Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Small Fry (2)

Looking at Lee Ye-rin, who came to meet him at Daejeon Station, Kang-hoo spoke.

“These days, the area around Daejeon Station is quiet? It seems like it has stabilized a lot.”

“The Heuksaja has been quiet lately. Eclipse is deliberately ignoring us because they don’t want to get tangled with us.”

“Does that mean the status of Cheong-an has changed?”

“It’s more like Eclipse has more things to worry about. They have more external issues to deal with, right?”

Kang-hoo nodded as if he fully understood her words.

Putting Kang-hoo on the assassination list was just one of the many tasks Eclipse had.

Recently, Eclipse, which has been aggressively expanding its influence, had experienced many conflicts here and there.

Like a drug, taking over the existing powers is not easy.

However, the areas that Kang Dong-hyun is interested in usually have organizations that hold power.

Therefore, it was more common for their forces to expand through fierce battles rather than bloodless occupations.

Naturally, there were casualties in the process, and the people related to the casualties became enemies.

Eclipse was constantly experiencing the inevitable karma.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Therefore, they avoided making trouble with Cheong-an, with whom they had bad relations.

“Get in. It’s a safe limousine.”

“Thank you.”

Thanks to Lee Ye-rin’s consideration, they were able to safely move to the Cheong-an building in the limousine.

There wasn’t much conversation in the car.

However, there was one serious question that Lee Ye-rin asked.

“Do you still keep in touch with Seo-yeon these days?”

“I used to until recently, but not lately. I don’t usually initiate contact.”

“I see. Since Seo-yeon joined the Jeonghwa Guild, there has been no news at all.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. She doesn’t check her personal messages at all and doesn’t answer calls. It doesn’t seem like her number has changed.”

There can be many reasons why a person can’t be reached, so it wasn’t worth jumping to conclusions.

But the fact that she went silent after joining the Jeonghwa Guild made Kang-hoo’s thoughts go in a different direction.

Considering An Yeong-ho and Jung Yuri, only bad thoughts could come to mind first.

Of course, to be honest, Han Seo-yeon is not an outstanding hunter that the Jeonghwa Guild would be eager to recruit.

Still, it was hard not to worry. It was a separate issue from his feelings for her.

“Since she was scouted by a satellite guild, it might take her some time to adjust.”

Kang-hoo lightened the heavy atmosphere.

He thought it was likely she was just adjusting. After all, there would be certain standards and conditions demanded by the top guild in the country.

In the process, she would need time to shed the freedom and lightness she was accustomed to as a member of the Haeohwa Guild.

He believed she would do well on her own. She was meticulous. She wouldn’t make big mistakes.

“I’m sorry. I rambled on about something too personal. It’s not even related to you, Kang-hoo.”

“It’s not entirely unrelated. I understand your concern as a close sister.”

Kang-hoo shook his head.

Lee Ye-rin is a person with charm in such human aspects.

As a mercenary leader, she pursued more than just business.

That might be why they got along so well. She was good at compromise, mediation, and persuasion.

After arriving at the Cheong-an building, Kang-hoo talked with Lee Ye-rin in a newly created room.

It was a dedicated VIP room for guests, and he felt his body recovering as soon as he entered.

He looked around and found that a barrier linked to magic stones was constantly activated, stimulating his healing ability.

The saying “money solves everything” applies everywhere, even in the hunter’s civilized world.

Just entering the room made him feel revitalized.

“Isn’t this room nice?”

“It must have cost a lot.”

“We configured only the VIP rooms like this on a trial basis, but we will change the entire Cheong-an building.”

“Even the training facilities?”

“Of course. We plan to invest generously for the differentiation of our Cheong-an Mercenary Corps.”

“That’s quite attractive.”

“Right? With this setup, it’s possible to increase the training volume by at least twice the usual amount.”

Kang-hoo was more surprised by her ability to afford such facilities than by their existence in the Cheong-an building.

The Cheong-an Mercenary Corps isn’t that large. If divided into groups, it would be medium-sized.

But to make such aggressive investments, a capital power exceeding that of a large mercenary corps was essential.

This meant her commissioning skills were quite impressive.

The Cheong-an Mercenary Corps wasn’t widely known for its strength. Their power wasn’t overwhelmingly superior.

She must be earning significant commissions or fees through various requests.

Her clients weren’t limited to just him.

“Let’s talk about overseas matters.”

Kang-hoo changed the subject.

After catching up, the core issue of the day was the overseas requests.

“Actually, attractive and lucrative proposals usually come from two countries. You can guess, right?”

“China. Russia.”

“Correct. Besides the vast land, there are many guild wars and battles there.”

