Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 50

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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 (50)

Only Now

“….”

Lee Si-hyeok spent a long time carefully reading the invitation.

He lowered his gaze and set the invitation down.

On the paper that had fallen beside Blackie, large written letters caught his eye.

[We invite Mr. Lee Si-hyeok to the ‘Global Artifact Seminar.’]

Global Artifact Seminar.

He knew all too well what kind of event this was.

An international event held every four years, where engineers representing countries from around the world gather in one place to share their research topics—a venue for exchange.

‘It seems our country is hosting this year.’

He remembered watching it from afar on TV whenever news of its opening came up.

Despite the enormous attention it drew, the seminar’s contents were never made public, so there were always many things he was curious about.

What kind of discussions really took place inside there?

Just how amazing were the projects they were preparing?

But….

Now an opportunity to find out had come to Lee Si-hyeok as well.

[The Korea Awakener Association would like to respectfully invite Mr. Lee Si-hyeok, an EX-rank Awakener of South Korea, to the Global Artifact Seminar.]

Actually, it wasn’t that surprising.

His invitation was, in a way, only natural.

Of course, he had been too busy with other incidents to even think about it, so he was momentarily flustered when the invitation suddenly arrived.

With his EX-rank awakening being announced and him emerging as this year’s person of interest, who else would they invite if not him?

Perhaps because of that, the invitation clearly showed they had put care into it.

The text wasn’t just roughly printed but handwritten, and the tone felt extremely polite.

‘Under normal circumstances.’

He would have gladly accepted the invitation.

An opportunity to fulfill a dream he had harbored had arrived, and there was no reason to refuse it. Meeting other researchers and having various discussions—just thinking about it brought a smile to his face.

However, now was different from usual.

“Meow…?”

Lee Si-hyeok gently pushed aside Blackie, who was lying sprawled on top of the invitation, and checked the ‘invitation list’ written below.

[Professor Hong Yong-jin]

[Researcher Pyo Jae-hwan]

[Researcher Yoon Seo-jin]

[Eterion Magic Engineering Academy affiliated, ‘Ether Society’]

Before leaving the Snow Flame Empress’s mansion.

Lee Si-hyeok, who had toured the entire study as she suggested, had pondered deeply about what he should do once he returned home.

In that process, the first thing that came to mind was the incident at Eterion Magic Engineering Academy.

‘If I want to get information about dimensions, branching out from there would be the fastest approach.’

And according to the Snow Flame Empress, two of the survivors from that incident were people Lee Si-hyeok already knew.

Yoon Seo-jin and Pyo Jae-hwan.

Those key figures had been invited to the seminar together.

There was nothing strange about it. Both Pyo Jae-hwan and Yoon Seo-jin belonged to the eleven researchers selected by the Association. They were fully qualified to represent South Korea.

And adding Professor Hong Yong-jin to that, it was more than adequate, not lacking at all.

“…What do you think, Blackie?”

Lee Si-hyeok murmured softly as he continued his thoughts while petting Blackie.

“Meow?!”

“You think participating would be good too, right?”

As if understanding his words, Blackie nodded its head cutely.

Seeing that, Lee Si-hyeok burst into a chuckle.

His complicated thoughts felt somewhat organized.

Right, there was no reason not to accept the invitation.

He had already been thinking about investigating the Eterion incident and meeting Department Head Yoon Seo-jin to ask various questions.

Now they were even gathering Pyo Jae-hwan, who had only been awkward since the Expo incident, in one place—where could there be a better opportunity than this?

“Let’s contact them right away.”

He immediately called the number written on the invitation.

After a brief ringtone, a quite familiar voice came through the mobile phone.

It was Kim Seung-hyeon, the team leader of the Grade Assessment Team.

‘They deliberately assigned someone I’m acquainted with.’

Thanks to the Association’s consideration, he exchanged greetings more comfortably, then.

“I’m calling regarding seminar attendance.”

Lee Si-hyeok brought up the main point he had organized.

…And added one more thing.

“And I have a few proposals to make beforehand.”

He had no intention of simply going along with everything this time either.

* * *

After finishing the short call, he met with Team Leader Kim Seung-hyeon in person to discuss.

