Chapter 362 – Part 2 – Information Request

“Thank you so much. If you need me, please definitely come find me!”

“Alright.”

Han Sae-bom bowed politely and entered the villa.

Choi Seong-min, who had been watching from the driver’s seat, started the car.

He wasn’t going home.

‘Since I’ve already started, I should go raid the next organization too.’

He had already read the supervisor’s memories and knew the location of another human trafficking gang.

Since he had the information, there was no reason to delay.

‘Since I know the location, I won’t need to make contact in a troublesome way. I’ll break through head-on.’

It was quite a large-scale operation, so he had high expectations.

Vroooom-

Hoping there would be many hunters to hunt, Choi Seong-min stepped on the accelerator.

The van drove through the dawn roads.

* * *

Early morning before sunrise.

Tick tick tick- Tiddling-

Choi Seong-min returned home.

He thought his family would still be asleep, but the kitchen light was on.

“Did Seong-min come home?”

His mother looked back while stopping her chopping on the cutting board.

“You got up early?”

“I have to get up early to feed my children something delicious.”

His mother, who had been smiling with wrinkled cheeks, soon made a pitying expression.

“But it’s been hard to see my son’s face lately. Are you very busy?”

“No.”

“Is there anything difficult working under the Great Hero?”

“It’s manageable. What about you, mother? Nothing difficult?”

“What would be difficult for me? Thanks to my hunter son, I’m living in such a spacious and nice house without worrying about money. My only worry is whether my son might get hurt, that’s my concern.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m avoiding dangerous situations as much as possible.”

Though he said that, given the nature of being a hunter, danger was always inevitable.

“Still, you never know what might happen, so always be careful.”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Reassured by those words, his mother smiled gently.

“You haven’t had breakfast yet, right? Go wash up. I’ll have it ready soon.”

“Okay.”

Choi Seong-min, who had wanted to shower anyway, went into the bathroom.

He felt uncomfortable in case there might be a smell of blood.

‘I killed dozens of people just today…’

This was also why he deliberately didn’t go close when talking with his mother.

‘In reality, not a single drop of blood got on my body.’

But the uncomfortable feeling was unavoidable.

A shower was essential for changing his mood.

Shake shake shake-

He came out refreshed after showering, shaking his hair dry.

‘Hmm?’

A delicious smell stimulated his salivary glands.

Sure enough, when he went to the kitchen, a twelve-dish traditional meal was set on the dining table.

“Why did you make so much?”

“So much? My son worked hard and came home, so I should at least prepare this much.”

There were so many side dishes he was troubled about what to eat first.

Then the door opened and his younger sister in pajamas came walking while rubbing her eyes.

“Mmm? Oppa’s home?”

“Just woke up?”

“Mmhm… Huh? Why are there so many side dishes? There’s even galbi that I like? Mom, did we have galbi at home?”

“I saved it to give to your brother when he came home.”

“Ah, what the heck, you never do this when I’m here!”

“That’s enough, hurry up and wash up and sit down. Let’s eat together as three after a long time.”

The family began their meal in a warm atmosphere.

“Wow, this is really delicious!”

“It’s delicious, mother.”

“Hoho, eat a lot.”

“Oppa, instead of staying out overnight, can’t you just come home like today? So we can eat like this every day.”

“You. Don’t say useless things and if you’re done eating, get ready for school.”

“Yees~ mother.”

They finished their meal in such a harmonious atmosphere.

It was a meaningful time having leisurely conversations after a long time.

‘This is what family is like. I like it.’

Though not real family, the warm energy filled his empty heart to the brim.

Choi Seong-min returned to his room and lay on the bed thinking.

‘It would have been nice if my parents had lived a bit longer…’

For Choi Seong-min, who lost his parents in middle school, having someone take care of him was unfamiliar.

‘It would be different if I were taking care of family members.’

He suddenly thought of his real family left behind in the underworld.

Cha Ye-rin and Min Su-ho, Min Seo-yeon. And even his grandchildren.

‘Let’s definitely meet again someday.’

