Chapter 209. Joint Operation (8)
Woooo—
The desert’s wail echoed faintly in Eun-Ho’s ears. He recalled the desert monarch from his Investigation Bureau OJT, whose lingering grudge had birthed the Desert of Corruption.
“You’re all dead anyway. I’m doing you a favor by letting you live,” Cho Bok had said, floating in midair.
“Your Majesty! Please survive! You must live on—”
“No Father! Don’t... Stop...”
He remembered seeing a mother and daughter, identical to each other, struggling in that man’s grasp. The monarch was wandering the desert and howling in despair.
“... ra! Don’t... Please!”
Leira was the name he had been crying out. Had the monarch ever imagined that his daughter would one day sit in a chicken-coop-like room, on a bed with springs sticking out, holding her father’s keepsake?
Thus, Eun-Ho carefully summarized what he had experienced to Leira.
Leira responded with a bitter smile. “So that’s what happened.”
Even after stripping away the most painful details—her father’s condition, his mournful cries after sending his wife and daughter away, and the desert she loved reduced to ruin by corrupted monsters, she seemed to fill in the gaps on her own.
“Still. I’m relieved he was able to close his eyes in peace,” Leira said.
The girl who had done nothing but cry in his fading memories had grown into an adult. She had survived and lived on, whatever her state. She had eaten, slept, cried, and laughed with the meager food she earned through her labor.
Eun-Ho began carefully. “Then, Princess—”
Leira chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. “Princess? Don’t be silly. Just call me Leira.”
“Ah, alright. Have you been with the Operations Bureau this whole time, Leira?”
“Ah, no. I escaped on the way after being captured. As you can see, I’m pretty good at hiding.”
She had likely shrunk herself down and slipped away.
“Later on, my mother was captured, so we surrendered. Still, since we were discovered by the Operations Bureau first, we’re stuck doing forced labor.”
“I didn’t see your mother. Is she nearby?”
“She’s in the adjacent sector. Her dorm is Building A. Lucky, right?” It was a horrifying story, yet Leira shrugged and smiled as if she truly believed this outcome was far better. “It was a miracle. If that bastard—no, that man had taken us as we were, I don’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened.”
Faced with her calm composure, he couldn’t offer any clumsy words of comfort.
“That man... He’s dead, right?” Leira asked.
“In a rather miserable way,” said Eun-Ho.
“That’s good,” she said plainly, then smiled brightly. “You wanted my signature, right?”
“Oh, yes. May I ask for it?”
“Considering you’re the benefactor who stood in for me at my father’s deathbed, it’d be strange to refuse something like this.” As Leira skimmed through the document, a spark flashed in her eyes. “And it looks like we share the same goal.”
“Must be fate, then. I look forward to working with you.”
“Likewise.”
The warmth flowing through their clasped hands felt gentle.
Ding!
A cheerful spark rang in his ears like a notification chime.
[Congratulations!]
[Team Trial, Persuade Employee A, has been completed!]
[The Labor-Management Cooperation Team has earned two Trial Reward Points.]
[The presence of the Labor-Management Cooperation Team within the Operations Bureau has slightly increased.]
[You may borrow the reputation of Employee A.]
...
They successfully recruited Employee A.
“Then, shall we talk business now?” said Eun-Ho.
***
“Leave this to me.”
Eun-Ho and team had left a thick stack of blank consent forms with Leira. Whether it was Employee A’s influence or Leira’s own, she clearly carried considerable weight around here. However, what surprised him more was that she had refused her father’s keepsake.
“Please put it to good use in Father’s stead.”
To be honest, since he rarely fought at close range, the ring wasn’t all that practical.
I’ll have to think about how to make good use of it, Eun-Ho thought.
With that in mind, he slipped the ring onto his right index finger.
Then, watching him intently, Ji-Eun said as if to herself, “So... Those documents only count once we take possession of them with the signatures, right?”
“That’s right.”
As they left the dorm room and headed down the stairs, she hesitated the whole way. She obviously had something to say.
Eun-Ho brought it up first. “If you’re curious about something, you can ask.”
