Chapter 299: Chapter 299

Fortunately, Gloria soon came to her senses.

“How dare you say that to me...”

“Um. I don’t think you understand. Now, listen carefully. I...”

“Wait, wait.”

Aine realized what Choi Yeonseung was trying to say and hurriedly stopped him.

Gloria was on the verge of letting out a sound she had never made in her entire life.

“What’s wrong? I thought she wasn't on good terms with you. Don’t worry. She froze after what I said earlier. If she hears what I’m about to say now, she’ll never bother you for the rest of her life!”

“There’s no need to go that far!”

Aine was stunned by her own attempts to make excuses for Gloria.

‘Why am I helping her?’

Still, it couldn’t be helped.

“I don’t get along with her, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to lash out at her.”

“Didn’t you curse at her last time?”

“...She can handle my insults, but she’ll crumble if you rip into her.”

“??”

“So... think of the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor and Father.”

“Ah.”

Choi Yeonseung immediately understood.

Every time Hwang Gyeongryong and Lee Changsik met separately, they cursed at each other, calling one another names like “lunatic” or “crazy monkey bastard that only cares about himself.” Despite that, they were in fact more worried about each other than anyone else.

“I see. Do you actually like her?”

“...Let’s not go that far, please. In addition, there’s nothing good about being overly confrontational with Parker Group.”

In the business world, there was no such thing as permanent friends or permanent enemies. Parker Group and Dragon Industry fought fiercely to take over each other’s territory, but they cooperated whenever they needed to.

“That sounds absurd. In what world would we actually team up with them?”

“How about when a Chinese company enters the US market? We’d cooperate with them in such a situation”

“Ah, you’re right.”

Choi Yeonseung was convinced. She certainly had a point…

Upon finishing up with this topic, Choi Yeonseung returned to the initial issue.

“Alright, let’s hear it.”

“I knew you would,” said Gloria with a slightly relieved expression. She had been worried that Choi Yeonseung would actually kick her out while calling her names. She did business with hunters, so she was well aware of how crazy they were, the A-grade ones being on top of the pyramid.

No matter how good Choi Yeonseung was among the A-grade hunters and how many people considered him a hero, nobody could know about the insidious things he had to be doing behind the scenes.

Choi Yeonseung wondered, “Were you cursing at me in your head? I’m getting a bad vibe from you”

“N-No?”

***

Gloria Parker’s reason for coming was simple.

“Jacob is plotting something sinister.”

“Who’s Jacob?”

“The eldest son of the Parker Family.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

“...”

Gloria was puzzled by Choi Yeonseung’s words. Did… Did Choi Yeonseung really not know who Jacob Parker was?

“Richard Parker is working for your clan...?!”

“So what? Does that mean I have to memorize all the family members of every hunter? Just get to the point!” snapped Choi Yeonseung.

Gloria was upset with the aggressive response, but she put up with it.

“I’ll let you in on Jacob’s plot.”

Aine asked doubtfully, “There’s no way you’re doing this for free. What do you want in return?”

“Well… Uh… It’s a small thing. Um...”

“?”

“There are some hunters who want to meet you.”

“Ah. You’re doing this because the hunters who have signed a contract with you want to meet Choi Yeonseung?” asked Aine as though she finally understood why Gloria was doing this. Aine herself was in the business of dealing with hunters and knew how difficult they were.

After building up her reputation and trust, she had selected the hunters she received.

The industry was undoubtedly full of nut jobs, but there were still some hunters who still had all their marbles.

As for Gloria, her philosophy was in stark contrast to Aine’s. To her, personality or competency didn’t matter. Reputation was the most important thing she sought in a hunter! If she considered a hunter to be flashy and popular, she would sign them no matter what. By doing that, the reputation of the agency would grow, which in turn would attract new people…

Aine didn’t deny that method. Going for reputation was certainly a way to go about it… However, one problem that stemmed from this method was the overwhelming amount of stress that the employees had to put up with.

-I saw a panda at Dragon Hwang’s mansion. The black and white animal is really cute.

-Indeed.

-Why are you just saying indeed? I want to raise one as well. Get me one.

-...Huh?? T-that is a gift that Dragon Hwang received from the Chinese government.

-I know. Tell them to give me one. If you can’t do that, just steal one!

-It would cause an international scandal...

-Wow, as an American, you’re scared of China?

-No, that’s not what I meant...

...Hunters were the true source of power, but if a manager only went for those with the most amount of fame and popularity...

In fact, Gloria’s company named Parked Linus had a very high rate of attrition when it came to its employees.

“I told you not to roll over with every single request hunters make. No matter how good the money is, do you really have to do that?!” Aine scolded.

“I don’t want to hear about your business philosophy! Your company is smaller than mine!”

“I’m envious because you have so many people and yet you’re not taking care of them!”

Gloria glared indignantly before she looked away. She decided there was no point in fighting Aine.

“Why do they want to see me?” asked Choi Yeonseung.

“It’s because of your ability,” Gloria replied firmly.

Gloria grew up in the Parker family and distinguished people by their abilities. It was natural that she currently had a different attitude toward Choi Yeonseung as opposed to when they last met.

At that time, he was just one of the common hunters who came to the mansion. Presently, he was a top A-grade hunter who was leading Dragon Industry. People were naturally treated according to their value.

“I guess it’s because there are many hunters who are interested in martial arts.”