Although he wasn’t from the department in charge, since he had a connection with Lee Si-hyeok, he took on the role of mediator in place of the person in charge.

As a result of their conversation.

The Association decided to accept all of Lee Si-hyeok’s proposals.

―First, I want to participate while hiding my identity.

In other words, he didn’t want to reveal his identity, just like at the GateTech Expo.

The reason was simple.

While participating in this seminar was partly about fulfilling his dream, more importantly, it was about investigating the incident that occurred at Eterion in the past and the dimensional gates.

Since the seminar was also being held at Eterion Magic Engineering Academy, it was even better to hide his identity.

‘If they find out I’m Lee Si-hyeok, attention will inevitably be focused on me.’

Then his actions would naturally be restricted.

Even though he had already made up his mind to accept this when he revealed his awakening to the world, the inconvenience in this aspect was unavoidable.

He had no choice but to use an alias and disguise artifact like before.

―Second, I want to participate as part of the Association’s research team.

Naturally, the people listed earlier weren’t the end of South Korea’s seminar participants.

Both Yoon Seo-jin and Pyo Jae-hwan would participate leading their respective research teams. In Yoon Seo-jin’s case, she would be working together with Termion’s Research Department 1.

But Lee Si-hyeok was alone.

Moreover, since he was hiding his identity, participating solo would draw quite a bit of attention, so he judged it would be more convenient to blend into another representative’s research team.

The most suitable for that plan happened to be the Awakener Association’s direct research team.

‘Professor Hong Yong-jin was the person in charge, wasn’t he?’

Team Leader Kim Seung-hyeon initially tried to dissuade him, but when Lee Si-hyeok insisted firmly, he accepted with the words, “Understood, just participating is something to be grateful for…”

Thus, he informed the Association of his intention to participate.

The next place he headed to was Termion Corporation’s headquarters building.

“The Chairman is waiting for you.”

Contact had been coming since his stay at the Snow Flame Empress’s mansion.

It was a message saying Chairman Lee Young-hoon wanted to meet and asking him to visit the headquarters as soon as possible, but since he was busy with his own affairs, he wondered if he really needed to rush and had postponed it for a while.

‘It didn’t seem like a very important matter.’

Still, since there was some time left before the seminar started, I stopped by my personal research lab to pack up some things.

—Ding! The door is opening.

The Chairman’s Office that had become quite familiar by now.

As I entered with a more relaxed gait than before, Chairman Lee Young-hoon stood up from his seat to welcome me.

“It’s been a while, Researcher Lee Si-hyeok.”

“Yes, it’s been a while. But the title has changed?”

Last time, I’m sure he called me ‘Driver Lee Si-hyeok.’

“Haha. Isn’t that natural? Look at everything Researcher Lee Si-hyeok has shown so far. Besides, haven’t you moved away from the identity of a transport driver now?”

“Well, that’s true.”

That’s how I answered, but my inner thoughts were a bit different.

If it weren’t for the years I spent as a transport driver, I probably wouldn’t have even awakened. It was because of those years of hardship and struggle that the current Lee Si-hyeok exists.

However, I didn’t bother to bring that up.

Good things are good things. Lee Si-hyeok smiled and sat across from Chairman Lee Young-hoon.

“Actually, I’m not even sure if it’s okay to call you a researcher. While Mr. Lee Si-hyeok is an excellent researcher, you’re not part of our company.”

Chairman Lee Young-hoon showing tremendous goodwill as before.

It didn’t seem to be this much back then, so did the achievements at the expo really hit home?

“Please call me whatever is comfortable. I don’t mind.”

Lee Si-hyeok shrugged while sipping the tea the chairman had served. For a moment, Kyllis Tea came to mind.

“In that case. By any chance, do you know why I called you here, Researcher Lee Si-hyeok?”

“Isn’t it because of what happened at the GateTech Expo?”

The had achieved tremendous success thanks to Lee Si-hyeok’s advice at the time. I thought he was trying to repay that favor.

“…Were you already expecting this?”

“There’s no reason I couldn’t expect it. It’s not in your character to just let it slide, Chairman.”

