S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 59. A Crazy Company’s Crazy Grand Opening (1)
The first of the five employees to extend a hand in friendly greeting was the accounting team leader.
“I’m Han Seokjin. By the way, Representative, you’re counting this greeting time as work hours, right?”
“I view social interaction as an extension of work. And if it’s work, of course compensation must be paid.”
Han Seokjin, who had an easygoing look about him, was none other than a grim reaper of the National Tax Service, formerly of the Investigation Division Four.
His accounting operational skills were nothing special, but he was an authority figure whose tax management expertise could be trusted completely.
Next came the legal team leader, the oldest woman in the group.
If Han Seokjin had been a calm lake, she was like rough waves.
Though she was at an age commonly called middle-aged, she carried herself with refinement and restrained elegance.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from Jin Seoyeon. That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“You came with my mother at my high school graduation, didn’t you? But somehow you seem even younger now than you did then.”
“Are you just going to pretend to know me outright?”
“Is there a law against it?”
The youngest ever judicial research official at the Supreme Court, the youngest ever vice chief judge of the Central District Court, and thereafter active as a lawyer specializing in the Superhuman Special Law, she had saved countless Hunters from legal troubles.
In the Hunter world, if a legal problem arose, she was the top lawyer one absolutely had to hire.
“Next is me! I’m Yun Haesol, and I’m thirty-three years old! There are so many famous people here, it’s making me nervous……!”
The third woman to step forward was the human resources team leader, and contrary to her words about being nervous, she showed no trembling whatsoever.
In her trench coat and fedora, she looked just like a detective—and she was.
Until joining this company, she had worked as a full-time detective, and before that, she had been a profiler for the Hunter Association.
“Your outfit is cool.”
“I was so happy about the dress code freedom! Hehe.”
Just then, the director of external public relations, holding a selfie stick, interjected.
“Hello~ I’m Kang Yuri from Glass World. And this is the representative of Arc Hunter Management, Chae Mujin!”
It didn’t seem to be live streaming; there was no chat visible on the phone screen.
“I’m Chae Mujin.”
“Are you nervous? Your greeting sounds too stiff! What if we add something like ‘I look forward to working with you’?”
“I don’t hope for favorable treatment. I just hope you’ll see us as we truly are.”
“Wow, our representative is bold! I guess that’s how you can start a Hunter management company, right? And as this company’s external public relations director, I plan to share honestly with you all what I’ve seen and felt. I absolutely won’t play favorites. You know my style, right?”
She remained objective even while employed by the company—this was one of Chae Mujin’s conditions for hiring Kang Yuri.
She lowered the selfie stick and poked Chae Mujin’s ribs with her finger.
“Recording’s done. By the way, what are you doing this evening? Do you have a girlfriend?”
“I’m busy. And I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Just so you know, I don’t have a boyfriend either.”
She blew a kiss as she exited—she was an influencer.
A super-premium influencer with 100 million YouTube subscribers and 30 million Twitter followers.
It was no exaggeration to say she led Korean trends and public opinion, and her influence spread far beyond Korea to overseas.
“Is the last one Minwoo?”
The fifth employee, the information team leader, had a rather rotund build. Thick glasses, forward neck posture, rounded shoulders.
He bowed deeply, dressed in a hoodie with an anime character printed on it.
“This humble one possesses knowledge of every Dungeon and Hunter in existence, a mere servant of the shadows… called Destiny.”
“Yes, Minwoo. I look forward to working with you.”
When Chae Mujin stated his real name instead, the self-styled Destiny adjusted his glasses and spoke.
“That is my birth name from my human days…. I would appreciate it if you didn’t use it so casually, even as the representative.”
“Understood. Please return to your seat, Minwoo.”
“Kek, as expected, no small-timer like me can handle the Spirit Pressure of the representative.”
Kim Minwoo was one of the Hunternet administrators and a specialist and master in Dungeon analysis and inference.
As a bonus, he was also a pervert who remembered every technique and characteristic of every named Hunter.
Thus the greetings with all five founding members were complete.
Accounting Team Leader Han Seokjin
Legal Team Leader Jin Seoyeon
Human Resources Team Leader Yun Haesol
Director of External Public Relations Kang Yuri
Information Team Leader Kim Minwoo
‘Reassuring,’ Chae Mujin thought.
Each person was a talent he could trust and rely upon.
But this was not the complete Arc Management.
‘Medical team, security team, food and beverage team, and establishing a private military company as a subsidiary—that’s what would constitute completion.’
It was not a vague wish. Chae Mujin had a plan, and it was merely a matter of time.
Clap, clap.
