Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 132

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (132)

 

Box

 

Deputy Representative Lim A-yeon left first, saying she had things to do.

 

Lee Si-hyeok entered the CEO office, looked around, and sat across from CEO Hwang Eun-ho.

 

“…and that’s how the company managed to establish itself again! It’s all thanks to our management consultant taking responsibility! Hahaha!”

 

He hadn’t stopped talking from the moment he met Lee Si-hyeok. He kept rambling about how Termion Security had risen to the top of the industry, and why the security industry, which had been a dead market itself, had experienced such a revival.

 

And the end of his long speech always concluded with ‘thanks to Lee Si-hyeok.’

 

“You seem to be in a good mood. I don’t think you were like this when we first met.”

 

“Of course! How could I not be! The company is experiencing an unprecedented boom!”

 

“But last time you said you didn’t care what I did?”

 

“…That was! Ahem. I didn’t know things would turn out like this. I apologize for being uncooperative back then.”

 

Lee Si-hyeok smiled faintly at CEO Hwang Eun-ho, who was bowing his head deeply.

 

It wasn’t meant as a rebuke. His situation had looked quite serious from Lee Si-hyeok’s perspective too. He probably couldn’t have properly guessed Lee Si-hyeok’s impact.

 

“I’m just infinitely grateful to our management consultant and Isaac Reynolds….”

 

Lee Si-hyeok paused at the words that suddenly came out.

 

‘Come to think of it.’

 

I wonder how that guy Isaac is doing?

 

It’s been quite a while since we parted ways when he said he was returning to the Reynolds Family, but there’s been no news yet.

 

While Lee Si-hyeok straightened his posture, resolving to contact him later, CEO Hwang Eun-ho, who had been reading the mood, asked first.

 

“By the way, may I ask the reason for your visit, management consultant? I heard from Deputy Representative Lim that you have something to check….”

 

He speculated on his own.

 

“Is it perhaps about the company’s management situation? Something like needing to change the management policies you wrote before?”

 

“No, it’s not that.”

 

“Or! Could it be that you’ve brought us a new client? Or a bodyguard like Isaac Reynolds?!”

 

Lee Si-hyeok smiled bitterly and shook his head at him, who was getting unnecessarily excited and full of expectations.

 

“It’s nothing that grand. As I mentioned, I just came to check some past records.”

 

“Past records, you mean…?”

 

“Hunter Baek Min-ji, who is currently missing. I’d like to check her contract. I’d also like to hear related stories.”

 

“…Hunter Baek Min-ji?”

 

CEO Hwang Eun-ho’s expression suddenly became strange. He rolled his eyes up and down as if recalling old memories, then got up from the sofa and walked to the long Main Table.

 

“Please wait a moment. It’s a record from quite some time ago, so it’ll take a while to find.”

 

He searched through the computer for several minutes. Various folder screens flashed across the monitors densely packed on the wall, and soon one screen appeared on the central monitor.

 

It was a handwritten contract.

 

“This is the contract between Ms. Baek Min-ji and the Security Company. Normally I shouldn’t disclose this, but since I’m showing it to our management consultant, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

 

After nodding, Lee Si-hyeok narrowed his eyes and read through the contract.

 

The date of creation was about 10 years ago.

 

Since Hunter Baek Min-ji went missing about 6 years ago, this was a contract made before that. Other notable points were….</

 

“There’s a special clause that says ‘maintain the contract no matter what happens.'”

 

“Yes. That was a special clause that Ms. Baek Min-ji strongly demanded at the time. That’s why even in her current missing state, payments continue to come into the account.”

 

Lee Si-hyeok already knew this from hearing it once from Deputy Representative Lim A-yeon. Thanks to this special clause and the payments, the Security Company was able to survive even in precarious situations.

 

When I first heard this story, I had simply let it pass by, but now that I was facing it directly, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.

 

‘Could it be that she saw the future?’

 

According to what I heard from Lumibra at the Gate, Hunter Baek Min-ji possesses the 『Oraculum Orb』.

 

And the Oraculum Orb is a strange artifact created by the Great Creator that can show a confirmed future.

 

Then she, who had stolen it, must have also confirmed the future.

 

‘If in that future she confirmed that I would enter the Nari Basin Gate and meet Lumibra there, learning that she was the thief who stole the orb…’

 

Couldn’t she have deduced that I would inevitably come looking for her someday?

 

…Everything connects.

 

I don’t know how such a thing was possible, but approaching it from this perspective, everything from Hunter Baek Min-ji’s disappearance to her previous actions felt connected as a series of processes.

 

If her contract with the Security Company had been severed long ago.

 

Then the Security Company would have already collapsed, and there would never have been a situation where Lee Si-hyeok would have doubts about her.

 

As my thoughts reached that point, one speculation came to mind.

 

‘Hunter Baek Min-ji wants me to find her.’

 

I felt goosebumps rising all over my body.

 

With the speculation that simultaneously arose, Lee Si-hyeok turned his gaze away from the monitor and looked at CEO Hwang Eun-ho.

 

“By any chance.”

 

He asked in a calm voice.

 

“Didn’t Hunter Baek Min-ji leave any words behind?”

 

If she had planned for Lee Si-hyeok to come here, she would have left something behind in preparation for today.

 

And indeed…

 

“She didn’t leave any words, but she did leave behind some kind of object… I had forgotten about it, but thanks to you, business advisor, I remembered.”

