“Got it. I’ll see you later.”
After ending the call, Yu Jitae closed his eyes and placed his hand near his temple.
‘As you have ordered, my lord.’
Nothing came back in response.
The clone headed to a secluded area and put a mask on. Before long, he turned into a black middle-aged man in his 50’s.
It was one of the forms of [Mimicry (AA)] that had been collected by the clone.
Since he had reverted back to the main appearance for the first time in a long time to greet Yeorum before she took off for the dungeon raid, the body that became weaker after the mimicry felt uncomfortable.
The clone sat on a nearby bench and was waiting for the next command, when a large shockwave reached him as Haytling dropped in altitude by a conceivable amount.
Finally, his lord had done it.
Soon, the voice of his lord reached him regarding the one that had bribed the staff member. The clone stood up from the seat.
Guild Kanaye.
It was the name of a superhuman war guild belonging under SAN, the South African Nations union.
‘Just because of that one incident from the past?’ thought the clone in doubt, until more memories arrived from Yu Jitae. A cadet under Kanaye lost to Yeorum 4 times, and their favourability hanging on the Eyes of Equilibrium was at extreme hatred.
In most cases, this sort of extreme hatred being shown despite them not knowing each other very well, was because of an indirect yet immense impact they had.
Thus, the clone decided to go and ask.
When he arrived there without an appointment, a black guardian from Kanaye was smoking a cigarette outside. His name was Malunga and had written a book about nurturing cadets. He even made several speeches and was a fairly famous person at Lair.
The clone walked up and when the opponent stood up in doubt, he struck him on the face. With a thud, the man fell down.
“Kuk!”
After falling down, he tried to get back up but couldn’t. His body was left powerless. Meanwhile, the clone carried Malunga by the collar and carried him to the basement of the dormitory.
“T, this. Damn… who in the world are you…!”
Seemingly high on drugs, Malunga’s eyes were hollow. His large body as well as his head was heavily shaken by the fist thrown out by the opponent, and Malunga realised that the opponent was in a different league.
The clone looked into his eyes and muttered.
“Everything’s gone down the drain because of you.”
“What?”
“All the strategies and hard work of driving the Yu household out from Lair were ruined by you.”
Doubt appeared in Malunga’s eyes. He glared at the clone who appeared like a black male and touched his own wounded cheek. Then, he heaved a sigh.
“Where are you from. SAN?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Damn it… so someone else was doing it already huh. I guess it doesn’t make sense for everyone to be quiet when those idiots were thinking so highly of themselves.”
Sharpness dissipated from the clone’s aura.
“It’s unfortunate that I somehow interrupted you. I apologise. But isn’t it too much to just come up and chuck a fist?”
“You better shut your mouth. Unless there’s a decent reason behind it, you’ll get smacked to death today by me.”
“…Damn. How’d you find out it was me.”
“Munitions department, Kang Mungu.”
Hearing the name leave the clone’s mouth, Malunga shook his head with a sigh.
“Damn it…”
Seemingly feeling betrayed, Malunga repeatedly shook his head.
“But you know, brother, don’t be like that when we’re all in the same boat. Were you the only one that lost something? I also lost a truck of things.”
“What did you lose.”
“After Malta lost to Yu Yeorum 3 times in a row, my position inside Kanaye was destroyed. We were being treated like heroes when he was at 16 consecutive wins as well. Just letting you know, when Malta crushed Erfan Guild, my salary jumped up by three times.”
“…”
“If he managed to enter the top 10 like that, a new future would have been waiting for Malta and I. Do you know what everyone was like in Kanaye back then?”
Filled with regret, he formed a teary expression and bit his lips.
“And that was all ruined by Yu Yeorum, that boar-like bitch.”
“…”
“There are thousands of cadets participating in the competition. Malta met Yu Yeorum 4 times there. Even if the matches are made between cadets with similar points, four times is too much isn’t it? That damned bitch must have somehow sniped us multiple times. Or she must have been in cahoots with one of the staff!”