Chae Mujin, clearing the atmosphere with applause, spoke.
“I sincerely welcome you to Arc Management. As you might gather, our Arc Management is special. But it’s not only because we’re the first Hunter management company.”
His voice remained level. It was neither an explanatory tone nor a rousing speech.
“Arc Management—that is the force that will bring about a great upheaval in this South Korea.”
Anyone can speak of godhood. Words lack credibility precisely because of this.
Yet people are swayed by speech. They are moved and transformed by a voice. The five people in this room were moved. They could feel it—every word Chae Mujin spoke was not a lie.
And there was absolute certainty it would come to pass.
“You need not shed blood or stake your lives for the company. Shed blood and stake your lives for your compensation—that suffices.”
Chae Mujin had already proposed a base salary in the hundreds of millions to these five, with performance bonuses as a matter of course.
But what he paid was not limited to money. It was absolute protection.
This included not only the present but the future, and not only physical threats but health as well.
And naturally, family and friends could be included under this protection too.
‘I benchmarked this off the Dark Inspector’s welfare system.’
The Dark Inspectors had welfare systems so comprehensive they were packed with everything every Hunter could want.
There was no reason not to adopt such an excellent system.
‘Talent deserves that level of compensation.’
Appeals to noble causes no longer worked as they once did. Only solid, guaranteed compensation was the finest strategy for recruiting exceptional talent.
‘I can’t prove it right now, though.’
So he had hired these five on a contract that promised to demonstrate it all within a year.
“Well then, let’s finalize the grand opening scheduled for tomorrow.”
All of this was merely Chae Mujin’s scheming to exploit them without guilt.
* * *
The Arc Hunter Management grand opening was held in a hotel banquet hall.
Along the corridor leading to the entrance, congratulatory wreaths were lined up in a row, and everyone entering was astonished.
—Hunter Association President Cheon Mujong wishes your esteemed company boundless prosperity.
—Hunter Association Director Daehan Jeilgeom hopes fortune smiles upon you.
“Is, is this real? It says the Hunter Association Director and the Association President sent them?”
“It has to be fake. There’s no handwriting on the congratulatory message either.”
“Arc Hunter Management sure is full of bluster.”
Oh Taeseong stood at the entrance in the role of doorkeeper, checking invitations.
“Hey. All these wreaths here—they’re all fake, right?”
An invited Hunter asked casually.
Oh Taeseong was exhausted by this question. Every single person who arrived asked if they were fake, and when he said they weren’t, they demanded proof.
So Oh Taeseong simply gave an awkward smile. With that, the Hunters would make an expression saying “Well, that figures” and head into the banquet hall.
One Hunter watching all this clicked their tongue.
“I came to see this famous Supporter Chae Mujin who’s supposed to be the representative, but he’s just a con artist after all?”
Ranking 112, the Rending Swordsman could not hide his disappointment.
The fake wreaths were one thing, but the size and splendor of the banquet hall weren’t worth noting either.
‘Am I the only A-Rank Hunter who came?’
When the invitation first arrived, he had not intended to attend. He was a busy man, after all. But the final line of the invitation had changed his mind.
—Please note that this opening is limited to first-come, first-served seating for 100 guests, and attendance will not be possible once full.
First-come, first-served for a banquet—he’d never heard of such a thing. And despite being an A-Rank Hunter, if he didn’t make the cutoff, he wouldn’t be allowed to attend?
It was so absurd, and he happened to have some free time, so he had come. But now that he’d arrived, he felt no inclination to enter the banquet hall.
“If I go in now, I’ll be nothing but a fool who fell for a con.”
Just as he was turning to leave.
“Youngtae! Why aren’t you coming in?”
Someone called out his name.
The Rending Swordsman, addressed as Youngtae, spun around sharply.
From the entrance of the banquet hall, his childhood friend and Ranking 109 Hunter, Geom Yong, was waving.
The Rending Swordsman rubbed his eyes. Was he seeing an illusion?
But no matter how many times he looked, it was definitely his friend Geom Yong waving at him.
He walked up to the banquet hall entrance, and the doorkeeper extended his arm to stop him.
“Do you have an invitation?”
“What? You don’t know who I am?”
“Regardless of who you are, you cannot enter without an invitation.”
“Look, I’m the Rending Swordsman. I participated in the Eight-Horned Demon Raid!”
“Whether it’s an octagon or an eight-horned demon, I wouldn’t know. Without an invitation, you can’t enter.”
“This is ridiculous. Geom Yong, tell him about me. This country bumpkin doesn’t seem to know who I am.”
The truth was, he was talking so loudly because he hadn’t brought the invitation.