Feeling his responsibility as the head of the family, he opened his trait window.

It was time to check the traits he hadn’t been able to see because he was busy.

‘Quite a lot came in.’

Precision, Regeneration, Robust Stamina, Indomitable Will, Trained Body, Slight Strength, Lower-grade Magic Control, Lower-grade Resistance, etc.

Thirteen various traits from F-grade to B-grade had come in.

These were obtained by killing hunters from the human trafficking gang at dawn today.

‘The second place I went to was definitely large-scale.’

After dropping off Han Sae-bom, Choi Seong-min had taken the van and gone straight to the human trafficking gang.

There he killed twelve workers and eight hunters and rescued twenty-five civilians.

Even so, the synchronization rate had only increased by a tiny amount.

Current synchronization rate: 17.2%

It increased by 0.1% per person, but at this rate it felt hopeless when he’d reach 100%.

‘I need to kill more hunters.’

Getting thirteen traits this time was quite a significant gain, but it wasn’t satisfying.

If possible, he needed to kill many hunters.

‘If I’m going to kill, it would be good to kill trash like the ones today.’

But this was the end of information about human trafficking gangs.

He couldn’t find any more leads.

‘Still, I annihilated two teams in one day.’

It could be called a fairly satisfying result, but there were limits to continuously killing hunters.

‘First, combat power of 1 million is right around the corner. I need to rank up first.’

He needed to rank up and also go to work.

Choi Seong-min was quite busy in his own way.

* * *

Choi Seong-min, who went to work at the association in the morning, finished his work as usual and was resting.

Actually, rather than resting, he was planning future strategies in his head.

‘If I go through a few dungeons after work today, I should be able to make S-rank.’

When he becomes S-rank, he gets two skill slots.

Moreover, he can upgrade his entire body with S-rank items.

‘Most importantly, I can equip legendary items.’

Not just any legendary item.

An EX-grade legendary item enhanced with a Core of Magic Power.

‘Two additional skills, S-rank equipment, and even an EX-grade legendary item.’

It was obvious that ranking up would make him several times stronger than now.

‘I just need to raise my combat power by about 50,000.’

And after becoming S-rank and completing all preparations?

‘I’ll have to kill Kogo as planned.’

By then he should have the combat power to face Kogo in direct confrontation.

‘No, not “should have.” I definitely will. I might even surpass Kogo’s combat power.’

With legendary items, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

‘How should I ambush him? It would be good to transform into Oh Gwang-taek and contact him, right?’

But if he suggested meeting first, Kogo might be suspicious.

‘No, maybe it would be fine. He must have favorable feelings from helping him before.’

Whatever excuse he made, Kogo might agree to meet.

‘I’ll think about detailed assassination methods after becoming S-rank…’

Rather than that, there was one thing that bothered him.

It was because of the scene he saw in Han Sae-bom’s memories.

‘The khaki jumper and mark. It was definitely Do Eun-jeong’s rebels.’

Why would rebels targeting the association be connected to Kwak Min-cheol’s human trafficking gang?

‘If I’m curious, I can find out by asking.’

He had someone in mind to ask.

‘At this time, she should be in the Investigation Department, right?’

Intending to visit directly, Choi Seong-min stood up from his seat.

* * *

Investigation Department Team Leader Heo Yoon-ji had pride in her work.

Investigating and examining the background of various incidents to provide constructive help to society.

That was the reason she applied to the Investigation Department and it suited her aptitude.

But that was only in the past.

Lately, Heo Yoon-ji was dissatisfied with her work.

‘They’re telling me to handle such trivial investigations?’

It was because only completely trivial cases had been coming in.

‘Instead of things like this, I wanted to handle big cases that could contribute to society…!’

For example, revealing the crimes of an organization they had been chasing for three years.

‘What in the world is the Minister thinking…’

Honestly, it was a fish already caught.

The moment they discovered decisive evidence that could backstab the criminal organization.

The ones who got backstabbed were actually Heo Yoon-ji and the investigation team.