“You have proof?”
“Fuck, who cares about proof! Can’t you just see it?! So Kanaye took my name down from the list of excellent guardians and Malta that freakin’ idiot is on drugs after four losses. He lost 34 points to Yu Yeorum. Drugs can be stopped but even if we somehow recover those 34 points, we will never make it into the top 10. The tower that we’ve managed to build up is just gone now!”
The clone realised after listening to him speak.
This person was extremely unlucky.
“Fuck… it must’ve been rigged. It’s all rigged! Does it fucking make sense that Yu Yeorum fights Malta four times out of thousands of cadets? There’s definitely something fishy! Since it’s obvious that Yu Yeorum wins because of the match-up, she sucked all the points in by sniping Malta!”
“…”
“What’s with those eyes?! I’m a victim of this disgusting manipulative society! You have to feel sorry for me! This fucking retarded city is only good for people that are either rich or full of connections. Since Yu Yeorum’s household looks like it doesn’t have any connections, she must have given money, or her body. Do you think I’ll be going down by myself like this?”
He became increasingly agitated throughout his speech and furiously trembled his hands.
“I’ll never go down alone. I can’t…”
Slam! His head turned to the side. Raising his fist, the clone smashed and broke his nose as Malunga collapsed with a nosebleed.
“You still don’t understand what kind of ridiculous thing you’ve done.”
Malunga held onto his crushed nose and gazed up at the clone.
His eyes were a bit clearer.
“You’ll see by tomorrow.”
***
Lair education department.
There was a conference being held by seven people. Surrounding the round table were middle-aged men – seven in total, comprised of Principal Ha Sukmoo, Vice Principal Chun Qin, Assistant Principal Ma Namjoon, Assistant Principal Yerson Riverti, and three school inspectors.
They were figureheads chosen by the International Hunter Association for a myriad of different reasons, but it didn’t change the fact that their job was to decorate the present outlook of Lair, while preparing it for the future.
“We must give a strict punishment following the school regulations.”
One of the inspectors raised his voice.
“By that, you mean?”
“Their entire household must be expelled. How could they point a sword at a staff member? He must’ve been crazy.”
Things that could be easily regulated were always inside a certain framework without breaking the rules too much. So when things exceeded that normal scale by too much, it caused headaches for the politicians.
“Hmm…”
“Things would be different if it was a strife between cadets or for competitive reasons, but we can’t encourage or risk the fall of the school’s authority. There’s also the casualties to consider.”
That was when Vice Principal Chun Qin shook his head.
“Of course, we need to give punishment for the violent actions but… we can’t give a punishment that strict from casualties alone.”
“What do you mean.”
“This is the list of casualties that was just organised.”
A document appeared in the hologram display.
[Injured: 11]
[Dead: 0]
It was an unbelievable result.
No-one was dead despite the chaos. Those with cracked necks were superhumans, and others that were injured were also superhumans. After being sent to the first-aid emergency centre, it was confirmed that there was no risk to life, including Sillardo Leo.
In recent times where medicinal and curative means have developed to the extreme, ‘murder’ was an extremely big factor when considering the level of punishment. Arms and legs could be reattached at a cheap cost, but the dead could not be brought back to life.
“But, the situation is a bit more complicated.”
“Could you elaborate, Vice Principal?”
“It was confirmed that someone from the munitions department had been bribed. Because of that, Cadet Yu Yeorum and her group could have had their lives at risk.”
“That’s true, but we can’t justify an emotional revenge, can we?”
Someone was enraged because there was a life at risk, and no-one was killed in the process.
“And the thing that happened after Sillardo fell, was more absurd…”
After asking something to Kang Mungu, Yu Jitae calmly walked up to a sentry and placed his hands together for them to take him into custody. Although the said sentry was frightened, Yu Jitae obediently followed them and walked into a prison cell on his own accord.