“Huh, you’re really quick on the uptake. That’s right, I’m trying to express my gratitude for that time.”

Chairman Lee Young-hoon put down his tea cup. Then, as if recalling past events, he began to smile.

“Do you know, Researcher Lee Si-hyeok? How much Director Yoon Seo-jin pestered me?”

“…Pardon?”

“Right after the expo ended, no. It was probably before it even ended. Director Yoon Seo-jin suddenly called me and went on and on about Researcher Lee Si-hyeok. From how she happened to receive advice, really… it was deafening.”

“…”

“Of course, I’m not saying that was unpleasant. Our company was also monitoring the entire expo situation. The steadily rising stock prices, the pouring articles. It was noisy but happy noise.”

He leaned his upper body against the table. The distance between us became a bit closer.

“In the end, the point was this. Make sure to properly take care of Researcher Lee Si-hyeok. That’s what Director Yoon Seo-jin kept saying for hours.”

“For hours…”

“If you add it all up, it would far exceed several hours. Even now that the expo is completely over, she asks me every time she sees me.”

A smile played across Chairman Lee Young-hoon’s face.

“Whether I’ve repaid Mr. Si-hyeok. I haven’t. You’re such a busy person that I couldn’t even reach you easily.”

“…”

“So, I’m thinking of doing that now, finally.”

Lee Si-hyeok swallowed.

Honestly, it felt like quite a past event. In reality, not even a few months had passed, but because time flowed much faster in Orbes, it felt like almost half a year had passed subjectively.

So Chairman Lee Young-hoon’s words didn’t really resonate with me.

Advice about the Termion Clearline? It was just that I happened to run into Yoon Seo-jin who was carrying those blueprints, and it just so happened, quite coincidentally, that it was an artifact to be exhibited at the expo.

But to think those few words of advice would lead to such results.

As I was trying to calm my bewildered feelings and open my mouth, Chairman Lee Young-hoon cut me off.

“One thing, that’s not the end of it.”

“…?”

“The things Researcher Lee Si-hyeok has done for our Termion, there are still more left, aren’t there?”

What does this mean? Lee Si-hyeok thought for a moment, then recalled one thing.

“…Don’t tell me you’re talking about Termion Security?”

“You really get it right away. That’s correct.”

Lee Young-hoon chuckled and handed over the documents he had prepared.

There, it was written how the company’s growth trend had changed since Lee Si-hyeok took on the management consulting position at Termion Security.

Extreme upward trend.

Overwhelming growth.

The graph could be summarized in those two phrases.

“Even before Researcher Lee Si-hyeok stepped in, Termion Security was really on the verge of bankruptcy. But does this even make sense?”

“…It certainly has grown.”

“It has grown! That’s not enough to describe this. This expression might be a bit crude, but it’s literally a jackpot.”

Chairman Lee Young-hoon looked genuinely delighted.

Termion Security could be called a kind of long-cherished project. Since Lee Si-hyeok was the very person who grabbed it by the hair and pulled it up, that was understandable.

‘I made a guidelines manual and handed it to Deputy Representative Lim A-yeon before I left.’

Before heading to the Pitch Black Mining Gate.

Lee Si-hyeok had created and left behind a guidelines manual summarizing how to operate Security in preparation for when he wouldn’t be there.

And listening to Lee Young-hoon’s subsequent words, it seemed to have worked well as planned.

While maintaining a small elite security force, they also succeeded in attracting other customers and were generating tremendous profits.

Lee Si-hyeok was inwardly surprised by the results that exceeded expectations, while feeling proud of Deputy Representative Lim A-yeon.

‘She really did exactly what I asked her to do.’

If she hadn’t completely trusted Lee Si-hyeok, there might have been a possibility of regression rather than the current achievements.

But it seemed she had performed well without a shred of doubt.

While I was wondering what exactly I should request.

Chairman Lee Young-hoon lowered his voice once again.

“Researcher Lee Si-hyeok, there’s still one more thing left.”

“…Again?”

“This time, I want to express my gratitude not as Chairman Lee Young-hoon of Termion, but as a father of a family.”

It was truly an unexpected reward upgrade.

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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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