Chapter 333: Chapter 333

“...I know, but I still have to tell them.”

Choi Yeonseung regretted a bit what he had said.

Normally, one would expect the hunters who had come to South Korea to read Choi Yeonseung’s official letter and abide by his instructions, realizing that he was actually worried about them.

However, it was more likely that they would brush off his letter, saying things like “What’s with this nonsense?”

Choi Yeonseung knew better than anyone that hunters didn’t listen...

“Tell them that there might be a dangerous monster lurking among the other monsters. Also tell them that they might get hurt if they try to steal it.”

***

“What’s with this nonsense?”

“Does he think we’ll just believe anything that an A-grade hunter says?”

The hunters snorted at the letter. Nobody took it seriously, not even the hunters who had no intention of smuggling monsters.

“Hunter Choi Yeonseung is so naive. Does he think a letter will fix anything?”

“Hey, be quiet. What if you piss him off and he does something crazy? He can grab all of us, line us up, and inspect us.”

“He can’t do that...”

“Don’t talk about things that you don’t know. The South Korean government records all the hunters’ personal information in their database.”

“What? And the Korean hunters don’t protest about that?”

“What are those Koreans...?”

The hunters from abroad whispered to each other. For some of them, the letter had struck a nerve, so they exchanged nervous looks.

‘You took care of it, right?’

‘Don’t worry. Haven’t we already done this a bunch of times?’

Not even A-grade hunters could catch them smuggling monsters. After all, they weren’t gods.

If they locked the stolen monster in a special cage, moved it to the pre-ordered cargo, and processed it to prevent magic power from leaking, it was virtually impossible to find it through an inspection.

Unless the culprit was apprehended and interrogated, it was impossible to determine from where the monster had been smuggled.

“But what if it’s a really dangerous monster?”

“What? You idiot… You actually believe that?”

“B-but Hunter Choi Yeonseung isn’t a liar. He’s helped my grandfather...” said a hunter from the Bloody White clan timidly. He was talking about the S-grade monster raid that had taken place in the United States: the Rutherford raid.

During that raid, Choi Yeonseung had been the only one who bothered to evacuate the citizens. The others hadn’t cared about one or two dying citizens; they had only cared about killing monsters and accumulating more profits for themselves.

Seeing that his subordinate was defending Choi Yeonseung, the team leader clicked his tongue, thinking he was being pathetic.

“He did that just for show. You were deceived. I mean… Imagine that you became an A-grade hunter, right? Would you use your powers for something as trivial as saving people?”

“I personally wouldn’t do it, but why is it so implausible for Choi Yeonseung to do it?”

“Tsk tsk... You need a few good smacks to the back of your head to come back to your senses. Don’t worry. There will be a few articles about Hunter Choi Yeonseung in the future. Let’s hope that he'll get hit by a car while on drugs and buried with magic. Not even A-grade hunters could recover after such a scandal.”

The hunter was stunned by the team leader’s words. The latter seemed to suddenly feel sorry for what he had just said and tapped his subordinate on the shoulder.

“Hey, I’m sorry. In fact, I, too, might’ve felt grateful for him if he’d saved one of my family members. Just send him a thank you card later.”

“...”

“And also, what does it matter if it’s a dangerous monster? We’re sending it to a Chinese company. If things go south, they’ll go south in China. In a way, we’re actually being patriotic.”

“That makes me feel a bit better.”

“Right?”

The Bloody White hunters felt better and flew out of the country.

There were hundreds of hunters going through the airport every day, so nobody cared if some no-name clan hunters left the country.

***

Guangzhou.

This city had been the center of trading and politics for a very long time. It prospered even more since the capital had been taken over by the Master of Slowness and Silence.

The Chinese government was humiliated by the evil god constellation and invested heavily in various clans and companies, also creating a special zone for them.

Saishin, the Chinese company that commissioned the Bloody White clan to catch the golden pig, was also located in this city.

“Did you really get it?” the executive of Saishin asked joyously. He was so happy that he came in person to greet the hunters.

The Korean hunters had raided the monsters so efficiently that all the other hunters were left with nothing. Thus, the executive couldn’t help being elated that the hunters from the Bloody White clan had managed to stand out and actually get the job done.

“As expected, you guys are great. I’ve always known that the Bloody Black clan is quite capable.”

“...It’s Bloody White.”

“Ah, White, yes. I always get confused with all the English names...”

The executive was embarrassed but didn’t feel sorry. It was obvious who was superior in this exchange, so the executive had no reason to apologize to some foreign hunters who were nothing more than hunting dogs.

‘This bastard...’

The hunters had to have noticed his arrogance. They were indignant but put up with it nonetheless. After all, there were dozens of clan buildings in the area. With just one phone call, the Chinese police would get here in just a few minutes with a not-so-friendly attitude…

A hunter asked, “So when will you pay us?”

“Ah, that. We’ll just transfer the money to you as soon as the transaction is confirmed,” the executive responded calmly.

“We’d prefer you to send the payment as soon as possible,” replied the team leader with a hint of irritation. He was impatient to just get the money and get out of this country.

“Yes, don’t worry. Is there a particular reason for such urgency?”

“Well...” The team leader hesitated. He couldn’t just say out loud that Chinese companies had a reputation of swindling hunters out of large sums of money.

It seemed that the executive noticed what the team leader was thinking, so he said in a noticeably deeper and solemn voice, “Rest assured we will keep our side of the bargain. What do you think of us?”