 

CEO Hwang Eun-ho, who had been retracing his memories for quite a while, raised his voice as if he had remembered. His high-pitched voice was mixed with bewilderment about how I could have known that.

 

Lee Si-hyeok nodded as if he had expected as much.

 

“Could I take a look at it?”

 

“Uh, wait a moment. Where did I put that thing?”

 

He began thoroughly searching the CEO office, starting from the main table. Clatter, clank. Due to the piles of documents, dust flew everywhere.

 

Cough cough!

 

“S-sorry. It was received so long ago that my memory is hazy.”

 

“It’s fine. Please take your time looking.”

 

“Ah, where was it? Back then she definitely said not to put it in the warehouse but to store it in a corner of the CEO office… Oh oh, found it!”

 

CEO Hwang Eun-ho, who had been rummaging through the bookshelf, smiled brightly and held up a square object.

 

Lee Si-hyeok immediately narrowed his eyes and examined it, soon able to determine that the object was a cube-shaped box.

 

“Please take it. I’ve dusted it all off.”

 

The exterior wasn’t particularly special. It was just a white base with blue lines intricately intertwined, and even this appeared to be nothing more than mana circuits.

 

“…Is it really okay for you to give this to me?”

 

“Back then, when Ms. Baek Min-ji handed this over, she said something. Now that I see this box, I finally remember.”

 

CEO Hwang Eun-ho continued speaking as if bewildered.

 

“I’m sure… she said someone would come looking for this box?”

 

“…!”

 

“Back then I thought she was just temporarily entrusting an item to me, but suddenly news of her disappearance came and I was extremely flustered. I was also troubled about how to handle this. Then I completely forgot about it…”

 

He let out a hollow laugh with an expression of disbelief.

 

“I never imagined such a day would come. By any chance, do you and Ms. Baek Min-ji know each other, Management Advisor?”

 

“That’s…”

 

That’s not it.

 

Lee Si-hyeok’s response, which he was about to give, came to an abrupt halt.

 

His lips, which had been forming words, froze in place, and a different landscape overlaid his vision as he looked at CEO Hwang Eun-ho, who was staring at him intently.

 

At that moment, a strange sensation as if he had entered another space swept through his entire body.

 

Hot wind, dry air.

 

Scorching sunlight that seemed to burn his entire body and vast wasteland stretching endlessly.

 

Such images traveled through Lee Si-hyeok’s mana circuits and were etched deep into his mind.

 

It was a desolate scene like some kind of desert.

 

An eternal-like instant passed.

 

“Huh!”

 

His vision cleared again as he returned to reality.

 

“Are, are you alright?!”

 

CEO Hwang Eun-ho, who had somehow approached right in front of him, was restlessly checking on him with concern.

 

I’m fine, don’t worry.

 

Instead of responding that way, Lee Si-hyeok swallowed his saliva and glanced down at the cube-shaped box in his hand.

 

“…”

 

Against the white background, chaotically extending mana circuits were pulsating while emitting blue light.

 

* * *

 

Jiuquan, Gansu Province, China.

 

Western Desert Region near Dunhuang.

 

In the endlessly sprawling vast sand field, a group was moving toward their destination.

 

“This is tough, Leader. Let’s rest for a bit.”

 

A big guy moving in the middle of the formation grumbled complainingly. At those words, the leader at the front immediately stopped walking and turned around, causing the others to turn as well.

 

“I, I misspoke.”

 

The big guy who had complained immediately became terrified.

 

He watched the leader slowly walking toward him with trembling shoulders, but the leader never stopped.

 

“You.”

 

The leader called out. The leader had a physique much larger than several other people’s bodies combined. His entire body was bumpy and burly, and he was tall enough to remind one of a giant.

 

“Do you want to become prey?”

 

“No, no. That’s not it. My legs just hurt a little.”

 

At those words, the leader’s gaze turned toward the big guy’s lower body.

 

In the deadly silence where only the sound of sandstorm could be heard, only his eyes moved quietly.

 

“Then I should break those legs.”

 

“…What, what did you say?”

 

“If I break your legs, they won’t hurt anymore.”

 

“…?!”

 

Big Guy hesitantly stepped back and looked around, but the others were actually nodding their heads. As if they agreed.

 

“Hmm. That’s right, Leader.”

 

“We can break that leg and throw it to the prey.”

 

“Leave it to me. I’ll break it.”

 

One of them puffed out his chest and stepped forward.

 

His gaze was fixed precisely on Big Guy’s left leg.

 

“Just like that Skinny Guy back then. It feels like complaints increase particularly in this desert.”

 

“I agree, Leader. That organization called Despair Society behind Anchovy Guy was all like that too.”

 

“It’s Absolute Dream Guild, you idiot.”

 

“Was it?”

 

“Yeah, just hurry up and break it. We don’t have time.”

 

“Got it.”

 

Thud, thud.

 

Just as he finally approached and was about to bend down to break Big Guy’s leg.

 

Before Big Guy could even start resisting, everyone’s movements immediately stopped.

 

“…?”

 

From beyond that sand dune, from a distant place, intense mana could be felt. It was certainly a far, far away place, yet it struck their senses more fiercely than anything else.

 

As if they had been designed that way since birth.

 

The one who felt it most clearly was the Leader.

 

He stared intently across the sand dune, toward the place where the country called ‘South Korea’ was located, then quickly turned to look at their intended destination.

 

Father’s legacy and great artifact that had been stolen in the past and was buried somewhere in this place.

 

“…We have one more competitor.”

 

He spat irritably.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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