Given the context, he thought she would ask whether Leira was his type, or if they had some special relationship.
“Is she stronger than me?” asked Ji-Eun.
How mistaken he was.
“Stronger than you? You mean Leira?” asked Eun-Ho.
“Yes.”
Huh. I didn’t see that coming...
“I’m not completely sure, but wouldn’t you be stronger, Ji-Eun?”
From what he had seen of Leira through the Third Eye, her abilities included Miniaturization(Lv. 19) and a few others. Her Endurance(Lv. 18) and Indomitable(Lv. 19) were high, but aside from Flame(Lv. 11), her combat power was basically nonexistent.
Meanwhile, Ji-Eun had Prophetic Shooting, Psychokinesis, and Detection. She was practically a biological weapon. Honestly, if it weren’t for her gentle personality and cute looks, she would be downright scary.
Thinking that, he felt like he had to answer carefully, so he repeated himself, “You’re stronger, Ji-Eun. I’m sure of it.”
“Really?” Ji-Eun asked.
“If you want to spar sometime, let me know. I can pass the message along,” said Eun-Ho.
“Pfft, you’re joking, right?”
“Of course I am.”
She seemed visibly relieved, her expression softening.
“Among the people you know, Eun-Ho...” Ji-Eun looked down the stairs instead of at him. “Even if I can’t be the most attractive person, I want to be the strongest.”
“Pardon?” He paused, trying to grasp what she meant. “I think you can be. If you train hard.”
“Right?” she said, smiling brightly.
That radiant smile made his heart itch a little, so he added one more thing, “And you’re attractive, too.”
Ji-Eun scratched her cheek shyly as she smiled. “I wasn’t fishing for compliments, but I’m glad to hear that.”
Just then, Jae-Hyuk, with Yul riding on his shoulders, pointed toward the door ahead.
“Oh! There’s the exit!”
“Let’s go hoooome!”
Eun-Ho followed after them and smashed his forehead into an invisible wall. “Ugh!”
“Owie!”
Everyone, including Jae-Hyuk and Yul, piled up behind Eun-Ho.
[Restricted.]
[You may not pass.]
Restricted? So getting in is easy, but getting out isn't?
He checked the sudden message and immediately turned to look for another exit. However, he froze after hearing voices from around the corner.
“When’s the next shift coming?”
“You just came on duty and you’re already asking for a handover?”
There were guards.
“Man, do we really have to lock down the dorms too?”
“When has the Operations Bureau not been this obsessive? They said no one gets through unless they’re a registered visitor.”
Looks like we need their authorization to leave, which means trying another exit won’t change anything.
“Should we try Plan B?” Ji-Eun asked.
He nodded at Ji-Eun’s question. “Let’s do it.”
Jae-Hyuk said, “I’ll summon the cart, Hyungnim.”
Rrrrk—
They waited for the guards to approach, then rounded the corner, this time pulling a large cart.
Clack—
Weapons were immediately leveled at them.
“What is this?”
The guards weren’t overly aggressive, but the sharpness in their tone was unmistakable.
Therefore, Eun-Ho pulled his cap even lower and answered, “We’re returning from a delivery under Mr. Soeju’s orders. The dorm supplies ran out.”
It was the most reasonable excuse he could give without using the Piercing Gaze.
“We didn’t hear anything about that.”
“Hey, just call the shop. Ask if they sent anything over.”
The guards’ eyes narrowed as they flipped through their documents. Under his cap, Jae-Hyuk’s eyes went wide.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?”
They were coming closer, aiming their spears at Jae-Hyuk and Eun-Ho.
“How about you take off that hat?”
Jae-Hyuk gulped and whispered, “I-I think we failed! Plan C—”
“Shh.” Eun-Ho stopped him, saying quietly, “Thirty seconds.”
In case something like this happened, Eun-Ho had prepared an emergency escape route.
It should be opening about now. Three. Two. One.
Clank! Screeek—
As he counted down calmly, a massive door opened. It was not the usual single-person wooden door, but a huge cargo gate, big enough for a truck. From beyond the metal door, folding upward from the bottom, appeared the shop owner.