“Y-yes, of course. We believe you…”

“It is true that there have been some incidents with some Chinese companies, but this bad reputation of ours is just the regrettable result of the Western media exaggerating the severity of those incidents. Do you understand?”

‘That’s bullshit...’

‘Didn’t they defraud a company and make it go bankrupt around a month and a half ago?’

‘Shh. Keep your mouth shut!’

The hunters had a lot to say about this, but they held back. After all, money was more important than the truth.

“Yes, we understand.”

“Good. Then let me check the monster. If there are no problems with it, we will transfer you the money immediately.”

“Yes... Wait. How long does it take to check the monster?”

“Around one week.”

“...”

The faces of the hunters dropped. A week was way too long. Moreover, if Saishin tried to pull some shady stuff during that week, they could end up with no money for their efforts.

“A week is a bit too long...”

“Uh, well, isn’t it necessary to conduct a thorough inspection? Why are you in such a hurry?”

‘This damn bastard!’

The hunters were stunned by how the company was playing them for fools. But what could they do…?

They just had to wait.

“...I understand. Then we’ll just wait.”

***

“I got a call saying that Saishin has secured a golden pig.”

Aine contacted Choi Yeonseung the moment she heard the news.

If someone smuggled a monster out of South Korea, it was bound for information to get leaked a few days after the monster reached the company’s laboratory. Still, it was amazing that Aine had managed to figure this out.

‘How did she find out?’ Choi Yeonseung was amazed. Had she used some special skill or organization that he didn’t know about?

“Huh? I bribed the police.”

“...I-I see.”

“You should also try bribing people in the future. It’s efficient, and it’s especially easy to bribe the police.”

How extreme capitalism had become!

In any case, Choi Yeonseung hurriedly contacted the company, and the person on the other end was flustered.

“Who are you...?”

“Choi Yeonseung.”

“...”

Anyone with a brain would know why he had called out of nowhere.

The Saishin employee tried his best to compose himself before replying.

“Ah! Hunter Choi Yeonseung! It’s a pleasure to speak to you! My name is Guan Dao and I work at Saishin. Thank you for your cooperation in the raid the other day. Thanks to you, many hunters managed to return home instead of wasting their time in that place.”

“?”

At first, Choi Yeonseung was confused and wondered what Guan Dao was talking about, but then he realized that he was talking about the Second Realm the explosion constellation had prepared.

“You sent your hunters in that dungeon in such an ignorant manner.”

“Uh… Well, everybody does things differently, heh…”

“Yes, there are many ways to do it, but jumping off a cliff isn’t one of them. That’s just suicide, okay?”

“...”

At Choi Yeonseung’s harsh critique, Guan Dao hurriedly changed the subject.

“So why did you contact us? If you wish for us to cooperate with you in some endeavor, we always welcome it,” said Guan Dao in a soft voice.

Choi Yeonseung was a cheeky A-grade hunter from another country, but given how much authority he had at Dragon Industry, it was extremely tempting to work with him. Making a few profitable contracts with him would be enough for Saishin to reach the sales quota for an entire year.

“Give me the golden pig.”

“...”

Guan Dao almost dropped his phone. He had suspected that Choi Yeonseung might’ve called in regards to that, but he hadn’t expected him to say it so bluntly.

“What do you mean...?”

“Let’s not beat around the bush. I don’t want to waste my time with this,” Choi Yeonseung warned sincerely.

Guan Dao could feel how serious Choi Yeonseung was and broke out in a sweat. An A-grade hunter’s threat would inevitably cause people to shake in their boots, whether the threat was genuine or not.

However, Guan Dao didn’t back down. If he returned the golden pig because he got scared, then the subsequent board meeting would be ten times more terrifying than an A-grade hunter tearing him apart.

They would take away his house, his car, even his underwear…

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hunter Choi Yeonseung.”

“Even though I asked you nicely, you still won’t budge, huh?”

Guan Dao gulped anxiously and tried to persuade him.

“Of course, I know you can do a lot of things. You can have the media slander Saishin or pressure other countries to condemn us.”

‘Huh? I didn’t think that far ahead though…?’

“But that won’t work, Hunter Choi Yeonseung.”

“And why is that?”

“We won’t give in to some insults from other countries.”

“...”

Choi Yeonseung found it ridiculous. What was this bastard bragging about...?

Any reasonable person would care about their reputation. Even Choi Yeonseung, who didn’t know much about running a company, knew that international reputation was quite important. So why was Guan Dao saying all that nonsense so confidently?

“Hunter Choi Yeonseung, this is just one monster… If you let this go, you might just be rewarded later,” Guan Dao spoke softly.

Choi Yeonseung sighed before replying, “I have no intention of doing that. And just so you know, I’m warning you guys for your sake, not mine.”

“Huh?” Guan Dao asked with a sneer. “What do you mean?”

“One of the golden pigs is stronger than you think. You guys might get harmed badly if you mess around with the monster and research it. Mobilize the hunters and deal with it now!”

“Haha. You don’t have to worry, Hunter Choi Yeonseung. There are dozens of clans around here. We can mobilize as many hunters as necessary. Dozens of hunters are protecting the building... We can deal with any problem…”

Bang!!

No sooner had Guan Dao finished his sentence than a deafening roar was heard from his side.

A sound like that wasn’t normal.

Choi Yeonseung said wryly, “Well, I think a relevant problem has just occurred.”

“No... No, it’s nothing, really…”

“Hey, I’m trying to give you advice on how to save your life...”

After that, contact was lost, and Choi Yeonseung shook his head in dismay.