# Chapter 77
“We demanded measures against them, but government officials refused and even received sexual favors from the previous Center Director. Powerless Guides were mobilized for this. You understand what needs to be done, right?”
“That’s amazing! Better than most dramas! With content like this, it doesn’t matter if the channel doesn’t already have secured viewers. Once the broadcast starts, viewers will naturally pour in.”
I felt a thrill at the fact that things could progress this way. I could tell from the faces of the S-class Espers that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.
They looked as if they were dreaming.
“Can problems really be resolved like this? How is this possible?”
Cha Yoon muttered this several times before leaving. Since Cha Yoon rarely spoke well of Ha-min, unlike the other S-class Espers who occasionally did, his reaction was quite surprising.
The S-class Espers seemed to have the same thought, as they watched Cha Yoon’s retreating figure for a long time.
“Ha-min really is amazing. To hear such words from Cha Yoon.”
We were no longer consumed by our initial anger. At first, we were furious and couldn’t tolerate the government, unregistered Espers, and Topaz, but after hearing Ha-min’s idea, there was no reason to be angry anymore.
We just needed to do our jobs properly as we always had.
“All the Guides in the Center have completed their contracts. I thought some would want to continue living as ordinary people, but all of them signed contracts, and over 85 percent are resident Guides at the Center. Was it 87 percent? The non-resident Guides just want to work while living with their families in Central, and they said they’d stay at the Center for Guiding when dungeons appear frequently or conquests pile up.”
The news Kyun In delivered was hopeful.
“Variant dungeons are appearing in other countries too, and each nation is struggling to come up with countermeasures. Some Centrals have disappeared after being attacked by monsters when dungeons opened because they couldn’t be conquered. Others need to realize quickly that now isn’t the time for power struggles.”
“It seems we’re almost the only ones who have successfully conquered dungeons without casualties. There’s a high possibility that Espers from Topaz’s Korean branch will go elsewhere, but conversely, more Espers might want to come here. If they think their lives are at stake, they might want to find a safe place.”
Byun Tae-young and Kyun In provided additional information about the situation in other Centrals.
“We’re constantly monitoring the situation in border region Centrals because it could affect us too, and almost no dungeons are appearing in those border region Centrals. There’s tension as people wonder if something big might suddenly come, and there’s a possibility that cooperation requests will come through the government.”
When Kyun In said this, everyone burst into laughter.
“They have some nerve. I suppose they’ll completely ignore the Topaz issue and then request cooperation as if nothing happened?”
In response to my words, Kyun In bitterly remarked that those people were more than capable of doing exactly that.
“What about Origin Central?”
Ha-min, who had been quiet while we were talking, spoke again.
“Are there no people living there now?”
“I would think not. Maybe unregistered Espers are living there? If you really need to know, we can send some people to check.”
“I think it might be good to consider going there if things don’t work out as planned. Of course, it would be better to stay here until the end if possible.”
“That’s right. If the new government continues to make mistakes, it might be better to leave completely.”
“The property values in that Central must have dropped significantly by now, right?”
I hadn’t expected Ha-min to bring up that point. Until then, I thought the conversation was just about keeping Origin Central as a possibility in case of emergency.
But when Ha-min mentioned property values, Kyun In seemed to think it wasn’t something to answer casually, so he asked if Ha-min needed accurate information.
“Not really, but I think it would be good to buy properties if possible. So they can’t talk nonsense later.”
Hearing that gave me chills. In emergencies, survival is the issue, but once survival is secured, rights issues inevitably arise.
“There probably aren’t any transactions happening, so we could buy a significant portion with the money we have.”
That wasn’t an idle comment. When we first moved to the S-class Espers’ quarters, we were surprised by their salaries, and now our salaries had increased too.
Since I could perform Guiding, I actually received more than the S-class Espers, and although Ha-min was officially A-class and received less than us, it still far exceeded the average compensation of regular employees.
“I have a ton of money.”
“Me too. I need something to spend it on. It’s all just sitting there except for what I spent on a car and other things.”