The Investigation Department Minister suddenly put his foot down, telling them not to investigate anything related to the organization.

‘Why would that be? There must definitely be some circumstances…’

Even the Investigation Department couldn’t know beyond that.

It wasn’t right to question the Minister either.

No, honestly, she did question him.

She just kept getting scolded for it.

‘I can’t give up like this. I need to persuade the Minister.’

She couldn’t persuade him herself.

She wasn’t high enough rank to influence the Minister.

Then what about an order from a Great Hero of higher rank?

And if there was someone who could use that Great Hero’s power?

‘That’s why I asked him to speak to the Great Hero…’

She thought Choi Seong-min, rumored to be Song Chi-hyeon’s direct subordinate, could solve it.

But she was soundly rejected.

‘I even bought him expensive traditional Korean cuisine for lunch…’

Well, the lunch was given as thanks for helping her younger brother regardless of that.

‘I didn’t know he’d refuse so coldly.’

She thought he’d be greedy for money since he was a supervisor, but who knew he’d reject it…

‘Weren’t the Hunter Management Department a bunch of money-obsessed ghosts?’

Weren’t they the epitome of materialists, with no interest in their own growth and only interested in lobbying, corruption, bribes, etc.?

Of course, Heo Yoon-ji herself prided herself on being different from such materialists.

‘Our investigation team exists to expose injustice and make society more beneficial.’

She doesn’t accept bribes either.

She doesn’t engage in corrupt deals or negotiations either.

That’s probably why she still can’t get military status despite being a B-rank team leader…

‘Come to think of it, Hunter Choi Seong-min. Didn’t he recently get promoted to Team 1?’

She knew from seeing the personnel appointment announcement.

‘When I saw him before he was C-rank, but he’s already grown to B-rank. Being a team leader, I guess he had time to hunt?’

It was somehow unpleasant that he was the same rank as her.

Anyway, she couldn’t help but be envious.

‘Some people get promoted and do well with Great Hero support, while I can’t even do the investigations I want and have to handle such trivial work…’

She was envious of Choi Seong-min.

She was very envious of him succeeding by networking well.

Knock knock-

A knock was heard and the Investigation Department team leader’s office door opened.

Heo Yoon-ji was startled by the person who happened to enter.

It was the person she had been envying with jealousy just moments before.

“Ch, Choi Seong-min… sir?”

“Hello, Team Leader Heo Yoon-ji.”

Seeing Choi Seong-min speaking formally, Heo Yoon-ji cleared her throat.

“Ahem, ah, hello. Team Leader Choi Seong-min. What brings you here…”

“Actually, there’s something I’d like to request.”

Not a favor, but a request?

Heo Yoon-ji’s eyebrows curved like a bow.

“What request?”

“Do you remember the organization you told me about when you bought me lunch before? You even showed me the mark.”

“Ah, that criminal organization. I remember.”

“I’d like to hear information about that organization. I’d like you to tell me everything you know.”

“So you’re requesting that I share information about the organization with you?”

“You could say that.”

Heo Yoon-ji smiled as if pleased.

“Then please accept my request too. You remember the favor I asked before, right? To speak to Great Hero Song Chi-hyeon and persuade the Minister.”

“Yes.”

“If you do that for me, I’ll gladly provide the information you want.”

“I refuse.”

“……”

Being rejected immediately without even thinking about it, Heo Yoon-ji was rather flustered.

“Th, then I refuse too.”

“Please share the information.”

“Why should I? You won’t accept my request, so why should I accept yours?”

“Well…”

Choi Seong-min suddenly took something out from his jacket.

“Because my status is higher than yours.”

It was a badge.

A badge proving military status, belonging to the highest grade among existing statuses.

“……”

Heo Yoon-ji’s expression was beautifully distorted.

She herself had merchant status.

She had no choice but to listen when someone with military status gave orders.

Because disobeying orders from higher status would result in being sent to trial.

Even if it was an unjust order.

“You’ll share it, right?”

A long sigh came from Heo Yoon-ji’s mouth.