Aine was right. Recently, martial arts had been steadily growing in popularity, which was really surprising because a few years back, martial artists had been quite rare to find.

Who would’ve thought that martial arts would resurge like this thanks to the power of just one person?

“Can’t you stay quiet?” Gloria burst into tears. She was trying to be as kind as possible, but her true character came to the surface. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you keep interrupting?”

“I’m just helping you. What’s wrong with it?”

Aine’s sarcasm only served to further anger Gloria.

Regardless of their bickering, Choi Yeonseung pondered on this so-called information and eventually asked Aine, “By the way, do you think the information will be helpful?”

“She’s not the type of person to tell blatant lies.”

“Um... Well, I don’t mind teaching martial arts.”

“What? Really? Ah... right. You’ve done that before.”

Aine gazed at Choi Yeonseung in astonishment. Normally, hunters didn’t like sharing their skills and knowledge with others. The higher their rating, the more reluctant was the hunter to reveal their secrets.

Moreover, the price for that kind of information was directly proportional to the hunter’s rank. They would sell info regarding the magic they used, what skills they had, etc.

The government didn’t discourage this. Hunters with higher ratings always risked getting caught up in all kinds of conspiracies; it wasn’t just raids that posed a threat to them. It was better to be safe.

Meanwhile, Choi Yeonseung practically owned martial arts, but he wasn’t greedy at all. If someone asked him about martial arts, he would kindly offer his knowledge without asking for anything in return.

“It’s in my favor for martial arts to spread even more.”

The more influence martial arts had on Earth, the stronger his power as a constellation would become. Of course, for those unaware of the situation, this just seemed like a random good deed that made no sense.

“Okay. I’ll meet them.”

“!!”

Gloria’s eyes widened. She thought it would take a lot longer to convince Choi Yeonseung, but he agreed to it surprisingly fast.

“Thank you...! I knew I came to the right person!” exclaimed Gloria as she reached out.

Choi Yeonseung disregarded her emotional response and asked, “So, what’s this ‘sinister’ plot?”

“Didn’t you guys from Dragon Industry announce an Abyss crop cultivation project with a smart farm this time? Of course, I know it’s not yet completed, so you’re going to talk about it as superficially as possible when you present it.”

“?”

“??”

Choi Yeonseung and Aine wondered what she was talking about. They had already done all the work and finished harvesting the plants.

‘What is she talking about?’

‘Maybe... Does she think we failed?’

In fact, Gloria didn’t necessarily think they had failed. She just thought no one would be able to achieve results in such a short period of time.

It wasn’t just Gloria. The other experts had the same assumption.

-Abyss-related agriculture is the graveyard of companies. Even Dragon Industry will struggle tremendously with this.

-Something like that is completely unachievable with the current high-tech farms. Maybe Dragon Industry has developed a few new spells, but that wouldn’t be enough for a project like this. They’ll pull the plug on it soon.

Naturally, nobody expected them to announce actual results.

-Maybe they’ll announce their plans?

-If it’s a quick presentation, they might announce the spells and predictions involved.

Gloria crossed her legs in a haughty manner as she continued speaking.

“Jacob is now using all his connections to spread word that Dragon Industry is going to present something. He’s telling people that this is just an attempt to inflate expectations and somehow create problems.”

Regarding this presentation, the atmosphere itself was also one of the important factors. Many clans and companies were participating in this, so the standards were way above the usual company presentations. Nobody could pull off any tricks here. Even Dragon Industry would get embarrassed if false rumors spread.

In addition, if the media that was on Parker Group’s side got involved, people would start saying things like “Did Dragon Industry fail?”

...However, Choi Yeonseung and Aine seemed unfazed, which shocked Gloria. How could they react in such a carefree manner when she told them such an important piece of information and gave them a chance to react?

“Nothing? Hey, I’ve just told you something of great importance!”

“Ah, I’m sorry...”

“What, are you going to break your promise now?”

Gloria had been rather friendly at first, but as she continued to converse with Choi Yeonseung and Aine, her real character came to the surface.

“I have no intention of breaking the promise. I’m just saying to wait until the presentation before talking.”

“...Ah, yes. You’re probably very busy.”

Gloria was convinced and stood up. She also had a lot of work to do.

“...But you can’t just do nothing with the piece of information I’ve just given you. You better keep that in mind!”

“I got it.”

Aine was wondering… What face would Gloria make when they made their presentation that day?

***

“Please observe the chill of this short sword. As far as fire-based monsters go, this artifact allows you to fight monsters one grade higher than you. It even stacks up! By stacking up the power of this short sword, we even managed to defeat the flame spirit in one go!”

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

“Dragon Artifact is the best!”

This artifact was the biggest hit of the year, so Dragon Artifact’s presentation was met with enthusiastic cheers. There were quite a few hunters who had the short sword, so the response from the clans was overwhelmingly positive.

However, the expressions of the CEOs of other companies that dealt with artificial artifacts turned sour.

‘Shit… Because of that...’

‘How did they make it? Did a constellation directly teach them how to craft it? N-no… There’s no way a constellation would get involved in something so trivial. Maybe they got the recipe from a dungeon?’

‘They’re lucky to hit the jackpot.’

‘If they succeed in the high-tech farm this time, it’s going to be really...’

‘But even with Dragon Industry, is such a thing possible? Isn’t that just a rumor?’