He hadn’t thrown it away—it was at home—but with A-Rank Hunter pride, how could he go back for it?
But even Geom Yong, whom he had counted on, shook his head and spoke.
“Youngtae, I only found my invitation at a recycling center. I dug through the trash with my own hands. And we don’t have time for this. The capacity’s almost full.”
“Capacity? You mean that insane first-come, first-served 100-guest limit is actually real? And it’s almost filled?”
“Hey, don’t block the way. Move.”
The Rending Swordsman felt a vein throb on his forehead at the voice from behind him.
It was clearly directed at him.
He was already annoyed, and now someone was actually telling him to move?
Just as he turned to see which madman dared speak that way.
“H-hold on! The Adamantine Guardian?”
Ranking 65, the Adamantine Guardian Song Baek.
And behind him stood another person.
“The Thunder Duke too!”
Ranking 58, the Thunder Duke Choi Bun-gae.
At the appearance of these two, the Rending Swordsman quickly stepped aside.
“Is Mujin inside?”
Song Baek handed over his invitation, calling Chae Mujin by a familiar name. Oh Taeseong, having been briefed in advance, spoke respectfully.
“If you go straight ahead, you’ll be able to see him inside.”
“Oh, thanks.”
After Song Baek and Choi Bun-gae entered, Oh Taeseong muttered to himself.
“That makes ninety-two. Just a little longer. My legs are killing me.”
Eight spots remaining—at this, the Rending Swordsman’s face went pale. For a Hunter, connections weren’t merely a matter of socializing.
You could form parties, share valuable information.
“I’ll be right back, so save me a seat!”
The Rending Swordsman called a premium taxi to rush home, but he couldn’t remember where he’d put the invitation.
“Did I throw it away? Or did the cleaning service toss it thinking it was garbage? Argh!”
He tore through his house like a madman and finally found it.
“How did it end up there…….”
The invitation was in his back pants pocket. There had been no need to go home in the first place.
“Damn it, no time for this!”
The Rending Swordsman hurried back to the banquet hall and produced his invitation to the doorkeeper.
The doorkeeper had been replaced with someone else, though it hardly mattered.
“Here, the invitation! Let me in, quick!”
“I’m sorry. We’re at full capacity and cannot admit you.”
“What? I told you to save me a seat! Check with the guy who was here before!”
“There was no such agreement. Please leave.”
Watching the doorkeeper extend a firm palm, the Rending Swordsman felt heat rising through him.
“Do you know who I am? I’m Ma Youngtae, the Rending Swordsman. If an A-Rank Hunter like me is disrespected like this, you’ll find it hard to make a living in the Hunter business.”
“Ah, now I remember. You participated in the Eight-Horned Demon Raid, didn’t you?”
“Finally, someone recognizes me! Yes! I participated in the Named Boss Eight-Horned Demon Raid and performed outstanding deeds!”
“That’s odd. What I know is a bit different.”
“What do you know to say such things?”
“Well, you ranked first in compensation from the Eight-Horned Demon Raid?”
The Rending Swordsman felt a chill and looked at the doorkeeper again.
He’d been too agitated to really look at his face before, but now he saw it clearly—there was something familiar about it.
“W-wait……?”
Gray hair, cold, sharp eyes. And a long, unsettling scar running from his mouth to his shoulder.
At the sight of the man’s face, the Rending Swordsman’s legs buckled.
Thud!
“P-Pa Cheongeom?! W-why are you, how are you here?”
Ranking 44 and one of the Five Gentleman Swords, the personal guard of the Hunter Association Director.
He explained the reason as though it were nothing.
“The Hunter Association Director instructed me to do this.”
“……?!”
“Don’t lose heart. If you can defeat me, I’ll let you in. Chae Mujin approved this as well.”
Pa Cheongeom spoke with his arms crossed, not even drawing a weapon. It was supreme confidence.
A statement that someone like you requires no weapon, no combat stance.
Though both were A-Rank, the Rending Swordsman knew his own place well.
“N-no, I’ll be going…….”
He couldn’t even muster the will to try.
All he could do was regret. Why hadn’t he searched his pockets more carefully? Why hadn’t he run instead of taking a taxi? He would have arrived faster.
Most of all—why had he dismissed Chae Mujin!
‘I’ve lost my mind. The rumors weren’t exaggerated—they were barely scratching the surface.’
The Hunter Association Director’s personal guard working as a doorkeeper. Top-100 ranked super-elites unable to get invitations.
Just what manner of monsters were gathering beyond that closed banquet hall door?
The Rending Swordsman stood rooted in place, lost in a hollow despair.

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