#14
Seo Yi-young carefully examined the directory board inside the elevator, hoping to find something written on the fifteen-floor nameplate, but nothing caught his eye. It seemed to be a building mostly occupied by offices.
After getting off on the first floor, Seo Yi-young rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
Why had he come to a place like this?
He couldn’t even begin to guess.
Checking his watch, he saw it was five minutes past 8 o’clock. Standing around wouldn’t give him any answers. He was contemplating whether to check each floor one by one when the elevator started moving from the 5th floor and stopped at the 1st floor.
Ding.
With a cheerful sound, the doors opened.
A man with not a single hair out of place, his slicked-back hairstyle impeccable, appeared. He spotted Seo Yi-young and stopped in his tracks. The atmosphere wasn’t that of someone recognizing and welcoming a celebrity. While Seo Yi-young was thinking this, the man approached.
“You’re a bit late. I was about to leave since you hadn’t arrived.”
His thin lips and silver-framed glasses gave off a coldness that made him seem difficult to approach.
It wasn’t hard to deduce that this was the person he was supposed to meet.
“The Director is waiting for you inside.”
“Y-yes…”
Director?
Seo Yi-young, who was about to apologize, hesitated.
He didn’t know who they were referring to, but apparently the person Seo Yi-young had an appointment with wasn’t the man standing before him, but someone else.
Following the man, Seo Yi-young quickly surveyed the interior as they entered the 5th floor. When he had checked the nameplate earlier, it looked like an office shared by three companies, but that wasn’t the case.
The interior didn’t look like an office, and it seemed clear that the directory only listed names. It appeared that the entire 5th floor was being used as a single space. With this setup, it was obvious he wouldn’t have found it no matter how hard he looked.
But having things arranged like this meant that there was a lot they wanted to hide.
Who was this Director the man had mentioned?
Seo Yi-young slightly furrowed his brow.
It didn’t take long for that question to be answered.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Snapping back to reality at the respectful tone, Seo Yi-young was about to part his lips to apologize for being late to the person sitting inside. But no voice came out. Seo Yi-young frowned, uncertain if what he was seeing was real.
“Oh, you’re here.”
The person who greeted Seo Yi-young warmly and stood up from his seat was someone Seo Yi-young knew all too well.
“Hunter Seo must have had a hard time. Well then.”
It felt like his hands were freezing. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say his blood ran cold.
Jo Tae-su was smiling with a seemingly good-natured face.
The head of Han-young, whom Seo Yi-young had whistleblown against in the previous dimension. A person with the exact same face as that chairman was sitting there.
He couldn’t understand why this man was sitting here, and why he himself had made an appointment to meet him.
What kind of person was he that he could meet with an S-Class Hunter like himself in this manner?
Moreover, what was even more puzzling was Jo Tae-su’s attitude toward Seo Yi-young.
There was a sense of ease characteristic of someone in an equal or higher position.
Could he be a sponsor?
It wasn’t an entirely unreasonable assumption.
Seo Yi-young recalled that the person who had guided him had referred to Jo Tae-su as ‘Director.’
As an S-Class Hunter, it’s possible to receive corporate sponsorship. While there were suspicious aspects to considering it pure sponsorship given the circumstances, knowing that the world doesn’t always operate cleanly, he could overlook it with a skeptical eye.
But of all people, why Jo Tae-su?
How on earth were things unfolding? He wanted to find out right away, but this wasn’t the kind of thing one could easily discover by asking around.
Seo Yi-young bit his lip.
The quick research he had done before entering the dungeon was just a tiny fraction of information about Seo Yi-young himself. He only had a rough understanding of the dungeon as well, so he had planned to look into things slowly after returning home today.
Seo Yi-young clenched his molars tightly.
He tried to think quickly, but no answers came.
“I see you’re wearing a watch I haven’t seen before. That’s a nice watch.”
Seo Yi-young swallowed at the unexpected comment. It suggested they were close enough for Jo Tae-su to know when Seo Yi-young had purchased a new watch.
Why on earth with a guy like this…? For what reason?
“Was there any problem inside the dungeon…?”
The slow but clear tone. And those gleaming eyes.
Though they had only met once, he was exactly like the Jo Tae-su from the previous dimension.
Perhaps the only difference was his impressive physique.
“Did you face some difficulties?”
When Seo Yi-young didn’t immediately respond, Jo Tae-su followed up with another question, as if urging him.
“Ah, yes. It was fine. Nothing unusual happened.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Jo Tae-su’s eyes narrowed. As if he was seeing right through Seo Yi-young.
That gaze was identical to the Jo Tae-su from the previous dimension, sending chills down his spine.