“I spent quite a bit buying instruments…”
The S-class Espers seemed ready to put up all their money, and I found this increasingly exciting. If that Central came back to life, we would be sitting on a gold mine, but if things didn’t go as planned, we would all be buried in debt.
What if a highest-risk dungeon appeared near Origin Central and it was impossible to conquer, so the dungeon opened? What if monsters came out?
Cold sweat ran down my spine. Just imagining it was enough, even though it hadn’t happened yet.
“It’s all or nothing.”
“This could be interesting! I’ve always dreamed of something like this. Even if we fail, I won’t be the only one failing, so it doesn’t seem like much of a loss.”
In response to Shim Woo-jin’s words, Kyun In spoke excitedly.
Byun Tae-young seemed to be thinking about various things before looking around.
“Ha-min shouldn’t have become the Special Task Force leader. I think Ha-min should have been the Center Director. What do you think, hyung?”
I was curious about the other S-class Espers’ reactions. Especially Kyun In, whom I thought was satisfied with his position, so I was looking forward to his answer.
However, Kyun In’s response was unexpected.
“Ha-min probably wouldn’t want that.”
“I also think Ha-min wouldn’t want to do it.”
“Yes, I don’t want to.”
Kyun In and Shim Woo-jin spoke almost simultaneously, and Ha-min immediately answered.
“Ha-min wouldn’t say he’d be the Center Director when he knows full well how busy we are. Then he wouldn’t have time to bicker with Seo Eunwoo, would he? If he just said he would do it, I’d gratefully hand it over.”
“B-bickering? Who’s bickering?”
I was startled when my name suddenly came up, causing laughter to break out from various places.
“Looking at it, Ha-min has positioned himself best. It seems that way from the beginning. Could Ha-min be the mastermind? Think about it. We all started as S-class Espers. It seemed like the highest position one could reach in the Center, but because of that, we were always expected to be S-class Espers, and it was difficult to create shock from that position.”
When Kyun In spoke, Shim Woo-jin also furrowed his brow, seeming to think about it.
“That’s true. Ha-min was able to become close to Eunwoo-ssi because he was a Guide, and then he manifested as an Esper after becoming friends with Eunwoo-ssi. That doesn’t make sense either. And honestly, I didn’t understand his ability level for a long time. At first, they definitely said it was immeasurable. But suddenly they said he was A-grade.”
It probably started as a joke, but suddenly everyone became serious.
“That’s right. Until then, I was confident about the grades, but seeing Seo Eunwoo made me doubt whether grades had any meaning. Was Seo Eunwoo really a D-class Esper before being measured as an S-class Esper? I don’t think so. Even then, Seo Eunwoo was already an S-class Esper. Isn’t that right?”
W-why are these people suddenly saying such things?
Ha-min was laughing as if he found it amusing.
“For now, let’s disperse. We don’t know what will happen later, but for now, we are the owners of this Center, and we need to prepare for upcoming dungeons.”
Such words now suited Kyun In well.
The ripple effects of Topaz’s Espers refusing our demands and the government siding with Topaz were spreading fiercely like that.
***
Channel BlackFish was a channel with rock-bottom ratings, having secured almost no viewers.
However, thanks to Cha Yoon who arrived one day, now no one remembers BlackFish that way.
Electronic displays were installed on every building, and BlackFish programs were shown on those displays.
When Cha Yoon asked if they could install electronic displays on buildings on the condition that the programs would be broadcast exclusively, the representative agreed as if entranced.
He felt like this might be how it feels when you encounter a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you absolutely cannot miss.
And he was daily realizing that his judgment had been correct.
There had been programs featuring Espers and Guides before.
Since Espers were the upper echelon of society, Esper was the most glamorous profession for drama protagonists.
However, they couldn’t delve deeply into the Esper world.
Dramas featuring real Espers were guaranteed to succeed commercially, but most Espers didn’t like appearing in dramas.
They seemed indifferent since they could get enough fame and money without appearing in dramas.
And the people the public wanted most were S-class Espers, but S-class Espers were extremely reluctant to show their faces on broadcasts.
Under these circumstances, what Cha Yoon proposed was beyond imagination.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