“I don’t know exactly what happened but… thanks to that we were able to solve the situation quite easily.”
Even then, the Yu household had to be punished severely according to the school regulations.
“But… it’s someone that made Sillardo like that.”
“Sorry?”
“Even if there is a punishment, it can’t be too confronting.”
The sentence that left the principal’s mouth was something that didn’t sit well with the school inspectors.
“Principal. Then, what’s the purpose of regulations? What you’re saying does not allow justice to be achieved.”
“…Calm down, Inspector. It’s true that we should keep it inside a frame if it’s a scoop of sand. But from what we see, this is more of an avalanche.”
“We are educators, Principal!”
The inspectors were displeased.
“We understand your position as the principal, but you can’t be saying that. Yu household doesn’t exist! It’s a fake! It’s probably a group of hunting dogs being raised by the Korean government.”
“I think you need to tone down your expressions but… I also agree. He’s an individual and not an organisation. Realistically speaking, there’s no need for us to go up and curry his favour. It’s better to keep the school authority instead.”
“In the first place, preferential treatment for the strong is against justice. Can you deny those words as an educator yourself?”
Words of criticism continued for a long time. After quietly accepting all the condemnations, Principal Ha Sukmoo wiped the sweat travelling down his wrinkled forehead.
“It’s already been 11 years since I’ve managed this position. It was… in the first or the second year I think? It’s already been 9 years since that happened.”
His downhearted voice caused everyone to remember the same incident.
“As you all know, both Lair and the sentries were stricter back then, and we were the epitome of military academies. It was almost straight after the war, after all, and punishment was given for almost everything.”
The old figurehead continued with a sorrowful expression.
“When Family Head Yong Jungkook… no, he wasn’t the family head back then. When he pointed a sword at the sentries back then as a guardian, did any one of us say the same thing about him?”
“That’s a different story, is it not? There were actual victims back then!”
“It’s same in the sense that no-one had been killed. What’s different is that they are a household with the Korean government behind them. Does justice sleep sometimes and stand up occasionally depending on the situation? Is that justice?”
“Principal!”
“…Since when were we true educators?”
That was when the catastrophe-ranked demon, Assistant Principal Ma Namjoon opened his mouth with the slithery tongue of a snake.
“If you would give me a chance to speak up.”
Gazes gathered onto Ma Namjoon.
“The situation is different from Yong Jungkook’s incident. As long as their household isn’t on solid grounds already, I think there is a slightly better method.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Yong Jungkook back then already had the Korean government on his back. Even though his household wasn’t that great, it could grow immensely anytime. Since someone strong already had a good background, it was impossible to regulate him.”
But the Yu household was different.
“When I tried asking them, the Korean government vehemently denied all connections with the Yu household.”
“Aren’t they doing it in secret?”
“Who knows. What’s important is that they’ve denied it on the outside. By giving them a productive punishment here, we can form a positive relationship with the guardian. Besides, Lair also needs more power right now, right.”
He was suggesting that they put a leash around their neck before they grew any bigger. Even the school inspectors, who had cried out for justice and criticised the principal for trying to give less punishment, could not refute his idea.
If the household didn’t have much power, isn’t it possible to control and use them in some way?
It was then.
– S, some guests have come to stand for Guardian Yu Jitae.
A voice was heard from Ha Sukmoo’s wireless earphone, but the reporter’s voice was evidently flustered so Ha Sukmoo asked what the issue was with a whisper.
– The thing is…
“What?”
After listening to the words, Ha Sukmoo shouted unconsciously and gathered the eyes of everyone around the round table. Before long, when the door was pushed open and two men walked into the conference room, his astonishment was relayed to everyone present like wildfire.
“Ah, ahaha! Welcome, welcome! How come you have come such a far distance, despite having so many things on your hands?”
Without even waiting for his secretary to greet them, Ha Sukmoo stood up from his seat and welcomed them.