“Hey! How long has it been since I sent you out? Why are you still dawdling?!” Soeju screamed.
“My apologies, Boss,” said Eun-Ho.
“Get over here, now!”
***
“Thank you,” said Eun-Ho.
“Don’t mention it. I was planning to call you in anyway. This works out nicely,” said Soeju.
The place they moved to through the door was Soeju’s Universal Emporium. More precisely, the factory where the shop’s goods were manufactured. The space was filled with noise from machinery clanking, motors humming, and clockwork mechanisms ticking away.
“Hyungnim, is this someone you know?” Jae-Hyuk said.
“Yeah.”
The five of them sat in what appeared like a small reception room, sipping tea brought by one of Soeju’s employees. It was a peaceful moment, yet destined to end quickly.
“Mr. Eun-Ho.”
“Yes?”
“Personnel Bureau sent in an order.”
“An order?”
“Here. This is the list of reserved items.”
“Wait a second...”
- Slow Magic Array
- Shadow Trap
- Pursuit Arrow
- Polymorph Pollen
Anyone could tell that those were clearly aimed at countering his Acceleration skill.
- Bulletproof Meteoric-Iron Helmet
- Reversal Potion
- Sticky Sundew
Besides, there were some that were clearly meant for Ji-Eun.
“It seems like they’re preparing for a fight,” said the employee.
“Seems so. And the targets are pretty clear.”
He’d expected them to come at him again someday. Still, this was more thorough than anticipated.
“They gave themselves a generous deadline, so they’re not attacking immediately. But you’ll need to prepare.”
“In that case, could I ask you to work on my armor now?”
“Come by this fellow’s shop sometime.”
“Pardon?”
“That armor with the defense system. I’ll fix it up for you.”
It was time to claim the token of trust Guk Ryang had mentioned.
“You’ll need to set aside a whole day, so come by on a day off. If I told you to just leave it here, you’d obviously be suspicious.”
A day off or not, this wasn’t exactly the time to be picky. Soeju seemed to understand the situation as well.
The man nodded cleanly and stood up. “We won’t have the luxury of waiting. Fine.”
Then, he pulled Eun-Ho up as well, inspecting him from different angles. He memorized not just the armor, but Eun-Ho’s build. “Shoulders, neck... Extend your right arm. Okay, now the left.”
At some point, he even pulled out a measuring tape from who-knew-where and started taking measurements.
Eun-Ho liked the efficiency, so he pushed a step further. “Would it be possible to look at my teammates’ equipment as well?”
“Huh?”
“Jae-Hyuk, take out your mace and armor. Ji-Eun, your daggers and handgun. Sol-Ah, your sword. Actually, let’s just buy you a new one. You’ve got low strength, right? Do you have swords suitable for female users?” Eun-Ho rattled off in rapid succession.
“Huuuh?”
Before Soeju could refuse out of sheer annoyance, Eun-Ho shot his team a look and the quick-witted ones immediately chimed in.
“Got them out, Hyungnim!”
“Me too! You are the Soeju from Soeju Handgun, right?! This is insane! I’m a huge fan!”
“I like the Razor Beak Blade though...” Sol-Ah muttered.
“But what about me?” Yul asked.
Faced with the sudden attention, Soeju raised an eyebrow. He scanned them from head to toe, his face full of contemplation.
Was that too much to ask?
After all, the agreement with Guk Ryang had only been about fixing Eun-Ho’s armor.
Eun-Ho quickly ran the numbers in his head and added, “I’ll pay. If it’s not enough, I can do installments so just let me know.”
“Hah! Forget it.”
“Pardon? But—”
Soeju waved his hand dismissively, laughing as if he’d heard something amusing. “If I took pocket money like that, I’d get scolded.”
Pocket money?
“Hmm—”
Then what is he thinking so hard about?
Before Eun-Ho could hazard a guess, Soeju muttered while scanning the group again, “Man... This is sloppy. This is sloppy too. Let’s see... What else needs replacing...”
Eun-Ho had forgotten that this guy was loaded. “Ah, right.”