Seo Yi-young had briefly encountered Jo Tae-su in front of the courthouse in the previous dimension. The way Jo Tae-su had looked at him then was devoid of any emotion, purely mechanical. It was as if Seo Yi-young didn’t even exist there. The memory was vivid. It would have been better if his gaze had been filled with anger or irritation. But there wasn’t even that much emotion. It would be accurate to say that Seo Yi-young was of no concern to him.
But now…
Seo Yi-young met Jo Tae-su’s gaze directly.
“Your legs must be tired. Please, sit down.”
He offered a seat.
“No, I’m fine. I think I should leave right away.”
At Seo Yi-young’s bold response, the man with glasses showed signs of displeasure. Jo Tae-su restrained him with just a glance.
“I see. Alright. I was about to get up anyway.”
Jo Tae-su rose from his seat.
Standing up, he exuded an intimidating presence different from when he was sitting on the sofa.
“I have expectations for Hunter Seo. You know that, right?”
Jo Tae-su looked at Seo Yi-young, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. Seo Yi-young responded with an awkward nod. Jo Tae-su excused himself and left the place first, accompanied by the man who appeared to be his secretary.
“…What the hell?”
Seo Yi-young sighed after confirming they had taken the elevator and left. He felt completely drained. He couldn’t understand what was going on.
Expectations or whatever, he had no idea what they were talking about, so he was in a situation where he couldn’t do anything.
Seo Yi-young looked down at the watch on his wrist.
“…”
He didn’t know much, but he felt uneasy.
Even though relationships from the previous dimension might not apply in the current one, there were too many unsettling aspects. Setting aside the fact that he was acquainted with Jo Tae-su in this way, what about those meaningful words he had uttered?
Seo Yi-young took out his phone.
There was so much to find out.
First, about who Jo Tae-su was in this dimension.
If he was in a position to meet an S-Class Hunter like Seo Yi-young in this manner, he wasn’t just an ordinary businessman, and there would surely be something in the search results.
Seo Yi-young’s conjecture was immediately confirmed.
“…Are you kidding me?”
Staring at his phone screen, Seo Yi-young muttered without realizing.
Jo Tae-su.
His other title was Director of the Awakening Counseling Center. He was an Awakener who awakened ordinary people.
It was ridiculous that he was only finding out about this now.
Seo Yi-young bit his lower lip.
That meant he was the very person who had created the current Seo Yi-young.
Even though this was separate from the previous dimension, it was laughable to think how such a relationship could exist. So, was the recent meeting a business meeting? He considered various possibilities, but with so many suspicious aspects, it was impossible to interpret it in a positive light.
The most suspicious and strange thing was this:
For what purpose did they meet?
They didn’t even have a proper conversation.
Even if it was just flattery, if that was all it was for, it would have been more effective for promotional purposes to do it at a press conference. Doing it in a place like this was unnatural.
Even with a simple look, there were too many aspects that couldn’t be explained or accepted.
In the building he had just been in, there was no sign indicating it was the Awakening Counseling Center, and the brief meeting was almost like a private audience. There were only three people there: Seo Yi-young, Jo Tae-su, and the man who appeared to be Jo Tae-su’s secretary. If it had been an official meeting, they wouldn’t have met with such a composition and such a small number of people.
It meant either it was a meeting they didn’t want others to know about, or a situation where they had to meet like that, or a relationship that was not appropriate to publicize.
What on earth was going on?
His head started to hurt.
After letting out a deep sigh, Seo Yi-young barely came to his senses and moved his legs when he heard the elevator’s notification sound indicating they had arrived at the parking level.
“Welcome back, sir.”
“Yes, it’s over. Did you wait long? Let’s go home.”
Seo Yi-young said just that and sank into his seat. The driver also refrained from making unnecessary conversation. His head felt like it was throbbing with pain.
But one thing was certain:
He needed to look into Jo Tae-su of this dimension.
Upon arriving home, Seo Yi-young immediately set about doing what he needed to do. It wasn’t that difficult. Information about him was abundant; he just had to search on YouTube.
Currently, South Korea was the envy of the world. This was because anyone could become an Awakener just by paying money. This was a completely different reality from overseas, where one could only become an Awakener through natural means. The number of foreigners wanting to naturalize to South Korea to receive awakening counseling from Jo Tae-su had increased several times, to the extent that it was reported in the news.
‘Country that possesses Jo Tae-su’
This was one of the most common replies seen in YouTube comments.
From just that alone, he could understand people’s perception of Jo Tae-su.
From the date of Jo Tae-su’s awakening to the fact that he liked dried persimmons, he could even obtain seemingly useless information.
Lying on his bed and being able to access such information, he thought the world had indeed become a better place.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