“There must be a lot of rights and interests they want to claim or seize. As a hunter, I’m quite curious.”

Kang-hoo agreed.

China and Russia have many unique dungeons that are hard to find in other countries.

There are also many large-scale raid dungeons like the Hell of Judgment.

Although top secret, there are even dungeons connected to other ‘dimensions’.

It wasn’t mentioned in the original story. But as the original creator, the memory existed in his subconscious, so it wasn’t completely absurd.

“But since Kang-hoo doesn’t like this part, we will completely exclude it. We refuse to accept any requests from China or Russia.”

“Please also block any indirect requests.”

“Of course. Once you get involved with requests related to China or Russia, it can get out of hand.”

“If you’re unlucky, you might find yourself thrown into the middle of a cartel conflict without even knowing it.”

“Exactly. It requires a lot of operational finesse, so as a broker, I’m not too keen on it either.”

Lee Ye-rin smiled.

It was a lip service remark.

Many hunters already recognize her skills. There’s no way she would have any requests she doesn’t like.

Kang-hoo knew that she was deliberately agreeing with him just to go along with his words.

“Except for those two countries, it doesn’t matter which country we accept requests from. But there are some conditions.”

“Go ahead.”

“I prefer dungeon exploration or raids. And the more middle bosses or main boss monsters there are, the higher the priority.”

“Just a moment.”

“Yes.”

“Can I know why you prefer boss-oriented raids? Not just out of personal curiosity, but because it might help in attracting clients.”

“If I say it’s because it’s good for gaining experience, does that sound too vague?”

To be exact.

It’s because the conditions increase the number of skills he can plunder.

But he couldn’t tell Lee Ye-rin that directly, so he spoke evasively.

“Interested in loot?”

“That’s part of it.”

Kang-hoo nodded.

If you replace ‘loot’ with ‘skills,’ it’s quite an accurate statement.

“Got it. Then I’ll focus on that point when accepting requests.”

“I’m setting a lot of conditions, but it would be nice if it’s nearby. If possible.”

“Understood. These days, overseas requests are also active in Southeast Asia. Trust my connections.”

“I always do.”

That’s why Kang-hoo doesn’t change his main client. He trusts Lee Ye-rin’s skills and her abilities.

There’s the Kim Su-kyung Mercenary Corps as an alternative, but they fall short compared to Lee Ye-rin’s Cheong-an Mercenary Corps.

After that, Kang-hoo talked with her longer than he had expected.

He carefully listened to information about the domestic situation that he could get from her.

Of course, he didn’t forget to pay for the information.

There’s no set price, but it raised the value and meaning of the information she had.

There were some obvious pieces of information he already knew, but also things he had no idea about.

For instance, the news that the Karona Guild of Russia failed in an attempt to steal confidential information from the Jeonghwa Guild.

The Karona Guild is famous in Russia, next to the Kashimar Guild.

It was mentioned only once in the original story, so he was curious about the background of the plan to steal the confidential information.

Would that background be beneficial to him, the opposite, or meaningless?

Anyway, he could gather a lot of interesting information.

He also confirmed the types and current status of requests mainly coming from each country overseas.

If he could secure the requests stably, there were quite a few that seemed really interesting.

Honestly, he was quite excited. It felt like his desire for adventure and challenge was being stimulated.

As he was about to wrap up their nearly two-hour-long meeting.

Lee Ye-rin brought up a topic she hadn’t mentioned during the entire conversation.

“There are Eclipse’s sniper hunters not far from the Cheong-an building.”

It wasn’t surprising since he had somewhat expected it.

“Are they targeting you, Lee Ye-rin?”

“No. I went out a few times to draw their fire, but they didn’t shoot?”

She tried to provoke them on purpose. She must have been confident enough to attempt it.

“Then.”

“They must be targeting one of our clients. But since you’re on the assassination list…”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Pardon?”

“Since I’m already in conflict with Eclipse, it won’t be a problem to deal with a few small fry.”

“I can arrange for a safe limousine. There won’t be any issues.”

“No. It’s time to deal with this. It’s also time to send a warning to Eclipse.”

Kang-hoo intended to handle the snipers outside, regardless of whether they were targeting him or not.

However, the circumstances made it quite likely they were after him.

Among Lee Ye-rin’s main clients, he was the only one in conflict with Eclipse.

Lee Ye-rin did have long-standing conflicts, but they had become rather dull over time.

It was a chance to stretch his hands.

But.

There was one thing that bothered him.

So he asked Lee Ye-rin.

“But is Cheong-an not dealing with it directly out of consideration? Or is it intentional neglect?”