felt the most urgency to rescue her would likely be Sihee, who had spent so many years with Geum Nari.

“Alright. For now, it seems logical to follow your advice, so I guess I have no choice but to act accordingly.”

“If you understand, move quickly. Dawdling until late at night will only make things more complicated.”

“I’ll be back, Sungchul-ssi.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“……?”

As Sihee hurried towards the door, ready to leave, Do Yehee stopped her, as if holding her back, and spoke.

Towards Sihee, who turned her head wondering what else she wanted to say, Do Yehee pointed at me and delivered her final request.

“A size that would fit Mr. Kim Sungchul and bring one ‘butler’s uniform’ too.”

“…….”

“You might need it, perhaps.”

Although I couldn’t quite grasp what plan was brewing in this woman’s mind, one thing I felt with certainty was that tonight was likely to be quite long.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

As Do Yehee had said, about 30 minutes after we moved to prepare ourselves individually.

We had finished the preparations necessary to execute the full-scale ‘Geum Nari Rescue Operation’.

Do Yehee, who had treated her wounds, washed her body clean, and changed into new clothes.

And I, for reasons unknown, had changed into a butler’s uniform.

And Sihee, who returned with the clothes for Yehee and me. The three of us faced each other and began the main discussion.

“First, the estimated locations where Nari might currently be held are broadly three places.”

With those words, Do Yehee showed us, me and Sihee, by holding up three fingers.

She began folding her fingers one by one, narrowing down the three possibilities.

“Namdong District, Incheon Metropolitan City. This is where the headquarters building of Geumhyang Construction, the core company of the Geumhyang Group, is located. Among the employees, there are many who aren’t official Hunters but are quite strong.”

“Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. This is where the office building of Geum Taehyang, the ‘Great Mother’ and de facto owner of Geumhyang, is located. It’s a bit tricky because the Great Mother’s subordinates move quickly.”

“And Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province. This is where the mansion of Jangmi and Dallae, who currently run the Geumhyang Group, is located. The surveillance is thorough, and above all, these two are active Hunters, so they won’t be easy to deal with.”

“That means none of them are easy places.”

“Th-that’s… right….”

The fact that there were three possibilities was headache-inducing enough as it was, and all three locations had the potential for troublesome interference just to rescue one person, Geum Nari.

The biggest problem among them was that all three locations were quite far apart.

Even in a world with active warp gates, it’s impossible to travel across the entire country in one night.

Especially the other two regions, excluding Incheon, required over 30 minutes of driving even after taking the nearest warp gate.

If we mistakenly wasted time searching the wrong place, it would be practically the same as wasting the entire day.

That would delay Nari’s rescue, and perhaps something could happen while we hesitated.

It had already been three days since she first disappeared from Sihee’s side.

Fortunately, I had a very good means to track Eunbyul’s location.

“It’s troublesome, but there’s no other way. We’ll just have to search one place at a time, starting with the closest one in Incheon….”

“There’s no need.”

“……What?”

“Go to Yecheon. If it’s one of these three locations, Eunbyul… Ms. Geum Nari will definitely be in that mansion in Yecheon.”

One of the auxiliary abilities of the Hunter Lust Management System was to track the location of female Hunters in real-time and provide it.

Among them, for individuals inscribed on my ‘Current Lust Management Hunter’ list, their location could be confirmed anytime, anywhere.

There were no restrictions like having to designate the Hunter on a surrounding map, or needing to approach within a certain distance.

“Yecheon…?”

“Yes, she’s definitely in the mansion in Yecheon. Assuming it’s one of the three places you mentioned, Do Yehee.”

Using the real-time location tracking function, I confirmed Geum Nari’s position, and the red arrow that appeared around me was twinkling towards the southeast.

Of the three locations, the one southeast of our house in Gangdong District, Seoul, was only Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang Province.

“H-how can you be so sure…? I-if it’s wrong, we could end up wasting the entire day….”

“I have my ways. I don’t exactly have an obligation to explain it all to you, do I?”

“…….”

“…If Sungchul-ssi says so, I’ll also decide to prioritize searching Yecheon.”

Although Do Yehee wore an expression of difficulty understanding, the opinion was already leaning 2-to-1 with me and Sihee.

Instead of arguing to refute the opinion, she accepted our gut feeling based on the principle of majority rule.

Besides, there wasn’t time to argue about which place to go first.

“Alright. Time is of the essence, so we can’t waste it here. I don’t particularly like that it wasn’t a decision based on logic….”

“I can guarantee it. If it turns out to be wrong, I’ll take responsibility.”

“A common Hunter saying they’ll take responsibility isn’t exactly trustworthy… Ah, no. I wasn’t saying anything specific about you. Th-this is just a ha-habit of mine….”

“…I won’t say anything, so just hurry up and move.”

With Do Yehee, who kept glancing at me nervously and rambling, I hurriedly stepped out of the house.

As soon as I entered the front door, the first thing that caught my eye was the sight of our yard, which had been turned into a mess.

“…….”

As if a giant mole had dug up the entire ground, mounds of dug-up earth lay sunken.

Not only the lawn-covered yard, but even the tiled path was uneven and bumpy, and seeing that stress instantly began to build up.

…I had braced myself somewhat after hearing about the mess earlier, but I never expected it to be this goddamn messed up.

“Hey, Do Yehee.”

“Yes, yes! I-I’ll fix it back to normal! R-right now, it’s an urgent situation! A-after everything is done, I definitely will…!”

“……Alright.”

As she said, securing Geum Nari was more important right now.

This wasn’t the time to be getting worked up over something like this.

The priority was simply getting to the mansion in Yecheon as quickly as possible.

Watching Do Yehee hurriedly get into the sedan while avoiding my gaze, Sihee whispered cautiously to me.

“Sungchul-ssi.”

“Yeah?”

“…What on earth did you do to make that crazy woman act so submissively?”

“…It’s something.”

Since explaining would likely take too long, I didn’t bother.

Even if I said that I just tried what I usually do with Sihee on that woman, and she just became like this on her own, even Sihee herself probably wouldn’t find it an easy story to believe.